https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/293/1896-08-01-The-Author-7-3.pdf d59be7c87fe545d6d18c9b2dc4967684 PDF Text Text ���������������������������� 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 Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). 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) 1896-08-01 Volume 7 Issue 3 Pages Page range in volume 49–72 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18960801 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XL he Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VII.—No. 3.] AUGUST i, 1896. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. Warnings and Notices Literary Property— 1. At Belfast 2. After Belfast 8. With the Dai!]/ C/ironicle .. 4. Coat of Advertising 5. Cost of the Small Fdition.. 6. Cost of Production 7. Matters for Consideration.. The Berne Congress PAOE ... 49 ... SI .. 5i . M .. 55 . .'5 .. 55 . 55 ... 56 New York Letter. L June 12. II. July 13 Notes and News. By the Editor The Book and the Bookseller Literature in America. By Mon^ure Conway Dinner of the Authors' Club What is Good Literature? Book Talk Correspondence—1. Delayed Publication. 2. Literary Grab-alls. 3. Our Censors. 4 The Titlo Literature in Journals r\OB . 56 . 60 . 61 . 63 . 66 . 66 . 67 70 71 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1896 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. Th.6 Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. Back numbers are offered at the following prices: Vol. I., 10*. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 4. The History Of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, late Secretary to the Society, is. 5. The Cost of Production. Iu tliis 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. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various forms 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. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s. 7. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parlia- ment. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d. 8. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). 1*. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. zs. 6d.  ## p. 48 (#72) ############################################## AD VER TISEMENTS. ^fye ^ocicfp of Jluf^ors (gncotporcttefc). Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. Alfred Austin. J. M. B aerie A W. a Beckett. P. E. Beddard, F.E.S. Robert Bateman. Sir Henrt Bergnx, K.C.M.G. Sir Walter Besant. Augustine BlRRELL, M.P. Bev. Prop. Bonnet, F.B.S. Bight Hon. James Bryce, M.P. Bight Hon. Lord Burghclere, P.C. Hall Caine. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colles. Hon. John Collier. Sir W. Martin Conwat. F. Marion Crawford. A. W. A Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Egerton Castle. W. Morris Colles. Messrs. Field Solicitors f M< [a. PRESIDENT. GEOBQE MEKEIDITII. COUNCIL. The Earl of Desart. Austin Dobson. a. conan dotle, m.d A. W. Dubourg. Sir J. Eric Erichsen, Bart., F.B.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.B.S. Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Bider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. Budyard Kipling. Prof. E. Bay Lankester, F.B.S. W. E. H. Lkcky. J. M. Lely. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Eev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.D. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT Chairman—H. Bider Haggard, Hon. John Collier. Sir W. Martin Conway. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. Boscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Herman C. Merivale. Bev. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sir Lewis Morris. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. J. C. Parkinson. Bight Hon. Lord Pirbright. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. W. Baptiste Scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. B. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. J. J. Stevenson. Prof. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. Hon. Q.C. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.D. Henry Norman. S. Squire Sprigge. Herbert Thrino, B.A., 4, Portugal-street, W.C. Secretary—G. Herbert Thring, B.A. OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. IP. WATT &c S0 3ST, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SttUARE, Hive now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND. LONDON. W.C. WINDSOR HOUSE PRINTING WORKS, Offices of "The Field," "The Queen," "The Law Times," &e. Mr. HOBACE COX, Printer to the Authors' Society, takes the opportunity of informing Authors that, having a very large Office, and an extensive Plant of Type of every description, he is in a position to EXECUTE any PBINTLNG they may entrust to his care. ESTIMATES FORWARDED, AND REASONABLE CHARGES WILL BE FOUND.  ## p. 49 (#73) ############################################## XL he Eutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VII.—No. 3.] AUGUST 1, 1896. [Pbice Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. THE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. THEBE are several methods of publishing by agree- ments. Thus (1) an author may sell his work for a sum of money down: (2) he may take a share of the profits: (3) he may accept a royalty. The first method is the readiest and, where a proper price is paid, perhaps the best. It involves a certain amount of risk or doubt as to the result on the part of the buyer, and a certain amount of hesitation on the part of the seller. The author would do well to sell through an agent. But let him beware as to his choice of agent. At a time when the production of new books involved great risks and where the possible circle of purchasers was very small, the publishers, joining together, took half the profits as a return for their risk and services. At the present time in many cases, where there are no risks, they often take two-thirds and even more of the profits, and that after setting apart a large sum for "office expenses," allowing the author nothing at all for his office expenses. In other words, it is as if a steward were to charge first for his office and desks and then to take half or two-thirds of the remainder for himself as steward's fee. Thereiore the author must in every case ascertain carefully, before signing the agreement, what proportion is appropriated nnder its clauses by the publisher for himself. If the author is in doubt, let him submit the agreement to the secretary, or to one of the VOL. VII. literary agents recommended by the secretary. Above all things he must remember that in any business transaction the one who accepts an agreement in ignorance will quite certainly get the worst of it. The folly of signing in ignorance is the main cause of half the quarrels between author and publisher. In the case of profit-sharing agreements, remember that very common form of getting the better of an author is the practice of advertising the book in the publisher's own organs, very likely magazines of small circulation. Sometimes, also, he " exchanges " advertisements with other magazines, and charges the author as if he had paid for them. In this way the publisher may put the whole profits of a book in his own pocket. One way to prevent this sharp practice is to insert a clause to the effect that advertisements shall only be charged at the actual price paid for them. A better way, however, is to agree beforehand upon the papers in whioh advertisements may be inserted. As regards the right of inspecting the books, that neoo not be claimed, because it exists as the right of every partner, or joint venturer. You have only to demand the inspection of the books by your solicitor, your accountant, or the secretary of the Society. If the book is a first book, or one that carries risk, it is fair to make an arrangement for the first edition and another for the second, and following, if any. The publisher confers so signal a service upon the young author by producing his work at all—i.e., by giving him the chance he desires above all things—that it seems fair in such a case to yield him the larger share. In a profit-sharing agreement do not let the cost of rc duction form a part of the agreement, otherwise you wi be unable to contest it afterwards. It will be wisest never to enter into relations with an publisher unless recommended by the Society. There are many other dangers to be avoided. Seria! rights: stamping the agreement: American rights: futurt work: cession of copyright—these things cannot possibly be attended to by the young author. Therefore his agree- ment should always be shown to the secretary. It has been objected that these precautions presuppose *» great succes for the book, and that very few books indeed attain to this great success. That is quite true : but there in always this uncertainty of literary property that, although the works of a great many authors carry with them no risk at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not known what will be their maximum. Therefore every author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a Buccess which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. H 2  ## p. 50 (#74) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. (2.) The inspection of those ocoount books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements; and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the fame time he wDl do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. "T7WERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of hie business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions conneoted with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the cose of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be.read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To htamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon tbem. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE. MEMBERS are informed: 1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of the business of members of the Society. That it submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree- ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene- rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business details. 2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days' notice should be given. 6. That avery attempt is made to deal with all communi- cations promptly. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent to defray postage. 7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS. without previous correspondence; does not hold itself responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray postage. 8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for lectures by some of the leading members of the Society; that it has a "Transfer Department" for the sale and purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a " Register of Wants and Wanted" is open. Members are invited to communicate their requirements to the Manager. Thore iB an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in the Syndicate. NOTICES. THE Editor of the Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make the Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their- names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write? Communications for the Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and otherB who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously  ## p. 51 (#75) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 5' communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and gave him the trouble of sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years? Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This meanB, for those who do not like the trouble of "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at £g 40. The figures in our book are as near the exact truth as can be prooured; but a printer's, or a binder's, bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be arrived at. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what thoBe who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—With the Booksellers at Belfast. THE following passages are extracts from the speech made by the editor of this paper before the delegates of the Booksellers' Union at Belfast:— "He had to begin with a confession of neglect— with a confession of not understanding the whole problem. He meant this: Ten or twelve years a<,ro, when he, with some other persons, friends of his, founded a society, they did not include in their scheme that solidarity of the book interest which he perceived now they ought to have done. For twelve years past they had been working perhaps self shly and entirely for themselves, and for their relations with the publishers, which, as they knew, had been by no means satisfactory. The authors had improved their owu position to a very considerable extent, but he thought they should long ago have adopted this principle—viz., to take a book as a unit, as a common object of interest to all who were engaged in producing it, creating it, and selling it. "Meantime, he thought they had done something for the booksellers. Some six or seven years ago they produced an important volume, entitled ' The Cost of Production.' "For the first time that volume showed every- body who thought of buying it what a book really cost to produce—he meant to print, bind, publish, and advertise it. "With the cost of production must be taken the price to the trade and the selling price. Let them take a 6*. book for consideration. It was sold for 4*. 6d. The publisher got, on an average, 3«. bd. The cost on editions of 3000 and up- wards of an average book as defined in the ' Cost of Production' would be about is. On an average the author, unless he was a popular author, would receive I*., the publisher it. 6d., and the book- seller is." (Cries of " No, no.") Here many of the delegates got up and called attention to the fact that it was only by ordering a dozen books at a time that they could get them at so low a price as 3*. 6d. They mostly ordered single copies, for which they had to pay 4s. 2d., leaving only 4</. for their profit to include office expenses and living. "Well, let these figures be taken. Suppose the bookseller to get only this miserable 4c?. and the author his is., what did the publisher get out of the transaction 'i What did they think of that? (Shame.) These facts were not believed in by half the j)eople in the world, but they were per- fectly true. (Hear, hear.) In reply to these facts the publisher put forward the question of risk. Well, he had gone into that question, and no doubt there might be serious risk when publishers started new magazines, or expensive encyclopaedias, but as regarded current litera- ture, there was, as a rule, little or no risk what- ever. What he wanted them to observe was, that as regarded every branch of literature, whether they took fiction, poetry, history, essays, or, above all things, educational books, there were hundreds of authors whose works carried no risk, and whose name on the title-page was a guarantee at least of a certain amount of success. (Applause.) Then the publishers talked of the enormous amount of advertisements, but they would be surprised to learn that the i«. he put down very often covered the cost of advertise- ments as well. Considering the course of action of authors in the past, he said the publishers would have been more than hum iu if they had. not  ## p. 52 (#76) ############################################## 5* THE AUTHOR. taken advantage of the opportunities that had been afforded them. Why, with absolute power in their hands, they had actually given the book- seller $d. and the author is! It might have been much worse, for they might have given the book- seller 2d. and the author nothing, and nobody could have stopped them if they had done it. "Sometimes he had been called a dreamer of dreams, of which one or two of the more impos- sible had come off; he wou'd just lay before them a little dream he had about themselves. He thought they were all gathered together, four thousand strong in that building, and there stood a man in front of them and congratulated them on their strength, and he said in his dream 'Four thousand is a large number—an army; with four thousand you should do what you bke;' and they replied in the same strain. He then asked what they proposed to do, and why didn't they act, and they replied 'How are we to act? What are we to do?' Then this impossible dreamer said, 'Why don't you begin by publishing for yourselves, by yourselves, the more popular part of the books you sell?' If they did that they would increase their profit by 40 per cent, on their investments. He laid that down as a proposal for the booksellers to consider. Let them not do anything to which anyone could object. Let them just add one more to the numerous publishing houses already in existence. The proposal, he held, was perfectly feasible for them and the public, and as to how far it might be developed he would leave that to them to decide. It might be said that the question of risk came in, but when their numbers ran into thousands there was no risk—not a penny. Let them take authors, who were timid and bad business people, into their partnership in the fullest and freest manner, and if the authors saw they were carrying out the principle they had laid down in a loyal and true spirit, as he had no doubt they would, they would be attracted—yes —all the best authors in the country." II.—After Belfast. We have had, in consequence of the foregoing address, another of those periodical attacks in which our figures are assailed. Yet they remain. Nothing is more certain to me than the fact that the kind of book which we called an average book; that is, exactly defined, as a book of 320 pages, with about 258 words to the page, can be produced in large quantities at less than a shilling. Nothing is more certain than the fact that the average price paid by the trade for a 6s. book is 3*. 6d. in quantities of a dozen and over; and 4.V. 2f/. in single copies. Nothing is more certain, therefore, than the fact that 2*. 6d., in one case, and 3*. 2d., in the other, remains over, which should be the author's property, out of which to pay the services of the publisher. As for the question of office expenses, I do not think any one will again advance the preposterous claim that publishers alone have any office expenses to be considered. The office expenses, if they are divided over every book issued by publisher and bookseller are estimated by some of the latter at about 16 per cent, of their receipts: by some of the former at 10 per cent, of their expenses. I do not know how much the author should reckon—in many cases, of course, his expenses can never be covered by any return that the book could yield, even if he had all. Such a case as the accumulation of a library; the work of years; the copying of MSS.; travelling; all to make a history; cannot ever be repaid: yet they are genuine office expenses: even the rent of his house, which is his workshop, should be con- sidered. Suppose, however, that all the three persons concerned were to take each 10 per cent, for office expenses. How would the matter stand? I take the price to the bookseller to be 34. 6c?., and the cost of the book to be is. They all take 10 per cent., i.e., 4'2d., not quite \\d. —say ^d. —for office expenses. That reduces the said 3*. 6d. to 2s. 6d. The cost of production reduces it to i*. bd., of which a fair division would perhaps be i*. to the author and 6d. to the pub- lisher. The question of advertising is always coming up. Do we count that in the shilling? Un- doubtedly we do. I suppose it will be allowed that the advertising is spread over the whole of the editions. Now, an edition in large numbers, of such a size as we have assumed, may cost under gd. a copy. Every £ 10 spent in advertising means 2\d. for 1000, i-fad. for 2000, %d. for 3000, for 6000. In other words, a book which sells 6000 copies may have =£50 spent in advertising it for 2d. a copy. When we treat of small editions, the book itself must cost, as is care- fully shown in the "Cost of Production," a good deal more than a shilling. The question how much advertising a book may bear is often an anxious one. Here every publisher follows his own plan. That some plans are unwise—that much money is wasted in advertising — one who stands behind the scenes and compares accounts as rendered by different firms cannot but understand so much. Three or four years ago the accounts of a book  ## p. 53 (#77) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 53 costing about js. 6d. were sent in. The sum of over =£200 was set down for advertising. A detailed list of papers and dates was sent in: apparently every little journal in the country had been enriched : the list was verified here and there, and seemed to be correctly drawn up. Another case occurred the other day where a book whose sale was no more than 170x3 copies was loaded with advertisements to the tune of .£96! This charge was also verified, and was, no doubt, perfectly correct—but the wisdom of spending so much on a book impossible to make popular seems doubtful. As a general rule the money spent in advertising the great mass of books is very small, for the simple and sufficient reason that the public would not buy them if we placarded the whole west front of St. Paul's with their advertisements. Here is a new point to be considered, A corre- spondent says: " In estimating the subject of cost there is a point which seems to have escaped you. It is the advantage enjoyed by the great houses. They can keep going a whole army of printers: they can order cloth for binding by the acre: they can order paper by the square mile. There- fore they get everything cheaper than the small publisher who sends in a book here and a book there, orders his cloth for binding by the yard and the paper by the ream." The correspondence about the Belfast meeting has ended, so far, in the following letters :— To the Editor of the Westminster Gazette. Sir,—An additional fact of considerable interest, whioh has just come to my knowledge, is my only exouse for addressing you again on this subject. 1. In bis letter to you of July 8 Mr. R. B. Marston made the following statement: "A 6s. novel is sold to the trade at one-third off less 10 per cent., thirteen copies being reckoned as twelve; this brings the amount received by the publisher to 3s. 4<J., leaving him lod." These, he states, are the terms " to the trade." 2. This statement is quite clear and distinct. 3. Very well. A few days after this statement was thus publicly made a circular was issued by the firm of Sampson Low and Co., addressed "To the Trade." This circular being marked "Private," my solicitors, Messrs. Field, Boscoe, and Co., asked Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. if they would permit me to publish it. They object to its publication. 4. I can therefore only inform your readers that in this circular "the Trade" are cautioned by Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. not to expect the terms which one of their directors has assured the public are given to them. 5. With this circular before me, I can repeat, even more eonfiflently than before, my assertion that the price of the 6>. book to the bookseller, with all discounts and allow- ances, is js. 6d. If any people object, I shall refer them to Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. My previous assertion th»t single copies pay 4». 2d. has never been denied. The prioe . asked by publishers, therefore, varies from 4s. 2d. to 3«. 4<Z., which is apparently the price to distributors. The average price obtained by the publisher I shall still pnt at 38. 6d.— Your obedient servant, Walter Besant. Frognal, Hampstead, July 23. To the Editor of the Westminster Gazette. Sir,—Sir Walter Besant now state.-s in your columns that "the average price obtained by the publisher I shall put at 38. 6(2." This is only 2d. more than my estimate, but it is 8d. less than the figures given to the meeting at Belfast. Sir Walter says that we objeot to the publication of a private circular addressed to the trade, but he does not mention the reason we gave, viz., that booksellers have written to us oomplaining of trade discounts being pub- lished at all. If this correspondence should lead towards the abolition of the present stupid system of oalling the retail prioe of a book 25 per cent, more than anyone can buy it at it will not have been in vain.—Yours faithfully, B. B. Marston. St. Dunstan's House, Fetter-lane, London, E.C. Let anyone compare my letter with this answer. In my letter I show that a definite statement of figures publicly advanced was secretly denied by the same firm. I also point out that my original statement of the 4*. 2d. remains the same. Yet Mr. Marston pretends that I have reduced my original statement as to the 4*. 2d. by 8d. The end of the thing is that I come out of it with my own figures supported by this secret document letter for letter. The history in brief of the row: 1. The booksellers declare that the so-called trade price of 3*. 6d. is no use to them, because they cannot order copies by the dozen. 2. They further declare that for single copies, which they have to sell at 4*. 6d., they have to pay 4j. 2d. 3. Enterprising publisher, drawing a herring across the real grievance by questioning the alleged trade price of 3*. 6c?., declares that it is 3«. 4rf. 4. Enterprising publisher's firm send out a secret circular to the trade warning them that they must not expect to get their books at the price of 3*. $d., as publicly stated by their partner. 5. Another enterprising publisher enters the arena and tries another herring, denies that the book put forward as average (i.e., a book of 320 pages with 258 words to a page) can be produced at a shilling even in large editions, says that the average is 352 pages, and then shows in triumph that the Society's figures are wrong. 6. The person attacked exposes the public allegations with the secret denial, and shows that he has been right throughout; that the charge of the 4»- 2d. has never been denied, and that the  ## p. 54 (#78) ############################################## 54 THE AUTHOR. average return to the publisher is taken at 3s. 6d. 7. The person exposed brings along another herring and pretends that the charge of the 4*. 2d. has been withdrawn in favour of the 3*. 6d. This is the common course of all these con- troversies: a charge advanced: a herring: then another: then a third: at last the original charge remains. III.—The "Daily Chronicle" on the Controversy. The Daily Chronicle publishes a column of notes from publishers. I. Mr. Oswald Crawfurd made three statements, all of them in error. a. That I say there is no risk in publishing. I have never said anything of the kind. I say that the risk in producing the current literature of the day, considering the custom of making the new author pay for producing his own work, is so small as not to be worth considering; and this I maintain. /3. That I propose to abolish the publisher. It is impossible to abolish the publisher. As well try to abolish the capitalist. But there is not the least reason why booksellers should not print for themselves some of the popular books of the day. The great literary enterprises, the important works, will be left for the great merchant adventurers in literature. y. He says that I ought to practice what I preach. Well, I am willing to do so. But I am not a bookseller. If the bookseUers do what I have suggested I will offer them a story with the greatest pleasure. II. Mr. Heinemann says that my figures have been demolished by Mr. Marston. Really! This is indeed ingenuous! Mr. Marston advanced figures, truly, in the Westminster Gazette, but his own firm next day sent out a private circular to the trade telling them that they could not expect to get their books on those terms. The figures given in that circular were exactly mine, viz., 3«, 6d. when a dozen copies are ordered. III. Mr. Sonnenschein talked good sense and spoke with truth and candour. Observe, however (1) that I have never said that there are no risks in publishing (see above), and (2) that I have never talked such nonsense as that all novels cost the same. I say that in large editions of a certain work assumed to be an average work, with a given number of sheets and a certain size page a book may be produced at a shilling a copy, and in subsequent editions much less. "With regard to the cost of production, I think it is a great mistake to talk as though all novels cost the same. Many can be produced at a shilling a copy if sufficient copies are printed. Others cost a great deal more. One might just as well speak of building a house without explaining whether it is a cottage or mansion. I am sorry for the decline of the country bookseller. Formerly he was a small speculator and extremely useful to publisher and author. Now in most cases he has declined into a mere distributor of books, exercising no control over their selection, and practically keep- ing no stock." IV. Mr. Alfred Nutt thinks that 75 per cent, of the new books do not pay, and that the loss in half the cases falls on the publisher. An opinion of this kind is valuable in propor- tion to the experience and knowledge of him who holds it. Mr. Nutt occupies a very respected position as a publisher. I would accept any opinion of Mr. Nutt's which is based on personal experience so far as that can be taken, but the valuable works which Mr. Nutt issues can scarcely be called popular. V. Mr. Hutchinson says that he cannot produce a 6s. novel in an edition of 3000 copies at 1*. He does not, however, say that he cannot produce the assumed average book of twenty sheets which we have advanced. All books are not the same length. He says they frequently spend ,£75 in advertising a book. He also trots out the office expenses, saying nothing about the booksellers' or the authors' office expenses. VI. A bookseller, Mr. Collier, of Stanford, writes sensibly: "My own opinion is that the bulk of booksellers buy on the single-copy terms after the first subscription, and often then, and that they don't get more than 5 per cent, extra discount in any case, if so much. A bookseller with an open window who makes cheap fiction his leading trade, and gives it great publicity, pro- bably always gets his 6s. books for 4s. But not so the majority of the trade. He is able to buy in large quantities because he make that his business, but the average man who keeps an all- round stock of books—the average bookseller, that is to say—buys in small quantities. Argu- ments on the whole question ought fairly to be based on the terms usually in operation, and those terms are roundly 30 per cent, off the published price, which means getting a 6s. novel for 4s. 2«?. It is not a fair argument on the part of the publisher to take purchases in exceptionally large numbers as the basis. I judge that in any trade an exceptionally large buyer would com- mand an extra discount, especially if he had his money in his hand, but his case would not illustrate the general custom in his trade."  ## p. 55 (#79) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 55 VII. Lastly, if it is lastly, another bookseller says in the Daily Chronicle: "The contention between the retail booksellers and the publishers is simply this—the retail trade say that $d. a copy profit on each 6*. book they sell is not enough. The publishers, represented by Mr. Marston, say 4</. a copy is not all you get. Now it happens that when Mr. Marston's letter appeared my quarterly account was just due, and uii seeing his letter I naturally concluded that he meant what he said, and that he did supply retail booksellers on the terms he mentioned. Now his account against me contained several 6*. books, which were charged so as to allow me only 4(1. a copy profit. I therefore deducted the differ- ence between the price he says publishers charge and what his firm were actually charging me, and sent him a cheque. This he promptly returned as being insufficient to settle the account, and at once confirmed Sir Walter Besant's statement.— I am, yours faithfully, "July 27. "A West End Bookseller." IV.—The Cost of Advertising. The cost of advertising is, I repeat, in- cluded in the cost of production. How is it, then, that in estimating (see " Cost of Produc- tion,'' p. 31) the cost of an edition of 3000, even when making allowance for the reduction in ■ the cost of paper, there is left so small a margin for advertising? The answer is this: A book which sells 3000 copies will certainly go on selling. The next edition of 3000 costs under lod. a copy. Now, the cost of advertising for an edition of 3000 is as follows. Every =£10 spent in advertising means four-fifths of a penny per copy. If, therefore, ,£25 be spent in advertising that means 2d. a, copy. But for a sale of 6000 copies, every Jiio means two-fifths of a penny, and an expenditure of £40 means i%d. per copy. It is easy, therefore, to understand how the cost of advertising is included in the shilling. It must always be understood that this does not include the publishers' own organs, for which they has no right to charge anything, except by special agreement; nor exchanges, namely, advertisements inserted, and probably paid for, in other pub- lishers' organs on the understanding, tacit or expressed, that advertisements shall be sent in return to their organs. V.—The Cost of the Small Edition. When complaints are made that a book cannot be produced at the figures given in the "Cost of Production," it is always assumed that those figures are put forward for every kind of edition- VOL. VII. Thus it is ignored that (see page 31) the number of sheets, the size of the page, the number of words in the page, and the kind of type are all given. It is also ignored (see page 26) that the small edition is very carefully considered. Thus it is stated that a six shilling book printed in small pica, at 258 words to the page, and in seventeen sheets or 272 pp., would cost for 500 copies, 2*. 8d. a copy; for 1000 copies, is. ioirf. a copy. It may also be calculated from the detailed figures that for 2000 copies about i*. "jd. a copy may be reckoned. The history of a very large number of books is this. An edition of 2000 copies is printed, and the type distributed. Whatever is said about the uncertainty of the book trade, it is pretty certain that certain books of a kind very well known will never reach the end of their second thousand. As a matter of fact, many of them never clear the first thousand, leaving a small profit of about ,£40 or X'50. If the author is to have a shilling royalty out of this, the publisher manifestly has nothing. Therefore, the author cannot have a shilling royalty. But that is no reason why the pub- lisher should cry out upon the "Cost of Produc- tion" and the figures put forward in that invaluable book. If, however, the book sells 1800 copies—a very fair measure of success with such books, and the author has his twopence in the shilling, the figures stand thus, always taking the length of the book as above: Cost of production, £132; author, i'yo; pub- lisher, =£93. So that it is quite evident that a very limited sale may produce quite substantial results. VI.—The Cost of Production. 1 have in my hands the catalogue of a certain public library. It is four times the length of the average six-shilling book; it con- tains, in fact, about 300,000 words in 264 closely printed pages; it is bound in plain boards only, but it employs different kinds of type, which adds greatly to the expenses of composition. The librarian says, "You are interested in the cost of production. This book, of which 7500 were printed, cost to produce, as nearly as possible, 9jrf. a copy." Yet a weekly paper was some time ago persuading its readers that nothing short of an edition of 30,000 copies would enable the average six-shilling book, which contains about 80,000 words, to be produced for a shilling a copy. .,_ W. B. VII.—"Matters for Consideration." I am glad to report that, as one result of exposing certain facts in regard to agreements, 1  ## p. 56 (#80) ############################################## 56 THE AUTHOR. a publisher who was referred to in these columns has so far modified his offers concerning agency business that be now proposes to give the author 90 per cent, instead of 50, his former custom. In other words, he proposes to be a literary agent in such matters in the same sense as the genuine literary agent. But the literary agent must always stand apart from the publisher. In my opinion it is a great mistake for the author to look to the publisher for agency work. G. H. Thbing. 10. The relations of authors and editors, M. Eugene Pouillet. 11. Registration, M. Lucien Lay us. 12. Legal protection of artistic heritages, M. Maurice Bekaert. 13. Public rights (after the lapse of author's rights) in artistic and literary works, M. E. Mack. 14. The proprietorship of stereotype or other plates for reproduction, M. Davanne. EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE INTER- NATIONAL LITERARY AND ARTISTIC ASSOCIATION AT BERNE. Programme. THE eighteenth Congress of the International Literary and Artistic Association will take place at Berne, from the 22nd to the 29th of August. The following is the official list of subjects proposed for consideration: 1. Report on the work done by the association between the Berne Convention (1886) and the Paris Conference (1896), M. Jules Lermina. 2. Paper on the Paris Conference, M. Georges Maillard. 3. Means of assuring the application of the Berne Convention in the countries which have joined the union: (a) Literary works, M. Paul Ollendorf. (6) Dramatic works, M. A. Beaume. (c) Musical works, M. Victor Souchon. (<7) Painting, sculpture, and engraving, M. Georges Floury. (e) Architectural works, M. Charles Lucas. (f) Photography, M. Andre Taillefer. ((/) Compliance with conditions and formalities in countries belonging to the union, M. Ernest Rothlisbcrger. 4. Legislation in countries belonging to the uuion. Germany, M. Albert Osterrietli. Italy, M. Tito Ricordi. 5. Copyright of contributions to journals, M. Jules Lermiua. 6. The means of obtaining the adhesion of new countries to the Berne Convention: Europe, M. Maurice Mauuoury. America, M. A. Darras. 7. Collaboration, M. G. Harmand. 8. The rights of the creditors of authors, M. A. Vaunois. 9. Proposals for a law on the rights of authors, M. Georges Maillard. NEW YORK LETTER. I. New York City, N.Y., June 12. HAMLIN GARLAND, the most prominent new writer of the Western States, is now at work on a different kind of work from any he has heretofore attempted. His reputation as a short story writer has become firmly estab- lished in the last few years ; this year he made his first experiment in novel writing with " Rose of Dutehers Cooley," which showed some power, and now he has nearly finished a piece of his- torical work for S. S. McClure and Co., a Life of Grant, which is to begin in serial form very soon. He has done a great deal of study for the sub- ject. He intends to treat it graphically and to make it read as much as possible like a novel, although it is to be exact. Mr. Garland is not only the strongest of the young writers of Chicago, to which city he now belongs, but he is the one of prominence who believes most firmly in the future of that city as a literary centre. It is already the city to which the country people of the Western States look for careers, as is graphically told in "Rose of Dutehers Cooley," which is supposed to be largely autobiographical. Mr. Garland himself has spent most of his life in the country, and, although he now lives in Chicago, spends much of his time on a farm. It is a common thing to hear it suggested that he needs to go to more cultivated places to work out a talent which is probably the most real of auy produce) within the last few years in the west, and it is said that he himself feels a certain danger in being as conspiciously the leader as he is, but his loyalty to Chicago and his belief in its future are ardent. As surely as Mr. Garland is the strongest, Henry B. Fuller is the the cleverest of the Chicago writers. The book published here by the Century Company in May and by John Lane in London, shows that Mr. Fuller's mind has taken a new turn. He first attracted attention with a story largely  ## p. 57 (#81) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 57 of fancy, "The Chevalier of Pensieri-Vani," but his reputation has been made mainly on two stories of severe realism, "The Cliff Dwellers" and "With the Procession." "The Puppet Booth" is, on the other hand, entirely symbolic and largely in the manner of Maeterlinck. A few of the little plays are obvious parodies, but most of them arc serious efforts that seem to show a new turn of his talent. He is probably, however, doomed to failure in this line, and it is the general expectation that he will return to studies of Chicago life, though probably they will be less insistently realistic than they were before. Mr. Fuller is the only one of the Western writers of importance who does not like the life in which he is placed. A few days ago he said in a letter to a newspaper: "The trouble with life in A merica is that it. is uninteresting, and it is uninteresting largely because it has been so unsuccessful in voicing itself: 70,000,000 of us, mostly inarticulate ; it is a mortifying reflec- tion. I agree with you that every native peep, if authentic, should be encouraged to go on peeping; then, some day our needs in art, in literature, in music will be met not approximately, by the handiest foreign importation, but absolutely, by productions of our own people. The twitterings of the new brood of magazinelets seem to herald the coming dawn." He has never been fond of the crude and enthusiastic city, but he has a certain loyalty to it and is interested in its future. A story by a Chicago woman, which, whatever its other qualities, smells of the soil, is the last novel of Lillian Bell, called "The Under Side of Things." She is the author of " The Love Affairs of an Old Maid." No Chicago author is more like Chicago. The novel is handled in England by Sampson Low, Marston and Co. Everybody in the literary world in Chicago is rejoicing just now that the dissolution of the firm of Stone and Kimball does not mean one less publishing house in the city. Mr. Stone has organised a new firm, H. S. Stone and Co., which, besides issuing the Chap Booh, is to go on with the publication of books, beginning with the second series of Richard Le Gallienne's Prose Fancies, a translation of the novel of "Annunzio," and two works of more local character. "Checkers," a story by Henry M. Blossom, jun., claims little merit other than a faithful reproduction of the slang of Chicago, which has not yet found its way into books, although it has into the newspapers. The story is at least amusing. More under- standing of the city and more vividness of expres- sion will be found in "Stories of the Streets and of the Town," by Geo. Ames, a young nmn whose work on the Chicayo Record has attracted attention for a number of years. All of those books will probably be issued before fall. Rudyard Kipling's story of 50,000 words dealing with Gloucester fishermen, has been sold in its serial rights for England and American for 240 dollars a thousand words to McClure. The book is not arranged for, but it is said that, the MacMillans have made an offer for it. Chas. Scribncr's Sons have just bought 'The Sense of Beauty," by George Santayana, a young man who has thus far published one book, a volume of verse brought out by Stone and Kimball. What essay work has appeared in the magazines has been brilliant. Dr. Santayana has been teaching sesthetics and philosophy at Har- vard University, to which he will return in 1897, spending this year in England. Among the other books which the Scribners expect to bring out in fall is " The Sprightly Adventures of Marsac," by Miss Eliote Sewall, which is a New York Herald prize story, and will be brought out with illustra- tions by G. Berbeck, known from his connection with Le Chat Noir, the Courrier Franrais, and other French papers. Although both the author and illustrator are Americans the study of Bohemian Life in Paris is an interesting one. "My Village," a sketch of life in a French village near Paris, where the author lived for five years, with illustrations by the author, E. Boyd Smith, has an intimate charm. The Scribners have just announced Max Beerbohm's works, which are thus far very little known in this country. The Century Company in the fall will publish a story of Quaker life by Dr. Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia. Crowell and Co. will bring out in the fall a five volume edition of Fennimorc Cooper's Leather Stocking Tales, handsomely illustrated, with an introduction by Brander Mathews. Stephen Crane's new novel "Dan Edmonds," which was expected in June, will not be ready until the autumn. Edward Arnold has just pub- lished " George's Mother," a story which is much inferior to the "Red Badge of Courage." The first edition is 10,000. The Appletons publish "Maggie, a Girl of the Street," which Mr. Crane wrote some years ago, and which is weaker than "George's Mother." Even in these two books, however, there is some of the power which was proved by the "Red Badge of Courage," and good work in the future from Mr. Crane is looked upon as a certainty by most of the critics here. Sarah Orne Jewett is editing the two volumes of Mrs. Thaxter's poems and prose works, which will prevent her bringing out a new volume of stories this fall. She is a writer who is likely to be better known in England as time goes on.  ## p. 58 (#82) ############################################## 58 THE AUTHOR. The fact that "Madelon," Miss Wilkins' first attempt at a novel, is sold in England, and that Miss Jewett is almost unknown there, shows that the relative merits of the two writers are not understood. They occupy a field of their own, the study of New England life, and neither stands first in this country; Miss Jewett, with more delicacy, has scarcely less power than Miss Wilkins. Miss Wilkins is not at her best in "Madelon," although the story has much strength. Tt is published by Harper and Brothers. Miss Jewett's last volume of stories called " The Life of Nancy," is published by Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. H. C. Bunner, the poet, who has just died in America, is to be honoured by a Bunner memo- rial, a medal to be awarded annually at Columbia University, to the student who submits the best essay on American literature. It is in charge of Laurence Hutton, Brander Matthews, and H. G. Paine. The American branch of the Macmillan busi- ness has been changed to a corporation, and called the Macmillan Company, but the manage- ment remains the same. G. P. Putnam's Sons announce for immediate publication in book form under the name of "The United States and Great Britain " three of the best addresses that have been delivered here during the recent international troubles; "The Relations between the United States and Great Britain, by David A. Wells; "The True Monroe Doctrine," by E. S. Phelps, formerly Minister to England, and " Arbitration," by Carl Schurtz. "By Oak and Thorn," by Alice Brown, pub- lished by Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., a series of sketches of English country, is a disappointment. Her work in New England fiction has given promise that she might sometime stand next to Miss Jewett and Miss Wilkins, but this book is deplorably weak. N. H. n. New York, July 13. One of the most interesting books to be published next, fall is a temptation to say something about a distinctive feature of current, criticism in America, and especially in this city. Our most valuable contemporary critics are not those who are known in England, for an obvious reason. What Mr. George Bernard Shaw said of himself some time ago, that he wrote for the paper which would pay him most, is of course true of our literary men on the whole, and as the newspapers and the cheap periodicals pay the best prices, and pay them not for as sound work as is demanded by a number of the leading English periodicals, but for either noto- riety or a style that will appeal to the mass of half-educated readers who give to our newspapers and magazines their immense circulations, the critics most widely known are men whose best work is in other fields of literature, and who enter criticism because their prominence makes their opinions sought. Curiously enough, at first sight, some of the solidestand subtlest criticism we have in America deals with the arts which are most inchoate here. There is no literary critic, no dramatic critic, no musical critic whose style and treat- ment are more distinguished and fertile than are those of several who write mainly of the plastic arts. This is due partly to accident, partly to the fact that the public recognises its ignorance of the plastic arts, and therefore cares more for expert criticism than it does in the case of comment on literature and the drama, where it is best pleased to see its own opinions immediately reflected. The existence of a demand for expert comment on arts which are rapidly growing in general interest has led to a great amount of writing among the New York artists, and some of them are at least as skilful with the pen as ■ ith the brush. The book which will support these remarks is to be publshed by the Century Company in the fall. It is a book about French artists written by American artists, to be illus- trated by the leading engravers, Cole, Wolfe, and Kingsley. The mumber of volumes is, I believe, still undecided. The idea originated with John C. Van Dyke, the author of "Art for Art's sake," "Principles of Art," "A Textbook of the History of Painting," and other criticism, Pro- fessor of the History of Art in Rutger's College, and on the whole the critic whose point of view is most satisfactory to the painters themselves. His work all has really one object, to explain to intelligent novices the standpoint of the artist. He is eminently sane and competent, but he has no graces or powers of expression. Before passing on to the painter critics, whose work is illustrated in this collection, a word should be said for completeness of two writers who do not appear there, since it happens that the two contemporary American writers who have made the most interesting books on art are not artists. Second to no American critic of the day for the soundest literary merit is Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, the author of a work on the Eng.ish cathedrals, one on landscape gardening called "Art out of Doors," a, book on painters called " Six Portraits," other bound volumes, and a great many magazine and newspaper articles 011 art, as well as some on politics, some on literature, and a little fiction. She is one among few of our writers who have cared a great deal for style  ## p. 59 (#83) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 59 in its subtler qualities. For the years that she has been writing it has always improved. Culti- vated, personal at once and reserved, at the beginning, it has steadily gained in harmony, suppleness, and finish, while keeping the earnest- ness and solidity which were its merits from the start. She lives among society people, among artists, among politicians, and among the poor of the East side, a leader in almost every branch of New York life, and it is the breadth of her personality as well as her warmth of sympathy and her thorough study of her subjects that makes her style, which has no qualities that are showy or take a superficial attention at once, one that can well stand judgment on high standards. She writes for the general public, not the specialist, but she writes her best always. She, more than any other one writer, led to the recognition among Eastern critics of the architectural merits of the buildings at Chicago in 1892-3. W. C. Brownell, for some years a literary critic, now the reader for Scribners' publishing house, has lately written much on art, part of which appears as a book " French Art." He is seen at his best in this and in " French Traits." In the kind of criticism which is purely intellectual, where critical acumen for almost everything, Mr. Brownell stands first, in spite of the small amount of his collected work. In subtlety, sharpness of dis- tinction, preciseness of statement, logical coherence, individuality of vocabulary, and brilliancy of characterisation verging on epigram, he easily leads our critics. He is too intellectual for the public and frankly writes for a few. A inong the painter critics the only one of pro- minence who does not appear in the Century collection is John La Forge, and he writes not of contemporary work, but of art principles in general. "Considerations on Painting," pub- lished this year by Macmillan, although some- what elementary in style in its long explanations, has much sound thought clearly and firmly stated. Coming to those painters who do appear as writers in the Century book, several combine the technical with the literary point of view success- fully. Kenyon Cox, who does the articles on Puvis de Chauvannes and Baudry, writes mainly of technical qualities, but treats them broadly as well as strictly, and writes with uncommon vigour, certainty, and clearness. He is very well known here as an anonymous reviewer, and he has a quality rare among the writers who have personal acquaintance with the men they write of perfect straightforwardness in the treatment of fault8- W. A. Coffin, who does Kosseau ^, ~ na,n- Bouveret, also combines literary Q ~ Da£ 1 the knowledge of a practical pa in te^^ ties * "T best work was done for the Nation 3' gome #f l^8 VOL. VII, \tbe?*m Exhibition of 1889. In one of his papers to the nation, by the way, Mr. Coffin speaks of Theodore Robinson as the best of the present American impressionists, and many of the New York artists agree with him. Robinson, who died last April, has two articles in the present collection, one 011 Monet, which has already appeared in the Century, and one, which at his death he left practically complete, on Corot. With a few slight revisions by his intimate friend, A. P. Jaccaci, the art editor of Scribner's Magazine, the article reads smoothly, and it shows a most attractive side of the young painter, whose admiration for Coret was high, and whose love of literature was strong and made him write well. He died while his art was still changing, and hardly anyone could be more missed. Gerome and Bontet de Monvel are done by Will H. Low, popular as a writer on art, who now has a series of articles running in McClure's Magazine. Bonnat and Laurens are done by E. H. Blashfield, one of our most prominent painters, who is a ready and intelligent critic. Gh P. R. Healey, the portrait painter, writes on Conture, Beckwith on Carolus Duran, H. W. Watrons on Meissionier, Arthur Horber on Diaz, W. H. Howe on Troyon, D. W. Tryon. one of our most delicate landscape painters, on Danbigny, Wyatt Eaton on Millet, and S. Isham on Bastien Lepage. In this connection, a book just published by C. A. Ellis, by the most prominent of our musical critics, W. F. Apthorp, should be mentioned. The volume of nearly 900 pages has analytic programmes of the twenty-four concerts given in Boston last season by the symphony orchestra of that city. Mr. Apthorp has not only commented on 105 pieces by forty-six composers in an interesting and scholarly way, but has a number of entre-actes treating of various subjects in musical history. The present interest in music, shown by Paderewski's immense success and the increasing support of the orchestra in New York, Boston, and Chicago, as well as of the opera, finds a minor illustration in the publication by the Scribners of a little book called " Delivery in the Art of Pianoforte Playing." There may be a temptation later to speak of dramatic criticism, which is at a low ebb in all our cities. As an illustration of the bad effect of cheap magazines and newspapers on literary criticism a gross instance may be cited from Munsey's Magazine, which has the largest circulation of any monthly magazine in the country. The literary critic of that periodical says: « Mr-Harold Frederic , g made his debut as a novelist with a book titled ' The Damnation of -T^eron Ware.' Mr. 0** jeric is favourably kno^v^ ^0 us by his foreign  ## p. 60 (#84) ############################################## bo THE AUTHOR. letters to the .New York Times, and those who have followed his work closely will not be sur- prised to find in his first novel proof that he is entitled to high rank in literature." As Mr. Frederic's stories of American life have long had a very high place in general estimation the absurdity of the remark is more than ordinarily salient. Norman Hapgood. NOTES AND NEWS. THE present number of the Autlurr is almost made up of the booksellers' grievance. It is a subject which, as is argued in another place, most materially affects us all. We must have centres of distribution and exhibition. Whether we care about books being sold or not, we care greatly about their being seen and read. The circulating library cannot take the place of the book shop: that is quite certain. It is a stupid policy and a blind policy to sweat the bookseller out of existence, Meantime it must be observed that in the whole of the contro- versy my original charge, that of making the unfortunate bookseller pay 4*. 2d. for a book which he has to sell for 4*. 6d. has never been denied, or excused, or explained away. It remains. _ The "New York Letter" of last month, which arrived too late, appears in this number with that of the present month. I am happv to inform our readers that Mr. Sherard, who has been much occupied with law work of a disagreeable kind, hopes to resume his letter from Paris next month. o<_ Lord Bosebery's eulogy on Robert Burns, pro- nounced at the recent Centenary Celebration, deserves to be reprinted separately as an oration of the highest literary order. I doubt if there is a single man among the whole of the literary profession who could write—not to say deliver— a tribute to the memory of a poet with so much appreciation, so much grace, so much felicity of phrase, so much originality, and in language so well sustained, and in parts, so noble. The address reminds us that the literary gift, the power of expression, is not confined to those who follow the literary profession. I hope that the address will be issued in a form more durable than that of the morning paper. The following sums have been received by Miss Ellen T. Masters, of 4, Mount Avenue, Ealing, on behalf of Mrs. Eliza Warren since the publica- tion of the former list, making a total of ,£46 12.5. id. :— £ t. d. £ »■ d. Anon 0 1 6 Page/Warden, Esq. 0 10 0 Cooke, the Misses 0 10 0 Toplis, Miss Grace 0 5 0 Hilton, E. E 1 0 0 S. B 0 5 0 In the list published in our July number, for " A Poor Old Woman," is., read 1*. id.; for Mrs. F. G. Smart, 5*., read £5 ; and for Miss G. Michell, 10*., read icw. 6d. gi_ Mr. Moncure Conway's paper on "Literature in America" reopens the question whether, in 1891, we were right in accepting without a protest the Copyright Act as it stood, with its mis- chievous clauses. We did so on the under- standing that, but for these clauses, this Act would not be passed. We accepted the pro- verbial half loaf rather than no bread. The English grievance, as advanced by Mr. Conway, is that the author invariably loses his first work in America; at the same time, he nearly always loses his first work in this country. One does not pity him very much, because to every author the first step necessary is the publication of his first book. That is, if he is a poet, a dramatist, a novelist, or an essayist; in other words, if he is embarking upon a life of literature, the first step is the most difficult; for that first step the author must be grateful, whatever terms are offered him. The American grievance is that of his current literature of the day, 60 per cent, comes from abroad, and is obtained for nothing. This is not a good thing for American litera- ture; and, in the long run, cannot be good for American publishers. It seems a matter entirely in the hands of the American authors. And it remains to be seen whether they can be powerful enough, united enough, and independent enough, to demand the abolition or the modification of the " manufacturing clauses." Stamp your agreements. This is a warning which we are always repeating. Give them to our secretary, who will get them stamped for you and keep them for you in a fireproof safe. It will cost you sixpence or thereabouts. Now on July 9 a case came before the Lord Chief Justice: Author v. Publisher. After the opening of the case the judge asked to see the agreement. It was handed up to him. He gave it back. "There is no contract," he said, "this piece of paper is worthless." The plaintiff might have taken his agreement to be stamped, on payment of a penalty of £10. But he did not. The case was taken out of court and settled somehow. Of course one is not suggesting that the plaintiff was right or the  ## p. 61 (#85) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 61 defendant wrong; but the former, at any rate, failed to get his case heard because he had for- gotten to stamp his agreement. Edmund de Goncourt "uttered," according to Zola's funeral oration, "the sublime cry that the earth will one day crumble, and that his works will no longer be read." It lingers long, this ancient belief in literary immortality. The plain, broad facts stare one in the face: it seems impos- sible to ignore them: poets, dramatists, novelists, essayists, critics, historians, flourish, and achieve their name and fame in every generation: new poets, especially, and new novelists spring up every year: to this year's cinacle last year's is out of date: when they die or cease i o exist, what becomes of them? With the rarest exceptions, they are speedily forgotten, except by the student. Consider the enormous production of verse and fiction during the last hundred years: how many survive of that immense army of writers? The «arth has not crumbled. Yet they are no more read. How many works achieve a great and widespread popularity, yet are never read after the first year of their success? Think of the popular novelists who have gone on writing year after year giving good work to the world. Now, their books stand unbought, unread, not asked for in the libraries. They still retain, some of them, old disciples: these drop out, one by one: then they are remembered by one or two, at most, out of all their books. Some, less fortunate, are not remembered at all. For example, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Charles Reade—great writers all—yet, how many readers ask for them at the library? How many buy their books? For one book of each, however, if not more known than one, these writers will be remembered. So far they are raised above the common run, even of successful writers. As for living writers, one must not inquire into the possible or the probable limitations of their endurance. Yet—one may ask—is it not so great a thing to succeed in moving and holding his contemporaries that a writer should be content with having achieved so much? An actor, a singer, a preacher, a violinist, even a statesman, thinks only of pleasing, or instructing, or advancing his own generation. Why should the author expect, or ask for, more? 'Ideal,' for that, and beauty, and pathos all lie in the simply natural. . . . Let your moral take care of itself, and remember that an author's writing desk is something infinitely higher than a pulpit. ... As for orthodoxy, be at ease. Whatever is well done the world finds orthodox at last. . . . Whatever creed may be true, it is not true, and never will be, that man can be saved by machinery. . . . Let yourself go without regard to this, that, or the other." The following note may perhaps be taken, like a second-hand book, with all faults. We do not find Dr. Johnson ordered to get up and ring the bell. Yet the writer was a man of some distinc- tion in his day, though he is lost and forgotten by this time. The passage occurs in a novel of the year 1786. • "As a literary man I was invited to the houses of many respectable personages, but, proud as I might be of the honour, I met with little there but mortification. I was placed at the lower end of the table; helped to an ordinary part; not attended to, perhaps, when I spoke; requested occasionally to rise and ring the bell; not suffered to cut in at the whist table; and such other slights. As I considered myself, if not of equal rank in life with the rest of the company, yet, as having more knowledge and more abilities, and of course equally entitled to respect, I must own it hurt me. But why, if I disliked it, did I go into the way of it? Because I thought to benefit by their acquaintance." In another column will be found the programme of the Eighteenth Congress of the International Literary and Artistic Association to be held at Berne from the 22nd to the 29th of this month. It is very much to be regretted that the committee have so far been unable to find a member willing to become a delegate representing this society. Walter Besant. THE BOOK AND THE BOOKSELLER. ABOOK is without question the property of the author who creates it. As he cannot administer his own literary estate without considerable personal trouble, and, in most cases, without loss, he gives it to another person to distribute, collect, &c., araong the booksellers, ^rbo distribute it among the people. There The following advice to an author has been sent to me. It seems worth the attention of all young writers. It is contained in a letter from J. R. Lowell to Mrs. Beecher Stowe, dated J^b. 4, 1859. "Follow your instincts. . , , .„e r—r— — —j --, u„« — nature, and avoid what people cok, • StlC* S° K0 author, as very frequently happens, sells ins ie thus, between the owuei 0f the property and the P^pk wh° buy it, ^w0 middlemen. If  ## p. 62 (#86) ############################################## 6a THE AUTHOR. property, then there is only one middleman between the owner and the public. That middleman is the bookseller. Let us, as men and women of letters, put before ourselves the functions discharged by the book- seller. He is a centre of exhibition and distribu- tion: on his counter should be seen the new books which are advertised and reviewed: for the honour and dignity of letters, his place cannot be too stately and too well furnished: it should be everywhere the resort of all the reading public. No free library or circulating library can take the place of the old bookseller's shop: in any con- siderable town there should always be a flourish- ing substantial bookseller, and his position should be, in a time when the production and the purchase of books are so enormous, one of profit and credit. What is it? A position precarious, pinched, and anxious. Since the recent conference at Belfast a great many letters have been published on the subject; and it is clear, indeed, that unless authors themselves make some attempt to improve the booksellers' position they will speedily cease out of the land—except in London. This destruction of a once prosperous trade will be the greatest misfortune possible for literature from any point of view. If authors desire, in the high Parnassian vein, nothing but the reading of their books they will not get it, because there will be no one to present t^em to the public. If they desire that the commercial side should be looked after as well they will fail again, because there will be no one to sell the books. It is actually said that 70 per cent, of the country booksellers have gone out of the trade in the last few years. The causes of this decay may be reduced to one. Booksellers will not stock new books, and they therefore fail to attract the public eager for novelty. They will not stock their shops, because they cannot afford to do so. They cannot afford to do so because they are compelled to pay such high prices by the publishers. Take the evidence of the Edinburgh Branch of Retail Booksellers. Their Hon. Sec. writes: "There are upwards of 130 members in the Edinburgh Branch, but out of these only one can buy in thirteens." Other booksellers speak to the same effect. As for prices. Consider the 6*. book. The cost, in large editions, may be set down, approxi- mately, at is. The author may perhaps receive 1*. The bookseller pays 4*. 2d. for it in single copies, and 3s. 6d. (approximately) at thirteen to twelve. Now, consider the profits of the three persons concerned in the business, taking the assumed average book in large editions. First, single- copies— Author, 1*. Publisher, 2$. 2d. Bookseller, 4c?. If he can manage to sell his book for 5*. he gets \od. Next, copies at 4*. 2d., thirteen as twelve, with discounts, meaning 3*. 6d. Author, 1*. Publisher, is. 6d. . Bookseller, is. The publisher says that he has had office expenses. He actually has had the impudence in some cases to speak as if he alone can claim office expenses. Where are the office expenses of the author? Where are those of the bookseller? The office expenses of the publisher are some- times estimated, rightly or wrongly, at 10 per cent, of the proceeds. Those of the bookseller are estimated, according to some of the letters, at 16 per cent. But will anyone tell the world why the pub- lisher should get a profit of 2s. 2d., where the author gets is. and the bookseller 4<f.? As regards other prices, the following is a list sent up by a country bookseller showing the published price, the trade price, and the price paid by the public. Price published Trade price Price paid by the public Profit for bookseller... 1 0 1 G 2 0 2 fi 8 « 8 0 8 0 0 8J 1 1 1 5 1 9 2 6 8 7 4 2 0 0 1 u 1 6 1 10) 2 71 8 9 4 6 0 5 0 J 0 10 lj 1 0 1J 0 2 0 4 And out of these half-pence the bookseller has to pay rent and keep up his house! One would reckon, approximately, the pub- lisher's profit compared with the bookseller's at about six to one all through." Here are more notes on prices: A law bookseller, who takes off 20 per cent, to his cash customers, divides publishers into three classes, (1) Those who charge 4*. 6d. for a 6s. book, but, if "subscribed," i.e., two or more copies taken when first issued, at 4s. 2d. (2) Those who give the above terms with 5 per cent. cash. (3) Those who give the above terms with six months' credit. He instances the purchase of a single book pub- lished at 3s. 6d. He gave 2s. 6d. and if he had bought it to sell again he would have made 2d. profit. "The other day," he says, "I bought seven copies of a book published by Messrs. . They  ## p. 63 (#87) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 63 supplied us, seven copies being as six and a half, at 2.i. 6d. less 5 per cent., that means 28. 2\d. For further copies they will charge thirteen as twelve and a half, at 2s. 6d. less 5 percent., which is • half a copy ' dearer or 2s. ^d." Why, it may be asked, should there be all these complicated discounts and per centages if you buy this way or that way? Why cannot there be a fair price agreed u]>on and enforced? Why, to repeat, should the publisher get this vast slice of profit? They used to plead that it was on account of the risk. This they cm no longer do as regards current literature. Con- sidering that the really risky l>ooks are nearly always paid for by their authors: that in every branch of literature there are scores and hundred of authors whose books carry no risk at all: that every well-known firm can always place a certain number of books brought out by them: it is ridiculous to speak of the enormous risks. Let us, however, define risk more closely. The risk of a book is generally assumed to be the cost of production. This, however, is by no means the case. Every house of standing can subscribe at the outset a certain number of every book which it produces: probably an experienced publisher knows pretty well beforehand, that is, within certain limits, how many will be subscribed at the outset. The risk is therefore the difference between the actual liability for printing, &c. (most to be paid in six months), and the amount cleared by subscription. If the cost of production is wholly covered, there is no risk properly so called. But the publisher has given his services which include his establishment. There must be some m.rginto cover this: the risk therefore may be allowed to include this margin, generally reckoned at 10 per cent, of receipts. Only in the distribu- tion of the proceeds the author's office expenses and the bookseller's expenses must be equally considered. With this definition of risk we are enabled to consider the case of a book which carries no risk: that is to say, a book which is certain, unless unforeseen accidents occur, to circulate well over the margin above-named. The problem is this: Given such a book: What should the bookseller give for it? What should the author give the publisher? What would remain to him the creator and owner of the estate 'i We may be nearer a practical answer to these questions than is suspected. So far the only answer that we have received is an attack on our figures, which does not touch the principle. We have advanced the oi.fhors' siiares in their own property very larg^i , y will certainly go up still more larg0j <•'» &nd j'1 J come to understand more and more ^ ag wi'i^rS of figures. But the advance of royalties is not the main object. It is the emancipation of literature from the middleman that we want, a recognised system in which neither author nor bookseller shall have to be a suppliant, or ask the publisher for terms, but in which both author and publisher will know that they are dealing with a book on terms which are recognised as fair and shall have proper access to those books and accounts which concern their own business. And, I repeat, we may be nearer to that solution than is susj>ected by the friends who are con- tinually declaiming . against our wicked mis- representations, while taking the greatest care to keep their own figures as dark as possible. W. B. LITERATURE IN AMERICA. By Monouke U. Conway. (Reprinted by the author's perminsion from the Chicigo Open Court.) MR. LECKY, in his new work, " Democracy and Liberty,'' has a passage on Literature in America, which is all the more impor- tant, because in the same book he has strained every point, and even the facts, to place our country politically in the most favourable light. He admits, with friendly reluctance, that in the nineteenth century America has not, in literature, produced "anything comparable to what might have been expected from a rich, highly educated, and pacific nation, which now numbers more than sixty million souls, and is placed, in some respects, in more favourable circumstances than any other nation in the world." He quotes Sir Henry Maine as saying, in his work on "Popular Government," that the want of International Copyright has crushed authorship in the Ameri- can home market by the competition of the unpaid and appropriated works of British authors, and "condemned the whole American community to a literary servitude unparalleled in the history of thought." Mr. Lecky says there is much truth in this, but. adds that "Democracy is not favourable to the higher forms of intellectual life." He rightly ignores our so-called Interna- tional Copyright Act of 1891, being too polite to pronounce it the sham it is. It is very easy to answer these criticisms with the triumphant retort of the Hon. Elijah Pogram, the original jingo portrayed by Dickens, "My bright home is in the set tin' sun." But no patriotic outburst can (rive us a fair literary rl/;C>rd for the centurv no^ting its close. It pot be said that Euj>iHU,\ has neglected C*P erican authors. Irving, I^gteUow, Bancroft,  ## p. 64 (#88) ############################################## 64 THE AUTHOR. Emerson, Bryant, Motley, Holmes, Hawthorne, Lowell, Thoreau, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Henry James, Bret Harte, Howells, to name authors that occur to me, have received full recognition and substantial royalties in England. I do r.ot underrate our list of nineteenth ceutury American authors; in some of them are signs of an original genius rarely visible in Europe; but gather up all their productions, and how small is the harvest compared with those of England, France, and Germany! Why is this 'i Is it due to "Democracy" that many of them were for years parted from the undowered hand of litera- ture and driven to seek livelihood in custom houses, clerkships, professorships, consulates, legations? Is it because their country cares nothing for literature that our great authors in the past have so few successors 'i At the close of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine wrote: "The state of literature in America must one day become a subject of legislative conside'ation. Hitherto it has been a disinterested volunteer in the service of the revolution, and no man thought of profits; but when peace shall give time and opportunity for study, the country will deprive itself of the honour and service of letters, and the improvement, of science, unless sufficient laws are made to prevent depredations on literary property." A hundred and fourteen years have passed since Paine so wrote, and the sufficient laws have not yet, been enacted. In the earlier part, of the present century there was perhaps more excuse for this national neglect, yet we cannot fail to feel some scandal at seeing early Americans of genius coming over to England for professional education, for culture, for recog- nition. Darwin was not four years old when a South Carolinian made the discovery of natural selection, which he announced in the Royal Society in London. "In this paper," savs Darwin, " he (Dr. W. C. Wells) distinctly recog- nises the principle of natural selection, and this is the first recognition which has been indicated." After being knocked about in America—now running a theatre, now a newspaper—Wells came in advanced life to find honour and resources in England. That was a long time ago, but how much better is it now, when the nation is wealthy, and can astonish the world with its exhibition of unparalleled prosperity and material progress? There is as much cultui-e and genius in America as in any other country. No one can mingle with the youth and the teachers in American colleges without knowing that there is many a Wells who, had he any fair opportunity for the play of his powers, might achieve as much as any foreign author—probably more. It is a scandal that while writers like Lecky, Morley, Bryce, Balfour, and others are summoned with enthusiasm to help direct the Government of England, the American nation should find no use for a literary man except occasionally to send him out of the country to some foreign court or consulate; but it is not only a scaudal, it is an outrage, that in pretending to make a law for the protection of Uterary property owned by foreign authors it should really enact one legalising the piracy of 60 per cent, of the books annually issued in Europe. For at least 60 per cent, of European authors are unable to fulfil the monstrous condi- tions imposed by the Act of 1891 on copyright, and their works are made lawful prey. These are the first productions of new authors whose names are not marketable until the first work has reached success. Could the young English author offer his first book to an American publisher along with Press reviews of it, and proof of its success in his own country, he could command a fair price; but the American pub- lishers have provided against that fairness by a Bill making it necessary to publish his book simultaneously with its publication in Europe. The negotiation must precede any possibility of a success that might determine the real value. And this fraud the typographers and publishers together made absolute by the provision that such simultaneous publication should involve the complete manufacture of the book in America. So the young author must either pay for manu- facturing his book in America, or take any pittance a publisher may offer, or forfeit all copy- right in America. He may make something by his second work, but his first one is at the mercy of the American publisher. But, as Montesquieu said, man never puts a chain around his brother's neck without the other end coiling around his own. The wrong done by the Act of 18g 1 to the foreign author weighs equally, or even more, on the American author; for, as I have said, only 40 per cent., at most, of Eurojxjan authors can afford to fulfil the pecuniary conditions of copyright in America, and our American writers have to compete with the remaining mass, whose appropriation can no longer be even branded as "piracy," since it is now legalised. And, although I have ascribed this fraudulent measure to certain trade interests, it could not have been enacted but by the fault, of eminent American authors who allowed their names and inlluence to be used for the Act without examining it. Mr. Lowell was president of the Copyright League, and sounded the honourable watchword, "There is one thing better than a cheap book, and that is an honest  ## p. 65 (#89) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 65 book "; but unfortunately he not did say to his League, "There is one thing better than a copyright law, and that is an honest law." It was largely his influence that drew authors into a blind alliance with keen-eyed trade unions in passing a law which authorises the " dishonest" books deplored by Lowell. His voice was assumed to be that of English authors also; and his noble labour is now covering an adidterated mixture for the foreign author, and a poison for American literature. It is probable that Congress passed it, and President Harrison signed it in ignorance of its real character. The President offered its "advantages " to England on condition that she would " reciprocate," in evident ignorance that English copyright had long been as open to foreign as to British authors. If England had really "reciprocated," and passed a law requiring every book published in London to be manufactured there, and forbidding importations of sheets or plates, Americans might have been brought to their senses or to their integrity. An American may print his book at home, send a dozen copies to England, and his work is safe from all encroachment until he chooses to send over more copies. The book's success in America becomes his marketable pro- perty in England and in every European nation. This is civilisation. The American Act is un- civilised. The just principles of literary property are perfectly settled; since the Berne Congress they have become the common law of Europe. In America these laws of literary j>roperty are acknowledged in principle by every man of common sense. The Act of 1891 has never been defended in America, except by the disgraceful plea that certain selfish trades had to be com- promised with—that half a loaf is better than no bread—and so forth. This is mere surrender to a tyranny admittedly without principle. The United States has lately menaced three mon- archies in three months, and it is to be hoped that after the presidental election is over (of course!) our American government's attention may be directed to the manufacturing monarchy in our own borders, which has placed our country outside the honourable Republic of Letters. But this oppression will not end until American authors inaugurate their revolution, form their Congress, pass their Declaration of Independence, and frame their Constitution on the principles of equity acknowledged by all honest and intelligent ]>eople and adopted by all civilised nations except our own, which above all other nations requires their adoption, any adequate develojmient of literature in America being iinpossifo] j tb« present conditions. Under THE AUTHORS' CLUB. TI^HE Authors' Club gave their first ladies' I dinner on Thursday, July 17th. The chair was taken by Mr. Oswald Crawford, C.M.G., the president of the club. The guest of the evening was Mrs. Hodgson Burnett. The speeches were by the Chairman, Mrs. Hodgson Burnett, Lord Crewe, and Mr. Justin McCarthy. Mrs. Hodgson Burnett spoke as follows (the report is taken from the Queen): "Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,—The first pioneer who enters a new country must, I am sure, reflect with some seriousness as to how he shall approach the native holders of the laud, whether with rich offerings of gauds and orna- ments, or with useful implements — such as fire- water—or with the explosion of great guns to till them with awe. To-night 1 am a pioneer in a new country, and I have been wondering what the etiquette of an occasion like this may be—I mean what it expects of the first woman guest of a society of distinguished men. I have asked myself if such etiquette would insist that it is my duty, in thanking my hosts for their hospitality, to draw comparisons, painful or encouraging, between the two sexes. I am not quite sure that it would—I am inclined to hope it would not, as I am afraid I am not at all clever at that kind of thing. Drawing comparisons never seemed to me to advance matters much. As a method I should say it was a little obvious and inadequate. "Then there is another thing. In the course of what occasionally appears to me a somewhat protracted existence, I have never yet discovered a good quality or a bad one which seemed to have a gender. I have found, for instance, that if a man can be selfish, a woman—by paying strict attention to business—can be selfish also; that if a man can break his word, there are women who do not always keep theirs—to the letter; that if there are women who are weak and illogical, there exist men who do not exactly embody perfect strength of mind and infallibility of reason. And I have found just as many men who keep all the Commandments at once, and live simply and truly according to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount—just as many men as women, and just as many women as men. This is as far as somewhat careful observation has been able to lead me, and decisions so limited naturally leave one rather out of the running in any discussion as to what strengths and weaknesses are pecubarly jjjjisculiue or entirely femiunie. As to one's cCess in the work one does gutelv that is not a sl1 egtion of gender either. ?j^e big world settles  ## p. 66 (#90) ############################################## 66 THE AUTHOR. that. If a man or woman has something to say the world wants to hear it will stop to listen, and if the thing one says does not ring clear and true, aud does not concern the world or interest it, it will not pause even for a moment—for man or woman—for woman or man. It has too much to do, too much to think, too much to suffer. "Mr. Oswald Crawford has spoken most kindly of a woman for whom I care very much. Her name is Clorinda Wildairs. To me Clorinda Wildairs implies a great deal, and I am always glad when she is understood. Not long ago a lady—not an Englishwoman—reproved me for her. 'Why,' she said, 'I think she is just dreadful. She uses such bad language.' 'Yes,' I said, 'she does. They did in those days — and what is more, they did not call it bad lan- guage. They regarded it in the light of spirited colloquialism.' 'Well,' she replied. 'anyhow, I think she was real unprincipled to kill that man.' 'What,' said I, 'you think it unprincipled to kill a man! I have been gathering the impression lately that societies were to be formed to make that kind of thing a sort of religious observance.' Another lady wrote to me from America, not so much to reprove as to remonstrate. She asked ine what Little Lord Fauntleroy would think, and begged me to tell her what I meant. I have not had time to reply yet, but when I have I shall respond that in my sanguine moments I had hoped that the book itself might chance to explain what I meant, but it this hope was founded on an error of judgment, I can only say that I meant by it exactly what I meant by Fauntleroy and many other things, that after all good is stronger than evil, that love is greater than hate, and that surely somewhere—somewhere there is a Power more just to the atoms it has created than those atoms have yet learned to be to each other. It is not necessary to explain here what I meant, but if I were called upon to put its mean- ing into the briefest form, I think I should say it was this, 'To err is human—to retrieve Divine.' "I wonder if I am optimistic in saying that I believe the world is a more intelligent place than i t used to be V It is not appallingly intelligent yet, but of course a world is a thing which lays itself open to criticism. When one has nothing better to do, one can always criticise the universe and particularise the improvements it requires. I have done it myself, for hours at a time, though I have never observed that it seemed to make any difference, or that any of my little hints were taken. Still, I believe people are more logical and just-minded than they used to be—in the time, for instance, when they burned each other alive for differences of opinion, religious and otherwise. They use their brains more; and the more human beings use their brains, the more just and fair they are likely to become to each other in their efforts to solve the problem of life. In thanking my hosts for the kindness of the compliment they have paid me, I will express a thought which came to me yesterday. It is this: "I think it probable that, say a hundred years from now, a woman may stand as I do, in borne such place as this, the guest of men who have doue the work all the world has known and honoured, and she will be the outcome of all the best and most logical thinking of all the most reasonable and clear-braiued men and women— women and men—of these seething years. She will know all the things I have not learned, and she will be a woman so much wiser and more stately of mind than I could ever hope to be— she will have so much more brain, so much more fine and clear a reason, that if we were compared we should scarcely seem to be creatures of the same race. And of this woman I say 'Good luck to her, great happiness, fair fortunes, and all the fullest joyousness of living; all kind fates attend her, all good things to her-—and to the men who will be her friends.'" Mrs. Burnett sat down amid a storm of cheering. WHAT IS GOOD LITERATURE? f |"\HE following is quoted from a lecture deli- I , vered at Berkeley Lyceum, New York, by Mr. Sherwin Cody. Communicated to the Author by the lecturer:— "And what is good literature? It certainly is not literature written under the tyranny of the motto, 'Art for art's sake.' In a commonplace age, when crudity and vulgarity were the rule of the day, the literary men of the country might adopt such a motto. But the motto on which true literature is produced is 'Art for the revela- tion of the secrets of the heart.' Art exists for man, not man for art. The truest art is that which disappears, which conceals itself, because the thought that is conveyed is so much more entrancing in its interest than the mere verbal expression can ever be. Literature with a pur- pose—a purpose of discussing theology, sociology, or even ait itself—is no true literature. But art must have a purpose, nevertheless, above and beyond itself, the purpose of touching and feed- ing the human heart. The intellect belongs to science and theology and philosophy. But the heart belongs to art, and art belongs to the heart,  ## p. 67 (#91) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 67 and that is the truest art which makes the heart thrill most vividly. The infamous doctrine that literature should be documents in the history of the race, that fiction should be a record of the manners and dress and tendency of a time, that philosophy should chronicle the latest ism, that poetry should be shrine of local colour, must be swept clear of the boards before one line of true literature can exist for the public. Mr. Crawford says he classifies novels of local colour in his library under the head of travel, not fiction. He is right. "I do not despise art, far from it. Three men whose names I might mention as most full of promise among the younger men, and one of older fame whose work so largely accomplished already I should class with them, are eminently scholars in their art, though two of them be young scholars and two of them be old scholars. They are not ditch diggers turned poet in a day, claiming that after all the less knowledge of art a young writer has the better seem to be the practical results. They have given years to the study of language and literature, and years of enthusiasm and toil. "Instead of despising literary art, rather I am the irrevocable foe of the literary artists of the day who never learned any literary art, and the young man or young woman who may come to me with a spontaneous production of literature, out of a full heart and utter lack of training, will find no consideration. We enshrine that of which we know least. We worship what is to us a mystery. The literati of the day who worship art for art's sake bow down to an idol veiled by thick curtains, and behind the curtains there is in reality—nothing. "But art must be forgotten before it can be useful. There are two perfect artists — the innocent and unconscious child (who is but the hand of divine intelligence) and the trained man of letters to whom art has become a second nature. Art does not exist for the sake of the artist any more than for its own sake. It is but the fluid medium through which heart speaks to heart. To represent men as you see them, to draw life as it is—all that seems to me aside from the question. I would speak that which I do know from within me; I would coin my heart's blood into the universal coin of the realm of heart. I have lived and toiled and suffered—may I not say died as who of us has not ?—and I would trans- mute my pain into life for others. Literature is for the heart to live by. What matter if the heart be clothed in a jester's gaudy tj ,, t^e correct costume of the gentleman 0Y. f,> „ \raar tr—1- - >• .1 ^- • 1 lady of ~ York fashionable society. One js the white shirt front and the beggar's grimy coat, and in literature why not strip off both the grimy coat of the beggar and the white shirt front of the man of society, and present hearts in whatsoever costume imagination may supply, so that the beggar, if he take the heart to hinnelf, may not be afraid of soiling the fleckless linen, or the man of society wish to change his garments when he lays down the latest novel. Howells writes for the classes, Zola for the misses. I would that one might come who wrote for your heart and my heart, whatever garments covered it—some seer who should see so clearly that his eyes would pass through the garment as through a mist, and read the letters of eternal hope and eternal despair, eternal victory, and eternal defeat, both written side by side, and needing a seer to interpret their everlasting meaning. "That I or any one of my fellows be such a seer, is not for me to say. Whether we are or not is quite away from the point. Our hope lies not in any such fortunate possibility, but in the need of the people. When the people call for a prophet one will be given them. Do they call him now? Each reader must auswer that for himself. If he answers it loud enough, and does not forget to repeat his answer at least three times, an angel from above or an angel from below, whatever the call may be, will surely appear." Sherwin Cody. BOOK TALK. one is real, but the same heart t^Om^ntic REGINALD E. SAWLEY, author of "The Finger of Scorn" and "Ventured in Vain," has placed a new novel in the hands of Hurst and Blackett for publication in September. It is entitled " The One Alternative," and will appear in two vol. form. Some of our readers may be glad to hear that the first really scientific critical edition of Dante's "De Vulgari Eloquentia" has just appeared in Florence (Le Monnier). It is edited and anno- tated by Professor Pio Baina, whose vast learning and power of research have been already shown to the world in his monumental works: "Le Origini dell' Epopea Francese" and "Le Fonti dell' Orlando Furioso." Mr. Stanley Waterloo, the author of two much- discussed novels, " A Man and a Woman" and « An Odd Situation," is a candidate for the post f Game Warden of the fc^tate of Illinois (an mc& closely corresponding +0 that held by our °1, jjger of the New For-^8t). Mr. Waterloo  ## p. 68 (#92) ############################################## 68 THE AUTHOR. is a famous hunter, who has fished and shot all over the Western States, from Colorado to Florida. A fountain in memory of Robert Louis Stevenson has been erected in San Francisco. One bookseller in that pleasant city of the golden gate has filled his windows with a permanent exhibition of Stevensoniana. Books about South Africa still continue to be very rife. A new one to appear shortly is by Messrs. W. P. Purvis and L. V. Biggs, and deals with the people, progress, and problems of the countries. There will also be included a bibliography of South African literature. The handbook will be dedicated to the president and members of the Anglo-African Writers' Club. The Earl of Ashburnham has commissioned Messrs. Sotheby to dispose of his celebrated library of printed books and MSS., at Ashburn- ham Place. The printed books will be sold by auction next season, unless a suitable offer for the whole collection is made to Messrs. Sotheby in the interval. The MSS. will not be submitted to auction, but the firm will treat privately for their sale en bloc. New editions of Dickens and Carlyle are being prepared by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, the former in 6s. volumes, and the latter in 3*. 6d. The collected edition, limited to 1000 copies, of Meredith, with revisions, is to consist of about thirty-four volumes at half-a-guinea each, to be issued at the rate of two per month, beginning at the end of September. An interesting announcement for musicians. It is the forthcoming publication of the autobio- graphy of Mrs. Charles Cowden Clarke, sister to the late Mr. Joseph Alfred Novello, the well-known music publisher. Mrs. Clarke is eighty-seven years of age, a fact which gives point to the title for the volume, namely, "My Long Life." She met Mendelssohn, Mahbran, Dickens, and a host more of people in artistic circles of past generations, many of whom gathered around her father — "the father of cheap music "—as writers, composers, or critics. There will be numerous portraits to surround these reminiscences. The Rev. Dr. Parker, of the City Temple, is writing a volume of recollection.*, "Miscellanea," which will appear this autumn. Eastbourne has adopted the Public Libraries Acts. Though located in small temporary pre- mises, a good beginning has been made, the Mayor presenting the books in the reference department. The library was formally opened on the 7th inst., by Mr. Hall Caine, a preliminary meeting being held in the Town Hall, when the author of "The Manxman" made a charming speech. Mr. Le Queux was also present, and several members of the town council and other prominent local gentlemen. The Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, who takes such an active interest in the spread of Goethe literature, has been pleased to accept from Professor Buchheim copies of his editions of Goethe's and Schiller'3 works, published at the Clarendon Press. At the special desire of Her Royal Highness, the books have been deposited in the new Goetlie- und Schiller-Archiv. Mr. Arthur A. Sykes (of Punch, the Anglo- Russian Literary Society, Henry Blackburn's School of Art, &C.), will, in the course of a few days, publish a short account of the recent Coronation cruise of the Midnight Sun to Russia, containing forty-five illustrations (full page portraits, snapshots and sketches) by the author; humorous verses by Canon Rawnsley and others; two musical settings of the same by the Rev. M. F. Bell; and particulars of lectures, excursions, and other incidents of the trip. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy has written a history of Victoria, which will be on sale in the early autumn. The period of Sir Charles's connection with the government of the colony is discussed with much greater detail and intimacy than the rest. Mr. George Moore will probably take two more years for his novel "Evelyn Innes." Rather more than a third of the book is all that is yet written. Mr. Clark Russell's new tale of the sea is almost completed. "The Two Captains," as it is called, will first appear serially, and afterwards in book-form early next year. Mr. G. B. Burgin's new novel, entitled "Tomalyn's Quest," will be published in November by Messrs. Innes. This writer will also contribute the first story to a series called the New Vagabond Series, which he will edit. Mr. Kipling's new story is first to appear serially in the New Jteriew, beginning about the end of the year. It is called "Captain Coura- geous." Mr. George Somes Layard has written an account of "George Cruikshank's Portraits of Himself," which will be published by Mr. W. T. Spencer early this month. The volume will be  ## p. 69 (#93) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 69 illustrated with about forty drawings, many of which have not hitherto been published. "The complete and unbroken autographic record of the artist's personal appearance," says the prospectus, "from the early age of twelve to the time when he was preparing his never - to - be - completed autobiography, is unparalleled in the history of published art." A memorial edition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" will be published by Messrs. Cassell in the early autumn, with upwards of 100 illustra- tions by a Scandinavian artist, Jenny Mystorm- Stoopendaal. Major Marriott, formerly of the Intelligence Department in the Admiralty, is preparing a volume on "England, Egypt, and the Sudan," in which he discusses recent events and the problems of the future in connection with these territories. The book will in part be based upon Major Wingate's work on Mahdism and the Sudan, and the latter's name will, therefore, appear as joint author. Messrs. Macmillan are the publishers. A work entitled "Choir Stalls and their Carving: Examples of Misericords in some English Cathedrals and Churches" will shortly be published at two guineas by Mr. Batsford. The author is Miss Emma Phipson, who has already written a book on the animal lore of Shakespeare's time. Three hundred examples will be given, on one hundred plates, and some of the most remarkable have been taken from West- minster Abbey. The works of a selected number of the modern poets of Wales are about to be issued in series. The first volume will be the complete poetical works of "Islwyn," which Mr. Owen M. Edwards, of Lincoln College, Oxford, has in the press. The life of Mr. Hain Friswell is about to be written by his daughter. Miss Friswell makes an appeal for the loan of any letters, which will be received by her at Aber-Maw, Wimbledon, or by the publisher, Mr. Fisher Unwin. A record price for an English binding has, according to the Athenmum, been made in the sale of the Bunbury copy of the seventh edition of Cowley's "Works," 1681, which realised £126 at Sotheby's the other day. "The work is un- doubtedly an elaborate and remarkable specimen of contemporary bibliopegy by an unknown craftsman, The old English morocco is covered with a blaze of gilt tooling in panels with designs of flowers and fruits, stars, and erpanpnts with centre and corner ornaments in „ esceB i blue." ^e"t>w and Miss May Bateman is to edit a Christinas book of stories and poems entitled "The Children's Hour," which is to appear in the autumn under the auspices of the Invalid Children's Associa- tion. Contributions to the volume have been pro- mised by Mrs. Hodgson Burnett, Lady Lindsay, Mrs. Molesworth, Mrs. Meade, Miss Alice Corkran, Mr. Justin McCarthy, Mr. Le Gallienne, and Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. The work is dedicated to the Duchess of York, and will be published by Messrs. Hatchard. The pensions granted under the Civil List during the past year—£1200—were apportioned as follows:—Mrs. T. H. Huxley (,£200), Mr. James Hammond (£120), Mr. Oliver Heaviside (£120), Mme. Louisa Bodda-Pyne (£70), Edith Mary Lady Barnby (£70), Mrs. Fanny Hind (£70), Miss Hannah Elizabeth Morris (£25), Miss Helen Francis Morris (£25), Miss Gertrude Morris (.£25), Mrs. Samuel Johu Varley (=£50), Miss Annie Walbank Buckland (£80), Miss Frances Elizabeth Dobson (25), Miss Mary Dobson (£25), Miss Julia Dobson (£25), Mrs. Margaret Anne Houghton (£50), Mr. J. S. Stuart Glennie (£100), and the Rev. Sir George William Cox (£120). The poor quality of paper used in American books is ascribed by Mr. George Haven Putnam to the fact that the number of Mohammedan pilgrims to Mecca has greatly decreased. He explains that everyone of the pilgrims was clothed in "flowing garments of finest white linen," and, as hundreds and thousands of them died by the wayside, it was at one time a profit- able business to strip these garments from the bodies, and send them to the large paper factories of Europe. Now, however, this source of supply is enormously diminished, and the quality of paper is accordingly inferior. The unpublished works of the historian Gibbon are to appear in the coming autumn, in three octavo volumes. In the first volume will be the six autobiographies, while the second and third will contain Gibbon's private letters to his father, his stepmother, Lord Sheffield, and others, written between the years 1753 and 1794. Lord Sheffield, who will contribute a preface, has disposed of the copyright of the material to Mr. Murray, the publisher. The manuscripts have been acquired by the British Museum. The Earl of Suffolk, Mr. Headley Peek, and Mr, F. G. Afflalo have accepted the editorship of an "Encyclopaedia of SpOTt," which Messrs. LaWrence an(* Mullen w^ shortly begin to issue in iu°°tbly parts-  ## p. 70 (#94) ############################################## 7o THE AUTHOR. This year has already been uncommonly prolific in mountaineering books, and two more will be published very soon by Mr. Murray. The author of these is the well-known climber, Mr. Edward Whymper. They will be "Chamuni and the Range of Mont Blanc," and "Zermatt and the Matterhorn," and both will be illustrated. A volume of Lord Leighton's addresses to the students of the Royal Academy is about to be published by Messrs. Kegan, Paul, and Co. Mr. Clive Holland has written a number of short stories which will appear in a single volume shortly, entitled " A Japanese Victory, and Other Stories." Mr. William Sharp is writing a story entitled "Madge of the Pool" for a new series which Messrs. Archd. Constable and Co. have started. Mrs. Steel will follow with one called "In the Tideway "; and other contributors to the series, which is to be devoted to no one school, but will embrace examples of all, will be Miss Fiona Macleod and Mr. Charles Montague. Mr. William Archer has translated into English the biography of Dr. Nansen, by Rolfsen and Brogger. The publication will have illustrations, a.nd a poem by Bjornson. In last number, the books attributed to Mrs. Warren are not by the late " Mr. Whiteside Cooke," but by the late "Mrs. Whiteside Cook." CORRESPONDENCE. I.—Delated Publication. CAN any reader of the Author give a hint as to proving special damage by reason of de'ayed publication of a book? The work is a technical treatise which occupied me a long time; remuneration is by royalty, and the date fixed for publication, by a clause in the agreement, has long past; if not published soon the volume will be about as valuable as an old tourist guide or an out-of-date railway time table. T. C. B. [The writer should long ago have placed the matter in the hands of the secretary. What is the use of a society and a secretary who is also a solicitor if such cases as this are not submitted to him? Of course we know nothing of the ■details, and the publisher may be wholly within his rights, but as this question stands it seems eminently one for the legal advisers of the society.—Ed.]. II.—Literary Grab-alls. With regard to "Lunette's" letter in last month's issue of the Author. Surely his experi- ence as to payment is very unique? My own productions are not those of a genius, but I have never been offered the sums of 3*. or 12$. (yd. for them! I have received as much as .£3 for a short story in Hearth and Home, while almost any paper is willing to give £z 2s. for a story of short length. The Sun pays £1 is. for their short front-page story, ranging in length from three-quarters of a column to a column. This is surely not bad for a daily paper? Honey Seabrooke. Why cannot " Lunette " give us the names of the publications whose editors offer the prices he mentions. A statement of fact would surely do him no harm, and might save some of us. Riccardo-Stephens. 8, Coltbridge-terrace, Edinburgh, July 14. III.—Our Censors. Much has been said and written of late con- cerning the value of book criticisms. It is a most difficult question to tackle satisfactorily. I imagine, however, there are certain unfair methods of appraisement, as influencing success or failure, which deserve the fullest condemnation. Previously, in these appropriate columns, you were so friendly as to allow me to treat the subject of our critics' stock-in-trade of common- places. To-day, with your permission, I will enlarge my indictment against them. Foremost upon my black-list I would place the negligent, irresponsible reviewer. The pain and mischief occasioned by this individual is enormous. Surely the very pivot of honest criticism should be its thoroughness. How can aught save injustice result from cursory glances into any book? Better leave the investigation alone altogether than wrap up some hasty inaccurate judgment within the mean mantle of anonymity. Of course, there is no redress. There never is and never will be until signed opinions compel caution. As a victim to this inglo- rious plan, I feel keenly on the subject as no doubt many of those who may read these lines also do. The next delinquent is the fastidious, stand- offish censor whom nothing pleases in fiction. He has formed his own conception as to what a novel should be, resenting any attempt to upset his ideal. The effect of the proverbial red rag upon the bull is mild compared with the fury of this  ## p. 71 (#95) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 7i tetchy mortal under the influence of some bold "three decker" which may have chanced to intrude between the wind and his own respectability. This specimen chastises, as a rule, in the literary weeklies. His style being academic, the notices command attention, and, alas for the hapless author, no doubt influence the reading public materially. They are, to my mind, condemnable by reason of that lofty assumption of superiority over others, unbecoming even in the greatest. Moreover, the leaven of forbearance is altogether absent. Could this captious gentleman, we are disposed to ask, achieve his own standard of exellence in the line he scourges thus without mercy? Example number three—the facetious slater who, from under his cloak of humour, stabs more cruelly than even the haughty one aforesaid. Or, to coin a word, should I not write slateress? For a woman's pen is too often apparent in this description of review. We all know what the unbridled fancy of the fair sex can accomplish in print. When wit combines with ridicule the result is quite withering. If we get read after a perusal of such flashes, it can only be out of pity; and that sometimes is the unkindest sting of all. I have picked out the above as the most forcible instances wherewith to uphold my contention. There are many more ready to hand. But I must stable my lance, or I may run the risk of tilting even beyond the limits of your good nature. Grant me a final thrust. We have our review of reviews. Why not our censor of censors? With every allowance for the suscepti- bility of authors, it can scarcely be denied that the licence which obtains nowadays in the matter of book judgments is deplorable. Of course, as your journal has pertinently remarked, we must take the good with the bad. It is no use to draw in our horns like an aft'ronted snail and refuse copies. But let us in return, at least, receive that meed of justice and accuracy, which should be the mainspring of all that delicate machinery governing the world of lettess. Cecil Clarke. Authors' Club, S.W., July 17. IV.—The Title. I should feel very thankful, and I fancy the feeling would be shared by many of your readers, to know the simplest and most expeditious way for an author to ascertain whether a title he contemplates using is already appropriated. Tyeo. LITERATURE AND THE PERIODICALS. THE revival of the rural Scottish novel is hailed by the Edinburgh as a welcome sign of healthy reaction. For its paternity the writer goes back to Gait, the contemporary of Scott. Yet he hesitates to say that the popularity of the new Scottish novel will endure. "There is a certain picturesqueness in weaving thrums, and there is the sublimity of Highland grandeur in Drumtochty; but, after all, a novelist must rely upon human interest for his effects, and even genius must sooner or later exhaust the materials in a back-of-tbe-world industrial townlet, or secluded Highland glen." Moreover, there is the stumbling-block of the "semi-intelligible Scot- tish dialect," a moderate amount of which must go a long way with Southron readers, "and already we see signs that even the apostles of the new dispensation cannot repeat themselves with impunity." The National Observer sees the paper-bound book coming into vogue, and discusses the pratical philosophy of it. It admits that this cover may be objected to because it becomes dog's- eared and dirty. The book might not then be worth re-binding in more solid form, and, besides, doing this would take from it its identity. Better paper-bound than strongly but vulgarly. Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton has been sayiug how satisfactory the Copyright Act is both to American and English, authors. "Before this Act passed," she says, "the prices of native American books seemed very high in com- parison with the pirated editions of English authors, for which no royalty had to be paid. The works of English and American authors are now sold at practically the same prices in the States, and in this way both have a fair chance." The casual contributor, says "An Editor," does not understand his true position. His demands are frequently unreasonable, and he receives more consideration than he deserves. All this, and much more, is in reply to " A Con- tributor's" strictures on editors in a previous number of the National Review. Are manu- scripts tossed aside without being read? On the contrary. "An attempt, at the least, is made to read the most ill-written manuscript; sometimes it is even sent to the printers in the faint hope that after they have wrestled with it, the meaning 0f the scrawl may be extracted." Besides, if a gjiuscript be rejected it ia ^variably returned the sender; but contributors " g° ^eyond a^  ## p. 72 (#96) ############################################## 72 THE AUTHOR. limits of reason" when they demand that the question of accepting or rejecting and returning their work shall.be decided within a limited time. On one point concerning the aspirant the two sides agree—namely, the undesirability of intro- ductions to editors; he should eschew introduc- tions "as he would poison." Perhaps the writer in Chambers's may be thought to sum up this whole matter exactly. "After all," remarks the latter, "editors make their living by accepting good manuscript." Factory boys read Penny Dreadfuls, and at least one individual cannot say that they are any the worse for it. This writer regards it as the natural thing for the boy at a certain age, say fourteen. Factory people, as a whole, do not overtax their mental powers by deep reading, we are told, but the writer is hopeful of a higher standard being attained as she contemplates the enormous circulation of good and cheap books at the present time. In discussing what makes a novel successful, "Claudius Clear" says that if a novelist, otherwise thoroughly equipped, is profoundly imbued with religious faith, he has an immense advantage. He knows nothing, too, which so sets up the back of the average reader as an assumption of superiority, allusiveness, talk about the secret of Hegel, and stuff of that kind. "A direct and fearless simplicity establishes the best terms from the first between author and readers." Mr. Gladstone warns the young verse-maker to look whither he is going. His experience leads him to believe that the supply of poetry, or verse assuming to be poetry, is more egregiously in excess of the demand than any other descrip- tion of literature. "The prose-writer commonly has something to present to the world besides his literary form. Except in the case of very high poetry, the poet has not, and cannot have." Mr. Gladstone is very strict on the general question of putting forth a book. "I suppose it to be true," he says, *' that no one ought to add to the mass of printed books already born in the world, unless he honestly believes that he is about to contribute some addition to the stories of useful literature." A book is either a burden or a benefit The Pall Mall Gazette is amusing on the ingredients and compounding of modern literature. The Saturday Review takes up the question of Miss Linley's letters published in the recent biography of Sheridan, urging that they are fabrications. A writer in Temple Bar is funny at the expense of " literary ladies," who as a class, he says, have emancipated themselves at last, but "their earnestness and undue seriousness come in a great measure from their newness." Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. Letters in the Westminster Gazette (entitled "Walter Besant and the Booksellers"):—Mr. B. B. Marston, July 8, 15, 25; Mr. E. Marston, July 20; Mr. Arthur D. Innes, July 13, 20; Sir Walter Besant, July 10, 17, 24. Letters in the Daily Chronicle:—Mr. E. B. Marston, July 15; Walter Besant and Mr. E. Gowing-Scopes, July 16; "A West-end Bookseller," July 28. Interview with Walter Besant, the Daily Chronicle for July 14. Opinions of leading publishers, the Daily Chronicle for July 27. Authors and Publishers. M. Ferdinand Brunetitre's speech before the International Congress of Publishers. The Publishers' Circular for July 4. Recipes for Modern Literature. The Pall Mall Gazette for July 4. The Literature of Factory Workers. By One of Them. Good Words for August. Some Letters of Burns. H. Grey Graham. The Athenxum for July 25. The Death-Centenary of Burns. Articles in Strand Magazine for July, National Observer for July 25, Black- wood's for August. Report of Celebrations and of Lord Roseberry's Speeches, the Times for July 22. The Poet- Laureate's address at Irvine, the Glasgow Herald for July 20. Contributors. An Editor. National Review for August. The Return of the Rejected. How Editors Send Back Manuscripts. Chambers's Journal for August. Literary Ladies. Temple Bar for AuguBt. Oliver Wendell Holmes. By A. K. H. B. Longman's for August. By Leslie Stephen. Natio>ial Review for July. Man-making and Verse-making. Tho Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. New Review for July. Talks with Tennyson. Wilfrid Ward. New Review for July. Dante Gabriel Rosse"T1. Quarterly Review for July. The New Scottish Novelists. Edinburgh Review for July. In Paper Cover. The National Observer for July 25. Notable Reviews. Of the Poems of Miss Rosetti and Mrs. Alexander. Lionel Johnson. Academy for July 25. Of Knowles's (compilation) "The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights. The Daily Chronicle for July 18. Of Mrs. Meynell's Essays. George Meredith. National Review for August. Of Dr. Wright's "Dialeot Dictionary." Tho Times for July 25. Of A. L. Housman's "A Shropshire Lad." National Observer for J uly 11. Of Mr. Fraser Rae's "Sheridan." Eduiburgh Review for July.  ## p. 72 (#97) ############################################## AD VER TISEMENTS. iii Crown 8vo., cloth boards, price 6a. HATHERSAGE: A Tale of North Derbyshire. BT CHARLES EDMUND HALL, Author of " An Ancient Ancestor," &c. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.G. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. Crimean & other Short Stories. BY "willi-A-Im: j^iDiJisoisr. CONTENTS. — An Adjutant's Adventure: an Episode of the Crimean Campaign—From an Unseen World—Characteristic Stories of Boyal Personages—The Tsar's Axe—An Indian Legend Modernised —A Love Test—Atta; or, The Circassian's Daughter—Father Con- feasor—HiB Word of Honour (from the German)—Dearer than Life— A PolUh Princess—The Evil Eye: a Story of Superstition—The Parson's Daughter—Old Love Never BuBts. London: HeaiCB Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildlngs, E.C. RECENT VERSE. LYRICS. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth lettered, price 5s. NOBTH COUNTRY BALLADS. By HENRY TODD, Price be. TALES IN VEBSE. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth lettered, price 6b. SONGS OF THE CASCADES. By EEL VIKING. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3b. 6d. SONGS OP THE PINEWOODS. By ARTHUR CAMP- BELL. Price 3s. 6d. THE FAIREST OF THE ANGELS, and Other Verse. By MARY COLBOBNE-VEEL. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. 11 Some of the shorter lyrics are much above the average, being clear in thought and musical in expression. 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P,au" "A reader who values cultured sentiments and «„ , •«„,,, tion will find much to admire."—Scotsman. u*We8S ver8inu»- London: Horace Cn.v, Windsor House, Breaj,,^ Demy 8vo., with Map and Illustrations, price 10s. 6d. AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA: Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to British Burma, By Or. E. MORRISON, M.B.C.M. Ed in., EMi.Q-.S. "Mr. Morrison is an Australian doctor who has achieved probably the most remarkable journey through the Flowery Land ever attempted by a Christian. ... He was entirely unarmed and unaccompanied, save for the coolieB who carried his baggage. Such a journey—three thousand miles in length—could not fail to present many curious customs and as many curious people. But it 1b owing entirely to Dr. Morrison'B graphic manner of description, and hiB acutely keen observation, that his travelb are such a reality to the reader. This portly volume is one of the most interesting books of travel of the many published this year. 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WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY WHYMPER AND OTHERS. CONTENTS.—Chapters I., II., and HI.— The Bear. IV. and V.—The Panther. VI., VII., and VIII.—The Tiger. IX. and X.—The Indian Bison. XI. and XII.—The Elephant. XIII.—Deer (Cervlda!) and Antelopes. XIV —The Ibex. XV. and XVI.— Miscellaneous. London; Hobace Oox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildincs. E.C. Boyal 8vo., cloth, profusely illustrated, price 12s. 6d. net. TEXAN RANCH LIFE; WITH Three Months through Mexico in a "Prairie Schooner." By MARY J. JAQ.TJES j^r.don HuRacb Cox. Windsor HoU8„. BreauiVbuildings. E.O  ## p. 72 (#98) ############################################## iv AD VER TISEMENTS. THE WEST KENSINGTON TYPEW KITING AGENCY. Established 1693. MISS E. M. SIKES, 13, Wolverton Gardens, Hammersmith, W. Authors' MSS. carefully and promptly copied, 1b. per 1000 words. Duplicate copy half price. Legal and General Copying, ljd. perfolio. Typewritten Circulars, Notices, Ac, by special copying process. Term* on application. 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London: Horack Cox, Windsor House, Brcam's-buildingB, E.C. Crown 8vo., limp cloth, 2s. 0d. net; bevelled hoards, gilt edges, price 5s. THE PRINCIPLES OP CHESS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE. JAMES ""lIVE ASOH. CONTENTS. — 1. Elements of Chess. 2. General Principles 3. Combination. 4. Exposition of Master Play Complete. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. Published every Friday morning; price, without Reports, 9d.; with' Reports, Is. THE LAW TIMES, the Journal of the Law and the Lawyers, which has now been established for over half a century, supplies to the Profession a complete Record of the Progress of Legal Reforms, and of all matters affecting the Legal Profession. The Reports of the Law Times are now recognised aB the . most complete and efficient series published. Offices: Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. Honee, Bream's-buildings, London, E.C. 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. 07 Issue 03 (August 1896) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 07 Issue 03 (August 1896) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049239455</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1896-08-01-The-Author-7-3 publications The Author