https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/300/1897-03-01-The-Author-7-10.pdf 02046037fb6563e2f33655075e4685fb 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 The Author Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, The Author, 1890–1914, made available together for the first time. Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&collection=&type=&tags=&exhibit=&date_search_term=&submit_search=Search+For+Items&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) 1897-03-01 Volume 7 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 237–272 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18970301 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XL he Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VII.—No. 10.] MARCH i, 1897. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAOE Notices. Ac. 237 Prom the Committee 239 Literary Property— 1. An Agreement—With a Heply 2*0 2 Public Performance of a Dramatic Work not Equivalent to Publication 241 ■% The Beginnings of Literary Property 248 Notes from Elsewhere. By R. H. Sherard 244 New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood 246 The Literary Year Book 247 The Return of MSS 248 Notee and NewB. By the Editor 248 Sunnysiie— the Home of Irving 251 PAGE Theocritus 253 Vilstor Rydberg 253 An Intelligence Department 255 Annual Dinner of the Incorporated Society of Authors 256 The Battle of the Books 2*9 Subjunctive Mood: its Present-day Use 261 Correspondence—1. The I.S.A. as Publisher. 2. Editor and Contributor. 3. Reviewing. 4. Popularity. 5. The House where Byron was Born. 6. Paying for Publication 2«2 Book Talk 267 Literature in the Periodicals ■ ... 269 Obituary 271 The Books of the Month 271 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1896 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members, 6*. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the following prices: Vol. I., io«. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., HI., 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 (Jens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprioge, late Secretary to the Society. I*. 5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, Ac, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2*. 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. 3*. 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. is. (id. 3. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). u. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. Bv Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2s. 6d. ## p. 236 (#288) ############################################ 11 AD VEIi TISEMENTS. ^t)e gioctefp of Jlutl)ors (gncoTporafeb). 8ir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. i lfred Austin. J. M. Barrix A. W. a Beckett. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Berone, K.C.M.G. Sir Walter Bksant. AU0U8TINE BlRRELL, M.P. Rev. Prof. Bonnet, P.R.S. Rioht Hon. James Brtce, M.P. Right Hon. Lord Burohclere, P.C. Hall Caine. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colles. Hon. John Collier. Sir W. Martin Conway. P. Marion Crawford. PRESIDENT. G-EOEO-E MEEEDITH. COUNCIL. The Earl of Desart. Austin Dobson. A. Conan Doyle, M.D A. W. Dubouro. Prof. Michael Foster, P.R.S. Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jerome E. Jerome. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. W. E. H. Lecky. J. M. Lely. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.D. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sir Lewis Morris. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. j. c. parkin80n. Right Hon. Lord Pirbriqht. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. W. Baptists Scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. R. Sims. S. Squire Spriooe. J. J. Stevenson. Prof. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Yonoe. Hon. Counsel E. M. A W. a Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Eqerton Castle. W. Morris Colles. Underdown, Q.C. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—H. Rider Haggard. Hon. John Collier Sir W. Martin Conway. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.D. Henry Norman. S. Squire Spriooe. Solicitors— ( Messrs. Field, Roscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. \ G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street, W.C. Secretary—G. Herbert Thring, B.A. OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. .A.. IP. WATT &c SOlsT, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SdUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND LONDON. W.C. WINDSOR HOUSE PRINTING WORKS. IBIRylE.A.IMI'S BTJILTJIZCsTO-S, lE.C. Offices of "The Field," "The Queen," "The Law Times," &e. Mr. HORACE COX, Printer to the Authors' Sooiety, 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 PRINTING they may entrust to his care. ESTIMATES FORWARDED, AND REASONABLE CHARGES WILL BE FOUND. ## p. 237 (#289) ############################################ XL he Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VII.—No. 10.] MARCH i, 1897. [Price 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 MEMORANDA. I7>OB some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in 'every number of The Author, certain " General Con- fiderations," Warnings, Notices, Ac., for the guidance of the reader. It has been objected as regards these warnings that the tricks or frauds against which they are directed cannot all be guarded against, for obvious reasons. It is, however, well that they should be borne in mind, and if any publisher refuses a clause of precaution he simply reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on hit business in his own way. Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to be observed in an agreement. There are three methods of dealing with literary property:— I. That of selling it outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent. II. A profit-sharing agreement. In this case the following rules should be attended to: (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements VOL. VH- in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses," unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor! (7.) To stamp the agreement. HI. The royalty system. In this system, which has opened the door to a most amazing amount of overreaching and trading on the author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It iB now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in the Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the "Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what it gives the publisher as well as himself. It has been objected that these precautions presuppose a great success for the book, and that very few books indeed attain to this great success. That is quite true: but there is 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 ohanoe of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points whioh the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2 ) The inspection of those account 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 oharge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor exchanged advertisements; and that all disoounts 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 same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. C C 2 ## p. 238 (#290) ############################################ 238 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. i. I/WERY member has a right to ask for and to receive I'J advice upon hia agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advioe 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. Bemember that questions connected 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, Bend the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the trioks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Bemember 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 oourse, 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 stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (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 seoured 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 every 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. There is 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 6«. 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 others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously 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 doeB 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, &o. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? 11 they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It iB 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 oonduct, whether he was honest ## p. 239 (#291) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 239 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 P Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This means, 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 J69 4«. The figures in our book are as near the exact truth as can be procured; 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 coarse, 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 those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. FROM THE COMMITTEE. I. AT a meeting of the Committee of the Society of Authors, held 011 Wednesday, Jan. 20th, Mr. Ri.ler Haggard was unanimously elected Chairman for the second time. Mr. F. Storr accepted a seat on the Committee of Management. n. At a meeting of the Committee of Management of the Society of Authors, held at the offices of the Society, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, it was decided, with a view of broadening and strengthen- ing the usefulness of the Society, to appoint two permanent affiliated committees to deal with questions arising with regard to the copyright in musical publications and artistic productions. The Honourable John Collier has consented to become chairman of the committee dealing with Art. Other members of the committee are not yet formed, nor have the members of the musical committee yet been settled. m. The court that you keep is the only one open to all. I cannot allow the apology which has lately appeared in the Artist to be printed and published without asserting my right to reply to it. This apology runs as follows (omitting names, which are immaterial for the purposes of this letter) :— On page — of our issue for there appeared an article under the heading of" "commenting upon an advertisement inserted by Messrs. in the ""newspaper of the last. We have referred to this advertisement and find nothing in it to support the statements, or warrant the insinuations made by our contributor, and we very much regret that such an article should have appeared in our columns On the matter being called to our attention, we recalled the issue as far as possible, and cancelled the article, and we now desire to express our regret and offer our Bincere apologies to the proprietors of the" "and to Messrs. for its appearance, and for any annoyance or damage it may have caused them. The so-called article (one of a number of paragraphs) was written by me. Now, permit me to say in reply to what has been said on one side, that in writing it [ was stoutly supported by the parties concerned in the Artist. I submitted to the editor what I had written, and asked him to look to it before decid- ing to publish—an unusual precaution to take. He afterwards reported to me that what I had said was juRt what should have been said; that the proprietors shared his opinion that it was time for the Artist to declare its position, and to make a determined stand; that the impend- ing threat of an action was a matter of no account: that they would adopt my words as their own, and stand by me whatever befel. There was more to the same effect which need not be repeated. He remembers, and cannot deny, that, referring to a particular passage in the article, he even suggested to me that I might have strengthened my case. This, I should say, was said after the number was published, and pending the issue of the negotiations with the parties who claimed to be aggrieved. Now, the editor has informed me, in reply to a pressing question of miue, that these parties have been pacified by an assurance that nothing with my name attached to it should be allowed, for the present at least, to appear in his paper, and I have satisfied myself, as I have every one of my friends, that the proprietors of the Artist, in order to exonerate themselves, have merci- lessly sacrificed their contributor. As if to add insult to injury, they have used, directly referring to me, a very offensive word. They may perhaps say in reply that the word "insinua- tion " as commonly used means less than it does to me, and that they did not suppose it would be taken so seriously. If they are willing to say only so much, and that publicly, they will be understood to have apologised for their apology. I have respectfully submitted the facts and as ## p. 240 (#292) ############################################ 240 THE AUTHOR. respectfully ask if I have not just cause of complaint? _, 1 Ernest Radford. Hillside, Liverpool-road, Kingston- on-Thames, Feb. 20, 1897. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—An Agreement—With a Reply. ri^HE following notes on this agreement I appeared in The Author of lust month. As a reply has been received from the publisher concerned, the notes and the agree- ment are reprinted, so that readers may be able without reference to the February number to form their own conclusion on the subject. I. NOTES ON AN AGREEMENT. The following agreement has been handed 1o the secretary of the Society. It has been signed by an author, and, like all the agreements printed in The Author, can be verified by any member of the Society who cares to inquire at the office for full particulars. The outlines of this agreement have been printed in The Author two or three times previously, as the publisher issues the same printed form on nearly every occasion. On this panicular occasion the figures of the agreement are perhaps rather more in favour of thepub.isher than usual, owing to the author's ignorance, and to the fact that he obtained no advice before signing the document, It will be seen 011 perusal that the publisher is to publish " an edition" of a certain woik, and to sell it at the published or advertised price of io*. 6d. per copy; this edition is to be the pro- perty of the said publisher. There is no state- ment as to how large the edition is to be, so that if the book should prove a success the publisher might, if he chose—there is nothing to prevent him—claim the first edition to be one of 3000 or perhaps 5000 copies. Next, the author is to guarantee at the end of nine months the sale of 450 copies at the price of six shillings, or ,£135. This amount will almost certainly cover all the cost of production, if only a small edition is produced in the first instance, and will also put a certain sum into the publisher's pocket. Remark, therefore, that it is not to the interest of the publisher to push the book until the expira- tion ot the nine months, because he will then demand the author's money according to the agreement, and afterwards he will put in his own ket the proceeds of every book sold. If the k is not a success, the publisher is well paid, and the author, inasmuch as he has to purchase three or four hundred copies of his own book, has to take upon himself really the publisher's duty of putting these copies upon the market in order to endeavour to recoup his outlay. For writing the book therefore; for paying for the cost of production; and for undertaking to a large extent the publisher's duty, the author obtains nothing whatever; and, further, has very little probability of ever obtaining anything, if, as has been pointed out, there should be practically no limit to the first edition. Memorandum of agreement made this day of between (publisher) of the one part, and (author) of the other part. Tbe said publisher hereby agrees to produce in tasteful form, and publish in the usual manner at his own expense, an edition of u volume written by the said author and entitled" ," the said volume to consist of 504 pages, crown octavo size, and to b« published at ten shillings and sixpence per copy. The said author hereby agrees to be responsible for tbe salo of 450 copies of the said volume, and undertakes, at the expiration of nine months from the date of publication, to purchase at the rate of six shillings per copy whatever number of copies, if any, be necessary to make the sales up to the said number of 450 oopies. This edition to be the property of the said publisher, and all proofs of the same to be corrected and returned promptly to the printer by the said author. It is understood that the copyright of the said volume is, and remains, the property of the author. As witness, Ac. II. THE PUBLISHER'8 ANSWER. In the February number of The Author, on page 213, there is a reference to one of my agree- ments (although my name is not mentioned), on which I should be glad if you will allow me to make some observations. It is stated by the writer of the "Notes " :— 1. "That the publisher is to print an edition of a certain book and sell it at the published or advertised price of 10*. 6d. per copy. 2. "That there is no statement as to how large the edition is to be, so that, if the book should prove a succees, the publisher might, if he chose —there is nothing to prevent him—claim the first edition to be one of 3000, or, perhaps, 5000 copies. 3. "The author is to guarantee at the end of nine months the sale of 450 copies at the price of bs. 4. "It is not in the interest of the publisher to push the book until the expiration of the nine months, because he will then demand the author's money according to the agreement." In answer to No. 1, it is only needful to point out that no publisher could sell copies of a book he issued at the published price. The rate at which the work mentioned in the agreement was sold was 6*. 2d. net. The other points_ had better be answered by a poc boo ## p. 241 (#293) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 241 statement of what actually took place in regard to the book to which the agreement applied, as actual fact and practical instance are more con- clusive than general speculation :— 2. The number of the edition which it was arranged to print at starting was 750, and this number was actually printed; not "3000 or perhaps 5000." 3. The author does not guarantee the sale of 450 copies, under the agreement, but to take what ever number of copies it may be necessary to briny the sales up to this quantity, should it not have been reached in nine months, from the date of publication; all the sales going towards the 450. As a matter of fact in this case the sales only reached 189, the author was asked to take 261 copies at the agreed price, minus seventy-two which he drew for his own sale among friends, amounting in effect to 199 copies. 4. Whatever the " interest of the publisher " may mean as spoken of by the writer in The Author, in the present instance the book was certainly pushed adequately. It was advertised in twenty- six newspapers and magazines at an outlay of .£20 ; announcements were sent out to the extent of 16,500 to private persons and the trade, by post; and seventy-eight copies were sent for review and presentation. That a book thus worked should have sold so poorly scarcely seems the fault of the publisher. With regard to the agreement itself, it may be well to say that it is not used in the case of books for which a large sale can be certainly expected, and is only employed where it is needful, either because of the subject of the book in hand, or because the author is unknown. It is a via media between the author taking the risk upon himself, and the publisher purchasing the copy- right. For the instances it is applicable to, the agree- ment is an equitable one; at all events, it cannot be a very bad one, for it has been used in the case of many members of the Society of Authors; and one of the best known members of its Council has had two books brought out under its conditions quite recently. The Publisher Concerned. iii. rejoinder. The price of the book has nothing to do with the case. The actual treatment of the book in question has nothing to do with the case, which turns on the wording of the agreement. The objections to the agreement are left abso- lutely untouched, viz.: The publisher may make his edition consist of any number that he pleases. The author certainly does guarantee the sale of 450 copies. The words of the agreement are "agrees to be responsible for the sale of 450 copies." He guarantees, therefore, so much money as represents that sale. It certainly is not to the interest of the pub- lisher to push the book till after nine months, when the whole edition becomes his. The actual sale of the book in question: the management of the book by the publisher: the cost of adver- tising: these things have nothing to do with the wording of the agreement, or with the powers which it gives the publisher. That members of the Society or its Council have accepted the agreement is to be lamented, but the fact does not make it a good agreement, nor does it deprive the agreement of the objec- tions pointed out last month. II.—Public Performance of a Dramatic Work not Equivalent to Publication. That the public performance of a dramatic work under certain statutory regulations is equivalent to its publication, has become generally accepted in England as a kind of axiom. It is therefore at least interesting, if not instructive, to find this opinion treated by a legal tribunal not only as no axiom at all, but also as a view distinctly con- trary to fact. This has recently happened in Italy, and full reports of the case, and of an application for leave to appeal (which was immediately refused), are contained in the official organ of the Italian Society of Authors, which the secretary of the Society has been so courteous as to send us. These reports, of some length, contain a number of particulars of a very interesting kind, which we omit here, in order to give as briefly as possible the main facts of the case. These are as follows. In the year 1883 Meilhac and Grille produced in Paris a comedy entitled "Ma Camarade," and a few days after the first representation ceded the Italian rights to Teodoro Michaelis. These rights subsequently changed hands several times. (The Italian "Society for the Acquisition, Protec- tion, and Encouragement of Dramatic Works" bought them for 4000 francs, and sold them again for 4250.) But in 1895 the Marchese Theoduli was the sole proprietor of all the Italian rights. In 1894 (nine years after the production of the piece) the Parisian publisher, Caiman Levi, printed " Ma Camarade" and offered it for sale in Paris, after having duly complied with the requirements of the French law by depositing two copies of the work at the Ministry of the Interior, on March 3, 1894. In the year 1895, Luigi Raspantini, manager ## p. 242 (#294) ############################################ 242 THE AUTHOR. of an Italian dramatic company, "La Compagnia Pia Marchi, Maggi, e Soci," having procured a copy of the printed work, had a free translation of it made by Giuseppe Brignone, and with the consent of Giuseppe Pietriboni (director of the company), the play was performed at thePaganini Theatre at Genoa in May 1895, and the following June at the Politeama of Livorno, without the consent of the Marchese Theoduli having been either obtained or even sought. Hereupon the Marchese took legal proceedings against Raspantini, Pietriboni, Brignone, and Pia Marchi. The defendants failed in an attempt to dispute the Marchese's rights, which were easily estab- lished; but they pleaded that "Ma Camarade" having been performed for the first time in 1883, the right to translate had become public property after Dec. 31, 1893, in accordance with the terms of the Berne Convention. Bv the terms of the Berne Convention the author has the exclusive right of making or authorising translations fur a period of ten years, dating from the publication of the original work. On this point all parties were agreed. But the question arose, "At what date was 'Ma Camarade' published?" The defendants con- tended that the play was published at the date of its first performance in Paris in 1883. The Marchese Theoduli, on the contrary, maintained that the work was not published until Caiman Levi offered it for sale in 1894. And the court decided in favour of the Marchese, affirming that the ten years during which the author held the right of translation dated from March 3, 1894. The reasons given for this verdict are deserving of attention. "The publication of a work," it was said, "does not consist in any kind of production, by which it is made known to a larger or smaller number of persons. The author him- self, or any other person, by his authority, may make known the subject of the work, or the work itself, by acquainting others, and that even in public, with the manuscript, or design, or rough draft, or by reading the work, or by causing it to be represented, or by delivering a speech, without thereby publishing his work, or prejudicing his rights. "In short, publication is not the same thing as publicity. Publication is a complex act, by virtue of which a work, or its subject, is not merely communicated to the public in some way or another, but also is, so to say, placed at the common disposal of the whole of the public. So long as a dramatic work has been only represented, it cannot be said to be published; because by representation it has acquired only a more or less extended publicity; and it still remains within the power of the author to with- draw the work from the stage, or absolutely to destroy it. But when a work intended for dramatic representation is disseminated in a printed form, it may then be really said to be published, because everyone is at liberty to j>rovide himself with a copy and to make any use of it which he pleases." And, in support of the decision that represen- tation is not publication the following passage was quoted from the Italian code: "In the declarations concerning musical works and compositions, intended for dramatic repre- sentation, it should be explicitly stated whether they have been or have not been performed pre- viously to their publication." The defendants were sentenced to pay an augmented fine. In the terms of the sentence, "inasmuch as the law respecting the author's rights has been violated on various occasions, with an identical criminal intention, so that the offence assumes the character of a repeated mis- demeanour, the ordinary fine is increased by one- sixth." The translator was subjected to the same penalties as the director, the manager, and Pia Marchi, and the question of damages remained to be settled elsewhere. Subsequently the defendants applied for leave to appeal. By no means the least interesting feature of this application was a document of considerable length laid before the court by the Advocates Coen and Trincheri, in which they discuss, with much learning and acumen, the whole question of the relations of public represen- tation and publication. Leave to appeal was refused on the ground that the case was not one for appeal, seeing that the law was perfectly plain. But the court at the same time expressed itself in terms even stronger than those used at the trial. "Representation and publication are two terms absolutely opposed to each other, and without a point in common. The publication of a work is the permanent dissemination of the work itself, which passes into the hands of the public and remains there, so that the sphere of its action is limited neither by time nor by locality. The work can be procured and used everywhere. Representation, on the other hand, is of a tempo- rary character. The form which the work assumes in representation depends upon the kind and variety of the interpretation given to it by those who perform it, upon the exigencies of the theatre, and the ability of the actors. And the work is not placed at the disposal of the spec- tators." In commenting upon this interesting case, the ## p. 243 (#295) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 243 Droit d'Auteur, whilst applauding the sentence of the Italian tribunal, aptly draws attention to a "declaration " made at the Paris Conference on the May 4, 1896:— "By published works (oeuvres publiies) must be understood works that hare been published {iditees) in one of the countries of the Union. Consequently the representation of a dramatic, or an operatic work, or the performance of a musical work, or the exhibition of a work of art, does not consti- tute publication." It is true that the Italian court took no notice of this declaration. And it has not yet, indeed, been ratified by the countries represented at the Paris Conference. But it will be seen that the declaration exactly accords with the view taken by the Italian law. It also suggests a very natural question: Why should the performance of a drama be equivalent to publication, when the exhibition of a picture is not? A picture exhibited at the Royal Academy must be placed before a very much larger section of the public than a play which has a short run. Still the legislatures of Great Britain and the United States of America, that is to say, the laws by which almost the whole of the profits of English dramatic authors are secured to them, hold that the play is published. Probably that opinion is also so engrained into the minds of most English- men that the advocates of a reform of the copy- right laws would hardly think of modifying a principle so universally accepted as that "public representation of a play is publication." But this view can no longer be considered incontestible. Even in the present state of the law it seems possible for the view taken by the Italian Legis- lature to be of importance to English dramatic authors. Popular English plays are reproduced abroad, in countries belonging to the Berne Union as well as in countries outside it. The English dramatic author seldom publishes, as the Italian law defines publication. What would happen if, finding that ten years after the production of his play in London a "free translation" of it was running on the continent, he were to print and publish r It is evident that in Italy, at any rate, he would have created himself ten years of dramatic rights. III.—The Beginnings op Literary Property. The second and last volume of Mr. George Haven Putnam's work on "Books and Their Makers in the Middle Ages," carries the study of the conditions of the production and distri- bution of literature from 1500 to 1709. Down to the latter year, the conception of literary pro- perty had not yet reached any very advanced VOL. VII. stage of development; but students of the whole question of book-production will follow with interest Mr. Putnam's narrative of the gradual change in the direction ultimately of making property in an intellectual creation fully analo- gous to property in a material creation. In the section devoted to this part of his subject, he shows that during the first two centuries after printing, the conditions in England had very little influence upon the development of any European system for controlling literary produc- tion. The work of the earlier English printers was addressed much more to the tastes of the local public than to the requirements of the scholars of Europe, and while a certain propor- tion of books in Latin were printed here, this proportion was small compared with the under- takings of the contemporary publishers of Holland, Prance, and Germany. In the two latter countries the State followed Italy's policy towards literary production, namely, of legisla- tion upon a system of privileges for short terms and limited territory; while Holland differed only in being the first of the European States to issue privileges without conditions depending upon censorship. The English system appears to have taken shape without any reference to Continental precedents. It grew up in connec- tion with the monopoly of printing in the United Kingdom given by charter in 1556 to the Stationers' Company, an organisation which differed from the book trade association of Paris in that it had no direct connection with either of the two Universities, and held its authority from the Crown. The regulations of this Company became the law for the control of the book trade, and for the control also of the literary property (the property in "copy ") that was from year to year increasing in importance. The basis of the authority of the Stationers' Company was the theory that all printing was the preroga- tive of the King, who asserted direct ownership and monopoly in the most remunerative of the earlier productions of the English Press, namely, prayer-books, editions of the Bible, year- books, Acts of State, &c. Mr. Putnam shows, however, how the later effect of this royal absolutism was, curiously enough, to secure an earlier and more definite recognition in England than was reached in any other country for pro- perty in literary production, and for the right of literary producers to control and to enjoy the results of their labours. It was the general understanding at the close of the seventeenth century that authors possessed in their produc- tions a perpetual right of property, and that this right could be assigned. Had the practice con- tinued of retaining one literary language for D D ## p. 244 (#296) ############################################ 244 THE AUTHOR. Europe, the possibility of securing one system for controlling and protecting literary production throughout Europe, Mr. Putnam thinks, would have been much furthered, and the date of inter- State European copyright probably advanced by a century or more. Finally, the conclusion Mr. Putnam has arrived at upon the copyright legislation of the present day is that a compact between the author and the State is not only equitable but logical, and that it secures a satis- factory solution for the vexed question concerning copyright in perpetuity. "The author," he con- cludes, " asks for a larger measure of protective service from the State than that required by the owner of property like a house (or, for that matter, of any other class of property), and he is willing in return for such special service, if the results of his labours may, by adequate legisla- tion, be assured for his immediate descendants, to surrender to the community the property-right in perpetuity, which under his inherent right and at common law was as fully vested in him, as is the title of a house in the man who has pro- duced it." NOTES FROM ELSEWHERE. IT may interest some of my readers to know that I have taken steps that a full and complete inquiry be held into the facts in dispute between Dr. Ibsen and myself. In the meanwhile I will say nothing more as to the newspapers which treated me, as I consider, with gross unfairness; one was a paper to which I have contributed since its foundation. There is little solidarity amongst English journalists. In Paris an editor sticks to his contributors, and the contributors stick to one another, as long as no mala fides has been proved in any one of them. It is a pity that there is not more of that spirit elsewhere. I am writing this particular letter from St. Ives, in Cornwall, where I am taking a writer's holiday, which means that I am writing here harder than ever. It is a pretty place, and the people are interesting, and the walks in the lanes, with the primroses on the banks on either side, or on the cliffs, with the Atlantic, and so on; but I fear there is little of literary interest to chronicle in this place, so that I should have difficulty in complying with the request of a member of the Authors' Club, who writes to me saying, "Write us letters from Cornwall, and give France a rest." The people seem great readers—of penny novelettes; except the artists, v?ho subscribe to White's lending library or to Smith's bookstall. We get our London papers at six in the evening, and never get a sight of the evening papers, and on Sundays we are altogether without news of the remote world. The most popular book in St. Ives at present, that is to say the book which is most asked for at the lending library, is Guy Boothby's "The Beautiful White Devil." I have heard it much discussed. There are two or three literary people here, amongst others a young Swede named Carl Olson, who writes excellent English, and has high ideals. He lives amongst the fishermen and dresses in corduroys, and will do well yet. One real literary trouvaille which I have made here is in the person of Mr. Anthony, the post- master of St. Ives, an old gentleman who knows Cornwall and the Cornish an fond, and writes about them in a highly entertaining manner. He has read me several of his manuscripts, poetry and prose (for he has published little, and that little only in the local papers), and I was really interested. There are fine turns in the Cornish dialect, and a particular humour which has a savour of its own. I told Mr. Anthony to send some of his papers up to the London magazines, but he will not believe that anyone would care to print his writings, much less to pay for them. I am endeavouring to induce him to try the experi- ment. Our literature is sadly deficient in pict ures of provincial English life. Cornwall should be at least as interesting to English readers as the Kail-yard, and far more understandable. Halestown, near here, was once the home of Sir Henry Irving, as a lad, for some years. • I have seen the dame's school where he was first taught, and the little chapel—it is the chapel of the Halestown Bible Christians—where, as a boy of eleven, he gave his first recitation. He has always kept a soft place in his heart for Halestown and St. Ives. It is not, I hope, impertinent to add that he paid the old lady's rent up to her death, and that she was buried at his expense. Further, that he interests himself in local charities in his well-known manner. Some people here remember him as a lad, but do not seem to realise to what an eminence he has raised himself. For the rest, "play-acting" is for the most part looked on with holy horror in this pious and dissenting land, and one old man has been heard to say, when told of Sir Henry's great success on the stage, "Nay, nay, he's never come to that, surely," meaning to defend him against a supposed calumny. Bravo, Rodenbach! I say bravo, Eodenbach, because George Rodenbach has put his heel on a scandal which was being fanned into bright flame by certain scandal-mongers in Paris, and, I hope, crushed and extinguished it. I refer to the scandal about the Victor Hugo mhiage and ## p. 245 (#297) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 245 Sainte-Beuve. Sainte-Beuve's doubtful morality has been already alluded to in these pages, and in his " Livre d'Amour," originally published in 1843, he made certain insinuations which give some appearance of truth to things which the boulevard scandal-mongers are saying of her of whom her husband wrote in 1834: C'est elle, la vertu but ma tfte penchee, La figure d'alb&tre en ma maison caohtte. I knew the Victor Hugos a quarter of a century ago, and have remained on friendly terms with the family ever since. Indeed, the very last signature which Victor Hugo wrote was in a certain birthday book which I had taken to his house for the purpose. I may, therefore, with some authority, echo George Rodenbach's " Lie!" and I do so here. This raking-up of scandals about the dead is the work of literary hyaenas and jackals, and should be severely condemned. Those who think as I do were disgusted with the Georges Sand-Musset expose, because we admire and love both Georges Sand and Alfred de Musset, and respect their memories. We were delighted that the Censor prohibited the produc- tion of a play which was intended to spread the scandal still wider. As I wrote once in these pages, there was in Sainte-Beuve a Jekyll and a Hyde. He was Jekyll till noon, and Hyde till 5 a.m. He was Jekyll in all his writings, except in this fatuous "Livre dAmour," in which he was emphatically Hyde. Hugo turned the Hyde out of the house, for all that he admired the Jekyll, and the follow- ing lines were left by him "to be published in case the libel (" Le Livre d'Amour," which was withdrawn almost immediately after publication, by Sainte-Beuve) appears, otherwise let this ugly wraith be spared." As the scandal-mongers are republishing here and there, in suggestive frag- ments, the " Livre d'Amour" libel, Hugo's answer, his posthumous defence of his honour and of the honour of his descendants, has now been made public. This is a copy of it: A S...-B... Que dit-on? on m'annonee nn libelle poethume De toi. C'est bien. Ta fange est faite d'amertnme; Rien de toi ne mY'tonne, 6 fourbe tortaenx. Je n'ai point oublio ton regard monstmenx, Le jour oil je to mis hors de chez moi, vil drole, Et qne, snr l'esoalier te ponasant par l'epaule, Je te dis: "N'entrez pins, monsieur, dans ma maison!" Je vis luire en tee yeux toute la trahison, J'apercus ta fureur dans ta penr, 0 coupable, Et je oompris de qnoi pouvait ctre capable Ta lucbett! changoe en baine, le dugout Qu'a d'elle-m<?me une ame oil s'amasse un egout, Et ce que mtfditait ta laideur dcdaignee; Car on pressent la toile en voyant l'araignee! A subscription has been started in Paris for the erection of a statue to Paul Verlaine, and. vol. VII. already <£6o has been collected. The committee expects to have the necessary amount in a short time. Subscriptions are coming in from all parts, especially from Belgium. To think that poor Verlaine has been gone from us for more than a year! Great complaints are being made about the want of room in the Bibliotheque Nationale. The distracted librarians do not know where to store the books and papers which come pouring in every day. Seventeen years ago a fine piece of land at the corner of the Rue Colbert and the Rue de Richelieu was bought by the Government for =£280,000 for the purpose of extending the buildings of the National Library, but no use has been made of this land except as a cabbage field. A few lop-eared rabbits have also been reared upon it by a bucolic sub-librarian. I suppose that the money cannot be spared. Yet France spends one thousand francs a minute on her army. "Messidor," a lyrical drama, libretto by Zola, and music by Alfred Bruneau, was performed on Saturday night, for the first time, at the Opera. I hear it was a great success. The work is pub- lished by Fasquelle. The sale of Edmond de Goncourt's pictures alone has realised upwards of ,£20,000. An attempt was made last century by a worthy citizen of the town of Caen to found an academy bearing his name. He bequeathed his house, library, and a sum of money for this purpose. His heirs-at-law, however, refused to carry out his wishes, and nobody seemed to think it worth while to sue them. Goncourt's relations seem to take the same view of the matter , and there are good times in store for the Parisian lawyers. All authors are interested in newsagents, who for the most part, especially in the country, are booksellers also, and this being so, any influence which we possess as a society should, I think, be used in furtherance of an amendment of the law on libel, which, as it stands at present, bears heavily and with great injustice on newsagents, who, as distributors of the paper or book con- taining the alleged libel can be sued as co-defen- dants. A case came recently before Justice Vaughan Williams at the Bodmin Assizes, in which Mr. White, bookseller and newsagent in this town, was sued as co-defendant in an action for damages (.£5000 was claimed) for an alleged libel which had appeared in one of the papers which Mr. White keeps in stock. The judge from the very first refused to admit that the newsagent was in any way liable, and the whole case was eventually dismissed, each party having to pay its own costs. The unfortunate newsagen had accordingly to pay his solicitor and counsel, D D 2 ## p. 246 (#298) ############################################ 246 THE AUTHOR. was put to other expense, suffered great anxiety, was forced to waste a whole week hanging about the Assize Court at Bodmin waiting for the case to come on, and all this because he had sold a few copies of the paper containing the passages complained of. The matter is being taken up in Parliament, and it is to be hoped that the law may speedily be amended. As it stands, it exemplifies admirably the " Summum jus, aumma injuria" of the Romans. Robert H. Sherard. St. Ives, Cornwall. NEW YORK LETTER. New York, Feb. 15, 1807. ABOOK of four short stories to be published in March by the Century Company has, among many points of interest, the suggestion of a very individual note of the treat- ment of East-side life in fiction. Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, after gaining a high reputation as a critic of art and a writer and worker for political and social improvement, has recently taken to making sketches of several parts of New York life. The four stories in this volume have already appeared in magazines. The first two published dealt with the poor quarters which in common parlance are called "the East Side," although a large part of the west side has exactly the same nature. Of the other two, the first, from which the book bears its name, "One Man Who Was Happy," has no special local significance, but as a piece of strong intimate analysis of personal character, it is the most remarkable piece of writing in the book. The other, "Mary," is a slight sketch, graceful and complete in form, suggesting the mode of exis- tence of an old lady of the former generation in prosperous circumstances, who has outlived all the elements of her former world. The two stories which tell of the slums are "Corinna's Fiametta" and "The Lustigs." They are not especially skilful in construction, for Mrs. Van Rensselaer has not yet fully mastered the narrative art, but they throw7 an interesting light on the question so much discussed here of how this part of the city ought to be treated in fiction. After a life crowded with experiences and successes of many kinds, Mrs. Van Rensselaer finds actual work with the simple poor, without sentimentality— pure friendship in short—as interesting a thing as there is in the town. The majority of our writers about these districts look only for local colour and put it on by the pailful. Mrs. Van Rensselaer knows her East-side friends intimately enough to keep her perspective, to see that the larger, more important elements of human nature are the same up town and down, and so in showing the peculiarities, the especial conditions and problems of their existence, she keeps her sense of proportion. This accurate striking of the right note makes many of her readers hope she may give more time to fiction, in which her mixture of strong understanding, experience, humour, and seriousness find a field where these qualities are needed. Two publishers have given informally, in con- versation within the past week, their ideas on this subject. One of them, speaking to a young man. J. L. Steffens, for whom he had sent an account of the new spirit shown in his newspaper sketches of East-side daily happenings, said that most of the fiction that has been made out of the poor quarters of New York had marked faults of scope and manner. Stephen Crane, for instance, sought always either the horrible or the picturesque episode, and his stories did not include the essen- tial conditions of that part of the city, did not give to the various elements their proper relative importance. Cahn, the last writer to gain notice, a young Jew, knew the life intimately, but did not have an adequate command of the language. What the publisher hoped that Mr. Steffens might furnish in a novel was what he has been giving in his newspaper sketches, a perfectly cold, objec- tive, half humorous account of scenes which he sees in his experience as a police reporter. Another publisher also said last week that this is especially demanded as a re-action from the emphatically picturesque and sentimental. Still he would be a rash person who would undertake to say what the best manner is for the treatment of this subject. Some go so far as to say we shall never make literature out of it by any device. Most observers, however, believe that the public want to know more about it, and that the man who strikes the right vein will have unlimited appreciation. A young critic remarked the other day that he believed the fortunate man would be either a Baudelaire or a Kipling, a man who would treat it for the pictures it offered, and not bother about any significance but the pic- turesque; or a man who would get hold of the dramatic human elements and idealise them in the artistic, although not in the ethical, sense, represent them rather than copy them, and make good literature by making good narrative. "Any good story is good literature," said Charles Dudley Warner a couple of weeks ago. Another decidedly individual book will come out of Chicago in a month or two. For some years Peter Dunne, an Irish-American, not yet ## p. 247 (#299) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 247 thirty, has been writing sketches in the Chicago Evening Post and the Chicago Times-Herald, telling the opinions of a philosophical saloon- keeper named Dooley, upon the events of the day. They were uneven, naturally, as they were turned out every week, but undoubtedly the collection will include the shrewdest and wittiest, and if it does it will be one of the pleasantest manifestations of Chicago literary activity that have appeared for a long time. Dooley repre- sents at his best, as well as anyone, the spirit and attitude of the Irishman whose experience has been gained in America. Mr. Dunne himself began as a boy selling newspapers, was a reporter in his earliest teens, then an editorial writer, and now has an important editorial position on the Times-Herald. Way and Williams are the publishers of the sketches. Leaving the books about people for the books by them, one notices as the most conspicuous produc- tion of the last month a volume of sea stories by a labouring man, called " On Many Seas," published by the Macmillan Company. The writer, who has always been an engineer, sometimes on the elevated railroad, sometimes running a standing engine, calls himself Frederick Benton Williams, but his real name is Herbert E. Hamblen. He never got higher, in spite of his intelligence, on account of his lack of tact, and the same spirit has been brought out strongly by his literary success. A friend of his, an Englishman named William S. Booth, now acting as librarian for the East Side House, used to hear him tell these stories and finally induced him to write them down. After very slight corrections, mainly in punctuation and in capitals, Mr. Booth had them published, and the first edition of 1700 was exhausted on Saturday. S. S. McClure and Co. immediately asked for a series of similar stories. The narration in the novel had been simple and strong, absolutely without literary affectation, but the author has had his head turned a little, and now he is producing high sounding phrases which McClure and Co. cannot use. They ask in vain for stories like "On Many Seas." Mr. Hamblen has become literary, and tells them he will write as he chooses. In noticing recent fiction, mention should be made of "Old Dorset; or, Chronicles of a New York Country Side," by Robert Cameron Rogers, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. He is the author of "The Wind in the Clearing," a volume of poems, and" Will-o'-the-Wisp," a sea story of the war of 1812. The new volume treats of a part of the country less written about than New England and the west and the south, but central New York, although it has perhaps less striking characteristics than many States, is yet worth picturing. Mr. Rogers has done it simply, with enough accuracy of observation and pleasantness of feeling to make the book worth reading by anyone who is interested in keeping up with that part of our literature which relies especially on the interest in certain localities. A piece of news is just now finding its way among the magazine men, and will soon be public. Two years ago Mr. A. F. Jaccaci left McClure's Magazine, tempted by an attractive offer to become the art editor of Scribner's Magazine. His success in two years has been so great that, when the McClures felt able to make him an offer to return, the Scribners offered him a salary just about twice the size of the one with which they originally tempted him. In spite of that Mr. McClure has been able to secure him, and he will go, as soon as his place at Scribner's can be filled. He not only becomes the art editor, but has a certain part in the literary editing of the magazine. The stock of that periodical is now worth 200 per cent. The circulation is about 300,000. It has just reached the stage where it pays for itself, as it has been in existence just about three years, and the owners are full of unlimited confidence in its future. Norman Hapgood. THE LITERARY YEAR BOOK. ACOPY of the "Literary Year Book" for 1897, edited by F. G. Aflalo and published by Mr. George Allen, has been received by the Editor. The book must be judged, not as though it was one of a long series, but as the first of a new series. A literary Year Book has long been wanted. The Committee of the Authors' Society considered last year a project for starting such an annual themselves, but abandoned it when it was dis- covered that a serious attempt to supply the want was being undertaken by Mr. George Allen. The book contains a literary causerie; the law and university terms; an account of public libraries and of literary clubs; certain articles on literary subjects; a conspectus of books published within the last six years; notes on copyright, printing, and magazine articles; the correction of proofs; a Directory of Authors, another of publishers, and a third of booksellers; with many other points. The literary causerie with which the book opens is pleasantly written. One would, however, point out that in a literary year-book we do not want criticism or even praise. The work should be ## p. 248 (#300) ############################################ 248 THE AUTHOR. strictly practical. There are a good many portraits, about which one would also remark that the selection, year by year, of Authors for such repre- sentation, is perhaps calculated to displease those who are not selected. Some of the addresses are absurd, as, for instance, the address of Mr. James Bryce, which is given as the "Society of Authors." The Directory of Authors is defective; but this was to be expected in a first beginning. A list of Authors can hardly be called exhaus- tive, when a very brief examination proves the omission of the following names, among others :— Marie Corelli, Maxwell Gray, Justin H. Mc- Carthy, W. E. Henley, Gilbert Parker, Mrs. Clifford, F. Wedmore, Walter Crane, W. Prothero, Canon Knox Little, Louis Becke, Guy Boothby, Sarah Tytler, Florence Warden, Helen Mather, Mary A. Dickens, William Archer, Joseph Knight, Dean Farrar, Beatrice Whitby, Mrs. Molesworth, George Macdonald, Edna Lyall, J. E. Muddock, L. T. Meade, Rhoda Broughton. The same objection holds as to the list of booksellers. In short, the book is useful as it stands, but incomplete. It begins on right lines. We are quite prepared to believe that the points we have noted, with others not noted, will be rectified before the next edition. THE RETURN OF MSS. WITH reference to the opinion given in the last number of The Author as to the law on the subject of MSS. offered to a magazine or paper, the editor of the Bookman publishes in the February number opinions from many other editors on the subject. The general opinion and practice seem to be: (1) that the return of uninvited MSS. is not guaranteed: (2) that MSS. are returned when stamps are sent in: (3) that it would be unjust to make editors responsible for uninvited MSS. All these points are simply stated by the editor of the Pall Mall Magazine. The editor of the Windsor states that last year he received 1500MSS., out of which he accepted thirty-five, i.e., less than 3 per cent. The editor of the English Illustrated will not guarantee the safe return of MSS., yet does his best to return them. The editor of the Westminster Gazette will not hold himself respon- sible, and gives advice to contributors, which they would do well to read and to remember. The editor of Cassell's Magazine says that he con- siders himself free from liability if he announces that opinion beforehand. The editor of Temple Bar sends back everything he can. The editor of the St. James's Gazette does not guarantee return, but does in practice return MSS. The editor of the Idler follows the same practice. The editor of Macmillan's Magazine relies on a long standing notice in his journal, but does not state what it is. The editor of the Woman at Home will not promise to return unsolicited MSS., but, in fact, does do so in every case. This lady also points out the fast increasing practice of choosing beforehand the writers and the subjects for a magazine so that an editor does not any longer depend upon the casual post. These letters are very satisfactory, so far as they go. That is to say, practice seems everything while opinion matters little. "You shall have your MSS. back," say the editors in effect; "most of them are awful rubbish; we can only use about 3 per cent.; they would be better in the basket; you shall have them back however, only we do not hold ourselves responsible." To all of which the opinion of Mr. Chitty, contained in The Author last month, remains unanswered. He says, in effect, "Gentlemen, whether you hold yourselves responsible or not; whether you announce your refusal to guarantee return or not; you are in the eyes of the law, under certain conditions, which I have set forth, respon- sible for the safety of authors' MSS." So that these letters in the Bookman do not seem to answer the question at all, which is one of law, not of opinion. As for the courtesy and the patience of long- suffering editors struggling with piles of MSS., mostly rubbish, most of us have experienced these qualities, and are ready to recognise them fully. Having done so, the question of respon- sibility remains, and we still await an answer to, or a criticism upon, the opinion of Mr. Chitty. NOTES AND NEWS. ANOTE will be found in "Book Talk" of this month which illustrates the great and growing difficulty of finding a title not already used. There are few writers of novels, . plays, poems, or essays who have not experienced this difficulty. Twice have I changed my title: twice have I been permitted to keep a title although it had been used before. I remember reading once how Miss Braddon had to change her title three times. This is especially an Authors' question, and I would suggest that our members should them- selves consider and suggest how it can be met. To begin with, it is rare indeed to select a title already used by any well-known writer—though in the case referred to above this has been done. ## p. 249 (#301) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 249 We may assume that the rights invaded are, as a rule, only nominal. But we cannot narrow our case to this single point. We must assume that the possession of the title is literary property. What should be done, in case of infraction by another writer, either to protect property or to get possession of the title? On another page will be found an extract from a New York paper called the Progress of the World, containing an account of Washington Irving's house " Sunnyside." It is now proposed to buy up the house and preserve it as a national monument. There are many of our readers who, like myself, cherish the greatest affection for the memory of Washington Irving. If any reader of this paper would wish to communicate his sympathy with this intention, or would wish to be allowed to contribute, I shall be very glad to send his name to the American Committee, as soon as it is formed, for the purchase of the house. . I beg to thank my correspondent, "Author and Editor," for his letter on the rights of correction. It is a pity that it is unsigned, because his name would carry even greater weight than his very sensible remarks. He says in effect: (1.) Signed papers by known writers must not be altered without their consent. (2.) In case of errors of language, fact, or taste, interference must be made by the editor, always, as a rule, with the approval of the writer. In other words, we lay down a principle; but in practice we allow a certain amount of infrac- tion. We say to an editor, "No. Tou shall not alter my work which is signed." And we add, "Yes, you were quite right to put that date right, and to put that fact more correctly." Yet the principle remains. It is like a weapon, only to be used in case of necessity. We trust our editors, as a rule, implicitly in such matters. It is only in such cases as that referred to last month, where the editor chose to alter, against the author's wish, a work of imagination, that the principle must be asserted, the weapon drawn. ... I hare received a letter on writers and reviewers-, which is signed. I do not, therefore, feel myself at liberty to cut it about or to omit passages. Yet I must either omit passages or refuse to print the letter. Will correspondents understand that this is not a paper for "slashing" paragraphs about individual writers or classes of writers? Several other letters have reached me on the subject, about which enough has for the moment been said. It is quite wide of the mark to say that there is excellent criticism to be found. Nobody denies it. Also it is quite untrue to say that reviewers never read books; are always incompetent; are log-rollers; and so forth. Yet it is true that there exist such persons who in some quarters are allowed to write what they call reviews. I hope that out of this corre- spondence, which has been falsely called an attack upon critics, there has emerged a general feeling that a book is not advanced in the esteem of the ublic by an off-hand, vague notice among a ateh; but that a serious review by a writer who knows the subject and has read the book, is, and must be, of the greatest advantage to that book. Therefore, that such a review is a gift—a most important gift—in the hands of the editor. I learn by a paragraph in the St. James's Gazette that Mr. Charles Dudley Warner is about to edit, in thirty volumes only, the whole of the best literature of the world, from the stone records of Assyria and Egypt down to our own times. Picture the pride at finding your own pro- ductions in this collection! Imagine yourself one-thirtieth of humanity, so to speak, of the whole of humanity as represented by its litera- ture. The best literature in the world in thirty volumes. Let us see. We must leave one volume to the stone records of Assyria and Egypt, at least . Homer will want a place, and — but let us draw up a list:—Homer, JSschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Pindar, Plato, Aristotle, Theocritus, Virgil, Horace, Terence, Catullus, Plautus, Ovid, Livy, Caesar—we cannot spare one of these, and no doubt there are many others. China will send Confucius. I omit the sacred books of the world. Then England will contribute Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Fielding, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Browning, Tennyson, Scott—say a round dozen. France will be represented by Moliere, Eabelais, Montaigne, Boileau, Voltaire, Hugo, say but six; Spain by Cervantes and Calderon; Portugal by Camoens; Germany by Goethe and Schiller— and here we stop, for we have got forty Masters already, without counting the quantities of "best" literature produced by the "second best" writers when at their " best." A stupendous task, indeed! "Maxwell Gray " has placed in my hands the following appeal:— "When Christina Rossetti died, more than two years as;o, there was a chorus of appreciation of her work from the Press. Not only great, but the greatest woman-poet of the age, she was called. It may not be generally known that a memorial has long been planned in the shape of a, reredos in Christchurch, Woburn-square, the P 1) ## p. 250 (#302) ############################################ 25° THE AUTHOR. church she regularly attended. Sir Edward Burne-Jones has kindly consented to design a series of paintings for this when the necessary funds for its erection in the church are found, ▼iz., ,£150. Of this, I believe only about £70 or .£80 has been subscribed. In the printed list before me I find only eight names known in literature, including that of Mr. Swinburne. "Of the thousands who delight in Christina Eossetti's poems, both in England and in America, there must at least T>e hundreds who would be glad to contribute some small sum to this modest and beautiful memorial of one of the greatest ri, Colville Houses, W.; Rev. J. J. Glendinning Nash, 92, Gower-street, W.C., Incumbent of Christchurch, Woburn-square." The following amounts have been received by Miss Ellen T. Masters for Mrs. Eliza Warren since the publication of the last list. The total now reached is £62. 18*. id.: £. e. d. £. x. ,i. "Alpha" 1 o o "Jessie" o 1 o "Anon" o 3 o N. C. W o 2 o Cooke-Taylor, Mrs. 050 Robins, The Misses o 10 o Gooddy, Mibb o 1 o 8UNNYSIDE. poets and writers of the age; while her brothers and sisters in letters, poor though the majority must be, should feel it a stigma upon them that the work is still waiting for want of so pitiful a sum. "I therefore beg of your courtesy space for this letter calling attention to the proposed memorial. It has the sanction of Mr. Rossetti, whose sub- scription heads the list. Donations may be sent to the Rossetti Memorial Account in the Bank of England, or to—W. M. .Rossetti, Esq., 3, St. Edmund's-terrace, N.W.; R. W. Dibdin, Esq., 17, Russell square, W.C.; G. A. A. Nelson, Esq., Mrs. Warren is suffering mich from dropsy, and is in a distressing condition of weakness which keeps her now entirely confined to her room. Her mental powers have retained their vigour throughout, and her strength of character is but little impaired. Mrs. Warren expresses much gratitude to all those who have so kindly responded to Miss Masters' appeal on her behalf. Walter Besant. ## p. 251 (#303) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 25" SPNNYSIDE-THB HOME OF IRVING. ABOUT five and twenty miles from the ancient and renowned city of Manhattan, formerly called New Amsterdam, and vulgarly New York, on the eastern hank of the expansion of the Hudson, known among the Dutch mariners of yore as the Tappan Zee, being, in fact, the great Mediterranean Sea of the New Netherlands, stands a little old-fashioned stone mansion all made up of gable ends, and as hill of angles and corners as an old cocked-hat. It is willows, we come to the famous old Dutch cottage covered with a tangled maze of ivy, wisteria, and other vines. Beyond rolls the Hudson, its broad expanse dotted with sails, and its distant views terminating in rocky headlands and wooded hills. High up on the gable end looking toward the Hudson, fastened securely to the wall, are the figures in iron—1656. Of course this does not mean that the building, as it is, was finished at that early date. It merely marks the date when the beginning was made from which the present structure has been evolved. said, in fact, to have been modelled after the cocked-hat of Peter the Headstrong, as the Escurial was modelled after the gridiron of the blessed St. Lawrence." Such is the description which Washington Irving gives of Sunnyside—the home in which this pioneer of American letters rounded out a mellow and beautiful old age. Turning west from the old post road, which skirts the eastern bank of the Hudson, down the winding lane, which follows the course of Willow Brook, deeply shaded by elms, chestnuts, and. VOL VII. Irving, in "Wolfert's Roost," and in other sketches, has invested the old Dutch cottage with a unique legendary history. In the famous days of Peter Stuyvesant, as Irving relates it, there lived an intrepid Dutch burgher of no mean repu- tation, Wolfert Acker, who gathered up his valuables, and, with his household, sought the unmolested solitude of the wilderness. He built him a house on the banks of the stream which his own countrymen had introduced into the geographies of the world. He took possession uf thi8 new home in the eventful year 1656. ## p. 252 (#304) ############################################ 252 THE AUTHOR. Bidding farewell to the world of conflict, he determined henceforth to claim the deeper joys of peace and prosperity. In token of this fixed purpose he inscribed over his door his favourite Dutch motto, "Lust in Rust" (pleasure in quiet). The mansion was henceforth called Wolfert's Rust (Wolfert's Rest), but by the uneducated, "Wolfert's Roost," probably from its quaint cockloft look, and from its having a weathercock perched on every gable. The drowsy days of the seventeenth century rolled on, and Wolfert Acker slept with his fathers—not altogether peacefully, it seems, for among the old gray, moss-grown trees of his apple orchard behind the house—the only remaining relic of his labours—may be seen, according to the popular legend, his restless ghost stealing pensively along of a bright moonlight night. Jacob Van Tassel, with his " great goose-gun," next appears on the scene, whose patriotic exploits in the Revolutionary war brought down the wrath and the guns of the British on his devoted head. The venerable walls and gables were shattered, the creaking weather-cocks were brought low. The valiant defender fled, leaving behind shapeless ruins. Years of conflict ensued. In the meantime the Roost remained a melan- choly ruin, its stone walls and brick chimneys alone standing, the resort of bats and owls. Superstitious notions prevailed about it. None of the country-folk would venture alone at night down the rambling lane which led to it, over-hung with trees and crossed here and there by a wild wandering brook. The story went that one of the victims of Jacob Van Tassel's great goose- gun had been buried here in unconsecrated ground. But during the peace that followed the Revolu- tion, Jacob Van Tassel returned and again made the wilderness to blossom as the rose. Once more he put up the glittering weather-cocks and hung his great goose-gun over the fireplace. Here the venerable Diedrich Knickerbocker found him tilling his broad acres and smoking his pipe contentedly in the chimney corner. His last days were lighted up by the golden visions of the past, and his great Dutch heart beat its last patriotic beat beside the river of his fathers. In the spring of 1835, on his return from his tour on the prairies, Irving spent a few days with a relative at Tarrytown, and it was during this visit that he decided to settle down in some snug retreat, and shortly chose the location of the old Dutch cottage on the present site of Sunnyside. The deed of purchase was signed June 7, 1835. Irving began remodelling the old house at once, and frequent reference is made in his letters of the year to the work which received so much of his attention. The next month after the deed was drawn he writes to his brother Peter: "You have been told, no doubt, of the purchase I have made of ten acres, lying at the foot of Oscar's farm, on the river bank. It is a beautiful spot, capable of being made a little paradise. There is a small stone Dutch cottage on it, built about a century since, and inhabited by one of the Van Tassels. I have had an architect up there, and shall build up the old mansion this summer. My idea is to make it a little nookery in the Dutch style, quaint, but unpretending. It will be of stone." He seems to have torn down the old cottage nearly to the ground, for in a letter written early in October of the same year he writes: "It has risen from the foundations since my previous visit, and promises to be a quaint, picturesque little pile." Toward the close of the same month he again writes: "The porch is carried up and the workmen are in want of the inscription stone, previous to removing the scaffolding." A month later he says that " like all meddling with stone and mortar the plan has extended as I built, until it lias ended in a complete, though moderate- sized family residence. It is solidly built of stone, so that it will last for generations." The cottage was completed, furnished, and Irving first made it his home in October, 1836—fifteen months after he had purchased the property. Later a wing was added to the cottage and eight adjoining acres to the estate. For nearly a quarter of a century Sunnyside was the home of Irving. The interior of Sunnyside, as one would suspect from the outward view, is full of corners and crannies. The dining room, sitting room, and library take up nearly all of the first floor. The library, a "workshop" as Irving called it, is a cosy little room at the south-east corner. With- out and within the cottage is practically unchanged since Irving's death. The library, containing chiefly choice editions of authors whom he personally knew, remains intact as he left it. The study table presented to him by his publishers stands in the centre of the room; scattered through the house are interesting pictures, among which are several choice portraits of the author, repre- senting him at the various stages of his career, with here and there many mementoes which Irving brought back from his long residence in Europe. As the Progress of the World said last month, "the time is not a long way off when Sunnyside can be purchased." The letters which we print herewith, and addit ional ones which space will not permit publication this month, but will appear next, indicate howr enthusiastically the country would respond to a well-directed effort to pur- chase and preserve this great literary landmark. —From the Progress of the World, New York. ## p. 253 (#305) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 253 THEOCRITUS. I reached a wood of olives grey, Beneath whose boughs yon saw the sea, Bright pastures fringed the sunny bay, There at one tall tree's foot he lay, Theocritus of Sioily. The Bunshafts nickering through the shade Fell on his brow ; a pipe had he Whereon a lovely strain he played, (Babbled a brook, the branches swayed), Theocritus of Sicily. "Sweet is the murmur of the pine, And sweet the streamlet's melody. Nor Ibbs the goat-herd's song divine;" (Ab, sweet indeed that pipe of thine, Theocritus of Sioily !) "Begin, dear Muse, the pastoral strain, Sing wild Simaetha'B agony, Sing PolyphemnB1 love-sick pain, And Daphnis dead,"—(oh, Bweet refrain, Theocritus of Sicily!) It is thy very voioe I hear! Sundered by many a century, The bee hums round, the nooks browse near, Thy form before me rises clear, Theocritus of Sioily. For we who love the grassy shade, The woodland's tranced mystery, Still hear thy piping faintly played, And see thee 'neath the olive laid, Theocritus of Sioily! Emma Gubney Salter. VILSTOR RYDBERG. A SWEDISH AUTHOR. THE man who bore the above name has been dead more than a year. But that name will remain, and its fame will no doubt increase the more the life and works of its owner will be known. Maybe his name will be one of the standard names, not only in literature, but even in the history of humanity and Christianism. As it is now in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, that is in all countries where the Scandinavian tongue is spoken and understood, there is but one opinion about ViUtor Rydberg—that of admiration and respect. Literary men from the most radical to the most conservative agree in honouring his memory, though it is true that until now he is wholly understood only by a few, and very likely will remain so for many and many a year. And the reason is that he is quite single, stands entirely alone in the Scandinavian literature. He never belonged to any party, he never, like Bjornson and partly Ibsen, and many others followed the literary paths which superficj„n Danish critics pointed out to Scandinavian authors. He never became common or vulgar, but always went his own way. Above the level of the parties, as well as above the level of modern times, he seems to be a man of the future. And that is, perhaps, the more the case, as his occupation as an author was nearly con- nected with that of a philosopher. Few poets ever understood to dress their thoughts of the mysteries of life in such a harmony and beauty. In philosophic or religious matters h»- wrote the most upon the topics of the doctrines of the Bible. Among such works are to be noticed "The Genealogy of the Patriarchs in the Genesis" and "The Doctrine of the Bible, con- sidering the Last Times." He took the position of a critic, not exactly against the Bible itself, but rather against the orthodox views of the Church, and he tried and succeeded in putting the doctrines of the Bible in a clearer and more satisfying light. It is only too natural that his books should excite a storm on the part of the orthodox clergy, but Rydberg was determined to fight the battle out, and he did it in a glorious way. The greatest excitement and opposition was erected by his book, "The Doctrine of the Bible about Christ," a standard work of religious philosophy, where the author holds quite a new opinion as to the doctrine of the Bible about the person of Christ. He says that the Bible never taught that Christ was God, and he proves it not only by the words of the New Testament, but also by showing the views of the Hebrews in the Old Testament upon the matter. But according to the Bible, Christ is not an ordinary man either. He is the first man in spirit as Adam was the first man in the flesh, he is th« first-born of the Eternal, and therefore able to save the lost mankind. Man- kind is an integrity, Christ is the ideal of man kind as well as its "heart," and mankind never can be happy until all are united in Christ. So he takes the same views upon the doctrines of the Bible about "the last times," as the Rev. Dr. Farrar; but Rydberg proves his point of view strongly and irresistibly only from sentences in the Bible i self. The Church, of course, has not changed views upon the matter, but there are thousands and thousands of men and women who have adopted Viktor Rydberg's views upon those important questions. Vilstor Rydberg must be regarded as a founder of a novel view of life. His own views do not quite clearly appear in his critical essays. But these views he exhibits more in his literary works of prose and poetry. The philosopher and the poet melt into one in his artistic novels and j,j9 beautiful rhymes. His first novel, "Friby- ## p. 254 (#306) ############################################ 254 THE AUTHOR. taren i Ostersjon" (" The Pirate in the Babic Sea") was not of very great value. His most important novel, "Den siste Athenaren" (" The last Athenian "), a story from the fourth century, treating the fights between the Athanasian and Arian creeds, must be regarded as a classical work of the highest standard. It is a work historically true as well as perfect in composition form—the best historical novel that has ever been written in the Scandinavian language His last novel," Vapensmeden " (" The Armourer"), a tale of the time of the Reformation in Sweden, is a story full of clever thought, but more a praise of beauty and fullness in life than an exactly true description of the existence of man in the sixteenth century. In all his works Vilstor Rydberg preaches a new, and still an old, gospel: the necessity of art in literature, the necessity of showing thu essence of life, not its mere surface. He pro- claims the right of beauty against the rising spirit of materialism, the spirit of engines and business, a spirit that already possesses a whole part of the world, and now, under the name of "Americanism," is going to make everything base, mean, common, and vulgar in the old world, and until yet almost seems to have con- quered the French literature. In a preface to the Swedish translation of Benjamin Kidd's boot "The Social Evolution," Vilstor Rydberg has expressed his thoughts about the danger that threatens the white race on the part of the yellow one, and that danger is the god that rules the present time: the all conquering money, the industrialism, the sin-flood of engines and busi- ness upon earth. In his religious books he puts down rather the true doctrines of the Bible than his own thoughts. His own views upon matters of life and death and of the whole existence, are, as has been already said, expressed in his poems in the most clever and convincing way. There are three collections of these. The outward form is perfect, but their contents are such that they fill up the form ; form and idea are one. In the first collection there are among the most charming and playful poems, as forinstance,"DeCadandeCarnen" ("The Bathing Children "), some of grand power and wild despair. But behind the deepest despair, there shimmer rays of consolation and hope for mankind. Such is "Den Flygande Hollandaren" (" The Flying Dutchman"), where the author makes the ghostly captain meet with the wandering Jew. Such is even his "Oro" (" Restlessness "), and many others. "Dexippos." is a song of the most classic value. "Prometheus and Ahasoerus" is, perhaps, the most important and epoch-making of his first collection. Here Noah tells his children how the gods threw Prometheus from Heaven and fettered him in an abyss of the Caucasus, because he had stolen the light from Heaven for the benefit of the poor chil- dren of the earth who dwelt in darkness. And he will be free if he subjects to the Zens, the " god of time." But then mankind again will be imprisoned in darkness. The old Greek tale makes him free through Herlailes. Rydberg makes him still dwell there in the abyss of the Caucasus. To Prometheus comes here the wandering Jew, who often appears in Rydberg's poems. He is the practical man, the business man, a kind of representative of Americans, the man who accommodates himself to the struggle for life and money, who bows to the " god of time," and tries to persuade Prometheus to submission. But there lies Prometheus still fighting against the "Olympus," against the "god of time," aud counselling the sons of men to despise the "god of time" and worship the God of Eternity. But Prometheus will never submit; he waits for the hour of his salvation, when he will be free and throw down 'the god of time from hiu throne. But now he lies there in fetters and the vulture tears his breast. Vilstor Rydberg's first collection contains a wonderful translation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." It might be said that the trans- lation even gives more than the original. The third collection contains another translation from the same author, that of "The Bells." This third collection marks the highest point of Vilstor Rydberg's development. It is his last work, crowning his attainment in life. It con- tains among others the poem "Grottekvarnen" ("The Mill of Grotte"), one of the finest and most striking poems ever written in the new or t he old age. The giant women Feuja and Meuja threw two rocks on the surface of " Midgard." Of those two were made two millstones, which were given to the king Frode Fridleifsson in Switiod. In a war he succeeded in taking prisoners the two giant women, and he let them turn the stones in the Mill of Grotte. First they produced gold and gave safety to the king and his people. But the king's heart was hardened by the craving for gold, and he refused the giant women sufficient rest, and so they let the mill go at such a speed that the millstones burst, and there came fire and death to destroy the king and his people. But in reality King Frode is not yet dead, and the Mill of Grotte still works with might and main. The mill is immense. It is as big as the world. Its middle pillar is the axis of the world, around which the heavens are revolving. The mill is revolving more and more wildly round its ## p. 255 (#307) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 255 axis; this mill of industrialism and money craves more and more people for its destroying work, and the wandering jew, the old Ahasverus, tells its story to the author, as he heard it already in the first century. King Frode is sitting on his throne, and his first chancellor, the Mammonspriest, comes. He wants more people for the Grotte mill; the men are too few, he wants all the women, young and old, all the "serf-women," to work the damned work of Grotte. He gets them. But Grotte is not satisfied. The Mammonspriest therefore wants all the little children to grind in the Mill of Grotte. He gets even them. But the Mammonspriest invents still more effective means of doubling the production of Grotte. This means is competition, and now the Mill of Grotte is a power of the world. All men, women, aud children work and labour for their life, not to he trampled down in the struggle round the pole of Grotte or to be whipped to death by the drivers of the priests of Mammon. The priests of Mammon make a feast every year, and they paint the colours of joy on the withered faces of the tormented slaves of Grotte. But from thousands and thousands of throats there arises a roar and cry of agony, mixed with curses over the god Mammon and prayers to the Lord Eternal to crush the priests of Mammon and save Mankind. Now follows a song from one of the serfs, an almost heaven-storming protest and cry for vengeance over the spirit of money and engines that puts its stamp upon all the best in the world, upon the work and mind of men. The serf is trampled down and killed, but he dies with a triumphing security of coming vengeance and deliberation. The Mill of Grotte stands still. But the poem ends with a sermon by the high priest of Mammon—a bloody satire upon American utili- tarianism—where he preaches the gospel of money and egotism against the gospel of humanity and Christianism. And he ends his sermon with the words: Yes, our realistic politics is successful and glorious, And more than Adonai and Oden, Zeus and Ammon, la glorious and fall of grace Oar Mammon. "The Mill of Grotte" is the last great work Vilstor Rydberg left to posterity. It might be called his will. It is impossible to give a complete picture of this very remarkable poem. It would require a translation of the whole work, because almost every line contains a treasure. But in a few words it will suffice to say that this work, like Vilstor Rydberg's others, is a fight against ugliness, commonness, and plainness in life, art and literature, a fight fought with weapons of beauty and genius. The writer of these lines was once fortunate enough to see the famous author in his home. Vilstor Rydberg owned a pretty villa by the sea, looking upon the beautiful islands near Stock- holm. Here in the midst of a fine scenery I had the opportunity of seeing and speaking to him. He was a thorough gentleman of an almost supernatural calmness, and though I only saw and talked to him for a little while, I got the impression of a high, powerful spirit, of an influ- ence that will outlive material destruction and death. His gospel of beauty and human love, contrast- ing against the spirit of industrialism and ugli- ness, has not be^n preached in vain. There are signs that the fruits of his work will ripen in some of the best and noblest of the young Scandinavian authors who have thrown off the "Grotte-yoke" of French literature and Danish criticism, which long has put its superficial stamp on Scandinavian literature. Vilstor Rydberg has kept up the standard of beauty in Sweden. Tliis standard has after his death been taken up by two young Swedish authors, and those two must now be regarded as the first poets of the north. W. Hermanson AN INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT. ACORRESPONDENT "A Well Wisher" has called atteution to the existence of a want felt especially by authors who reside at a distance from London or any other central fount of literary information, or who reside abroad. Your correspondent has, however, only touched in his note upon the fringe of wider question. Take the example of an author who spends some months of his year in London and some months in the country or abroad. I estimate that the amount of literary work tint I can do in the country is four or five times what I can get done in London, as the calls upon one's time and attention in London are so constant and so many. The advantages of foreign residence or foreign travel to a writer are inestimable, esp cially so I think in the United States. But there is this drawback: the English or London author far away from his reference libraries, such as the London Library or the British Museum, is very much it the same disadvantage as a mechanic 0(11(1 be who goes to a distant " job" without his ## p. 256 (#308) ############################################ 256 THE AUTHOR. tools ; only the position of the author is rather the worse. For an author to carry a reference library in his portmanteau or box is impossible or impractic- able, even if he own the books. At any rate he is pretty sure not to get far on with his work without experiencing the want of some item of information which he is equally sure not to have at hand. It has occurred to me that a department or adjunct to the Society of Authors—call it if you will the "Intelligence Department"—might be established with but little trouble, and be made perhaps a source of some profit even to the parent Society, rather than of any expense. I would venture to suggest that this depart- ment be placed in charge of a gentleman of some literary acquirements, and that he be made responsible to the Committee of Management and be under its control; his duties to be to make such references and researches at the libraries on behalf of members, and to make such extracts, as may be desired. I do not of course suggest that members or others (for others might employ the department as well) should be allowed the advantages of this "Intelligence Department " for quite the value of a "footless stocking without a leg," but I think no member desiring the services of such would object to a subscription of say 5*. a year (or non-members, say, 10*. 6c?.). At this rate 800 subscribers would produce an income of =£200 a year or more with which to pay the expenses of management and working, and might leave some balance of profit towards the funds. The "Intel- ligence Department" would of course have a small beginning like many things besides, but might like all things be hoped to grow. I merely put my suggestion forward in the rough for what it is worth, and trust that, if practicable, it may be thrashed into better shape, and that other members may express their views. I would also suggest that part of the duties of the department be the supplying of subscribers thereto with new or secondhand or library books on such special subjects as they might desire, which would be an additional source of revenue or profit, although, of course, I cannot go into details here. T. W. D. L. ANNUAL DINNER OP THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OP AUTHORS. rl!HE Right Honourable Sir John Lubbock, I Bart., M.P., presided at the annual dinner of the Society of Authors, held on Wed- nesday, Feb. 10, at the Holborn Restaurant. The following members and guests were present:— His Excellency the Italian Ambassador, Mr. A. W. a Beckett, the Eev. Dr. H. Adler, Mr. Grant Allen, Mrs. Grant Allen, Sir Arthur Arnold, Lady Besant, Sir Walter Besaut, the Rev. Pro- fessor T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Ac., Lady Colin Campbell, Mr. Egerton Castle, Mr. Edward Clodd, the Hon. John Collier, Sir Martin Conway. Dr. Moncure D. Conway, Mr. Conan Doyie, Mr. R. Garnett, C.B., Mr. Kenneth Grahame, Miss Clo. Graves, Sir W. J. Grove, Mr. H. Rider Haggard, Mr. A. Hope Hawkins, Mr. Holman Hunt, Mr. R. Le Gallienne, Mr. J. M. Lely, Sir James Linton, Mrs. Lynn Linton, Mr. J. N. Maclean (President Institute of Journalists), Miss Florence Marryat, the Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, Mr. Felix Moscheles, Mr. Henry Norman, Mr. Joseph Pennell, Mrs. Steel, Mr. J. Ashby Sterry, Air. J. J. Stevenson, Mr. Samuel Wilks, M.D., F.R.S. (President Royal College of Physicians), Mr. C. T. Hagberg Wright, Mrs. Abrahall, Mr. J. R. Adam- son, Mr. Percy Ames, Mr. A. Armstrong, Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, Mr. James Baker, Mr. E. A. Barron, Mr. Louis Becke, Mrs. Bchenna, Mr. Mackenzie Bell, Mrs. Oscar Beringer, Mr. P. Besant, Mr. J. A. Blaikie, Mr. C. F. Clifford Borrer, Mr. J. S. Cowley Brown, Mr. Bernard Bussy, Lieut-Col. J. R. Campbell, Miss Beatrice Chambers, Miss E. R. Chapman, Mr. A. Chatto, Sir W. T. Charley, Q.C., Mr. E. T. Cook, Mrs. G. Corbett, Mrs. Craigie, Mrs. Cuthell, Mrs. Dambrill Davis, Mr. Edward Dicey, C.B., the Rev. J. Meldrum Dryerre, Miss Doyle, Mrs. E. M. Edmonds, Mr. E. M. Edmonds, Mr. Charles Edwardes, Mr. T. Mullett Ellis, Mr. E. J. Garwood, Mr. C. Goi-e, Mrs. Aylmer Gowing, Mr. R. Greene, Mr. H. G. Groser, Captain E. A. Haggard, Mr. Bernard Hamilton, Colonel Har- court, Mrs. Haweis, Mr. Clive Holland, Mr. Percy Hulburd, the Rev. Prebendary Harry Jones, Mr. Kennedy Jones, Mr. C. A. Kelly, Miss A. Kenealy, the Rev. S. Kinns, D.D., Miss Knight, Miss Augusta Larner, Miss Lefroy, the Rev. A. G. L'Estrange, Lady William Lennox, Mr. Stanley Little, Mrs. Stanley Little, Mr. Algernon Locker, Mr. J. Louis, Mr. Sidney Low, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, General Macdonald, Mr. J. De Courcy Macdonell, Mrs. Marillier, Mr. H. W. Massingham, Mr. S. B. G. McKinney, Mr. H. Morrah, Mr. A. P. Murphy, Mrs. Orpen, Miss Emma Phipson, Mr. L. Owen Pike, Mr. J. Prelooker, Mr. John Rae, Mr. F. A. R. Russell, Mr. Owen Seaman, Mr. R. Sisley, Mr. Douglas Sladen, Mrs. Burnett Smith, Mr. R. K. Spender, Mrs. Spender, Mr. M. H. Spielmann, Mrs. Sprigge, Mr. S. S. Sprigge, Mr. Malcom Stark, Miss Steel, Mr. A. S. Stevenson, D.L., Mr. W. G. Thorpe. Mr G. H. Thring, Mrs. Thring, Mr. H. Thornhill ## p. 257 (#309) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 257 Tiinmins, Miss Grace Toplis, Mr. T. S. Townend, Mr. Andrew Tuer, the Rev. Charles Vovsey, Mr. A. P. Watt, Mrs. Woolaston White, Mr. W. H. Wilkins, and Mrs. Yonge. A part of the following report, is taken from the Daily News. The translation of the Italian Ambassador's speech is special for the Society. The toast of "The Queen" having been pro- posed, The Chairman gave " The Incorporated Society of Authors." He said he had been looking through the accounts of some previous dinners of the Society, and he had studied what his dis- tinguished predecessors in the chair had said in proposing that toast. What was his surprise and almost indignation to find that they had said already, but more eloquently, what he had in- tended to say himself. He thought he had just reason to complain. What could have come, feebly perhaps, but appropriately, from him was mere affectation from them. (Laughter.) It was useless for him now to repeat, with more reason, no doubt, but less skill, what they had so well said—so well, indeed, that they ought ob- viously never to have said it at all. (Laughter.) They had been told on high authority that no wise man should ever read a new book. But while he yielded to no one in his admiration for the masterpieces of antiquity we must remember that they were now but thinly spread over the past. In the first place there was no such thing as a really old book. Mr. Gladstone wrote a book on Homer, and called it " Juventus Mundi." He (Sir John Lubbock) could not help thinking that a very misleading title. In the history of the world—-he did not mean the physical universe —but even in the history of the world of man, the siege of Troy was an affair of yesterday. And yet few, if any, books went back even that little way. Take Homer as having written three thousand years ago — had there been down to the present time one book in ten years which could be called a masterpiece from a literary point of view? Indeed, until quite recently there were no novels, there were no children's books. The Romans had a saying that a child should learn nothing that he could not learn on his feet. (Laughter.) The devo- tional works of mediaeval times, with some few exceptions, were no doubt works of art, and full of lovely pictures, but as for the meaning, they might apply what the school child said, of a parable—that it was a heavenly story with no earthly meaning. (Laughter.) When they came to this century—and even omitting living writers, of whom they could not judge fairly—the case was surely different. It had produced in England alone Scott, Thackeray, Dickens, George Eliut Kingsley, Macaulay, Carlyle, Grote, Tennyson, Browning, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keble, Byron, Darwin, Tyndall, Huxley, and many others. (Cheers.) Moieover, the progress had been steady and gradual. Even thirty years ago edu- cation was at a low ebb. At that time there were several hundred schoolmasters and school- mistresses — mainly, he believed, the latter— who could not write. (Laughter.) So that we had not only, as Lord Sherbrooke said, to educate our masters, but even to educate our schoolmasters. (Laughter.) The Queen's reign had been remarkable in many respects, but in nothing more than the extraordinary develop- ment of English literature. Moreover, if books had increased, readers also had, happily for authors, multiplied at least in proportion. During the present reign more schools, and colleges, and polytechnics had been founded in the British Empire than in all its previous history. Every town and even every village had an efficient elementary school. All these spread a love of reading; perhaps, however, not so much as they might. Then there were the public libraries. For his part, however, he was disposed to think that anything which developed the love of read- ing must in the long run enhance the demand for books. (Hear, hear.) It was often said that the number of works of fiction read far outnumbered those on science or art; but it must be remem- bered that they took a much shorter time to read. It was generally assumed that every educated person knew how to read. That was one of the many popular delusions. Some books should be skipped through. Those which deserved to be read carefully required not only attention, but imagina- tion, and from that point of view the University Extension Society and the Home Reading Union were doing valuable service. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, Sir John Lubbock said he wished to express what he knew was the appreciation which scientific men had for literature. Scientific men looked upon the works of authors with feelings not indeed of envy, but of congratulation. In some respects authors had the advantage of scien- tific men. Who now read Kepler, or Galileo, or Buffon, or Cuvier? Science was so progressive that even the works of the greatest observers and discoverers were soon out of date. With literature it was very different, and in proposing the health of the authors and their society he would say that hardly any company could be brought together which had contributed, and was contributing more, to brighten the lives of our countrymen. (Applause.) With the toast Sir John Lubbock coupled the name of Mrs. Steel, regarding whom he remarked that her works had done much to increase our understanding of ## p. 258 (#310) ############################################ 258 THE A UTHOR. India, and therefore to promote the maintenance of our rule in that country. (Applause.) Mrs. Steel, in rising to reply, was loudly cheered. She spoke with complete self-possession, and in a voice which was well heard throughout the room. That the hearing or making of speeches—especially after a good dinner—coidd be anything but disagreeable to any sane and healthy man or woman she could not believe. In India upon such occasions they always called upon the youngest member present to speak, and he was called the sacrificial lamb. (Laughter.) She could lay no claim to youth, but as she had been asked to make the sacrifice she did it gladly. She paid a tribute to the reception which women writers met with in England. It was true that a captious critic might think that the composition of the Council of the Authors' Society, which consisted of fifty-six men and four women, was not quite what it should be. However, it was ever thus. She remembered visiting a prison in India, over whose portals was inscribed, " Room for 700 men and six women." (Laughter.) What a tribute, she thought, to female virtue! But her guide corrected her; it was evidence, he said, only of the superior cleverness of women. (Laughter.) Passing to deal with the work of the Authors' Society, Mrs. Steel referred to the fact that in seventeen years the membership of the Society had increased from thirteen to 1300, and she mentioned its efforts with regard to pro- te' ting authors' interests in regard to copyright. The ambition of the Society was to become the recognised headquarters of the literary profession, just us the Royal Academy was recognised as the headquarters of the artistic profession. This aim would never be attained unless the members of the Society cultivated esprit de corps. She had been much struck in reading Lord Roberts's auto- biography, with his account of a fight in which soldiers of the East and of the West, of white skin and of dark, of the Crown and of the Crescent, were alike engaged, and the record of their victory was t his :—" Taken in the name of the 2nd Ghoorkas." That was the spirit in which Mrs. Steel desired to see the authors win their victories. Let their hits be made " in the name of the Society of Authors." (Cheers.) Mrs. Steel, it may be added, had occasion incidentally to " refer to the Prince of Darkness. He figured as the author (I should sav the publisher) of all evil." The toast of "The Guests" was proposed by Sir Martin Conway. Mr. Justin McCarthy had lieen put down to propose this toast, but he was not present, so Sir Martin Conway at short notice waa called upon. Referring to Mrs. Steel's speech, Sir Martin said he was not the sacrificial lamb, but the scapegoat. Then he made a sort of an apology to Mr. Holman Hunt, and the company, including Mr. Hunt, laughed heartily. Then Sir Martin looked over to Sir Walter Besant, who had not got to speak, and said the latter was digesting his dinner as comfortably as he (Sir Martin) ought to have been doing. Another good joke, and there was more laughter. Then Sir Martin chaffed the editors of London daily newspapers who had been amongst the company, but who, of course, had long ago left to discharge their arduous duties (we will not mention names, but most seemed to have delayed going to Fleet-street long enough to hear Sir Martin's speech), and then he spoke of the literary and art work of the Italian masters, and coupled with the toast the name of General Ferrero, the Italian Ambassador. The Italian Ambassador responded to the toast in French. The following is a translation of his speec h: Monsieur le President, Mesdames, Messieurs,— I fully appreciate the importance of an invitation which procures me the honour of finding myself in the midst of so many thinkers of a great country. I wish to express my gratitude for the kind reception I have found among you. I am particularly touched by the sympathetic discourse of the speaker I have just heard. He has referred to my country's literature in a manner which few Italian men of letters could equal. I cannot attempt to compete with his courtesy and eloquence by putting into words my admiration for the literature of England. But it will not, I believe, be inappropriate to this occasion to advert to some of the broad impressions which the thinking man of a foreign land experiences when contem- plating the manifestations of the intellectual life of your great country. There is no need to con- sult bibliographies in order to form an idea of the enormous wealth of your literature in every conceivable branch of learning. Indeed, the only cause for wonder would be were it otherwise. In a nation which extends its dominions over a large portion of the globe, in a nation which occupies by far the highest place in commerce and industry, in a nation the triumphs of which are mainly due to the influence of some of the finest inventive and and creative intelligencies o the world; in such a nation, I say, we must find at the same time the cause and the effect of the highest literary and scientific develop- ment. I have spoken of the wealth of your literature; allow me to speak of a quality which strikes us strangers more especially—I mean the measure, the soundness, the healthiness of thought which preponderates in it. An essen- tially practical people, endowed with a degree of mental calmness rarely met elsewhere, a people ## p. 259 (#311) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 259 that ever checks its thought by fact, that is ever absorbed in great enterprise, could not allow itself to be attracted by a literature devoid of a practical, or, as the phrase goes, of common sense. It is true that phantasy and imagination have their place, and a great one too, in intellectual manifestation, but, in this atmo- sphere they are not allowed to fly away beyond the pale of reason. A palpable proof of this is to be found in philosophical literature. Among the thinkers of the world, English philosophers, in my opinion, occupy the very first rank, chiefly, be it said, on account of the intellectual equilibrium which is one of their most distinguishing cha- racteristics. In your philosophical literature we find no sign of nebulosity on the one hand, of hard "doctrinarianism " on the other. English literature at large seems indeed to cany with it an atmosphere of its own, the healthiness of which the foreign reader breathes with a new delight; it alway bears a special stamp, immediately recognisable. This originality is no doubt due to the exceptional position of the country, and to the mental character of a nation geographically so situated. In such a country a dislike for the majority of ideas proceeding from outside is almost an affair of instinct. A comparative study of the mutual borrowings, of the reciprocal infiltrations, as one might say, of the literature of different countries would doubtless be highly instructive. It would certainly prove that the literature of England remains that which is the least indebted to the others—and happily so; she lias thus been saved from the contagion of the doctrinal ideas which have brought so much harm to other countries. There can, however, be nothing absolutely hard and fast in a statement of this kind, and I shall, therefore, allow myself a passing allusion to the inspirations which English literature has found from time to time in that of Italy. My country owes to yours a debt of gratitude for the profound study which you have devoted to its glories of old, artistic and literary, and for the appreciative sympathy you have always displayed in that quarter. And here I owe an expression of thanks, cordially given, to the gentleman who has proposed the health of your guests, for his courteous and warm-hearted remarks on this subject. One of the observations which the foreigner cannot fail to make concerning men of letters and men of science, is that here, more than anywhere else, they play an important part in the political life of their country. Of such we have not a few illustrious examples in this very gathering to- night. England is essentially the land of freedom. Many other nations, of course, possess institu- tions similar to yours, but the habit of freedom dates in this country from an older period; all the trials, the ordeals that a people has to go through when it has only just lately conquered its liberty, are long since past with you. Freedom asserts itself even more by the manner of thought than by laws. Now this freedom, which is to human thought what pure air is to the lungs, is the main cause of the glorious soaring, not only of the literature, but also of every display of the intellectual life of Great Britain. It is to this honest conception of the meaning of freedom, among other things, that we must attribute the qualities which more particularly distinguish English journalism. Monsieur le President, Mesdames et Messieurs,—Among the virtues which more specially belong to your nation, one of the greatest is the gratitude with which you reserve the memory of the men who have made er glorious. When I visited for the first time this vast metropolis, I felt immediately drawn towards Westminster Abbey. The sight of so many monuments dedicated to the memory of men who have brought honour to humanity, evoked before my mind a magnificent ideal picture of this country's greatness. Never shall I forget the impression made upon me by the stone which covers the ashes of Newton, whereon are inscribed these noble and simple words: "Quod mortale erat Isaaci Newton." When, in so vivid a manner, almost tangible I might say, we see before us so many men who have been an honour to mankind, there surges in our heart a feeling of gratitude for the fatherland of those illustrious dead; and it is impossible to resist a feeling of sincere affection for a nation which has done so much for the progress of human intel- lect. The countries that gave birth to Dante and Shakespeare, to Galileo and Newton, have cer- tainly an intellectual kinship, and it is by you, thinking men and women, that this kinship will best be understood. Mr. Rider Haggard then proposed the health of the Chairman, and the proceedings terminated. A reception was subsequently held. THE BATTLE OP THE BOOES. I. E paper with this title in last month's Author will have been published in vain if it does not lead to the consideration of the present position. In 1852 all the men of letters spoke without hesitation in favour of free trade. Would they do so at the present day? This remains to be ascertained. P h ## p. 260 (#312) ############################################ 26o THE AUTHOR. Let me remark that in 1852 the publishers had not yet arrogated to themselves the complete con- trol of the circulation of literature. A certain defe- rence was still paid to those who produce the literary wares—the creators of literary property. Their opinion was actually asked. Some deference was also paid to the booksellers. At the present moment the creators and the owners of literary property are contemptuously thrust aside. The recent proposal to sell books at a net price—fixed—without discount—has been made without the least recognition of the right of authors to have any voice in the management of their own affairs. Now the practice at the present moment is this: All retail bookshops have to take off 2 5 per cent. The railway stalls do not take off this discount. The 25 per cent, off is now so much an esta- blished reduction that if a net price were imposed the public would not buy the book until the discount was allowed. To speak, therefore, of a 6*. book is to speak of a 4*. 6d. book. The trade of bookselling has long been decay- ing, and is now in a very bad way indeed. It is reported that 70 per cent, of country booksellers have succumbed during the last ten years. Publishers have refused to recognise the fact of the discount. If a 6s. book is ordered, the bookseller has to pay for it 4*. id. in some houses; 4*. in others; with a discount for pay- ment within a certain limited time. If the book- seller can order twelve copies of the book, he receives thirteen for the same price. If he can order twelve copies of other books from the same publisher, he gets thirteen as twelve. If he orders twelve copies from the distributing agency of any books he gets thirteen as twelve. The publisher receives about 3*. 6d. a copy for a 6s. book, in some cases a little more, in some a little less. If the 6s. book is an average size, and has a large circulation, he can most certainly (see the February number, p. 212) produce it for a shilling a copy. If he only prints a thousand copies, each copy would cost him about is. ^d. Here, then, are the data for an average 6s. book with a large circulation: Cost of production is is. a copy. The public pay for each copy, 4s. 6d. There remains the sum of 3s. 6d. to be divided between author, bookseller, and publisher. The question is as to the share to be taken by each. Whenever the question is put publicly, the red-herring crosses the trail. There are two principal red-herrings— I. The risk. The answer to this is (1) that there are hundreds of writers whose works carry no risk whatever; (2) that publishers when they bring out any kind of book generally get it sub- scribed by the London trade before they go to print with it. If they were to obtain no sub- scriptions, I very much doubt whether they would ever publish it. Their real risk, then, is the difference between the actual cost of production and the amount realised by the subscriptions. Thus, if the book costs ,£100 and the subscription list is £99 19s. iod., the risk is twopence. Again, as to risk, what about the bookseller? He has to stock the book. Every book on his shelves means risk; every book that remains on his shelves means failure and loss. And as to the author. The risk to him, apart from that of reputation, is the cost of time and work—his personal expenses and maintenance— in preparing, studying, and writing. Is that no risk? In point of fact, in far the greater number of cases, the respective risk may be stated as—the author's first, the bookseller's next, and the pub- lisher's last and least. II. The second red herring is " office expenses." This is an amazingly daring pretence. Why should the publisher's "office expenses" be con- sidered more than the solicitor's, or the draper's, or the doctor's? Why should his office expenses be considered more than the author's? Why more than the bookseller's? Have not the booksellers their rent to pay; their assistants; their taxes? Now, with these data before us, let us face the question and endeavour to find an answer. We have always, even while exposing the most malig- nant misrepresentations, endeavoured to find such a solution as will safeguard the rights of pub- lishers. We must not forget, however, that jmblishers in most cases and—except when they are editors—are middlemen. Now, no middlemen are absolutely necessary; they are only useful in saving trouble. Their place may be taken any day either by printers, or by papermakers, or by booksellers, or by authors themselves. The Editor. II. The paper on this subject in The Author for February is interesting and instructive. Men of letters, the Commission of Inquiry, and the Times and Athenieum representing the Press, were in favour of the sound principles that a bookseller, having bought a book, ought to be free to sell it at any price which paid him and suited his trade. Free trade in books has been the rule for two generations, much to the advantage of authors and the public. During the last few years some publishers have been introducing the thin end of a harmless- looking wedge into the book trade, which might easily be driven home, and which, ifj[driven home ## p. 261 (#313) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. would make it necessary for the whole " Battle of Books" to be fought over again in the last years of the century. The name of this harmless- looking wedge is—" net price." John Lascelles. HI. May I bring before your readers another point in the discussion of the conditions of bookselling in the early fifties, not involved in the ground covered by the interesting article in The Author for February. Mr. Chapman pointed out that advertisements formed a terrible item in the cost of a great majority of books. This outlay was caused, first, by the great number of advertising media, in which the publisher must make known his publications if he would reach each class; and secondly, by the fact that the millions, having no literary appetite, had to be tempted by every device that ingenuity could suggest. Were the people generally educated, they would be on the alert for every new product of the Press, and then one adver- tising medium would suffice. "If the publishers were to issue a weekly periodical, containing classified advertisements of all the works pub- lished in Britain during the successive intervals, each contributing towards the cost in proportion to the space his advertisement might occupy, to which should be added an accurate and compre- hensive report, classified with equal care, of all works published abroad, a million copies (or several millions, if found needful) could be distri- buted gratis throughout the country to every literary institution, reading-room, book society, and private individual that would apply for it, at a small expense compared with the enormous aggregate sum now annually lavished on the same object. The result would obviously be a great advantage to authors, publishers, and the public. By the concentration of literary adver- tisements into one medium, a large number of second and third rate periodicals now mainly dependent upon them would fall to the ground, and thus a barrier to sound instruction in the form of the superficial and profitless reading they too often supply, would give way to books of a truly informing and elevating kind." T. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD: ITS PRESENT-DAY USE. ""T"TTHETHER she possesses the means of V Y realising it or not," "If it were not for the guarantee of Europe," " If Greece is incapable and unfitted to undertake the task," "If they are unable to maintain an agreement on this point," are four sentences taken from the first leader only in the Times of to-day (Feb. 19), and suggest the heading of this article, for a hundred years ago one of the best of English prose writers would have said, "Whether she possess," "If Greece be incapable," and "If they be unable," and many authors even now would say that the latter was the more elegant form of the two. But which is correct—and why is it so? Will some learned grammarians aid the readers of these pages by expounding the present rule upon this subject, which, when followed, will be acknowledged by authorities, and at the same time be so succinct and clear as to be of practical service in the everyday life of a writer? That brief rules are in existence, and are followed not only by those with a University training, but by those yclept "'Varsity Dons," may be gathered from such remarks as one sometimes hears them make—" Oh! if there's doubt use 'be,' if not use 'is.'" "If you can get 'should' into the sentence, but not without, put 'be.'" That the question at issue is not so simple as may at first appear will be evident on taking a brief glance at its history. In 1819, William Cobbett, in his interesting and readable "Grammar of the English Language," with the curious title- page, " Intended for the use of schools and young persons in general, but more especially for the use of soldiers, sailors, apprentices, and plough- boys," says, in reply to the question " What are the cases in which we ought to use the subjunctive form ?" that " Bishop Lowth, and, on his autho- rity, Mr. Lindley Murray, have said that some conjunctions have a government of verbs; that is to say, make them or force them to be in the subjunctive mode. And then these gentlemen mention particularly the conjunctions if, though, unless, and some others. But (and these gentle- men allow it) the verbs which follow these con- junctions are not always in the subjunctive mode; and the using of that mode must depend, not upon the conjunction, but upon the sense of the whole sentence. How, then, can the conjunctions govern the verb? It is the sense, the meaning of the whol« sentence, which must govern, and of this you will presently see clear proof. 'If it be dark, do not come home. If eating is necessary to man, he ought not to be a glutton.' In the first of these sentences the matter expressed by the verb mag be or mag not be. There exists an uncertainty on the subject. And if the sentence were filled up it would stand thus: 'If it should be dark, do not come home.' But in the second sentence there exists no such uncertainty. We know, and all the world knows, that eating is necessary to man. ^e could not fill up the sentence with should > an<^' therefore, we make use of is. Thus, ## p. 262 (#314) ############################################ 262 THE AUTHOR. then, the conjunction if, which you see is em- ployed in both cases, has nothing at all to do with the government of the verb. It is the sense which governs. . . . As to instances in which authors have violated the principles of grammar with respect to the use of the modes, I could easily fill a book much larger than this with instances of this kind from Judge Blackstone and Dr. Johnson." How frequently the subjunctive mood—as we now say—was used before, and at the time the foregoing was written, will be evident to all those who remember the works of one whom Sir Walter Scott described in his diary as "That young lady [who] had a talent for describing the involve- ments, feelings, and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I have ever met with. The big bow-wow I can do myself like anyone going; but the exquisite touch, which renders commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description, and the sentiment, is denied to me." He speaks of Jane Austen, whose style has been praised by Southey, Coleridge, and Macaulay. There can, therefore, be no hesitation in saying that a hundred years ago the subjunctive was very much used. What is its position now? Mr. Mason, in the thirty-seventh edition of his " English Grammar," published last year, writes: "In modern English it is getting (unfortunately) more and more common to use the indicative mood in cases where the subjunctive would be more correct. Thus, for 'see that all be in readiness,' many people say ' see that all is in readiness '; for ' if that were to happen' they say 'if that was to happen.'" Professor Meiklejohn, in the fourteenth •edition of his "English Language" (1896) says: "The subjunctive mood has for some years been gradually dying out. Few writers, and still fewer speakers, use it. Good writers are even found to say, 'If he was here I should tell him.'" He goes on to state that "the sub- junctive mood was used—and ought to be used— to express doubt, possibility, supposition, conse- quence (which may or may not happen), or wish, all as moods of the mind of the speaker." His very phrase " ought to be used " leads the reader to doubt whether he quite expects this very com- plex rule to be followed by all good writers, especially as "the subjunctive mood has for some years been gradually dying out." To repeat my question—is there no rule for this mood acknowledged by the authorities, and so succinct and clear as to be of practical service in the everyday life of a writer '( F. Howard Collins. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—The I. S. A. as Publisher. In The Author of this month the Editor gives more excellent advice to aspirants after literary fame. But there is one flaw in his suggestions. There will often be an insuperable objection to publishing a book either from the home of the writer or from the house of his bookbinder or printer. Could not the Society of Authors remove this difficulty by establishing an office from which books published at the risk of authors could be issued, copies sent to chosen London and country papers for review, advertisements arranged, and copies offered on sale or return where such a step is desirable. Of course an author would have to make a suitable d-posit to meet out- goings, and to pay a fee that would cover office expenses. Where a book succeeded the office could continue to publish it, and give the writer the whole net profit on its sale. Is not this worth trying? Robert B. Holt. 10, Bedford-place, Russell-square, W.C., Feb. 13. II.—Editor and Contributor. 1. Your remarks on the ethics of editorship can hardly, I think, be accepted beyond a certain point. In the case of signed articles by profes- sional writers of ability, nothing, I admit, should, or need, be touched by the editor, save with the writer's consent. This may be taken as an axiom —in theory. In practice it is not possible: at least, in many magazines. In my ten years' experience, during which many of the most eminent writers in the country have contributed over their names to my pages, I have never but twice received any objection from writers for such editorial interference as I am forced to make, and I am constantly in receipt of letters of acknowledgment and thanks. It is obvious that in a signed article no opinions, nor sense, may be altered, no additions made with- out the author's approval. This rule is absolute; but at times it may be necessary to expunge, if trouble is not to ensue. There are three forms of errors constantly to be dealt with—errors of language, errors of fact, and errors of taste. If the editor is not to be judge in these matters, what is the use of an editor? If these errors are made, where is the " degradation" of having them put right? It would manifestly be objectionable, for several reasons, for me to give examples that would satisfy your readers; but I am convinced that were you, Sir, to glance through the corrected pages that I pass for press, you would acknow- ## p. 263 (#315) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 263 ledge that your desire to see such errors as those to which I have referred pass uncorrected would tell against the literary quality of the magazine, and against the reputation of the writers them- selves. You may reply that in the case of a magazine devoted to special interests, contributors, even though professional writers, are looked to rather for their knowledge than for their literary style, and that, therefore, some beneficent inter- ference with their text is not to be regarded as objectionable. But it is a matter of principle which you assert, and which in practice is not of universal application. Author and Editor. 11. In your note on Mr. Chitty's opinion as to the liability of editors for the return and safe custody of unasked-for MSS., you say your own sym- pathies are entirely with the editors. I should say most men of sense will agree with you. The whole point in the case is to fix the senders of MSS. with notice of the terms on which they will lie received. The burden of proving that notice was actually received is on the editor. In this an editor is nearly sure to fail, as MSS. are now sent in on approval. An editor can give himself absolute protection in this way. With each number of his magazine he must issue one or more coupons ; each of those coupons containing the terms on which he will receive unsolicited MSS., together with a state- ment that no MS. will be read unless it is accompanied by a coupon signed by the sender. As all persons who send MSS. wish them to be read, the writers of papers would lose no time in acquainting themselves with the rule as to coupons, and in complying with it. The editor would then, in every case, have the most positive evidence that notice of his rules had been received by the sender of a MS., and that the MS. was sent subject to his rules. An editor who did not wish to oblige all his would-be contributors to buy his magazine or beg one of his coupons, might state that either a signed coupon or a signed copy of it must accompany every un- solicited MS. as a condition of its being read. If I were an editor I should give the alternative, so as not to seem to force my magazine upon persons wishing to submit their work for my approval. John Lascelles. hi. One aim of our Society is to raise the tone of all connected with literature, and there is no doubt that it is doing much towards that end. I recently wrote a polite note to the editor of one of our leading "religious" (!) weeklies, offering him an article (gratuitously), but saying before sending it 1 should be obliged if he would say whether (pro- vided, of course, he should approve of it when read) such an article would be acceptable or not. I may add that I have often written articles for that paper, which have been published by a former editor, but for which I have never received one penny of remuneration. I may also say that, being a brother clergyman and a vicar of some standing in London, and an author of several books, I wrote to him not as "Editor," but under his own proper name. He was not courteous enough even to reply; in fact, the offer was rudely snubbed. Further, I sent an article to this same editor some months before, inclosing stamps for its return, and though I begged that, if not accepted, it should be returned, it was never returned, the stamps were kept, and no notice whatever was taken of my note. I am sorry to say I have received similar treatment from other editors. Is this conduct worthy of literature? If an editor has not time just to write "declined," to say nothing of two more words, "with thanks," he might have politeness enough to let one have a MS. back that he must know cost the writer hours of labour. „.„ C. J. III.—Reviewing. 1. May I add my testimony to a point touched on by Mr. George Gissing and Mrs. Sarah Grand on the subject of reviewing; namely, the habit of some reviewers "of quotiug sentences uttered by a character in a novel as though they came from the author himself." I read some years ago in a Church paper of high standing a review of a novel of mine in which the reviewer, after animadverting in unfavourable terms on the persons" of dull religious habits" with whom he suggested that my lot was probably cast, proceeded to comment in the strongest manner on my supposed views respecting the clergy, giving quotations from my book in proof of his assertions. The first of these quota- tions was so much altered for the worse that I did not immediately recognise it. The second was correctly rendered. Both were spoken by cha- racters in the booh, respecting a type of cleric not more worthy of reverence than the well-known "Mr. Slope." The reviewer omitted to mention the cordial praise of another class of clergyman which immediately followed on the same page. M. C. 11. The following is au illustration of the above letter. "Jr. "]Sote by the Author" is Dickens's own note "A n^. * VloBOP^y arises here whether Mr. Peck- eniff b^?^\0tl 0*? ^ good reason to say that he was ## p. 264 (#316) ############################################ 264 THE AUTHOR. specially patronised and encouraged in his undertakings. All his life long be had been walking up and down the narrow ways and bye-places with a hook in one hand and a crook in the other, scraping all sorts of valuable odds and ends into his pockets. Now, there being a special pro- vidence in the fall of a sparrow, it follows (so Mr. Pecksniff would have reasoned) that there must also be a special providence in the alighting of the stone, or stick, or other substance which is aimed at the sparrow. And Mr. Peck- sniff's hook or crook, having invariably knocked the sparrow on the head and brought him down, that gentleman may have been led to consider himself as specially licensed to bag sparrows, and as being specially seized and pos- sessed of all the birds he had got together. That many undertakings, national as well as individual—but especially the former—are held to be specially brought to a glorious and successful issue, which never could be so regarded on any other process of reasoning, muBt be clear to all men. Therefore the precedents would seem to show that Mr. Pecksniff had good argument for what he said, and might be permitted to say it, and did not say it presumptuously, vainly, or arrogantly, but in a spirit of high faith and great wisdom meriting all praise."—(Excerpt from " Martin Chuzzlewit.") Note by the author.—" The most credulous reader will scarcely believe that Mr. Pecksniff's reasoning was once set upon as the author's!" III. I glean from the opinions recently advanced by some of those whose duty it is to review works of fiction that the avalanche of volumes which at times descends upon the editorial throne is chiefly responsible for the desultory notices complained of. Few will regard this as a sound excuse. If the rush be so great as to endanger the prospects of individual and thorough examination, let the selected few have the l)enefit thereof, the balance being greeted with an acknowledgment only, until such time as the stream runs quieter. If we get ignored, it would be a more pleasant expe- rience than being made the victims of a slovenly verdict against which there is no appeal. In the matter of criticism our forefathers may not have been so smart. They were certainly often more just, courteous, and, above all, careful. Authors' Club, S.W., Cecil Clarke. Feb. 9. IV. I have read with increasing surprise the letters on this subject which have been appearing in The Author. Tour correspondents 6eem to regard reviewing as a religious function, involving I know not what moral responsibilities on the part of the reviewer. In my opinion they expect too much. To begin with, you must not expect a reviewer to be a critic. There are not a hundred critics alive in the whole world at any one time, so there cannot be enough of them to go round. A reviewer is a man who can write rapidly a rough estimate of the kind of opinion of any book likely to be held by the average reader of the journal in which the review appears. It is his business to consider his readers as much as the book reviewed. He has to tell his readers whether the book is the kind of book they, being possibly the fools they are, will like to read. Thus the same reviewer writing in half a dozen journals on the same book will write of it in half a dozen different ways. He may justly praise it in one journal and damn it in another. I will give an instance. There is a book called "Dolomite Strongholds" by J. Sanger Davies. As editor of the Alpine Journal, I inserted in that magazine a strongly condemnatory review. The book was not a good one from the point of view of an expert climber. But I myself reviewed the same book in a popular weekly, and I praised it, for it is quite amusing, and even informing, to non-mountaineering folk, and will give them no false notions of any importance compared with the utterly false conceptions of the whole moun- taineering business which they bring to the reading of it. As to novel reviewing I know nothing, having never read a new novel in my life, but always come to novels long after public opinion on their merits was declared and confirmed by time. Other sorts of reviewing present other kinds of problems. If a book pretends to be a contribu- tion to knowledge, the reviewer's business is to find out whether the facts in it are correct and the research scholarly. If he finds facts inaccu- rate and research slipshod, it is his duty in mercy to studious persons to kill that book if he can. I have killed three books in my time for such reasons, the only three I ever reviewed with open hostility, and I did so over my own name where I was permitted to sign it. Where a book is harm- less, one does one's best to praise what can be found praiseworthy in it. We have all had experience of being reviewed, but our reactions from such experiences seem to be various. I never go out of my way to collect and read reviews of my own works, but a certain number always come under an author's eye, and he naturally reads the earlier ones. Once or twice I have detected the hand of a foe; but seldom. What strikes me most forcibly is the general capacity manifested by the modern journalist, his skill in finding out what a book contains, his facility in setting it out. As a rule I have recognised the justice of a reviewer's condemnation, from his own point of view. A book of mine, which was a catalogue of fifteenth century Dutch prints, was once sent by an editor's oversight (very forgivable surely in the hurry of to-day) to his reviewer of novels, and included in the weekly batch. The man could make nothing of it—of course not; he was reduced to joking about it, and so solved what must have ## p. 265 (#317) ############################################ THE AUTHOB. 265 been an awkward problem for him. His praise or blame were alike immaterial, and could neither help nor harm the book. A single review has very little effect on a book, for the simple reason that few people read only one journal. Most of us skim a number of journals, and see several reviews of any book. Verbal recommen- dation is what makes the fortune of a book. When a man says, in a club smoking-room, "You should read such a book; I have read it; it is very interesting "—that does a book good. Most reviewers go about town talking of books. They do more good to authors by that means than by their written notices. It is nonsense to rave against the nature of things. Reviewing is a necessity of the day. It has to be done by the writers of the day under the conditions that exist. If you can change the conditions and re-educate the writers you can change the reviews; not otherwise. You might as well rave against the east wind and hope to soften i4, W. Martin Conway. IV.—Popularity. 1. The Editor in last month's Author, asks: What are the qualities which create popularity in a writer? I have thought a good deal on the subject, and have gleaned many opinions from the novel-reading public of a small country town. The conclusion I have arrived at is that the first quality necessary to popularity, and the one cloaking a multitude of literary sins, must be a certain rousing power, the gift of arresting attention and stirring emotion, either by startling plot, exaggeration and caricature, or vivid sensa- tional diction. Of course when this quality is allied to artistic taste we all recognise genius, but the majority knows nothing about art canons, and accepts fustian for force. It is not "silliness, weakness, or vulgarity " that attracts the ordinary reader, but a perfervid emotionalism, and if this be combined with well-established moral senti- ments, so hammered in and driven home that there can be no mistaking the author's meaning, so much the better for the author. Life is a dull thing to most persons, and they like their fiction to supply the lacking colour without shocking or perplexing them. Next to the arresting quality, I would place perfect simplicity, prettiness, and pathos, at- tributes dear because soothing to every one of us. A word in regard to Dickens. From many inquiries I find that, in the provinces at least, it is difficult to make young persons read him at all. And I cannot help thinking the Editor is mistaken in his opinion that Tennyson, Scott, Longfellow, Marryatt, and Dickens have still "an immense hold on the people." New editions are bought by old lovers, and given by parents and guardians to the young, but I believe librarians and booksellers will confirm my view that the youth of to-day does not read these, and others of our best authors, except under compulsion. I should be only too glad to learn that I am wrong in this conclusion. M. L. P. 11. In your paragraph (p. 223) relating to Free Libraries, are you falling into the error of the newspapers, in which one so often sees the con- clusion drawn that the popularity of a work is shown by the frequency of its issue? Is not frequency of issue rather dependent on notoriety—from whatever cause arising? The number of copies of any work in a library being limited, applicants for books really liked will commonly hear that they are "out." The persons who have hold of them may often keep them as long as they are allowed—to read a seeond time, or to pass from hand to hand through a family; whereas books which are only got through by much skipping are soon brought back to the library, where they are ready for reissue to people who are prepared to take what they can get. At the British Museum there is a copy of Tennyson's "In Memoriam," the first pages of which are very dirty, but the latter quite clean, fairly showing, to my mind, the extent to which each portion has been read. Are we to conclude, therefore, that the last part is much less to the public taste than the first? Rather it is to be supposed that the fame of the poem led people to commence its perusal, but that it really afforded them little entertainment. So with books. Before speaking of, say, Martin Tupper as a popular author, one would like to see whether the sold copies of his works have become much soiled, as well as how often they show evidence of being gifts—their notoriety often leading to a purchase, the possessor on experience of their contents being disappointed. As regards taste, a good deal may be learned by examining the edges of the pages of some works in public libraries, e.g., volumes of State Trials. F. R. V.—The House where Byron was Born. Now that we are promised what the newspapers somewhat irreverently term a Byron " boom," it may j±qI Y>e inopportune to mention a fact which will pT0\)ably come as a surPrise to many rea,3ers ## p. 266 (#318) ############################################ 266 THE AUTHOR. of The Author. When the house, No. 24, Holies- street, Cavendish-square, where the illustrious poet was born, was rebuilt, the tablet notifying the circumstance was taken down. This, I think, was in the spring of 1891. More than once I have agitated through the Press and elsewhere that so suitable a spot should not be allowed to remain without an inscription of some kind. The owners and occupiers, a large firm of haber- dashers, who carry on their business in this and the adjacent houses, promised a long while ago to remedy their neglect. But that promise has never been fulfilled, although Lord Byron's effigy is used by them as a trade-mark. Is not this a case the Byron Society should take up? It is only the site of the original house, but none the less it seems a pity that the record of so noteworthy a birthplace should be allowed to sink out of notice, when its per- petuation could be so easily accomplished. C. VI.—Paying for Publication. I am still rather puzzled by your advice to authors never to pay for publication, unless it is intended to apply only to such books as novels, volumes of essays, and the like. I freely admit, however, that my experience is limited, and that my perplexity may be due to ignorance. But it seems to me that if authors never paid for publi- cation, a large number of really useful books in the drier departments of literature would never see the light. I know of at least a few instances. I remember that some years ago a friend of mine who is rather an authority on history, began to write a book on an historical subject with which he was well acquainted, and on which a book was then (and still is) much needed. He went up to London with his manuscript to see a prominent publisher, and bore as the certificate of his ability to do the work creditably a letter of introduction from a historian of some celebrity. The pub- lisher received him graciously and offered to publish the first volume of his work for a pay- ment of ,£400. When the kind offer was declined, he said that out of consideration for the letter of introduction he would consent to take three-quarters of the expense upon himself, if my friend would pay the other quarter. This also was declined, and the book never appeared. I have done some historical work myself, and having published some books through the Chris- tian Knowledge society, for which I was paid by them, wished some time ago to bring out another book, somewhat longer and more important. For certain reasons I was un- willing this time to offer the book in the first place to the S.P.C.K. I wrote accordingly to a well-known firm mentioning the subject of the book and what I had previously written, stating that I did not wish to publish it at my own expense, and asking whether I should send the MS. for their consideration. I received a reply that they declined its publication. Another leading firm subsequently offered to publish it for about .£140, and finally I allowed a third firm to bring it out, but I had to bear all the expenses. The book has been well reviewed, and has been adopted as a text-book in one degree-giving college, but it has not yet paid expenses. On the other hand I have gained in reputation by its publication, and I believe that a sudden tem- porary rise in my income was largely due to the publicity I thereby gained. I may be mistaken, but I do not think it would have been so well received had it been brought out by the S.P.C.K. I am pretty sure it would neither have done so much good nor brought me so much credit had it been brought out otherwise than through a regular publisher as suggested in your February number. I mention these points in no spirit of carping criticism, but because I am anxious to know whether there are publishers who would take such books aud publish them except at the author's cost, and whether I have acted foolishly or not in publishing as I did. I was told by a fairly good authority that the publication of historical works, unless they were "popular" works, must cause loss either to publisher or author. This may not apply to authors of celebritv, but is it generally true? L. M. N. [It is a very good thing for " L. M. N.'s " friend that he refused to pay £400. That must have been a stupendous MS. which would cost =£400 to produce, unless there were many illustrations. Probably it was only that publisher's little way. It used to be a very common little way to multiply the cost of production by three or four when the author was going to pay for publish- ing. The way is not so easy now, which explains the otherwise strange dislike with which some publishers regard the Society's "Cost of Production." "L. M. N." seems to think that literature considered as an article of commerce is different from anything else. He should under- stand that publishing is a trade, and a very good trade too: that it is conducted in order to make money: that all books which are "popu- lar" are eagerly published: and that unless a book is popular enough to be bought, that book will be a loss.—Ed.j ## p. 267 (#319) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 267 BOOK TALE. THE subject of Mr. E. F. Benson's novel is opportune, the scene being laid in Greece seventy years ago, during the struggle between the G-reeks and the Turks. The story will first run in the Graphic. An Irish story by Mr. Richard Dowling will be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, entitled "Old Corcoran's Money," Mr. Zangwill's "Dreamers of the Ghetto " will appear in the autumn. Mr. Sidney Pickering, author of " The Romance of His Picture," has another novel appearing through Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen next month, called "Margot." Mrs. Edith E. Cuthell's novel, "Sweet Irish Eyes," will be published this month by Messrs. Skeffington. Mr. Kipling has completed a new short story, entitled " Slaves of the Lamp." Mr. Robert Buchanan is about to issue two new books, "The Ballad of Mary the Mother " and "The New Rome." Mr. Buchanan says he is the only surviving religious poet, and possibly the last of the race. Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co. announce "The Adventures of John Johns," by Mr. Frederic Carrel, and "Her Fortunate Grace," by Miss Gertrude Atherton. Mr. Meredith's article, " An Essay in Comedy," is being published in a small volume by Messrs. Constable. It appeared originally in the New Quarterly Review in 1877. Mr. Meredith entered upon his seventieth year on the 12th ult. A new story by Mr. Silas K. Hocking, entitled "The Blindness of Madge Tindall," will be pub- lished shortly by Messrs. Warne. "Who is She?" is the title of a novel by Professor P. Jones, to be published by Messrs. Nichols. Mr. Crockett's " Lad's Love " is due for publi- cation on the 12th. The personal life of the Queen which Mr. Richard Holmes is writing for the Goupil Gallery art monographs is expected to be ready by the great celebrations in June. The Edition de luxe, on Japanese paper, price J68, is sold out. A new edition of "Letters addressed to A. P. Watt," has just been issued by Messrs. A. P. Watt and Son, with a number of additional letters from authors. These all testify to the value of the literary agent, or, to be precise, of Mr. Watt's services in selling the writer's literary works to the greatest possible advantage. Major J. R. Macdonald, of the Royal Engineers, who was engaged in the survey for the Uganda railway, has written a work on "Soldiering and Surveying in British East Africa," which will be published by Mr. Edward Arnold. A record by Mr. Francis McNab of his journey in South Africa is to be published by Mr. Arnold, entitled " On Veldt and Farm." Sir George Trevelyan, who has retired from Parliament because of ill-health, is engaged upon an historical work dealing with the end of the last century. Sir Martin Conway's book on his recent expe- dition is expected to be ready this month, and will be called "The First Crossing of Spitz- bergen." "British Moralists " is the title of two volumes of selections, principally from writers of the eighteenth century, which Mr. L. A. Selby-Bigge has prepared for publication by the Clarendon Press. A new series of classical texts for the use of English-speaking students, edited by well-known scholars, is about to be published by Messrs. Methuen. Among the editors are Professor Tyrrell of Dublin, Dr. Sandys of Cambridge, and Professor Robinson Ellis of Oxford. A Somali-English Dictionary is to be published by Messrs. Kegan Paul. There are 2186 magazines published in the United Kingdom. Fifty years ago the number was 200. The Bronte Society's museum at Haworth is to be formally opened at Easter. Two new romances by the late William Morris are about to be published from the Kelmscott Press. The first to appear will be "The Water of the Wondrous Isle," and some time after- wards there will come "The Sundering Flood," which is the last romance written by Mr. Morris. The Rev. Morris Fuller, vicar of St. Mark's, Marylebone, is writing the biography of Bishop Davenant, who occupied the See of Salisbury and assisted Archbishop Laud in carrying out his reforms. Messrs. Methuen will publish the volume. The book called "Four Generations of a Literary Familv—the Hazlitts," by Mr. Carew Hazlitt, has been withdrawn from sale by Mr. Redway, owing to complaints as to its character. ## p. 268 (#320) ############################################ 268 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Gosse is to edit for Mr. Heinemann a series •of short histories entitled "Literatures of the World." Among those who will contribute volumes are Professor Dowden, Dr. Garnett, Dr. Verral, Professor G. G. Murray, and Dr. C. H. Herford. A new and cheap edition of Dr. Hill Burton's "History of Scotland" will be published by Messrs. Blackwood in eight volumes. Professor Rhys and Mr. Brynmor Jones, who sat on the Welsh Laud Commission, are joint authors of a work entitled " The Welsh People," announced for publication by Mr. Unwin. "England in the Days of Old " is the title of a work which Mr. William Andrews has written, and will publish shortly. The life of the late Lord Tennyson, by his son, the present lord, will be published in October. When Sir Kichard Burton was Consul at Damascus, he collected material for a work now entitled " Human Sacrifice among the Sephardi'm, or Eastern Jews; or the Murder of Padre Tomaso." The book was written, but, owing to its strong anti-semitic tendencies, publication was delayed. It is now about to be published, prac- tically as it left the author's bands, by Messrs. Hutchinson. Mr. Gladstone will publish this spring a second series of " Gleanings" from his occasional writings. The first volume will contain ecclesiastical and theological essays. An uncatalogued collection of nearly 40,000 volumes, containing the greater part of Bishop Stillingfleet's library, has been discovered by Dr. Stokes in Marsh's Library, Dublin. The book of chapters of medical life and work, which was finished by Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson just before he died, is to be published immediately by Messrs. Macmillan, entitled "Vita Medica." Mr. Francis Thompson's new book, to be pub- lished by Messrs. Constable, will be called " Odes and Other Poems." In sending copies of Dr. Nansen's book to the Press for review, the publishers, Messrs. A. Constable and Co., requested editors not to publish extracts or quotations from it exceeding in all 1000 words. "The safeguarding of our interests in this country and in America," they added, "compels us to impose this condition." We imagine that Messrs. Constable have thus set an example that is likely to be followed by many other hrinses. "Here is rather a novel experience for people of letters," says the Daily Chronicle. "An author has just received the following letter :— My attention has been attracted by a notice in the of [naming the book]. In it the reviewer finds fault in style and English. You might find me useful. I devote myself wholly to revising, and work for some of the most successful authors. Naturally, I never give their names, but I can refer you to Messrs. Hutchinson, the publishers, for whom and for whose authors I do a good deal of work. The inclosed circular, too, will probably satisfy yon of my competence for what I undertake.—Yours faithfully, A. Heald (Anglophil). "The author's first impulse was naturally to desire the scalp of the person who wrote the letter. On second thoughts, however, it was regarded as a good joke," and sent to our contemporary for publication. Mr. Eustace Reynolds-Ball contributes to the March English Illustrated Magazine an article (illustrated from original protographs) on Shelley Land and the Levantine Riviera. It appears that there is some risk of the historic Casa Magna, near Spezia, where Shelley lived during the last few months previous to his death, being pulled down to make room for "eligible villa residences." Mr. Reynolds-Ball suggests that a fund should be raised by subscription to preserve the house as a memorial of the poet. Perhaps the Society for the Preservation of Places of Historic Interest will consider the proposal. Mr. Herbert Flowerdew, whose satire, called "The Tenth Muse," was announced in these columns, now writes to explain that he has unwittingly taken a title already used by Sir Edwin Arnold, and that he has therefore changed his title to " In an Ancient Mirror." Headon Hill has delivered complete "copy" of the serial which he was recently commissioned by Messrs. Cassell and Co. to write for their Family Magazine, and is now engaged upon the proofs of his next volume. The book, which will shortly be issued by Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Co., is entitled "Beacon Fires," and deals with stirring events on the British coasts in war time. Messrs. Chapman and Hall will shortly publish a novel by Mr. Alan Oscar, entitled "Captain Kid's Millions." The first part of the story appeared in Chapman's Magazine for February; with a sequel added it is now to appear as a 6*. book. Mr. John Pendleton, the author of "Our Railways," and other works, has just completed a novel, "The Ivory Queen," a story of strange adventure, which will be published shortly by Messrs. Osgood, Mcllvaine and Co. ## p. 269 (#321) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 269 Here is a pretty subject for the research of the unoccupied specialist in Court literary affairs. A second-hand bookseller offers in his recently issued catalogue, under the number 9282, "Deutsche Gedenkbliitter, 1870-1871" (German memorial leaves), published for the benefit of the funds of the Patriotic Women's Aid Society. The price is twenty marks. The volume so offered for sale is, the Berlin correspondent of the Daily News says, the copy which the late Empress Augusta sent to Queen Victoria, as a present, and bears the follow- ing dedication written by the Empress: "To my dear Victoria, from her faithful sister, cousin, and friend, Augusta." Nobody can say how this book came into the possession of the bookseller. A correspondent of the Daily Chronicle has been "discovering" Pietari Paivarinta, who was born seventy years ago at Ylivieska, not far out- side the Arctic circle. The son of a poor labourer, his youth was spent in abject misery. He married at twenty, and cleared himself a patch in the vast forest. Later on he became parish clerk, and, enjoying a little leisure, wrote letters to the patriotic papers. At forty, he ventured to pub- lish a volume entitled "Episodes of the Great War," and every Tear he has repeated the experi- ment. His tales have a distinct flavour, marking well the difference between the Turanian type of humanity and the more familiar type of peasant of Russia or Scandinavia. Paivarinta is hale and hearty, and not without honour in his own country. Two of the scarcest of the Kelmscott Press books, namely, "King Florus,'' on vellum (of which the issue was but twelve copies in all), and the same on paper, have been stolen from the shop of Messrs. Jones and Evans, Queen-street, Cheap- side. A propos the theft, some particulars of how such things are done have been supplied to the Westminster Gazette. Sometimes the thief leaves behind him another volume which is out- wardly the same as the one taken. A single leaf is often all that he wants to complete a volume, and in this event he simply slips in a piece of wet string and puts the book back on the shelves; then, when the leaf has been rotted through, he returns and carries it off. Occasionally, as in the case of the house painter who carried off a first edition of Burns from Lord Rosebery's house, the thief is ignorant of the value of the book, but the most daring thefts are usually committed by those who know something about the subject—broken-down publishers, literary hacks who have seen better days, and so on. LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS. The Bookselling Trade in 1896. Bookseller for Feb. 5. Reviewing. Opinions of authors in Westminster Gazette for Jan. 27 and Feb. 10; of Mr. Lang in Longman's for March; of Mr. Payn in Windsor for March. The Battle of the Books. Professor Raleigh. Cosmopolis for February. The Child in Recent English Literature. Pro- fessor Sully. Fortnightly Review for February. Wordsworth's Youth. Leslie Stephen. National Review for February. The Rival Poet in Shakespeare's Sonnets. O. A. Leigh. Westminster Review for February. The Indian Mutiny in Fiction. Blackwood for February. The Celtic Renascence. Andrew Lang. Blackwood for February. Ancient Bohemian Poetry. Frederick Count Lntzow. New Review for February. William Morris, Philanthropist and Poet. D. F. Hannigan. Westminster Review for February. Gibbon's Life and Letters. H. W. Paul. Nineteenth Century for February Reminiscences of Matthew Arnold. Dean Farrar. Temple Magazine for March. Notable Review. Of Morris's ■• The Well at the World's End." Athensrum for Feb. 20. The apotheosis of the six-shilling novel, in one volume, was the leading feature of the bookselling trade of 1896—according to the results of an inquiry which the Bookseller has been conducting. A complete consensus of opinion is found as to the benefit which the bookseller has gained from the abolition of the three volume novel, and the subs itution of the single volume one. The latter is purchasable by the majority of people at the very time that all the papers are full of its merits or demerits, while under the previous regime the six-shilling edition was often kept back till all active interest in the book had died away. The prosperity of the six-shilling novel has meant the decline of the cheap yellow-back and the shilling shocker, and curiously enough, the latter has been supplanted by the 6rf. popular magazine. The growth of magazine literature, indeed, has been so grrat that some booksellers are afraid that it will do permanent harm to the craft of hook- selling pure and simple. A competitor more often complained of however, is the " cycling mania." "We fear," says our contemporary, "that we cannot offer our readers any hopeful anticipation, at least for two or three years, as cycling certainly seems to have come to stay, and whether for good or evil, will have to lie made the best of." There is a feeling in favour of other classes of books besides fiction being offered in the popular six-shilling form. History, biography, and travel, the Bookseller informs us, find ready purchasers, but in many cases these books are issued at prices which are almost prohibitory, ## p. 270 (#322) ############################################ 270 THE AUTHOR. and compel readers to obtain them from the library. Fiction was the literature most in demand during 1896, especially tales dealing with the romance of history. "The 'problem' novel and the ' sexual' novel would seem to have had their day, and have ceased to be at any rate." Another important feature in the past year was the increase of tasteful reprints, and it is clear that this field is capable of great development. Although the year throughout the Kingdom was successful beyond the average of the last two or three years (and it is interesting to note, by the way, that in Ireland reading has increased at an abnormal rate), the booksellers continue to air their grievance of discounts. In some towns associated action is being taken to put down undercutting; this movement, says the Bookseller, indicates the only way out of the difficulty, "and we are told more than once that the discounts now given do not sell a single copy more than would be bought under contrary con- ditions." There is a general desire to see the net system largely extended, and some even see in its entire adoption a way out of the present difficulties of the book trade. As to which, hear our contemporary :— However this may be, it is clear enough that, under the existing system, books of solid literature and of permanent learning, appealing to the fen rather than the many, must be at a great disadvantage, as booksellers are afraid to stock them, the profit resulting being usually too small to cover the risk; for with the minimum profit at present possible, the quicker return offered by ephemeral literature is the only means ef keeping out of the bankruptcy court. The Booksellers' Association has moved in this matter by lately issuing a circular to its members informing them that at a meeting of delegates of their society and the Publishers' Association, it was sugge>ted by the latter that to improve the state of the retail trade an effort should be made to revert to 2d. in the i*. discount, and that net books should be sold at net prices. In order to enforce this, the sub-committee of the Pub- lishers' Association are prepared to recommend to their Council that the present trade terms should be given only to those booksellers who pledge themselves not to exceed 2(2. in the 18. discount, and to maintain the published price of net books; those who are unwilling so to pledge them- selves, to be supplied at script, net, and no odd copy. "Unless the booksellers are practically unani- mous in giving their assent to the proposal," the circular added, " it cannot proceed further." Miss Florence Marryat has no reason to com- plain of her own critics, but she thinks the reading world would get on just as well if there were no criticism at all. The time is not very different, remarks Miss Marryat, from that in which Churchill wrote: Through whim (our critics) or by envy led; They damn those authors whom they never read. Mr. Lang does not regard ordinary reviewing of books which are not novels as very healthy. Mr. James Payn thinks signed critiques a mistake, as the critic ought to be impersonal, and in a signed criticism of your friend's work, he says, you are speaking directly to him. Anonymity lends a fictitious importance to journalists, says Ouida, who also believes that only two out of every hundred books issued in England are worth the paper they are printed upon; while Mr. Muddock regards it as a matter of common justice that the producers of books should know who are the persons who sit in judgment upon them. The ideal novel of the Indian Mutiny has still to be written, says a critical writer in Blackwood. Of all the trreat events of this century, as they are represented in fiction, the Indian Mutiny has taken the firmest hold on the imagination, yet the many novels, beginning with " Maurice Dering" in 1864, which have treated the subject have been dealing with the trivialities. The Blarfticood writer wants the great living facts of the Mutiny taken up. It should stand to the epoch of which it treats as "Westward Ho !" does to the age of Elizabeth, ever stimulating, ever refreshing. And who should we like to write it? He, says the writer, "upon whom more than on any other in this generation the mantle of Charles Kingsley has fallen "—Mr. Rudyatd Kipling. Professor Sully analyses some of the recent child books by Mr. Kenneth Grahame, Mr. Canton, Mr. Barrie, Mrs. Meynell, and others. With growing intimacy and with deeper observa- tion, our writers, he says, may be expected to do better. What is wanted is a frank recognition of the truth that a child is a subject worthy in itself of the finest artistic pourtrayal, and that in the hands of a man it may be admirable with- out being elongated into a prodigy, and highly entertaining without being broadened out into a huge joke. Mr. Gosse gives a portrait of the late Coventry Pat more, and Mr. Louis Garvin praises his odes. To know the man is here indeed, says Mr. Gosse, essential to the apprehension of his writings. And the man was angular, vivid, discordant, and yet exquisitely fascinating. Some called him " namby- pamby " and " mild," but to hear this was only entertainment to those who really knew that "he was the most masterful of men, the very type of that lofty moral arrogance which antiquity identified with the thought of Archilochus." Mr. Garvin is among those who believe Pat- more's "St. Valentine's Day" to be not un- worthy of comparison with the "Ode to tiie Nightingale," of Keats, and with Shellev's " Skv- lark." ## p. 271 (#323) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 271 OBITUARY. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. PROFESSOR CHARLES TOMLINSON, F.R.S., died at Highgate in his eighty- ninth year. He was the author of many handy text-books on natural philosophy, meteor- ology, and natural history; and in 1854 he edited " Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical Manufactures, Mining and Engineering." He wrote the lives of Smeeton, Cuvier, and Linnaeus, and was also the author of "The Inferno of Dante Translated into English Tierce Rhyme," "Essays Old and New," "The Chess-Player's Manual," and other works. Professor William Wallace, of Oxford Univer- sity, died at Oxford on the 19th ult. from the effects of a bicycle accident. Since 1882 he was White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, succeed- ing Mr. T. H. Green. As a writer Professor Wallace was known as the interpreter of certain German schools of philosophy. Among his works were "The Logic of Hegel," "Epicureanism," "Kant," " Prolegomena to the Study of Hegel," and " Hegel's Philosophy of Mind." The Rev. Samuel Harvey Reynolds, scholar, teacher, and man of letters, died at Biarritz on the 7th ult., at the age of sixty-five. He edited "Bacon's Essays" and "Selden's Table-Talk," wrote many magazine articles, and was an earnest student of Dante. When the Professorship of Poetry at Oxford became vacant at the close of Matthew Arnold's tenure, many of Mr. Reynolds' friends were anxious that he should offer himself as a candidate. The Rev. Walter Gregor, LL.D., secretary of the Scottish Text Society, a high authority on Scottish folk-lore and the author of several works, died at Bonnyrigg on the 4th ult. The Ven. George Gresley Perry, archdeacon of Stow, in the diocese of Lincoln, who has died at the age of seventy-seven, was an authority on religious history, and wrote " The History of the Church of England," and a few other books. The Rev. Francis Jacox, the Shakespearean student and commentator, who also wrote "Aspects of Authorship, or Bookmarks and Bookmakers," and other works, died at St. John's Wood on the 5th ult. in his seventy-first year. Abroad, the deaths occurred of Jacinto Gullina, the well-known Italian dramatic author; and Ernst Konrad Ziletmann (" Konrad Telmann "), the German novelist. [January 25 to February 23—181 Books.] Abbott. E. E. The Spirit on the Waters. Macmillan. Adams, G. Burton. The Growth of the French Nation, 6/- Maczuillon. Andrews. E. B. The History of the Last Quarter-Century in the United States. 1870-189"). 80 - Kegan Paul. Anonymous. The Earl and the Knight: Passages from a Ministerial Diary. 1/- King. Armstrong, A. Under the Circumstances. 6/- Smith, Elder. Atteridge, A. H. Towards Khartoum. 16/- Innes. Bain, J. A. Life of Fridtjof Nansen. 6/- Simpkin. Banks, Mrs. G. L. The Manchester Man (special edition). 15/- net. Manchester: A. Hey wood and Son. Barrett, Frank. A Missing Witness. Chatto. Beazley, 0. B. The Dawn of Modern Geography. 18/- Murray. Betts, E. St. G. Sun and Mist (Poems). 8/6 net. Unwin. Bjdmson, Bjornstjerno. Magnhild and Dust. 8/- net. Heinemann. Book-Plate Annual and Armorial Year Book 1897. 9/6. Black. Bourinot. J. G. Canada (Story of the Nations). 6/- Unwln. Brewer, J. F. The Speculators. 6/- Methuen. Brouardel, P. Death and Sudden Death (tr. by F. L. Benham). 10,6. Brown, A. Mercy Warren [Biography]. 6/- Murray. Buckland, A. W. Margaret Moore, Spinster. 6/- Ward and Downey. Buck-master, J. C, editor. A Village Politician [John Buckley], 6/- Unwin. Burroughs, J. Whitman: A Study. 6 - net. Constable, Burrow, C. K. The Way of the Wind. 8 6. Kegan Paul. Canning, Hon. A. S. G. History in Fact and Fiction, 6/- Sniith. Elder. Carnarvon, (4th) Earl of. The Defence of the Empire (ed. by Sir G. S. Clarke). 6/- Murray. Causton, J. F. A Modern Judas. 6/- Digby. Cave, H. W. The Bulned Cities of Ceylon. Sampson Low. Chambers, G. F. The Story of the Weather Simply Told. 1/- Newnes. Chaney, H. J. Our Weights and Measures. 7/6. Eyre and Spottis- woode. Christiansen, 0. Elements of Theoretical Physics (tr. W. F. Magie). 12/6 net Macmillan. Church, the late Dean. Occasional Papers. 10 - Macmillan. Clarke. A. A Monograph on the Cathedral Church of Wells. 1/6 net. Smith. Clarke, Sir G. S. and Thursfield, J. B. The Navy and the Nation. 14/- Murray. Cleeve. Lucaa. The Water-Finder. 3/6. Hutchinson. Cliffe, F. H. A Daughter's Grief. 3 0 net, Bellairs. Cornish, V. Short Studies in Physical Science, Mineralogy, Chemistry, and Physics. 5/- Sampson Low. Costelloe, B. F. C. and Muirhead, J. H. Aristotle and the Earlier Peripatetics (tr. from Zeller). 24/- Longmans. Cowley, A. E. and Nenbauer, A. (editors). The Original Hebrew of a Portion of EccleslasticuB(xxxix. 15 to xlix. 11). 10/6 net. Frowde Crane. Stephen. The Little Regiment. 2.6 net. Heinemann. Craufurd, A. H. Christian Instinct and Modern Doubt. 6/- Clarke Doudet, Alphonse. Jock (tr. by L. Ensor). 5,- net. Dent. Dawe, W. C. Kakemonos: Tales of the Far East. 3 6 net. Lane. Dewe, J. A. New Thoughts on Current Subjects. Stock. Dawson, A. J. Mere Sentiment. 3. 6 net. Lane. Duff, Sir M. E. Grant. Notes from a Diary. 1851-72. 18/- Murray. DuncanB. How Money Makes Money. Wilson. Eastlake, F. W., and Yozki-Aki. Yamoda. Heroic Japan. 18,- Sampson Low. Ebert, H. Magnetic Fields of Force (tr. from German by C Burton). Part I. 10/6 net. LongmanB. Eeles, F. 0. Church and other Bells of Kincardineshire. 5/- net. Stock. Encyclopaedia of the Laws of England. By eminent legal authorities. VoL I. Abandonment to Bankruptcy. 20/- net Sweet and Maxwell Everard, H. S. 0. Golf In Theory and Practice. 8/6. Bell. Farningham^M. In Evening Lights. 2/6. Clarke Farrar, F. W., and otherB. Prophets of the Christan Faith. 15 - Clarke. Fendall, P., and Russell, F. Out of the Darkness. 6 - Smith, Elder. Fitzgerald, Rear Admiral, C. 0. P. Life of Vice-Admlral Sir Georgn Tryon, KC.B. 21/- Blackwood. Fitzgerald, P. F. The Rational, or Scientific, Ideal of Morality. 7/6 Sonnenschein. Fleming, Mrs. (A. M. Kipling). A Pinchbeck Goddess. 8 6. Heinemann. Fletcher, W. Y. Foreign Bookbindings in the British Museum. 63,'- Eegan Paul. Fothergill, C. A Matter of Temperament 6/- Black. Frazer. R. W. British India (Story of the Nations aeries). 5 - Unwlr. ## p. 272 (#324) ############################################ 272 THE AUTHOR. "G. G." Great Scott. The Chaser, Ac. 3 6 net. Bellairs. Gallon, Tom, Tatterley. ft - Hutchinson. Gardiner. L. The Sound of a Voice. 6 - Hurat and Blackett. Garrett, E., and Edwards, E. J. The Story of an African <>isis. 3 6. Constable. Gill. W. A. Edward Cracroft Lefroy. 5'- net. Lane. Glynn, AnnaL. A Pearl of the Realm 6,- Hutchinson. Gordon, JameB. The Village and the Doctor 6 - Methuen. Gordon, Samuel. A Handful of Exotics 8 6. Methuen. Gower, Lord E. Selections from the Letters of De Brosaea. 10 6. Regan Paul. Graham. D. Is Natural Selection the Creator of Species. 6'- Digbv. GrenfelL B. P., and Hunt, A S. (editors). Greek Papyri., eerie* II. 12 fi net. Froude. Hall. R. N. Gilbert Vance, Curate. 6/- Western Mall. Harris J. R. and H. B. Letters from the Scenes of the Recent Massacres in Armenia 6 - Nisbet. Herrord, C. H. The Age or Wordsworth (H indbook Eng. Lit.) 3 «. Bell. Hill, J, and Bacon. G. F. Dinah Fleet. 6/- Downey. Bills. A. E Elflnn's Luck and Other Poems. 4 0 net. Innes. Hindo S. L The Fall of the Congo Arabs. 12 6. Methuen. Hohenlohe-Ingelflnge. Kraft Prinz zu. Conversations on Cavalry (tr by Lieut. C Beiehmann) 7 6 Eeliher. Hooley, E. T. Tarragal, or Bush Lifein Aust alia 3 6. (Jay and Bird. Hope. Anthony. Phroso, a Romance 6/- Methuen. Houghton. A. E. Gilbert Murray, a Novel, fi - Smith. Elder. Howard. J. J. and Crisp, F. A- Visitation of Ireland—Vol. I Sub- scription price 21/- Private Press of F. A. Crisp. Howard, W. The Evolution of the Universe. 12 6 net. Nisbet. Humphry, Mrs. Manners for Men. 1/- Bowden. JameB. Henry. The Spoils of Poynton. 6/- Heiuemann. Johnson. J. Musa Medic a. 2/6. Savoy PreBS. JohiiBton-Smiih. F. J. The Captain of the Dolphin and Other Poems of the Sea. 3 6 net Digby. Johnstone, T. B. The Land o' Cakes and Brither Scots. Gardner. Jokai, Maurus. The Green Book, or Freedom under the Snow. 6'- Jiirrold. Keith, G. S. Plea for a Simpler Faith Kegan Paul. Knight. E. F. Letters from the Soudan, s i; net. Maemillan. Knott, C. G. Physics. An Elementary Text-Book. Chambers. Lander. H. Weighed in the Balance 4 fi net. Lane. Lear. Mrs. H L.Sidney. 'Joy." a Fragment. 2/6. Longmans. Leask W. K. James Boswell (FanioiiB Scots). 1/6. Ollphant. Le Gallienne, B. The Quest of the Golden Girl. 5 - net. Lane. Le Gallienne, R.. editor. Walton and Cotton's "The Compleat Angler." 1ft - net. Lane. Lep lletler, E. Madame Sins-Gone (tr. J. A. J de Vllliers) 3 6. Chatto. Leys. J K. The Lawyer's Secret. 3,6. Warne. Liu. J. J. The Nieene Creed. 6/- Sonnenschein. Litcrfiry Yeor-Book, 1897. 8/6. G. Allen. Locke. Clinton. The Age of the Great Western Schism [Eras of the Christian Church]. 6/- Clark Luckock, H. M. Footprints of the Apostles. 12/- Longmans. Ludlow, J. M. The Age of the Crusaders [Eras of the Christian Church]. 6/- rlark. Macdonaltl. J. C. Chronologies and Calendais. 7 6. Andrews. Madden, J. The Wilderness and Its TenantB. 42,- Simpkin. Maitland, F. W. Domesday Book and Beyond 15/- Clay. Markby. Sir Wm The Indian Evidence Act. 3 6 net. Frowde, Marlowe, C (Harriet Jay). The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown. Buchanan. Maude, Captain F. N. Voluntaiy versus Compulsory Service. .*> - Stanford. Maude, W. C. Property Law for General Readers. Wilson. Mason. C. M. Parents and Children, fi/- Kegan Paul. Me Lin lock, R. Goethe's ■' Faust." 1st part. 10 - net. Nutt. Me1v>l]),J. Crystal Gazing and the Wondeis of Clairvoyance. - Nichols. Mllman. C. Through London Spectacles. 3/6. Smith. Elder. Molloy, J. F. A Juatitifd Sinner. 6/- Downey. Moore, H. S. The New Rules of the Road at Sea. 3/- Potter Moult on. L. C. In Childfood's Country. Bowden. Mtiller. F. Max Contributions to the Science of Mythology. 32 - Longmans. Mailer, Mrs. Max. Letters from Constantinople. 6 - Longmans. Nansen, Fridtjof. Farthest North. 42/ net. Napier, A. D. Leitb. The Menopause and its Neuman. B P. The Supplanter. NeviuB J. L. Demoo Possession and Allied Newton. A. V. Patent Law and Practice. Nisbet. Hume. The Swampers. Norris. W. E. Clarissa Furiosa. 6 - Ommanney, G. D. W. A Critical Dissertation Creed. 16/- * 'unstable. Disorders. 7 6 net. Scientific Press. Methuen. Thrmes. 7/6 net Redway. Cox. White. Methuen. on the Athanasfan. Frowde. Paget, C. E. Wasted Records of Disease. 2 6. Arnold. Palmer. C. F Inebriety (Source, Prevention. Cure). 8/6. OUphtnt. Pearmain, T. H., and Moor, C. U. Aids to the Study of Bacteriology. 3,6 Balliere. PearBe, Major (editor). The Crimean Diary and Letters of Lieut-Gen. Sir Charles Ash Wyndham, K C B. 7 0. Kegan Paul Pemberton Max. Christine of the Hills 6/- Innes. Perkins. T Handbook to Gothic Architecture. 3/6. Hazel!. Petherick, E. A. Tho Australian Colonies in 1896. 1'- Wilson. Pocock, R. The Blackguard. 2 - Beeman. Proctor, Mrs. J. An Oak of Chivalry. 6'- Digby. Pugh, Edwin. The Man of Straw. 6.'- Heinemann. Read, Opie. The Jucklins, a novel. 3 6. Black. Rhoscomyl, Owen. For the White Rose of Amo. 6 - Longmans. Ross, F. W. Forbes. Septic Conditions of the Infantile Alimentary Canal. 7 6. Rebman. Russell, R. H. The Edge of the Orient. 8/6. Kegan Paul. Salmon, G. Some Thoughts on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. 3 6. Murray Savage R. H. LoBt Countess Falka. Routledge. Schooling, W. Life Assurance Explained. 1/- Cassell. Schreiner, O. Trooper Peter Halketof Mashonaland. 6 - Unwin. Schweitzer, H. F. The Love Philtre, and Other Poems. 6/- Macqueen. Seth. M J. History of tho Armenians in India. 7/6. Luzac, Sims, E. C. Our Travels Round the World. 2 - Alexander and Shepheard. Smeaton, O. Tobbias Smolleit (Famous Scots). 1/6. Oliphant. Smith, F. K. Parsons and Weavers. Skeffington. Smith. Goldwin. GuesseB at the Riddle of Existence, and Other Essays on Kindred Subjects. 6/- Maemillan. Smith, II. A Plea for the Unborn. 2/6 Watts. *■ Snaffle." In the Land of the Bora. 15/- Kegan Paul. Speight, Harr*\ Romantic Rirhmondshire. Stock. Stadling. J. and Reason. W. In the Land of Tolstoi. 7 6. Clarke. Statham, F. R. South Africa as It Is. 10 6. Unwin. Steevens, G. W. The Land of the Dollar. 6/- Blackwood. Stillman. W. J. Venus and Apollo in Paintingand Sculpture. Bliss. Strickland, P. English Statute Law Revised. 2/6. Clowes. Stuart. Ejme\ Arrested. White. Surteos. Major C. Campaign in Italy 3 - net. Stanford. Sweet. H. The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon. 8 6 net. Frowde. Tebbutt. C. G., A. Read, and A. Tebbutt. Skating 1 - Routledge. Thorpe, W. G. The Hidden Lives of Shakespeare and Ba^on. and Their Business Connection. Chlswick Press. Tipper. H. England's Attainment of Commercial Supremacy. Stock. Transactions of the British Association of Waterworks Engineers. Vol. I. Biggs. Trehern. G. The Old Ecstasies. 3 6 net. Bellairs. Vane, Derek. The Three Daughters of Night. 3.0. Hutchinson. Victoria Regina Atlas. Political, Physical, Astronomical. Johnston. Vincent, M. R. The Age of HLldebrand (Eras of the Christian Church). 6,- Clark. Waller, S. E. Sebastiani s Secret. 6 - Chatto. Wallis-Tayler, A. J. Modern Cycles. Crosby, Lockwood. Warden-, Florence. The Mystery of Dudley Home. White. Warden, Gertrude. The Wooing of a Fairy, fi - Hurst and Blackett. Wenley B M. Contemporary TVology and Theism. 4 6. Clark. Whelen. F.. editor Politics in 1896. 3 - net Richards. Whitlock. F. W. The Migration of Birds. 3 « net. Porter. Wilkin, A. On the Nile with a Camera. 21/- Unwin. Williamson, G. C. Richard Cosway, R A., and his Wife and Pupils. 25 - net. Belt Wo'ff H. W. Employers' Liability, What Ought It to Be? 2 G. King. Wright. H. C. S. Soudan, '96. 1 - Cox. Yorke, C. A Flirtation with Truth. 6- Macqueen. ## p. 272 (#325) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. THE LITERARY YEAR-BOOK 1897 EBITED BY FREDERICK G. AFLALO, F.R.G.S., &c. An Exhaustive Book of Reference for all Writers and Readers of Books. AMONG THE CHIEF FEATURES ARE :- A Critical resume of the past year's Literature, by Ernest Rhys. Portraits and Biographical Sketches of a number of Distinguished Authors. The Year's Obituary, with Portraits. A New and Complete Calendar for Literature. Some Account of the Chief Literary and Scientific Clubs, and Learned Societies and Institutions in the Kingdom, with their Addresses. Directories of Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. A Directory of the chief Free, Public, and Subscription Libraries in Great Britain and Ireland. Practical Information in connection with the Reading Rooms of the British Museum Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris), and Konigliche Bibliothek (Berlin). Articles on various Literary matters. Information concerning the Production of Books and the Processes in Illustration. &c, &c, &c. About 300 pages, crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6dm It is hoped that tbis volume, which deals with every matter of practical interest to the Literary World, will supply a long-felt want. LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN, RUSKIN HOUSE, 156, CHARING CROS'S ROAD, AND OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. ## p. 272 (#326) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. LOWEST PRICES IN LONDON. Authors' JYLSS. correctly and neatly oopietl Carbon Duplicates LKGAIi AND GENERAL COPYING We have a skilled and veil educated staff of operators. at lOd. per lOOO words. at 2d. ,, ,, at Id. per folio. Give us a trial, and compare our work and prices with those of other offices. LARGE ORDERS ESTIMATED FOR. Note our address— THE ECLIPSE TYPEWRITING AND SHORTHAND OFFICES, 28, FENCHURCH STREET, LONDON, E.C. \ ^ OPINIONS OF CLIENTS—Distinguished Author:—"The moBt beautiful typing I have ever seen." Lady of Title.—14The ^ ^ work was very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanks for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy." ^ MISS GENTRY, ELDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C. THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. j WRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prices. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest § process. J i To Attt"hobs. TYPEWRITING AND DUPLICATING OFFICE. ESTABLISHED 1892. USUAL TERMS. EEFEBENCES kindly permitted to the Bioht Hon. Q. J. GOSCHEN, M.P., and others. A NDREW X.iyO. Esq, sat/a: "In my experience your work ia unequalled." IV1ISS THOMAS. 5, CAUTLEY AVENUE. CLAPHAM COMMON, S.W. Typewriting iiv Clergyman's Daughter. MISS E. M. SIKES, The West Kensington Typewriting Agency, 13, Wolverton Gardens, Hammersmith, W. (Established 189S.) Authors' MSS. carefully and promptly copied. Usual Terms. Legal and General Copying. Typewritten Circulars by Copying Process. ArTHOUS' ItKt'l'KKM-KS," TYPEWRITING ACCURATELY AND PROMPTLY EXECUTED. POSTAGE PAID. PLEASE OIVE TRIAL. HISS RAINES, 11, FALCONER CHAMBERS, SCARBOROUGH. TYPIST 44, Oakley Street Flats, Chelsea S.W. Authors' MSS. carefully transcribed References kindly PERjrrrrsD to many well-known Authors. Fire - Proof Safe for MSS. Particulars on application. Telegraphic addreas: "Patzen, London TVE rt S . GILL, TYPE-WBITINO OFFICE, 35. LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) ->•«* Authors' MSS. carefully copied from Is. per 1000 words. Duplicate copies third price. Skilled typists sent out by hour, day, or week. French MSS. accurately copied, or typewritten English translations supplied. References kindly permitted to Sir Walter BeBant: also to Messrs. A. P. Watt and Son, Literary Agents, Hastings House, Norfolk-street. Strand. W.C. THE AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD 50, xjtiauHUii»ii oircoij > * j i i. Contains hairless paper, over which the slips with perfect freedom. Sixpence each: $&. per dozeny ruled or plain. MESDAMES BRETT & BOWSER, TYPISTS, SELBORNE CHAMBERS, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR. Authors' MSS. carefully and expeditiously copied, from is. per iooo words. Extra carbon copies half price. Refer- ences kindly permitted to Augrustine Bin-ell, Esq., M.P., and "Anthony Hope." rpHE KNIGHTS and KINGS of CHESS. By the Rev. -L G. A. MACDONNELL, B A. With Portrait and 17 Illustra- tions. Crown 8vo., cloth hoards, price 2s. fid. net. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House. Bream's-buildings, E C. (The Leadenhall Press Ltd.), Leaden hall Street, London, E.C. pen Printed and Published by Horace Cox, Windsor House, 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 10 (March 1897) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 07 Issue 10 (March 1897) 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 1897-03-01-The-Author-7-10 publications The Author