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Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1890-06-16 Volume 1 Issue 2 Pages Page range in volume 25–58 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18900616 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. 1.—No. 2.) JUNE 16, 1890 [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Published for the Society be ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE LONDON, E.C. 1890. ## p. 24 (#42) ############################################## The Society of Authors (Incorporated). PRESIDENT. The RIGHT HON. THE LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.S.I. ROBERT BATEMAN. Walter BESANT. Rev. PROF. BONNEY, F.R.S. J. COMYNS CARR. EDWARD CLODD. THE EARL OF DESART. A. W. DUBOURG. PROF. MICHAEL FOSTER, F.R.S. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. EDMUND GOSSE, H. RIDER HAGGARD. THOMAS HARDY. PROF. E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S. COUNCIL. Rev. W. J. LOFTIË, F.S.A. George MEREDITH. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. J. C. PARKINSON." THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart., LL.D. WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. George AUGUSTUS SALA. W. BAPTISTE' Scoones. J. J. STEVENSON. JAS. SULLY. William MoY THOMAS. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Hon. Counsel-E. M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. Auditor—Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE, F.L.S. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman-Walter BESANT. 1. H. Rider HAGGARD. I J. M. Lely. ROBERT BATEMAN. EDMUND Gosse. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. Solicitors. Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. ## p. 24 (#43) ############################################## (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 2.] JUNE 16, 1890. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. News and Notes "Thou shah not Steal," by Wilkie Collins The Troubles of a Beginner "Cursed Coincidences" The Exchange of Books Leaflet No". II.—On Royalties Royal Literary Fund A Hard Case, No. II PACE ... 35 ... 31 - 35 ... 37 - 37 ... 38 - 39 ... 41 The Chestnut Bell "The Art of Authorship" ... Notes Literary Puzzles Questions, Cases, and Answers At Work New Books and New Editions Advertisements **AOE . . 42 ... 44 ... 47 ... 49 ... 50 ... 52 ... 54 ... 56 NEWS AND NOTES. AMONG other suggestions received from readers some have been sent anony- mously. I thought it was unnecessary to warn correspondents that no notice can be taken of unsigned communications. As, however, the warning has to be made, I hope that this note will be sufficient. It was stated in our last number that we proposed inviting the First Lord of the Treasury to receive a deputation on the Administration of the Civil List Pension. A memorial was prepared and sent with the letter. The following is the reply of the Right Hon. W. H. Smith. The memorial will be published in our next number with a lew obser- vations on the whole subject in general and on Mr. Smith's letter in especial:— Downing Street, June 6th, 1890. Dear Sir, Mr. W. H. Smith desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult., forward- ing a memorial in regard to the Administration of the Civil List Pension Fund, and requesting him to receive a deputation on the subject. Mr. Smith has carefully read the statements and suggestions placed before him, and he need not say that he would be glad to receive such a vol. 1. deputation if any useful purpose could be served thereby; but he fears that there is some misappre- hension as to the power of the First Lord of the Treasury in regard to the Fund. The administration is governed strictly by Act of Parliament, and the intervention of the First Lord is limited to that discretion which must in such cases finally rest with some one responsible minister; his decisions, although not subject to the review of Parliament, are by Act yearly brought under the cognisance of both Houses and of the public, by the annual return of all pensions granted within the year. To make such changes as the memorial suggests would necessitate a new Act of Parliament, and Mr. Smith does not think that there has been any such expression of dissatisfaction either in the House or outside of it as would justify the proposal, while on the other hand, he fears that Parliament would be very unlikely to agree to an increase of the sum annually set apart for the Pension List. Mr. Smith must also point out that the figures in the memorial, accepting them as fairly correct, show that the practical administration of the Fund is almost identical with the distribution proposed by the Societies, namely, one-third to the services rendered to the Sovereign and under the Crown, and two-thirds to the representatives of Science, Literature, and Art. With this explanation, and looking also to the extreme pressure of engagements on his time, c ## p. 24 (#44) ############################################## Zhe Society of Hutbors (Jncorporateb), PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. COUNCIL. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. T. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptiste' Scoones. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Bon. Con/isei—'E. M. Underdown, Q.C. Auditor—Ret. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besani Robert Batbman. H. Rider Haggard. Edmund Gosse. J. M. Lely. Solicitors. Messrs. Field, Roscoe. & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.S.I. Robert Bateman. Walter Besant. Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S. J. Comyns Carr. Edward Clodd. The Earl of Desart. A. W. Dubourg. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M. P. Richard Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. ## p. 25 (#45) ############################################## (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 2.] JUNE 16, 1890. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. News and Notes "Thou shall not Steal," by Wilkie Collins The Troubles of a Beginner "Cursed Coincidences" The Exchange of Books Leaflet No~ II.—On Royalties Royal Literary Fund AHardCase.No.il I ACE ... 25 ... 31 ••■ 35 ... 37 ■•• 37 ... 38 ... 39 ... 41 The Chestnut Bell "The Art of Authorship" ... Notes Literary Puzzles Questions, Cases, and Answers At Work New Books and New Editions Advertisements PAGE • • 42 ... 44 ... 47 ... 49 ... 50 ... 52 ••■ 54 ... 56 A copy of this paper will be sent free to any member of the Society for one twelvemonth. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 6s. 6d. including postage, to be sent to the Society, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. 111C XVIglJl HUH. »». 11. OllllLU. inv. uuuuuu. ..... be published in our next number with a few obser- vations on the whole subject in general and on Mr. Smith's letter in especial:— Downing Street, June 6th, 1890. Dear Sir, Mr. W. H. Smith desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult., forward- ing a memorial in regard to the Administration of the Civil List Pension Fund, and requesting him to receive a deputation on the subject. Mr. Smith has carefully read the statements and suggestions placed before him, and he need not say that he would be glad to receive such a vol. 1. nOUSC Or UUIS1UC VI 11 tu mmu jUu...; proposal, while on the other hand, he fears that Parliament would be very unlikely to agree to an increase of the sum annually set apart for the Pension List. Mr. Smith must also point out that the figures in the memorial, accepting them as fairly correct, show that the practical administration of the Fund is almost identical with the distribution proposed by the Societies, namely, one-third to the services rendered to the Sovereign and under the Crown, and two-thirds to the representatives of Science, Literature, and Art. With this explanation, and looking also to the extreme pressure of engagements on his time, ## p. 26 (#46) ############################################## 26 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Smith hopes that the gentlemen represented in the memorial will not feel it necessary to seek for a personal interview. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, S. S. Sprigge, Esq. C. Maude. It is pleasant to find that one's efforts are appreciated by all the persons concerned. I am therefore glad to report that The Author has received a cordial welcome from the Publisher's Circular. It has also received the kind of criticism which somewhat cools the cordiality. Let us re- peat, therefore, one point on which we have always insisted and which those who profess to write in the trade interest always try to evade or else boldly deny, viz., that there is very little speculation or risk in modern publishing. However, since the Publisher's Circular declares that the Society has their "most hearty sympathy" in asking for "just and honest treatment, fair and open agreements, and honourable observance of those agreements," we will not find fault with these criticisms, and we shall look for the practical co-operation of the Publisher's Circular, especially in our determination to show authors what, in their agreements, they concede to publishers and what they keep to them- selves. I am happy to report that The Author has met with a very satisfactory reception from all quarters. The "literary ladies " met at dinner on the 30th of May at the Criterion. The chair was occupied by Mrs. L. T. Meade, who was supported by Miss Mabel Collins, Mrs. Pennell, Miss Corkran, and Mrs. Grahame R. Tomson. Letters of apology for non-attendance were read from Lady Colin Campbell, Miss Jessie Fothergill, Mrs. Crawford, Miss Sarah Tytler, and Mrs. Leith Adams. Let us hope that a pleasant evening was the result. We shall be very glad to see the literary ladies side by side with the literary men at our own dinner next month. And I, for one, have no doubt as to which will prove the pleasanter function. Literature, like the world itself, is of both sexes, and therefore happiest when fully represented. The fusion of the two old publishing firms of Longman and Rivington, or rather the absorption of the latter by the former, destroys one of the few remaining old publishing firms. The history of Literature in all ages is that of the publication of new works, if only for the simple reason that authors must work to live, and that if men are not forced to work they will for the most part produce nothing. The history of Literature in the eighteenth century is very closely bound up with the two houses of Longman and Rivington. If it were written, which never has been done, we should learn howtheliterary public—the people who read and look for new books, and buy them—gradually increased during this century, until by its close publishing was no longer a speculative and uncertain business conducted in ignorance by persons who had small means of judging the state of the market, who bought MSS. for so many guineas apiece, losing largely by one work, and doing pretty well by another. By the end of the eighteenth century the reign of the Book Clubs had already well set in; these were literary centres in provincial towns, such as Norwich and Birmingham; the clergy were scholars and students; a publisher knew where he could "place" a certain number of every good book; and a great change had come over the whole art and mystery of publishing books. Prac- tically, "Risk," that good old Bogey whose demise is still so persistently denied, had already vanished. ♦ There appeared lately in the New York Tribune a communication signed by the well-known letters, G. W. S., which, beginning with the relations of bookseller to publisher, passed on to the questions in which we ourselves are mainly interested. It is this portion of the letter which we reproduce, sup- pressing the name referred to, as it has nothing to do with the argument. "It is A. B. who, among others, makes himself responsible for the statement that it is rapidly becoming impossible for a bookseller, pure and simple, dealing in current literature, to make a living profit from his business. No doubt A. B. is right, if the publisher's view of what constitutes a 'living profit' is to prevail. A. B. is a partner in a very eminent publishing house, and anything he says on the publishing or selling of books deserves attention. He has written a long letter about bookselling to a trade organ, and expresses some sympathy with the booksellers in their present difficulties. Before we proceed with that, might I suggest to A. B. that some of his sympathies might be bestowed on another person concerned in the book business, the author? If the figures I have given above are correct, the seller of books, even in his present wretched estate, makes a profit of 30 per cent. Will A. B. be so kind as to tell us in what proportion the profits on a successful book are distributed between author and publisher? Does the author make a ' living profit' on what is commonly the only capital he possesses, his ## p. 27 (#47) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 27 brains? Let us take an imaginary case. We will suppose that an eminent firm publishes a book, say, of reminiscences in two handsome volumes at $7.50, and that, notwithstanding the high price, the public buys four editions of it. That, surely, is a successful book, and one that ought to pay everybody concerned a living profit, and perhaps something more. Does A. B. think he could find out what share of the proceeds the author received and how much the publisher kept for himself, and, if he could, will he let us know? "A private transaction? Oh, no, A. B., that is one of several mistakes into which you publishers occasionally fall. It is a matter of very considerable public interest. It concerns the community deeply that literature should be encouraged, and should be profitable to the producer of it. The patron on whom the author once in some measure depended has disappeared. The publisher has taken his place. He is, or ought to be, the Maecenas of the nineteenth century. But if Johnson were living now, do you think he would soften the terrible lines which he wrote under the sting of Lord Chesterfield's neglect? 'There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,— Toil, envy, want, the patron and the jail.' "To substitute publisher for patron would spoil the metre. Would it much affect the sense? The publisher is a man of business, the author is not, or seldom is. Do you think publishers have always borne that in mind? They have drawn their own contracts. Have the interests of the author or of the publisher been most carefully considered in those printed forms, filled up ac- cording to circumstances which are presented to the author, all unacquainted as he is with affairs, for him to sign? "Do not imagine, my dear A. B., that I address these questions to you because I mean to imply that you personally do not conduct your business on the most honourable principles. I am per- suaded that you do. But I apprehend you would admit, or perhaps even assert, that among your many rivals in the business of publishing books are to be found some whose treatment of authors is less considerate than your own. I will not say, and perhaps you would not, that any of them are dis- honest. I prefer to use a word which was a favourite with Matthew Arnold, and to suggest that in their dealings with the authors on whose productions their own prosperity depends, some of them are sometimes indelicate. You would not, I think, refuse to go as far as that. You would say, no doubt, there are publishers and publishers, and that not every firm is so scrupulous in its trans- actions or so high-minded as your own. "If they were, how would you explain, for ex- ample, the existence of the Incorporated Society of Authors, and what construction would you put upon some of its recent proceedings? Some of the most respected and popular authors of the day are members of that Society. They have an executive committee, and that committee go so far as to declare that there are firms of so-called publishers which exist solely by robbery and cheating. Surely you, and all other publishers of high character and repute, must desire to dissociate yourselves as widely as possible from the scoundrels who profess to carry on the same business that you do. You would agree with the committee, would you not, in their urgent re- commendation that authors should send their agreements with publishers for examination by the Society before signing? If there were clauses in those agreements injurious to the author, he would be warned not to sign. If there were none, no harm would be done. You would heartily dis- approve, I am sure, every attempt to induce an unwary writer to bind himself not to publish in future with any other house than that which was then to issue a particular book—an attempt which Mr. Besant calls monstrous and indecent. You would, if the Society called upon you for advice, strike out that agreed statement of the cost of production which the less delicate publisher some- times inserts; and is sometimes careless enough to exaggerate. You would not justify for a moment the refusal of a publisher to submit his books to examination, in order that his statement of the expenses of publication, of the number of copies printed and sold, and other such interesting and vital particulars, might undergo an indepen- dent audit. You will rejoice in the appearance of that little treatise on 'The Cost of Production,' and that other now preparing on 'The Different Methods of Publishing'; including, I think, the Half-Profit System, and probably pointing out the method by which the indelicate publisher charges the author full price for advertisements which cost the publishers nothing, and omits to deduct the discount he obtains on the nominal prices of paper, printing and other important items. Mr. Besant, less scrupulous in his choice of words than our lamented friend Arnold, talks of frauds. You would join him in exposing and repressing and preventing them. In short, you and the Incor- porated Society of Authors have so many aims and interests in common that you will perhaps permit me to wonder that you are not already a member of it. For the one person to whom it is of the utmost consequence that the business of publishing should be freed from all stains and all suspicion is the publisher." vol.. 1. c 2 ## p. 28 (#48) ############################################## 28 THE A UTHOR. The death of Mr. Fletcher Harper, the senior of the second generation of the brothers, removes another of the American firm which first began to recognize the right of English authors. Perhaps the child is already born in the United States who will, before he finally droops his snow-white head, see a tardy justice sullenly granted. But we must not hold out illusive hopes. The great American public from whom are taken the members of Congress are not exactly composed of gentlemen, nor are they in their public, any more than their private acts, guided by the delicate sense of honour for which we ourselves still try to retain a traditional reverence. In fact we are too apt to suppose that the cultivated, well-bred American cousin we meet here is a specimen—perhaps a little favourable— of the ordinary citizen of that big Republic which will perhaps some day be great as well as big. The attitude taken by the American editors and authors alike on the Copyright Question is every- thing that can be desired, or, indeed, expected of a body of gentlemen. It must not be thought, there- fore, that in publishing Wilkie Collins's views we are in the least reflecting upon our American con- jrlres. One of them writes, "The Copyright Bill was defeated by ignorance misled by greed, but we hope to retrieve our reputation soon. Everybody is hard at work to this end." Wilkie Collins says nothing so severe. Here is a practical suggestion. Some time ago we poor English had to pay, justly or unjustly, ^3,000,000 for the Alabama claims. The claims did not amount to half that money. Suppose the Government of the U.S.A. were to hand over the difference to British authors. The moral effect in the States of such an act of reparation would be enormous, while its material effect in this country would be, to say the least, extremely beneficial to a hard-working and deserving set of men and women. This is what Mr. Lowell says :—" I have had too long experience of the providential thickness of the human skull, as well as of the eventual success of all reasonable reforms, to be discouraged by the temporary defeat of any measure which I believe to be sound. I am too old to be persuaded by any appearances, however specious, that truth has lost or can lose that divine quality which gives her immortal advantage over error. Foreign right to property in books stands precisely on the same footing as Ameri- can home right, and the moral wrong of stealing either is equally great. But literary property is at a disadvantage, because, as the appropriation is not open, gross, and palpable, it is not regarded as wrongful. It touches the public conscience more faintly. In ordinary cases it is the thief, but in this case the thing stolen, that is invisible. To steal is no doubt more immediately profitable than acquisition by the more tedious methods of honesty, but it is nevertheless apt to prove costlier in the long run. How costly our own experiments in larceny have been, only those know who have studied the rise and progress of our literature, which has been forced to grow as virtue is said to do, in spite of weight laid upon it. But, even if this particular form of dishonesty against which we are contending, were always and everywhere com- mercially profitable, I think the American people are so honest that they may be made to see that profit which is allowed to be legitimate by us alone among all civilised nations, profit, too, which goes wholly into the pockets of a few unscrupulous men, must have something queer about it, something which even a country so rich as ours cannot afford. I have lived to see more than one successful appeal from the unreason of the people's representatives to the reason of the people themselves. I am there- fore not to be tired with waiting. It is wearisome to ourselves and to others to go on repeating arguments which we have been using these forty years, and which to us seem so self-evident, but I think it is true that no reformer has ever gained his end who has not first made himself an intoler- able bore to the vast majority of his kind." Out of the fine chorus of indignation which has ascended from the better class of American papers unto the heavens like incense, and, like that fragrant smoke, probably of small practical use, I extract the following from "America," a Chicago paper of great promise. "The International Copyright Bill has been slaughtered in the House by protectionists after almost all the authors' interests in it had been sacrificed to the manufacturers and mechanics in order to get protectionist votes for the bill. There was very little protection for authors in the bill, and a great deal of protection for publishers and paper-makers and type-setters, and then the bill was knifed by the statesmen who have great respect for manual labourers, who are numerous on election day, and none for authors, whose vote is not a political factor. We Americans look well, do we not, rejecting an International Copyright Law for fear that it would make books dear; that is, after paying for the paper and the type-setting, we flatly refuse to pay anything additional for the author. Our statesmen oppose the bill because they want cheap books for the people. By all means then, let us steal the books as well as the learning, or the imagination contained therein. Let us repeal the law against horse stealing, and we may all ride. ## p. 29 (#49) ############################################## THE A UTHOR. 29 This objection to the International Copyright Bill, that under it book purchasers would have to pay the foreign author of the book something, is the most shameful proposition I have happened to hear in Congress. The interest of the American author is perfectly plain; if the American publisher can get English copy for nothing, he will be propor- tionately unwilling to buy a copy of an American author. The Congress that proposes to pass the McKinley bill for the additional protection of American manual labour, refuses to pass the In- ternational Copyright Bill for the protection of American intellectual labour. It is easy to see what kind of labour we value most highly." How it strikes the American author, again, is set forth by Mr. J. D. Gilden, in "The Critic." Says Pirate A. to Victim B. :— "You've got no reason to complain; Just see how popular you be; Your books is read from Tex. to Maine. "Were not the foreign stuff ' free grat.' I'd buy some native fellow's wares; Just paste that 'memo.' in your hat, And don't go puttin' on such airs." "Aye, true enough my books are read,— No doubt your imprint makes them sell; But if on air I must be fed, Why won't that fare serve you as well? "Henceforth we both will write for fame,— I write, you publish, free of charge; Whatever type proclaims my name, Yours shall be printed just as large. "Should profits by some chance accrue, Deed them forthwith to charity: I'm rich, of course; and as for you, What's wealth to popularity?" How the present question struck Wilkie Collins is pretty well known. The paper printed in this number by him was recovered by accident, and is here published by permission of his literary executor. Mr. Edwin Waugh, the poet, is dead. With him dies a pension on the Civil List. It has been pro- posed to the First Lord of the Treasury that he should transfer this pension to Mr. Ben. Brierly, the well-known Lancashire writer. Mr. W. H. Smith cannot transfer a pension which dies with its recipient. He will, however, consider Mr. Brierly's claims. The centenary dinner of the Royal Literary Fund took place on May 14th, the Prince of Wales being in the chair. This venerable Society was founded, and still exists, for the purpose of granting doles to distressed authors. It administers a good deal of money in this way every year. It is sad that there should be distressed literary men and it is very good indeed that there should be a fund for their relief. The Prince of Wales, in an excellent speech, dwelt largely on the precarious nature of the literary calling. The occupation of the literary man, he said, is uncertain; his remuneration is not high. There is no flow of promotion for literary- men. All this is true indeed; it is said every year at the dinner; never once has it been asked by the Council of this Society why this remuneration of the literary man is so small—why his calling is so uncertain. Well: it is small and uncertain because there is no rule arrived at as to the share which he should justly take in the proceeds of his own labours. When that rule is airived at and put into practice the labours of the Royal Literary Fund will be con- fined to the relief of the distressed incompetent. It may be asked why our Society does not at once lay down this Golden Rule; well, there are two reasons, of which the first should be enough, viz., (1) that the Society has not yet arrived at the Golden Rule, though it is getting nearer, and (2) that there is no use in laying it down until public opinion is riper. It is a rule well known in legislation that to make laws before the people are ready for them, unless you can carry them out in spite of popular resistance and apathy, is not good government. Let us go on a little longer teaching people the reality of literary property and its sacredness. Let us go on a little longer hammering into the heads of authors their folly and madness in signing agree- ments by which they ignorantly give themselves away and go into slavery. We shall then have a better chance with our Golden Rule. ♦ Mr. John Morley, who always speaks" well on literature, made a very curious slip the other day. He stated that there are not fifty or even twenty men and women who live by authorship. Why, by the writing of novels alone there are at least fifty who make over a thousand a year, let alone a vast number, especially ladies, who live on incomes of a hundred or two made by authorship. As for this great mass we may find at an early opportunity some- thing profitable as well as interesting to say about them and their incomes and their methods of work. I have written a small pamphlet for the Publi- cation Committee of the Society for the Promotion ## p. 30 (#50) ############################################## 3° THE AUTHOR. of Christian Knowledge. My intention has been to point out to this body, first, certain elementary laws which govern literary property and its ad- ministration, &c, and next, to set forth certain cases which illustrate their own administration of the literary property in their hand. Lastly, I have invited them to draw their own conclusions for themselves as to their own methods. There is no desire to make any money by this pamphlet—■ which is published by Mr. Henry Glaisher in the Strand—and if any member of this Society would like a copy I will send him one on the simple con- dition that he undertakes to read it and to pass it on to some person interested in the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The following explains itself. The ingenious Rand, M'Nally and Company, of Chicago and New York, have added a new terror to literary men. Not only do they steal their works but they alter and mutilate and ruin them. The idea will doubt- less be copied and widely adopted in Pirate-land. In a few years, probably, there will be two Rider Haggards in the field, one of Great Britain and the other of that other country, totally unlike each other and of literary reputation entirely different. Let us have patience. "Gentlemen, June $rd, 1890. "A pirated edition of my novel ' Beatrice' has been forwarded to me, bearing your names as its publishers. I find, on lookng through it, that the book has been hacked and hewed till it bears about as much resemblance to the work which left my hand as an oaked felled and barked does to the same tree in leaf. "Thus, to take one or two examples among many which offer:—Chapter 18 has been reduced to little more than three pages, and from chapters 25 and 26 some 16 pages have been omitted bodily. Nor is this all; another chapter has been mis- named, and in one place, at least, your editor, or, judging from the style, perhaps I should hazard, your compositor, has tried his hand at improving my text —has printed under my name words which I never wrote. In short, the story is turned into a string of disjointed situations, its life, spirit, and meaning are gone, all of which is done without warning to the reader, and, I need hardly add, without reference to the author. "At first I believed that these evils must have been wrought maliciously, perhaps to save expense in the printer's bill, but reflection shows me that it cannot be. Of course, when the Legislature of your country, alone among those of civilized nations, has hoisted the black flag, not merely by tolerating an established custom but publicly and after full debate—thereby declaring the labour of foreign writers to be the spoil of any who wish to profit by it—it would be Quixotic of you to refuse to sail beneath that flag. But I feel convinced that your native courtesy and kindness would prevent you knowingly from treating an author as I have been treated in this instance. You would remember that in America almost the only good left to an English writer is his chance of a literary reputation, and this, at least, you would strive to protect in every way as some small return for the amusement he affords your readers and the money which he earns for you. Certainly, therefore, you would not send his work willingly from your press in such a questionable shape, and thus expose him to the contempt of critics and the wonder of your reading public. "This being so, I have to ask, I am sure not in vain, that for the sake of your own fair name, as much as for the sake of mine, you will withdraw from circulation the pages of printed matter which are being passed off, no doubt unwittingly, by you among the American public as a reprint of my novel 'Beatrice,' and that you will give this letter of repudiation every publicity in your power. Awaiting the favour of a reply, "I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, "H. Rider Haggard. "To Messrs. Rand, M'Nally, &■> Co., Publishers, "Chicago and New York." Coincidences (see p. 37) are interesting. Here is one sent me by a correspondent from the North. The editor of a certain paper lately received the scenario of a story submitted tor his approbation. He liked it, and commissioned the author to write it for him. The day after he received the same story, that is, the same plot and the same set of characters distributed in the same way, from another correspondent writing from a different part of England. Therefore one of two things. Either two minds were at the same moment pursuing the same imaginary series of events, or two minds were at the same time cribbing from the same source. One would like to read the scenario. Perhaps it was only a commonplace plot such as one may read in any penny novelette. There is another ex- planation possible. One lady at least there is among us who adds to her income by the sale of plots for stories. There may be more than one plot inventor among us, and he—or she—may have sold the same plot twice over, a thing which has happened once or twice in the buying and selling of sermons. The Editor. ## p. 31 (#51) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 3i "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL:" Considerations on the Copyright Question. Addressed to an American friend by WILKIE COLLINS. YOU were taking leave of me the other day, Colonel, when I received from the United States a copy of a pirated edition of one of my books. I threw it into the waste-paper basket with an expression of opinion which a little startled you. As we shook hands at parting, you said, "When you are cool, my friend, I should like to be made acquainted with your sentiments on the copyright question." I am cool now, and here are my sentiments. I shall ask permission to begin by looking back to the early history of your own family. The fact is, that I wish to interest you personally in the otherwise unattractive subject on which I am about to write. I. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, one of your ancestors, voyaging with the illustrious Hendrick Hudson, got leave of absence from the ship and took a walk on Manhattan Island, in the days before the Dutch settlement. He was pos- sessed, as I have heard you say, of great ability in the mechanical arts. Among the articles of per- sonal property which he had about him was a handsome watch, made by himself, and containing special improvements of his own invention. The good man sat down to rest and look about him at a pleasant and pastoral spot—now occu- pied, it may be interesting to you to know, by a publishing house in the city of New York. Having thoroughly enjoyed the cool breeze and the bright view, he took out his watch to see how the time was passing. At the same moment, an Iroquois chief—whose name has, I regret to say, escaped my memory— passed that way, accompanied by a suitable train of followers. He observed the hand- some watch; snatched it out of the stranger's hand; and, then and there, put it into the Indian substitute for a pocket—the name of which, after repeated efforts, I find myself unable to spell. Your ancestor, a man of exemplary presence of mind, counted the number of the chiefs fol- lowers; perceived that resistance on his single part would be a wilful casting away of his own valuable life; and wisely decided on trying the effect of calm remonstrance. "Why do you take my watch away from me, sir?" he asked. The Indian answered with dignity, "Because I want it." "May I ask why you want it?" The Indian checked off his reasons on his fin- gers. "First, because I am not able to make such a watch as yours. Secondly, because your watch is an article likely to be sufficiently popular among the Indians to be worth . . Thirdly, because the popularity of the watch will enable me to sell it with considerable advantage to myself. Is my white brother satisfied?" Your ancestor said that he was not satisfied. "The thing you have taken from me," he said, "is the product of my own invention and my own handiwork. It is my watch." The Indian touched his substitute for a pocket. "Pardon me," he replied, "it is mine." Your ancestor began to lose his temper; he reiterated his assertion. "I say my watch is my lawful property." The noble savage reasoned with him. "Possibly your watch is protected in your country," he said. "It is not protected in mine." "And therefore you steal it?" "And therefore I steal it." "On what moral grounds, sir, can you defend an act of theft?" The chief smiled. "I defend it on practical grounds. There is no watch-right treaty, sir, be- tween my country and yours." "And on that account you are not ashamed to steal my watch?" "On that account I am not ashamed to steal your watch. Good morning!" The prototypes of modern persons have existed in past ages. The Indian chief was the first American publisher. Your ancestor was the parent of the whole European family of modern authors. II. You and I, Colonel, are resolved to look this copyright question fairly in the face. Suppose we look at it from the historical point of view to begin with. The Dutch emigrants settled on Manhattan Island about two hundred and fifty years ago. They might have pirated the Island on the ground that it was not protected by treaty. But they were loth to commit an act of theft; they asked the Indians to mention their price. The Indians men- tioned twenty-four dollars. The noble Dutchmen paid, and a very good price, too, for a bit of un- cultivated ground, with permission to move your "Wigwam" to the neighbouring Continent. In due course of time arose the Dutch City of New Amsterdam. Civilization made its appear- ance on Manhattan Island; and with civilization ## p. 32 (#52) ############################################## 32 THE AUTHOR. came Law. Acting as the agent of Justice, Law- protected property. In those days of moral im- provement, if an Indian stole a Dutchman's watch, he committed an offence, and he was punished ac- cordingly—for, observe, a watch was now property. Later dates brought their changes with them. The English forced themselves into the Dutch- men's places. New Amsterdam became New York. As time went on, a foolish English King, and a tyrannical Government were deservedly beaten on a trial of strength with the descendants of the first English settlers. The Republic of the United States started on its great career. With peace came the arts of peace. The American author rose benignly on the national horizon. And what did the American Government do? The American Government, having all other property duly protected, bethought itself of the claims of Literature; and, looking towards old Europe, saw that the work of a man's brains, pro- duced in the form of a book, had been at last recognised as that man's property. by the Law. Congress followed this civilised example, and re- cognised and protected the published work of an American citizen as that citizen's property. Having thus provided for the literary interests of its own people within its own geographical limits, Congress definitely turned its back on all further copyright proceedings in the Old World. After a certain lapse of time, the three greatest nations on the Continent of Europe, France, Ger- many, and Italy, agreed with England that an act of justice to Literature still remained to be done. Treaties of international copyright were accord- ingly exchanged between these States. An author's right of property in his work was thus recognised in other countries than his own. It was legally forbidden to a foreign bookseller to republish his work for foreign circulation without his permission; for the plain and unanswerable reason that his work belonged, in the first place, to him and to no other person. With this honourable example set before it by other Governments, what has the United States done? Nothing! To this day it refuses to the literary property of other people the protection which it gives to the literary property of its own people. To this day the President and Congress of America remain content to contemplate the habitual perpetration, by American citizens, of the act of theft. III. Having now done with our historical survey—in plainer words, having now got our facts—we may conveniently confront the grave question :—Why does the Government of the United States refuse to foreign writers the copyright in their works which it concedes to the works of its own citizens? Colonel, when honest men perceive an act of justice to be done, and determine really to do it, there are never any insuperable difficulties in the way. On the plain merits of the case—work that if you please, you will see why—there are no more difficulties in the way of international copyright between England and America than between England and France, England and Germany, England and Italy. The cases run on parallel lines; the necessity of foreign translation, in the European case, being an accidental circumstance which adds to the expense of publishing the book, and nothing more. My work is republished in America in English, and republished in French. Whatever difference there may be in the language of the republication, the fact of the republication remains the same fact in both instances. 1 am very careful to put this plainly; there must be some clear ground to stand on before I can attempt to clear away the extraordinary accumu- lation of delusions under which the unfortunate question of copyright has been suffering in recent years. If you see any difficulty in accepting my statement of the case thus far, let us revert to first principles, and ask ourselves—What is the object to be obtained by the thing called International Copyright? In answering this question I will put it person- ally for the greater facility of illustration. The object of International Copyright is to give me, by law (on considerations with which it is possible for me to comply), the same right of control over my book in a foreign country, which the law gives me in my own country. In Europe, this is exactly what we have done. When I publish my book in London, I enter it at Stationers' Hall, and register it as my property— and my book is mine in Great Britain. When I publish my book in Paris, I register it by the per- formance of similar formalities—and again my book is mine in France. In both cases my publisher (English or French) is chosen at my own free will. His position towards me is the position of a person who takes the business of publishing and registering off my hands, in consideration of a bargain pre- viously made between us—the essence of which bargain is, that the book is my property, and that my written permission is necessary before he can obtain his right to publish the book, and his ex- clusive claim (for a greater or lesser period of time) to the privilege of selling it. Why can I not do the same thing in the free Republic of the United States? ## p. 33 (#53) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. do IV. Here the Colonel lays down my letter for a while, and looks bewildered. "The copyright difficulty, as stated by Mr. Wilkie Collins," he says, "appears to be no diffi- culty at all. What am I to think of the multitu- dinous objections from the American point of view, raised in leading articles, pamphlets, speeches, and so forth?" My good friend, a word in your ear. The American objections (I say it with all due respect for the objections) are, one and all, Ameri- can delusions. The main object of this letter is, if possible, to blow these delusions away. I promise not to be long about it, and to keep my temper—though I have lost some thousands of pounds by American pirates. Let us begin with the delusion—the most extra- ordinary in the whole list—that the American people have something to do with the question of International Copyright. An American citizen sees a reprinted English book in a shop window, or has it pitched into his lap by a boy in a railway train, or hears from a friend that it is well worth reading. He buys the book, and reads it—and, as I can gratefully testify from my own personal experience, he feels, in the great majority of cases, a sincere respect for litera- ture and a hearty gratitude to the writer who has instructed or interested him, which is one among the many honourable distinctions of the national character. When he has done all this, what in Heaven's name has author, publisher, orator, or leading-article writer any further right to expect from him? When I have paid for my place at the theatre, and added my little tribute of applause in honour of the play and the actors, have I not done my duty as one of the audience? Am I expected to insist on knowing whether the author's rights have been honestly recognised by the mana- ger, and the players' salaries regularly paid without reductions once a week? It is simply ridiculous to mention the American people in connection with the settlement of the copyright question. The entire responsibility of honourably settling the question in my country rests with the Legislature. In the United States the President and Congress are the guardians and representatives of American honour. It is they, and not the people, who are to blame for the state which book-stealing has set on the American name. Ixt us get on to another delusion which has amused us in England. We are gravely informed that the United States is the paradise of cheap literature, and that In- ternational Copyright would raise the price of American books to the inordinately high level of the English market. Our circulating Library system is cited as a proof of the truth of this assertion. There can be no two opinions on the absurdity of that system—but, such as it is, let us, at least, have it fairly understood. When a novel, for example, is published at the preposterous price of a guinea and a half, nobody pays that price. A de- duction of one-third at least is made. An individual speculator buys the book, and lends it to the public. Even this man, as an annual subscription, demands the nominal price originally asked for the book (a guinea and a half), and he will send you at least three novels a week, for a whole year. If this is not cheap reading, what is? But you will say the public may want to buy some of the best of these novels. Very well. Within a year from the date of its first issue, the book is republished at five or six shillings (a dollar and a half); and is again republished at two shillings (fifty cents). Setting the case of stolen literary property out of the question, are these not correct American prices? But why should the purchaser be made to wait till the book can be sold at a reasonable price? I admit the absurdity of making him wait. But is that absurdity likely, under any conceivable circumstances, to be copied in America? In England the circulating library is one of our old institutions which dies very slowly. In America it is no institution at all. Is it within the limits of probability that one of your citizens should prefer lending a novel to a few hundred subscribers, when he can sell it to purchasers by the thousand? It is a waste of words to ask the question. The one thing needful, so far as works of fiction are concerned, is to shew you that our popular price for a novel is the American popular price. Look at the catalogue of " Harper's Library of American Fiction," and you will find that the prices range from two to three shillings—fifty to seventy per cent. Turning to literature in general let us consult Messrs. Harper again. I am away from home while I write, and I have no means of quoting from a more recent catalogue than the summer list of 1878. However, the prices of less than two years ago in New York cannot be obsolete prices yet. Here are some specimens :— "The Atlantic Islands." Illustrated. 8vo. Cloth. $3 (twelve shillings). "Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1877." Large i2mo. Cloth. 82 (eight shillings). "The Student's French Grammar." i2mo. Cloth. $1.40 (say five shillings and six- pence). ## p. 34 (#54) ############################################## 34 THE AUTHOR. "Art Education applied to Industry." Illus- trated. 8vo. Cloth gilt. (Sixteen shillings.) "Harper's Travellers' Handbooks for Europe and the East. $3 per volume (twelve shillings). I am quite ready to believe that every one of these books is well worth the price asked for it. But don't tell me that American books are always cheap books, and let it at least be admitted that English publishers are not the only publishers who charge a remunerative price for a valuable work, which has proved a costly work to produce and which is not always likely to command a large circu- lation. To sum it up, literature which addresses all classes of the population is as cheap in England as it is in America. Literature which addresses special classes only will on that very account always be published at special prices (with or without inter- national copyright) on both sides of the Atlantic. V. I must not try your patience too severely, Colonel. Let me leave unnoticed some of the minor misunderstandings which obscure the American view of the copyright case, and let me occupy the closing lines of this letter with a really mischievous delusion. Just consider what this extra- ordinary delusion really amounts to. "We don't deny (the American publishers say) that you English authors have a moral right of property in your books, which we are quite ready to make a legal right, on conditions that we are to dictate the use which you make in America of your own property. If we confer on you international copy- right, we see with horror a future day when English publishers and English printers may start in business under our very noses, and we will only give you your due, with the one little drawback that we prohibit you to employ your countrymen to pub- lish your books in our country. Our respect for justice is only matched by our respect for our purses. Hurrah for honourable dealings with the British author—so long as there is no fear of a decrease in the balance at our bankers! Down with the British author, and away with the national honour if there is the slightest danger of the almighty dollar finding its way into other pockets than ours!" Am I exaggerating? Let two of the American publishers speak for themselves. Hear Messrs. Harper Brothers first. After reciting the general conditions on which they pro- pose to grant us copyright in the United States, they proceed as follows :—" And provided further, that within six months after registration of title the work shall have been manufactured and published in the country, and by a subject or citizen of the country in which such registration has been made." Mr. \V. H. Appleton, writing to the Ixmdon Times (in a curiously aggressive tone), expresses himself more plainly. "Our people," he says, evidently meaning our printers and publishers, "would rejoice to open this vast opportunity of your intellectual labours . . . But they hold them- selves perfectly competent to manufacture the books that shall embody your authors' thoughts, in accordance with their own needs, habits, and tastes, and in this they will not be interfered with." (Extracted from Messrs. Harper Brothers pamphlet, "New York, March 17th, 1879.") To argue the question with men who are of this way of thinking would be merely to waste your time and mine. It we are ever to have international copyright between the two countries we must have the same unreserved recognition of a moral right, the same ungrudging submission to the law of honour, which has produced the treaties exchanged between the European Powers. In this respect England has set the example to the United States. And, let me add, England has no fear of compe- tition. I have put the question myself to eminent London publishers ; they have no idea of intruding their trade interests into a gTeat question of national justice. They are ready to welcome wholesale competition in an open market. If they set up branch establishments in New York, the American publishers shall be free to follow their example in London. What does Mr. Marston (of the London firm of Sampson Low, Marston and Co.) say on this subject, in his letter to The Times, published May 12th, 1879 ?— "As a publisher, I trust I shall l>e absolved from the charge of advocating trade interests, when I express my strong conviction that the only Convention between the two countries which can possibly bear the test of time, must be one based upon the original and inherent rights of property! Let registration in Washington and London, within a month or two months of first publication in either country, convey respectively to English and American authors the same right in each other's country as in their own, and one's sense of justice will be satisfied. . . . Such restrictions as those proposed by American publishers exist in no other Conven- tions; they arise out of a most unfounded and unnecessary fear of competition by English publishers!" There is the opinion of one member of the representative of the trade. I could produce similar opinions from other members, but I must not needlessly lengthen my letter. Hear, instead, an American citizen who agrees with Mr. Marston, and with me. Let Mr. George Haven Putnam speak—delivering an address on International Copyright in New York, on the 29th of January, 1879:- "I believe that in the course of time the general ## p. 35 (#55) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 35 laws of trade would and ought to so regulate the arrangements for supplying the American public with books that, if there were no restriction as to volumes, the author would select the publishing agent, English or American, who could serve him to best advantage, and that agent would be found to be the man who would prepare for the largest possible circle of American readers the editions best suited to their wants ... If English pub- lishers settling here could excel our American houses in this understanding and in these facilities they ought to be at liberty to do so, and it would be for the interest of the public that no hindrance should be placed in their way." I have now, I hope, satisfied you that I do not stand quite alone in my way of thinking. If you make inquiries you will find that other American citizens, besides Mr. Putnam, can see the case plainly as it stands on its merits. Thus far I have been careful to base our claim to international copyright on no larger ground than the ground of justice. Would you like, before I conclude, to form some idea of the money we lose by the freedom of robbery which is one of the freedoms of the American Republic? Take-the illustrious instance of Charles Dickens. The price agreed on with his English publishers for the work interrupted by his death, " Edwin Drood," was seven thousand five hundred pounds, with a promise of an addition to this sum if the work exceeded a certain circulation. Even Dickens' enormous popularity in England is beaten by his popularity in the United States. He was more read in your country than in mine, and, as a necessary consequence (with international copy- right) his work would be worth more in America than in England. What did he get in America for the "advance sheets?" With the pirates to be considered in making the bargain? Less than a seventh part of what his English publisher has agreed to give him before a line of his novel was written—one thousand pounds! But the case of Charles Dickens is a case of a writer who stands apart, and without a rival in popularity. Take my case, if you like, as repre- sentative, the position of writers of a lesser degree of popularity. I fail to remember the exact price which Messrs. Harper paid me for the advance sheets of "The Woman in White." It was certainly not a thousand pounds; perhaps half a thousand, or perhaps not so much. At any rate (with the pirates in the background waiting to steal) the great firm in New York dealt with me liberally. It has been calculated by persons who under- stand the matter better than I do that for every one reader in England I have ten readers in the United States. How many nnauthorized editions of this one novel of mine—published without my deriving any profit from them—made their appear- ance in America? I can only tell you, as a basis for calculation, one American publisher informed a friend of mine that he had sold one hundred and twenty thousand copies of "The Woman in White." He never sent me sixpence! Good-bye for the present, Colonel. I must go back to my regular work, and make money for my American robbers, under the sanction of Congress. * THE TROUBLES OF A BEGINNER. THE perusal of a " Hard Case" in the first issue of The Author tempts me to put on paper my own experiences as a beginner. Owing to what might be called a mild inoculation of the fraudulent publisher at the commencement of my career, the consequences of my gullibility have not proved so pecuniarily serious as they were in a "Hard Case"; but that has not been for lack of trying on the part of the various so-called societies, or dishonest tradesmen, who thrive on the inexperience and vanity of the literary fledgling. I launched my first effort in the shape of a short story, under the auspices of the "London Literary Society." Their prospectus was all that could be desired. For the modest sum of one guinea per annum my literary success was assured. They undertook to place MSS. in the hands of magazine editors, who (apparently) had no other means of obtaining copy for their publications. Thus young and unknown authors were placed upon the first rung of the ladder of fame, and it would be their own fault if they did not eventually reach the top. By thus establishing a regular method of communi- cation between author and publisher, interest and prejudice, so fatal to beginners, would be over- ridden, and a long-felt want supplied. So it would, —but the "long-felt want" was that experienced by the organizers of the Society. I sent in my guinea and my MS., and waited hopefully for the result. The receipt for the money was a work of art; it was no common receipt, it was a Diploma informing me that I had been enrolled a member of the London Literary Society, and re- questing that in future I would add L.L.S. after my name when communicating with the Secretary. In due course I received an official looking docu- ment which proved to be a criticism of my story. Then for the first time I knew, what I had hitherto only suspected, that I was undoubtedly a writer of merit! According to the criticism nothing stood between me and success but the narrow-minded- ness and prejudice of undiscriminating editors. ## p. 36 (#56) ############################################## 3« THE AUTHOR. The document concluded by recommending me to send my story to a publication entitled Lloyd's Magazine. Of course I was delighted. Certainly I could not remember having ever heard of Lloyd's Maga- zine, but then it was hardly to be expected that I had heard of all the magazines published, and at any rate I hoped they would pay well. It was probably connected with Lloyd's paper. The editor was very civil, and assured me he would be pleased to print my story, adding casually that some alterations would have to be made, and little technicalities attended to, before the MS. would be ready for the printer's hands, but that half a guinea would cover these necessary expenses. Hard as it may be to believe, I sent my half guinea! How I marvel at my credulity. But then I knew nothing of such things, and it seemed quite possible that a tyro like myself might have made technical mistakes that would entail a certain amount of trouble. I also received a prospectus setting forth the advantages enjoyed by subscribers to Lloyd's Magazine. "Every talented author would ensure immediate appearance in print;" this, it was as- serted, would prove most beneficial in treating with editors who objected to unknown writers. "Ster- ling merit would be amply remunerated;" this was satisfactory, as the verdict of the Literary Society- had inferred that my particular qualifications came under that head. In fact, the advantages were so great, and so plausibly set forth, that I felt I really must get into Lloyd's Magazine at any price. Finally, the editor wrote to say that the MS. was now corrected and ready for the press, and that if I invested in twenty-four copies of the magazine, at 6d. apiece, my story should appear in the next issue! Having already paid so much, I took the twenty-four copies, thinking, as so many beginners do, that to get a story printed in anything was better than not getting it printed at all, and trust- ing to the promises of the prospectus as to the future. However, one glance at Lloyd's Magazine was sufficient to dispel any such hopes. To judge by the calibre of its contents all the contributors must have paid as heavily as myself, to induce anyone to print their productions; and heartily disgusted I sent in my resignation to the London Literary Society. I was informed in return that not having given three months' notice I was liable for my subscrip- tion. I sent it, and at the same time an intimation that I wished to withdraw. The following year I received a claim for my subscription, upon which I drew the attention of the Secretary to my previous communication. The only answer to this was another claim, of which I took no notice. Again, the year after I was sent a request for two years' subscription, which was quickly followed by a letter threatening me with the law. Whether further proceedings would have been taken against me I never knew, as the Secretary solved the question by going bankrupt. The Court of Bankruptcy informed me that I was down on the books of the Society for two guineas, but on explaining matters the affair was dropped, and my dealings with the London Literary Society became a thing of the past I think that I bought my experience cheaply. One of the most ingenious attempts at fraud of the kind was perpetrated by a Society calling itself the "Southampton Association." Upon seeing the advertisement of a new magazine entitled Pen and Ink, I sent in a sample MS. In response, I got a letter informing me that, after looking through my MS., the Society was prepared to accept me as a "staff member" of the Association. This, at first sight, seemed all I could wish for—there is a peculiarly fascinating ring about the word "staff" to a beginner's ear. The letter, however, went on to explain what the privileges of a staff member were, i.e., "one whose contributions can be accepted and paid for," not will be "immediately proofs are passed by the editor." The wording of this sounded suspicious, and when the epistle concluded by a casual request that I would fill up the form enclosed and return it, the said form being a pledge on my part to pay a guinea to the Society, I decided to have nothing further to do with it. My course of the Literary Society had rendered me proof against any more attacks of the same sort. I was very nearly falling a prey, however, to the wiles of the fraudulent publisher. I had perpetrated a one volume novel, and sent it up to Messrs. A. and B. Of course it was "favourably reported on" by the reader, and was going to make a great impression. The firm offered to publish it and pay half expenses, if I would pay the other half, the profits to be also equally shared. This offer sounded reasonable to inexperienced ears, and I asked for an estimate. The answer was, that my half share would amount to ^55 io*. (Refer- ence to a little book since published by the Society of Authors will show that the entire cost of publish- ing such a volume is £25 18*. yd.!) Fortunately I was alarmed at the sum asked, and declined the offer. They wrote again, offering to publish the book if I would pay ^40 towards it, and receive one-third of the profits; this I also declined. They then suggested bringing it out in is. form for the book stalls, my share to be ^28 10s. At this point, however, I became a member of the Society of Authors, and on sending the whole correspondence to the Secretary, received a letter ## p. 37 (#57) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 37 in reply, which saved me from the clutches of the respectable A. and B., and quite decided me that it was better posterity should suffer from the loss of my book, than that I should suffer from the loss of my money. I may add that the above are a few of the ex- periences to which any beginner is liable when acting without advice. In my successful under- takings I have been fortunate enough to fall into the hands of one of the most honourable members of the profession. * "CURSED COINCIDENCES." London, June io, 1890. There is a source of great annoyance and pecuniary loss to authors for which it is possible that some remedy may be found by your aid. I can best set it forth by stating the simple fact that every one of the last six works which I have written, or on which I have collaborated, has been met or anticipated by a similar publication on the same subject; in every instance to my own detri- ment and annoyance, or that of others. In some of thesecases the coincidence was doubtless accidental; and I am satisfied that the authors of the books were as ignorant that I was engaged on a like work, as I was of their intentions. Could we have known it I am sure that we should have been spared in one way or the other great trouble, loss, and vexation. It is true that such an extraordinary run of bad luck savours of the marvellous; but if anyone who reads this suspects me of mistake or exaggeration, I shall be glad to supply him with all the details, and refer him to my publishers, who will fully confirm my assertions. But the history of literature is full of instances of men who, after devoting months or years to a work, have had the sorrow to learn that another had been engaged in a similar task. The very obvious remedy for this among honour- able men would be for authors to announce their intentions, and make it known in your columns what they are actually engaged on and really intend to publish. On the other hand, there are innumerable hacks and quacks in literature who would avail themselves of these very announce- ments to "hurry up " works on the same subjects, to say nothing of the half-honest scribes who would pre-empt a subject by declaring that they are engaged on it—the engagement being like that of the American young woman who admitted, in a breach of promise case, that she had nothing written to prove a betrothal, nor had the defendant ever spoken to her, but that "looks had passed between them." Many men seem to think that if they have only looked at a subject it is their property for ever. If there were a real guild of literary men holding and exercising power—such as the Society of Authors may become—this great evil of "the unlucky chance," or cursed coincidence, could really be obviated. For it could declare thieves and plagiarists "niddering" or infamous, and by establishing and exacting a high code of honour it could eliminate much of the disreputable Bohe- mianism or carelessness as to morals from the profession of letters. And if it be not really a profession it would soon become one by the simple process 01 outlawing all who disgrace it. For in fact the dishonest writer is as great an injury to his betters in the craft as the dishonest publisher, and deserves even greater punishment. A few cases of flagrant meanness vigorously exposed would soon end the career of many literary sharpers. Charles G. Leland. THE EXCHANGE OF BOOKS. WOULD it be possible 10 open a Book Exchange in the pages of The Author? I am myself continually compelled to buy books which serve their purpose and are hence- forth of no more use to me. I buy them not for their rarity but for their practical use. Others there are who are always looking out for the completion of sets or the improvement of collections, for first editions, for books specially bound, for books privately printed (of which a certain second-hand bookseller is now bringing out a catalogue). Everybody who wants books depend upon those excellent people, the second-hand booksellers and their lists. They depend upon the people who, like myself, are always wanting to get rid of books. Why cannot The Author give us space, if only a page, to advertise our wants and our wares? Members of the Society should, perhaps, be allowed to take up a certain space for the mere cost of the printing and paper. Other people might be made to pay for the privilege at such a rate as would assist the finances of the paper. Can my suggestion find a corner? F. R. S. ## p. 38 (#58) ############################################## 3« THE AUTHOR. LEAFLET No. II. On Royalties. WHAT is loosely and ignorantly called "The Royalty System"—a system where all is chaos—may be defined as pay- ment by results. It came into existence chiefly as a sop to authors who were discontented with the so-called half-profit system, after it had been worked into a system which gave all the profits to the publisher. "At least," they thought, "there will be something for us if we are to have so much for every copy sold." They therefore signed any agreement in this sense that was placed in their hands without asking what it meant—what the proposed arrangement kept for the publisher and what it would give them. They signed what they were told to sign, and they took what was offered them. They began to sign these royalty agreements about twenty years ago, when the "system" first came into use. They have continued to sign them; they are signing them every day, and it is not too much to say that not one single author up to this day of writing, outside the office of the Society, knows when he signs, what he has kept for himself, or what proportion of the results of his labour he has given to the man who sells his book. In accordance with the principles of this Society, which endeavours to throw light upon everything connected with the production and sale of books, or in other words, enables authors to understand exactly what they give away and what they reserve —what, in fact, an agreement means—the Leaflet of this month is devoted to a very brief statement of the "Royalty System " in its various forms applied to author and publisher. The discovery that the author was as easily gulled by a Royalty as by a show of half profits, caused certain gentry to introduce improvements into the original plan. Thus the Royalty at first offered and eagerly taken by the ignorant author was 10 per cent, on the published price from the beginning. Then one man sharper than his brothers discovered that his authors would take 5 per cent, from the beginning; another that his men would take 10 per cent, on the trade price; a third, and this was the most happy discovery of all, that his men would take 10 per cent, to begin when a great number of copies had been first sold. In the forthcoming work on "Methods of Publication," the author prints a table which shows the working of the system and the results to author and publisher. He takes as an example an ordinary novel in one volume, sold at 6s., a very common form of book at this day. These six shilling novels vary considerably in length, running from 70,000 words to 180,000 words—or even more. The average length, however, may be taken as from 70,000 to 100,000 words. The cost of producing such a work is, with a liberal allowance for advertising, as follows :— (1) For the first 1,000 copies nearly £100. (2) For the second edition of 3,000 copies, £120, or with a liberal increase of adver- tising, .£150. (3) If the success be so great as to justify a large edition of 10,000, the cost of production of this edition would be about ^360, or with increased advertising say ^400. (4) The trade price of the book varies from 3s. 4</. to 3-r. Sd. We may fairly take it at 3*. 6d. The trade price is generally arrived at by - taking two-thirds of the published price and allowing thirteen copies as twelve. In the case of the great distributing houses an additional 10 per cent, is allowed. There are also cases in which lower terms are given for special reasons. Many copies, however, are sold at a higher price. (5) The publisher therefore obtains— a. For the first edition of 1,000 copies, ^175- /3. For a second edition of 3,000 copies, 7. For an edition of 10,000 copies, ^1,750. Out of this he has to pay the author, printer, paper- maker, binder, and the advertisements. We might proceed at once to our table, but for one objection which will be raised. It is this. ## p. 39 (#59) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 39 Suppose the publisher prints io,ooo copies and sells only 1,000 copies, he then has 9,000 copies on his hands. That is true. To overprint is a mistake that inexperienced publishers often make: experi- enced, rarely. The wise publisher feels his way even though to print 3,000 only will cost him a halfpenny more on each copy than boldly to order 10,000. When the demand for a popular book ceases, which is not suddenly but gradually, the prudent publisher is not generally left with many copies on hand. It must be remembered that we are here speaking of a popular and successful book, of which there are a great many issued every year. Now, then, for our table. We deduct from the publisher's profits (1) what he pays to the author, (2) what he pays for production. The reader will see set forth in order the respective shares of profit presented by a 5 per cent, up to a 35 per cent, royalty to author and to publisher. The per- centage is taken on the published price, the full price of 6s. I. On the sale of the first 1,000. Per cent. ■ 10 ■5 20 25 30 £ £ £ £ £ £ Publisher 60 45 3° — — Author ... '5 3° 45 60 75 90 II. On the sale of the next 3,000. Per cent. 5 10 "5 20 3° 35 £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Publisher 33° 285 •40 195 ■ 50 105 Author ... 45 90 13s 180 225 270 315 III. On the sale of an edition of 10,000. Pe r cent. 5 IO IS 20 3" 35 £ £ £ £ £ C £ Publisher 1,300 1,050 900 750 600 45° 300 Author ... 150 450 600 75° 900 1,050 Since it is more common to meet with a success corresponding with the second than with the first table, let us consider what the figures mean. They speak for themselves, but to those who cannot understand figures let us explain. "Your publisher, dear Sir or Madam, when he benevolently offers you a 5 per cent, royalty, will on a second edition of 3,000 copies make ^330 to your ^45, i.e., eight times your share. If he gives you 10 per cent.—which is common—he will make ,£285 to your £90, that is, three times your share. If 15 per cent, he will make ^240 to your ^135, i.e., twice your share. If 20 per cent., .£195 to your ;£i8o. If 25 per cent., ^170 to your .£225. If 30 per cent., £10$ to your ^270. Consider this, and refuse the 10 per cent, with indignation." As for the "fancy" royalties, those on trade price, those to begin when a certain number of copies have gone and so forth, the reader may calculate for himself the meaning of these pro- posals. We will, however, on a future occasion assist his calculations. With the help of these tables, too, the reader will be able to make an intelligent attempt towards finding an answer to the question, "What proportion of profit should in equity be the share of the publisher in the case of a book which has no risk?" * THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND. "Yours be the task to foster and protect Genius in rags and learning in neglect." W. T. I- ITZGERALD. THE object of the Royal Literary Fund, as summed up in Mr. Fitzgerald's Anniversary Ode, is one of which all of us, members of this Society, must cordially approve. Here are its aims set forth a little more at length:—■ "To administer assistance to Authors of published works of approved literary merit and of important contributions to periodical literature, who may be reduced to distress by unavoidable calamities, or deprived by enfeebled faculties, or declining life, of the power of literary exertion. This assistance may ## p. 40 (#60) ############################################## 40 THE AUTHOR. be extended at the death of an Author to his widow and children." Every one may not know the pathetic incident to which the Fund actually owed its origin. It was this. A member of a club in London, much frequented by literary men, being arrested for a small debt, died in consequence. It then leaked out that the unfortunate scholar had lived for years in the extremest poverty, but had borne his suffer- ings in silence. Some fifteen years before this occurrence, in the very club of which he was a member, an attempt had been set on foot to found some sort of pension scheme, but it had fallen through, after a few desultory meetings. This, however, galvanized it into life again. Mr. David Williams was from the first the life and soul of the movement. He had been the person with whom the idea first originated, and he was the first to assist in its resuscitation. He organized the scheme, and was indefatigable in its promotion. He levied taxes on all his friends and acquaintances, and persuaded actors, poets, and princes to sound the praises of the new institution. We fear he must have been, good worthy man, a terrible bore. We learn that he himself made house-to-house visits in behalf of his project, and collected large sums of money in that way. In addition to which he gave personal attention to all the routine business, with the result that, when the Society had literally thousands invested, and a most magnificent roll of supporters, the executive expenses were returned as only £$o. In 1818 the Society was incorporated. After Williams's death, however, the Society had rather a stormy time. This was not only due to the loss of their indefatigable leader. The extreme secrecy with which the doles were made, while show- ing the kindly delicacy of the administrators, might, it is obvious, if sufficient care were not taken, be the source of abuse. Sufficient care was not taken, and abuses followed. The affairs of the Society were at that time administered by an Executive Committee and a Council. The Executive Committee did the work, and the Council lent their name. When some of the work could not be approved of, a quarrel took place between the Council and the Committee. Many of the Council joined in the general demand for an investigation into the manner in which the Society's affairs had been conducted. Then came an agitation for reform. The leader of this was Dickens, who attributed the malpractices, which had undoubtedly occurred, to the demoral- izing effect inflicted upon men by much sitting on boards of direction. The demand was to a certain extent acceded to, and Dickens, Mr. Wentworth Dilke, and Sir E. L. Bulwer were placed upon the first Committee of reform, and no one has since that day breathed a word against the way in which the Fund is administered. The benefits are disposed entirely without regard to religious sect, the only disqualification being offences against public morality. Neither are they con- fined to Englishmen. At the dinner of 1822, when Chateaubriand's health was proposed by the Duke of York, as the ambassador of France, he mentioned, in his acknowledgment of the toast, that he was himself aware of the benevolent character of the Fund, for, during the period of the French Revolution, a French literary gentleman was in difficulties, and these difficulties having been repre- sented to the Committee by one of his friends, a sum was voted sufficient to relieve him from all anxiety, and that at a time when the institution was itself struggling into notice. ' This gentleman, Chateaubriand continued, was thus enabled to maintain his ground. At the Restoration he returned to France to acquire fresh honours as a literary man, and to rise in the favour of his Sovereign. He had now returned to England, but in a different capacity—as the ambassador of his Sovereign; and he was that man. When Macaulay inveighed against all institutions having for their object the pecuniary relief of authors, he was taking a position he might be expected to take, one which it was dignified for him to take, and one which we sincerely wish could rationally be taken. Macaulay's contention was that good work would always find sufficient pay, and that therefore the very people who would require such assistance were the people who did not do good work. That, in fact, all such Societies must lead to the encouragement of the incompetent. This of course is very far from being the case. A great deal of admirable work, useful to mankind, and most creditable to the author, never can command sufficient circulation to make it remunerative. The Fund most wisely allows for the fact that, whereas while the author is able to work at full pressure, he may keep his head above water, there may come a time when such "H state cannot be continued. His methods may get out of date. The very lucidity of his teaching may have enabled some younger man, more in touch with modern thought, to carry similar work to a point of higher perfection. Old age and sickness may arrive. At once poverty stares the author of unremunerative work in the face. He need be in no way impro- vident and yet be unable to lay aside money to meet such an emergency. It is in such cases as these that the bounty of the Royal Literary Fund is freely and delicately bestowed. ## p. 41 (#61) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 4- It is in such cases as these that such assistance is too often urgently necessary. There exists another institution for the relief of authors. There is a provision on the Civil List for pensions to the amount of ^1,200 per annum, which should be devoted to the reward of (1) Persons having just claims on the Royal benevo- lence; (2) Persons who have rendered personal service to the Crown; (3) Persons who have benefited the public by discoveries in science; (4) Persons who have benefited the public by their attainments in literature and the arts. Mr. Colles' book* has shown very clearly that these pensions are awarded in a most reprehensible manner, and are very generally devoted to the relief of people often having no claim to charity at all, certainly having no claim upon this establish- ment, and occasionally having a distinct claim to bounty from other sources. The author may well look somewhat askance at an institution whose benefits are administered with so much caprice, and so regularly reaped by the wrong people. While there is no doubt that the writers of much good work do not derive much good pay from it, so that in certain cases the assistance of charity be* comes absolutely needful, it is perfectly certain that there would be fewer such cases if the literary man were more alive to his own interests, mors careful of his own property. We learn from the Prince of Wales's speech that the Royal Literary Fund has lately made grants to the families of the late J. G. Wood and the late R. A. Proctor. These men's names were household words; their teaching and their books were known in every family. They were not devoted to abstract and abstruse science; they did not produce works of great research, appealing necessarily to so small a public as to make it impossible that their work should be pecuniarily successful. On the contrary, they were the most popular expositors whom the world has ever seen of the physical and natural wonders of the world. Their books had an enormous popular circulation, and the fact that it has been necessary for their families to apply for assistance to the Royal Literary Fund speaks volumes for the statement made so often in the paper of this Society. "The nature of literary property is mis- understood and its very reality is hardly recog- nized." Had these writers understood the value of their own property they would never, perhaps, have become the recipients either in life, or through their widows, after death, of the Literary Fund Bounty. * "Literature and the Pension List," by W. Morris Colles. Cr. 8vo., y. td. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. VOL. I. A HARD CASE. No. II THIS publisher, Mr. Henry Skimpington- Brown, prided himself on his double- barrelled name. It certainly lent weight to his assurances that he was in a position to pro- duce guarantees from most influential people that he was honest—nay more, that he was generous. He came under the notice of the Society of Authors in the following way. He was an adver- tising person, whose letter paper bore the elastic title of "publisher" upon it, and whose address was in Fleet Street. An author, bitten by one of his specious circulars, sent a manuscript to him for his consideration. Here is the author's account of what followed :— "I unfortunately entrusted my book to Mr. Skim- pington-Brown. He engaged to publish for me any number of copies required " up to 1,000," beginning at 200. The book came out. I at once began to receive letters from friends, acquaintances, and book-sellers, complaining that they could not obtain copies through the ordinary channels. Mr. Mudie also informed me privately that my publisher was quite unable to meet his orders. I wrote re- peatedly to Mr. Skimpington-Brown demanding an explanation. Sometimes I got an evasive answer; generally no notice was taken of my letters. By this time I was quite certain that something was wrong, and a friend of mine, who interviewed him for me, elicited from him :—that he had only printed 100 copies; that the type had been broken up; and that he had not enough money to pay for composition again." The author had given the man £%o to produce the book. Now, although a part of the money paid was for advertisement of the book, no adver- tisements were ever seen except in a trade circular once or twice. Hardly any copies were sent out for review. What reviews were obtained were very good ones. Therefore when the author applied to the Society of Authors, the position of affairs was thus:—He had been induced to pay the publisher a sum of money equivalent to double as much as was actually spent in bringing the little book out; also an extra ^5 on some pretext or other; third, a large sum for author's corrections. Only 100 copies were printed. The circulating libraries could not put the book on their lists, because they could get no copies. The author had received nothing back but a small sum obtained by privately disposing of a few copies to his friends. A few letters were written which seemed to have 11 ## p. 42 (#62) ############################################## 42 THE AUTHOR the effect of temporarily frightening Mr. Skimping- ton-Brown, for it was at this time that he sent to the Society a letter in which he said that most in- fluential people were willing to come forward and speak to his honesty and generosity. It happened that another author had some idea of publishing a work with Mr. Skimpington-Brown. To this gentleman, whom he seemed to think might possibly prove a new victim, the worthy publisher mentioned the first author's book, and stated that he was bringing out a second edition of it, for which there was already a demand for neatly 3,000 copies! But the two authors were acquainted with each other, and this communication reached the first author. As he said, "the state of things is worse now than ever. As long as the book was prac- tically unpublished, there was a chance of getting a new publisher for it; but if this man, hiving evidently no position, no capital, and, indeed, no right to the name of publisher, really keeps his hold on the book, it is a ruined work. He cannot, in fact, publish it himself, and yet he deprives the author of his chance of finding another publisher." So it was determined that, at all events, the book must be got out of his hands, and that after- wards the possibility of making him disgorge some of the plunder must be considered. The agreement was unstamped, that is, for prac- tical purposes. It must be admitted that it had affixed to it a penny postage stamp. In it the publisher covenanted to "print,publish, and push(\) the book, and meet all demands up to 1,000 copies." This latter phrase alone would have put anyone of experience upon his guard. It is almost invariably the prelude to the following dodge for extortion. A large number of copies is named, say 10,000; then a correspondingly large figure is named as the publisher's risk, say £50. The author may feel that £50 is not much for 10,000 copies; more, he may ask someone who knows, and will be informed that the demand is not very exorbitant. So he pays it. Then only 100 copies are printed. The author objects. The other per- son says: "I never said I should produce 10,000 copies. No good publisher ever produces such large editions of new men's work. I said I would 'meet demands' up to that number. I have as yet not been asked for more than I have printed." But the author may say: "It did not cost you ,£50 to produce 100 copies." To which the other person may reply: "I never said it did." Only in one way had Mr. Skimpington-Brown contracted to do something definite. He said he would advertise up to £20. He was asked to pro- duce vouchers for this sum. He then said that he had only advertised to the extent of j£g, and that, of course, the surplus would be refunded. The Society of Authors made an appointment with this honest tradesman to meet their accountant. But the accountant found the office locked up, and received a note stating that his books were at his suburban office! At last, upon threats of legal procedure, Mr. Skimpington-Brown appeared, and, with tears in his eyes, refunded j£io. He said that was all he pos- sessed. This was all the satisfaction that could be possibly obtained for the author. Nothing would have been gained by legal procedure, and the author was advised to take Mr. Skimpington- Brown's little all. * THE CHESTNUT BELL. THE sound of the Chestnut Bell is now be- coming rare in America; heard indeed as seldom as those of the Sunken City, comme- morated by Riickert, which "peal once more their old melodious chime" but once or twice in a century, and then only to the Sunday child who is born to hear what is inaudible to the Philistine. But before the last Ming of this extraordinary instrument dies away, it may be worth while to record its history, and give for the first time what is probably a true clue to its origin. About four years ago Senator Jerome, of New York who, because of his immaculate life, admir- able gravity, and personal resemblance to a famous picture byMurillo, has always been known as Saint Jerome—was one day pouring forth in a speech a grand series of moral axioms, which, however admirable, "had not," as Heine says, "novelty for merit," when all at once Senator Riddleberger, of Virginia, the licensed clown, jester, and mischief maker of the Senate, called to a point of order. And on being asked what it was he replied: "Mr. Speaker, I want the Senator from New York to stop ringing that d -d old Chestnut bell of his." The mot was new and it spread "like wildfire" over the Union. Wherever the Frenchman of 1840 would have cried connu, the American roared Chestnut. If an orator uttered a truism—if any body dared to say " be virtuous and you will be happy"—"Chestnut!"was sure to be heard. Woe to the narrators of old Joes, for the nuts were cast at them, and they were abashed. Ere long the Chestnut Bell itself appeared. It was a small highly resonant apparatus of a tintinnabulistic or campanological nature, worn as an appendage to the button hole—it went with a spring, and its sound became a terror in the land. I am now in posses- ## p. 43 (#63) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 43 sion of six different kinds of Chestnut Bells—none of them are loud, but all are of piercing, insulting, aggravating, tone. It has happened that even clergymen when using platitudes or dropping into cant, have been called to silence by the dreadful bell. It is usual in the United States whenever a new slang term appears for all the minor literati of the press to at once invent Jts origin. Consequently there were innumerable anecdotes, every one more anthentic than the others, telling how and when the term Chestnut came into existence. Of these I have made a collection, with the result of distrust- ing them all. In such cases it is almost invariably "the oldest which is truest." The oldest in this case is Italian. In Northern Italy, especially in Florence, when a man would discredit or snub another, and intimate that what he says is untrue, or contemptible, or worn out, he puts his thumb between his fore and middle finger, and presents it. This is called making the Chestnut. In Naples they call it la fica, or the fig, but the castagna or Chestnut is the most ancient term. All of the American origins confine themselves to the Chestnut, but say nothing of the bell. For the bell is the real object, "Chestnut" being only the adjective which qualifies it. This part of the problem is specially interesting. There has long been known in Bavaria, possibly in other parts of Germany, but I have only known it in the Bayerisches Land, what is called the Lugnermesser or Liar's Knife. This is a knife of wood exactly resembling those which are used by grocers in England to scoop butter or lard. There is a hole iri it in which hangs a hawk's bell, and on the blade is an inscription of which the following is, though not a translation, a toler- able imitation:— Who liftes thys Knyfe Nor ringes y* Bell, Ne'er in his Lyfe A Lye did tell. The most remarkable of these knives which I have ever seen is in the possession of Miss Mary B. Reath, of Philadelphia. Another was in the great Art Exhibition at Munich in 1888. A third is in the Artists' Club of Munich. Whenever a member tells a doubtful or a worn-out or commonly known story, and tries to pass it off for new, some one rings the bell. All three bore inscriptions in old Bavarian which were, however, so peculiar and requiring so much explanation, that it is hardly worth while to give them here. The ringing of the Liar's Bell is a kind of shut- ting off or condemnation, and as such is manifestly derived from the " bell, book, and candle," the form vol. 1. of excommunication of the Church of Rome, ending by closing the book against the offender, extin- guishing the candle, and ringing the bell. (" Reliq. Antiq., i, 1, Gawaine and Gavin, 3023— Halliwell.") Also to bear the bell, to carry off the prize, to be unsurpassed as a liar. For a bell, a whetstone, a knife, and, in America, a hat have here or there been substituted. It is very strange that Friedrich in his "Symbolik der Natur," says of the chestnut that it is a type of the unchangeable, of the old which ever persists in remaining—which is the very spirit of all that is hackneyed, "the reason for this being that its leaves femain so long unchanged." "And as most races name their national fools from some popular dish, as Jack Pudding, in England; Hanswurst, in Germany; Pickle Herring, in Holland; Jean Potage, in France; so the Italians call a silly, stupid, would-be witty fellow a Marone, which is a large kind of chestnut." But the real ancient meaning of the nut is Beharrlich- keit, obstinate endurance, like that of an old story which holds its own for ever. Therefore the Greeks called it the Euboic acorn, and con- secrated it to Jupiter, he being of all the gods the most unyielding. It is also to be noted that the Greeks and Romans carried little silver bells, the tinkling of which drove away witchcraft and evil spells—which latter certainly include old Joe Millers, so well known to possess a kind of dire and intolerable fascination. I have a fac simile of one of these ancient chestnut bells, with its strange incantation, which I carry in my dressing case as a warning. I trust that the reader will not conclude, from what I have written, that I need it! C. G. Leland. * The Death of a Scholar.—" Come and see the difference there is between the powerful Rabbis of the Land of Israel and the pious Rabbis of Babylon. Resh Lakish made a funeral oration in honour of a certain disciple of the wise, and exclaimed, 'Alas! the I and of Isiael has lost a great man!' Whereas Rabbi Nachman at Babylon declined delivering a funeral oration on a similar occasion; for, said he, 'What can I say more than Alas! a basketful of books is lost'?"—Talmud Megillah. * i) 2 ## p. 44 (#64) ############################################## 44 THE AUTHOR. "THE ART OF AUTHORSHIP." In August, 1888, a well-known English novelist received the following letter :— "Coventry, "Dear Madam, "August 21, '88. "I am wanting to address our young people, in response to their request, by way of a lecture upon the art of composition and the means essential to secure a forcible and interesting style of expression. I have thought that the only way by which I could add any considerable interest and usefulness to an evening's pleasant intercourse upon such a topic would be to secure, if at all possible, a personal testimony of the experience of one or two of our most skilful and honoured authors. "To that end I have taken the very great liberty to write to you and solicit your generous help. May I be permitted to ask whether in early life you pave yourself to any special training with a view to the formation of style, and also whether you can give us any information of your own methods that would aid us to realize, in some degree at least, the secrets of your own great powers in the use of a clear and forcible English. "I write to you because your finely conceived novels are cherished friends of my own, delightful companions which give me more pleasure than I can well say; and also because I feel in asking such a favour, that you must be so accustomed to people getting truly attached to you by reason of your beautiful stories, that you will very readily forgive the request even though you cannot grant it. But if you are able to spare a few minutes to do me this kind service, I can assure you of the gratitude of many beside myself. "Pray excuse this long letter, and if I am giving you any trouble, or ignorantly making an undue demand on your time, do more than forgive me, take no notice of me, and you will be appreciated and understood by "Yours most faithfully and respectfully, "GEORGE BAINTON." "Mrs. Parr. Now this was really a very polite and appreciative letter, and to it she returned a courteous answer. It was nice to be considered among "one or two of the most skilful authors," and kindness of heart prompted her to assist a clergyman in his task of lecturing to his young people upon a subject that, like Ah Sin, "he did not understand." But in May, 1890, she received the following letter from her correspondent:— "Dear Madam, "May 2, '90. "Some time since I wrote to you concerning a lecture I was about to give to a number of young men upon the art of composition, and asked your aid. You most generously responded to my appeal, and gave me the privilege of using your kind words of counsel and experience in the event of my being desirous to put the lecture into printed form. I thought you would like to see the extract from your letter thus incorporated into the lecture—a lecture I have expanded into book form and published through Messrs. Clarke & Co., Fleet St., under the title'The Art of Authorship.' The little volume now issued is simply the lecture amplified—matter growing under my hands until it far exceeded the limits of the pamphlet I at first intended. "For your valued aid I again thank you most heartily, and am "Very faithfully yours, "Mrs. Louisa Parr. "George Bainton." The author gave the Correspondence to this Society. She denies having given Mr. Bainton leave to print her letter, and considers that its appearance in a collection of letters headed "The Art of Authorship," and published as a book by Mr. Bainton, is a breach of faith. On receiving these letters it was decided to in- vestigate the case a little and to appeal to a few of our members, whose names were mentioned both in the book and in public advertisement as "personal contributors," and ascertain if they thought like- wise. It will not be possible to print all the replies in full, but here are a few extracts :— Mr. Alfred Austin says:— "I answered Mr. Bainton's enquiries concerning how I formed my style, from motives of courtesy and good nature, and I hear of the use he has made of what I wrote with surprise and regret." Mr. Hall Caine :— "The man wrote to me to say that he was about to lecture on style to his young men, who were enthusiastic readers of mine, etc., etc., and would take it as an honour, etc., if I would write them a letter on my personal aims and endeavours, early efforts, etc., with much of the same sort. Of course I was drawn by the silly subterfuge, and when, some time later, a second letter asked for permission to print my answer in a pamphlet that was to contain 'the text of the lecture,' I was once more made victim. It was not until the book appeared that I realized that the man had ## p. 45 (#65) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 45 written to everybody, that his 'young men ' were all fudge, that the book was the thing, and that, thanks to the folly of folks like myself, he had got it cheap." Here it becomes evident that, at any rate to novelists, Mr. Bainton employed an almost in- variable form—the letter, in fact, which we began by quoting. For Mr. Grant Allen, Mr. R. D. Blackroore, Mrs. Lovett Cameron, Mr. W. S. Gilbert, Mr. Rider Haggard, Mrs. Kennard, Mr. George Meredith, Miss F. M. Peard, Mr. F. W. Robinson, John Strange Winter, Mr. Edmund Yates, and Miss Charlotte Yonge all were ignorant that Mr. Bainton intended to print their remarks; all believed that their assistance was being asked by a clergyman and a stranger for his young people, and none had an idea that they were being vic- timised by a circular letter. This simplicity is the more excusable that in the specimens before us as we write, Mr. Bainton distinctly says he is applying to "one or two" authors. Unless one knows him personally before- hand, how is the ordinary gentleman, how is the ordinary lady, to have an idea that by this state- ment Mr. Bainton may mean one or two hundred authors? Space will not allow that we should print more than brief extracts from these authors' letters. Mr. Rider Haggard says :— "Some years ago Mr. Bainton, or some person, wrote to me saying he was going to give a lecture, and asked my opinion on certain literary matters. I replied, and, if my memory serves me, stipulated that if he printed anything, I should have a proof. The other day I received a printed slip, which I took for and corrected as a proof. On further examination of covering letter, however, I found it was an exiract from a printed book forwarded for my perusal. "I think it quite unjustifiable that matter obtained for one purpose should be used for another without reference to its author." Mr. Bainton does appear in Mr. Rider Haggard's case to have gone through the form of obtaining permission to print his remarks, although he disre- garded the stipulation that his request evoked. But in some cases he appears to have gone more directly to work. Mr. George Meredith says:— "I received a letter some weeks back from Mr. Bainton, enclosing two printed pages of his book, with his thanks to me for 'my kind permission' that he might make public use of my private remarks to his young men, through him, at his request, upon styles in writing. I am not aware of having even granted the permission. It would not have been in accord with a system I hold to—which is, to spare the public any talk upon my methods and doings. If I wrote the words of the grant, I must have done so heedlessly, and I shall require to see them in my handwriting, before I can attach any belief to the statement made by Mr. Bainton. The one object of my writing, was to be of service to an audience that he, ' a stranger to me, wrote of as being hungry for literary instruction.'" Mr. George Meredith is not singular in his belief that, albeit Mr. Bainton says so, he never received any permission. Miss Charlotte Yonge believes the same. So does Professor Huxley. Miss F. M. Peard writes :— "I am more surprised and annoyed than I can say at hearing of the use Mr. Baintdn has made of my answer. I imagined him to be a clergyman rather at his wits' ends for subjects for parish entertainments or lectures, and that he was merely getting up the subject in the abstract. It did not even occur to me that he would use my name in talking about it, much less that he would drag it into print. You will see that he speaks of 'an e\ening's pleasant intercourse.'" Miss Peard encloses Mr. Bainton's first—and only—letter to her, which is almost the exact counterpart of his letter to Mrs. Parr. Miss Peard, like Mrs. Parr, is one out of "one or two," and she also is appealed to because her books are Mr. Bainton's cherished friends. Mr. Bainton is evidently a man of lively sympathies. Mr. Grant Allen says:— "I was not aware Mr. Bainton meant to publish in book form. Mr. Bainton only mentioned that he wished for the information for an apparently private lecture to young people. I was much annoyed at the use Mr. Bainton made of my letter (which he printed incorrectly). The details I gave were far more personal than I should have dreamt of making them had I expected them to be published. What is perfectly allowable in answer to a private question about one's own methods mayseem like impertinence and bad taste if obtruded on the general public, which never asked to know how one writes one's books or articles." Mr. R. D. Blackmore writes:— "When I complied with Mr. Bainton's request I was not aware that he intended to publish or even print my words. His letter suggested that he wanted aid in a lecture to young people and would use my ## p. 46 (#66) ############################################## 46 THE AUTHOR. reply for that purpose, and (as I naturally concluded) for that purpose only. Now that I know the nature of Mr. Bainton's book I do object to the use he has made of a reply procured through the goodwill due to a clergyman and for clerical purposes." Mr. W. S. Gilbert writes :— "When I complied with Mr. Bainton's request I was not aware that it was that gentleman's intention to publish my letter in book form. His first letter to me suggested that he wanted aid in compiling a lecture. I consider that he was not justified in publishing my letter without my express permission. His action appears to me to amount to a breach of faith." Mrs. Lovett-Cameron says:— "I certainly had not the smallest idea that he intended to publish the letter which I wrote to him. He informed me that he was about to give a lecture to young people, and I understood most clearly that it was for this purpose alone that my letter would be made use of. I do most strongly object to the use he has made of my letter, and consider that in publishing letters written to him for private use only Mr. Bainton is guilty of a most unwarrantable breach of faith." On the other hand, the Bishop of Carlisle, Mr. Thomas Hardy, and Sir John Lubbock have no objection to the use Mr. Bainton has made of their letters, while Mr. T. Marion Crawford writes as follows : — "Two or three years ago Mr. Bainton wrote requesting me to give him an expression of my opinions in regard to the course to be followed by beginners, who would acquire some practical skill in the use of the English language. I believe that was the substance of his letter. Mr. Bainton stated clearly that he wished to make use of my answer in lecturing to young people. "I complied with his request and wrote at some length. I said that I would prefer my letter not to be printed. Mr. Bainton wrote again to thank me, but added, that if I would not consent to his printing the matter, it could be of little service to him. I then replied that since he so much desired it, he might make any use he pleased of my com- munication. The correspondence ended, and I considered Mr. Bainton at liberty to print the whole, parts, or a part of what I had written. I now learn for the first time that he has published a book, and I infer that something of mine has appeared in it. I do not consider myself in any way aggrieved, as Mr. Bainton's conduct towards me was perfectly frank and consistent throughout." But Mr. Marion Crawford has been better used than many of Mr. Bainton's contributors. It may seem that we have gone into this matter at more length than the circumstances warranted. As long as ladies and gentlemen are so far polite that when they receive a letter, made to bear all thestamp of a private letter in contradistinction to a circular, they answer it, and so far charitable that, when they are told a thing by a person they know nothing of, they accept his statement, so long will ladies and gentlemen be victims. To the Editor of The Author. Sir, When I sent Mr. Bainton the letter published in his book, I was not aware that it would ever be printed. He wrote to me in September last, saying that he wished to address "our young people" upon the art of composition, and he had thought that it would add "considerable interest and use- fulness to an evening's pleasant intercourse" on such a topic, if a few authors would give him their personal experiences in acquiring their respective styles. It will be obvious to anyone, from the compo- sition of my letter, that I had no thought of my words being used verbatim. Some time afterwards he wrote asking if he might make use of some parts of my letter in a pamphlet in which he proposed to preserve his lecture, and I gave him permission to do so. I cannot say that / particularly object to the use he has made of it, though I do not think it was quite fair to issue the opinions of authors in book- form, after winning their confidences for a benevo- lent purpose; but I do most utterly and strongly condemn the great discourtesy of issuing such a book without sending proofs of the matter to each author (and I know one author of high standing whose permission to print Mr. Bainton did not trouble to ask for at all). I think far more of that than I do of his having picked our foolish brains to make profit for himself. In my own case, probably a glance at proof sheets would have caused me to amplify one of my statements—that when I was a very young writer "I found myself slipping into the Rhoda Broughton school"—in such a way as to give a would-be witty reviewer less chance of misrepresenting my meaning and making merry over my comprehensive phrase. For myself I would be the last to discuss criticism, however flippant or unjust; but as Miss Broughton may have seen the much-quoted article, and per- haps have felt some annoyance through reading my meaning with the writer's eyes, may I say here that I meant no disrespect for the strong, vigorous, and fascinating author, whose books have always ## p. 47 (#67) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 47 charmed me, and whose portrait hangs near me each day as I work—but very much the reverse, Miss Broughton would probably join her con- tempt to mine for the host of imitators of her style, whose work is a weak reflection of her manner without any of her genius or her strength— the "school" to designate which her name is com- monly employed—and entirely agree with me that if, as an inexperienced writer, I felt myself drifting toward this justly despised group, it was well for me—and perhaps for others—that I should re- solutely set myself to work out a style of my own rather than become even a successful imitator of another. It seems to me that cheap sneers at this kind of effort are a little unworthy of a great literary Review. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, John Strange Winter. * NOTES. I. Copyright. UNDER this head, and that of "The First Principles of Literary Property," in the first number of The Author, I find one or two statements which, if not in terms erroneous, are capable of misleading or unduly alarming readers who do not know any law. "Literary property," it is said, "is subject to the laws which protect all other property." That it is recognized and protected by law as something of value is quite true; and probably this is all that the writer meant. But "the laws which protect property" differ greatly according to the kind of property. Land is not protected in exactly the same way as goods, and a trade mark and a copy- right are again protected by means different from those in use for tangible property, and differing in details from one another. Let not the unwary reader therefore imagine that he or she can have a literary pirate dealt with as a thief. Copyright is not, in the legal sense, a thing capable of being stolen. It is asked, "Does anybody take the trouble to secure his copyright in a public lecture?" (meaning, by the process of giving notice to two Justices of the Peace as provided by the Act 5 and 6 Wm. IV, c. 65). The answer is, probably not. But there is an excellent reason for not doing it which the author of "Notes on Copyright" seems to have overlooked. The common law gives a sufficient remedy without the help of the Act, as was decided by the House of Lords in 1887, in Professor Caird's case in Scotland {Caird v. Sime, 12 App. Ca. 326). It is a question of fact whether the delivery of a lecture implies authority to the hearers to republish it. Whatever may have been the opinion of the framers of the Act of William IV (which expressly preserves the general law, only giving the benefit of special new sanctions to lecturers who fulfil the formalities of notice to two justices), no such authority is presumed, as a matter of law, from the mere fact of a lecture being delivered to a more or less numerous audience. If there be any presump- tion it seems to be the other way. In truth the right to restrain the publication of an orally delivered lecture is not copyright at all. It is distinct from and antecedent to copyright, like the right to restrain publication of one's private letters. As that right is unaffected by the original letter having become the property (for all purposes short of publication) of the person to whom it was sent, so the lecturer's right is unaffected by his lecture having been orally delivered to a particular audience or any number of audiences. The commentator goes on to say that "a lecturer is powerless to protect himself against unauthorized re-delivery." I am not aware of any authority for this statement as regards an unpublished lecture, and am not at all disposed to agree with it. As for the exception of university and certain other public lectures and discourses in the Act of William IV, it has, by its express terms, only the effect of leaving them in the same con- dition as if the Act had not passed. Caird v. Sime shows that at least some university lectures are efficiently protected by the general law. Therefore a person acting on the commentator's opinion that sermons "seem to be clearly public property" would be more likely to make practical acquaintance with the nature and operation of an injunction than to make his fortune by unlicensed reprints of pulpit eloquence. When the writer adds that "there is seldom any very great demandfor sermons, university or college lectures," he is so far right that in these, as in other kinds of literary production, the suc- cessful and popular authors are a minority. Still, both sermons and lectures are known to become fairly successful books. It is the fact that the greater part of Sir Henry Maine's works (for example) was first delivered in the form of lectures. An uncon- trolled right to print the matter which afterwards became "Village Communities" from notes taken in Maine's lecture room at Oxford would have been a right of no small value. And the fact that no attempt was ever made to exercise such a supposed right is some evidence that no one at the time imagined it to exist. I have made these remarks only for the purpose ## p. 48 (#68) ############################################## 48 THE A UTHOR. of preventing misapprehension as to the existing law. But I wish to add that I am wholly adverse to the proposal of creating a new kind of performing right in the recitation of verses or prose already printed and published, and therefore already enjoying the protection of ordinary literary copy- right. Where is this kind of thing to stop? Why should not Sydney Smith have had an exclusive "performing right" in his jokes and anecdotes? The author of "recitations" who wants to keep them to himself has only not to publish the text, a pre- caution quite consistent with privately printing any number of copies that may be convenient. He can then make his own terms with anyone who desires to use it. Frederick Pollock. II. Charges for Corrections. I suppose all authors have their grievances against publishers. I have had mine. Yet, taking all in all, I must say that I have been well treated oy my English publisher. My advice to young authors is—find a respectable publisher and stick to him. But I have had a long-standing grievance against printers, and I wonder whether The Author can help me. Is there no means of checking the charges for corrections? I know that in good printing offices there is a man specially appointed to check off charges for corrections. But, in spite of that, there must be something wrong in the system. The estimate one receives from a printer seems at first sight very reasonable. But when the bill comes, there are always high charges for corrections, for extra- small type, for foreign matter, for reading and putting to press, &c, so that one has often to pay twice as much as the original estimate. Much seems to me to depend on the judgment and the good-will of the compositor in making corrections. If a few words are put in by the author, surely, with a little management, they could be squeezed in; some other words might be left out, or two paragraphs might be run into one. But if, instead of that, ten or twenty pages are disturbed, of course the bill is very much swelled. One line too much on any one page is looked upon as high treason in every printing office. But surely it would matter less than twenty shillings for re making twenty pages. I know quite well what compositors will say. Copy your MS., or have it copied and carefully revised, and then the charges for corrections will be next to nothing. My answer is, I am willing to pay what is reasonable for my own careless writing, and for my changing my mind at the last moment. But I do not like to see corrections treated as mere " fat." F. Max Muller. III. American Rights. Before the collaboration of an American citizen can procure copyright, the following conditions must be borne in mind. 1. The American collaborator must not receive a lump sum for his share of the work, but must receive a portion of the royalty, i.e., he must have a continuous interest in the sale of the work. 2. He must be a bond fide collaborator. Some people suppose that it is sufficient for an American citizen to write a paragraph, or even a sentence only, put his name on the title page with that of the author, and that the copyright is secured. It is not so. In case of such a book being " pirated," he might be called to swear what he wrote before a judge, who would order the " pirate " to take out of the book the paragraph or sentence, or whatever the American wrote, and then advise the " pirate" to help himself to the rest. The collaborator must be able to swear that he is the author of the book quite as much as the European one, that there is not in the book a single sentence he did not approve of and sign, whether he actually wrote it or not. 3. The European author must have a contract with his American collaborator, in which the above conditions are set down; and a copy of it must be in the hands of the American publisher. I think that all the good American publishers would tell you that I am right. At any rate, these are the conditions on which I have published my " Jonathan and his Continent" in America; and the "pirates." knowing it, have not touched it—to the comfort of Paul Blouet. IV. The Raising of the Dead. I have received the first number of The Author, and, on lroking through it, it has occurred to me that our members might possibly be interested in the following personal experiences bearing on the question as to whether a book that has practically fallen dead can by any possibility be revived. The work to which I refer was, on its first appearance, absolutely ignored by the London literary organs of opinion, and the sales in con- sequence fell, after the advertisements had ceased to appear, to about ten copies a year. This continued ## p. 49 (#69) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 49 for three years, during which time I left no stone un- turned in my efforts to bring the book into notice. I sent copies to the number of thirty or more to such of our most eminent thinkers and writers as 1 deemed most likely to give it a favourable reception ; at the same time sending second copies to the editors of the most important literary journals, soliciting a second inspection, and explaining in justification that the work had not been run off at the point of the pen, but had occupied ten years in preparation, and four in actual construction and writing. But the eminent writers, as Was only to be expected in the case of a work sent to them in forma pauperis, replied by courteous acknowledgments merely; while my efforts to get a second hearing fiom the editors completely failed—with the exception of the editor of T/ie Spectator, who, with his usual fair- mindedness, and a generosity which I shall not soon forget, at once gave me a long and complU mentary review, expressing at the same time his surprise that the work had been allowed to fall through. But it was too long after publication to be of any service; the sales fell lower and lower; and it seemed as if the book would now slip quietly into oblivion. Meantime one or two of the well-known writers, to whom I had sent private copies, had evidently glanced into the work, and had become sufficiently interested in it to express the opinion that some- thing further ought to be done to try and revive it. After some consideration, and with the consent of the publishers, I determined on my plan of campaign, which was this: to bring out the unsold copies as a new edition; to reduce the price from 14*. 10 51.; to write a fresh preface; and, most important of all, to concentrate and mass together in large advertise- ments the best extracts I could select from the various scattered notices which in the interim I had succeeded in extorting from more or less un- willing editors! The effect of this new move was immediate and decisive. The whole unsold edition of some 700 or 800 copies went off at the rate of forty or fifty a month until it was exhausted; the demand increas- ing rather than diminishing at the time when the last copies were sold out. The above recital, in view of the common tradition that a book, once practically fallen dead, cannot again be revived, seems to me to have some interest for young authors struggling against adverse fate; and it may perhaps be worth while to ask here to which of the above circumstances the resuscitation of the work was principally due. My own feeling is that it was due not to the reduction of price, for purchasers of that class of work are not much affected by its price, in the first instance at least; nor yet to the press notices taken singly, although these no doubt were exceptionally strong; but rather to their being massed together so as to catch the eye in large and glaring advertisements. At any rate it was on this theory that I acted at the time, and the event, it must be admitted, fully justified my anticipation. Now. that a work of a serious character, on a wide and all-important subject of human interest, and professing at least to add another story to the hitherto existing super- structures of thought on the same subject ; that a book of this kind, I say, should have to save itself from extinction by methods suitable rather to the sale and success of some '" Pears' Soap" or " Hol- loway's Pill," must give rise to considerations on the curious conditions of literary success at the present time well worthy the attention of all thinking minds. J. B. C. * LITERARY PUZZLES. THE Ballad of Bold Turpin is to be found in a volume called "Gaieties and Gravities," written by one of the authors of " Rejected Addresses." The "one," I believe, was Horace Smith. It was published in 1825, when Dickens was a boy of fourteen, by Henry Colburn, of New Burlington Street. It occurs in a sketch called " Harry Halter the Highwayman," in which two other efforts in verse also occur—the volumes, indeed, are crammed with verses, sprightly and jolly, and full of mad rhymes. The song, for instance, called "Bachelor's Fare " follows that of "Bold Turpin." Funny and free are a Bachelor's revelries, Cheerily, merrily passes his life; Nothing knows he of connubial devilries, Troublesome children and clamourous wife, Free from satiety, care, and anxiety, Charms in variety fall to his share, Bacchus's blisses and Venus's kisses, This, boys, this is the Bachelor's Fare. A wife like a canister, chattering, clattering, Tied to a dog for his torment and dread, All bespattering, bumping and battering, Hurries and worries him till he is dead. Old ones are two devils haunted with blue devils, Young ones are new devils raising despair; Doctors and nurses combining their curses, Adieu to full purses and Bachelor's Fare. Through such folly days, once sweet holidays, Soon are embittered by wrangling and strife Wives turn jolly days to melancholy days, All perplexing and vexing one's life. ## p. 50 (#70) ############################################## 50 THE AUTHOR. Children are riotous, maid-servants fly at us, Mammy to quiet us growls like a bear; Polly is squalling and Molly is bawling, While dad is recalling his Bachelor's Fare. When they are older grown, then they are bolder grown, Turning your temper and spurning your rule, Girls through foolishness, passion or mulishness, Parry your wishes and marry a fool. Boys will anticipate, lavish and dissipate, All that your busy pate hoarded with care; Then tell me what jollity, fun or frivolity, Equals in quality Bachelor's Fare? * QUESTIONS, CASES, AND ANSWERS. Now that authors have a medium to voice their woes and, let us hope, their victories, we may look forward to many questions of interest being thrashed out. And, in order to set the ball rolling ever so little a distance, may I crave space to point out how—as it seems to me—authors can combine and gather strength even in their hours of ease? In short, what is wanted is an "Authors' Club." There are many clubs in existence which are partly intended for literary men and largely patronised by them; but in every instance where the club is accessible to the mass, other interests have been introduced to the prejudice of literature and the literary profession. In one case, it may be the egotistic actor; in another, the aesthetic or impressionistic painter; in a third, that blight on society—the man who wishes you to remember that he is a tenor. These introduce an element which many authors feel to be jarring, if not actually antagonistic. The general desire is for a Lotos Eater's Land where neither jar nor an- tagonism is possible; what is really sighed for is "The Authors'Club." Is not the profession strong enough to support such a club? Cannot the Society of Authors pro- vide the men who will help to make it a success? Who will adopt the idea and give it their personal support and service? The financial details could easily be arranged, if a strong committee were ap- pointed; and if the matter be mooted now, by the time that the evenings draw in and the days grow chill, "The Authors' Club" should be a fait accompli. A. M. Allow me to bring the following facts before the readersof The Author. About two years ago I had printed a mathematical work which I brought to a well-known firm for publication in England in conjunction with my Irish publishers. I paid the former ;£io for advertising, but all that I ever saw were two or three in the Saturday Revieiv. As a result I find they have practically sold no copies in England, and all that they have sold are about 30 copies in America, from which I infer that ad- vertisement money has been spent there. Conse- quently nearly all sales of my book were in Ireland, and these have all been effected without any ad- vertisement expenses. At the time of the publi- cation of my book, the author of a book on the same subject as my own was under an apprehen- sion that the sale of the latter might interfere with that of his, and I have reason to believe exerted pressure on his publishers the same as those of my book, not to push or in any way promote the sale of the latter. All that they have done is to sell it in America, which is but a poor return, as, besides the difficulty of getting it off there, I am only allowed barely 50 per cent, of the published price. A. B. The following case is submitted with the con- viction that it is not by any means an isolated one. A gentleman proposes to the Editor of a Magazine to write a short article on a new book, and the proposal is immediately accepted in writing. The article is sent in, and at the request of the con- tributor (who is leaving England for some months) the Editor shortly afterwards forwards him a proof of the article and a cheque at the current rate of remuneration. A letter of inquiry from the writer some months afterwards as to why the article has not appeared elicits no information, and it turns out that the article is not published. Has the contributor any claim in this case for the loss of that part of the remuneration which, it need hardly be said, may be indirectly of quite as much pecuniary consequence to him as the money- payment? In the case of a daily paper a review- is, as we all know, liable to be crowded out by press of matter. But is the case of a magazine, that does not in a general way review books, on precisely the same footing? As an aggravated instance of the business methods described under "QuestionsandAnswers," No. 3, at page 9, of the May number of The Author, I offer the following personal experience. I sent a short story to the Editor of a fairly reputable and outwardly prosperous London periodical, no doubt regarded by its numerous readers as a marvel 01 enterprise and cheapness, enclosing, as I always ## p. 51 (#71) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 5* do, a stamped directed envelope for the return of the MS. if not required. I received neither manu- script nor answer of any kind. I wrote repeatedly after waiting some months, when to my surprise I heard quite accidentally through a friend who recognised my nam de plume that my story was then actually being published in the magazine I had sent it to, and which I do not always see. I waited a month or two and wrote for payment. I wrote two or three times more, but from first to last I never had a reply to a single communication. I then got the Secretary of the Society to write, and he very kindly did write a pretty strong letter con- taining a plain threat of the legal proceedings; that produced an interview with the editor, an apology, and a cheque. The whole affair took about a year. Now does anyone believe that if I had not by the merest fluke found that the story had been printed, I should ever have had the money to this day? I do not. I may add that others have had similar experiences in the same quarter, and the periodical in question continues to be a marvel of enterprise and cheapness. M. O. H. What is the true position of affairs in such a case as this? An author (young, struggling, and inexperienced) fires off a composition—say a short story—at the editor of a magazine. He either writes with it to say he "encloses a MS. and hopes it will prove suitable," or writes his name and address on the back of it, and sends postage stamps for its return. The editor "begs to accept it, and encloses a cheque from the proprietors for £5." A few years later, less young, and perhaps less struggling, the author wishes to republish some of his former efforts in a volume, or has a chance of re-selling them, but is confronted with the difficulty that he really does not know whether he has the right to with regard to a story originally disposed of as indicated above. He asks himself and other persons, "Who has the copyright?" Has the writer been employed by the proprietor of the magazine? Have they a joint ownership? Has the author sold the copyright right out? Or has he only sold "serial rights?" Ought not all books to be dated on the title- page with the year and month of publication? Ought not reviewers to state the price of books in reviewing them, and if not, why not? Is a contributor on the staff of more magazines than one justified in proposing an article on the same subject to them all contemporaneously, and if more than one accept, selecting the acceptance which pleases him best? Ought a reviewer to write more than one review of the same book? Ought a publisher's advertisements in his own magazine to be charged to the author? And can a publisher charge such advertisements to the author without first obtaining his consent to an expenditure which goes into the publisher's own pocket? %— In answer to your query I am detailing briefly my own experience, and I understand that many other authors have suffered similar treatment. In 1882 I sent an article to"" (a well-known monthly): it was accepted. It ap- peared 17 months afterwards. I was paid, however, directly it appeared. In 1885 I sent an article to"" (another well-known monthly), and I heard no more of it. It may have appeared, or it may have been lost. I have never seen it in proof, and I have never been paid for it. In this year I sent a short story to a journal with a fair reputation and position. They cut it down, and in so doing cut out a small episode—of itelf unimportant—to which reference happened to be made twice later on in the story. That is, they made nonsense of my work. They did not pay until three months after printing the story. In 1889 I sent a story to a daily paper. They did not accept it or refuse it, or acknowledge it. One day I saw it in print, and three monihs after- wards I received most inadequate payment for it. It appears, however, that I have no remedy. A Scribbler. I sent a story to a weekly journal. They printed it without acknowledgment almost directly after- wards. I wrote a second—not knowing the fortu- nate fate of the first—and sent it to them. Then I heard that the first one had been printed. I wrote to ask for payment. They did not answer. I wrote again. They did not answer, but printed my second story. Months afterwards, with no apology, I received a cheque for both of them. If these people had accepted my first story in the usual manner, I should have looked for it, and if I had been paid for it at the rate I eventually received for the two, I should have never sent them the second story. I can get more from a daily provincial paper and get my money promptly, as well as have proofs sent to me for correction. The paper was" ." A. E. ## p. 52 (#72) ############################################## 52 THE AUTHOR. AT WORK. This column is reserved entirely for Members of the Society, who are invited to keep the Editor acquainted with their work and engagements. R. WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI is at present engaged upon an annotated edition of Shelley's "Adonais" for the Clarendon Press. It will contain a considerable amount of prefatory matter, and a long series of notes. Mr. Rossetti is also engaged u|.on a scries of articles, bearing the title "Portraits of Robert Browning," which are appearing, with copious illustrations, in J he Magazine of Art. Mrs. Brightwen, who is one of the Vice-Presi- dents of the Selborne Society, is issuing a small book, entitled "Wild Nature Won by Kindness." It will be illustrated partly by the author, and partly by Mr. Carruthers Gould, and will be pub- lished by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin. Mr. T. Bailey Saunders has in the press "Counsels and Maxims," being the second part of Arthur Schopenhauer's "Aphorismen zur Le- bensweisheit." It is to be uniform with the "Wisdom of Life," the first part of the same work (Swan, Sonnenschein, & Co., 1 vol., 2s. 6d.). His translation of Schopenhauer's "Religion: a Dia- logue," and other Essays, is going into a second edition. Mr. H. G. Keene, CLE., is engaged in editing an Oriental Biographical Dictionary. The work—■ founded on materials collected by the late Mr. Thomas Beale, an assistant of Sir H. Elliot's— was originally brought out in Calcutta undrr the auspices of the Government of the North-West Provinces. As the editor was at a distance from the press, and his time was much forestalled by his official occupation, a good many clerical and typographical errors escaped attention; but the book was found useful by scholars, and is now scarce. Mr. Keene's edition, besides containing corrections of these errors, will also include con- siderable additional matter. It will be published by Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co., and the price, to subscribers, will be 15J. In the new edition of " Chitty on Contracts," now being issued under the auspices of Mr. J. M. Lely and Mr. Nevill Geary, there will be found (p. 665) a recently settled agreement for publication on com- mission, the author retaining his copyright. The agreement was settled by the Society of Authors. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge has in preparation a story entitled "The Slaves of Sabinus." The scene is laid in the time of Vespasian, and the book will be published in the autumn season. The seventh series of the "Cameos of English History," by the same author, is now appearing. Mr. W. A. Copinger, F.S.A., the author of "The Law of Copyright in Works of Literature and Art," has now in hand a Bibliography of the various editions of the Latin Bible in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with full collations, and fac similes of pages of the principal editions. The life of "Carmen'Sylva," Queen of Rou- mania—a translation from the German (Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner, & Co.)—contains numerous extracts from the illustrious lady's poetry, which have been gracefully rendered into English by Sir Edwin Arnold. "Thomas Dain, the Memoirs of an Irish Patriot, 1840-1846," is also announced by the same pub- lisher. The author is Sir Charles Gavan Duffy K.C.M.G. M. Jusserand, author of "English Wayfaring Life," and an honorary foreign member of our Society, has revised and enlarged his work, "Le Roman au temps de Shakespeare," and a translation of it has just been issued (Mr. T. Fisher Unwin). Miss Jane E. Harrison, author of " Myths of the Odyssey, &c," has written an introductory essay, with archaeological comments, to Miss Verrall's work upon Ancient Athens (Messrs. Macmillan & Co.). The Rev. Charles D. Bell, D.D., of Cheltenham, has just published "A Winter on the Nile" (Hodder and Stoughton, price 6s.), containing the record of a tour up the Nile as far as the Second Cataract, with a sojourn at Luxor and a description of recent discoveries and antiquities at Bubastis and the Fayoum. Marion Crawford's new book, "A Cigarette Maker's Romance," will be published this month (Macmillan). Mr. Edward Clodd's "Story of Creation" will be issued in a cheaper edition next month by Messrs. Longmans. An Italian translation will also be published in Rome shortly. Mr. Edmund Gosse announces the first three volumes of an International Library, under his editorship (William Heineman). Cine is from the French, one from the German, and one from ## p. 53 (#73) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 53 the Norwegian. A search is to be made on all hands and in all languages for such books as com- bine the greatest literary value with the most curious and amusing qualities of manner and matter. If such a search is only rewarded by a modicum of success a large body of readers should be placed under a great debt to editor and publisher. A new edition of Lamb's "Adventures of Ulysses' will be issued shortly, edited by Mr. Andrew I-arig. The Open Court—a Chicago journal—is at present publishing a series of papers by Mr. T. Bailey Saunders, constituting a short critical re- view of recent theories on the Origin of Reason. Miss Mary Rowsell is engaged upon a biography of Charlotte de la Tremouille, Countess of Derby (the I^idy of Lathom), (Vizetelly & Co.). The book is to form one of a series of Romantic Biographies. Miss Rowsell is also dramatizing her novel "The Red House." Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G., Her Majesty's Consul at Oporto, author of " Portugal: Old and New," "Beyond the Seas," "Sylvia Arden," is working upon the final revise of "Round the Calendar in Portugal," a book dealing chiefly with rural life and rural themes in that country. The work is copiously illustrated by Miss Dorothy Tennant, Mrs. Arthur Walter, Miss Alice Wood- ward, Miss Winifred Thomson, Mr. Tristram Elles, Mr. Ambrose Lee, and the author. Mr. William Sharp has written a memoir of the great critic to be prefixed to Sainte Beuve's Essays, which are announced by Mr. David Stott, as a volume in a new series, entitled " Masterpieces of Foreign Authors." The latest volume of the Camelat Series, "Northern Studies," is by Mr. Edmund Gosse; the latest volume of the Canterbury Series, "Great Oder," has been selected and edited by Mr. William Sharp (Walter Scott). A new edition of "The Story of a Marriage," by L. Baldwin, will appear immediately (Ward and Downey). "The Roll of the Highland Clans." This is a sheet somewhat similar to "The Roll of Battle Abbey," about 34 inches by 24 inches, on which is an inner scroll bearing the names of the principal cadets, the badge, and coloured specimen of the Tartan of each Clan. It has been prepared by Mrs. Philip Champion de Crespigny, and is sub- scribed in a limited edition by Mr. Bernard Quaritch, at a guinea. Dr. Beattie Crozier, whose book, "Civilization and Progress," met with such success last year, has in hand a book dealing with the Labour Question. The book will be a sequel to "Civilization and Progress," and will be published by Messrs. Long- mans & Co. Mrs. Kennard has begun a new novel in London Society, entitled "A Homburg Beauty." Her story, "That Pretty Little Horse-breaker," will run upon the Syndicate System with Mr. Tillotson, at the end of this year. "John Strange Winter " will also employ the Syn- dicate System over her new novel. This will run as a serial in various newspapers from September to December. Mr. H. J. B. Montgomery, author of "The British Navy in the present Year of Grace," is publishing some reminiscences of the Naval Service in the Naval and Military Argus. These will shortly appear in book form. The names of subscribers to Mr. W. F. Smith's "Rabelais " are rapidly coming in. It is expected that the book will go to press almost immediately. The agent for The Author is Mr. A. P. Watt. Mr. Rudyard Kipling's "A Conference of the Powers," which appeared in The United Services Magazine in this country, was also published simultaneously in America, Australia, and India. Mr. Bret Harte is engaged writing a short story for a syndicate of newspapers. Henry Herman is about to issue shortly "Between the Whiffs" (Arrowsmith). The book is a collection of theatrical anecdotes which have appeared in various journals. William Werlah is writing a fifty thousand word romance for Lippincotfs Magazine, which will probably appear in the August number. The title of it is "Roy the Royalist." It is mainly a romance of adventure, but in part historical. The interest centres round the siege of St. Jean d'Acre (1799), and among the characters introduced are Bonaparte, Sir Sidney Smith, and Ahmed Dgezzar, the famous Pacha of Syria. ## p. 54 (#74) ############################################## 54 THE AUTHOR. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Allincham, Herbert W., F.R.C.S. Treatment of Internal Diseases of the Knee-joint. J. A. Churchill and Co. i vol. 5s. Archer, William. William Charles Macready. Eminent Actor Series. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co. 1 vol. 2s. 6d. Besant, Walter. Herr Paulus. Chatto and Windus. 1 vol. 2s. "Bickerdyke, John." The Book of the All-round Angler. L. Upcott Gill. 1 vol. 5s. 6d. Large Paper Edition. 25*. Black, William. The Penance of John Logan. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 1 vol. 6s. Blackmore, R. D. Mary Annesley. Cheap Edition. Sampson Low. 1 vol. 2^. Springhaven: a Tale of the Great War. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 1 vol. 6*. Blind, Mathilde. The Journal of Marie Bash- kirtseff. Cassell and Co. 1 vol. Bramston, M., and Coleridge, C. R. Truth with Honour. Smith and Innes. 1 vol. 5^. Browning, Oscar. The Life of George Eliot. 1 vol. Walter Scott. Calmour, A. C. Confessions of a Doormat. F. V. White and Co. 1 vol. if. Clifton, Alice. An Unwilling Wife. Reming- ton and Co. 6.?. Collins, Mabel. Ida; An Adventure in Morocco. Smith, Elder and Co. 1 vol. is. Cooke, C. W. Radcliffe, M.P. Four Years in Parliament, with Hard Labour. A reprint, with additions, of articles which have appeared in The Times and National Rwiew. 1 vol. W. H. Allen and Co. Four Years in Parliament with Hard Labour. W. H. Allen. 1 vol. 2s. 6d. Copincer, W. A., F.S.A. A Treatise on Pre- destination, Election, and Grace. Jas. Nisbet. 1 vol. 10s. 6d. Crawford, T. Marion. Sarinesca. New Edition. Messrs. Blackwood and Sons. 1 vol. 6s. With the Immortals. New Edition. 1 vol. Macmillan and Co. Cunningham, Dr. W. Growth of English Indus- try and Commerce, Early and Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. Davies, Helen. For so Little. Swan Sonnen- schein and Co. 1 vol. 6/. Edwardes, Charles. Sardinia and the Sardes. Richard Bentley and Son. 1 vol. Erichsen, J. Eric, F.R.S. The Art of Surgery. 9th Edition. In 2 vols. Longmans and Co. $2S. Esler, E. Rentoul. The Way of Transgressors. Sampson Low 3 vols. 3 if. 6d. Ffoulkes, L. Florence. Sunlight and Shade: Poems. Field and Tuer. 1 vol. 6s. Frazer, J. G. 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The Indian Religion; or, Results of the Mysterious Buddhism: concerning that also which is to be understood in the Divinity of Fire. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co. 1 vol. 1 os. 6d. Jusserand, J. J. (Hon. Member). The English novel in the time of Shakespeare. Translated by Elizabeth Lee. T. Fisher Unwin. 1 vol. 21S. Keary, C. F. A Mariage de Covenance. T. Fisher Unwin. 2 vols. 21s. ## p. 55 (#75) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 55 Kipling, Rudyard. The Story of the Gadsleys. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. i vol is. Lankester, Prof. E. Ray, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. The Advancement of Science. Macmillan and Co. i vol. io*. 6d. Lawless, Emily. With Essex in Ireland. Smith, Elder and Co. i vol. 7.?. 6d. Lely, J. M., and Geary, Nevill. Chitty on Contracts. 12th Edition. Newly arranged in 27 chapters, with much added matter, and increased facilities for reference. Sweet Max- well, Limited. 1 vol. Lytton, Earl, G.C.B. The Ring of Amasis. Macmillan and Co. 1 vol. 3*. 6d. . McCarthy, Justin H., M.P. The French Revo- lution. Chatto and Windus. Vol. I and II. 12s. each. McCarthy, Justin, M.P., and Praed, Mrs. Campbell. The Ladies' Gallery. 1 vol. 2s. 6d. Mackail, J. W. The Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil. Rivingtons. 1 vol. 5-r. Martineau, Dr. James. The Seat of Authority in Religion. Longmans and Co. Middlemore, S. G. C. Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. A Translation of Buck- hardt's work. 1 vol. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. Montgomery, H. J. B. The British Navy in the present year of Grace. Hamilton, Adams and Co. 3 vols. Price 6.r. each vol. Morrison, W. D. The Jews under Roman Rule. 1 vol. 5s. Murray, D. Christie, and Herman, Henry. The Bishops' Bible. Chatto and Windus. 3 vols. 31s. 6d. Nicoll, Dr. W. Robertson, and Macnicoll, A. N. Prof. W. G. Elmslie, D.D., Memoirs and Sermons. Hodder and Stoughton. Oliphant, Mrs. The Duke's Daughter, and the Fugitives. W. Blackwood and Sons. 3 vols. 31 s. 6d. Payn, James. Notes from the "News." Chatto and Windus. 1 vol. is. Pollock, Sir Frederick, Bart. The Law of Torts. Stephens. 1 vol. "Rita." A Society Scandal. Trischler and Co. Robinson, F. Mabel. Irish History for English Readers. 4th Edition. Methuen and Co. 1 vol. If. Robinson, F. Mabel. A Woman of the World. Smith, Elder and Co. 3 vols. 31J. 6d. The Plan of Campaign. Methuen and Co. 1 vol. 6s. "Robert Browning." Personal Notes. Fisher Unwin. 1 vol. 4.?. 6d. Rossetii, William Michael. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, as Designer and Writer. This book is divided into four parts: (1), An account of Rossetti's Works of Art under their dates; (2), A similar account of his Writings; (3), A Prose Paraphrase of The House of Life; (4), A tabular list of his Art-work and Writings. Cassell and Co. Saunders,E. S. G. Jacob: a Poem. Y.M.C.A. 6d. Seeley, Prof. J. R. Livy. Book I. Clarendon Press. 6s. Seton-Karr, H. W. Ten Years' Travel and Sport in Foreign Lands. A New Edition 1 vol. Chapman and Hall. $s. Stedman, A. M. M. Oxford: its Life and Schools. Methuen and Co. 1 vol. 5J. Toynbee, William. Lays of Common Life. Remington and Co. 1 vol. 35. 6d. Traill, H. D. Saturday Songs. W. H. Allen and Co. 1 vol. $s. 6d. Tytler, Sarah. French Janet. Smith, Elder and Co. 1 vol. 2s. Vallings, Harkold. The Quality of Mercy. Gardner and Co. 2 vols. 21s. Vaughan, Very Rev. C. J., Master of the Temple, The Epistle to the Hebrews. Macmillan and Co. 1 vol. Walford, Edward, M.A. Tales of our Great Families. Chatto and Windus. 1 vol. y. 6d. Westall, William. Strange Crimes. 5*. "Winter, John Strange." Ferrers Court. F. V. White and Co. 1 vol. is. Dinna Forget. Trischler and Co. 1 vol. is. 6d. Mrs. Bob. New Edition. F. V. White and Co. 1 vol. 2s. 6d. Yonge, Miss Charlotte. The Reputed Change- ling: a Story of the period of James II, and William III. Macmillan and Co. 2 vols. 12s. ## p. 56 (#76) ############################################## 56 A D VER TISEMENTS. "THE LITERARY HAJYDJWAID OF THE CHURCH." HENRY GLAISHER, 95, STRAND. Price ONE SHILLING. NOW READY. This pamphlet is a reply to the invitation' issued by the Publication Committee of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in their Report of last year, for any suggestions, which they "will gladly receive," on the best way of making "the Venerable Society the most efficient literary handmaid of the Church of England throughout the world." The suggestions offered in these pages contain, first, some of the elementary principles which guide honourable men in the administration of literary property. The writer next advances three cases, as illustrating the methods adopted by the Society. A copy of this pamphlet will be sent to any member of the Society by application to the Office, including two postage stamps. THE METHODS OF PUBLICATION, BY S. S. SPRIGGE, B.A. NEARLY READY. This book, compiled mainly from documents in the office of the Society of Authors, is intended to show a complete conspectus of all the various methods of publication with the meaning of each; that is to say, the exact concessions to publishers and the reservation of the owner and author of the work. The different frauds which arise out of these methods form a necessary part of the book. Nothing is advanced which has not been proved by the experience of the Society. ## p. 57 (#77) ############################################## A D VER TISEMEN IS. 57 MESSRS. WHITTAKER'S BOOKS OF REFERENCE. Large post Zvot doth js. 6d.; half bound, 9*. SOBRIQUETS AND NICKNAMES. By Albert Krey. With an Index arranged by True Names. '• The first work that has been devoted to the explanation and derivation of the numberless witty and sometimes abusive appellations ... it deserves the heartiest praise."—Glasgow Herald. "More than five thousand subjects are given, and the information supplied is trustworthy and often extensive; a close scrutiny of the book shows the work to be thoroughly done."—Notes and Queries. "Offers an ample fund of information and amusement—deserves a place in every well-chosen library."—Morning Post. A Dictionary 0/Parisisms and French Slang. Large Post Bcw, ior. &/. ARGOT AND SLANG. A New French and English Dictionary of the Cant Words, Quaint Expressions, Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases used in the High and Low Life of Old and New Paris. By A. Bakkere, Officierde PInstruction Publique, Professor R. M. Academy, Woolwich. The work treats of the cant of thieves; the jargon rf Parisian roughs; the military-, naval, parliamentary, academical, legal, and freemasons' slang, of that of the workshop, the studio, the stage, the boulevards, the demimonde. A Companion to the Works op Allan Ramsay, R. Burns, Sir W. Scott and all the Scottish Poets. Just published* large post Bvo, cloth, 71. 6d., or half bound 8*. 6t£. a dictionary of lowland scotch, with an Introductory chapter on the Literary History and the Poetry and Humour of the Scottish language, and an appendix of Scottish Proverbs. By Charles Mack ay, LL.D. Also a large paper edition, limited to 125 copies, each numbei ed and signed by the Author, of which a few are still on sale, in Vellum, at £1 5*., and in Roxburgh, at £1 10s. I-ondon: WHITTAKER & Co., Paternoster Square. THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. Only 17 sets of this magnificent work nmv remain. It will never be reprinted, with the exception of the two volumes "Flora and Fauna " and "Jerusalem." The price of the set is 25 guineas. It consists of the following in seven uniform and handsomely bound volumes, i/to. THE MEMOIRS. Being the Notes taken in the Field by Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E., and Colonel Kitchener C. M.G., A.D.C.R.E., re-written and arranged after their return. 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(Only 12 Copies left). Palmer's Folk Etymology. (Only8ocopies left.) Scrivener's Codex Bezae. Smith's Synonyms Discriminated. London: GEORGE BELL & SONS, York St., Covent Garden. ## p. 58 (#78) ############################################## 5S AD VER TISEMENTS. TYPE-WRITING! TO AUTHORS! AUTHORS' MSS., LECTURES, SPEECHES, ESSAYS, and REPORTS Copied at 1/3 per 1,000 Words. MS. Type-written at ij- per 1,000. Duplicate Copies 6d. per 1,000 (for over 10,000 words). Plays from 5/- per act. Shorthand Writers and Type-writers sent out to Hotels. For further particulars write or call at— TYPE-WRITING HEADQUARTERS, Type-Writers Sold and Let on Hire. 38, KING WILLIAM STREET, E-C. Booh and Jobbing Printers, and Lithographers. THE METROPOLITAN SCHOOL OF SHORTHAND, Ltd., 27, Chancery Lane, W.C. Estimates given for all kinds ok Printing. TELEPHONE NO. 2801. TELEGRAMS "SHORTHAND." LONDON. MRS. OXXiIi, Misses GILL & CARPENTER, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, EX. 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It publishes from time to time, books, papers, &c, on the subjects which fall within its province. 6. In every other way possible the Society protects, warns, and informs its members as to the pecuniary interest of their works. WARNINGS. Authors are most earnestly warned— (1) Not to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Not to enter into any correspondence with publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves down to any one firm of publishers. (4) Not to accept any proposal of royalty without consultation with the Society. (5) Not to accept any offer of money for MSS., without previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Not to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Not, under ordinary circumstances, when a MS. has been refused by the well-known houses, to pay small houses for the production of the work. ## p. 58 (#79) ############################################## A D VER riSEMEN TS. iii. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER saves the eyesight. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents writer's cramp. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents round shoulders. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER enables you to keep pace with your thoughts, the operation requires less mental effort than the use of a pen, allowing you to concentrate your mind more fully on the matter you are writing on. The writing of the BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER is equal to a printed proof, and can be used as such for corrections, thus saving large printer's charges which are sufficient in many books to defray the cost of a Bar-Lock. Supplied for Cash, or on our Hire Purchase System. CORRESPONDENCE AND INSPECTION INVITED. W. J. RICHARDSON k Co, 12 & 14, Queen Victoria St, E.C. 40, North John Street, Liverpool; 22, Renfield Street, Glasgow; Guardian Building, Manchester; Exchange Building, Cardiff; 385, Little Collins Street, Melbourne. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1890, can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance oi Literary Property. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer^. 2.?. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 4s. 6d. S The History of the Socidte" des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society. is. 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. The work is printed for members of the Society only. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. The book is nearly ready, and will be issued as soon as possible. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession willfollow. ## p. 58 (#80) ############################################## IV. AD VER TISEMENTS. CHEAP PRINTING, A NECESSITY OF THE AGE!!! Attention U called to the following important features of this Company:— There is no Promotion Money to be paid. There is no Payment for Goodwill or Old and Worn-out Machinery and Plant. There are no Founders' Shares, all the Profits belonging to tin Shareholders without preference or distinction The ECONOMIC PRINTING & PUBLISHING COMPANY, Limited. Incorporated under the Companies Acts, 1862 io 18S6. O^.X*XT^.Z. - - - £100,000. 100,000 SHARES OK £1 EACH UPON WHICH IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT NOT MORE THAN ioj. PER SHARE WILL BE CALLED UP AT PRESENT. ISSUE OF 100,000 SHARES, payable as follows:-2s. Bd. per SHARE on APPLICATION, 2s. 6d. per SHARE on ALLOTMENT Two Months' notice will be given oj subsequent Cells, -which are not Co excxfJ 3s. M. each. DIRECTORS. JUSTIN MCCARTHY, Esq., M.P., 20, Cheyne Gardens, S.W., Chairman. JOSEPH HOULTON, Esq. (Messrs. Joseph Houlton & Co., Limited), Printers and Publishers, Worship Street, E.C. A. MONTAGUE HAINES, Esq. (Messrs. Haines & Co.), 155, Fenchurch Street, E.C, and Lloyd's. CAMPBELL PRAED, Esq., 30, Norfolk Square. HENRY P. WELCH, Esq. (Messrs. Welch, Perrin, & Co.), 7, Mark Lane, E.C. And one or two Directors to be chosen by the Board from the first Shareholders. Bankers.—Messrs. WILLIAMS, DEACON & Co., 20, Birchin Lane, E C.; Messrs. PRAED & Co., 189, Fleet Street, E.C. Solicitors.—Messrs. SAUNDERS, HAWK.SFORD, BENNETT, & Co., 68, Coleman Street, London, E.C. Broker.—TAMES GILLISPIE, Esq., 11, Copthall Court, E.C, and Stock Exchange. Auditors.—Messrs. PiXLEY it Co., Chartered Accountants, 24, Moorgate Street, E.C. Architect.—WILLIAM DAWES, Esq., Manchester and London. Secretary {pro />/».).—A. G. SYMONDS, Esq., M.A. Oxon. Registered Offices (pro tern.).—68, Coleman Street, London, E.C. 1' I;, PROSPECTUS. The Company is formed for the purpose of engaging in the business of cheap printing and publishing on a large scale. The demand for cheaper books, magazines, and newspapers, is rapidly on the increase owing to the spread of education and the growth of population. Hundreds of the best serial publications and standard works are beyond the reach of the masses by reason of their virtually prohibitive prices ; whilst the works of specialists in the various scientific and learned professions find but a limited field amongst those for whom they are intended, because the purchasing of books, varying in price from six shillings to thirty shi lings a volume, constitutes a severe tax on the fixed incomes of many pro- fessional men. Recent developments in printing machinery prove that cheap and good books, magazines, and general literature is certainly attainable, especially if modern plant and appliances be combined under one administration and under one roof. A Printing Establishment combining all the aforesaid requisites in one set of hands, with abundance of the newest plant, and placed in the position of a ready cash purchaser of paper, will be enabled to produce printed literature—the greatest necessity of the age—cheaply and on a large scale, and in a quarter of the time it would otherwise take to turn out work. Good printing or publishing houses, even in the worst times, are hardly ever idle ; and the continuous high dividends declared by them attest the solid and profitable nature of the printing and publishing industry generally. The following are the only firms whose Shares are quoted in the Stock Exchange Official List, &c. :— Ord. Share Capital. £363,890 j£toO|Coo ... 10 ... 10 ... 21 The Shares in these and other similar Companies are held in high repute, and are difficult to obtain, the concerns being in some cases little more than private family partnerships, from participation in the profits of which both author*, customers, and the general public are shut out. Accordingly, the Company will erect entirely new workshops on an eligible site near London which the Directors have in view. Some of the best modern printing works are now situated at Guildford, Aylesbury, Redhill, Kingston, and other places outside I,ondon. The Company's workshops will have good railway and cartage facilities. They will be erected from the designs of Mr. William Dawes, Architect, of Manchester and London. Their estimated cost is moderate, and the buildings are designed on such a scale as will admit of gradual expansion in sections as business grows. The first sec.ion can be open for business, already promised, within a few monthi of the allotment of shares. They will be fitted throughout with the electric li.-;ht, a great boon in itself to compositors. As they will be new, great expenses for repairs will be avoided; and, being practically fireproof, their insurance will be at low rates. No payments have been or will be mad-i for ' ooodvill' or promotion money, or, in fact, initiatory charges of any kind other than the pre- liminary expenses incident to the fonnatioq and successful establishment of the Company. The Directors believe that the value of the shares will at least equal CasseU & Co., Limited , Waterlow Bros. & Lay ton Limited , Num. value uf Shares. I*3iu* up. 9 •• Market Price. those of the Companies mentioned above, and that there is every probability of substantial dividends. In the selection of the printing plant the Directors have taken into consideration the fact that, whereas in all but one of the branches connected with the printing of books and newspapers enormous economies have in the past fifty years been effected, mainly through the increased productive power of various machines, in -the one central and essential branch, viz., the composing room, not only have the expenses increased, but the modus operandi is almost as primitive as in the days of Guthenberg and Caxton. The Directors believe that the machine known as the Linotype Com- posing Machine is capable of effecting the largest nett economies over the present cost of type-setting by hand, and that by adopting it they save a large capital outlay for type. They have accordingly contracted for a supply of Linotype Machines under special conditions, of which the following are among the most important: The rate of wages paid to ordinary compositors in London varies m piece work from 8d. to tod. per 1,000ens of typeset up, corrected, and distributed ; but the Linotype Company (Limited), agrees to hire to the Economic Printing and Publishing Company Linotype Composing Machines, and to charge a Royalty equal to only 2d. per 1,000 ens of matter set up, corrected, and automatically distributed. When machines are unemployed, a small sum only is charged for each working hour. The Linotype Company also gives to this Company a monopoly as regards the use of their machines for London and ten miles round, subject only to certain exceptions. To make the Company's operations partake as largely as possible of a co-operative character, a percentage rebate off the ordinary printing tariff" will be allowed to all authors who are shareholders in the Company, and all employes will, as far as possible, be chosen first from amongst the shareholders. It is intended to apply to the Stock Exchange for a quotation. The following contract has been entered into: Contract dated the 3rd day of June, 1890, made between the Linotype Company (Limited) of the one part, and A. G. Symonds, as trustee for the Company, of the other part, being the contract referred to above. The above is the only contract to which the Company is a party, but arrangements have been made with other persons relating to the pre- liminary expenses of formation of the Company, and procuring .capital which may constitute contracts within the meaning of section 38 of the Companies Acts, 1867; but applicants for shares shall be deemed to waive their rights to specification of any particulars of such arrange- ments or contracts, and to accept the above statements as sufficient compliance with Section 38 of the Companies Acts, 1867. The Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Contract men- tioned above can be inspected by applicants for Shares at the Offices of the Company's Solicitors. Applications for Shares may he made by letter or on the prescribed form, and forwarded, with a remittance for the amount of the deposit payable on application, to the Bankers of the Company, or to the Secretary, at the Office of the Company. If the whole amount applied for by any applicant is not allotted, the surplus paid on deposits will be credited to the sum due on allotment, and where no allotment U made the deposit will be returned in full. PROSPECTUSES AND FORMS OF APPLICATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE OFFICES OF THE COMPANY, OR OF EITHER OF THE BANKERS, BROKER, OR SOLICITORS OF THE COMPANY. Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 02 (June 1890) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 02 (June 1890) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&view=1up&seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1890-06-16-The-Author-1-2 publications The Author