12 20 545 https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/326/1899-03-01-The-Author-9-10.pdf ae8a135cab6778f4a9fe659271e6827b 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) 1899-03-01 Volume 9 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 217–244 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18990301 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ^Tbe Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. i o.] MARCH i, 1899. [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 Seoretary 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. FOB some years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices,&e., 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 his 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: (I.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- motion forms a part. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements VOL. IX. 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. III. 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 is 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements, and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. A A 2 ## p. 218 (#230) ############################################ 2i8 THE AUTHOR, HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. i. INVERT member has a right to ask for and to receive t,J advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If, in the opinion of the Committee and the Solicitors of the Society, the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember 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 bo far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish, ing firm in the oountry. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Sooiety 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. NOTICES. THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. 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 does not, under any circumstances,, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding - for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we- have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it- LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—Canadian Society of Authors. ASOCIE l'Y of Authors has been founded in Canada. The chairman is the Hon. George William Ross, who has held office as Minister of Education, is a distinguished orator, an LL.D. of St. Andrews, and the author of "The History of the School System of Ontario," and other educational works. II.—Copyright in Holland. As many authors know to their sorrow, Holland declined to accept the provisions of the Berni- Copyright Convention, as a result of which there is a chronic war between that country and Germany. A Dutch publisher, however, has just been neatly scored off by Adolf Streckfuss, the ## p. 219 (#231) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2ig Oerman historian, in connection with his latest book, the "History of the World." No sooner had the first few parts appeared than he became aware that a piratical translation was being sold in Amsterdam. He applied to the publisher for some sort of honorarium, and received in reply a Dutch cheese, with a statement that the sender recognised no moral obligation in the matter. Next week the following advertise- ment appeared in the leading newspapers of Amsterdam: "For sale, the manuscript of the * History of the World' by Streckfuss, a fort- night before the publication of each part in Berlin." Scores of eligible offers came in, and the freebooter had to choose between losing his stock of the first numbers or outbidding his trade rivals. He chose the latter alternative, and the author got a handsome price for his book.—Daily Chronicle, Feb. 2. . III. —Copyright in Russia. The commission which has been engaged for some time past in revising the Russian Civil Code will, it is stated, lay very shortly before the Council of State a scheme for the protection of literary property, which has hitherto received but scant attention from the Legislature. The copy- right in any work will be vested in the author or his heirs and assigns for a period of fifty years. No limitation to the right of translating works published abroad by Russian or foreign writers is recommended, but native writers are secured the exclusive right to translate their own works for ten years from the date of publication, provided that they bring out a translation within the first three years. Very strong provisions are urged against the piracy either of Russian or foreign books, and it is recommended that the courts of justice should be empowered in assess- ing damage to reckon the extreme loss occasioned by such acts of spoliation.—Daily Chronicle, Jan. 19. -a r IV. —"A Curious Question." 1. In last month's Author "A Friendly Critic" discussed " a curious question" on the right of a publisher to claim the repayment of royalty he had paid to an author " on books sold," many of which books, possibly 100, having subsequently been taken back by him from a bookseller on the plea that the sale of the said book had ceased, and it had become dead stock—upon these books so returned the publisher claimed the repayment of the royalty on the ground that the books had not been sold. Let me reverse this order by sketching a picture of an equally lurid tint. I have recently acted on behalf of an author whose book in the market is of high repute and is published for him by an old London firm. Recently a cheap edition was issued, and, " for the convenience of the trade," the said firm took back certain copies of the higher-priced edition, but it gave no indication in the half-yearly statement of desire to be just by returning the amount of the royalty charged and paid on these returned books as "books sold." I therefore claimed the return of the said royalty, but the payment was refused on the plea that "the books had been sold, and had been so accounted for at the time." Upon this reply I at once gave instructions to the publishers that I would not allow another copy to be returned on account of the author; if so taken back it would be at their risk and cost. If authors would thus instruct their publishers, the publishers would be compelled very speedily to change their tacties on questions of royalty. An Author. 11. 8th Feb. 1899. On page 201 of last month's Author I see the following statement commenting on a case I put forward in The Author (page 151) :— "The curious question (and it is aptly called) amounts, then, divested of fatal generalisation, to this: If the book manages to sell again (or not, for that matter), shall the author refund the royalty on those twenty copies?" Those members who care to refer to page 151 will see that this is not at all the question, and never was the question, and that the com- mentator seems entirely to have misunder- stood the facts of the case. The point was not one of refunding the royalties. The author had been paid on copies sold, and as such was entitled to keep the royalties. The point of moral obligation referred to was whether the publisher had a right to sell the books which he himself had purchased back in priority to the books still remaining on which the author was entitled to a royalty. On further consideration of the matter, I am inclined to think that the publisher would have had no right to spoil the author's market for the benefit of his own pocket. Yours truly, G. Herbert Thring. V.—Cataloguing. During a series of years I have published a number of scientific—more or less—books. Possibly because I have striven to make them not "too clever" they have had a very fair measure of success, and I have received a modent ## p. 220 (#232) ############################################ 220 THE AUTHOR. return for my labours. In my early and ignorant days, before the Society of Authors came to the rescue, I was fool enough to believe nearly all that publishers told me, and arranged for several of my books on half-share terms, without any stipulations as to "cost of production/' " adver- tising," "inspection of accounts," &c. The natural result was that these books were con- siderably overweighted, and, in addition to charg- ing an extra 15 per cent. for publishing, my kind friends added two guineas a year on each book for cataloguing. To use a country term, this "stuck in my crop " worse than the other over- charges, and recently, after many expostulations, this charge has been reduced one-half. My object in writing to The Author is to ask if a publisher can legally make a charge for cataloguing r' lie undertakes to sell your books, and he cannot do this without he issues a list of his wares, which is really part of his stock-in-trade. No other tradesman makes a charge for cataloguing what he sells; why, therefore, should "literary wares" be taxed more than any other';' Again, why do some firms charge 15 per cent. commission for publishing, whilst others of superior rank are content with 10 per cent.? Either one must be too little or the other too much. Another question I should like to ask is, Can publishers delay the issuing of a book for their own gain? I arranged with a firm to publish a book for me at a fair royalty, and they kept it on hand some months longer than they should do. On writing to them thereon, their reply was they were canvassing for special advertisements to issue with it. Perhaps they intend sending me part of the proceeds, but perhaps not. Although I am not entirely dependent 011 my pen—a good job, too, my best friends would probably say—I cannot refrain from thanking the Society of Authors for the light they have already let into " Darkest (Literary) Africa " ; and notwithstanding the assaults of the enemy from without, and I am afraid sometimes from within, they will take heart of grace from the good they have done, and keep pegging away till "those poor devils of authors " have succeeded in obtain- ing all they require, and what they intend to have, viz., justice. A Scientist—More or Less. VI.—Autobiography—Sir Arthur Sullivan. "But all this time my mind was set on compo- sition. I was ready to undertake anything that came in my way. Symphonies, overtures, ballets, iinthems, hymn-tunes, songs, part songs, a con- certo for the violoncello, and eventually comic and light operas — nothing came amiss to me; and I gladly accepted what publishers offered me, so long as I could get the things published. I composed six Shakespearean songs for Messrs. Metzler and Co., and got five guineas apiece for them. 'Orpheus with his Lute,' 'The Willow Song,' '0 Mistress Mine,' were amongst them. Then I did 'If Doughty Deeds' and ' A Weary Lot is Thine, Fair Maid,' for Messrs. Chappell. I raised my price for these songs, and sold them outright for ten guineas each. "I was getting on, but by this time I had come to the conclusion that it was a pity for the publishers to have all the profit. My next song, 'Will He Come?' went to Messrs. Boosey, on the understanding that I was to have a royalty on every copy sold. And, oh, the difference to me! I did very well with 'Will He come?' and never sold a song outright afterwards. After that I published 'Sweethearts,' 'Once Again,' 'Looking Back,' 'Let Me Dream Again," and many other songs, and these all brought grist to the mill."—M.A.P., Feb. 4, 1899. VII.—A Commission Book. There was a very simple agreement made by letter only. The author was to be liable for not more than .£30; the book was to be jiublished at 6*. There was to be an edition of no more than 500 copies. The publisher was to give the author 3*. for every copy sold; he was to take 10 per cent. on this sum, and was to pocket the difference between the trade price and the 3*. In other words, then, the average trade price being 3*. 6J., he was to take 6</. on every copy first, and 10 per cent. on 34-. afterwards—in a\\i)id. He was not to spend more than .£15 in advertising. Nothing could be simpler than this agreement. The following, however, was the account rendered: He charged for 750 copies instead of 500; he charged for binding 500 at 5rf., less a small fraction; he charged .£45 for advertising instead of .£15, as agreed upon. The sales were 379. He took his 10 per cent. on this item; he also charged, without agreement, 10 per cent. on the cost of production — the amount set down for which not being audited. On remonstrance he knocked off .£23 from the advertisement bill. What the amount ought to have been, if the bill was honest, was a cost of .£60 and sales of .£53, leaving the author with a loss of .£7. What the account was as stated was a cost of ,£78, against sales of .£53, leaving a loss to author of ,£25. ## p. 221 (#233) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. TEE PEN AND THE BOOK. I.—The "Athen^um." THE following is from the Athenaeum, of Jan. 21: In his new volume, " The Pen and the Book," Sir Walter Besant renews, with more violence than ever, the attack on the publishers to which he seems to devote much of his time. Formerly he used to say there were exceptions, but now he inculcates upon the literary beginner that publishers are thieves. "Thievery," in fact, he prints in capital letters. No doubt the publishers, as we remarked at the time, gave Sir Walter a great advantage when they allowed the committee of their association to issue last summer a series of draft agreements that no sensible author would dream of aooepting; but the abase heaped upon them in the fifth chapter of Sir Walter's book is quite undeserved, and will create in young authors an absurd prejudice against the honourable men of the trade (and they are the vast majority), and it will be bitterly and justly resented by them. It is impossible to argue the general question with Sir Walter, for his notion of reply is to repeat in stronger language what he has already said; but it is really neces- sary to point out, now that he has denounced as thieves most, if not all, publishers, great as well as small, that he ought to give exact details of their thefts, accompanied by the names of the thieves. It is not fair to keep on openly bringing charges without making an effort openly to sub- stantiate them; and much as we believe in Sir Walter's honesty of purpose, we think that unless he will do so, open- minded people who are willing to hear both sides will cease to pay attention to his polemics. The writer says that I "call publishers thieves." He qualifies this statement later on, by saying that I denounce "as thieves, most, if not all, publishers." I have looked into the book for any words that might justify this charge. I can find none. So far as I can discover it is a sheer invention. I say (p. 201) that "many publishers, including someof thegreat houses,have madeit their common practice to take secret percentages." "Many publishers." This is literally and exactly true. The proofs are simple. They are (1) the exami- nation of accounts. (2) The extreme wrath of these gentry at the disclosure of real estimates. (3) The impudent denials of the accuracy of these real estimates. (4) The repeated charge that the estimates have been invented. (5) The fact that the Publishers' Committee in their new draft agreement claim the actual right to charge what has not been spent (!) Now,I have repeatedly laid it down as an axiom, as plain as any in Euclid, that he who tells his partner that he has spent £120 when he has not spent £100, putting the overcharge secretly in his pocket, is a Thief. And everybody agrees with me. 2. The " undeserved abuse'' spoken of in the fifth chapter of this book is the renewed exposure of the claims and pretensions of these "draft agreements," together with certain warnings to the inexperienced. I have looked through the chapter carefully, and find nothing to alter. 3. The threatened "resentment" (of the persons concerned in defrauding their partners) may be "bitter." It cannot be more bitter in the future than it has been in the past. Yet we survive. 4. When a society, daily occupied with the administration of literary property, finds it neces- sary to publish such books as " The Methods of Publishing" and the "Cost of Production ": and to expose, month by month, trick after trick, it requires some courage to state, even anony- mously, that the "vast majority " of publishers are "honourable " men. One would like to know on what experience, and on what data, this state- ment is made. It may be that the writer's expe- rience extends over a longer time and a wider area than my own. If this is not the case I prefer my own opinion, which is not that ad- vanced above. 5. He calls for "details of the thefts." What details can be given except those advanced in the publications of the Society? 6. He calls for names. Just so. Does he know what the Law of Libel means? Is he aware that it is not enough to justify a statement. and that damages may be awarded, even when the libel is proved to be perfectly true? If one were a millionaire the luxury of giving names might be afforded occasionally. After all, the Society's method of publishing the exact details answers quite as well, because it instructs the persons concerned, and probably prevents a repetition. The claim for the production of names is, of course, a stale old trick, because the write r must know perfectly well the impossibility of it. II.—" Literature." Thu treatment of the book by Literature is as fair and honourable as that by the Athenxum is one-sided. A long correspondence has been carried on from week to week. Writers on both sides are allowed a fair say and fair space to say it in. It is to be observed that no publisher in the correspondence has hitherto signed his name: that no serious statement has been seriously met: that, especially, the charges of secret profits are either evaded or ridiculed: that the " method of the future " has been shown by perfectly indepen- dent witnesses, two of whom sign their names, to be practicable, and proved to be practicable: and that the first and most violent attack was met with unqualified denials not only by myself, but by Mr. Thring. When I have on my side the great name of Herbert Spencer: when I have the experience of Professor Spiers: when I! find ## p. 222 (#234) ############################################ 222 THE AUTHOR. tribute after tribute to one part or auother of the book: when I cannot find one publisher who is willing to traverse any statements seriously, and with the responsibility of his name and without misrepresentation, I ought to be satisfied with the general opinion. In all these controversies there is always to be found the author who knows nothing of the questions at issue, or who cannot understand them. In this case Mr. Edward Cooper plays this distinguished part. He actually believes that to proclaim his own satisfaction with his treatment by publishers is to settle the question. He has received so much for his last novel: he therefore concludes that he has been fairly treated. I am not for one moment pretending that he has not been fairly treated, but a man who calls his publisher an upright and honour- able man without the least knowledge of what the publisher makes for himself by the transaction, has no right to speak on the question at all Let him content himself with his own satisfaction and his own confidence. They will make him happy, even if his publisher is a Barabbas. III. There was a second part of my letter to Literature which, I submit, should be submitted to all our readers, because it contains a most important corroboration of my statements: "I have consulted Mr. Or. Herbert Thring, secretary and solicitor to the Society, on the above points. He appears to be in accord with me on every one. I subjoin my questions and his answers. I do this because it is a common trick to represent these facts and statements as mine only. They have been, on the contrary, pub- lished in the Society's paper by a responsible committee, by a responsible secretary, and by myself—the Editor of that paper. Also the secretary and the chairman of this committee do obtain a knowledge of the whole field, which no single publisher can arrive at. "These are my questions and Mr. Thring's reply: "I. 'Have you ever seen a profit-sharing agree- ment which contained a clause giving the author the choice of printer and binder, and the printer's estimate?' "Answer: I have never seen such an agreement. "II. 'Is overcharging a notorious practice?' "Answer: I have seen many accounts of the cost of production, in which the amount charged was considerably higher than other estimates from well-known printers. "HI. 'Are charges for advertising in a pub- lisher's own organs common, and could they be defended?' "Answer: In the past I have known them fre- quently made. I am glad to say they are not so common now. Legally, of course, a publisher can only charge the cost of type-setting and paper for advertising in his own organs. "IV. 'Do deferred royalties generally mean greater profits to the publisher than to the author?' "Answer: This is certainly the case. As a general rule, the royalties are deferred until the sale has covered the cost of production, and then a royalty is offered at an exceedingly low rate. "V. 'Are publishers' fees charged on commis- sion agreements?' "Answer: This is a very common practice. "VI. 'Are percentages charged on the items of account?' "Answer: This is also a common practice. "VII. 'Is it the custom for the author to be consulted as to the medium for advertising ? * "Answer: No; in rare exceptions the author is consulted, but I have never seen any clause in the agreement which bound the publisher to consult the author. "VIII. 'Do publishers "care not a rap" for commission business?' "Answer: I know a great many publishers who take up work of this kind. "IX. 'Is a charge for bad debts not un- common?' "Answer: It is not uncommon. I know pub- lishers who do make this charge in their accounts. "(Signed) G. Herbert Thring. "Jan. 16, 1899. "The reader may not understand the objection to 'bad debts.' It is this: The accounts are made up at long intervals, annually or twice a year, long after the books have been paid for. The amount actually realised is set down. The 'bad debts' therefore, if charged separately, may be charged twice over. "The ' Publisher' speaks about possible losses. This is a red herring drawn across the scent. For the author has nothing to do with a pub- lisher's loss. The latter takes up a book at bis own risk—if there is any risk. He need not do it. The best publishers are also the most careful about admitting doubtful books. The author contributes his time: his work: his skill, art, or genius. That is his share. The possible loss is the publisher's. As a fact, there are hundreds of writers scattered over the whole field of literature whose works do not carry any risk at all. "The author has to consider as the chief point in the agreement what will happen to him in case of successs, not of loss. This is a very important point, constantly confused by talk of risk, loss, one book paying for another, and similar stuff. ## p. 223 (#235) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 223 Questions about the figures and the printing, happily, can be dismissed with a very few words: "The ' Publisher' states: "(1) That the size of the book is not given. "Everybody must understand by the number of words to a page, by the type, and by the number of sheets, what size is spoken of. "(2) That printers' and binders' charges vary. "Quite true. I have given a great many estimates for this very reason. "(3) That there is no allowance for correc- tions. "On the contrary. There is a distinct and care- ful explanation of what corrections mean. This passage was submitted to a printer in order to get it stated accurately. "(4) That advertising is not included. "More than two pages (pp. 151 —153) are devoted to an explanation of what advertising meant, an addition to the cost. "(5) He objects to the statement that 'cloth for binding is bought in large quantities' because, he says, publishers do not buy cloth. He says that binders do. Exactly: and if a large order is given a reduction is made. What does it matter whether publishers or binders lay in large quantities so that the reduction is effected? I am sorry to take up the space by answering objections so futile. "(6) The main portion of the letter is an attack upon the figures I have given. "These figures, I have stated plainly and unmis- takably, are not my figures. I do not invent printers' bills: they are more difficult to invent than plots for novels. The figures are estimates —actual estimates—which have been given to me. If they are wrong, it is the printer's business, not mine. But as books are every day printed on these estimates, I am justified in setting them down as working estimates. Let your readers understand clearly that the inability of this writer, or anybody else, to procure estimates so low has nothing whatever to do with my book or the actual estimates given therein. "(7.) He attacks the ' Method of the Future.' "I do not think this excursus into the future —his brief vision of the future—needs much in reply. The 'method' has been followed by some writers for a good long time, quite to their own satisfaction. "I shall have great pleasure in giving you two or three of the better known, but I am not at liberty to publish them. I would remind or inform your readers that the draft agreements of the Publishers' Association last July considered this form of publishing on commission, namely receiving the book bound and ready for distribu- VOL. IX. tion, as one of the methods to be provided for. It is, therefore, not the new thing which your writer would make out." W. B. PARIS NOTES. THE death of Adolphe d'Ennery, at the ripe age of eighty-eight years, has robbed the French melodrama of one of its most popular and prolific dramatists. For six months previous to his death, M. d'Ennery had lived in complete seclusion; but, although he belonged both in style and spirit to an earlier generation, his popularity with the masses remained intact. His more refined and aesthetic confreres of the present day were not always so indulgent; highly-cultured critics of the Theophile Gautier type severely criticised the productions of the favourite dramaturgist of the illiterate public; hriXimxxt fin-du-sibcle reviewers uselessly expended whole bushel loads of sarcasm and counsel on him. D'Ennery invariably turned a deaf ear to their remonstrances, contenting himself with rapidly producing play after play, and reaping a golden harvest thereby. His talent was decidedly not of the highest order, but it was essentially marketable — the Hebrew strain in his blood showing itself forcibly in the " cool-headedness" of all his pecuniary transactions. He wrote for the multitude, not for the cultivated few, his aim being to acquire wealth and fame by pleasing the majority; and the measure of his success may be estimated by the fact that he has given the Parisian theatre upwards of 280 plays, and that he died possessed of a fortune estimated at from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 francs (^320,000 to ^400,000), in addition to an important pottery collection bequeathed to the State. So numerous were his successes, that to mention even the names of the most prominent would mean the citation of over a hundred titles. And this success—to his honour be it said—was legiti- mately obtained; for, during the seventy years in which he untiringly devoted himself to providing a theatrical literature suited to the appreciation of the bulk of his audience, d'Ennery resolutely refrained from pandering to the lower tastes of the multitude. Among the sixty collaborators who aided him at various periods of his career in his Herculean labours may be mentioned Balzac, Emile de Girardin, Alexandre Dumas, Anicet Bourgeois, Plou-ier, Eugene Sue, Frederic Thomas, Bourget, Clairville, Crcmieux, Cadol, Jules Verne, Henri Chabrillat, La Eounat, and Felix Duquesnel. That M. Victorien Sardou's dislike to notoriety does not prevent him from actively protecting his B B ## p. 224 (#236) ############################################ 224 THE AUTHOR. own interests when necessary is shown by the following incident, narrated by the Figaro, h propos of the recent revival of his "La Tosca" (Theatre Sarah Bernhardt). When this famous drama was first performed in 1887 its success was seriously compromised by a morning paper, the Gil Bias, having previously given a full analysis of the piece, thereby materially lessening the eff- ct of certain scenes on which its author had especially counted. M. Sardou immediately sued the paper, and gained his cause a year later, when he had almost forgotten the whole affair. In summing up its decision, the Premiere Chambre du Tribunal (presidedover by President Aubespin), affirmed that no paper had the right to divulge the narrative of a play previous to its first per- formance, since such a proceeding constituted a real damage to the author, in that it might seriously interfere with the success of his work. It is thus to M. Victorien Sardou's prompt action in 1887 that French dramatists are indebted for the legal recognition and protection of the rights they enjoy to-day. M. Jules de Marthold has dramatised M. Coppee's well-known novel "Le Coupable," and its first representation is expected shortly. We are glad to be able to state that M. Coppee's health is now completely re-established, and that his long-promised " Souvenirs de Jeunesse" are really under way and proceeding apace, which fact undoubtedly rejoices the heart of M. Plon. For the latter gentleman, having scrupulously regulated the usual contract of brains versus cash between author and publisher, was naturally anxious to receive his wares as speedily as pos- sible. But the Fates and Muses were both against him. Last July, M. Francois Coppee went to Laugzune, a solitary village on the Breton coast, with the full intention of recording there the greater part, at least, of his youthful memories. But the combined attractions of the bright sun, warm air, and myriad voices of nature, proved too much for the poet; he could not work, and, after a brief interval devoted to dolce far niente and out-door existence, M. Plon was politely informed that the expected volume would not be ready before December. This month found the poet prostrate at Paris, suffering from a relapse of his former malady ; among minor griefs, his favourite cat had died during his absence—and again the "Souvenirs " were delayed. It is to be hoped no further illness, or unforeseen occurrence, will intervene a third time between their final conclu- sion and publishing. The invidious attitude—half nonchalant, half disdainful—of the French public and critics towards female talent is especially noticeable in the various reviews and critiques which followed the appearance of Mme. Jean Bertheroy's new book, "La Danseuse de Pompeii."* Though a well-known critic affirms that the former refusal to take anything a woman did au serieu-x may now be ranked among the prejudices of the past, his own article bears evidence of a secret reluc- tance to praise unstintedly a woman's work underlying his conscious recognition and admira- tion of an undoubtedly good production. But, in the end, his sense of justice triumphs over his reluctance; and in summing up the " Danseuse de Pompei" as "a feminine work written in a masterly style," he hits the right nail on the head, for what is this dual alliance save one of the recognised attributes of genius? Delicately feminine in its fine observation, poetical render- ing of minor details, and close knowledge of the subtleties of a woman's heart, it is essentially masculine in its concise, nervous style and breadth of imagination, allied with marvellous historical accuracy. In depicting the young dancer Nonia vowed from her earliest years to vice, and awakened by the passion for Hyacinthe, the young neophyte vowed to Apollo, to a con- sciousness of the sacrednes and purity of true love, Mme. Bertheroy has chostn no new theme; but her treatment of the subject is so masterly, her style so pure and classic, that, despite our- selves, our imagination and heart are captivated by the pathetic and simple romance of the little Pompeian dancer. That the times are troublous, that party polemics are increasing in virulence, and that cir- cumstances largely influence men, is probably the threefold reason of M. Alcanter de Brahm's resolution to publish shortly a book entitled "L'Ostensoir des Ironies." The announcement of his intention, however, would have received scant attention but for an ingenious advertisement. He has discovered (stand abashed, oh! ye shades of great grammarians) that our modern punctuation is lacking in a. most necessary adjunct, viz., the "point d'ironie." His book is to be adorned with this newly-invented period, which is reported to bear a vague resemblance to a tiny whip—the whip of satire, one journal terms it. Its origi- nator affirms that this period is as necessary as the interrogation mark, since many a barbed arrow misses its goal through inattention on the part of the reader. Personally, we have not found the Parisians lacking in a vivid appreciation of the mildest form of sarcasm, especially the sarcasms printed in their neighbours' news- papers, and the result has not always been par- ticularly agreeable to the English residents in * Erroneously given in onr last article as " La Dame ce Pompeii." ## p. 225 (#237) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 225 Paris. We have not yet been informed whether, in the event of a duel arising from a sarcasm which might have passed unnoticed if unmarked by the "point d'ironie," M. de Brahm considers the combatants should be armed with whips in lieu of pistols. Among the publications of the month, two books stand apart — the one by virtue of its quaintness, the other by its pithy, senten- tious wisdom. The first, "La Chanson des Choses," by M. Jerome Doucet (ed. Henri May) is a volume of poems; but what poems! Surely never before has poet inclined his ear to listen so closely and appreciatively to the voices of such a vast assemblage of inanimate lifeless objects. He endows each article with a clearly defined existence and personality; the absinth which takes a malicious joy in recounting the ills it occasions; the subtly-distilled perfume which daintily vaunts its own ethereal, impalpable essence; the mandoline whose cords vibrate with anger at seeing the singer receive the homage it deems its due; the jovial pot-au-feu agreeably conscious of its own importance at social functions, the plaintive weathercock, " sad perch' for the black raven," lamenting its own wearing away; the ponderous pendulum moving to and fro in regular order like two brave soldiers of the line; the caustic mirror, the humble pavement, and a numerous array of similar articles, each in turn are presented to the reader, and acquaint him with their rhythmic joys and griefs. In addition to its intrinsic merits, the various artists whose society M. Doucet affects have rendered the work a true Edition de luxe in illustrating and illuminating it with original drawings, etchings, and water-colour sketches, reproduced in every imaginable fashion. Among the artistic corps therein represented, we find the names of MM. Maurice Leloir, Edouard Detaille, Puvis de Chavannes, Mme. Madeleine Lemaire, Jules Lefebre, Jean-Paul Laurens, and a host of other fin-du-siecle celebrities. The second book, above alluded to, is " Nuances morales" (ed. Lemerre) by M. Valyere. A delicate fineness of observation and terse originality of thought make themselves felt in the apt concise phrases in which the author has chosen to garb his ideas. We open the book at random and straightway fall on such pithy reflections as the following: "Aimer, c'est montrer a la douleur ou elle peut f rapper.—L'homme coupe et dechire. La femme decoud, en enlevant jusqu'a la trace des points.—Arriver a propos, c'est une chance; s'en aller a propos, c'est un art.—Les gens froids ont l'avantage de ne pas varier comme les autres: au moral, comme au physique, la glace conserve.—II faut etre Ires jeune pour prctendre dire des choses VOL. IX. definitives.—On n'aime vraiment bien que les amis dont on est fier." We make no attempt to translate these and similar phrases well worthy of notice, having no desire to incur the censure of the irascible critic who likened the generality of translators to clumsy bunglers who drew the stopper from the wine-bin, thereby permitting the finer aroma and flavour of its contents to evapo- rate in the vain attempt to appreciate the liquor. M. Paul Meurice is now busily engaged in correcting his new volume, " Choses vues," which is expected to appear in March. Among other interesting matter, it contains the staple of Victor Hugo's daily conversations with Louis-Philippe in the "forties," at the epoch when the great French writer, then "pair de France," assidu- ously frequented the Tuileries. It is from the ample notes left by the latter that these dialogues are compiled. By a curious anomaly, all memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies con- nected with the Royalties of the nineteenth century have a ready sale in Republican France, as—to cite two instances among many—the popu- larity of M. Maurice Leudet's "GuiJlaume II. intime " and (more recently) " Nicolas II. intime" testifies. The literature relating to the Napoleonic era is, likewise, largely patronised. The national adoration of the great French conqueror is now an established cult; and amongst the most talented of the writers who celebrate the glories of that heroic age may be mentioned M. Georges d'Espartes, recently nominated chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur—of whom a compatriot re- marked, "Ce n'est pas un homme, c'est une epopee." M. d'Espartes boasts, in addition, the unenviable distinction of being the smallest man in his native province of Gascony. The committee of the cite Rougemont (Doubs), presided over by the well-known Academician M. Henri Houssaye, has decided to found a new lite- rary society, entitled " l'Encyclopedie de la Societe des gens de lettres." All knotty questions, proble- matic phrases, words or terms requiring explana- tion, &c., will be brought before the society, whose members will then mark the subjects they desire to undertake. Should more than one member elect to elucidate a given subject, the committee will decide on whom the duty shall devolve. The "Encyclopedic de la Societe des gens de lettres" already numbers eight hundred prospective members, each of whom has a speci- ality, being either poet, novelist, philologist, teacher, philosopher, military writer, historian, or savant; and every article written for the society will be printed under the signature of its author, who alone will be held responsible for its contents. The benefits of such an association are self-evident; it will probably be eminentlv suc- B B 2 ## p. 226 (#238) ############################################ 2 26 THE AUTHOR. cessful, since it recognises and provides for a long-felt want. M. Pierre Loti's eastern trip his not vet come off. The latest news received of him is that he has returned to Rochefort, rue Saint-Pierre, where his family have dwelt for generations. He intends to embark shortly on one of the mail steamers of the Extreme-Orient line, but declares himself unable to decide his ultimate destination. He will go whither the fates and the caprice of the moment lead him—" to Persia, perhaps; if not, elsewhere." At one time it was reported on good authority that M. Loti intended to land on the shores of the Indus, remain several weeks at Cabul, and from thence proceed to Teheran; and this is probably still his intention, if no adverse current or fair face intervene to lure him from his destined route. At any rate, the ques- tion will be satisfactorily solved when he gives us his promised volume of Eastern impressions. The " Femmes Nouvelles " and " Les Troncons du Glaive" of the brothers Margueritte have not yet been given to the public. Domestic cares, in- cluding the refusal of the Seine tribunal to grant the divorce demanded by M. Paul Margueritte, are accountable for this delay. The two brothers are now travelling in Italy with the children of the elder, and are reported to be busily engaged in pushing forward the works above cited. Differing entirely in outward appearance and character, the affection existing between the two Marguerittes is most touching, and truly " passeth the love of women." If the quality of the Dreyfus literature were on a par with its multiplicity, it would merit more than a passing notice; but, unfortunately, such is not the case. And now party polemics and journalism are likely to be more virulent than ever, owing to the changes brought about by the new election to the Presidency of the French Republic. Dakracotte Dene. FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS. THE proposal to issue sixpenny novels in England has evoked an interesting com- mentary from a Boston correspondent of the New York Times. Contrary to the view entertained by the firm of publishers who are about to introduce the system, this writer states that any bookseller of even moderate experience knows that the sale of the more costly edition of a book will be diminished by the appearance of a cheap edition of the same book. An excellent American house publishes cloth and paper editions almost simultaneously, charging 4*. for one and 2s. for the other. There are a few persons who dislike paper covers, but their number diminishes yearly, most buyers preferring the economical course which allows them to buy two books in paper covers for the price of one in cloth. Moreover, they want paper-covered editions of everything, from the classics down to the newest copyrighted novel. Concerning this, however, it will be obsei ved that while the American writer speaks of books published at 4s. and 2s., the proposal of Messrs. Methuen is to issue novels simultaneously in 6s. and 6d. editions; and it is obvious that so far as quality of paper, binding, and appearance go, there must be a greater difference between the two latter than between the two former. He proceeds to state that, although the number of books sold has increased immensely both in the United States and in Great Britain, the average price and the average profit were never so small as now, and both grow smaller. "There are still readers who value books more than money, and pay for them wi lingly; there are still superbly honest, honour- able publishers who resist all temptations to descend to the newest devices for obtaining the thirty pieces of silver without seeming to betray and abandon all Christian teaching, but nobody encourages either the honest reader or the honest publisher. The dishonest reader calls the first a fool and the second a miser. The dishonest publisher hates the first, and does his best to ruin the second. The evil of which both are victims has its sources beyond and below litera- ture and the trade in literary products. Its name is avarice." The writer publishes the following conversations—which are not manu- factured, but "are transcribed from notes made in an excellent shop "—to illustrate the demand for the " paper-cover" in America: 1. Customer.—Have you " Isabel Carnaby "f Salesman. — "Concerning Isabel Carnaby "? Yes, Madam. Seventy-five cents. C.—Oh! I don't—want—that! Doesn't it come in paper? S.—Yes, Madam; there it is. C.—I suppose it's jnat the same as the other? (Suspi- ciously.) Is it just the same? Do you know that it is just the same? S.—Yes, Madam. C.—Then why is it cheaper? But I'll take it. I'm not going to pay seventy-five cents for a book! (Exit with the air of one who teaches valuable lessons to young men.) 11. (Time, early in 1897.) Customer.—Have you " Quo Vadis" in paper covers? Salesman.—No, Sir. C.—Great mistake! Book ought to be within reach of everybody. What is the price of the cheap edition? S—There is no cheap edition. C.—No cheap edition? (Exit, speechless.) ## p. 227 (#239) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 227 in. Customer (wearing the best of English clothes and worth, watch and jewellery included, at least 800 dollars as he stands. He addresses the salesman confidentially)—Er— when is Lord Roberts's book going to appear in paper? Ten dollars is too much for one book! Salesman (not confidentially, but cheerfully, being young and fancying that he is doing a favour).—There is a cheap edition now, T50 dollars; cost you 1 '88 dollars. Customer.- -Can't waste money, yon know! I'll wait for the paper! (Departs to join the band waiting for paper " Bismarcks," "Forbidden Lands," and" Ave Romas.") IV. Charitable Dame.—Is this the Prayer Book and Hymnal counter? Salesman.—Yes, Madam. (He surveys an array of about two hundred styles, and wonders what counter she thought it was.) C.—Well, you see, I have a olass of po-oo-or boys in Sunday school. (Pauses.) S.—Yes, Madam. "C.—It's a ve-ry poor class! S.—Yes, Madam. Er-very-er-kind of you! C. (rapidly).—And I thought as I shall want a large quantity—there are five of the boys—you may give me a special discount on tbe paper-covered editions. It's for charity you know and Christmas and at this blessed season we all want to do something. S.—Yes, Madam. Delighted, if we could, Madam, but we don't carry paper-covered Prayer Books and Hymnals, Madam. Might try and 's. They have 'em —if any one does! (Customer goes.) Charity! The American newspaper publishers have pre- sented to the American members of the Joint High Commission and to Congress a statement asking that a policy be adopted which shall protect American forests by securing a revocation .of the present duty on print paper and pulp from Canada. This memorial, which is presented officially through the American Newspaper Pub- lishers' Association, discloses a somewhat striking condition of the paper trade which will be inte- resting to England, as the paper-makers of England have lately passed through a period of critical competition against cheap paper from America. The memorialists state that the honest intentions which originally induced the estab- lishment of the tariff duty on paper and pulp have been perverted to further the purposes of a recently formed corporation, the International Paper Company, and that every newspaper publication in the country east of the Rocky Mountains has been placed at the mercy of that corporation. The statement, which was pre- sented on Jan. 30, continues :— Within the last week we are advised that the Inter- national Paper Company has acquired fourteen additional mills, representing the plants of three large concerns, and that it is negotiating for three other properties, which represent all the output from the independent mills in the territory east of Michigan. In view of the fact that the International Paper Company is. selling its surplus paper in England, Australia, and Japan, in successful competition with Canadian, German, and Swedish manufacturers, and in view of the important point that the International Paper Company is protected by reason of its proximity to its customers to the extent of an average of 1 °6o dollars per ton, and by reason of its ability to obtain cheaper and better supplies of coal and chemicals, we fail to see the occasion for giving sanction to its abuse of governmental protection. The International Paper Company is a combination of twenty-four mills (sinoe expanded to thirty) which has been capitalised at 55,ooo,ooo dollars. The entire product of this large combination could be duplicated with modern and better machinery at less cost per pound upon a capi- talisation of 15,ooo,ooo dollars. In gathering together its assortment of mills the paper company acquired every available spruce tract where cheap timber could be had and every large water power, with one exoeption, where substantial competition might otherwise be established. This object was easily attained, because our spruce supply is being exhausted at the rate of 17,000 square miles per annum. The memorial then points out that no suc- cessful competition with the International Paper Company is possible in the United States under existing circumstances, the trust having acquired all the possible facilities of paper production. "A tax on newspapers," they remark in con- clusion, " operates indirectly, as did the stamp tax of Europe, to suppress newspapers. It is a tax of 2,000,000 dollars per annum on in- telligence, a tax on popular education and on political knowledge." The whole episode is another illustration of the power and extent of the trust system in the United States. A good deal of attention has lately been given to the work of a new American humourist, entitled "Mr. Dooley in Peace and War." In this book Martin Dooley, saloon-keeper, Chicago, talks in a quaint dialect and most amusing fashion of such subjects as the recent war, the police, labouring men, and ward polities. The author of the work is Mr. F. P. Dunne, a Chicago journalist. NOTES AND NEWS. THE Joke Market in America appears to be in a condition of great prosperity. According to the Writer of Boston, jokes are in large demand. Those who supply jokes profes- sionally are increasing in numbers and in wealth. There are between 150 and 200 writers of good jokes in the States. As regards the character of the demand, it is interesting to read that " two- line jokes sell best: the short, crisp dialogue is in fashion: 'printed' paragraphs can always command a price: puns are not wanted." A regular method is pursued by the Worshipful ## p. 228 (#240) ############################################ 228 THE AUTHOR. Company of Joke-makers. It is described as follows: Professional joke-writers bave a regular system for offer- ing their jokes to editors. A good way is to send out the jokes in packets of ten or a dozen at a time, typewritten on slips—perhaps three inches wide and eight inches long— which are bound together by brass paper fasteners at the left-hand side, and perforated about an inch from the left- hand margin, so that any joke may be easily torn out. Sheets of ordinary typewriter paper should be kept on hand, perforated, ready for use. The jokes should be type- written on these sheets, which should afterwards be cut into slips and made into a little coupon book by using brass fasteners. Only one joke should be written on any slip, and the writer should put his name and address on each slip, preferably with a small rubber stamp. Two brass binders should be used, one at the top and one at the bottom. When jokes are offered in this way, the editor can easily tear out what he wants and send back the rest. The jokes returned may be made up into a new book and sent to another editor, and so on, until all are sold or proved un- saleable. Care must be taken not to offer the same joke twioe to any editor. A great many letters have been received charging editors in general terms with neglecting to return MSS. or to answer letters. I have already more than once stated the case briefly for editors. I do not believe that this special charge can be fairly made against the general body. I should like to impress upon those who complain, that editors, particularly of the more popular magazines, are literally overwhelmed with MSS.: that it is difficult to cope with the great mass of MSS. that are sent in; that delays, therefore, must be expected. It seems to me that general experience points to the fact that most editors, especially of respectable magazines, are courteous in their replies and as prompt as can be expected in their judgments. I would call attention to the tribute of recognition paid in these columns to certain papers who pay on acceptance. 1 think that if proprietors or editors of magazines understood the enormous boon they would confer on accepted contributors by forwarding a cheque at once, the practice would become widely extended. As it is, when payment is only made on publication the editor is tempted unconsciously to accept more than he is able to use, while the contributor waits, hoping against hope, till he is heartsick at the delay. It is announced in another column that a Canadian Society of Authors has been founded. This should be good news if the Society take, as may be expected of them, a right view of the situation and its requirements. By far the most important point to keep before our eyes is the maintenance of an International Copyright, especially, and above all, between the nations of the Anglo-Saxon race. There are now six nations of the race. It is imperative in the interests, pre- sent and future, of these nations that they should have their current literature, as they have their past literature, in common. A return to the villainous old system of protection and piracy is certain to work infinite mischief to all these nations. We want a free and open publication of books and papers written by natives of all these countries: we want freedom of production everywhere: it is in the highest interests of literature that this freedom should exist: it is also in their commercial interests. If, for instance, Canada were to repudiate her share in Inter- national Copyright, it would undoubtedly lead to the ruin of her own authors, who are small in numbers, however good in quality. Piracy, when it was legally possible, ruined American authors. Piracy would ruin Canadians. We trust that this new Society will be a great and active influence in the maintenance of the true interests of literature. "We are informed that the Publishers' Association invited the Society of Authors to confer with it on the draft agreements it drew up last summer; but the Society declined the invitation. We do not at all like the agree- ments, but the Society should not have declined to discuss them in a friendly spirit. Perhaps it would have converted the Association to our view." This paragraph appeared in the Athenseum of Jan. 28, and the statement was repeated in the number for Feb. 18. I referred the matter to Mr. Or. H. Thring, and have received the follow- ing reply: "It has been stated in the Athenseiim on two occasions—on the latter in its issue of Feb. 18—• that the Society of Authors refused to confer with the Publishers' Association regarding the agree- ments published by that body. It is impossible to let such a statement go before the public with- out a direct denial. When the Society heard that the publishers were about to advance these agree- ments, the secretary wrote asking if they would kindly forward them to the Society's offices for criticism in The Author. The agreements were forwarded in due course, as no doubt the Associa- tion knew that they must come to the office in a very short time. No overture was made by the publishers either before or during the settlement of the agreements or afterwards, when they were sent to the Authors' Society, asking the Society to confer with the Publishers' Association on the subject. It wasonly after my criticisms and your own had appeared that one of the members of the Association in an unofficial manner regretted that such overtures had not been taken, but stated that " he though it was now too late." Whether or not the Society would have accepted such overtures is an entirely different matter, the settle- ## p. 229 (#241) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 229 meat of which must have rested with the com- mittee; but one point is quite clear, namely, that the statement made in the Athenaeum, from whatever source obtained, is without foundation." Observe, that this attack upon the Society follows close upon the attack on my book, in which there is nothing that has not been already advanced or sanctioned by the Society. One naturally asks whether a paper, called by some the "leading" literary journal, should, in common decency, take a side against those who work in the interests of literature. One asks whether literature really means advertisements. And one asks, besides, whether it is the author or the pub- lisher who creates the literature which is adver- tised. I have long been of opinion, and am now much more decidedly of opinion, that authors must claim and demand a voice as to advertisements. In a profit-sharing agreement they should have a voice both as to the amount to be spent and the organs in which the advertisements should appear. In a royalty agreement or in a sale outright they should have a veto only. In the same way they should have a veto in the sending out of press copies. The veto and the voice could be rele- gated to the Society, where a list of papers could be kept in which a book should be advertised, and of papers to which it should be sent for review. It is needless to point out that this simple assumption of power would at one step enormously raise and strengthen the position of the author. They would choose between literary papers for advertisement and for review. And that step would certainly make literary journals more careful about attacking the interests of literature and more guarded in depreciating and misrepresenting societies or writers who maintain and defend their interests. I shall begin at once to ventilate this question, and I invite members of the Society, and authors generally, to consider this question and to favour us with their views. "The Pen and the Rook" was not sent out for review. My intention was that members of the Society should have the first opportunity of reading it, and that, before sending it to the press, I should have the benefit of their private opinions and criticisms. Now, as the Athenaeum has noticed it without having a copy sent, the question arises whether it is necessary to send review copies of any book to a paper which evidently does not want them. Other papers make a condition of having a book sent to them. There- fore if we want tht-ir reviews we must send copies of the book. But the Athenaeum kindly notices the book without having a copy at all. Therefore —I call attention especially to this point—it seems mere waste to present a copy of any book to this paper. If 6000 books are published every year at an average trade price of 4*. each, that means ;£i200 a year thrown away and wasted. This is a large sum of money, which might j ust as well have been saved and the books themselves sold to the public. Walter Besant. FEUILLETON. A SECOND-CLASS NOVEL. ENERAL GRAYLE was a hard, resolute, I nr sensible man, and he was a disciplinarian by inclination and training. He had a family of four sons and three daughters; and William Grayle, who was the youngest son, and the cleverest lad, was articled to a solicitor when he was seventeen. William detested the solicitor and the office and the Law, but none of the young Grayles thought seriously of gainsaying the General, so William cast about in his mind for a means of proving to his father that he could make money without the law's aid, and to this end" Dennis O'Hara "—who was William Grayle now out of his teens and commencing his twenties—wrote a novel. He bestowed a great deal of pains upon it, but when it had been rejected by four leading firms of publishers he was very much discouraged, and put the manu- script aside. By this time he was out of his articles. Then General Grayle caught a heavy cold, which developed into bronchitis, and, as he angrily refused to "coddle," he died after a week's illness, and four months later his sons received .£6000 each from the executors appointed by his will. William asked himself anxiously what he was to do with the money. It was his ambition to live in the country and hunt; but there was no possibility of doing so on the interest which .£6000 would safely bring in, and to spend the capital would be madness. He could not con- quer his aversion to the Law as a profession, so there was nothing for it but to put his capital and his energies into some business which might bring in big profits rapidly. And then an idea occurred to William Grayle. Why should he not enter a publishing firm, and learn what sort of books really do sell, and why a mysterious, insuperable obstacle seemed to stand between hard-working Dennis O'Hara and publication, which was Dennis's only means of advancement? So Mr. William Grayle attended smoking con- certs assiduously and was introduced in due course to half-a-dozen journalists and a couple ## p. 230 (#242) ############################################ 230 THE AUTHOR. of novelists, and he asked questions in a quiet way when he saw his opportunity. As the result he confided his purpose to a literary agent, but requested him not to reveal the identity of Dennis O'Hara and William Grayle. Four months later William became the junior partner of Mr. Albert Guddle, who had recently severed his connection with the well-known firm of Gunning, Guddle, and Hooker, and had estab- lished an independent publishing business. Grayle learned a great deal—a very great deal —in the course of the next three months, and then Dennis O'Hara sat down in his club one night and wrote a short letter to Messrs. Guddle and Grayle, to whom he despatched his manu- script novel by parcel post the same evening. On the following morning when Mr. William Grayle entered the senior partner's room to talk over various matters of business he found Mr. Guddle listlessly turning over the pages of O'Hara's manuscript. "I say, Grayle," Mr. Guddle began in a dis- contented voice, " Belfer's ill, or says he is" (Mr. Belfer " read" for the firm of Guddle and Grayle) "and here are half-a-score of manuscripts. It's a waste of time to keep them hanging about. Seven or eight of 'em have been all round the trade already, as I can see by the edges. You might just glance at the first few pages and the last chapter, Grayle, if you can find time, and then keep 'em a week or ten days and send 'em back with a form unless you see something that strikes you as very extraordinary. But here are a couple that may be worth something. Here's a Christmassy kind of yarn by Miss Bookham. Rather short and trucky, and it's been serialised, and no doubt it was built for a girls' serial, but it might do for one of our Christmas books. Good aunts, you know, give her stories to their nieces. And she's not an agency woman, so I daresay we can get her cheap. And then there's this thing by a man called O'Hara—never heard of him. He writes a fist rather like your own," Mr. Guddle continued, pointing to the manuscript, "so perhaps you can read it; for I can't get on very well with it. I wish these unknown authors would get their stuff typewritten. Anyhow, the manuscript is clean and looks pretty new, and it would be a pity to let a good thing slip." "I'll read it with pleasure," said William Grayle. Ten days later he presented to Mr. Guddle a report on O'Hara's novel. It was a favourable report on the whole, but Grayle believed that it was just; for he was a proud young man and •onscientious in his way, and he would have pre- ferred to remain unheard all his life rather than obtain a hearing by unduly vaunting his work. With the report he handed the manuscript to Mr. Guddle. The senior partner read the report attentively. "H'm, not bad," he remarked, and then he raised the manuscript in one hand and judged its weight. "It's rather a slab," he said. And then he began to speak of other matters, and did not revert to the subject of O'Hara's novel at that season. But a month later, when Mr. Belfer had been at work again for some little time, Mr. Guddle mentioned the matter once more. "Belfer's had a look at O'Hara's novel," said the senior partner to Mr. Grayle, " and his report is more favourable than yours. He likes the stuff. You mustn't think, you know, Grayle, that I don't rely on your judgment, but you aren't in the writing line yourself, and you haven't had anything like Belfer's experience. I've read a good deal of the yarn myself. It's g- .! solid work, though I'm not inclined to think it will set the Thames on fire. However, it's safe, and I'm disposed to take it as a second-class novel." "What's that?" asked Mr. William Grayle, with genuine interest. "Well, you see," replied Mr. Guddle, "I do about twenty of 'em in the year, and they go to pay salaries, and postage, and so on. There are the books you push and boom if you can. Those are the first-class novels. There's and there's ; as you know, we publish for both. Some- times there's a lot of money in it, as you've seen; but they're both big pots and both agency men, and of course the agents know pretty well what's in a book to a fraction, and they see that the author gets a jolly big suck at the orange. That's their interest. I don't blame the agents, as men of business; naturally they want a big turn- over to take their commission on and a paying clientele, and they're quite right to get both if they can. But agency is death on the grand old profits that there used to be for us, Grayle, and it's a fact that out of three books I published for , I lost over one. A thumping advance, you know, on account of a 25 per cent. royalty rising to 275 per cent., and only the English volume rights. Well, the second of tbe books was overweighted, and I lost—not much, but still I lost. So it's a speculation, and publishing for the big men means hard work and anxious work sometimes; and you've got to make the small fry help to pay staff expenses and bring in sums that are more or less trifling but certain— no risk, no worry, and no hard work. Now, O'Hara is just that man. And he's not an agency man, so if we offer him a deferred royalty after, say, 500 copies, the chances are he'll take it. ## p. 231 (#243) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 231 "I don't quite understand," said Grayle. "Surely if a book's go,,d enough to publish it's worth pushing." "Oh, certainly, to the extent of 75001' 1000 copies," replied Mr. Guddle, "but not beyond, unless it's a safe sale from the very first. And, taking them in the lump, it would mean a loss to push these minor works beyond that. Every now and then, in the lump, you get a book that has a much bigger sale in it, if it were pushed; but ordinarily, if you were ti put .£20 or .£30 extra into advertising a minor work and a lot of time and energy into shoving it along—well, you wouldn't do what I call really satisfactory busi- with two out of three. So the best thing is to clump 'em in altogether, regard 'em as safeties, and deal with 'em all in the same way. The quality of this yarn of O'Hara's will get it an easy sale of 750 copies in England. I never stint my second-class books unduly, and I'll spend .£10 in advertising—I'll spend that in cash. I'll have 1000 copies printed, and I'll bind 250 at once and the rest as needed. I may sell a few to the colonies and a small edition to America. But no expense, mind me, after the first 1000; no taking moulds—it's wise but strict economy that does it with second-class novels, Grayle. Liberate the type and go on to the next. The book will cost me from .£80 to .£85 all told, and it will bring in .£120 or £125; I can make sure of that, Now, if I had to pay the author a royalty of a shilling a copy on the published price of the six shilling edition, and to account to him for 750 copies, it would cost me £37 10s. to settle up with the author, and where should I be unless I pushed the book? And then it wouldn't be a safe second-class novel. But if I pay him 10 per cent. on the published price—and mind you, Grayle, that's generous; it's the published price, not the price to the trade; and he must be told it's generous, for we might like to see his next—well, if I pay him 10 per cent. after 500 copies, and pay him on 250 or thereabouts, he'll get about .£7 j0s., and I shall do very well indeed. And it'll be better for him," added Mr. Guddle with a .chuckle and a wink; "won't lead him into extra- vagance, or make him think he can live by author- ship, and if he comes here with another book, he'll come in a proper frame of mind. Why, some smallish firms live entirely by publishing second-class books in this way." "But isn't it just a tiny bit hard on the author?" asked William Grayle dryly, "to be oondemned to a kind olfiasco beforehand?" "My dear Grayle," said Mr. Guddle, " I set up in business as a commercial man, not as a philan- thropist or art-patron. I carry on my trade on the usual business principles; I make as much money as I can, where I can, and how I can. I give an author as little for a book as he'll take. Hang it all, if a man wanted to sell you houses or horses or dogs, you'd get 'em as cheap as you could, wouldn't you Y It's the vendor's look-out; if he's got any sense he knows how business men deal. And it's a competitive world, Grayle, and either you can make a fortune in this business as a commercial man, or leave it alone and drop out and see others do it. Well, we're giving a lot of time to a second-class novel. Will you write to this man O'Hara and offer him 10 per cent. on the published price after 500 copies have been sold?" "Oh yes, of course I'll make the offer," answered William Grayle. "Oh—and look here, Grayle," Mr. Guddle resumed, "Belfer thinks there may really be something big in the novel, so we'll just snap up the copyright under a clause of the agree- ment. Every now and then you get hold of a book that booms itself. So instead of making it a licence to us to publish and reserving the copyright to the author, we'll make the cession of the copyright to us the consideration for which we pay the 10 percent. Twig? O'Hara won't understand the wording. Perhaps it's a woman; let's hope so. And if he or she con- sents to that I'll change my mind and we'll speculate to the extent of having moulds taken. The book may prove a property, and it's as well to look all round the deal. But I'll dictate the form of agreement. And now let's go on to something bigger." When Mr. William Grayle had left the senior partner's room and closed the door behind him, . he stood still for a moment, then he shook his head and sighed sadly. Two days later Mr. Dennis O'Hara declined with thanks the offer of Messrs. Guddle and Grayle, and the manuscript was returned to the author. "There are always plenty of second-class novels about,"' said Mr. Guddle. "We'll wait for the next. I expect O'Hara has been talking to some agent." "Perhaps he has," said William Grayle. Molecule. THE LITERARY AGENT. OWING to the increase in the value of literary property, and the universal dis- trust of publishers as a class, a second middleman, in addition to the publisher, has sprung up of late years, namely, the literary agent. And as the literary agent is supposed to ## p. 232 (#244) ############################################ 232 THE AUTHOR. be doing well, there threatens to be a run upon the profession. With the influx of new men will follow certain dangers against which it is well to warn our readers. That the literary agent fills a useful place, and in many cases is absolutely essential, cannot be denied by anybody who has property to be administered. In the same way as people who have large estates are forced to employ agents to manage them properly, agents who understand all the business connected with such property, so the author with a property, large or small, has also the need of his agent. Many and necessary are the warnings which have been given in The Author as to the dealings of authors with publishers. It is necessary, now that the authors' agent is rapidly multiplying, that some precautions should be observed with regard to the dealings of authors with the managers of their property. No author, to begin with, should employ an agent without having thoroughly reliable informa- tion as to his honesty and as to his capacity in placing authors' MSS. before editors and publishers. Such information can only be obtained either from a friend who has had jiersonal experience, or from the Society of Authors. If an author then decides to employ an agent, he should be as careful in entering into an agreement with him as he would be in entering into an agreement with a publisher. In fact, as the relation between an author and his agent is exceedingly confidential, an author should be even more careful as to his agreement. It should be further pointed out that, although an agent may have had considerable legal experience in the matter of drafting publishers' contracts, yet an agent is not, as a rule, a lawyer, and that, there- fore, it is not advisable for an author to accept an arrangement put before him by an agent without some further advice as to the desirability of the terms contained in the contract. It has been stated that certain agents take money from publishers in return for placing books with them. No proof of this allegation has yet been discovered, and one hopes that the thing is the invention of an enemy. It is needless to say that such a practice would be the most flagrant breach of trust. It would be exactly as if a solicitor was to take money from his client's adversary as well as his client. It is possible, again, that a case such as the fol- lowing might occur: An agent is exceedingly busy with the works of many authors. It is important that he should get some of them settled and off his hands at the earliest possible opportunity. He therefore in a moment of carelessness advises an author to accept such terms as would not be on the whole satisfactory in their result to the author. This is an exceptional case, and is one which is not likely to occur frequently; but the point still remains that the author cannot be too careful about what agreement he enters into, whether such agreement is put before him by the publisher, or by the publisher through his own agent. The mere question of the financial terms of an agreement is by no means the only one which should be looked into. In some cases the control of the property is even of more importance to the author than the financial question. The warning must therefore be repeated that an author cannot be too circumspect as to the agent he deals with, and as to the contract he has with that agent. The following letter is published because it illus- trates the necessity of an agreement, if only to escape misunderstandings: "Your remarks concerning the possibility of disagreement between author and agent suggest to me the propriety of offering myself to your ridicule or your sympathy by a brief relation of my own conduct. "An agent is no more to be trusted than a publisher, and to suppose that any agency — necessarily having its own axe to grind—can take the place of the Authors' Society is manifestly absurd. "My own case, briefly stated, is as follows: I had an agent, and I trusted him implicitly. I say 'he' as a matter of convenience, but there were several of him, and some of him were clever and kind, but one of him was something unbusi- nesslike. In my first interview I asked what were my agent's terms. The answer was ' 10 per cent. on all sales effected by us.' This seemed all right, and I thought an angel and an agent were the same, so I did not consult the Authors' Society, as I should have done, and consequently no written agreement was signed by my agent and me. "My agent sold a few things advantageously, but he muddled my affairs in one or two ways. Thus, a religious story was ordered of me by an American journal for young people, and at the same time I was asked to write a story for a lively London journal. My agent sent my pious tale to the lively journal and my society story to the Young People's Magazine. Both stories were of course rejected, and by the time the mistake was rectified it was too late. Since then I have had no orders from either paper. "At the end of the year I found that I had lost considerably by the agency, so I decided to sever the connection. My agent agreed to this. Then he sent in his account. I found to my dismay that he had not only charged the i 0 per cent. as well as out-of-pocket expenses, but had made a charge — and a rather high one — for ## p. 233 (#245) ############################################ THE AUTHOli. 233 unsuccessful efforts to place other stories, a thing never mentioned between us, and in itself a con- tradiction of our agreement as to payment by results. I protested; but he was able to enforce his charges because he had in hand certain moneys of mine. "Also I found that I had pledged myself to pay a percentage, not on a year's profits, such as is charged by house agents and the like, nor on the profits of any number of years, but on all receipts accruing through time and eternity from MSS. placed by my agent. So that, however good or however bad may be the sale of those books, my agents have for ever a charge on my profits of 10 per cent. "I hope all this is clear. It will be seen from my weak trust in a verbal agreement that I am no business man. But there must be other authors not more discerning, more crafty, than I. To t,uch I would say: (1) Engage no agent without the Society's advice; (2) engage no agent without a written agreement; (3) sign no agreement without consulting the Society; (4) remember that a literary agent is just like a publisher in that he makes his living out of authors; therefore be sure that you know exactly what he means to take, and whether it is also what vou mean him to have." Z. This letter reads like a comment on the pre- ceding remarks. All the difficulties, in fact, arose from the absence of a written agreement. Had there been a written agreement the author would have understood that, in taking over the management of the book the agent undertook to make the best of it, taking the commission as the money came in, as long as there was anything to be made out of it. Also he would have understood that the agent did not profess—it is not usual for an agent to profess — to hawk about literary wares from house to house unsuccessfully for nothing. It is quite common for an agent to charge at the outset a certain fee, which is returned in the case of success. As for the mistake between the lively and the religious papers it was tragic, but one would like to hear the other side before accepting it as a proof of muddling. Did the author make it quite clear, on the outside, because agents do not read MSS., which was intended for the lively, and which for the serious, paper? The moral of the letter is that without a written agreement these misunderstandings are inevitable. With an agreement they should be difficult, if not impossible. BE ONE AND NOTHING ELSE. IWAS immensely astonished, on reading the January Author through from end to end— a thing I invariably do when it manages to reach me—to see, just on the last page, myself quoted as an instructor of literary youth. I never imagined that anyone would come across my obscure "confession." The advice, "If you can beg, borrow, or steal as much as .£50 a year, cut yourself off from everything and write," has rather a reckless and immoral ring about it, and I should like to correct or justify it a little. For it is an advice to parents and guardians as much as to debutants and debutantes. The desire to be an author is as palpable an itch as the desire to run away to sea. It can be nipped in the bud sometimes, but the advisa- bility of doing so is always a moot question. Vagabonds and authors are born and not made, "and like the merlin cheated by a gleam," as your New Zealand correspondent beautifully and appositely puts it, they will soar into the fierce light sooner or later. Their wings may be of wax, in which case they will have a heavy fall; but the fall itself will be the best blight to a wrong ambition. My opinion is, give them their head—both of them. My own original impulse as a boy was to go to sea; I was actually appren- ticed, when my parents opposed, and I went into the Civil Service instead. But what is the result? I have become both a vagabond and an author after all. There is a story in the Christmas number of the Sketch, by Dr. Macdonald, which also illustrates the matter; the young man had a hard time, but Dr. Macdonald became an author. In trying to be an author a young man or woman will find their level, and even if they fail, their efforts will probably have been as good as any other beginning in showing them the way, and giving the opportunities, to adapt themselves to a more suitable profession. On the other hand, as you point out in your preface of „ The Pen and the Book," authorship is now just as good and respectable a profession as the Church or Medicine, and worth having a try at. In the first place, then, to parents, I give this advice. If your son or daughter wants to write, allow them JE50 a year and three years to try in. You cannot apprentice them to any other profession for less, and they will learn a lot about the world which will serve them in good stead if they fail in literature. They may become editors or pub- lishers, for instance, a business as good as shop- keeping; or literary journalists, which you may be sure they will not do if they are fitted for more active pursuits. ## p. 234 (#246) ############################################ 234 THE AUTHOR. Secondly, to young men between twenty and thirty, who, after being put in the wrong grooves at the start, think they can be authors. If you have got no money or rich relatives, you have no choice; but if you have got either, I repeat, chuck up everything and write. .£100 can be made to last you two years, and that will be long enough if you are already a man. Mr. Le Gallienne once talked about "the paltry .£250 a year" which a millionaire could so easily spare to patronise a poet. If a man feels he needs this income for writing he probably has mistaken the profession of literature for the profession of society. .£50 a year is enough; £100 a year is comfort. You only want a little attic at .£ 12 a year, and tea and bread and bacon at is. a day, or say £20 a year, and one old suit of clothes and an overcoat. This still leaves you £10 for tobacco and the gallery of a theatre and a penny paper. When I said "cut yourself off from everything " I was thinking particularly of society. The society which requires a clean shirt and a tall hat will not benefit your work. I presume, of course, that you have had enough "experiences," have seen enough "colour," to provide you with copy for your trial. If not, you must earn your living in some more usual way until you /tare " copy." Believing that you can write implies that you have something to write about; that you have been in love or seen the world. This is your wealth; the rent and food money is merely the broker's commission on your investment. You mean to speculate on your brain-wealth; then do it thoroughly. Precept without example is nothing; the only example a man knows is himself, and since I have already, when I thought I had done with literature, made a humiliating exhibition of my- self, I shall do so again. Hereby I convey my first maxim: never go back on yourself. If you commit a folly, bluff it out; it is your follies which mark your character, and by your cha- racter you must stand or fall. Never act; never try to be other than you are. Practise self- control, especially in writing to publishers and papers; but when you have made a mistake do not repine, do not think that you have irretriev- ably belittled yourself, but let your dead blunders be incentives, be stepping stones to things of better fame. In the same way with your work; teach yourself by failure. Keep before you unceasingly the ambition of success, and never allow the disgrace of an idiotic or con- temptible book to deter you from wiping out its shame by a better. There is room in the world, and time in life, for many blunders, and in litera- ture, as in business and in war, one victory con- dones a thousand defeats. Here I am using myself as example—I hope an encouraging example. I have made a notorious exhibition of myself both in politics, in literature, and in society; but I cast these follies behind me and present myself again, determined to retrieve them. Besides the blunders of conceit there stands before most of us the damnable crevice of poverty. I again offer myself as an example of persistence. I will no longer go back on myself and ape, as I have long done, the secure suffi- ciency of a man of means. My sufficiency is myself now, and it is better than money. Six years ago I embarked on literature with a capital of .£15, and managed to place four books. Twice I was driven into slavery by need, and I have calculated that exactly three years out of five were taken up with the sordid troubles of mere living. A year ago I could stand it no longer, and left England, believing myself finally defeated. After six months of vagabondage, with a capital of £5, I came back as near to the market as I could beat, and wrote another book. I did not seek work; I practised my gospel of living on my capital and writing. The capital being small the living had to be exiguous and the writing hard. I spread the 25 dollars over two months, and wrote my book in that time, fiuishing almost to the miuute on Christmas day. You see, then, that if you have fifty pounds and "copy " you are a millionaire; lucky, indeed, if you have an allowance of .£50 a year for three years. And yet it means at a maximum but a capital of .£200 to save a man from three years of absolutely barren and heart-breaking waste and experiences which render his work morbid, pessimistic, detrimental! Here am I, at the age of thirty, after publishing several books and stories, stranded high and dry in ruined health, trying to hold together till the tide turns and floats me again, through no vice, inaptitude, or lack of diligence I swear, but simply because I have never been able to get two consecutive years of assured living. I repudiate any suspicion that I am asking for help; 1 have stood by myself long enough to stand by myself to the end. But I know the reason of my poverty has from the beginning been the contempt of my relatives for the profession I have adopted, and I give myself as a warning to other parents who obstinately condemn their sons and daughters to go through a similar experience. Although I am averse to logrolling, and have never had a " paragraph " in The Author during a membership of some years, I shall take the liberty of referring you to a second instalment of my "confessions" in the January number of the New Century Review. ## p. 235 (#247) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 235 It shows how the writing itch prevails over all resolutions of abandonment, and gives also, I think, a good hint how to isolate yourself and seek health and copy at the same time. In conclusion, I will say this. Whether I shall turn the corner this time remains to be seen; but for the encouragement of the faltering I declare that, although my noviciate of hardship has been prolonged beyond the two and beyond the live years, I am still perfectly happy, and confident, if my precarious health lasts out, of ultimate success, and more assured to-day than ever that if I had been able to " stick to writing and nothing else " from the beginning I should by this time have been earning a "respectable living." On the other hand, always supposing I live long enough, I shall probably rejoice in my disap- pointments later on; for I have this to add—and it is a sort of warning also—that whereas six years ago I thought I knew everything, was a full-grown man, I only now begin to see how little of life I know. But if any of you should happen to have read my book " Max," which I wrote just four years ago, you will see a marked difference between my despair then and my con- fidence now. You will discover that your own literary ambition is far more tough and tenacious than you think. If you have got it in you, you will get there—never fear. At the same time, it is foolish to waste your youth in bitterness if you can go straight forward from the start, and cruel of parents to force j on to. Julian Croskey. P.O. Ottawa, Canada, Jan. 30, 1899. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. (See The Author Feb. 1899). I. IBEG leave to recommend the " Cyclopaedia of Practical Quotations," by Hoyt and Ward. According to that work, p. 87, the lines alluded to run thus: Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love, Bat why did yon kick me down stairs '< The reference is given to J. P. Kemble," The Panel," act i., sc. 1. Walter W. Skeat. The lines quoted by Mr. J. M. Lely may be found in at least three places, and, apparently, without any interchange of acknowledgment. They appear in Debrett's "Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," Vol. I., p. 15; and in John Philip Kemble's play " The Panel," act i., sc. i., Kemble has clearly borrowed and altered the lines from what may be claimed as the original source, Isaac Bickerstaff's comedy, "'Tis Well it's no Worse." They form part of a song, and the full quatrain, as usually given, runs: "When late I attempted your pity to move Why seemed yon so deaf to my prayers? Perhaps it was right to dissemble yonr love, Bnt why did you kiok me down stairs?" James M. Graham. [Edith Charlton Anne and E. C. Ricketts also- send replies, which are in similar terms to the above.—Ed,] I am strongly reminded of some lines of Heinrich Heine: Das Schworen in der Ordnung war, Das Beissen war iiberfliissig. This passage is quoted by George Meredith in chap. iv. of "The Tragic Comedians," where we find a most eloquent dialogue between hero and heroine—Alvan and Clotilde. The chapter bristles with fine thought, and of these special lines repeated by Alvan to the lady Mr. M- calls them " a verse that speaks of the superfluous- ness of a faithless lady's vowing bite," translating them thus: The kisses were in the course of things, The " bite" was a needless addition. JX—"Who Am I Like?" . The verb " to be " governs the nominative case; thus, "who am I like ?" is correct, the "am I" being present tense of the verb "to be." Most verbs govern the accusative, thus, anolher rendering of the question could be "whom do I resemble?" Next question—" Whomsoever he may be " is wrong ; it should be " whosoever," the " may bo" being the subjunctive mood of the verb "to be." _ Grammar. III.—Wanted, Instructions. 1. "Forbears" is frequently used when "forebears "—i.e., forebe-ers—is evidently meant, and that even in literary journals. No doubt the printer is in fault. 2. Some educated people are in the habit of using the verb "infer" in the place of "imply." Surely, to "infer" means to draw an inference. You infer from what I said something which I did not mean to imply. 3. Will someone of authority lay down the law on the subject of the "false genitive," abhorred of Mr. Gladstone? Tastes no doubt differ, but to some ears such a locution as "I object to him coming to me " is simply hideous, though intelligible. But when one reads, "I ## p. 236 (#248) ############################################ 236 THE AUTHOR. remember the Prince coming to our town to lay the first stone," one is in doubt. It is one thing to remember the fact of the Prince's coming, quite another to remember the Prince himself. "There is, I think, no fear of you making such an exhibition of yourself." Gram- matically, this surely means, "There is no fear of you who are, or when you are, making such an exhibition of yourself." For, if " making " is not a present participle, agreeing with "you," it must be a substantive, in which case, how is the sentence to be analysed ?" He relied on this man leaving the country before the disclosure was made." Now this does not mean that he relied on the man, who was leaving the country; far from it; he trusted him so little that he wanted him out af the way. In other words, he relied on the man's withdrawal. If " leaving "is a verbal substantive, why should man receive different treatment when conjoined with "leav- ing" than that accorded to it when conjoined with withdrawal? The old rule, that when two substantives come together one must be in the genitive, would seem to be enough, but the increasing frequency of the false genitive, and that in the writings of literary persons, indicates the need for some authoritative pronouncement on the subject. "I defy any one to read a page of the poem without it getting hopelessly on his nerves," is a sentence which it would be interesting to see analysed. 4. '.'Umbrellas repaired while waiting" is an announcement at which one smiles. Similar, and even worse sentences are continually meeting one in the daily Press; e.g., "While stationed at X an incident occurred." One would like to be made acquainted with that stationary incident. S. G. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—Books for Review. IN Tlie Author, Feb. 1,1899, p. 203,1 find the follewing assertion: "Every unknown book gets from thirty to fifty notices in the English Press; every book by a known author, from fifty to one hundred." I beg leave to say that such is not my experi- ence. I have frequently been surprised at the utter silence of many of the critics with regard to some of my books which have nevertheless done well. Out of so many copies sent for review about one-half are quietly appropriated, and no sign is given that they have ever been received. Other critics merely acknowledge the receipt of the volume, and there leave it. It is one of the author's grievances that the sending of a copy to, let us say, The Omniscient Review by no means secures the insertion of a notice of it, however well known the author may be. I also venture to say that the unknown author is more injured by this practice of silence than the known one, and it is to him at least a cruel hardship. The next time I publish a book I propose to collect and publish in The Author (if my pub- lishers approve of it) a list of the reviews that receive copies, with a note as to whether a notice was inserted or not, allowing six months for the notice to appear. If some others would do the like we should learn much that concerns us all. Walter W. Skeat. II.—Ladies in Journalism. Your letter on the invasion of journalism by ladies of rank is particularly interesting to me, in that I am one of the sufferers by it. One has only to take up a fashionable paper to see that the greater part of the articles in it are by Lady This or the Countess of T'other. They may be paid or they may not, but the fact remains that their articles crowd out those journalists who would probably otherwise be employed. For years a fashionable lady's newspaper has had articles of mine accepted, but not published for want of room, and, of course, until published they are nothing but waste paper. A few years ago, it was easy to get 3 guineas for a short story, but lately, send- ing one to a well-known magazine, it was accepted, and I received i0*. for it. A Press agent, to whom I offered one, said, "The fact is, Miss A., your story is too good for us. We order them by the dozen, and pay 7*. a piece for them." Now, this state of things could never have come to pass but for the supply being much beyond the demand. Unless for a hewer of wood or drawer of water, living is very difficult, but so long as women can "see themselves in print" and editors can get their articles for nothing, it is useless to hope for better times. _ A Journalist. III. DELAT8. I have read with interest the experiences of some of your correspondents regarding the delay on the part of editors in returning MSS., and also the editorial note on page 188 of The Author. Whether the explanation there suggested is the correct one or not I am unable to say, but my experience with two MSS. submitted to the Strand is that one did not return to me for eight and a half months, and the other not until three months had rolled by. Both the manuscripts were returned in good condition, and I attributed the delay to the enormous number of MSS. submitted to the editor. ## p. 237 (#249) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 237 One of the most cruel cuts I ever received was at the hands of an editor of a magazine that has lately sprung into being. On May 2 last year I submitted an article dealing with one phase of cricket. On Nov. 23 I received it back, with the intimation that it was not seasonable! One more experience. Last October I sub- mitted a MS. to the editor of a reputable sixpenny magazine. A few days ago I received an offer of one guinea for the same, an offer which I enjoyed the luxury of declining. To-day I have received the manuscript back, and it bears the truthful statement, presumably in the editorial handwriting, "4400 w, 5! pp." Surely a MS. considered worth printing in a sixpenny magazine should be worth more than 4*. gd. per 1000 words (or, deducting the cost of typewriting, 3*. 1 id. per 1000) to the author? Perhaps I ought to be thankful that I was not asked to pay the guinea myself for the honour of publication. Associate. IV.—The Vagaries of Criticism. I am puzzled; I am perplexed; I am mystified. Will you, Mr. Editor, kindly clear my thoughts from their burden of doubts? Permit me to explain, and state my case. A novel of mine, called " A Social Upheaval," has been published lately, and up to the present it has evoked thirty-five criticisms. Unfortunately, however, they are in every respect so contradic- tory that I actually cannot form a clear opinion of the merits or demerits of my own book. It has be mercilessly condemned; it has been splendidly eulogised; it has been pronounced interesting and dull, witty and silly; whilst its flaws and defects pointed out by one critic have been con- strued into virtues and beauties by another! Of course, I may be advised to believe the praise and reject the blame; to enjoy the sweets and cast away the bitters. But I value honest criticism too highly to be so puerile as to do this, On the other hand, whom and what am I to believe when I am told " that I write with skill and with a keen appreciation of comic situations"; "that I tire the reader before the end is reached "; that " my book is worth reading on account of its agreeable whimsicality "; that "my satire to be effective must bear some resemblance to the real thing"; that my female characters "are dis- tinct types of womankind "; that my characters lack reality"; that "the language has a terseness and briskness that gives a character of vivacity to the story"; that my novel is "utterly worthless"; that "it is a story in which there is not a dull page, not even a dull line "; that " the writing is more than a trifle crude "; that *' the purpose and method of the work are alike admirable " ; that " the workmanship is in- different," and so on, and so on? What can I make of these amazing contra- dictions? How can I reconcile these extremely opposite opinions? How am I to arrive at the truth? Will you kindly guide me in the matter? Isidore G. Ascher. V.—Illustrations. May I ask you to notice in your paper a form of annoyance authors have sometimes to put up with. A short story of mine was bought from my agents, some months ago, by the editor of a certain paper. This month it appears; but, living far in the country, I knew nothing of the fact till a few days ago, and then had some difficulty in getting a copy. It was bad enough to receive no proofs, and so come in for a few press blunders; but what is most annoying is to find that it has been "illustrated" (save the mark !) in a way that is most offensive. The illustrator has absolutely ignored each incident of the story he pretends to represent, as you may see by the copy inclosed, and the result is that my work is made ridiculous. There ought to be (perhaps there is) some remedy for such an outrage as this, since it mav have a very damaging effect on a beginner in literature such as your correspondent, B. VI.—Payment on Acceptance. 1. The practice is all too rare certainly, but not so restricted as "Penman" seems to suggest. Mr. F. A. Atkins of the Young Man and other journals, for instance, most promptly and con- sistently adopts this course. R. Andom. 11. In answer to " Penman's " letter regarding the Strand, may I remark that he (or she) has not a very wide knowledge of magazine editors. I can name at least four which virtually pay on accep- tance, that is to say, as soon as the hard-driven editor has decided to use any article or story it is paid for. Of course, this may not happen till a considerable time after it is sent. Messrs. Harmsworth, for example, I have found most con- siderate in this way. I cannot say that my own experience of the Strand bears out "Penman's" statements; the only article it ever printed of mine was not paid for till after it had appeared, and they now hold two stories of mine which were submitted twelve months ago at their request, and I cannot get them returned or used. Alan Oscar, hi. If your correspondent had written for the Wide World Magazine he would have discovered ## p. 238 (#250) ############################################ 238 THE AUTHOR. that the Strand is not the only one which pays for articles on acceptance. I am pleased to offer my humble testimony to the extreme courtesy which I have received at the hands of the editor of the Wide World, who invariably—I believe I may say—sends a cheque directly he decides to accept a MS. Edith Charlton Anne. VII.—Typewriting as a Profession. I rejoice to see that The Author is taking up the rights of the private typist versus the type- writing office, an institution which I find it difficult to respect. A friend of mine, "a lady by birth, and want of education," found herself last year under the necessity of earning a living. A relative (who herself had to undertake clerk's work in order to afford it) paid some .£30 to an office for the training of secretaries that her niece might be taught shorthand and typewriting. After work- ing for the benefit of the office for some months she was pronounced proficient, and with much pleasure I hastened to secure for her her first work, the typing of two forthcoming books, good MSS., not technical, at the rate of gd. a thousand. She must first, however, consult the lady who trained her, and returned primed with scorn for such an offer, instructed in various "notions," and told that to undertake the work at anything less than from I*, to is. $d. per thousand was an injustice to herself and other women. After remaining without employment for some time, she finally undertook the task "to oblige." The fact that another woman, brought up in greater luxury, older, and therefore less prepared for change of circumstances than herself, had turned-to and gone to work to pay for her train- ing, did not count for much in the problem. Now and then, the office has sent her stray bits of ill- paid miscellaneous work, such as doing charity accounts, or sending out invitations. Any typing which comes to the office is apparently reserved for students to practise upon, and shorthand does not seem to be in demand. After a year of this sort of work—which was of a kind which led to expenditure of money in smarter clothes than she would have needed at home, and in omnibus fares—she at length obtained a position which, under other circum- stances, we should have described as that of a "companion," but which—in allusion, I suppose, to the training—is called a " secretaryship." The salary is .£40 a year; £50 when non-resident. I represented the facts to the Society for the Employment of Women, but was severely rebuked for offering starvation wages. Next, I took at random from the cover of The Author the address of a typist, who has done my work admirably at orf. a 1000 ever since. She has said nothing about starvation, perhaps because she does not pay rent in Victoria or Berners-street. A. Goodrich Freer. VIII.—On Selling Review Copies. I have read with much interest Sir Walter Besant's paragraph in The Author of Jan. 2 concerning review copies. Would it not be possible to render review books unsaleable by some such process as unused stamps undergo when they are sold to dealers? They are punched. Review copies might have their pages severed horizontally midway by a cut penetrating a third of the page. It would be equivalent to a slight tear of a couple of inches on each page. The reviewer would have no difficulty, but the volume would not stand any wear after such treatment. Fanny Emily Penny. The Garrison Chaplain's Quarters, Fort Saint George, S. India, Jan. 26. IX.—Wanted—A Black List. Seeing that many editors not only refuse to return unsuitable MSS., to answer inquiries respecting them, but even appear to delight in treating uninvited contributors with contemp- tuous and—in my opinion—scandalous indiffer- ence, and this in spite of the letters and com- plaints the Society of Authors and The Author are continually receiving and publishing—I would suggest that the methods of the Society are stiffened. It seems to me that hints, innuendoes, anony- mous indications, and covert references are too mild to touch the case-hardened hides of the fraternity in question. I would, therefore, advocate a black list, to be openly, nay, ostentatiously displayed iu the Society's offices, and kept standing in the columns of The Author. Upon this list let the names of dishonest pub- lishers, unscrupulous editors, literary vultures of every kind, and such sharks as the inexperienced writer needs to shun, figure prominently and persistently. Before placing a name on the list, let the offence committed be stated succinctly. The law of libel is a serious fence to leap, I admit; but surely the Society would have less cause to dread an appearance in court than the mean rascals whose practices would, at worst, be exposed. I believe Truth has on several occasions pilloried a certain publishing firm—unfortunately ## p. 239 (#251) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 239 still existing—without incurring pains or penalties for its service to common honesty. Of one thing I am convinced, however. To treat with consideration the feelings of persons devoid even of business principle, to say nothing of gentlemanly instinct, is futile. A black list would at least warn members of the Society whom to avoid, even though it failed to reach outside stragglers in the literary quagmire. Herbert W. Smith. BOOK TALE. MR. ARTHUR H. BEAVAN has written a memoir of James and Horace Smith, the authors of "The Rejected Addresses." No complete life of the brothers has hitherto appeared, owing to family objections. "The Rejected Addresses" was published in 1812. Murray could have bought the copyright for £20, but refused the offer. Seven years later, after the book had run through sixteen editions and brought its authors jEi000, Murray pur- chased the copyright for .£131. Mr. Beavan's life will contain five portraits, and will be pub- lished by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett. Mr. Richard Whitling, author of .' The Island," has written a new work of humorous social satire entitled "No. 5, John-street," which Mr. Grant Richards will publi&h. Mrs. Alfred Sedgwick's (Mrs. Andrew Dean) new novel "Cousin Ivo" will be published this month by Messrs. A. and G. Black. It has been appearing in the weekly edition of the Times. In "The Hooligan Nights" Mr. Clarence Rook gives some studies from personal observation of the notorious class of criminals known of late in London by the generic name " Hooligan." The volume will be published by Mr. Grant Richards. Mr. Morley Roberts calls his new novel "A Son of Empire." The two chief characters in the book are said to be portraits of Sir Richard and Lady Burton, and another a portrait of Mr. Rhodes. The story deals with military life. Carlyle's letters to his sister, Janet Hanning, which appeared in several recent numbers of the Atlantic Monthly, will be published shortly in a volume by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. Mrs. Fuller-Maitland and Sir Frederick Pollock are joint authors of the "Etchingham Letters," which have been appearing in the Cornhill Magazine for the last few months. The letters will be published in a volume on an early date by Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. A new series of monographs on great painters has been projected by Messrs. Bell. The first volume to appear will be "Raphael," by Mr. H. Strachey," and the others include "Velasquez," by Mr. R. A. M. Stevenson; *' Andrea del Sarto," by Miss H. Guinness; " Michael A ngelo," by Mr. C. Holroyd; "Rembrandt," by Mr. Malcolm Bell; and " Turner," by Mr. C. F. Bell. Sir Edward Grey has written a book of personal experiences as an angler which will form the first volume of the Haddon Library, edited by the Marquis of Granby and Mr. George A. B. Dewar. It will be published by Messrs. Dent this month. Mr. Grant Allen's new story, "Miss Cayley's Adventures," which has been running in the Strand Magazine, will be published in the spring by Mr. Grant Richards. Mr. Hilaire Belloc is the author of a forth- coming " Life of Danton," which is based largely on documents hitherto unknown. The author has been assisted by Danton's family, and also by Dr. Robinet, himself the author of a well-known biography of the great French revolutionary. Mr. Belloc's work will be published immediately by Messrs. Nisbet. Mr. William Archer has been commissioned by the Pall Mall Magazine to proceed to America for the purpose of writing a series of articles on the American stage. He sailed a few days ago. A set of the Kelmscott Press publications, numbering fifty-three, and of an original value of about .£150, was sold at Sotheby's rooms the other day for .£442 15s. 6d. The same firm were to disperse by auction the valuable collection of historical papers and manuscripts belonging to the Earl of Hardwicke. Shortly before the day fixed for the sale, however, the collection was purchased by the British Museum, much to the satisfaction of students of history. "Contraband of War" is the title of a new work by Mr. M. P. Shiel (author of " The Yellow Danger"), which will be issued by Mr. Grant Richards in the spring. Another novel dealing with theatrical life. This will bo "On the Edge of a Precipice," by Miss Maiy Angela Dickens, which Messrs. Hutchinson will publish shortly. Mr. F. C. Constable has written a humorous story, entitled "Morgan Hailsham," which Mr. Grant Richards will bring out in the spring. A novel of adventure, by Mr. Tom Gallon, author of " Tatterley," will be published shortly by Messrs. Hutchinson, entitled "The Kingdom of Hate." ## p. 240 (#252) ############################################ 240 THE A UTHOR. Two new books by Mr. Le Gallienne will appear shortly. ''Young Lives" is a novel, dealing with a group of young people who have ideals in life. It will be published by Arrowsmith. The second book is a fairy tale embodying a study of the artistic temperament. Mr. Lane will publish it under the title "The Worshipper of the Image." Professor Hereford is translating Ibsen's "Love's Comedy," for publication as a volume in the series of " Modern Plays," edited by Mr. E. Brimley Johnson and Mr. Erichsen, and pub- lished by Messrs. Duckworth. Mr. Erichsen is also translating Strindberg's "Fadren" (" The Father "). In an interview in the New York Outlook, Mr. R. W. Gilder, editor of the Century Magazine, expresses his conviction that people are beginning ta tire of photographic reproductions in maga- zines and periodicals, and that in the future the tendency will be in favour of original artistic work. While the photograph has had a corrective effect, and make illustrators truer to fact, it has on the other hand made them more prosaic; and Mr. Gilder thinks we shall soon witness a new generation of real illustrators. It has been evident for some time to all serious lovers of English poetry, says Mr. Stephen Phillips in an article which appears in the February number of the Dome, that modern verse is suffering from inanition. Perhaps the only wave of emotion lately has been roused by the splendour and the fact of empire; but this song can never be a permanent possession of mankind ; it is the pecan of materialism, restricted, anti-poetic, and is already beginning to pall upon us. Mr. Phillips' article is called "A Field for Modern Verse," and this is the suggestion he makes:— I would venture to suggest, in all humility, a subject for verse which is co-extensive, not merely with a single empire, but with the fate and destiny of all mankind. The revela- tion, then, of the life after death, which is slowly filtering into the intellect and imagination of the modern world is, as it seems to me, filled with tremendous possibilities of vision and melody. . . . The general picture of a world beyond the grave, which is gradually usurping the modern imagination, would seem at first sight to be not far removed from the scheme of Dante. In communications made through trance, or by the governed hand, we are again permitted to view realms of darkness, of ice, of twilight, of glory. But there is this essential and transcen- dent difference between the medieval and the modern con- ception—that whereas Dante imagined a definite place of darkness, or fire, or beauty, to which the soul repaired, we are now shown that the soul creates its own atmosphere, environment, and scenery. Miss Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler has completed a new novel. Joseph Hatton's new story in the bauds of the Tillotson syndicate will appear serially in a select number of weekly journals in England, the Colonies, and America, beginning next month. It is said to be a careful and elaborate study of Old London in the days of Jonathan Wild, whose portraiture is a leading feature of the story. The romance moves on different lines from those adopted by Mr. Hattou in his drama of "Jack Sheppard," opening romantically on " the King's Highway" in the North, Jonathan face to face with two of his own "knights of the road "—for Jonathan was not only the thief-taker, but the thief-employer, the chief of such an organisation of knavery as the world has rarely paralleled, even in the "palmy days of the bandit and the buccaneer." Mr. Hattou has relieved the sordid adventures of Jonathan and his army of adven- turers with a love story that links town and country and the Thames and the sea with inci- dents of a semi-historical character; and the novel is entitled " When Rogues Fall Out." "Loup-Garou!" is the title given by Mr. Eden Philpotts to a new volume of stories deal- ing with West Indian Life, which he is issuing through Messrs. Sands. The Daily Mail is issuing " The Best Hundred Books," and the Daily Telegraph is about to issue "The Best Hundred Novels." The latter selection will include many modern novels. Dean Stubbs is publishing through Unwiu a volume of verse entitled Brihtnoth's Prayer and Other Poems." Brihtnoth was an ealdorman of East Auglia, aud one of the founders of Ely. The poem, says the Dean of Ely, is a rescript and expansion of "that "almost Homeric " ballad, the "Battle of Maldon," and a re-setting of the hero's death cry, " God, I thank Thee for all the joy I have had in life." Mr. T. Sturge Moore is a new poet, whose first book, "The Vinedresser," will be published in a few days by the Unicorn Press. Le Droit cTAuteitr publishes tables showing the production of books in Russia (exclusive of Finland) in the years 1890 to 1895. The total publications in Russian for these years was 42,146, and in foreign languages 12,086. Books on theology outnumbered those of any other class. Dr. Richard Garnett is about to retire from the post of Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum. He has been connected with the Museum for forty-seven years, and, in addition to the large number of lxioks he has written, he edited the British Museum Catalogue from 1881 to 1890. .. • , '.: ,!..,,•'-; ## p. 241 (#253) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 241 During the past month Mr. Ruskin celebrated his eightieth birthday (Feb. 8) and Mr. Meredith his seventy-first (Feb. 12). Mr. Ruskin was made the recipient of an address from a number of distinguished admirers, but a proposal that he should sit to Mr. Holman Hunt for his portrait has been abandoned, as Mr. Ruskin could not endure the fatigue which this would entail. As a bitter evidence of the deterioration of the bookselling business, the writer of "Literary Gossip " in the Globe relates an incident which occurred a few days ago in one of the best known of London book shops. With eveiy circumstance of dignity an old lady was helped from her carriage. The footman hastened to the door of the shop, and she passed majestically in, and was shown into a chair by the principal assistant, a man steeped in the lore of books, prepared at a moment's notice to advise a course of reading in any line whatsoever. The old lady settled her- self in comfort, arranged her flounces, glanced round the teeming shelves, and asked sweetly, "Do you keep pink ham frills?" The sixth International Press Congress will be held at Rome, opening on April 6. "The Cardinal's Page," Mr. James Baker's new historical romance, has quickly gone into a third edition—a fact which speaks for itself. The author was lately elected a member of the Council of the National Home Reading Union. "A Semi-Detached Marriage" is the title of Miss Arabella Kenealy's forthcoming novel—to be issued next month by Messrs. Hutchinson. "Forbidden Banns" is the title of Annabel Gray's new novel, which will be published by Messrs. F. V. White and Co., and appears this month. The story has had a very successful run as a serial in the Daily Mail. It may inte- rest those who are studying the present ritual question. The Religious Tract Society issued on Feb. 24, in the form of the March supplement to the Girl's Own Paper, a story by Miss H. M. Burn- side, entitled "The Deaf Girl Next Door: or, Marjory's Life Work." This story deals with the special difficulties of the deaf and deaf mutes, and i-,f those with whom they associate; and it is hoped, by rousing public interest in this afflicted class, it will aid their cause. The writer is herself deaf. E. Livingston Prescott's new novel, "Helot and Hero," is announced for March 14. It is semi- military, and will form—-though of a more cheer- ful character—a companion volume to "Scarlet and Steel," now in its fourth edition. The scene of the closing chapters is the N.W. frontier of India. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. are the pub- lishers. The marriage chest of the " Father of Angling" has been found in a lumber-room at Warwick- Castle. The information it supplies refers to his first wife (a great-grandniece of Cranmer), and is as follows :— Izaak Walton—Rachael Ploud. Joyned Together in ye Holie Bonde of Wedlocke On ye 27th Daie of Deoembre A 1626 D. We once were two, we two made one; We no more two, through life bee one. A new volume of the late Mr. R. H. Hutton'a "Essays in the Spectator" is about to be published in Messrs. Macmillan's Eversley Series. The essays deal mair ly with ecclesiastical and theo- logical questions, in which the late editor of the Spectator took so keen an interest. Some time ago the Sir Walter Scott West- minster Memorial Committee presented a replica of the bust of Sir Walter Scott to the public library of Boston, U.S.A. In connection therewith Mr. Riclrard Lees, town clerk of the burgh of Galashiels, who is honorary secretary of the memorial committee, was recently waited upon by Mr. Fiske Warren, of Boston, at the request of the library trustees, and presented with an acknowledgment of the bust. In the address to the memorial committee the trustees express their gratefulness to the subscribers for their generosity, and still more for the spirit which prompted the gift. They recognise in this act of international courtesy a mark of the grow- ing harmony of interests between the two leading Powers in the civilisation of the world. The bust will shortly be formally unveiled at the opening of a new lecture hall in the library buildings. In the new edition of his "Democracy and Liberty," published recently by Messrs. Long- mans, Green, and Co., Mr. Lecky deals in detail with the work and character of Mr. Gladstone. Of Gladstone the writer, Mr. Lecky says: Few professed authors have written more or more vari- ously. Pamphlets on Ritualism, on Vaticanism, on Bulgarian Atrocities—elaborate books in defenoe of the Christian religion, a metrical translation of Horace, countless artioles of the most miscellaneous character followed each other in swift succession. Mere expression, whether in writing or speaking, seems to have cob! him nothing, and it was characteristic of him that the book which he called his "Gleanings" extended to some seven or eight volumes. Considering the life he led the literary production of his last years is truly wonderful, thongh it shows a kind of intellect that was much more wonderful in quantity than in quality. Perhaps the nearest modern parallel to his many- sided activity and to his astonishing copiousness of expres- sion is to be found in Henry Brougham, who was once deemed the most extraordinary of Englishmen, though he is now little more than a name. ## p. 242 (#254) ############################################ 242 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Thomas Burleigh is about to publish for Mr. J. C. Bailey a volume of essays dealing with eight of the great English letter writers. Some of them have already appeared in the Quarterly, the Fortnightly, and elsewhere, while others now appear for the first time. The title of the book is "Studies in Some Famous Letters." "Maureen Moore" is the title of an Irish story by Rupert Alexander, the author of " Bally - ronan," &c. It is a romance of "yS, but not altogether fiction. The publisher will be Mr. Thomas Burleigh. Professor Dowden is editing the Arden Shake- speare, and Mr. George Gissing is editing the Rochester Dickens—two new series which Messrs. Methuen are issuing. Mr. John Bickerdyke has just completed a romance entitled " The Passing of Prince Rogan." It is to a certain extent a story of the sea, and will have some interest for yachtsmen, but the author has utilised some of the reve- lations in recent bankruptcy proceedings. It will be published in New York by Messrs. Putnam's Sons, and in London by Mr. Thomas Burleigh. A new higluclass literary and religious weekly, called Saint Andrew — in sympathy with the Church of Scotland—has been started in Glasgow. Emily J. Jenkinson, joint author of "Fiona Mclver: a Romance of the Western Isles," is contributing a serial story entitled "The Twi- light of the Gods: a tale of Ancient Strathclyde." Miss Jenkinson is the daughter of the parish minister of Innellan, Argyllshire, and is a young lady still in her teens. A new edition, in great part re-written, and considerably enlarged (540 pages of text) of Mr. Reynolds-Ball's "Mediterranean Winter Resorts" (Kegan Paul and Co.) price .6*., was published last month. Owing to the great bulk of the book it has also been issued in two volumes, one volume dealing with the resorts of the South of Europe, and the others with those of North Africa and the Mediterranean Islands. Each volume is sold separately at 3*. 6d. Messrs. A. and C. Black have just published a revised .edition of the same author's " Cares of To-Day." THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Jan. 24 to Feb. 22—287 Books.] Aarons, S. J. Golden Rules of Gynecology. 1/- Simpkin. Abbott. L. Life and Letters of Paul the Apostle. 6/- Clarke. About, Edmond (tr. by Lord Newton). Trentc et Quarante. :i/6. Arnold. Alexander, Mrs. Brown, V.C. 6/- Vnwin. Alford, M. Baptism. 2/- Alexander and S. Aide, Hamilton Jane Treachel. 6/- Hurst. All, Ameer Syed. Short History of the Saracens. 7 6 net. Macmillan. Allen, E. H. Edward FitzGerald's Rubai'yat of Omar Khayyam, with original Persian sources, ifce. 7/6. Quaritch. Annand, James. Forgotten Liberalism. 1 - Ma, Fleet-street, E.C. Anonymous. Her Soldier Lover. (Family Story-Teller.) 1'- W. Stevens. Anonymous (author of "The Banks and the Public"). Banks and their Oustomers. 1/- E. Wilson. Anonymous (author of " Lady Windermere's Fan "). The Importance of Being Earnest Smithers. Ansorge, W. J. Under the African Sun. 21/- net. Heinemann. Appleton, G. W. Francois the Valet 6 - Pearson. Arbuthnot, Sir A. J. Lord Clive: The Foundation of British Rule in India. 5/- Unwin. Aston, W. G. History of Japanese Literature. 6/- Heinemann. Atkins, J. B. The War in Cuba. 6 - Smith and E. Atkinson, C. M. The Magistrates' Annual Practice, 1899. Stevens. . Bacon, L. W. History of American Christianity. 10 6. Clarke. Baldwin, J. M. The Story of the Mind. 1- Newnes. Ballinger, J. The Public Libraries and the Schools. School Children in the Public Libraries. 1/6 net. 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Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 10 (March 1899) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 10 (March 1899) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-03-01-The-Author-9-10 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/325/1899-02-01-The-Author-9-9.pdf 77a7118c5ef4fa3a7bd01711a9f4ef86 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) 1899-02-01 Volume 9 Issue 9 Pages Page range in volume 197–216 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18990201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin TLhc Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 9.] FEBRUART 1, 1899. [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. 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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 oarry on his 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. IX. 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. III. 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 aides. It is 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 oarry with them no risk at all, and although of a great many it is known within a few copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not known what will be their maximum. Therefore every author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements, and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are oarefully 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. Y 2 ## p. 198 (#210) ############################################ 198 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. IiTVEBY member has a right to ask for and to receive Pj advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the oonduct 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 oost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with oopyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advanoing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Sooiety 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. NOTICES. ri 1HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the I 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>. 6i2. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21 st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communioate 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 oommunioating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White - hall-court. Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correot: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production " for advertising. Of oourse, 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. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—The History of Copyright. IT is not often that we can depart from the principle generally observed in these pages —not to review or to pass under criticism any new books. It is obvious that hostile criti- cism of books by our own members would be inju- dicious, to say the least. Aud it is obvious that laudatory notices might possibly be expected by all the members as a right. It is also necessary to remember that the Society has nothing to do with the literary value of books, but solely and entirely with literary property. There has, how- ever, recently appeared a work on literary pro- perty which must be noticed in these columns, partly on account of the subject, which concerns, every reader of The Author, and partly because, for the first time, that subject has been treated in ## p. 199 (#211) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 199 such a manner as to make the dry bones of law and Acts of Parliament full of life. The Origin of Copyright: the Stationers' Company and the First Copyright Statute: the Battle of the Booksellers for Perpetual Copyright: Legis- lative Enactments: Literary Larceny: and the Present Situation, are the subjects of as many chapters in this volume by Mr. Augustine Birrell (Cassell, 3*. 6rf. netl. Now, as the Law of Copyright is every day becoming of greater importance to authors, because they are every day learning more about the value and import- ance of their own property, and are becoming more jealous about its administration, this book, the only one on the subject which does not bristle with impediments and impossibilities in the way of the non-legal reader, should be in the hands of every member of the literary profession, in which is included every person who writes a book. There has grown up in the minds of many writers a singular apathy as regards their own property. This feeling has sprung from the apparent hopelessness of the situation. One publisher after another springs up, with the same old tale of secret profits and overcharges. There is the same attempt at concealment of real profits: the same outcry when the true figures are produced. The work of the Society ought to have done much in dispelling this apathy: the advance of the author towards independence has been of late years marked and rapid, in spite of the most strenuous hostility and the most violent opposi- tion. The situation, in fact, is no longer impos- sible. And the brief survey of the history of publishing which may be read, some times between the lines, in the pages of Mr. Augustine Birrell, will be found most helpful to every one who wishes to understand the subject. Among other excellent things the learned author presents us with the case of George Wither in the year 1603, and quotes that poet's description of the "Honest" and the "Mere" Stationer and Pub- lisher. The description of the Honest publisher could hardly be put better even in this day; as, for instance, when he says that the Honest Stationer "loves a good Author as his Brother, and would be ready to yield him the due portion of his Labours without wrangling." As for the " Mere" stationer, he says: If an Author oat of meere necessity do but procure meanes to make sale of (i.e., to publish) his owne booke or to preuent the combinations of such as he by some Royall or laufull priveledge, he presently cryes it downe for a Monopoly: affyrming that men of his profession may go [and] hang themselves if that be suffred. Marry ; Authors haue a long time presented a very thankfull generation of them from hanging if they cannot afford them one booke of ten Millions to releeue them withall in a case of need—and when that booke was the Authors owne alsoe and no parte of the Stationers former liuelihood. This is just as reason- able a complaint as if a Company of Hagglers should prefer a bill against the Cnntry Farmers, for bringing their own Corne and other prouisions to the next markett. The book contributes a passage which should effectually clear the air of the confusion which prevails between the literary and the commercial value of a book. In these pages it has been con- tended over and over again that the two things are not commensurable. They have nothing to do with each other. If a bad book gets a great circulation, it means that it is a great property. Whether it deserves its popularity is a question for critics, not for the Society. So, if a good book fails, the Society has nothing to say to its failure: that is for the critics. Mr. Birrell puts the case strongly and unmistakeably. The com- mercial value of a book is represented by its sale, and nothing else. Literary property may be created by very bad literature, but property must be defended, whether it belongs to good or bad literature. If it is objected to the Sooiety that it too much empha- sises the commercial side of literature, the answer must be, it is with the commercial side of literature the Society is concerned. After all, why should not a really bad author like Mr. Thomas Hot or Miss Blatheria Gabblegoose make £ 100,000 out of their trashy books, if as a matter of fair commerce* that sum represents their true share of the profits? Why should Rot's children and Gabblegoose's nephews and nieces be deprived of the cash value of their relatives' ridiculous popularity? Educate the masses if you can, so as to make that popularity impossible, but so long as it exists it is as much (within the limits of the period as signed by the law which, indeed, it will never exceed) the property of its creator as if it were somebody's soap or so-and-so's pill8- __=»c__ II.—Copyright in Press Telegrams. In the Ceylon Legislative Council, on Dec. 2, Mr. Layard moved the first reading of "An Ordinance to secure in certain cases the right of property in telegraphic press messages." Sir E. Noel Walker seconded, and the Bill was read a first time, and set down for second reading at the next meeting of the Council. The text of the Bill is as follows. "Whereas it is expedient to secure, in certain cases, the right of property in telegraphic press messages: Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of Ceylon, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:— "1. When any person, in the manner hereinafter mentioned, publishes in any newspaper or other printed paper, published and circulated in Ceylon, any message by electric telegraph from any place outside the said island, lawfully received by such ## p. 200 (#212) ############################################ 200 THE AUTHOR. person, no other person shall, without the consent in writing of such first-mentioned person, or his agent thereto, lawfully authorise, print or publish, or cause to be printed or published, such telegram, or the substance thereof or any extract therefrom, until after a period of forty-eight hours from time of first publication; provided that such period shall not extend beyond sixty hours from the time of the receipt of such message (Sundays and public and Bank Holidays excepted), and the publica- tion of the whole or any part of such telegram, or of the substance thereof, or (excepting the publi- cation of any similar message in like manner sent) of the intelligence therein contained or any comment upon, or any reference to such intelli- gence, shall be deemed to be a publication of the same. "2. If any person wilfully print and publish, or cause to be printed and published, any matter contrary to the provision of this Ordinance, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees; and every person who is con- victed a second time of any offence against this Ordinance, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred rupees. "3. Telegraphic messages published under the protection of this Ordinance shall be printed under the heading 'By Submarine Telegraph,' and shall state the day and hour of their receipt, and such statement shall be prima facie evidence of the time of the receipt of such messages. "4. (1) During the period of forty-eight hours hereinbefore mentioned, no intelligence protected by this Ordinance shall be transmitted by electric telegraph to any person outside Ceylon by or on behalf of any person other than the person who, nnder the provisions of this Ordi- nance, is entitled to the exclusive use of such intelligence. (2) Any person acting in contra- vention of this section shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred rupees for any subsequent offence. '5. In any prosecution under this Ordinance, the production of any document which purports to be a telegraphic message from some place out- side Ceylon, and which contains the intelligence published in the newspapers as aforesaid, and which has been delivered to some person entitled to receive the same by the proper officer of the Telegraph Department, shall be prima facie evidence that the message published as herein- before described in such newspaper is a message within the meaning of this Ordinance; and proof that any person is owner, or is, or is acting, or appears to be acting as editor or manager of any newspaper in which there has been any publica- tion contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance, shall be prima facie evidence that such person has wilfully caused such unlawful publication. "6. Nothing in this Ordinance shall extend to any document published by the Government Printer, or to the report of any proceedings in the Legislative Council. "7. This Ordinance shall be cited as 'The Telegram Copyright Ordinance, 189—.'" The above extract has been printed from the Indian Daily News. _____ It appears that the Ceylon Legislative Council is going boldly to deal with a question which has been agitating the Press and all those interested in copyright in England for many years, and which has not been satisfactorily dealt with in this country owing to the many difficulties that surround the question. According to the Ceylon Bill, clause 1, copyright is given for forty-eight hours, and is on the whole very comprehensive. The Bill that was before the House of Lords last session by clause 11 asks, as regards newspapers, for "Copyright in such news and information as have been specially and in- dependently obtained." Mr. Moberly Bell, the manager of the Times, was called and examined at great length on this clause. The questions put to him and the answers he gave are exceedingly interesting and instructive to those who desire a full knowledge of the subject. It seems altogether unfair that where a paper like the Times has obtained a telegram at enormous expense it should have the benefit that may be likely to accrue to it destroyed by publication of a copy of the telegram in other papers the same day. Mr. Bell was in favour of a twenty-four hours copyright. Of course if the telegram had been also in- dependently obtained by another newspaper there would be copyright in that telegram also. The Bill was drawn to prevent papers taking the news from one another without a fair payment, and if some such copyright law were passed it is quite probable that the Times or any other paper that obtained independent news would sell the right of reproduction, and thus obtain an adequate remuneration for the trouble and expense in- curred. No doubt the point will be satisfactorily dealt with when the Government have thought fit to take up the long deferred question of copyright. ai[ III.—The Same Old Agreement. Memorandum of Agreement made this day of , 189 between of , hereafter called the publisher of the one part, and of hereafter called the anthor, of the other part. The said publisher agrees to produce in tasteful form, and publish in the usual manner at his own expense, an edition of a volume written by the said author and entitled ## p. 201 (#213) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 20I "," the said volume to consist of one hundred and ninety-two pages orown octavo size, and to be published at five shillings per copy. The said author hereby agrees to be responsible for the sale of three hundred and fifty copies of the said volume, and undertakes at the expiration of six months from the daet of issue to purchase at the rate of three shillings per copy whatever number of oopies, if any, may be necessary to make the sales up to the said number of three hundred and fifty copies. This edition to be the property of the said publisher, bnt it is understood that the copyright is and remains the pro- perty of the said author. All proofs of the said work to be oorrected and returned promptly to the printer by the said author. The agreement printed above has again been handed by a member of the Authors' Society to the Secretary. Three or four times already the agreement has been printed in The Author and the other productions of the Society, and the dangers arising from such agreement explained. That in one certain case the agreement may have worked out fairly is not an argument that the agreement i3 a good one, but this argument has been urged by the publisher, for an agreement should be so drawn that in any case and whatever the sale of the book, it should be an equitable agreement between the parties concerned. The dangers of this agreement have so often been set forward that it was hoped, as indeed has been the case for some time, that no such agreements had been recently circulated. Perhaps it will be necessary to explain once more in general terms the unreasonableness of the agreement as it stands. To begin with, the book is a small one, 192 pp. cr. 8vo., and it is published at a large price for such a small book, viz., 5*. The author guarantees to purchase 350 copies by the end of six months at the price of 3$., making in all a sum of .£52 i0s., a sum which must go a long way towards paying the cost of production if not covering it alto- gether, especially as no mention is made of the size of the edition. If 750 copies only were printed, it may be understood that the publisher would virtually have no risk. This is not all however. It does not pay the publisher to push the book in the least degree for the first six months, for if he should do so he will not obtain the author's money. He therefore has nothing to do but let the book lie on his shelves and at the end of the six months send in his account for the number of copies unsold. No agreement should be drawn on such lines that it is not for the benefit of the author and publisher to be working in unison. Looking into the agreement further, it is obvious that no mention is made whatever of the profits to accrue after the sale of 350 copies, except in the last clause, in which it says: "This edition is to be the property of the pub- lisher." As has been pointed out no hmit is mentioned to the edition. If, therefore, the book chances to be a success the publisher could go on printing and selling the book, putting all the profits into his own pocket and stating that the first edition was, say, 10,000 copies. The Pub- lishers' Association have not as yet settled that great point, what should be the number of an edition. Summing up the whole results, therefore, of the agreement, it does not pay the publisher to work in unison with the author. Their benefit is not mutual. The publisher runs no risk and may possibly make a large profit. From the author s point of view the author stands to lose .£52 i0*., and cannot possibly make anything, however suc- cessful the book is. This agreement, therefore, cannot possibly be called equitable as between the parties. G- H- T- IV.—A Friendly Critic. I have been an associate of the Authors' Society now for six years, and have during that time tried to keep in touch with it by occasionally making some irresponsible comments on the contents of its journal. Having just polished off my year's work, and received a copy of the December Author, I take the liberty of criticising that number—for publication or not, as you like, of course. The motive, as I say, is merely that of keeping in touch—marking my gratitude, perhaps, for the education I receive through the journal, which I might, if I did not acknowledge it some- how, be thought not to appreciate. Page 151: "A Curious Question." Sales reported to date, say, 500; account delivered and royalty paid thereon. The week after, a certain bookseller tells the publisher he has 100 copies of that publisher's dead books on hand (which include, say, twenty copies of the book in ques. tion), and will he " exchange" them? (the same thing as buying them back). Publisher does so; he has therefore paid author royalty on twenty more copies than he has sold. The "curious question " (and it is aptly called) amounts, then, divested of "fatal generalisation," to this: If the book manages to sell again (or not, for that matter), shall the author refund the royalty on those twenty copies? Sir W. B. says No. The publisher took them back for his own purposes, and the author has nothing to do with that. Mr. Thring replies with admirable equivocation (which may be non- committal, but does not assist the author), " It is a point of moral obligation." ## p. 202 (#214) ############################################ 202 THE AUTHOR. Since you expressly invite opinions, this is mine: The books were not sold, and, although no publisher would think of asking for a cash return, he would be justified in reselling those twenty copies before any other, and the author if asked would assuredly reply that it was his moral obli- gation to be glad that the publisher had an oppor- tunity of recovering his over-payment. And this is why I have the temerity to gainsay Sir Walter. If you put your invention in the hands of a dealer to sell for you, it would be fool-pidgin (in the language of the East) to restrict him in the management of the sales. The Authors' Syndicate itself stipulates, I believe, that, once put in charge of an invention, the inventor shall not meddle with their management of it. Now, one of the most difficult matters for the publisher (and the difficulty arises chiefly on account of the author's suspiciousness) is that everlasting ques- tion of " Sale or Return." You may notice that Mr. Zeitgeist (Literary Property, III.), who apparently proceeded by the advice of the Society, put all his books "on sale." Very often you simply can't deal with " Smith's" except on that arrangement. When the time for rendering accounts comes, the publisher finds that Smith has taken 500 copies " on sale." What is he to do with the author? He can't leave the whole parcel out of his account; it probably represents the major part of the edition. If he gives him the royalty on the 500, what is he to do when next week 100 soiled copies come back on his ,hands, with the curt remark, "Book dead"? This is a question in itself worth your treat- ment if you have not already treated it; but there can be no doubt that in such a case the books have not been sold, and that, if the author has received royalty on them, he ought to refund it. I know that you will immediately reply, " This is beside the question; we were not talking of books on sale." With your leave I shall say that you were. In reality, a number of books sold to a bookseller are not really sold; they are placed on the counter for sale. I could mention to you at least three London booksellers, and two provin- cial ones, who make a constant practice, and a very annoying one, of arranging with the "traveller" to make certain exchanges of dead books for live ones; their invariable argument is, "Well, if we weren't sure that you would see we were not'left' with dead paper, we should not order so many." Now the traveller has a new book in his bag which he is anxious to place by the dozen (his own commission is in question, too) and he exercises his proper discretion (if you wish a traveller to push, you must give him discretion) by arranging for the return of the old books, or at least by promising that in the case of this particular new book he will see, if the bookseller will take a dozen, that he is not "left." In short, there is always a certain amount of " on sale or return " business going on; the publisher himself kicks at it, but his traveller (the most important part of the firm) insists on discre- tionary powers, and the author should be ready to grant similar discretion to bis publisher. As another instance, I will take the liberty of men- tioning Messrs. Denny Brothers, not only a very large and important firm of booksellers, but very prompt, honest, and practical business men. I believe they can only take stock once a year. Suppose they find to their surprise that they have £100 worth of dead stuff from a single publisher (not, of course, bought in one year, but consisting of special books which are carried forward for a long time before their demand is certainly dead), what are they to do in this case? They put it to the traveller; the traveller puts it to the firm; the publisher kicks, and says it is their own look-out if they overstock, and, if they like to be fools, he is not going to pay for their folly. Now, what is Mr. Denny going to reply to this? If he does not ominously say nothing, and quietly return the traveller his samples with a conclusive " Two each," he may very justly reply: "I buy your books by the dozen and give them a good show. I get no better terms than anyone else, but I do more for your authors than many smaller dealers. I cannot keep an eye on every book I buy, and they go into the shelves and are lost sight of. I own that I have bought and paid for these books, and that I have no right to ask you to buy them back. None the less, I find that I have lost over them, chiefly through taking your word that they were better than they are. I must sell them for waste paper and lose .£90. Do you care to bear part of that loss with me? If I had not stocked them, you would have lost that <£i00 yourself. If you cannot meet me, I must give over pushing your books and buy them only to order, devoting my show space to more lucrative stuff." Now, what is the publisher to do? He knows, more than your authors appear to do, how much a book depends on the bookseller. He knows that if Denny takes a dozen, he will sell nine; but if he only takes two, he will only sell that two. Is it not better to virtually put that dozen "on sale," even if, a year after, he has to buy back three? I will own that as a rule the publisher does not see it in this light, chiefly because it muddles up the accounts, and because the author will not treat him with the same give-and-take. But it illus- trates my theoretical contention that no book is sold until the bookseller has sold it, and that the author has no right to royalty on books which the publisher buys back. I reply to the "Curious ## p. 203 (#215) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 203 Question," then, that the publisher has not only the right to resell those books which come back, first, but that, if they ave dead, he has even a right to ask the author to refund the royalty on them. [Very well. But why does the publisher return as "sold " books which are not paid for? He can surely wait till he gets the money or till the books are returned.—Ed.] "Literary Property—III." merely calls for a repetition of my remarks above concerning the "traveller." "Zeitgeist" tells us that he has printed 3000 copies for <£118, "advertising extra." But what on earth is printing and advertising? That is not publishing a book. He says triumphantly, "The book is well groomed, and the publisher nowhere — not wanted." I venture to " beg his pardon." He says, "My egg may be addled." "With every regret I am bound to say there is every likelihood of that catastrophe, because he has- overlooked the true raison d'itre of the publisher's existence. Publishing consists not in printing and adver- tising, but in putting the book on the market. How is this done? By travellers. The author may, if he likes, " travel " London himself at a cost not exceeding 6d. a day and his time. Unless he has the good fortune to have been a trave ler by profession, he will find that it will take him a good fortnight to do London alone, and then he will probably miss the most important exporters. There is no way of finding out the full list of buyers in London except by tedious experience or the advice of a professional, and, after all, it would be peine perdue, for he would find that three-fourths of them would not "open an account" with a private person. Then he has to collect his accounts, deliver his small parcels—oh Lord! he little knows who would be his pub- lisher himself. To travel " the country" would take about three months, at a minimum expense of 15*. a day. And, in short, no author is fit to "travel" at all, and he would only make a fool of himself. I presume that "Zeitgeist" sold through Simpkins; it' he didn't, he can't have "published " himself at all. It is too long to go into, but I believe I could jirove conclusively that an unknown author has a far better chance of a sale and of profit on a 15, or even a 10, per cent. royalty from a good firm, than by playing amateur publisher himself. That is one mischief you do, Mr. Author. You uncon- sciously persuade young aspirants to undertake something quite out of their line, and which they are entirely unfit for. Your only off-set to this misdirection of zeal is your old advice that a book which a publisher will not accept is a book that is not worth publishing. You ought VOL. IX. certainly to add this to your permanent front page. And I wish next time anyone tells you how they had gone behind the publisher you would exact a full account of the methods employed vis-a-vis the booksellers, and the result. That would be useful; we should learn by other authors' mistakes. [Very well, again. But my correspondent is mistaken. No one wants a young author to "travel" for himself, or to become an " amateur publisher." Nor is Simpkin the only distributing publisher. Nor has every firm its own travellers. The '• Method of the Future " has nothing to do with amateur publishing, and nothing to do with private attempts to sell a book.—Ed.] I pass on to "VII. Author and Publisher" —" Glenfruin." To begin with, I have a fault to find with the tone of this letter, a tone con- stantly recurring in The Author; it is one which is not "business," and does great harm to the business character of the journal. "Glenfruin" says: "The present relations between A. and P. are truly ridiculous to contemplate. 'You give me your book,' says P. to A., 'and you see nothin', and you ask nothin', except what I may be jolly well pleased to give you, for I am the Immaculate Llama of Literature.'" Mr. Author—that "nothin'," that "jolly well"! It is all very jolly, but it is not la guerre. With all respect to Mr. Glenfruin, I think the older or sager members of the Society might ask you to use the blue pencil occasionally so that we may not seem children. And now for " Grlenfruin's" contentions. How comes it that you insert this letter without a note re-stating your own frequent refutation of it? "Glenfruin " thinks that a book depends on the critics, and that the critics are in the pay of the publisher. Both these are exploded fallacies. A book is subscribed before it is published, and no bookseller reads reviews. Bad reviews cannot alter the "subscription," which is the only sale the new author gets unless his book is good. If it is good, sufficient reviews will find it out to persuade a certain number of readers to take it from the library, and these readers do the rest. If Jones tells you the book is " jolly good," are you influenced because Literature tells you it is tiresome? No. The vivil voce recommenda- tion is the one that tells. You know Jones; you don't know the critic. Secondly, I repeat, if the book is good, you may be sure the majority of the critics will say so. Every unknown book gets from thirty to fifty notices in the English Press; every book by a kiiown author from fifty to 100. Out of a score of critics, how many will be influenced by a publisher, by "private enmity," z ## p. 204 (#216) ############################################ 204 THE AUTHOR. or by inherent malice? At the outside, five. The rest may not know a good book from a bad one, or share your own notions of what is good, but you may be pretty sure that ten of them, taken together, have a better "general idea" of what the public likes than you have. But apart from this, and "thirdly," out of that score of critics not more than five are so much as read by book buyers ; people who can afford to buy books, if they want criticisms at all to go by, look to a dozen papers at the outside, and not many of that dozen will notice you at all, unless you are "good." The idea of a critic of any importance sedulously hobnobbing with a dozen publishers daily, and going over with them the pile of books on his table, is pretty, but "it won't wash clothes." Here and there an important critic has a friendship, or an interest, with one or two publishers, and may receive a hint that a good review of one of the firm's books would be grate- fully received, but it doe< not occur "every time "; and such influence could only be secured to praise a book, and a book that would bear praising without loss to the critic's prestige. With unabated admiration for the work of the Society. M. Ottawa, Dec. 1898. [The practice in these columns has been to let members of the Society have their say, within reasonable limits. What "M." says has been said already, over and over again, as to the value of reviews. As to the connection between critics and publishers, that is not a point to be settled out of hand. One hears so many stories, and makes so many observations, that such a connection some- times exists, to the destruction of fair reviewing. That it is a common practice one would be very unwilling to believe.—Ed.] >«^——. THE AMERICAN BOOK TRADE. THE book trade of America is in an exceed- ingly prosperous state so far as the sale of books goes, but there, as in this country, the position of the bookseller is becoming a matter of anxiety. An extremely optimistic article on book-buying appeared lately in the New York Times, wherein it is stated that the most remarkable evidence of increased demand is the very conspicuous place which books now have in the shops and in the advertisements of the department stores and other mercantile esta- blishments that have lately entered that branch of trade. What a few years ago was at most a book counter has in many of these establishments become an immense book store, furnished forth with a great stock of books, and prepared to take and fill orders to supply any book published any- where. Old houses seem to be doing a larger business than ever, and the new ones that are established from time to time seem to find room for themselves. The conclusion is inevitable, therefore, that the people are buying more books, and the Areic York Times finds the reason for this to lie in the fact that books are cheap to- day: "The old, well-known books, the classics of literature which it is commonly assumed that everybody has read, and which comparatively few have really ever had in their hands, are so very cheap that persons who ever talk about books are ashamed not to own some of them, and have them in the house. Cooper, Thackeray, Dickens, not to mention Macaulay and Gibbon, are at anybody's command for a surprisingly small sum: not in sumptuous editions, not in library bindings, but still in readable form." Yet in the midst of all this activity the dis- tributor of books is in difficulties. In the words of the Dial, "his occupation is slipping from him, through the action of irresistible economic laws, and the thoughtless public pays little heed to his plight." The great dealers in miscellaneous merchandise are absorbing the retail trade in books, and are even getting possession of the customers who have hitherto supported the book- sellers of the smaller towns. "The bookseller who used to think 50 per cent. not too large a profit upon his wares, considering that he offered as a bonus his good advice and genial friendship, has given place to the merchant who can wax fat upon 10 per cent., or less, of profit, but is too busy to have either advice or friendship to spare for you." It appears that a striking experiment has recently been made by a publishing house, which advertises broadcast its willingness to send any of its publications to any address upon the receipt of a post-card request, trusting to the honesty of the prospective purchaser either to return the book or to pay for it. The general adoption of this plan, remarks the Dial, would tend to eliminate retail bookselling from the list of business occupations. Still, another experi- ment of which the bookseller makes complaint is that of selling books of the more expensive sort upon the instalment plan, the entire work being delivered upon receipt of the order and the first payment. These and other "insidious devices for sup- planting the bookseller must lie met, if they are to be met at all, by the more effective organisation of his trade." Follow the example of Germany—says the Dial. If the American bookseller, by co-operating with the publishers, could arrange that his customers should have ## p. 205 (#217) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. copies of books on approbation—or, in the phrase so common in England, "on sale or return "—there would no longer be any real com- petition between the two classes, but a relation of mutual helpfulness that would impel each of them to cherish the interests of the other. But, beyond all suggestions of this kind, the future of bookselling does not seem to the Dial to be unpromising. There is the broad general fact that the appetite for books is constantly growing among the population, and it is folly to assume that book stores will be lacking to satisfy this appetite, " since the book-buyer, as a rule, wants to inspect his books before buying, and the retail trade in books is as sure of customers as the retail trade in eggs and poultry. That trade, we have not the least doubt, will emerge triumphant from its seeming temporary eclipse, but it will be adapted to the new conditions, it will be reorganised to meet the new demands, and it will be willing to find in its larger sales a com- pensation for its lessened percentage of profit." PAEIS NOTES. THE sudden death of Georges Rodenbach on Christmas night, at the comparatively early age of forty-three years, made a vast impression here on the literary world. The papers had not yet notified his illness when the tidings reached us that the well-known poet and novelist, the friend of Alphonse Daudet and Edmond de Goncourt, had already rejoined his illustrious comrades in that shadowy land from whence no traveller returneth. Born at Tournai and brought up at Brussels, he depicted the subtle poesy enveloping the "dead city which mirrors its ancient towers in its motionless canals" with wonderful graphic force, joined to a languorous, lotus-like charm, the outcome of an intensely analytic and reflective mind which possessed in no ordinary degree the power of placing picturesquely before the reader the smallest detail, the most hazy outline of the various canvasses on which he worked so untir- ingly. He especially delighted in the sonorous melody of church bells; and as Victor Hugo bequeathed to the bells of Notre Dame the immortal spirit of Quasimodo, so the Belgian endowed the cathedral bells of his native land with a living soul. Among his most celebrated works on this subject may be mentioned "Le Carillonneur," "Bruges la Morte," and "Le Voile," which last was performed with great success at the Com^die Francaise. A cortege of devoted friends and fellow-workers—MM. Sully Prudhomme, Anatole France, de Heredia, Leon Dierx, Rodin, and Emile Verhaeren (the latter having come from Brussels expressly to assist at the interment)—bore the body of Georges Roden- bach to its last resting-place, and M. Catulle Mendes, in the funeral oration delivered at Pere- Lachaise, rendered a graceful and touching tribute to the memory of his brother poet: "dont personne ne saurait dire qu'il est mort tout entier." A complete novel, entitled " Made- moiselle Noémi, and a large collection of verses were found among Georges Rodenbach's unpub- lished works. The Academy has again a vacant fauteuil owing to the death of M. Edouard Herve, one of the two journalists cited in our last issue as completing the tale of literati belonging to that illustrious body. M. Herve was the founder of the first large daily newspaper issued at a halfpenny, and it is not as the refined and cultured lettre but as the editor and originator of Le Soleil that his name will be remembered by the public at large. He belonged to the punctilious, old-fashioned Prevost- Paradol school of journalists, and the only rash act recorded of him during his long public career is the challenge sent to Edmond About on the appearance of a certain article, containing more gall than honey, in the Dix-Neuvieme Siecle, which the latter was then editing. M. Herve leaves two works almost completed, of which one is reported to deal largely with Richelieu. The 2 5 9th anniversary of the birth of Racine was fitly commemorated at the two great national theatres (the Odeon and Comedie Francaise) by various excerpts from the most celebrated works of the famous dramatists, while various journals devoted a column more or less to enumerating his titles to the gratitude of posterity. The previous revival of "Britannicus" (Theatre Antoine) evoked, however, as little enthusiasm among the nineteenth century spectators as in the far-off days when Boileau was forced to undertake the defence of this powerful but tedious masterpiece. It is easier to revive the costumes of the past than to put the public in sympathy with the exaggerated hyperbole of our forefathers. A neat adaptation of modern sentiment in ancient garb is both picturesque and lucrative, whereof the success of "Cyrano de Bergerac" witnesseth; and in framing their playbills, theatrical managers would do well to bear in mind the present predilection for modern tableaux in antiquated settings. In the early dawn of the bicycle furore a sapient professor of the Sorbonne opined that its universal adoption would prove a harmless safety-valve for the superfluous feminine energy otherwise likely to be devoted to fomenting an ## p. 206 (#218) ############################################ 206 THE AUTHOR. interior domestic revolution in France. But he was mistaken. The bicycle furore and the Feminist agitation have developed amicably side by side, and the fact that only last month the Fourth Chamber of the Seine Tribunal pro- nounced no less than 284 divorces in the short space of four hours makes us understand why the divorce question is so hotly discussed and so variously represented by the rising generation of French writers. Among the host of new play8 which have recently appeared on this subject, two have especially attracted attention and comparison—not only from their striking similarity in plot, but also from the totally different reception they have received from the hands of the public. I allude to "Le Berceau" by M. Brieux, and "Le Voyage autour du Code" by MM. Duval and Hennequin; the former, despite the powerful support of M. Francisque Sarcey, having been assailed by a storm of invidious criticism, while the latter has been applauded and acclaimed to the skies. Unfortu- nately, each successive work of M. Brieux has fallen short of (he high expectations originally formed of his talent; his style is too speculative, his characters are too negative and abstract to awaken the genuine enthusiasm of the gallery gods on whose support he relies, and the bids he makes for popular favour in the shape of hackneyed situations materially decrease the value of his later work. Apropos of Francisque Sarcey, the doyen of the critics, "notre bon Oncle Francisque," as the Parisians love to call him, a good story is in circulation relating to the volume of poems which Mlle. Yvette Guilbert is about to publish. The petite histoire, which has vastly amused the Parisians, is as follows. M. Sarcey, having one night mislaid his ordinary rose-coloured spec- tacles, found Mlle. Guilbert's voice no longer to his taste. He forthwith expressed his opinion in print, and was unwary enough to visit the Scala the following night. Immediately the sprightly divette came on the scene she turned towards the critic's box and began to sing the well-known refrain: Chamean! 0, le chamean, saluting M. Sarcey at each recurrence of the word "chameau," while, to the accompaniment of the orchestra, the public yelled: M on oncle! O, mon oncle! until the unlucky critic was forced to beat a retreat. The controversy still continues, and it is to avenge herself for the biting critiques on her performance which followed this; scene that Mlle. Yvette Guilbert is reported to have entered the literary lists as a versificator. The "Leonard de Vinci " of M. Eugene Muntz (librairie Hachette) is the most complete and copious biography of the great painter, sculptor, man of letters, mathematician, and architect, that has yet been produced. But in this depart- ment M. Muntz has few equals, and the popula- rity attained by his " Raphael, sa vie, son ceuvres et son temps," "Precurseurs de la Renaissance," "Donatello," "La Renaissance en Italie," &c., ensure the success of his present venture. His latest volume contains reproductions of all the works either attributed or authentically proven to owe their existence to the brush or chisel of the great Italian master. The collectors of historical souvenirs and heir- looms recently experienced a shock on learning, through the agency of the Figaro, that, at the late sale of the Charles Yriarte collection, a choice relic—the only authentic photograph of Daguerre's portrait of Balzac, which the famous novelist had himself presented to Gavarni—had been sold for thirty francs! The original plaque was preserved in a villa at St. Cloud until Jan. 26, 1871, when it was destroyed by a Bavarian soldier, and the supposed only authentic photo- graphic copy thus cheaply disposed of bore an inscription in Charles Yriarte's handwriting which concluded thus: "The historian of Balzac, Viscount Spoelberg de Lovenjoul, presented me with this token as a souvenir of the original portrait now destroyed." The lamentations of the perturbed corps of literary collectors and connoisseurs were, however, soon cut short by the arrival of a letter from the Viscount Spoelberg de Lovenjoul himself, stating that the portrait sold was merely a copy of the original photo- graph, which last formed one of the most precious jewels of his own Balzacien collection. Whereat the respective sentiments of the collectors and actual purchaser underwent a speedy transforma- tion. The lovers of Pierre Loti's dainty verses will be glad to hear that Conquet has just issued an "exquise nouvelle japonaise," entitled "La Chanson des Vieux lipoux," by this charming author. The booklet is enriched with water- coloured sketches by Henry Somno. This is probably the last work we shall have for some time from the e?er-juvenile Immortal, who is now at Hendaye busily engaged in preparing his trunks for a Persian trip. M. Paul Bourget is still enjoying the tranquility of his charming villa near Hylres, as is his usual custom during this inclement season. He usually devotes himself entirely to literary work during the first two or three months of the year. At the ## p. 207 (#219) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 207 present moment the Revue Hebdomadaire is publishing the second series of his famous "Voyageuses," in which we find again the "Gladys" of "Claude Larcher." We regret that space will not permit ns to quote a few extracts from the wonderfully graphic word-paintings of surrounding scenery with which this work abounds. M. Bourget is also engaged on a psychological novel, entitled "Reine Verdit-r," which will shortly appear in Les Annale*. The "Femmes Nouvelles" of the brothers Margueritte is extremely ri propos at this moment, when the Feminist question forms one of the topics of the day in all fin de siecle salons. MM. Margueritte are now hard at work in preparing "Les Troncons du Glaive," a novel dealing with national defence, which will form a continuation to the "Desastre." Immediately the former is in the press, they will commence a third volume on the same lines, entitled "La Commune." The popularity of the "Desastre" certainly justifies a sequel, and, if the two later works equal their predecessor in interest, the trilogy cannot fail to attain a great literary and pecuniary success. Mme. Jean Bertheroy does not occupy herself with any of the vexed questions relating to her sex. She lives a life apart in her quiet hermitage at Montmorency, too enveloped in the glamour of the past to desire to take part in the burning topics of the present moment. She has now three works on hand: the first, entitled "La Dame de Pompeii," which deals entirely with that far-off period when Pompeii figured on the maps of the ancient world; the second, entitled " Le Journal de Marguerite Plantin," dealing with the old Musee Plantin at Anvers, which two hundred years ago figured as a printing establishment; and the third, " Le Jardin des Tolosatti," which presents us to no less a personage than the cele- brated Clemence Isaure, who instituted the floral sports in 1490. Perhaps, after all, Mme. Ber- theroy is more permeated by the spirit of the present age than she would care to acknow- ledge; else, wherefore her choice of the latter subject? M. Victorien Sardou has no love for reporters, and delights in putting them off his trail if possible. Despite his precautions, however, sundry details of the work on which he is now engaged have leaked out, and the fact that his apartment is encumbered with a prodigious pile of documentary lore relating to the period of the Revolution, gives colour to the assertion that we shall shortly have either a drama or prose study of "Robespierre" from the pen of the famous dramatist. [This is confirmed by the announce- ment that M. Sardou has written a play on Robespierre for Sir Henry Irving, who will signalise his return to the Lyceum by producing it.—Ed., A.] M. Marcel Prcvost has just returned from a lecturing tour in Holland, which he undertook at the invitation of the Alliance for the propagation of French literature abroad. In addition to holding the pen of a ready writer, M. Prevost possesses in perfection the art of a ready and interesting speaker. Needless to add that he received a warm reception in the Netherlands, and that the tour was a great success. "George Sand, sa vie et son ceuvre," formed the subject of his lecture. Bon chien chasse de race, as a visit to M. Leon Daudet's study amply testifies. "Sebastien Gouves," a thick volume recording the miseries meted out to a man of genius by unworthy charlatans, from whom he is finally rescued by filial devotion, stands completed; "La Con- seillere," a domestic drama long promised the Odeon, is receiving its finishing touches; and (most interesting of all!) a species of pamphlet- causerie " La Dignite de la litterature," is also under way. Of the latter he says: "The matter is vast, and I treat it without reticence." He is likewise contemplating the filling-in of a numerous list of sketches of future dramas, comedies, novels, pamphlets, &c.—a work sufficient in itself to fill the lifetime of several ordinary writers. But Leon Daudet cannot be considered as an ordinary writer; he is the exceptionally clever inheritor of a famous patronymic, and this fact has un- doubtedly influenced both his character and choice of a caieer. M. Eugene Rostand, poet, orator, journalist, historian, founder of numerous patriotic and useful institutions for the benefit of the poorer classes, and last—but by no means least—father of the celebrated author of " Cyrano de Bergerac," has recently been elected a member of the Academic des Sciences, Morales, et Politiques. The dramatic genius of M. Edmond Rostand may thus be considered as the direct perpetuation of a hereditary talent. Recent inquiries have also unearthed the interesting fact that, in addition to having broken the existing record in the theatrical world, "Cyrano de Bergerac " (in book form) has numerically scored one of the greatest literary successes hitherto known in France. Darracotte Dene. ## p. 208 (#220) ############################################ 2o8 THE AUTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. IN "The Pen and the Book," which was advertised in last month's Author, nothing is advanced which has not been put forward again and again, not only in this paper, but in the reports and circulars of the Society. Nothing can be argued against these points which has not been argued again and again in a hundred letters written to protest against the wicked authors who desire to know what the management of their own property actually means. But our friends are never tired of protesting. They are always ready to mis- represent and to distort and to conceal, over and over again, even in the teeth of notorious facts and the steady extension of the light. Therefore I was not surprised to find in Literature a letter based on a long series of the most daring state- ments ever put forward. Think, for instance, of a publisher, after all these years of the Society's action, imagining that such statements as the following can be believed: (i.) "In profit-sharing agreements the author has a voice in the choice of printer and binder, and often knows beforehand what the estimate is." I have seen hundreds of agreements of the kind but never one with such a clause. (2.) "Wilful overcharging can only be tested by giving definite accounts from definite indi- viduals. As these are not furnished the general charge may be dismissed as unworthy of con- sideration." In another paper of the same date, another publisher is actually confessing to the practice and defending it! (3.) He says that in publishers' commission— a. Fees are never charged. On the contrary fees are constantly charged. /3. That "percentages are the creation of prejudiced counsel." Really! Tet the Publishers' Association in their draft agreements claim the right—actually the right—of adding percentages in commission publishing, on every item, and what they please! y. That authors are asked to suggest the medium of advertising. I never heard of any such invitation. I have, however, heard of a certain sum named for adver- tisements and of its expenditure in the publisher's own organs. He says also that publishers do not "care a rap " for commission business. Why, the number of such publications is simply enormous and is increasing every year. There are also many passages " quoted," i.e., in inverted commas or without, which I have been unable to find in the book. He further attacks certain printers' estimates given by me. He may attack the printers as much as he likes. It is their business, not mine. If he means that I have invented the estimates, that is another point altogether. The rest of his letter is answered by me in Literature. . The reason why I mention the matter here is that one or two points are raised about which we cannot be too clear in all dealings with publishers. These are:— 1. Overcharges. Remember that in every partnership or joint enterprise, if one partner spends .£i00 and says he has spent .£120, secretly pocketing the odd sum, he is regarded as a Thief. Apply the principle to publishing. A man may make any excuses he pleases about secretly taking discounts, but the fact—the broad, disagreeable fact—remains that he who deceives his partner, and makes secret profits by his misrepresentations, is a Thief. And this fact is the real cause of nearly the whole hostility that has been displayed towards the Society from the outset. 2. Advertisements. The power of charging for advertisements in a publisher's own organ, is simply the power of taking to himself, if he pleases, the whole pro- ceeds of the book. I have had several letters on the subject—some of them important: some trivial. It is important to be told by one that a certain publisher of standing confessed to him that a large part of his profits consisted of secret discounts. Another, also important, from a former employe" in a pub- lisher's house—" one of the new firms "—reveals, if it is true, a system of systematic robbery. I wish the firm in question could read what is written about them by an ^.-employ i. It may be said, of course, that the old servant was spitefully bringing false charges. Perhaps ; therefore I do not quote his words: but it is not a false charge to offer a word of practical advice. "Now is the time for some of the authors to have their accounts examined thoroughly — not for the past half year only, but where they have been running some time, especially for any books that have had a great sale: every voucher " and every record of sales as the books have been sold to be seen." Perhaps something practical may be the out- come of this correspondence. The case is, as I ## p. 209 (#221) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 209 have always pointed out, entirely in our own hands. It depends simply on authors being able to overcome their old prejudices and jealousies and to act together. If they show any power of common action, the battle is won at a single coup. For four reasons I did not send out " The Pen and the Book" for review. First, because the book was not written for the general public at all, but for the literary aspirant. Secondly, because a part of the book—that containing the facts and figures concerning the commercial side of publishing, are Greek and Hebrew to the reviewer, who will be quite prepared to believe the first publisher who tells him that they are invented—some of them are already beginning this little perjury; thirdly, because I think that it is time for authors to have a voice in the papers in which they invite a review; and, lastly, because I think it would be well in the case of a book which is certain to awaken all the old hostility to the work of the Society, to let the animus be shown in uninvited comments from those who love the secret profits, and the fine old vague talk about risk, and expense, and loss, to which we have been accustomed for the last six years. The hostility is silent for a while, then it breaks out again with the stale old allegations and distortions. For these reasons also I have not yet adver- tised the book. I shall do so after, not before, the first free flow of invective. Meantime, I may be believed by our members, I hope, when I state that I have not published this book with the desire of making money by it: that I am, above all things, desirous of seeing it read and studied by the class for whom it is intended: and that I can think of no better way than to get it into the free libraries. Therefore, since a very large number of these libraries have great difficulty in buying all the books they would like to have, I shall be very much obliged to the readers of these columns if they will send me the names and addresses of the free libraries in their neighbour- hood. I do not mean village libraries, but those of cities and town*. I propose, therefore, to set apart 300 copies, and will have them forwarded as presentation copies to the address given. If the member would like to give a copy himself, I can have it sent to him direct, and will leave it to him to give the library. I should like letters on this subject addressed to me at Hampstead, and in case of any considerable response I will undertake to have the books sent in order of application. As an illustration of the decay of the book trade, a circular has been sent to me by a correspondent in Bradford, Yorkshire. It announces the melancholy fact that one of the leading booksellers in the town is giving up the sale of books altogether. The firm says, in this circular: "Bookselling has been very unremu- nerative for many years past, and as we require the room for our quickly increasing stationery trade, we have decided to give up bookselling altogether." My correspondent adds: "There are 300,000 inhabitants in this city. There is not one shop now selling new books, and nothing else. And there is only one second-hand bookseller." Meantime it is nearly a year since the Pub- lishers' Association sent out its proposals and since the Society of Authors considered those proposals. Are they going to propose any new method? It must be remembered that the prin- cipal features of the former scheme were—(1) to tax the public by adding something like 11 per cent. to the price of a book; (2) to take an addi- tional twopence or so on a six shilling volume for themselves; (3) to give the bookseller an additional fourpence or so; and (4) to give the author nothing more at all. They also propose to strike at the root of freedom and independence by refusing to allow the bookseller to treat his own property as he pleases. These proposals, therefore, were rejected. In any new ones it is certain that the public must not be taxed ; that the booksellers' position must be improved; and that the publishers must suffer some loss. The authors will find out what that is, and take steps accordingly. It is, of course, too much to hope that the publishers will openly place the real figures before the authors and the booksellers. We must do that for them. The proposal that the author shall pay a certain sum of money towards the publication of his book is now, I am assured by the Secretary, becoming much more common with publishers than was formerly the case when reputable persons would not produce a book, or offer to produce a book, with such help from the author. To propose it would have seemed to show either a disbelief in the book or the poverty of the house. When the amount asked for is equivalent to the whole cost of production, or more, it means that the publisher may gain a great deal and cannot lose. A variant has lately appeared. 1 saw recently an offer which at first sight seemed quite " sport- ing." The publisher offered a royalty of 40 per cent. on the first 500 copies, and then 15 per cent. ## p. 210 (#222) ############################################ 2IO THE AUTHOR. for all copies to follow. This seemed really noble! The royalty, if the book was a 6*. one, meant over 2s. 4d. a copy for 500 copies and iOjrf. for all following copies. Very pretty, indeed. What does a grumbling, greedy, grasp- ing Society think of that? Well, it meant a firm belief in the future success of the book, because the first royalty must mean a dead loss on 500 copies. Thus, for a tolerably large edition, costing with advertising is. a copy, or, say, .£150, after the first 500 copies, the publisher would lose .£130 approximately. After the first 1000, he would be a loser of .£65. After the next 1000 he would be a gainer of .£65. After the third 1000 he would be a gainer of £ 195. In every follow- ing 1000 the difference between the author and himself would be enlarged. You now see the true generosity of this offer. But, somehow, he distrusted his own proposal after all, for he supplemented it by a suggestion that if the author would kindly advance a certain sum on the cost of the book he should have such a number of the books sent to him as he could retail among his friends for the double. A hundred per cent. profit! Who could resist such a temptation Y And what a beautiful prospect of publishing in the near future opens out before us! We are to pay a publisher for producing the book (which is done by the printer), and we are then to sell the book ourselves. We shall have to hawk it about at dinner parties: in clubs: on the golf links: wo shall stand at church doors with the books in a basket: between the acts we shall offer it to the stalls: we shall insert an advertisement of the book in every private letter: we shall send slips describing the book to all our friends: we shall engage those who are near to us to join in this charming excursion into retail lines. There is no end to the dignity, the honour, the glory that awaits Literature when this nobleman—I must anticipate tlie distinction that awaits him—has succeeded in persuading authors to accept his proposals. Walter Besant. MILTON'S HOETON. BY common consent Milton is considered our second greatest poet, and therefore Milton's shrine (or shrines) should rank only second in interest to that of Shakespeare. Yet for a hundred pilgrims who visit Stratford- on-Avon there is not probably more than one who betakes him to Horton, or Chalfont, or even to Cripplegate. This is partly accounted for by the fact that all Shakespeare's life was connected more or less with Stratford; but Milton wandered much. Part of his youth was spent at Horton, in Buckinghamshire, and his latter days in London. He wrote" Comus," " L'Allegro," "II Penseroso," and, perhaps, "Lycidas" at Horton; and therefore it seems fitting that the literary pilgrim should think about Milton in the fields and woods of Buckinghamshire before seeking his more frequented shrine in the City of London. John Milton, the poet's father, was a scrivener in Bread-street, London, where his son was born; he retired from business, and went to live at Horton. Thither the son also retired at the age of twenty-four, and his pastoral poems appear to have been the expression of his peace and contentment in that rural home. This was after his scholastic life at Cambridge, and before his foreign travel and all the storm and stress which tossed him about in his maturer years. We could ill afford to lose the product of the five years passed so tranquilly at Horton. It may be true, as the late Mark Pattison remarks in his volume on Milton in the English Men of Letters Series, that this poet's love of Nature was chiefly academical; that he regarded Nature as he thought she ought to be regarded, and as the Latin poets had regarded her; that he did not look at her with the close and original observation of a naturalist or a painter; that he wrote of her from a subjective point of view, describing not so much Nature herself as the feelings which she awakens in one whose outer eyes are half-closed, and whose spirit takes in but vague suggestions. Yet, oven so, why not r< Nature's visible moods have been chronicled by many poets, of whom the foremost is Wordsworth; the influence of Nature reflected on the mind of a student and scholar has been exquisitely indicated by Milton. And what did he see at Horton which could suggest the lovely lines of his pastorals, and infuse into them a grace which makes them, even now, household words'? And what do we see when we visit the Buckinghamshire village, so near to the metropolis, yet so apart from the rush of life? It is practically the very Horton of the seventeenth century; a church, two or three gentlemen's houses, and a score of scattered cottages; its tale of deaths is about eight a year, and of weddings it sees about one in three years. We behold the very scene which Milton saw. Wraysbury Station is situated on the sluggish Colne, which is here utilised for a mill; there is a sound of water falling gently over a small weir, and a few feet lower all is placid again. From ## p. 211 (#223) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 21 I the station we walk on a dusty unshaded road for the distance of a mile; on either side are ditches, banks, and hedges, revelling in all the riot of June; roses star the hedges, and privet thrusts forward its thick white fingers; forget-me-not and meadow-sweet nod above the still water in the broad ditch. Overhead in the fathomless blue the lark is shaking down his "delirious music "; the swallow skims over the field where men are lazily turning the thin crop of hay. We pass a weed-grown marsh, and, turning to the left, soon come upon the Colne again; here it moves another mill, of which the irregular out- buildings are reflected in the unrippled pool, making a pretty picture. A little further on and we are in the village, where even now the children drop curtseys to the stranger pilgrim. On the right is the red-brick lodge to the grounds of a modern private house which stands on the site of that occupied by John Milton, senior. Before building the present structure it was ascertained by the owner of the land that no vestige what- ever remained of the house wherein the great poet spent his only long spell of country life. On the left we come to the Five Bells Inn, so called, it is believed, because the inn is parish property and there are five bells in the church tower. At the time of the Queen's first jubilee there was some talk of adding another bell to the peal, but public opinion would not permit an act which would have rendered unintelligible the name of the old inn! A few steps further on is the church, the shrine to which we are travelling; that church in which Milton must have constantly worshipped. It is restored, and yet it is the ancient one; we enter, and the spirit of prayer is upon us. They should count themselves blest who can here worship with every surrounding of reverence and every privilege of devotion. Looking to the modern chancel, which speaks of frequent services, we see that the east window, newly placed there, is in memory of Milton. As to the fabric, it retains some most valuable features; the north porch is in the main a very ancient one, singularly wide; the door is set within an arch finely carved in rows of elaborate moulding. The interior, airy and spacious, shows us short, thick, Norman pillars; a massive stone font is also Norman, and has a cable mould- ing round the rim. As we walk about the church we see many stones beneath our feet commemo- rating the forefathers of the hamlet, and bearing dates of the 17th century. Just within the chancel is a dark grey slab of marble with this inscription: "Heare lyeth the body of Sarah Milton, the widow of John Milton, who died the 3 of April, 1637." In the lives of famous men we usually find that the mother's influence played a great part; but in Milton's autobiographical writings little is said of his mother. Yet, by comparing dates, we discover that immediately after Sarah Milton's death her husband and his family left Horton, and never again lived in the country except during the short and unimportant stay at Chalfont St. Giles, also in Bucks; it would seem that the charm of rural quietude was broken by the death of the wife and mother. The widower returned to the busy bustle of London; the poet son set off on his continental travels. Here, at our feet, where "the kneeling hamlet drains the chalice of the grapes of God," lie the remains of the mother of one of England's greatest poets; it is a spot which is, for every reason, very sacred to us. We leave the neatly-kept churchyard, littered only by rose leaves, and, passing through the lych-gate, proceed a little further into the village, noting the unfrequented roads and lanes sentinelled by elms, just as they were two hundred years ago. At one point a sudden opening reveals the grey outline of Windsor Castle, with its sturdy Bound Tower "bosomed high in tufted trees." To Milton's eyes that tower appeared precisely as it does to ours this day—the crown of the royallest of all royal residences in Europe. This gap which arrests us for a long gaze is exactly facing the front door of Horton Rectory, which we now enter. Here we find the typical English parish priest —the man of culture and courtesy, with the sur- roundings of a good citizen. The house is partly old and partly new—the old probably of anterior date to Milton's days. He may have sat dreamily in this quaint and beautiful garden hall, seeing the bright flowers in the garden, hearing the twitter of birds and the humming of bees. Oak beams support the ceilings, and oak panels face the walls. Over everything is the hush of midday and midsummer, and quiet talk about the past and about the poet seems wholly in keeping with the same. And we feel ourselves presently in actual manual touch with Milton's days, for the rector brings forth a thin volume which contains the register of the burial of Sarah Milton, three days after her death. True, it is but copied from an older register, but this book is dated only a little later than the poet's death. After seeing all that is to be seen, and, indeed, little remains in any way connected with Milton, we take leave of the hospitable rectory, and go out again among the pasture fields and waving trees, and stretches of marshy ground, and glimpses of distant blue hills, and all those un- altered features of Nature, who retains her youth and freshness as long as man leaves her to her- ## p. 212 (#224) ############################################ 2 I 2 THE AUTHOR. self. The pilgrim returns to the city which was, after all, Milton's chosen home; and in his memory will long dwell the picture of the little tranquil village and the cool, silent church. Often in his later years of blindness and trouble the poet must have re-imaged to himself those same scenes—his father's house, his mother's grave. F. Bayford Harrison. Ventnor Villa, Weybridge. CORRESPONDENCE. L—William Black and the Saturday Review. TI THE story which you treat with some | scepticism in your "Notes and News" was one that our friend Black was fond of telling. Sir Wemyss Reid has stated that Black told him he brought out "A Daughter of Heth" anonymously because the Saturday had "slated" his previous novels. This was not a joke of Black's, but the literal fact. When the novel first came out Black and I were acting as assistant editors to Mr. Frank Hill at the Daily News. This work threw us, necessarily, much together, and I do not think anyone now living was more intimate with Black than I was in those happy days. He kept the secret of his book from all his friends, and I first knew that " A Daughter of Heth" was his when one night at the office he produced the paper with the favourable review, and showed it with a boyish glee at the "rise" he had taken out of his enemy. Of all our friend's literary triumphs, and they followed rapidly on the success of "A Daughter of Heth," not one gave him such un- bounded satisfaction as this. The three years or so that he remained with us at the Daily News after this recognition of his genius, were the golden days of his early and rising fame, and he never forgot the friends nor the events of that exciting time. May I also suggest that the statement "there were only two novels to 'slate '" in 1871 is not accurate. "James Merle" I never saw, but "Love or Marriage" and "In Silk Attire" were followed by "Kilmeny," and that by "The Monarch of Mincing Lane." I am not quite sure as to the order in which the last two appeared, but I think that if Black had put an author's name on the title-page of "A Daughter of Heth," he would have described himself as the author of "Kilmeny," which is the best of the novels of his earlier and unappreciated days. 1, Upper Woburn-place, P. W. Clayden. Jan. 5, 1899. II.—Type-writing as a Profession. Some members of the Society of Authors, who make it a matter of conscience, wherever possible, to help struggling people with work, may be interested in learning the system on which their typewriting will perhaps be done for them at certain offices. The manager of the office undertakes to type your work at, say, l0d. per thousand words. She also takes pupils in typewriting for three or six months, who pay her so many guineas as a premium. The manager takes your money and their pre- miums, and they do your work! It may be urged that there is nothing actually dishonest in this. The work is done at the price agreed, and the pupils learn to use, and have practice in using, a type-writer in return for the premium. But the net result is that your money goes into the hands not of the young women who type but of the astute manager (or more often manageress) who exploits them. Meantime, of course, offices managed on this system compete with the struggling individual typist, and as they not only pay nothing for their labour, but even are paid by their pupils for the privilege of doing the work, it is easy to see that the competition is severe. In order to combat this system I would suggest to members of the Society that they should, as far as possible, employ only typists who actually do their work themselves, and do not either farm it out (on the sweating system) to others, or, worse, use it as a means of getting premiums. In these hard times there are so many young women who type-write for a living, and find a diffioulty in earning a bare subsistence, that no one would willingly take the bread out of their mouths in order to enrich clever exploiters of other people's labour. T r r St. John E. C. Hankin. III. — Payment on Acceptance of Articles. I see one of your contributors brings a com- plaint against the Strand Magazine. I am un- connected with this periodical, and therefore know nothing of its justness; but there is one merit that the Strand Magazine possesses—in common, so far as my own wide experience goes, with but one other magazine, viz., the Woman at Home—for which it ought to receive the fullest praise. It pays on acceptance. Only the hardworking, modest contributor knows how much hardship and even suffering are inflicted by the unfair and unbusinesslike proceeding of the majority of magazines in paying on publication. ## p. 213 (#225) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 213 Can any of your readers suggest any legal means by which pressure could be put on such periodi- cals P Penman. IV.—Forms Wanted. Considering the constant difficulties that occur between editor and contributor respecting pay- ment, may I suggest that the Society provide printed forms for sale to its members which shall express in polite and businesslike terms all that is necessary for an unknown author to say when offering his work for publication. Another suggestion I venture to make, i.e., that the Society grant to those of its members and associates who care to make use of it, the right to put some distinguishing initials after their names. I have found by experience that careless and unprincipled persons frequently respect the Society, and do not lightly trifle with its members when they know them to be such. If isolated authors were to address editors in a businesslike tone, or should they make their membership of the Society too evident, it might offend. A Well-Wisher. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. L 'Tis true that 'twas right to dissemble your love, But why did yon kick me down stairs? COULD any of your readers tell me where the above lines come from, and in connec- tion with what, if any, historical event or personage they were written? J. M. Lely. H. Will one of your readers kindly inform me which is the correct way to write this question: "Who am I like ?" or " Whom am I like ?" also which is the best way of expressing the following sentence: "She wanders onward by the hedge oblivious of his presence, whomsoever he may be," or " whoever he may be." Ignoramus. BOOK TALE. fl^HE most remarkable item of news this I month is the fact that Messrs. Methuen contemplate an interesting experiment in publishing. They are about to issue at six- pence, under the general title of "Methuen's Library of Fiction," stories by well-known authors of the day. A few books will be reprints, but most will be new works hitherto un- published in book form. The first book thus published will be a new novel by Mr. E. W. Hornung. Mr. Robert Barr and Mr. Cutclitfe Hyne will follow, and later will be published books by Mr. Baring Gould aud others. In some cases the book will lie published simul- taneously at sixpence and at a higher price. Messrs. Methuen say that they "recognise the inevitable tendencies of an age of cheap litera- ture. The theatre has its stalls and its pit, the railway its first and its third classes: so the novelist may well have a double audience, and, while the wealthy will still pay 6*. for their novels, those of limited means may purchase the same book in a decent but less luxurious form." Other examples of sixpenny books are two volumes of Lord Tennyson's Poems, which Messrs. Macmillan are issuing. The first will contain all the earlier poems and " In Memoriam," and the second will contain "Maud." Benjamin Swift's next book, entitled "Siren City," is virtually a study of Puritanism versus Paganism. The title refers to Naples, the scene being laid in the old Maddaloni Palace there. The first chapter, however, begins, and the last closes, in London. The work will appear during the spring. '. Accessory Before the Fact " is the title of a new book by Mrs. Leith Adams (Mrs. R. S. de Courcy Lafl'an), which Mebsrs. Digby, Long, and Co. are publishing. Dr. A. Conan Doyle is naming his new novel "A Duet with an Occasional Chorus." It is the story of the happy married life of a young couple of the middle class. It has not appeared serially, and it will be published next month. Mr. S. R. Crockett's story, "A Woman of Fortune," will be published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. It has been appearing in monthly instalments in the Woman at Home. Miss Ethel Hynam is editing, for publication by Mr. Elliot Stock, a new series of folk tales entitled " The European Folk Tale Series." The collection will represent Russian, Mongolian, Slavonic, Polish, Bohemian, and Servian tales, each volume containing the tales of one country. The first, entitled "The Secrets of the Night/' contains examples of Esthonian folk stories, and will be illustrated by Mr. H. Oakes-Jones. Mr. Stanley's " Through the Dark Continent," is being published in eighteen sixpenny parts by Messrs. Newnes, by arrangement with Messrs. Sampson Low. ## p. 214 (#226) ############################################ 214 THE AUTHOR. Miss Mary Deane has written "The History of the Family of Dean, Deane, and Adeane," which Mr. Elliot Stock will bring out shortly. An article on the poetesses of the day appears in the current number of the Quarterly Review. Mr. John Lane is about to publish in monthly parts an edition of White's " Selborne," contain- ing notes by Mr. Grant Allen and pictures by Mr. E. H. New. Mr. Edward H. Cooper has passed for press a volume of short stories entitled "Children, Race- horses, and Ghosts," which Messrs. Duckworth will publish this month. Mr. Cooper has also nearly completed a new racing novel called " The Monk Wins." He has in view a series of fairy stories for publication in November. The awards of the Academy for the best books of the past year are as follows: 50 guineas to Mr. Sidney Lee for his " Life of Shakespeare "; 50 guineas to Mr. Maurice Hewlett for "The Forest Lovers"; 50 guineas to Mr. Joseph Conrad for his " Tales of Unrest." It should be explained that the Academy's object in this enterprise is " to seek for promise, sincerity, and thoroughness in literary art rather than to acknowledge fulfilment." Only two books were "crowned " in the previous year, but the selec- tion this year proved such a difficult matter that three prizes were awarded. Mr. Wirt Gerrare, author of " The Warstock," is writing a historical tale treating of firearms on their introduction into Europe. The story is laid in France in the period of Jeanne d'Arc. Mr. A. H. Evans, of Clare College, is the author of the ninth volume of the Cambridge Natural History, in which he treats of birds, essaying "the difficult and apparently un- attempted task of including in some 600 pages a short description of nearly every form in very many of the families, and of the most typical or important of the innumerable species included in the large Passerine Order. Prefixed to each group is a. brief summary of the structure and habits." A volume of stories by Mr. Bernard Capes, entitled "At a Winter's Fire," will be published shortly by Messrs. Pearson. Mr. F. Carruthers Gould has collected for publi- cation in volume form his political and other cartoons that have appeared in the Westminster Gazette during the last two years. They number rorty in all, and the volume will be published from the Westminster Gazette office in two editions shortly before the opening of Parlia- ment. Mr. Castell Coates has sent copies of his "Fairy Book" to H.M. the Queen and to Princess Henry of Battenberg, which have been graciously accepted by them. Colonel H. B. Hanna will produce early this month the first volume of the "Second Afghan War; its Causes, its Conduct, and its Conse- quences," published by Messrs. A. Constable and Co. Mr. George Moore has re-written a large part of his latest novel, " Evelyn Innes," which was published in June last, in view of a new edition. The alterations concern the middle chapters of the story, and principally affect the character Sir Owen Asher. Mr. William Sharp has written a tragic romance, entitled " Silence Farm," and a volume of short stories, which will appear under the title "Sister Eunice." He has also nearly ready for publication two volumes of literary criticism, namely, " Studies in Contemporary Literature" and " From Delacroix to Whistler." A writer in the Daily Chronicle, by the way, suggests that Mr. Sharp and the author known as "Fiona Macleod " are identical. A mining story, by "Victoria Cross," will be published by Messrs. Walter Scott. It is called "A Girl of Klondike." Miss Florence Warden lays the scenes of her next novel in Scotland. The work has just been completed, and will appear under the title "The Love that Lasts." "The Letters of Robert Browning and Eliza- beth Barrett" will appear on the 7th inst., from Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. These two volumes contain the love letters of the famous couple. A library of copyright works of fiction is being issued for the colonies and India by Messrs Chatto and Windus. The first of the series will be " Infatuation," by Mrs. B. M. Croker, which was published a few weeks ago. This will be followed by Sir Walter Besant's " St. Katherine's by the Tower," and works by other authors. The volumes in this new series are to sell at half- a-crown. Miss Beatrice Harraden is calling her new story, which is to be ready in April, "The Fowler." The reference is to the passage in the Ptalms "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler." The Rev. Dr. John Watson (Ian Maclaren) has finished his " Life of Christ." The Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of Mr. William Toynbee's book of ## p. 215 (#227) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2'5 verse, "On Oaten Flute," which was published last month by Mr. H. J. Glaisher of Wigmore- street. The initial chapters of Mr. G. S. Layard's work on " Suppressed Plates" (of the legitimate sort) are now appearing in the Pall Mall Magazine. A curious experiment in translation by the same author will be found in the Cortihill. Mr. Max Pemberton has dramatised his "Kronstadt." THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Dec. 23 to Jan. 23—208 Books.] Aitken, W. H. M. H. The Romance of Christian Work and Achieve- ment. Shaw. Anderson, J. W. The Power of Nature in Disease. 1/6 net. Simpkin. Andrews, W. (ed.). Bygone Church Life in Scotland. 7/6. Andrews. Andrews, W. (ed.). Ecclesiastical Curiosities. 7/6. Andrews. Annand, E. F. With the Tirah Field Force. 1/- Terry. Anonymous (*). Alone. An Introspective Work. 6/- net. Smithers. Anonymous (" A Gentleman of the University of Cambridge.") The Tale of Archais. A Romance in Verse. 2/6. Paul. Anonymous (Author of "A Desperate Remedy "). In Sackcloth and Ashes. 16. Stevens. Anonymous (0. T. M.). Sonnets. 2/6. Edinburgh: R. W. Hunter. Archibald, D. Weather Types in Relation to Long-Period For coasting. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Arkwright, J. P. Cablnet-Making for Amateurs. 2/6. L. U. Gill. Arnold, A. W. The Attack on the Farm, and Other Stories 6/- Wnlte. Arumugam, S. From Siva to Christ. 1/- Marshall Bros. Bagsbawe, J. B. Rosary Meditations. 1/- Oath. Truth Soc, Bailey, G. H. Advanced Inorganic Chemistry. 3/6. Clive. Bailey, L. H. 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Mathematical and Physical Tables. 7 6. Macmillan. Wyckoff, W. A. The Workers. The West. %j- Heinemann. Young, F. K, Grand Tactics of Chess. 15/- net. Low. Young, F. K. Major Tactics of Chess. 12,6net. Low. Zahn, T. (tr. by C. S. Burn and A. E. Burn.) The Apostles' Creed. 5/- Hodder. THE AUTHOE." SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page Other Pages Half of a Page Quarter of a Page Eighth of a Page Single Column Advertisements BilIb for Insertion £4 0 0 3 0 0 1 10 0 0 I5 0 0 7 6 per inch 0 6 0 per 2000 10 0 Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the Advertisement Makaqeb, The Author Office, 4. Portugal-street, London. W.C. JVCr. J. Eveleigh JVfask. IrlTEl^ArpT AGBDT, AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRANO, W.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. 09 Issue 09 (February 1899) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 09 (February 1899) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-02-01-The-Author-9-9 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/324/1899-01-02-The-Author-9-8.pdf 0d274a5f263d37a187f5b23470af4a58 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) 1899-01-02 Volume 9 Issue 8 Pages Page range in volume 173–196 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18990102 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XT b e Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 8.] JANUARY 2, 1899. [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. FOE some years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, 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 his 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. IX. 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. III. 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 is 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 ont 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for 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. T 2 ## p. 174 (#186) ############################################ i74 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. in VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive ITi advice upon his 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. Remember 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 advioe as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 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 does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to oome, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanoed 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, reoently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly oorreot: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who oall this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. NOTICES. THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their names and the special subjects on which thoy are willing to write? LITERARY PROPERTY. 1.—Canadian Copyright. ALONG article appears in the Pall Mall Gazette of Dec. 26 on Canadian Copy- right. It is therein stated that Mr. FitzPatrick, the Solicitor General, will bring in a Bill during the next Session. We have good reason to believe that this will not be the case. Canadian Copyright has been in the air for some time, and no doubt the Canadians will, sooner or later, make a fresh endeavour to obtain Copy- ## p. 175 (#187) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i75 right legislation. We have good reason to think that this endeavour will not be made next Session. II.—The Literary Agent and the Society. An old member of the Society writes to the Secretary to the effect that her business is now .conducted for her by a literary agent, and that she resigns membership. She supposes, in a word, that the literary agent can do for her what the Society undertakes to do: and she supposes that the Society exists for each member individu- ally. These two suppositions are both wrong and mischievous. (1.) The literary agent can place her books and get an agreement more or less satisfactory. His powers may be measured by the popularity of the author, which is as it should be. But in the case of a dispute with publisher or editor, where is the literary agent? He can only advise going to a solicitor. The Society supplies a solicitor. The literary agent, again, can only lay the agree- ment before an author: it is the Society who teaches him what the agreement means for both sides—an inestimable service to literary property. (2.) But the Society, though it is ready to work for each member individually, works for the whole profession of literature. The subscriptions of the more powerful members pay for the law expenses incurred in the defence of the weaker. In this way a feeling of brotherhood, the sense of a common profession with common aims, is for the first time growing up among those who create literary property. This most invaluable result of common action demands absolutely the adhesion of every man and every woman of letters to the Society. It may be that all the members do not agree with every act of the Committee. But they must agree in the main object—the maintenance and defence of literary property, not only for the individual but for the whole profession. There have been cases in which members have resigned simply because they did not approve of some small vote or resolution. They were unable to under- stand that behind that insignificant vote lay the grand object of the Society, namely, to repeat, "the maintenance and defence of literary property, not only for the individual but for the whole pro- fession." Again, suppose a case of disagreement between author and literary agent—I think nothing more likely when I look round and see the many new agents and the many duties which are laid upon them. In such a case the author is only protected by going to law at his own expense. If he were a member of the Society, the case would be con- ducted for him. I say nothing of the danger which is rapid ly rising before us, of committing to the agent the whole of the literary business unchecked. It is the old confidence game once played between author and publisher. We must never forget the lessons of the past. It is as dangerous to intrust blind confidence to an agent as to a publisher. W. B. III.—Translation and Reteanslation. Messrs. George Bell and Sons have raised a curious, and, as far as we know, a quite novel question of copyright in the Times. They pub- lish, it appears, four copyright works in English in England on the British Navy. A Captain Von Stenzel, who has been bringing: out in German and in Germany a treatise in many volumes dealing with the armies and navies of the European powers generally, has, in a volume dealing with the British navy, translated amongst other things portions of Messrs. Bell's copyright works. So far as this officer is concerned, Messrs. Bell have no complaint to make, having, we presume, sold or in some other legal manner parted with their translation rights. What they complain of is that an English translation, called the "British Navy," of the volume of Captain Von Stenzel's work which deals with the British navy has been recently made by Mr. A. Son- nenschein and published in London. The result- ing competition with Messrs. Bell's original works (it is not stated by what authors) is obvious. "The origin of the work is not revealed in the English edition, but, on the contrary, the translator in his preface seems rather to imply that the book was designed to supply a want existing in this country," but there is an acknowledgment of the use which has been made of the English books in a list given after the preface, where they are stated to have been con- sulted by author and translator. Two questions arise upon this statement: (1) Is what has been done in accordance with usual literary practice and ordinary literary courtesy; and (2) has there been an infringement of copy- right in the legal sense't To the first question we must answer, yes. Acknowledgment, of course, is no excuse for infringement of copy- right, as it is by far too often thought to be, but acknowledgment should clearly be made in a case like this. The answer to the second question is a little more difficult. The fact of the alleged infringement being the result of a retrans- lation, however, cannot affect it. The only question is whether the matter published by Mr. Sonnen. schein is materially and substantially the same as that published by Messrs. Bell. Absolutely the same the two productions cannot be. The mere rolling of many books into one would prevent that ## p. 176 (#188) ############################################ 176 THE AUTHOR. IV.—A Copyright Case in India. An interesting case coming under the 18th section of the Copyright Act has just been tried in the High Courts in India, but unfortunately the main difficulty of that section was not in dispute, as it was acknowledged between the defendant and the plaintiff that the plaintiff had been employed under that section. The case was shortly as follows: The editor of the Madras Standard (the defendant) employed the plaintiff to write certain articles on the lives of representative men of Southern India for his paper. Such lives were written and produced in the paper, subject to certain editorial alterations, and it was acknow- ledged by both the plaintiff and defendant that this employment came under the 18th section of the Act, and that the copyright lay with the defendant, subject to the terms of that section. The matter thus used in the paper was then reproduced in book form, together with other lives written by the defendant in a book called "The Representative Men of Southern India," and subsequently in another book of Representative Indians ' published in England. The plaintiff's action was brought because the defendant had infringed the plaintiff's rights under the proviso in the section referred to, which runs as follows: Provided always that during the term of twenty-eight years the said proprietor, projector, publisher, or condaotor shall not publish any such essay, article, or portion separately or singly without the consent previously obtained of the author thereof or his assigns. The point the judge had to decide was whether such consent had been given directly or impliedly. There was scanty evidence on this point, and it appeared a difficult question for decision. Finally, however, the judge, after a very careful summing- up of the whole facts of the case, gave a verdict for the plaintiff. The final words of his summing- up were as follows: No doubt his (the plaintiff's) feelings may have been hurt, particularly by the announcement that the defendant is the author of all the lives therein published, but in pocket it cannot be said that he suffered substantially by the publica- tion of that book. The plaintiff was awarded 200 rupees. The judge's decision seems to be a thoroughly fair one, as the plaintiff was unable in any case to utilise his own work for twenty-eight years, and thus could not have been damaged pecuniarily to any extent. This is a short epitome of the case. It is an interesting case, but iinfortunately does not bear directly on the great difficulty of the section under which the judgment is given. V.—"A Curious Question." I think Sir Walter Besant's solution is nearer the point than that of Mr. Thring, but neither is to my mind correct. In such contracts as I have signed I have granted a licence "to print, bind, advertise, and sell." This is what most contracts mean but very few specify. No contract is in- tended to mean that a publisher has a right to traffic in an author's works. The publisher has no right to buy or re-acquire or re-sell an author's works, and I contend that licence to sell means to sell once and once only and to only one. If this were not so, there would be nothing to prevent a publisher re-acquiring copies of a book which he had "remaindered" at a few pence, a fraction only of which he paid to the author, and then re-selling it for several shillings and paying the author no royalty. If my view is held to be correct, "A Curious Question" is as badly put as the answers. A publisher agrees to pay an author 10, 15, 20, or 25 per cent. on the nominal selling price of every copy, and it matters not a jot whether the copies sold come direct to him from the printers and binders or have passed back into his hands through a bookseller. The author is entitled to receive his full royalty, less the amount paid on the copies when treated as remainder—assum- ing, of course, that the author has not given the publisher power to re-acquire. Martin J. Pritchard. VI.—The Charge for Corrections. The question of corrections has been from time to time referred to in The Author, but it seems necessary to refer to it again, as the matter is one of great importance to all authors, and is one of those items which are exceedingly difficult to check in a publisher's accounts. The author should be careful in correcting his proofs to note what are printers' errors and what are his own corrections, and he should, when possible, keep duplicate proofs with all his corrections, so as to be able at a subsequent date to refute any charge which might appear extortionate. In making his own corrections the author should be careful where he deletes one word or phrase to put in a word or phrase corresponding in length, as to run over from page to page is often a very heavy and expensive matter. The reason for these hints is the fact that in agreements a clause somewhat on the following lines is generally inserted: The cost of correction of other than the printers' errors in the proofs of the said work exceeding shillings per sheet of sixteen pages is to be borne by the said author. ## p. 177 (#189) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. '77 It is quite fair that the publishers should be protected from expensive and troublesome authors' corrections, as cases have been known in which authors have altered proofs and made corrections to such an extent as absolutely to prevent any profit accruing from the sale of the work, but this is an exception. The practical working-out of this clause is difficult. The amount generally allowed to the author per sheet of sixteen pages is ten shillings. Under no circumstances should an author allow .the amount to be reduced as low as five shillings, unless he feels quite certain that his MS. needs no correction and is typewritten. After the book is produced an account is some- times forwarded to the author charging, say, .£10 for corrections. If the book is twenty sheets, that would mean that the whole cost of cor- rections, supposing the author was allowed ten shillings, would be £20. Corrections are generally reckoned by the time of the man employed, at the rate of one shilling per hour. As a matter of fact the printers do not pay is. per hour to their employes, so that there is always a margin of profit; but, supposing is. per hour is the actual payment, then it would mean that the corrections in the book amounted to the work of one man for 400 hours, or the work of one man for forty days at the rate of ten hours per day. That would be merely reckoning authors' corrections, as you will see the clause (which is the usual one) does not charge for printers' errors. If the authors' corrections amount to this heavy item, it is possible that the printers' errors also amount to a fair sum, in which case you would have to add so many more days' work on to your compositors' labour. It is very important to keep in mind that daily papers have to be corrected with great rapidity, in order to get them before the public in time. Compare, then, the time expended in the corrections of a book, as shown above, with the time which must be necessarily expended in the correction of a daily paper. It is almost impossible to place any con- nection between the size of an alteration and the time it takes, as sometimes the insertion of a word will throw out the type for some pages. To be able to put a firm check on the corrections the author should certainly note the difference between printers' errors and his own corrections, and ought to try to make his full corrections when the type is what is technically called in "slip form," before it is made up into pages. G. H. T. VII.—An American Literary Agency. The agency undertakes (1) to read MSS. and to advise on their defects, (2) to give them "grammatical and rhetorical" revision, (3) to advise as to their disposal, and (4) to make type- written copies. The charge for these services are:—(1) For read- ing MSS., 50 cents for the first 2000 words and 25 cents for every additional thousand words. (2) For a letter of general advice, 50 cents, or 2.1., in addition to the fee for reading. (3) For cor- rection and revision, a dollar an hour, in addition to the reading fee. (4) For typewriting, 60 cents a thousand words; if two copies are taken 80 cents a thousand words, i.e., 3*. 3rf. a thousand words, which is more than double the usual type- writing charge with us. (5) For reading a MS. of more than 40,000 words, and less than 100,000, and for giving a list of publishers and a general letter of advice, the fee is 10 dollars, or £2. If the Bureau sells a MS. for an author it takes a commission of 25 per cent. instead of the 10 per cent. which contents our agents. On the whole, it seems as if the Bureau expected to deal with short papers, and with candidates whose work was hopeless. There is an enormous number of such unfortunates in America as well as here. VIII.—By the Agreement. Especial attention is desired to the following case. The author does not wish her name to be mentioned, so that one must also suppress the name of the worthy publisher. A lady was anxious to produce a book—the one book she would ever write. She took her MS. to A. B., who, without giving her a formal agree- ment, offered by letter to publish the book for her on commission. The following are alleged to have been the terms: (1) The author was not to pay more than .£30. (2) The publisher was to print and bind an edition of 500 copies. (3) He was to advertise to the extent of .£15, but no more. (4) The book was to be sold at 6s. (5) He was to account to the author for sales at 3*. each. (6) He was next to take 10 per cent. on the sales. [Observe that a small edition of 500 only, even if all the available copies, 450, are sold at an average of 3*. 6d. each, only produces the sum of .£78 15s., out of which would come the publisher's commission, so that a large sum for advertising is out of the question. That of .£15 represents over jd. a copy.] The lady was perfectly ignorant about publish- ing. Nor did she seek advice. What the man proposed to do was to sell the book at 3*. 6d. or 3s. jd. and call it 3*. That gave him 14 ?- per cent. ## p. 178 (#190) ############################################ 178 THE AUTHOR. on the sales to begin with. He was then to take 10 per cent. on the sum thus curtailed. This meant 8-*- per cent. on the actual sales, in all, 22f per cent. And this he called a commission busi- ness at 10 per cent.! This, however, was not all. When the account came in it was found that he had printed 750 copies instead of 500, and that he had spent, according to his own showing, £45 in advertising. Now this was against the agreement in the first place, and for a publisher 10 expend so large a sum on so small a book argued cither ignorance of his trade, or else—whatever you please. For .£45 on the book meant actually is. ggd. on every single copy, landing the book in certain loss. His bill ran as follows: 500 copies: Cost of composition, printing, ^640 7 O 5 3 0 «5 0 0 To tbis he added 10 per cent., 60 10 O I know not by what right .. 6 1 8 To 250 copies: 66 11 8 4 13 4 Sales, 376 30 9 8 Free, 77 453 56 8 0 5 2 y £101 14 8 Having, therefore, added 10 per cent. to the cost of production, and taken the same from the sales, and having broken the agreement by printing other 250 copies and charging £45 for advertising, he thus brought in a lots of .£50 odd. At this juncture the lady took advice, and there was a correspondence in which it became manifest- that the advertising had been in great part the filling up of columns secured in advance. But of course he had no right to charge a farthing more than the £'15 agreed upon. However, he sent in a second account. The item of advertising now appears as .£42 144-. 3^/., instead of .£15, and the cost of machining and paper for the extra 250 copies is still entered. But on the other side he cancels ..£23 S.1. gd., which still leaves .£4 odd more than he is entitled to. And instead of 10 per cent, added to the cost of production he puts in £8 16*. 5<7. for " indirect expenses," which mean, I suppose, taking a 'bus home in the evening. A man may argue that he must make money out of a book in order to live. The answer to that is, to make it above board: not by persuad- ing an ignorant woman that the trade price of a 6*. book is 3*. : nor by adding "indirect expenses." Let him say flatly "I must have so much out of the book or I cannot undeilake it. If I am to sell it on commission, guarantee so much." Of cour.-e if the man says this candidly and openly, but then proceeds in the way indicated above, then we are no farther forward. My correspondent in sending me these accounts calls attention to them as coming from "a pub- lisher who is a gentleman." Yes, the wordnow- a-days may cover a very large proportion of male humanity. Indeed, there are indications that it covers the whole. Quite a " gentleman." IX.—A Pending Copyright Action. In the Chancer; Division yesterday Mr. Justice Stirling had before him the case of Boosey v. White, brought before the judge by Mr. Butcher, Q C. Mr. Butcher said that the point raised in the case was a novel and interesting one. The plaintiff had certain songs, the copyright of which was vested in bim. The defendant, it was alleged, had been using and copying the songs by means of perforated sheets of cardboard, which correctly reprodnoed the music, and all people had to do «as to turn the handle of the organ in which the sheets were placed. That process, he suggested, amounted to an infringement of the Copyright Laws. There was a good deal of evidence to prepare, and as Mr. Monlton, Q.C., who represented the defendant, was willing to treat the motion as the trial of the action he would consent to the motion standing over for the present. The motion accord- ingly stood over until a future day. The above cutting has been taken from the Daily Graphic of Dec. 17, 1898. Those who are interested in copyright will look forward to the settlement of the action when it comes before the courts. PARIS NOTES. HENCEFORWAED Normandy can boast a national litterateur! M. Jean Revel, whose name is well known in the Parisian world of letters, has just produced an exquisite little volume of Norman tales, entitled "Rustres," several of which are entirely written in the Bas-Normaiid patois. On perusing this work (published by Fasquelle, ed. Bibliotheque- Charpentier) one feels that the author himself is truly a son of the people he describes so faith- fully and tenderly, and the most trivial details of local traditions and characteristics it affords arc rendered interesting by the artistic talent of the writer. ## p. 179 (#191) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. '79 M. Gustave Revel's proposal to establish a Chair of Dramatic Literature at the Sorbonne is by no means relished by the majority of his countrymen, who—while strenuously objecting to the 10,000 francs thus added to their annual taxes—maintain, with reason, that this depart- ment is already well represented in the literary curriculum of their great national institution. We subjoin the names of the professors especially qualified to lecture on dramatic literature and the subjects they will this year undertake, in order that our readers may judge for themselves. They are as follows:— M. Emile Deschanel, who will instruct his hearers on French dramatic literature, as illus- trated by Corneille, Racine, and Victor Hugo; M. Gaston Bossier, who undertakes the Latin dramatic literature, as exemplified by Plautus and Terence; M. Maurice Croiset, who will lecture weekly on "L'Histoire de la Tragedie Grecque"; M. Louis Leger, who is responsible for the Slavic tongues and literature; M. Barbier de Meynard, who is a proficient savant in all matters pertaining to the Arabic theatre; MM. Edouard Chavannes and Maurice Courant, than whom no better authorities on the Chinese theatre exist; M. Morel Fatio, who initiates his audience weekly into the mysteries of the "Theatre de Tirso de Molina "; M. Gazier, who analyses "Moliere" each Wednesday, while M. Beljaine pefonns the same friendly office for "Shakespeare" on the Thursday; M. Larroumet, who conscientiously expounds on Fridays " L'His- toire de la Tragedie Fran9aise dans le Theatre de Racine," and M. Gebhart, who undertakes the "Theatre Espagnol " every Monday. Apart from this, there are the lectures given at the Odeon, Bodiniere, and the Mathurius—where the play, or representation, follows the dissertation, like the jam after the pill. A Chair of Dramatic Litera- ture likewise exists at the Conservatoire; but yet —oh Heavens! M. Revel considers the rising French generation requires further dramatic instruction. The name of M. Alexandre Hepp heads the army of illustrious contributors to the newly- founded Revue des Rhumatisants. Among the list we remark the names of Francois Coppee, Jules Claretie, Marcel Prevot, Armand Silvestre, Aurclieu Scholl, Emile Bergerat, Leon Daudet, Le General du Barail, and a host of other witty, scientific, and political confreres, who all alike suffer from the same insidious complaint, and desire to ease their woes by confiding their suffer- ings and their pet remedies to a mirth-loving public. Another literary association—La Societe Pierre Dupout—has just been founded at Lyons, to pre- VOL. IX. serve and bring once more into vogue the works of the dead poet, Pierre Dupont. Despite his undoubted genius and popularity, this gifted singer of the people, this true child of Nature, lived and died a poor man. The pretty tale of his introduction to Victor Hugo is too well known to need repetition here; and the effort to replace the banal and often obscene ditties of the Parisian concert hall by the introduction of the melodious verse of Pierre Dupont is a step in the right direction. That indefatigable writer, M. Jules Verne, has now published his eightieth volume for the amuse- ment and instruction of youth. Some critics affirm that the " Superbe Orcnoque" is inferior to many of his preceding works; but, when an author has the linn intention to produce no fewer than a hundred volumes—when, above all, he has provided his generation for almost half a century with a healthy and pure literature in a country whore a healthy and pure literature is, unhappily, the exception rather than the rule—he can afford to snap his fingers at the critics, secure of the gratitude and support of a wide circle of readers. The popularity of M. Andre Laurie, who belongs to the same school in a modified degree, is also steadily increasing; and this is the more remark- able, since his tales d*-al chiefly with seminary life in foreign countries—a fact which should win him the good graces of the French Colonisation Society. M. Paul Bourget has quitted Paris to establish himself for the winter at Costebella, near Hyeres, the place where he last year wrote "La Duchesse Bleue," the great literary success of the season. His departure was delayed in order to enable him to take part in the recent Academic election, which bestowed on the spirituel Henri Lavedan the fauteuil vacated by the death of poor Henri Meilhac. M. Emile Zola figured, as usual, among the unsuccessful candidates. There is something impressive and heroic in his obstinate determina- tion to accept no defeat as final. He is the modern Prometheus eternally debarred from entering the erudite Olympus of his desires, which at the present moment boasts five novelists, five dramatic authors, seven historians, two critics, three poets, and two journalists among its list of illustrious members. The identity of one of the above-mentioned five novelists has become so completely merged in the personality of the hero of his popular romance, that his real name is absolutely forgotten by the general public. Thus, when M. Pierre Loti was this month elected to deliver the annual oration on the occasion of the presentation of the prix de vertu, his brother Academicians were rather at a loss how to announce the fact to the outside v ## p. 180 (#192) ############################################ i8o THE AUTHOR. world. Should the real name of the orator be printed (according to time-honoured custom) they foresaw the invidious storm of criticism which would greet the supposed innovation before the matter could be satisfactorily explained; yet to deviate a hair's breadth from the ordinary- routine was beneath both the dignity and the altitude of the Immortals! The difficulty was finally solved by ingeniously addiug the latter half of the pseudonym to the original patronymic. Thus many of M. Pierre Loti's friends and admirers were greatly surprised to see him figure under the name of M. Loti-Viaud on the Academy bills; and still more so to find that the brilliant author's real name was Julien Viaud. Apropos of this subject, we may mention that M. Pierre Loti's latest work, "Judith Renaudin," which is now being performed at the Theatre Antoine, has not attained the high level of popular success that was anticipated. The dainty, idyllic muse of Pierre Loti is, perhaps, too ethereal for the glare of the footlights; the successful fin-de-sihcle dramatist must either possess transcendent dramatic verve and inspiration, or, at least, an inexhaustible fund of a certain genre of super- ficial wit, a ready repartee, and a dashing, devil- may-care style which carries away and electrifies an audience, which invariably prefers the thrill of a new sensation to the discovery of a new truth. M. Saint Marceaux has just finished his plaster cast of the monument to bc erected to Alphonse Daudet. It represents the great writer as sitting beneath an olive tree with clasped hands, in a reflective attitude. The site the sculptor desires for his work is the Garden of the Luxembourg, near the monuments of Sainte Bouve and de Watteau, within easy walking distance of the great national rest ing place raised uii.t grands hommes par Jti pat He reconnaissance 1 Daruacotte Dene. FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS. AN interesting observation on what he calls "the new English attitude towards us" is made by Dr. Talcott Williams it propos a book on America entitled "Land of Contrasts," written by Mr. James Fullarton Muirhead, which has just been brought out. Books on America by the travelling Englishman, says Dr. Williams (writing in Book News), " were once all unfavour- able, now they are all the other way, and English newspaper criticism is moving in the same direc- tion." (It might, by the way, be pointed out to Dr. Williams that American newspaper criticism is meeting this spirit half-way with correspond- ingly favourable consideration of England.) Mr. Muirhead has studied American life for twenty years, and his book is described as a close, keen, penetrating analysis of the current play of American forces. "It is hopeful. All the books by people who really understand this country are hopeful." "The truth is," says Dr. Talcott Williams, " we have pimples for the same reason as a growing boy or girl—because we have not digested our hasty meals of new population." The Boston Public Library (says the New York Critic) has accepted from Miss Lilian Whiting the gift of a large collection of the autograph letters written to the late Kate Field by the Brownings, Walter Savage Landor, George Eliot, Dickens, Thomas Adolphus and Anthony Trollope, E. C. Stedman, Helen Hunt, Mme. Ristori, Adelaide Phillips, Dr. Schliemann, and a great number of other notable people. These are called "The Kate Field Memorial Collection." Before Miss Whiting sailed for Europe last spring she had typewritten copies made of all these for reference in preparing the biography of Miss Field, giving the originals to the Public Library. With the collection there is to be placed a reproduction of the portrait of Kate Field by Vedder, signed by him, the original of which is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Critic is associating itself with Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, the well-known publishers, beginning with the January number. Mr. and Miss Gilder of course retain the editorship, and they are to signalise the change by giving their influential journal a new dress and new tvpe. Mr. Charles Belmont Davis, lately the U.S. Consul at Florence, has allied himself with Mr. R. H. Russell, the publisher—the latter taking charge of the art and other books,and Mr.Davis, in another street, taking the plays. Mr. Davis is a brother of Mr. Richard Harding Davis, and published his first volume of short stories only the other day through Messrs. Stone. Mr. Cable has been engaged, since his return from England, on a story of the Civil War, in which we may expect to have some of his own experiences on the Southern side. Most of the scenes will be laid in New Orleans, and the title will probably be "The Cavalier." James Lane Allen also has another novel in hand, which will be longer than his very successful "The Choir Invisible." It may be looked for in the spring. Mr. Stanley Waterloo's reason for writing his latest book, "Armageddon," is interesting to know. "I believe," he says in Book News, " there will be some sort of union of the Teuton stock, including the English shaking, the German and the Norse, and I want it. I believe there will yet ## p. 181 (#193) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 181 be devised some more or less practicable way of mounting above the earth and directing move- ments there. It occurred to me that the two ideas might be made to assist each other in a story. Of course the tale as told is not such an expression as I would make were I a statesman. It implies antagonisms which are exaggerated for the purpose of the novelist." Messrs. Appleton have published a " limited" edition (i 00,000 copies) of Mr. Hall Caine's " The Christian" at fifty cents. This cheap edition was resolved upon to meet a special demand. It was all taken up before it left the press. The Dial has been discussing the swing of the pendulum towards romanticism, and sums up by saying that" the romantic revival is at full tide, and contemporary literature bids fair to offer us once more the solace that it brought us of old. We have learned that it is extremely foolish to insist of a writer that he give us all the facts con- nected with his theme. We have learned the limitations of literary photography, we have learned that it is unwise to approach literature burdened with a sense of responsibility for the preservation of the literal truth and the obtrusion of the ethical meaning." The ^Vew York Tunes in a recent issue prints this touching little incident of American author- ship :— It is related of Mr. F. Marion Crawford, the novelist, that when he was making a tour of America, and was travelling through a rich agricultural region to fill an appointment at a large town, a brisk-looking young man, with his hat on the back of his head, came into a car in which the novelist was sitting, held ont his hand, and said, in a most affable and companionable way: "I presume this is the celebrated Mr. Crawford?" "My name is Crawford," replied the novelist. "The conductor told me you were aboard," rejoined the other. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Higgs. I am somewhat in the book-line myself, and I know how it goes." "Yon are an author?" said Mr. Crawford. "I am glad to meet yon." "Yes, I have published a book regularly every year since 1890." "May I ask the name of yonr latest book," asked Mr. Crawford. "It's the Premium List of the Jones County Agricul- tural Fair," cordially responded Mr. Higgs, taking a small pamphlet from his pocket and handing it to him. "Allow me to present you a copy of it. I am the Secretary of the Jones County Agricultural Board. We are going to have the best fair this year we ever had. Balloon ascensions, Koman chariot races, baseball games, and trials of speed on track till you can't rest. Come and spend a day with us and it shan't cost you a cent. Well, this is where I get off. Good-bye, Mr. Crawford. Glad to have met you." NOTES AND NEWS. ACOR1IESPONPENT sends a letter on tln. conduct of a prize competition by a popu- lar magazine. Such a competition does not fall within the range of the Society's work and aims. It does not, that is to say, represent literary property in any sense. There is no doubt that these competitions interest vast multitudes of people, and that they should be conducted with the most jealous regard to openness and fairness. But complaints concerning the conduct of these things cannot be admitted in these columns. The editors of the New York Outlook invited their subscribers and readers on Oct. 1 to draw up lists of the ten best books published in the year ending Sept. 30, 1898. The following is the list now published in the December number. "Life of Tennyson." "Helbeck of Bannisdale.'' By Mrs. Humphry Ward. "Story of Gladstone's Life." By Justin McCarthy. "Caleb West." By F. Hopkinson Smith. "The Workers." By Walter A. Wyckoff. "Bismarck." By Dr. Moritz Busch. "Penelope's Progress." By Kate Douglas Wiggin. "Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning." "Rupert of Hontzau." By Anthony Hope. "Old Virginia and Her Neighbours." By Jchn Fiske. Here we find five English books, four American, and one German. Four of the books are of exceptional interest. It is not often that bio- graphies of such importance as those of Tennyson, Gladstone, Bismarck, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning appear in one year. Had it not been for these we should not, probably, have seen a preponderance of our own books. One would like to know something of the books to which must be accorded a " proxime accessit." The death of Mr. William Black removes a figure of importance in the world of letters. He had of late somewhat fallen behind his former popularity: but there was always a wide circle of readers for everything he produced. He began life by studying art: he then entered journalism, and was for a time a war correspondent: he began writing novels in 1869, since which time he has published the respectable number of thirty- three. His fir.-t success was in 1871 with " A Daughter of Heth." A story has been going round the papers to the effect that the novel was brought out anonymously in order to avoid the malignity of the Saturday Review, which " always " slated him. There had been no more than two novels to slate, not enough to justify this sweeping asser- tion. Everybody knows the leading character- istic of Black's style : he had very considerable ## p. 182 (#194) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. descriptive powers: he took his readers into the Highlands and the Hebrides. He brought his heroines into situations of strong contrasts: he was always gentle and well-bred. It would be interesting to know which of Black's novels the public will select for the limited immortality which awaits even the most popular novelist. He was a retiring man for the most part, who was yet fond of society of his own choosing and of his own friends. The cause of his death seems to have been some affection of the brain. The Pall Mall Gazette quotes the suggestion that booksellers should appoint their own reader. "It is obvious," the writer says, " the gentleman with the very moderate salary " — .£400 a year was named —" would, if his report was taken seriously, make or unmake almost any book. If the booksellers do not order a book what chance has it of winning recognition? Surely every publishers' reader makes it his business to con- sider whether a book is likely to sell, and I do not see why the booksellers' man should be any better judge." It also says that the appoint- ment of such a reader "would reduce the in- flueuceof newspaper critics to an amazing degree." Several points occur in this criticism. (1) Do newspaper critics write for the booksellers or for the public? I have always given them credit for writing for the public, in other words, for con- sidering the literary and not the commercial side of literature. As I have pointed out over and over again, there is no necessary connection between the two. (2) The chief function of the reader would be to pick out and recommend from the books whose subjects or whose authors do not carry certain popularity with them. (3) He might undoubtedly make a book; book- sellers would be greatly helped by his reports; and authors as well. Observe, however, that if his recommendations fell into disrepute or into suspicion he would be most certainly sacked. (4) About the publishers' reader. Booksellers do not trust the publishers' reader. They point to their shelves full of failures, and they refuse to trust the publishers' reader. Why, everyone knows dozens of stories of publishers' readers and their mistakes. The best publishers' reader is, in many cases, the publisher himself. Now, in reading a MS., the best reader in the world is liable to make mistakes. But the book- sellers' reader may also make mistakes? He may: but he comes after the other reader, and he reads a printed page, which is better than writing or typewriting. Further, there are multitudes of books which the publishers' reader never sees, notably the books published by the author at his own expense. The writer of the paragraph in the Pall Mall Gazette does not consider, I am afraid, the very serious position of the bookselling trade at this moment: the precarious standing of book- sellers, and the absolute necessity for doing some- thing for them. In The Author for October we set forth a scale showing the respective shares in the profits of a book taken by author, publisher, and bookseller. On an average six-shilling book, if the author had fifteen per cent., the shares would be: author, i0±d.; publisher, is. 7\d.; bookseller, 8§rf. This hardly means a division according to the strictest principles of equity or the nicest sense of honour. At a meeting of a publishing company the other day, one of the shareholders said that the management had no right to gamble with the shareholders' money by publishing any book that was not absolutely certain to sell. He did not go on to inform the meeting how the management were to get enough books of that kind. There are, for instance, hundreds of writers whose books carry no risk of loss, though some of them bring very little profit. I suppose that it is impossible for a publisher to carry on his business without risk of some kind; under that head it has been often defined in these columns. It is the diffe- rence between the cost of production and the first subscription. The difference is not generally great: frequently it is nominal. Two publishing companies have recently held their annual meeting. One of them is about a quarter of a century old, the other is four or five years of age. The former declares no dividend: the latter pays a dividend of 22\ per cent. The chairman of the former laments that "the difficulties of the publishing trade are many and serious." The report of the other says nothing about difficulties, but speaks of success upon success. Now, in the case of the first there are special reasons which have for some years operated against the success of the com- pany, but still it is time that these difficulties should have been got over. In the case of the second company, it is directed by a man who possesses a remarkable power of understanding what people want. This is, in fact, the most important qualification in a managing director— to know what people want. One sees in every list of new books a certain number which people do not want. An intelligent publisher may be "spotted" by the absence of such books in his list; and a small dividend may assuredly be the direct result of publishing what the world does not want. ## p. 183 (#195) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. '83 Mr. Daldy has been making another wail about American copyright. He wrote to the Times and suggested that this was a favourable moment to make another appeal to the Americans. Well, with a Copyright Commission still sitting, with a Copyright Bill still on the stocks, with no certainty whether the Lords mean to proceed with the Bill, >t seems as if a more inopportune moment could hardly be chosen. But it advertises Mr. Daldy, which is, of course, the main point. Mr. Daldy goes on .to state that the manufacturing clause debars four-fifths of the books published in this country. It is to be hoped that no American will read this statement, for if anything in the world could reconcile him to the present arrangement it is the reflection that if it were abolished the whole of the books published in this country— think of it—the whole !—would be poured into the States! As it is, it is not possible to agree with Mr. Daldy that one-fifth of all our books secure American copyright: more likely—one- tenth. Does Mr. Daldy imagine that there is no literature in America? Does he believe that the Americans crave for everything that we publish? If so, he must have arrived at a very remarkable depth of ignorance. Moreover, the present clause does not debar any book that the American wants. It is a simple condition that the book should be printed in America. The only hardship is the additional cost of setting up, which in a book on demand is not of much importance. But suppose the clause abolished, and in its place the same clause that we have here, of simultaneous publica- tion—what would happen? Books that the Americans want—and none other—would be sent over either in stereo plates or in sheets. Just as at present, it would be necessary to find a pub- lisher and to submit the work in advance. In fact, nothing would be saved except the cost of setting-up, and against that would be placed the stereo plates. And Mr. Daldy's "four- fifths" would remain, as at present, deprived of their valuable copyright by an unappreciative public. It is a pity that we have not reciprocity; but the clause, after all, is a very small thing, and only troublesome in the case of books about which there is doubt whether they shall be taken or not. Have my readers forgotten the proposed memorial to Felicia Hemans? It is only a small amount that is wanted: about .£135 is already promised, and I learn that the committee are anxious to close the fund. Those, therefore, who have promised but not yet paid are invited to do so without delay; and those who have not sent anything should do so at once to Mr. A. Theodore Brown, treasurer of the fund, Exehange- VOL. IX. court, Liverpool. It is suggested that the memo- rial shall take the form of au annual prize for a lyrical poem, the prize-winner to be a student in Liverpool College. For my own part I like not prize poems: no really fine poem was ever obtained in this way. I should have preferred an annual examination in English literature open to all comers under a certain age. Should librarians buy review books? The question was raised recently at a meeting of the Library Assistants' Association. The discussion was begun by Mr. Dyer, who attacked the practice of librarians in purchasing review copies of books, defaced with various stamps embossed or im- pressed, and also with pencil marks, &c., consider- ing that ratepayers might well ask him how money came to be expended on books marked " with the Publisher's compliments."' He considered it an injustice to the author that public money should be spent on books thit are given away, not sold, and that booksellers should not be allowed to sell these books any more than Baron Tauchnitz's publications. Mr. Wood strongly supported the purchase of review copies, as the stamps did not matter. Did not libraries themselves deface books? and did an extra defacement matter't What a librarian wanted was cheap books, and review copies were cheap, and new, and good; therefore these should be bought. Mr. Thome and Mr. Vellenoweth defended the exclusion of these cheap but defaced books, the latter asking how readers could be forbidden to make pencil marks, &c., in books already so marked, as review copies often were. The opinion of the meeting seemed to be in favour of buying review books because they are cheap, while the members present refused to listen to the principle involved. Now, there are 700 free libraries in this country, and the number of copies sent out for review is not more than fifty as a rule. If, out of the fifty, thirty are offered for sale, that leaves 670 libraries which must buy direct. It is not therefore a burning question or an intolerable burden. Yet one would like the matter settled. Ought libraries, as a matter of principle, to buy those review copies? Thev get them very cheap; they may be sometimes marked a little, and it cannot be said that the sale is underhand. Many reviewers have the book in addition to the cheque. When the latter is small the book is thrown in as some compensation, and it is understood that it will be sold. Walter Bbsant. x ## p. 184 (#196) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. THE PUBLISHER, THE BOOKSELLER, AND THE LIBRARIAN. THIS is the title of an unconventional article in the " Christmas Catalogue," published from the office of the Newsagent and Book- seller's Review. The writer in the first place discusses the cheapening of literature, and prophe- sies that "the 6*. novel will soon have to give place to 2*., and the author, who is now paid huge and disproportionate sums of money for his MS., will have to be content with a more modest- sum and a smaller royalty. The publisher, then, who can look ahead, and who is bold enough to enter the arena, will have no cause to regret it, for although the task may be heavy, he will most assuredly win fame and fortune." Then follows a lament that the libraries have not of late years teen helping the publisher to the extent that is naturally expected, for if the author's name happens to be a new one, he is passed by. The section of the article devoted to publishers con- cludes as follows: The publishing world should be considered more in the light of a charitable combination, for if the publisher did not risk his money to introduce new authors, a very pre- cious few would ever see themselves clothed in fresh ink, newspaper, and gorgeous binding. The article then passes to the bookseller, the writer admitting that the publisher cannot exist without him; remarking his ignorance as to the books he sells, compared with the bookseller of the "old times," and deploring the small pay of the bookseller's assistant. A "new departure" at the biggest circulating library in London is noted, and this, says the writer, is a matter in which the publisher should step in and put his foot down. This is it:— As soon as books can be withdrawn from circulation (and they are often withdrawn much too soon) they are re-bound, cleaned, and sold for half the published price! This, then, clearly is not helping the poor bookseller. There will be lots of people who will wait for these oopies, and thereby save a matter of is. 6d. on a book, to the loss of the bookseller. Again, as to the position of the new author, and giving him a better chance, it is suggested "that the two large Metropolitan libraries relegate a couple or more of competent literary critics to a room set apart for the examination of new books—advance copies being sent them by the publishers for that purpose—and upon the report of these critics, the new writer would be judged according to his merits." As for the librarian, to him is imputed want of enteqmse. "The London librarian is one of the most important men in English literary circles, but it is extremely doubtful if he has ever risen to, or taken advantage of, his opportunities. The libraries of London are dead," &c. "MERLIN AND THE GLEAM." IHAVE waited for the Life of Tennyson to throw some light on a small Tennyson puzzle—why the poet chose to represent Merlin, the bard and wizard of the Arthur legends, as following "The Gleam." Now the book has come, and upon this point I am as unsatisfied as ever. The preface gives a delightfully interesting study of the poem, and some explanation of Tenny- son's feeling for the wizard. "From his boy- hood he had felt the magic of Merlin—that spirit of poetry—which bade him know his power and follow throughout his work a pure and high ideal . . . which helped him through doubt and difficulties to 'endure as seeing Him who is invisible.'" Then the connection with "The Gleam" appears to be traced in Vol. II., p. 366, where we find the note :— "Of Merlin and the Gleam, written in August, 1889, he [Tennyson] says, ' In the story of Merlin and Nimue I have read that Nimue means the Gleam—which in my poem typifies the higher poetic imagination." But Nimue had already been treated by Tenny- son in "Merlin and Vivien," and with no more respect than was shown in Malory's chapter upon "How Merlin was assorted, and doted on one of the ladies of the lake, and how he was shut in a rock under a stone, and there died." Take the ending of this poem :— For Merlin, overtalk'd and overworn, Had yielded, told her all the charm, and slept. Then, in one moment, she put forth the charm Of woven paces and of waving hands, And in the hollow oak he lay as dead, And lost to life and use and name and fame. Then crying, " I have made his glory mine," And shrieking out " O fool!" the harlot leapt Adown the forest, and the thicket closed Behind her, and the forest echo'd "fool." Can this wicked little will-of-the-wisp represent the spirit of poetry? The close of " Merlin and the Gleam" quite forbids one to believe it. I can no longer, But die rejoicing, For through the magic Of Him the Mighty, Who taught me in childhood, There on the border Of boundless ocean, And all but in Heaven Hovers the Gleam. It is hard to think this lovely moral has grown from the Nimue of Malory's tale! I shall be bold enough, at any rate, to make another suggestion. Newman, when asked about the angel faces in " Lead kindly Light." frankly ## p. 185 (#197) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. confessed that he had forgotten what he meant by them. Tennyson himself for the moment may have mistaken the origin of his Gleam. We know he was a student of Dante. The "sorrow's crown of sorrows" passage is only one of many delicate enrichments from that source; and, in Canto XIII. of the "Purgatorio," we find this allusion: Sapia describes how, "waxing out of bounds " in gladness after a victory, she lifted up her brow, And, like the merlin cheated by a gleam, Cried, "It is over. Heav'n! I fear thee not." Cary's Translation. A note explains the reference: "Canto XIII., v. 114.—The story of the Merlin is that, having been induced by a gleam of fine weather to escape from his master, he was soon oppressed by the rigour of the season." My theory involves a little confusion between Merlin the bird and Merlin the man. A bird following light, a singer reaching after the highest poetic inspiration—the two ideas would be easily merged in one another. Bird or poet might fail of full achievement—strike out too soon for light and freedom, and find death instead of summer. But I shall contend, at least, that it was some transmutation of this bird story in Tennyson's mind which suggested the 1889 poem, and that the wicked little amateur sorceress, whatever her coincidence of name, had really nothing to do with it. Mary Colborne-Veel. New Zealand, 1898. NAXOS. When lonely on the once-delightful shore Stood Ariadne, and the stern wind blew Steadily seaward, till at last she knew Theseus could come no more: Behold! A God, a God rush'd to her side! —Think yon she cared? I know which way she tnrn'd Fair eyes, and longing heart, and lips that burn'd; I know which name she cried! For now the god-like lot draws near to me; Yea, Love-of-one denied, oomes Love-for-all. —But, where art thou? Canst thon not hear me call, O lost, lost Love! to thee? B. E. B. LONDON LIBRARY. THIS important institution opened on Dec. 5 its new buildings which have been erected on the old site, St. James's-square. A distinguished company came to hear Mr. Leslie Stephen, the president, declare the new buildings open. Mr. Stephen in his address explained the history of the movement—the entire breakdown of the old buildings, the want of space, the diffi- culty in finding books, and the lack of a proper reading room. These difficulties have now been removed and these wants supplied in a simple well-lighted airy building. The expense has been met by .£2000 subscribed among the 2472 members, and a loan of .£5000. Mr. Stephen described the increase of the library since 1841, saying that at last there was no way out of the difficulty but to build or to burst, and, of course, they had to set about building. The result was that they had a very great increase of accommo- dation, and their librarian in future would be in the position of a general presiding over an encampment where every regiment had its proper place, and where he knew where to call on every- one of his troops. Mr. Stephen said that when he looked at the great clubs which surrounded them, and in which he was afraid the kitchen was a much more important part of the apparatus than the library, some of his complacency in the new building departed, and remembering that it was the only institution of the kind in London which undertook to give an essential means for the enjoy- ment of good literature in their own houses, he thought after all that it was a mere cottage com- pared with what it ought to be. CORRESPONDENCE. I —Book-Buyers and Booksellers. THE note in the December Author referring to the possible buyers of books is interesting. I have often wondered who are the book- buyers, besides the managers of circulating libraries and literary men. People with incomes of .£500 a year, and more than that, tell me that they cannot afford to buy books. In thousands of big, well-furnished houses one little case, holding fifty or sixty books, at the outside estimate, is considered a fair library. Books are the last things that many wealthy persous dream of buying. Sometimes they have a two-guinea library ticket. Very often they beg or borrow books from impe- cunious friends. It is necessary for a man with .£1000 a year to economise. These people will even ask a half-starved author to lend theiu a copy of his last book, published at 3*. 6d., and to be bought at 3*?. in the 1 i. discount. An enormous number of those who neither toil nor spin can "never find time to read," and another multitude "hate reading," and despise the writers of books as useless, idle fellows, who ought to be trying to make money on the Stock Exchange instead of amusing themselves with ## p. 186 (#198) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. pen and paper. I have been asked sometimes by pursy people to recommend a book. They inquire if I know anyone who will lend it to them. So far as my experience goes, I am convinced that the keenest readers and the most liberal book-buyers are authors. A philosophical writer known to me, whose income is less than M200 a year, has thousands of books, many of them costly. Another scholarly author, who never earned more than £2 per week, has contrived to fill a study with volumes. Half of his earnings are spent upon books. The other day a well-to-do lady promised to buy a book in which I was interested. It was in the press, and the publishers had proposed to issue it at i*. Subsequently, they changed their minds, and priced the book at 2*. 6d. The well-to-do lady also changed her mind about buying the book. She could not afford more than is. I believe it would pay publishers to print cheap books. Lately, one of the new publishers refused the manuscript of a novel because it was too short for the ordinary Volume form of fiction. If the book would not sell at 2*. 6rf., might it not sell at is. 6d., and perhaps sell much better at the lower price? A word upon booksellers. "The trade" is in a bad way, and this is partly due to the fact that so many persons are niggardly in their expendi- ture upon books. But some booksellers aie not " pushing"; they cannot expert to succeed. When the reprint of "The Dolly Dialogues " was selling in thousands, and lying upon every railway bookstall, I went into a big book shop at Ply- mouth and asked for the book. The shopkeeper said, "I don't keep dialogues." I explained that it was not a theatrical book. "Well, I haven't got it, and I've never heard of it," returned the bookseller, without offering to order it. On another occasion I tried to buy J. A. Symonds' "Study of Walt Whitman," at four large central shops in London. "No, we haven't it," said the assistants. There was no suggestion of obtaining a copy. I should have imagined that a js. 6d. book was worth selling. I sympathise with booksellers in their struggle to pay rents and make a living. Many of them can scarcely live, in spite of energy and enter- prise; but others come to grief through listless- ness and neglecting to display and recommend new books. I was much gratified some time ago by the kindness of two leading members of the trade, who both offered to stock my books when I, as a complete stranger, asked them if they would do so. I think that booksellers would welcome cheaper books, especially works of fiction. Constantly people tell me that they would buy a new novel if it only cost 2*. 6d. They refrain from buying a novel at 4*. 6d., and wait until they can find someone to lend it to them or until the book is in the local free library. I believe that authors, publishers, and booksellers lose in the long run through fixing the price of a novel too high. The book is bought by the few, and it may be read by many; but the majority of readers will be borrowers, and some of them unabashed and unblushing wealthy borrowers. Bryn Aber, Geoffrey Mortimer Llangollen, North Wales. II.—Editor and Contributor. 1. When an editor keeps a MS. months and months, wearing out the writer's patience, and causing him, in many instances, real distress of mind, does it not point to a defective sense of honour in that editor? The author is in his power, has no redress if his copy becomes lost or dog-eared, is obliged to bear meekly neglect or insult, so that, it seems to me, the abuse of his confidence is very like the non-payment of a debt of honour. There is obviously no action we who write can take, but simply sit still and wait for a reformation of charactor in such doers unto others as they would not others should do unto them! Not long ago I wrote to an editor asking when my story, accepted last May, would be likely to appear. He did not reply to a letter and two post-cards, so I wrote for the fourth time with some irritation. This was the imperti- nent answer: "I think it a kindness to tell you that peremptory letters to editors can have but one result." Another story accepted last May was returned in August, and it was only through the services of Mr. Thring that it is accepted again now. When it will appear, Heaven knows! If one dares to beard editorial majesty there can be but one of two results—malicious delay or return of the MS. Truly we may pray for reform of manners. With regard to the ill-bred person who scribbles his presumptuous and often illiterate "corrections" all over another man's literary pro- perty (I have experienced this, and shar* Mr. Wallace's disgust—see last month's Author), he is, of course, so hopelessly void of inborn courtesy or good taste that nothing could touch him but being obliged to pay for re-typing. Surely we can legally claim this if we take the the trouble; or am I mistaken? M. L. P. 11. Most authors, whether of prose or verse, have, I presume, their little " differences " with editors. ## p. 187 (#199) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 187 1 have, moreover, occasionally to put up with no little injustice. My own experiences in this line have been so numerous that I am tempted to give a few of them in The Author. I must premise by saying that I am one of the most courteous of men myself, and never willingly give offence to any one. More than that, I am ever ready to forgive an affront when sorrow is expressed by the giver of it, and not seldom making the first overtures even here; and yet in spite of all this I have at the present moment the following—what shall we call them ?—say "misunderstandings," to put it mildly. Imprimis.— One of our best known critics and authors once wrote me in reply to a present of a volume of my verse a most kind and appre- ciative letter and highly praised my poetry, rank- ing me among the sweetest of Devon singers now alive. Since then, though I wrote him a most warm and grateful note in reply, I have never had a line from him, and moreover he has just curtly declined for his magazine one of the best poems (in my opinion) I ever wrote! I have written him more than once without any response. Why? Another well-known literary man and poet in the north, who also highly admired, so he said, my poetry, suddenly ceased to write to me or to answer my letters, without any conceivable reason. Nothing could have been more courteous than my letter to him. Why? No. 3 is a west country editor with whom I had a difference, and though I amply apologised to him for a hasty letter, up to this day he has never accepted my apology! No. 4 is a literary friend now living in London, who introduced himself to me years ago, has stayed with me, and now never answers my letters, without any reason. If they are busy, so am I, only I am old-fashioned and foolish enough to forget and forgive and to reply to letters. Dec. 13. F. B. D. nr. Tn your last issue you devote some paragraphs to the recent decision of Judge Emden at the Lambeth County Court, and you say that this case "bears to some extent on the position of an editor to whom MSS. are sent." I should like to point out that this decision is favourable to authors, and ought to be supported in every way. Judge Emden laid down that here the " bailment " was gratuitous; that is, the "bailee," or pers m to whom the MS. was entrusted, had no interest in the matter, and therefore could not be made responsible unless shown to have been guilty of gross negligence. From this argument it logically follows that, had the "bailee" had an interest in the " bail- ment" of the MS., he would have been liable, and the onus would have been shifted on to him to prove that he had exercised reasonable care in preserving it. It appears to me that, in most cases where MSS. are sent to an editor or a publisher, the "bailment" is not gratuitous, for the latter has an interest in the "bailment," as it is thereby he is enabled to make selections on which his business largely dermls. If I am a manu- facturer, and send goods to a dealer on approval, he cannot lose them and say he is only a "gratuitous bailee," and that you must prove he has been grossly negligent before you can claim recompense for the loss of your property. Why, then, should an editor or publisher claim this position? It is true editors sometimes in their advertise- ments repudiate liability for lost MSS., but it is by no means certain they can thus evade a "common law" liability. Howard v. Harris is somewhat against (his con- tention. That was a case similar to the one decided by Judge Emden, but there the play- wright had sent the MS. straight tu the manager of the theatre. The decision of the County Court judge, however, seems to me to have been given on more intelligible grounds than that of the higher court. As the matter is of great importance to authors where a wanton loss of MSS. has occurred, I think it might be advisable to test the matter further. Major Greenwood, LL.B., Barrister-at-Law. III.—The Society as Publishers. I notice in the November number that a writer signing himself "A Member of the Society" raises a question or suggestion upon the impor- tant matter of publishing; and there is also a note on the same by our esteemed " W. B." The first-named wishes the Society to undertake the very much talked-of publishing of books, which the latter thinks would not be done, suggesting, as a medium course, that we might, so to speak, grow a publisher of our own for the purpose. So far as I can say—and I know a good deal about authorship, printing, publishing, &c.—I would think that sin. e both writers (not to speak of thousands of others) are agreed upon the desirability of the project, "W. B." himself might venture to place the matter before the Society at an early meeting; and since he is of opinion that the man procured to publish for authors at 10 per cent. profit should not be allowed to undertake other business, what better way is there than for the Society to procure such a ## p. 188 (#200) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. man and publish themselves, getting another manager when death or the 101 things would cause a single individual to throw up the sponge? Thus the good work, like the river, even though men men might come and go, would go on for ever. W. B. Lappin. IV.—Fourteen Months' Delay. May I be allowed to corroborate Mr. Wallace's evidence concerning the methods adopted by the Strand Magazine? I submitted a short story for the editor's con- sideration, and after twelve months had rolled by I wrote asking for information concerning it. My letter, however, was ignored, as was a second (although I enclosed stamped addressed envelope for reply). In a third letter I informed him that I should be compelled to make the matter public. This produced an apology from the sub-editor, and a statement that he was "holding the story over in order to bring it to the editor's notice at a favourable moment." Another month passed, and then the MS. was returned as unsuitable, having been detained fourteen months. One of the Rank and File. [One would like to know how many MSS. were waiting their turn to be read: and how many officials were reading them. Without judging any case, it must always be remembered that with every popular magazine the pressure of MSS. is very great—enormous. I should imagine that the explanation of this case is probably that the MS. was slipped among others and so was mis- laid. The writer is naturally—most naturally— angry, but I would suggest some such explana- tion.—Ed.]. BOOK TALK. ME. RIDER HAGGARD has written a new story of South Africa, entitled, " Swal- low: A Tale of the ' Great Trek.'" It will be illustrated by Mr. Maurice Greiffenhagen, and will be published in the spring by Messrs. Longman. Mr. David Christie Murray's new novel, to be published in the spring by Messrs. Pearson, is called "Despair's Last Journey." Mr. William Archer has written an introduc- tion to the English translation of Dr. George Brandes's monograph on Ibsen, which Mr. Heine- mann will publish very soon. A selection of Robert Louis Stevenson's letters to various people will be given by Mr. Sidney Colvin in Scribner's Magazine, the first instal- ment to appear in this month's number. Mr. Henry Murray Lane, Chester Herald, is engaged upon a large genealogical work which Messrs. A. D. Junes and Co. will publish, entitled "The Royal Daughters of England." It will be a compendium of most of the royal and illus- trious families of Europe for over 800 years, and the object with which it is undertaken is to show who are the actual living representatives of the sixty princesses, beginning with the daughters of William the Conqueror, who have issue surviving to the present day. The work will run into four volumes. Mr. F. J. Jackson's book on the Jaekson- Harmsworth expedition to the North Pole will be published by Messrs. Harper in a week or two. It is the record of three years' adventure and scientific research, and includes, of course, an account of the leader's meeting with Dr. Nansen. The title of the book is " A Thousand Days in the Arctic." Mr. J. Grego is editing, with notes, a book on Charles Dickens and his illustrators, which will be published in two volumes by Messrs. Chapman and Hall under the title " Pictorial Pickwickiana." It will be illustrated with drawings and engrav- ings by Seymour Leech, " Phiz," Sir John Gilbert, R.A., C. R. Leslie, R.A., and others. Mr. J. W. Headlam, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, is writing for the Cambridge His- torical Series a volume on the modern German Empire, 1815-1871. Mrs. H. J. Tennant and Miss Mona Wilson have written a handbook entitled "Working Women in Factories, Workshops, and Laundries, and How to Help Them." It will be published shortly by Messrs. Duckworth and Co. Herr Charles Neufeld, who was released from his long imprisonment in Khartoum when the victorious British troops entered the city, is writing an account of his experiences during his long captivity in the stronghold of Mahdism. Miss Mary Bateson is editing for the Royal Historical Society "A Narrative of Political Events, 1765-1767, by the Duke of Newcastle." Mr. F. G. Kitten's forthcoming memoir of Dr. Buck, formerly organist and master of the choristers at Norwich Cathedral, will contain new letters of Jenny Lind, Professor John Hullah, Professor Sedgwick, Sir Sterndale Bennett, Dean Stanley, and others. Messrs. Jarrold and Sons will publish the work. In the Atlantic Monthly for December Mr. Pierre la Rose gives a hitherto unpublished poem by Byron — namely, a version of Ossian's "Address to the Sun." This is accompanied by many notes on Ossian written by Byron when he ## p. 189 (#201) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. was about eighteen years of age. The whole of these—poem and notes—are written in Byron's own hand in a copy of the 1806 edition of "The Poems of Ossian" which is now one of the treasures of the library of Harvard University. It came into the possession of the college in 1874, as part of the bequest of Charles Sumner, who had acquired it for twenty guineas. Byron at this time swallowed Macpherson, of whom his notes show him to be an enthusiastic admirer. The following are the opening lines of the poem :— 0 thou! who rollest in yon azure field, Bound as the orb of my forefather's shield, Whence are thy beams? From what eternal store Dost thou, O Sun! thy vast effulgence pour? In awful grandeur, when thou movest on high, The stars start back and hide them in the sky; The pale moon sickens in thy brightening blaze, And in the western wave avoids thy gaze- Alone thou shinest forth—for who can riso Companion of thy splendour in tho skies! Some good literary plums will be ripe next season (says the Westminster Gazette) to fall into the hands of those who reprint notable books as soon as the copyright expires. This season an example of this sort has been "John Halifax, Gentleman," by Mrs. Craik, a charming edition of which Messrs. Dent have just issued. That very popular novel has been reprinted by six publishers at least, besides the six different editions from the authorised publishers on sale before. In 1899 another portion of Tennyson's poetry will be out of copyright; Dr. Livingstone's first African travels, issued in 1857; "Tom Brown's School- days," and Borrow's " Lavengro." Sir William Wilson Hunter, K.C.S.I., is writing a history of British India, which will occupy five volumes. The first of these, which will carry the narrative through our struggle for the spice trade of the Eastern Archipelago and our expulsion by the Dutch from the Spice Islands, will be published by Messrs. Longman next month. The attention of Messrs. A. D. Innes and Co. has been called to a curious error on the title page of Mr. Arthur Paterson's last novel, "The Gospel Writ in Steel." He is there credited with the authorship not only of "A Son of the Plains," which he did write, but also of "The Man from Snowy River," which is the work of Mr. A. B. Paterson, an entirely different person. "It does not appear," Messrs. Innes say, "that Mr. Pater- son passed this title-page for press himself." The Saturday Review has again changed hands, the Earl of Hardwicke having acquired the controlling interest of Mr. Frank Harris. The new editor will bo Mr. Harold Hodge, barrister, who is connected with the firm of Sothcby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, the well-known book dealers. Mr. David Williamson is to edit the Puritan, a new magazine for Free Churchmen, which will be started shortly, with Mr. Bowden as pub- lisher. Mrs. Adeane, author of "The Girlhood of Maria Holroyd," is continuing the record of this lady as Lady Stanley of Alderley in a book to be published by Messrs. Longman. Mr. W. M. Rossetti contributes to the December number of the Pall Mall Magazine some unpublished fragments by his brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Mr. Bernard Wentworth, author of "The Master of Hullingham Manor," "Anti-Agnosti- cism," &c., has been commissioned by Mr. Garnet Wolseley Cox to write the libretto, in blank verse, of a new grand opera by Mr. G. W. Cox. Mr. Wentworth has lately been appointed to the staff of one of the leading Warwickshire papers, the Leamington Advertiser. A new short story by Mr. Wentworth appears in the Christmas number of that journal, entitled "Estebau Cortes," a tale of Spain and the late Spanish-American war. "Excursions in Comedy," a small volume of dramatic sketches by Mr. William Toyubee, has just been published by Mr. H. J. Glaisher, of 57, Wigmore-street, who also announces a volume of verse by the same author, entitled "On Oaten Flute," of which a limited number was privately printed in 1897. Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of York and the Duchess of Fife have both graciously accepted copies of a new book for children entitled "A Story Book for Lesson Time," or a child's first English grammar. The volume has recently been published by Messrs. Constable and Co. On the 11th of the current month CasseWs Saturday Journal will commence the serial pub- lication of a modern novel of adventure by Mr. John Bloundelle-Burton, this being the first present day romance which the author has pro- duced for ten years. In it Mr. Bloundelle-Burton returns to the locality of some of his earlier stories, viz., the region of the West Indies, he having chosen British Honduras for his scene. It will be entitled "A Bitter Birthright," and will also be produced serially in the United States at the same time. "The Cardinal's Page," James Baker's new novel, was only issued on the 12th November, but the first edition is gone and a second is now being sent out. ## p. 190 (#202) ############################################ 190 THE AUTHOR. "Divil-May-Care," a new novel by Miss May Crommelin, has just been published by Messrs. F. V. White and Co. This novel deals with adventures in Ulster, and some of the magic and folklore of the peasantry, interspersed with rather sensational, but, as we are assured, true stories. "The New Far East," by Arthur Diosy (Vice- Chairman of the Council of the Japan Society), with a map and illustrations from special designs by Kuboto Beisen, of Tokio, has just been pub- lished by Messrs. Cassell and Co. Mr. E. M. Garnier, author of "The History of the Landed Interest,'' "Annals of the British Peasantry," &c., has token to historical fiction, and Messrs. Harper and Brothers have just pub- lished for him "His Counterpart," a romance dealing with the early life of John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough. A novel, by Mrs. Neville Walford, called " Until the Dawn," is now ready for publication, and will shortlv be issued by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. Within three weeks of its publication by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, a German edition of Mr. A. Eedcote Dewar's book, " From Matter to Man," was called for. The eminent German scientist Professor Ludwig Biicherer, of Darm- stadt, has undertaken to be editor. Mr. W. B. Lappin, the Irish author, well known in the Emerald Isle for his descriptive scene paint- ing and "special" article work, is just now engaged on a new novel entitled "Mad Mag," the scenes of which are laid in the author's native province of "the black north," added to a mythical continental creation. The Christmas number of Household Words contains a story entitled "The Warning Bell," by Mrs. do Courcy Laffan (Mrs. Leith Adams). About the last week in January a volume of collected stories, by the same writer, will be published in six-shilling volume form by Messrs. Digby, Long, and Co., of 18, Bouverie-street. The initial story gives the title to the book, "Accessory Before the Fact," and will be illustrated by Mr. Trevor Haddon, R.B.A. Early in the spring a serial by Mrs. Laffan, entitled "The Vicar of Dale End," will commence to run in Household Words; and a series of papers, run- ning in the Oakleaf— the magazine of the ist Battalion "Cheshire" Regiment, now quartered in the Deccan—will assume volume form, under the title of "Regimentol Memories." "Georgie's Wooer "—a story by Mrs. Laffan that has had a great vogue in America—where the publishers are Messrs. Harper and Co., of New York—. appears this week in the popular cheap series entitled "The Welcome Librarv," published by Mr. F. White, of Bedford-street. Strand. Mr. Stephen Wheeler has been authorised by Lady Graves Sawle to publish a final selection from Walter Savage Landor's correspondence with the sister and niece of Rose Aylmer. Messrs. Duckworth will publish the volume. A movement is being made to secure a Civil List pension or a grant for the family of the late Mr. Gleeson White. The friends of Mr. White are in the meantime raising a subscription, sub- scribers to which are asked to communicate with Mr. H. R. Hope-Pinker, 22, Avonmore-road, West Kensington. An appeal is also made to friends and the public on behalf of the widow and four children of the late Mr. Harold Frederic . The hon. secretory and treasurer of this fund is Mr. W. J. Fisher, 88, St. George's-square, S.W. A meeting of subscribers for the Liverpool memorial to Mrs. Hemans will be held at the Common Hall, Hackins Hey, Liverpool, on the 6th inst. It is expected that a sum of ^6135 will be available, and the meeting will decide what form the memorial shall take. A movement is on foot to erect a statue of Byron in Aberdeen city, which is, of course, inti- mately associated with the poet's early days. Subscriptions to the fund are being received by the City Chamberlain, Town House, Aberdeen. A Lever Society is being formed in London for the purpose of interchanging views and opinions concerning his novels, and also with the intention of getting together material for a new Life of Lever. Anyone who has any documents or letters, or who can supply any reminiscences of Lever, or who is interested in the man and his works, is invited to communicate with the hon. secretary of the Lever Society, Mr. Arthur Dana, 67, Guilford-street, Russell-square, W.C. The 150th anniversary of Goethe's birthday occurs this year, and it is proposed to erect a statue of the poet in Strasburg, at whose college he studied. A monument to the memory of Mathilde Blind was unveiled at Finchley Cemetery a few weeks ago, in the presence of a large gathering of friends of the late poet. The second number of the Windmill, an illustrated quarterly of literature and art, contains a short paper by Vernon Gibberd, on " Periodical Literature. "The advertising agent," says the writer, " is fast beeouiing a more important per- sonage than the literary contributor, for upon ## p. 191 (#203) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. him more than upon the buyers must the pro- prietors rely, not only for the sources of the cost .of production, but also for the means of profit." "But there are higher things in art than novelty," "and it is to vindicate the dignity of literature and the honour of art that certain literary and artistic quarterlies have at different times made their appeal, not so much to the reading public as to the lovers of literature and the appre- ciators of art." The writer continues :—. In some degree they may be said to represent a revolt, and it is perhaps their misfortune that so many of the B. P. regard all rebellion as immoral. Their voice has been lifted no against convention and conservatism, in art and litera- ture, against arbitrary standards and dogmatic conventions. If they have attempted the impossible it is that they might attain a high point in the possible. They at least formed a medium for the newer spirit to make itself articulate, and the cynicism of the Philistine that "in these days men mount to fame on a Fallout Book article " covers the truth that writers before denied a hearing have by subsequent appreciation justified their literary existence. We understand that Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, author of the volume recently published in the "Heroes of the Nations " series by G. P. Putnam and Sons, entitled " Saladin: and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem," has just been appointed Professor of Arabic in the University of Dublin. Mrs. Molesworth has been writing in Chambers's Journal (December) on story-writing for the young, which, she says, " is yet a different thing, almost a different art, from that of writing for adults." It is necessary to become in some sense a chilil again, yet one must retain one's older experience and greater wisdom, for there is so much to be avoided:— All suggestion of many of the sadder facts of our com- plex human nature, which, though learnt they must be when the boy and girl become man and woman, it would be cruel as «ell as sinful to teach prematurely; all elements of suspiciousness, of distrnstfulness of others—above all, of those whom onr darlings naturally look up to and revere; all painting in too gloomy colours of this life, sorrow- burdened, even almost hopelessly tragic as it often seems to us—till, as the " eventide" approaches, with a wonderful return to the faithful child nature, we come to believe again in the " light " as the reality—all these rocks and shoals of danger and injury must be steered clear of with perfect skill. For " humbug" in any form is quickly detected by children; many points a child's story-teller must be content to evade, simply to leave untouched upon, never to tell untruths about. Those who have studied the subject will feel especially the force of what Mrs. Molesworth calls "the important distinction which should be drawn between writing about and writing for children." Miss Ehoda Broughton's new story, "The Game and the Candle," begins in the January number of Temple Bar. The identity of C. E. Raimond, the author of 'The Open Question" (and other earlier novels), has been disclosed as Miss Elizabeth Robins, a lady well known in various Ibsen role*. Mrs. John Richard Green is writing a history of England, designed principally for use in schools. Mr. Neil Munro's new Higland story, "The Paymaster's Boy: His Fancy, His Love, and Adventures," begins its course as a serial in the January number of Good Words. Sir Willi *m Harcourt (according to the Man- chester Guardian) is likely to employ his increased leisure in a work which he has long had in his mind, and for which he has been collecting materials for some years. This is a study of the life and political career of Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, the great Tory statesman of Queen Anne's reign. Sir George Trevelyan is publishing through Messrs. Longman in a few days the first part of his new work " The American Revolution (1766- 1776)." In his preface, the author says he is aware that an expectation exists among those who have read "The Early History of Charles James Fox" that he would carry on the account of that statesman's life from the point at which he dropped it eighteen years ago. When the con- sideration of the project was seriously approached, it became evident that the difficulties of writing a political biography, as distinguished from a political history, were in this case insuperable. The story of Fox between 1774 and 1782 is in- extricably interwoven with the story of the American Revolution. What was done and spoken at Westminster cannot be rightly ex- plained, nor the conduct of British public men fairly judged, without a clear and reasonably detailed account of that which occurred contem- poraneously beyond the Atlantic. The story of the times in which Fox lived and wrought has hitherto been told as it presented itself to the author; and he trusts that his telling of it may interest others sufficiently to encourage him in continuing it. A writer in the Medical Press and Circular has been remonstrating with novelists ou the absence of births from the incidents of their books. The proportion of births to deaths in fiction is placed at one to ninety-six; and the writer has therefore no difficulty in predicting that the world of fiction will at this rate be de- populated in eleven years or so. Particular reference is made to Mr. Marion Crawford's works, in which there are nin-ty-oue deaths and seven marriages, but only two obstetrical inci- dents; whde Mr. Anthony Hope's "Prisoner of Zenda" has on an average five deaths to a chapter, but not a birth in the whole book. ## p. 192 (#204) ############################################ 192 THE AUTHOR. "Is the Modern Novel Helpful or Harmful to Morality ?" is the subject of a paper by Dr. Johu Clifford, M.A., in Great Thoughts for Dee. 31. His discussion of the question may be reduced to a simple statement that there are novels which do and novels which do not help in making the best men and women. In classifying faulty types from the point of view of moral progress, the writer places those novels wherein it is insinuated that wealth is the fount of virtue—" I thiuk I would be a good woman if I had .£5000 a year," said Becky Sharp; an observation which Dr. Clif- ford describes as the hackneyed text for "book after book." The second objection is to the treat- ment of tragedies of love, as to which the writer says:— To paint a man puling- and whining because be has fallen in love with another man's wife and cannot marry her, is bad Art and bad Ethics combined. Why not sketch a man pnling and whining because he cannot steal £ 10,000 with- out risking the prison, or because he cannot appropriate a few aores of land he would like to have? Such a novel menaces the strength of the will. It takes the iron out of the blood. It gives the rein to passion, and imperils the man, the home, and the State. Even in these respects, however, Dr. Clifford thinks the Modern Novel advancing; and, apart from his objections, "we gladly recognise," he says, "but we can never repay, our debt to the Modern Novel." The dinner of the Anglo-African Writers' Club took place on Dec, 21, in the Grand Hotel, London, Mr. H. Rider Haggard presiding. Mr. Bryce, the honorary president, delivered a speech on colonial possibilities in literature. If, he said, we had understood our colonies of North America in 1776 they would have been our colonies still, and if better results had come in la'e years it was largely because by literature and personal communications the two nations knew each other better. He did not think it idle to suppose that the time would come when the literary activity of our colonies themselves might be far more abundant and powerful than now. At present they were in the state of bringing things into order and developing the agencies of commerce, and the time for literature had perhaps hardly yet come. The time, however, might come when the literary activity of the English race would be largely replenished by the assistance of our fellow countrymen beyond the seas, aud he pointed out that this had been in some measure anticipated in the International and Colonial Copyright Act of 1886. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Smollett and the Preface. CAN any reader of The Author inform the undersigned in what book occurs a passage to the effect that " A preface, according to Tobias Smollett (?), is something which, though usually put at the beginning of a book, ought really to come at its end?" A somewhat similar passage occurs in the preface to " Waverley," but that is not the one to which I refer. H. Ha.es. A Question of Form. "The world-customer — with the polyglot German at one elbow with his cheapness, and the American at the other elbow with his smartness —is now beginning to leave the Englishman, to his but 110 one's else astonishment." This is a sentence from a recent article in the Saturday Jtecieir. May I inquire which is the correct form-—no one's else or no one else's? T. OBITUARY. MR. WILLIAM BLACK died on the even- ing of Saturday, Dec. 10, at his resi- dence, Paston House, Brighton. Over- work had affected Mr. Black's health during three or four years; about September the illness took a terious form, and for the last few weeks of his life he suffered from brain fever. Born in Glasgow in 1841, Mr. Black studied art at the Government Art School there for two years, and then turned into journalism. He left the staff of the Glasgow Weekly Citizen in 1864 to come to London, where he joined the late Morning Star, and had for colleagues Mr. Morley, Mr. McCarthy, Sir Edward Russell, and Mr. Charles Cooper. In the same year he published "James Merle: an Autobiography," and after serving his paper in the capacity of war correspondent in the Prusso-Russian War of 1866, Mr. Black wrote for the Echo and afterwards for the Daily Neves, occupying for four years the post of assistant- editor of the latter journal. He also edited the Examiner for a short time. "Love or Marriage," which he came to dislike, was published in 1867, "In Silk Attire," two years later, but attracted very little attention: Mr. Black's first great success was achieved in 1871 with "A Daughter of Heth." "A Princess of Thule," issued in 1873, found Mr. Black's reputation established, and since then stories came from his pen at the rate of about one each year, and everything he wrote ## p. 193 (#205) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i93 found a ready public. His books were so often laid in tbe Scottish Highlands that this part of the world was recognised as his particular field, whose atmosphere and scenery he loved so well and presented so vividly to his readers. It is only necessary to name "Macleod of Dare," "The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," " White Heather," "Far Lochaber," "Briseis," and his last novel, published last year, " Wild Eelin," to 1 all up in one's mind the wholesome characteris- tics of Mr. Black's work and the deep feeling for Nature which it exhibits. Mr. Black did not occupy the public eye much except through his novels. He was accustomed to seek recreation in his favourite sport of salmon-fishing on Highland lochs, and to think out his plots during solitary perambulation on the sea front at Brighton. The late Mrs. Haweis was the author of "The Art of Beauty," "The Art of Decoration," "Chaucer for Children," and other books, includ- ing a novel dealing with the problem of divorce, entitled "A Flame of Fire." Mrs. Haweis, who was the wife of the Rev. H. R. Haweis, did much journalistic work, including London correspon- dence for the Sydney Herald, and was deeply devoted to the causes of higher education for women and female enfranchisement. She had been in failing health for some time, and died at Bath five weeks ago. The late Mr. John L. Owen was well known and popular in journalistic circles in London. His books include "The Great Jekyll Diamond," "Piccadilly Poems," and "Seven Nights with Satan," the last being published only a few weeks since. Mr. Owen died after an illness lasting several months. SOME SAYINQS IN 1898. BUT with regard to the general public, the reader of a review article finds it impos- sible to escape from the authority of the editorial " we," and the power of a single writer to benefit or to injure an author is so great that none but the most deeply conscientious men ought to enter the ranks of the anonymous reviewers.— Alhenseum. If you would succeed as an author, be one and nothing else. If you can beg, borrow, or steal as much as .£50 a year, cut yourself off from every- thing and write.—Julian Croskey on the results of his experience (in the New Century Review). I think our friends the publishers should try publishing books somewhat cheaper.—Mr. Bryce. The novel at a guinea-and-a-half died hard in this country ; the novel at 5*. or 6*. still cumbers the earth.—Daily News. Our bookstalls are flooded with works of fiction mostly written by women—often ungrammatical,. largely worthless in character, and wholly devoid of any reasonable interest.—Daily Telegraph. The spread of a certain education, the constant cheapening of production, and the rapid expan- sion of the means of distribution to all the world,, have substituted for a small and cultured public an immense audience whom no man can number but who ask only to be amused.—Daily Chronicle. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Nov. 23 to Dec. 22—445 Books.] Abell, H. F. History of Kent. 6/- Ashford: Kentisli Ej-preu. Abercromby, Hon. John. The Pre- and Proto-Historic Finns. 21/- not. Nutt. Addy, S. O. Erolution of the English House. 4/6. Sonnenschein. Alexander, Mrs. The Cost of Her Pride. 6/- White. Allen, Grant. Flashlights on Nature. 6/- Newnes. Allen, Grant. Linnet. A Bomance. 6 - Bichards. Andrews, O. W. Hand-book of Public Health, Laboratory Work, <fcc. Part I. 2/6 net. Portsmouth: Charpentler. Anonymous (*' A. H. S."). Lessons in Line for Little Learners. 5/- Stock. Anonymous I" A. V."). Olivette, snd other Poems. 1/- neu Burleigh. Anonymous (" B. V."). Ten Days at Monte Carlo. 2/- Heinemann. Anonymous. Early Recollections of a Journalist, 1832-1859. Edinburgh: A. Elliot. AnonymousO'G. M. S."). Glory. 1/- Nelson. Anonymous (••G. W."). The Life of Charles Alan Smythies. 4,- Universltles Mission Office. Anonymous. Sursum Corda: A Defence of Idealism. 3/6. Macmillan. Anonymous (•' T "). World Politics. 5/- Low. Anonymous. The Book of the Cambridge Beview, 1879-1897. 5/- net. Macmillan and Bowes. Anstey, F. Love among the Lions. 2/- net. Dent. Apologist, An (cd.). Epic of Humanity; or, Quest of the Ideal, 7/6. Paul. Arnold, Sir E. The Queen's Justice. 3/6. Burleigh. Ashbee, 0. E. (tr.). The Treatises of Benvenuto Cellini on Gold- smithing and Sculpture. 35/- net. Arnold. Aspinwall, Alicia. The Echo-Maid, and other Stories. 5/- Shaw. "Aster." The Bridge of Light. 2 6. Gay. Aubrey, F. Strange Stories of the Hospitals. 1/- Pearson. Austin, J. A. Manual of First Aid. 3/6. Low. Bailey, H. J. S. Stray Verses. 2/6. Stock. Baker, Mtb. Woods. Swedish Foster Brothers. 1/- Nelson. Banks, C. B. All Sorts and Conaitions of Women. 6/- Stock. Barclay, Isabella. The Way the World Went Then. 4/- Stanford. Barlow, George. History ot the Dreyfus Case. 10,6. Simpkin. Bartholeyns, A. O'D. Legend of the Christmas Bose. 2/6. Hurat. Barwise, S. The Purification of Sewage. 5/- Lockwood. Beaven, E. W. Bcmnancy. 5/- Stockwell. Bedford, W. Love Triumphant. 2/6 Stock. Beeching, H C. (ed.). Christmas Vorse. Selections. 3 6. Methuen. Befort, R. Johnny Crapaud and His Journals. 1 - Regent Press. Bell, R. S. Warren. Bachelorland. 6/- Bichards. Benn, A. W. The Philosophy of Greece. 6 - Bii hards. Bennett, E. N. The Downfall of the Dervishes. 3, 6. Methuen. Bennett, W. H. On Varix. 3/6. Longman. Bernard, J. H. Via Domini. 6. Hodder. Bertin, L. E. Marine Boilers. 18/- Murray. Besant, Walter. South London. 18 - uhatto. Binsttad, A. M. Gals' Gossip. 3/6 Sands. Binyon, Laurence. Second Book of London Visions. 1/- net. Mnthews. Binyon, Laurence. Western Flanders. 42/-net. Unicorn Presb. Bismarck, the Man and the Statesman: Autoblography. 32/- Suiitii and E. Black, J. Saxon's Everybody's Guide to Carpentry. 6d. Russell. Blakiston, H. E. D. Trinity College. 5/- net. Bohinson. Blew, W. C. A. The Quorn Hunt and Its Masters. 21/- net. J. C. Nimmo. Blok, P. J. History of the People of the Netherlands. Part I. 12,6. Putnam. Blount, G. Our Dailv Bread. 12 6. Peasant Arts Society. Blount, G. The Song of the Sower. 7 6. Peasant Arts Society. Boland, Msry A. The Century Invalid Cookery Book. 3 6. Unwin. ## p. 194 (#206) ############################################ i94 THE AUTHOR. Bourget, P. (tr. by W. Merchant). Some Portraits of Women. 6/- Downey. Bradfleld, M. B. Songs of Faith and Hope and Love. 2/6. C. H. Kelly. Bradley, A. Gh Highways and Byways in North Wales. 6/- Macmillan. Bradley, C. The Reminiscences of Frank Glllard (huntsman) with the Belvoir Hounds, 1860-1896. 15/- Arnold. Bradhhaw, Mrs. A. S. The Gates of Temptation. 2/6. Greening. Bridgelt, T. K. Sonnets and Epigrams on Sacred Subjects. 3/6. Burns and 0. Briggs, H. B. Recent Research in Plainsong. 3/- Vincent, Berners-street. Bright, E. B. and Bright. O. Life Story of the late Sir Charles Tilston Bright. 63/- net. Constable Bright, W. Some Aspects of Primitive Church Life. 6/- Longman. Britten, F. J. On the Springing and Adjusting of Watches. 3/- net. Spon. Brooke, S. A. The Ship of the Soul. 1/6. Clarke. Brown, C. G. The Offices of Holy Communion, Baptism, and Con- firmation. 2/- Simpkin, Brown, Vincent. The Romance of a Ritualist. 6.'- Lane. Browning, Oscar. Charles XII. of Sweden. 6/- Hurst. Brunker, H M. E. Questions on Organisation and Equipment—G. 2/6. Clowes. Buchanan. R. The New Rome: Poems and Ballads. 6/- Scott Buckman-Linard, Sara. My Horse, My Love. 3/6. Unwin. Budge, E. A. W. (ed.) The Contendings of the Apostles. Ethiopia Text, now first edited from MSS. In the B. M. 21/- net. Frowdfl. Bullen, F. T. The Cruise of the Cachalot round the World after Sperm Whales. 8'6. Smith and E. Bull, J B. (tr. by M. R. Barnard). Fridtjof Nansen. 2/6 Ishieler. Burrows, Guy. The Land of the Pigmies. 21/- Pearson. Calderford, M. Willie. 1/- Sonnenschein. Carlyle, Thomas (ed. by A. Carlyle). Historical Sketches of Notable Persons and Events in the Reigns of James I. and Charles I. 10,6. Chapman. Carpenter, A. L. Edmund: a Metrical Tale. 2/6. Stock. Carpenter, O. R. (ed.). American Prose. 7 ii. Macmillan. Cesaresco, Countess E. M. Cavour. 2/6. Macmillon Chamisso, A. (Intro, by J. Jacobs). Peter Schlemihl. 3/6. G. Allen. Chetwynd, Hon. Mrs. H The Member's Wife. 6/- Pearson. -Chignell, R. Life and Paintings of Vicat Cole, R.A. 63/- Cassell. Clarke, Annie. Light Amid the Shadows 2/- Nisbet Clarke, H. W. Romanism without the Pope in the Church of England 4/6 net H. W. Clirke. Clarke, C. The Portrait of a Woman. 1/- White. Clowes, \V. L., and others. History of the Royal Navy. Vol. III. 25/- net. Low. Coil man, J. An American Transport in the Crimean War. 3/6. Academy Office. Coleridge, Christ *bel. The Main Chance. 6 - 'Hurst. Connor, R. Black Rock: A Talc of the SeUirks. 6/- Hudd?r. Constable, H. S. Ireland from One or Two Neglected Points of View. 1/- Liberty Review Pub. Co. Conybeare, F. C. The Dreyfus Case. 3,6. G. Allen. Cornewail-Jones, R. J. The British Me roh int Service. 14/- Low. Cotton, J. S.(od). 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Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 08 (January 1899) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 08 (January 1899) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-01-02-The-Author-9-8 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/323/1898-12-01-The-Author-9-7.pdf 3e72d061c25f0ea9db352ce3b5717b1a 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) 1898-12-01 Volume 9 Issue 7 Pages Page range in volume 149–172 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18981201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin tTbe H u t b o r, (Tlie Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 7.] DECEMBER 1, 1898. [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 notioe 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- joets whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL MEMORANDA. EOB some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., 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 oarry on his 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. IX. in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for " offioe expenses," unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give np 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. III. 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 aides. It is 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 oiroulation, it is not known what will be their maximum. Therefore every author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements, and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to tl e secretary before he signs it. Q 2 ## p. 150 (#162) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. INVERY member has a right to ask for and to receive lu advice npon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispnte arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is snch that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with oopyright 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 snch questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed dooument to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudnlent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reoeption of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. Communications for The Author should reach the Editor not later than the 2let 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 Offioe 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 does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanoed 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount 0barged in the " Cost of Production " for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. 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? FROM THE COMMITTEE. THE following resolution was passed by the Committee of Management at their meeting held at the offices of the Society on Tuesday, June 14, 1898: "It was resolved that if it was thought advis- able the Committee would elect the chairman or other officers of any corporate association as a member of the Authors' Society, to represent such association, on payment of 2 guineas per annum on behalf of such association. The chairman or ## p. 151 (#163) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. other officers thus elected would be entitled to all the benefits of the Society for the publications of the association and for advice with regard to the details of the body corporate, but not to advice on behalf of himself or any individual member of such association." LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—A Curious Question. APUBLISHER sells a large amount of books to a distributor or to a bookseller, and in the return of accounts to the author pays the author royalties on such books. At a later date, for some reason or other, the sale of the book ceases, and the wholesale distributor or bookseller asks the publisher whether he won't take the copies of the book back. It is some- times politic of the publisher to do so in the case of a large wholesale distributor who is very active in the sale of books, and he accordingly takes, say, 100 copies of the book back, although he is not legally bound to do so. The author has already been paid royalty on these copies, so he has no further claim. Ought the publisher, in the continued sales of the book, to sell the author's copies in priority to those that he has received back from the distributor? Opinions are invited on this point. 1. I do not think there is any legal point to be raised here. It is rather one of moral obligation. —O. H. Thring. 2. The books have been sold. The author is entitled to his royalty. They are taken back. Why? In the interests of the publisher, not of the author. My opinion is that the books returned cannot be sold again until all the others in the edition have been disposed of. When this has been done, the publisher can begin to sell again for his own advantage the books which have been returned.—W. B. II.—." The Battle of Dorking." "Tbe year 1871 is known in the annals of the House of Blackwood as 'tbe "Battle of Dorking" jear.' Colonel Chesney's brilliant jtu d'esprit (as he himself called it) was probably the most successful magazine article ever written. It was reprinted in the form of a sixpenny pamphlet, of which over 80,000 copies were sold in a month, and more than 110,000 in all. Itappears from what Mrs. Porter says (though this is not absolutely clear) that the author's share of the profits when the sale had reached 80.000 was £250. If so, the Society of Authors ought to take no'e of the fact, for supposing that the royalty on the issue was only 25 per cent.—an extremely moderate one, in view of such an enormous sale—the author's profits would be .£500, exactly twice what he appears to have received. If the £250 was a mere payment on account, this ought to be made clear; otherwise Messrs. Blackwood have published a serious reproach upon their own firm." The above is a note from the Daily Chronicle. If 80,000 copies of this little pamphlet, which cost perhaps i^d. a copy, or .£500, were sold, the proceeds were about .£1200, so that the profits were £700, of which perhaps .£50 went in adver- tising. These figures would show that the House of Blackwood pocketed eight thirteenths of the whole, giving the author five thirteenths. This would be quite in accordance with the common practice of that period and with the practice advocated by the present publishers in their draft agreements. I do not think that Blackwood was any worse than his neighbours. It must be remembered that the royalty methods had hardly yet been commenced: those writers, if any, who understood what was meant by "trade price " and "cost of production," kept their know- ledge for their own benefit, and had no idea of helping other writers. I remember, some fifteen years ago, being assured by a publisher that a 10 per cent. royalty was a most fair arrangement, equitable for both parties. At that time I had some glimmerings of the truth, and I replied that it might be so for a small first edition, but it could not be so for larger and succeeding editions. Upon which his face assumed a pained look, with a touch of disappointment in it, such as is natural when one meets with want of confidence. I think, therefore, that it is very unlikely that any royalty was given in this case. If it was a royalty, it means 12\ per cent., which is con- temptible. It could not have been a half-profit arrangement, as it would seem to have been based upon imperfect accounts. I believe it was just a cheque tossed to the author without any account whatever. . III.—A Personal Experience. The Author has been very interesting of late on this subject. Perhaps my experience may be useful. I was anxious to publish, and to secure the profit while willing to take the risk. After four years' reading of this valuable paper I had become educated. Mr. Thring gave me the names of five printing firms and a distributor (he has done nothing to deserve to be called a publisher), who read my MS. and expressed his willingness to publish for me. With his valu- able hints I obtained estimates for printing, interviewed papermakers, and gave my own orders. The same for binding. (I am not an idle man.) I paid cash and got discounts. Result, 120,000 words, 3000 copies—say all bound—£118, advertising extra, and typewriting. The book is well groomed, and the publisher ## p. 152 (#164) ############################################ >52 THE AUTHOR. nowhere—not wanted. The woful condition of the bookseller is improved, as he gets much larger profits, and when more books are thus published he will be able to resume his former status and prosperity. He, too, was fearfully sweated by the publisher. He has my book on sale or return, and I have secured what seems a right—the right to place my book upon the market, that it may live or die according to the strength that is in it. For this I am indebted to the Society of Authors. I shall become a life member of the Society. It can do no more for me—it cannot command success. In the summer a literary friend wrote me that he had been over a castle now in the hands of a wealthy publisher, and said he thought he pre- ferred the robber baron. How long will the great ones of literature continue to lay this pub- lisher's golden eggs? My egg may be addled— they know theirs will not be. Yet I am no plutocrat, and the penniless may like to know that I have been penniless enough to satisfy the most exacting. Zeitgeist. IV.— Missing Music Hall Sketches. Judge Emden was engaged for several hours at the Lambeth County Court on Nov. 22 in hearing an action brought by Harry Williamson, play- wright, of Portland-place, Clapham-road, to recover from G. H. Macdermott, music hall artist and theatrical agent, carrying on business at Denison-street, York-road, .£50 damages for the loss of four music hall sketches entrusted to the defendant. The plaintiff deposed that he had been writing plays for the past eighteen or twenty years, and works of his had been produced at a number of West-end theatres. In February, 1897, he met the defendant at the Tivoli, and at his request subsequently left at his office the MSS. of four music hall sketches, entitled "Killarnev," "Mixed," "Wanted," and " Not Guilty," and "he had not copies of any of these—only rough pencil notes. He warned the clerk of their value. When he subsequently applied for the return of the sketches, they could not be found. He had valued them at a low figure, so as to come within the jurisdiction of the County Court. He did not for a moment allege that Mr. Macdermott had the sketches. What he believed was that they had been stolen, and would be put on the market in another name. That was frequently done. For instance, he lost on board ship the original manu- script of "Retiring," produced at the Folly Theatre, and when he sought to secure the Ameri- can rights he found that it had been brought out in the States as " Out of Harness." Mr. Lionel Brough, asked by Mr. Lincoln Reid if he was an actor, replied, "They say so." (Laughter.) He said he knew the plaintiff to hold a good position as a dramatic author and to have a considerable reputation in the theatrical world. The price he put upon the sketches was very moderate indeed. The defendant, Mr. Macdermott, said he had known the plaintiff for twenty-five years. He remembered that Williamson approached him on several occasions with regard to the sketches, and the witness told him to send them to his office, but he had never the smallest intention of charging any commission or fee of any kind if by a good word he could induce a manager or artist to accept them. The evidence of the defendant's manager and his clerk having been heard, Judge Emden, without calling upon the defen- dant's counsel, said there was no doubt in his mind that this was a case of gratuitous bailment —that is to say, that the defendant, in offering to read the manuscripts was not doing it for financial advantage, but as an act of friendship. That being so, and the plaintiff having failed to prove affirmatively that the documents were lost through negligence, there must be judgment for the defendant with costs. He could not help stating that Mr. Macdermott had given his evidence in a frank and candid manner, which was positively refreshing after the usual experi- ence of cases in that court. [This case, quoted in extetuo from the Daily Graphic of Nov. 23, is interesting to authors, as it bears to some extent on the position of an editor to whom MSS. are sent.] V.—Receipts. An article appeared in The Author some time ago with regard to a given form of receipt for the use of serial work which was issued by the Religious Tract Society, and which ran as follows: Copyright. This reoeipt conveys the copyright to the trustees of the Religions Traot Society, with liberty for them, at their dis- cretion, to republish in any form. Republication by authors on their own account must be the subject of special arrange- ment. There is no doubt that from time to time great difficulties arise owing to the form in which receipts are sent to authors. If the Religious Tract Society before publishing work in serial form made a special agreement with the author, con- veying the rights mentioned in the receipt, then there would be no objection to signing it when payment was made, but if no such agreement was made the contributor should refuse his signature, ## p. 153 (#165) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. *53 or he should strike his pen through the objec- tionable words of conveyance. If the Religious Tract Society refused to pay without these words, he should then, unless his necessities compelled him to endure anything, place the business in the hands of the Secretary of the Authors' Society. If no contract had been made before the publi- cation in serial form, taking the worst view of the case, it would have fallen under the 18th section of the Act, which is the section which deals with copyright in magazines. Under this section the right of republication in separate form would not lie with the Religious Tract Society, but would be a matter of separate agreement between the author and the proprietor of the magazine during the period prescribed by law of twenty-eight years, when the right to publish separately would revert to the author. This would be the position of the author, taking the most disadvantageous view of the difficulty, for the 18th section runs as follows in brief: "That when any publisher of a magazine shall have employed or shall employ any persons to compose any parts, essays, articles, or portions thereof for publication in or as part of the same, and such parts, essays, articles, or portions thereof shall have been or shall hereafter be com- posed under such employment on the terms that the copyright therein shall belong to such pro- prietor, and be paid for by such proprietor, then the copyright shall belong to the proprietor," with the proviso stated above, that he cannot re- publish the same separately without the sanction of the author for twenty-eight years. It is very probable, however, that the article may be sent up to the magazine, and there may be no evidence whatever of employment by the proprietor of the magazine on the terms above stated. In that case the copy- right would belong to the author, and the right that he has sold to the magazine would be serial publication in that magazine only. It would therefore be absolutely unfair to ask the author after the publication of his article to assign the copyright and the right to republish in any form when nothing had been stated with regard to these rights previously to the publica- tion. It should be pointed out that, in the absence of special agreement, the contract is com- pleted with the publication, and that the signing of a receipt in the form set forth above would not necessarily convey the copyright, as there would be no fresh consideration for such conveyance, but it might be such very strong evidence of the intention of the author that it would be impos- sible to dispute his position subsequently. This article was commenced not with the idea of bringing forward the old form of receipt of the R. T. S., but with the intention of putting authors very strongly on their guard against endorsing cheques which have got a form of receipt on somewhat of the same lines, as the one above quoted, printed on their backs. It is easy to strike out the words of the receipt quoted above, and to return it to the office, taking the cheque in payment of fair serial use of an author's work. The author thus obtains his fair remuneration, and if the proprietor likes to dispute the price the action must lie with him. Here, again, the Society might be of use. But the proprietors of several magazines have devised the method of printing the receipt on the back of the cheque, and giving orders to their bank not to cash the cheque under any circumstances unless it is endorsed with the name of the author at the bottom of the receipt—conveying all these extra rights—and the receipt has no deletions upon it. Here the author is met with a considerable diffi- culty, as he cannot get his money until he has endorsed the cheque, and he cannot endorse the cheque without practically handing over to the proprietor the copyright and other rights that were never bargained for, In this case the author must return the cheque, and the cause of action lies with the author. Is it possible that the pro- prietor relies on the reluctance of the author to go to law? It is necessary again to repeat that the difficulty only arises when no agreement whatever has been made before the publication of the work. How then should an author avoid this difficulty? As a matter of fact, an editor, if he desires to accept an article, should write to the author and state so, mentioning at the same time what rights he desires to purchase and the price he is willing to give; but editors are not perfect, and under certain circumstances such a course might be impossible. In practice there are a great many things published without any formal acceptance from the editor, and an awkward position is the result. It is possible, however, for the author, from his point of view, to prevent himself from falling into the trap by forwarding his work with a letter stating exactly the rights he desires to convey if the work is published in the magazine, and the price he asks for such rights. He might have a stereotyped letter in this form, and he should keep a copy of the same. If, then, his work is subsequently published, and he receives no notice until after the publication, then it would be published, failing any evidence to the contrary, on the terms of the author's letter. These points have been put forward many times in The Author, and have been embodied in the "Addenda to the Methods of Publishing," but it is thought worth while to repeat the warnings, as ## p. 154 (#166) ############################################ i54 THE AUTHOR. the process of issuing cheques with the receipts indorsed purporting to convey the copyright, when no previous agreement has been made, is as unfair to the author as it is unjust on the part of the proprietor. . G-. H. Thring. VI.—A Point or International Law. The following was the first resolution passed at the International Literary and Artistic Confer- ence, which was held at Turin this year. It refers to the retrospective action of the Berne Convention, and to modifications which the con- ference desired to see made in the English law. The CoDgross considering that the English law respecting International Copyright is not completely in accord with the text of the Berne Convention (and more especially that the Article 6 of the English Law of the 25 th June, 1886, as it is legally interpreted, contradicts the principle laid down in Artiole 14 of the Convention of Berne, and leads to violent and numerous violations of the rights of authors and artists), expresses the hope that diplomatic steps may be taken with the Government of Great Britain so that a new text of the law in question may be placed in complete acoord with the text of the Convention of Berne, and may especially assure the application of the principle of Article 14 of that Convention; that is to say, the effective protection of a work which has not fallen into the public domain in the country of its origin, and this even against the publisher who may, before that date, have published in England without the consent of the author. The question here put forward seems on the whole to be unnecessary, The section of the International and Colonial Copyright Act of 1886 referred to, runs as follows:— Where an Order in Council is made under the interna- tional Copyright Acts with respect to any foreign country, the author and publisher of any literary or artistic work first produced before the date at which such order comes into operation shall be entitled to the same rights and remedies as if the said Aots and this Act and the said order had applied to the said foreign country at the date of the said production. Provided that where any person has before the date of the publication of an Order in Council law- fully produced any work in the United Kingdom, nothing in this section shall diminish or prejudice any rights or interests arising from or in connection with such productions which are subsisting and valuable at the said date. The section of the Berne Convention referred to runs:— Under the reserves and conditions to be determined by common agreement, the present Convention applies to all works which at the moment of its coming into force have not yet fallen into the public domain in the country of origin. It is difficult to see what the Congress can possibly have meant by passing this resolution, and stating that the opposition in principle leads to violent and numerous violations of rights of authors and artists. Firstly, it is exceedingly doubtful if there is any opposition in principle, as the Congress would have discovered if it had thought fit to consider paragraph 4 of the final protocol to the Convention ;* and, secondly, the only rights that can possibly come into question would be the rights that publishers had acquired before the passing of the International and Colonial Att of 1886. At the most there have been two or three cases in the English courts referring to the rights of publishers in England acquired before the passing of the Act, touching works that come within the region of the retrospective working of the 14th section of the Berne Convention. How far the 14th section of the Berne Convention is retro- spective, and what are the limits of that retro- spection, have never been really decided, but there is no doubt that any rights obtained before the passing of the International Copyright Act, which confirmed the Berne Convention, must have been ot* so small a character as hardly in any way to affect authors and artists; otherwise action* would have been more frequent and the matter would have been discussed and settled long ago. Further, as regards authors, the rights that are of most value—translation rights—even if ob- tained under the Convention, lasted only ten years, and have now fallen into the public domain. In addition to this, every year makes it more im- possible for other rights to be of any value owing to the period of protection given expiring by lapse of time. The resolution which has been passed appears, to anyone who has really studied the two articles side by side, and the reading of the International Law, to be entirely futile and unnecessary. The Congress might, however, with much more advan- tage have turned its attention to the fact that the acquiring of copyright in a dramatic piece by performance in England prevents the English law from being in accord with the laws of most of the other countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention. This is a grave point, as it is a continuing cause of disintegration. The other point was never of much import, and grows less and less important every day. Q Herbert Thring. VII.—Author and Publisher. Most of your readers will endorse the opinions expressed by " A Member " in your last issue, as well as your own comments on the same. You seem, however, to think that the Society as yet might not wish to undertake the publication of books on the lines laid down by your corre- spondent. * This opinion is supported by a legal expert on Inter, national Copyright Law. ## p. 155 (#167) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. '55 But if a powerful concern were established, publishing on commission only, as you suggest, a great step would be gained. In order to secure the success of such an undertaking it would require the steadfast patronage of the more influential members of the Society. Some of your readers may remember that a small company, called The Authors' Co-operative Publishing Company, was started some eight or ten years ago on these lines; but, as it possessed the patronage of neither the Authors' Society nor of its principal members, the company almost died before it was born. There is no doubt that a certain proportion of the more mercenary critics are considerably under the influence of pub- lishers, and that unknown writers are more or less at the mercy of these mercenary critics. As, at first, books published by such a firm would probably have to stand the attacks of these light- fingered gentry, the concern would require the continued support of writers of established repu- tation, who could afford to sneer at unfair reviews. A surreptitious attempt would certainly be made by publishers and their creatures to boycott their rivals; but perseverance would prevail, and the public would gradually come to learn that the great difference of such a firm from the ordinary publisher would be that the works would be pro- duced cheaper, and that the profits would go more into the pockets of the poor author and bookseller than into the coffers of dishonest pub- lishers. The present relations between author and publisher are so entirely one-sided as to be truly ridiculous to contemplate. "You give me your book," says the publisher to the author, "and you see nothin', and you ask nothin', except what I may be jolly well pleased to give you, for I am the immaculate Llama of Literature." Till such links of bondage are broken the author remains a slave. There would be something more to say on the subject, and distribution of per- centages, in promoting such a concern. Glenfktjin. FEOM THE SUNNY SOUTH. PERHAPS a few lines—not entirely about books—from Australia may be of some interest to readers of The Author. A literary man in Sydney is not quite in the back blocks, indeed, less so than if he were in (say) Manchester, for the place is cosmopolitan in character: the terminal port for three or four English bines, one German, one French, one American, and one Canadian line of mail steamers; is the centre of government for a VOL. IX. million and a quarter of people, the headquarters of the British fleet in Australian waters, and a few other things besides. The city is fairly large, contaiuing as it does a population of 410,000 souls, is well-built, furnished with railways, electric trams, telephones, and all the other aids to the business of the nerve specialist, possesses many theatres, good libraries, and an art gallery which competent critics declare to be very credit- able for so young a city. The natural advantages of the place constitute its chief charm however, for in the whole world there is not so splendid a site for a city. Sydney harbour, with its 200 odd miles of coast line, its numerous arms, bays, and inlets, its surroundings of bush-clad slopes and craggy gullies, is indeed a vision of beauty, but a very real "vision," which can be engaged any day for a few pence. Then the harbour is not the only attraction, for there are miles of open coast close by the city, and countless pretty drives. Intellectually it is, perhaps, as yet a trifle pro- vincial, and frozen meat and gold mines bulk rather too largely, but there is an improvement in this respect. One or two of the dailies pose as being quite abreast of modern thought (which they are not), and all kinds of ideas are discussed freely and without much prejudice. People here have passed out of the materialistic stage in con- nection with the religious question, and have either swung right back to some form of Chris- tianity or adopted some form of Deism. One or two leading ministers of various denominations have no hesitation in announcing themselves evolutionists, and yet adherents of revealed religion. It is a tolerant place, people are not very preju- diced, and divorce is made more easy than in any portion of the British empire, without the remotest sign of the degradation prophesied at every stage of advance in this direction. Literature can hardly be said to have had a beginning in Australia as yet—at all events a purely literary career is not yet possible here unless the worker takes his wares to the London market. Only one firm as yet publishes locally, and there is no literary magazine. An attempt to form an association of Australian authors and produce a paper in which Australian work could appear was not successful. The firm which publishes (and prints) in Sydney has had several successes, principally with poems and ballads, but the market for local work— especially fiction—cannot be said to be strong. English works have a ready sale, but it is notice- able that many of the works which have achieved success in London do not catch on here. That fact was very noticeable last year, when some of ## p. 156 (#168) ############################################ >5<5 THE AUTHOR. the " spooky" books which sold freely in London were scarcely asked for here. Justin C. MacCartie. Bridge-street, Sydney, Aug. 20. NOTES AND NEWS. CONFIRMATION has reached me of my estimate as to the number of families in this country who can be considered as possible buyers of books. I put the number at 400,000, and the lowest income at .£250. People with less than that income may buy a cheap book, one at 4f</. in a draper's shop, or a second-hand book, out of the twopenny box, but they certainly cannot afford to buy new and expensive books. Indeed, book-buying only begins when the standard of comfort is reached. I do not myself believe that many families with incomes under .£750 a year spend much upon books, especially when the children are receiving their education. When there are no children: when a man is unmarried, he can buy a good many books with an income of .£250. However, my confirmation is based upon Mr. Charles Booth's Analysis of the 1891 Census. From that analysis it is made out that the number of families in London with such an income is 65,000, and that for the whole country in the same proportion it would be 480,000. But as the proportion of rich to poor is much less in the country than in London, it is safer to take 400,000. So far, this is satisfactory. But, in addition, I should like to know how many families have an income of .£750 and over, because I should be inclined to limit book-buying to any considerable extent to those families. "What has your Society done? Not a single publisher driven to smash yet!" This objection was seriously advanced the other day to the Secre- tary. One hardly knows how to reply. The Society has never tried to "smash" publishers. It is not one of the objects of the Society to "smash" publishers any more than printers, paper-makers, or bookbinders. The object of the Society is solely to defend literary property in the interests of the author, to whom it belongs. How has the Society sought to effect this object? Partly by jireparing an amended Copyright Bill: partly by putting the law at the service of authors: mainly by ascertaining and publishing the facts and statistics concerning literary property. For instance, the cost of printing, paper, and bind- ing: the meaning of advertisements: the trade price of various books—so that the creator of literary property may understand exactly what, under given conditions, ought to come to him as the owner, and what, under the same conditions, is demanded by the middleman. This seems a tolerably useful thing to do. It may even be called a humble piece of work. But it had never been done before; and the want of this knowledge kept the writer in a condition of helpless and galliug dependence. He could not object, what- ever was offered, because he did not know. Now he does know. What is the result? It is, beyond all doubt, an advance all along the line. The old royalties are no longer offered: the old prices are no longer proposed. It is certain that for popular work of all kinds the position of the author is increased enormously in consequence of the Society's action. There are persons who to-day enjoy the fruits of the Society's labours, and neither join it nor acknowledge their obligation—and even attempt to abuse and misrepresent the Society. "You have not yet, after all your work, driven a single pub- lisher to smash!" We might sit down, then, these results dis- covered and published. Not so: they must be republished again and again. We must keep before the eyes of writers the facts and the figures. We must show them again and again the cost of production: the meaning of advertisements: the meaning of risk, the meaning of royalties, and the tricks, dodges, and devices by which the author is met at every turn by the greater number of publishers. And there is another side. It is that the Society acts as a police, always on the lookout: preventing iniquities and detecting iniquities. Every week brings in "cases" for investigation. The work is necessarily confidential. Only the Chairman and the Secretary know the full work that is done by the Society in this way. The cases are not, as a rule, brought before the Com- mittee. I do not say that the complainant is always right. Perhaps he may be wrong: in this case it is well that he should learn the law and the equity of his own case, and should cease to accuse. _ A point about the "Draft Agreements" of the Publishers' Association has not, I think, been noted. It is this. Up to the present it has been the custom with a great many to overstate every item. They could do this with impunity because there was no audit. But no provision has been made in the "Draft Agreements" for any audit. ## p. 157 (#169) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. •57 Therefore the same impunity remains. But they do propose to put a percentage on everything—a percentage of what they please. Therefore, if these agreements are carried out, we shall soon have (i) the items all overstated as before, and (2) a percentage charged on the fraudulent return. This, it appears, is not only possible, but certain to be done. For those who have always practised the old knavish custom of overstating the cost, will continue to do so with impunity, and will then cheerfully make use of the liberty claimed by the Association of adding on what they please as a percentage. Let us apply these considerations to a half- profit system. We take a book which costs .£150 for an edition of 3000 copies. We suppose all to be sold, less Press copies, i.e., 2950 copies at 3.?. 6d. each. Here is the honest return:— Cost of production .£150 0 0 Author's share 183 2 6 Publisher's share... 183 2 6 — - .£516 5 0 Sales—2950 at 3s. 6d .£516 5 0 Next, the return partly based on the old iniquity and partly as maintained by the Pub- lishers' Association. Cost of production fraudulently set down as .£200. Eeturns "at customary trade price," i.e., at anything the publisher chooses to say. Perhaps he will own to 3*. a copy, or .£442 i0.«. Also, though the returns are for actual money received, he deducts a percentage for bad debts. He adds, besides his percentages (which are allowed here by the agreement), a charge for advertisements not paid for. This he can also do with impunity. We now have the account as rendered :— Cost of production .£200 0 0 Percentage: 15 per cent 30 0 0 Advertisements not paid for 30 0 0 260 0 0 Author's share 47 0 0 Publisher's share... 47 0 0 .£354 0 0 Returns £442 10 0 Less 10 per cent. bad debts ... .£44 5 0 Less 10 per cent. office expenses.. .£44 50 88100 .£354 0 0 But observe that the publisher has got— I. .£50 0 0 2. Percentage on alleged cost ... 30 0 0 3- Advertisements not paid for .. 30 0 0 4- Bad debts 44 10 0 5- Office expenses ... 44 10 0 6. Alleged share of profits 47 □ 0 .£246 0 0 To the author's .£47. And this is an alleged half-profit system! I desire readers to mark very earnestly and seriously the dangers which these draft agree- ments threaten. If they are successful, then there will be an end of literature. It cannot be too often repeated that literature, like any other art, must be free: must be respected: must be indepen- dent. No profession can continue in respect which is daily wilfully robbed, and without any power of redress. It may be argued that the very publishers who advance these pretensions would not dare to offer such an agreement to a writer of repute. This shows the inherent dishonesty of the proposals. They know that such an agree- ment would be flung in their faces. Why, then, are these drafts put forward? In the hope that they may be little by little put forward and adopted with the writers who are helpless, or with those who desire above all things to get their books published, and that so, in the imme- diate future, they may be recognised by writers of standing. The scheme is crafty. It is based on the ignorance and artlessness of writers, which have been abundantly proved in the past. We shall see what writers will do. A writer in a daily paper informs the world about Mr. Rudyard Kipling's private affairs. I shall not follow his example, because I have not received information from the only person who knows these things—the author himself: nor have I received his permission to publish the facts. But the paragraph concludes with these words: "This pecuniary return seems adequate." What is the meaning of " adequate "? It is the old, old story of confusing literary and com- mercial value. Nothing is "adequate" for a writer, and nothing is "inadequate," because there is no connection possible between the two values. But put it in another way. This writer has created a literary property. It is his, as much as a house, or a terrace, or a farm, or a hundred farms. The returns from that pro- ## p. 158 (#170) ############################################ ■58 THE AUTHOR. perty are his own: if he did not get them, some person who had no right or claim whatever to them would lay hands upon them. I have never heard of anyone in the paper calling out upon the amount realised by that person, but I con- stantly see little touches like this use of the word "adequate," which show the confusion I have often indicated, together with a kind of feeling that an author ought not to be allowed the use and the returns of his own property. Every other kind of property the owner may be allowed to enjoy to the full, but not literary property— no—not literary property. Tbat, it appears, does not belong to the creator and the owner. This confusion cannot be too often pointed out and insisted upon. There is no connection what- ever between literary and commercial value. They are incommensurable as much as the circle and the radius. It is impossible to say that this poem is worth a million or that essay a shilling. "When a worthless book is for a time successful, people should cry out—not at the money which it brings in, but at the bad taste of those who buy it. In the same way a good book may have a very limited circulation—witness, for a long time, Browning's poems, and, now as always, Walter Pater's works. Circulation, that is, money, does not make a book good or bad. On the other hand, there are, happily, many cases every year in which good work is largely recognised. Even if all good books were recognised, that would bring us no nearer to the establishment of an equation between the two separate factors of poetry and trade. Nothing, however, was more common a few years ago than to find the reviewers talking about certain sums of money being "more " or "less" than a book was "worth." The expres- sion, which they did not understand, stamped them with the mark of ignorance as to the entirely separate character of literary worth. Of late one has heard less of the expression Yet the above example shows that it still lingers. (From the Book News and Trade Gazette, Oct. 2 2, 1898.) "Unfortunately for the bookseller, tbe same manner of carrying on business prevails to-day in tbe publishing trade as it did in the early days of the century, when fewer books were issued and a greater discrimination was shown in selection of MSS. for publication. In those days publishing and bookselling were a profession where the publisher and bookseller pursued their work more from a genuine love for it than in a commercial spirit. To-day that is all changed; the publisher in the majority of oases never reads a MS. before it is published, relying entirely on his expert readers. The bookseller, harassed by the competition of the libraries, has no time to grasp the inside of the books and thereby in- telligently sell his wares to the public. He has to buy his ■took chiefly on the representation or misrepresentation of the publisher-traveller, a creature whose conscience has deteriorated, or in some cases disappeared, through stress of ciroumstances and struggle for existence. Through him the publisher vicariously leads the bookseller astray. This un- businesslike system, based on a rotten foundation, is gradu- ally ruining the bookselling trade. Even the trade have awakened to that fact, but unfortunately they have not been able to accurately diagnose the malady which is killing them. Instead of coming to some simple basis of agreement, and presenting a firm front to the enemy, they actually invite those who are trying to ruin them to devise some means whereby the end may be quickened, and the result of their concentrated wisdom was to try and institute a system which would still further alienate the publio from buying books. This fell through, and though some more futile propositions were put forward, nothing apparently has come of them, and the survival of the fittest will probably be the only solution to tbe question. "We set forth again the only remedy that, in our opinion, will at least save the trade, and especially the country book- seller, from accumulating bad stock, the great cause of ruin to many. The Booksellers' Association should approach the publishers and get them to send a copy of every book to them a fortnight before publication. They should then appoint an expert who would read every book and write a short resume, if suitable, which would be issued to the trade. The bookseller would then, when the book was pre- sented to him for subscription, be able to know whether it would suit his particular trade, and buy in such a way as to reduce the item of bad stock to a minimum. This seems to us the only intelligent way of doing business. Other trades guard themselves in the same way, and the book- sellers would only be doing a wise thing if they followed their example. The retrograde step proposed last year— namely, to raise tbe price of a commodity which is essential for the welfare of tbe country, was perhaps the silliest pro- position ever put forward by business men. We maintain that everyone would be benefited by our proposal—the pub- lisher, the bookseller, and the public. Though at first sales might not increase, losses would be diminished, and in the end renewed confidence in the superior quality of the wares would encourage the publio to buy." The above proposal is at once practical and sensible, and certain to produce the best results. I had myself, before this article appeared, advo- cated exactly the same method: but with certain modifications. Thus it would not be possible for an expert to read and report on every book. But he might do this: There are many books which a bookseller would desire to offer his people on the recommendation of the name only. There are many books which can be condemned almost at a glance. There remain the books on the border line which require to be considered before they are recommended or condemned. This expert with the weekly sheet of recommendations or descriptions — a brief description should accompany every recommendation—would cost ab,/ut .£400 a year, or a yearly subscription of, say, 15*. Surely this is not too much, considering the advantages to be gained by this method. But I am always of opinion that the sale-or-return method is the only way of getting books really published, i.e., produced and offered for sale. ## p. 159 (#171) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. '59 And as no bookseller's shop can hold all the books that are produced, this reader would guide him as to the books he would accept on sale-or-return. Walter Besant. "A SPRAY OF LILAC." (From an unpublished book of words for music.) "No tender stalk of juicy green Is mine," it murmured low; "No feathered leaf, nor drooping branch It is, that lilacs know." "But lovely shades of violet, And snowy white are mine, In dusters fair, and greeny leaves A-near each branch entwine." "There is no flow'r more sweet to see, No flow'r so scents the gale, No bridal wreath it does not deck, In semblance, 'neath the veil." "And one sweet spray I place on this, Thy last lone resting place; And as I gaze, and tears arise, I see thy sad pale face." Thus spoke he, as he paused to view Her grave where she had lain Full twenty years, while lilacs bloom'd, And went and came again. M. A. C. C. [Copyright.] CHALONER'S MASTERPIECE. WHEN he was eight years old John Fyvie Chaloner ran away to sea. At least, he partly ran and partly walked to the side of the canal-dock which lay three-quarters of a mile distant from his home. Here he saw a burly man lounging on a barge, and after a little hesitation offered 6d. as the price of a passage to "the big London docks." The man asked ques- tions in a good-humoured way, and little John revealed his purpose. He feared it was unwise to do so, but what was he to say? Among other matters he told the bargee where Mr. Chaloner senior lived. "Here, you come along with me," said the bargee when John had made an end of his tale. "1 know of a tremendous fine sea-going steamer, I *lo, and I know the captain of her, and you'll see if it isn't just what you're a-looking after." John consented, round-eyed, and the bargee jumped ashore. Then he grasped John by the hand and led him by a circuitous route to the house of Mr. Chnloner senior. John was told to VOL. IX. go upstairs and wait till his father came to him, and the bargee was handsomely rewarded. When John was fourteen his father died, and a year later his mother married again. Then John ran away to sea once more. He was a strong, smart lad now with a pleasant address, and he got his way this time. The life fascinated him even after he had learned to hate it, and he remained at sea six years. Then he suddenly grew tired of the water, and began to think of falling seriously in love and renting a cottage. He came ashore, and tried to earn his living in London. He did manage to escape starvation. He was alternately a dock labourer, check-taker at the pit-door of a theatre, sandwich-man, stage carpenter's hand, walking gentleman, and attendant to a lunatic. It was during the leisure which he sometimes enjoyed in this latter service that he found time to write a book. It was a novel, of course, and it was a curious one. Round a plot of which he had thought during his very first voyage he spread a jumble of his experiences, and the book was very sensational in some places and very funny in other places, and it was long and somewhat formless; but it was alive. Twelve publishing firms rejected it within six months, and then John Chaloner begau to think that he was not cut out for a novelist. "The jury's dead against me," he said. "Well, what will be will be. Let's try the thirteenth man, and see if he's as bad as his number." After two months John received a brief letter from Messrs. Beaner and Baske—the thirteenth firm. They were prepared to offer him £20 for the copyright of his novel, provided they had the option of publishing his next long work, " such work not to take the form of a collection of short stories." John sat for some time dangling the letter between his fingers. He knew nothing of pub- lishers and nothing of the prices paid for books. True, it was a long while since he had handled £20 in a single sum, but the terms offered to him appeared small for so much work. He wrote to Messrs. Beaner and Baske and asked if they could not be a little more generous. They replied that they could not—in this instance. They enclosed a form of transfer of copyright, which John signed, and by return of post he received a cheque for £20. The book attracted a great deal of attention; it was not only sensational and funny, it was true. The sales were brisk; twelve thousand copies went off in two months, and the publishers made a very neat thing of selling sheets to an American firm; besides, they sold a big colonial edition, and they sold the continental rights to Tauchnitz, and they sold the story as a serial to B ## p. 160 (#172) ############################################ i6o THE AUTHOR. a number of more or leas obscure newspapers, which all paid something. So both Beaner and Baske rubbed their hands over that book. But John Chaloner knew exactly how far .£20 would go, and he continued to attend upon the lunatic. There was a reason why the book was true, and the reason was that John Chaloner respected himself when he sat down to write. He had strong views about the dignity of authorship. So when he found that his first venture was successful he set himself to write the very best book he could think of. It was a long book, rather gloomy and very powerful. John knew all the people who were to live in it before he began to write it, and the people actually lived in it when he had done. Beaner and Baske told him that they did not like the book, but John assured them it was better than his last. Mr. Baske shook his head. "We will hope it may prove so," said Mr. Beaner, with a sour smile. John was I o receive a royalty upon every copy of this book which was sold in England—nothing was said about America; and Mr. Beaner and Mr. Baske both assured the author that the royalty was a very handsome one, and that the treatment which he was receiving was very handsome altogether. The book was published, and the Press notices of it turned John Chaloner's head slightly; at least, they made him think that he had carved out a road to com- petence and freedom, and he gave up attending on his lunatic. That was three weeks after the book was published. Then came the eternal bread-and-butter question, and John called on his publishers. Mr. Beaner advanced him .£20 with a pleasant smile, and said it would be "all right." John began to take his pleasure a little, and within three weeks the twenty pounds had been spent. Then John Chaloner called upon his pub- lishers again. Mr. Beaner was not so agreeable, talked vaguely of the book not quite answering expectations, and, when he advanced John the fifty pounds for which he had asked, requested him not only to sign a receipt, but a formal promise that the firm should have "the first refusal" of the next book. John hesitated; but rent and dinner had to be considered, so he signed. And it is easy to picture his astonish- ment when, six weeks later, he received a statement of account from Messrs. Beaner and Baske, which set forth that only 850 copies ot the book had been sold, and lhat Mr. John Fyvie Chaloner was rather heavily in debt to the firm of Beaner and Baske. John was frightened. He had begun another sombre novel, but he set it aside to follow a counsel which he had from Mr. Beaner at their last meeting—and write adventures. Perhaps the following conversation which had taken place between Mr. Beaner and his partner before Chaloner's second book was published will explain why so few copies of it were sold. "I don't much like the report on Chaloner's new book," said Mr. Baske. "It's high art, and all that sort of rot, and I don't believe it will sell." "I don't believe it will," replied Mr. Beaner, and he swore at high art. "I've read the begin- ning and the end of the stuff myself and a good bit of the middle, and the man's left out the blood. If the public learns to expect blood from a man they will take nothing else." "Quite right." said Mr. Baske. "All the same, though I don't believe in this book, I believe in the chap." "When he writes adventures," observed Mr. Beaner, "so do I." "Well, let's make him write blood," said Mr. Baske. "We can just let this book drop quietly and lend the man a little money. His boots and his hat and tie show that he wants money. Then we can make him do what we like." "Not a bad idea," remarked Mr. Beaner. "And we can make him give us the option of his next, besides telling him what it's to be like. I don't think we can lose much, and his last was meaty. Anyhow, we needn't lend him much. We'll just print a thousand and distribute the type: there'll be over sixty review copies—I mean to prepare the ground for his next blood handsomely, and we can keep a few copies unbound and tell him the total sales are eight hundred and fifty. After all, one must teach these authors their business; they've no sense to find it out for themselves." At first John Chaloner was disgusted at the idea of another adventure story. But the more he thought about it the more he warmed to his work. He began to see that much of the material he had rejected in writing his first book was better than the material he had retained. His repugnance for the work gradually turned to love of it, and thus his masterpiece was fashioned; for it was a masterpiece. He took it to Beaner and Baske; he had no alternative as to that. Mr. Beaner read it, and Mr. Baske read it. "My word, it's a plum," said the senior partner. "It's a real live plum." said the junior, "and now let's t-ee if we can't get it cheap." Chaloner called at Beaner and Baske's place of business again and again. He heard a great many excuses, but he could not get a decided answer about the book until two months and a half had passed. Then his total indebtedness to the firm was one hundred and fifty pounds. ## p. 161 (#173) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 161 "We can give you one hundred and fifty pounds advance," said Mr. Beauer, at last, " and mind it's a thumping advance, on account of a 15 per cent. royalty running all through; and that's very high, very high. But we have hopes that this book will redeem our losses on the last, you know." "But I owe you one hundred and fifty already," said Chaloner, frowning, "Well, you'll clear yourself," observed Mr. Beaner, " and then there's the rovalty." John sighed, and accepted the bargain. He was very anxious to "clear himself." But there seemed no end to the delays in publication. The autumn and the winter slipped by, the spring season was over, the summer books were being issued, but still Chaloner received no proofs. "My dear sir," said Mr. Beaner, haughtilv, in reply to remostrances, "we know when to publish. That's part of our business. No date is fixed in your agreement. Very well then. It's in your interests as well as ours that the book should wait for the propitious moment. You really must not try to dictate to us, sir. We shouldn't dream of dicating to you about your part of the business of production." John had got deeper into debt. Mr. Beaner was more petulant every time he was asked for money—and the sums which were asked were small now. John lest heart. He began two new novels, but abandoned both before he had written a dozen chapters. He was not only dispirited but unoccupied, and he drank rather freely in con- sequence. Mr. Beaner's manner had grown so repellent that John Chaloner had recourse on one occasion to a moneylender. He knew it was foolish, but he did it. And soon he was involved to such an extent that he dared not think of his finances, and he grew desperate. One afternoon late in the summer he penetrated into the offices of Messrs. Beaner and Baske. He was kept waiting a long while, but he saw Mr. Baske at last. "I tell you frankly what it is," said Chaloner, "I'm fearfully hard up, and I want you to pub- lish the book as soon as possible." "Oh, but we couldn't possibly before the autumn," replied Mr. Baske. "What do you mean by the autumn ?" asked John with a sigh. "We can't say exactly," answered Mr. Baske. "Most likely November." "1 can't wait till then," remarked Chaloner. Mr. Baske shrugged his shoulders. "Well," he said at length, "we're not inclined to go to much more expense about your book, Mr. Chaloner, as to which, frankly, we're doubtful. But if it will suit you best, we'll cry quits over the money advanced, hand you a cheque for twenty pounds, and take over the copyright, lock, stock, and barrel. But only to oblige you." "Let me go home and think of it," said Chaloner. "You can always write another one," said Mr. Baske as he bowed the author out with an agree- able smile. John went home and thought over it bitterly enough; but then—he could always write another one. He believed that himself. So he accepted Mr. Baske's offer and sold the copyright. The book was published within six weeks after that, and 50,000 copies of it were sold in three months in England alone. Then Chaloner tried "to write another one." He drank still more freely to drown his anger and disgust, and he could not make his next book live. There was not a spark of inspiration in it. Beaner and Baske rejected it after ten other houses had seen it and con- demned it, and by this time Chaloner was once more attendant to a lunatic. He tried two more novels. One was published by a new firm and was a dead failure. The other was rejected by a score of publishers. Then John Fyvie Chaloner ran away to sea for the third time, and gave up literature and the idea of falling in love and renting a cottage. But those copyrights are still real "properties" to the firm of Beaner and Baske. Molecule. ECCLEFECHAN. THE traveller to the south will remember the details of the scenery, where the Cale- donian express combines the contingent of people from Glasgow and Edinburgh. The panorama viewed on the carriage windows (those Euston carriages whose green-and-white so aptly relieves the hills beneath and clouds above) is characteristic of the lowlands of Scotland. Likely he will recall the halt—and if he does so, also he may have seen that nice bevy of damsels—at Lockerbie Junction. Then the train, with a good speed and a zigzag motion, cleaves its way through the rugged hills and moors of Annandale. With- out delay it drives by the historic hamlet of Eccle- fechan. Ecclefechan has only one absorbing interest in its association with the name of Tom Carlyle. Here the Sage of our Era began the anxious toil of life, and here his mortal part has found its resting-place. Mr. Sam. Donald and his wife made a pilgrim- age to Ecclefechan. Donald, who was a journalist ## p. 162 (#174) ############################################ 162 THE AUTHOR. and follower of the prophet, wanted intensely to see this spot of earth. What manner of place might it be which gave birth to such amazing genius? It happened that Dumfries was the scene of the honeymoon, and so one day the couple paid a visit to the prophet's native place. They wondered if the hills and dales were more didactic tban usual here, if the ozone was any thicker than it is elsewhere. But the case is not so. Ecclefechan is such a village, lying in such environs, as we have seen the like of many a time in Scotland. In the valley, traversed by the railroad, crossed by a modest stream, surrounded by wooded hills, lies the quiet village. Several rows of haphazard houses, gathered at the meeting of the roads, range into some half-a-dozen streets. There are at least two churches in the place, not to speak of the countryside. The population is less than a thousand people. There is a street that goes by the name of Carlyle Place. Here in a dull-white house—behind a burn and a hedge—and then in a low-ceiled and dark room, they told them the prophet was born, and showed them his things. The natives talk familiarly of him as "Tom." The village has the choice of some nice walks (that specially to the west a favourite) in the neighbourhood. Donald commented on the usual plethora of churches in so small a village. "I happen to know," he said, "that one of the preachers was prize-poet of his year in College, and I credit him with brain enough to supply the needs of the whole village." And his wife gave the right answer. "Why on earth do they not unite?" Quite near the little town, they found the old churchyard. The patch of ground is homely and overgrown with grass. Over from the gate there is a white pile, more conspicuous than the others. It belongs to the family of a relative of our hero. Beside oue wall of the yard were stones bearing the names of Aitken and Carlyle. Here repose the mother and brother of our hero. Amid these, beside the grave of a literary name, the red stone of simple design is the tomb of the immoTtal Carlyle His grave was plain then in the extreme. Amid simple and ordinary things, the extraordinary man lies in the dust of earth. Surrounded by a cluster of his kindred, like priests that guard the inner secret of his temple! The sandstone is slightly ornamented and bears this inscription: "Here rests Thomas Carlyle, who was born at Ecclefechan, 4th Dec. 1795, and died at 24, Cheyne Row, Chelsea, London, on Saturday, 5th Feb. 1881." There is over the words—the family crest—a dragon-device, and beneath it the single word, so suitable, " Humili- tate." There in that corner, yes, they left the yard in vain effort to speak the meaning con- tained in that one word, "Humilitate !" Carlyle lies in ashes there. As they wander out the road, that skirts the wooded hill, sad and thoughtful, with the verdant soil under-foot and the blue-and-white sky above, they wonder, as he used to do, what it is that life means: and the mystery of it cannot better be resigned than by taking the hint of that word on his tomb, and learning the lesson of humility, that the great soul is ever born out of lowliness. "I would have expected somehow," said Donald, "that this patriotic land might have raised some kind of monument in the streets of its capital, or else in Ecclefechan." "It would be natural enough," the lady said with a comic laugh, "but do you know what you recall to me V When Schumann heard of the movement to raise a monument to the glory of Beethoven, he said they might as well raise one to the Lord Almighty." When they returned to the village, somebody in the shop (where they made a purchase) told them of a Roman camp to the east, within easy walking distance. But that idea had to be aban- doned on the score of time. "I remember once before," said he in his naive way, "I visited a tiny village. And there was a Roman camp there—" "I daresay," she said, interrupting him, "and it was inevitable." Although they found no marvel there, Donald and his spouse declare that the day spent in Carlyle's village was one of the best, if also the most sad, of the wt dding-tour. While in the falling shade they waited the train at the station, they watched the faultless lines of rail cutting with a cold gleam away into the distance—the lines that vanish and ever remind us, how little the finite can know of the infinite. And the same sad mood covered the landscape. "Do you know I have been thinking, ever since we left the grave," said the lady, "but perhaps 1 ought not to indulge fancies." "And why not, my dear?" "I have been thinking," she said, "of another tomb, and what the angel said of its tenant, 'He is not here, he is risen.'" "It would be no harm," said Donald, "but the reverse, to think so." # # # # • "Therefore we learn the lesson," wrote Donald in giving some account of this visit to readers of his own paper, "which all his work was calcu- lated to teach, that not the chance of life's setting ## p. 163 (#175) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. is of any value, but the mystery of endeavour. Carlyle would not have forbidden us to pay his memory the tribute of a sentimental visit to his grave. But in doing that we realise that it is in vain. How little, after all, can we find of him there! The life-work we all know to admire has passed into many a life, the teaching has fused itself into many a form and fashion. The majesty of great genius, showing the kinship of our little life to the star-life in nature, strictly speaking, belongs not to this time-tied life of ours. Each noble worker, as he 'grapples with his evil star,' inherits the timeless and tideless life. And in that sense Carlyle's identity is else- where. The gospel of sincerity and love, which he spread abroad, is the shrine of his worship, the tomb of his repose—the element that we must reach to find him in life and not in death, in power and not in frailty, in hope, in joy, in satisfaction. And of him also, as of the Scion of the Highest, may it be said,' He is not here, he is risen!' Now he inhabits an eternal life, which we best feel in the fond hearts of his fellowmen." 1892. R. Welsh. MEMORIALS. Miss Christina Rossetti. ALARGE congregation assembled on Nov. 1, in Christ Church, Woburn-square, London, to witness the Bishop of Durham dedicat- ing a beautiful memorial to the late Miss Christina Georgina Rossetti, which has been erected there. The memorial consists of five paintings, designed by the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones, partly executed by the artist and partly by his chief assistant, Mr. F.W. Rooke, set in a reredos designed by the Rev. J. Glendinning Nash, incumbent of the church. The reredos is divided into five com- partments. In the central one is a figure of the Saviour, standing with bowed head, and hands folded across His breast; and on the table beside Him is a chalice. In the other compartments are figures of the four Evangelists, each with a pen and a book, in which they are inscribing the words of the Lord. The musical part of the dedi- cation service consisted of hymns written by Miss Rossetti. The Bishop of Durham, in his address from the pulpit, said there was a saying attributed to our Lord at a very early date which appeared to him to express a divine truth—" He that wonders shall reign." Wonder, the direct consciousness of the immeasurable depths of nature and of life, with the power of disclosing them to others, was the characteristic endowment of the true poet. It must appear strange that in clas- sical times few women were known as poets, and it was still more surprising that in the crea- tive period of English poetry no woman took her place beside the great masters. At last in our own century not a few women had delivered their message as poets, and had found a wide welcome. The explanation of the fact was probably to be found partly in social changes, and still more in the larger conception of the Christian faith which had at length enabled us to see tha.t every variety of gift was required for the interpretation of human experience and hope, so that if women were silent the absence of their voice made itself felt as never before, and, therefore, they had answered at last to the claim which had been made upon them. In Miss Rossetti we recognised the com- plete!^ consecration of woman's gift of poetry to the highest uses. The poet, the pure in heart, beheld the truth, and sang, not with elaborate music, but, to use Goethe's image, "As the bird sings." This was perhaps the first characteristic which struck them in Miss Rossetti's work. It was like Wordsworth's early poems, absolutely simple and spontaneous. There was no straining after effect. The melody was the natural expres- sion of the thought. The contrast between "Amor Mundi" and "Uphill" in rhythm and language and form was as complete as in subject; but the contrast was the result of feeling and not of art. At the same time, Miss Rossetti saw all, saw the whole, " the world as God made it," in spite of the ravages wrought by man's self-will. Miss Rossetti was essentially the spiritual poet of our age. On her spiritual teaching she con- centrated her powers more and more as time went forward. He did not underrate the cost of the choice. We had lost, no doubt, some studies of deep passion like the " Convent Threshold," not a few delightful parables of life, like the "Prince's Progress," countless delicate fancies, and passages of weird music, but the message which we had received outweighed them all. The message was specially one for our own time. The physical aspects of nature, the visible sequences of life, became ever more and more engrossing, and we were tempted to forget that they were but signs of the eternal. The poet disclosed their true significance, and invested common things with an atmosphere of marvel and reve- rence. So they were brought back to the splendid promise from which they started, and, under a great teacher's guidance, confessed, with deeper intelligence than before, that "he that wonders shall reign." Nay, they went further and completed the saying, "He that wonders shall reign, and he that reigns shall rest." ## p. 164 (#176) ############################################ 164 THE AUTHOR. "Lewis Carroll." In the "Alice" Ward of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond-street, Bloomsbury, London, there is now placed a cot which bears the name of the late "Lewis Carroll." On Friday, Oct. 28, Mr. James Tait Black, on behalf of the subscribers to the memorial fund, pre- sented to Mr. John Murray, vice-chairman of the committee of management of the hospital, a cheque for £ 1000 to endow the cot for ever. The proceedings took place in presence of a company which included Miss E. L. Dodgson, Mr. Wilfrid Dodgson, Mr. Hugh Chisholm, General Sir Andrew and Miss Clarke, Lady Wharton, Canon Jelf, Canon and Mrs. Girdlestone, and many others. Mr. Murray, in returning thanks, ex- pressed the opinion that no more appropriate memorial could have been erected to "Lewis Carroll" than a bed in a hospital which was devoted to the lives of children. Alfred the Great. A meeting of the general committee appointed for the commemoration of Alfred the Great, at the public meeting in March last, was held at the Mansion House on Nov. 3, Lord Welby in the chair. It was unanimously resolved: "That the national memorial decided on at the Mansion House meeting of March 18 shall be at Win- chester and consist of a statue of King Alfred, together with a hall to be used as a museum of early English history." It was estimated that .£30,000 would be re- quired in order to provide a memorial worthy of the nation, and it is contemplated to open a sub- scription list in the spring of next year, as it is hoped that the memorial will be completed in the 1000th anniversary year of his death. Amongst other suggestions advanced was that the executive committee should consider whether some popular publication might be issued with a view to diffus- ing public knowledge of Alfred's life and works. Also that a loan exhibition of objects pertaining to the Alfred period should be held in London during the anniversary year. The general com- mittee expressed a wish that the executive committee should take into consideration the desirability of approaching the Government with a view to obtaining their support to the com- memoration, and that communications be opened with the Universities and the historical and learned societies of the United States and the colonies in order to obtain the formation of committees to co-operate with the general com- mittee. Andrew Marvell. London County Council have decided to mark the site of Andrew Marvell's cottage at Hamp- stead with a brass plate bearing the following inscription :— Four feet below this spot is the stone step, formerly the entrance to the cottage in which lived ANDREW MARVELL, Sometime M.P. for Hull, and Latin Under Secretary to Oliver Cromwell, Patriot, Poet, Wit, and Satirist. Born 31st March, 1621. Died 18th August, 1673. He was buried in St. Giles-in-the-Fields. This memorial brass was placed here by the London County Council, November, 1898. The County Council have also before them a proposal to erect statues to Chaucer and Milton in London. BOOK TALK. R. HARDY'S volume of poems will be out in a few days. The title is "Wessex Poems." Mr. Laurence Binvon's "Second Book of London Visions" is nearly ready in Elkin Mathews's Shilling Garland Series. Mr. Mat- hews is projecting a volume which will contain verse by several writers—Mr. Selwyn Image, Mr. Victor Parr, Mr. Binvon, and "Anodos." The title of this will be "The Garland of New Poetry." Professor Geikie is the author of "Earth Sculpture," which will appear immediately as a volume in Murray's Progressive Science Series. Mr. R. E. Prothero has resigned the editor- ship of the Quarter/;/ Jteriew in order to become agent to the Duke of Bedford. He is succeeded by his brother, Mr. George Walter Prothero, Professor of Modern History in the University of Edinburgh. An enlarged edition of Messrs. Darlington's handbook "London and its Environs," by E. C. Cook and E. T. Cook, has lately been issued from Llangollen. The Londou agents are Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, and Co., Limited. "A Forgotten Past," and other stories, by Fred. J. May, has lately been published by the Friars Printing Association, Limited. The Life Story of the late Sir Charles Bright will be out in December. With it is incorporated the story of the early hand telegraphs, the Atlantic cable, and the first telegraphs to India ## p. 165 (#177) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. and the Colonies. The work will be published by Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co. in two large octavo volumes. The authors are Mr. E. B. Bright and Mr. Charles Bright, F.R.S.E. The Queen has been pleased to accept a copy of "The Theft of the Princes," by F. Bayford Harrison. It is a small volume con- taining an account of a curious incident in the lives of two young princes, one of whom became the common ancestor of both Her Majesty and the late Prince Consort. "Studies in Scottish Ecclesiastical History in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," by M. G. J. Kinloch, has just been published by Messrs. E Grant and Son, of Edinburgh. Price 6*. net. "Dona Rufina" (the romance of a cycle tour), by Heber Daniels, author of "Our Tenants," has just been published by Messrs. Greening and Co, Price 2s. 6d. Messrs. A. and H. B. Bonner have recently published, in cheap form, a revised edition of the Life of James Thompson ("B. V."), by Mr. H. S. Salt. The book contains a new portrait of the pessimist poet, and some additional matter that will be of interest to readers of "B. V.," including a full account of the closing scene, from the pen of Mr. H. E. Clarke, and a hitherto un- printed letter from Mr. George Meredith, who speaks of Thomson's life as "the most tragic in our literature." Mrs. Alec Tweedie's last book of travel, "Through Finland in Carts," has run through two large editions, and Messrs. A. and C. Black have just issued it in a new and cheaper form. Mrs. Tweedie has now in the press a memoir of her father, entitled "George Harley; or, the Life of a London Physician," which deals with the popular side of the life of a very able scientist and physician, whose death a couple of years ago was a great loss to medical science. George Harley's early life was not devoid of adventure; he was taken up as a spy when his youthful enthusiasm as a medical student prompted him to join Omar Pasha's army, and was condemned to be shot. He was in Paris shortly after the coup <Titat, and saw the marriage of Napoleon III. But his later life is of particular interest. Ill-health dogged his footsteps for twenty years, twice necessitating his retirement from his profession, bat mental strength baffled physical weakness, and he became one of the best-known physicians in London. The volume will be published by the' Scientific Press. Mr. Andrew Tuer's newly published "Pages and Pictures from Forgotten Children's Books" contains numerous excerpts and about 400 fac- simile illustrations selected from a large and exceedingly scarce collection of books which appeared for the amusement of children early in this century or the later years of last. The modern child will probably find much of the text and many of the cuts startlingly ludicrous. Forty plates, reproduced from watercolour drawings by Mr. William Gibbs, of the most remarkable among the art treasures at Windsor Castle, are to be issued in parts to subscribers by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, the Queen's printers. These chromo-lithographs are all done on English-made paper of the large size known as imperial folio, and each of the four parts will contain letterpress descriptions of the pictures written by the Marquis of Lorne. The sword of Napoleon when First Consul, the Royal baptismal font, the Queen's chair in the corridor, and Anne Boleyu's clock, are some of the subjects of the first section, and the whole issue of the work, which is called "Queen Victoria's Treasures at Windsor Castle," will not be more than 1130 copies. Mr. Kipling has been writing in the Morning Post a series of naval articles, entitled "A Fleet in Being." These will be published shortly in a volume by Messrs. Macmillan. An important medical encyclopaedia is being projected by Messrs. William Green and Sons, Edinburgh. It will attempt to do such a service to medical science as the " Encyclopedia Britan- nica " does for general literature, and the most distinguished specialists will write for it. The "Encyclopaedia Medica," which is the title of the work, will consist of twelve volumes, to appear at the rate of one every quarter, beginning early in 1899. A volume of Dr. Pusey's letters, which will be of the nature of a supplement to the Life by the late Canon Liddon, will be published shortly by Messrs. Longmans. The work consists of "Spiritual Letters," which is its title, and it has been prepared by the Rev. J. 0. Johnston and Canon Newbolt. Major Sharp Hume is writing for the Cam- bridge Historical Series a volume on " Spain: its Greatness and Decay, 1479-1788." Major Sharp Hume is, of course, the author of Lives of Sir Walter Raleigh and Philip II. of Spain, and other works of the period. An article on the Book Catalogue of the British Museum appears in the current number of the Quarterly Review, from which we learn that the work, which began in January, 1881, will be finished about the end of the year 1900, and will ## p. 166 (#178) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. then consist of about 600 quarto volumes. "If an ideal standard of perfection in details had been set up, the work would have been indefinitely protracted, and must have sunk under the accu- mulated mass of arrears," therefore speed and regularity have been the essential points kept in view during the progress of the work. When the printing began in 1881, there were 3.000,000 titles in the manuscript Catalogue, but since that time the accessions exceed half a million. What an amount of cross-references has to be made, however, is evident from the fact that the number of printed volumes in the Museum is about 2,000,000. Although arrangements were made for issuing the Catalogue to subscribers, the revenue from this source is extremely meagre. The Treasury defrays the cost of the Catalogue by an annual grant, which has gradually risen to the sum of .£3000 a year. Mr. Stopford Brooke issued during the past month the first volume of "The History of English Literature," in the series published by Messrs. Macmillan, to which volumes have already been contributed by Professor Saintsbury and Mr. Gosse. Another volume to come from Mr; Stopford Brooke will complete the series, and it will deal with the period between the Norman Conquest and Elizabeth. Thackeray's opinion of Tennyson in 1841 is contained in a letter quoted in a preface to "Sketch Books," in the new biographical edition of Thackeray's works:— Alfred Tennyson, if he can't make yon like him, will make yon admire him—he seems to me to have the cachet of a great man; his conversation is often delightful, I think; fnll of breadth, manliness, and humour. He reads all sorts of things, swallows them, and digests them like a great poetical boa oonstriotor, as he is. Now I hope, Mrs. Proctor, you will recollect that if your humble servant sneers at small geniuses he has, on the contrary, a hnge respect for big ones. Perhaps it is Alfred Tennyson's great big yellow face and growling voice that have made an impres- sion on me; manliness and simplicity of manner go a great way with me, I fanoy. Mrs. Gertrude Atherton is venturing into the field of boys' stories. Her book of adventure, entitled "The Valiant Runaways," will be brought out by Messrs. Service and Paton immediately. A new monthly magazine for secondary schools, to be called the School World, will be launched next month by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. It will include articles upon methods of teaching at home and abroad, detailed syllabuses of instruc- tion, and lesson notes by specialists in the chief subjects taught at secondary schools; test-papers to enable teachers to mark the progress of their forms month by month, and various other features. Mr. Gladstone's trustees will be greatly obliged if anyone possessing letters or papers likely to be useful for the purposes of Mr. Gladstone's bio- graphy will send them either to the trustees, at Hawarden Castle, Chester, or to Mr. Morley, care of Messrs. Macmillan and Co., St. Martin's-street London, W.C. All such letters or papers will be carefully and promptly returned. Chapman's Magazine of Fiction, hitherto owned by a private syndicate, has been bought by the General Magazine and Review Company, and will continue on the same lines and under the editorship of Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, with a new title, namely, Crampton's Magazine. Mr. Clement Shorter retires from the editor- ship of the English Illustrated Magazine after the Christmas number. Volumes of verse to appear shortly include "Love Triumphant," by William Bedford; and "Edmund: a Ballad," by Albert Carpenter, both of which Mr. Elliot Stock will publish. The number of libraries in London has recently been increased by two—one situated at the corner of Melody-road and Allfarthing-lane, Wands- worth, and the other in Cable-street, St. George's- in-the-East. In declaring the former of these to be duly opened, Sir John Lubbock delivered an interesting address, remarking that no doubt we had in London access to grand art galleries and the richest museums in the world, but this only made libraries all the more inestimable. From 1850 to 1866 only two districts of London, namely, Wandsworth and Westminster, availed themselves of the Public Libraries Act; from 1876 to 1866 only two more; but from 1886 to 1896 no fewer than thirty-two. Lord Russell of Killowen opened the new library of St. George's-in-the-East, to the cost of which Mr. Passmore Edwards has given .£5000 and 1000 books. Lord Russell said it was a most gratifying thing that a locality in which the great bulk of the population consisted of daily wage-earners had been ready to submit to be taxed for this great and worthy object, and it presented a favourable contrast to other divisions of the metropolis which could probably claim to be better educated and which were certainly much more wealthy. Mr. Grant Allen has written a book on the habits, ways, and doings of insect and plant life, which Messrs. Newnes will publish, entitled "Flashlights on Nature." Mr. Swinburne has written an enthusiastic prefatory note to a new edition of Mrs. Brown- ing's "Aurora Leigh," which Messrs. Smith, ## p. 167 (#179) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Elder, and Co. have published. He remarks that " no English contemporary poet by profes- sion has left us work so full of living fire," and that while Mrs. Browning's genius "has less hold on earth than Tennyson's or Browning's or Miss Ingelow's, and less aerial impulse, less fantastic or spiritual aspiration, than Miss Rossetti's," yet "all these noble poets seem to play with life and passion like actors or like students if compared with her." Mr. Swinburne concludes his examination of " Aurora Leigh " as follows: The piercing and terrible pathos of the story is as incom- parable and as irresistible as the divine expression of womanly and motherly rapture which seems to suffuse and imbue the very page, the very print, with the radiance and the fragrance of babyhood. There never was, and there never will be, such another baby in type as that. Other poets, even of the inferior sex, have paid immortal tribute to the immortal godhead incarnate in the mortal and transitory preaenoe of infancy; the homage of one or two among them, a Homer or a Hugo, may have been worthy to be mistaken for a mother's; but here is a mother's indeed; and "the yearlong creature" so divinely desaribed must live in sight of all her readers as long as ha man nature or as English poetry survives. "Lithography and Lithographers," in which the history of the art is told by Mr. and Mrs. Pennell, will be published shortly by Mr, Fisher Unwin. This year, of course, is the centenary of the discovery of lithography by Alois Senefelder. Mr. G. A. Storey, A.R.A., is calling his book of reminiscences "Sketches from Memory." It is chiefly, but not solely, a record of studio experiences, and of the celebrities he has met. As a lad Mr. Storey wknes-ed the sacking of the Tuileries in 1848, and this is described in his volume. There will be about a hundred repro- ductions of sketches of figures, interiors, and other subjects. Messrs. Chatto and Windus will pub- lish the book. "A History of the Quorn Hunt and its Masters," by Mr. William C. A. Blew, is to be published by Mr. Nimmo in a few days. Death came to Mrs. Oliphant before she had completed the task of writing the Annals of the Blackwood Publishing House, and so the third volume of the work is from the hand of Mrs. Gerald Porter. This lady is the daughter of John Blackwood, with whose reign as the head of the house the present volume deals. There are many glimpses of George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, Lever, and other writers. For example, here is a letter from Dickens, whom John Black- wood had evidently been innocently trying to convince that the "great unknown" author of "Scenes from a Clerical Life " must be a man:— The portions of the narrative to which you refer had not escaped my notioe. But their weight is very light in my scale, against all the references to children, and against such marvels of description as Mrs. Barton sitting up in bed to mend the children's olothes. The selfish young fellow with the heart disease in " Mr. Gilfil's Love Story" is plainly taken from a woman's point of view. Indeed, I observe all the women in the book are more alive than the men, and more informed from within. As to Janet, in the last tale, I know nothing in literature done by a man like the frequent references to her grand form and her eyes anil her height and so forth: whereas I do know innumerable things of that kind in books of imagination done by women. And I have not the faintest doubt that a woman described her being shut out into the street by her husband, and conceived and executed the whole idea, of her following of that clergyman. If I be wrong in this, then I protest that a woman's mind has got into some man's body by a mistake that onght immediately to be oorrected. There is also a rather quaint example of an author's letter. It is written by Kinglake in reply to suggestions that John Blackwood had been making with regard to Kinglake's History:— I am almost alarmed, as it were, at the notion of receiving suggestions. I feel that hints from you might be so valuable and so important it might be madness to ask you beforehand to abstain from giving me any; but I am anxious for you to know what the dangers in the way of long delay might be, the result of even a few slight and- possibly most useful suggestions. . . . You will perhaps (after what I have said) think it best not to set my mind running in a new path lest I shonld take to re- writing. The Countess of Warwick has written an account of her garden at Easton, Essex, under the title "An Old English Garden," which Messrs. Hatchard will issue in a handsome volume. Mr. Powis Bale will shortly publish, through Messrs. Wm. Rider and Son, Limited, a handbook of "Sawmill and Woodworking Machinery "; and Messrs. Longmans and Co. are printing a sixth edition of " A Handbook for Steam Users," by the same author. Mr. Bernard Hamilton's re-incarnation romance,. "The Light?" is now in a second edition. A fourth and cheap edition of Mr. Mackenzie Bell's "Life of Christina Rossetti," completing 2500 copies in this country and in the United States, will be published immediately, with the original illustrations, by Mr. Thomas Burleigh. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—Translation and Copyright. IN your notice on copyright in Holland and Germany in this month's Author, you quote remarks contained in Das Recht der Feder on "dicta" found in the writings of Dr. J. D. Veergens, where he asserts as his opinion that ## p. 168 (#180) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. "translation is not piracy, but original work," and that "an idea as soon as it is expressed is public property." As the German paper correctly asserts, there may be cases in which such liberty may be looked upon as the rights which "high- waymen " take on themselves, and it is quite com- prehensible that any author should require the work of his brain to be protected and respected by demanding good work in his translator. If, however, the translator tloei furnish original work (by using his own mind and completely merging himself in the author he endeavours to reproduce), and if the author also guards his own expression by only making public what he has no reason to be ashamed of, and himself regards in the light of public property, is any further pro- tection of the author's rights needed after he has given well-considered assent to its reproduction by means of translation, and would not transla- tion rank higher if it were treated as original work? Could a more scathing criticism of ordi- nary translation be found than in the words of Das Jtecht der Feder, when that journal remarks, speaking of the translator: "Only his own interests make the translator a thief. The foulest pamphlet that delights the herd is by far more precious to him than the most important intellectual work, which pleases only a few cultivated people." Can "piracy" of the sort described in Das Jtecht der Feder claim for itself the honourable name of translation? And is not the real thief in translation work he who does not rob enough from the original author, interpolating his own ideas instead, as also he who chooses to remain anonymous? We can put up with no piece-work in translation, but it must so resemble the original as to seem what "forgery " would be to original handwriting. Again, the author ashamed of his expression should never dare to make it public unless prepared to take the consequences. Ida L. Benecke. II.—Cut Edges. As having successively in The Author, in the Fall Mall Gazette, and in Literature protested against the issuing of books with uncut edges, I was delighted to read the " plea for cut edges" of Mr. John C. Shannon in The Author for November, and delighted also to see that Mr. Marston has been taking up the subject in the Fublishers' Circular and in Literature. Both as authors and as readers all authors are deeply interested in cut edges. As authors they would gain better reviews and increased chances of sale; as readers they would save much lost time and temper. I would venture to suggest that authors should have a clause inserted in their agreement pro- viding for publication with cut edges; also that the proprietors of all magazines and newspapers should follow the example of The Author and of Literature, and issue their publications with cut edges. .i.i J. M. Lely. III.—The Pessimism of Young Writers. The name subscribed to a short Indian story (" Thirty Years After ") in a late issue of the Temple Bar Magazine is one of hereditary prestige. Miss Zoe Procter is the granddaughter of " Barry Cornwall," the friend of Lamb and Shelley, a poet himself, and father of Adelaide Procter, whose name is still familiar. One of her uncles is Professor Forrest, of Bombay, who has been a skilful contributor to the history of Warren Hastings's administration, another being a successful novelist, whose " Eight Days " made many friends in the Comhill, under the editor- ship of the late Mr. Payn. Miss Procter pro- mises to chasser de race; she can write with taste and eloquence; her subject, too, is viewed squarely, and in high relief. It is, however, right that she should be warned against the tempta- tion so apt to beset young artists—that of at- tempting to make our flesh creep, like the Fat Boy in "Pickwick." A little experience is sure to show her that real life is sorrowful enough; and that Bacon never said a wiser thing than he did when he laid down the canon that it was the mission of art to "conform the shows of things to the desires of the mind." Buckleigh, Westward Ho. H. G. Keene. IV.—Christmas Literatube. Christmas is drawing near apace, and the bookstalls are already flooded by Christmas numbers, but unless these are very different in character to what they have been of late years, they can hardly be included in Christmas cheer. Although most current literature is of the sensational pessimistic kind, it seems there must be a special collection of horrors and tragedies for the so-called festive season. Formerly Christinas stories were uniformly bright, everything came right in the end, even at the risk of probability. But now we have changed all that, and the pro- bability is strained in the opposite direction. Even the old-fashioned ghost story has degenerated, and in the effort to produce some- thing abnormally blood-curdling and thrilling, has missed its effect. Is it because, like the Germans, when we feel merry we must sing sad songs, or is it that the up-to-date imagination craves excitement and ## p. 169 (#181) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 169 sensation of a morbid nature, and cannot be con- tent without them? However, every one is not youns and modern Surely some people would still prefer a reminder of the good old stories. Some who possess a calm and healthy mind, which, like a healthy appetite, requires no unwholesome condiments. But probably, as the masterpieces of the great writers of the Renaissance were the offspring of sound minds and stalwart bodies, the present style of writing is the product of overwrought neurotic beings, who, in their turn, are the result of the rush and hurry—the feverish unrest of the age. Anyhow, the demand at present appears to be for a copious amount of the horrible in Christmas literature, and as there is neither art nor genius required to supply it, no doubt the quality will be kept up, and the Christmas number will have numerous tales of misery and crime and illustra- tions in keeping. _ I. S. V.—Editorial Autocracy. Would it not be well for authors to combine and form themselves into an Authors' Protection Society. At present editors have us all on the hip, except, of course, front-rank writers. I do not mean to say there are not courteous editors, but they are certainly in the minority. It should be made an impossibility for editors to keep MSS. at their own pleasure, and to pay for same just when they fancy. I think it is high time that authors should in every particular put their affairs on a business footing. There is entirely too much servility amongst us. Let us be honest and admit it. Let us also recognise that any reform must come from within, and that tee must help ourselves. No assistance can possibly come from outside. It is quite plain that we must steadfastly and strenuously resist the publishers' agreements just promulgated, and I would earnestly suggest that a firm stand be also made against editorial autocracy. My proposition is that authors, instead of send- ing contributions direct to a magazine or paper, should forward them to a society, to be called the Distribution Society (or other suitable name), each MS. to be stamped with the name of the Society. A fee of Is. to be inclosed for each firm the MS. is submitted to. All editors called upon by the agents of the society to be made clearly aware that MS. left with them must, if rejected, be returned within a fortnight to the society. Payment to be made within a month. No less rate than one guinea per thousand words to be offered. Editors refusing these terms to be severely let alone. Acceptance of MSS. from the society to be deemed as compliance with said terms. The Authors' Syndicate might be asked to undertake the reception and distribution of the MSS. of the proposed society. Perhaps the editor will kindly give his opinion on these suggestions. Spero Meliora. VI.—A Disagreeable Experience. Perhaps, as a warning to other writers, you will kindly give publicity to the methods adopted in my case by the Strand Magazine. I sent in two type-written stories for the editor's consideration—one on May 21, the other on June 9. Both were returned on Oct. 27. The length of time for which the MSS. were detained is in itself a sufficient grievance; but that is not the worst feature of the case. The MSS. were utterly disfigured by scribbled com- ments and suggestions, which would have been ludicrous had it not been for their unwarrantable impertinence. On my writing a letter of complaint to the editor, asking him to refund me for having the MSS. re-typed, he replied, without the least attempt at apology, that if I sent him my manu- script, he would have it cleaned! There is no need for concealment in the matter. I therefore give the title of the magaziue, and append my own name. W. B. Wallace, B.A. (Member of the Society of Authors.) THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Oct. 24 to Nov. 22—457 Books.] Aekworth, John. The Scowcroft Critics. 3/6. Clarke. .VI mis. W. M, The Book of the Master. '6/- Murray. Adeney, W. F. Women of the New Testament. 3/6. Service. Aitken, E. H. The Five Windows of the Soul. 6/- Murray. Alexander, Mrs. The Coat of Her Pride. 6/- White. Alford, H. S. L., and Sword, W. D. Egyptian Soudan. 10 - net. Macmillan. Allen, A M. Gladys in Grammar Land. 2/6. Slmpkin. Ambrose, W., and Ferguson, W. R Land Transfer Acts (75 <fc '97). 10/- Butterworth. Ames, Mrs. E. An A B C for Baby Patriots. 3/6. Dean. Anderson, T. McC. 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Pitt: Some Chapters of His Life and Times. 21/- Longman. ## p. 170 (#182) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Ash ion. John. History of Gambling in England. 7/6. Duckworth. Atlee, H. Falconer. A. Woman of Impulse. 6/- White. Aut-ten. W., and Nesblt, E. A Book of Dogs. 2/6. Dent. Avery, Harold. The Dormitory Flag. 5/- Nelson. Bail ie, J. Walter Grighton. 2 6 net. Edinburgh: Livingstone. Baker, James. The Cardinal's Page. 6/- Chapman. Baring-Gould, E. M. E. "With One Accord." 2 - Chuich Missionary Society. Barraud, C. W. Lays of the Knights. 4/- Longman. Barilett, A. D. Wild Animals in Captivity. 7/6. Cbapman. Battersby, O. The Song of the Golden Bough, Ax. 3/6 net. Constable. Beylis, J. B. Mind and Voice. 1 - Boaworth, 4, Berners-street, W. Beach, H.P. Dawn on the Hills of T'ang. 1/6. Student Volunteer Missionary Union. Beaman, A. G. H. Twenty Years In the Near East. 10/6. Methuen. Beaton, D. Selfhood and Service. 3/6. Olipbant- Bell, J. J. The New Noah's Ark. 3/6. 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Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 07 (December 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 07 (December 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-12-01-The-Author-9-7 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/322/1898-11-01-The-Author-9-6.pdf e115074037d8e44adf4891f27f98e811 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) 1898-11-01 Volume 9 Issue 6 Pages Page range in volume 125–148 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18981101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XL he H u t b o r, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 6.] NOVEMBER i, 1898. [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 retnrn 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- joots whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL MEMORANDA. FOB some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., 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 oarry on his 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 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 I (7.) To stamp the agreement. III. 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 rides. It is 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 oommon law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements, and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the seoretary before he signs it. ## p. 126 (#138) ############################################ i26 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. i. LI VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive ITi advice upon his 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. Remember 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, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the oase of fraudnlent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the oountry. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing 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 coarse, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Sooiety now offers:—(1) To read and advise npon 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. 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 oonnected 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 Offioe 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 does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Seoretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether ho was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to- sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, reoently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly oorrect: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made npon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into hia 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 a welling their own profits call it 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 Seoretary the modest 08. 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? THE AUTHORS' CLUB. ri^HE Directors have the pleasure to inform I the members of the Authors' Society that the new lease of the club premises has now been settled, and that the additional rooms will shortly be opened. One obstacle to the prosperous development of the club has been the comparatively limited accommodation offered to members, and com- plaints have been put forward from time to time that it was impossible, for that reason, for ## p. 127 (#139) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 127 members to ask their friends to join. The new large coffee room will give increased facilities for dining, and the directors expect to see an accession of new members to the club. They feel assured, after the very cordial expression of goodwill at the last general meeting, that in taking over the new rooms they have adopted a course which will receive the hearty support of all the members, and which will be to the advan- tage of the club. G. Herbert Theing, Secretary. LITERARY PROPERTY. I. —A County Couet Decision.—Spicer v. Nutt. ON the 17th Oct., in the Westminster County Court, Judge Lumley Smith, Q.C., and a jury heard the case of Spicer v. Nutt, an action brought by an Oxford clergyman against a Strand publisher and bookseller, to recover .£41 is. Sd., profits on the sale of a book called "The Baba Log." The defendant claimed £21 is. Sd. as a set-off, and paid £20 into court. The Rev. J. M. Macdonald, a missionary in India, wrote the book, a work for children in British India, and got the Rev. Mr. Spicer to have it published. The plaintiff agreed to pay Mr. Nutt. He did so for some editions, and guaranteed to pay for any further editions Mr. Macdonald ordered. Mr. Macdonald had a cor- respondence with Mr. Nutt as to publishing a cheaper edition for use in schools in India as a text-book, and ordered eventually 500 copies as a school edition. The plaintiff refused to pay the loss on that edition, £21 is. Sd., as he only, he said, guaranteed to pay for further editions of the book as he saw it—the higher priced edition. The defendant contended that the school edition was precisely the same except the binding, and was practically the same book. The jury found for the plaintiff for the amount claimed, and judgment was given accordingly with costs.—Daily Graphic. II. —Copyright in Holland and Germany. The following, which we quote from our con- temporary Das Jiecht der Feder, a German organ for the protection of copyright, is probably of greater interest to English authors than the majority of them suspect. Not everyone has noticed in how many Dutch newspapers the feuilleton is a translation of an English novel. The Netherlands Union for the Advancement of the Bookselling Trade has, at its general meeting, decided, by a majority of eighty-one to forty, to take no steps in favour of the adhesion of Holland to the Berne Union. Herr A. J. Robbeen, a partisan of adhesion to the Union, divides the opponents of that step into three classes: 1. A few small printer-publishers who procure translations of foreign novels, and print them to keep their presses going. The cost of production being inconsiderable, the smallest sales produce some profit. 2. Editors of newspapers who wish to procure feuilletons at starvation prices. 3. Theatrical speculators. On the contrary—so Herr Robbeen asserts— all Dutch authors, all the great publishers, and all the educated public are in favour of adhesion. This opinion of his is hardly supported by the fact that a number of Dutch statesmen and jurists have always declared themselves to be opponents of international copyright. Amongst these Dr. J. D. Veergens has, in his writings, expressed the following opinions: "I consider the exploded doctrine of so-called intellectual property to be absolutely untenable. "Translation is not piracy, but original work. "An idea as soon as it is expressed is public property. "Holland has not joined the Berne Union, first of all, because, in the interests of the community, the Government was indisposed to sacrifice the fundamental liberty of transla- tion. "To this liberty Holland must hold fast." From these and some other principles of equity adduced by Dr. Veergens, Dr. Robbeen deduces the conclusion that, "according to Veergens, copyright exists only in consequence of legal enactment. Were there no legislation on the subject there would be no right." Dr. J. A. Levy, a former deputy, seconds Dr. Veergens by saying: "Thought is the highest expression of the intellectual faculty of man. Thought exists in order to be disseminated. Only dissemination can make it fruitful. In conse- quence, any hindrance of its dissemination is an unpardonable crime against the evolution of humanity. For this reason no one any longer speaks of literary property as a legal right. . . One respects the rights of authors. But transla- tion forms no part of an author's rights. . . . The translator works in his own sphere of thought, in his own world of imagination. Into that sphere the original author does not enter: the translator is absolute master. By what pretence, by what shadow of right, can the translator's ## p. 128 (#140) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. intellectual labour be denied the quality of origi- nality? No two translations are alike." Das Recht der Feder remarks on these charm- ing statements: "That the liberty defended by these gentlemen is that of the highwayman has entirely escaped their observation. And are the highest nights of imagination those which they have been so desirous to reproduce? Certainly not. Only his own interests make the translator a thief. The foulest pamphlet that delights the herd is by far more precious to him than the most important intellectual work, which pleases only a few cultivated people. The former brings in, the latter costs, money. Culture that takes money out of his pocket? Not if he knows it! Multa- tuli was right. There is a robber State between East Friesland and the Scheldt. When will the Dutch open their eyes to the fact that the protec- tion of the rights of foreign authors is the best protection of national production?" The German Union of Authors ("Schrifts- teller Verband") on the occasion of the annual general meeting at Wiesbaden, in September, turned its attention to the proposed revision of the copyright law of the German Empire, and passed several important resolutions :— 1. That this meeting expresses its satisfaction at the prospect of a revision of the law. 2. That the meeting trusts that before the projected law is placed in the statute-book it may be submitted for public criticism. 3. That the union shall appoint a commission to determine (after making general inquiries ainongst authors) what are the particular points which should be taken into consideration by the new legislation, and to lay the results of its in- quiries before the Legislature. On the motion of Herr M. Hilde brand four general propositions respecting the lines which the new Legislature should take were also passed, the second and fourth not without opposition :— 1. The passing of a single enactment, replacing the imperial laws of June 11, 1870, and Jan. 9, 1876. 2. Protection of copyright irrespective of the nationality of the author or original locality of publication. 3. Reproduction of newspaper articles to be piracy—if for pecuniary advantage, or in order to avoid the expense of procuring independent 'information. 4. A tax—to be applied to benevolent insti- tutions for authors — to be imposed upon all works of which the copyright has lapsed. In defence of his second proposition, Herr Hildebrand pleaded that making a distinction between authors of different nationalities pro- duces in the mind of the public a confusion of ideas respecting the nature of literary property. In a civilised State, such as the German Empire, a man ought not to be robbed because he happens to be a Roumanian or a Greek. Translation of an Article Reprinted from "Hannover schen Courier" in "Das Recht der Feder" No. 143, October 2, 1898, p. 156. We may express the hope that it [the revision of the German Copyright Law] will not result in a mere recension intended to amend certain par- ticulars in which the law of 1870 has been left behind by subsequent international conventions, but that the Government may show itself disposed to favour more advanced wishes. For some time past a tendency that certainly deserves respect, has existed in the German literary world, or at least in that section of it which concerns itself about these copyright questions that so closely affect literary men—it is much to be regretted that more great names do not belong to that section of the literary world. On this subject a correspondent writes to us: "Discerning authors have already availed them- selves of the opportunity of discussing the revision of the law at congresses. Our present copyright law protects only the German author from un- authorised reproduction. Foreign authors are protected only in so far as conventions exist with their respective States. Literary works produced in States with which we have no such conventions (for example Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, and many others) can be translated or reproduced amongst us without restrictions, and vice versd. The wishes of literary circles, so far as these have been expressed, now go so far as to desire that the new law should protect all intel- lectual productions from translation, reproduction, dramatisation, performance, &c., irrespective of the country in which the author lives. This pro- posal at first sight appears to result from taking a purely idealistic point of view. The Russian author will be protected in Germany, and the German author will be absolutely unprotected in Russia. Nevertheless, solid realities lie at the base of the proposal. When we protect the foreign author from being taken advantage of, we compel the German publisher who desires to bring out a foreign work to come to terms with the author. The publisher will have to pay the author and the translator, and, in consequence, the foreign work will be made more expensive; for example, the foreign novel, which at present plays so im- portant a rile in our newspapers and elsewhere. Under these circumstances only those foreign ## p. 129 (#141) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. works will be translated upon which it is worth while to spend some money. The German author will be liberated from the base competition of bad translations of foreign mediocre works which are practically mere poor imitations either of our own or of French literature; and German intellectual labour will consequently increase in both material and ideal value, seeing that the German author, liberated from the meanest competition, will be able to emancipate himself from anenervating over- production. The proof of the correctness of this view is at hand. France has had a law of this sort—ein solches Gesetz, but this statement seems to require qualification—since 1852, and French literature and French authors stand in the highest estimation. Supposing that a few journalistic pirates, in Russia or Holland or elsewhere, wrest foreign literary productions to their own advan- tage, they do so at the cost of the development of their own literature, which cannot but be a gain to us. It is to be anticipated also that this view may be taken by the representatives of our Government; for example. Privy Councillor Reichard, of the Foreign Office—I am unable to find the name of Reichard in the books of reference at my disposal—on one occasion re- marked at a conference on international negotia- tions, 'Only the nation which has a strong copy- right law can possess a literature.'" The opinions here expressed certainly contain much that is to the point. On the other hand, it is not possible at once to set aside the considera- tion that by this one-sided protection of literary work we may be surrendering a weapon that might compel foreign States to abstain from pirating German literature. Revision of the German Copyright Law. Herr Hildebrand, president of the Deutscher Schriftsteller Genossenschaft, in his excellent journal, Das Recht der Feder, is making strong protests against the constitution of the commis- sion of experts entrusted with the preliminary consultations respecting the very important pro- ject of the revision of the German imperial copyright law. "Nine publishers, but not a single literary celebrity!" he exclaims, and not without reason. Associated with the names of imperial officials and legal authorities we find those of Brockhaus, Mulbrecht, and Voigtlander, of the musical booksellers Birkmeyer, Bock, Strecher, also of Engelhorn (President of the German booksellers' Borsenverein) and of Von Hase (President of the Musical Booksellers' Society). But literature is represented by Herr Hildebrand himself alone, whilst, to quote his own words, " the name of no single author of celebrity vol.. rx. appears on the list." He adds modestly: "That the honourable enterprise of defending the rights of authors against the interests of publishers should have been left to me alone, appears to me by n'o means a satisfactory arrangement." Mean- while the protests of some of the trade journals against his large-minded views of copyright draw from him the strong remark " that certain pub- lishers should be alarmed at the prospect of being compelled to earn their bread honestly, and of being prevented from stealing, is quite compre- hensible." And in conclusion he adds: "What the interests of authors are must be learned from authors, not from their publishers," in which we entirely agree with him III.—The Pall Mall on Mr. Victor Spiees. "There is a long letter in The Author this month from Mr. Victor Spiers which raises an interesting point in the relation between the publisher and the writer of books. . . . Mr. Spiers has taken to issuing his books through a distributing agent, as, it appears, Miss Braddon does also, and his reason for recommending that method is practi- cally this: that you should not trust any man in the dark. Suppose one publishes a book on the royalty system; the publisher after a due period says that so many copies have been sold and pays accordingly. But, says Mr. Spiers, how do you know how many copies have been sold? You rely on the publisher's bare word, and that is not businesslike. Mr. Spiers proposes as an amendment to this practice that the printer should take his orders from the publisher and the author jointly, and should render his account to both. But every publishing house would refuse to accept such a clause in an agreement, and would regard the proposal as a slur upon its integrity. That is, of course, the case; and I think that there is a good deal to be said against the attitude adopted by publishers in this matter. For, even if it be granted that nine publishers out of ten are to be trusted implicitly, there is always the tenth man to consider. If A., B., C, and D., whom I can trust blindfolded, do not want to publish my book, how can I go to E. and say: 'The arrangement which I should be willing to accept with A., B., C, or D., implies more confi- dence in the publisher than I should be willing to extend to you'? Thus the action of the trustworthy houses throws temptation in the way of those who are less honest. And it must be remembered that publishers have no control over members of their trade. A solicitor who has defrauded his client may be struck off the rolls, but a publisher cannot be. What Mr. Sp calls ' the large, old and respected houses' would P ## p. 130 (#142) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. have probably everything to gain by accepting 'a legal examination of accounts.' Once the point was conceded in theory not one author in twenty would care to pay the expenses of such an inquiry."—Pall Mall Gazette, Oct. 8. Mr. Victor Spiers has sent a second letter to the Pall Mall Gazette. It contains a statement of the greatest interest: In my first letter I suggested a simpler alternative than a legal audit of accounts : it was merely that into the agree- ment should be inserted a clause to the effect that the printer should print only upon receipt of an order bearing the joint signature of author and publisher. Some of your many readers may be interested to hear that a large Paris house actually gives these very terms in its contracts; at any rate, I have just heard that they have been given to one author, who moreover has the stereos under his oontrol, and actually has in his possession a few plates of one of bis books. Nor is it likely that he is the only one thus privileged. The general adoption of this clause would do away with the unpleasant feeling that undoubtedly exists in the minds of most authors, and that, undoubtedly again, should not be permitted to exist in the relations between honourable men. Suspicion ought not to exist in the relations between honourable men. That is true. It is impossible to exist between honourable men. But when we have two sides, one of whom, like Mr. Spiers, demands nothing but honesty and the ordinary proofs of honesty, and the other side absolutely refuses these proofs, on which side does honour lie? Let us remember that in the famous " draft agreements'' there is not one word of concession. Why, even the charge for advertise- ments not paid for is left without a word of remonstrance! . IV.—A Question of Eight. In the number of the Publishers' Circular dated Oct. 8 a letter appeared, signed "A Publisher." The writer begins with the usual petty spitefulness about this Society. It appears that we are not "representative." He then pro- ceeds to state certain considerations, especially that when cases are submitted to the Publishers' Association or the Authors' Society, neither of these bodies is pledged to secrecy. "Has either publisher or author the right of referring a dis- pute, including communication of all documents bearing upon it, to the Publishers' Association or to the Society of Authors without first obtaining the consent of the other party; and, if he does so, will an action for damages lie?" His question in effect is: "Has an author or a publisher the legal right of making public to his association the terms of any dispute and the com- munication of all documents bearing upon it?" I write from the author's point of view. An author has a certain property. He employs an agent to administer that property on certain terms. He subsequently has a dispute with that agent. J£ he thinks it desirable he can refer the dispute, with all papers concerning it, to any person. In the case of referring it to the Authors' Society he refers it to them as an Asso- ciation which can be of valuable assistance in defending him and his property. The same remark would apply where the author sells the copyright or his property outright to the pub- lisher. Apart from this broad principle, how- ever, an author refers to the Secretary of the Society in the first instance as to a solicitor, and receives advice from the Secretary as from a solicitor, the Secretary holding all such communi- cations in confidence. If, subsequently, owing to the dispute not being satisfactorily settled, the author desires the matter referred to the Com- mittee, it is still treated in confidence as far as the Committee are concerned. The author, how- ever, has the right of putting his statement of facts before anyone he may choose, whether the Secretary of the Society, the Committee, or the public. The writer states as follows: "It is obvious that neither body can be regarded naturally as an arbitration tribunal." Such a remark is wholly unnecessary, though in some cases, with the con- sent of both parties, it might be advantageous to accept the Authors' Society or their authorised representative as an arbitrator. In three cases that came before the Secretary last year when matters were in dispute between author and pub- lisher, and the issue was one that could be best settled by arbitration, the publisher accepted the settlement of the case on the basis proposed by the Secretary and the Society's solicitors. That such should be the case speaks very favourably for the Society's fairness in cases of dispute and to a recognition of the fact that while the Society exists for its members it does not entertain any desire to injure other people. The main gist of the question, however, appears to be that the "Publisher," whoever he may be, strongly objects to have his own practices or those of his brothers in trade made public. Q-. H. T. V.—CONTKIBUTIONS TO MAGAZINES. (From the Law Journal, by permission.) Section 18 of the Copyright Act of 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45) provides that, when the proprietor or conductor of an encyclopaedia, magazine, review, or periodical or serial work, employs persons to compose articles, essays, poems, or any portion of such works, the copy- right of the articles, essays, &c., shall vest in such proprietor or conductor, provided that the articles ## p. 131 (#143) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. »3i were composed " on the terms that the copyright shall belong to such proprietor," &c., and have actually been paid for, and subject to a right on the part of the composer to publish his composi- tions in a separate form at the expiration of twenty-eight years from the date of their first appearance in the encyclopaedia, magazine, or other work. Tor some years after the passing of the Act it was a disputed question what was the precise meaning of the words "on the terms that the copyright shall belong to such proprietor," <fec. Was it sufficient to show that there had actually been payment for an article in order to vest the copyright in it in the proprietor of the magazine in which it appeared? Must there have been an express agreement that the copy- right should pass from the author to the pro- prietor, or could a transfer be implied from circumstances? In Sweet v. Benning (24 Law J. Eep. C. P. 175; 16 C. B. 459) the Court of Common Pleas held that the transfer of copyright to the magazine proprietor might take place by implication, as well as by express agreement. "Where," said Chief Justice Jervis (24 Law J. Eep. C. P. 179; 16 C. B. 480), "the proprietor of a periodical employs a gentleman to write a given article or a series of articles or reports, expressly for the purpose of publication therein, of necessity it is implied that the copyright of the articles so expressly written for such periodical and paid for by the proprietors and publishers thereof, shall be the property of such proprietors and publishers; otherwise, it might be that the author might, the day after his article has been published by the persons for whom he contracted to write it, republish it in a separate form, or in another serial, and there would be no corres- pondent benefit to the original publishers for the payment they had made." But the impli- cation does not arise from the mere fact that payment has been made for the article ( Walter v. Howe, 50 Law J. Rep. Chanc. 621; L. R. 17 Chanc. Div.). The copyright was in the first instance in the author, and it remains in him except in so far as he can be shown to have parted with it {Hereford v. Griffin, 17 Law J. Rep. Chanc. 210; 16 Sim. 190; Smith v. John- son, 33 Law J. Rep. Chanc. 137; 4 Giff. 632). Under the existing law, therefore, the offer of an article to the proprietors of a periodical will not carry copyright even upon payment, if the article has not actually been written in pursu- ance of a previous arrangement, express or implied. The section, in fact, is only applicable when the author, before commencing to write, has entered into an agreement with the maga- zine proprietor in express terms, or in terms which may be implied to have existed through VOL. IX. the subsequent action, relations, or behaviour of the parties. The two bills recently before Parliament, intro- duced by Lords Herschell and Monkswell, made the following proposals as to this class of litera- ture. Unlike the Act of 1842, which treated encyclopaedias and magazines in precisely the same way, the present bills divide them into two classes consisting of (1) encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and similar collective works; (2) magazines, reviews, and other periodicals. In the first class the copyright in contributions will belong to the owner of the compilation dur- ing the entire period for which copyright will exist, and he or his assigns will be the only persons entitled to take action in case of an infringement. If the author wishes to reserve copyright to himself, he must enter into a special written agreement to that effect. It is obvious that this is a more favourable arrangement for proprietors of collective works than exists in the present state of the law, when at the latest, con- tributors to such works are entitled to republish their contributions in separate form at the end of twenty years. In the second class the copyright in contribu- tions will remain in the authors; but, provided that payment has been made by the owner of the magazine, &c., to which they are contributed, the authors will not be at liberty to republish their contributions in a separate form until the expira- tion of three years from the date when they first appeared (or three years from the end of the year in which they first appeared, as Lord Herschell's Bill proposes). Authors are, how- ever, at liberty to register their contributions at Stationers' Hall as separate publications imme- diately on their appearance, and can then claim damages for infringement of copyright although the three years have not elapsed. As under the existing law, the magazine proprieters will have the sole right of publication in their magazines (but not otherwise) during the entire subsistence of the copyright. Here, again, the proprietors will be somewhat more favourably placed than at present, because they will be legally entitled to prevent separate publication on the author's part for the specified period of three years, whereas the only check that at present exists upon separate publication by an author on the day after his article has appeared in a magazine is, in the absence of a special stipulation, the im- probability that he would see his signature at the foot of any further contributions in the same magazine. With most contributors this would, no doubt, be a sufficiently powerful incentive to refrain from any unfair dealing, but the new proposal places the rights of the various parties ## p. 132 (#144) ############################################ 132 THE AUTHOR. on a clearer and more settled basis than at present, and is therefore desirable from every point of view. Under existing conditions it is not an unusual course among authors, when submitting their contributions for an editor's approval, to notify their desire to reserve the copyright. As the law stands, this would appear to be a work of supere- rogation, but what will be necessary when the provisions of these bills become law will be a notification that the contributor desires to reserve the right of republication before the statutory three years, if such is the case. Probably, how- ever, the majority of contributors will not object to the practical relinquishment of their copyright for a period which does not seem to be unreason- ably long to duly safeguard the interests of the owners of periodicals. VI.—The Question of Overs. This point has been raised before. It was brought before the notice of the Secretary for the first time by receiving a publisher's account, in which the author was credited with the " overs." In three editions of a thousand each they made a considerable difference in the sum due to him. Now it must be remarked that this is the only account ever received at the office in which the "overs " were so much as mentioned. If a pub- lisher is asked about them, he says that they are not worth mentioning, or that there are no "overs," or that the "overs" were used up to complete imperfect copies. He might, however, just as well say that two or three copies, or two or three dozen copies, are not worth mentioning. Now, a certain authority states that publishers expect from 5 to 10 per cent. of " overs." This seems to mean that, on an edition of 1000, there are fifty to 100 "overs," which seems too many. On this subject some exact information is greatly to be desired. If "overs" mean anything like fifty in a thousand, then a monstrous system of fraud has been practised, so far with absolute impunity. THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS CONGRESS AT LISBON. THREE years have elapsed since I had the pleasure of writing upon the International Press Congress in The Author. In Nov., 1895,1 described the work done at Bordeaux, where a goodly gathering of English were present; but since then, owing to the action of the Institute of Journalists, the English have taken no part in this international work for the better- ing of journalists. But this year, thanks to the establishment of the "British International Association of Journalists," with Miss G. B. Stuart as the energetic secretary, and Mr. P. W. Clayden as president, again English journalists have had a voice at this important congress. The meeting at Lisbon promised to be an important and interesting one, and those of us who were in Holland for the Queen's enthrone- ment felt, perhaps, more than others the care of the combined Dutch and Congress committees, for we were pleasantly sent direct, on a well-found Dutch East Indiaman, to Lisbon, where we were received in state by the ex-Minister of Marine of Portugal. In this fascinating capital we met 396 journalists of eighteen nationalities, the French predominating in numbers, and we soon found the local committee had indeed done everything for the "congressites." The blue "Carnet" with the "Ordre du Jour," "Emploi du Temps " we quickly found was a passe-partout in Lisbon. The solemn inauguration on Monday, the 26th Sept., was a short but important ceremony, H.M. the King of Portugal presiding, with the Queen and Dom Alphonso Infanta on either hand, the members of the Corps Diplomatique and the Municipality of Lisbon ranging round their Majesties. The Great Hall of the Geographical Society (the whole building being given over as a club to the congressites) was filled with a brilliant gathering of Portuguese, and when M. Singer, the president of the Congress, rose to give his opening address, the scene was im- pressive. The King replied in a happy impromtu, referring to the fact that he had just presided at a medical congress,a gathering of those who cared for the body, whilst before him were those who cared for and healed the mind. The cheers at the end of the King's speech in every European tongue were very cordial. The English secured seats in the front at the gangway, and near them were the Dutch, Scandi- navian, and Polish contingents; the Germans this year numbered thirty, Professor Koch, of Heidelberg, presiding on the third day. International Telegraphic Tariffs. On Tuesday, at the first session, Mr. P. W. Clayden was elected to the Central Bureau as the English representative, and took his seat on the platform after the reading of the secre- tary's and treasurer's reports. The very im- portant matter of international telegraphic tariffs was brought forward by M. de Beraza, of Spain. ## p. 133 (#145) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i33 For four years the Central Bureau, with M. Beraza, has been working for a reduction iu the tariff for international Press telegrams, and have succeeded so far, that a convention has been signed between France and Spain, and an arrange- ment has been entered into between France and Luxembourg. Other countries have been loth to take the matter up. England was disposed to accept an arrangement, and asked for further information, and later on was inclined to agree to a reduced tax during the night. A brisk discussion arose on this report, the speakers being Dr. Israel and M. Elont, of Holland; M. Constant, of France; and S. Beraza, of Spain; the writer hereof causing some amuse- ment by pointing out that the telegraphic Press rate to England was only 400 reis for 100 words, at the same time urging that the English suggestion of a reduction during the night be accepted as a step in advance. Finally it was agreed that the committee of direction should carry on their negotiations with the various countries. A little diversion was caused during this debate by an English member demanding that, as in all international congresses, the question to be voted upon, and any amendments, or rdsumd of any important speech, should be given in English and German, if spoken in French. The President (M. Singer) added his weight to this suggestion, and it was agreed to, but only in one or two cases acted upon. The subject of an International Bureau for Journalists was then brought forward by M. Torelli-Viollier and M. Janzon. This bureau is already at work, 431 journalists being inscribed upon its roll; so that any editor can know at once whom to apply to all over Europe for news, upon any important event happening where he has no correspondent. . This ended the work of the first session, and in the afternoon the "congressites" betook them- selves by special train to that paradise Southey has rapturously described—Cintra. The Moorish palace of the King on its rocky height, with the vast, glorious views of piled volcanic crag, vintaged plain, and olive and palmed-clothed vales, were long lingered over; but an al fresco lunch in the grounds below, and some of the vintage of the district, transformed sedate profes- sors and aged journalists into jovial schoolboys decorated with palms, and feathers, and flowers, trophies of the feast. In the cool of the evening the wondrously beautiful tropical gardens and park of Monserrat were visited; and the drive back beneath the soft light of the full moon, beneath the arching trees, was a most delightful experience. The Reproduction op Articles. At 9.30 on the next morning, with a full house, the stormy question of the "Right of Reproduc- tion of Political Articles " was introduced by M. Albert Bataille. At Stockholm, in 1897, the copyright of telegrams had been sustained, but, in the interest of a free propaganda of ideas, this question had been reserved for the Lisbon Congress. M. Bataille's report was well worked out, and gave rise to a most animated discussion. Personally, I was much interested in this debate, for on Jan. 15, 1891, at a meeting of the Society of Authors, Sir F. Pollock in the chair, I brought up the question of " Copyright in Lite- rary Style in News Notes "; and in the Law Journal of Jan. 24 Mr. J. M. Lely wrote a leader- ette upon the subject. Here, from the report, the thing I had spoken for seven years ago was within measurable distance of becoming inter- national law. M. Bataille urged that no article should be printed without the consent of the author or the journal, but this was combated strongly by MM. Waalwijk and Elont, of Holland; and a brilliant passage of arms occurred between M. Constant and M. Bataille. I ventured to claim copyright, not only for political and other articles, but also for " notes," as so much journalism now consists of "notes." Finally, after a warm dis- cussion that never descended into chaos, as did the discussion on this knotty question in Bor- deaux, it was unanimously voted: "That, as far as concerns the reproduction of articles, treating of political, religious, economical, and social sub- jects, the right of citation is recognised in the superior interest of free discussion; but, in all cases, the journal reproducing must quote the name of the author and the journal from which the article is taken." Mr. Warden, the secretary to the English section, pointed out that few English articles were signed, but the word "author" was introduced into the motion, as, of course, foreign articles are so usually signed. The whole matter will now be prepared for the Diplomatic Conference at Berlin, in 1901—that is, preparatory to the completion of the Berne Con- vention; and it is hoped that all literary news- paper work, including "notes"—that I was assured by the "rapporteurs" upon this matter should not be overlooked—will become inter- nationally copyright. There is already a clause in Lord Monkswell's Bill partially to effect this in England. This was the most exciting debate of the Congress, and it showed how the members had advanced in self-control since the Bordeaux meeting. Yet, as M. Bataille remarked to me at the banquet in the Opera House, "we must go on improving." A sense of satisfaction was ## p. 134 (#146) ############################################ 134 THE AUTHOR. very widely expressed that an English contin- gent was again present, and hopes uttered that next year our numbers would be greater. At the third session, the subject of profes- sional education for journalists was brought up by M. Bataille. Dr. Koch, of Heidelberg, explained his course of lectures on journalism; and a report was received that a school for journalists was to be opened in the Figaro office. On the question of an international tribunal of arbitration, it was decided the Central Bureau should be this tribunal; and it was also left to the Bureau to take up the matter of cards of identity to act as passports for journalists. Altogether, in spite of a somewhat weak agenda, good work was done, and many an international friendship made that ought to work for good, individually and collectively. A Social Success. Socially the Congress was an immense suc- cess. The King and Queen held a special reception at the Ajuda Palace on their joint birthdays, that fell on Sept. 28, a brilliant function that was succeeded by the birthday levie in the Throne-room, at which I also had the pleasure of being present. The gracious affa- bility of the Queen and her majestic beauty completely won the hearts of all the "con- gressites"; and the Lisbon committee sought every possible means to give pleasure to the journalists. An excursion to the historic Thomar and to Cascaes, with banquets and luncheons and illuminations, and an exceptionally brilliant bull- fight of the Portuguese type, that has none of the brutal cruelty to the horses, gave the members a good insight into Portuguese life. The send- off to Oporto with luncheon en route at Pampil- hosa, was a most hearty and enjoyable ending to the Lisbon festivities, Oporto taking up the warm hospitality in a most cordial and even bewilder- ing fashion. Few who were there will forget the rare charm and beauty of Lisbon, and the rich nature and wild scenery of Portugal. After the President, Councillor A. Ennes, the English were especially indebted to Dr. M. Lima and Sefiors Mendonca de Costa and Tavares, and, as usual, the whole of the " congressites " owe much to the indefatigable and courteous secretary, M. Victor Taunays. The next Congress will be held at Borne in 1899, Paris asserting its claim for 1900. James Baker. NOTES AND NEWS. THE Secretary has been instructed to ask the Committee of the Publishers' Association if they desire to reply to the strictures on their Draft Agreements contained in the July number of The Author. In reply they have- expressed a desire to confer on the Draft Agree- ments. The Committee of the Authors' Society have refused to hold any conference on these documents. The Daily Chronicle (Oct. 18), in an article naturally called for by the De Rougemont expo- sure, spoke strongly of the gradual degenera- tion of periodical literature. "The spread," it said, "of a certain education, the constant cheapening of production, and the rapid expan- sion of the means of distribution to all the world, have substituted for a small and cultured public an immense audience whom no man can number, but who ask only to be amused. . . . With this movement there is combined another to the full as parlous, unless some better influences can overrule it. That is the astounding expansion of advertisements. The moment a cheap sheet of any sort can achieve a circulation counted in five or six figures, advertisers compete for the spare pages and its covers. For the word " sub- stituted " in the above, I would read "added."' The second part of this complaint seems inevit- able. As soon as a sheet arrives at an immense circulation, it naturally attracts advertisers, who- will pay largely for the use of the spare pages. This is an inconvenience that we shall nave to put up with. As regards the first part it is most true and most lamentable that there are millions of people who only read for sensation—to laugh, or to- shudder, or to while away the time. But, again, what does this mean? It means, I believe, a certain stage of intellectual development: all these multi- tudes have arrived at those lower levels of mental activity when the brain likes to be occupied but has not yet arrived at the power of continuous attention. It must be fed with comic scraps, with little bits of useless information, with short stories. It is a stage through which the better sort quickly pass, but it is always receiving new comers. We ought not to deride this condition, of mind any more than we deride children who run about shouting. i3-r, There is, however, one person who is respon- sible for the growing degradation. It is the editor of those sheets which appeal to the popular taste and make no attempt at leading or improv- ing it. The ideal editor is the man who under- stands how to guide and lead while lie. seems to. ## p. 135 (#147) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i35 follow. The mischievous editor is the man who picks out what is worst and lowest in his readers and panders to that taste. There are at this moment half a dozen journals which between them have a circulation of millions. What will the editors do with these papers? Will they endeavour to impart to their readers, little by little, literary taste and literary culture? They can do it: the thing is possible: but the public will not by itself " create," as the Daily Chronicle asks, "an opinion in favour of work that will keep sweet the wells of their delight in the great Art of Letters." , , One more point from this article—it is not often that one finds so much to say on a leader. The writer says," Time was when the magazine was an instalment of current literary work, addressed by writers who were able and entitled to write to a public which was able to criticise." Yes, but that public has not disappeared: it remains as strong and as large as ever. Its old magazines are not swamped by those which circulate by the million: they still flourish and lead and teach. The Nineteenth Century: the Contempo- rary: the Fortnightly: the National: the Quarterly: the Edinburgh: the Athenseum: the Academy: Literature; none of these organs address the uncultivated class: none of these are bought to while away an hour: and they have not, I believe, gone down in circulation while they have kept their old character. The surging millions around us cannot influence these papers nor can they influence their readers. What they have always done, they still continue to do. There is no hope that they will circulate among this multitude of imperfect mental development. In a word, the higher magazine is not sinking down: there is no sign of decay or deterioration in its tone or in its style. It remains to be seen whether the lower kind of magazine is capable of rising. LITEBARY PUPIL required by Editor of well-known London Magazine, resident in fashionable seaside town; young Lady or Gentleman with literary tastes preferred; a year's apprenticeship ; premium 100 guineas; salary jgi a week; good referenoes essential.—Address, in first instance, It is not surprising that one who undertakes to teach the art of writing, which is useful for the production of literature, should express a prefer- ence for a pupil with literary tastes. Is it possible, however, to open the door of the literary life by any teaching? Here, as in other questions of the kind that come before us, we must distin- guish. It is no more possible to turn any casual person into a man or woman of letters than it is to make him understand, against his powers of mind, the Integral Calculus. Given, however, the natural aptitude, then a certain amount of judi- cious instruction might possibly save many disap- pointments, and put a young man in the right way. What is offered in this advertisement is too vague for any practical purpose. The advertiser has certainly not taken lessons in the art of writing advertisements, which is a distinct branch of the literary profession. First, the young person is to pay ,£105 down. That is a serious haul. Next, he is to receive a pound a week. To begin with? To last how long? In return for what duties? Is he to board with the advertiser? If not, is he to reside in the same fashionable sea- side town? What is to be the curriculum of study? What are the advertiser's qualifica- tions for the task? What is his literary baggage? Has he ever had a literary pupil before? If so, does that literary pupil now touch the stars? And, above all, we repeat—what about that pound a week? When does it begin? When will it end? And, lastly, what is it for? In another column is noticed, by Mr. Thring, a letter from the Publisliers' Circular. I have only one thing to add—viz., the animus discovered towards the Authors' Society. It is a body, says the writer, which "lacks any representative character." One would like to know what this ingenuous sniffer means by a "representative " character '( What is it? What constitutes " representative charac- ter "? The Society has between 1400 and 1500 members. Has this publisher seen their names? He certainly has not. How does he know them? But there are the names on the Council: are not these names sufficiently repre- sentative? There are among them leading names of statesmen, historians, poets, artists, lawyers, scientific men, musicians, educational men, novelists, dramatists, journalists, antiquaries, essayists, and travellers. What more is wanted to make it a representative body? As for the ques- tion asked, Mr. Thring has sufficiently answered it in his paper. The publisher quoted actually disputes the right of any person, in any quarrel, to refer the subject to any other person he chooses, with all the documents connected with it: and especially the right of referring a question, with all the documents connected with it, to a solicitor —to any solicitor he chooses, whether to Mr. Thring, or to the other solicitors to the Society, Messrs. Field, Roscoe, and Emery. Certainly we should be quite prepared to defend any action brought by any publisher, or company of pub- lishers, against ourselves for receiving and ad- vising upon any documents whatever connected with literary property. But the letter-looks as if the publisher had just seen an unfortunate author, and heard from him (or her) that he (or ## p. 136 (#148) ############################################ i.36 THE AUTHOR. she) was going to take all the documents to the Society. And although, which is quite true, the Seen tary points out that both the Committee and himself are bound to secresy, the Committee may, if they please, and if the author allows, publish the whole case. It would then be open to the poor ill-used publisher to take any action he chose. . In another column will be found an extract from the Library World, the organ of libraries. The writer complains of the cramped condition of English free libraries owing to the limitation clause as to the rate. I confess that I have small sympathy with the complaint, for these reasons. First, I do not think that a free library ought to be expected to furnish all the new books, or even all the best new books to its readers. Even at the London Library, for which the members pay three pounds a year subscription, we frequently wait some months for certain new books greatly in demand. But if the library goes on adding every year only a hundred pounds' worth of books, many of them cheap and second hand, it will before long have alibrary equal to any demands likely to be made upon it. As regards the limitation clause, one or two London districts have endeavoured to get it raised. The action terrifies the ratepayer, to whom an extra penny in the pound means an additional burden. People in easy circumstances do not understand what the extra penny may mean to a struggling shop- keeper who must consider every sixpence. I am persuaded that it is the fear of this increase which has hitherto defeated all attempts made to get a free library in Islington and Marylebone. Let us do all we can with the penny rate and get as many libraries as we can. Could not the librarians, where the library is cramped, make a list of books wanted and send it round among the more wealthy classes? Mr. Andrew Lang has been complaining that "the world is fundamentally hostile to litera- ture ": that it hates to spend money on books. And then he has a gibe at The Author as follows:— The spirit of these remarks I find rebuked whenever I torn from literature to authorship and study The Author. In that great commercial organ, among the most eloquent remarks on discount, I seem to find traces of optimism, traces of belief in a great literary public. I do not believe in any such thing, even if some novels, at 6s., find a market for 100,000 copies. Even that (considering how bad most of these books are, how ignorant, coarse, emphatic, and illiterate) is relatively a very small demand. Think of the millions of England, and think of how many of them buy a book, say, of an author who is a man of genius, and "popular," Mr. Kipling or Mr. Stevenson. What a beggarly account! As for those who read Marlowe, or Montaigne, they are the tiniest of remnants. It is pleasing to find that he does read The Author. It is the business of the paper to dis- course upon discounts and everything else which may concern the management of Literary Pro- perty. Those who are not interested in the sub- ject are not expected to read the paper at all. Ab regards the " optimism," my own opinion of the subject is utterly different from that of Mr. Lang. It is based upon a study of the actual facts, which are, briefly, these :— (1) The question of money: The vast mass of the people simply have no money to buy books at the price at which they are issued, say from 2*. 6d. upwards. How can a working man on 30*. a week spend 10s. in buying a book? How many books of 4*. 6d. can he buy in a year? In fact, he never buys a book at all. To get at the class of book-buyers eliminate a vast majority of the people. What about the remainder, which means about two and a half millions, or 400,000 families? It is for these 400,000 that all our books are published. And I do think that if a book is bought by a quarter of these families, and borrowed by the other three-quarters, it is as much as any one can expect. 2. The use of the free libraries: The working man reads books, though he does not buy them. He goes in multitudes to the free libraries, where the librarians' lists show that he makes a very good choice of books. 3. The wide purchase of cheap books: Whenever a good popular book —" Lorna Doone," for instance—is issued at sixpence it is bought by the hundred thousand. There is a so-called "library," containing many excellent books, which is printed on vile paper and sold at less than sixpence. This "library " has sold by millions. For these reasons I say that the people do read books: that they do buy them when they can afford it: and that their choice in the free libraries is on the whole sound. Of course it would be easy to pick out certain books and hold them up to derision as popular favourites. They may be favourites for a season: but they quickly die and are forgotten. Walter Besant. THE LIBRAEY AND THE LIMITATION CLAUSE. IT is perfectly certain that the cramped and poverty-stricken condition of English libraries, brought about by a grudging Parliamentary limitation, has prevented, or at ## p. 137 (#149) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i37 least postponed, the progress and development of these institutions to a great extent. When we contemplate what has been accomplished on the meagre income doled out to libraries, we marvel at the high measure of efficiency and degree of success attained. But when we look a little closer and consider what could be done with sufficient means, and what ought to be done to give public libraries their maximum value, it is soon borne in upon us that the most popular library in the country does little more than just touch the fringe of its area of work and useful- ness. According to the statistics carefully col- lected by the Government of the country, about 60 per cent. of the inhabitants of any town are possible users of public libraries. That is to say, 60 in every 100 of population are between the ages of ten and sixty, with a fair allowance for illiterates. But suppose we knock off other 10 per cent. as a further allowance on account of children under twelve and illiterates or weaklings of all ages, we still get 50 per cent. of readers who are capable of using a library. How, then, does it happen that not a single town in the country has even 25 per cent. of its population enrolled as borrowers, while a majority of places can only boast of from 5 to 10 per cent.? The reason is not far to seek. Owing to the starvling income aforesaid, few libraries can afford to buy more than one copy of a popular newspaper or maga- zine, or one or two copies of a popular book at a time. And what is the use of a single copy of a popular book among 10,000 possible borrowers, or of one solitary copy of a very popular illus- trated journal among 50,000 possible readers? Has anyone ever imagined what would take place in a town of 100,000 inhabitants supposing every possible reader availed himself of his right to use the library? According to our computation there would be 50,000 persons anxious to be served with the latest books and journals on topics of the day, and to do this effectually would Tequire not one, but five large libraries with huge news rooms attached and stocks of not less than 20,000 volumes each. Instead of this, all that a town of this size can generally do for itself is to provide 20,000 or 30,000 volumes, 300 journals and magazines, and seats for 200 or 250 readers! For every reader or borrower who uses a public library, at least two others decline to come because they cannot obtain what they want and will not trouble to wait. Again, no public library can reach the poorer classes because it will not, and cannot afford to, seek them out and bring literature to their very doors. We have thrown out these thoughts in the hope that they may suggest to librariaus the connection between extension of work and increase of income, and the necessity which exists for agitation, in order to receive such a recognition as will make it possible for libraries to double, if not quadruple, their present volume of work and usefulness.—From the Library World. REEVE, OF THE "EDINBURGH." * TO have edited the Edinburgh Review for forty years is an experience which could not fail to be guarantee of an interesting history, and the Memoirs of Henry Reeve, which have just been published by Professor Laughton, possess, doubtless, considerable value for the literary aud the political observers of the period. Political, for Henry Reeve at the age of twenty- five was introduced to official life by being appointed, through the influence of Lord Lans- downe, to the Clerkship of Appeals; he became a great political journalist, on terms of inti- macy with Cabinet Ministers and Princes, abroad as well as at home, and receiving those confidences which exalted personages impart only to such as do not fail to command an excellent discretion. After a long connection with the Times, Eeeve in 1855 succeeded Sir George Cornewall Lewis in the editorship of the Edinburgh Review, and served it, as we have said, for forty years. The Author is not a review; and we do not attempt to review these volumes, but merely to record, as far as our space will afford, a few of the literary incidents contained in them. Born at Norwich in 1813, Reeve as a mere lad enjoyed the society of great men. "It often occurred even to himself," we are told, " that there was something unusual and extraordinary in a lad of eighteen or twenty, or even of twenty- four, with no particular advantage of birth, associating familiarly with men of European reputation, Ambassadors, Ministers of State, poets, painters, or musicians." In his twenty- second year he was in Paris, and frequently met Thackeray there. Writing from Paris in January, 1835, Reeve says:—"Thackeray is flourishing, and after the opera we took tea, and had a long talk of the doings of French artists. He com- plains of the impurity of their ideas, and of the jargon of a corrupt life, which they so unwisely admit into their painting rooms." Again in 1836 Reeve writes from Paris to his mother:— I continue to see the Macaulays a good deal. The girls are dreadfully like Tom Babington, and very amusing from * " Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Eeeve, C.B., D.C.L." By John Knox Laughton, ALA Two voIb. Longmans, Green, and Co. 28*. ## p. 138 (#150) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. a mixture of saintship and politios, ignorance of the world, and knowledge of Parliament. ... I have seen a good deal of Thaokeray this last week. That excellent and faoetious being is at the present moment editing an English paper here, in opposition to Galignani's. Bat, what is more ominous, he has fallen in love, and talks of being married in less than twenty years. What is there so affecting as matrimony? I dined yesterday with his objeot, who is a nice, simple, girlish girl—a niece of that old Colonel Shawe whom one always meets at the Sterlings'. Professor Laughton says that the statement about Thackeray editing an English paper" seems to be a mistake." Reeve visited Balzac, too, in those days—January, 1835—and was extraordi- narily impressed:— Such a singular contrast of profound philosophy—more of intuition than of analysis—combined with the variety and prodigality of an Eastern story-teller, expressed in a oopious and brilliant language, frequently degenerating into the violence or rising into the ostentation of positive insanity, I have never met with. Balzac was seated in an elegant apartment, situated at the very extremity of this side of Paris, which he took because from some whim or strange reason the house is called " La Fabrique de l'Absolu." To this Fabrique we found our way, and, at the end of a long, low room, as it were, between a study and a boudoir, we found the Magician himself, ■urrounded by proofs and manuscripts, which he was correcting and composing with a rapidity that sets all the printers of Paris at naught. He talked chiefly of himself, with the most boisterous and fantastical self-acclamation, for it was more than approba- tion. . . . There are many glimpses of famous people up and down these volumes. Of Sydney Smith, for instance, we have the following anecdote:— We got Sydney on the overpowering topio of Macaulay. Macaulay is laying waste society with his waterspout of talk; people in his company burst for want of an oppor- tunity of dropping in a word; he confounds soliloquy and colloquy. Nothing oould equal my diversion at seeing T. B. M. go to the Counoil tie other day in a fine laced coat, neat green bodied glass chariot, and a feather in his hat. Sydney S. had said to Lord Melbourne that Macaulay was a book in breeches. Lord M. told the Queen; bo when- ever she sees her new Secretary of Wax, she goes into fits of laughter. I said that the worst feature in Maoaulay's character was his appalling memory; he haa a weapon more than anyone else in the world's tournament. "Aye, indeed," s&id S. S.," why, he could repeat the whole History of the Virtuous Blue Coat Boy, in three vols., post 8vo, without a slip. He should take two tablespoonfuls of the waters of Lethe every morning to oorreot his retentive powers." Bulwer Lytton, Landor, Macaulay, and Sheridan Knowles are names that occur fre- quently in the memoirs. "Dinner at Proctor's with Harriet Martineau, Carlyle and his wife, Thackeray, and Kinglake "—is one of the entries in Reeve's diary. "Carlyle was so offensive I never made it up with him." The circumstances of the breach with Carlyle are not related, but it is known to have occurred through Carlyle remark- ing softly, when Reeve had the temerity to differ with him in discussion, "You're a puir creature, you're a puir creature." Of Landor this 1 related:— Landor, you know, is quite as vain of not being read as Bulwer is of being the most popular writer of the day. Nothing can equal the contempt with which he treats any- body who has more than six readers and three admirers, unless it be that saying of Hegel's, when he declared that nobody understood his writings but himself, and that not always. Reeve was perfectly sensible of his own value. In his fifteen years' connection with the Timet (1840-1855), he tells us, he wrote about 2482 full-paid articles, and received upwards of £13,000 for them. "Its circulation rose in fifteen years, from about 13,000 when I joined it to 62,000 when I left it, and although I do not take to myself any peculiar share in this result, for many other contributors wrote as well as I did, and the editor was usually judicious and always active, yet I doubt whether any other writer had occasion to do as much." And on a subsequent occasion he wrote: "The Review suffers when I am too busy to write in it." There is much of interest in these volumes regarding the publication of the memoirs of Greville, for whom Reeve was, of course, literary trustee. Journal- ist of the old school, and holding in high regard the moral responsibility of the journalist, Reeve was opposed to anything in the nature of "log- rolling," and on that ground was a firm believer in anonymity. Writing to Mr. T. N. Longman on Dec. 26, 1891, he says:— I thought it best to tell Froude frankly that the review of his book (" The Divorce of Catharine of Aragon ") in the Edinburgh would be an unfavourable one. At the same time I disclaimed in the strongest language any disposition to make a personal attack on himself. Unfortunately he seems to ascribe adverse criticism of his works to personal animosity, which, in his case, is entirely wanting. It is a painful necessity. Froude and his book are too important to be passed over in silence. But the judicial character and consistency, and I may say honour, of the Review absolutely require that the truth should be told about the book. I should consider it a derogation to my duty to the Review if, from personal motives or affection, I suppressed an adverse criticism of a work which impera- tively demands an answer. ... I have modified as far as possible any expressions which appeared to be of too censorious a character; but it is impossible to avoid condemning a mistaken book because the author is a per- sonal friend. Judex damnatur si nocens absolvitur is our motto. Finally, there is the following interesting reference to Reeve's literary advice to the Messrs. Longman, whose "reader" he was for many years:— Books in French, German, or Italian, offered for trans- lation, MSS. in English offered for publication—whatever there was of grave, serious, or important, as well as a good deal that was not, was sent to him for a first or a revised opinion. And this opinion was given very frankly, and most oommonly in the fewest possible words:—" My advioe ## p. 139 (#151) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. is that you have nothing to do with it " was a not nnfrequent formula. Another, less freqnent, was:—" He—the aspirant to literary fame and emolument—can neither write nor spell English"; "I wish they wouldn't send their trash to me" was an occasional prayer. "Seems to me sheer non- sense"; "What a waste of time and labour!" "It's very provoking that people should attempt to write books who cannot write English," were oooasional reports. Of course many of his judgments were very different: "A work of great interest, which must have a large sale "; "Secure this if you possibly can"; "A most able work, but will scarcely command a remunerative sale." . . . As it was with printed books and larger MSS., eo it was with articles submitted for the Review; but he did not encourage casual contributions, and seldom—perhaps never—accepted any without some previous understanding. The political articles and the reviews of important books were almost invariably written in response to a direct invitation; but whether the articles sent in were invited or offered, he equally reserved the right to express his approval or dis- approval or disagreement, and to insist, if necessary, on the article being remodelled or withdrawn. SOME SOUTHEY LETTERS. AN interesting series of Southey's private letters appeared for the first time in the August number of Blackwood's. They are written to his friend John May, with whom he became acquainted in 1795 at Lisbon, and to whom he dedicated his short and incom- plete autobiography. They are very personal, and give many valuable glimpses of the poet's state of mind. When his little daughter is dying in the autumn of 1803, he writes that "never man enjoyed purer happiness than I for the last twelve months," and "my plans are now all wrecked." After having been at a bull fight, he wrote that "the pain inflicted by the sight was expiation enough for his folly in going at all; and he added, "I cannot under- stand the pleasure excited by a bull fight, and it is honourable to the English character that none of our nation frequent these spectacles." In a letter dated Oct. 29, 1800, he discusses the pro- posal to put his brother Henry in a profession, and remarks that for the first time in his life he has the power, "or at least it seems so," of raising 100 guineas to place him under a provin- cial surgeon for four or five years till he is old enough to practice for himself. He explains the expectation of this money, and indicates the self- sacrifice in his disposal of it, as follows: My metrical romance goes by the King George to market, and I ask this sum as the price of a first edition. I have little doubt of obtaining it. I had designed to furnish a house with this money, and anchor myself, but this is a a more important oall. Southey had been advised at this time to try his fate at the East Indian Bar. He doubted whether the fortune to be gained could pay for the loss of the friends in whose society "so much of my happiness consists. The fate of Camoens stares me in the face, and if I did go, prudence would be the ostensible motive, but the real one would be curiosity. I do long to become acquainted with old Brama, and see the great Indian fig tree; so at the end of twenty years time I should come home with a copper-coloured face, an empty purse, and a portfolio full." He expresses the following amusing philo- sophy also in 1800 :— Yon remember the doggerel that " learning is better than house or land." 'Tis a lying proverb! A good lifehold estate is worth all the fame of the world in perpetuity, and a comfortable honee rather more desirable than a monument in Westminster Abbey. And on his financial position we have the following very interesting light in the autumn of 1816: Herewith I send you a draft upon Longman for .£100, at three dajs' sight. The last twelve months have proved highly advantageous to my monied ooncerns, and for the first time have made the balanoe of his account in my favour. There is good reason for hoping that it will oon- tinne so, and that it will not be long before I shall be able to dear off my debt with you. "Koderick " has produced for me above .£500, by three editions, and the fourth will by this time have paid its expenses. Of the " Pilgrimage" 2000 were printed; they were all sold in the course of two- months, leaving me a profit of £2X5. My account only oomes up to midsummer, and therefore does not inolude the '. Carmen Nuptiale," but of the fate of which I know nothing, nor indeed what number was printed. The prospect before me is very good. The produce of my current publications may be reckoned at .£200 a year certainly, not improbably at twice the sum; and Murray pays me so well for the Quarterly that I hope there will be no occasion to draw much upon the other fund for my household expenses. For some artioles he offers me .£100 per article—such was that upon the Poor in the last number, and one upon Foreign Travellers in England which is designed for this, and which I am busy in completing. The preface to "Mort Arthur," for which I am reading much black letter, at some oost of eyesight and no little expense of time, will give me .£200, and the second volume of " Brazil " about half as much—a preposterous instanoe of the caprice upon which a man of letters depends for his remuneration! Perhaps the average may be fair at last, but it is injurious as well as ridiculous, and I shall derive my main support from what other persons might do as well, and what might never be done at all; while for works of permanent value and great labour, for which peculiar know- ledge, peculiar talents, and peculiar industry are required, the profit I obtain would scarcely exceed, and perhaps not amount to, the expenses of the documents. The letter from which the following is extracted was written by Robert Southey, on April 22, 1834, to the late John A. Heraud, in whose "Memoirs," by his daughter, just published by Mr. George Redway, it appears for the first time, with many other letters from the same poet:— Yon oould not apply to a worse person than myself for counsel as to any dealings with publishers. My general ## p. 140 (#152) ############################################ 140 THE AUTHOR. practice is to let them take the whole risk of the work, and give me half the eventual profits. Tha&is, after the costs -of publication are defrayed, a third of the surplus goes as the allowance of the trade (this need to be Longmans' allow- ance—Murray allowed somewhat more than a third), half of the remainder then oomes to me. The publishers have then the lion's share—but they have the lion's power, and can always help themselves, which an author cannot. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—The Pecuniary Position op Writers. IT is impossible to feel anything but the highest admiration and respect for the altruistic movement to better writers' pecuniary position. But are there not insuper- able difficulties in his way? The point seems to be this: Taking a full average of books published, there is a certain profit. These books are created by writers; they are printed, bound, and put before the public by publishers. It is objected that (on the average) the profits are unfairly divided—the authors get too little, the publishers too much. The question of binders' and printers' profits does not, I think, •come in? The supply of books comes from writers, the .demand for books is from publishers. Surely the relative profits made are subject to the ordinary laws affecting supply and demand? And what have we? A fairly constant periodic demand, and at all times a supply enormously greater than the demand! Necessarily, I submit, publishers can make their own terms. But the matter does not end here. The supply is almost infinitely variable in quality, variable both in artistic merit and—a very different thing—in selling value. Now, the few writers who can supply things of known, acknowledged value can, I believe, always make their own terms with publishers? But the others? No man can assess either the artistic or pecuniary value of his own work. And the publisher? Aided by his reader, he guesses at the value, and on his guess pays. Surely in all these cases the author cannot complain if, with no personal pecuniary risk, he gets the chance he wants of catching the ear of the public. Let the author .once catch that rough, thick-skinned ear and he may hold it for even a lifetime and make his own terms with the publisher for the dullest repeated vibrations he may choose to supply. Again, can you lay down hard-and-fast rules fixing relative profit? The goods suppplied vary from garbage to pearls; the public demand is bizarre. My friend Jones's little romance " Totsey, a Stray," is in its tenth thousand, while my work of genius, "An Investigation into the Psycho- logical Aspects of the Loves of Amelia Chol- mondeley, with Notes on the Connection between the Darwinian Theory and the Evolution of Affection," cannot find a publisher I I have written above from a purely pecuniary point of view. But there is a moral, an artistic view. Dealing with romance, of the many books weekly published it were better for the world if most had never been. There has never, I believe, been a time when England has shown greater general power, even genius, in romance. But achievement? How many men, possibly of genius, have we who have startled us by a first great work of originality and who now repeat themselves with careless, pale imitation? Has art gained from the modern pecuniary success of great writers? Has not the absorption of known men into the inhumanity, the cross-gartered art of London society led to the concealment of the wood of humanity by the veneer of elaborately polished language? Let no man, no woman, take up romance writing as a profession; let only those write who cannot help writing. And then, though many of us must still continue to give the world bad work, the literary man will take that position which is rightly his, and the supply will be reasonably decreased. X. [The answer to the above letter seems to be as follows: (1) The writer's position has been so much improved by the action of the Society, that the difficulties are proved not to be insuperable. (2) The demand for books does not come from pub- lishers, but from the public. The supply of what is wanted is below rather than above the demand. The supply of what is not wanted by the public, but is furnished by the publisher, is certainly in excess. (3) The demand for certain writers is always below the supply. In many branches of science and in general literature the writers whose works are in request by the public ought to be able to make their own terms for the administration of their property. There are certain writers who "X." seems to think are supplying the demand, but if the public does not care for and does not want their work, how can they supply a demand? The artistic side must not be mixed up with the commercial side. We have again and again repeated that the business of the Society is simply the maintenance and defence of literary property. This, we are ready to admit, and have always admitted, may be totally different from literary art. As regards the danger of writing feebly after the production of strong ## p. 141 (#153) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 141 work, there is no doubt that this danger does exist. It would be, however, more to the point if our correspondent would suggest how a novelist or an artist who has once devoted his whole time to the production of the best work possible to him, is to continue to live when he becomes conscious that his work is no longer on the same high level.—W. B.] II.—A Plea, for Cut Edges. Once or twice, recently, protests have appeared against the custom many publishers have of issuing books with uncut edges. Nothing, I venture to say, is more annoying than to purchase a book, to settle oneself for an hour's enjoyment, and then to have the unnecessary and uncom- fortable labour of cutting its edges. If, as is sometimes the case, this occurs in a railway carriage when one is minus a paper knife, the enjoyment of the book is considerably jeopardised. This can be easily obviated by three or four strokes of the printer's guillotine. Moreover, edges so cut are infinitely preferable to the rough state they assume when cut with even the sharpest paper-cutter. Lately several publishers have adopted the method of sending out their books with cut edges. This arrangement is a distinct boon to the reader, and if the practice were made a hard-and-fast rule the innovation would, 1 feel sure, be hailed with unfeigned delight by every book-lover. John C. Shannon. III.—"Exchanges." A few evenings ago, my own favourite journal being sold our, I purchased for id. eleven square feet of paper bearing printing both back and front. Placed one on top of another, the columns of printed matter might rival in height a three-storied dwelling-house, whilst the total length of the lines would extend over a quarter of a mile. You will probably wonder that I should write to complain of so generous a pennyworth, but, after perusing it, I felt that I should not be doing my duty to that large body of your members who can be classified under the heading of "Occasional Contributors," if I failed to draw attention to the growing tendency to fill the pages of a paper with "Exchanges "—though what the proprietors of the journals who kindly lent their contents to fill up this paper got in exchange I am unable to say. In the most prominent part of the paper I found that the New York Herald, per Reuter, contributed the news from Jamaica; the Daily Telegraph (two separate paragraphs), the Egyptian news; the Morning Post, matter apper-1 taimng to Canada. The Dreyfus case was dealt with in a satisfactory manner through the kind- ness of the Figaro, the Journal, the Gaulois, and the Matin, per Reuter, who also supplied the tidings from Denmark. A column and a quarter of CasselPs Magazine must have saved 30s. at least to the proprietor of the paper; whilst the Local Government Board's Report must have been worth 10s. to the same individual who had to thank the special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, the Figaro, the Daily Chronicle, and, of course, Reuter, for "The Fashoda Question." Some iuteresting personal pars were culled from Vanity Fair, the Daily Telegraph—our editor's favourite journal—the Daily Mail, and the Times. A special article on the late Queen of Denmark (cheerfully contri- buted by the English Illustrated Magazine) ran to three-quarters of a column, and the Daily News "exchanged" half a column of "Mount Vesuvius." The City Press lent a small paragraph about a house in six parishes; Reuter and the Daily Telegraph tackled the question of Crete's future, and other interesting paragraphs came from the "Central News" and the "London News Agency. The Chinese crisis was considered so important that only telegrams from the Times and Dalziel could do satisfac- tory justice to the subject, but they did not occupy so much space as the two-thirds of a column from the Daily News on Mr. Watt's latest scheme, even when a par. re " Samory * contributed by the Eclair was thrown in. Two paragraphs based on Daily Telegraph and Times reports completed the editor's " exchanges," and we can imagine that gentleman laying down his weary scissors with a sigh, and saying : " Thank you, my friends, for your kindly hospitality, in exchange for which I offer several pages of adver- tisements, my leading article, a few columns of book reviews, our Money Market columns, and the signed articles that begin with 'Sir,' and are contributed by my 'obedient servants.'" If the example of this particular editor is followed by his brethren, the "Occasional Con- tributor" is doomed; let him take warning, therefore, and ere it be too late invest his savings (if he has any) in a stock of well-tem- pered scissors, for a time will assuredly come when there will be nothing for him to do but start an evening paper on modern lines, unless something can be done in the way of limiting the proportion of an article, paragraph, or tele- gram that can be printed with or without acknowledgment of its original source without payment to the person who wrote it or the firm who paid for it in the first place. An Occasional Victim to Steel and Steal. ## p. 142 (#154) ############################################ 142 THE AUTHOR. IV.—"The Author" and the Publishers. After studying for many months your exposures ,of publishing methods, one conclusion is forced upon me, namely, that if a publisher wishes to swindle, no amount of dexterity on the part of the author can prevent him from doing so. With all the machinery of secret profits at his disposal, with little or no probability of checking the number of copies he professes to have sold, with the advertisement swindle which you have so often explained to us, and all the other dodges, the author is practically at the publisher's mercy. On the other hand, if the publisher is an honest •man, precautions will be unnecessary. An author is too poor and too busy to investigate the rami- fications of a dishonest publisher's business methods. Give him an honest publisher and let him do his work in peace. My suggestion is that the Society should publish for him. By "publish" I do not mean buy his book out- right or "speculate" in any sense of the word, but merely print his book for him, and put it- upon the market at the best market terms, with all the advantages of "wholesale" prices for paper, &c., which the publisher now puts in his pocket. Let the whole business be absolutely "straight" and above board. The author pays for the publication of the book on the advice of the Society that it has a fair chance of success (or against the advice of the Society if he chooses). The Society charges him the actual cost of paper, eomposing, correcting, binding, advertisement, and distribution, such a fixed percentage on the .outlay as experience may show to be necessary to prevent the Society from losing. All profits would then go to the author. It is true the author would have to pay for publication, but in the <ase of the writer of established repute the risk would be non-existent; in the case of the unknown man it would be smaller than it is at present when his book is published on com- mission. The So.ciety could then offer the book- sellers those improved terms which it believes to be their due, thus stimulating the sale of its books. All that is wanted for this scheme is a sound business man, with experience of printing and publishing, at its head. There must be scores of members of the Society whom it would pay better to publish in this way than to take ostensibly a 15 per cent. royalty while paying the publisher unacknowledged profits in the form of discounts and percentages on every item in ms A Member of the Society. [I quite agree with the "Member" as to the only method left possible. The publishers have deliberately announced their intention of laying hands on everything except perhaps a miserable residuum. The only reply is to change the method. I doubt whether the Society would act as the " Member" suggests. It would be, how- ever, quite possible to create a commission pub- Usher—one who would do no other kind of busi- ness. For the moment any other business is taken in hand, the commission work begins to be neglected. This is natural, for if a publisher can make 10 per cent. by commission and anything he pleases by any other way he will prefer that other way.—W. B.] BOOS TALK BY general consent Mr. John Morley had been selected as the probable writer of the accredited Life of Mr. Gladstone, and now the announcement of the fact is formally made. The task is likely to occupy about three years, and already Mr. Morley has dealt with a large part of the correspondence, and has made considerable progress with the chapters relating the history of the Home Rule movement of Mr. Gladstone. During his twenty years' intimate acquaintance with Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Morley received long letters from him on practically every public topic that was engaging his atten- tion. The biography will be published by Messrs. Macmillan. Sir Edward Hamilton, one of Mr. Gladstone's private secretaries, has written a monograph on the late statesman, which will be published by Mr. Murray. Another political biography, which has just been completed, is that of Sir Robert Peel, by Mr. C. S. Parker. This work has been an exceedingly laborious one, from the amount of correspondence that had to be gone through and sifted. Letters to and from the Queen, the Duke of Wellington, Disraeli, and other impor- tant contemporaries will be contained in the work, which Mr. Murray will publish shortly. Mr. Kinloch Cooke's biography of the late Duchess of Teck, from her journals and diaries, will be published probably in the early days of next year. Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, who published two interesting and entertaining volumes of his diary recently, is now adding two others, containing his diary during the period when he was Governor of Madras, and also containing his views on home affairs. Mrs. Alec Tweedie has in the press a life of her father, Dr. Harley, of Harley-street. It will be published by the Scientific Press. ## p. 143 (#155) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 143 Mr. Frederic G. Kitton is preparing a centenary memoir of the late Dr. Zechariah Buck, the organist and choirmaster of Norwich Cathedral. Many of Dr. Buck's pupils, now in distinguished positions in the musical world, contribute remini- scences of him, and the family give their assist- -ance. The work will be issued in a limited edition shortly. A biography of the late Professor Calderwood, who occupied the chair of Moral Philosophy in Edinburgh University for twenty years, is being written by his son and the Rev. D. Woodside of Glasgow. Principal Fairbairn has written a book entitled "" Catholicism—Roman and Anglican," which will be brought out immediately. The Rev. Leighton Pullan is general editor of a new series of Church Text Books which has been projected by Messrs. Rivington. The volumes will be written by Oxford scholars, and are not intended only for scholars, but also for the general readers who are desirous of informa- tion on church history, forms of worship, criti- cism, &c. Robert Browning destroyed all his letters and papers with-the exception of the letters that had passed between Mrs. Browning and himself before their marriage. These letters were care- fully preserved, and while still in vigorous health Mr. Browning said concerning them: "There they are—do with them as you please when I am dead and gone." The Athenaeum makes the interesting announcement that the letters will shortly be published. The Rev. H. C. Beeching is reprinting his "Pages from a Private Diary," papers which for a time were a conspicuous and entertaining feature of Comhill Magazine. The volume will be published soon by Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. Mr. John Halsham is the author of "Idle- hurst: A Journal Kept in the Country," which Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. will publish this autumn. The identity of the Mr. W. H. of Shakespeare's Sonnets having given rise again to some discus- sion, h propos of the article by Mr. Sidney Lee on Thomas Thorpe in the " Dictionary of National Biography," Mr. Lee has now asked the critics of his theory to await, before passing further censure, the appearance of his forthcoming biography of Shakespeare. Mr. Alfred Whitman, of the British Museum, has written a work on "The Masters of Mezzo- tint," which Messrs. Bell will publish, with sixty illustrations. A new novel by Mr. W. C. Scully, author of "Between Sun and Sand," and other tales of the South African desert, is being published by Messrs. Methuen, under the title " A Vendetta of the Desert." Mr. William Westall's new novel, "A Red Bridal," is to be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, who will also issue soon a volume entitled " Slum Silhouettes," by Mr. J. D. Bray- shaw. Mr. F. G. Aflalo is editing a book on the cost of sport, with practical information contributed by a number of the specialists who wrote for the "Encyclopaedia of Sport," of which splendid work Mr. Aflalo was one of the editors. The actual expenditure involved in angling, shooting, hunting, and other sports will be estimated for various incomes, and the scope of the work will be comprehensive. Those rights in Mr. William Watson's works hitherto held by Messrs. Macmillan have been purohased by Mr. John Lane, who is preparing a collected edition of Mr. Watson's poems in a single volume, which will appear this season. Mrs. Pender, an Irish lady, some time ago wrote an Ulster story of the '98 period entitled "The Green Cockade." The book was printed in Ireland, and the other day the London firm, Messrs. Downey, received a consign- ment of 100 copies. Since then, however, a fire at the printers has destroyed not only the other sheets of the book that had been printed, but the type as well. "The Gospel Writ in Steel" is the title of Mr. Arthur Paterson's new novel. It is about the American Civil War, but the interest is romantic rather than historical. Messrs. Innes are the publishers. One of the chapters of Mr. Justin McCarthy's reminiscences, to be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, is entitled " The Princes of Literature," and contains Mr. McCarthy's recol- lections of Dickens and Thackeray, Carlyle, Tennyson, Browning. Another chapter deals with his acquaintanceship with John Stuart Mill. This week the third volume of the Blackwood Annals will appear. Mrs. Oliphant, of course, edited the two already published, and this one, which brings the story of the publishing house down to John Blackwood's death in 1879, has been compiled by Mrs. Gerald Porter. Mr. Bennet Burleigh, the war correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, who has distinguished himself so greatly in the Soudan, is writing an account of the campaign down to its close at Omdurman. ## p. 144 (#156) ############################################ i44 THE AUTHOR. "Book Auctions of the Seventeenth Century" is the next volume in the Book-Lovers' Library, published by Mr. Stock. The author is Mr. John Lawler. The Christmas issue of the Portfolio will be a monograph on " George Morland and the Evolu- tion from him of some later Painters," by Mr. J. T. Nettleship. The latest of new magazines is a penny one, that aims at being fully equal to the sixpenny monthlies. It is published by Messrs. Cassell, and its title, the New Penny Magazine is after the periodical "originated by Charles Knight, and dear to the reading public in the days of our fathers." There are sixty pages, with numerous illustrations, and the character of the contents is the same as that of the popular magazines of to-day. "The Lays of the Knights," a book of poems by the Rev. C. W. Barraud, will be published by Messrs. Longman. Mr. J. H. Adeane has edited a work entitled "The Early Married Life of Maria Josepha, Lady Stanley, from 1796," which Messrs. Long- man will publish shortly. The letters given in Mrs. Richmond Ritchie's introduction to the seventh volume in the valu- able Biographical Edition of Thackeray's Works which she is editing, deal chiefly with the novelist's experiences as a lecturer. At a time when all the relations of the home country with America are so much discussed, an extract from one of the letters from Thackeray during a tour in the States may be found interesting. He is writing from Boston on Dec. 22, 1852, to Mrs. Proctor:— Ab for writing abont this country—about Goshen, about Canada, flowing with milk and honey, about the friends I have found here, and who are helping me to procure inde- pendence for my children, if I cut jokes against them may I choke on the instant. If I can say anything to show that my name is really Makepeace, and to increase the source of love between the two countries, then, please God, I will. The laugh dies out as we get old, you see, but the love and the truth don't, praised be God! And I begin to think of the responsibilities of this here pen now writing to yon with a feeling of no small awe. Mr. Wheatley's edition of Pepys will be com- pleted by the issue of the ninth and tenth volumes in January. The former will contain an exhaustive index; the latter, a supplementary volume, will contain appendices and Pepysian miscellanea. Bismarck's memoirs will be published in English this month by Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. in this country and Messrs. Harper and Brothers in the United States. A small album presented by Tennyson to a fellow-undergraduate when at Cambridge has just been sold at Messrs. Hodgson and Co.'s sale-room in Chancery-lane. It contained the original MS. of St. Agnes' Eve and two other poems, in the poet's own handwriting. The little volume realised the high price of .£32. "The History of a Man," by the Man, will be published shortly by Mr. Burleigh. It deals with that aspect of human nature which Mr. Balfour declared the most interesting — the development of character. A hitherto unpublished series of historical studies of the Stuart period by Thomas Carlyle is being brought out by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. These were for a projected history of the first two Stuart Kings of England, and they are printed from a MS. left under the author's will to his niece, and edited by her husband, Mr. Alexander Carlyle. The volume will be pub- lished under the title "Historical Sketches of Noted Persons and Events in the Reigns of James I. and Charles I." The portion devoted to James I. contains chapters on Elizabeth's Funeral, Shakespeare, the Gunpowder Plot, the Hampton Court Conference, &c. A new Irish story by "Rita" will be published shortly by Messrs. Hutchinson. Miss L. S. Tiddeman has just brought out two- new stories. The first, called " Reine's Kingdom," is published at the National Society's Depository. The second, "Rosa's Repentance," by Messrs. Blackie. A new work by Mr. Fred Reynolds, author of "A Tangled Garden," will be published at once by James Bowden, under the title of "An Idyll of the Dawn." Mrs. Aylmer Gowing's new book, entitled " A Touch of the Sun," will be published early in this month by Mr. Burleigh. "The Genius" (6d.), by Lessey Beard, will be published on the 5th Nov. Another book by the same author, comprising a collection of short stories, sketches, &c., will also be ready in November. Mrs. Edith E. Cuthell's new children's book is just published by the S.P.C.K., under the title of "A Bad Little Girl and her Good Little Brother," illustrated by Mrs. Farmiloe. A new novel, entitled "Uncle Jack from America," by Edith C. Kenyon and R. G. Soans, is being published by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. The story has been very successful as a serial in England and America. ## p. 145 (#157) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. »45 OBITUARY. THE BOOZS OF THE MONTH. MR. HA.ROLD FREDERIC died at his residence at Kenley, Surrey, from syncope, on Oct. 19. He was in his forty-third year, and had been prostrated since Aug. 12, on which day he had a stroke of paralysis. Journalist and author, he was a native of Utica, and, before becoming a member of the staff of the New York Times, he edited for brief periods—first, the Utica Observer, and afterwards the Albany Evening Journal. In 1884 he came to England as the special corre- spondent of the New York Times, for which he did much brilliant work, and travelled over Europe. His first novel to appear was " Seth's Brother's Wife" (1887), a study of American rural life. "In the Valley" and several others followed, but Mr. Frederic's most striking success was achieved with " Illumination," published in the spring of 1896—a novel which, by the way, had the somewhat exceptional distinction of being published under another title in America, namely, "The Damnation of Theron Ware." "March Hares," which followed, appeared under a nom, de guerre, and was a slighter work on London life; and the one which will be compared with "Illumination" is his "Gloria Mundi," a romance of English social life, which will be pub- lished to-day. Just before his death he had revised his last work of fiction, which is called "The Market Place." The late Mr. Gleeson White, the editor of the Studio, was one of the best-known writers on art subjects in the metropolis, and connoisseur of woodcuts and rare prints. His works include "English Illustration in the Sixties," " Practical Designing," "Salisbury Cathedral," "Master Painters of Great Britain." He published anony- mously a series of rather notable prose parodies of well-known authors, under the title " Letters to Eminent Hands," and another series, " Letters to Living Artists." The ex-Libris series of books was edited by Mr. Gleeson White, who also compiled a charming collection of " Ballads and Rondeaux" for the Canterbury Poets series. He died suddenly on Oct. 19, at the age of forty- seven, from typhoid fever contracted during a recent visit to Italy. From Ottawa the death is announced of Mr. William Kingsford, the distinguished Canadian historian. Mr. Kingsford was born in London in 1819. [Sept. 24 to Oct. 22—502 Books.] Abbott, E. A. St Thomas of Canterbury. 24/- Black. Adams, E. D. A Girl of To-Day. 3/6. Blackie. Addison, Kate. Economical Cookery. 1/6. Hodder. Alexander, W. Primary Convictions. 3/6. Harper. Alexander, Mrs. The Cost of Her Pride. 6/- White. Allen, Grant. Venice. Historical Guide. 3/6 net. Richards. Allen, Phcebe. May-Duke Blossoms. -i,- S.P.O.K. Ambrose, W., and Ferguson, W. B. band Transfer Acts 1875 and 1897, and mnd Transfer Rules and Forms 1898, with Notes. 10/- Butterworth. Andrews, 0. M. Historical Development of Modern Europe. Vol. 2. 1850-97. 12/6. Putnam. Andrews, M. The Child of the Lighthouse. 1/6. W.Gardner. Anonymous (A Literary Club). Various Quills. 5/- Arnold. Anonymous (J. A.). The Coming of Spring. 1/- net. Blackwell. Anonymous (iff. A. B.). Man-Stories of a Black Snake 6/- Whlttaker. Anonymous (A. M. F.). Foreign Courts and Foreign Homes. 6/- Longman. Anonymous. 11 Alfred the Great," <fcc., on the Egyptian Campaign. 6d. Arrowsmitn. Anonymous (author of " Not a Saint";. Bitter Penitence. 1/6. Stevens. Anonymous (A. E. D.). Helen's Probation. 1/6. S P.O.K. Anonymous (S. L. H. G.). In His Service. Story. 2/- S P.C.K. Anonymous (Three Old Boys). KiDgswood School: Its History. 8/- net. Kelly. Anson, Sir W. (ed.). Autoblography, Ac., of the Third Duke of Grafion. 18/- Murray. Anstey, F. Paleface and Bedskln. 6/- Richards. Armstrong, Annie. My Ladies Three. 3/6. Warne. Ashby, H. Health in the Nursery. 3/6. Longman. Atchison, O. C. Sprightly Fancies, Ac. 1/- Simpkin. Atberton, Gertrude. The Californians. 6/- Lane. Atkinson, 0. C. Evolution of Revelation of God. 1/- net. Manchester: Sherratt and Hughes. Austin, Alfred. Lamia's Winter Quarters. 9/- Macmillan. Austin, Stella. Our Next-Door Neighbour. 2/6. W.Gardner. Badrick, F. G. The Stone Door. 2/6. National Soc. Balfour, G. Educational Systems ol Great Britain and Ireland. 7/6. Frowde. Ballingall, J. A Prince of Edom. 2/6. A. Gardner. Balmforth, R. The Evolution of Christianity. 2/6. Sonnenschein. Bamford, A. J. Things that are Made. 2/6. Alexander. Bankes, R. A Story Book for Lesson Time. 1/- Constable. Barber, W. T. A. David Hill, Missionary and Saint. 3/6. Kelly. Baring-Gould, S. An Old English Home and its Dependencies. 6/- Methuen. Baring-Gould, S. Domitla. A Story of Ancient Rome. 6/- Methuen. Barron, Elwyn. Menders. 6/- Macqueen. Barry, J. A. The Luck of the Native Born. Macqueen. Baratow, 0. H. Through Deep Waters. 1/6. Warne. Beamea, Mrs. F. A Forgotten Christmas, Ac. 1/- Blackie. Becke, L. 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Front Page Other Pages Half of a Page Quarter of a Page Eighth of a Page Single Column Advertisements Bills for Insertion per inch per 2000 ..£4 0 ..3 0 .. 1 10 .. 0 15 ..0 7 0 6 3 0 Reduction! made for a Series of Six or Twelve Iruertiow. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the Advertibkiient Mahaskb, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, London. W.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. 09 Issue 06 (November 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 06 (November 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-11-01-The-Author-9-6 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/321/1898-10-01-The-Author-9-5.pdf c7516e1e8a0dd73671dabe66be68edbb 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) 1898-10-01 Volume 9 Issue 5 Pages Page range in volume 101–124 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18981001 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin tTbe Hutbor, {The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 5.] OCTOBER i, 1898. [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 poet, 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. FOB sorne years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain "General Con- eiderations," Warnings, Notdoes,&c., 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 his 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. IX. 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. III. The royalty system. In this system, which has opened the door to a most amazing amonnt 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 is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures oonnected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers oan 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 bo their maximum. Therefore every author, for every book, should arrange on the chanoe of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 oommon law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements, and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author mar 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. L 2 ## p. 102 (#114) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. i. "JT^VEBY member has a right to ask for and to receive I'J advice upon his agreements, his choioe of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions conneoted with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Sooiety first—our solicitors are oontinually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing important to literature that yon may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Sooiety 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. 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 Sooiety 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 does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Seoretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of oourse they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly oorrect: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practiwe this method of swelling their own profits call it- NOTICES. THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write t LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—Personal Experiences. 1. IT occurs to me that some of your readers may be interested in a true story of publication within my own experience. About a quarter of a century ago I entered into an agreement with a well-known London publisher, who undertook to bear the expenses of a small book, and to pay me half the profits. It was a very unpretending book, but there was ## p. 103 (#115) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. supposed to be a reasonable prospect of selling it. At the end of the year in which it was pub- lished I duly received an account of it, by which it appeared that the number of copies sold was insufficient to produce a profit. Each succeeding year a similar account came in, and each time the debt against the book grew somewhat smaller. A fair number of copies were sold, but the charges for binding and advertisements invariably went near to neutralising the profits made by sales. At last, after about thirteen years, the scale was just turned. All the copies were sold out, and the profits were equally divided. My share .came to about a guinea; and of course the pub- lisher's share came to the same amount. With this result I was prepared to rest satisfied. No harm had come of the experiment; and though the profits, amounting to about is. Sd. a year, were not magnificent, still it was all so much to the good. Much to my astonishment, the publisher took a, very different view. He was quite anxious for a second edition, and represented that the cost of reprinting would be less, and the sale would probably improve. It seemed to me not worth the while, and I gave it as my decided opinion that the result would be much the same as before. However, I was overruled, and consented to repeat the «xperiment. The result showed that I was quite right. The Accounts have come in yearly in the old style, though the expenses, instead of being less, were somewhat greater. At present the book has only been on sale for eleven years, so that some years must still elapse before we can expect to have anything to divide. And, as far as I can calcu- late from the latest accounts, I think that, when the edition comes to an end, we stand to lose the guinea which the first edition so successfully achieved. The conclusion which I feel compelled to draw is this, viz., that some of our publishers really know very little about business. I cannot but think that, in this case, I could have done quite as well myself. To sell two editions of a book in more than a quarter of a century, and to make nothing by it after all, seems a very poor performance. Walter W. Sxeat. ii. Since you have done me the honour of thinking that my experiences with publishers would be of interest and profit to our brothers and sisters " in arms," I shall briefly relate them. First of all let me echo the first half of the letter of the New York paper quoted in the September issue of The Author (p 86, col. 2), and sincerely repeat my own thanks to the founder of the Society and Editor of The Author, as well as to the Secretary, whose kind and prompt assistance have for the last four or five years been a constant guide to me, and whose suggestions I have always endeavoured to realise, though, I must admit, only with partial success. This restriction is necessary, for one of our tenets (with the royalty system) is an examina- tion of accounts by an authorised lawyer; to this condition neither I nor any author-friend of mine have ever found a publisher to consent.* The reasons given are always the same: "Self- respect," "pride," "never done," "suspicion of dishonesty," "no one likes his accounts to be pried into by a lawyer," <fcc. These objections, I need hardly say, are valueless. Has one ever heard of a concern in which one partner has no right to have an audit of the accounts of the joint business? Some publishers make a show of conceding the letter of our demand for an "examination of accounts "; they say that they have no objection to an author seeing their books, that these books are always at his disposal. Of course. Of what use is it to show accounts to a man to whom a simple sum is pain, and whose total yearly arithmetical practice probably con- sists in the addition of marks at the end of each term—when he does not get one of his boys to do it! I know that all authors are not so dull; but even if an author is shown the book concerning his works, of what use is that ?—it is the books concerning the printer of these works, those that will show whether the number of copies printed tallies with that accounted for in the royalty. In fact, I would go further, and say, with due deference to our Secretary, that the whole system of examination of accounts as at present suggested, is nugatory. Why should not a publisher have a livre d serrure, not for secret lost words, but for another pichi mignon? What can prevent his having a book for extra copies or extra editions? Of course, this would be dishonest; but an old, large, and respected firm has been found out paying royalty on zod. instead of 11rf! When an old, large, and respectable firm stoops to this infinitesimal swindling, I think authors may well feel suspicious. Again, an old friend who has had a life-long experience of authorship, a man whose name is well known to all who have been to school, who is an old man, and ought to be rich * I am speaking of the publication of school-books only, which alone haa oome under my observation. ## p. 104 (#116) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. (but is not), when asked as to the best mode of publishing said to me sadly: "My dear friend, whichever way you publish you will be swindled. It is a remarkable fact, but a fact, that books published on the 'lump sum down ' system run through a large number of editions, whereas those on the royalty system always run very slowly." The conclusion he left to me. To take the case theoretically, is it, humanly speakiDg, likely or even possible that a man who is irresponsible, and absolutely safe against detection, should give over to another a large sum due to him, when, first, he knows the latter to be totally ignorant of the amount, and to be in the impossibility of finding out; when, secondly, a small one does just as well; and when, thirdly, there are sundry excuses such as "office expenses," "advertising," &c., to salve our qualms of conscience? After all, does not a publisher want the money more f He has his wife's carriage to keep up, his retinue of servants, his sons at Eton and Harrow, his yacht; and all these expenses are very heavy. As to the poor author, what does he want the money for? He has no wants; if he is cold, he can wrap his rug round his legs! Seriously speaking, there are in the royalty system only two safeguards possible, to my mind. One is old; it was mentioned as possible last year in The Author. It consists in exacting that every authentic copy bear the signature of both author and publisher. This was actually carried out by my father from 1850 to 1870 for his dictionary, and I can remember piles and piles of books arriving to be stamped by him and his secretary. This labour many authors would now shrink from, but there seems to me to be an alternative. It would consist simply in this, that, in the agree- ment, a clause be added to the effect that the printer should be instructed to print not a single copy without the joint signature of author and publisher. As it is, the printer receives orders from the publisher only; he cannot go behind and inquire whether this order is put down in the publisher's accounts to the author. With this clause he could not print extra editions without breaking the law, and most publishers would not even be tempted to give extra orders; for many a man will sin if sure not to be found out, who will shrink before the remotest chance of detection or of appearing dishonest in the eyes of any one person beside himself. I must now humbly, and—I may add—despon- dently, confess a failure on this point. I was recently speaking to a junior member of a good firm. He was praising the absolute straightfor- wardness of his house, saying that he had been through the drudgery and routine, and knew all the wheels and cog-wheels of the huge machinery, concluding that with his own eyes he had seen the perfect honesty of the firm. 1 now asked how, theoretically speaking, his firm would consider the addition of this clause into their agreement. His answer was, I regret to say, that such a thing would be a " slur," Ac.—in fact, the old story. However, either of these clauses would be suffi- cient to relieve the present unpleasant strain in the relations between author and publisher. The ideal would be a complete audit of printer's and publisher's accounts; if this be conceded, there is no reason for the partners in literary property ever to quarrel and tight. An author would feel in his publisher the same confidence as in his. banker. It is therefore seen that within my experience no publisher consents in his agreements to a legal examination of accounts—nay, more, to any check upou possible dishonesty. In this suspicion of possible dishonesty lies all the unpleasantness of the relations between author and publisher, and until it is removed, this unpleasantness expressed or understood will subsist. If you are honest, show it. An honest man is glad to do so; in fact, he is grateful that suspicion of his honesty be made impossible. Honesty never shuns the light. How do you expect to be trusted (as you should be) if you purposely and deliberately take the attitude best calculated to rouse suspicion? In these remarks I have only considered the royalty system, because it is undoubtedly the most important; for it is the fairest to both, parties. With a sum down either publisher or author (theoretically, at any rate) loses a legiti- mate part of his profits. In the royalty system the publisher qua capitalist reaps a high profit for his investment and "risk." This is right; but this should be all, and no possible doubt should be left to lurk in the author's mind. Sooner or later, the system of honest royalty will prevail; if the large, old, and respected firms adhere to their high and mighty ways, they will be replaced by new firms whose dealings are above board, and therefore completely satisfactory to the author. But the sooner the older firms alter their ways the better, or they will only be supported by young and untried authors, and left by those who are sure of a certain amount of sale. I now come to the practical conclusion of my tdtonnements. Eighteen months ago I tried to* get a well-known firm to publish a book of mine "on commission." I went; I offered to take all "risks," and, whereas they give a 10 per cent, royalty, / offered them a 15 per cent. royalty on. ## p. 105 (#117) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. the sales. This proved too much. "What!" exclaimed the head, " / become author aud you publisher! No thank you!" The cat was out of the bag: huge profits or no deal. At last, after much seeking, I heard of a large firm of "distributors" who also take up pub- lishing, and came to the most satisfactory arrange- ment, which, I see in The Author (August, p. 59, col. 2) has been also adopted by Miss Braddon. I send my MS. to the printer and the books to the agent who distributes them to the booksellers, and asks me for supplies. All is here above board; and hitherto I have had nothing but satisfaction. There are three points I would finally men- tion: 1. Choose your publisher or agent in or near Paternoster-row—it will avoid disappoint- ment. Booksellers send there every day, and their profits are so low that they can barely be expected to pay extra fares for their col- lectors to go further away, hence the excuses "out of print" or "binding" that are given to inquirers. 2. The two other points are Nos. 3 and 4 in the scheme agreed upon by the Booksellers' Associa- tion and our Society and named in The Author (Aug. 1898, p. 63, coi. 1, fin.). "Books are to be sent on sale or return." Undoubtedly the plan offers many advantages. Unfortunately, on the one hand, I am told by a large firm of publishers that, after very many years' experience, they find that the system is not to be recommended; they say that many book- sellers strongly object to it, on the ground that books get mislaid in their stock and that they have to pay for goods they did not order and did not want; besides, that too many of the books are returned more or less damaged and require fresh binding. On the other hand, I must confess that book- sellers, for whom I feel the sincerest sympathy, are very remiss. A draper, a hair-dresser, or any other retail house will hardly allow you to leave the shop without making some purchase, however useless to yourself. On the contrary, I have hardly ever in England, save in Oxford, been shown a book that might be useful or agreeable, or urged to buy one;. and I suppose the experience of others coincides with mine. To this supine- ness might be attributed the regrettable depres- sion in the bookselling trade as well as to the cut-throat competition that booksellers have prac- tised against one another. If a member of the Society knew of an issue to this impasse I am sure he would be doing yeoman service to the Society by a communication. 3. My third remark refers to No. 4 of the scheme mentioned above: "the odd copy is to be abolished." As the odd copy is generally given to the bookseller on a whole order, even if it consists of different books, and as the profits of the bookseller are generally so small, it seems that the odd copy is an advantage that should hardly be denied to him. It is an encouragement for him to buy and therefore to place books before the public. I cannot conclude without anticipating a certain amount of misrepresentation to which my condemnatory remarks against some pub- lishers might give rise. I am fully alive to the valuable help given to authors by good publishers, and gladly acknow- ledge the same with a personal feeling of gratitude. How many readers, schoolmasters, and others will take up a book merely because it bears the name of a good firm ?" The book must be good since so-and-so publish it." That name is a sort of hall mark. Besides, a good publisher will give a young author a start which will be the initial point of a brilliant career. Finally, by friendly words of encouragement, pub- lishers often give fresh life and ardour to a despondent and nervous author. In a word, it would require but a very little concession on the part of the publishers to make their relation with authors perfectly pleasant and cordial, as they should be—as pleasant as those between an author and his banker. This long tale of experiences and these many remarks may be of use to other members. I trust they may. I offer them in that hope. At any rate, they will prove conclusively how useful The Author is, and what good work the Society does in a way that it probably never suspects. Many besides myself have doubtless imbibed and thought out the ideas and doctrines propounded in The Author, and have individually and obscurely approached the publishers in the same direction. If, however, there was a little more esprit de corps among authors, publishers would make at once con- cessions which they will have ultimately to make, and which seem to me to be merely a concession to the ordinary principles of honesty. Victor Spiers. II.—The Publishers' Draft Agreements. 1. I would call attention to certain facts in the publishers' draft agreements which deserve to be borne in mind very carefully. 1. There is not a word said as to any means of checking accounts or preventing dishonesty. Alone among all men in the world of any trade or calling whatever, the publisher regards himself as a person whose honour and honesty are ## p. 106 (#118) ############################################ io6 THE AUTHOR. absolutely beyond the reach of suspicion. He is like Caesar's wife: he is like the French army: he is unlike any other person or any other institu- tion, and this in the face of the scandals and exposures constantly made in these columns. 2. The right of taking—or purloining—as much of the profits as he pleases by advertising in his own organs or by exchanges is carefully reserved by preserving silence on the subject. 3. In second and following editions the cost of production is greatly—very greatly—reduced. There is no composition, no moulding or stereo- typing, no corrections, very little advertising. The cost of an ordinary six shilling book may be reduced to less than od., yet no change is made in the author's royalty and no better terms are offered to the bookseller. n. No criticisms in The Author on the methods of publishers have ever equalled in point and brutal frankness their own recent f ulmination. What do publishers take us for? Do they imagine that because we are authors we are entirely devoid of business capacity, and have returned to our first childhood? With them apparently might is right, and their publishers' agreements are clearly constructed with a cordial recognition of this principle. The insult of the whole thing is, to my mind, the worst feature. Authors are not credited with common sense, to say nothing of ordinary acuteness. They are therefore to be treated with a high hand. I am convinced that publishers have dealt themselves a heavy, if not disastrous, blow. In their blind and reckless policy they would kill the goose that lays the golden egss; for it is quite certain their very existence depends on the author, while the converse is not by any means the case. Do they really think that anyone except the struggling amateur will submit work to them under these new conditions? If so, their credu- lity is on a par with their " agreements." In these proposals publishers have found a short cut to the tether-end of the authors' patience; and those whose work is marketable will, in many instances, rid themselves of this publishers' incubus altogether and follow the excellent examples of Miss Braddon and others —examples which I, for one, will imitate at the earliest opportunity. Spero Melioka. m. Tour invitation in the September Author for an expression of opinion by all your readers on the subject of the publishers' Draft Agree- ments is my excuse for the present communica- tion. I at once confess that in the past I have thought your painting of the picture of the publisher rather on the black side than otherwise. I was grievously mistaken. As you remark, your past statements have fallen far short of the truth. All authors are deeply indebted to the Society for its strenuous fight—in the face of direst ridicule—on behalf of the rights and just dues of literary property. There is but one remedy for the present state of affairs, and now that the matter is laid bare befoi.e all who care to read, it is devoutly to be hoped that that remedy will be applied. It is that the stronger writers make a firm stand for equitable agreements. Beginners—like myself—are as dust in the balance. We can do little. It is for the giants in the literary world to turn the scale. Many of the best known names in literature are on the list of the Authors' Society. If they present their ultimatum much can be accomplished. It seems to me incredible that even the most inexperienced, most eager-to-get-into-print young author would sign the agreements put forth by the publishers; yet if this is not the case, why publish them at all? From a business point of view they are amazing—almost absurd. I have had many business agreements through my hands, but, so far as my experience goes, no business man who prides himself on any commercial acumen whatever, would so give himself away as to propound—even to his employee—such ridiculous conditions as those in question contain. I have always been led to believe that an agreement to be valid must set forth reasonable advantages accruing to both parties. In those under discus- sion where do the author's advantages appear? You ask for brevity; but before concluding may I state two suggestions which have occurred to me that may appeal to you as being worth dis- cussion: 1. Would it not now be advisable for the Society to frame a set of agreements which shall adequately protect the author as pro- ducer, whilst giving the publisher what is his due as distributor? 2. I believe that one or two well-known authors, to their own distinct advantage, have acted as their own distributors. On the same basis could not the Society establish a distributing department? This arrange- ment would, I think, serve a two-fold purpose. (1) To many members of the Society, whose names are a guarantee of good work, it would doubtless be a welcome innovation. (2) It would drive home the lesson the Society wishes to inculcate more forcibly than any other course. J. C. S. ## p. 107 (#119) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. III.—The Registration of Titles. There has been some discussion in the papers lately with regard to the question of titles in books and the registration of titles. As it appears from most of the correspondence that the writers are ignorant of the law that bears upon the question relating to the property in titles—as they speak of "Copyright in Titles," whereas no such thing as copyright exists in titles—it may be as well to make a few remarks on the subject. The law referring to the right of property in a title is very clear. The interpretation of that law is exceedingly difficult and complicated. Each ease has to be decided by its own particular evidence. The law bearing on the right of pro- perty in titles comes under, and is in some ways analogous to, Trade Mark law, but titles cannot be registered like trade marks. The main ques- tion to be decided on each case, however, is whether a fraud has been committed on the public. To take an example: Suppose A. pub- lishes a book with a certain title, and the book has an established reputation and a continued and established sale, it would be impossible for B. to produce a book with a similar title, as people might obtain B.'s book when desiring to obtain A.'s, and thus would be defrauded by B.'s conduct; but, to give A. a property, A.'s book must have established itself on the market, and must be in continuous sale. The difficulty of the interpretation of the law is therefore evident, as it can only be decided on the facts of each particular case and by each individual judge as to what will constitute an established position of A.'s book on the market. The most curious case on the subject was a case entitled Maxwell v. Hogg. Messrs. Hogg, in 1863, registered an intended new magazine to be called Belgravia. In 1866, such magazine not having appeared, Mr. Maxwell, in ignorance of what Messrs. Hogg had done, projected a maga- zine with the same name, and incurred con- siderable expense in preparing it, and exten- sively advertising it in August and Sep- tember, as about to appear in October. Messrs. Hogg, knowing of this, made hasty preparations for bringing out their own magazine before that of Mr. Maxwell could appear, and in the mean- time accepted an order from Mr. Maxwell for advertising his (Mr. Maxwell's) magazine on the covers of their own publications, and the first day on which they informed Mr. Maxwell that they objected to his publishing a magazine under that name was Sept. 25, on which day the first number of Messrs. Hogg's magazine appeared. Mr. Maxwell's magazine appeared in October. VOL. IX. Under these circumstances, on a bill filed by Mr. Maxwell, it was held, that Mr. Maxwell's adver- tisements and expenditure "did not give Mm any exclusive right to the use of the name '• Bel- gravia," and that he could not restrain Messrs. Hogg from publishing a magazine under the same name, the first number of which appeared before Mr. Maxwell had published his; and on a bill filed by Messrs. Hogg, that the registration by them of the title of an intended publication could not confer upon them a copyright in that name, and that, in the circumstances of the case, they had not acquired any right to restrain Mr. Maxwell from using the name as being Messrs. Hogg's trade mark. It would appear also that if one person pub- lished a scientific book with the same title as a book of poems by another person, no action would lie, as there would be no fraud on the public, it being impossible that any person in- tending to buy the scientific book would be deceived into buying a book of poems, or the reverse. The clear facts to be remembered with regard to title, then, may be considered as follows: 1. There is no copyright in a title. 2. An author has only property in a title when his book has a reputation on the market, is selling, and when such reputation and sale are prejudiced by the production of any book with the same or similar title. 3. The Courts must be the final arbiters on the facts of each particular case. 4. Though the law is clear, the interpretation of that law is exceedingly difficult. 5. Registration of a title merely gives no pro- perty in that title. 6. From a practical point of view, therefore, it is better for an author as a rule to settle a point on reasonable terms than to go to law. 7. It is better still for an author not to mention his title to anyone until his book is produced. Those who through personal experience have come across the question for the first time con- sider the matter as a difficulty but recently discovered, which needs immediate amendment; they may, however, rest assured that the question of legislating more fully on the point has been deeply and thoroughly discussed and considered by all those who have attempted to legislate on copyright or who are interested in the affairs of authorship. It is not a simple or one-sided question. It is exceedingly complicated, and has many sides. At present no remedy has been devised suffi- ciently satisfactory to embody in any of the draft Copyright Bills. "G. H. Thring. M ## p. 108 (#120) ############################################ io8 THE AUTHOR. IV.—Two Curious Cases, i. Refusing to Reprint a Book. Some years ago one of the largest publishing firms in England entered into a contract with a young author for the publication of a technical book. The terms of the agreement were roughly as follows: That the publisher should stand all risk of the cost of production, and should pay the author 10 per cent. after the sale of the first 2000 copies: That the copyright should belong to the publisher. The further details of the contract it is un- necessary to enter into, except to state that the publisher had practical control of the book over all the world. The book did not have a rapid sale, but, owing to its rather unique qualities, had a steady and continued one. Eight years after its first publi- cation the 2000 copies were sold out. On the author writing to the publisher and requesting that the book should be reprinted, he received a letter stating that, as there was not sufficient demand for the book amongst their customers, they would not reprint it, but they offered to sell the plates and their rights under the agreement to the author for £6, ending their letter with the fol- lowing statement: "Which is half of our loss to this date on the book." The following particulars may tend to explain the position of the author and publisher: First. The cost of production of 2000 copies of a book of the size and price referred to should be easily covered by the sale of 2000 copies. Secondly. The author should never have sold his copyright. Thirdly. Ten per cent. would have been a small royalty if offered to the author from the beginning. Lastly. After the publishers have reaped all the benefits they possibly can from the sale of the book they refuse to reprint. What their reason may be for this refusal of course it is impossible to know. They had the plates. There would there- fore only be the cost of print and paper. It could not possibly have been the very small re- muneration due to the author. The question, then, must be left an open one, but from the author's point of view the treatment was distinctly bad, and this treatment was from one of the largest firms of publishers in England. As the copyright belongs to the publishers the unfortunate author is practically at their mercy. 2. A Series of Mistakes. 1. The authors undertook to pay for the print- ing, binding—in a word, the manufacture. 2. Accounts were to be made half yearly, pay- ment six months later; so that the publishers gained, and the author lost, the interest on their property for an average of nine months. 3. The author retained the right of sale in Ireland. 4. Published price, 3s. Sales to be accounted for at id. over two-thirds, i.e., at 2s. id.; but 13 as 12, making the return of each book is. 1 i_fed. 5. For printing, binding, and stereotyping the author was to pay is. 1 \d. each for the first 2000, after that j\d. for following orders of 2000 each. That is to say, the book was alleged to cost £.112 10s. for the first edition of 2000, and .£64 iis. Sd. for all subsequent editions of 2000. The publishers were to receive 20 per cent. on all sales in England, and 10 per cent on all sales in Ireland, where the price was to be 2.1. net. The book sold largelv in Ireland. The author does not seem to have questioned the charge for printing, which may therefore be left. 6. When the first account came in a sum of .£5 was charged for moulding, which was actually included in the estimate, being a part of the process of stereotyping. The general charge for moulding is 5*. or 6*. a sheet, so that if the charge for moulding is correct, the book should contain i6| sheets, or 264 pages. 7. A second item in the account showed that the first 3000 copies had been charged at the same rate as that agreed upon for the first 2000. 8. A third item showed that a few pages over and above those of the original estimate had been charged for as printing aDd binding (!) Now, they would certainly make a difference in the printing, but could they make a difference in the binding? 9. On the author representing that the original estimate included stereotyping, the charge for £5 was withdrawn. 10. As to the second mistake, that, too, was withdrawn. 11. Then the publisher began to make delays and to send up accounts complicated and in- volved. Finally, the author placed them in the hands of an actuary, who found out that the publisher owed the author the sum of .£150 (less a small payment made on account), and the author compelled him to pay it. ANOTHER WORD ON ROYALTIES- fl^HKEE months ago we gave in The Author I certain figures which were actual estimates tendered by printers. The example is, as usual, the 6*. book, not necessarily a novel. From these figures the following may be made out. ## p. 109 (#121) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. A book of 20 sheets of 16 pages to a sheet: or of 10 sheets of 32 pages to a sheet: in small pica type: with 29 lines and about 300 words to a page, costs to produce, on estimates like all those given in these columns, real and not invented: An edition of 1000 copies will cost about Is. 6d. or is. yd. to produce. This is the kind of book which has a limited sale and will not go into a second edition. An edition of 2000 copies, including moulding for a second edition and a moderate amount of advertising, can be produced for thirteen or fourteen pence. An edition of 3000 copies can be produced for a shilling a copy, including moulding, but not stereotyping. But a second edition of 3000 copies, with stereotyping, can be produced for eightpence. In the second edition there is neither composi- tion, nor corrections, nor moulding, and very little advertising. It is quite possible to reduce these figures still lower. Paper was never so cheap, and becomes cheaper. Now any royalty that may be offered must be based upon these figures, or something like them. On the first, or only, edition of 1000 copies the publisher and author begin to divide after 520 copies are sold; they may make more, however, than is apparent, because they need not " mould" a book which is not going into a new edition: they do not bind more than they want: and they do not advertise so much as is set down. On the second supposition if all the copies are sold, a profit is made of about .£230. On the third, of about .£380. On the last, however, and on all following editions, there is a great change. The profit on every copy, if all are sold, may , now actually reach the sum of 2s. l0d. Observe carefully that no further concession is ever made to the bookseller when this improve- ment sets in. It is therefore quite clear that he has been, and is, treated with great injustice. What change is made in the position of the author? As a rule, none. The publisher sweeps all into his own pocket. It is therefore necessary that the whole system of royalties should be altered, and to this point we shall next proceed. Meantime we remark that the huge saving on the cost of production in the second and subsequent editions is not so much as alluded to in the publishers' Draft Agreements. We must imagine the committee agreeing together at their sittings, because they could not possibly ignore the point, in a solemn and heartfelt prayer that authors would never find it out. A bookseller, quoted on another page, writes: "The odd copy is a curse to us. I can get a 6*. book for 3*. gd. by taking seven. But I must sell them all or I lose. For an odd copy I must pay 4*. 2d." He sells it at 4*. 6d. In the latter case, he gets 4rf. profit, in the former gd., out of which he has to pay carriage and his office expenses. The publisher for the same volume—in the second edition which, by our figures, costs Sd. a copy—pockets 2*. l0d. less the sum he gives the author—rarely, until lately, more than 1 s. So we have the scale of profits :— Author, who contributes all the work, is. Bookseller, who takes most of the risk, 4d., or at best gd. Publisher, who takes the rest of the risk, if there is any, has I*, l0d. It hardly seems quite equitable, does it? Let us draw up another table showing what various royalties mean for the second and follow- ing agreements. We must, however, point out that these figures are not final. Every step which we take forward brings us to a clearer under- standing of the facts, i.e., of the enormous profits hitherto made by publishers. That they think themselves absolutely entitled by right to enormous profits, and that they believe book sellers and authors entitled to no profit at all, is clearly shown by their Draft Agreements. Here, however, are the figures for the second edition:— On a 6s. volume gives the A percentage of Publisher Author s. d. ,. d. 5 2 6f ° 3i 10 2 2| 0 7i 15 '"* 0 IOj 20 1 7i I 2f 25 1 4 i 6 3° • of '9s 35 0 8} 40 0 5* 2 4.i 45 0 if 2 8f But, says the publisher, "There are my office expenses." Quite so. Every business has its office expenses. There are also the author's office expenses, and there are the bookseller's expenses. Another way to approach the subject, and perhaps a better way, because all the copies will not perhaps be sold, is to let the royalty begin when the cost of producing the edition is defrayed. This method, however, can only be allowed where the publisher gives proofs of honesty. Thus, if the second edition of 3000 copies costs .£95, the expense is defrayed by the sale of 544 copies. If it costs a little more or less, because this ## p. 110 (#122) ############################################ tio THE AUTHOR. estimate is only for a book of a definite size and price, this number can be changed. Since the rest of the edition is pure profit, all that has to be done is to arrange the proporlion. I would suggest: (i.) For the bookseller, better terms in second and following editions: he should claim the right to share in the increased profit; (2.) For the publisher, one-third of what is left when the cost is paid. (3.) For the author, two-thirds. THE CASE OF THE BOOKSELLER, IEARNESTLY invite booksellers to a con- sideration of the figures given in these columns. The question of terms and shares and charges most closely concerns the author, which is my excuse for speaking on the subject. In reference to the figures, my own scheme is something as follows: 1. The present system, by which the bookseller has to take all the risk, should be replaced by a system of sale or return; that is to say, that the bookseller should be free to order, as at present, as many books as he pleases, but that, in order for other books to get a chance of exhibition or sale, the publisher should send him copies on sale or return. The bookseller, however, must be free to refuse or to take these books. It is objected that they sometimes get lost or soiled. Well, if they cannot be sold on the bookseller's shelves, they will certainly not be sold on the publisher's or the bookbinder's shelves. There is, therefore, no real loss. 2. In the choice of books on order, the book- seller is at present guided by the name of the author, his own judgment of a book, and the demand for a book. He wants them to unite advice and information. For this purpose he wants a small and private paper devoted entirely to his own interests. In this paper he should receive every month a brief account of such books as are likely to be popular. He might thus be saved from heavy loss. The cost of this little paper, with the editor or reader, would be covered by a guinea subscription from every member of the Association. Publishers would, of course, have to send copies of books to the office of the paper. This paper need not concern itself with any other ii'.atter than (1) the figures which have proved so useful to ourselves: those, namely, which show the cost of production, the position of the authors, and that of the booksellers; and (2) the advice as to the new books offered. It would be most necessary to find readers of the utmost integrity, who could be relied upon not to take bribes or to recommend friends. With this object it would be desirable to find a person wholly unconnected with London coteries. 3. Armed with a knowledge of these figures, it would be easy for the Booksellers' Association to demand equitable terms. It is ominous that many publishers, when the royalties of authors began to be raised, declared that they would have to raise their terms to the booksellers. 4. I have long thought that the Association might provide itself with editions of non-copy- right works. Such editions would cost them nothing—literally nothing. Consider," The Vicar of Wakefield" is a book that is certain always to sell. If a cheap shilling edition of that work were issued by the Booksellers' Association for themselves, and, if every bookseller took no more than three copies, the whole expense would be defrayed, while, if 10,000 copies were sold, there would be a considerable profit. This is a certain source of income: there would be no loss: the Authors' Society would perhaps advise in the choice of the series. The trade price of the Asso- ciation's own series, instead of being 8|rf. would be 6rf. and still leave a margin. A country bookseller sends a publisher's list of prices. It is as follows. They are nearly all cheap books: Published Price. d. 6 0 o 6 6 o 6 o 6 Trade Price. 8. d. 5 4 2 1 6 9 5 1 41 If seven Copies of each are Ordered. s. d. U Twelve "As- sorted," then as Thirteen. d. o o 4 3i 7 Ti o 7S 4 If, be points out, he takes an "assorted" lot— four at is.: three at 2*. 6rf.: three at 3*. 6d. -. one at 5*.: one at 6*.: one at 7s. 6d.: and receives in addition to the above allowances a discount of 5 per cent. for payment to time; "and if I sell the whole lot I make a handsome profit of 3s. 5<Z., out of which must be deducted the carriage, which amounts to is. or is. 3rf." In a word, out of a margin of 2s. 3c/*., outlay of £1 7*. 3rf., the bookseller takes sale, and has to pay rent, rates and taxes, ants and other expenses. "It is only," he writes, "a question of time for the country bookseller to be driven out of exist- on an risk of assist- ## p. 111 (#123) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. ence, unless the present arrangements are speedily altered." And so, indeed, it seems to me. How does the publisher stand, therefore, as regards author and bookseller? The following figures show the necessity of understanding the whole case, including the production, the book- seller and the author. We take the "assorted" price and 13 as 12. The cost of production is set do .vn on an average book: < ublished Price. Trade Prloe less 5 per Cost of Production. Author's Rojaltv 10 per ct-nt. Author's Royalty 20 per cent. cent. *. d. *. d f. d. d. ». d. 7 6 4 9 ■ 3 9 1 6 6 0 3 9i I 0 r. 1 1'i 5 0 3 2 0 10 6 I 0 3 6 2 i\ 0 8 4s, 0 8| 2 6 1 6 0 7 3 0 6 Now consider the respective winnings of each of the three in this delightful game: (1.) Author's royalty at 10 per cent.: Price of book. Author at 10 per <*r•nt. d. 9 71 6 41 1 Publisher. «. d. 2 9 2 If 1 10 o 8 Bookseller. d. o ioj o 8.1 o 7 ° 5i o 34 (2.) If the author has 20 per cent. we have the fol.owing figures, cost of production and trade price as before: Price of book. Author at 20 per <,mt. Publisher. Bookseller. ,. d. S. d. s. d. 7 6 1 6 2 0 0 ioi 6 0 I 2* ■ 5! 0 8^ 5 0 I O 1 4 0 7 3 6 O 83 0 7hl 0 si 2 6 0 6 0 5 0 31 These figures are recommended for careful consideration. The cost of production is only approximate, but it is just above the average. For instance, I have before me an estimate for producing a book which may be priced at js. 6d., 6s., or 58., according to the fancy of the publisher. The price for an edition of 3000 copies, composing, printing and paper, is 6d. a copy, and it is every day done more cheaply. The binding will be under 4d. These figures show the position of the book- seller, author, and publisher, on those books only which the bookseller buys of the publisher. But a j;reat part of the business is carried on by m ans of the distributing agents, who get better VOL. IX ti-nns. Therefore we have arrived at 3*. 6d. as the average sum received by the publisher for a 6*. book. As regard the cost, however, it must be remembered that the second and following editions cost a great deal less than the first. W. B. NOTES AND NEWS. IN another column I submit certain figures to the consideration of booksellers. I have long felt that their case demands the atten- tion of all persons interested in literature from the literary as well as the commercial point of view. In getting some relief for them we should be advancing our own interests from both points of view. If literature is to reach the people it must l.e exhibited and offered for sale. If the bookseller cannot do this, who can? I invite readers of The Author to consider this point, and if they have any advice to tender I shall be glad to receive it. Also in that other column will be found a note from a country bookseller about publishers' terms. It shows that if he takes an "assorted" lot, that is, thirteen, from a list, he gets them as twelve. It also shows that if he sells them at the discount price of 25 per cent. off, he makes the handsome profit of 2*-. 3rf. from the whole. It he does not succeed in selling the whole he loses that profit. Do these figures bring home to us the present position of the bookseller? What do the publishers want to do? They would raise the price of books to the public: they would make the bookseller still go on taking most of the risk: they would bind him in chains so that he should not be allowed to do what what he pleased with his own. What do they propose to do with the author: They claim the right to charge what they please in addition to every item of cost: to charge what they p/ease for office expenses. I have shown that they may, if they please, take what share of the profits they please, and call it humorously half profits. I do not think that one point in the recent pro- posal to enslave the bookseller has received quite the attention which it deserves. A 6*. book was to be "reduced" to 5*. That meant increased from 4.V. 6d. to 5s. The booksellers who now pay various sums from 3*. ~\d. to 4*. 2d., but averag- ing 3s. 8rf., were to pay 3s. l0d. The publishers therefore proposed an extra 2d. a volume for themselves under this arrangement. This they called a disinterested Btep in the interests of the ## p. 112 (#124) ############################################ I I 2 THE A UTHOR. bookseller. At their meeting one gentleman was so ill-advised as to ask what the author would gain —or lose—by the change. Nothing was said. It is easy to understand, however, what would happen to the unfortunate third partner. All his royalties now are calculated on the price being 6s. His friends the publishers would, perhaps, say, "My dear fellow, we sell the book more cheaply, but you shall not lose. You had the magnificent royalty of 10 per cent. before—you shall hare it still.' There! And now go and write to the papers, and say that even a publisher, despite the Society of Authors, can be nobly just!" .And I wonder how many of our members there are who see through the simple trick. Why, it is exactly like that really very pretty trick in which the author is made to agree to " half the royalty" if the publisher sells the book at " half the price." One practitioner, a deeply honourable man— religious, too—played this game, as has already been exposed, with a two volume novel. The "face " price was a guinea: the library price was generally something under half-a-guinea: all the copies, therefore, were sold under half price. And I wonder how many have fallen victims to a trick that is so barefaced and so simple. It would have been just the same with the royalties under the pro- pose'I change, and, as in the famous "half price half royalty " trick, no one would have been more surprised than the publisher himself when the truth was communicated to him. Here are some figures showing the " half price, half royalty" trick. The trade price of a 6s. book is, say, 3s. Sd. The author has a 20 per cent. royalty upon it, i.e., is. 2\d. The cost of production is is. The publisher gets is. 5frf. He sells the book at 3*., which is what lie calls "half price." The author has to take a half royalty, j\d. The publisher now gets is. 4-J-tf., so that if he were to reduce the price of his book he onlv gets *d. less, while the author is reduced b7 7\d. In the other case of a net book reduced to 5s., but the trade priee increased to 3s. i0d., the 10 per cent. royalty would be 6d.: the 20 per cent. royalty is., and soon, compared with 7|rf., i*. 2}d., and so on. _____ It is announced as a "new departure " that a firm of publishers — Messrs. Macmillan — are going to produce a book "on the instalment system." Is that new? Why, travellers have been going up and down the country getting subscribe s to pay by instalments for many years. The book tout is an old and well-established nuisance. The work is to be sold by the book- sellers, and the paragraph before m*» says, '• Book- sellers will now have an opportunity of showing to what extent they are able and willing to benefit by a departure which is clearly in their interest." How it is more in their interest to sell in this way than in any other is not explained. Clearly it is for the interest of the publishers that the booksellers should sell their wares for them. But, unless better terms than usual are offered the unhappy booksellers, of which the world knows nothing, it is difficult to understand the special interest to the booksellers in "the new departure." Now, when the slavery scheme was to the front the bookseller was admonished that the new departure was to " his intere-t," but nothing was said then, or now, as to the interest of the publishers. From time to time there appears in the papers a correspondence about a title the use of which has been challenged by some publisher or author who had previously used it. The case affords an opportunity for a good deal of loose talk on the difficulty of finding titles which have not been used. Everybody has adventures of his own to relate, and certainly some cases are very hard. A title which seems exactly to suit the book has to be abandoned in a hurry and a new one chosen. Yet the first struck a note: it seemed to prepare the reader for what followed. A few weeks ago I received and was asked to publish a correspondence on the subject. It seemed to me that more would be gained by getting a state- ment of the law upon the subject. Hence the paper by Mr. Thring, in which the reader is instructed as to the kind of protection which the law grants to owners of literary property in this respect. Tbe whole point seems to be this: There is no copyright in a title, but if A. B. brings out a book bearing the same title as one already before the public, and if it can be proved that the sale of the second book is injuring, or likely to injure, that of the first, a court of law would probably restrain A. B. from continuing the sale of his book under that title. Walter Besant. THE NAME OF THE PUBLISHER. 1. IHAVE made inquiries in various directions as to my opinion that the public do not care about the name of the publisher. The reply from the general reader has been mostly to the effect that he cares no more about the name of the publisher than the name of the printer. Two or ## p. 113 (#125) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. three reply that they know Dent's books to be wonderfully got up, and that they like John Lane's books for the same reason. Otherwise they do not mind. I subjoin two or three opinions. I am glad to publish the opinion of Mr. Alfred Wilson, though he does not agree with me, because his illustration of the importance to an author of getting his books all together shows that in such a case the name of the publisher is a considera- tion. W. B. II. I notice that in your August number the Editor says that "the public care nothing . . . who is the publisher of a book," and that ihey are absolutely indifferent to this. Any bookseller will know, as I do, that the public looks at a new book of travel, if published by Murray, or a new book of belles lettres pub- lished by Macmillan, with a prepossession in its favour. The remark is often made to me, " I don't know the author, but the book is published by , it is likely to be good." A cheap his orical resume has the chances much against it, prima facie, but let it be issued at 5*. in the Story of the Nations series, and it is (•ure of a certain amount of success at least. It is well known to all booksellers that if an author has an odd book or two by a publisher other than his regular one, however well it may sell at the time, it is soon forgotten, and has a comp iratively small sale. When "Romola" could not be had uniform with George Eliot's other works it had a much smaller sale than the others, now it sells quite as well. Certainly a new book by the writer of the moment will sell equally well at first, whoever publishes it, but the after sale will with equal cei tainty be much affected by its omission from the list of the author's other books. In short, I believe it to be to an author's interest to go to a good publisher, and to keep to himself if possible; and if his terms are some- what higher than those of a seconil-rate firm, it will yet be often worth while to accede to them. Perhaps I may claim that my opinions on the subject, whether right or wrong, are at least impartial, as I have not the least pecuniary interest in the matter, one way or another. Alfred Wilson (Bookseller). 18. Grracechurch-street, E.C. in. I am a reader of books, not a writer. I suppose I am one of the public. In answer to your question, I confess that I have never troubled myself with the name of the publisher. I know the names of Longman and Murray, and one or two more, I suppose, but I do not think they have any more to do with the contents of the book than the paper-maker. I suppose there is a paper-maker somewhere, but I am not concerned to know his name. One of the Public. IV. The question is a very simple one, and easily answered. I don't believe one ordinary reader in twenty ever troubles about the name of the publisher; but is not this on account of his modesty? Run your eye along any of your shelves. What strikes you is the title of the book and its author's name. In many cases the publisher's name is not apparent at all:— 4 Tennyson's Works id Sonnete Si i's Garden a tat W .*» Barrie. rCraftsma Q ..0 m a "3 W. Besant. '5 P £ i o < o Poems ai & M Veroniof Alfred Barraok R § & The Littl s TheMaste Still, the publisher has an important function to perform. We cannot certainly have a coat without the weaver of the cloth (author), but we should do very badly without the tailor (pub- lisher). Joseph Parkek. 39, Drvden-streot, Nottingham. Sept. i, 1898. V. Mr. Henry Glaisher, on being asked if the public inquire or care about the publisher of a book, says :—" If a buyer has come for a special book which he desires to possess, he cares nothing about the name of the publisher: it makes no difference to him. If, however, he is looking over the shelves, intending to buy a book and uncertain whether to do so or not, his decision will often be made with reference to the publisher. If he sees a name which he has not learned to associate with rubbish, but the reverse, he will take that book in preference to one issued by a publisher whom he does not know, or whom he knows unfavourably. For this reason it is a decided advantage to have the name of a pub- lisher of repute on the title page. That is to say, one of twenty houses, and it matters little which." ## p. 114 (#126) ############################################ ii4 THE AUTHOR. THE DRAMATISATION OF NOVELS. [From the Grwloi*.] NOUS recevons de notre correspondant de Londres l'intéressante lettre suivante: Londres, 25 août. L'éloquente et énergique protestation de M. Emile Bergerat, reproduite par le Gaulois dans le courant de ce mois, contre l'usage de drama- tiser les romans français en Angleterre sans l'autorisation des auteurs, et le caractéristique incident survenu ces jours derniers entre MM. Victorien Sardou et Oscar Méténier d'une part, et M. Paul Potter de l'autre, au sujet de la pièce dramatique lirée ou adaptée de la Haine et de Mlle. Fi/r par l'auteur américain, ont attiré à nouveau l'attention du public anglais sur quelques points particulièrement défectueux de la législation actuelle concernant la propriété littéraire. Une de ces imperfections, des plus graves, est sans contredit le droit légal, octroyé parle dixième article de la Convention de Berne, de faire repré- senter sur la scène un roman dramatisé sans le consentement de l'auteur. Cet article inique, M. Emile Bergerat nous l'a fait observer, n'a jamais pu être abrogé malgré les incessants efforts des délégués français aux congres internationaux réunis pour décider des droits artistiques et littéraires. La délégation britannique, seule entre toutes, s'y opposa systématiquement et de toutes ses forces, non sans reconnaître, par manière d'amende honorable, que " c'était là une chose fâcheuse." On ne saurait mieux s'accuser, et à la vérité ce serait se méprendre que de ne pas croire que tel est le sentiment unanime du monde des lettres en Angleterre. Et pour preuves voici deux lettres, que M. Henry Arthur Jones, un des auteurs dramatiques les plus distingués d'outre-Manche, et sir Walter Besant, le romancier bien connu, ont eu la courtoisie de m'adresser sur cette intéressante question. Lisons d'abord la lettre de M. Henry Arthur Jones. A sa mordante franchise, on y reconnaît l'auteur des Masqwraders et du Triomphe des Philistins: "Cher Monsieur,—En réponse a votre lettre, permettez-moi de déclarer qui ma cordiale sym- pathie est acquise aux auteurs français qui se plaignent que leurs œuvres soient mises à con- tribution et en état discrédit pour le théâtre anglais. Parmi les honnêtes gens, il ne saurait exister deux opinions sur cette matière. Que ce soit légal ou non, c'est un vol : un honnête homme ne s'appropriera jamais le mouchoir d'un autre, même s'il sait qu'il ne sera pas traduit devant les tribunaux pour ce fait; il s'appropriera encore moins le produit de la pensée d'autrui. "Je participerai cordialement à toute mesure tendant à protéger en Angleterre les droits légaux des auteurs français. En attendant, je ne saurai exprimer trop fortement mon dégoût pour un usage, qui est, en général, aussi préjudiciable aux intérêts du drame qu'aux intérêts de l'honnêteté internationale. "Veuillez agréer, cher monsieur, etc. "Henry Arthur Jones." La lettre plus détaillée de sir Walter Besant, l'éminent romancier qui, depuis de longues années, s'occupe activement de l'amélioration des lois relatives aux droits d'auteur, est non moins affirmative que celle de M. Henry Arthur Jones. La voici: "Cher Monsieur,—La question de propriété littéraire en ce qui concerne la dramatisation d'un roman est telle que vous l'avez expliquée. L'adaptateur est inattaquable devant la loi, si, en se servant du canevas, il ne se sert en même temps de la partie dialoguée du roman. "La Société des Auteurs *t institué, en plusieurs occasions, des comités à l'effet de preparer un bill sur la propriété littéraire. Une des clauses de ce 6/7/ interdit la dramatisation des romans. Ce bill a été lu déjà, en seconde lecture, par lord Monks- well, â la chambre des lords. Ceux-ci se décidèrent alors, bien inutilement, du reste, à instituer à leur tour une commission d'enquête, chargée de rédiger un rapport sur des faits connus de tout le monde. Croira-t-on en France que cette commission ne tint aucun compte de l'existence des auteurs? Elle se contenta de recueillir les témoignages de quelques éditeurs et ce fut tout. "Après que j'eus signalé dans la presse cette manque d'égards à la littérature, la commission me convoqua incontinent et sans cérémonie devant elle. C'était là un manque de courtoisie auquel je ne m'attendais guère de la part d'une com- mission nommée par les Lords. Comme je m'étais toujours occupé cependant de l'adminis- tration de la propriété littéraire par les éditeurs, et comme je ne faisais pas partie du " copyright committee nommé par la Société des Auteurs, je n'eus pas l'occasion de me plaindre de cette impolitesse. Je refusai néanmoins de paraître comme témoin alléguant que je ne fusais pas partie de te comité. "Le monde littéraire désire profondément re- médier, entre autres injustices, à celle dont il est ici question. Je doute cependant de l'efficacité de nos efforts, du moins pour quelque temps encore. Il se présente, en effet, cette difficulté: la colonie du Canada, et je crois aussi l'Australie,. ## p. 115 (#127) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. réclament le droit de rédiger leurs propres lois sur la propriété littéraire. La promulgation d'un bill en Angleterre pourrait donc susciter d'acri- monieuses discussions relativement au droit de législation de la mère-patrie, et à celui reven- diqué par ses colonies, et le gouvernement actuel ne se souci guère de soulever de telles discussions. Le cas et des plus intéressants et je vous con- seille d'y donner toute votre attention. Je n'ai pas de doute que notre secrétaire, M. G. H. Thring, serait heureux de vous donner connaissance des point s principaux de la question, laquelle ne peut manquer d'offrir un vif intérêt à vos compatriotes, toujours prêts à marquer aux hommes de lettres le respect que nos Lords ont jugé convenable de transmettre aux éditeurs. "Soyez cependant assuré, cher monsieur, que nous ferons tout ce qui est en notre pouvoir, afin que la loi actuellement en vigueur soit revisée et que les droits d'auteur d'un roman soient respectés. "Veuillez agréer, cher monsieur, etc. "Walter Besant." Il importe de s' arrêter ici sur un des passages les plus instructifs de la lettre de sir Walter Besant. C'est celui qui a trait au bill lu en seconde lecture, par Lord Monkswell, à la Chambre des lords, le 1 1 mai 1891. Ce projet de loi, élaboré, comme nous le dit sir Walter Besant, sous les auspices de la Société des Auteurs de la Grande-Bretagne, contient l'impor- tante clause qui suit: "Comme il n'existe aucune propriété sur les idées, il est facile de s'approprier, sans commettre aucun acte attentatoire au droit d'auteur, la trame entière d'un roman et de la reproduire en fait sous forme dramatique. Nous proposons de déclarer ces actes qui, maintenant ne sont que moralement condamnables, ligalement punis- sables. . . ." Pourquoi, depuis 1891, les législateurs de la Grande-Bretagne ne se sont-ils plus occupés du bill soumis par lord Monkswell 't Sir Walter Besant nous donne la raison, assez convaincante du reste, que le gouvernement actuel ne désire guère soulever des discussions tendant à régler sur une nouvelle base les rapports de la métro- pole avec les colonies. En effet, une des dispositions du projet de loi lu par lord Monkswell accordait aux colonies la liberté de législation relativement à la propriété littéraire, et cela eût éf é, selon l'opinion du comte de Kimberley et du lord-cbancelier, un achemine- ment vers la destruction de l'unité de l'empire britannique, au point de vue de la protection internationale de la propriété littéraire. L'année dernière cependant, lord Monkswell revint de nouveau à l'attaque et la Chambre des lords résolut de se réunir en comité secret afin de discuter le projet de loi, article par article. H est à espérer que les pairs d'Angleterre nous feront bientôt connaître le résultat de leurs débats et que le bill sera renvoyé à la Chambre des com- munes, pour y recevoir force de loi. On ne saurait trop se hâter, car les tripatouiLkws continuent leur besogne. n T. Beatjgeard. Nous recevons la lettre suivante :— "Saint-Lunaire (Ille-et-Vilaine), villa Caliban, 29 août 1898. "Mon cher Nicolet,—Il y a d'honnêtes gens dans les Lettres, et à Londres comme ailleurs. Deux de nos confrères d'outre-Manche, M. Henry Arthur Jones et sir Walter Besant nous en donnent fièrement la preuve. J'ai lu leurs lettres de réponse à la consultation de M. T. Beaugeard, le correspondant du Gaulois en Angleterre; elles me paraissent décisives. Au nom des principes de droiture communs à tous les peuples, et honneur de toutes les races, ces nobles esprits flétrissent la piraterie littéraire, sous quelque drapeau qui la couvre et dans quelques eaux qu'on l'exerce. Le débat est donc clos de ce côté par un arrêt de la simple conscience publique, et, elle aussi, grâce à Dieu, internationale. "Il n'y a plus qu'à en attendre la sanction.— Cette sanction, écrit sir Walter Besant, ne dépend plus que de la Chambre des lords, déjà saisie par lord Monkswell de la question d'ensemble de la propriété littéraire, question, ajoute-t-il, qui serait depuis longtemps résolue au gré des intérêts lésés, s'il ne s'y entremêlait point . . . de la politique !—Oh! cette politique que l'on recontre partout où l'on ne cherche que de la justice, quelle vie elle nous fait, et dans quelle Europe! "Ici, le plus simple et le plus modeste droit des gens, id est: le droit au revenu de la propagation des fruits du talent et du travail, ne se heurterait plus, paraît-il, qu'aux prétentions autonomiques de l'Australie et du Canada, qui pourraient refuser le bénéfice même d'une telle réforme parce qu'elle émanerait de la jurisprudence anglaise et lui viendrait de la mère-patrie. Ces colonies, en effet, ne souffrent plus d'autre législation que la leur, et la communauté de la langue ne leur impose pas la solidarité philo- logique. "Si j'entends bien sir Walter Besant, là serait le motif de la réserve des Lords et de leur retard à proposer aux communes les tables de la pro- priété littéraire garantie. Car, en effet, si l'Australie et le Canada nous leurrent au moment où l'Angleterre renonce à nous leurrer, si nos ouvrages paraissent, démarqués, non ré- munérés, volés enfin, à Sydney ou à Québec, en langue anglaise, au lieu d'être publiés à Londres, ## p. 116 (#128) ############################################ n6 THE AUTHOR. la mere-patrie est dupe du marche, et son honneur lui reste pour compte. Mylords, le propre de l'honneur est de rester pour compte. II me semble, d'ailleurs, que l'Angleterre est assez riche pour s'en payer de gratuit, de l'honneur qui demeure en fricbe et ne rapporte rien a ses seigneurs. "Au resume, mon cher Nicolet, attendons un peu, puisque ce tres loyal et brave homme de Walter Besant nous convie a la patience, et fions-nous a lord Monkswell, qui travaille pour nous la probite anglo-saxonne. II est vrai que, d'autre part, l'avise correspondant du Gaulois nous presse de nous defendre contre le dd- bordement grandissant de ce qu'il veut bien appeler, pour me flatter, le tripatouillage, de telle sorte que nous voila entre les deux conseils comme l'ane de Buridan entre les deux picotins d'avoine. "Le plus sage serait, je crois, de provoquer un nouveau congres de Berne et de renouveler l'essai d'entente professionnelle de septembre 1887. Un grand poete, Charles Algernon Swinburne, universellement admire, pour l'Angle- terre; le comte Leon Tolstoi, pour la Russie, et notre Victorien Sardou, ne refuseraient pas d'en presider les seances, et les autres pays de l'Tlnion s'y feraient representer par des maitres nationaux non moins illustres et autorises, car il faut en finir peut-etre. J'y invite de la part de sir Walter Besant le Canada et l'Australie, et au nom de la presse francaise j'y reinvite la Belgique, qui a adhere a la convention de Berne, mais dont un citoyen m'ecrit, ce matin meme, de Bruxelles, 'En sept supplements de dimanche, cinq journaux bruxellois ont reproduit, sans en indiqu < la source, souvent meme sans designation d'aut . , cent vingt-neuf articles, nouvelles ou chroniques du Journal, Gaulois, etc., etc' "Et ceci, ami Nicolet, est memorable "Cordiales poignees de mains. "Emile Bergerat." .?»•«*— THE DEMAND FOR CHEAP BOOKS IN AMERICA. THE article in a recent number of the New York Tribune on the subject of cheap books attracted much attention, and many people who read it believed (says that journal) that by placing wholesome literature on the market at reasonable prices the unclean books of the United States would be driven out of the market and would follow the "penny dreadfuls" of England. Mr. John Elderkin said that he agreed with Sir Walter Besant, and saw only good in cheap books of a superior kind. He said: "It is now over twenty-five years since Donnelly, Lloyd, and Co., of Chicago, began the reprinting of standard novels in cheap paper quartos under the name of 'The Lakeside Library,' in order to fill in the time in dull seasons, when their presses were unoccupied by commercial printing, which was the business carried on by the firm. It was fully a year before this enterprise attracted any attention, although the circulation of novels in this cheap form was constantly increasing and the New York people were growing restive at the probable results. I remember riding uptown in the street- car with J. W. Harper, jun., a noble man, who was at that time the head of the firm of Harper and Bros., and urging him to protect his library of select novels by beginning their reissue at once in similar form. Mr. Harper did not realise fully at that time the gravity of the situation, and it was not until after the 'Seaside Library' had achieved a great success that the Harpers entered the field with their ' Franklin Square Library.' "The magnitude of the issue in cheap form of the standard novels is not realised by the pub- lishers of books in good bindings, or by the public generally. In the ' Seaside Library ' alone there were half a million copies sold of every one of Dickens's books during the first five years of their publication in that form. The novels of Sir Walter Scott, Amelia B. Edwards, Mrs. Henry Wood, "Ouida," William M. Thacke- ray, Fenimore Cooper, W. Clark Russell, and all the popular novelists who have come on the stage since have enjoyed an enormous popu- larity through the facility and cheapness of manufacture and the low rate of postage, not to speak of the competition among publishers, which have combined to send their works over the country in almost incredible quantities, bringing them within the reach of rich and poor. Later have come the 10 cent magazines, which have had such great success, and which are a direct offshoot of the cheap library serials. "I believe that the habit of reading and the number of readers of books in this country have been increased many fold by this good literature issued in cheap form. Now everybody reads books, and not even the daily newspapers, with their war extras and all the stimulating attrac- tions of pictures and coloured inks and blanket sheets, are able to counteract the strong desire on the part of the public for good fiction, which continues to sell in rather better form of paper and binding in enormous quantities. I think we have the greatest reading public in America ## p. 117 (#129) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. n7 which has ever existed in the history of the world, and that the taste of this public is improv- ing and demands a higher quality of literary work and illustration. In the old library serials it was the really good novels that had the largest sale. "That the better class of books has decreased the demand for all the class of literature which was formerly published in the dime novel series and in the weekly story papers is well known to all publishers of such matter. The dime novel business has absolutely passed out of existence. All the cheap weekly papers that have not materially changed their form and improved their literary contents and their illustrations have lost greatly in circulation. I could name a dozen authors who supplied the weekly press with the popular serials whose names were kuown from one end of the country to the other who are now almost forgotten and who have left no successors. Some of these writers had incomes of 10,000 dollars a year. I once offered the late Mrs. May Agnes Fleming 75,000 dollars for ten stories, which offer was declined. There is no such demand for stories by writers of Mrs. Fleming's quality as would justify any publisher of a cheap weekly paper in paying more than 500 dollars for a serial by one of them. The indications ef the improvement in the taste of the public in reading matter crop out on every side, and, prices being equal, the majority of readers will take the better book. My experience of twenty-five years as an editor justifies me in saying that the average quality of literary matter offered in the weekly papers is higher, showing that literary cultiva- tion of aspirants has improved, and that the average intelligence and faculty of writing are advancing. "I believe that books and libraries in this country are to enjoy still greater appreciation, and that we have been sowing seed in the last twenty- five years which will give to our publishers during the twentieth century an immensely remunerative business." Stephen F. Farrelly, manager of the American News Company, did not agree wholly with Mr. Elderkin as to the dislodgement of the low grade literature. "Cheap books," he said, " have stimulated the business and have made the sales larger every year, and have surely given those people who had the inclination an opportunity to read good books; but they have not driven the blood-and-thunder novels from the market. There is still a great demand for them, and I think it will continue for some time. There can be no doubt as to the improvement of the public taste through cheap books. This is shown by the great demand for the popular modern novels, somo of which have sold in phenomenal quantities." Mr. Farrelly said that standard works in cheap form could not be sold, and were really out of the market. People who want sets of Dickens, Scott, Thackeray, or other standard writers buy them for their libraries and want good and expen- sive editions; but new English novels and popular translations are wanted in cheap form. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—His First Play. I'VE been for some years the at once happy and unhappy author of a first play. You'll have guessed rightly that my happiness arises from my appreciation of the merits of that play, but you'll have guessed wrongly that my unhappiness arises from want of equal apprecia- tion on the part of managers. "It's wus nor that": I'm unhappy because it seems to me use- less to offer the piece to a manager at all—and I've never yet done so. It's in two acts, contains nine scenes, and—as far as I can judge from reading it aloud, and allowing time for "business" and scene-shifting —would take about an hour and a quarter, certainly not over an hour and a half. Now, it used to be common for a manager to give three pieces in an evening, and usually one of them, often two, would be of middle length. But the middle-length piece seems to have disappeared altogether. The entire performance now consists either of a single play taking three hours, or of two plays, of which the first takes only from half to three-quarters of an hour, while the second takes from two and a quarter to two and a half hours. I can't either shorten or lengthen the play without injuring it. And, rather than do that, I'd print it as a piece of literature, and never try to get it acted at all. But, if I wait ten years, is there any chance that the middle-length piece will have its day again? Or is there possibly even now a manager here and there in this country, or in America, who'd take such plays if he could get them to his mind? If so, where or how may he be found? I've been asked "Why don't you print it? That wouldn't prevent its being played after- wards." But wouldn't it? Wouldn't a manager think its freshness lost? Of course, if I did print it, probably only a few dozen people would ever see it; but the manager wouldn't know that —or, if he did know it, he might be so unac- quainted with the habits of the reading public as ## p. 118 (#130) ############################################ n8 THE AUTHOR. to suppose that the number of its readers must bear some relation to its interest. But is there any objection to printing "for private circulation only," and sending in that form to managers for their consideration? And would there be any harm in sending to reviews as well, for the purpose of obtaining press opinions which might help to get the piece pro- duced? Van Drusen. II.—Cheap Literature—An Echo from a Bookseller. Do not worry about the man who win sell a magazine at $d. Some people were alarmed when Mr. Stead supplied the best of all litera- ture at one penny per volume. He sold them, I suppose, in millions. We stocked them, and sold hundreds of some numbers for the first dozen or so; then we had less call for them, the novelty had worn off. Lawyers could have plenty of work at a penny a letter, but their fee is 3*. \d. Authors, don't worry! Get as much as you can for your work. If you give men your brains they won't appreciate it, and if Harmsworth was to give his magazine away he would not get all the custom; and if the Nineteenth Century was a penny a time very few more people would read it. There must be people to provide "all sorts and conditions of men" with the literature they want, and it is the lucky man who can read what the public really want, and can afford to do it at a price that will suit the pocket s of those he caters for. Get a shilling magazine as much worth is. as Harmsworth's, and it will sell pro- portionately well. nii J. P. III.—Typewritten Manuscripts (?). As a new member, may I ask if any notice of what would appear a contradiction in terms, has up to now been taken in your columns? I refer to the term used by editors " type-written manu- script*." Now, if a MS. be type-written it is quite evident that it cannot claim to being manuscript. Perhaps it seems a small matter, but surely our langua.e is not so poor, as be obliged to keep to the old term, when such an order of things has almost passed away. Permit me to make clearer my meaning. Pub- lishers advertise sometimes after this manner, as do also editors— 1. Type-written manuscripts (?) will receive careful attention," or 2. "Manuscripts of all kinds will receive con- sideration, &c." Alas! for the writer who knows no better, his beautifully Aanrf-written MS. receives but a passing glance—unless his writing is already well-known to the reader—many publishers not troubling to read books or articles unless type- written. Now, beginners are not all aware of this fact. Would not it be to the credit of the Society of Authors to put right this little matter? Auden Amyand. IV.—Amateur Journals. I have read with interest the correspondence on this subject, and while I believe that amateur journalism is no occupation for adults, I am assured from my own experience of it that very many writers of eminence have made their first bows to a reading public (small, but enthusiastic perhaps) by its means. As a child's toys predict the future tastes of the man, so does association with amateur journalism—in the youthful— indicate a natural inborn love of literature. The mature amateur journalist avows incom- petency and vanity since he would gladly join the ranks of paid writers had he talent enough for the purpose, but not being able to encompass this object, gratifies his conceit by gratuitous con- tributions to whatsoever publications will accept them. "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money," observed Dr. Johnson. Amateur writers of years of discretion should ponder upon it awhile. The inclosed little production I venture to send for your inspection, in which I am un- certain whether to take pride or shame after the lapse of intervening years, but over which I was at the time greatly busied, sufficed to introduce at least one young scribbler to print, whose book- lets are now familiar in our mouths as household words, and whose personality is pronounced in the London world of letters. The list of contributors will, I am sure, prove very interesting as years roll on. Meanwhile the editor is striving to emulate the successes of one or two of his staff. As Miss M. L. Pendered says, a magazine for young—necessarily amateur—writers, conducted by a professional editor, sympathetic and dis- criminating, might act with wholesome effect on the rising generation of writers; but its circula- tion would be restricted to the contributors and those interested in their work. To the general public their names would still remain unknown. Herbert W. Smith. ## p. 119 (#131) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. n9 BOOK TALE. DEAN STUBBS has written for the Vic- torian Era series a work entitled" Charles Kingsley and the Christian Social Move- ment." The book will contain two poems by Kingsley, which were originally published anony- mously in the group of tracts called " Politics for the People," and which have not appeared in the .collected edition of Kingsley. Messrs. Blackie will publish the book next month. A series of twelve books, furnishing a view of the world in 1900, is projected by Mr. Heine- oiann, under the editorship of Professor H. J. Mackinder. The first will be published at the beginning of next year, and the whole series will be completed early in 1900. Among the volumes and their authors are the following: "Britain and the North Atlantic," by Professor Mackinder; "Scandinavia and the Arctic Ocean," by Sir Clement R. Markham; "France and the Mediter- ranean," by M. Elisce Eeclus; "Central Europe," by Professor Joseph Partsch; "Africa," by Dr. J. Scott Keltie; "The Near East," by Mr . D. G. Hogarth; "The Far East," by Mr. Archibald Little; "The Russian Empire," by Prince Kro- potkin; "India," by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich; and " Australasia and Antarctics," by Dr. H. 0. Forbes. Mr. Harry Quilter is about to start business as publisher, with a view of filling the place left vacant by the death of William Morris and the closing of the Kelmscott Press. Fine art works will be his chief mitier, but he will also publish novels and general works, in which the printing, design, decoration, and binding will be made a feature. The first book from Mr. Quilter will appear next month. Mr. John Davidson's long-expected new lite- rary play will be published by Mr. Lane this month. "The New Rorne " is the title of a volume of verse by Mr. Robert Buchanan, which is to appear shortly. Miss Helen Hay, daughter of the American Ambassador, will bring out in London this autumn, through Messrs. Duckworth, a volume of poems, with the title " Some Verses." A new volume of stories, by Ian Maclaren, will appear during the autumn from Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. Mr. Crockett's Graphic serial, " The Red Axe," will be published shortly by Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. A new serial by him will begin in the Cornhill for 1899. A new edition of the works of Whyte-Melville is being edited by Sir Herbert Maxwell, for pub- lication by Messrs. Thacker. Mr. J. W. Headlam, of Cambridge, is preparing a volume on Bismarck and the new German Empire, which Messrs. Putnam will publish. Mr. William Jacks, formerly M. P. for Stirling- shire, who published a translation of Lessing's "Nathan " four years ago, has for some time been engaged upon a life of Bismarck, which will appear shortly. Two forthcoming biographies which will appeal to ecclesiastical readers are the Life and Letters of Dr. Henry Robert Eeynolds, by his sisters, and an account of the late Dr. Stoughton's career, by his daughter. Both will be brought out by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. A third work of similar interest is the Life of the Master of Uppingham, the Bev. Edward Thring, which has been written by his friend, Mr. George B. Parkin, Headmaster of the Collegiate School, Frederiekton, New Brunswick, and will be published shortly by Messrs. Macmillan. The life of Professor Henry Drummond, by Professor George Adam Smith, and that of the Rev. Dr. Dale, by his son, Mr. A. W. Dale, both to be published also by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton, are other interesting contributions to the leligious bio- graphies of the year. For the art interest, the book of this autumn will be the memoir of Sir John Millais, which has been done by his son, Mr. J. G. Millais, assisted by the copious diaries and notes kept methodically by the late President of the Royal Academy. Mr. Justin McCarthy has written a short history of the United States, designed for Eng- lish readers. It will come shortly from Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. Mr. George Gissing is editing an issue of Dickens's works for Messrs. Methuen. The last story written by the late Mr. James Payn is believed to be that which a " Christmas Tree," to be published by Messrs. Downey, will contain. It will be side by side in the volume with contributions by Miss Braddon, Mr. Frankfort Moore, Mr. Christie Murray, Mr. Baring Gould, Mr. G. Manville Fenn, and others. A new novel by Mr. Anthony Hope is to begin its serial appearance after Christmas, the title being " The King's Mirror," and the hero a royal lad, whose nurse not only imparts to him an idea of his greatness as a born king, but spanks him. Sportswomen are about to have a library for themselves. Miss Frances Slaughter is editing a series of volumes in which Mrs. Burn, daughter of Colonel Anstruther Thomson, writes on fox- hunting, Mrs. Penn Curzon, whose father was formerly master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, on stag hunting, and Susan, Countess ## p. 120 (#132) ############################################ 120 THE AUTHOR. of Malmesbury, on angling, while other noted sportswomen deal with various fields. There are to be two volumes at present, and possibly a third afterwards in this Sportswoman's Library, which Messrs. Constable are to publish, and which will be dedicated to the Countess of Worcester. One of the most popular books of this year is likely to be the biography of the late "Lewis Carroll," the children's favourite, which has been written by his nephew, Mr. S. D. Collingwood, and will be published at a moderate price by Mr. Fisher Unwin. It will be illustrated by many of his own sketches. Mr. Dodgson in his early years compiled three magazines, in manuscript, in which the genius which was afterwards to be shown in " Alice in Wonderland," is exhibited in little. There is also the record of a Russian tour with Canon Liddon, and new portraits of Mr. Ruskin, Tennyson, the Rossettis, Mr. Holman Hunt, Mr. George Macdonald, and others. Official people will be interested in the life of the late Mr. Henry Cecil Baikes, Postmaster- General, which is written by Mr. St. John Raikes and will be published this autumn. The new novel by Mrs. Edna Lyall, which is to appear this month, is laid in Keswick and London during the seventeenth century. "Hope the Hermit" is its title, and among the real characters who are introduced are George Fox and Archbishop Tillotson. A volume of essays on the philosophy of religion, by Mr. T. Bailey Saunders, will appear shortly. An interesting contribution to the literature on the pre-Baphaelite movement is about to be published. It will be Mr. Ruskin's letters to Rossetti between the years 1852 and 1867, which relate to various subjects, but are mainly con- nected with art. The volume, which is edited by Mr. William Rossetti and published by Mr. George Allen, will also contain letters by Brown- ing, Bell Scott, Coventry Patmore, and others. Mr. Euskin enjoys good health. "The Life of William Morris," by Mr. J. W. Mackail, will appear this autumn from Messrs. Longmans. A study by Mr. Sheridan Pureell, of Cardinal Newman as Anglican and as Catholic, will be published by Messrs. Macmillan. A novel by Mr. A. J. Dawson, dealing with Moorish life in the Riff country, and in Tangier, and entitled " Bismillah," is to be published in a few days by Messrs. Macmillan. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge has written a history of the parishes of Hursley and Otterbourne, which Messrs. Macmillan will publish. A biography of Sir Astley Cooper Key, by Admiral Colomb, is among Messrs. Methuen's forthcoming books. A new threepenny magazine is to follows fast on the appearance of the Harmsworth, and in the same field. A million copies of the Royal Magazine, as it is to be called, will be printed and out by Oct. 14. Messrs. Pearson are the firm to publish it. It is eloquent of the scale upon which such things are done, that Messrs. Pearson pro- pose to spend .£20,000 in advertising the maga- zine, and to put aside £50,000 which they are pre- pared to exhaust to run it. The Harmsworth last month, by the way, raises its price to $\d. in order to give the booksellers a working profit. A sixpenny magazine for girls is also being started this month. It will be called the GrirVs Realm, and the publishers are Messrs. Hutchin- son. "Paterson's Parish, a Lifetime Amongst the Dissenters," by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Parker, of the City Temple, will be published in October by Mr. Thomas Burleigh. A story of peasant life in the Ardennes entitled "God is Love," by Mr. T. Mullett Ellis, author of " Tales of the Klondyke," will be published very shortly by Mr. Thomas Burleigh. An unconventional novel, entitled "A Social Upheaval," by Isidore G. Ascher, will be pub- lished in the early autumn by Messrs. Lawrence Greening and Co. The book will present certain aspects of socialism in a novel and humorous manner, with a background of strong sensational incidents. "The Main Chance," by Miss Christabel Cole- ridge, which has been running through the Monthly Packet for 1898, will be brought out in one volume form by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett. during the autumn. Messrs. Chapman and Hall have in the press a work by Mr. A. Eedcote Dewar on "From Matter to Man : a New Theory of the Universe." The work demonstrates in detail the natural evolution of man, life and mind; the arguments, being backed by a wealth of illustration from every department of science. Mr. Herbert Morrah, author of " The Faithful City," published last year by Messrs. Methuen„ has a new novel ready. The book is entitled "The Optimist," and will appear during the present month. Messrs. Pearson are the pub- lishers. Professor Skeat has nearly completed his edition of "jElfric's Saints' Lives," printed for the Early English Text Society. This edition,, begun nearly seventeen years ago, is founded on MS. Julius E. 7, in the British Museum, and con- tains about thirty-seven Homilies, most of which ## p. 121 (#133) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 121 are here printed for the first time. -SUlfric's Homilies, originally written at the close of the tenth century, were re-transcribed and imitate 1 during nearly two centuries, and he is therefore justly regarded as the father of early English prose, for which reason his name is worthy of being held in honour by students of pure English. A new book by the Poet Laureate will appear shortly. The title is " Lamia's Winter Quarters." Mr. Wasey Sterry leads off, with a volume on Eton, a series of histories of our great public schools by various writers, which Messrs. Methuen have projected. We summarise as follows a number of works of fiction which are announced: "Windy Haugh," by Graham Travers (Blackwood); "The Phan- tom Army," by Mr. Max Pemberton; and "Despair's Last Journey," by Mr. David Christie Murray (Pearson); "Rodman, the Boat-Steerer," by Mr. Louis Becke, and "The Romance of a Midshipman," by Mr. Clark Russell (Unwin); "The Battle of the Strong," a romance of 1798, by Mr. Gilbert Parker. Mrs. Gertrude Atherton is just publishing, through Mr. Lane, a story entitled "The Cali- fornians," and in the spring a short novel called "A Daughter of the Vine" will be published from her pen. Mr. George Laurence Gomme is extending his studies in the way of illustrating periods of history by the means of romantic literature. A year ago he edited some specimens of this kind in English history, calling the volume " The King's Story Book." He is editing Constable's Library of Historical Novels and Romances (which has been coming out at somewhat long intervals) in which are Lord Lytton's "Harold, the Last of the Saxon Bangs," Charles Macfarlane's "The Camp of Refuge," and Kingsley's "Westward Ho! Mr. Gomme is now editing a Tolume to be called "The Queen's Story Book," which will begin with the Battle of Hastings, and end with the Chartist riots, and contain examples selected from Scott, Thackeray, Lytton, Galt, Ainsworth, Defoe, Peacock, Beaeonsfield, and other writers. The International Press Congress at Lisbon has just finished its work, and we hope to give some account of its sittings in our November issue from the pen of Mr. James Baker. This writer, who was in September acting as special corre- spondent in Holland at Queen Wilhelmina's installation, his articles appearing in the Pall Mall Gazette and the Queen, is now in Lisbon. He has just seen the last sheets of his new novel through the press. This is of the same period as his last work, " The Gleaming Dawn," but does not deal with the religious struggles of the 15th century; it is a story of adventure. Mr. Michael MacDonagh proposes t:i do for Irish wit and humour in his book, " Irish Life and Character," which Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton will shortly publish, what Dean Ramsay in his popular work "Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character" has done for Scotland. It will be the first attempt which has been made to give a complete picture of the manners, customs, and ways of thought of the Irish people, illustrated by copious anecdote and the personal experiences of the author. Among forthcoming novels is one by Mr. James M. Graham, whose historical romance, "The Son of the Czar," took a conspicuous place among the successful books of last year. Mr. Graham's new story is called "A World Bewitched." As the title indicates, the subject dealt with is that most painful of superstitions which was almost universal among Christians a few centuries ago. There were men of commanding genius, men. like Rabelais, Montaigne, Shakespeare, who heartily despised the prevailing belief in witchcraft. There were sceptics of a more sinister kiud, who, from motives of gain, vengeance, or delight in human wretchedness, took advantage of the general credulity to keep the fires of the stake in constant activity; and the sceptics last referred to figure prominently in Mr. Graham's tale. The period chosen is the early part of the 17th century. The scene is laid in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees. The publishers will be Messrs. Harper and Brothers. PUBLICATIONS OF THE YEAR 1397. LE DROIT D'AUTEUR " gives the follow- ing statistics for the year 1897 in an extremely interesting article containing a mass of information, for which we must refer our readers to the pages of our valuable con- temporary: Great Britain— New books New edition,.. Total United Sea tea France Germany Italy Holland Denmark Norway Sweden . 1896. 1897. 1 5234 6244 1339 1682 6573 7926 5703 4928 12,738 13.799 23,861 23.339 9778 9732 2880 1128 1167 S77 529 1506 1642. ## p. 122 (#134) ############################################ I 22 THE AUTHOR. It will be remarked that the United States «hows a diminution. Austria and Russia have made no returns. Those for Hungary have not advanced beyond 1895 (1407). The analyst of the publications of the United States presents several interesting features:— Works by authors of other nationalities printed iu the United S a'es. New Publications. Works by American authors. s ■ n 11 0 3d O 0 m ■ k 0 K >5 713 156 358 352 «59 474 35 491 — 18 447 45 376 23 93 Educational 395 36 385 4 42 Literary history and 261 '54 313 ■5 87 3'9 50 299 9 61 175 21 155 2 39 180 67 ■34 29 84 166 22 116 7 65 History 189 49 180 11 47 Biography 193 12 71 22 112 129 24 132 3 18 Travels 149 20 99 9 61 Fine arts and illus- trated works 108 3« 11 4 124 Mechanical arts ... 96 H 82 28 Philosophy 70 6 47 4 25 Domestic and rural economy 52 5 35 — 22 Comic and satirical 33 5 19 — 24 17 5 15 1 6 Total 4171 757 3?i8 495 i"5 OBITUARY. WE regret to announce the death of the Earl of Desart. His lordship caught a cold while on board his yacht at Wendur, and died a few days later—on September 15— from internal inflammation. He had been an invalid for many years, and was fifty-three years of age. William Ulick O'Connor Cuffe, the late Earl of Desart, was the fourth Earl, and was a son of the third Earl and of a daughter of the first Earl Cawdor. He succeeded his father in 1865, and married Ellen, daughter of H. L. Bischoffsheim, of Bute House, South Audley- street, London. He was the author of numerous novels, including "Children of Nature," "Kelver- .dale," "Helen's View," "Lord and Lady Piccadilly," "Love and Pride on an Iceberg," and others, his last work being "The Raid of the Detrimental," which was published by Messrs. Pearson last year. He also did a little in journalism. His death makes the second loss within a few months to the Council of the Society of Authors, of which the late Earl was a member for ten years. The remains were interred on Monday, the 19th ult., at Lord Falmouth's picturesquely situated little cemetery. The coffin was borne to the graveside by eight y a chtsmen. The chief mourners were the Countess of Desart, the Hon. Sir J. Hamilton, and Lady Margaret Cuffe, Major and Lady Kathleen Pilkington, Captain the Hon. Otway Cuffe, the Hon. A. E. Henniker, and Mrs. Wemyss. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [August 24 to Sept. 23.—304 Books.] Adcock, A. St. J. In the Image of God 3/6. Skefflngton. Alexander, A. Physical Training at Home. 2/- net. Cox. Anderson. R. J. Hereiity. 1/2. Galway: M. Claytosu Andom, R. Martha and I. 3/6. Jarrold. Andrews, S. J. Christianity and anil-Christianity in their Final Con- Iliet. 0- Putnam. Andrews, William. Bygone Punishments. 7/6. Andrews. Anonymous. A Bitter Penitence. 1/6. Stevens. Anonymous. Booke of Sundry Draughtes, principalv serving for Glasiers, and not impertinent for Plasterers and Gardiners, Ac. 10,6. Reprint of original 1615 edition. Leadenhall Press. Anonymous (Author of "Bertha's Fate"). Knight or Knave? 1/6. Stevens. Anonymous (E. A. D.). Gift of Best. 1/- Frowde. Anonymous (An Expert Oil Refiner). Oils, Tallow, and Grease, for Lubricatira, Ac. 7/6 net. Scott and Greenwood. Anonymous (E. E H.). Allie. or The Little Irish Girl. 1/6. Gall. Anonymous (A German Staff Officer). Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Tr. by Frederica Bolton. 5/- Sonnenschein. Anonymous (Auth ir of " Laddie "). Belle. 3/6. Chambers. Anonymous. Elizabeth and her German Garden. 6/- Macmillan. Arnold, D Tales and Rhymes for Happy Times. 2/6. Bel. Tract Soc. Arnold, T. Notes on Beowulf. 3/6. Longmans. Asplen, L O. A Thousand Years of English Church History. *7- net. Bell. Avery, H. The Triple Alliance. A Tale 3/6. Nelson. Bslfour, Andrew. To Arms! 6/- Methuen. Ballard, S (tr.) Fairy Tales from Far Japan. 2/6. Bel. Tract Soc. 1'ankea, A. Essays and Enigmas. 2/6. Partridge. Barlow, Jane. From the East unto the West. A Novel. 6/- Methuen. Barnby, L. H. Some Elementary Remarks on Musical Theory. 1/- Weekes. Barrett, G. S. Musings for Quiet Hours. 1/6. Rel. Tract Soc ^arrows, S. J. The Isles and Shrines of Greece. 8/6. Low. Bedford, H. L. The Twins that did not Pair. 2/- Bel. Tract 8oc. Bell, Mackenzie. Pictures of Travel, and other Pi 7/6. 3/6. Hurst. Cath. Truth Soc White. Banks. 7/6. Cox. Ward and L. Oliphant. Low. Bellord. Meditations on Christian Dogma. Bentley, H. C. A Near Thing, Ac. 1/- Berry, G. J. Iscah: A Tale for the Times. 3/6. Bickerdyke, John. Practical Letters to Young Se Bird. M. The Seeker. 1/- Black, M. M. Robert Louis Stevenson. 1/6. Black, William. Wild Eelin. 6/- Blake, E. On the Study of the Hand for Indications of General Disease 2/6 net. H. J. Glaisher. Block, Louis J. Oapriccios. 5/- Putnam. Blunt, Wilfrid. The Poetry of. Selected and arranged by W. E. Henley and George Wyndham. 6/- Heinemann. Bosanquet, Mrs. B. The Standard of Life, and Other Studies. 3/6 net Macmillan. Brassey. T. A. The Royal Naval Reserve, the Mercantile Marine, and the Colonies. 1/- Stanford. Rrocklehurst, F. I was in Prison. 2/6 net. Cnwin. Brodrick, Hon. Mrs. A. Ananias: A Novel. 6/- Methuen. Brooke, Emma. Factory Laws of European Countries in so far as they relate to Women and Children. 2/6 net Richards. Biuce, C. Birthday Book of Proverbs. 1/- W. P. Nimmo. Bryant, Sophie. The Teaching of Christ. 2/6. Sonnenschein. Burchard, H. H. A Text.Book of Dental Pathology and Therapeutics. 22/- net. H. Kimpton. Burns, D. Temperance in the Victorian Age. 1/- Ideal Publishing Union. ## p. 123 (#135) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 123- Barrel 1, A. He*r Speaking and Good Beading. 2/6. Longmans. Batch, Dr. M. Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his Hhvory. 30/- net. Macmillan Butler, W, C. Modern Practical Confectioner. 1/- net. Caine, O. V. Face to Face with Napoleon. 5/- Caird. Mona. The Pathway of the Hods. 6/- Campion. H. The Secret of the Poles. 1/- net Simpkin. Niabet. Skjfflngton. Birmingham: tVhite and Price. Constable. Arrowsmitb. Hutchfnson. Hodges. Rivington. Putnam. Cassell. Tract Soc. Wesley. Unwin. The Rights Longmans. From the Quaritch. Wesley. Campbell, W. D Beyond the Border. 6/- Capes, Bernard. The Mysterious Singer. I/- Carey. RosaN MolhVs Prince. 6/- Carv. U. H. Key to Elementary Book-keeping by Double Entry. 3/6. S mpkln. Cave. R. H. The Church and the Prayer-Book. 1/- net. Cheriton, W. W. A Simplified Euclid. Book I. 1/6. Cheyne. T. K Jewish Religious Life after the Exile, 6/- ChivnelL R. The Life and Paintings of Vicat Cole. 63'- Clapperton, J. A. Method of Soul-Culture. 1/6. Ret, Clark, H. L. Synapta Vivipara, 7/6 net. Clark, F. E (ed.) A Daily Message for Christian Endeavourera. 2/6. Bowden. Clegg, J- R- The Huah-a-By Papers. I/- Clough. Emma R. A Study of Mary Wollstonecraft and < of Woman.'* 7/d. Colvin. Sidney (ea). A Florentine Picture-Chronicle. Pictures by Maso Finiguerra. Conant, F. S. The Cuboraedusa;. 17/6 net. Connolly, J. The Experiences of a Local Secretary Twenty Years Ago. 1/6. Unwin, Cooper-King, C. The British Army and Auxiliary Forces. 807- 0 as sell. Cox, Emily. Courtship and Chemicals. 3/6. Ward and L. Coxon, Ethel. Within Bounds. 6/- Constable. Croker, E. J. O'B. Retrospective Lessons on Railway Strikes. 2/6. Simpkin. Crosskey. L. R. Elementary Perspective. 3/6. Blackie. Cupp'es, Mrs. George. Youug Bright Eye. 1/6. Gall. Cuihbertson, E. J. Tennyson. 1/- Chambers. Davidson. T. Rousseau, and Education according to Nature. 5/- Heinemann. Davis, Ellen L. Fencote's Fate. 1/6. Bel. Tract Soc. Davis, Richard Harding. The King's Jackal. 3/6. Heinemann. Dawe, Carlton. The Voyage of the " Pulo Way." 3/6. Ward and L. Dearmer, P. Cathedral Church of Wells. 1/6. Bell. De Broglie, E. (tr. by M Partridge). Saint Vincent de Paul. 3/- Duck worth. De Coulevain, P. American Nobllity. 6/- L iw. Demidoff, E. Hunting Trips in the Caucasus. 21/- net. R. Ward. Demollns, E. Anglo-Saxon Supei iurity: To What is it Due? 3/6. Leadenhall Press. De Sali«. Mrs. The Housewife's Referee. 2/6. Hutchinson. Divani Shamsi Tabriz: Selected Poems. Ed. and tr. by R. A. Nicholson. 12/- Clay. Dole, N. H (ed.). Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Eng., Fr., Ger , It., and Dan. Translations arranged in accordance with Fi'z- Gerald's version. With further selections and other material. Macmillan. Bowden. 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Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 05 (October 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 05 (October 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-10-01-The-Author-9-5 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/320/1898-09-01-The-Author-9-4.pdf 99c5953586021c513ccef3cf403dc4f7 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) 1898-09-01 Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages Page range in volume 81–100 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980901 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XL he Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.') CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 4.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1898. [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. Commnnioations 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. FOB some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notioes, &o., 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 his 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 TOL. IX. 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, whieh 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 rides. It is 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. Headers 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 objeoted 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those aooount books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements, and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. i 2 ## p. 82 (#94) ############################################## 82 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. INVERT member has a right to ask for and to receive IU advice upon his 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 advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with oopyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudnlent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the oountry. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing important to literature that yon may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreement and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offera:—(1) To read and advise npon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action npon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. Communications for The Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21 st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communioate 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 oommunioating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanoed 15 per cent." This clanse was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amonnt charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of frand; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. NOTICES. THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to reoeive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing oan do more good to the Sooiety 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? LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—The Publishers' Draft Agreements. fT^HE following expressions of opinion are S from various sources, in writing and com- municated by word of mouth, abridged and in full. I venture to invite the judgment of all our readers upon these model agreements, but put as briefly as possible. So far there has been complete unanimity of condemnation: with some there has been astonishment, and even a kind of dismay, at the discovery that nothing ever ## p. 83 (#95) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 83 advanced in The Author or in the papers pub- lished by the Society has fallen so far short of the real truth. An opinion signed has, of course, far more weight than one that is anonymous. 1. I entirely agree with you as to the gross unfairness of the terms which you comment on in The Author as being those indorsed by the Publishers' Association. Only a very weak vessel could possibly be induced to subscribe them, but then the raison d'etre of our Society is precisely that this weaker vessel should be strengthened. That any author should give away his Tauch- nitz rights, American rights, and dramatic rights, in this wholesale way seems inconceivable, but I should have thought it equally inconceivable that any honourable body of men should have asked for such a sacrifice. If in the face of your exposure any author signs such terms, then he deserves his fate. A. Conan Doyle. TJndershaw, Hindhead, Haslemere. 11. I desire to call renewed attention, in addition to the points already raised, to a view of the subject that has not been received with the consideration which it deserves. It is this. The relations of author and publisher have been discussed repeatedly for the last fifteen years. During that time the position of the author and his extremely modest claims have been stated and re-stated over and over again. The latter simply ask for the same safeguards as exist in all other kinds of partnership, and it has been urged over and over again—(1) that the property belongs ,originally to the author: (2) that he has a right to know what any proposed agreement, except that for sale outright, means for either side: and (3) that on any form of profit-sharing agree- ment, including royalty, an audit of the books must be open to the author. Of course, as a matter of fact, it is open by common law, but this fact is studiously concealed. Now, not one of these claims is even noticed. What does this mean? It may mean (1) a resolu- tion to keep silence unless they are forced to speak: or (2) an impudent refusal to answer, or even to consider, the claims of an author: or (3) a real belief that the whole administration of literary property belongs to them as a right, and that they mean to do just what they please with it. But can they believe in this monstrous preten- sion? Can they really think that another man's property is to be treated exactly as they please for their own profit? Why — what is the present position? It is notorious that not a single author of any position in the literary world—not one—would consent to sign an agree- ment on these terms, so humorously styled "equitable"! This they must know perfectly well: they cannot choose but know it. No literary agent would dare to consent to such terms, not one: not even one who sells his clients to the publishers, would dare to accept such an agree- ment. Now since the publication of the meaning of the Cost of Production and the actual trade prices, the pecuniary position of the author has doubled in value. Yet our friends actually believe that we are going to sacrifice all the advance we have made, and to accept terms far more degrading to the author than ever were offered at any period, even the worst and lowest, in the history of literary folk. A. in. These terms by which publishers declare that it is " equitable " for them to have the power of pocketing as much of the profits as they please are the work of a committee which numbers on its body two names which have hitherto commanded general respect. I submit that Messrs. Long- man and Murray owe it to their historical and hereditary position as publishers to explain how they defend these claims, and to show what services they render to a book which can possibly entitle them to load the returns with percentages of whatever they please on every single item either of cost or of sale. They should also explain (1) why they leave themselves the right of charging for advertisements not paid for: (2) why they ignore the common law right of everybody to audit the accounts of his own property; and (3) why they claim office expenses for themselves which they deny to the bookseller and the author. B. IV. I beg to express the hope that the Society of Authors will not be drawn into the snare of arbitrating or submitting these questions to any form of argument. Arbitration means concession. Here there must be no concession. They are against the whole principles of the Society as set forth from the beginning. The only course, I submit, for the Society to follow is to reply by tearing up the documents and refusing even to argue upon them. C. v. I venture to hope that the question of office expenses will not be lost sight of. An agreement which claims for the publisher an allowance for office expenses which it does not allow the book- seller or the author is simply preposterous. The office expenses of the former are a great deal heavier in proportion than that of the publisher, while the author has office expenses sometimes ## p. 84 (#96) ############################################## 84 THE AUTHOR. of a very heavy nature, especially in copying or typewriting work. D. VI. Has not the time come when the stronger writers should make a stand and insist on the insertion of certain clauses? For instance, the unpaid advertisements and the "exchanges ": the clause providing for an audit: the clause about office expenses. These should all be pro- vided for. It would surely be perfectly easy for the author to give instructions as to these points. There would not be the least difficulty in obtain- ing the concessions at once. I would suggest that the author should be provided with such an agreement by the Secretary, or that the literary agent should be instructed by the author to present an agreement in which such clauses and others should be inserted. The following seem to me the most im- portant: (i.) The right of audit must not be left to a common law right, but must be actually inserted in the agreement and acted upon. (2.) The advertisement plunder must be definitively stopped. (3.) Office expenses must be allowed, if at all, then for all parties concerned—say 2^ per cent. to author, publisher, and book- seller. Of course this allowance may not pay the office expenses, especially of the author. But the allowance will at least recognise them. (4.) The author if he pleases may have a veto on the papers used for advertising in. (5.) No percentages at all to be charged upon anything. And any discounts allowed must be entered in the accounts. Do you think that the publisher will refuse these terms to an author of repute 'i If so, let the author come to me, and I think I can show him a better way. E. VII. It is greatly to. be hoped that the publication of these agreements may hurry up the inevitable, namely, that publishing must become a business conducted on the same terms as all others: that of competition. So long as money is to be made out of selling the works of an author, people will be found to compete for his work, and to make, if they can, their own terms, screwing out of him as much work for as little pay as possible, and screwing out of the bookseller as much money as they can. This has always been going on under various pretences: risk, to begin with: friendship: bad times: awful expenses of pro- duction—we know the rest. Now that we know what these things really mean, we ought to be able to fight our battles for ourselves. But since authors are not great at conducting their own affairs, we have to call in an agent whose neart should be like the nether millstone for hardness. He will not drink champagne: he will not weep over bad times: he smiles at the " heavy cost: he will not admit the risk: he is inflexible about office expenses: and will not admit of friendship in business. The ways of business for all others are hard: the publishers for too many years have made their ways easy and tender for themselves. They are now entering upon paths that are gritty and ways that are thorny, like other men who buy and sell. F. II.—The Country Bookseller. Being away from home, and alone in a large provincial town of 140,000 people, I wanted something to read. I went out to look for a bookseller's shop, and tramped through the prin- cipal streets in search. I had almost given up my quest when I found one, and entered. "I think you must be the only bookseller in the town," said I. "I am the only real bookseller. There is one other, but he goes in for photographs, painted tambourines, and such like, as well as books." "Do you really mean to say that one bookseller is enough for the wants of a town of a hundred and forty thousand inhabitants?" I asked, astounded. "Yes, sir. That is the sad fact." "But even you are not what I call a bookseller. Where are the novels of the day?" He took me outside, and pointed proudly to a six-shilling book. "There is the novel of the hour," he said. And sure enough, in company with perhaps two dozen others, was the book; its name I will not mention. "Have you got ?" I asked. "No, sir, I'm afraid not." I had asked for a book which last year ran into, I think, 50,000 copies. No; with the exception of the few books in his window he had no other new literature. "I suppose," I said, "that the big draper up the street who is selling cheap reprints at four- pence ha'penny spoils your trade? "Not a bit, he answered. "The call for that stuff is going off; in fact, some of them can't sell the stock they've got." "Then do you sell many copies of six-shilling books?" "Well, no; unless there is a great talk of a book we sell very few. The price will have to come down to three shillings, and I think that ## p. 85 (#97) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 85 will kill the libraries. They are the things that stop the sale of new books." I chose a cheap reprint, and went out to think over what I had seen and heard. A large and important provincial town, known the world over, with but one bond fide book- seller! One to 140,000! Under such circumstances, how is the unknown author to have a fair chance? Alan Oscar. III.—The Publishing Trade in Germany. Exclusive of specialist publications, 3477 political and advertising papers were issued in 1752 German centres last year, being at the rate of one per 12,092 inhabitants, or per 157 square kilometres, In Switzerland the proportion is one to 7581 inhabitants, or 107 square kilometres, while in Austria the corresponding figures are 72,290 and 1167. This is, no doubt, a conse- quence of the different legislation in these countries. Austria still retains the newspaper stamp. Germany has nine papers that appear more than twice daily, and 79 that appear twelve to thirteen times a week, 1185 six to seven times, and 1745 two to five times. The number of specialist publications is 3056. The export trade in German books amounted in 1896 to the value of about 62 million marks, and the import of foreign books to 20 millions. Austria-Hungary bought 28 million marks' worth, Switzerland (in millions 0f marks) 7.6, the United States 7.2, Russia 5.8, England 3.2, Holland 2.8, France 2, Belgium and Scandinavia 1.2, and Italy and Denmark 800,000 marks' worth. From Austria-Hungary Germany imported 7.2 million marks' worth of b0oks; from Switzerland, 3.2; from France, 3.8; from Holland and the United States, 1.6; from Russia, more than 700,000 marks' worth; and from England, 650,000 marks' worth. The small value of the books imported from England is evidently due t0 the fact that Tauchnitz and other German firms publish enormous numbers of English works.—Standard. IV.—The Internationale Liteea. TUEBEEICHTE. Those members of the Society of Authors who read German may be glad to be made acquainted with the fortnightly Internationale Litera- turberichte (Leipzig, Grimmaischer Steinweg, No. 2 ; quarterly subscription, 1.75 marks, annual ditto, including postage to England, 7.50 marks), the official organ of the " Deutscher Sehriftsteller- Verband," "Verein fur Massenverbreitung guter Schriften," "Litterarischen Vereine Minerva und Neue Klause," "Deutscher Shriftstellerinnen- buud," and of the " Deutscher Press Club zu New York." For some little time the periodical has been courteously forwarded to our offices by the editor, and we have much pleasure in recommend- ing it to the notice of our readers. Its contents are not merely official. Two or more articles on literary subjects of the day appear in each number, and in addition to these, very useful lists of new books in German, French, English, and Italian. Newly appearing German periodicals are also announced. In conclusion, some literary gossip, a few short notices of books, and (a feature interesting to book collectors) announce- ments of the latest catalogues published by the principal German secondhand booksellers make up a goodly amount of information in return for the very moderate price of the publication. V.—The Right to Destroy. Mr. D. F. Hannigan sends us the following letter, together with the post-card referred to. The latter simply says that the firm will be pleased to receive 4d. in stamps, to cover postage of the MS., " otherwise we must destroy it." The qu- s- tion is, whether they have the right to destroy a MS. under the circumstances. Of course it may be argued that an author cannot expect any house to keep a MS., after refusal, indefinitely, and then comes the question what to do if the author does not send stamps. The Editor, The Author.—Dear Sir,—I would like to know whether, when an author submits a MS. to a publisher, and omits to enclose stamps for return of the MS., the pub- lisher has a right to destroy the MS. I happen to be a barrister, and I was oertainly under the impression that the destruction or mutilation of MSS. without authority from the owner was a criminal offence. Early in January, 1897,1 submitted a MS., entitled " Tales of Witchcraft," to Mr. David Nutt. I intended, as I had heard from him that he did not see his way to undertake the publication at his own cost, to send him stamps for return. By inadvertence I neglected to do so. Judge of my astonishment at receiving from him a post-card (which I enclose) stating that, unless stamps were sent, he would destroy the MS. Has he any snch right by law ?—Yours faithfully, D. F. Hannioan. [Note by the Seceetary.—The answer to this paragraph seems to be quite clear. Mr. Nutt would have no right whatever to destroy the MS. If he did so destroy it he certainly would not be open to criminal proceedings, but the author could bring an action for damages. If, however, the author did not return the stamps the publishers of course might be free either to return the MS. postage not paid, or return it postage paid and sue the author (the latter would be a bad plan from the publishers' point of view) or retain it at his office until the author . hose to comply with his request.—G. Herbert Thring.] ## p. 86 (#98) ############################################## 86 THE AUTHOR. VI.—The Book Trade with America. The book trade between the United Kingdom and the United Stites for the eleven months ending May 1897 was as follows: Exported from England, duty free" .£177,496 „ „ dutiable 167,076 Imported from the States during the same period 166,712 For the eleven months ending May, 1898: Exported from England, duty free .£118,678 „ dutiable 177,13 7 Imported from the States 154,839 These figures are quoted, with others showing the whole book trade of the States, in the Publishers' Circular from the New York Pub- lishers' Weekly. VII.—Amalgamation of Publishers. The firm of Bentley is absorbed by the firm of Macmillan. Whether the absorption will in any way advance the interests of literature or the position of literary people remains to be seen. Those who formerly rallied round Bentley will perhaps rally round Macmillan, and perhaps they will not. The papers have been giving the history of the Bentleys, which is interesting on account of the names which have been from time to time connected with them. Some of them have dwelt upon the honourable character of the late firm, a thing which one is always pleased to learn, especially if the assurance is based upon the evidence of the authors concerned. IN MEMORIAM.-E. LYNN LINTON. Reverberant in the van her trumpet blew; Tried Champion of the weak against the strong, For cause she loved, 'gainst cause she loathed as wrong. "Ever a fighter," her keen sword she drew, Eager to smite the ignoble thro' and thro', Bnt tenderest of the tender—Where the Song To shrine thy name for aje above the throng, O Woman sweet, and truest of the true! Now, where o'er Cumbria's crags grey mists are curl'd, No more with Thoughts illusive strivings vex't, No more by Life's enigma dread perplez't, She sleeps - her armour doffed, her banner furled: Brave worker in the vineyard of this world, Flash yet diviner influence from the next! C. A. Kelly. NOTES AND NEWS. IN another column will be found a note in which a writer complains of having to sign a docu- ment resigning his copyright. It is a very common trick to send a printed form of receipt which the author is expected to sign without per- ceiving that by doing so he has been trapped into resigning his copyright. In such a case as this the author only has to remember that he must put his pen thruugh the words which con- vey the forfeiture of copyright, and that he must substitute for them the words " Serial right only in England," or words to that effect. By this means he may preserve his property. The words are, generally, " for the whole rights of," &c. Of course, if the editor bargains beforehand for the copyright, it becomes then a simple question of acceptance or refusal. "The authors and writers of Great Britain are under lasting obligations to Sir Walter Besant. Under the title of The Aut/wr that gentleman publishes each month a journal that offers to the professional and amateur writer so able and con- vincing a proof of his superiority to the publisher that the entire guild could be readily pardored for rising and calling the editor blessed. In the June number of The Author (which is published, of course, in London) the ways of the grasping and mercenary publisher of books are laid bare in a dozen ways. The long-suffering writer is taught how vast a profit there always is in the publication of his work; he is shown how easily and consciencelessly he is robbed; he is implored not to dispose of anything so valuable as a virgin manuscript until he has secured a contract giving himself all the profits and the publishers nothing but deficits and debts. The Author should flourish amazingly. It doubtless does."—The Criterion (New York), July 23. The above was sent to me by three or four anonymous persons, acting independently, yet with one consent, all presumably anxious to con- vince me that a certain portion of the Press of New York still maintains its reputation. I do not know the paper—the Criterion—at all, save from the single number sent to me, which con- tains this remarkably truthful statement. The trick of it is to state a small portion of the truth sandwiched between other statements that not even Barnum could call truths. Thus The Author does really, as stated by the fabricator, lay bare the ways of the grasping and merce- nary publishers in as many ways as can be discovered—thanks to the committee of the ## p. 87 (#99) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 87 Publishers' Association we have now learned a good many more than were previously suspected by most of us. But as the editor is not engaged in publisbing, there is no possible question of " superiority " to publishers. Again, the writer is nowhere taught by The Author " how vast a profit there always is in the publication of his work"—the word "always," instead of "may be," conveys the fabrication: he is shown how easily he is robbed: that is true: he is not implored to secure all the profits and "give the publisher all the deficits and debts ": that is a falsehood: nor is it possible, if you come to think of it, for the same book to have both profits and deficits. We are accustomed to this sort of thing in one or two of our own papers: it occurs in them when- ever the editor can be persuaded to slip in such a paragraph. But why does a New York paper go out of its way to invent stuff like this about a matter with which its readers can have no possible concern? And why this parade of misrepresen- tation over the management by English writers of their own property? It is not the first time that an American paper has offered a prayer to the Father of Fabrications, and obtained that prayer, for freedom of imagina- tion in speaking about me. In my humble person I have received several courtesies of the same pleasing kind from the same quarter. On another occasion in instance, a Boston paper of the baser sort informed its readers that I had for a whole twelvemonth been lecturing through the States "on Theosophy, accompanied by a lady who was not his wife." I do not know which was the more impudent charge. And another paper, whose name I forget, once informed its readers that, in certain writings or remarks of mine, I had been comparing myself with Thackeray, "to the great disadvantage of the latter!" Meantime The Author, and the Society which publishes it, are as prosperous as can be expected, and their friends the publishers have now condemned themselves in far plainer and harder language than The Author has ever used concerning them. No one must judge of America or the Ameri- cans by quotations or extracts from certain speci- mens.of their Press. It is quite possible to have troops of friends in the States, and yet to receive such tributes as these. In one sense the writers are impartial: like the sunshine and the rain they bless all alike, the small as well as the great. There are papers in our own country, I dare say, which are as bad as any in America, but we need not rake the gutters to find them. It must be remembered, when we speak of the American YOL, ix, Press, that it is not all like the Criterion and the other papers I have mentioned: that the leading articles: the "London Letters" and telegrams: and the columns of news in American papers do contain a great deal that is fair and appreciative, while it is critical, concerning our ways, our actions, and our people. It must also be remembered that the American point of view is not ours. Especi- ally have I observed this desire to be fair in their London Letter, which seems to me, so far as I have had the opportunity of reading it in Ameri- can papers, to be generally written in a spirit of which we have nothing to complain. Of course, I have not seen the London Letter, if there is one, of the New York Criterion. If one could venture to suggest anything to the editor of a London daily, I would ask him to think over the appoint- ment of an American journalist to write for his London columns a London Letter on English affairs as they seem to an American with friendly critical eyes. Such a letter would sometimes lead that editor's readerR to consider themselves. The Committee canmt be expected to trans- act any business of importance at this time of year. Nothing further, therefore, has been done with reference to the Draft Agreements of the Publishers' Association. I trust that something will be done, and I hope that the expression of opinion which will be found in another column will be continued. Above all, it is to be hoped that the leading and more successful writers, to whom no publisher would dare to present any one of their Draft Agreements, will consider their less successful brethren and make a public stand. It is not enough to say: "These Agreements make no difference to me, because I should never consent to them in my own case." It is necessary to take care that they should be offered to no one, and that the voice of condemnation should be loud and unmistakable. A line or two in a letter of Robert Browning's, written in the year 1868, makes one ask whether, in the year 1868, publishers hsld the same remarkable views about profits and their "equitable " share of them which they boldly advance thirty years afterwards? From my own recollection I am inclined to think that ths practice was the same, but that the profession was different. This is what Browning says of his new poem: "One "—that is, a publisher, only Browning calls him by his old-fashioned name, a "bookseller "—" sent to propose last week to publish it at his risk, giving me all the profits, and to pay me the whole in advance, 'for the incidental advantages of my name.'" Generous creature!" All the profits.' K ## p. 88 (#100) ############################################# 88 THE AUTHOR. What could be more noble? And for himself? —nothing. Only the " incidental advantages " of the poet's name. Now, we have seen that the profits due to the author, based on the " equit- able " wisdom of the united publishers, mean— or that they may mean, because the more greatly daring may make them mean much less—15 per cent. of the real profits; the remaining 85 per cent. going to the publisher. This newly dis- covered result of equitable treatment of the ques- tion was no doubt pretty well known to the disinterested gentleman who proposed to give Browning all the profits. In another column will be found a little piece of literary history which will interest many. The Critic of New York having become a monthly instead of a weekly journal, there remains only the Dial of Chicago to represent literature and literature only. The fact is remarkable: we should not have expected Chicago to be a centre of American literary criticism: yet it is not only a centre of criticism, but it is becoming a centre of literary produc- tion. Chicago is not altogether, therefore, gone over to the making of money. Walter Besant. THE BACONIANS. WHILE it is obvious to all who have any considerable acquaintance with the writings of Bacon and Shakespeare, that the process of destroying the theorists' arguments, by detecting their logical inconsequence, is satis- factory, yet to those who cannot bring a knowledge of the two men's work and times to assist them it would prove less convincing than one more dependent upon tangible facts. From my expe- rience of Baconians, as they call themselves, I have little doubt that the conduct of their arguments is invariably defective, and I am always pleased to discover the fallacies; but there is much more enjoyment to be got out of giving the lie direct to their major premises. It is curious that this is so seldom done, seeing how difficult it appears to be for these people to speak the truth, and how many of their statements—and those, too, the most striking —admit of such contradiction. I think I shall make myself clear by one example out of the many I could give. From an article in the last December number of Pearson's Magazine, which a friend showed me with fear and trembling for the empire of Shakespeare, I gather that the "Promus argument" is still considered a strong- hold by Baconians, and is therefore proper for my purpose. It is roughly as follows: Baeon's "Promus " is a collection of some 1700 proverbs, words, turns of speech, &c., which are of frequent occurrence in Shakespeare's plays, but are not to be found in the literature of his period. Two men alone and independently cannot use hundreds of identical words, &c.; therefore, it is concluded, Bacon, who noted down the words, must have written the plays. Here it is possible, doubtless, to attack and destroy the minor premises and the con- clusion, but there is a simpler and more effective method of procedure, namely, to deny the truth of tin major. It is neither true that Shakespeare use.s the proverbs and expressions to any surprising extent, nor is it true that the words and turns of speech are confined to the "Promus" and the plays. The effort made by Mrs. Pott, who is the authority on this point, to establish Shakespeare's use of the "Promus" entries is for the most part frivolous, and her ignorance of sixteenth century literature incredible. At the end of her edition of the "Promus " is a list of about 6000 books read by her or other Baconians, with the intention of finding " Promus" entries, and a column of those they found is adjoined. What they did with their eyes while employed in the search goodness only knows, for in every case in which I have tested the result I have found them blind. Some- times, where they have marked down one or two, I have discovered as many as fifty to a hundred instances; and even their pet expressions, such as "good morrow" and "good night," I have found to be the commonest of common property. For proof, let your office boy compare the "Promus" with Caxton's "Reynard the Fox," Barnfield's "Poems," Chettle's " Patient Grissel," Heywood's "Fair Maid of the Exchange," and Lodge's "Rosalynd," which Mrs. Pott calls a play. I suspect my power to slaughter Baconians would last out a good deal longer than your patience in listening to the story of their deaths, but I will confine myself to saying that I believe the theory would come to a sudden termination if some well informed student of Elizabethan literature would take upon himself the examina- tion of the statements on which it is based—he would not need to trouble his head about the quality of the deductions drawn from them. H. P. Gilbert. ## p. 89 (#101) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 89 !rHE ISSUE OF POPULAR COPYBIGETS. SIR GEORGE NEWNES presided at the first general meeting of the shareholders of Messrs. George Newnes, Limited, and in a speech on the "busy and prosperous year" which the firm had experienced he referred, among other subjects, to the large business they were doing in the issuing of popular works in parts. Some of the large eminent book-publishing houses had recognised that they (Messrs. Newnes) were specially able to do that successfully. He recalled the fact that Messrs. Constable, who gave .£10,000 for Dr. Nansen's copyright, came to them, and they accepted their proposal to publish Dr. Nansen's book in pamphlet form. It had been a wonderful success. Messrs. Bartholomew had brought them the "Citizen's Atlas," which was going wonderfully well in parts. The firm of John Murray had also come to them, and as soon as the holidays were over they should begin publishing in pamphlet form some of Mr. Murray's most popular copyrights, commencing with Du Chaillu's " Land of the Midnight Sun." STEVENSONIANA. f"|">HE additional volume in the collected Edin- I burgh edition of the works of Robert Louis Stevenson has just been published. Mr. Sidney Colvin writes a preface, and describes the book as "a medley, made up of items, some serious and some trifling." It contains a great deal of personal light upon the life of the late author, and subscribers will be pleased to receive so unexpectedly such an interesting book. The preface he wrote, but never printed, for his "Master of Ballantrae" is here; also "reflections and remarks on human life " ; and many other remnants in prose and verse. His ideal home was one that would have a little cosy room in warm colours, the sofas and floor thick with rich furs, and three shelves filled with "eternal books that never weary." Among these are Shake- speare, Moliere, Montaigne, Lamb, Sterne, De Musset's Comedies, the " Arabian Nights," George Borrow's "Bible in Spain," "The Pilgrim's Progress," "Guy Mannering," "Rob Roy," and "immortal Boswell, sole among biographers." In case of insomnia there should be within reach of the bed books of a " particular and dippable order "—" Pepys," the "Paston Letters," Burt's "Letters from the Highlands," and the " Newgate Calendar." At Davos Platz he made verses and drawings—reproduced in the volume—for the amusement of his stepson and himself. He also reviewed a thrilling little tale of his stepson's, called "Black Canyon; or, Wild Adventures in the Far West," in these terms:— A very remarkable work. Every page produces an effect. The end is as singular as the beginning. I never saw such a work before. There are "Moral Emblems" and "Moral Tales" in the book, among them this one describing the drawing of an explorer: The frozen peaks he once explored, But now he's dead and by the board. How better far at home to have stayed Attended by the parlour-maid, And warmed his knees before the fire Until the hour when folks retire! So if you would be spared to friends Do nothing but for business ends. And this is shot at the reader at the close of a description of a pirate: You also soan your life's horizon For all that you can clap your eyes on. Finally, we quote the following more serious verses from one of two lighthouse poems: The brilliant kernel of the night, The flaming ligbtroom circles me; I sit within a blaze of light Held high above the dusky sea. Far off the surf doth, break and roar Along bleak miles of moonlit shore, Where through the tides of tumbling wave Falls in an avalanche of foam, And drives its churned waters home Up many an undercliff and care. » « • • The night is over like a dream: The sea-birds cry and dip themselves; And in the early sunlight, steam The newly-bared and dripping shelves, Around whose verge the glassy wave With lisping wash is heard to lave; While, on the white tower lifted high, With yellow light in faded glass The oirclii g lenses flish and pass, And siokly shine against the sky. An entertaining letter of Stevenson's on the education of women, dated Nov. 1870, lately came into possession of Mr. Walter T. Spencer, the secondhand bookseller of New Oxford-street. It is written to a cousin. We extract the following sentences: You will probably know how nicely Women's Bights were reoeived by some of my fellow students the other day. The female medicals were hooted, hissed, and jostled till the police interfered. My views are very neutral. I quite believe that Miss and the rest of our fellow studentesses are the first of a noble army, pioneers, Columbuses, and all that sort of thing. But at the same time Miss is playing for the esteem of posterity. Soit, I give her posterity, but I won't marry either her or her fellows. Let posterity marry them. If posterity gets hold of this letter I shall probably be burnt in effigy by some Royal Female College of Surgeons of the future.. ## p. 90 (#102) ############################################# go THE AUTHOR. DE. BEANDES'S SHAKESPEAEE. AFTER reading the account Professor Brandes gives of Shakespeare, I am struck by the insistence with which he dwells on every biographical fact which it is possible or impossible to seize hold of with certainty, as a context to the study of Shakespeare's plays in sequence. He desires to prove that the plays are genuine, though there may be occasional foreign interpolations, and he ends the work by saying that his aim has teen to prove "not that thirty-six plays and several poems can be read in unconnected fashion, but that Shakespeare was a man who felt and thought, rejoiced and suffered, pondered, dreamed, and wrote poetry." When the professor visited Ann Hathaway's house at Shottery, near Stratford, and was shown with pride by a distant descendant of the Hathaway family the open Bible containing family names as well as other relics and portraits of Shakespeare, he tells us how he inquired of her whether she had read the plays. And on her replying, "Oh! / read my Bible," he assumes that if a descendant of that family can be thus ignorant, we have proof enough that poor Shakes- peare was afflicted with a most ignorant and unsympathetic wife and surroundings. This may or may not have been the case, and indeed Professor Brandes draws a tedious and gloomy picture of Shakespeare's last years at Stratford- on-Avon. Though his study of the plays is interesting, I would like to draw attention to the dillerent paneg>ric which we find in Heinrich Heine's "Miittchen and Frauen" (Notes on Shakespeare's Heroines), where he says :— "Shakespeare is as true to nature as he is faithful in delineating history. It is often said that he holds up a mirror to nature. This is not correct, as these words convey a wrong impression concerning the relations in which a poet stands to nature. .Nature is not reflected in the poet's mind; he is endowed with the innate capacity for representing nature, which representation is akin to the most faithful reflection; he comes into the world a world-wise man, and every part of the external world is immediately understood by him in its entirety when he awakens from the dreams of his childhood and attains to a knowledge of himself. For his mind bears an impress of the whole; he knows the ultimate reasons of all phenomena which to the ordinary mind appear problematic, and which to the ordinary investi- gator seem difficult if not impossible of solution. . . . Just as the mathematician can immediately explain the whole circle and its centre if he is shown the smallest part of a circle, so also the poet in the very act of contemplating the infinitesimal part of objective things realises the connection between this part and ail other things. He seems to know the circle of things and their centre, and sees things in their widest dimensions and to the inmost core. "But before the poet awakens to this marvellous comprehension, he must always be brought in contact with some portion of the objective world. This perception of a fragment of the phenomenal world is reached by means of his senses, and forms, as it were, the outward event determining those inward revelations of which his works are the result. And the greater the poet the more is our curiosity excited concerning those external occurrences which first called his works into being. We like to hunt up the actual facts of a poet's life. This curiosity is all the more foolish, as, according to what was previously stated, the importance of external occurrences bears no pro- portion to the importance of the creations emanat- ing from them. These occurrences may be, and usually are, as trivial and insignificant as the poet's life ordinarily is. I say trivial and insig- nificant, for I will not make use of sadder words. Poets present themselves to the world through the halo of their works, and, when looked at from afar, they dazzle us by their glory. Let us never inspect their lives too closely. We may compare them to those bright beacons shining athwart lawn and bower, which we take for the stars of the world—for diamonds and emeralds, costly jewels which king's children playing in the garden have hung on to the shrubs and then forgotten . . . for bright dewdrops which have rolled away into the high grass, and are now refreshing themselves in the cool night air, sparkling with joy until the approach of day, when the rosy dawn draws them back into herself. . . . Oh! let us not seek the track of these stars, jewels, and dewdrops by the light of day. In their stead we shall perceive a poor, discoloured worm, crawling miserably across our path— hateful to look upon, and yet which, owing to a curious feeling of pity, we refrain from crushing." Heine had no love for "critics," though his mind was eminently critical. But, though Professor Brandes has given the world a deeper critical study of Shakespeare's plays, I doubt whether we can read in it a higher appreciation of Shakespeare. Ida Benecke. i 8, Canfield-gardens, N.W. ## p. 91 (#103) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 9« THE PASSING OF THE "CHAP-BOOK." rf^HE following circular has been sent out from | the office of the Dial, Chicago. It will be of interest to those who are concerned wiih American contemporary criticism. It is here abridged: "By arrangement with Messrs. Herbert S. Stone and Co., the owners of the Chap-Book, the subscription list, the name, and the goodwill of that publication have been purchased by the Dial, which will fill out all subscriptions. The last issue of the Chap-Book was that of July i. The magazine was first published on May 15, 1894, in Cambridge, Mass., by Messrs. Stone and Kimball, both members of which firm were then undergraduates in Harvard College. It was in form a small duodecimo pamphlet, issued semi- monthly, and was at first meant to be little more than an attractive kind of circular for advertising the books published by the firm. But its instant and somewhat unexpected popularity led its pub- lishers at once into an attempt to make the maga- zine an organ of the younger American writers, and a means of introducing to the public new and curious developments in foreign literatures. The Chap-Book was either praised as being up to date, or denounced as being ' decadent,' and had considerable vogue. Publications which were evidently imitations of it, both in form and spirit, sprang up in many quarters, and its editors have collected something like 150 of these curious ventures. "In October, 1894, the periodical was removed from Cambridge to Chicago, and since that date has been continuously issued from the latter city on the ist and 15th of every month. May 1, 1896, it was transferred by its original owners to the new publishing firm of Herbert S. Stone and Co. It has been edited from the start by Mr. Herbert S. Stone, with the assistance of Mr. Bliss Carman at the beginning, and of Mr. Harrison Garfield Rhodes during the last four years. In January, 1897, the Chap-Book was enlarged to quarto size, and introduced reviews of current literature as a prominent feature of its contents. This change brought with it a marked increase of dignity and authority; it became more serious than it had been, yet it did not cease to be enter- taining. Editorially it was conducted with inde- pendence and vigour, and occupied to a consider- able extent a field which it had made its own. 100 numbers were issued altogether, sixty-four in the smaller and thirty-six in the larger form. When purchased by the Dial four numbers of the ninth volume had appeared. The Chap-Book has had a distinguished list of contributors, in- cluding most of the poets, novelists, and essayists both of England and the United States, whose names are widely known to the reading public, and its pages have furnished forth the contents of several volumes of stories and essays. It has, in a word, done services both sturdy and valu- able in behalf of good literature, and made an honourable record for itself during the four years of its existence. "By this accession the Dial gains a new and important constituency. While features likely to increase its interest and value may be added, the journal will in the main adhere to the well-defined aims and principles which have governed it for nearly twenty years. But the absorption of the Chap-Book will give it a certain stimulus and a widened range, and the recent change of the Critic of New York from the form of a weekly paper to that of a monthly magazine will leave the Dial in practical possession of the field of dis- tinctively literary journalism in the United States. As long ago as 1892 Whittier called it ' the best and ablest literary paper in the country,' and competent critical opinion from many quarters has repeatedly confirmed this judgment." A PROPOSED BUREAU. ACORRESPONDENT, in another column, advocates the establishment of a literary bureau to which writers would send their papers and editors would apply in seaiv.h of papers. The difficulty of establishing such a bureau would be so great as to make it practically impossible. For, first, it would have to become recognised and used both by writers and editors. It would be necessary that both writers and editors should see their advantage iu adopting this method. As regards the writer he must be persuaded that he would have a better chance of getting his work taken by a bureau than by direct offer. Who should persuade him!' It might happen that he had two papers taken in one year before joining the bureau and only one in the year after joining it; then he would declare that the bureau was useless. Again, there are a dozen possible writers ou any subject: if one belongs to the bureau and eleven send in the old way to the editor, how is that one benefited, and why should the editor go to the bureau? If, however, to save himself trouble the editor should prefer the bureau the thing might be feasible. All these methods and complaints ignore the ground feature of the situation: viz., that the editor is absolute master of it. ## p. 92 (#104) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. The only way to make such a bureau possible is to make editors see their advantage in it. Could something be attempted in the way of receiving names with credentials, &c., from mem- bers willing to furnish papers on certain subjects, and then to supply editors with the list, and with an offer to procure for them papers on these subjects at short notice and with- out fee? It might save editors trouble to have such a list ready to hand. It would, however, only be useful to them in the case of specialists: and again only in the case of those writers who possess special knowledge, but are not of such standing as to command a hearing and advanced terms. For instance, the unknown man who has lived in China, or the man who has travelled in China, or the man who has studied Chinese institutions and literature, might at the present moment be a very useful person for an editor, if he could get at him. But could our proposed bureau catch him? Again, if we had such a list it might be useful to any literary agent, with whom the Society could treat. But it would be of no use whatever to the man who was willing to write on any subject that offered. That man's only chance is to please an editor by his style and methods of treatment in a paper offered on the present system. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—The Fate of MSS., and a Literary Bureau. THE burden of complaint in many letters published in The Author is that editors keep MSS. intrusted to them for an in- definite time before returning or accepting them. Editors have been accused of discourtesy and rudeness by indignant writers. I am afraid, however, that all the strictures and advice possible will not move their obdurate hearts. Editors study themselves, and not their would-be contri- butors; in fact, they please themselves. My own experiences—extending over a decade of years—have told me that editors as a rule, in spite of those delusive words in italics, tee are always pleased to consider any MSS. sent us-~ seldom require any outside contributions. They have their own staff and troops of friends and relations whose work, if only near up to the mark, is more acceptable than that of a stranger. Some years ago, when a certain weekly paper was started, the editor asked me to write regularly for it. I am. sure the MSS.. he received from outsiders were better than mine, which he used because he knew me. Of course, editors may receive and use a paper on a subject which he may happen to want, but this is only a chance. Some time ago, when a certain magazine, which is still in existence, was about to appear, the editor's sanctum was literally piled with hundreds of MSS., which had been sent in on approval. One morning the editor instructed a clerk to return them all, when suddenly his glance alighted on one whose super- scription was very neatly written. He opened it, read it, liked it, and published it, and the lucky author afterwards wrote regularly for the magazine. The others, which had not been opened, were declined with thanks. I can vouch for this fact to prove how MSS. are not read, and how chance is often alone the arbiter of their destinies. I happened to call one day on a friendly sub- editor of a weekly journal. As we were talking, a MS. was delivered by the postman. My friend took it up, opened it, and handed it to me. "See what this is like," he said. Glancing at it, I discovered that it was in a literary friend's handwriting, which induced me to read it attentively. It was not bad; it was not good, but passable. Naturally, in my desire to help a fellow scribbler, I recommended it, and it was at once sent off to the printer in my hear- ing. Now, had I not been in the room at the time, I am certain that it would have been returned unread. I could multiply other instances in my experience if space afforded it. Now, all my remarks point to one conclusion, and this is the crux of the matter. There ought to be no need for any writer to send his work hap- hazard, broadcast, on the poor chance of accept- ance. Let there be a combination amongst writers to abandon this undignified practice, and let a literary bureau be formed by the Authors' Society where all MSS. can be sent to await the time when editors happening to want an article on a particular subject—a dialogue, poem, short story, or what not—will be forced to apply for their wants. Why need writers beg for recognition, and submit to the thousand and one annoyances, indignities, and disappointments consequent upon scattering their writings about? I have in a previous issue advocated the need and the uses of such a bureau, and I am ready at any time to formulate a plan of its modus operandi to any practical person who is ready to start and bring the idea to " a consummation devoutly to be wished." Isidore G. Ascher. 7, Bullingham-uiansions, Kensington, W. ## p. 93 (#105) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 93 II.—The Futuee of the Short Story. When a writer has obtained or made his "public," he has obtained or made for himself a "quotation " in the market; he writes so many words and he expects to receive so many pence, shillings, or pounds. I have no quarrel with this arrangement naturally educed out of the laws of supply and demand. The publisher has appeared to me individually as a gentleman, the editor as courteous, the reviewer—well! in some cases, as a reviewer, in other cases as a pedal unconsciously receiving pressure from fashion or conventionality. The object of my letter, then, is not to air a grievance, but to examine conditions. I do not desire to abuse, but to direct attention to the future of the short story. We are told, on the authority of the publisher, that, save in the cases of an established reputa- tion, the public will not now buy volumes of short stories. The writer, then, must look for his reward from the journals to which he con- tributes, and with no significant hope of repro- duction in volume form. What do they offer? A varying publicity and a remuneration which oscillates between Mi0 and .£15. The latter sum is a round one. It is; but does it lead to an eventual quotation of the writer in the market? My experience is that it does not do so. And it appears to me to be uncommonly doubtful whether the short story writer, who may be provident as well as artistic, will think it worth his while in the future to introduce strong energy of originality and artistic finishinto compositions that go to dull shelves, leaving him again haggling for a remuneration varying from .£10 to .£15. Your opinion upon these points, sir, would doubtless be as interesting to the readers of The Author as they would be to A Countryman. [Surely a writer of short stories whose name is appended to all his work should make his clientele of people anxious to read him and really to buy journals in which that work appears. When his name is established competition begins. If his nume does not appear there can be, of course, no chance of advance.—Ed.] III.—Why "Disgeaceful " '( In an article in the Westminster Review (June) on poets and poetry, the writer says, "it is a deplorable fact that even those who are gifted by nature with poetic abilities, with a heart full of love, sympathy, and passionate emotions, are disgracefully trying their very best to suppress those feelings, to be carried away by them under the magic influence of materialism." Now, sir, this is in my opinion a pretty touch of genuine insight on the part of the writer, But what prompts the suppression of those feelings? Is it not merely that they don't bring bread and cheese? A man must live, and possibly has to help to keep others living, and those feelings have to be suppressed and replaced by others in consonance with materialistic occupa- tion in order that body and soul, or bodies and souls, may be kept together. You quoted in The Author some months ago from the Glasgow Herald a proposal for the endowment of poets by the State. I do not say that I should support such a scheme, but in the absence of any pro- v sion to enable true poets to develop themselves, I wish to protest against the reproach of "dis- gracefully." A. L. IV.— JoTJBNALISTIC ETIQUETTE. I beg to send you the following account of my experience at the hands of the editor of a certain newly-started "Society" paper, in the hope that it may prove a warning to other young writers. About four weeks ago I submitted to the editor in question some personal paragraphs, which he accepted, and asked me to send others. At the same time he expressed his willingness to consider any short stories I cared to submit. Accordingly I left two with him. The first batch of para- graphs having been published, 1 forwarded some more, together with a letter in which I asked, tasually, if any decision had been arrived at regarding the stories. This was not answered, and the paragraphs did not appear. The following week I sent a third batch, and inquired if the editor intended using any of the second lot. This brought me the following letter, signed by the sub-editor: Dear , You cannot be well versed in journaliatio etiquette if you do not know that editors never advise contributors whether they intend to use oopy submitted or not. I have charge of the short story department here, and I had put aside your stories for careful consideration later on, but as you are so incessantly worrying me for news about them, I simply have no alternative but to send them back to you, as I do now, with many tbanks. My editor, as far as I know, is not using your paragraphs, so that you have full liberty to submit them elsewhere. Several of them consist of re-written matter. Yours truly, (Signed) , Sub-editor. P.S.—I have just shown this letter to my editor, who fully approves of it, and wishes me to add that one of the paragraphs you have submitted to him has already appeared in a recent number of the paper. This courteous letter contains several mis- statements. None of my paragraphs consisted of re-written matter. The expression "incessant ## p. 94 (#106) ############################################# 94 THE AUTHOR. worrying" is totally unwarranted by the mere fact of my having on one occasion only casually alluded to the matter of a contribution being under the editor's consideration. My experience of " journalistic etiquette" may not be as profound as this gentleman's, but it has taught me that under no circumstances is an article published by a well-conducted paper without the contributor being advised before- hand. Finally, with regard to the allegation that I forwarded as original matter items obtained from his own paper, it is too absurd to suppose that any journalist would do such a thing. I obtained the item of news in question from a perfectly legitimate source, and was unaware it had appeared in print a day or two before I sub- mitted it. As I was absent from town, I commissioned a friend of mine to call at the office and demand from the editor an explanation of this letter, and the reasons which had led him to sanction it, as other letters I had previously received from him had been couched in most amiable terms. He refused point-blank to discuss the matter, although admitting that his subordinate's letter was written with his own knowledge and ap- proval. Yours, sadder and wiser, A Woman Writer. [Our correspondent is not quite accurate in her opinion that contributions to a paper are never inserted without the contributor being advised beforehand. There are circumstances in which it is impossible to wait while the contributor is advised. Generally, of course, a proof is the form by which the contributor is advised.—Ed.] V.—The Struggle for Recognition. May I be allowed to suggest, in reference to the editor's concluding remarks on " The Struggle for Recognition," that whereas in the time of Dickens and Marryat there were, say, fifty promising literary aspirants, there are now a thousand or more. It is the same in art of all kinds. Hence the keenness of competition and the necessity of money and interest in securing a hearing. The endless magazines that are floated, with very often their own staff of contributors, when, in the time of Dickens, journals were comparatively few and editors were less bombarded with copy, all tell in many ways against the literary aspirant and outsider. Then there are the various cliques and rings. What are the chances of the poor novelist? The public invari- ably rush after a name that is generally procured by preliminary puffs, beating the drum, and Press booms. The struggling outsider must be sweated, and think him sell highly honoured in securing i hat privilege, or he will starve. Annabel Gray. VI.—The Book and the Reviewer. On reading in The Author for August your remarks under the heading "The Book and" the Reviewer," I am tempted to bring under the notice of your readers an example of the un- satisfactory and slipshod way in which books are sometimes reviewed. As I am the author of the book in question, I will not (in order to avoid any appearance of wishing to advertise my own wares) give the name of the book; nor, with your permission, append my name to this letter; and shall, as f*r as possible, avoid saying anything by which the book can be recognised by those who have not read it. It is the history of a campaign in which I took part some thirty years ago, thrown into the form of a semi-political novel, embracing politics in one country and war in another, and when my tale is told I add a chapter entitled " L'Avenir," ventur- ing a prophecy as to what will occur in the near future when a Bourbon sits again on the throne of France, and describing the death of my hero as if that event had already occurred. Anyone reading the book with the slightest attention, and who possessed the smallest amount of historical knowledge, even if ignorant of the meaning of the words "L'Avenir," would perceive that the incidents recounted in the last chapter could not possibly as yet have happened. Before me lie at this moment a number of reviews of this book. The first I take up does not say a word as to its literary merits or de- merits, but deliberately, or perhaps carelessly, takes passages, which do not bear on each other, from different pages and strings them together as if they were consecutive and referred to the same person, which they do not, and then turns the whole into ridicule because the political views of the author do not agree with the politics of the newspaper in which this review appears. The second review I take up states that my hero violently checked " the vagaries of a drunken policeman," though there is no reference what- ever to a drunken policeman in the book. The third gives in inverted commas distorted quotations, substituting the reviewer's words for those of the author, and thereby totally altering the style. The fourth praises the book in the most exaggerated terms, and entirely above its deserts. This reviewer, I am given to understand, is a personal friend of the publisher, ## p. 95 (#107) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 95 One review attacks the book in very vulgar and seemingly vindictive language. The reviewer being, I have reason to suspect, a man whom I took to task some time ago for a breach of literary etiquette. Two of these reviews—possibly written by the same individual, although appearing in publica- tions of diametrically opposite principles—state that my hero was killed in the presence of a certain personage who has now been dead for more than twenty years, while, as a matter of fact, I state that my hero still lives, and his death has yet to take place in " L'Avenir." By the irony of fate the publication which attacked my book the most violently now devotes a whole page to an advertisement quoting the opinions of other reviewers who bestow on it unqualified praise! A Member of the Authors' Society. VII. — From Magazine Publisher to Author. "Dear Sir,—We have at present in course of preparation a new serial dealing with dangers incurred and dangers escaped, and I am proposing to include in it a chapter on Australian bush- rangers and their ways, describing in a vivid and dramatic style a few of the more exciting cases of 'Hands up!' "The length of the chapter will be about 5000 words, and the fee I am authorised to offer for the copyright is ten pounds (.£i0). I should want the MS. by the end of the present month. "Will you kindly let me know whether you can undertake the MS. chapter? As the time is rather short an early answer will greatly oblige, "Yours faithfully, "The Editor." "I should be glad if you will treat this letter as confidential." Note.—Do Messrs. require this to be confidential because they are afraid their other .contributors would resent my having such mag- nificent prices for special knowledge, or can it be that they are ashamed of offering them? Author. VIII.—Proposed Journal for Amateurs. In reply to the question asked by " Inconnu," I am not in the least ashamed to own that I have several times contributed to amateur magazines (when I've had something to say which no editor wished to pay for), and that I believe in them. They have two virtues. In the first place they give the beginner an opportunity of trying his pin feathers, and seeing the difference between handwriting and print, showing how the former "boils down," and the value of knowing how to paragraph effectually; in the second place, they weed out immature talent from impotent conceit. They encourage the best and let the worst down gently. The Arts Monthly, edited by J. Hannaford Bennett, was the most successful amateur magazine I have known, often containing really good things and always entertaining. I wrote some articles in it which the late Mrs. Lynn Linton was good enough to praise as "capital work in the present and full of promise for the future" (I was quite unknown to her), and thus I received encouragement through its pages for which I shall always be grateful. My impres- sion is that if an amateur monthly could be started under able editorship, and with some capital behind, it might be made extremely educa- tional and financially successful; especially if criticism of its contents by esteemed authors could be arranged as a feature. This, I believe, has never been tried. The amateur magazine should not be amateurishly managed, as it generally is, but should be in the hands of well- qualified persons. "Inconnu" is right. Three of my novels have been published by well-known firms in England and America and one has been translated into German. I have now seldom any difficulty in selling what I consider to be my worst work —that upon which I expend least thought and pains; and I would advise any writer who wishes to get on rapidly not to cultivate style or attempt a psychological study of humanity. A cheap public likes wading into shallows, and abhors depths, judging from the stuff one sees on book- stalls. This leads me to the article by "N. C," and I want to learn where he thinks the country book- seller is going to put all those less successful works which at present" decay on warehouse shelves "'( A bookseller's shop is generally a stationer's shop, and there is never much room in it for books at all. If a third of the well-known authors were kept in stock no one would ever get in at the doors!" Pity 'tis, 'tis true." What is to be done? There seems to be no possible answer. Mary L. Pendered. IX.—The Seamy Side. I have often thought with Mr. Stanhope Sprigs (see August number) how rarely it is that we hear anything of the kindness and consideration of editors and publishers. May I be allowed to give a brief sketch of my experiences, which, how- ever, I did not think were at all unusual until I read the letters on the subject in The Author. I began to write before I was out of the school- ## p. 96 (#108) ############################################# 96 THE A UTHOR. room, and never has any remuneration been sweeter to me than the modest i0*. paid for my first attempt—a contribution to Aunt Judy's Magazine. This was the opening of a journalistic career during which I have worked more or less regularly for between thirty and forty journals and magazines. Once only have I received my conge under circumstances other than the dis- continuance of the publication. In this one case a "new broom" in the shape of an editor promptly swept me out, but in the course of a few months I had the satisfaction of being recalled with equal promptitude after the depar- ture of my enemy. The MSS. lost during my years of work could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and throughout I have met with friendship and courtesy from every publisher and editor with whom I have been brought into con- stant communication. Once only have I had any serious difficulty in getting the promised jiay- ment for work done, and then, thanks to the Society, all came right in the end. I have been on the staff of three journals in particular for six, eight, and eleven years, to another I have been an occasional contributor for twenty years, and in neither case have I ever had the slightest difference of opinion with those in authority. In my "free-lancing" days editors did not lose, tear, or dog's-ear my copy, they did not smear or blot my drawings, or keep my contributions an un- reasonable time. I can lay claim to no genius, merely to business capacity and a love of work. I have never paid one farthing to get any of my writings printed or published. Friends tell me I cannot help being " lucky," having been born on a Sunday; but however this may be, certain it is, if the pessimism of other writers is to be believed in, that I am as fortunate an author (in a small way of business) as ever lived. My interest is as fresh in my work as it was when I first ventured in fear and trembling to send a MS. to one of the dreaded race of editors, but then—I am happy in being able to use my writing as a staff rather than a crutch. Ellen T. Masters. X.—Forfeiture of Copyright. Perhaps my recent experience re the uncer- tainty of publication in magazines may interest readers of The Author. Last autumn the "editress " of a penny weekly wrote saying if I cared to submit seven stories, about 1200 words each, she would consider them. I sent in a series of character sketches, and heard no more about them till, glancing at the journal for July 2,1 saw the first story. Five appeared week by week, till on July 23 the publishers sent me a cheque for A'1 17s. 6d., with a printed receipt to sign, by which I discovered I had forfeited my copyright without any terms having been offered or proofs sent to revise. They also enclosed a note saying they would retain the two last stories until the new editress decided whether they were to be inserted or not. Perhaps this is only the usual way of "doing business" in small journals, but it seems unfair to insist on an author resigning copyright after the publication of his MSS. without warning. The artistic effect of the series was quite spoilt by the alteration of their insertion, and probably people will have lost all interest in the characters by the time the remainder appear, if ever. E. L. Williams. BOOK TALE. AS our list of books in this number shows, August was a slack month. The holidays, the heat, and the general lull that inter- venes before the autumn season begins, all con- tributed to keep the output of books a very small one. A member of this Society has lost, no doubt through unintentional forgetfulness on the part of a borrower, vol. 1 of Capt. Gronow's Remini- scences aud Recollections. It contains the book- plate, a peculiar one, of the owner, who would be greatly obliged by the return of the volume to the Athenseum Club, Pall Mall. The event of the past month in the book- producing world has been the business change whereby the old publishing firm of Bentley becomes merged into that of Macmillan. Messrs. Barnicott and Pearce, Taunton, have just published an Index to Collinson's History of Somerset, edited by the Rev. F. W. Weaver, M.A., and the Rev. E. H. Bates, M.A., including a Supplemental Index (Alphabet and Ordinary) to all the armorial bearings mentioned in the work, contributed by Lieutenant-Colonel J R. Bramble, F.S.A. Only 500 copies printed, 20s. 6d. Large paper edition, of which only 25 copies are printed, 31s. (id. post free. Contains upwards of 30,000 references. "Songs of Somerset," by Joseph Heury Steven- son, M.A., Rector of Lympsham, and Treasurer and Prebendary of Wells Cathedral (6*. 6d., post free), will be published by the same firm. Messrs. Blackie will publish "The Skipper: the Story of an Old Sea-Dog," a new children's story, by Mrs. Edith E. Cutell, whose "Only a Guard-room Dog " is in a second edition. ## p. 97 (#109) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 97 A small volume called "The Theft of the Princes," by F. Bayford Harrison, will be pub- lished in the autumn by the S.P.C.K. The story, which is historical, is that of a romantic adventure which happened to an ancestor of the Queen and of the late Prince Consort. As we mentioned in the June number, a third volume of the history of the Blackwood publishing house is to be published; that is, a volume sup- plementary to the two written by Mrs. Oliphant. With it the record will be brought down to com- paratively recent years. The book will come out in the autumn. Jan. 16 next will be the three hundredth anni- versary of the death of Edmund Spenser, which occurred in King-street, Westminster. Prince Demidoff, a well-known European sports- man, has written a book on Sport in the Caucasus, which Mr. Rowland Ward will publish in the autumn. Mr. Edward Carpenter in his new book "Angels'Wings" treats of painting, scuJpture, literature, and music in relation to the changes they have undergone through growth of the democratic idea. Nature and Realism; Tradition and Convention; Wagner; Beethoven and his Music; Whitman; the Art of Life—are some of the subjects of Mr. Carpenter's chapters. The book will be issued by Messrs. Swan Sonnen- schein. Mr. A. B. Rathbone spent fifteen years in the Malay Peninsula, and is writing a book to be called "Camping and Tramping in Malaya." Count Tolstoy has contributed to the New Aye a work which he apparently thinks will be his last message to the world. In his introduction to the opening chapters the author says: So that I am urged to what I do, not by wish for gain or fame, nor by any worldly considerations, but only by fear to fail in what is required from me by Him who has sent me into this world, to Whom I am hourly expecting to return. I, therefore, beg all those who shall read this to follow and understand my writing, putting aside, as I did, all worldly considerations, and, holding before them only that eternal Principle of trnth and right, by whose Will we have come into the world, whence, as beings in the body, we shall very soon disappear; without hurry or irritation, let them under- stand and judge what I say. If they disagree, let them correct me; not with contempt and hatred, but with pity and love. If they agree, let them remember that if I speak trnth, that trnth is not mine, but God's, and only casually part of it passes through me, just as it passes every one of us when we behold truth and transmit it to others. An edition of Ben Jonson's celebrated comedy, "Volpone; or the Foxe" is being published by Mr. Leonard Smithers, with a cover design, a frontispiece in line, and five initial letters, deco- rative and illustrative, reproduced from pencil drawings by the late Mr. Aubrey Beardsley. A reviewer in the Daily Chronicle the other day remarked on the number of misprints to be met with in books nowadays. "We notice these trifles," said the writer " because it seems to us that there is a growing tendency towards careless proof-reading in some of our best printing offices. We could name more than one series of popular reprints at present on the market which are rendered almost valueless to the student by their abounding errors of the press." Mrs. Alathea Weil has written a work of Italian history, "The Romance of the House of Savoy," which is to be published in two volumes by Messrs. Putnam. "Legends of the Saints," in original verse, by the Rev. G. R. Woodward, of St. Barnabas Church, Pimlico, will be published shortly by Messrs. Kegan Paul. The next volume in the Gadshill edition of Dickens, published by Messre. Chapman and Hall, will contain " Hard Times," " A Holiday Romance," "Hunted Down," and " George Silver- man's Explanation," with new illustrations by Mr. Maurice Greiffenhagen. An edition of the "Rowley Poems" of Chatterton has been prepared by Mr. Robert Steele, and will be published by Messrs. Hacon and Ricketts. The text is founded on the first edition by Tyrwhitt in 1777, compared with the firsts of previously printed poems, and with such of the reputed originals as exist. Miss Hewlett, of the C.E.Z.N.S., for many years superintendent of St. Catherine's Hospital, Amritsar, in the Panjab, and well known in this country as a gifted speaker on missionary topics, has in the press a new work entitled, "They shall see His Face: Stories of God's Grace in Work among the Blind and others in India." The book will be uniform with the author's previous works, " Daughters of the King," " The Wellspring of Immortality," " None of Self," &c., and will be illustrated with thirteen full-page illustrations from original photographs. Its publishers will be Messrs. Alden and Co., of the Boeardo Press, Oxford, and its price will be 3s. 6d. Mr. Robert Cromie's new story, originally called "The Uncharted Island," has been changed, the title having been claimed by another author. This affords another instance of the present unsatisfactory method of regis- tering book names. Mr. Cromie's story will now be published with the name, " The Lost Liner." A chatty volume of light essays, with the rather curious title of "Nothing Personal," will be issued by Messrs. J. Baker and Son in their Square series of is. books in September. It is ## p. 98 (#110) ############################################# 98 THE AUTHOR. by Ralph Harold Bretherton, a West of England journalist. Mr. Thomas Hardy's new volume of collected stories, and Mr. William Black's new romance of the Highlands, are among early publications. The latter, however, will appear first. The story of "Wild Eelin" is exceedingly romantic, and has a very tragic and (to the reader) unexpected ending. Mr. Grant Allen's new story is about a Tyrolese peasant who becomes a great singer, and the novelist has given it the title of " Linnet." Mr. Grant Richards will publish it very soon. Venice is the subject of the next volume in Mr. Allen's series of Guide Books. It will be out this month. The biography of the late Duchess of Teck may not now appear until next spring. It is being written by Mr. C. Kinlock Cooke, and is based on the private diaries and letters of the Duchess. Mr. Murray is publisher. Mr. Edwin A. Pratt has written a biography of Mrs. Gladstone, entitled "Catherine Glad- stone: Her Life, Good Works, and Political Efforts." He has done it with the approval of the family. Mr. Pratt is already the author of "Pioneer Women in Victoria's Reign." Messrs. Sampson Low will issue the new book imme- diately. A volume of poems by Sir. W. B. Yeats and one by Mr. Henry Newbolt are promised for this autumn. Mr. Andrew Balfour, author of a historical romance which appeared a year ago, called "By Stroke of Sword," is bringing out a new romance of the 1715 Rebellion. Mr. W. Pett Ridge's story " Mord Em'ly " has run its course in To-Day, and will be published in volume form this month (Pearson). It is about a South London girl's early life. Mr. Felix Moscheles is bringing out a second instalment of his reminiscences. The first was principally about the late George Du Maurier. In the forthcoming book Mr. Moscheles will go back to his boyhood in England and Germany. His father was a distinguished musician, and Mendelssohn was one of the figures in his circle. Another artist who is writing reminiscences is Mr. G. A. Storey. He knew Dickens and many other interesting people. Paris and Spain are as open books to him. His work—with, of course, pictures — will be called "Sketches from Memory." Australian bush stories, by Mr. William S. Walker, under the title of "When the Mopoke Calls," will be published in a volume by Mr. John Long. Mr. Walker is an Australian, and nephew to Rolf Boldrewood. London life is the theme of Mr. G. B. Burgin's new book, to be published shortly by Messrs. Pearson. "Settled out of Court " is the title. A new serial by Mr. Burgin is being published, which is called "The Hermits of Gray's Inn," and tells of a band of old schoolfellows, who, being jilted, vowed to cut off their lives from feminine influences. There is a defaulter, how- ever; he marries and is cast out, and on his death-bed he works out a scheme for the redemp- tion of his old friends. Professor Dill, of Queen's College, Belfast, has completed an account of Roman society during the last century of the Western Empire. It will be published during the autumn by Messrs. Mac- millan. Mr. Herbert Fisher, Fellow and Tutor of New College, Oxford, has also finished, after labouring at it for some years, a work dealing with the Mediaeval Empire, and the same firm will publish it. "Joan the Curate" is the title of Miss Florence Warden's new novel, which Messrs. Chatto and Windus will have ready on the 15th. Sixpenny editions are extending to boys' books. This month Messrs. Sampson Low will bring out Mr. Henty's "Jack Archer: a Tale of the Crimea," and Mr. Kingston's "With Axe and Rifle," at the popular price. Novels about to appear include the following: —"A Tragedy in Marble," by Mr. Adam Lilburn; "The Church of Humanity," by Mr. David Christie Murray; "The Sireu's Web," a romance of London society, by Annie Thomas; and "Mrs. Carmichael's Goddesses," by Sarah Tytler, all to come from Chatto and Windus. "A Drama in Sunshine," by Mr. Horace A. Vachell; "Michael Gargrave," by Mrs. Riddell; and " Off the High Road," by Miss Eleanor C. Price, will be published by Messrs. Bentley. A new edition of FitzGerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is to be issued by Messrs. Macmillan, with decorations by Mr. W. B. Macdougall. There is still much knock- ing at Messrs. Macmillan's door for a cheap edition of the classic, such as the United States possesses two or three times over. Many poor lovers of the Persian poet turn envious eyes to the realms of book piracy. Mr. Richard Marsh's novel, "Ada Vernham, Actress," will be published by Mr. John Long this month. "P. P. C." is the title of Mrs. B. M. Croker's new novel, which Messrs. Chatto will publish. It has run serially in the weekly edition of the Times. ## p. 99 (#111) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 99 A work on the native tribes of Central Austra- lia is shortly to appear, from the pens of Pro- fessor Baldwin Spencer, of the University of Melbourne, and Mr. F. J. Gillen, special magis- trate and sub-inspector of the aborigines of South Australia. Messrs. Macmillan are the publishers. Miss Kingsley, the traveller, is preparing her expected volume of " West African Studies" for publication by Messrs. Macmillan. Sir Walter Besant's articles on South London, which have run in the Pall Mall Magazine for a number of months, will be published shortly in a volume, with considerable additions and many illustrations, by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. Dr. G. H. Oarwin, the Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge, is publishing a new book through Mr. Murray, entitled "The Tides and Kindred Phenomena." Professor Ridgeway, of Cambridge, has written a work entitled "The Early Age of Greece." which is almost ready. Natural history is again engaging the pen of Mr. Richard Kearton. It will be written in a '•popular" vein. Mr. Kearton was in the Shetland Isles lately, and, with his brother, succeeded in finding and photographing a rara avis—the great skua. The last pair of phalarope, or wading birds, had, however, been shot just before Mr. Kearton's visit. A novel laid in Parma during the insurrec- tionary days of 1831 was left in manuscript by the late Antonio Gallenga of the Times. The author's own reminiscences contribute to the story, which Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. are to bring out. Mr. Savage Lindor's record of his interesting and awful experiences in Thibet, in two volumes, published by Mr. Heinemann, may be out next month. A collected edition of Tennyson's works is pro- jected by Messrs. Macmillan. Each volume will be I2.v. 6rf. net, and there are to be a dozen. A thousand copies will be printed for England. The volumes will appear at the rate of one per mouth, beginning October. The house to which Shelley went in Wales, and where he received Harriet Westbrook's doleful letters, is reported to be on the eve of disappear- ing. It is called Cwm Elan, and its situation is the Elan Valley, from which Birmingham is drawing its new water supply. Literary associa- tions, therefore, are once more being swept away by the heavy hand of the engineer. Mr. A. G. Bradley has written the text for a volume on "Highways and Byways of North Wales," which will be illustrated by Mr. Joseph Pennell and Mr. Hugh Thompson. The pub- lishers of it, Messrs. Macmillan, have also in preparation volumes dealing in a similar style with Yorkshire and the North of Ireland. The Dome will be converted from a quarterly to a monthly magazine on Oct. 1. Among the contributors to the next number are Mr. Stephen Phillips, Mr. W. B. Yeats, and Mr. Lawrence Binvon. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [July 25 to August 23.—165 Books.] Ac Ia ml, Sir H. W. Medical Missions in their Relation to Oxford. 1/- Frowde-. Alan-a-dale. Friend and Foe: Story of a Methodist Soldier. 1/6. Kelly. Anonymous. The Chamberlain Birthday Rook. 16. Arrowsmith. Anonymous. Quern's English (?) Up to Date, 1'- Epicun- Office^ Anonymous (author of " For Love of Marjone ''). Sweotbrier. 1/6. Stevens- Anonymous (A. S.) Women of Sacred History. 3/6. Skefflng'on. Anonymous (Mother and Daughter). Gleanings of Cookery. 2/6 net. iJax. Ashworth, J. R. Introductory Course of Practical Chemistry and Electricity. 2/6 net. Whittaker. Beale, D.; Soulaby, L.; Dove, J. F. Work and Play in Girls' Schools. 7/6 Longmans. Begeer. B. W. The Metallurgy of Gold on the Rand. 5/ net. Low. Bernaul, J, H., and Atkinson, Professor (eds.) The Irish Liber Hymnorum. The Henry Bradshaw Society. Berry, Grace I. Iscah: a Tale for the Times. 3/6 net. Banks. Bingham, 0. Jingle*, Jokes, and Funny folks. 1 - Nister. Bird, Charles. A School Geography. 2 6 net Whittaker. Blashill, T. Lessons from Kire and Panic. I/- Brit. Fire Prev. Committee. Bollinger. 0. Atlas and Essentials of Pathological Anatomy. 2"i/- Bs Illier&. Boulenger, G. A. The T*illess Batrachians of Europe. Part. II. The Ray Society. Bowman, Anne. The New Cookery Book. 1/6. Routledge. Braddon. M. E. In High Places. 6/- Hutchinson. Brown, Horatio F. (ed.) Calendar of State Papers and MSS. rela- ting to English Affairs preserved in the Archives of Venice. Vol. IX. 1592-1603. Eyre and Spottiswoodo. Burden, Sir He nry The Effects of the Diamond Jubllee on the Resources of Voluntary Churities. I/- Seiontitlc Press. Burleigh, Bennet. Sirdar and Khalifa. l>/6 Chapman. Butler, Dom. C. Lau&iac History of Palladius. 7/6 net. Clay. Cameron, Mrs. Lovett The Ways of a Widow. 6/- White. Cantab. Cuba. Nemesis: a Poem. 1/- net. Simpkin. Carter, Letitia, A Life's Victory. 3/6. Partridge. Cary, 0. The Man who Feared God for Nought 2/- Stock. Caws, L. 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Collins's Translation of Kautzsch's edition of Gesenlus' Hebrow Grammar. 21/- Frowde. Croker, B. M. Peggy of the Bartons.' 6/- Methuen. Crook, James W. German Wage Theories. 4/- P S. King. Cuthbertson, E. J, Tennyson: the Story of his Life. 1 - Chambers. ## p. 100 (#112) ############################################ :oo THE AUTHOR. Darwin, L. iQuestions to be considered by Indian Currency Com- mittee. 1/- Stanford. Davidson, Lillias C. Hints to Lady Travellers. 1/- net. Iliffe. Daw, W. H. The Care of Consumptives. 1/- Scientific Press. D'Esterre-Keeling, Elsa. The Queen's Serf. 67- Unwin. Dibdin, W. J. The Purification of Sewage and Water. 21/- net. Sanitary Publishing Co Dilworth, W J. A New Sequel to Euclid. Part L 1 - Blackie. Dobree. L. E stories on the Rosary. Part II. 1 '6, Longmina. Drybrough. T. B. Polo. 15 - net Vinton. Eagleson, J. G. Digest or Australian Mining Cases. 40/- Sweet. Earwaker, the late J. P. History of the uhureh and ('arish of St Mar.-on-the-Hill, Chester. 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A Girl of Grit 2,6. Milne. Hardy, W J. (ed.) Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, Mav l6'Kl—Oct 1691. Preserved in Public Record Office. Eyro and Spottiswoode. Harris, Reader. The Case Against Atheism. 1 - H. Marshall. Harrison, A. H. Christ and Our Own Time 2/6. Skeffington. Hawkins, Battie. New Wine: New Bottles, 6- Digby. Hayward, H. (ed.) Bismarck. By a Fellow Student 1 - Dean. Hellyer. M. Maud. Idylls. 2/6. Digby. Heron, E. and H. Tammers' Duel 2,6 Pearson. Hocking, Silas K. The Culture of Manhood. 1 - H. Marshall Holmes, Eleanor. Life's Fitful Fever. 6/- Hurst. Hope, Anthony. Rupert of Uentzau 6/- Arrowsmith. Hoyer, M.A. Little Miss Bo-peep, •fcc. 1/- Nister. Hudson, A, A., and Inman. A. The Law of Light and Air. 6/- F. N. Wilson. Hume, F. The Clock Struck One. 3/6. Warne. Hyndraan, H. Francis. Radiation. (Electromagnetic). 6/- Sonnenpcheln. Inglis, H. R. G. Contour Road Book of England: South-East Division. 2'-net Gall, lnnes, J. J. McL. 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Sketch Books With Biographical Introduction by Mrs. Ritchie. 6/- Smith and Elder. Tolstoy, Leo (tr. by V. Tchertkoff . The Christian Teaching. 1 - H. Mirshall Tottenham, Blanche L. In the Shidow of the Three. 6/- Hutchinson. Trench, Major F Manoeuvre Orders. 1/- Clowes. Tuck, U. The Hour before Communion. 2/6. Marshall Bros. Tuton, A. E. A Compensated Dilatometer. 3/- Dulau. Various writers. Memories of the Summer Sea. 6d. Castlo and Lamb. Vaughan, Father Bernard. The Woman that was a Sinner. 1 - Longmans. Veitch, R. Willow Leaves. (Verse ) 2 6 net. Unicorn Press. Vivaria, Kassendra. VU Lucis 6/- Heinemann. Walker, Charles E. Old Flies in New Dresses. 5/- net Lawrence. Weatherly, F. E., and others. Little Rhymes for Merry Times. 1/- Nister. Weatherley, F. E., and Askwith, G. R Lays for Little Ones. 5/- Ricordi. Weed, Clarence Moores. Seed Travellers. 1/6. Arnold. Whitten, R. H. Public Administration in Massachusetts. 4 - r*. S. King Whyte, Rev. Dr A. Sir Thomas Browne: An Appreciation. 2 - Oli piiant. Willey, Arthur. Zoological Results based on Material from New Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands, and elsewhere. 12/6. Clay. Williams, D. Medical Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. 10/6. Cassell. Williams, T. R. Belief and Life: Sermons. 3/6. H. Marshall. Williamson, Mrs. C. N. Lady Mary of the Dark House. 6'- Hutchinson. Wilson, W. A. God Planted a Garden. 1/6. Marshall Bros. Wilson, Dr. Andrew. The Light Side of Science. 2/6. Bowden. Woods, Virna. An Elusive Lover. 3/6. Constable. THE AUTHOR." SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. £4 0 3 0 1 10 - 0 15 o 0 7 S per inch 0 6 n per 2000 3 0 o Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the Advertisement Manages, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, W.O. 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Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 04 (September 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 04 (September 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-09-01-The-Author-9-4 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/319/1898-08-01-The-Author-9-3.pdf cd700369b4a092545c05e057af71e5b9 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) 1898-08-01 Volume 9 Issue 3 Pages Page range in volume 57–80 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980801 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Tthe Butbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Tol. IX.—No. 3.] AUGUST 1, 1898. [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. FOR some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, 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 his 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. IX. 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. III. 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 "idea. It is 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. Headers con 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 bo their maximum. Therefore every author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all discount* shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author ma - 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. p 2 ## p. 58 (#70) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. |j> VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive Xli advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of hie business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is snch 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 snch that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions 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, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yon 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 every- thing important to literature that yon may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. Communications for The Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21 st 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 ia which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, .sc. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending ont a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his oonduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' requested to note that the oost of binding has advanoed 1 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not inclnded 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. NOTICES. 111HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the I Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the oost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write? FROM THE COMMITTEE. THE Chairman has resolved to postpone call- ing a meeting of the Council to consider the nature of the claims advanced in the draft agreements issued b_v the Publishers' Asso. ciation until October after the summer holidays. ## p. 59 (#71) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 59 LITERARY PROPERTY. The Pttblishers' Draft Agreements. I. THE following letter has been received by the secretary from Sir Frederick Pol- lock :— "Dear Mr. Thring,—I was preparing an answer to your letter asking for opinions on the draft forms of agreement issued by the Pub- lishers' Association, when I saw the comments thereon in the current number of the Athenseum, a journal not suspected, I believe, of undue par- tiality to authors as against publishers. Those comments appear to me to suffice for the present. I feel bound to add that no draft at all like these forms has ever been proposed to me in practice, either on my own behalf or as acting for others. "I hope the Committee of the Society will not follow the mistake of the Publishers' Association utting forward other forms of its own, but rather obtain permission to publish, with the omission of names, examples of actual agree- ments which have been approved by the Com- mittee or the Secretary. "My own experience is that, with a reasonable amount of mutual trust, very simple forms are enough. "Yours sincerely, "F. Pollock." "13, Old-Square, Lincoln's-inn. "July 11, 1898." II. To the Editor of The Author. I have seen the draft contracts. Nothing that you, or The A uthor, or the whole Society has ever done to, or said about, the publisher will condemn him half as thoroughly as his own notions of fairness set forth for him, by his own lawyer, in his own way. Can one say more than that? Rudyard Kipling. Eottingdean, July 23, 1898. III. Every author in England should be deeply grateful to the Sub-Committee of the Authors' Society and " W. B." for their masterly exposure of the schemes of the Publishers' Association as set forth in certain draft agreements published at length in The Author of July 1. I have pub- lished books by almost every method provided for by these agreements, and can indorse the criti- cisms to which these agreements have been sub- jected. Many men reading these criticisms would no doubt say, "Ah! These are only fears of what may happen. Our good champions are timorous." But, as a matter of fact, authors by the score—I may say by the hundred—have already entered into such agreements, and have been, not to put too fine a point upon it, fleeced. A publisher of repute once said very candidly to an author who was sitting in his office, care- fully working out a form of agreement, " My dear Sir, it really doesn't matter how careful you are. If I want to swindle you I can." That being so, it seems to me that as those firms who are respon- sible for these draft agreements are evidently desirous of taking an unfair advantage of authors, we authors should know their names and care- fully avoid having any dealings with them. The time is rapidly coming when authors whose works have a monetary value will in self- defence combine together and publish without the assistance of the gentlemen who charge them 10 per cent. for office expenses, account only for twelve books out of every thirteen sold, do not account at all for "overs (copies printed on the additional sheets of paper found in every ream), and who, in "half-profit" agreements, make secret profits. More than one author of repute, commencing with the veteran novelist, Miss Braddon, has already given up the old publish- ing systems and embarked on the far simpler, and very much more satisfactory, method of sending MSS. to the printer, and the quires when printed to the binder, and placing the books when ready in the hands of a large distributing agent. This system leaves no possibility of fraud, unless the distributing agent took the very serious step of having a special edition of the book printed for himself, which is not very likely; the author knows what number of copies are printed and bound; he knows what they cost; he gets the advantage of all discounts, and he knows exactly what is sold. What method could be simpler? "What method could be more profitable to the author? There is much nonsense talked about the value of a publisher's name to a book. The publisher's name may aid the young beginner to the sale of 100 copies, for Messrs. Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson, unfortunate booksellers, who are perhaps greatly in debt to certain firms, can hardly refuse to take a copy or two when the traveller goes round and presses them upon him; but as regards the author who has made a name I do not believe the publisher's imprint is of the least assistance. If the public like a book, and want it, they buy it whoever may be the pub- lisher, and the booksellers are eager to stock books which they feel sure will sell. I would strongly advise authors to on no account enter into a publishing agreement based ## p. 60 (#72) ############################################## 6o THE AUTHOR. on the half-profit system. This was very rightly termed by an honest publisher of my acquaintance "a swindle," and invariably works most unfairly against the author. If the author is supposed to pay half the cost and receive half the profits, he as a rule unwittingly pays more than half the costs, and the publisher takes more than half the profits under the various pleas of office expenses, advertising in his own magazines, and so forth. Even where the publisher pays all expenses, and agrees to give the author half profits, he fre- quently makes the book appear in his account so costly that no profits are shown even when several thousand copies have been sold. To sell a book outright is a satisfactory arrange- ment, but if the author has a large circle of readers his most profitable course is unquestionably to pro- duce the book himself, and distribute it to the trade through the usual channels. There is nothing to be said against the royalty system, if the royalty is sufficient, is paid on every copy sold, and if the publisher renders true returns of sales, which, it is to be feared, is not always the case. But as regards the half-profit system, let us have none of it; it is a trap, and nothing but a trap. Experience. IV. I have read the Draft Agreements with sheer amazement. Can it be possible that a body of men, one or two at least of whom have always been accepted as honourable and upright men, are daring enough to endorse what appears to the world at large as simply a scheme of intended plunder? The Author has been outspoken enough—too outspoken at times in my former opinion. We now understand that nothing that has ever appeared in these columns has been too strong for the facts of the case. In the whole history of trade I know of nothing so hopelessly bad, so inexcusably and phenomenally grasping. The author creates a property—big or little. The publisher claims practically the right to the whole of it. He reserves the right by these agreements to take all—all. Whatever the success of the book the publisher may simply, if he likes (by clauses which Mr. Thring has so ably taught us to understand), take over everything. Above all things, the claim to dramatic rights seems to me the most impudent. Why, the drama is not the novel: it is the same story, or part of the same story, treated in a wholly different manner. I have tried, but ineffectually, to find some apparent or imaginary justification for this last shameless grab. There is none. It is simply an impudent attempt. The publisher cannot pre- tend to have done anything with or for the drama. Why does he not claim the very desk on which the novel was written? Let us go on our own way. Let us, above all things, take care that the knowledge of these agreements and their unscrupulous greed, and their determination to enslave literature, be known far and wide. A Novelist. V. In the comments made last month upon the Publishers' Agreements one or two points were omitted. Thus it has long been a grievance that advertisements are charged for when nothing is paid: advertisements in publishers' own organs and in exchanges. Some people call this practice by very ugly names: all people agree in calling it a trick unworthy of any house which calls itself honourable. Not a single word is said in the draft agreements against the practice. It is true that in one clause (p. 39; it is stated that the "expenses of production shall be taken to mean the actual cost of . . . and advertising" . . . but it is not provided that there shall be an audit of accounts: nor is it provided that the " actual cost" does not mean what the pub- lisher chooses to call the cost of advertising in his own papers. The chief reason of this grievance is that the practice enables a rogue to swamp the book with advertisements. Thus, if he spends .£20 on advertising it, he may, if he pleases, charge, in addition, say, .£3 a month in advertising it in his own magazines, and five times as much in adver- tising it in other magazines by exchange. So that his account might come in after a twelvemonth: £ s. d. Advertising 20 0 0 Do. in his own magazine 60 0 0 Do. in other magazines .. 180 0 0 260 0 0 This item would appear in a lump sum, without explanations. Of course so great a charge would be very unusual, but with the glorious experience before us who shall say what awaits us in the future? Another grievance not touched upon is the "correction" charge. It is commonly set down in ordinary agreements that the author shall be allowed so much a sheet. As he has no means of connecting money with corrections, he accepts, and very often pays the penalty in a large charge under this head. The new scheme makes matters worse. The author has to pay all charges for corrections exceeding 25 per cent. of the cost of composition. This is quite a new way of putting it, and leaves the author more muddled than ever. He does not know the cost of compo- ## p. 61 (#73) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 61 sit ion: does not know how to connect corrections with that cost: he does not know what each correction may cost. Let us see what this may mean. Take the cost of composition at £2 10s. per sheet of 32 pp. That will probably appear in the account as .£3, because, when charges can be falsified with- out fear of detection, the baser kind will falsify them. The author is allowed 25 per cent., that is 15s. for corrections on each sheet of 32 pp. There are, say, ten sheets, or 320 pages. This makes £7 1 a*. It seems a handsome allowance, and if the book were typewritten first, it ought to be a great deal more than the author would want. But he knows nothing of what corrections mean: ]ierhaps he goes on altering, and improving, and running on, till he has run up a large bill, which in many cases is made a good deal larger still when the account comes in. W. B. VI. Will you allow me to call attention to a very important point in the Publishers' Agreements, namely, their silence on the question of advertise- ments. There is no trick more common or more in- defensible than that of charging for advertise- ments which are not paid for. For my own part I cannot read the draft agreements without feel- ing convinced that they have left the question open with deliberate intent to continue a practice denounced by the most distinguished lawyers. I have heard that one firm sweetly assures its customers that they only charge their authors half the tariff price for advertisements in their own organs. They say nothing, however, about exchanges. Nor do they say anything about the power which they keep in their own hands of advertising as largely as they please by displayed advertisement and whole pages in their own organs, or about exchanging as much as they please. I trust that the members of the Society are thoroughly alive to the enormity of these de- mands. Once Bitten, VII. I have sometimes thought that The Author was too hard upon publishers. I think so no longer. I am persuaded that you have never allowed a charge to be brought against them which is not fully justified by their own agreements, issued by their own Association, examined by their own counsel. What you have denounced in individual pub- lishers has been now accepted by themselves as true of publishers in association. They can no longer cry out upon The Author for exposing their tricks: they proclaim and confess their own greed—" We want all." Half profits, you show, may mean 85 per cent.; nay, it may mean anything more they please, because the percentages are kindly left open. A Member. VIII. [From the Athenseum, July 9.] The draft forms of agreement put forward by the Council of the Publishers' Association are not likely to meet with the approbation of authors; and it is difficult to suppose that their publica- tion is other than a mistake. One would almost think that they were a caricature by an em- bittered author of the demands of the typical publisher. The proposed royalty agreement hands over to the publisher all rights of produc- tion in the United States and the Continent, and deprives the author of his dramatic rights. He must not abridge his book, but the publisher may; and he is forbidden to revise it or alter it in any way except at the bidding of the publisher. The royalty is to be paid on thirteen as twelve, or twenty-five as twenty-four, at the discretion of the publisher! No author, we fancy, possessed of common sense would consent to such a bargain if he could help it, Then the agreement for sharing profits contains a clause that is quite inadmissible:— "The publisher shall account at the customary trade terms for all copies sold, but in cases where copies have been sold for export, or at rates below the customary trade terms, as remainders or other- wise, such copies shall be accounted for at the price realised." That is t < say, the publisher is to have the power of disposing, for any sum he may choose to name, of the joint property of himself and his temporary partner. The proposed agreement for publishing on commission is not so objectionable, but it, too, is unjust to the author, for it hands over to the publisher the entire managemeut of the sale of the book, although the author pays for it. No wonder Sir Walter Besant in The Author is jubilant. If the Association wished to convince men of letters generally that there is foundation for the hard things Sir Walter has said against the trade, it would hav,, been difficult to choose a more effectual method than the production of these agreements, which are supposed to be approved by the confederated publishers. ## p. 62 (#74) ############################################## 62 7 HE AUTHOR. IX. [From the J'tiblishers' Circular, July 23.] As the result of a good deal of correspondence which has been going on of late between the Publishers' Association, the Booksellers' Associa- tion, the Authors' Society, &c., it was decided at the last meeting of the council of the Publishers' Association to invite representatives of the various bodies interested, including the Scotch associa- tions, to a conference, in the hope of being able to take a definite step in the direction of helping the lxioksellers. SCOTTISH BOOKSELLERS AND THE SOCIETY. THE booksellers of Scotland, following the example of those of the North of England, have organised themselves into an associa- tion. This was done at a meeting of the trade held in Edinburgh on June 28—Mr. Andrew Elliot, of that city, presiding. The following resolution was also adopted unanimously, on the motion of Mr. John Grant, Edinburgh, seconded by Mr. D. J. Knox (Smith and Sons), Glasgow :— That this meeting, having heard the Autboi a' report on the new scheme submitted by the Booksellers' Association, « ecords its gratification that the Aatbora' Society ban given its concent to it, accepts the scheme generally, and com- mends it to the favourable consideration of the Publishers' Association. THE CASE OF THE BOOKSELLERS. ri^HE serious condition of the bookselling I trade and the threatening extinction, by processes extremely painful, of the country bookseller must be again brought before the atten- tion of the readers of this journal. For it is the interest—the duty—of every man or woman of letters to keep the bookseller, if possible, in a flourishing and contented condition. Therefore, even at the risk of repetition, it is proposed to return to the subject in these columns. What is the present condition? Agricultural depression, which affects not only the country but all those towns which are outside the manufacturing dis- tricts, has been marked by a corresponding depres- sion in bookselling. Newsagents have started up everywhere selling cheap books as well as news- papers: drapers have made cheap books an attraction of their shops: the stores keep large supplies of books. The bookseller, who was formerly able to order every new book of import- ance, has ceased to supply himself with any but those books which he is tolerably certain to sell. He now offers "fancy" things, photographs, stationery, pens and pencils. If a solid book of high price is wanted he will get it, but he will order it at his risk and peril: he will not keep it. The author thinks, perhaps, that this deterioration of the bookseller matters nothing to him. It matters everything to him. There are three or four persons directly concerned with the production of a book: the author; the printer; the binder; the paper maker; and the bookseller. The pub- lisher, who is in most cases only the distributor, should have a much smaller interest than these four, who are all directly interested in the book. If the bookseller does not exhibit and offer the book to the public, how is it to get into circula- tion at all? But he cannot afford to order it. Therefore the author has no public. It is now actually true that out of the thousands of new books issued every year a great number never get upon the bookseller's shelves at all. That is to say, they are not published. Another danger now threatens the bookseller. At his best he formerly catered for an extremely limited class—the class with education, culture, and means, who treated a book as if they loved it. liked to see it well printed and handsomely bound, and were content to pay a large price for it. This feeling of exclusiveness and respectability gave the bookseller a sense of dignity and self-respect. The feeling lingers still, but it is now becoming harmful. The bookseller does not recognise cheap literature; he will have nothing to do with litera- ture for the people. Yet, unless the signs of the times are singularly deceptive, cheap literature will be upon us before long—in fact, I believe, before many months—and in an overwhelming flood. Certain popular books have been put out as an experiment by two or three publishers at very low prices. Some of these at 6d. have achieved an astonishing success, running, it is said, to 200,000 copies and more. The next step will be the issue of new books—not old books—at this low price. For my own part I think that cheap literature is loudly called for. The people have been reading scrappy penny journals long enough. They should be ready to take a step higher, and to buy and read good literature at 6d. The new books thus issued will of necessity, at first, be novels: the old books will be those which are already acknowledged to belong to the literature of the country; and as for those who now advocate the reduction of prices from 6s. to half- a-crown, they may shift their ground, and con- sider the reduction from 6*. to 6d. From the bookseller's point of view, the cheap literature will be at first disconcerting. Let him boldly throw himself into the movement when it begins. Let him, by means of circulars and in every possible way, make himself the bookseller ## p. 63 (#75) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. of the whole people, not the few. He will continue to be always the bookseller of the few, because high-priced books must still be issued, and cheapness can only be introduced where popularity is possible. For the author there is the comfortable reflec- tion that, even if his book is reduced from 6*. to 6d., and his royalty from is. 3d. to a penny, 15,000 copies at the latter price will bring him in as much as a thousand at the former; and that 200,000 at the latter means 13,300 at the former —and unless he is in the front rank of popularity, he will not probably exceed this figure. Now, with an improved system of distribution, the cheap literature will make a bid for millions, not for thousands. It will also be possible to bring out a book at 6*. and after two years or so to produce a cheap sixpenny edition. What have the publishers proposed in the teeth of these changes? With all the signs before them of a demand for cheap literature and a supply of it, they propose to make the public pay more instead of less, and, on pretence of giving the booksellers relief, to put more into their own pockets. In the teeth of the competition going on they proposed to bind the unfortunate book- sellers by an iron and degrading slavery. They were to have no books at all, or books only at a prohibitory price, unless they obeyed the orders of the publisher, who forbade them to sell their own property at any price they pleased. In the teeth of the increasing poverty of the trade, they propose to maintain the system of forcing all the risks upon the booksellers. With the result that every year fewer books get the chance of being offered to the public. We have now, in conjunction with the Book- sellers' Association, adopted an alternative scheme which involves neither coercion nor slavery, but leaves contract free. It was given in the last number of The Author at length. It means simply as follows: 1. Books at 6s, and under to remain as at present. 2. If a publisher wishes to bring out a book at net price, and to make any special conditions with a bookseller, it is a question of contract for the book only. There is to be no tyrannical attempt at boycotting or "punishing" a bookseller who refuses. 3. Books are to be sent "on sale or return." 4. The " odd copy" is to be abolished, and one price is to be charged. This clause is as much in the interest of the author as the bookseller, because the publisher will now be relieved of the temptation to VOL. IX. pretend that all his arrangements are 13 as 12. These rules will, it is hoped, if they are accepted by the publishers or any of them, relieve the trade very materially. If they are not accepted, the Society must endeavour to devise some other way. Meantime the members are earnestly invited to consider the urgency of the case and the fact that the publishers are proposing to make things worse instead of better, and to suggest any expedient that may occur to them whereby the bookseller, and especially the country bookseller, may be assisted to make a livelihood by a trade which is indispensable to everybody connected with the production of literature. POPULAR TASTE IN BOOKS. WHAT is "the popular taste"? What is it going to be if, as is whispered, "new and original" work is brought to market at a popular price—a shilling or even sixpence per volume? This question is so much in the air just now, that I venture to take up a little space in The AutJwr with reminiscences of a personal ex-* perience which may throw some light on the subject. In 1886 a library for working men and women was established which, from its constitution and management, became as severe a test of the reception which writers who would cater for "the proletariate " must expect as anything could well be. This library lived and flourished for eight years, and then died simply because a large rate- supported free library took its place. It was situated in Hoxton, and its members were all residents in the neighbourhood or came from still poorer parts of East London. It was con- trolled by a committee of working men, elected annually by its subscribers, and was unconnected with any political party, Church, or social "move- ment." Those who joined it, and paid their sub- scriptions to its treasurer, did so, firstly, because they wanted to read; secondly, because they found that, if they desired to read a particular book, that work, if not already in the library, could be procured for them at short notice. This is the point upon which I wish to lay most stress. Out of the eight hundred volumes which the library gradually acquired, all but a very small number were chosen by the members without sug- gestion or hint from anyone as to what they ought to read. a ## p. 64 (#76) ############################################## *4 THE AUTHOR. Of course the library had generous friends, to whose kindness, and faith in working men, its success was largely due. Through these gentlemen, as the number of the members increased, consignments of all works named by any member of the library came into its possession. Lists were handed to the bbrarian from time to time, were examined by the com- mittee, and passed on to the donors. Now and then some book was mentioned that could only be of very slight interest, and this was expunged from the list; but, during the whole eight years of the library's existence, there were not a score of these. Thus, month by month and year by year, was collected a library of a class which its members, if they could have afforded it, would have had in their own homes. I hold a catalogue of these works. All of them have been read, and well read. Many had to be renewed a number of times, so eagerly were they sought for. I will write down these favoured volumes in the order of their popularity: "Adam Bede," " West- ward Ho!" "The Golden Butterfly," "Lorna Doone," Green's "History of England," " David Copperfield," "Ready Money Mortiboy," "Jane Eyre," "Wives and Daughters." In fiction, the favourite authors were: Dickens, Scott, Besant, Dumas, Miss Braddon, Wilkie Collins, Mrs. Henry Wood, Bulwer Lytton, Ouida, Mrs. Gaskell, Charlotte Bronte, Edna LyalL In history, Green and Macaulay naturally came first; but Stubbs's " Constitutional History " was chosen by a cabinet-maker, and read by many others. Carlyle was represented by the " Crom- well Letters" and "The French Revolution." In science, interest centred round Darwin. "The Origin of Species " and " Descent of Man" were chosen early in the day, and much read. The political economists studied Mill and Jevons, and Spencer and Ruskin were frequently out. There were biographies by Ainger, Morley, Leslie Stephen, Disraeli, and Saintsbury. Travels by Livingstone, Ballantyne, Sir Samuel Baker, Miss Bird, and Stanley. Prescott's "Conquests of Mexico and Peru were very popular. Motley's "Dutch Republic," Lord Beaconsfield's " Letters," "Progress and Poverty," all were there, with more "standard works" than I have space to name. And what of the members? There was a rule that no one might belong whose income exceeded two pounds a week. Few of the people reached such luxury. The elder men, our com- mitteemen and their friends, were mostly com- positors, cabinet-makers, painters, packers, ware- housemen, and porters. The younger ones, apprentices to cabinet work, upholstery, or piano- makers, printers' layers-on, and labourers of all kinds. There were afew shop assistants—but not many of these. The women were mostly work- girls, of the average Hoxton type, who, to the number of seventy, greeted the author of "The Children "of Gibeon"—one concert night—with a shrill "Melenda" cheer! Tie-makers, feather- curlers, box-makers, dressmakers, tailoresses— pale anaemic lasses, earning, on an average, i0s. to 12*. per week. One of them, representative of many, told me when she first came that Miss Braddon was the only author she had ever heard of. I gave her Miss Braddon until she tired of that food—and then, as an experiment, presented "Adam Bede." The result was astonishing. She was back in less than a week, all smiles. "I say, let's 'ave another of his books. I ain't ever read as good a tale before!" In the end, she said that "The Mill on the Floss" was her favourite Another girl told me that, until she joined the "Lib'ery," she always bought a penny novelette every week. She had never done so since. It may be said that the library was, after all, a very small affair. Undoubtedly. But I bold that in view of its quiet natural growth; the absence of artificial stimulus; and, above all, the entire freedom of its members to fill its shelves with almost any kind of literature they chose— the record I have given has a very important bearing on the future of the distribution of litera- ture in a cheap form. Depend upon it, the writers of the Penny Dreadful and the Shilling Shocker hold their own simply from the cheap- ness of their wares. Place good works within the reach of men and women who rarely have more than sixpence or a shilling to spare for a luxury, and the circulation of the works of those who write good English: who can depict real life: draw real characters: and who have thoughts and ideas worthy of expression—will utterly swamp and crowd out the noisome trash which flaunts in the little East-end book-shop windows to-day. Their circulation will rise from thousands to hundreds of thousands: from hundreds of thousands to millions. Brother authors—take courage! the "popular taste" is sound to the core. Arthur Paterson. THE PENSION LIST. IHE Pension List for the year has been published. It is as follows: I. LITERATURE. Rev. Canon Atkinson (Philologist), .£100. William Chatterton Coupland (Works on Philosophy), .£50. ## p. 65 (#77) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 65 Dr. Beattie Crozier (Philosophical Re- searches), .£50. Rev. Canon Daniel Evans (Writings on Welsh Literature), .£100. Rev. J. Cunningham Geikie, D.D., .£50. (Dr. Geikie is well known as a writer on theological subjects. Among his books are "The Life and Words of Christ," and "Hours with the Bible.") William Ernest Henley (late editor of the National Observer and the New Review, joint-editor of The Centenary Burns; author of Poems, &c.), .£225. II. Literature by Connection. Mi<,s Janet Mary Oliphant (niece of Mrs. Oliphant), .£75. Mrs. Palmer (widow of the late Professor Arthur Palmer, classical scholar), .£100. Two daughters of the late Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, classical scholar, each .£25. The daughter of the late Richard Shilleto, classical scholar, .£50. III. Music. Mr. Joseph Robinson, for services to music in Ireland, .£50. IV. Art by Connection. Two daughters of the late Mr. George Waller, in consideration of his services to artistic education, each .£25. V. Science and Art. Dr. John James Wild, late artist and secretarv to the Challenger Expedition, .£50. VI. No connection with either Literature, Science, or Art, and therefore no right to appear in this list. The widow of one Colonial Governor and the four daughters of another. NOTES AND NEWS. THE Academy, I rejoice to see, quotes Mr. Turing's opinions on the publishers' draft agreements. It expresses, further, its regret at two statements made by myself. The first is to the effect that the British Public does not care two straws about the publisher. Well, I am sorry to advance an opinion or to make any assertion which is not as plain as an axiom. At the same time it is most true and certain that the public cares not one brass farthing for any publisher: that is to say, it looks at the book and the author, and carer, no more who is the publisher than it cares to find out who is the papermaker. The bookseller cares because he has to make terms with the publisher. The public cares nothing. In no other trade is there such an absolute indifference to the name. So that I cannot withdraw this statement. The other statement is concerned with the question of risk. I first, before making this statement, carefully separated encyclopaedias, great dictionaries, and works of a colossal kind. This separation was cut off the passage quoted by the Academy, so that I was made to talk nonsense. I thought the Bogey of Risk was laid. Let us try again. In general literature — namely, essays, history, biography, belles lettres, poetry, novels—there are hundreds of writers whose works carry no risk whatever, that is to say, they are certain to circulate enough to pay the cost of production with a margin of profit. That is the first fact. J£ a publisher takes an author who is not among this company he incurs risk—but he does this voluntarily. And very few publishers do. That is the second fact. Next, what is the risk, where any is incurred? The world, which fancies itself very clever, replies triumphantly, "Why, the cost of production, of course. Am I a fool?" Not a fool, but ignorant. The risk is the difference between the cost of production and the first subscription. Some houses send round a traveller to subscribe the book before it is printed. This gives them some idea of its chances. Thus, a book is sub- scribed—say—250 in town. That means a beginning, perhaps, with the country trade as well, of 500—never mind the figures, any other will do just as well to illustrate the method. Taking our old friend, the 6*. book which has cost, say, .£80—we have, say, a first subscription of .£87, which is more than the book costs to produce. If there is a subscription of 400 copies, the risk is the difference between .£80, the cost, and .£70, the subscription, or .£10. That is an immense risk, is it not? The Harmsworth Magazine may be taken as an indication of the increased (the widely-increased) demand for literature of a kind. While our shilling and half-crown magazines are crawling along with a circulation for the most part of a few thousands, this threepenny rival, splendidly illustrated and quite as well written as many of the dearer ones, steps straight into a circulation reckoned by hundreds of thousands. This is a great fact which should lead people who are not publishers, and are only interested in the advance of culture, to reflect a little. Those gentlemen, especially, who, from the commanding pinnacle of the club smoking-room, look round upon man- ## p. 66 (#78) ############################################## 66 THE AUTHOR. kind and report that what they read is "truck" or "slush," should look at the success of this magazine and others nearly as cheap. The next great fact which concerns us from another point of view is the cheapness of production. Make every allowance that can be made for improved machinery: for working a lot of magazines and papers together: for cheapness of paper: for a great mass of advertisements: and yet the mystery remains how the paper can be produced at so small a cost. The third great fact is more important still. It is that cheap and good maga- zines will be followed by cheap and good litera- ture. We talk about books at 6s., and i0*. 6d., and so forth. We are, it seems to me, on the verge of the greatest revolution that the history of Literature has ever seen. Ever since I began to investigate and to understand the machinery and the spread of literature, I have become more and more convinced that the present system of providing dear books in small numbers, though it must continue with certain books, will be a small and an insignificant thing compared with the literature offered to the world at prices which seem impossible. Already popular books are brought out at sixpence and sold by the hundred thousand. They are all old books of which the copyrights belong to publishers. Why should they not be new books? (see p. 62). They must be offered for sale by newsvendors, at the stores, as well as the booksellers: the difficulty is that of distribution and advertisement. This difficulty will be got over by the three new firms who have taken possession of the outside mass; when it is got over by them other publishers will follow. From the author's point of view it should be far better to appeal to the general public than to the limited public. It is objected that he would have to " write down " to them. Not at all. The cheap books already offered to them, and eagerly taken up, at low prices, are not books " written down" to anybody. Let us see how a cheap book would affect the author. Take a popular author whose last book had a circulation of 12,000 copies for which he received a royalty of is. $d. a copy, or .£750. The same book issued at 6d. with a royalty for himself of 1 j<7. would give him .£750 by a sale of 144,000. But we are going to the millions. If 600,000 copies were taken he would make .£3125. Decidedly it would be to to the advantage of the author if only that ques- tion of distribution were settled. I mentioned last month the remarkable fact that the Committee of the House of Lords on Copyright had commenced their proceedings by calling before them a publisher: then a second publisher: then a third, and so on: and that there seemed no sign at all that this illustrious body had ever heard that there was such a thing as an author, or had any idea at all that copy- right was created by the author and was actually his own property. In this ignorance they were allowed to remain by the publishers, who all gave evidence on the tacit assumption—which none of the noble lords questioned—that copyright was their own in the nature of thiugs: their own property by right. A day or two after the para- graph appeared I found a summons lying on my table calling upon me to attend and give evidence that day at half-past two. It was then three, so that I could not go. It is hardly, I think, polite or considerate to call upon a man to give evidence on a most complicated and important subject at a minute's notice. Moreover, I am not myself a lawyer: I have never felt called upon to study copyright law: I hate law and law books: and I am not therefore com- petent to give evidence. We have had two sub- committees on copyright, but I have not been a member of either. In fact, the branch of the Society's work which has occupied all the time that I could afford to give, is that of the administration of literary property, not that of copyright law. Mr. Thring has attended the Committee, representing our sub-committee, and, I hope, has enabled the Committee to understand that copyright really does concern authors: that they are capable of comprehending the question: and that the opinion of the lawyers and scholars forming our sub-committee is quite as well worth hearing as that of the publishers, who speak as if copyright was their right. A correspondent sends me a paragraph calling attention, with some show of indignation, to the fact that if anyone posts a book to the United States of America there is an import duty of one-fourth its value, and that the duty must be paid before the book is delivered. It seems a pity that the law is so, but since that is the law there is no use in being angry. Free trade in books does not exist in this country: for instance, it is illegal to expose Tauchnitz books for sale. Shall we begin by altering our own laws? We could then call upon the States to alter theirs. One of the things which the Society could and should do would be to bring about the reconsidera- tion of the Resolutions which constituted the Civil Pension List. All that is wanted is the abolition of a single clause allowing the pensions to be bestowed upon persons outside the field of ## p. 67 (#79) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 57 Literature, Science, and Art " who may be worthy of Her Majesty's bounty." The grant is not large, not more than <£i200 a year, and is by no means sufficient to meet the cases deserving of relief which are brought before the First Lord of the Treasury. No one wants to prevent outsiders from getting the help they want, one only desires to bind the Government to keep this fund entirely for the persons for whom it was founded. At present there is nothing to prevent the list from being filled up with "persons worthy of Her Majesty's bounty." It is, for instance, a common practice to place widows and daughters of colonial governors on the list. In that of the current year (see p. 64) there are the four daughters of one colonial governor and the widow of another. Cannot the Colonies, between them, create a pension list for the widows and daughters of their governors? And is it quite impossible for the governor of a colony to save a little money after twenty years of work on a salary ranging from .£2000 to £ 10,000? In another column appears one more letter on the great and crying grievance ,oi keeping MSS. offered to editors. For my own part I have always desired to recognise to the utmost the difficulties of an editor's position: the necessary keeping back of articles and papers already accepted. But there are limits. In the case before us the editor kept articles offered him for two years, fourteen months, eight months, and three months! There can be no possible excuse for such treatment of a contributor. What remedy is there? One, and one only. Writers will do nothing for themselves: they are so eager to be accepted, especially at the outset, that they will submit to anything and take any price that is offered. If, then, a contributor intimates that the MS. must be accepted and paid for within a certain time, he will probably have it returned unless the writer's name and the subject make it an important offer. The only remedy, therefore, is that the editors who do these things shall be known. If the writer of the letter will send me the correspondence in the .case I will publish his name and the name of the paper. Of course there is another remedy, but it qeems hardly worth while to mention it. I mean that editors should obey the simple rules of courtesy and good breeding. I have always found them, as regards myself, both courteous and kindly. But the letters which we have published in The Author show that there are many editors, especially of the smaller fry of magazines, who are neither one nor the other. Walter Besant. vol. IX. AFTER MANY DATS. A True Incident. IAM very sorry, Miss Carlisle; but I am afraid I cannot use that last story of yours. It is altogether too depressing. The public does not want sad stories. Life is sad enough as it is. No one likes to dwell on such incidents as you describe in—let me see, what do you call it ?—' Dead Violets '? Why the very title is morbid! Dead violets delight no one; what we want is fair, fresh, sweet- smelling flowers." The speaker's looks accorded with his words. He was a man advanced in life, with hair tinged with grey and a forehead #hich showed more than a tendency to baldness; but he had as bright, open, and cheery a countenance as ever beamed from an editor's chair. He bore himself with the easy yet kindly dignity which denotes a prosperous career. "I am very sorry," the girl's lips trembled as she spoke, and it was all she could do to hold back the starting tears; "I will try to do better next time." . She was young, but her face had a worn and weary look. . There was the suggestion 'of a happier past in her somewhat shabby, though perfectly neat, mourning attire. She* had the appearance of one to whom dead violets might mean more than freshly gathered roses. The editor was not unconscious of the pathos of her expression, nor the tremor of her voice; but he was above all things a man of business, and he knew that melancholy stories did not pay. "That's right," he said, "let it be something cheerful, ending with the music of marriage bells. That is what our readers like. I am really afraid I must send that MS. back to you." "Very well—if it must be so." She acquiesced without a murmur, bade him good morning, and went on her way. He was sorry for her; but he was far from guessing how deep a wound he had inflicted. Edith Carlisle went down the long flight of stairs from the editorial sanctum, passed into the Strand, and was lost in the stream of human life ever flowing along its pavements. Of all the units that composed that stream, not one perhaps carried a heavier heart than hers. It was of the irony of life that the editor should bid her write a story which "ended with the music of marri- age bells" just when her own lone story had come to a disastrous termination. The sudden and unlooked-for death of her father had wrought a pitiful change in the cir- cumstances of Edith Carlisle's life. Tt left her ## p. 68 (#80) ############################################## 68 THE AUTHOR. mother almost entirely dependent on her daughter's efforts for a maintenance. Edith found it incumbent on her to break off her engagement to a certain good-hearted but by no means prosperous young man. They bad parted as she believed for ever, and he had gone abroad; Edith devoted herself to the care of her mother, whose failing health caused her much anxiety. She had a daily teaching engagement, and when this was over she gave her spare time to the literary efforts which she had pursued with some slight success ere her father's death, and the con- sequent struggle for life, converted what had been a pure pleasure into a feverish attempt to produce that which would bring in money. The new motive did not yield the highest inspi- ration. Heartbroken at the loss of her lover, harassed by a thousand petty and humiliating cares, and depressed by her growing anxiety on her mother's account, Edith was not in a condition to conceive the bright fresh stories which delight editors. Yet never had she been more wishful for success. So much depended on her earning money. "Dead Violets " had been written with the eager hope that it might bring in a sum sufficient to afford her mother the fortnight at the sea-side which the doctor declared would do her more good than any medicine. Edith had written as her heart dictated, embodying in the tale somewhat of her own sad experience. She believed she had written it well. Certainly it was true to life. And now it appeared that it was too true to life! People must be amused with false pictures of impossible happiness. "Dead Violets" was "morbid" and " depressing." It was a grievous disappointment; but happily Edith had not confided her hopes to her mother, so she alone was disappointed. For a few days she looked for the return of her MS.; it did not come, and she soon forgot to expect it. She had no hope that the story would find acceptance in any other quarter. She regarded the sentence passed upon it by the editor of the Weekly Adviser, in which several of her stories had pre- viously appeared, as final. Had the MS. come back into her hands they would have committed it to the flames. So there was no summer holiday for Edith and her mother that year. Mrs. Carlisle's health failed rapidly in the hot close days, and ere the cooler weather set in she died. Edith's life was painfully lonely after her mother's death. She had lost all knowledge of her lover, and she had few friends. She sought relief in work. She worked harder than ever with her pen, and she worked to good purpose. She began to attain some literary success. Ten years passed by, and her position had considerably improved. She was on the staff of a popular magazine, and she- had written one or two books for girls which found a good sale. She had ceased to write for the Weekly Adviser. The cheery editor who did not like melancholy stories had gone over to the majority; she knew nothing of the man who had succeeded him. Great was her surprise, therefore, when she one day received through the post a roll of proofs in a wrapper bearing the name of that well-known weekly. "This is a mistake," she said to herself, as she unfolded the sheets; but as she glanced over the printing a name here and there caught her eye which struck her as strangely familiar. The thing was not new, though it seemed as vague and distant as a dreain. What could it mean? She turned to look for the title. "Dead Violets" met her eye. The story pronounced "too depressing," more than ten years before, had lain in the office of the Weekly Adviser ever since, and now, unearthed by some chance, had found favour with the new editor, and was set up in type. With strangely mingled feelings Edith read the story written so long before. Her heart was painfully thrilled by the memories it invoked. It seemed at once better and worse than she had deemed it in the old days. There were crudities of style, and a youthful exuberance of expression which jarred on her more cultured taste; but the story was alive. It was very sad—depressing, no doubt—btit yet a bit of real life, written with a throbbing heart, from the depths of her own experience. Her first impulse had been to write and forbid its publication; but on second thoughts she decided to let it appear with such slight im- provements as she could make on the proofs. The revision was painful work. She could not but think how much it would have meant to her had the story found acceptance when it was first submitted to an editor. Who could say? Her mother's life might have been prolonged—even saved, perhaps—had she been able at that time to command the sum which this story would bring her. But it was vain to dwell on that now. The story had been written for her mother's sake, and to her loved memory should its price be devoted Edith had never yet been able to place a suitable memorial above her mother's grave in the crowded London cemetery. For some time she had been slowly saving with this object in view; now this story would supply what was needed to make the amount sufficient. So, when the editor of the Weekly Adviser sent his cheque for six guineas, the money went to complete this fund, and in due time a simple granite cross marked the mound of earth so sacred to the author of "Dead Violets." The associations of that title were full of sadness for ## p. 69 (#81) ############################################## THE AUTHOR 69 Edith, but she never blamed the editor who had rejected the story when fresh from her pen. He had acted for the best. He was bound to consult the pleasure of his readers and the interests of his paper. It was doubtless by accident that the MS. had never been returned to her. She could have had it had she cared to apply for it. The fact of her story's attaining publication after so many years was just one of those strange chances which continually attend the fortunes of a literary career. *>•«.; AFTER PUBLICATION—THE FATE OF A BOOK. IN the March number of The Author I found (1) a paragraph relating the troubles of a member of the Society whose reviews, although excellent, have failed to circulate his books; and (2) a sentence, cited from an article in the Fortnightly :—" I know one bookseller who, when he finds a eulogistic review of a new book, instantly cuts it out and displays it in a conspicuous manner. He tells me the system is a gratifying success." We have, in the foregoing, some suggestions and experiences which may help to throw some light on that mysterious period of a book's career—the period when, just hot from the press, it is as yet undetermined whether it will be a failure or success. Let us consider this subject under four heads: (1) The book and the reviewer, (2) the review and the public, (3) the book and the book- seller, (4) the book and the public. 1. The Book and the Reviewer.—It is evident that there must exist a great disparity between the careful and exhaustive, if not always unpre- judiced criticisms of the great quarterlies in their palmy days, and the hasty rule-of-thumb "notices" of the thousand and one journals wedging in a weekly or fortnightly "literary article" amongst columns of sporting, commer- cial, fashionable, and other "intelligence." In the latter case, literature is treated as one only, and by no means an exceedingly important one, of the many interests which a daily journal reflects, and the object is, no doubt, to give the reader an idea of what is "doing" in the world of letters, rather than to attempt seriously the work of instructive and discriminating criticism. It is of course true, and every author will admit it, that the views taken by reviewers are as various and as many as the actual number of minds concerned in writing the notices in ques- tion. The demerits cited by one, are considered "characteristic touches" by another. What one critic describes as " cheap sarcasm" another will call "profound psychological analysis," and so forth. There may be more than one reason for this. It is no doubt true, as the Editor of The Author has repeatedly pointed out, that no critic can afford to exercise reflective judgment on a work when the result of that judgment has to be condensed into a few lines, and remunerated accordingly. But, with every respect to reviewers as a class, it may be suggested that a great review can only proceed from a mind specially qualified by nature and by training for this particular work, and that to sum up the results of superior constructive ability intelligently, requires critical ability of 110 common order. These considerations lead us to inquire whether the function of the reviewer as now exercised does not require modification—whether, in fact, the whole system of literary notices might not be organised on an entirely different basis with advantage to all concerned. Granted that it is the object of the literary column in the great provincial journals and in the more important weeklies, to reflect the current, activity in the world of letters—to give, as we have said, an idea of what is " doing " in the way. of book production—it is clear that this end might be quite as effectually attained by making these columns the channels of a flowing stream of criticism derived from one or more deep artesian fountains, rather than, as at present, by attempt- ing an outpouring of not too drinkable water derived from more shallow wells, sunk on the premises. Less metaphorically, why should not the literary column, instead of attempting to reflect the whole world of books, confine itself to a summary, intelligently commented upon, of the said world as seen through the spectacles of the great critical journals? To the ordinary cultivated reader it would be far more provocative of interest in a particular book if, in his local journal, say the North of England Mercury, he should find short sum- maries of criticism on, say, "The Three Fishes, a Tale of Grammarye," culled from the Athenaeum, the Spectator, Literature, &c., &c., instead of merely the less valuable lucubrations of the local gentleman who "does" the reviews for that influential county organ. Possibly in nine cases out of ten the local gentleman in question would be by no means averse to the change himself. If he felt moved to dissent from the opinions of the greater lights, it would be open to him to prove them in the wrong. It would also be a light and pleasing exercise for him to discriminate between and enlarge upon the spectacle of the Olympians themselves, utterly at loggerheads over the moral ## p. 70 (#82) ############################################## 7o THE AUTHOR. conduct of the "Fisher of Souls " in the above- mentioned romance. And what a weary waste of labour he would be relieved from, in no longer being compelled to frame platitudes about the worthless thoughts of commonplace people that, somehow or other, have got themselves introduced to the world as "characters" in a so-called novel. If this change were brought about there would, of course, still remain the burning question of the "canons of criticism"—those canons by which the Olympians themselves are to be guided, first, in determining if a new book be worthy of their attention; secondly, in weighing-up the statements, theories, or positions of the writer. Mr. Hannigan, in the March Author, has made a courageous attempt to formulate some of these, but as by his own admission the Waverley novels (including "Ivanhoe "?) fall short of his par- ticular standard, it is to be feared that his formula needs considerable amendment. Having regard to the complexity of human life, and in particular to the fact that progress in every department of human activity is the final result of a number of concurrent, heterogeneous, often conflicting influences, it is evident that no canon of criticism can hope to include all possible cases. In modern and present day matters it is probable that, even were such canon recognised, it would pass the limits of "the wit of man " to dispassionately apply it. We must, therefore, as heretofore, trust to the human element—to the reflections and judgments of the recognised critical authorities; and even these will assuredly often prove to be all wrong, because the human mind is not an infallible machine. . For the present, at any rate, we will not attempt to penetrate the mists that surround Olympus. We will imagine the review written, disseminated by means of the "literary column" to the half million interested in such matters, and served up with the coffee at the breakfast table. The ques- tion now becomes, "What is the effect?" - 2. The Review and the Public.—Each one of us has, no doubt, in his remembrance an instance, when, having read the " notice " of a book, a con- suming desire to have and handle that book has for a few hours possessed us. Our enthusiasm And curiosity during this brief phase has been raised, it may be, to a 10s. 6d. level, or it may be only to a 6s. pitch. But we have felt toler- ably certain that, if the much-desired volume were within reach, we should purchase it at all hazards, and in defiance of the whispers of prudence and economy. This is the first psychological moment in the history of the " review." When it has died away, unsatisfied, the review has passed stage one in its career of usefulness, and has entered on stage two, in which it is only fit for abstract, and repro- duction along with others. The later stage is perhaps a more lasting one. From a number of " notices " the juice or essence, not the bitter essence, but the sweet, is extracted, and the cumulative effect of pithy sentence upon pithy sentence, each followed by the name of some great piece amongst the heavy ordnance of literature, is no doubt very great. The wavering mind remembering its past and momentary enthusiasm over this particular work of genius, greedily responds to the tickling, the gentle stimulus of so many laudatory phrases, and arrives at a fixed determination, not necessarily to buy, but to "look out" for this book. This is psychological moment No. 2. Whether it bears fruit depends upon the accessibility of the work, and this brings us to— 3. The Book and the Bookseller.—-The "publi- cation" of a book is a very vague expression. Too often it means the languishing of the majority of the so-published volumes in the state of " quires" upon the shelves of an unromantic warehouse. Now, it is very clear that a book stands very much in the same light as any other manufactured article from the point of view of the person who has to sell it to the public. The first cry of the would-be purchaser is " samples "; the second, "samples "; the third, "samples." It is, of course, obvious that a book, however large, cannot very well be distributed in small gratis doses like, for instance, X.'s celebrated cocoa. And though it is no doubt true that the whole office of the "review" and the "notice" is to guide the public taste, yet we must not forget that X., too, has his "Press notices," his "testimonials," and other printed matter descriptive of the merits of his cocoa, and, in addition, does not disregard the uses of adver- tisement, but after all he relies upon |the gratis sample. In the opinion of the writer it is not so much the producing as the distributing system of the book trade that is out of gear. Publishers them- selves, those keen business men, seem helpless. They blame the author, they blame the bookseller, they groan over the discount system, they cry out at the burden of the review copy, they pro- phesy, they menace, but the end of all the stir is "much cry and little wool." The unsold "quires" lie limp and lonely upon the warehouse shelves, the bookseller puts a few copies of standard authors in his windows, and the pur- chaser bursting into his shop with enthusiasm, red-hot from a perusal of the "essence of review" above mentioned, is met with the cold and damping remark that "We haven't the ## p. 71 (#83) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. book in stook, but we can get it." And, in not a few cases, out he goes again, never to return. This is not business; it is not even common sense. It is not encouraging trade, it is stifling its nascent struggles. And the result is per- petual recrimination and unrest. Let us now look at the whole matter from another stand- point. 4. The Booh and the Public.—Ah, this dear Public! How noble he is. So unlike a reviewer, unlike even a publisher. We may bully him to our heart's content, and he will like us all the better for it. Each of us feels that, could we but stand face to face with him, and gain his ear, he would extend the right hand of fellowship to us, in sheer admiration of our splendid thoughts. Faith, it is a strange spectacle, this poor, weary, jaded Public, ever seeking for some new thing, and all this galaxy of talent eager to woo his attention and charm him from his abject melan- choly. And between, the impalpable shadow of Destiny, the mocking spectral Fate that keeps him still with head on hand, writhing with ennui— whilst our own enthralling work, epic, comedy, or jeremiad, as the case may be, lies upon the shelves, chemically decomposing into grainless dust. It is easy to understand how a book may be a great success. Touching, even though only by accident, on the inmost fibres of the human heart, will do it, even though every canon of criticism, and every rule of grammar has been violated in the doing of it. Perhaps Mr. Vincent Heward (March Author, p. 269) has not inaptly put it, when he says " style and form are graceful adorn- ments, but what of the body they are to adorn?" Emotion communicates itself like Same. The reader that has been thrilled is eager that others shall experience like pleasure. And thus comes the great success. Merely intellectual satisfaction the reader is more continent of. He says "Clever chap that," but the world does not glow the brighter for a mere sparkle of the mind. Yet even if we recognise that there are many kinds of cleverness which merely stimulate superficially without turning the reader's nervous system into a red-hot furnace full of sympathetic flames, it is not easy to say why books of undoubted merit are often not merely "not very successful," but, on the con- trary, total and abject failures. It would seem that there must be a reason, and a remediable reason, for this, since it is idle to blame the public for neglecting a clever work, because the public's appetite for any sort of clever work is, there is plenty of evidence to show, insatiable. We have seen that a clever work addressed to the emotions, succeeds, because it is advertised by the public itself. It spreads like fever, like panic, or any sort of contagion—and then after a time a further influence comes into play—it becomes "fashionable." The obvious corollary is that works of merit (e.g„ those mentioned on.p. 260) which are total failures, are only total failures because, not being of the class that advertise themselves, they have not in reality been adver- tised at all. Or to speak with precision, they have not been brought before the public in a way that has any practical influence on the public. And this will still be true, if many scores of pounds have been spent in advertising, and if every journal in the kingdom has spoken favour- ably of the work. Enter any shop where a large trade is done in non-copyright books and cheap editions. Observe the purchasers. In nine cases out of ten the purchaser goes into the shop with a vague flavour in his mouth, a half-felt craving for some par- ticular class of mental stimulus. It may be adventure by sea, or by land, the mazy thread of a detective tale, a " society" story, and so on. He wanders round the well-filled shelves, peeping into this, reading a few pages, passing on to that, until at length he finds something to his taste, pays his money cheerfully, and goes out in feverish haste to make acquaintance with his new friends. The deduction is obvious. What is really required to give a stimulus to the profession of the author, to the business of the publisher, to the trade of the bookseller, is reorganisation of existing relationships. The following seem reasonable suggestions. It is not pretended that they are now offered for the first time. (1). Fewer reviews, but those few written by the best available men, bent,not upon "slashing" the author, nor expatiating to a disproportionate extent upon mannerisms and style, nor exhibit- ing encyclopaedic learning, but on viewing the constructive work of their contemporaries as part of the zeit-geist in a calm and philo- sophic way. (2.) The abolition, to a large extent, of the "notice," which at its best is a waste of energy and space. A short statement of the plot or purport of the commonplace and generally un- worthy book might be substituted. Such state- ment signifying neither praise nor blame. (3). The introduction of much closer and more sympathetic relationship between publishers as a body and booksellers as a body. This is, of course, a vague and trite remark, and looks at first sight suspiciously like a pious wish, but it is the real focus at which all the evolutionary ## p. 72 (#84) ############################################## 1*. THE AUTHOR. forces at present working blindly in the world of books will presently be concentrated. We need not, however, discuss this from the point of view of the publisher; we will consider only what the author wants, whether he gets it directly or in- directly. In every large town there should be many, in every small town there should be one bookseller who is not merely a tradesman, but an expert— the guide, philosopher, and friend of the book buyer. In his shop should be found every book reviewed by the critical journals, sent there on "sale or return" by the publisher. Of course this does not apply to Editions de luxe or specially expensive works—only to the rank and file of books that will be purchased by the public at large. There, too, would be found copies of those less successful works, open to everyone's examina- tion; and it can hardly be argued that they would not be better disposed of in this way than decay- ing on- the warehouse shelves. An unsold re- mainder of 500 copies would go a long way dis- tributed amongst the chief booksellers of the kingdom. It is very certain that such shops, established as a recognised and flourishing institu- tion in every town, selling all kinds of printed matter, would become the happy hunting ground of the public in search of a book, and that the scandal of works of merit proving financially disastrous, as in the case of our unfortunate fellow member, would cease to press on our atten- tion. The Public, entering the shop, either to behold with his own eyes that clever work of which he has just read the advertised "essence of review," or, on the other hand, merely desirous of finding something suitable to his present mood, would scan eagerly not only the works of A., B., and C. —celebrated authors—but also of X., Y., and Z., coming men, who, however, have not yet arrived. And it is much more likely that he will invest in the scintillating wit of X., Y., and Z., after having had the opportunity of mentally measuring it, than that he should speculate in the work of an unknown name on the faith of an advertisement. Besides, to be told that the books of a particular writer are not " kept in stock" leads oue, uncon- sciously, to rank that writer as a second-rate one. The influence of fashion is often strongest where it is least visible. It would appear that the bookseller is de- serving of the tenderest care at the hands of the author. He is the advance-guard, the outpost of literature, and his position should be strengthened as far as possible. Enlisting his sympathies, the author has a thousand Argus-eyed auxiliaries working for him, pointing out his merits, holding him up to the omnivorous public as a person whose acquaintance (at the published price) it is desirable to cultivate. The idea may be Utopian, but like many Utopias it is a pleasant one to contemplate. N. C. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—The Civil List. IN the copy of The Author for July, which has just reached me, you do not mention the grant (the pension, rather) of .£20 a year which has been awarded me from the Civil List. As I owe it entirely to the action of the Society of Authors, who most generously signed a petition on my behalf, I think some acknowledgment should be made in The Author. I am deeply grateful to the Society for their kind interest, and for the effort they made to help me. I may have hoped for a more generous award, but that does not affect my lively sense of the sympathy that has been shown me by my fellow authors, which has touched me most deeply. I thank them—and I thank you—most heartily. Frances Marshall (Alan St. Aubyn). July 8. II.—The Struggle for Recognition. Do unknown authors, with touching faith in their own creations, and still more touching expectancy in regard to payment, truly realise the utter hopelessness, the dreary waste of time involved in sending out their literary samples to up-to-date editors or publishers' readers? Do they quite understand the appalling difficulties in the path of poverty, with a more than glutted market to meet—and poverty is always left to the sweet silence of solitude? To get a serial story accepted at, say, .£3 weekly in a penny paper is the most practical way of earning a pittance in fiction; but even here there are thousands ready to do the work for half, and to do it remarkably well. Besides, the relatives of the proprietor or editor are always delighted to offer their services, and to steal all the "plums " from any proffered manuscripts. It is almost invariably the rich author who succeeds—the man or woman with a good income, irrespective of any literary earnings. Money lavished on advertising can make the dullest seaside story the fashion, and hence create a run on it. It is the moneyed power behind a book that will make it " go." It is the greedy capitalist, without a literary instinct, commencing perhaps as some shrewd newspaper clerk, who through lucky chances and solid backers can buy up papers one after the other, and ruin their owners, like a huge serpent swallowing lesser ones. ## p. 73 (#85) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 73 He commands the market. He may, and probably does, prefer twaddle, because he finds it sell, so he buys it and backed up by his capital it goes very well; it is so safe and everyone can of course understand, and be soothed or cheered by it. Does the poor and struggling author quite grasp these hard facts in an age of greed, of humbug, and of callous commercialism? It is easier to sell to twenty capitalists than to one. The wealthy authoress, reclining among her cushions in Worth's latest tea-gown, glittering in diamonds, and interviewed by a reporter awed into respect by her surroundings, has nothing to fear. Her books will sell because her money, position, and interest, can make them the fashion, and guileless reviewers have a singular faculty for appreciating these apparently hidden mys- teries. She appeals in some way to their inner consciousness. The illustrated interviews—the smart little pars—the advertisements—the large social connections—the money and the pushing publisher do the rest. It is precisely the same with the wealthy author. Let struggling aspi- rants moved by philosophic doubts ponder well over the injustice and indifference meted every- where to the poor. Annabel Gray. [The above, whose signature commands atten- tion, deals with the difficulties which beset the path of young writers. I would willingly believe that the picture is exaggerated. It is doubtless true that the difficulties are tremendous ; but does not the nature of the work—the magnitude of the prize, which is not, like the prize of trade, one of money only, but of honour, consideration, and respect—necessitate these difficulties? To write seems so easy: when one has written the product seems to the writer so beautiful: the success of so many seems so easily achieved: the literary value of successful work seems to the young writer so much below his own work: that not only is the editor bombarded and pelted with MSS., but the disappointment of the unsuccessful is keen beyond any other kind of disappoint- ment. It is bitter for the man with the red lamp to see his old friend of student days making his ten thousand a year as a consulting physician, but it is far more bitter for an aspirant to see the success of a work which in his own mind he ranks far below his own. I have always been of opinion that good work makes its own way. Even supposing that push and advertising can advance a book not worth advertising, there remains the question whether any fine piece of work can be named which has failed to make its mark any time during the last ten years. Again, it is true that there are thousands who can turn out MSS. resembling good work and for nothing or next to nothing; the fact remains that it is not really good work, and the journals which "go in" for cheapn- ss do not thrive by cheapness. The only remedy is patience. When people agree to con- sider writing as a kind of work that has to be paid for, like cabinet making, there will spring up some feeling as to sweating writers, just as there is about sweating needlewomen. Yet the sweat- ing will be carried on. Again, can it be said that MSS. are plundered of their contents '{ Such a thing might conceiv- ably take place and with impunity: but it must be very rare, if only on account of the vast masses of MSS. which are daily sent into the editor. Has Annabel Gray any facts in support of this suggestion? Then, is it the rich writer who suceeeds? I should say that it is the successful writer, as a rule, has nothing except the stimulus of poverty. Writers as a rule never do have anything to begin with. One need not quote examples of living men: of dead men we may mention Dickens, Leigh Hunt, Douglas Jerrold, Marryatt —none of them had anything to begin with. However, this is how it seems to Annabel Gray. —Ed.] c-=i III.—The Seamy Side. Do not your occasional contributors tell us too much about their grievances and too little about their success? All publishers arc not necessarily sharks, and some editors are distinctly human— as you, Sir, have frequently borne witness. I personally have had two good doses of disappoint- ment and disillusion—each one of which my candid friends have interpreted as Divine warn- ings that I should take Mr. Grant Allen's advice and buy a good broom and annex a vacant crossing, but I am bound to add that I agree with Mr. Coulson Kernahan, in his preface to "Sorrow and Song," that for kindness of heart men of letters have no equal. The gentlemen who write you frequently profess to be anxious to assist the young author. Would they not help him more effectually if they told him some of the good things that had happened to them? At present they seem to unite to quench your cheery optimism, and to make poor beginners like myself wonder whether any good thing can come to the producer from the world of books! Stanhope Sprigg. IV.—Hard Treatment in Australia. You may be interested to hear that cases of hardship to young writers occur in this new land similar to those published in your columns. ## p. 74 (#86) ############################################## 74 THE AUTHOR. In the months of July and August of last year an advertisement appeared in the columns of the Bulletin, which you may know is the leading paper of its class in the colonies, to the effect that the Coolgardie Courier (W. A.) would give prizes of '' six, four, and two guineas for the three best original stories illustrative of life in Australasia," and, furthermore, that the pro- prietors of the paper would make a donation of one guinea to any tale published other than the prize winners. Satisfied that the advertisement signed by such a well-known proprietor was genuine, I entered MSS. of two stories for the competition, but from that time no further reference was made to it in any paper. I have obtained a file of the Coolgardie Courier from July of last year up to date, and find there is absolutely no mention of any com- petition in its columns. No stories whatever have appeared in it but those culled from English and other journals. I ascertained from the Bulletin office that the advertisement was a bond fide one, and then wrote to the Courier asking an explanation and for my MSS. The latter arrived this morning (in a very dilapidated condition), but no letter or memorandum accompanied it, so the why and wherefore of the business is still a mystery. I have also suffered this year at the hands of a Sydney newspaper, which published tales of mine in its December and January numbers and for which I am unable to get payment. I previously won a prize competition of this journal which was paid promptly enough. I have put the present matter into a solicitor's care, and would like to let you know result. Ada A. Kidgell. 39, Hunter-street, Sydney. V.—Proposed Journal tor Amateurs. Referring to your remarks on amateur produc- tions, are you not a little unjust to that unhappy individual? His work is sure to be weak and flabby, you say, and no one would care to read it. Consequently an amateur magazine must be a collection of drivel. Now, I understand an amateur to be a person who has not had the good luck to get his or her work accepted, and so the majority of our distinguished authors for some period of their lives came under that category. Their work was not worthless by any means. I have been told by a talented LL.D. of keen critical ability that my work is above the average of published novels, and, though I am afraid to believe him, I certainly consider it has redeemed itself from flabbiness. But, even if it were as good as your own, that fact would not insure its acceptance, seeing that there is scarcely room on the booksellers' shelves for the work of old hands. There is no earthly reason why an amateur who has been writing for some time should not be as good as the average professional, and if there is the faintest hope of his ever becoming known in the literary world, he must turn out something far superior to our usual literary fare. A few years ago I used to take in an amateur monthly which contained very good articles by Mary L. Pendred. This lady has since placed books on the market and figured in the Idler, and I should like to know whether she was "ashamed" of what she had done for the little amateur when she found herself on the giddy heights of professionalism. Inconnu. VI.—Stale MSS. Your correspondents complain of their MSS. being kept months for publication—or a year or two; but I think I can beat the record. One was six years old when it appeared, but the editor offered me a larger cheque in consequence. Two or three have been buried four years, and when printed T scarcely knew my own produc- tions. Certainly I felt then that I could have done better. As these were illustrated articles 5 per cent. interest for four years represents £2! MSS. ought to be paid on delivery, or else 4 or 5 per cent. charged for credit. A Patient Scribe. VII.—Personal. Nearly all the reviews of " The Actor-Manager" contain the statement that I am novelist, drama- tist, and actor in one: "Jack of all trades, and master of none" will probably be added soon. May I beg you to serve me by correcting the misapprehension? My experience as an actor was very brief, and I left the theatrical profes- sion when I was three-and-twenty. I am simply a novelist who has collaborated in two or three plays. If you would say so, I should be extremely grateful for your kindness. Leonard Merrick. National Liberal Club. VIII.—Reprints. Will some reader, well versed in the cautious ways of publishers, kindly inform me, with as little delay as possible, why it is that publishers persistently refuse to reprint books of general interest, chiefly because their original issue ran to only one ## p. 75 (#87) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 75 edition of a limited number of copies, and was not brought well under the notice of the public? This was, at any rate, the reason given by several publishers who have had under con- sideration my book of travels in Cuba which appeared some years ago under the title of the "Pearl of the Antilles." It is, I believe, the only work dealing with social life in Cuba which has been written, and it was the result of five years' residence in the island; most of the time having been passed in the city of Santiago—the very centre of the pending hostilities between Spain and the United States. I was not only a resident at Santiago de Cuba, but I spent much more than a mauvais quatre d'heure inside that same Morro Castle at present being bombarded by the American fleet. One would have supposed that such experiences would be of some interest to readers of to-day, and that to a large majority they would appear fresh, or as if the book had never been written; the more so because the work has long since been out of print, and forgott-n by a limited number old enough to remember it. Moreover the volume, though rather extensively noticed by the Press at the time of its publication, was never pushed by my publishers, so that the public knew next to nothing of its existence. This is another reason given by the publishers of to-day in explanation of their refusal to take up a reprint—well revised and written up to date—of the "Pearl of the Antilles." They contend that if the book had been a financial success it would have run to another edition, and yet another. But they cannot be persuaded to believe that the subject of the book is of far more interest to-day than it was the other day, and that almost anything relating to Cuba just now, if well brought under the notice of the public, would perhaps receive attention. In addition to a careful revise, introducing new features, I have also offered to supply illustrations from sketches and designs in my possee-ion— some of the sketches having been done on the spot by myself. But in no single instance has any publisher " caught on " as yet to the idea. Walter Goodman, Oranienhof, Kreuznach, Germany. July 4, 1898. aia IX.—The Publication of Scientific Educa- tional Wokks. I should like to call your attention to a great disadvantage that the authors of scientific works that are intended for educational purposes labour under, viz., the excessive cost of advertisement. I have written three books and a large number of articles in the technical Press on the practical side of electrical engineering, that is to say, books designed for the use of mining, mechanical, and marine engineers, mechanics, plumbers, ifcc., who may have to deal with electrical apparatus but have no training, and to whom the text-books which appeal to trained electricians, crammed as they are with mathematics, would be absolutely useless. That there is a field for such books, and a large one, was proved by the fact that the first edition of my first book, consisting of 1250 copies, sold out in four months, and by the fact that this book is now w.;ll on its third edition, while the others have achieved nearly as great a success. It has also been proved in the usual way that most authors are acquainted with—I am constantly hearing of my books from all parts of the world. I have met working colliers away from their work, carrying my books in their pockets, just as one does any favourite author. I have nothing to complain of in my treatment by my publishers, except in this matter of adver- tisements. I believe that a very much larger number of my books would be sold if they were more advertised. There are probably immense numbers of mechanics, plumbers, &c., to whom the books would be of immense value, by enabling them to deal themselves with most of the troubles that beset electrical apparatus, and so improve their own position and save money for then- employers. These men do not buy my books simply because they have not heard of their existence, and when I complain to my publisher they say that they cannot afford to advertise more tban they do, the cost is so great in propor- tion to the returns. But the most striking feature of the case is, my publishers assure me, that, though my first book may presumably be regarded as a success, they have only recently made anything on it; and the principal reason given is the excessive cost of advertisements, though, as I have shown, those advertisements have failed to touch the great bulk of possible purchasers. The Society of Authors has already done a great deal for authors individually and collec- tively. Could it not attack the great injustice involved in this? Take any technical paper, and consider the amount paid to the authors employed on it as against the enormous sums received for the adver- tisements. The manufacturer and the merchant have numberless ways of bringing their wares before purchasers. The author has only one—the advertisement columns of the Press, after, of course, the review—the latter only taking place on each new edition. Is it not possible to induce proprietors of ## p. 76 (#88) ############################################## 76 THE AUTHOR. papers to take advertisements of books at a lower rate, to give authors a better chance of getting their works known? It is said, in reply to this, that proprietors of papers would never surrender a portion of their profits. As nothing but increased postage rate prevents proprietors of papers from increasing their advertisement sheets ad infinitum, it may fairly be doubted if this is so; but, even if it is, why should they not? Publishers pursued the same grinding policy until the advent of the Authors' Society. What has been done with publishers might surely be done with the proprietors of papers. It should be remembered, too, that the authors referred to, providing they have really something to say, are doing a work of national importance. If this country is to hold its own in the com- mercial race with Germany and the United States, it can only be by the education of its artisans in the technical details of engineering apparatus, and no education can be so convenient as that which the artisan can carry in his pocket. Cardiff. Sydney F. Walker. X.—Editors and Contributors. As I have not been able to see The Author for this mouth I do not know what progress, if any, has been made with above subject, which is of even greater importance tn struggling writers than the subject of publishers' extortions is to their better- to-do brethren, and which cannot be regarded as settled, on Enskin's principle that nothing is settled until it is settled rightly. The reason I am addressing you now is to give you an account of the further conduct of the editor towards me concerning whom I complained in your May impression. When my letter appeired I cut it out, together with all the other matter on the same subject. and forwarded it to the editor in question, to whom I had been con- stantly writing previously, asking him to put in what. MSS. of mine he had in hand. He returned my inclosures with the simple comment. " Pray do not trouble to send such matter in future." On which I wrote him that I must have an answer as to what he intended to do in the matter of my MSS., some of which he had kept on hand upwards of twelve months. Someone on his behalf then sent me a note that the editor had gone awav for a holiday, but would answer my letter on his return. I accordingly patiently waited a month, during which nothing by me appeared in his paper, and then began to write to him again. He took no notice, despite the promise on his behalf, until last Thursday (July 14), when he sent me a letter in which he said that he had gone through all the MSS. of mine he had in hand, and found that he could use, "at the first opportunity," four which he named, one of which he had already kept fourteen months, another eight months, another three months, and another nearly two years. On receiving this communica- tion I wrote expressing satisfaction that some at least of my pieces were at length going to be used, and asking that the others he had in hand should be returned, one of them a tale sent him with stamped-addressed envelope nearly two years back. Instead of complying with my request he actually sent back the four MSS. only he had just contracted to use, marked with editorial notes and corrections, and now says in answer to my appeals that he derives warrant for so doing from my letter of July 15, which I have told him he has misinteqjreted. He obstinately refuses, however, to either insert my MSS. or give me any compensation for not doing so, despite the time he has kept them. Of course I can send them elsewhere after I' have re-copied them, but look at the injustice of the thing. I have written to the proprietors of the journal in question, but do not suppose I shall get any redress from them. Experto Crede. OBITUARY. MRS. ELIZABETH LYNN LINTON died on July 14, at Queen Anne's Mansions, London, where she had been staying for some time on a visit to a friend. About six weeks before she was taken ill with pleurisy; the complaint developing into double pneumonia. Mrs. Linton was in her 77th year. Born at Keswick in the days of the Lake Poets, the daughter of the Vicar of Crosthwaite, she came to London when she was twenty-three, and in the following year under the auspices of Walter Savage Landor her first book was published. This was "Amymone: a Romance of the Days of Pericles." She began to write about this time for the Morning Chronicle, and subsequently for the Morning Star; and her career in journalism thus begun was continued in the Daily News, Household Words, and All the Year Round. Journalism was, indeed, her employment for a few years after 1851, the year in which "Reali- ties" appeared. In all, Mrs. Linton was the author of some twenty books. Her method was one. of extreme painstaking, as an instance of which it has been recorded that she re-wrote each of her long stories with her own hand thrice, ## p. 77 (#89) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 77 making emendations each time. Distinction came to her in 1872 by her powerful novel "The True History of Joseph Davidson," the hero of which is a Cornish carpenter who sets himself to live the life of Christ. "Patricia Kemball," which followed after an interval of two years, had a reception only little less distinguished. The book by which she is probably best known to-day is "The Girl of the Period," issued in 1883, a series of trenchant essays which had appeared in the Saturday Reriew, and which displayed Mrs. Linton in the character of a firm upholder of the sanctities of domestic life. She had no sympathy with what is commonly called the "new" woman—what Mrs. Linton herself called, in a series of essays upon them, the "shrieking sisterhood." Miss Lynn married in 1858 Mr. William James Linton, the engraver on wood, but it was not long before Mr. and Mrs. Linton separated on account of incompatibility of temper. The husband went to America where he lived to the age of eighty. Mrs. Linton was attached to London, in which she lived for fifty years. She retired a few years ago to Malvern. One of her last visits w as to the annual dinner of the Society of Authors nine weeks before her death. Her circle of friends was very large; she was a delightful talker, a charming letter writer; a sympathetic friend to many a struggling aspi- rant in literature. The remains of the deceased lady were cremated at Woking two days after her death. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. C^OULD any correspondent kindly tell me j where "Is the Church of England worth preserving?" an article by the late Mr. Gladstone, which appeared some fifteen years ago, I think, can be found? Also, what is the reference to an article on Corporate Reunion of the Church of England with the Church of Rome, by some Anglican dignitary, giving, I believe, an account of the consecration of three Anglican clergymen by Roman Catholic bishops r Spes. BOOK TALK. MR. F. J. JACKSON'S record of the recent Jackson-Harmsworth expedition to the polar regions will be published by Messrs. Harper in the autumn, in two volumes. A facsimile of the famous Rhind mathematical papyrus will be issued shortly by the British Museum. The papyrus deals with such subjects as the elements of geometrv and the theory of fractions, and was prepare! for publication by the late Dr. Samuel Birch several years ago. It has since been revised, and a special introduction has been written for it by Dr. Budge. "Practical Letters to Young Sea-fishers" is the title of a new book by Mr. John Bickerdyke, which Mr. Horace Cox, publisher of the Field, announces. In addition to sea-fishing as a sport, it deals with fishing-boats, boat-sailing, and life- saving at sea, and the restoration of the half drowned. The book is very fully illustrated by photographs of sea-fishing scenes taken by the author, sea-fishes drawn by a noted ichthyologist, the late Dr. Day, and the usual diagrams of tackle. Mr. Jerome K. Jerome's new book, a second series of "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow," will be published in a few days by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, entitled "Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow." The first series appeared twelve years ago. Early in the autumn season a memoir of Robert, Earl Nugent, the contemporary and friend of Pitt, Chesterfield, and Walpole, will be published by Mr. Heinemann. The writer is a member of the family, Mr. Claude Nugent, and a great amount of the earl's correspondence will be given, as well as illus- trations from pictures by Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Kneller. Miss Nellie Farren is writing the storv of her life. Readers will remember the process of unautho- rised adaptation which a story by Mr. H. G. Wells recently underwent in order to suit a locality in the United States. Now it appears that somewhat similar treatment has been received by another English author, namely, Mr. H. O. Arnold Forster, M.P. His little book, "In a Conning Tower," which has gone through many editions, has been taken in hand by an "enterprising" firm in America. The narrative describes the possible course of an action between two modern British ironclads. In the American adaptation, names of American battleships are substituted, and the work is described as "by a noted expert." Mr. Henry James's new novel, " In the Cage," will appear from Messrs. Duckworth's in a few- days. Mr. E. F. Benson has written a society story, entitled "The Money Market," which will be Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual this year. Mr. J. K. Laughton is making steady progress with the life of the late Mr. Henry Reeve, the editor of the Edinburgh Review, which will pro- ## p. 78 (#90) ############################################## 78 THE AUTHOR. bably be among the most important of this year's biographies. It will contain some vers-de-sodet6 written by Mr. Reeve in early life. Mr. Demetrius Boulger, whose large history of China has just been issu d in a cheaper edition, has examined the documents of the Congo State and the work carried on there, and the result will be a book entitled "The Congo State and the Growth of Civilisation in Central Africa." It will be published by Messrs. Thacker in the autumn. A volume that will be anticipated with much ioterest is " Letters by Benjamin Jowett," which Mr. Evelyn Abbott and Professor Lewis Campbell are preparing as a supplement to their " Life of the late Master of Balliol," which was issued by Mr. Murray last year. Mr. Clark Russell's new novel, " The Romance of a Midshipman," will be published on Oct. 5 by Mr. Unwin. A romance of lower London, by Mr. A. St. John Adcock, will be published shortly by Messrs. Skeffington. General McLeod Innes is writing the life of another gallant soldier, namely, the late General Sir Henry Havelock-Allan. Novels to be published in the autumn by Messrs Constable include " An Elusive Lover," by Virna Woods; "A Statesman's Chance," by Mr. J. F. Charles; and "The Modern Gospel," by Mrs. H. H. Penrose. With the July number of the Classical Review Mr. G. E. Marindin relinquished the post of editor, owing to pressure of other work. Dr. Postgate, of Cambridge, has accepted the editor- ship, and he will be assisted by Mr. A. Bernard Cook, of Trinity College, Cambridge. Mr. Marindin has edited the review for five years, having succeeded Professor Mayor. Mr. Walter Armstrong, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, is writing a book on the characteristics an < achievements of the painter Gainsborough, which will be published by Mr. Heinemann. Lord Ashbourne is writing a work entitled "Pitt: Some Chapters of his Life and 1 imes," which Messrs. Longman will issue in the autumn. "Foreign Courts and Foreign Homes " is the title of a work by "A. M. F." which is shortly to be published by Messrs. Longman. It deals with Hanoverian and French society under King Ernest and the Emperor Napoleon III., and contains a fund of anecdote. Mr. W. G. Collingwood is being assisted by Professor Jon Stefansson, of Copenhagen Univer- sity, the well-known Icelander, in preparing an elaborate volume on the topography and scenery of the Sagas, so far as they relate to Iceland. It will be illustrated by 200 water-colour drawings taken by Mr. Collingwood last year in the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and the Northern Seas. Professor Murison is writing the volume on Sir William Wallace for the Famous Scots Series. July witnessed the appearance of a threepenny popular monthly, entitled the Harmsworth Maga- zine. It is published by the well-known firm of Harmsworth. Considerable discussion has arisen upon the question of whether the newsagents can afford to sell it at the price it is offered to them. Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son declined to sell it on their bookstalls, and there has been a lengthy altercation between the two firms on this score. Mr. Harmsworth, the principal of the firm, says that the magazine can only be produced at the price becatise it is but "a small incident in an organisation controlling four daily journals and nearly thirty weekly periodicals; because we already possess and are now building printing machinery of an entirely novel and labour-saving nature." The following are among the novels which are announced for early publication: "God's Out- cast," by Mr. Silas K. Hocking (Warne); "A Girl of Grit," by Major Arthur Griffiths (Milne J; a novel by Mr. J. A. Barry (Macqueen); "A Lotus Flower," by Mr. J. Morgan de Groo (Blackwood); "The Secret of the King," by Mr. Charles Hannan; "The Pathway of the Gods," by Mrs. Mona Caird; •' The Laurel Walk," by Mrs. Molesworth (Isbister); and "The Queen's Cup," by Mr. G. A. Henty." "The Ways of a Widow," by Mrs. Lovett Cameron; and "Heart and Sword," by John Strange Winter, will be published by Messrs. White, who also have in preparation new stories by Mrs. Alexander and Miss Florence Warden. The Rev. Arthur Jenkinson, minister of the parish of Innellan, Argyllshire, has written a novel, in collaboration with his daughter, the scenes of which are laid in some of the wildest parts of the West Highlands. The story is entitled "Fiona Mclver: A Romance of the Western Isles," and will be published immediately by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. Miss Jeukinson, who is still very young, has already accomplished a considerable amount of literary work. The executive committee of the Stevenson Memorial now report that a fund of about .£1400 has been raited through local committees in New Zealand, the United States, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen. A mural ## p. 79 (#91) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 79 monument in bronze will be placed in the Moray Aisle of St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh. It wiil be done by Mr. St. Gaudens, the American sculptor, who has studied Stevenson from the life. If the funds permit, it is also proposed to erect a handsome red granite seat upon some point on the Calton Hill, overlooking the Firth of Forth. Miss E. M. Cope is translating from the Nor- wegian a personal life of Marie Antoinette, written by Miss Clara Tschudi, who was recently presented by King Oscar with a gold medal in recognition of her historical researches. Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. will publish the book. Dr. Joseph Parker, of the City Temple, is writing a review of his Lifetime amongst the Dissenters, which will probably appear in the autumn. The proposed title of the book is "Paterson's Parish: A Book of Scenes, Thoughts, Dialogues, and Revelations." No publisher has yet been named. "Estrina," written by C. H. Malcolm, has just been published by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. (2*. 6d.). A play entitled "Edgar Harissue," by Messrs. C. H. Malcolm and Arthur Grahame, was played at the Ladbroke Hall on Tuesday, July 19, and was much appreciated. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [June 24 to July 23.—217 Books.] Ames, J. S. Theory of Physics. 10/- Harper. Ames. J. S. and Bliss, W. J. A. A Manual of Experiments in Physics. 10/- Harper. Anderson, P. J Records of Marischal College and University, Aberdeen. 1593-1840. 21/- New Spalding Club. Andom, B Martha and I 3/6 Jarrold. Andrews, S. J. Christianity and Anti-Christianity in their Final Conflict. 9/- Putnam. Andrews, W. Literary Bywavs. 7/6. Andrews. Anonymous (An Inspector of Schools). Principles of Arithmetic. 3 6. McDougall. Anonymous. Conquest of Constantinople hy the Crusaders: A Song of Israel and Other Poems. 2/6 net. Paul. Anonymous (B. L. L.) Doctrine of Energy. 2/6 net. Paul. Anonymous. An Indictment of the Bishops. 1/- Church Association. Anonymous. History as Taught in India. 1/- T. G. Johnson. Armstrong, A. Tales of the Temple and Elsewhere. 1/- St. Sames's Gazette Office. Bailey, G. H. Metals and their Compounds. Part I. 1/6. Clive. Baskett, J. N. At You-alTs House. 6/- Macmillan. Raynee. Herbert. Ideals of the East. 5/- Sonnenschein. Relfort, Roland. The Colonial Cable Peril. 1/- R. Belfort. Bell. R S W. 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Present-day Engineering on the Band. 21/-net. Whitt*ker. 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. 09 Issue 03 (August 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 03 (August 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-08-01-The-Author-9-3 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/318/1898-07-01-The-Author-9-2.pdf 84d6982286dd3a0c44156d3bf7f37cee 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) 1898-07-01 Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages Page range in volume 29–56 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980701 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin TTbe Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. 2.] JULY i, 1898. [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. Ij^OE some years it has been the practioe to insert, in ! every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., for the guidance of the reader. It has been objected as regards these warnings that the trioks 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 his 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. IX. 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 futnre to any one eolioitor or dootor! (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 anthor's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is 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 objeoted 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. Ii 2 ## p. 30 (#42) ############################################## 3o THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. "T7WERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice Bought 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 oost 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 bo far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks 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 advanoing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing important to literature that yon may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 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 communioate 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 does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to oome, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 1 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is passible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of oourse, 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. 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 thoir names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write? ;»•<: LITERARY PROPERTY. 1.—Report of the Sub-Committee on the Proposals of the Booksellers' Associa- tion, Approved by the Committee. THE Sub-Committee for the consideration of the discount and other methods connected with the bookselling trade have had under their consideration a scheme which has been pre- pared by two or three booksellers, considered by the Booksellers' Association, and by one meeting ## p. 31 (#43) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 3» (at least) of local booksellers, by whom it has been approved. The objects of the scheme are as follows :— (1) To give booksellers the same profit off all books (except educational books at 6*. and under) that they at present receive off 6*. novels; while the publishers are not asked to give better terms than they do at present. (2) To enable booksellers to charge more for credit than for cash. Scheme. I. Odd books to be abolished, and all looks to lie supplied at the average present terms. II. The invoiced price of each book to be the lowest cash price to the public. (This rule not necessarily to apply to books supplied in bulk to schools and School Boards.) Thus— (a) Net books would be invoiced at full pub- lished prices. (ft) Novels and similar non-net books at 6s. and under would be invoiced at 2 5 per cent. off published prices. (r) Non-net books above 6s. (on which the price to the public does not need to be "cut so fine ") would be invoiced at not more than 2d. in the i*. off published prices. III. A. minimum trade discount of 20 per cent. to be allowed at settlement to those booksellers icho agree not to sell books to the public below the invoiced price, and to them only. (In the case of educational books published at 6s. and under, the discount at settlement might be 15 per cent. instead of 20 per cent.). The settlement discount for prompt payment might be arranged by publishers and booksellers individually. A Specimen Invoice submitted with the "Scheme.'' Thus. To A. B. (Bookseller). "Tom Jones," a novel, 6s. 4*. 6d. Terms.—A trade discount of 20 per cent. will be allowed off this amount conditionally that the books are not sold beloio the invoiced price of 4s. 6d. Acceptance of goods to be deemed agreement. In addition, a settlement discount of 5 per cent. for prompt payment after the monthly statement is received.* The objects of this Scheme must commend themselves to all who are interested in the welfare • By the words "the books" is meant "this book " or "those books" included in the invoice. By "prompt pay- ment " is meant within a fortnight. of booksellers—i.e., to the author, the publisher, the printer, the paper-maker, the bookbinder, and the Press which receives the advertisements. All alike must be united in desiring to promote the welfare of the bookseller, on whom mainly depend the material interests of literature. Jn any scheme with the praiseworthy object of improving the position of the bookseller two points must be steadily borne in mind: (1) Freedom of contract; and (2) freedom of trade. Thus, it is necessary that the author, the publisher, and the bookseller must be free to contract with one another to produce and sell on whatever terms may be agreed upon. It is not rijrht, nor can it be tolerated, that any one of the three contracting parties shall seek to control the other two and make them bound in the general administration of their business. Thus, the plan recently proposed by the Pub- lishers' Association was objected to by the Sub- Committee on grounds which we need not here repeat at length. The two principal re 1 sons were the state of dependence to which the bookseller would be reduced—i.e., he would be forbidden the least freedom of dealing with his own while he would be condemned to bear on his own shoulders, as he does now, a greater share of risk than is borne by the publisher; and, secondly, the impossibility of carrying out the proposed coercion. It was also pointed out that the pro- posed relief to the bookseller meant at least an equal, if not a greater, increase of profit to the publisher, while nothing whatever was said as to any corresponding advantage that was to be offered to the author. I. The plan before us does not involve any coercion. (1) The author nead not adopt it. It is an individual offer controlled by the ordi- nary rules of trade. This fact is in its favour. (2) The publisher is free to offer his wares, subject to price and conditions. (3) The bookseller is free to accept or decline. II. The next point is that it recognises the 3<7. discount in the case of books in general literature published at 6s. and under. It should thus conciliate those discount book- sellers -who have so long and so earnestly pro- tested against any interference with their freedom of action. III. In the case of a book published at a higher price, it is proposed to let it be sold at a discount of 2d. in the shilling only. Many book- sellers contend that people who can afford to buy a book published at 24*. will not mind much ## p. 32 (#44) ############################################## 32 THE AUTHOR. whether they get a discount of 2d. or yl.; i.e., whether they pay 18*. or 20*. for the book. IV. The proposal to abolish the " odd copy ": The reasons for this step commend themselves strongly to us. The present system gives a great advantage to booksellers who can afford to order 25 copies, which they get as 24; or 13, which they get as 12; or in some cases 7 copies, which they get a.« 6^. But it is only in the case of books in large demand that the bookseller can afford to order thirteen copies. In the case of highly priced books he cannot think of taking them except by ones and twos. Taking figures that have been supplied to us, the result is that the profit which he gets on, say, a 12s. book taken in single copies is no more than what he gets on a 6s. book. Again, we are assured that with the odd copy the profit on a 5s. book is not equal to that made on two books at 2s. 6d. And the profit on a "js. 6rf. book without the odd copy is no more than that on a 5*. book with the odd copy, and that on a 15*. book without the odd copy is less than on two books at ys. 6d. Now, with a uniform price, and without any odd copy at all, the profit would advance with the price and the bookseller would have a greater inducement to push the higher priced books. There is another argument against the odd copy. It is from the author's point of view. Although the odd copy is by no means a universal privilege to the bookseller—because, as we have said, he cannot afford to order thirteen at a time—some publishers are endeavouring to introduce in their royalty agreements the words "thirteen as twelve "—as if it was a sort of custom of the trade. This practice deprives the author, without the least right, of no less than 8 per cent. of his dues. The author is no party to an arrange- ment which, as booksellers contend, does more harm than good; and if the practice is continued he must refuse agreements when this fine is inflicted. With these considerations before us the Com- mittee are strongly in favour of the abolition of the "odd copy " altogether. V. In the opinion of your Committee the Scheme requires to be strengthened or altered by the addition of two important clauses. These are— (a) A time limit. It is only reasonable that a bookseller who has bought books under the conditions set forth above should be free after a certain time to sell at any price he pleases. The time limit will vary with different kinds of books. When a book appears in the clearance catalogues of Mudie or Smith, it might be necessary for a bookseller to reduce his price if h would sell the book at all. Your Com- mittee are not prepared to define a time limit for any classes of books, but they must call attention to the point as one on which the success of the method proposed must eventually depend. < (6) A method of letting booksellers have books on " sale or return." This was recommended by your Sub-Committee in their previous report. Kecent events have only made them stronger in the belief that such a plan must be brought into general operation. The number of books now published is so enormous, that no bookseller, however wealthy, can afford to buy and to offer for sale all the books which he would like to have in stock. The high- priced books he supplies as a rule only when they are ordered. Thus there are hundreds of books which are produced but not published. That is to say they are not offered to the public. Unless a book is offered to the public it cannot be said to be published. Or, to put it differently, we may define publication as "production, exhibition, and attempt to sell." The first is done by the printer; the second and third by the bookseller. If the bookseller cannot do his share, the book might as well not be produced at all. It is said that books on " sale or return" come home soiled and spoiled. Perhaps so; but not many. The proportion would be comparatively small. And, in any case, these books would have become remainder stock. If a book is a good book there would be but little risk. If it is a poor book the risk is not increased, because the remainder stock would in any case swallow the whole that was lost. And the great advantage remains that the local bookseller would be enabled to make a good show of all the books worth showing. It is for the publishers with the booksellers to devise the details of this system. But in a general adoption of the "sale or return" system the bookseller must have the freedom of choice. That is to say, he must not be bound to accept any quantity of rubbish that may be shovelled on to his shelves. It is the opinion of this Committee that the introduction of some general system of " sale or return" and the abolition of the " odd copy," are essential to the prosperity of the retail book- trade, and that if these general reforms are intro- duced, the terms of sale for each book should be matter of voluntary contract between publisher and booksellers, as suggested in the Scheme herein considered. By order of the Committee, G. Herbert Thring, Secretary. ## p. 33 (#45) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 33 II.—1)eaft Form of suggested .Royalty Agreement between Author and Pub- lisher, DRAWN UP BY THE COUNCIL OF THE Publishers' Association and submitted to and approved by Mr. Joseph Walton, Q.C., and Mr. Arthur R. Ingpen. Royalty Agreement. Memorandum of Agreement made this day of between (hereinafter termed the Author) of the one part, and (hereinafter termed the Publisher) of the other part, whereby it is mutually agreed between the parties hereto for themselves and their respective executors, administrators, and assigns (or succes- sors, as the case may be), as follows:— 1. The Publisher shall at- his own risk and expense, and with due diligence, produce and publish the work at present intituled by and use his best endeavours to sell the name. 2. The Author guarantees to the Publisher that the said work is in no way whatever a violation of any existing copyright, and that it contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and that he will indemnify the Publisher from all suits, claims and proceedings, damages, and costs which may be made, taken, or incurred by or against him on the ground that the work is an infringement of copyright, or contains anything libellous or scandalous. 3. The Publisher shall during thevlegal term of copyiight have the exclusive right of producing and publishing the work in the Inglish language throughout the world. The Publisher shall have the entire control of the publication and sale and terms of sale of the book, and the Author shall not during the continuance of this agree- ment (without the consent of the Publisher) publish any abridgment, translation, or dramatised version of the work. i- Comments by the Secretary of the Sociirra. Firstly, then, the parties to the agreement. "It is agreed for themselves, their respective administrators, executors, and assigns, or suc- cessors, as the case may be." It is the greatest mistake for an author Ui contract with the executors, administrators, and assigns, or successors of a publisher. The con- tract is between principal and agent, and is a personal contract, and should be maintained as a personal contract. Supposing an author were dealing with one of the best publishing houses in England, and the partners of that publishing house, lor some reason or other, desired to retire from the business; to clear up matters they might put up the contracts for sale by auction or otherwise. Under these circumstances an author might find the right to publish his work pur- chased by some enterprising tradesman, wh*i would bring it out in a manner and form which would be utterly repulsive to the author, and he would have no means of stopping him; and the 6ame thing might occur should a firm go bank- rupt. It is, therefore, a most dangerous thing W allow the agent who is dealing with the property to have a right to assign his agency. In Clause i the publisher undertakes to pro- duce the work with due diligence. These words, as far as they go, are satisfactory, but the clause is not nearly comprehensive enough. The follow- ing points are suggested for consideration: that a date ought to be fixed on or before which the book should be produced; that the form in which the edition is to appear should also be stated, and the price at which it is to be sold to the public. Clause 2 may, on the whole, be passed, with the single exception of the words "incurred by." It is fair as between the parties that the publisher should be protected from all suite against him, but there is no reason why the author should indemnify him from all expenses incurred by him, as he might incur unnecessary expenses without the sanction of the author. There ought, therefore, to be some words of limitation by which the author has a voice in any action taken by the publisher. Clause 3.—It is difficult to deal with Clause 3 without, in fact, re-drafting the whole of the agreement, but it should be pointed out that the rights which the author is expected to transfer by this agreement include the rights of production in. Tauchnitz form and in America. Such rights are generally left in the hands of an agent, and much better so than in the hands of publishers, for this reason—that a publisher does not,as a general rule, undertake the work of the literary agent; that lu* ## p. 34 (#46) ############################################## 34 J HE AUTHOR. office is not to place literary work in other hands, but to produce literary work for the author; that work of this kind left in the hands of publishers is not likely to receive anything like the same atten- tion as it is if left in the hands of a literary agent; that the publisher is the only person who gains by having control of this work, and that the author loses by leaving it in his hands. It should be further pointed out that the publisher does not anywhere in the agreement undertake to secure the American copyright for the author, nor even to do his best to obtain it. It may pay an English publisher better to sell sheets or stereos to America, and pay the author a royalty, as per Clause 4 (d), " of per cent. of the net amount of the profits remaining after deducting all ex- penses relating thereto." It should be added, although no prices are stated in this agreement, that for this agency work, while the literary agent charges 10 per cent., the publisher actually asks from 30 to 50 per cent.; out of a large series of agreements in my hands from all sorts and conditions of publishers the lowest charge for this literary agency business has been 25 per cent., and this only in one case. The last part of the clause is extraordinary. It seems astounding that the author should not be allowed to deal with the translation and dramati- sation of his own work without the consent of the publisher. An author must be mad to part with his dramatic rights, perhaps more important than all the rest put together. With regard to the question of abridgment even, it is not fair that the author should be bound not to abridge the work unless the publisher is reciprocally bound not to obtain an abridgment or to run any other technical work which is likely to conflict with the author's. So far, this clause has been considered from the general point of view, but from the point of view of the writ-r of technical works, educational, medical, theological, &c., &c., the clause is still more disastrous. Under no circumstances should a writer of technical books hand over to his publisher so large a right of publication. It should be limited, especially as to the number of the edition, giving, if the author thinks fit, an equitable right to produce further editions. A technical writer must keep the command of his work, must be able, if necessary, to alter, amend, amplify. He cannot do this with a free hand if he does not keep undivided control. The publishers' answer will be: "But this is provided for by Clauses 5 and 7." But it is submitted that it is one thing for the author to have unfettered judgment, and another thing to be forced to revise at request of his publisher or sop his work arbitrarily revised by ## p. 35 (#47) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 35 4. The Publisher agrees to pay the Author the following royalties, that is to say :— (a) A royalty of on the published price of all copies (13 being reckoned as 12 or 25 as 24, as the case may be) of the British edition sold beyond copies. (6) In the event of a cheaper edition being issued, a royalty of per cent. on the published price. (r) In the event of the Publisher disposing of copies or editions at a reduced rate for sale in the United States, or elsewhere, or as remainders, a royalty of per cent. of the amount realised by such sale. (d) In the event of the Publisher realising profits from the sale, with consent of the Author, of early sheets, serial or other rights, or plates for production of the work in the United States or elsewhere, or from claims for infringement of copy- right, a royalty of per cent. of the net amount of such profits remaining after deducting all expenses relating thereto. No royalties shall be paid on any copies given away for review or other purposes. VOL. IX. another. Whilst considering this question, it should be mentioned that one of the peculiarities of publishers' contracts is that in the case of technical works a clause is nearly always intro- duced conveying the copyright to the publisher. An agreement containing such a clause should never be signed by an author. Clause 4.—In Section (a) the royalty is to be paid thirteen copies as twelve or twenty-five as twenty-four. The alternative appears to be left wholly to the discretion of the publisher, who naturally will prefer to pay on thirteen as twelve. Royalties should never be calculated on this basis. All the royalty accounts put forward by the Authors' Society have been (wrongly) reckoned on the basis that the royalty is paid on every copy sold, it having been previously taken into account in the Cost of Production that the publisher had to sell thirteen for twelve to the booksellers. This they do not really do, except they sell in quantities, and a great many booksellers are unable to afford to buy in quantities; therefore, in taking the royalty to be paid as in Section (a), the publisher is not only profiting by the liberal estimates of the Society with regard to royalties, but is also endeavouring to take in an extra 8 per cent., and the extra amount on those copies, of which there are miny, sold in less numbers than twelve. This fact should also be made clear, that some of the older and more reliable firms have never put forward in their agreements a clause on this basis, but have always paid on every copy. The clause is also drafted that the royalty should be paid on all copies seld beyond a certain number. This seems to imply that no book can afford to have a royalty paid on it from the beginning. Of course this is not the case, but when such an agreement is placed before an author as an equitable agreement, these points of equity should be clearly explained. If the royalty is to be paid after the sale of a certain number (generally such a number whose sale will cover the cost of production), then the author must take care (1) that a number beyond the number specified is printed (2) that he gets a proportionately higher royalty for foregoing it so long—e.g., he must then get 50 per cent. of the trade price. All royalty agreements should further have the royalty increasing with the sale if they cannot bear a high royalty from the beginning. A royalty increasing with the sale is certainly a fair arrangement as between author and publisher. Section (b.)—The issue of a cheap edition appears under this section, as, indeed, under the drafting of the whole agreement, to lie entirely with the publisher. This is by no means a satisfactory arrangement. Here, again, there is ## p. 36 (#48) ############################################## 36 THE AUTHOR. 5. The Author agrees to revise the first, and, if necessary, to edit and revise every subsequent edition of the work, and from time to time to supply any new matter that may be needful to keep the work up to date. 6. The Author agrees that all costs of correc- tions and alterations in the proof sheets exceeding no proposed increasing royalty according to the number of the cheap edition sold. Section (c).—It is a common thing for the author to receive a share of the nett amount realised by the sale of remainders, but royalties as a general rule are paid on the published price of the sale of the book in the United States. An author should not allow such a loose clause to be in any agreement with the words "copies or editions sold at a reduced rate should be subject to — per cent. of the amount realised on such sale." Who is to decide what is a reduced rate? There are many different methods of selling books to the trade; many of these might be called books sold at a reduced rate. Under these cir- cumstances it is unfair to the author to obtain a share merely of the amount realised. Royalties must be paid always on the published price, except in the case of a remainder. Section (c) therefore should allow a share of the amount realised on bond fide remainder sales. The rest should be altered. The case of re- mainder sales should be distinguished with great care from the sale of books at reduced prices; this clause cannot but tend to confuse the two issues. Section (d).—If the publisher is successful in doing the agency work stated in that section, it is fair that he should have 10 per cent. commis- sion on the returns, in accordance with the charges of all ordinary agents. He might also perhaps be fairly entitled to a 10 per cent. commission if he was mainly instrumental in recovering money for infringement of copyright. The balance would be paid to the author. The final section of Clause 4 is a little vague. Of course, no royalty ought to be paid to the author on copies given away by him or sent for review, but the words "other purposes" might cover a good deal more than this, and are insuffi- ciently precise. Clause 5.—The wording of the fifth clause is not very satisfactory. In the case of technical works, to which a clause like this specially refers, the publishers should in the first instance be only given a right to publish a limited number of copies, and the author might in equity give him the option of producing further editions, subject to certain limitations. Under those circumstances the right to revise would lie within the author's hands, as it should do with the creator of any work, who ought alone to have power to add or subtract from what he has already put before the world. This has all been explained when com- menting on Clause 3, but the principle is of such importance that it is worth while to repeat it. Clause 6.—The author is not safeguarded hero. Could it not be provided that periodically (say ## p. 37 (#49) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 37 25 per cent. of the cost of composition shall be deducted from the royalties payable to him. 7. In the event of the Author neglecting to revise an edition after due notice shall have been given to him, or in the event of the Author being unable to do so by reason of death or otherwise, the expense of revising and preparing each such future edition for press shall be borne by the Author, and shall be deducted from the royalties payable to him. 8. During the continuance of this agreement, the copyright of the work shall be vested in the who may be registered as the proprietor thereof accordingly. 9. The Publisher shall make up the account annually to and deliver the same to the Author within months thereafter, an 1 pay the balance due to the Author on 10. If the Publisher shall at the end of three years from the date of publication, or at any time thereafter, give notice to the Author that in his opinion the demand for the work has ceased, or if the Publisher shall for sis months after the work is out of print decline or, after due notice, neglect to publish a new edition, then and in either of such cases this agreement shall termi- nate, and, on the determination of this agreement in the above or any other manner, the right to print and publish the work shall revert to the Author, and the Author, if not then registered, shall be entitled to be registered as the proprietor thereof, and to purchase from the Publisher forth- with the plates or moulds and engravings (if any) produced specially for the work, at half-cost of production, and whatever copies the Publisher may have on hand at cost of production, and if the Author does not within three months pur- chase and pay for the said plates or moulds, engravings, and copies, the Publisher may at any time thereafter dispose of such plates or moulds, engravings, and copies, or melt the plates, paying VOL. IX. weekly) during the printing the' author be informed of the cost of corrections? He must in any case be informed what is the cost of com- position, and what is the connection between corrections and shillings. Clause 7 might, under certain circumstances— that is if the publisher has purchased the copy- right—be inserted in an agreement, but in the present form of royalty agreement it should be struck out. There is no need for it. Its imprac- ticability with regard to technical writers during their lifetime has been explained. Clause 8.—There is no neud either for the insertion of Clause 8. The copyright is the author's, and must remain so. The clause is inserted evidently with the idea of the copyright being vested in the name of the publisher. This would be a mistake. Clause 9, the account clause, is so beautifully vague that it is hardly worth while to comment upon it, except to point out that it is a mistake to have accounts made up annually delivered three months after they are made up, with the amounts due payable three months after that,, making it possible for the publisher to retain the author's money for nearly eighteen months. This is a common account clause amongst publishers* and no doubt they find it exceedingly useful to have the control of the author's money for so long a period. The mere interest on such money would go a long way to pay the office expenses in a big office. But the inconvenience to the author, not to mention the danger of bankruptcy or similar contingencies to the firm, is very considerable. Clause 10.—The first part of Clause 10 is certainly necessary for the protection of the author, as it would be very awkward supposing the publisher refused to produce the book when the author had a certain market for it. If, how- ever, as in the case of some educational works,, the publisher desired still to maintain the control of the market, so as not to allow the author to republish a book in competition with one which the publisher had already before the public, it would be easy to evade the clause by having a few copies ready on hand. The latter part of the clause, however, could not possibly be equitable as between author and publisher. It is quite possible that the moulds and engravings might be so worn that they would not be worth half the cost of production, and the copies of the book that the publisher had on hand might not be worth the whole cost of production, as it is quite possible that they might have been damaged or otherwise defaced. If, therefore, the author refused to pur- chase the books at the cost of production on account of some damage that they had received, it e 2 ## p. 38 (#50) ############################################## 3S THE AUTHOR. to the Author in lieu of royalties per cent. of the net proceeds of such sale. 11. If any difference shall arise between the Author and the Publisher touching the meaning of this agreement, or the rights or liabilities of the parties thereunder, the same shall be referred to the arbitration of two persons (one to be named by each party) or their umpire, in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration Act, 1889. 12. The term "Publisher" throughout this agreement shall be deemed to include the person or persons or company for the time being carrying on the business of the said under as well its present as any future style, and the benefit of this agreement shall betrausmissible accordingly. As witness the hands of the parties. would be possible for the author in reproducing the work with some other publisher to be under- sold. The author should have the option of taking over the stock aud plates at a valuation. The danger, however, is not a very large one, as if the book was in such a cond tion that the author dt sired to bring out a new edition and the publisher did not, it would most probably argue that the book had very nearly reached the end of its sale, in which case there would most probably be only a few copies on hand. The danger, how- ever, is one that should be guarded against. Clause 11 ought to be struck out, as, until a dispute arises, it is impossible to say whether it is a fit subject for arbitration; besides, arbitration is more expensive than an action at law. Clause 12 should on no account stand. It is most important, as explained when discussing the parties to this agreement, that the contract should be a personal contract, and this point should always bo before authors when signing agree- ments. They should under no circumstances allow such a cliuse to pass. This is a fair comment on the royalty agree- ment as it stands. Many suggestions might be made as to the insertion of various clauses, and the protection of the author on other points. But, as stated in the opening sentences, these are faults of omission, and the agreement has only been dealt with as regards the drafted clauses. It might be well to mention that some definite time should be fixed on, before which a publisher should not be allowed to make remainder sales. Draft Form of suggested Sharing Profits Agreement between Author and Pub- lisher, DRAWN UP BY THE COUNCIL OF THE Publishers' Association, and submitted to and approved by Mr. Joseph Walton, Q.C., and Mr. Arthur R. Ingpen. Sharing Profits Agreement. Memorandum of Agreement made the day of between (hereinafter termed the Author) of the one part and (hereinafter termed the Publisher) of the other part, whereby it is mutually agreed between the parties hereto for themselves and their respective executors, administrators, and assigns (or suc- cessors, as the case may be), as follows:— The second agreement is one which has to do with the division of profits. This system is always a bad one between author and publisher, as likely to lead to disputes on accounts, and as giving scope for a great many minor difficulties. An author should not, except under very extra- ordinary circumstances, enter into any agreement with a publisher for the sharing of profits. Under no condition ought he to enter into an agreement such as this, although the Publishers' Associa- tion has put it forward as equitable between the parties. ## p. 39 (#51) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 39 1. The Publisher shall, at his own risk and expense, and with due diligence, produce and publish the work at present intituled by and use his best endeavours to sell the same. 2. The Author guarantees to the Publisher that the said work is in no way whatever a violation of any existing copyright, and that it contains nothing of a iibellous or scandalous character, and that he will indemnify the Publisher from all suits, claims, proceedings, damages, and costs which may be made, taken, or incurred by or against him on the ground that the work is an infringement of copyright, or contains anything libellous or scandalous. 3. The Publisher sLall, during the legal term of copyright, have the exclusive right of pro- ducing and publishing the work in the English language throughout the world. The Publisher shall have the entire control of the publication and sale and terms of sale of the book, and the Author shall not during the continuance of this Agree- ment (without the consent of the Publisher) pub- lish any abridgment, translation, or dramatised version of the work. 4. The net profits arising from the sale of the work and remaining after deduction of the expenses of production and publication, shall be divided into parts, of which part shall be paid to the Author and the remaining part shall belong to and be retained by the Publisher. 5. The expenses of production shall betaken to mean the actual cost of printing, paper, binding, illustrating, and advertising, and all incidental expenditure, and, where the Publisher produces the work wholly or in part on his own premises, such cost shall be calculated at current fair and reasonable trade charges. With regard to the parties to the agreement, and with regard to Clauses 1,2, and 3, the same remarks that have been made on the royalty agree- ment will hold good. The fact that the^ same clauses are inserted in the 'share profit agreement does not in any way alter the position. Clause 4.—With regard to Clause 4, which is the first clause which refers especially to this agreement, little can be said. How the profits should be divided is a matter of arrangement between the parties, and it is only possible there- fore to draft a general clause. Clause 5.—With regard to Clause 5, the author should make it essential that he should know approximately the cost of production of the book beforehand, so that it would be impossible for the publisher to charge what he has not paid. This is provided against where the publisher produces the work wholly or in part on his own premises; but supposing it is not produced wholly or in part on his own premises, the same danger of an excessive cost of production would have to be met. It is a curious point that amongst those pub- lishers who do produce printed work on their own premises the cost of production is generally higher than that of printers in the open market. When the author has obtained the cost of produc- tion, and knows, as he ought to know definitely in the agreement, at what price the book is to sell, he can, on a rough calculation, reason out what the profits are likely to accrue. He must also reckon in an amount to be spent on adver- tisements. It is important that he should have some control over the advertising, that he should have a veto on the amount spent and on ## p. 40 (#52) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 6. The expenses of publication—viz., rent, rates, and taxes of offices, clerks, travellers, warehouse- men, porters, insurance, and bad debts—shall be fixed at per cent. on the gross receipts from the sale of the work. 7. In ascertaining the net profits of the work, all discounts and allowances received and allowed by the Publisher for cash payments or otherwise shall be brought into account and be credited or debited to the work. 8. The Publisher shall account at the customary trade terms for all copies sold, but, in cases where copies have been sold for export, or at rates below the customary trade terms, as remain- ders or otherwise, such copies shall lie accounted for at the price realised. which the advertisements are allowed to appear, so that he can, if necessary, prevent the publisher charging for advertisements in his own produc- tions ox for exchanges with other papers, which cost him nothing. One publisher in a profit- sharing agreement inserts a clause allowing half the cost for advertisements inserted in his own papers, but this ought not to be allowed, as the cost of mere print and paper is a mere trifle, and the publisher is therefore tempted to advertise largely in his own papers, when such expense will probably swallow up all the profits of the book which should go into the author's pocket. Clause 6 should be removed. It is right that all the expenses that can be shown to apply to a particular book should be charged against that book, but no other expenses, and it is absurd to take other expenses at per cent. of the gross receipts from the sale of the work, especially when the work has a large sale or is a high-priced book. Why, again, should the publisher alone among tradesmen charge for his office expenses? Why does he not allow the booksellers a percentage for their office expenses? Why does not the author receive a percentage for his? Clause 7 will of course stand. Clause 8 is a very disastrous clause. Even in the hands of an honourable publisher it could not be satisfactory. Books should, as a matter of fact, be accounted for at the prices sold and not at some arbitrary price as "the customary trade terms." Customary trade terms unfortunately vary immensely, and as the definition of " customary" is a thing without variation, it is impossible to apply the adjective to "trade terms." If books are sold in numbers they are sold thirteen as twelve. If they are not sold in numbers, they are sold at the full discount price less 10 per cent., or even sometimes 12^ per cent. When books are sold thirteen as twelve they are sometimes sold less 5 per cent., and at other times less 10 per cent. off the discount price. Again, they are not always sold on the discount price. I have examples before me of a 3*. 6d. book. Some of the sales were made at 2s. 4<f., thirteen as twelve, less 10 per cent.; others were sold at 2s. 6d., thirteen as twelve, less 12^ per cent. I have another example of a book at 16*., which sold at 10s., thirteen as twelve, less 5 per cent.; and again 10s., thirteen as twelve, less 10 per cent. The words "customary trade terms" are not the only difficulty in the clause. Who is to decide what are to be called "rates below the ## p. 41 (#53) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 9. The Author agrees to revise the first, and, if necessary, to edit and revise every subsequent edition of the work, and from time to time to supply any new matter that may be needful to keep the work up to date. 10. The Author agrees to bear all costs of corrections and alterations in proof sheets exceed- ing 25 per cent. of the cost of composition, and such excess shall be deducted from his share of the net profits. 11. In the event of the Author neglecting to revise an edition after due notice shall have been given to him, or in the event of the Author being unable to do so by reason of death or otherwise, the expense of revising and preparing each such future edition for press shall be borne by the Author, and shall be deducted from his share of the net profits of the work. 12. Ihiring the continuance of this Agreement, the copyright of the work shall be vested in the who may be registered as the proprietor thereof accordingly. 13. The Publisher shall make up the account of profit and loss annually to and deliver the same to the Author within months thereafter, and the balance appearing in such account to be due to the Author shall be settled on. 14. If the Publisher shall, at the end of three years from the date of publication, or at any time thereafter, give notice to the Author that in his opinion the demand for the work has ceased, or if the Publisher shall for six months after the work is out of print decline or, after due notice, neglect to publish a new edition, then and in either of such cases this Agreement shall termi- nate, and, on the determination of this Agree- ment in the above or any other manner, the right to print and publish the work shall revert to the Author, who shall, if not then registered, be entitled to be registered as the proprietor thereof, and to purchase from the Publisher forthwith the plates or moulds, and engravings (if any) pro- duced specially for the work, at half-cost of pro- duction, and whatever copies the Publisher may have on hand at cost, and if the Author does not customary trade terms," seeing that trade terms vary so enormously? The clause is exceedingly unsatisfactory, and the only cure is for the pub- lisher to account for every copy of the book at the price at which his books must show that it was actually sold, and that he should not be allowed to sell it below a fixed price without an arrangement with the author. With regard, also, to this clause, the option of the sale at a reduced price is left entirely in the hands of the publisher. This should be with the consent of the author. Clauses 9 to 16 have all been dealt with in the article on the royalty agreement. Their situation in the half-profit agreement does not make it necessary to add anything to the remarks already made. The difficulty of allowing them to stand in the agreement has been fully set forth. ## p. 42 (#54) ############################################## 42 THE AUTHOR within three months purchase and pay for the aid plates or moulds, engravings and copies, the Publisher may at any time thereafter dispose of such plates or moulds, engravings, and copies, or melt the plates, and the net proceeds of such sale shall be brought into the Publisher's account as part of the proceeds of sale of the work. 15. If any difference shall arise between the Author and the Publisher touching the meaning of this Agreement, or the rights or liabilities of the parties thereunder, the same shall be referred to the arbitration of two persons (one to be named by each party) or their umpire, in accord- ance with the provisions of the Arbitration Act 1889. 16. The term "Publisher" throughout this Agreement shall be deemed to include the person or persons or Company for the time being carry- ing on the business of the said under as well its present as any future style, and the benefit of this Agreement shall be transmissible accordingly. As witness the hands of the parties. Suggested Terms for Producing and Pub- lishing Books on Commission where the Production and Publication are placed in the Publisher's hands, drawn up and approved by the Council of the Pub- lishers' Association. Terms for Producing and Publishing Books on Commission where the Production and Publi- cation are placed in the Publisher's Hands. 1. A fee of shall be paid to the pub- lisher previous to opening an account for its production and publication. 1. The Publisher will supply the Author with estimates for the printing, and will charge a com- mission of per cent. on the trade prices for printing, paper, binding, advertising, and other disbursements, and reserve to himself the right to take the usual credit or the equivalent cash discount for cash payments, but no such discount shall exceed 75 per cent. The next agreement that comes under discus- sion is a commission agreement. It does not appear from the statement which is endorsed upon it to have been settled by counsel on behalf of the Association, although it appears to have been approved by the Council of the Association. The agreement is headed "Terms for produc- ing and publishing books on commission where the production and publication are placed in the publisher's hands." It would be impossible to approve the terms of this agreement on behalf of an author. In Clause 1 a fee is to be paid to the publisher previous to opening an account. A great deal, of course, would depend upon the amount of the fee asked for. If the fee was a reasonable one the clause might be passed. A fee of this kind, how- ever, has generally in publishers' agreements been subsequently deducted from the commission due to the publisher, but in this agreement no such course is put forward. In Clause 2 the publisher is going to hand in estimates to the author, and on these estimates he is to charge a percentage. This course makes the publisher's and author's interests in direct variance, for the higher the estimates the greater the publisher's percentage. From this point of view the clause is a bad one, quite apart from the right of the publisher to have a percentage on the cost of production at all in addition to all the other profits that he is going to make out of ## p. 43 (#55) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 43 3. The Author or Proprietor shall, before the work is sent to press, pay the publisher a suffi- cient sum to meet the estimated charges for production and publication, including such a sum for advertising as the Author or Proprietor may deem desirable. The Publisher will charge a commission of per cent on the sales. 5. The Publisher shall account at the customary trade terms for all copies sold, but in cases where copies have been sold for export or at rates below the customary trade terms, as remainders or otherwise, such copies shall be accounted for at such lower prices. 6. The entire management of the production, publication, and sale of the work shall be in the hands of the Publisher. the book. Again, he is to be allowed to take 7! per cent-, discount for cash payments. This discount he will be able to obtain at once, as under Clause 3 the author is to pay the publisher a sum to cover the estimated cost of production before the work is sent to press. More than this, he is to pay for the advertisements at, the same time, when it is hardly possible that the cash will be needod for advertising until three or four months later at the ear lie it. To the end of Clause 2, therefore, the publisher makes in the way of profits a fee to begin with, a percentage on the cost of production, binding, and advertis- ing, it being to the publisher's interest to make these charges as high as possible, and a discount of i\ per cent. on the same items. This is a good beginning when the publisher is to have no risk whatever as regards the book, all expenses being covered by the author. In Clause 3 the author has to pay the sum as stated above before the work is sent to press. This clause could not be reasonable as between author and publisher. That the publisher should have some part of the payment down is quite fair if he was bound to produce the work by a certaiu date, but under the terms as put forward he might put off publication for a very long time, and, in the meautime, would have the use of the author's money. That the author should have to pay the whole sum is absurd. An equitable arrangement suggested would be one-third when the agreement is made, such agreement stating definitely the date on or before which the book should be published, the second third on the final delivery of the proofs, and the final amount on the publication of the book. By Clause 4 t he publisher charges a commission on the sales of the book. This is the general form by which a publisher obtains his profits on a commission book, and is the fairest form, the interests of the publisher and author being com- mensurate. The objections to Clause 5, with regard to customary trade terms, have been put forward in commenting on Clause 8 of the half-profit agree- ment. There is no need to repeat them. Clause 6 should not, on any account, stand in an agreement of this kind. The book is the author's. He pays for it entirely. He is, how- ever, not to have any voice with regard to the papers in which the book is to be advertised, with regard to the price of the book, and other important matters. All these are to be entirely in the hands of the publisher, who possibly might sell the book at such a published price that the author could not possibly be remunerated on his ## p. 44 (#56) ############################################## 44 THE AUTHOR. 7. Accounts will be made up annually to and rendered within months after the date of making up, and the balance due paid on 8. The Publisher does not undertake to send out copies of the work on sale or return. 9. The Publisher will not be responsible for loss or damage by fire or in transit. 10. The Publisher will deliver the five copies required by Act of Parliament for the British Museum and Public Libraries. 11. The Author shall guarantee to the Pub- lisher that the said work is in no way whatever a violation of any existing copyright, and that it ■contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and that he will indemnify the Pub- lisher from all suits, claims, procedings, damages, and costs which may be made, taken, or in- curred by or against him on the ground that the work is an infringement of copyright, or contains anything libellous or scandalous. 12. When the Publisher considers that the demand for the work has ceased, the unsold stock may be returned to the Author or Proprietor, or disposed of at the Publisher's discretion, after ,due notice of such intention has been given to the Author or his representatives. outlay. Further, if the published price was reasonable, the publisher might sell it at such a reduced rate that the author could not be remu- nerated, and the author would have no voice whatever in stopping such a proceeding. The objections to Clause 7 have been put forward with regard to Clause 9 of the royalty agreement. It is a pity that Clause 8 should be inserted, as the booksellers confess that with expensive books the chance of 6ale is considerably increased by an arrangement for books being forwarded "on sale or return," for the reason that they are unable to stock expensive books. Clauses 9 and 10 may stand, with the excep- tion of wilful neglect in the case of fire, &c. Clause 11 has been already commented on as Clause 2 in the royalty agreement. Clause 12 should not be drawn in the alterna- tive. Here the stock in hand belongs to the author, and is put in the hands of the publisher as his agent. The publisher, however, may either return the unsold stock to the author or dispose of it at his discretion, which is by no means fair to the author. If the author refused to receive the unsold stock when the demand for the work had ceased, then the publisher might have the right of disposing of it at his discretion, but the publisher should not have the right in the alter- native as the clause is at present drawn. Suggested Terms for Publishing Books on Commission where the Publication only is placed in the hands of the Publisher, deawn up and approved by the council of the Publishers' Association. Terms for Publishing Books on Commission where the Publication only is placed in the hands of the Publisher. 1. A fee of shall be paid to the Pub- lisher previous to opening an account for the publication of the work. The last agreement that the publishers put forward is the commission agreement, where the publication only is placed in the hands of the publisher. Like the last one, it does not appear to have been settled by counsel, but is only put forward as approved by the Council of the Pub- lishers' Association. There is very little further to be said on the agreement beyond what has already been said on the prior agreements, especially the last one. Clauses 1, 2, and 3 have already been dealt with. ## p. 45 (#57) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 45 2. The Publisher will charge a commission of per cent. on the sales. 3. The Publisher shall account at the customary trade terms for all copies sold, but in cases where copies have been sold for export, or at rates below the customary trade terms, as remainders or otherwise, such copies shall be accounted for at such lower prices. 4. No other name but that of shall appear on the title-page as publisher of the work, which is to be sold only through his agency. A proof of the title-page shall be submitted to and approved by the Publisher before printing off. 5. The Publisher will, if desired, act as adver- tising agent for the Author, charging a commis- sion of per cent. on the actual amount expended. 6. The entire management of the publication and sale of the work shall be in the hands of the Publisher. 7. Accounts will be made up annually to and rendered within months after the date of making up, and the balance due paid on 8. The Publisher does not undertake to send out books on sale or return. 9. The Publisher will not be responsible for loss or damage by fire or in transit. 10. The Publisher will deliver the five copies required by Act of Parliament for the British Museum and Public Libraries. 11. The Author shall guarantee to the Pub- lisher that the said work is in no way whatever a violation of any existing copyright, and that it contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and that he will indemnify the Pub- lisher from all suits, claims, proceedings, damages, and costs, which may be made, taken, or incurred by or against him on the ground that the work is an infringement of copyright, or contains any- thing libellous or scandalous. 12. When the Publisher considers that the demand for the work has ceased, the unsold stock may be returned to the author or disposed of at the Publisher's discretion, after due notice of such intention has been given to the Author or his representatives. Clause 4 is a reasonable clause as far as both publisher and author are concerned. Clause 5 is a difficult clause to deal with. It is certainly necessary that, if an author is publish- ing on commission, his books should be advertised in the list of the publisher who is acting for him. It is certain also that the publishers, owing to the large advertisements that they can send round to the papers, get a discount from the papers for advertisements. All discounts thus obtained by the publisher acting as an agent would be credited to the author, and the publisher's percentage reckoned against the lower amount. Clause 6 has been commented on, and the reasons have been put forward very strongly, why the whole management of the publication and sale of the work should not be in the hands of the publisher. The account Clause 7 has also been dealt with. It is only necessary to repeat that it is a bad one. It has been already demonstrated that Clause 8 is unsatisfactory. Clauses 9 and 10 are reasonable clauses, and might well be left, with the exception stated in the former agreement. Clause 11 has been commented on in the former agreement. Clause 12 has also been commented on in t last agreement. It appears that the publishers have not put forward any agreement between an author and themselves with regard to the purchase outright of the copyright, thinking, I suppose, that when ## p. 46 (#58) ############################################## 46 THE AUTHOR the book is purchased outright they are sufficiently protected and the author also. This is a view that I find it impossible to hold. The publisher, for instance, should be protected against an abridgment. The author should be protected against the non-publication of his work, publication in an altered form, and publication without his name attached. The forms of agreement, therefore, as existing between author and publisher are in reality four:— 1. —Royalty Agreement. 2. —Profit Sharing Agreement. 3. —Agreement for Purchase Outright. 4. —Commission Agreement. (a) Where the publisher produces the book. (6) Where the book is placed in the publisher's hands already printed. It is to be hoped that before circularising thase agreements amongst the various publishing offices, the publishers will seriously consider them again from a fair and moderate point of view. From some points of view the agreements are much worse than those issuing from some of the better and more reliable publishing houses; but it must be stated that, from many points of view, they are better than the agreements which, we regret to say, publishers are now placing before authors which embody every advantage which it is possible for a publisher to acquire without taking into consideration at all the author's rights of dealing with his own property. G. Herbeet Thring, Secretary. The comments on the publishers' agreements drawn by the Secretary of the Society have been carefully considered by the Committee and indorsed by them, and are published in The Author by order of the Committee. G. H. T. FURTHER COMMENTS. SOME time ago, when it was mentioned at a meeting of the Committee that a Publishers' Association was in formation, the Chairman remarked that no more desirable thing could happen. He meant, I supposed, that the better kind among publishers would take the lead: that the practices of the other kinds would be strongly condemned and discountenanced: and that an honest endeavour would be made to put the rela- tions between themselves and the authors on a footing of principle and reason. It was also hoped by some that the practices—which some call fraud — of charging moneys which have not been paid away, and advertisements which have cost nothing: and of overstating—which in every case is a de- liberate LIE—the costs of printing, paper, bind- ing, &c., would be denounced with the plainness of speech which the subject and the good name of the trade demand. Some went so far as to suppose that, in cases where the publishers did not agree with the authors, some reason would be forthcoming; and all supposed, further, that the original demands of authors, put forward at the outset, and again and again repeated in these pages, would be at once recognised by any body of men who wish to be ranked as men of honour. They are these: (1.) We ask for common honesty in dealings. (2.) We ask for agreements that shall plainly set forth what the publisher proposes to take for his own trouble—say, his own trouble and risk, in the few cases where he incurs risk. (3.) We ask for books open to inspection. The last claim is one to which everyone having a share in any enterprise is entitled by common law. Perhaps, therefore, it should be withdrawn. Or, if it stands, it is only to remind both sides that it is a right. The Publishers' Association has not yet fulfilled these expectations. It has now, however, issued a set of " draft agreements," some of which have been approved by Counsel. They have been sent to Mr. Turing, whose comments upon them precede these remarks. The documents, in fact, with these comments, are of the highest importance to everybody concerned with the material well-being of literature: they concern the independence of literature: they concern its dignity and self- respect. If authors can be brought to consent to the degrading terms on which publishers in their collective wisdom, not as individual grabbers, propose in future to manage their affairs, they will rapidly sink back to the position as pub- lishers' hacks which, with a few exceptions, they formerly occupied. For it will be seen that the publishers propose to put the clock back and now lay claim to the whole of literary property—its entire management and nearly all the emolu- ments. A profession to be respected must be indepen- dent. Literature ought to be, and must be, independent. In order to attract the best. ## p. 47 (#59) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 47 intellects there mu^t be material prospscts and prizes: there must be se'f-respect: there must be independence. Otherwise literature will become once more, as it was fifty years ago, a profession of contempt, honoured only in the persons of half a dozen leaders. And, as it was forty years ago, those who followed the profession of letters because the call was too strong to be neglected, will do so with increased bitterness and resent- ment in their hearts against the intolerable tyranny of the people who live by seizing on the brain work of ihe world and selling it, to their own sole profit and advantage. It has been shown over and over again in these pages, that in the matter of general literature, and setting aside great works, such as encyclo- paedias and dictionaries and so forth, the risk run by the publisher is in most cases either very small, viz., the difference between the first sub- scription and the cost of production: or it is nothing at al'. Thnt is to say, it cannot be too often repeated, that there are hundreds of writers in the various branches of literature whose works carry no risk whatever. In every branch, whether of science, art, belles lettres, history, educational books, poetry, fiction, theology, there are authors —they write nearly all the important books pro- duced—the proceeds of whose works are quite certain to exceed the cost of production. Of those writers whose works do carry risk, by far the greater number are made to pay for the pro- duction, and to pay, in most cases, largely in excess of their cost. In arguing, therefore, about the share due to the publisher we may consider the question of risk separately. What, then, do publishers actually do for the majority of books? They put them through a mechanical process. I have done it myself for something like forty books. My process involved spending a few minutes with a printer and a few minutes with a binder: arranging that they should be paid a certain time after the book was produced, in <rder to avoid paying any money except from the proceeds of the book. In most ,cases there was no money paid except from the proceeds. Yet some of these were books carrying risk, as most publishers would plead. And they cost nothing, because the proceeds covered the risks. Observe that I do not say that a publisher never runs risks. I say that as a matter of fact his risks are few and of very small amount— of even trivial amount—as a rule: and that he need not run risks unless he likes. But a great house—it will be objected—gives the author the benefit of his name. Is that a benefit? How is it, then, that so many successes are made with the name of new and quite small firms? The name of a firm on a title-page is worth exactly nothing to the general public: it carries no weight with the mass of readers: or, if any, then there are fifty houses which carry equal weight. The public cares nothing who publishes a book: of all tradesmen the publisher is the least regarded by the world. There is no single name on a title page, I repeat, which will commend a book to the general public more than any other name. With these considerations let us turn to the "Draft Agreements," and apply the test of a few figures. I. The Royalty Agreement. The agreement demands that the royalty should be paid on thirteen as twelve or on twenty-five as twenty-four, " as the case may be." What case F The publisher's interest, of course. Now, the book is not sold at either thirteen as twelve or twenty-five as twenty-four, except where the bookseller orders a dozen—a very rare occurrence. However, this claim means 8 per cent. in the publishers' pockets. When a deferred royalty has allowed the cost of production to be paid for, the author must have 50 per cent. of the price to the trade, that is to say, at least the half. That is evidently not intended by the agreement, or it would have been so stated. In case of sales to America, the publisher proposes to give the author a royalty. In other words, he claims what he calls publishers' rights for agents' work. Very well. Now let us see what the publisher may get on this agreement, and what he may give to the author. We assume a book which costs 150 to produce an edition of 3000 copies, including advertise- ments. It sells to the trade at an average of 3*. 6d. a copy. Under existing arrangements, what may the author make out of his work? The royalties are estimated at what is called a moderate figure, which gives more than half profits to the publisher. He may get a good price for his English serial right—say, .£400: a lower price for his American serial right—say .£200. Royalties on 3000 copies at 20 per cent., .£180: American royalties at 15 per cent. on 2000, say £90: continental rights, say .£50: translation rights, say £2 5 (these rights are generally nominal): dramatic rights if the book is successfully dramatised, some thou- sands—an unknown quantity. Without reckon- ing the last, which no publisher to my knowledge has ever before ventured to claim, the author, who you will observe is not put forward as one of the most successful, stands to make .£925 for his book, or .£525 in addition to the English serial rights. ## p. 48 (#60) ############################################## 48 THE AUTHOR. The publisher, under these conditions, makes his profit of .£225 on the volume form—quite enough for the work he has done for it. What does the publisher propose to make under the new proposals? He has not, it must be owned, dared as yet to claim the English serial right. This omission has, I doubt not, made many honourable persons very sad. It is, indeed, truly wonderful that they did forget it. However, he gives the author a royalty, say, of a shilling a copy, which leaves himself .£225: he takes the American serial right and gives the author 10 per cent. royalty on it, leaving himself .£180: he takes the American royalties and gives the author a royalty on them, say of 10 per cent., leaving himself .£81 : in the same way he keeps .£45 out of the continental rights and .£22 out of the translation rights. In all the publisher apparently proposes to take .£553 for himself, and to give the author .£i86 instead of the .£525 which he now takes. Is it possible that any body of men can be brought to believe that any other body of men and women will consent to such wholesale plunder of their property? But this is not enough. They further demand the right of keeping all the money in their own hands for eighteen months before they pay the author! Will any other business man in any other line of business, give us his opinion on this and the other clauses of this brazen claim upon the property of others in return for a service of machinery? II. Let us nest take a Profit-sharing Agree- ment. The author ignorantly supposes that it means a share of profits. It does nothing of the kind. It means a share of the poor remnant when the publisher has laid his hand on everything to which he can make out a claim with or without the least regard to reason or principle. What is it he claims, however? 1. A percentage on the gross receipts for office expenses. Where are the author's office expenses? Where are the booksellers'? Now, the gross receipts may mean a large sum. Mr. Hall Caine's " Christian" is believed to have circulated 160,000 copies. The receipts were probably £2 8,000. Ten per cent. on this means .£2800. This seems a very large sum for the office expenses connected with one book only, and for a very limited period—say four months. One envies the immense salaries of the packers, all, probably, university men and members of West-end clubs. And one pictures the huge warehouses which were built at enormous cost to contain books of a circulation so enormous. But the circulation of this book is excep- tional. Very true. We must, however, always try a proposition by an extreme case. Thus, by this way of reckonining, if a book has no sale at all, it has cost nothing for office expenses: if it has a very small sale, say, of a 100 copies, bringing in .£20, the office expenses have been only £2. Now, it is a fact that a great many publishers do not keep their wares in their own houses, but at the binders', and I have never heard that they have offered to hand over the sums they claim for office expenses to the binders who really defray them. As in every other trade, his "office expenses" are part of the publisher's machinery. He places it at the service of the author: it is all, in most cases, that he does for the book: if he is to be paid for office expenses, so is the author: so, more than than either, is the bookseller. Now, if a be the cost of product;on and b the proceeds the publisher gets for him- self, he first gets 1 0 per cent. on b, that is —. Next he has the power of saying that the books were sold at " customary trade prices," that is at anything he pleases— he may quite safely pocket another 10 per cent on this item. For instance, if he gets 3*. l0d. as the general price for the trade, and 3*. 5*?. for special terms, he may call the "customary trade price," 3*. <-,d, and no one can prevent him. This would give him over 13 percent. He can overcharge the cost of production by what he pleases—say 10 per cent. if he is moderate—and he can make this 10 per cent. even 30 per cent. by charging adver- tisements which he has not paid for. Finally he can keep the money due to the author for eighteen months. How do we stand now? The publisher has taken ^- + A + —a = 2b + ?,a} from tljg returns of 10 10 10 10 the book. There remains b—a— 2^_*_ to be divided. 10 The author, therefore, would get —— 20 for his share of the property. If the book cost £100 and realised .£200, the author would net .£15 ; the publisher would get .£85. ## p. 49 (#61) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 49 There is a half-profit system! And we have not counted the eighteen months' interest! III. A commission book. Here the victim thinks he has only to pay a commission on the sales. He will learn when the bills come in what the agreement means. The publisher takes (i) a fee—say, ,£i0: (2) a commission on the cost of production—why ?— say 15 per cent.—no amount is proposed. (3) dis- count up to 7§ per cent.—why? (4) the payment of the cost in full, and at once, though it will be three or four months before the book is ready, and six months before he has to pay the printer, so that he gets the use of the money for six months; (5) a commission on sales—say 15 per cent.; (6) permission to set down the sales at anything he pleases, since "customary trade prices " means nothing. This gives him perhaps another 10 per cent., perhaps more. Lastly, he keeps the author's money for eighteen months. You see this is not exactly taking a commission and so to be done with it. If we work it out taking a for the cost of pro- duction, b for the proceeds, and c for the fee: We find that the publisher takes, reckoning the interest at 5 per cent.: c + —5- a H 2- a + - — a + —i b + — 100 200 2 100 100 100 i.e. c + -1 a+ -5- a+ — 0+ JL b+ — 20 40 40 20 10 or , a + b c 4 4 The author will have for his share: b—a—c—a-±* = 3&—5« _c 4 4 Without reckoning the interest for the eighteen months, during which he is kept out of his money. At 5 per cent. this reduces his share and leaves him 37 36—5« _c 40 4 while it increases the publisher's, whose gains now stand at 496 + 250+1600 160 a wonderful fraction—one which raises the Pub- lisher's Association to the level of a Scientific Body. If we omit consideration of this interest, we shall find that, if a book cost £100 and realised £200, the fee being ,£i0, the author, on a com- mission of 15 per cent., which he fondly thought would give the publisher .£30, actually gives him .£85 and himself £15. This is a delightful outcome of commission publishing! There remains one more method, that of giving the publisher the books printed and bound. My advice in such a method, which ought to be a very good one, is not on any account to give it to any publisher who proposes to deal with it in the terms of this agreement. It is to be remarked that there is only one opening here for anything above the commission and that it is eagerly pounced upon. The publisher hopes to become an advertising agent, and to earn an honest penny in addition. It is very kind of him, but all that is required of him is to publish, which includes advertising, and since he will not even consider that this small service is paid for by his commission, the author had better take his work elsewhere. These figures show what is demanded, together with what the author at present receives. And I ask again whether any body of men can think it possible that any other body of men will consent to this wholesale seizure of their property, or will surrender the advantages they have already obtained? Will publishers refuse to grant any other terms? For my own part I should desire nothing better, because we could then proceed at once to create the new machinery which these agreements would force upon us. W. B. NOTES AND NEWS. WE are reminded from time to time of the opinions still held of an author in official circles as well as others. He is regarded as a person who has no property and no interest in any property. He is considered to be a ragged wretch who sits in a garret and produces property for his employer. It is not his property, and if there is any inquiry into it, he is not to be con- sulted. A striking example is before us. A committee of the House of Lords is sitting on the Law of Copyright. The sole creators of literary property are the authors. They are not necessarily the slaves of publishers: some of them retain their rights over their own property. They are not an ignorant and illiterate set of men; some of them are scholars, lawyers, students, historians. They are not all starvelings: some of them live in quite decent houses: some of them are members of the best clubs. What happens, however? The committee meet. The first person they call is a publisher: the second person they call is a publisher: the third person they call is a publisher. Up to the time of writing these remarks no author has been called at all. Perhaps none will ever be called. Could any- thing show more clearly the contempt for the ## p. 50 (#62) ############################################## 5° THE AUTHOR. calling of letters that is still prevalent in certain quarters? _:_ The present number of The Author is of very great importance. It contains the report of the committee appointed to examine into the scheme of the Booksellers' Association and the draft agreements which the com- mittee of the Publishers' Association advance as representing their views of the situation as regards the author. With regard to the first scheme, it is put forward as a compromise. The booksellers are not called upon to enter into slavery; the discount system is practically allowed to remain where it was: the accursed "odd book" pretence is to be abolished: and there is to be a time limit, beyond which the price of a book will remain in the power of the bookseller: books are to be sent out on sale or return: and there is to be an extended system of "net" price to books over 6s. in price. These reforms are so simple, and so much to the advantage of all con- cerned, that they will probably be adopted without delay. If something is not done, and that quickly, the bookselling trade in this country will be practically killed. What will take its place? The railway stall'r But the railway stall can- not take the place of the bookseller's shop. It cannot contain any but the newest books: of serious and costly literature it can hardly show any. Without the shop, bookselling, properly so called, cannot live. Already the country booksellers are falling right and left. The condition of things concerns us all—readers as well as writers—we are all interested in keep- ing up the bookseller. Now, by the scheme pro- posed he will have the power of exhibiting all the best books: they will be sent to him on "sale or return." The author will be certain also of having his books exhibited. How will it affect the pub- lisher? At present he subscribes a book. Perhaps he subscribes 500 out of an edition of 1500. The rest do not, perhaps, get taken up at all. The book is subscribed by one or two at a time: a copy is sold, and the book is then forgotten. The copies which are left over are remainder stock: they are sold at a few pence each. By the new system the publisher would send out, say, 800 on " sale or return." A book which is exhibited would have a far better chance than a book which is not. When it was sold another copy would be sent; finally, perhaps, a1! would be gone except 300 or so, which would be returned—whether soiled or not would matter nothing, as they would be only remainder stock. There will be no odd copy, tut the publisher would still sell his took at the average price: his accounts would be greatly simplified: and he would be spared the tempta- tion of lying to the author, and pretending, as many do now, that all their books are sold at. "thirteen as twelve." Anything which removes the temptation of lying, and at the same time involves no loss of money, should be, and no doubt will be, gratefully welcomed. A notable article on "Literary Life in London" appeal's in the last number of the North American Review. The author is Mr. W. H. Rideing. To begin with, he knows something of his subject. Probably very few English writers could have written a better or a truer paper about it. There is very little esprit de corps, he says. He should have said, "as yet." Esprit de corps grows from the outside, not from the inside. When the profes- sion of let ers can show that its followers are entirely emancipated from the yoke of the pub- lishers, and can administer their own estates so that the world can understand that their's is not a dependent's work, nor a beggarly work: when the world sees that the national honours are as freely bestowed upon the men of letters as upon many other professions: then the modified con- tempt which still prevails will be changed into unmodified respect, and the men of letters them- selves will respect each other and their calling. It is pleasing to acknowledge that Mr. Rideing recognises that the improved position of the English author is due, not only to international copyright, but also to the "enlightenment which the Incorporated Society of Authors has afforded him as to the proper method of dealing with publishers." He is not right, however, in sup- posing that the improved position is confined to the novelist. Historians—essayists—all—stand in a better position than they did. The improve- ment is not only due to the two causes already mentioned, but also to the great increase in readers, tho increase in libraries, and the increased income of the classes which never used to buy. And this in the face of a decaying book- trade and a decreasing number of booksellers. He falls foul of the Literary Agent, whose business he thinks is simply to relieve the author of the conduct of his own affairs. This, however, involves a great deal. The agent prevents the author from being "bested" by superior know- ledge used for the purpose of deceiving him: and next, in the case of those writers who supply serials, the agent learns where there arc openings, ## p. 51 (#63) ############################################## 1HE AUTHOR. 5« and the price which ought to be given for the work. But according to Mr. Kideing, his chief business is to create discord batween author and publisher, "and frequently he succeeds in doing it." "Create discord"! Why—when was there concord? When has there been anything but suspicion and jealousy and blind resentment ?" More than one strong house," he goes on, "rather than submit to his extortions and his impudence, has ceased to con- sider the work of the authors who are only acces- sible through him." I wonder what houses these are. I can quite understand a house to which, for very good reasons, a trustworthy and con- scientious agent will not take his author, pre- tending that the refusal comes from their side; but I have never yet discovered any publishing house which will refuse an author on terms which mean money. And, further, I have never learned that any agent has ever offered an author except on terms which do mean money. There is one more charge against the Agent:— The more manuscript he sells and the higher the price he obtains the larger are his own commissions. The young author in his hands who has made a success at the start is not allowed to choose his own time for further work and to prepare for it, but is urged and tempted to add book to book until he beoomes a diffuse and tedious hack, undesired by anybody, undesired even by the literary agent himself. An instance occurs to me. The young anthor was " boomed" so persistently that in order to fulfill his orders he had to lise at four in the morning, and then, sitting down with a typewriter before him and a phonograph at his elbow, he would carry along two stories at onoe. His first book was an instant success when it appeared a few years ago, but his last manusoiipt, delivered as "per invoice" in the words of the agent, his been rejected by thirteen different periodicals, and is at ill in the market. "As per invoice" expresses the agent's view of literature precisely. Now, really one is grateful to Mr. Eideing for an article which is in the main accurate in its details. But this instance—surely, surely, it was narrated in a publisher's back office—I know two back offices, at least, where such pretty stories are daily confected. In them the literary agent is regarded with a holy horror born of baffled intentions. Who is this author? What is his name? I know all the novelists, I believe, who can be described as having made a great success "a few years ago." Not one of them can be the hero of the phonograph and the typewriter. One thing more. "As per invoice" is a com- mercial expression. But the agent cannot be too commercial; he is like the publisher—he can- not lie too commercial. And, again, about this driving of the novelist. He need not be driven unless he pleases. It is his own fault if he his driven. A man who consents to ruin his powers and to destroy his reputation for the sake of a little immediate gain deserves no pity. He need not be driven. The weak point about the article is that it says nothing about the larger Literary Life outside that of the novelist. With a few exceptions the general standard of prosperity has immensely improved all along the line. The demand for, and the prizes for, the dramatist have increased a hundredfold—literally, a hundredfold. The historian: the essayist: the popular poet: the writer on science or on education: all have advanced in demand enormously during the last twenty years. The profession of the journalist has been almost cieated within the last fifty years: it is now a profession with many solid and valuable prizes—especially the prize of being editor to a great daily paper. Two kinds of books have either suffered loss in demand, or have not advanced in proportion to the increase of readers. One is the book of devotions — fifty years ago there were several books of Family Prayers which were comfortable pro- perties—the happy publisher who held one always used it himself morning and evening in order to lend reality to his sense of gratefulness. The other kind which has not advanced is the book of Critical Essays. On all other forms of literature a man may live—and live well. But he can no longer live by writing Family Prayers, and he has never been able to live by writing Critical Essays. Most of the readers of The Author are interested i a the history and preservation of the English language. If they are not, who should be? They will therefore make a note that the English Dialect Dictionary, Parts I.—VI. will be ready in December next. This most important is one which ought to be in every library. I would suggest that my readers should send to Professor J. Wright, Langdale House, Park Town, Oxford, for the papers and form of subscription, and that, if they cannot subscribe themselves, they will do their best to get the work placed in the nearest public library. The Authors' Club has added to its accommo- dation by two or three more rooms. It wanted wider space. It also wants more members, and I venture to recommend the claims of the Club upon our Society. It is a cheerful and sociable club: the members are mostly known to each other, and if not, are accessible and affable: the weekly dinners are an institution: the future of the Club is believed in: and it is an excellent thing that there should be one club, at least, in London ## p. 52 (#64) ############################################## 5a THE AUTHOR. which should really belong to men of letters and no others. It is also, on the whole, a club of young men of letters. It is useful for such a man to belong to it: he will meet others of his own calling who can tell him all kinds of things which he would not find out for himself. It leads young men of letters to stand by each other and to rely on each other. Add to all this that the Club is carefully administered, and that everything is cheap as well as good. It has now been in existence for three or four years, and on the next year or two depends its future: whether it is to become a great fact in literature, or whether the attempt to combine our young men of the calling into a club of their own is to be set down as a failure. Since the Society goes on increasing the Club ought not to fail. Mr. Thring will be glad to give anybody further information. Walter Besant. BOOK TALE. SIR RICHARD TEMPLE is writing a chatty book on India, for publication in the autumn by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. It will contain illustrations from his own draw- ings, and will be ca led "A Bird's-Eye View of Picturesque India." Sir Richard began service in India in 1S48, and continued till 1880, his last appointment being Governor of Bombay. Miss Rose Kingsley, the daughter of Charles Kingsley, is preparing a handbook on French art, for publication through Messrs. Longmans. Mr. Richard Kerr has written a short popular account of Wireless Telegraphy for immediate issue by Messrs. Seeley. Professor Samuel Rawson Gardiner is writing a new monograph on Cromwell, which will be published, in view of the tercentenary of the birth of the Protector, in the spring of next year. It will be published by Messrs. Goupil and Co. in the same artistic series which already in- cludes "Mary Stuart," "Queen Elizabeth," and "Charles I." For this series also Mr. Andrew Lang is to write " The Young Pretender." Lord Ronald Gower is writing on Sir Thomas Lawrence for a new series of books dealing with famous British artists and their work, which will be published by Messrs. Goupil. Mr. G. W. Perris has written a short bio- graphical and critical account of Count Tolstoy and his work. It will be published by Mr. Unwin under the title, "Leo Tolstov, the Grand Mujik." Mr. Grant Allen is about to add " Venice" to his list of guide-books. It will be published, like the others, by Mr. Grant Richards, whose business, by the way, has been formed into a limited com- pany. Miss Dorothy Leighton is dramatising one of Mr. Allen's earlier novels. The Rev. C. Dudley Lampen's story of adven- ture, " The Queen of the Extinct Volcano," will be published in October by the S.P.C.K. The story deals with an extraordinary incident in the colonisation of the Marquesas Islands by the French, and relates the marvellous adventures of a medical man and an Oxford undergraduate amongst the cannibals who inhabit an extinct crater. Miss Eleanor Holmes is correcting the proofs of a new novel entitled "Life's Fitful Fever," to be issued almost immediately by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett. Mr. John Warden Page is now correcting the proofs of a book entitled "In Russia without Russian." It is an account of a journey made by him in Russia alone, and with no knowledge of the language. He travelled from St. Peters- burg to Moscow, to Nijoi Novgovod in order to see the Great Fair, and about 400 versts up the Volga. The book is illustrated by sketches taken by the author, and is published by Bowering, of Plymouth, and by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. The price will be 3*. 6d. Mr. W. H. Dutton is writing a history of the collection of old-time boots and shoes which was exhibited some time ago by the Cordwainers' Company, of which he was warden. Among the foot-wear were sandals worn by Kean when he played in "Brutus" in 1818, and Wellington boots worn by Kemhle some years earlier, both of which trophies belong to Sir Henry Irving. The volume will contain thirty plates, and will be issued by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. Mr. Reeves, the Agent-General for New Zealand, who wrote on that colony for the " Story of the Empire" series, is engaged upon a larger work of the same character. While it will be in the form of historical narrative, Mr. Reeves will bring together the experiences of a long period of active life in New Zealand. The book will be published in the autumn by Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son, under the title, " The Fortu- nate Isles: The Story of a Colony." Professor Foxwell has written an introduction for the translation of Dr. Anton Menger's work, "The Right to the Produce of Labour," which Messrs. Macmillan are about to publish in two volumes. Professor Lewis Campbell's Gifford Lectures, on " Religion in Greek Literature," delivered at St. Andrews a few years ago, are to be pub- lished shortly in a volume by Messrs. Macmillan. ## p. 53 (#65) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 53 Mr. Pitt-Lewis, Q.C, is preparing for publica- tion a collection of curiosities connected with the law and legal literature. His book will be called "The Law's Museum," and Mr. John Long will publish it. Mr. Charles Williams, the well-known war correspondent, has edited a book of Soldiers' Songs for the March, the Camp, and the Barracks, which will be published immediately by Messrs. Routledge. Mr. W. G. Stillman has written the Italy yolume for the Cambridge Historical Series. He begins with Waterloo year. Dr. Brandes is writing a volume on modern Scandinavian literature for Mr. Heinemann's "Literatures of the World" Series. Canon Stanbridge, of York, has compiled a Book of Devotions for Messrs. Methuen's Library series. Mr. James Mortimer, who founded the London Figaro thirty years ago, has returned to the editorial chair of that journal, after an absence of fifteen years. Two volumes of a new and handsome edition— called the Winchester—of Jane Austen's works have been issued by Mr. Grant Richards during the past month. The printing is by Constable, of Edinburgh, and the same type is used as the "Edinburgh" Stevenson is printed with. The edition will consist of ten volumes. Novels by Mrs. W. K. Clifford and Mr. Edward H. Cooper will be issued soon by Messrs. Duck- worth. Mr. Fred. Whishaw has written'" A Russian Vagabond" for Messrs. Pearson's series of "Latter-day Stories." Mr. Walter Wood has finished a romance of love and war, called "Through Battle to Pro- motion," which will be published by Mr. James Bowden. "The Ambassador," the play by "John Oliver Hobbes," which was produced at the St. James's Theatre a month ago, is being published in a volume. A novel by Mrs. Croker, entitled "Pegey of the Bartons," will be published shortly from the house of Methuen. Two stories by Mrs. C. N. Williamson, entitled "Lady Mary of the Dark House" and "The House by the Lock," will be published by Mr. James Bowden. "John Strange Winter's" new long novel, which will be published immediately by Messrs. White, is called " The Price of a Wife." Mr. James M. Graham's romance " The Son of the Czar," formerly interdicted by the Russian censor, has now been permitted to circulate in that empire. Mrs. Sarah Graud will publish in the autumn, through Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son, a volume entitled "The Modern Man and Maid." Two of the essays which it will contain, namely, "On the Choice of a Wife " and "On the Choice of a Husband," appear in the July numbers of the Young Man and the Young Woman respec- tively. Miss Ella d'Arcy is issuing through Mr. Lane a new volume of short stories, entitled " Modern Instances." Mr. Hardy is engaged upon a new novel, but long before it comes out the public will get a volume of his short stories which have appeared in various periodicals. Dr. Richard Garnett, C.B., is about to retire, on a pension, from his post of Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum. Dr. Garnett entered the British Museum Library as an assistant in 1851, was appointed Superintendent of the Reading-room in 1875, and in 1890 succeeded to the position he is now relinquish- ing. A Civil List pension of .£200 per annum has been granted to Mr. William Ernest Henley. Dr. Beattie Crozier's pension under the same fund has been increased from .£50 to .£100 to assist him in his "History of Intellectual Development." Unfortunately, Dr. Crozier's sight is so seriously impaired that he has been compelled for the pre- sent to give up all reading and writing. Mr. Henley, too, fyas lately undergone an operation, which has been very successful. The sale of the Stansfield Library was con- cluded on June 15 at Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge's auction rooms, and the total realised during the three days was .£2313. Among the lots were an important collection of MSS. of a genealogical, antiquarian, and historical character relating to the City of York, compiled by Mr. E. J. Walker, of Halifax, and known as the "Walker Collection," which brought .£105, and Thoresby's and Whitaker's Ducatus Leodiensis, or the Topography of the Ancient Towne and Parishe of Leeds, large paper, extra illustrated, and original water colour drawings, coats of arms emblazoned, 1816, which sold for .£170. "The Addenda to the Methods of Publishing" by G. Herbert Thring (secretary to the Society of Authors) is now completed and can be obtained at the Society's offices (price 2s.). This book, the tenth publication of the Authors' Society, con- tains a quantity of additional facts concerning publishing and publishers' agreements collected since the production of the " Methods" in 1891, with comments and advice. It does not in any way pretend to supplant " The Methods of Pub- lishing," but is merely supplementary to them. ## p. 54 (#66) ############################################## 54 THE AUTHOR. Under the title of "Forgotten Truths," the Liberty Review Publishing Company is ipsuing, in a cheap form, a selection from the speeches and writings of Edmund Burke, with a biographical sketch by Mr. T. Dundas Pillans. Derek Vane, author of "The Three Daughters of Night," recently published by Messrs. Hutchin- son, is now writing a series of short dramatic stories for Table Talk, entitled " The Adventures of an Adventuress." Novels at sixpence. Rolf Boldrewood's Austra- lian romance, "Robbery under Arms," is the first volume of a series at this price to appear from Messrs. Macmillan, and will be followed, at monthly intervals, by Mr. A. E. W. Mason's "Morrice Buckler," Mr. Marion Crawford's "Mr. Isaacs," Mrs. Oliphant's "Kirsteen," Miss Charlotte Yonge's " Dove in the Eagle's Nest," and Mr. Marion Crawford's "A Roman Singer." The St. James's Gazette have re-published in the form of a shilling volume a collection of short f,tories by Mr. Archie Armstrong, under the title "Tales of the Temple and Elsewhere." QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. "Quern deua vult pordere domentat piins." ITHINK the saying must have been current in non-Greek reading circles earlier than your correspondents have traced it, for it is again and again repeated in Italian as a current saying by Gior. Villani in the early fourteenth century. I regret that I have not at the moment leisure to find one of the many passages in the "Cronica," but any of your correspondents who take sufficient interest in the question to devote a little time to the investigation will soon find one of them. P. H. W. CORRESPONDENCE. A GREAT quantity of correspondence is unavoidably held over till next month owing to the pressure on our space. THE BOOES OP THE MONTH. [May 24 to June 23.—324 Bookp.] Abbott, L. The Soul's Quest. 1/6. Bowden. Agnus, Orme. Countess Petrovskl. 1/- Ward and L. Alibutt, T. C. (ed.). A System of Medicine. By many writer*. Vol. 5. 25/- net. Macmillan. Andrews, William (ed). Bygone Hertfordshire 7/6. Andrews. Anonymous ("One Who ties Kept a Diary "j. Collections and Recollections. 16/- Smith and E. Anonymous. Memorials of a Young Soldkr, Lieutenant Glffard, Northamptonshire Regiment. 5/- Clowes. Anonymous. Some Philosophy of the Hermetics. 3/6. Paul. Argyll, Luke of. Whit is Science? 6rf. S.P.C.K. Arundtl, W. B. Ackworth Birds. 4,6. Gurnev and Jackson. Ashby, M. E. The Silver City and other Allegorl-s. J - Headlcy. Ashurst, F. Memoirs of a Young Surgeon. 1/6. Digby. Atlee, H. F. The Seatone of a Life. A novel. 6/- White. Badeau, A. Conspiracy: A Cuban Romance. 3/6. Warne. Bailey. L. H. The Pruning Book, 5/- net. Macmillan, Ball, C. R. The Faith in Out'lne. 1/6. S.P.C.K. Bangs, J. K. Ghosts I Have Met, and Some Others 2/. Harper. Barnes, A. S. Eton in the Olden Days. 1/- Robert Browning. Baiton, F. T. 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Gladly, moat Gladly, Xc. 3/6. Burns and O. Brough, W. Open Mints and Free Banking. 5/- Putnam. Brown, Anna R. What Is Worth While? 1/6. Bowden. Brown, F. R. Ave Victoria! Poem. 2/6. Colchester: Wright. Brown, A. 8., and Ramsay, M. M. The Island of Cuba. 6/- net. Gay. Bruce. J. R. B., and Broomfleld, R. i'. Handbook on tbe Law of Shipping and Marine Insurance. 10/6. Sweet and M. Bruce, Robert. Food Supply. 4/6. Griffin. Brunetiure, F. (tr. by D. N. Smith). Essays in French Literature. 7/8. Unwin. Buchan, J. The Pilgrim Fathers. Ncwdfgtte Prize Poem. 1/- net. Sim plan. Buchan, J. John Burnet of Barns. A Romance. 6/- Lane. Bucknmster, M. A. Elementary Architecture. 4/6 Frowde. Buckton, Catherine M. Comfort and Cleanliness. 2 - Longmans. Burchell. S. B, In the Dajs of King James. 6/- Gay. Burridge. J. 11. God's Prophetic Plan. 3/6. Marshall Brothers. Butler, N. M. The Meaning of Education and other Essays. 4 <i. Macmillan. Cambridge. Ada. Materf&mllias. 3/6. Ward and L. Campbell, D. 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Collcqoy and Song; or, Sport in the Leash of tbe Muses. 5/- Paul. ## p. 55 (#67) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 55 Douglas, Theo. Behind a Mask. A Novel. 6/- Harper. Douglas. Theo. Windygap. 1/ Arrowsmith. Dovle, A. Conan. Songs of Action, $/- SniihandE. Driver, S. R. The Parallel Psalter. 6/- Frowde. Dudeney, Mrs. Henry E. Hagar of Homer to a. 6/- Pearson. Edmonds,Mrs. Jshsz Nutyard, Workman and Dreamer, 6,- Jarrold. Edwards, P. J. History of London Street improvements, lfi.W-1897. 17/6. P. S. King (for London County Council). Kgerton. George. The Wheel of God. 6/- Richard*. Ellas, N. (ed.) Moghuls of Central Asia: a History. English version. 10/6. Low. Farrow, F. R. Specifications, and How to Write Them. 3/6. Builder Office. FMler, T. C. Calculations in Hydraulic Engineering. Parti. 6/6 net. Longman. Field, Michael. The World at Auction. 13/- net Hacon and IE icketts Fielding, II. The Soul of a People. 14/- Ben Hoy". Firth, George. 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NesfieM, J. C. Historical English and Derivation. 3/6. Macmillan. Newblgijing. T. Essays at Eventide. 3/6. Gav. Nawbolt, W. C. E Priestly Ideals. 3/ti. Longman. Newdigate-Newdegatc, Lady. The Cheverel of Cheverel Manor.. 10,6. Longman. Nicholson, E. W. B. Sequanian. First Steps in the Investigation of a newly-dl.seovered Ancient European Language. 1/- net. Nutt. Olipbam, Mrs. A Widow's Tale ; aod other Stories. 6/- Blackwood. Oman, C. A History of the Art of War: the Middle Ages. 21/- Methuen. Otterburn, B. Clement Carlile's Dream. A Novel. 6/- Digby. Packard, A. S. A Text-Book of Entomology. 18/- net. Macmillan. Pain, Barry. Wilmay, and other Stories of Woman. 3/6. Harper. Panting, J. H. Through the Crucible. 2/- Partridge* ## p. 56 (#68) ############################################## 56 THE AUTHOR. Parker, Captain E. D. An Outline of Reconnaissance. 2 - Stamford. Paton. J. Casllebracr. Drawn from the Tinlie MS3. 6 - Blackwood. Pcarcc, J. H. Ezekiel's Sin. 6/- Heinemann. 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All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed either to tbe Advertisement Manager, The, Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, W.C.; or to the PubUsher (Hobaob Cox), Windsor House, Breams' buildings, E.G. 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. 09 Issue 02 (July 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 02 (July 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-07-01-The-Author-9-2 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/317/1898-06-01-The-Author-9-1.pdf 915932377792781f2656659a189d2b20 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) 1898-06-01 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages Page range in volume 1–28 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980601 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ^Tbe Butbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. IX.—No. i.] JUNE i, 1898. [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 Seoretary 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. FOB some years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain "General Con- siderations," 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 olause of precaution he simply reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on his 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. IX. in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses," unless the samo allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give np 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. III. 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 is now possible for an anthor to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Headers 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those aaoount books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all disaounta 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 th secretary before he signs it. B 2 ## p. 2 (#14) ############################################### 2 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. Ij^VEEY member has a right to ask for and to receive ■ "J advice upon his 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 advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions 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, yon should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of every- thing important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. NOTICES. E Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6i2. 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 Tlie 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 whicb 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 does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 1 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pooket, 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. LITERARY PROPERTY. I. — The Position of British Authors in Germany. WITH reference to the statements that appeared in the newspapers in the Spring with regard to the International copyright question with Germany, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has transmitted to the secretary of the Society of Authors the accompanying note, to be laid before the Society, which has been received from the German Ambassador relative to the position of British authors in Germany. rjxa ## p. 3 (#15) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 3 [Copy. Translation.] German Embassy, London, April 28, 1898. My Lord,—In your note of the 23rd ult., Your Excellency asked for information -on certain doubtful points in connection with the legal posi- tion of English authors as regards their right to protection against the reprinting or reproduction of their works, under the laws now in force in Germany. Your Excellency observed, in particular, that when the old Conventions ceased to have force in England, the same protection was continued there to German works as they had enjoyed while those conventions were in force. Similarly, in Germany properly acquired rights are protected quite as effectively, although in a different manner. For English works which, until Dec. 16 last, were protected in Germany under the old Conventions, have since enjoyed the protection given by the Agreement of Berne and the Supplementary Act of Paris. As the provisions of the new Conven- tions referred to are in some respects much more favourable, English interests are not in any way injured by this arrangement. Germany does not ask English authors or their heirs to go through any formalities in order to have the pro- tection of their works continued. The Imperial Decree of Nov. 29, 1897, and the notice in the Central-Blatt of 1898, page 85, only contain transitional provisions intended to protect the legitimate interests of German tradesmen against the retrospective force of the Agreement of Berne; they are based on the same principle as the reservation made in sect. 6 of the Inter- national Copyright Act, 1886: (" Provided that, where any person has before the date of the publication of an Order in Council lawfully pro- duce any work in the United Kingdom," &c.) I have the honour to communicate these explanations to Your Excellency in accordance with instructions received, and I beg to refer you, for information in detail, to the enclosed paper of replies to the questions contained in the enclosure to your note of the 23rd ult. My Government trust that these explanations will completely remove all the doubts which, as Your Excellency states, have arisen from the form of our withdrawal from the Copyright Conven- tions between Germany and England. I have, &c. (Signed) P. Hatzfeldt. The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., &c. [Copy. Translation.] Replies to the Questions of Her Majesty's Government. 1. In Germany English authors who have hitherto been protected in accordance with the Conventions no longer in force are now protected in accordance with the Agreement of Berne. For, according to Article 14 and No. 4 of the Final Protocol, that Agreement is applicable to all works which have not yet become common property in their country of origin. The pro- tection of English works is not in any way diminished by the circumstance that the Agree- ment of Berne has taken the place of the old Conventions; on the contrary, the Agreement of Berne is in some respects more favourable to English works. In particular, the authors of the older English works also will in future be pro- tected against translations under Article 1, sect. 3, of the Paris Supplementary Act of May 4, 1896. It follows from what is stated above that, in consequence of the termination of the Conven- tions, English works have in some respects obtained a protection in Germany which they did not enjoy before. This circumstance made transition regulations necessary, for which No. 4, paragraph 3 of the Final Protocol of the Agree- ment of Berne was taken as a basis. It is possible that some one in Germany may, while the old Conventions were in force, have made use of, or been about to make use of, an English work for purposes of gain, quite legally, because, as the law then stood, there was no prohibition. One case is of practical importance. A certain English work which was not protected, or was no longer protected, against translation in Germany, was translated without the sanction of the author or his representative. According to general prin- ciples, which are followed in Great Britain as well as in other countries, a change in the law, that is in this case the newly introduced protection of English works against translation, must not have the effect of preventing interested parties in Germany from benefiting by arrangements law- fully made by them. Steps have, therefore, been taken to make it lawful within certain limits for the parties concerned to do certain things which it was lawful for them to do until the termination of the Conventions, but which, if special regula- tions had not been made, would have been an in- fringement of the rights of English authors. In particular, it was necessary, in view of the exten- sion of the protection against translations, to give permission for the distribution of translations of old English works which were lawfully made to continue. The sole object of the Imperial Decree of November 29,1897 {Imperial Gazette, No. 787) and the Notice of February3,1898 {Central-Blatt, No. 85) was to meet these cases. 2. According to the regulations referred to above, the distribution and sale of impressions of an English work lawfully made are allowed, although the work now enjoys in Germany the ## p. 4 (#16) ############################################### 4 THE AUTHOR. protection of the Agreement of Berne, in conse- quence of the termination of the Conventions. The copies must, however, have been stamped before March 31 of this year. If this condition has not been complied with the distribution of the copies is illegal; if the rule is infringed the copies are confiscated, and the persons responsible are punished if the infraction is wilful or the result of carelessness. Similarly, the employment of moulds, plates,. &c., which were in existence before the termination of the Conventions will be considered to be a reprinting or illegal reproduc- tion of the protected English work, unless such moulds, plates, &c., have been stamped before March 31 of this year. The authors of works which have already obtained protection in Germany under the Con- ventions which are no longer in force enjoy the rights conferred by the Agreement of Berne. The date (Dec. 31, 1901) mentioned in section 3 of the notice of Feb. 3, 1898, has nothing to do with such cases; that date cannot affect any works except such as were not protected at all in Germany by the old Conventions. In cases in which works of this kind have now obtained pro- tection the protection is limited, under section 1, No. 1, of the Imperial Decree of Nov. 29, 1897, but this limitation comes to an end on Dec. 31, 1901. 3. So far as English works have already been protected in Germany under the Agreement of Berne, no change has taken place. The new Regulations only deal with the application of the Agreement of Berne to English works which have obtained the protection of the Agreement only in consequence of the termination of the old Conven- tions. 4. As stated under 1, the Agreement of Berne is now applied automatically in the case of all English works which were protected in Germany under the late treaties; its retrospective force is only limited by the transition provisions referred to above. 5. As appears from what has gone before, stamping is not a condition on which the protec- tion of English works in Germany is made to depend. On the contrary, it is only prescribed for cases where, in accordance with the transition provisions, persons wish to continue to make use of old copies or plates, Ac., without the sanction of those who possess the authors' rights over the English works concerned. Accordingly, the stamping was not to be carried out by the English authors or their heirs, but by the Germans inte- rested. Under these circumstances it does not appear how the English parties would benefit by an extension of the period allowed for stamping. 6. Stamping is provided for in the case of copies and plates, &c., which are in the possession of Germans, and it was therefore laid down that it was to be carried out in Germany. The measure does not extend to copies and plates, &c., which have been produced in Great Britain by persons who have authors' rights over English works. There could therefore be no question of sending the objects from England to Germany and back. ^ II.—The Cost of Production. The book in question contains 24 sheets at 16 pages the sheet, or 384 pages in all, including 8 pages of preliminary matter and about 40 illus- trations in text. The type is pica—320 words to a page. The binding is quite plain cloth. The estimates obtained were from three town houses and one country house. The variations were very great. Thus the composition was estimated at 42*., 39*., 24.?., and 19*. respectively. The printing for 2000 copies was estimated at 17s. 6d., 30*. 0ff/., and 18*. respectively, and by the fourth house, for 1000 copies, at 10*. The paper for 2000 copies, 174'., 12s. 6d., 7*. yd., and 8*. 6d. a sheet. The binding—crown 8vo.—was put at 6d. and 6\d. The cost finally arrived at was 6d. There were certain notes and preliminary matter in different type, and there were many illustra- tions in the text, which ran up the price of the book. Without the illustrations the 2000 copies were bound to cost as nearly as possible .£150, or is. 6d. a copy—without advertising. In this case there are circumstances which, required that the expense of advertising should be very little: in other words, the announcement of the book could be made by other channels than those of the journals and newspapers. The "Cost of Production" (seep. 47) gives the following figures:— £. s. d. Composition, 24 sheets at £1 ge 34 16 o Printing, 24 sheets, (per 1000 copies), say 15* 18 o o Paper, at £2 16s. a sheet 67 4 o Binding at gd 75 o o 195 o o The following table presents the figures for 2000 copies :— Society's First Second Third Fourth Account House. House. House. House. £. s. d. £. b. d. £. s. d. £. s. d. S. b. d. 34 16 0 50 12 0 32 8 0 28 16 0 54 12 0 18 0 0 ,20 17 0 38 8 0 21 12 0 • «7 4 0 ",!) 12 0 36 0 0 40 18 0 44 4 0 75 0 0 54 0 0 57 4 0 50 0 0 * Estimate for 1000 copirs, £13; for 2000, would be about £20. ## p. 5 (#17) ############################################### THE , AUTHOR. 5 III.—-West of England Booksellers. At a meeting of booksellers which took place at Exeter on May 5, when it was decided to amalgamate the trade in the West, the following resolution was adopted:— That this meeting of West of England Booksellers, while regretting that the scheme submitted last year by the Publishers' Association to the Authors' Society has not been adopted, hereby approves of the principles contained in the new scheme recently submitted to the Council of the Publifhers' Association. ANNUAL DINNER. THE annual dinner of the Society of Authors took place at the Holborn Restaurant, on Monday, May 2, and was altogether a very successful function. The Bishop of London took the chair, and was supported by two hundred members of the Society and their distinguished guests. The toasts of the evening were limited to four:—"The Queen," "The Society," "The Guests," and " The Chairman." After the Bishop had proposed the health of the Queen he proposed the prosperity of the Society of Authors in a very apt and amusing speech. He stated that he thought that the use of after-dinner speeches was merely to give the people in the room something to talk about. He stated that authors, in spite of all that had been said about them, were a very harmless class of the community. To show that that truth was permeating the youthful mind his lordship told a little story of a boy who wished to enter the Navy. When the lad heard his father speak of the risks of the present war he assumed a pen- sive air and said he did not think he would go into the Navy after all. He would be a poet—it was less dangerous. There was a little moral in all this, as you would expect. In nothing had the harmlessness of authors been more displayed, until recent times, than in their very slight efforts towards unity for their own interests. They had long been content to accept what might be offered them. They had, however, found defen- ders, and authors owed a debt of gratitude to Sir Martin Conway and Sir Walter Besant for their efforts on behalf of the craft. (Cheers.) A society which had for its object the securing of due remuneration for labour was one which would command the sympathy of all Englishmen. The Society had done good in this direction, and also in the giving of good advice to literary aspirants. It was this function of the Society which was specially valuable to the community. The business of the Society had been con- ducted with a practical spirit which would; do credit to the Stock Exchange. (Hear, hear.) The time might come when publishers would compete for the productions of authors and be willing to pay any price for them, but until that happy period arrived all literary aspirants would do well to avail themselves of the services of the! Society. (Cheers.) Sir Martin Conway, Chairman of the Society for the current year, then made a speech in reply* He regretted that Lord Roberts was not discharg-, ing the duty which fell to his lot. He made an official statement with regard to the business that the Society had been carrying on through the current year, and mentioned the fact that two Copyright Bills were at present before Parlia- ment. He, however, remarked that neither of them, he was afraid, would be likely to pass at present, but the justice which they were designed to work would, he hoped, be before long realised! Mr. Sidney Lee, the editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, in a very apt speech then proposed the health of the guests, mentioning them in turn, especially referring to the American Ambassador, who was present that evening not only as representing seventy millions of English readers, but as also representing the literature of a great country. The toast was coupled with the name of Lord Welby, who made an appropriate reply. Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins proposed the health of the Chairman, and, after the Bishop's reply, the company . adjourned to another room, where a conversazione was held until a late hour. ME. BRYCE ON THE BOOK TRADE. MR. JAMES BRYCE, M.P., presided at the annual dinner in connection with the BookselL rs' Provident Institution, held in the Holborn Pestaurant on May 7, and pro- posed the toast of "Literature." Many ways, he said, were suggested by which the booksellers might be saved, and one was that the number of books should be curtailed, as there were many which the country did not consume. The litera- ture of a country was the best proof of the posi- tion and learning in that country; and the test of the intellectual level of a town was to be found in the number and contents of the shelves of the booksel'ers' shops. No persons could form - so good an idea of what the intellectual condition of the people was as those who distributed the books. Booksellers could thus form a lively and more direct idea of what the people thought and what kind of taste should be addressed to them. ## p. 6 (#18) ############################################### 6 THE AUTHOR. He had found no persons who were such capable critics as those who sold books. Booksellers could often influence the taste of tbeir customers by advising what to buy, and selling good books. They were always in a position to impart valuable instruction to those who bought books. The plethora of books was becoming a serious difficulty to booksellers. They did not know what to put in stock, or how to select the books they could recommend. It had been suggested that a penal law should be enacted against the multiplication of books. A difficulty would probably then arise with regard to the respective liability of author and publisher—perhaps only the author should be punished. They must have all remarked how very mild the criticisms had become in our day; perhaps that in a way accounted for the number of books issued. With all this plethora of books they must remember that the publication of newspapers and magazines was going on with increasing vehemence. But people read newspapers in a totally different spirit to what they read books. When they read a newspaper, they picked the thing up and threw it away when it was done with; but they read a book with a view of assimilating the subject with which it dealt, while they gave up the habit of bringing the mind to bear upon what they read in newspapers. This habit reacted upon the way they now regarded a thoughtful book. Was it possible to do anything to stem the tide, and enable books to hold their ground better as against newspapers and maga- zines? He thought their friends, the publishers, should try publishing books somewhat cheaper. That might be a revolutionary proposition; and they might be told that there was a lion in the path, namely, the circulating library. In his opinion, the circulating library was an enemy to all; and they must try to fight it. The issue of cheap books could not be fairly said to have been tried until some work by a well-known and popular author was taken, and the first edition published in a cheap form. The first generation of authors might be losers, but let the heroic suffer. He ventured to believe that the experi- ment would succeed, and there would be consola- tion to the author in knowing that he had more readers than at present. A large proportion of the best books were produced without any idea of profit being derived from them. If they took the best thousand books, very few of them would not have been written, even if the author had known beforehand that he was not going to get more than he actually did. If publishers made books cheaper, they would be bought to be read and kept, and would serve the next generation. This, he believed, would do a great deal for the inextinguishable well-being and the literary level of our country. They would be able to develope and build up the taste of the people. There was, perhaps, too great a tendency in the present day to look after material great- ness, and men's minds were led away from literature. They might become proud of their gold, but their was nothing which gold could produce which could furnish them with so much reason for pride as the literature of England. He believed that, in the long run, a nation would be judged by her literature; that alone could pro- duce a strong nation, a high-souled nation, and it was only such a nation that could produce and read a splendid literature. THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND. THE Duke of Devonshire was the chairman of this year's anniversary dinner (the 108th) of the Royal Literary Fund, which took place on the 17th ult., at the Hotel Métropole, and was attended by a distinguished company. The Chairman, in giving "Prosperity to the Royal Literary Fund," with which he coupled the name of Lord Crewe, the president of the corpo- ration, made at the outset of his remarks a refer- ence to Mr. Gladstone's connection with the fund: that great man, he said, eminent as an author and still more so as a statesman, whose career they all regretted to know was now rapidly approaching its end. They could only express their admiration, respect, and sympathy for that illustrious Englishman, and it would be a melan- choly satisfaction if those sentiments could be made known to the dying statesman. Proceeding, the Duke of Devonshire said he could only attribute his being called upon to preside over that dinner to his position as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and as President of the Council. From that point of view he was tempted to ask the elementary question, Why should the writing of books be encouraged and the demand for modern literature be stimulated ¥ But a clear and broad distinction might be drawn between science on the one hand and art and literature on the other. It might be that modern brains were better than those of old times, but science at least was progressive, and new methods and in- creased certitude and accuracy had assuredly been obtained. The knowledge* of the forces of nature was ever increasing, and the limits of the science of the future could by no forecast be determined. The same thing probably could not be said of literature and art, and it might be ## p. 7 (#19) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 7 that we were no further than the men of 2000 years ago. In charm of style it might be that we were not superior to the writers of antiquity, or even to our immediate predecessors. It might then be asked why we should seek to divert men to a comparatively barren field instead of the more productive one of science. The answer might, perhaps, be found in the sentence that man does not live by bread alone or by knowledge alone. The speculation as to the destinies and life of nations was more interesting, it might be, than any scientific research. We should try to realise what would be the condition of things if men should desist from writing and depend on the mental nutriment supplied by the past. If modern literature did not produce the highest masterpieces, it at least spoke to us in our own language and expressed our own ideas. The age or nation which should cease to produce books would soon lose the faculty of admiration of the past; and the training which enabled us to appreciate would urge to the effort of emula- tion. It was not in the direction of the extinction of authorship, then, that intellectual ,excellence was to be obtained. The object of the Society was to secure to authors as a class the benefits which under the old system of private patronage were enjoyed by the few favoured ones of the great. Publishers now to some extent took the place of patrons, and to neither, perhaps, was Byron's gibe applicable that either of them was a Barabbas. Hobbes and Locke might never have been what they were had it not been for the patron. The relation of Lord Shaftes- bury and Locke must have led to the increase of political tolerance and liberality of thought. Patronage, however, had gone. It had unques- tionably done good work to an author here and there, but it had never given strength and dignity to a profession. This Society, which had to some extent succeeded to that office, might claim to have perpetuated the advantages, and to have avoided the evils of private patronage. THE HISTORY OP THE BLACKWOOD PUBLISHING HOUSE * WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, the founder of the publishing house, learned book- selling in his native city of Edinburgh, picked up experience in Glasgow and then in London, and returning to the Scottish capital in * " William Blackwood and Hia Sons: Their Magazine and Friends." By Mrs. Oliphant. (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood and Sons.) VOL. IX. 1804 (being then twenty-eight years of age), started business on his own account. He speedily won a reputation " as a safe and steady man of business, not given to flights of fancy, but full of enthusiasm for literature." The first book he published was his own catalogue—the compiling of catalogues was an important part of book- selling in those days, when old books were kept for sale as well as new ones issued. This notice of Mrs. Oliphant's last book has been in type for some time, but pressure upon our limited space has kept it out. The book is remarkable in the first place as showing how a writer, even of the present day, when writers are by no means so dependent on the publisher as they were, may be dominated by a publishing house as by the hand of fate. The distinguished author who wrote this history did so with a certain breathless admiration which is to us inconceivable. Mrs. Oliphant says that the first Blackwood was an enthusiast for literature. Very likely. Most successful publishers are. The more successful, the more enthusiastic. The few who have become bankrupt are not so enthu- siastic. The book, however, is also remarkable for certain side lights upon men of letters during the first half of the century. Murray and Blackwood.—The Magazine. In 1811 Blackwood became agent of John Murray. "You have the happiness of making publishing a liberal profession," he wrote to Murray, who was treating with Byron about this time, "and not a mere business of pence. This I consider one of the greatest privileges we have in our business." Again, in a letter the London publisher writes to his Edinburgh representative about the magazine, there is an interesting light upon what was the ideal for a magazine of that day:—" Let us take public estimation by assault, by the irresistible effect of talent employed on subjects that are interesting, and above all, I say to collect information on passing events. Our editors are totally mistaken in thinking that this consists in laborious essays. These are very good as accessories, but the flesh and blood and bones is information. That will make the public eager to get us at the end of every month." Blackwood was able, through the agency of James Ballantyne, to place Scott's "Tales of a Landlord" in the offer of the London publisher. A quarrel arose between the Great Unknown and Blackwood, partly owing to the latter's habit of suggest- ing improvements upon the later scenes in Scott's work. In 1817 the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine was begun under the joint editorship of Pringle and Cleghorn, but it did not realise Blackwood's expectations, and after No. 6 a c ## p. 8 (#20) ############################################### 8 THE AUTHOR. new series was commenced, with Blackwood as his own editor. In the first number appeared the famous " Chaldee Manuscript," said to have been concocted by Wilson, Lockhart, and others, although Hogg in after years claimed the greater share in it. Blackwood was designated in the article "the man clothed in plain apparel," Lockhart was "the Scorpion which delighteth to sting the faces of men." "Don Juan" and the Scotch Editor. Blackwood stuck at "Don Juan," and broke with Murray over it. His reasons are given in a letter he wrote to Maginn:—" I do most cordially agree with you that I deserve quizzing for refusing to sell' Don Juan,' and should not be spared in the article. The only apology I have to offer to you is this, that it proceeded partly from pique and partly from principle. When the book was published by Murray, I was just on the point of breaking with him. I had not had a letter from him for some months. He sent me copies of the book per mail, without either letter or invoice, so that when I received them I was not disposed to read it with favourable eye. I did read it, and I declare solemnly to you, much as I admired the talent and genius displayed in it, I never in my life was so filled with utter disgust. It was not the grossness or black- guardism which struck me, but it was the vile, heartless, and cold-blooded way in which this fiend attempted to degrade every tender and sacred feeling of the human heart. I felt such a revolting at the whole book after I had finished it, that I was glad of the excuse I had from Mr. Murray not writing me, for refusing to sell it." Idolatry of Wilson. Wilson was almost a religion in Blackwood's. Mrs. Oliphant quotes the following letter from Landor to the publisher:—" Pray do me the favour to inform your compositor that if ever again he has the impudence and audacity to alter a let'er or a point of my writings he shall see no more of them! In the first page he has put the name of Wilson after those of Homer, Shake- speare, and Dante. Now, I never have spoken otherwise of Wilson than as a man of varied and great genius; but if I mentioned him with Dante and Shakespeare, I not only should compare dissimilars, but bring his just claims into ques- tion. I believe he himself would be the very first to blame my imprudence." De Quincey's Humour. De Quincey had not yet become a contributor to the magazine when he wrote the following letter to Blackwood :—" If Wilson and Lockhart do not put themselves forward for the magazine, I foresee that the entire weight of supporting it must rest on my shoulders. I see clearly that I must be its Atlas. For excepting our friend Gillies's translation (from a cursed dull thing though), and excepting that spirited political article at the end, a more dreary collection of dulness and royal stupidity never did this world see gathered together than the December number exhibits. Positively it would sink any work in the world. No, no! I see clearly that I must write it all myself—except one sheet which I will leave to Gillies, and a few pp. to the other man." The editor took this seriously, and replied that he could only excuse it "by supposing that you were hardly awake when you wrote it. When I apply to you to be the Atlas of my magazine, it will be time enough for you to undertake the burthen. And in the meantime, I must beg leave to say that if you cannot send me anything better than the ' English Lakes,' it will be quite unnecessary for you to give yourself any further trouble about the magazine." Thackeray on Himself. Thackeray was a "rejected contributor" of Blackwood's. The Rev. James White, of Bon- church, introduced him to the firm. "He is the cleverest man of all the London writers, I think—his name is Thackeray ; a gentleman, a Cambridge man." "He is shy, I suppose, for he said he wished you would invite him to contri- bute. He is also literary reviewer in the Times." The invitation was not forthcoming, and Thackeray at length made the following offer :— "Some years back you used to have pleasant papers in Blackwood called 'The World we Live in.' I should be glad to do something of a like nature, if you are disposed to accept my contri- butions. No politics, as much fun and satire as I can muster, literary lath (sie) and criticism of a spicy nature, and general gossip. I belong to a couple of clubs in this village, and can get together plenty of rambling stuff. For instance for next month Courvoisier's hanging (I'll go on purpose), strictures on C. Phillip's speech, the London Library, Tom Carlyle and the Times, Bunn's new book, of which great fun may be made, and an account of Willis that may be racy enough. H the project smiles upon you, as the French say, please write me word. I can't afford to begin and send the MSS. in advance, for if you shouldn't approve the design my labour would be wasted, as the article would be written for your special readers, and no good next month." "G. E. is such a Timid Fellow." "I am happy to say that I think your friend's reminiscences will do," wrote John Blackwood to ## p. 9 (#21) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 9 George Henry Lewes, with reference to "Scenes from Clerical Life." He proceeded to criticise some points in "Amos Barton," and wound up by saying that, if the author was a new writer, he begged to congratulate him on being worthy of the honours of print and pay. So well did George Eliot conceal her identity, that she actually met and entertained one of the brothers Blackwood without disclosing the secret. The following incident is not dated, but this is Major Black- wood's letter after a visit to the Lewes pair:—" I have just returned from Richmond. G. E. did not show; he is such a timid fellow, Lewes said. He was very pleasant, and talked in a very hand- some way of his connection with us, saying of all editors ever he had to do with—and he had to do with many—you and Lord Jeffrey were the most agreeable. I saw a Mrs. Lewes." Only when an impostor claimed the authorship of " Adam Bede" did George Eliot reveal her identity to the publisher. The meddling of the proof reader called for a protest from George Eliot:—" The printer's reader made a correction after I saw the proof, and, though he may sometimes do so with advantage (as I am very liable to overlook mistakes), I in this case particularly object to his alteration, and I mention it in order to request that it may not occur again. He has everywhere substituted the form 'the Misses So-and-So' for the 'Miss So- and So's,' a form which in England is confiued to public announcements, to the backs of letters, and to the conversation of school-mistresses. This is not the conversational English of good society, and causes the most disagreeable jolt in an easy style of narrative or description." William Blackwood, the founder, died in 1833, and his sons succeeded. Letters from Bramwell Bronte bear witness that Robert Blackwood was scant in his sympathy with the humours of authors, no notice being taken of Bronte's letters or poetry. On the death of Alexander, and Robert's health being delicate, Major William Blackwood was taken into the business to assist John. The history of the house is brought down to 1861 by Mrs. Oliphant's work. A third volume is to appear later from another hand. •:».<- THE NEW PATRON. (See page 7.) (HE Muse rose to welcome her visitor. "I fear," she said, "that I have not the honour—" "I am your new Patron," said her visitor, roughly. "Can't you read the papers? Didn't VOL. IX. you read that the Duke of Devonshire Baid I was your Patron?" "My new Patron? I have had so many. Princes and nobles and great ladies have been my Patrons in the past. Scholars and artists and persons of culture have been my Patrons in late times. But who are you?" "I say that I am your new Patron." "Are you a Prince or a great noble?" "No. I am a publisher." "What is a publisher?" She turned upan him eyes that compelled the truth. "It is a middleman," he replied, surlily, "who sells the Muse's b.oks to the bookseller, and puts most of the money in his own pocket." "But you said that you are my Patron." "So I am. And your master as well. What money have you? Hand it over. I will keep it for you. None? Then set to work. Come, there must be no idling. You must set to work and at once. I shall call to-morrow to know how you are getting on. I am your new Patron. Remember that." Next day he called again. "Well, where is the work? You've had time to write a dozen poems since yesterday." "I have done nothing." "Nothing? What? You've wasted all that time? Why, your time is my money. You've been wasting my money! Nothing?" "I have been walking in the meadows listening to the birds and watching the flight of the clouds." "Oh! This won't do, you know, at all. This will never do. I only became your Patron with the intention of making you work. This time I shall lock you in." He did so, and left her. The next day he called again. She had written nothing again. "I cannot work in prison," she said. "I must be free, or I cannot write." "Look here," he said. "This is getting serious. I've got to maintain you, because I'm your new Patron, but you've got to make money for me. They are clamouring for more work from your pen. Are you going to do it, or must I starve you into submission?" She sat down and wept silently. She made no appeal to this man with a face like a rock, and a voice like the siren of a steamship for harshness. He came next day. She handed him a poem. "Ah!" he said. "You can do it if you like. Now, this is worth—no, I shan't tell you how much. Very little indeed, if you reckon up the travellers' and the office expenses, and the adver- tisements, and the rent and the taxes, and the clerks. I don't think anything will be left at all, c 2 ## p. 10 (#22) ############################################## IO THE AUTHOR. except perhaps a shilling or two. You will have to do with that. As for me, I shall lose. But I am contented to lose. I always do lose. But so long as one is a Patron one cares about nothing else." She took the shilling humbly. "Now go to wort again," said the Patron. "Lord, what easy work is yours! You sit down and go to work with zeal. Let's have no more nonsense about walking in the meadows or on the mountains or listening to the birds. Just set to work." He left her again. Next day he called for more: every day he called for more: he did not observe that the Muse was growing pale and thin: he thought of nothing but the poem which he could take away and sell, putting the money in his own pocket. She was pale and thin because she was overworked and underfed, because she was kept away from the open air and the sunshine, and made to work all day long within the four walls. One day he came furious, bursting open the door. The Muse was seated with her head in her hands. She did not turn or notice him in any way. "Look here," he shouted, " What you gave me yesterday is rubbish: there is nothing in it but the rhyme and the sound. No one will buy it. Do you hear?" he shrieked. "No one—no one —no one will buy it—Do you hear that?" She made no reply. He seized her roughly by the shoulder. Her head dropped back. Her arm fell: the poor Muse was dead. Her new Patron had killed her. NOTES AND NEWS. LET me apologise to Mr. Punch for allowing it to be stated, in the list of magazines and journals published last month, that he does not return contributions. Two or three letters have been sent to me on this subject. Mr. Punch does return them, but only on the condition that they must be accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope, cover, or wrapper. This notice appears, and has for some time appeared, on the front page of every number. Readers will therefore take heart, and send their pro- ductions. I think, however, they will find it difficult to do better than Mr. Punch's staff. It is now some years since the last appearance of the Benefactor. He came then bringing blessings to the amateur and the beginner. It is well known that thousands of papers are every year rejected by editors, and' thousands of MSS. are every year refused by publishers. He promised, out of his benevolence, to bring a remedy for the unhappiness and the disappoint- ments caused by these rejections. His remedy, so far as the publication of books was concerned, consisted in offering to print—he called it "pub- lish"—the works at the author's expense. The amateur and the aspirant do not as a rule under- stand that printing is not publishing: some of them accepted the Benefactor's offer: what became of them afterwards is not known, but can be imagined. They hid away the " accounts" which ran much as follows: £ s. d. To printing, binding, &c. (as per agreement), i000 copies 120 0 0 To advertising (as per agreement) 45 o 0 165 00 To Press copies 50 ") Author's 20 > 0 0 0 Sales, none ) 165 0 0 But he was a great Benefactor, and gave his authors every chance. He also had an amateur magaziue to which his friends were allowed to contribute. It was a shilling magazine. The contributors were all paid for their articles. They were paid by a method of great benevolence. They received so many copies—say fifty—for which they paid sixpence each. These copies they could sell to their friends at a shilling each so that they cleared twenty-five shillings by the transaction. The magazine, however, languished. il I recall this little history, because I have before me the prospectuses of two new amateur maga- zines. Perhaps the Benefactor has returned. The first of these deals with a paper called the Pioneer, the first number of which was promised for May 7. I have not yet seen a copy. The following is its own announcement: One of the greatest necessities of those entering the Pro- fession of Letters, but one hitherto entirely unprovided for, is a Weekly Magazine devoted to the publication of the preliminary contributions of those amateur writers and literary aspirants who are as yet unconnected with the Professional Press. The Pioneer will be, as its name implies, the first magazine published to fill this vacancy in journalism, each of its subscribers having the privilege of contributing to its pages; but, in order that each con- tributor shall have the opportunity of frequent publication, the right of contributing will be strictly limited to the first 300 subscribers. All MSS. sent in by a registered contributor will be pub- lished and paid for; one-third of the profits of each issue, ## p. 11 (#23) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 11 from sales and advertisements, being divided amongst those who contribute the matter appearing in snob, issue. In guaranteeing to publish all MSS., the conductor reserves the right to amend or correct any MSS. which does not attain the necessary standard of literary excellence. All contributions will bear the author's name or nom de plume, and all contributors will be included seriatim in the series of portraits and biographical notices of Our Contribu- tors, which will form an interesting feature of the maza- rine. The following description of matter is in immediate request for the first issue, and MSS. may be S9nt when for- warding subscriptions: SHOET STORIES (1000 to 1500 words), POEMS, INTERESTING ARTICLES, Ac. Should you desire to contribute, it will be necessary that your application (on form below) should be sent in without delay, as the privilege of contributing can, under no circum- stances, be extended beyond the first 300 subscribers regis- tered. The subscription is is. 6d. a quarter, which will not break anybody. As an enlargement of the original plan the conductor proposes to print a directory of his 300 contributors, and send it with a copy of the Pioneer to the editors of all the magazines in the country. They will naturally peruse the Pioneer with the keenest interest and will hasten to engage the services of its contributors at large salaries. . Let us, however, consider how the amateur magazine will work. It is to be written by 300 hands who will pay each is. 6d. a quarter or 6s. a year. This makes .£90 a year as a beginning, towards the expenses. There will, however, be the circulation. But who is going to buy a magazine written by amateurs and beginners? Probably there will be no circulation. But there will be the advertisements. Advertisers want some cir- culation. So far the cost of the paper, which means not less, one would think, than .£20 a week apart from contributions, seems a long way from being provided for. However, leaving that consideration aside, I would ask young writers what good they will do to themselves by appearing in the pages of an amateur magazine. They may be quite certain that if their work is good enough it would be taken by a "pro- fessional" journal, while one fails to see what advantage they derive from seeing and letting others see their immature productions. As to editors perusing the Pioneer, or even looking at it, they may put that out of their thoughts altogether. I shall be glad to hear further about the new Benefactor. There is another prospector in the field. This time it is an Association of Amateur Authors. It has a secretary and an office near our own, viz., Portugal-street Buildings. The Association laments that there is always the " same difficulty experienced by each fresh writer, the same weary wait and delay before he can make a start. The Association offers— (1) To criticise MSS. for readers. This is exactly what our Society has been doing for years. (2) To publish the member's writings in the Association's monthly paper—again the Amateur Magazine—" if their merit warrant" the produc- tion. The Comhill and Longman's and the rest of them do just exactly the same thing: they will publish these papers "if their merit warrant." (3) They will tell their members where they are most likely to succeed. Our reading branch has done the same thing for years. (4) They will charge a guinea for subscription: if the subscriber wants the "Magazine Advan- tages " he must pay two guineas. (5) They expect members to take as many copies of the Magazine when they have papers in it as possible. . A letter in another column advocates the Amateur Magazine. The writer says that "at pre- sent a young writer has no means of obtaining that skilled revision of his work, which would make it acceptable to editors, and would show him his faults." Nowthis Society has for many yearsoffered to do this kind of work and does actually do it, with results quite satisfactory. If our friend would only send up his work we shall obtain exactly the revision and criticism that he requires. How would an Amateur Magazine help him? His papers in print would not show him his faults more plainly than his papers in MS. It is a mere dream to suppose that editors would turn to the magazine for authors. The papers would be for the most part weak and flabby, because writers worth considering would never think of appearing in its pages: it would, indeed, do a writer much damage if he were known to write for such a magazine, while it would be impossible to make such a magazine pay. The only way—there can be no other way—for a writer to succeed is to send good work to an editor. The best way, if he wants his work revised, is to get an opinion from the Society's reader. The following is a note from the Academy :— The best comment on Mr. Bryoe's speech concerning the need for cheap literature, at the booksellers' dinner, comes from a Birmingham firm. "Mr. Bryce," writes our corre- spondent, " spoke of a general lowering of prices; it is in- structive to note that his ' Holy Roman Empire' was first issued at 6s.; the second edition was gs.; the third, 78.6<i.; and this was followed by a library edition at 14s." ## p. 12 (#24) ############################################## J.2 THE AUTHOR. Well, but is it a comment on Mr. Bryce at all? For, was Mr. Bryce ever consulted as to the price of his book? I very much doubt it. I imagine that the editions were 'changed about as to price without consulting him at all. If, how- ever, he was consulted, it would still not be a comment on his plea for cheap literature, because it is absurd to suppose that the mass of the people would wish to buy that scholarly work, the " Holy Roman Empire," even if they got it for sixpence. Cheap literature can only exist if the people for whom it is published buy it; but they will certainly not buy what they cannot understand. Therefore cheap literature must always be something that the people wish to read; down to their level, perhaps; in some respects, as witness the returns of the free libraries, by no means such a bad level. The hope of the future is that the free libraries will gradually improve the taste of the people. Thus the limitations which at present confine cheap literature within narrow limits will be enlarged. In other words, only a book which appeals to the people can be issued at a cheap price, because only with such a book will the lowering of the price extend the number of buyers. But the general run of new books published at 6s., i.e., 4*. 6d., do not circulate on an average more than 600 copies or so. These books would not gain a single additional purchaser if they were published at sixpence, and the lowering of the price would simply mean the impossibility of producing the work. Many hundreds of such books now pub- lished every year, arrive at a circulation of no more than six or seven hundred. They bring in to the publisher a small profit. If the price was lowered they would cease to appear. Their loss would not hurt the authors much, but it would hurt the publishers a great deal. On the other hand, when a book is by an old and established favourite the people buy it up by the hundred thousand if it is offered at sixpence. Then comes the question whether it is worth while to publish the former class of books at all. I have always maintained that it matters nothing how many books are pub- lished. The world may be trusted to make its own selection. The only persons to be considered are the booksellers who are so ill-advised as to buy them —sometimes. If out of a hundred books ninety- nine die in the same season as their birth, still the hundredth is left, and of the ninety-nine, which of us has bought a copy? For my own part I buy a great many books. I never buy a new book until I hear about it in conversation. Yet if the ninety-nine books had not been published, per- haps we should have missed the hundredth. These remarks apply not to novels only but to every kind of book. I said last month, quoting a writer in the Morning Post, that I could not understand how any novelist could produce three, four, or five novels in a year. Most novelists of my acquaint- ance are contented with the production of one a year, or with three in two years at the most. Certain names and facts have been sent to me, and I have caused an examination to be made into the rate of production of the writers owning these names. I find that, in two cases, six novels were produced by the author in a single year! In more than two, five; that the average of one writer is from four a year; of another one three; and of several writers two. These facts surprised me a great deal. I thought that I knew most of the working of the novelist's profession, but this rapidity of production is new to me. Also, the critic of the Morning Post was right, and I tender him my apologies for questioning his statement. As regards the works these parties produced, some of them, by one writer at least, are short shilling stories, which can hardly rank as novels. Of the rest one can only say of novelists, as of everything else, that one may outstay his welcome. I can conceive no better way of making a circle of readers tired of a writer than for him to bring out a new book three or four times a year. The Royal Literary Fund has had its annual dinner. The Duke of Devonshire spoke of the followers of literature as he understands them; namely, so many helpless paupers dependent chiefly on the doles of the fund, and on those of the publishers, whom His Grace most Graciously described as the patrons of the author. Now I want to protest against the whole business—the speech of the Duke, which was based on pure ignorance, and the conduct of the Fund. It is a most useful institution; it relieves a good many people; they are authors, it is true, but they are not, as a rule, authors of the slightest distinc- tion. A good writer, in these days, as easily gets a good living as a good doctor. He cannot, of course, make a colossal fortune like a man in business; but he is not a pauper, nor a depen- dent, and, except in very rare cases, he does not apply to the Royal Literary Fund for help. I want that point recognised in public. At present, year after year, men of letters are publicly spoken of as if they were all dependent for their liveli- hood upon the doles and alms of the Royal Literary Fund. Now, I repeat, and it cannot be repeated too strongly, that the great mass of the working men and women of letters have no more need of ## p. 13 (#25) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 13 the grants made by the Fund than the great mass of barristers stand in need of their corre- sponding association. They do not live from hand to mouth. If they are seized with sudden illness there is money in the bank. I do not claim for them that many of them can make fortunes—even a moderate fortune; and I think that most of them die in harness. I do claim for the average writer who is generally more or less of a journalist—writes for the magazines; perhaps edits something; is perhaps a novelist or a specialist, or an educational writer—that he lives well and like a gentleman, that he also lives cleanly and soberly, that he has no more need of asking the charity of the Literary Fund than he has of going into the workhouse. Who are the people to whom the Fund is useful? There are —always with certain sad exceptions—people who have the slightest possible reason for calling themselves authors. They are necessitous; in many cases without any fault of their own. By all means let them be relieved; but do not take their cases as examples of the starving condition of the literary profession. Now, I speak from my own knowledge, because I sat on the council of the Fund for three or four years. The next point is that the administration of the Fund must be radically altered. At present it is administered, not by the literary profession, but for the literary profession. It is degrading to us that people should be sending round the hat for us, especially as we don't want it. If we must go round, hat in hand, to take up a collec- tion, let us at least do it ourselves, and not ask noble dukes and lords to do it for us. Imagine the pride and pleasure of Lincoln's Inn if a dinner were held once a year to collect money in order to give doles to necessitous barristers. You cannot imagine it. Then think of the pleasure and the pride with which literary men regard the annual collection made for necessitous writers. There are, and there must always be, certain unfortunate persons in the writing line, Let the Royal Literary Fund intervene to give them assistance; but let it be managed in secret, both the assistance and the need for it. The world need know nothing about it. The resig- nation of half a dozen members and their substitution by actual literary men, is all that is wanted. We should then, as a matter of course, put a stop to the degradation of the dinner, and wash our linen at home. The list of Birthday Honours has been given to the world as usual. This list is looked for by a large section of the world with great curiosity and interest. Those who are going to appear in it know the fact beforehand, and are not, there- fore, so anxious. As for the anxiety of people generally, it has been attributed to one's natural fear that friends may be in the list. Since we cannot ourselves expect to be in the list, we naturally do not desire to see our dear friends receiving Honours. Of course, the old ialk about distinctions and honours has quite gone out; twenty years ago people who had not been offered anything were loud in their contempt of those who received anything. It was too thin, even then; the talk is abandoned now; it is quite un- derstood that all Englishmen would very much like to receive a distinction of some kind. It is also quite certain that a great many Englishmen really believe that they deserve a distinction. If we examine the list before us, we find that it con- tains no more than forty-eight names out of the sixty millions in this island and the Colonies. Of these, political claims and services—they are not always the same—supply eight names; wealth, with probably some political reasons, four; special services, five; the Civil Service, ten; the Colonies, four; the Diplomatic Service, five; foreign service, eight; Science—one branch only —one; Law, one; and Music, one. The Army and the Navy will be provided for, I suppose, in another Gazette. Now, there are many—very many— branches of intellectual achievement that employ the energies of my countrymen; in some of them they constantly make discoveries, inventions, and achievements, whicn are of the greatest import- ance to the human race generally, and to this country in particular. Such, for instance, are engineering, science in all its branches, architec- ture, art, literature also in all its branches, educa- tion, scholarship, mechanics, philosophy. There are names in all these lines of work that are held, by those who know the subjects, in the highest honour. Where are these names in the Birthday List? They are conspicuous by their absence. But it is urged these things bring their own reward. Very true. Also that distinctions are not needed for the distinguished. Are, then, these forty-eight persons chosen for their obscurity? Certainly, outside the Civil Service, few know the names of those who are constantly raised to honour from that branch of the service. Dis- tinctions, it is true, cannot confer honour on the distinguished. They do not. They may teach the world, however, that certain forms of achieve- ment are worthy of honour. I suppose that the first place of honour in a nation is due to the statesman, and the second to the captain, but the third belongs to the man of literature, science, or art. And I maintain that it is the duty of a statesman to make the nation understand that ## p. 14 (#26) ############################################## '4 THE AUTHOR. these branches of intellectual achievement do really confer honour upon the country. In another column will be found a precis of a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, with a commentary upon it from the Academy. I un- fortunately saw neither—but the remark quoted from the Telegraph certainly does not show knowledge up to date of the publisher's methods. The passage is thus reported: "Having paid a good deal more than he ought for one book, the publisher has to pay less than he ought for another. His successes, such as they are, have to make up for his losses." Now, there are but one or two publishers who buy their books, i.e., buy them at a proper price calculated on the sale of the author's books: the rest give royalties. In no case has it ever been known that the royalty given to a successful author was greater than, or equal to, the difference between the trade price and the cost of production: in other words, the publisher is certain, in even the largest royalties given to such an author, that he will get back the cost of production with a margin. It is not by large royalties to successful authors that the publisher loses. And in the case of unsuccessful authors it is difficult to understand how they can make up the publisher's losses—for they consti- tute his losses. _ _ The Publishers' Circular questions my opinion about war time and publishing. It was not, how- ever, my opinion: it was the experience of an old and experienced publisher; the experience of the war time of 1855-1857. As for the present slack- ness, the months of May and June are always slack: I should be of opinion also that the feverish rush to hurl new novels upon the market is producing its natural effect. The world will not buy an unlimited quantity of novels: booksellers are not so rich that they can afford to load their shelves with a mass of books which they cannot sell. A little slackness ought to make publishers reflect on the dangers of over-pro- duction. In the year 1832 the novel market was absolutely destroyed by the lavish production of bad work. I strongly recommend to the Book- sellers' Association the adoption, for their own protection, of the cheap, convenient, and effective method which I proposed to them some months ago. This method would save them a great many thousands a year, and it would be an effectual bar to the production of rubbish. The Morning Post returns to the subject of Sir Henry Craik's allegations concerning the Society. This after-dinner speaker, it will be remembered, said, among other things, that the Society of Authors called the publisher a needless inven- tion. Now, the Society of Authors has never said anything of the kind. The writer in the Morn- ing Post says that, " the opinion that an intelli- gent agent would do for the novelist all that the publisher can do, at far less cost to the author, has again and again been expressed." By the Society of Authors? Never once. In the pages of The Author a good many opinions are advanced and freely discussed: these are not the utterances of the Society. In every number, in a prominent place, the Committee announce that they are only responsible for the statements signed officially by the Secretary. They have never sent to the papers any opinion or theory to the effect of the words quoted above. Again, The Author does not, as the writer in the Morning Post thinks, "criticise publishers" generally: it publishes their agreements and explains what they mean: it exposes tricks: it does not treat the "average publisher as a knave," because it does not speak of the " average " publisher at all. At the same time the tricks and over-reachings, and trading on ignorance, exposed in the columns of The A uthor, prove that there are a good many knaves in the trade: some of them, as I know from per- sonal examination of documents, occupying high places in the trade. As for Sir Henry Craik, if he thinks it a worthy rule to "indulge in little conscious exaggerations," as the writer in the Morning Post kindly puts the case, it is his business. Take, for instance, this allegation about pub- lishers being needless. My own private opinion, which in no way expresses the collective opinion of the Society, is this : The trade of publishing is purely mechanical, especially in those cases where the author is "established." Now, in every branch of literature there are authors by the dozen who are " established ": that is to say, their works are certain of being taken in more than sufficient quantities to pay for the cost of produc- tion. There is absolutely nothing done for their books by the publisher which cannot be done by a distributing agent, whose commission must be paid and nothing more. And then he becomes a publisher, so that it is absurd to say that a publisher is needless. Some two or three years ago a publisher sent to a certain paper what he tendered as his figures. He spoke of a book which had had a very large sale: he asserted that after paying his expenses he was left with no more than Sd. a copy on the book. No more than Sd. a copy! What had he done for his 8d.? Nothing. His clerks' and office expenses had aJl been deducted. He was drawing Sd. a copy an ## p. 15 (#27) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. many thousands for the mechanical work done by his clerks. What a splendid business! Now, a distributing agent would have done the whole business for a commission, including the clerks' work. The distributing ajent will be the general publisher of the new literature of the future. There will remain, of course, the great works undertaken by the great capitalists. Walter Besant. RECIPE FOR AJRJMMEB NOVEL. [In spite of the war excitement in New York, space is found in the newspapers for this kind of fun. It is to the World of that city that our readers must give their thanks if they find it amusing.] : By Harold R. Vynne, Who '. 'Is an Expert Plot Chef and ; Verbiage Salad-Maker. Incentives.—(i) The necessity of keeping one's mind occupied; (2) the prornise of cash on delivery of manuscript; (3) the desire to do somebody up. Ingredients.—One or more characters taken from real life—preferably bad characters, because they are much more readily portrayed than good ones and are always less tame. An American heiress with a record as a jilt and a predisposi- tion to heart failure. A foreign nobleman with fringe on his trousers and a mortgage on his ancestral real estate. A poor but honest lover, who refuses to commit forgery to wear crease3 in his trousers. A pert widow with a corking divorce record and a propensity for making trouble. A proud and vulgar parent of the heiress, who kicks the poor but honest lover in the neck and lends the foreign nobleman money. A summer home of the heiress. Horses and carriages. Whisky, wine, and beer. A yacht or two, golf links and a dog. Ginger ad lib. Method.—Get into your story with a startling event of some kind, a dog fight in the Broadway in which the losing pup is backed by the heiress's father, or a game of craps in which the foreign nobleman goes broke. Make it a rule to have something sensational happen in every thousand words, if it's only a birth or a thunderstorm. Never forget that the publisher won't come down with the check unless he sees his money coming back. A summer novel should be pitched in a summer scene. Pitch the parent's summer home in the mountains and the heiress into the lake. Then when the poor but honest lover rescues her, let the foreign nobleman rob him of his clothes while the lady is unconscious, chloroform him into insensibility and impersonate her saviour himself. Invite the nobleman to dinner and send the poor but honest lover to jail on a charge of going in swimming without a bathing suit. Engage the heiress and the nobleman to marry and let the lover gnash his teeth on the bars of the cell until the frisky widow helps him to break jail and tells him the heiress is his long-lost sister. Have the lover go crazy at this stage of the game, marry the widow and go up to see the old gentleman with a proposition that he recog- nise him legally as his son, divvy up the estate and give the foreign nobleman leave to go and blow himself full of air with a bicycle pump. The old gentleman might opportunely throw a fit here, and in his fall and clawings kick a hole in a piece of rock, disclosing a cave in which repose certain family documents showing that he is his own grandson, that the poor but honest lover never had any parents or sisters, and that the family fortune belongs to a millionaire. This will justify the foreign nobleman, who has no love for pauper women, in running violently down a steep hill and breaking his face on the rocks, while the disinherited heiress, certain at last that the poor but honest lover loves her for herself alone, may persuade him to divorce the widow and marry her instead. A fine point in morals may be drawn here by showing that the widow, with the divorcing habit strong upon her, hates to be divorced herself when it comes to a show-down. A thrilling if improbable anti-climax may be secured by having the millionaire give all the money back to the bride and bridegroom and act sufficiently astonish- ing to justify the old gentleman in celebrating his son-in-law's luck. The yacht mentioned in the list of ingredients is for no particular purpose except to prove that a summer novel cannot be written without one. The dog is to try the novel on before it goes to the publisher. If the dog dies the manuscript is sure of acceptance. Remarks.—If this is to be your first essay in novel-writing (and only amateurs write successful novels nowadays) remember that as an unknown writer you cannot possibly be over-advertised. Presuming, therefore, that you are writing your novel at a summer resort of some sort, it will pay you to roar on all occasions on the subject of your literary achievements and intentions. Lose- no opportunity of letting people know what you are doing. Write all your copy with a stylographic pen on the hotel piazza, and when your proof-sheets arrive spread them out on the lawn to dry and ## p. 16 (#28) ############################################## i6 THE AUTHOR. throw croquet balls at the typographical errors until a crowd gathers to inquire into your occupa- tion. In this way you secure advance discussion for your book and possible profit besides. Most people who meet an author they believe to be crazy will buy one of his books when they strike it on a news-stand. Be careful in the matter of dress. Emile Zola writes all his novels attired in pyjamas and a skull cap, and Laura Jean Libbey hers in a gingham Mother Hubbard with leather ruching at the throat and wrists. The preparation of a summer novel demands some attention to appropriate clothes. Fit your costumes to the situation of which you write. If the chapter is to describe a storm at sea or a private hullabaloo in the cabin of a yacht, never touch your pen to paper until you've donned a silk shirt, white ducks, and a patent-leather belt; if it's a "hop" that needs touching up write in evening dress, no matter if it's broad daylight and the people around you are in bathing suits. This, of course, supposing that you are a man. If you are a lady summer novelist, this writer would not attempt to advise you in the matter of dress, because women at summer resorts always wear the nicest clothes they've got, anyhow, and an authoress of any talent ought to be able to write a passionate story equally well in a Worth creation or in a piece of calico. Such female novelists, however, judging by their work, discover increased dramatic intensity in the exercise of eccentric physical effects. In describing a tropical love scene the authoress may produce wonders of thought by coiling her ankles about her neck and fanning her face with her feet. Or she may secure inspiration for whole pages of witty dialogue between two or more of her female characters by hanging two cats over a fence rail and taking down their remarks in shorthand. Lastly, when your book is printed and on sale, be sure and buy a copy of it yourself. It is not fair that the publisher should go entirely without encouragement. MR. NUTT AQAIN. WE have had nearly six months of Mr. Nutt: six months trying to get out of him a direct and plain answer to a plain question. The question arose out of an assertion made by this gentleman. He said, writing in the Academy of Jan. i : (i) That it had been asserted in The Author that "publishers always recovered their outlay, and never made any losses "; and (2) that " the statement had since been repeated in The Author without one word of qualification." Observe, if you please, the exactness of the phrase, " without one word of qualification." The words were therefore offered as quotations. The reader was clearly invited to consider them as quotations. It is interesting to note that, before making these " quotations," Mr. Nutt says he has not seen more than two numbers of The Author in his life. Strange that one number should contain the first paragraph quoted, and the second its repetition, "without one word of qualification "! However, on Jan. 5, my solicitors, Messrs. Field, Roscoe, and Co. wrote to Mr. Nutt, asking for the exact references to the two passages quoted, and reserving the right of publishing the corre- spondence. Mr. Nutt replied that he was out of town, and must defer an answer till his return. No answer came. Such a little thing as the truth of an allegation is, of course, easily for- gotten. We allowed him five weeks, and then a reminder was sent by Messrs. Field, Roscoe, and Co. Mr. Nutt then wrote expressing the deepest indignation at receiving a letter from solicitors. Now, he did not express any indignation when the first letter came from the solicitors. He said, however, that he was ready to give information to the proper person. I therefore wrote to him myself, as the proper person, merely repeating the questions. That is, I repeated his alleged quotations, and asked him where they could be found in The Author. He replied (Feb. 25) that he could not give the references "off-hand " — he had only had five weeks to look for them! He also sent a quantity of remarks which had nothing to do with the question, I sent a repetition of my letter, again asking for those references. He replied, a week later, that he could not get at all the volumes of The Author. I informed him that Mr. Thring would lend him the volumes. And I wrote a third letter again asking where those references were. Meantime I had answered in The Author his general charges, and the various assertions he had made in the Academy. He now sent me a long letter, saying nothing about the references, and demanded publication of this letter in The Author. His demand as a right I would not allow. How- ever, I referred the matter to the Committee. The Committee informed him that when he had answered the first question, and had either produced the references to The Author for the ## p. 17 (#29) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. n alleged quotations or had withdrawn the charge, they would be prepared to consider any remarks he might wish to make in The Author. The reader will be by this time prepared to hear that no answer has been forthcoming to the original question, and that those references have not yet appeared. Mr. Nutt made a complaint to the Committee about his letter to the Academy having been piinted in The Author without his permission, as if when a person is attacked he should ask permis- sion of his assailant before he quotes the words containing the charge! This correspondence explains itself. The alleged quotations from The Author I cannot find—no one else, so far, has been able to find them. Mr. Nutt alleges that they were in The Author: he has not yet receded from his position: he has now taken six months — his last letter was dated April 18 — to find the passages, and if he has been unable to find them, he is unaccountably shy about disclosing this fact. When a man advances positively that another man has publicly stated certain things, and that he has repeated these things " without a word of qualification," there are three courses open to him: either to prove that allegation by giving the exact references; or to withdraw it with an apology; or, failing both courses, to accept the conclusion which is natural. W. B. A SONG FOB A BOSS- Ro;e asks for a rhyme ?— Why, did she but know it, There is never a poet Bat sings her, some time! 2. Only mention her name: The sweetest of fancies, Ballades and romances, Are set to the same. 3- Only open and read: The daintiest pages, In bards of all ages, To Rose are decreed. 4- Moore, Shelley, and Keats, Austin Dobson—the darling! Thrnsh, linnet and starling, Kose-singing one meets. 5- Rose asks for a rhyme ?— There is never a poet, (Their rose-gardens show it), But sings her, some time! New Zealand. Mary Colbobne-Vekl. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Qaem Deus vnlt perdere dementat prius. ON returning from abroad, I learn from The Author for May that the number for April included an inquiry as to the source of the above quotation. But for my absence, I should have written a month ago to state that " Querist" is undoubtedly right in supposing that the proper form of the line is Quern Jupiter vnlt perdere dementat prius. Something like this may be seen in the index to the edition of Euripides published by Professor Barnes in 1694, but the actual words (as just quoted) are to be found in the work of another Cambridge professor of Greek thirty-four years earlier. In Duport's "Gnomologia Homerica" (1660), p. 282, the words are added in paren- thesis immediately after the Greek quotation orav 8' 6 8a.tp.iov avSpi iropaivr) nana, tov vovv lf}Kaol/t irpinov. The Greek is preserved by Athenagoras, "Sup- plicatio pro Christianis" chap. 26, p. 138, and (with the addition of u f3ov\tvtTai) by the Scholiast on Sophocles, "Antigone," 620. It is entered among the Adespota in Nauck's "Tragicorum Grrecorum Fragmenta," No. 455. There is a close parallel to this fragment in another quoted by the Attic orator Lycurgus, contra Leocratem s. 92 :— orav yap opyil &aip.6vuiv j3\airrn riva, tovt avro irpSiTov, i£a<paipeiTai <j>p€vSiv tov vovv tov eV0A6V' £is Si Ttjv xeipw Tptirtt yv<Iip.rjv, iv tiSrj prjSev <m, aftapraytu This longer fragment is placed among the Ades- pota by Nauck (No. 296). Valckenaer, in his note on Euripides, " Hippolytus," 322, is inclined to ascribe it to Euripides, while Barnes (without any external authority) actually prints the shorter fragment among the remains of Euripides, and in his index (as already noticed by S. G.) has the heading "Deus quos vult perdere, dementat prius." The Latin, in the form" Quem Jupiter" &c., has never been traced to any earlier work than Duport's "Gnomologia" (1660). In the editions of Athenagoras earlier than that date, e.g., in the edition printed by H, Stephanus in 1557, I observe that the Greek is translated differently. I have little, if any, doubt that the Latin version in the "Gnomologia" is Duport's own. His work shows how familiar he was with the Vulgate, and he was probably aware that "demento" in the sense of "dementem facio," though not used by any classical author, was to be found in the Vulgate version of Acts viii, 11. Duport does not generally translate his Greek ## p. 18 (#30) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. quotations into Latin, but he does so in the case of a fragment of Euripides on p. 28, and a frag- ment of iEschylus on p. 200. Thus it is highly probable that here, in the case of another tragic fragment, he is similarly offering a rendering of his own. In composing this rendering he pre- sumably had in mind a parallel passage from Publilius Syrus: Stnltnm facit Fortuna quern vult perdere. St. John's College, . E. Sandys. Cambridge, May 9. I looked up this topic for the May number, but thought my notes might be unnecessary. I find, however, that some points still require settling. The letter of " S. G." is good, though not complete, and the reference of Mr. Earle to Notes and Queries applies to the very first volumes of that serial. Being limited to my own library, I shall not quote what is elsewhere. But first, for the verb "dementat," which is either transitive or intransi- tive, and is very rare. It occurs in Lactantius of the early fourth (not tenth) century, and tells how the persecutor Diocletian "semper dementabat," or behaved like a madman; i.e., was demented. I discover only one other example of the verb "demento," and that is in the Latin Vulgate of Acts viii., 11, at which place we read that Simon Magus had for a long time stolen the wits of the Samaritans; "dementasset," had demented them. Here the verb is transitive, and certainly not classical, although it accords with the common Latin proverb, the varying forms of which are of equal value. As for the saying itself, its first representative seems to be in the "Legatio " of the learned Athenagoras, who wrote in Greek his plea for Christianity late in the second century. He maintains the goodness of God and His works, and, as I understand him, ascribes other works to Daemons who, in his opinion, are evil. Here it is that he introduces a Greek quotation, from an author he does not name, in this way: "For God does not incite to what is contrary to nature, 'But a Daemon when he devises any harm against a man first injures his mind.'" The Latin of Joshua Barnes may do for this, but my copy of Athenagoras sticks to the word "Daemon," and the annotators uphold it, rightly, as I think. (See the Oxford edition of Athenagoras, 1706). The fine edition of the Benedictines (Paris, 1742) also refers the dementing process to demons. Your wise readers will draw their own inferences. In conclusion I may mention the "Beautiful Thoughts from Latin Authors," by Dr. Ramage (p. 791. London, 1879), where a little critical acumen is needed. So "here I make an ending," and am, &c., B. H. C. LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS. Cheap Books—The Daily Telegraph's Bai> Opinion of Current Fiction—Modern Lan- guage Teaching—Letters of Charles Lamb —Parasitical Literature. MR. BRYCE'S suggestion for cheaper books is discussed in a leading article by the Daily Telegraph (May 11). So far from depreciating the statesman's view of the pre- ponderance of newspaper reading, this great organ goes the length of saying that it is "quite an arguable point whether the newspaper will not end by swallowing up the magazine, as it has already succeeded in establishing its popularity at the expense of books," Were it not for the great circulating libraries, says the writer, the produc- tion of books would be more perilous still. And then, in demonstrating why books are dear, he proceeds to support the theory so often advanced, that the successful book is the publisher's contra for the unsuccessful ones. "Having paid a good deal more than he ought for one book, the pub- lisher has to pay less than he ought for another; his successes, such as they are, have to make up for his losses; while in such an unhealthy state of things, the young writer of promise has a peculiar difficulty in getting even a hearing," Nor would publishers extend their own sales by lowering their prices. Books have their own clientile, and it is true of nearly every kind of book, that those who want it will pay the price, and that its issue at a "popular" price will not attract a larger circle. For the rest the Tele- graph has a really bad opinion of the origin and nature of novels. Oar bookstalls are flooded with works of fiction, mostly written by women—often mi grammatical, largely worth- less in character, and wholly devoid of any reasonable interest. They are produced because in nine cases out of ten the anthoress pays for the production. They are reviewed because critics are more generous to-day to the average novel than they have been in any other period of our literary history. They are sold because the assumption still continues to be held—and is, indeed, to some extent borne out by facts—that fiction written by women is read by women, in country houses, at the seaside, or in foreign places of fashionable resort, where no other form of literary work has a chance of entering. In the Academy (May 21), J. E. H. W. controverts the above statements almost entirely. True it is, he says, that the great mass of our half-instructed population are quite contented with magazines and newspapers, " but then the- ## p. 19 (#31) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. great mass of our half-educated population never did buy books." Publishers do not depend upon the circulating libraries; the latter "do not buy books in large numbers; as a rule they have no need to; naturally they have no wish to." The standard of new fiction is above the " average "— "an average which is no longer correct." And even supposing that a publisher pays more than he ought for one book, "how does this affect the young author? Where the risk is so great it is almost a wonder that a new writer obtains any- thing at all for his first work. If he can find a publisher to take the chance he is indeed fortu- nate. If his book is a great success, he has his reward: he can dictate his own terms in future." The Daily News says that publishers have only themselves to thank if best books are not more in demand; and tells them that, when they have mastered the secret of the cheap newspaper, they will bring out the cheap book. "The novel at a guinea and a half died hard in this country; the novel at five or six shillings still cumbers the earth." Mrs. Lecky writes on "Modern Language Teaching in Longman's Magazine for June, and recommends all who are interested in the progress and education of our people, to take to heart these words from a recent speech of Sir William Har- court: "The present defect of English education, from the top of the scale to the bottom, is our neglect of the cultivation of the modern lan- guages of the nations of the world." Our method has been wrong. Mrs. Lecky praises the Gouin method of teaching, which proceeds by gradual development. It is based on the natural pro- cess by which every infant begins to speak— that is, by learning the sounds through the ear before it knows how to read and write—and it makes the verb the pivot of the teaching. Eegarding the Universities Mrs. Lecky says " it seems an anomaly that honours can be obtained in modern languages at Oxford without a viva race test, and that for the Cambridge tripos viva race also is optional, and that the results do not affect the class." Mr. E. V. Lucas has been publishing in the Cornhill Magazine (May and June) correspon- dence between Charles Lamb and his friend Robert Lloyd, the Quaker, and partner in the bookselling and printing business of Knott and Lloyd at Birmingham. The letters are full of good things. One of them shows Lamb's fondness for London to have been quite equal to that of Dr. Johnson. "Give me the old book- stalls of London," he exclaims, " a walk in the bright piazzas of Covent Garden. I defy a man to be dull in such places—perfect Mahometan paradises upon earth! I have lent out my heart with usury to such scenes from my childhood up, and have cried with fullness of joy at the multitudinous scenes of life in the crowded streets of ever dear London." In his last letter, dated January i, 1810, he gives an affecting picture of his home at 4, Inner Temple-lane. "The feeling of home, which has been slow to come, has come at last. May I never move again, but may my next lodging be my coffin." Among his literary criticisms is that he "seems to miss" in Pope's "Iliad" translation "a certain savage-like plain- ness of speaking in Achilles—a sort of indelicacy. The heroes in Homer are not half civilised: they utter all the cruel, all the selfish, all the mean thoughts even of their nature, which it is the fashion of our great men to keep in." A writer in Blackwood's for May casts the conscientious biographer into a very offensive light. He calls the literature "parasitical," and applies such terms as "questionable" and "destructive familiarity" to the kind of biography to which nothing is too insignificant to include. "It is good to know how any distinguished man looked and lived, and good to learn the conditions amid which his day's work was done. But it is enough to know him as friend knows friend; it is un- necessary, even undesirable, possibly offensive, to share the relationship and knowledge of his valet or his nurse." CORRESPONDENCE. I.—Editors and Contributors. 1. MAY I make a few remarks on the List of Rules of Editors, published in your issue of May 2, for the sake of the young beginners in literature whose lot and whose risks are becoming worse as their numbers multiply? I have myself very little to complain of with regard to editors, who seem far better than their laws. I have been almost invariably kindly and courteously treated. It has however happened once or twice that my MSS. have been lost letters unanswered, payments forgotten, &c. I notice that it is increasingly common for editors to repudiate all responsibility for MSS. Most of those in your List decline to return MSS. altogether; some, if stamps and envelopes are sent, endeavour to return them. Many insist on type-written copy. I know the worries of editors, and the rubbish they have to deal with, and the rules are made to save them trouble; all the same the worries to the author are greater and much more serious. Authors have a right to complain of these rules. ## p. 20 (#32) ############################################## 20 THE AUTHOR. MSS. are the author's bread. They are perish- able goods; they are submitted on approval, and this seems the only way to bring author and public together. In the editor's office they may be lost, burnt, or, worse, gutted; and there are the risks by post also. It may be replied, authors must retain copies of their MSS. But, as many MSS. have to travel a good deal for various reasons (was it not Currer Bell whose first work had to be sent to a dozen successive publishers'{), I submit that this is a "sweating" system. An author may make a copy, or pay a typist to do it—and type-writing is certainly costly. He sends up his MS.; it is not returned—that is the rule—neither is it used. After a time, and after losing the return stamps, he sends off the other. Similar fate. How many copies is the poor young author to keep on the chance of rejection? Then there is the question of using the MS. elsewhere. How long is the author to wait till the editor or the publisher's reader has made up his mind? There is yet a worse risk, that, during the interval, the "guts" of the MS. are stolen, the material and the idea used up by the publisher's sister, or cousin, or aunt, and the original author has no redress. It is manifestly hard and contrary to the rules of business to send goods on approval without a guarantee, or to keep goods without paying for them, or to neglect to inform the owner whether his goods are marketable in that particular place or not. Especially in journalism both are fre- quently done and suffered; and often when the MS. >** returned, the "moment" is past, and the subject has no chance. Many authors are of opinion that since sending up MSS. on approval is the only way, editors ought to be bound to take responsibility; and compelled, after agreeing to examine a MS., to return it or to pay for it within a certain fixed time. I should say a fortnight ought to suffice for decision in the case of a book, and three days in that of a newspaper article. I also have to corroborate another correspon- dent's complaint—that MSS. are returned damaged. I have seen in publishers' rooms a MS. being read in company with a sandwich, for which it served as a plate. I have had MSS. returned to me marked with grease, and unfit to send elsewhere. It appears to me that, if a humble typewriter can afford to protect against loss, damage, or fire (and I hope cribbing), MSS. entrusted to her by a floating policy of insurance, the proprietor of a journal or a respectable publisher can do the same, and such insurance ought to be a sine qua non. M. E. Hawei?. ii. Mr. Herbert W. Smith sends a communication unfortunately too long for publication. He says, in answer to the question: "How would he compel the editor to do this or that ?"—that he would compel him by unanimous action on the part of authors. He thinks that the time has arrived for authors to take united action. I have long thought so, but I do not see many signs of such united action. One thing is hopeful, however: with men and women of letters action need not be universal. Everything that a trades- union can effect would be brought about by the union of fifty or sixty writers whose works are commercially valuable. On the score of unequal remuneration Mr. Smith claims that all trades are equal. But literature is not a trade. All professions are unequal: all works of art are unequal. Is a man who writes a play which runs a month to be paid as much as a man whose play ruus three years? Is the youngest artistwho exhibits in the Academy to be paid as much for his picture as the most distinguished R.A.? Dudley Warner once advocated the foundation of a literary union in which all the members should receive the same wages. A minimum scale of pay for magazine work would be a most desirable thing from many points of view, but it is im- possible to enforce it except for certain writers whose work is in vogue. Mr. Smith concludes as follows :— "At the present moment neither law, public opinion, nor etiquette affords relief against the small worries, humiliations, and peculations to which the rank and file of authors are often subjected by unscrupulous, lazy, careless, and grossly ignorant dealers in their goods. "Were the Society of Authors to determine in consultation with editors of repute upon a definite understanding with regard to delays in consider- ing MSS., delays in payment, and unequal remuneration, they would have achieved an end of very great importance. What respectable editors decreed, the tag-rag and bob-tail would find it expedient to obey. With growth and authority on its side, the Society of Authors might find itself capable of striking offenders ' off the Rolls' in due time." in. My only reason for troubling you again is that several points have occurred to me since I wrote to you, particularly in view of the valuable com- munications you print from "An Unofficial Receiver—of Editorial Regrets," and Mr. Herbert ## p. 21 (#33) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 21 W. Smith. The first-named writer refers to a grievance of the highest importance—i.e., the work of native authors being excluded from columns which are used for the reproduction of articles stolen from American periodicals. Besides this the work of native authors is excluded from columns used, inter alia (I) for articles, tales, jokes, and pictures stolen—totally or in part as regards first-mentioned — from other English papers, and from all manner of foreign papers, the editor thinking, most erroneously, that if he acknowledges the source of such he is acting in an unexceptionable way; (2) for advertisements, even of the journal itself or of another publica- tion issued from the same office; (3) for the work of persons who are not genuine native authors, but belong to one of the following divi- sions—(a) individuals who have attained celebrity in some other walk, and are therefore exploited as writers by editors; (6) blacklegs, usually poetasters, who work, such as their work is, for nothing; (c) persons, usually poetasters again, who could not possibly have got their lucubra- tions accepted if they had not been relations or friends of the editor, or been able to bring some influence to bear on him—(4) for matter repro- duced from some back number of the paper itself or a sister periodical. In no other business in the world could this crambe repetita take place. In regard to what Mr. Smith says as to the pay- ment per column for articles, this should also be pointed out: A paper commences by paying, say, £1 is. a column. This is when its circulation is small, but it makes no addition no matter how large its circulation grows, and this though some of the contributors, whose payments it does not increase, have been the main creators of its prosperity. Another thing: the most tenth-rate actor can get free passes for himself and a friend to theatres, yet no editor thinks of putting even his best contributor on his free-list. In conclusion, I may say that before I die I hope to see some at least of the following reforms effected :—(1) Every line contributed to a paper paid for, including correspondence and matter contributed in competition; (2) every journalistic post put in the market, and not handed through backstairs influence to some played-out hack, some mere reporter, 'Varsity man or Scotsman; (3) no one but a qualified and registered journalist allowed to sell MSS. to a paper, just as only admitted solicitors can sell legal skill and know- ledge : these as a first instalment. Experto Ceede. P.S.—I should like to add that I think it should be made a penal offence for an editor to appropriate ideas from an article he does not accept, unless* before doing so lie had arranged to pay the author therefor. I could mention the editors of papers that make no scruple of doing this. IV. A correspondent, "J. C. G\," writes in reply to the letter of Mr. Herbert W. Smith, to the following effect: (1.) Unsolicited contributions are not amongst the requirements of journals. (2.) All journals have a regular staff engaged to do the work. (3.) Unsolicited contributions are of "the nature of an aggravation and an impertinence." (4.) Editors try sometimes out of courtesy to read the MSS. sent in, but have to desist out of regard to the interests of the journal. (5.) He suggests that it would be well to write and offer the editor first. [These points are put in the form of questions. Well, a simple reference to the table of contents for the last few months of any magazine would prove that there is no such thing as a regular staff to do the work. Out of every six months follow- ing, it would be extremely strange were the same name to occur twice. Contributions, as may be seen from the list published in our last number, are expected from writers uninvited. Editors practically undertake to read them all. To ask an editor if he will look at a MS., would be to give him double trouble, because he professes to read everything sent.—Ed.]. II.—Mr. Punch and his Contributors. I consider that the writer of the article in your last issue, treating of the ways in which various journals undertake to deal with the MSS. of their contributors should have taken the trouble to verify his statements. I invite him to refer to the cover of Punch, where he will find this notice :— "Communications or contributions, whether MS., printed matter, drawings, or pictures of any description, will not be returned unless accom- panied by a stamped and addressed envelope, cover, or wrapper." The writer of your article stated that they would not be returned under any conditions. I will ask you to be good enough to correct his inaccuracy by publishing this letter. A Member of the Staff of Punch. III.—The Roxburghe Press, Limited. In this month's issue of The Author a corre- spondent asks for advice as to how to proceed ## p. 22 (#34) ############################################## 22 THE AUTHOR. with a view of recovering his MS., which he sent to the Roxburghe Press prior to that company's failure. I am informed by a member of the late staff of the Roxburghe Press that if " Provincial " and others in a like predicament apply to Messrs. Singleton and Co., of 4, Staples-inn, Holborn, the desired result will be obtained. May 18. Fred. J. May. IV.—"The Author" in the Libraries. I think you would receive many more com- plaints from struggling free lances as to the way they are treated if The Author was only read more extensively among them. As a matter of fact it ought to be in every public library in the Kingdom, whereas even in London, as far as my experience of a year back goes, it is only to be found in the Clerkenwell Free Library. In this town it is not taken by the authorities of the library but is presented to them, and naturally the donor pleases himself about when he brings it. E. C. Cheltenham. V.—Unmarketableness of Terse. The statement of Mr. Henley with regard to the sale of poetry urges me to air a long-felt grievance. Poetry does not sell for the simple reason that its price is prohibitive. Circulating libraries will not provide modern poetry, free libraries have very little, and the consequence is that, as wealth and a love of literature unfortu- nately seldom go together, modern poetry remains unread. I deeply deplore my own ignorance of our present poets, but I see no way of remedying it, as I cannot afford to buy their works at 5s. a volume. If they would but produce their poems at popular instead of prohibitive prices I am sure that they would find a public eager and willing to buy. One would have thought that the lesson had been learnt by now that a large circulation of cheap books pays better than the sale of a few expensive volumes, but the poets do not seem to realise it. F. M. K. VI.—The First Book. Although a loyal member of the Authors' Society I sometimes wonder whether a young and unknown writer is wise in abiding by the prin- ciples advocated by that society too rigidly. In the May number of The Author appears a short story telling how a young writer is offered .£15 158. for the copyright of his first book. Twelve years ago, before I left Cambridge, and before I was out of my teens, I wrote a story for a boys' paper. I was paid 30s. a number, but was careful to retain copyright. When the story was completed I sent it to a big publishing house. The reader's report was most eulogistic, but the house did not care for reprints, and I was requested to write a new story on the same lines. The pressure of journalistic work pre- vented this, but shortly afterwards another pub- lisher offered me £2 5 for the story. He wanted all rights. I believed in the story—I still believe in it. I rejected the offer. I have since sent my story to several publishers, but have not been able to get it read. The result is that it will probably never be published in book form. Now, had I accepted that offer of £25, and the book had succeeded, would not my position be better than it is to-day? I should probably now be living in Paris, writing fiction—the work I love—instead of toiling at mere journalistic hack work for £4 or .£5 a week. _i: H. J. A. VII.—Proposed Journal for Young Authors. I have forwarded you some circulars re the Pioneer paper, to which, I understand, you will refer elsewhere. May I be allowed to say, by way of comment, that a large number of young "literarv aspirants " are certain to eagerly accept the offer of " Mr. Leigh, M.P.A.B.A. "? For there is no doubt that a paper "run" on somewhat similar lines would be of immense benefit to the "ambitious unknown." It should be remembered that a young and able, but inexperienced, writer has at present no means of obtaining that skilled revision and alteration of his work which would not only make it acceptable to the editors, but would show him his faults, and how they might be avoided or corrected. These faults he has to find out for himself—if he can—often after years of failure, poverty, and bitterness of spirit. What hundreds of struggling writers will look, probably in vain, for "Mr. Leigh, M.P.A.P.A.," to accomplish, the Society of Authors could and should do, for those young authors whom it desires to help; that is, establish a journal in which their writings may appear, a journal, let us say, supplementary to The Author, to be called "The Young Author." A fee, to be made as low as possible, would be paid by the writer for the correction of his MS. and the cost of its insertion. The articles must, of course, be short, and the editor would have the option of returning such as were hopeless, or required too much alteration. The paper should be edited by a capable and sympathetic senior, and be regularly forwarded to the magazine editors, &c. The reading matter should be copyrighted, and the articles be eligible for republication by payment. ## p. 23 (#35) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 23 The " Young Author " should be published at cost price, the profit from advertisements, writers' fees, and the sale of copies being arranged to balance the cost of production. I would suggest, as another feature of the paper, an "Answers to Contributors" page, where readers' opinions on short stories or articles, poems, <fcc., should be published on pay- ment by the writer of a small fee, thus adopting the present system of the Society in retail, instead of wholesale. I am aware that this sketch of the scheme is crude, and requires considerable working out. I have refrained from all argument in favour of my ideas, and from any elaboration of them, out of respect for your valuable space. H. A. Spurr. VIII.—Jane Austen. The following letter appeared recently in the Times -.—Among the distinguished natives of Hampshire who are buried in Winchester Cathe- dral there are few names more worthy of record than that of Jane Austen; yet the only memorial of her (beyond the stone slab which marks the site of her grave) is a brass tablet let into the wall, which was placed there by her nephew and biographer, the late Rev. J. E. Austen Leigh, in 1870. We feel that we shall be appealing to a large circle of warm admirers, who have been charmed and cheered by her work, if we ask for subscrip- tions to enable us to fill one of the windows in the Cathedral with painted glass in her memory. The selection of the window will depend upon the amount of support that we may receive. The cost of a window in the Lady Chapel is estimated at £600, one in the nave .£300. We may add that our proposal has the cordial approval of the Dean of Winchester. Contributions not exceeding five guineas may be paid to Messrs. Hoare, 37, Fleet-street, London, who have kindly consented to act as treasurers of the fund. northbrook. Selborne. W. W. B. Beach. Montagu G. Knight. BOOK TALE. THE DUKE of ARGYLL is bringing out, through Mr. Murray, a little book on "Organic Evolution," which is the result of a controversy he held with Mr. Herbert Spencer a short time ago. Mr. Barrie has written an introduction for the posthumous volume by Mrs. Oliphant, "A Widow's Tale and Other Stories." It takes the form of an appreciation of the author and her works. Mrs. Humphry Ward's new book is to be published on June 10. Its title is "Helbeck of Bannisdale." A story of Cornish life, by Mr. J. H. Pearce, will be published shortly by Mr. Heinemann. "Ezekiel's Sin " is the title. A translation of M. Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac" is being brought out by Mr. Heine- mann. Owen Rhoscomyl has written a Welsh story, entitled "The Shrouded Face," which Messrs. Pearson will issue immediately. Maxwell Gray's new book, to be out imme- diately, is called "The House of Hidden Treasure." Mr. Joseph Hocking has been to Ireland col- lecting materials for a romance based upon certain aspects of monastic life. The story will be called "The Scarlet Woman," and will first run serially. Mr. Hocking regards it as the most important he has undertaken. Mr. Richard Davey has written a book on Cuba, entitled " Cuba, Past and Present," which will be issued by the firm of Chapman and Hall in a short time. The author has travelled in the island, and discusses its history from the begin- ning up to the present day of its difficulties. A work on the taking of Khartoum is already promised from the pen of Mr. G. W. Steevens, the special correspondent of the Daily Mail, and author of " The Land of the Dollar" and' Egypt in 1898." Mr. Henry James's new volume of fiction is to be called "The Two Magics." It will be pub- lished by Mr. Heinemann in the autumn. Mr. Henry Savage Landorhas in great measure recovered from the terrible injuries inflicted upon him by the Tibetans, and the experiences of the journey will be told in his book which Mr. Heine- mann will publish in the autumn. It will be translated for simultaneous publication in French, German, Hungarian, Bohemian, and probably Russian and Italian editions. Mr. Leslie Stephen's "Essays" will be pub- lished in the autumn. Mr. Stephen Gwynn has written a volume entitled "Tennyson: a Critical Study," which Messrs. Blackie will publish in their Victorian Era series. Other works in this series will be ## p. 24 (#36) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. "Ireland during the Victorian Era," which will be written by Mr. J. A. R. Marriott: "Pruden- tial Societies and Industrial Welfare," by Mr. E. W. Brabrook; and "Gold Discoveries and their Influence on Commerce," by Mr. Moreton Frewen. New biographies are also in preparation by Messrs. James Nisbet and Co. They include, by Major Sharp Hume, " The Great Lord Burghley: a Study in Elizabethan Statecraft," which is based largely upon public records, and on family papers at Hatfield and Burghley; by Mr. Hillaire Belloc, "Danton"; and by Mr. J. A. Hobson, " Ruskin as a Social Reformer." A monograph of Mont Blanc has been written by Mr. Charles Edward Mathews, who has climbed the mountain eleven times and by five different routes. Mr. Mathews is a former presi- dent of the Alpine Club, and has made a special study of literature on the subject of his work. It will contain illustrations by Signor Sella and others, and be published by Mr. Unwin under the title "The Annals of Mont Blanc." Two volumes of the definitive edition of Byron have been published by Mr. Murray—the first of the Poetry, edited by Mr. Hartley Coleridge, and the first of the Letters and Journals, which Mr. Rowland Prothero has edited. The latter con- tains 168 letters down to Aug. 22, 1811; while for the same period Moore's edition contains sixty-one, Halleck's seventy-eight, and Mr. Hen- ley's of eighteen months ago, eighty-eight. A mass of material dealing more or less directly with Byron's life has for the first time been accessible to Mr. Prothero, it having been accumu- lated by Mr. Murray's father and grandfather. "Through the letters," says Mr. Prothero, "a truer conception of Byron can be formed than any impression which is derived from Dallas, Leigh Hunt, Medwin, or even Moore." In his preface the editor quotes the following letter of Byron's father, written to his sister Mrs. Leigh when the poet was but three years old. It is dated from Valenciennes, Feb. 16, i79i,andthe only reference to his son throughout a whole bundle of letters to the same correspondent is contained in it: Have you never received any letters from me by way of Bologne? I have sent two. For God's sake send me some, as I have a great deal to pay. With regard to Mrs. Byron, I am glad she writes to you. She is very amiable at a distance; but I defy you and all the Apostles to live with her two months, for, if anybody could live with her, it was me. Mais jeu de Mains, jeu de Vilains. For my son, I am happy to hear he is well; but for his walking, 'tis impos- sible, as he is club-footed. Jane Austen's works are being published, in a Winchester edition of ten volumes, by Mr. Grant Richards. A feature is to be made of the production, and the printers, Constable, of Edin- burgh, will use the same type as they did for the Edinburgh edition of Stevenson. Mr. Zangwill's separate volumes, "The Bachelors' Club" and "The Old Maids' Club," will be published in one by Mr. Heinemann under the title " The Celibates' Club." "George Egertou's" first long story is about ready. It deals with women's life and work, both in this country and in America, is called "The Wheel of God," and will be published by Mr. Grant Richards. Mr. Conan Doyle is publishing through Messrs. Smith Elder a volume of poems under the title "Songs of Action." Simultaneously with the opening of the Wagner cycle at Covent Garden this month, when so- many of the Bayreuth methods .and appliances will be in use, Mr. Edwin O. Sachs is issuing a large folio volume entitled " Stage Construction." It will contain two hundred drawings, photo- graphs, and diagrams of the great stages of Europe and London, and in his introduction the' author of the monumental "Modern Opera Houses and Theatres " will deal with scenic art and the various developments of stage equip- ment. The book will be published by Mr. Batsford. "Cycling for Everybody," by the well-known authority Mr. Lacy Hillier, is a new book which Messrs. Chapman and Hall are to issue imme- diately. Professor George Henslow has written a book, to which Professor Skeat contributes an introduc- tion and notes, on "Medical Works of the Fourteenth Century." This consists of tran- scripts from four manuscripts of the time of Wiclif and Chaucer, three of which are in the British Museum, and the fourth in the possession of Professor Henslow himself. They illustrate the crudeness of the mediaeval conceptions of the value of plants as drugs, and the recipes are remarkable for the general absence of any men- tion of the nauseous substances recommended by some apothecaries of a later day. The work will be published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. Mr. Lawrence Binyon is issuing a "Second Book of London Visions" soon in the Shilling Garland series published by Mr. Mathew. The "First Book " appeared two years ago. Mr. R. Lydekker is following his work on " The Deer of all Lands " with a companion sumptuous volume on " Wild Oxen, Sheep, and Goats of all Lands." It will contain, like the earlier work, a ## p. 25 (#37) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 25 number of photographs by the Duchess of Bed- ford, who possesses at Woburn a fine collection of deer and wild animals. Mr. Cunninghame Graham is writing a book on his recent adventures in the south of Morocco. Disguised as an Arab, he attempted to reach the "sacred city" of Tarudant, the capital of the Sua province; but, while crossing the Atlas mountains, he was recognised as a European and taken prisoner. His book will be called " Mogreb El Acksa." The first volume of the "English Dialect Dic- tionary," edited by Professor Joseph Wright, and published by Mr. Henry Frowde, is now com- pleted. It contains 17,519 simple and compound words and 2248 phrases, illustrated by 42,915 quotations, with the exact sources from which they have been obtained. Mrs. Richmond Ritchie gives some further interesting details of Thackeray in the second volume of the biographical edition of his works, namely, "Pendennis," which was published a fortnight ago. Thackeray wrote to his mother in the summer of 1848, proposing that they should take a house at Brighton, " or somewhere where I can work upon ' Pendennis,' which is to be the name of the new book." He suggested a house at .£60 a year: As for the dignity, I don't believe it mitterj a pinch of snuff. Tom Carlyle Uvea in perfect dignity in a little .£40 honse at Chelsea, with a snuffy Scotch maid to open the door, and the best company in England ringing at it. It is only the second or third chop great folks who care about show. "And why don't yon live with a maid yourself?" I think I hear somebody saying. Well, I can't; I want a man to be going my own messages, which ocoupy him pretty well. There must be a cook, and a woman about the children, and that horse is the best doctor I get iu London; in fine, there are a hundred good reasons for a lazy, liberal, not extravagant, but costly way of life. The third and final portion of the great Ash- burnham Library was sold at Sotheby's during the past month. The bidding was keen, and the prices remarkable. Among the notable lota sold were a good copy of the First Folio Shakespeare (1623), .£585, bought by Sir Arthur Hodgson for presentation to the Shakespeare Library at Stratford-on-Avon; a fine and perfect copy of the rare Third Folio Shakespeare (1664), ,£190; two books from the press of the first printer who set up in the City of London, William de Machlinia, namely, "Speculum Chiistiani" (about 1484), .£230, and a Book of Sentences from Terence in Latin and English, thirty-two leaves, £201; a very rare example of Caxton's press, "Speculum Vitse Christi," one of three perfect copies known (about 1488), .£510; an uncut copy of the first edition of Sir Walter Scott's "Waverley" (1814), .£78, a record price; a beautiful set of the first five editions of Walton's "Compleat Angler" (1653 to 1676), .£800; an imperfect copy of Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," from Caxton's press (1478) wanting seventy- seven leaves, .£230; a fine and perfect copy of a very rare Caxton, "The XII. Proflites of Tri- bulaeyon" (1490), a pamphlet of thirty-two pages, .£310; a fine copy of the first edition of "Valturius De Re Militari" (1472), remarkable as being the first book with woodcuts executed in Italy, .£219; an imperfect copy of Gower's "Confessio Amantis," printed by Caxton (1483), wanting forty-one leaves, £100; Voraigne's "La Legende Dorce les Saints et Saintes" (Paris, 1493), with 158 richly-painted and illumi- nated miniatures and figures of saints, .£165. The whole collection took twenty days to disperse, and the sale first began in June last year. There were 4075 lots, which realised .£62,712. Mr. Martin A. Buckmaster has written a text- book on "Elementary Architecture," which will certain thirty-eight full-page illustrations, and be published by the Clarendon Press. Mr. F. G. Kitton's work "Charles Dickens and His Illustrators," which is nearly ready, will contain a number of unpublished letters relating to the illustrations, by Dickens and the various artists engaged upon the novels. The principal contributors are of course Cruikshank and "Phiz," wh i between them illustrated seventeen of Dickens's books. About forty drawings in pen and ink, pencil, and wash by these artists are to be given for the first time in Mr. Kitton's work, which will be published by Mr. George Redway. Geoffrey Mortimer has sold serial rights of a tale, "The Misanthrope of Mor Ynys," to the Weekly Times and Echo. The story is one of adventure among the fisherfolk of an island off the coist of Carnarvonshire, and the opening chapter will appear at the end of this month or early in July. Mrs. Edith E. Cuthell's new children's story, "When I was a Little Girl," will be published in the autumn by the S.P.C.K. It is partly auto- biographical, the adventures of a naughty child. Mrs. Cuthell's soldier-children story, "Only a Guardroom Dog," is in a second edition. Mrs. Pennell is writing a volume on litho- graphy, the invention of Aloys Senefelder. Mr. .Topeph Pennell will contribute examp'.es of, as he prefers to call it, the art of "poly-autography." He has often declared that the effects producible by an artist in lithography amount to a thorough vindication of the choice of those who use it. ## p. 26 (#38) ############################################## 26 THE AUTHOR. Professor Mahaffy responded for Literature at the Royal Academy banquet. In the course of his reply he said that when he tried to personify the literature of the present day, he seemed to behold a middle-aged dame who had grown so enormously stout with constant cramming that her extremities were becoming flabby and cold, and we began to fear a degeneration at the heart. If one was really solicitous for the health of this personage, it was obvious that one must seek to diminish the quantity and improve the quality of her tissues. He could, he thought, recommend some drastic treatment by which some improve- ment might be effected in her health, but that was not the place to discuss medical prescrip- tions, still less to describe to that august assembly the probable action of these remedies upon the human frame. Colonel Sir George Sydenham Clarke has written a short history on the very important subject of Russian Sea Power. It will be brought out by Mr. Murray in a few days. Mr. Sidney Colvin expects to have his biography of Robert Louis Stevenson ready for publication in the autumn. A new volume of poetry by Mr. Henry Rose, author of "Summer Dreams," &c., will be pub- lished by Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co., entitled "Willow Vale." Mr. William Black's new Highland novel "Wild Eelin," will be published early in the autumn by Messrs. Sampson Low. It is being dramatised in New York, where, and in Edin- burgh, it has been running serially. "The Pride of Jennico," the romance by Agnes and Egerton Castle, is also being adapted for a New York stage. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [April 25 to May 23.—350 Books.] Abbott, T. K. Do this in Remembrance of Me." Should it iie '•Offer This"? 1/. Longman. Abney, W. de W. The Barnet Book of Photography. 1- Lund. Addis, W. E. (tr. and ed.). Documents of the Hexateuch. Vol.11. 10/6. Nutt. Adler, C, and Ramsay, A. Told In the Coffee-House: Turkish Tales. 3/- Macmilian. Aglcn, A. S. Lessons In Old Testament History. 4 6. Arnold. Agnew. P. L. A Bun Through "The Nibelung's Bing." 27- Bradbury. Alderson, E. A. H. With the Mounted Infantry and the Mashona- land Field Force, 1896. 10/6. Methuen. Allen, J. B. (ed.) Lives from Cornelius Nepos. 1'6 Frowde. Allen, W. O. B., and McOlure. E. History of the S.P.C.K., 1686-1896. 10,6 8.P.C.K. Andom, R. Side Slips: or Misadventures on a Bicycle. 1/6 Pearson. 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Short Studies on Vital Subjects. 6/- Stock. ## p. 27 (#39) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 27 Dodge, W. P. The Sea of Love. 1/6. Long. Douglas. R. B. (tr. and ed.). A French Volunteer of the War of Independence. 6/- Bilsb. Dovrie, Monie Muriel. The Crook of the Bough. 8/. Methuen. Drummoml, W. H. The Hahitant, and other French-Canadian Poems, 12/6. Putnam. Drury, W. D. Home Gardening. 1/- L. U. Gill. Duerdon, J. E. Jamaican Actiniaria. Part I. : Zoanthrc 3/- Williams and N. Da Maurier, George. Social Pictorial Satire. 5/- Harper. Dnrand, E. D. Finances of New York City. 7/6 net. Macmillan. Eaxnes, J. Sermons to Boys and Girls 3/6. Allenson. Edwards, E. T., and Haite\ G. C. Side-lights of Nature in Quill and Crayon. 6 - Paul. Ellis, Edith. Seaweed: a Cornish Idyll. 3/6 net. University Press. Ellis, E. S. A Strange Craft and Its Wonderful Voyage. 2/6. Cassell. Evans, A. J., and Fearenslde, C. S. The Intermediate Text-Book of English History. 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Wagner's Drama " Der Ring des Nibelungen." 1,- Marshall and Russell. Simmons, A. T., and Junes, L. M. Elementary General Science. 3/6. Macmillan Smith, H. Responsible or Irresponsible / Plea for the Unjustly Con- Ticted. 1/- Watts. Smyth, H. W. Five Years in Siam, from ls9i-96. 24/- Murray. 8tieath, E. H. (Intro ) The Ethics of Hobbes as contained in Selec- tions from his Works. 4/6. Arnold. Spence, H. D. M. (Dean). The Church of England. Vol. lit 6/- Cassell. Stanyon, E Conjuiing with Cards. 1,- L. U. Gill. Stead, W. T. Elastus, the King's Chamberlain. 6/- Richards. Still, A. Alternating Currents of Electricity. <,/- Whittakor. Stockton. Frank R The Girl at Cobhurst. 6/- CasseJl. Stokes, W. William Stokes. (Masters of Medicine). 3/6. Unwln. Sudcrmann, H. itr. by B. Marshall). Regina; or, The Lives of the Fathers. 6,- Lane. Surteese, A. One ut Nature's Gentlemen. 6/- Digby. Sutherland, A. The Origin and Growth of the Moral Instinct. 28/- Longman. Swan, A. S..ar.d others. 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Essays. Mock Essays, and Character Sketches. Reprinted from ioumal of Education. 6 - Whittaker. Vogel, H. B. A Maori Maid. 6/- Pearson Walker, A. Woman. 5/-net Birmingham: Biker, Ward, H. M. On the Biology of Stcreum Hirsutum. 16. Dulau, Warden, Florence. Little Miss Prim. 6/- White. Warden, Florence. The Master-Key. 6/- Pearaon. Waring. G. F., jr. Street Cleaning. 5/- net. G»F- Warren, E. Variabllity of the Human Skeleton, 5 - Dulaa. Warren, J. Handbook to the Gum-Bichromate Process. 1 - net. lime. Watson, H. B. Marriott. The Heart of Miranda, and Other Stories. 6/- Lane. Watt, F. The Law's Lumber Roum. 2nd Series. 4 6 net Lane. Wells. D. D. Her Ladyship's Elephant. 3,6. Heinemann. Whishaw, F. Bates and His Bicycle. 1/- Bowden. White, F. B. W. The Flora of Perthshire. 7 6 net. Blackwood. WhitIock. J. A. Handbook of Bible and Church Music. 2'- S.P.C.K. Wiggln, Kate D. Penelope's Experiences in Scotland. 6/- Gay. Wijnkoop, J. D. (tr. by C. van den Biesen). Hebrew Grammar. 2/6 net. 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The Chronlcles of Mr. Pottersby. 1/- Bowden. Woolman, J., The Journal of. 2/6. Melrose. Wright, S. The Law relating to Hotels, Ac. 1/- Saxon. Wyatt, G. H. Experimental Mechanics. 9d, Rivington. "THE AUTHOR." SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page Other Pages Half of a Page Quarter of a Page Eighth of a Page Single Column Advertisements Bills for Insertion £4 0 < 3 0 1 1 10 I 0 15 I 0 7" per inch 0 6 < per 2000 3 0' Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelee Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should bo addressed either t the Advertisement Manages, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street W.O.: or to tho PrjsusBKr (Horacb Cox), Windsor House, Breams buildings, 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. 09 Issue 01 (June 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 09 Issue 01 (June 1898) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101063829988</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1898-06-01-The-Author-9-1 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/316/1899-The-Author-9-index.pdf ff2966603025d5db7286804dc3507bf2 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 Society of Authors Publications Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context publications Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1899 Volume 9 Publisher(s) When used for publications, publisher of the periodical or book. When used for people, list of publishers they worked with during their lifetime The Society of Authors Horace Cox Location The location of the event or organisation London 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/. 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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) 1898-05-02 Volume 8 Issue 12 Pages Page range in volume 305–332 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980502 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Uhc Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 12.] MA.Y 2, 1898. General Memoranda and Warnings Literary Property— 1. Lord Monkswell'a Bill 2. Canadian Copyright Law 3. The Cost or Production 4. Title Pages Thirteen as Twelve New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood Notes and News. By the Editor Feuilleton—Too Sharp for Once CONTENTS. PACE ... 305 ... E06 ... 307 ... 308 ... 308 ... 308 ... 309 ... 310 ... 318 [Pbich Sixpence. Notices to Correspondents Mr. Asqulth on Criticism Personal Questions and Answers Correspondence —1. The Boxburgbe Press Limited. 2 right in Titles 3. A Warning to Writers. Literary Year-Book 1S9»." 5. Editots and Contributors. 6. The Publisher's Assistant 321 Literature In the Periodicals 325 Book Talk The Books of the Month 330 FAOI 815 819 320 381 No Copy- 4. "Tho PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 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., 10*. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8«. 6d. each (Bound) j Vol. V., 6f. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Moeeis Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 1 The History of the Societe des Qens de Lettre3. By S. Squire Spriqqe, 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. 21. 6d. 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Spriooe. 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 of 1890. 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. Lelt. Eyre and Spottis- woode. is. 6d. 8. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). 1*. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lukge, J.U.D. 2S. 6d. ## p. 304 (#754) ############################################ AD VERTISEMENTS. ^f)e g>ociefp of Jlufljors (gncorporafeb) Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. J. M. Barrie. A. W. X Beckett. KOBEKT BaTEMAN. F. E. Bbddard, F.B.S. Sib Henry Bergne, E.C.M.G. Sib Walter Besant. augustine blrrell, m.p.| Eev. Pbof. Bonnet, F.B.S. Biqht Hon. James Bbyce, M.P. Bight Hon. Lord Burqhclere, P.C. Hall Caine. Eoebton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. W. Mobris Colles. Hon. John Collieb. Sib W. Mabtin Conway. F. Marion Cbawfobd. Eight Hon. G. N. Curzon, P.C, M.P. Hon. PRESIDENT. QEOEGE MEEEDITH COUNCIL. The Eabl of Desart. au8tin dobson. A. Conan Doyle, M.D. A. W. Duboubq. Pbof. Michael Foster, F.E.S. D. W. Fbeshfibld. Richard Gabnett, C.B., LL.D. EDHUND GOS8E. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Bay Lankester, F.B.S. W. E. H. Lkcky, P.C. J. M. Lely. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Bev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Herman C. Merivale. Bev. C. H. Middleton-Wakb. Sir Lewis Morris. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Ormbrod. J. C. Parkinson. Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioh*, P.C, F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. W. Baptists Scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. R. Sims. S. Squire Sprigqe. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Storr. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. Q.C A. W. 1 Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. W. Morris Colles. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Sir W. Martin Conway. D. W. Freshfield. J. M. Lely. H. Rider Haggard. Henry Norman. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Francis Storr. ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman) Sir W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spielmann. Solicitor/— SUB-COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C. Villiers Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman). Jacques Blumenthal. DRAMA. Henry Arthur Jones {Chairman). A. W. X Beckett. Edward Rose. Field, Roscoe, and Co., Linooln'a Inn Fields. G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thring, B.A. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. OFFICES: J±. F. W^.TT & SOILST, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SOUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, "W.C. THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prices. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest ^ process. £ OPINIONS OF CLIENTS.—Distinguished Author:—"The moBt beautiful typing I have ever seen." Lady of Title:—"The ^ 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. ## p. 305 (#755) ############################################ XT be Butbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 12.] MAT 2, 1898. [Pbice Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Autliors 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 bo accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL MEMORANDA. EOR some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, for the guidance of the reader. It has been objected as regards these warnings that the tricks or frauds against whioh 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 oarry on his 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. Till. in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. (3.) Not to allow a Bpecial charge for " office expenses," nnlesB 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. III. 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 is now possiblo 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 sueeess 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; bnt which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (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 Bhall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged whioh has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all 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 lame time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he Bigns it. E E 2 ## p. 306 (#756) ############################################ 3 06 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE'SOCIETY. I. in VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive l^J advice upon his 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 advice sought is Buch as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the cose is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not Bcruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yon are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the beat interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise npon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action npon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. NOTICES. THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make The Author oomplete, 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 reaoh the Editor not later than the 21 Bt of each month. All persons ongaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to oommunieate 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 Oflice 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 docs not, under any circumstances, undertako the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year p If they will do this, and remit the amount, if BtUl unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Sacretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask thomselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years? "ThoBe who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per oent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made npon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any Bums 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. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—Lord Monkswell's Bill. OUR French contemporary Le Droit d'Au- teur, the organ of the Berne Bureau of International Copyright, to whose valuable columns we have been not a few times indebted for intelligence of the highest moment, published in March an article on recent copyright legisla- tion in England of a kind most encouraging to ourselves. Continental literary circles, where, naturally enough, the difficulties of British legislation are not clearly understood, have felt some doubts concerning the value of Lord Monkswell's Bill at present before the House of Lords. In States where codification has become traditional, and ## p. 307 (#757) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 307 amongst foreign authors, who have sometimes suffered injustice in consequence of the confused and inadequate nature of the copyright laws of Great Britain, it is not singular that opinions should have been expressed rather in favour of a thorough revision of our copyright statutes than of an enactment calculated to remove some of the present most pressing difficulties. And this will be the less wondered at when it is remem- bered that amongst ourselves the fact that the revision of the whole copyright law could not be expected to pass the House of Commons except as a Government measure has been over- looked. With the various views which have been expressed the Droit cTAuteur deals in a short article, beginning with an appropriate reference to Mr. Herbert Thring's recent contri- bution in the Fortnightly Review, and then pro- ceeding to sketch the situation, and to speak of the difficulties in the way of the improvement of our legislation. It will be unnecessary to repro- duce here the r&sumi given of Mr. Herbert Thring's article. We may pass over the exposition of the difficulties in the way of reform with which we are ourselves but too familiar; only remarking that this subject is handled with an admirable impartiality. But we should like to call the attention of our readers to the two following passages. One expresses the views of the writer in Le Droit cTAuteur: Respecting the plan of campaign choaen by the English Society of Authors, whioh is, if possible to carry through some well defined and urgently needed reforms, before pro- ceeding to codification, this is a question of tactics, regarding which it is not our place to express an opinion. The English- men interested in these matters are here in a better position to judge than we. Tn the other, near the end of the article, we have the views of a French editor: views expressed in terms which cannot be other than highly gratifying to all supporters of Lord Monkswell's Bill and the Society's action: The same view is maintained by our contemporary, Le Progrea AHUtique (March 3, 1898), in whioh the editor, M. Maurice La Riviere, writes: "Whilst admitting that partial revisions applied to matters already regulated by several different legislative measures present serious incon- veniences, as well as risks of legal inconsistencies and contradictions, often of a kind to be deeply regretted, we cannot, at the same time, avoid asking ourselves whether it does not amount to sacrificing the substance for a shadow if we decline to take advantage of the limited but definite ameliorations which would result from Lord Monkswell's bill, in order to wait—God knows how long—for a codifica- tion of the English copyright laws. The question is, perhaps, a disputable one from the point of view of the English themselves; but respecting the interests of foreigners, and more particularly those of French dramatists and men of letters in general, it appears to us that every one Bhould without hesitation support the immediate and definite adoption of the project of the English Society of Authors." II.—Canadian Copyright Law. An important meeting of the Canadian Copy- right Association was held in the Board of Trade committee room yesterday (March 11). Mr. Dan. A. Bose, vice-president, called the meeting to order, and, in opening the proceedings, referred to what had been done in the past in order to secure a proper copyright law in Canada, and place the present unsatisfactory state of things on a better footing. The subject had been thoroughly threshed out, and there was no opposition from either political party. It was not a political matter at all, but one of ordinary business and straight justice. There was every reason to suppose that it could now be satis- factorily settled. A draft bill had been prepared as a result of several conferences between the Canadian Copyright Association and Mr. Hall Caine, who represented the British authors. The principles of that measure had been assented to by both sides of the House of Commons. There would, therefore, seem to be no reason why it should not pass into law. It was not a matter that need take up much of the time of the House, seeing that the righteousness and expediency of the measure were conceded. He therefore trusted that a united effort would be made to secure this desirable result. Mr. George N. Morang said that in the present ripe state of the question it would seem to be a want of judgment on the part of the association if vigorous steps were not at once taken with a view to relieve the publishing trade from the inconvenience and injustice under which it suffered from the incidence of the present law, or rather the want of it. The publishing trade had made headway under serious difficulties, and it deserved some attention. He moved "That in view of the importance of the publishing interest in Canada, which now gives employment to a large number of persons, and in view also of the great injustice and inconvenience occasioned by the chaotic state of copyright in Canada, imme- diate steps be taken to urge on the Govern- ment to settle the question on the basis of the draft bill agreed upon by this association, as representing Canadian interests, and by Mr. Hall Caine, as representing the British interests, and that the executive of this association take requisite action in the matter and interview the Government at once." The resolution was seconded by Mr. A. S. Irving. Mr. J. Murray said that, in order that the enterprise might proceed with success, it was requisite that the sinews of war should be pro- vided. The association had shown no hanging back in this respect in past times, and he did not anticipate any difficulty on that score now. He ## p. 308 (#758) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. moved "That the executive committee be autho- rised to take steps to collect funds to promote the work of the association." The resolution was seconded by Mr. R. L. Patterson.— Toronto I for Id, March 12. __0<-^_ III.—The Cost of Production. In the note on the Cost of Paper in the last Author it is stated that a "ream of paper varies in weight from loclb. to 1301b." This leaves a wide margin of choice, but it is better to make it still wider by inserting the words "suitable for a fa. volume of 10 sheets of 32 pages." IV.—Title Pages. At a recent meeting of the Publishers' Associa- tion the Report of the Committee on Title Pages was received and discussed. The Report (says the Publishers' Circular) was in the following •words :— The Committee held meetings on Tuesday, Oct. 26; Tuesday, Nov. 2; and Thursday, Nov. 18; and unanimously agreed on the following recom- mendations, viz.:— (1) Date. («) That the title page of every book should bear the date of the year of publication, i.e., of the year in which the impression or the re-issue of which it forms a part, was first put on the market. (6) That when stock is re-issued in a new form, the title page should bear the date of the new issue, and each copy should be described as a "re-issue," either on the title page or in a bibliographical note. (c) That the date at which a book was last revised should be indicated cither on the title page or in a bibliographical note. (2) Bibliographical Note. That the bibliographical note should, when possible, be printed on the Lack of the title page, in order that it may not be separated therefrom in binding. (3) Impression, Edition, Re-issce. That for bibliographical purposes definite meanings should be attached to these words when used on a title page, and the following are recommended: Impression.—A number of copies printed at any one time. When a book is re- printed without change it should be called anew impression,to distinguish it from an edition as defined below. Edition.—An impression in which the matter has undergone some change, or for which the type has be en reset. Re-issue.—A republication at a different price, or in a different form, of part of an impression which has already been placed on the market. (4) Localisation. When the circulation of an impression of a book is limited by agreement to a par- ticular area, that each copy of that impres- sion should bear a conspicuous notice to that effect. Addendum. In cases where a book has been reprinted many times, and revised a less number of times, it is suggested that the intimation to that effect should be as follows, e.g.:— "Fifteenth Impression (Third Edition)." This would indicate that the book had been printed fifteen times, and that in the course of those fifteen impressions it had been revised or altered twice. The report was adopted. THIRTEEN AS TWELVE- IT is reported that attempts are being made to pay royalties on the principle of 13 as 12. In other words, if a royalty of 20 per cent, is agreed upon it is proposed to pay a royalty on 12 copies out of every 13 copies sold, or on 100 copies to pay for 92. That is to say, the author is to receive a royalty of only 18 j0s per cent. What is the justification of this imposition? The practice, it is said, of giving the trade an allowance of 13 as 12. But this is only done when the bookseller orders a dozen of one work or a dozen volumes of the same publisher. Now with the declining condition of the bookseller's trade, such orders are growing fewer and fewer every day. The distributing firms doubtless send in such orders, and get these allowances, but the average bookseller does not. Of that there can be no doubt. In other words the allowance of 13 as 12 by no means covers the whole sales. Therefore, to demand of the author to give up 8 per cent, because such an allowance is made in certain cases is simply an attempt to trade upon ignorance. In the next place, it may be argued fairly that the author has nothing to do with the publisher's trade arrangements. His royalty is a fixed charge on the book like the cost of printing and paper. But there is another consideration of vital importance. The royalties are now mainly based upon certain tables published some time ago in The Author, which opened the eyes of the literary world as to the meaning of the royalties they ## p. 309 (#759) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 309 had been offered and had received. Now these tables were prepared on the understanding that the allowance of 13 as 12 was universal. Thus the price of a 6*. book to the trade was considered to be 4s. 2d. less 10 per cent, and 13 as 12, bringing the price down to 3s. 6d. very nearly. The figures thus appeared as follows: 1. The cost of a 6*. book in large numbers was set down at i*. In The Author of April, p. 290, the cost of a certain book of average size was, not estimated but, actually quoted as charged and paid for at gi^d. a copy. To make it up to a shilling ,£35 would have to be spent in advertising. 2. The price to the trade was set down at 3«. 6d. A list of prices obtained from a book which had a circulation of many thousands was fur- nished a few months ago by a certain firm of publishers, which showed that while the dis- tributing firms paid less, the trade paid more. The average was almost exactly 3*. 6d. Perhaps, when the distributing firms take a larger propor- tion the average will be nearer 3s. 5<7. 3. The profit of the book was therefore 2s. 6d. The tables of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 per cent, royalty was calculated on those figures. But if after the royalty was allowed on the 13 as 12, the publishers claim it again, they actually have it twice over. And a royalty of 20 per cent, in the old agreement should be one of 21 f per cent. For the next number of The Author new tables will be prepared, first, without reference to the allowance at all, and next, recognising it and altering the figures accordingly. But these must not be altered over again. NEW YOKE LETTER. New York, April 14. THE business of syndicate sale of literary matter, especially fiction, has had an exten- sion in the purchase by John Brisben Walker, editor and owner of the Cosmopolitan, of the Bacheller Newspaper Syndicate. He will not only do the business formerly done by the concern in sending out New York letters, woman's pages, &c, to provincial papers, but will also do a business similar to that now done by the McClure Syndicate, selling the Sunday papers all the stories which he buys for his magazine. Mr. McClure frequently allows these Sunday papers to print instalments of serials before they appear in the magazine. The general idea is that a story which has been in the maga- zine has been seen all over the country, whereas its appearance in the few newspapers has very little effect on the readers of the magazine. Mr. A. F. Jaccaci, the art editor of McClure's Magazine, is about to make a trip to the Western States to see half a dozen young writers whom he thinks promising. He said that he would like to have McClure's Magazine do for America what has been done in England by certain editors in discovering new writers, and he thinks those who need encouragement are almost all in the West, as a young m m who gets any kind of a start in New York receives so much attention, and has so much demand for his work, that he is likely to be spoiled. This theory, if it were to be weighed carefully, would, of course, need con- siderable mitigation. It is on the whole true, however, that two influences exist side by side in the literary as well as in the general life of this city. A person of any real ability in letters, or even of a factitious cleverness, is likely to become the centre of enough attention for him to dwell on if he wishes to; but, on the other hand, the city is so big, with so many diverging groups of life, that almost nobody has any individual importance, and it is more frequent to hear the loneliness which this con- dition produces dwelt upon, than the self- consciousness which is engendered by our keen appreciation of literature of any grade. Among the writers who are just beginning their careers, the author of " The Imported Bride- groom, and Other Stories," which is to be pub- lished by Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. immediately, gives some genuine promise. Abraham Cahan is a young Russian Jew of high ideals and of an intensely serious nature. A large part of his life has been spent among the people of what we call our Ghetto. He is now doing regular work on the Commercial Advertiser, broadening his experience by knowledge of the varied sides of city life which newspaper reporting opens up to one. His attitude towards his surroundings is interesting, as being typical probably of the majority of serious Russians in this country. He feels entirely out of sympathy with the American temperament. The fundamental indifference and jocosity with which it takes everything, treating politics and literature with the same curiosity and the same carelessness, shock him. I fancy that he will not do his best work until his point of view as a foreigner vanishes, and he sees the American spirit from the inside rather than from the outside, enjoying it, however much he may desire to change it in detail. Mr. Henry James, who published an interesting article on literary opportunities in America in Literature a short time ago, has also some- ## p. 310 (#760) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. ■what of an external point of view, in spite of his knowledge of America and his cleverness. Pro- bably nobody, however discriminating, who has not given himself up essentially to our life as it is, can speak about it in a tone which shall seem intimate and convincing to the Americans themselves. Mr. James picks out two things for special emphasis, the business man and woman. Now, those are very obvious elements of life, but it is almost certainly true that to the most sensitive and deepest people who are living in the rush of this life, it would not occur to project the business man and his special problem into the foreground in our general feeling of American life. What there is a vague and strong desire for in our literature, is not the use of these obviously literary opportunities, but the expression of some- thing more deeply characteristic, which shall give principles and shades of thought and feeling which exist throughout a whole city, or a whole social class, or the whole country. The method of writing a story about a grocer or a stockbroker, or the member of a trade union, has been tested for a good while without producing any other result than a demonstration of the fact that the hero of the novel ought to be an individual and a man, rather than a tradesman or a professional. I do not mean, of course, that his occupation should not appear in the novel, but that it should not be the essential element of it. There was a rather discouraging outcome to Miss Elizabeth Kobins's attempt to introduce Ibsen to her native country. Instead of a series of performances here and in Boston, she gave but one, "Hedda G abler," at a matinte in New York. Her supporting company was a fairly good one, thoroughly rehearsed, and the resulting performance was the best all-round presentation of an Ibsen play that I have ever seen, her own acting being better than that of anybody who has played in Ibsen here recently, with the single exception of Mr. E. J. Henley, who is now in England. In spite of these favourable conditions the success was only moderate. The audience was made up of literary people and actors, and con- tained none of the element which would support a play for any length of time. The criticisms in the Press were almost without exception as hostile as they were shallow. We are on the road to learn something about technical excellence in the drama, but we evidently shall refuse to learn it from the Norwegian. One way in which we get some instruc- tion is an absurdly dishonest one. There is a prejudice against old plays here. If an actor wished to put on Dumas's "Kean," his manager would protest vigorously. Charles Coghlan, therefore, makes an awkward, but almost literal translation of it, and advertises it as practically a new play, merely founded on an old drama, and is drawing crowded houses. Only Monday one of our most cultivated actresses, Minnie Madden Fiske, put a play on the stage, a translation from the German. The translator's name was con- spicuous, but the original author was thought of so little importance that he was not mentioned. Almost the only purely original dramatic work of any note which has been done here within the last two or three years is Mr. Gillette's " Secret Service," with which you have had an opportunity in England to become well acquainted. There is a general feeling, although as yet no definite signs, that the conditions are ripe for the poetic drama, and the success of " Cyrano de Bergerac" has encouraged that belief. Mr. Richard Mans- field, easily the leading actor in America along certain lines, will take the part. One of the notable figures in American life and letters has just retired from his principal courses at Harvard. Charles Eliot Norton has long stood pre-eminently for old world culture, and a. lack of sympathy with the elements of life around him. His method has been not to pick out what he could find in America that was vital, or beauti- ful, or capable of being used to good purpose, but to talk continually about what was ugly or crude, and to contrast it with remote opposites, ranging from Greece to Burne-Jones. He has doubtless done good as well as harm, but his influence has been academic and slight, as that of any man must be who takes the situation before him in such a narrow closet fashion. Norman Hapgood. NOTES AND NEWS. ANOTE in the Athenseum states that owing to the war and the continued excitement it is certain to create, many books planned for the autumn will be kept back by the pub- lishers in the United States. My own forecast in the matter is that the excitement over the war, which will go on increasing, will not prevent books from being read, but quite the contrary. A war wakes up the whole nation: it not only calls forth anxiety, hope, exultation, resolution, tenacity, and other emotions and passions, but it seizes on every faculty and calls it into action. As to the influence of a long war on literature, remember that in the long war of Great Britain with France, from 1793 to 1814, a great part of which, so far as operations on land were concerned, was only partially successful, our literature was enriched by work from Wordsworth, Coleridge, ## p. 311 (#761) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3ii Southey, Lamb, Byron, Scott, Kogers, Landor, Shelley, Godwin, James Hogg, Leigh Hunt, Jeremy Bentham, Frances Burney, Mrs. Barbauld, Thomas Campbell, Edmund Burke, and a great many more. How far the excitement of war stimulated these writers I do not know; but I think that it kept them from going to sleep. It is in times of peace that people desire nothing: neither to create literature nor to read it: the national body is apt to grow fat; the national mind to grow torpid. I venture to prophesy that after the first few weeks of the war excitement the demand for new literature will not only know no abatement, but will greatly increase. The most dead, dull, and dejected time in the whole history of English literature was that of the early Thirties—a period of profound peace. At one time, I believe in the autumn of 1832, there were hardly any books published at all. It was at that time, I believe, that the world finally rebelled against the rubbish that was forced upon the book clubs as fiction and poetry. The society novel fell never to be revived; the tales in verse fell; and the book clubs fell, to be revived, perhaps. They broke up, and their place has never since been filled up. I remark, again, that this was, after many years, a time of profound peace. Many years ago I was talking on this subject with the late George Bentley. He assured me that, from his own recollection, during the excite- ment of the Crimean War, followed by that of the Indian Mutiny, the demand for books was to a marked degree greater than during the years before. When peace returned, he said, a depres- sion of the book trade set in and lasted for a long time. . Mr. Asquith spoke so well the other day on criticism, that it is a pity he did not take the next step, and show what criticism ought to do in art and literature. The opposition of " critical" and "constructive" he showed to be fallacious. That, indeed, is easy to show. It is possible to be like Goethe, critical as well as constructive: it is pos- sible to be, like Matthew Arnold, a fine poet as well as a great critic: it is, however, possible and much more common to be a fine critic, and to possess no constructive power whatever. The function of criticism is not, he insisted, at times of intellectual torpor and stagnation, a form of intellectual gymnastics. And it is absurd to say that critics are failures in literature. Quite so: it is, however, perfectly true that a large number of professed critics are failures in literature, inasmuch as they have been proved VOL. vni. unable to do anything good. Mr. Asquith quoted Matthew Arnold: "The critic must know the best that is known and thought in the world, and by making this known create a current of true and fresh ideas." Let us accept this as a starting point. The next thing is that the critic shall understand what is best when he sees it. With this object a good deal of preparation is necessary. The true critic must be, to begin with, a fine Greek scholar, a fine French scholar, if not also a fine German scholar. He must have in his mind certain canons for his own guidance: he must know what has been done in the various branches of imaginative literature, history, belles lettres. How many critics have we who could pass an examination in these subjects? Let me add to these remarks of Mr. Asquith certain dicta of Professor Saintsbury, who, above all others, is jealous as to the position and true functions of the critic in literature. He offers two or three test questions. Thus : "What idea of the original would this critic give to a tolerably instructed person who did not know that original? How far has this critic seen steadily, and seen whole, the subject which he has set him- self to consider? How far has he referred the main peculiarities of that subject to their proximate causes and effects? How far has he attempted to place, and succeeded in placing, the subject in the general history of Literature, in the collection of authors of its own department?" These are questions worth considering. Indeed, the whole essay is one which young writers—even those who do not intend to become reviewers—should read and ponder. "I think," he adds, "that if I were dictator, one of the first non-political things that I should do would be to make the order of reviewers as close a one, at least, as the bench of judges, or the staff of the Mint, or of any public establishment of a similar character." I think that it is time to withdraw the word criticism from the short notices of books which fill up our papers. They may be guides, but they are not criticisms: guides if written after honestly reading the book; misleading pretences if not. In such notices we want to know if a book is worth buying: what it contains: if it will instruct us: if it will interest us. A critic is not wanted for this work. A courteous gentle- man, ready to appreciate, slow to condemn, and incapable of misrepresentation, is the writer who should be employed for such work as this. There are one or two "hands" that might be indicated as already at work on these lines, and I hope there will be more. r r ## p. 312 (#762) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. In another column 'will be found a ommunica- tion from Mr. Herbert W. Smith, treating on the general questions on which we have published so many communications. He mentions three great grievances: (i) delay in considering MSS.; (2) delay in payment; and (3) unequal remuneration. He would "compel " an editor to return MSS. within a month. How would he compel him? If a writer offers an editor a MS., he may make it a condition that it is to be returned or accepted within a certain time. It is for the editor to accept that condition or to refuse. Most editors would refuse. Surely, too, allowance must be made for the mass of MSS. showered upon the editor. With regard to the second grievance, this is a real one. A writer has his MS. accepted; he may have to wait for months. I know a case in which a MS. was accepted by what used to be called a magazine of the first class. It appeared two years afterwards. Accepted MSS. ought to be paid for when they are accepted. Here, again, the writer can propose his own conditions; the editor, for his part, cau accept or refuse. As for the third complaint— that of unequal remuneration—I would ask our correspondent to name any occupation at which remuneration is equal. There is no " legitimate" rate of pay for magazine or other literary work. Some journals would shut up at once if they had to pay at the same rates as the better class organs. But here, again, writers have the matter in their own hands. If they know that a journal pays badly why send their contributions? If they plead necessity, then, ahis! there is no answer. In every profession there are necessitous persons, and there are sweaters to prey upon them. I hope, however, that those who road this com- munication will reflect (1) that, unless necessity compels them, they can propose their own condi- tions; and (2) that there is no way possible of "compelling" editors to alter their methods. Miss Betham-Edwards, in her book of "Remi- niscences," places on record the condition on which her first novel, "The White House by the Sea," was published. The book was issued in 1857 and its last edition appeared in 1891. It has thus had forty years' run:— I must here for once and for all make it qnite clear that I do not in the very leaat reflect npon anyone else bnt myself throughout the history of this transaction. The important, I may say the only, object I had in view was to get my book well put before the pnblic—which it was, my payment being in kind, instead of money, that is to say, I received twenty-five copies of new one, two, and three volnme novels. For a young writer the bargain cannot be called a bad one. My work was well printed, well bound, well advertised, and presented to the world in excellent com- pany. The curious part of the business is this: before me lies the original edition in two handsome volumes dated 1857, beside it the last pDpular edition dated 1891. Bet veen those two dates, a period of just npon thirty-five years, the book hid contrived to keep its head above water, that is to say, had been steadily reprinted from time to time j yet from its first appearance to the present day, when it is still selling, not a farthing of profit has accrued to the author. That the author should still think that the bargain "cannot be called a bad one," is truly wonderful. That there was nobody but herself to blame is certainly quite true. That any firm of publishers should offer to buy the whole copy- right of a work which might prove a well and a fountain for years to come, for twenty-five books seems incredible. Yet on another page—in the Feuilleton—appears a story of a publisher of to-day trying to get the copyright of a new writer's first book on terms no better. Miss Edwards's twenty- five works were worth nominally quite as much as the fifteen guineas offered by the publisher of to-day. oii A writer in the Morning Post has a few remarks touching Sir Henry Craik's unfortunate exhibition at a late dinner: The Secretary of the Scottish Education Department is reported to have said: "The Society of Authors had told them that the publisher was a needless invention, and . . . that the chief duty of the author was to make himself a sprightly commercial agent, who brought the most worthless wares to the dearest market." These utterances may have been rather free generalisations, and might oertainly mislead those members of the public—by far the largest class—who do not trouble their heads much about literary affairs. No one who has taken the least interest in the controversy over the ethios and practices of authors and publishers can, however, have failed to under- stand what Sir Henry Craik intended to convey, though his language was undoubtedly somewhat exaggerated. What Sir Henry Craik intended to convey can only be gathered from what he said. Now, the Society of Authors has never to my knowledge told the public that the "publisher is a needless invention." I have consulted the Secretary, who knows nothing of such a statement. It is a direct allegation, and can have no other meaning than what it says. As for the other allegation, it is difficult to meet it except by a direct denial. For what is the work of the Society of Authors? It is to define and to maintain literary property. In order to do this, it has set itself to investigate, and to publish, everything connected with literary property. It has made, or is making it, impos- sible for publishers to take advantage of superior knowledge or to trade upon ignorance. That is the chief business of the Society, and the fact that it is doing this business effectively is the cause of the wrath that springs in the minds of certain publishers at the mere mention of the Society. ## p. 313 (#763) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. The same writer calls attention to certain words of mine, in which I ask who are the persons stated to try for a reputation by reclame, by self-advertising. The writer says: "Yet, possibly, when we reflect that some tolerably popular novelists of to-day produce three, four, five, or more books in a year, and how many writers never seem to lose any opportunity for an interview or a paragraph about their domestic affairs, some clue to the riddle may suggest itself." I am as much at a loss as ever. Who are the novelists who produce " three, four, five, or more" novels in a year? I declare that I do not know any novelist who produces work at anything like this rate. It seems to me absolutely impossible. Consider. Although the average one-volume novel is not more than half the length of the old three-volume novel, its length varies from 60,000 to 100,000 words. It would be difficult to produce more than two such novels in a year. But we are told of novelists writing "three, four, five, or more." Then, again, who are the writers who are always getting an inter- view or a paragraph about their domestic affairs into the paper? What papers admit these details? And why do the editors allow these personal notes to appear? I really think that we ought to blame the editors, and not the novelists. At all events, in The Author there have never been any personal matters other than the announce- ments of new boots. Walter Besant. FEUILLETON. TOO SHAEP FOE ONCE. I. "T HAVE brought you, Sir," said the young I man, "a MS." He spoke as if it was the most unusual thing in the world for a MS. to be brought to that house. And he laid it on the table with something of a slap. He was humble in his manner, in spite of that slap: not humble in his dress nor in his appear- ance, which were entirely commc il faut. He was humble because he was now offering for acceptance or rejection a work which had occupied his whole thoughts and his whole time for a year and a half. He believed in his work: but he was anxious, because as yet he had shown it to no one. Of course it was a novel : every ambitious young man now attempts that form of Literature and Art; although he knew it not, his work possessed the first quality necessary for success: it was real: everything in it was drawn from real life, and the pages vibrated with the reality VOL. VIII. of truth. This, however, he knew not, and he brought his MS. in doubt and anxiety. "I've too many MSS. already," said the pub- lisher, curtly. "And I've lost too much money already. I lose by everything that I publish." "In that case I will take mine elsewhere. I am sorry to have disturbed you." He took up his bundle, clapped it under his arm, and turned. "Since you always lose you're an unlucky house." "Stay." The publisher — the Controller of Destiny—the Compeller of Fame—looked at the card—it told him nothiug. "Is this your first work, young gentleman?" "The use of the phrase 'Young gentleman' is not warranted by your position or your acquaintance with me," replied the author. "But it is my first attempt." "Ah! Your first work. So. A publisher can confer no greater service upon a young man than in producing his first work. No greater service. Eemember that. I am always doing the most good-natured things, but there — one gets no credit. Now, as regards your first production— your first—crude it is, no doubt, and full of faults. Still I can—I can—well—I can submit it, if you please, to my reader. There!" He swelled out his face, and really looked as if he was conferring some great and self-denying favour. ,: If he should happen to recommend it—he recommends one in a hundred—I might be disposed—I don't know—the risk is terrible, of course—you would not mind paying down a hundred pounds or so towards the first cost?" "You can produce the whole work for less than .£80, and a great deal less after subscription." The young man took up his bundle again. "What do you mean by asking for <£ioo? Certainly not." "Stay, Sir—stay," said the publisher. "You have no money, perhaps. Dear! Dear! Thit is a pity, because, to a beginner, no system is more equitable. I am, myself, all for equity—all." "I will leave it with you, then, for three weeks. At the end of that time you must give me an answer." He turned and went away brusquely. "Humph !" said the publisher, tossing the MS. into a corner. "Mighty independent! An impudent young Beast! As if it's a favour to me offering his stuff! But he wants his work published. I'll be even with him, somehow." II. Three weeks later the young man presented himself again. "I am come," he said "for your decision as to my MS. left with you three weeks ago." F F 2 ## p. 314 (#764) ############################################ 3'4 THE AUTHOR. "Your MS.? Tour MS.? We have so many, Sir, that I am not able without . Ah! That was the title, was it? Truly." He rang the bell and ordered the clerk to bring the reader's opinion on a work with that title. He received it, glanced over it, and handed it across the table. "There, Sir, is my reader's opinion. Tou will observe that it is favourable—perhaps too favourable. The optimistic character of my reader, in fact, loses me many hundreds a year— many hundreds. I assure you he will like every- thing." The young man read the opinion through. He coloured with pleasure. The reader spoke of it in very high terms. He believed that there was a future for the work, and said so. "Tou must not take his opinion too literally," said the publisher. "He admires everything. I shall have to get a new reader if this indiscri- minate praise goes on" "Well, sir, your decision?" "I return to my original proposal. Pay me .£100 down, and I will release you of all respon- sibility, and will bring out your novel." "And the proceeds?" "On a first novel this is unnecessary. I cannot undertake to make any returns of sales." "Then I take my work elsewhere." "Oh! Young men are so impetuous. Why stand in your own light? Well, I will give you, say, half the profits." "I take my work elsewhere." "Sir, this is very hard. I try to meet you half way, and you answer me in a manner which, I must say, is unmerited. What would you have? A royalty? Many authors do very well with a royalty. Shall we say 10 per cent, after 800 copies are sold?" "That gives you about five times the profit that it would give me." "Dear, dear! How can authors get such foolish ideas? It is, I suppose, that abominable Society of Authors which has been corrupting your mind. What do you know about office expenses, rent, travellers, clerks?" "You've got a clerk and a half, two rooms, and no travellers. Try again." "Well then, you would like to sell the work right out. That, after all, is the best plan, is it not? No anxiety: no trouble: no nasty accounts to breed bad blood between author and pub- lisher." "I might—for a proper price." "Young man, I am the judge of what is a proper price." "Are you? I will give you my opinion on that subject when you make an offer." The publisher looked at him curiously. Yes: he was above all things eager to get his work published. "I might make an offer. First book: risk of total loss: danger of complete neglect: new novels come out now at the rate of three or four a day: who can hope to stand up against such competition? Young gentleman, in that optimistic account of your MS.—I am sorry I snowed it to you—one point was passed over. Believe me, the true way to judge of a work is to find out what in the reader's written opinion is left out. I cannot find, Sir, the word 'stimulating.' I always find that success depends more upon the stimulating power of a work than upon anything else. When a novelist comes to me, I say, 'Is it stimulating?' My reader clearly thinks that your work is not stimulating. That, of course, materially detracts from the value of your MS. Still I am ready to make an offer? Let me see. Oh, I said first book:—have you some friends who will log-roll it?" "Thank Heaven—No." "Dear! Dear! And he blasphemously thanks Heaven! No literary connections. Heavy out- lay. Probably no returns at all. JNo influence, I suppose, at the libraries? None. Tut, tut. Dear me. Travellers—as I said before—accoun- tants, clerks—messengers—rent, taxes—well—I can offer you—" Again he looked at the man sharply. Yes, he was quivering with anxiety for the production of the MS. "I can make you the very handsome offer of Fifteen Pounds for the entire copyright with all rights—American, Con- tinental, and dramatic — of the MS. in my hands—" "What?" "Fifteen guineas. Did I say pounds? I meant guineas. I always give guineas. I am all for generosity, and—" "Keep your generosity, Sir. I have not asked for it. Give me my MS." The publisher rose solemnly. He laid his finger upon the bell; but he did not press it. "Sir," he said "you stand at the parting of two ways. I press this bell, and you are lost. I do not press the bell, and Fame and Fortune await you. Pause!" "Ring your damned bell," said the author. "In that case"—he pressed the button. "I have rung." He sank back into his chair and joined his fingers. "You have brought it on yourself, Sir—on your own head. John, bring the MS. to which this opinion refers." The young man seized the bundle and strode out. "Now," said the good man, " if the Publishers' Society was what it ought to be, there would be a Eing. I joined it hoping that there would be » ## p. 315 (#765) ############################################ THE AUTHOR, 3'5 Ring. Then no one would give any more. And then the fellow—Impudent Beast !—would have to give in—to my price. Ah! It is a badly con- ducted world!" m. Three months later there were seen on every bookstall, and in every bookshop, piles of a new novel. It ran through fifty, sixty, seventy editions of a thousand each. It was a gold mine. The reader called to see his publisher. "Pity," he said, "that you let it go out of the house. I praised it as highly as I could. I thought you would have jumped at it." "I did. I offered him—Ha!—noble terms- royal terms, and he refused them. Flung out of the room he did, with insulting words." "Well, as I said, it's a pity. They advertise this morning the 146th thousand. And you might have had it. What's the matter?" For his esteemed principal fell back in his chair with a white face. "Get me a glass of something—brandy—any- thing. Yet I offered him royal terms—royal— I believe I've got a chill—it's gone straight to the liver. A hundred and forty-six—forty-six —a hundred and forty-six thousand. And I might have had it. I'm sure it's gone straight to the liver, and it might have been mine—mine —mine!!!" NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. ABOUT two years ago a list was published in The Author of Notices to Correspondents, taken from various papers. Owing to application being made by many of our members for a renewal of the list, we have much pleasure in publishing the list below, which has been collected during the past two months from the papers referred to. As the question of MSS. sent to papers is, of course, of the greatest interest to our members, we think it worth while, at the same time, to reprint Counsel's opinion which was obtained on behalf of the Society about a year ago. "Editor and Author. "1. I am of opinion that if a manuscript be sent to the editor of a magazine without any previous request or agreement, the editor is not responsible for its loss while in his possession unless the loss be due to some gross negligence on his part. So long, however, as the manuscript remains in his possession the editor is bound to return it on demand, and the publication in his magazine of a notice that he will not return manuscripts does not, in my opinion, alter his liability in this respect towards an author who was not cognizant of such notice when he sent in the manuscript. "The editor's responsibility for the manuscript while in his possession is, in my opinion, that of a gratuitous or voluntary bailee, who is answerable for loss through his gross negligence, but not for any ordinary neglect. (See 1 Smith's Leading Cases, 10th edition, pp. 189, et seq.) If the manuscript has been lost, the onus lies upon the author to show that the loss was caused by the editor's gross negligence, for which alone the editor is answerable. (See Story on Bailments, 9th edit. s. 410, and the cases referred to in the notes there.) "If the manuscript was in the editor's posses- sion when its return was demanded, the editor is liable, in my opinion, to an action of detenue if he refuse to return it. Evidence that the editor received the manuscript would raise a presump- tion that it was still in his possession when the demand was made. But the editor could rebut that presumption by proving that the manuscript was lost prior to the demand. The editor would not escape liability by proving that he had improperly destroyed or wrongfully parted with the manuscript (see Jones t\ Dowle, 9 M. & W. 19), or had lost it through his gross negligence (see Reeve v. Palmer, 5 C. B., N.S. 84). But it would be a good defence for the editor to bhow that before its return was demanded the manuscript was lost without default on his part (see 5 C. B., N.S. pp. 85-89), or in some manner which could not be ascertained. In the latter cases the editor would not be liable unless the author could adduce affirmative evidence of gross negligence (see Powell v. Graves, 2 Times L. R. 663; Howard v. Harris, C. & E. 253). "2.1 am of opinion that if in the particular case referred to the author sent his manuscript to the editor in ignorance of the existence of any such notice as that which is in the magazine, then the editor could not successfully rely upon the notice as a defence to any action brought against him. In this case the notice would, in my opinion, be immaterial, but, of course, the editor might have a complete defence on other grounds, such as those I have already referred to in my answer to the first question. H the author saw or tnew of the notice before he sent his manuscript, I think he would be held to have sent it on the terms of such notice: (see Parker t\ South- Eastern Railway Company, 2 C. P. D. 416; Richards v. Rjwntree (1894) A. C. 217). The exact part of the magazine in which the notice is inserted is immaterial, except in so far as it renders it more or less likely that the author in fact saw or did not see the n tice, assuming that he ever saw the magazine. ## p. 316 (#766) ############################################ 316 THE AUTHOR. "3. I am of opinion that the burden of proving that the author was cognizant of the notice would lie upon the editor. "T. Willes Chitty." The List. Academy.—No rejected MS. returned under the old man- agement, bnt the practice now is to return them under the usual conditions. Address, 27, Chancery-line, W.C. Anecdote3. —Important.—All Manuscripts and Drivings submitted to the proprietors of Anecdotes are subjeot to the following conditions:—!. Articles must be legibly written or typed on sheets of convenient size, and on one side only. 2. The name and address of the author rr artist must be conspicuously written upon the first or lust page, or upon the front or baok of each drawing. 3. Exoept for prize competitions, no MSS. below 500 words will be considered, and no MSS submitted for prize com- petitions will be, under any cironmstances returned. MSS. submitted for competition, and not sucoesfnl in gaining a prize, become the property of the proprietors of Anecdotes 4. An envelope addressed and sufficiently stamped, must be sent with each instalment of MSS. unless the same has been definitely ordered in writing by the Proprietors of Anecdotes or the editor of the publication to which it is submitted. 5. Every effort will be made to return MSS. and drawings complying with the above conditions, but in no case will the proprietors hold themselves responsible for any MSS. or drawings submitted until the article or story or drawing has actually appeared in one of the Anecdotes publications. Answers.—Anyone sending MS. must enclose stamped and addressed envelope for return, otherwise it will neither be read nor returned. The writer must also vouch for the originality of the contribution, and give his full name and address. Articles must be short. Address, "Answers," MSS. Department, Tudor-street, E.C. Athenaeum.—Will accept artioles of a literary character, if suitable. MSS. returned if stamped and addressed envelope be enclosed. Address, Bream's-buildings, Cursi- tor-street, W.C. Bazaar, Exchange and Mart.—Artioles accepted on almost any subject, if of a thoroughly practical kind, cot otherwise. Addressed and stamped envelopes must be enolosed for return of rejected communications. Address, 170, Strand. Belgravia.—All MS3. should be addressed, prepaid, to the Editor of Belgravia, Strand, W.C. Every MS. should bear the writer's name and address and be accompanied by postage stamps for its return if not accepted; but the Editor cannot hold himself responsible for any accidental loss. The Editor cannot undertake to return rejected poems. Black and White.—The Editor, whi!e open to consider MSS. and sketches, will not be responsible for their return. Contributions should be accompanied by stamped and addressed'envelope. Address, 33, Bouverie-Btreet, E.C. Cwell'l Family Magazine and CasseU's Saturday Journal.—Articles on almost any subject, if popular and interesting. Stamped and addressed envelope must be enolosed. Address, Cassell and Co., Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate-hill, E C. Chums.—Important !—The Editor of Chums will not be responsible for the return of rejected manuscripts. If a stamped and addressed envelope is sent with the contri- butions the Editor will alwajs endeavour to return them; bnt when stamps are not sent, manuscripts can in no- case be returned. *„* The Art Editor cannot undertake to return sketches sent on approval unless they are accompanied by an addressed envelope sufficiently stamped. Cornhill.—Any MSS. sent to the Editor are carefully con sidered, and when not accepted are returned, if stamped and addressed envelope be enolosed. Address, Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co., 15, Waterloo-plaoe, S.W. Country Gentleman.—The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the return of any MS. sent so him. Pay- ment will only be made for those contributions which have been previously arranged for. Daily Chronicle.—The Editor cannot guarantee the return of MSS. or sketches submitted for consideration, and in no case will rejected matter be returned unless accompanied by a stamped and addressed envelope. Daily Graphic.—Will return rejected contributions pro- vided a sufficiently stamped and directed envelope is enclosed. Editor will not hold himself responsible for loss or damage. Address, Milford-lane, Strand, W.C. Daily News.—Worked by a staff which is generally full. No rejected communications returned. Address, Fleet- street, E.C. Bcho.—Worked by a staff which is generally full; still, suitable MSS. would no doubt be considered. Address, 22, Catherine-street, Strand, W.C. English Illustrated.—MSS. sent but not accepted must be accompanied by a wrapper, when they will if possible be returned. Address, 198, Strand, W.C. Evening News and Post.—-Worked by a staff generally full, but the Editor will return all MSS. if a fully stamped and addressed envelope be enclosed. Address 12, White- friars-street, E.C. Family Reader.—We cannot guarantee the return of rejected manuscripts. Figaro.—-The Editor will be pleased to consider articles, paragraphs, stories, and verses suitable for insertion. Accepted contributions will be paid for at our usual rates. The Editor will not accept any responsibility for MSS. sent in, but when a stamped and addressed wrapper is enclosed every care will be taken to return rejected con- tributions. Only writers who have a knowledge of English, and do not depend upon slang for effeot, will be likely to obtain advantage from this notice. Fortnightly Review.—MSS. not returned. Articles type-written are more likely to be read. Address, II, Henrietta-street, Covent Garden, W.C. Gentlewoman.—The Editor is generally too well supplied to accept more contributions, but no doubt suitable articles would be considered. A stamped envelope should be enclosed. Address, Arundel-street, Strand, W.C. Globe.—Communications may be returned if accompanied by stamped and addressed envelope; but the Editor will not be responsible for them. Address, 267, Strand, W.C. Graphic.—Stamped and addressed envelope must be enclosed. Address, 190, Strand, W.C. Guardian.—The Editor is not necessarily responsible for the opinions expressed in signed articles, or in articles marked "Communicated" or "From a Correspondent." The very frequent disregard of our rule about the return of MSS. compels us to restate it in a slightly different form:—No MS. oan be returned unless a stamped and addressed envelope is sent in the same oover as that which contains the MS. Stamps alone, or a stamped and ## p. 317 (#767) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 317 addressed envelope Eent afterwards or in another cover, are not sufficient. Hospital.—AH MS., letters, books, for review, and other matters intended for the Editor should be addressed The Eaitor, The Lodge, Portchester-square, London, W. The Editor oannot undertake to return rejeoted MS., even when accompanied by a stamped directed envelope. Household Words.—The Editor cannot be responsible for loss or damage, though every care is taken of MSS. As there is a large number of contributions sent to this office, some time must elapse before notice is taken of them. Address, 12, St. Bride-street, E.C. Idler.—All stories and articles receive immediate consider- ation; but they must be short (type-written preferred). Address, Bedford-street, Strand, W.C. Illustrated Bits.—All letters intended for the Editor should be addressed "Editor, Illustrated Bits, 158, Fleet-street, London." No notice will be taken of anony- mous communications, and no letterB will be answered by post unless accompanied by a stamped directed envelope for that purpose. To Artists.—Drawings whioh refer to humorous sub- jects may be submitted if accompanied by stamps for return if not accepted. All sketches are paid for at time of acceptance. Address, "Art Editor," The Bitteries, 158, Fleet-street, London, E.C. Illustrated London News.—Stamped and addressed envelope must be enclosed. Address, 19S, Strand, London, W.C. Illustrated Sporting- and Dramatic News.—The Editor cannot be responsible for any contribution eent when not solicited by him. Address, 14S, Strand, London, W.C. Irish Field.—The Editor will be pleased to receive and consider, for purposes of publioat:on, any photographs or sketches of incidents connected with matters of sporting or general interest. Articles of a similar nature will also be considered and paid for upon their appearance in type. Contributions will be returned where stamps are enclosed, but while due care will be taken, the Editor declines to make himself responsible in any way for their Bafety or re-delivery. All such communications should be accompanied by the name and address of the sender— not necessarily for publication. Where speoial rates or conditions are expected these must be stated beforehand. The Editor begs to state that he deolines to hold himself in any way responsible for the safety or return of any- thing to anyone. Jewish World.—The Editor of The Jewish World will not in any case be responsible for the return of rejected . contributions. He will, however, alwayB be prepared to consider MSS. and sketches that have a distinctly Jewish interest, and where stamps are inclosed, and name and address of sender legibly written on the manuscript, every effort will be made to return rejected contributions promptly. MS3. must be clearly written on one side of the paper only. Lady.—Does not return any contribution. Address, 3j« Bedford-Btreet, Strand. Lady's Pictorial.—Appropriate articles might be received if well written and short; stamped envelope for return.— Address, 172, Strand, W.C. Lancet.—It is most important that communications relating to the Editorial business of the Lancet should be addressed exclusively "To the Editors," and not in any oaBe to any gentleman who may be supposed to be con- nected with the Editorial staff. It is urgently necessary that attention be given to this notice. It is especially reqneBted that early intelligence of local events having a medioal interest, or whioh it is desirable to bring under the notice of the profession may be sent direct to this offioe. Lectures, original articles, and reports should be written on one side only of the paper. Letters, whether intended for insertion or for private information, must be authenticated by the names and addresses of their writers, not necessarily for publication. Local papers containing reports or news paragraphs should be marked and addressed " To the Sub-Editor." We cannot undertake to return MSS. not used. Land and Water.—No rejectel MSS. returned. Address, 24, Bedford-street, Strand. Lifa.—C jmmuaicationa as to the literary contents of this paper should be addressed to the Editor; those referring to advertisements and other business matters to the- Manager. We cannot hold ourselves responsible for the Bafety of any unsolicited contribution, but if a stamped envelope is inolosed with any manuscript, we will do our best to ensure that, if not accepted, the mi nuscript shall be returned to the writer. London Reader.—We cannot undertake to return rejected manus .'ripts. London Society.—MSS. Bent to Editor should bear the name and addresB of the writer, and must be accompanied in all cases by a stamped directed envelope for their return if unsuitable. Copies should be kept of all- articles. Every care is taken of the papers forwarded by correspondents, but no responsibility is assumed in oase- of accident. The Editor cannot undertake to return rejected poems. All communications Bhould be addressed - to the Eaitor of London' 8ociety. Longman's Magazine.—The Editor prefers to have the eubject of an article submitted to him before MS. is sent. Stamped and addressed envelope should be enclosed with MS. in case of rejection, when it will be returned. The Editor cannot be responsible for loss. Address, Editor, Longman's Magazine, 39, Paternoster-row, E.C. Magazine of Short Stories.—The Editor is always willing to give consideration to short dramatio stories (not exceeding 2000 words in length) and to smart,, chatty, anecdotal articles dealing with matters or with' people of to-day (from 400 to 1400 words). Humorous- drawings that are submitted to him also reoeive oarefuV attention. Such stories, articles, and drawings must be original. Every effort will be made to return rejected contributions promptly, provided that stamped addressed envelopes or wrappers are enclosed; bnt the Editor does not hold himself responsible for any MSS. or drawings with which he may be favoured, nor will he undertake to. return them unless this condition has been observed. Moonshine.—The humble petition of the Editor of Moon- shine showeth that whereas your Petitioner is in the habit of receiving large number of manuscripts, yclept (i' the vulgar) MSS., as hereinafter set forth. That your petitioner is unable tj use ali MSS. that are so sent him. That your Petitioner, for lack of time and opportunity, and the stress of occasional'y retiring, as who should say, to rest, cannot enter into correspondence with authors of rejected MSS., even though, by neglecting to send covers, suitably directed and stamped they may not have had their efforts returned, and may thereby be moved to. indignation. That your Petitioner will endeavour to return manuscripts when thns accompanied, but your Petitioner prayeth that (as well for their own security as for the forwarding of certain moneys in case of acceptance) his friends w.ll kindly write on the MSS. ## p. 318 (#768) ############################################ 3i8 THE AUTHOR. ipsissima their reverend, respected, and worshipful names and fall addresses; and will recollect that the office of Moonshine is at No. 2, Bouverie-street, over against Fleet-street, in the City of London. Morning.—Cannot be responsible for the return of rejected MSS., bnt stamped and addressed envelope ought to be enclosed in any case. Address' 19, St. Bride-street, E.C. Morning Advertiser.—Does not return rejected MSS. This, like all the daily papers, has a permanent staff. Address, 127, Fleet-street, E.C. Morning Leader.—Any communication must be accom- panied by name and address of the sender, and stamped and addressed envelope inclosed for return. Address, Stoneoutter-Btreet, E.C. Morning Post.—Cannot return rejected MSS. Address 346, Strand, W.C. National Review.—Correspondent's name and address must be written on MS , and stamps inclosed in case of rejection for return of contribution. Address, 37, Bed ford-street, Strand, W.C. Nature.—The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. No notioe is taken of anonymous com- munications. Nineteenth Century.—Rejected contributions not re- turned. Address, Messrs. Sampson, Low, and Co., Fetter- lane, London, E.C. Novel Review.—All books and magazines intended for review must reach the office not later than the 15th hist, addressed to The Editor. MS. will be returned if stamps are sent. The Editor will not undertake to be responsible for MS. in case of loss. All communications should be addressed to the Editorial and Advertising Offices—18, Tavistock-street, Covent Garden, London. Our Home. -Contributors are informed that while every care will be taken of their MSS., and unsuitable matter will be returned if accompanied by stamped addressed envelope, the Editor does not hold himself responsible for the loss or delay of unsolicited contributions, and advises contributors to keep a copy of the MSS. These should have address on back, and the number of words should be stated. Pall Mall Gazette.—Sketches and all communications are considered, and when stamps and address are enclosed, the Editor will endeavour to return rejected MSS. Address, 18, Charing-oross, W.C. Fall Mall Magazine. — Articles on any interesting subject aocepted if really good; stamped and addressed envelope shonld be enclosed. Address, 18, Charing-cross- road, W.C. Pearson's Magazine.—Accepts interesting articles on general subjeots, and short stories, which will be returned on receipt of stamped and addressed envelope. Address, Henrietta-street, W.C. Pearson's Weekly.—Articles on any interesting, curious, or popnlar subject have a good chance of acceptance if well written. Address, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, W,C. Piccadilly.—The Editor cannot be responsible for the safety or return of manuscripts forwarded for approval. Subscribers are particularly requested to forward all communications concerning changes of addreBS or addi- tional oojies to the publisher. All communications for the Editorial Department of Piccadilly should be addressed to the Editor, 24B, Craven-street, Strand (end of Northumberland-avenue, opposite the Hotel Me'tropole). Pick-Me-TJp. — The Editor of Pici-Me-Up is willing to consider MSS. and drawings forwarded to him. While he cannot accept any responsibility in regard to their eafe keeping, he will make every effort to return rejected communications if stamps are inclosed. Short stories should not exceed 1500 words, and drawings should be humorous. The Editor will be pleased to Bee artists personally on Monday and Friday mornings, at the New Editorial Office, 28, Maiden-lane, Strand. Punch does not on any consideration whatever return rejected matter, even though stamps are enolosed. Address, Fleet-street, E.C. Road.—Owing to the increasingly large number of MSS. and drawings sent in to the Road, the Editor wishes it to be clearly understood that he will not undertake to use or return any MSS. or sketches sent in to him without his written instructions. All books, photographs, and samples of goods for review must be addressed to the Editor, and to no one by name; and no individual is authorised to promise " Notices " under any pretext what- ever. The Road is on sale everywhere, and can be obtained at all Smith's bookstalls throughout the United Kingdom. In the United States of America the Road is on at all the principal news-stands, and it is also ob- tainable on the Continent, and in India, South Africa, and the Australian Colonics. The advertisement tariff will be forwarded on application to the manager. The publish- ing, advertisement, and subscription offices will be re- moved to 41 and 42, King-street, Covent Garden, W.C, after the beginning of the New Year. Rod and Gun.—The Editor of Bod and Gun does not, in any case, hold himself responsible for the return of rejected contributions. He is, however, always glad to consider MSS. and sketches; and, where stamps are enclosed, and the name and address are written on the manuscript, every effort will be made to return rejected contributions. The Editor desires to state that he cannot enter into correspondence regarding MS. To Ouk Colonial Readers.—The Editor is at all times glad to consider any accounts of colonial sport sub- mitted to him. St. James's Gazette.—The Editor cannot undertake to hold himself responsible for the return of rejected con- tributions. Saturday Review.—No contributions returned in any case. Suitable artioles might be accepted. Address, 38, Southampton-street, Strand. Scraps.—Short paragraphs on out-of-way subjects mostly desired. MS. returned if stamped and addressed en- velope enclosed. Address, Red Lion-court, Fleet-street, E.C. Sketch.—Any Bhort stories, not exceeding 2500 words in length, will be considered. Rejected MS. returned if stamped and addressed envelope or wrapper inclosed. Address, Manuscript Department, 198, Strand, W.C. Society.—The Editor is compelled to announce that he will not be responsible for any MSS. sent to him, nor will he guarantee their return, even if stamps are enclosed for the purpose. Authors should therefore keep copies of their contributions if they value them highly. Speaker.—MSS. not returned, when cent unrequested. Address, 115, Fleet-street, E.C. ## p. 319 (#769) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 319 Spectator.—No MSS. returned in any case. Address, 1, Wellington-street, Strand, W.C. Spinning Wheel.—The Editor will be glad to consider any MS. likely to be of interest to the readers of this paper, either short stories of 2000 words in length or short articles. The Editor wishes to remind contributors that, if MSS. are to be returned in case of rejection, stamps must accompany them. Stories.—The Editor of Stories will be pleased to consider, with a view to publication, short original stories or articles. Under no oiroumstances, however, can he hold himBelf responsible for MSS. submitted for his considera- tion, but where stamps are inclosed every effort will be made to ensnre the prompt return of rejected contribu- tions. Accepted matter, whether Btories or articles, if original, will be paid for at the rate of One Guinea per 1000 wordB, unless otherwise arranged for. Payments for contributions are made on the date of publication of each issue. Every MS. must bear the name and address of the writer, which should be legibly written on the first page. Contributors should see that their MSS. are properly fastened, otherwise the leaves are liable to get mislaid. It must be distinctly understood that the setting up in type of any story or article does not necessarily imply acceptance, and payment will in no case be made, except on publication. Copied matter is not required, and anyone sending it in as original will be liable to proseontion. All matter paid for becomes the absolute property of Stories, Limited. Strand.—Stories of strange experiences, &c, might be sent to this paper, and articles on general subjects. Returned if not accepted, if stamped and addressed envelope en- closed. Address, Southampton-street, Strand, W.C. Sun.—Our Guinea Story.—The stories printed in these columns are contributed by readers of the Sun. Anyone may send an original story not exceeding 1200 words, and for eaoh one we use we shall pay the author £1 is. Un- suitable MSS. are returned if stamped and addressed envelopes accompany them, but we oannot enter into any correspondence regarding contributions sent us. Sunday Chronicle. — Should any difficulty be expe- rienced in obtaining the Sunday Chronicle, oomplaints should be made to the Chief Office, Mark-lane, Man- chester. On all business matters communications Bhould be addressed to the firm, and not to any indi- vidual member thereof. No notice will be taken of anonymous letters. Every communication should be authenticated with the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. Articles, stories, sketches, verses, and other contributions should be addressed to the Editor, who, however, does not hold himself responsible for the return of rejected manuscripts. Where stamps are inclosed, and the name and address written on the manusoript, every effort will be made to promptly return unaccepted articles.—E. Hulton and Co. Times.—Does not return rejected communications. Address, Printing House-square, E.C. Tit-Bits.—The Editor of Tit-Bits cannot hold himself responsible for the return of any manuscript which may bo submitted to him. He will, however, always be glad to consider any contributions which are sent; and, when stamped addressed envelopes are enclosed when the manu- scripts are submitted, every effort will be made to return rejected contributions. Contributors are specially re- quested to put thoir names and addresses on their manu- scripts. United Service Gazette.—We would draw the attention of our correspondents to the importance of writing legibly, and on one side of the paper only. MSS. cannot be returned unless aocompanied by stamps. University Extension Journal.—The Editor cannot undertake to return rejected communications unlesB stamps are inclosed for that purpose. Vegetarian.—The Editor of the Vegetarian cannot hold himself responsible in any case for the return of MSS. or eketcheB. He will, however, always be glad to oonsider any contributions which may be submitted to him; and, when postage stamps are enclosed, every effort will bo made to return rejected contributions promptly. Con- tributors are requested to put their names and addresses on their manuscripts. Address, 33, Paternoster-row, London, E.C. Westminster Gazette.—The Editor of the Westminster Gazette cannot hold himBelf responsible in any case for the return of MS. or sketohes. He will, however, always be glad to consider any contributions, literary or pictorial, which may be submitted to him, and, when postage- stamps are enclosed, every effort will be made to return rejected contributions promptly. Contributors are specially requested to put their names and addresses on their manuscripts. Address, Tudor-street, Wbitefriars, E.C. Wheeling.—Any articles sent in on subjects suitable for the columns of Wheeling will be considered on their merits, but we wish it to be distinctly understood that contributions will not be paid for unless remuneration has been stipulated for and arranged in advance. Rejected MS. will be returned when stamped addressed envelope is forwarded. Wheels.—The Editor will be pleased to consider snch literary contributions and sketches as may be sent him, and to pay for such as are accepted. All MSS. should be typewritten. While not holding himself responsible for the safety of anything submitted, every effort will be made to promptly return rejected matter, provided that sufficient stamps be enclosed to cover the postage. Woman's Signal. — All communications intended for insertion must be written on one side only of the paper, and the writer's name and address must be given, not necessarily for publication. The Editor cannot answer correspondents privately, except on the business of the paper strictly. H a stamped and addressed wrapper be attached to a manuscript offered for publication, it will be returned if declined; but the Editor oannot be respon- sible for the accidental loss of manuscripts, and any not accompanied by a wrapper for return will be destroyed if unaccepted. Space being limited, and many manusoripts offered, the Editor begs respectfully to intimate that an article being declined does not necessarily imply that it i* not considered an excellent composition. MR. ASQUITH ON CRITICISM. THE Eight Hon. H. H. Asquith delivered the annual address to the students of the London Society for the Extension of Uni- versity Teaching on the 23rd ult., in the Mansion House, Lord Mayor Davies presiding. Prefacing his lecture by remarking that the number of students assembled there was a refutation of the ## p. 320 (#770) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. fears of those who doubted whether it were pos- sible to transplant into London soil the methods of our ancient Universities, Mr. Asquith asked them, upon the threshold, to disabuse their minds of one or two misleading or narrow asso- ciations which had grown around the term " criti- cism" in popular thought and speech. It was, of course, true that there had been eminent men in whom their own want of success in the sphere of action or production had at once stimulated and soured the critical faculty. But it was not in that dwarfed and distorted sense they used the word. Denigration, whether it sprang from baffled rivalry, from a morose and cynical temper, or from honest shortsightedness—often amused, was some- times useful, might now and then, in the hands of a writer like Junius, exhibit some of the highest qualities of literary art; but it was not criticism, No antithesis was commoner than that between criticism and construction. A great artist might be incapable of criticism, and a good critic might be incapable of creation. But neither in the individual nor in the generations of men did the one set of gifts exclude the other. Criticism, in the true sense, had a positive, as well as a negative function. By discriminating between that which is true and false, between good and bad art, between reality and imposture, by deter- mining between the ephemeral idols of fashion and recalling the wandering thought to the worship of true beauty and greatness, it became a vitalising and energising principle. It per- formed the double duty of solvent and stimulant. There was no emptier fallacy than to suppose that criticism was merely a form of intellectual gymnastics, or the business of second-rate minds. "The business of criticism," as Matthew Arnold says, "is to know the best that is known and thought in the world, by, in its turn, making this known to create a current of fresh ideas." Like every other form of intellectual activity, it might be specialised withiu the confines of a definite subject matter. So it was, for instance, in the textual criticism of literature, and in the aesthetic criticism of the arts. Both had at various times fascinated and absorbed the best intellects of the race. The Stephenses, the Scaligers, the Casaubons were but the most conspicuous figures in a huge army of confessors and martyrs to a new literary faith, the rank and file of which had been depicted with incomparable fidelity and pathos in Browning's "Grammarian's Funeral." The science of textual criticism was constantly annexing new territories, and developing wider and more penetrating methods; and in its appli- cation to sacred literature, and to the slowly deciphered records of the great religions and civilisations of the East, it had achieved in our own time some of its most memorable results. The blunders of great critics woiild be a fascinating subject in the hands of Mr. Leslie Stephen or Mr. Birrell. Not only Johnson, but Richardson and Goldsmith failed to see anything in *' Tristram Shandy "; and Scott, after his "Lady of the Lake" had been pubbshed, said that Joanna Baillie was the great poet of the century. Other examples were frequent. Mr. Asquith concluded by advising the students to study great models like Shakespeare, on whose anniversary they had met, and then to "work at the smithy " them- selves, and not to form judgments by the modern and vulgar rule of payment by results, -»«3 PERSONAL. ABOUT ,£40 has so far been raised for the purpose of erecting a memorial in Wooton Waven Church to William Somerville, the author of "The Chace." Among the subscribers are Lord Rosebery, Lord Tarborough, Lord Leigh, and Sir Walter Gilbey. The committee in charge of the proposed memorial in Liverpool to Mrs. Hemans have decided to keep the subscription list open until June 30, and they invite half-crown and shilling subscriptions from admirers of the poet who may be unable to give more. The honorary treasurer of the fund is Mr. Theodore Brown, 26, Exchange- street East, Liverpool. Nearly £100 has been, subscribed. Mr. Oswald Crawfurd is to be literary editor, and Mr. Edwin Obver general editor, of a weekly review on the lines of the late National Observer, which is about to be issued, price one penny, and entitled the London Review. Replying to the toast of "The Visitors" at the 17th annual dinner of the Press Club, presided over by Mr. John Corlett, on the 2nd ult., Mr. Anthony Hope referred to the law of libel. It seemed to him that there was much necessity for amendment of the law directed towards the prevention of frivolous and black- mailing actions against newspapers, but at the same time it was of great importance that they should take pains to show that they did not wish for any weakening of the law of libel, for only where there was a firm administration of that law was importance attached to what the Press might say. With regard to the department called Criticism, speaking for those very hand- maids of Uterature, writers of stories to amuse idle hours, he could say that many depended upon the Press, because it was in their power, in the beginning at all events, to give to the young ## p. 321 (#771) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 321 writer a start or to prevent him having a "fair show." He was not going to say that the reviews were always absolutely right, but real pains was given to the work, and he met constantly young writers who had found in the reviews an incen- tive and a new power to them to pursue the career in which they had set out. In connection witli the National Burns Memo- rial and Cottage Home, Mauchline, Ayrshire, a Scottish gentleman resident in England has offered to give <£ioo to help to complete the endowment, provided a few more can be got to do likewise before the Home is opened on May 7. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Quem Dkus Vult Pkbderb, Pbius Dementat. IEXTRACT the following from the letter of a learned friend. According to some this saying is a free paraphrase of a passage in Sophocles' Antigone, 632-5, which runs: Thanks to somebody'a wisdom, a famous mot has been published, viz.: "That bad appears good to him whose wits God rains." Joshua Barnes, Professor of Greek at Cam- bridge, published in 1694 an edition of Euripides, including the Fragments, among which he gives one with this literal Latin version: At quando Numen miserias paret viro Mens laeaa primnm. In his first index, Barne3 refers to the frag- ment under the heading, "Deus quos vult perdere, dementat prius," its first appearance in England. Boissonade, a Frenchman, altered this, so as to make an iambic, into Quos vult Jupiter perdere dementat prius. From the fact of its usually appearing in the latter form, it probably came to be regarded as an old Latin iambic, which it is not. For one thing, it would not contain the word "dementat," which is d'une tret petite latinite', and occurs only in Lactantius, tenth century. The above seems to be the most likely origin. Malone, in a note on BoswelPs Johnson, anent "Quem Deus," says : "Perhaps no scrap of Latin whatever has been more often quoted than this. The word ' demento' is of no authority. After a long search, some gentlemen of Cambridge found it among the fragments of Euripides, where it is given as the translation of a Greek iambic: "ov 0£os 61\a. ajroAccmi irpioTa uiro<f>pcvai." ■ But (1) this is not an iambic; (2) there is no word diro<f>pcvai in Greek, or anything like it; (3; nobody has, from that day to this, been able to discover this particular fragment, which " the gentlemen of Cambridge" grubbed up. Faute de mieuu; the Barnes explanation seems to be the best. S. G. H I may be allowed from mere memory to answer your correspondent "Querist," the line "Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat" was the subject of a rather prolonged correspondence in the early times of Xotes and Queries, perhaps in the fifties; and the line was discovered in a Latin translation from some Greek tragedian, indeed, I think it was in Barnes's Euripides. J. Earle. Oxford, April 6. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—The Roxbttkghe Peess, Limited. IN December last, as the outcome of correspon- dence with the above-named firm of pub- lishers, formerly of 15, Victoria-street, West- minster, I forwarded to this address two MSS., one of which was returned me in January, whilst the second was, as stated in a letter from the manager, retained " for further consideration." Not hearing anything concerning the fate of the second MS., I made it my business when I was in town to call at the ofiices and see the manager, who went under the name of Mr. Charles F. Rideal. I did not see the manager, but I interviewed a man in possession of the furniture, and I think I may say that I saw about the last of the furniture before it came under the hammer. The man in possession could give me no idea as to the where- abouts of the manager, or as to the possessor of my MS. As there are doubtless numerous pro- vincial authors in a bke situation to myself, you would be doing a number of persons a service if you could give us some idea as to how to proceed with a view of recovering what, if not seen again, would represent heavy losses to many struggling authors. Provincial. April 16. __=_=^__ II.—No Copyright in Titles. I recently had occasion to offer a mild remons- trance against the employment of a title which clashed with one already chosen by myself for a short tale. A record of my efforts and ill-success to establish a claim to what I fondly imagined to be my own property may not be without interest to writers. The moment the usurping name was advertised ## p. 322 (#772) ############################################ 322 THE AUTHOR. I wrote to the publishers calling their attention to the fact. Their reply was that, as the work had been sent out for review, they were sorry to say nothing could be done. They added that as my story was not issued in book-form, and was some years old, I was not likely to be " injuriously affected" by the coincidence. This was, no doubt, perfectly true. But it did not appear to me to weaken my case, and I was bold enough to repeat the belief that I might, if so minded, enforce a withdrawal of the name. Sub- sequently I was told how it was " impossible " to prevent the use on a book of a title which had been previously appropriated for a short tale. The firm also remarked that it "would be glad to think otherwise," but there really appeared to be "no copyright in titles." Alas, this seems to be so, and I must perforce bow my head in uncon- vinced submission. It is hard lines, all the same. I cannot but think some scheme might be devised whereby the most difficult and important choice of a title should be secured to its creator, say by registra- tion or affidavit upon full, or even part, comple- tion of MSS. Perhaps some fellow-sufferer of the goosequill can indicate a plan which would spare novelists much repining? Cecil Clarke. Authors' Club, S.W., April 16. [The plan is quite simple. It is to place the matter, if any injury has been sustained, in the hands of a solicitor-—or the Secretary of the Society.—Ed.] III.—A Warning to Writers. May I draw your attention to the following facts as a warning to English writers? Last year a letter, typed on paper with the words "New York Herald, New York," printed on it, and purporting to come from one "Wallace Wood," on behalf of the Herald, was received by a friend of mine. It asked him to do a piece of literary work for the "Herald's Symposium on the World's Best Poetry." He did this piece of work, and sent it to "Wallace Wood, the New York Herald, New York." No reply was received, and, of course, no remittance. He then made inquiries at the Herald office through a respectable American solicitor, who writes him: "I saw the editor, who told me that the Herald had never had such work in mind, and that Mr. Wallace Wood must be one of the many swindlers who have used their (the New York Herald's) name in this manner." In justice to the New York Herald, and as a warning against " Mr. W. Wood" and others of his kidney, I beg you to print this letter in The Author. P. York Powell. Oriel College, Oxford, April 4, 1898. The New York Herald, New York, May 1. Dear Sib,—Would you kindly join the Herald Sym- posium on "The World's Beat Poetry" or the "Hundred Finest Poems" by mentioning the names of from six to twelve short poems in the Spanish language which you would consider as of the highest excellence, worthy to be regarded as classic and standard, or of best value to humanity, together with such criticism or suggestion (one to two hundred words) as may occur to you. Copies of this letter are sent to scholars of universities throughout the world. Very sincerely yours, Wallace Wood. IV.—' The Literary Year-Book, 1898." I regret to agree with you as to this work. It is a pity; for a really good book of the kind is much needed and would certainly pay. The Directory of Authors, oddly enough, reminds us of John Wesley's heaven: we find many welcomed therein whom we should have expected to see excluded; while several authors of repute are conspicuous by reason of their absence. But, whatever may be the errors of the editor, Mr. Joseph Jacobs, excess of politeness is not one of them. My name and address were given in the "Year-Book" for 1897, but are unaccountably omitted in that for the present year. I wrote a courteous note inquiring the reason, but have not beeu favoured with a reply. Now, I am a bond fide author, have published a book, and contri- bute to some dozen magazines, &c. I cannot, therefore, see why my name should be removed from the Directory by Mr. Joseph Jacobs. Scriptor Quidam. V.—Editors and Contributors. 1. I notice in your latest issue that you give an excerpt from and comments upon an article in last month's National Revieto on this vexed question. This article I have not read in its entirety, though I have read about it and extracts from it, because the National is not taken in the public library here, and it is too expensive, alas, for me to buy. I do not know, therefore, whether the writer has touched on two phases of the question which to me seem very important, and the latter of which I do not remember to have ever seen dealt with. (1) The inordinate time MSS. are often kept (a) before being returned rejected, (6) before, if accepted, being inserted, no notice too generally being given in latter case. In regard to "a," the great grievance here is ## p. 323 (#773) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 323 when the article is in any way topical or dep in- dent for its interest on a subject of passing moment. But even if otherwise, if not wanted it should be returned as quickly as possible, and in as cleanly and respectable a condition as sent; unfortunately only too necessary a provision this latter. In the case of "b," I have known an editor accept an article, hoard it up for months, and then insert it in a more or less truncated state, without consulting the author in the matter at all. Often this latter gentleman is impaled upon the horns of a dilemma. He may badly want his article inserted without delay, but if he writes to an editor who has had it in his pos- session some time, with a request to that effect, the possibility is that he will have his work re- turned upon his hands, and perchance be unable to sell it elsewhere. It is dangerous for a struggling outsider in journalism to exchange any certainty for an uncertainty. The only thing is to write to the editor a polite note, taking it for granted that he has accepted the piece, and asking when he will insert it. This letter though may be ignored, or simply have the effect of a request for a return of the MS. Editors could put good MSS. from outsiders in much quicker if they liked. The fact is they keep such in reserve while they try on that patient dog, the British public, a lot of rotten, stodgy, inept stuff, not worth the paper it is printed on, much of it "lifted." That I have had some personal experience of this matter you may gauge from the following: I submitted to a certain editor, the editor of a weekly paper, with stamped addressed envelopes, in 1896, a story and article, which have never been returned me and never used. I have been frequently in communication with this editor since (a very decent fellow as his tribe goes), and he has used a certain quantity of my work, more or less, as I would have desired it; but though I have constantly referred to this tale and article, I have never learnt anything about their fate, and here we are approaching the middle of 1898. Am I too impatient? I may say other pieces have been kept from ten months downward in the same quarter. And I badly want the money for them—there is, of course, no payment until insertion; yet I dare not ask for them back, in case I should not be able to dispose of them else- where. The most I can do is to hint that I think it time some at least of them were used. Now, as to grievance (2), namely, the habit which most editors have of not sending proofs of articles where at any rate such articles are short, their idea being that they can fully supply any deficiencies in such pieces. But my experience is that they cannot — that they leave in errors that the writers themselves would certainly correct in proof, that they never attempt to bridge over hiatuses or prune real redundancies or super- fluities. Perhaps this is because most editors are careless as to the symmetry and technique of an article, which is to every decent writer all important, especially if his name is brought into connection with it. Would you believe it, that an editor once allowed me to make a most common quotation from Moliere and mis-ascribe it, while he passed my reference to a dean as " the rev." without any " very "? These poor fellows! Of course they do not know, but why do not they send us proofs and allow us to protect our work, particularly as I have found they regard an author who sends in suggestions, subsequent to submitting his article, for emendations and amplifications of it, as a nuisance. And worse, do not act on such. Expeeto Ceede. II. May I, through the medium of your columns, call the attention of divers editors to a grievance that I and other occasional contributors to their pages have to suffer through the lack of a little thoughtfulness on their part. I refer to the un- necessary mutilation of inoffensive MSS. When, to have MSS. typed costs about is. a thousand words, or, say, 5 per cent, of the author's receipts, it is, I consider, somewhat wanton of the powers that be to tear off the front and end pages, write in pencil the approximate length as measured by their own columns on the body of the MS., and then, after a few weeks have elapsed, return the remnants—sans clip, saw cover, sans an apology. Then, with regard to the editors and proprietors of journals published in the United States, I would ask if it would not be possible to induce them to copyright their productions in England, or otherwise protect them from the scissors of a certain class of their English brethren. The great popularity of the article made in the States, though conducive to large dividends for English shareholders, is a distinct hardship on the struggling native author, whose pen remains idle while that of the editor of the 20 per cent, paying journal fiercely splutters as he feverishly alters countless "Chicagos," innumerable "Illinois," and multitudinous "Maines" into his beloved "Cottonopolis," "One of the Midland Counties," or " A well-known seaside resort." An Unofficial Receiver—of Editorial Regrets. hi. "Don't take to literature if you've capital enough to buy a good broom, and energy enough to annex a vacant crossing," is the advice of Mr. Grant Allen. Pessimistic as it may appear, its truth will not ## p. 324 (#774) ############################################ 324 THE AUTHOR. •be contested by those who, devoid alike of pecu- niary and social influence, have striven to make headway in the profession for which their natural qualifications fit them. It cannot be denied that the position of an unknown literary producer with regard to the man who employs or rejects his services is humiliating in the extreme. The dealer to whom he takes his wares may detain them unconscionably, use them at his own price, nay, even destroy them, without compunc- tion. Until the productions of writers, of what con- dition whatsoever, are recognised both by law and public opinion as property that cannot be stolen, under-valued, or contemptuously handled without .incurring punishment; until the entire literary community, and not merely the acknowledged leaders of it, are accepted as a body of labourers worthy of their hire, the advice of Mr. Grant Allen will continue to be sound. The heads of the literary profession are in positions to enforce fair play; there are, also, publishers and editors who value their own credit too highly to take advantage of a writer's obscurity or ignorance. But as one of the rank and file, I am almost daily brought face to face with abuses that do not perhaps affect the leaders. There can never be anything businesslike and satisfactory in literary pursuits until the following obstacles are finally surmounted: 1. Delays in considering MSS.—I have had a manuscript under consideration nine months; and frequently pass three, in speculating as to the probabilities of ever beholding it again. 2. Delays in payment.—Here, again, the bewildered novice has just cause for outcry, seeing that while one editor pays on publication, another will postpone settlement until the poor author has given up hopes of ever receiving his due. 3. Unequal remuneration.—Why should one editor offer a guinea a column where another stops at five shillings for the same article? With regard to obstacle 1, every editor should be compelled to return rejected MSS. within the month, or pay for it at recognised rates. Other- wise how is the author to know with any degree of certainty when he is at liberty to offer the work elsewhere; and how is he to calculate his income when he has no means of judging what his MSS. are worth? The editor who keeps a MS. nine months before publishing it, and only pays after publication, as compared with the editor who ju-cepts the MS. and pays for it within the month though not publishing it for nine months, robs the author of eight months' interest. 2. With regard to obstacle 2, then, there should be a fixed regulation dealing with the question of settling up. Payment on publication means nothing; since publication may not be till six seven, eight, nine, or even more months after acceptation. The only system of treating the author fairly in this case seems to me that, should his MS. be kept long enough to imply acceptation, it should be paid for within a stipu- lated time dating from its receipt. 3. As regards unequal remuneration. There is this to be said. If a journtl cannot afford to remunerate its contributors at a legitimate rate, it is on a level with the bogus theatrical company and the absconding manager, and should be smashed up. Shopkeepers, manufacturers, men of business, in a large way or a small, making money or losing it, must pay their staff ordinary salaries. Their own profit his nothing to do with the case. Innumerable journalistic specu- lators, like the bogus theatrical manager, com- mence operations without capital. Should their venture succeed, it is probable they will pay contributors. Should it fail, as it invariably does, contributors are the last to be considered. Other ventures linger out a miserable existence, stealing " copy" where they can, paying ridicu- lous trifles when obliged to cash out something. Trade conducted on such principles is fraudulent; and there are scores of periodicals that, so far as minor authors a<e concerned, simply live by fraud. By compelling editors to return or pay for MSS. within a certain fixed time these swindlers would be circumvented. Should it be argued that the literary staff of a journal is not large enough to cope with the amount of unsolicited contributions forwarded within the time specified, I answer simply such literary staff requires enlarging. Bankers, mer- chants, shopkeepers, tradesmen, and professional men generally, are forced to maintain a staff in accordance with their requirements. It is only newsj>aper and magazine proprietors who are allowed to "sweat" their literary employes without remonstrance. An editor whose time is insufficient to permit of his conscientiously read- ing his MSS. and dealing with them promptly, is no credit to the firm for whom he works. At the present moment, and in spite of the efforts of the Society of Authors—which will, I hope, be the instrument of effecting great and permanent benefit to the profession of letters—a class of labourers perhaps the most enlightened, industrious, and patient, in existence, suffers indignities, wrongs, and scandalous treatment such as the most ignorant, idle, and unruly member of a trades union would resent quickly and fiercely. ## p. 325 (#775) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 325 I write as an author; but I am not incapable of entering into the views of the editor. I have occupied the editorial cbair; but not, I sincerely trust, with the supercilious self-sufficiency and blind disregard both of businesslike and courteous treatment so many editors display in their deal- ings with contributors. Contributors, even un- solicited contributors, are not beggars. Is it not high time editors, simple and wise, just and unjust, honest and dishonest, were forced to acknowledge this little fact? Hebbebt W. Smith. VI.—The Publishee's Assistant. A few days ago I received a (written) letter from the offices of a well-known publisher herald- ing the return of a manuscript, and I am loth to allow that letter to perish altogether unnoticed. It was brief, but it contained sufficient cause of offence. In it I was addressed as "Dear," plain and simple, without the distinction of a name, while that of my book was incorrectly given, and the whole not considered worthy of signa- ture. Now, I am not an absolute beginner, and, although I had had no previous dealings with the firm in question, I corresponded with them on the subject of my story before giving them the first refusal. They retained it from January until March, and it occurs to me that if ten weeks were required for its perusal, ten minutes might have been allowed for the writing of a civil letter; the one which I received would have been returned without comment but for the probability of its falling into the hands of the writer. I have no doubt the publisher's assistant is responsible for such cases, for the heads of the great firms are invariably courteous in personal dealings (or such, at least, has been my experi- ence). But there seems no sufficient reason that the disheartening experiences of young writers should be aggravated by insolence of the typo referred to, and I wish that the numerous pub- lishers who evidently read The Author would give the matter their consideration. E. K. S. LITEEATUEE IN THE PEEIODICALS. Unmabketableness of Vebse.—An Author's Confession.—The Eelioious Novel.—The Teaching of English. "T1THY is verse not read?" is the ques- Y V tion propounded by the Daily News (April 18), and left unanswered. The journal is reviewing a volume of poems, and contrasts the popularity of fiction with the un- marketableness of verse. Mr, Henley is the author in question, and he has stated, in explana- tion of this volume being all that he has to show in the matter of verse for the years between 1873 and 1897, that, "after spending the better part of my life in the pursuit of poetry, I found myself (about 1877) so utterly unmarketable that I had to own myself beaten in art, and to addict myself to journalism for the next ten years." His case, says the Daily News, stands for many more, and "if work of this quality had appeared in prose it could never have gone begging." True, Mr. Henley's publisher rejoins tbat sales have been not so very bad, and two correspondents suggest that the subjects treated are fitted rather for prose treatment. But to our contemporary it appears an inevitable conclusion that editors know that readers no longer care for poetry. It suggests that we may be going through some process of decisive change in literary forms. At any rate, "there is more verse than ever nowa- days," and "there is less acceptance for it than ever." A disappointed author (though not a poet) makes a statement of his experiences in the April pages of the New Century Review, by way of bidding farewell to literature. "Julian Croskey," the pseudonym under which this gentleman has appeared in authorship, adopted the literary profession deliberately as a means to an end. He had been in the Chinese Customs service, and attempted to raise a rebellion, for which he was sent to prison on being handed over to the British Government. He next conceived the idea of raising a party of gentlemen to adven- ture into China and exploit the country. To secure the gentlemen confederates he must get into society. To get into society he determined upon authorship. In three months he wrote twenty-six magazine articles and two books; starvation, fever, and isolation then brought him to the London Hospital. Coming out of hospital, he next borrowed .£50, took a small room near Hampstead Heath, living on tinned meat and opium, and, although " full of creativeness," wasted a year "in what I thought the more important duty, the composition of my bible and military scheme of conquest." This over, he began to send out his slum work, placed three or four articles, two tales, and a book. His agree- ment with the publisher specified two or three other books which he was to supply, " so that if I had taken to literature then I should at once have been launched. I, however, neglected my part of the agreement, and. let my opportunity slide." In the following year he sent out his military book. Publishers admired it, and said it would not pay; ## p. 326 (#776) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. one firm offered to accept it if the author would bear part of the cost. "I consequently withdrew it," says the author, "feeling that it would be time enough to publish it when I had made my entree into society by fiction. This was on a par with the rest of my folly, for the book is now useless, as my heart is no longer in its tenets." Another book—of "recollections "—was to be accepted if he would tone down its style. He did not tone down the style, and therefore let that opportunity also go by, but he acknowledges now (being older) that the style was abominable. He was prepared to make good use of his third year, when a catastrophe happened. He accepted a clerkship, at the instigation of his people, who insisted on his earning a "reasonable living," and took pains to secure him a berth. From Hampstead Heath he migrated to Blooms- bury, and after office hours he worked at a piratical novel. He sent the first part to a publisher, who said it was too realistic for a "boy's book." "Boy's book" being too much for the author, he never sent the publisher the remainder, "and when the book was finished I had lost confidence, and was afraid it was far too audacious." Its fate afterwards was, being cut up into magazine stories, while books on the same lines had been appearing in the meantime and meeting with success. He gave up his clerk- ship, determined to face poverty and work again; and "from the spring of '95 onward," he says, "I have drifted from my ambitions and knocked myself to pieces." Still, he placed another book, and articles, earning ,£70 during 1896. Among his misfortunes was writing the first of a series of detective stories for a new magazine, and the magazine never appeared; sending illustrations to a magazine and getting his article back with- out them. He changed his pseudonym; he changed his address; he did not read magazines, and therefore is still ignorant whether some of his articles have appeared or not. He placed two tales with a certain magazine, "neglecting again a lucrative opening for a series. My opportuni- ties were excellent for a professional scribbler, but I would not make it my profession." Here is the catalogue of some results:—"I believe I have five tales accepted somewhere which are yet to appear, but I have burnt my records and cannot recall them. I have asked one editor if he would pay me in advance, but have had no reply. I have absolutely wasted six years. I have wasted, indeed, the first thirty years of my life." And the moral of it? This: "if you would succeed as an author, be one and nothing else. If you can beg, borrow, or steal as much as .£50 a year, cut yourself off from everything and write." A member of the Anglican clergy, the Rev. Anthony Deane, attacks "the whole genus 'Religious Novel' " in the April number of the National Review. Religion, he contends, should surely be one of certain subjects which should still be considered to be outside the novelist's pale. He cites instances of technical blunders in description of religious ceremonies, and accuses "writers of irresponsible fiction " of having cari- catured the clergy and the ordinances of the Church, but he appears satisfied that" after alL no one takes these books very seriously, and they do not influence, nor are they intended to influence, the general public's estimation of the Church in the slightest degree." Mr. Deane thinks that the legitimate domain of the novel to-day—that is to say, outside "certain subjects," of which religion should be one—is extensive enough, the limits far wider than those within which Thackeray and Dickens were content to be bound:— If our religion (saya Mr. Deane) is something more than a vague sentiment, or a hazy aspiration—if it is deep, if it is real, if it is saored to us—the " religions" novel, in whioh Biblical narratives are eked out with mawkish sentiment and glaring vulgarity, in which Divine ordinances are cari- catured, must needs seem nauseating and disgusting. If, again, we value the traditions of our literature, if we are aniiona that its future should be not unworthy of its past, we cannot but deplore this lowering of the accepted standard of taste—we cannot but regret that well-known writers, for the sake of selling gigantic editions, should be ready to pander to depraved likings, and be prepared, for the sake of making a sensation, to fling all notions of decency and reverence to the winds. The question of teaching historical English grammar is presented by Mr. Mark H. Liddell in the Atlantic Monthly as one of paramount neces- sity if we are to preserve the power of our lan- guage to formulate our thought aptly, clearly, and easily. "Our present system of studying English literature from the standpoint of New English grammar," he says, "is creating for ua two languages where but one has existed in the past—a formal language of literary expression more or less transcendental, and an informal language of every-day life, practical, familiar, simple, direct" :— In the case of the Bible, the one has already become a sacerdotal tongue full of anomalies in syntax and idiom, and set apart as a sacred Bpeech because of its obsolete- pronouns and outgrown verb forms. The homely speech of an early Christianity which sought inspiration in the humblest walks of life has thus beoome artificial, and has got separated from actual experience. It now stands in need of a gloss almost as much as the Vulgate did when, in answer to the homely cry "Givo us the Soriptures," Tyndale translated it into the speech of everyday life. When the historical development of the English language and literature is once clearly under- stood, says the writer, this artificial process will be at an end. It will also lead to a fuller appre- ## p. 327 (#777) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. ciation of much of our best literature. Mr. Liddell avers that in a recent imposing book on the history of English literature which speaks of the influence of Chaucer's harmonious and scien- tific versification, there are in the ten lines quoted five forms of expression that Chaucer could not have used, two that he did not use, and one that no writer or speaker of English has ever used. Says Mr. Liddell: "The critic could not read inU-lligently the poetry he was criticising—a dis- qualification which one feels ought to be a serious one. If the writer had chosen the history of Greek poetry for his field, he would have been laughed out of court for such efforts." BOOK TALE. MR. HERBERT SPENCER is engaged revising "Principle* of Biology," and writing additional chapters for the work. One of these, entitled "Cell-Life and Cell- Multiplication," describes the revelations which late years have witnessed respecting the processes of cell-division and cell-fertilization. Mr. Spencer contributes to the May number of Xatural Science an article on the subject, and prefixes it with a note in which he says:—" Study of the facts and hypotheses, as set forth in recent works, have suggested to me some interpretations which I have not met with. I have thought it as well to publish them now: not waiting for completion of the first volume of the " Principles of Biology "; as this will be long delayed, even if ill-health does not prevent completion of it." Mr. J. Arthur Gibbs has written a volume on country life in Gloucestershire, which is to be publishei by Mr. John Murray under the title •' A Cotswold Village." Messrs. Duckworth have just ready a volume of articles by Mr. Norman Hapgood, who con- tributes the New York Letter to T/ie Author every month. It is entitled "Literary States- men and Others," and deals with Lord Rosebery, Mr. Morley, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Henry James, Stendhal, Merimce, American art criticism and American cosmopolitanism. Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., has written a memoir of the Hon. Sir Charles Murray, K.C.B., which will be published by Messrs. Blackwood. At periods in his long life (1806-1895) Sir Charles was Master of the Household to the Queen, Consul-General in Egypt, and Minister at the Courts of Persia, Saxony, Denmark, and Portugal. His adherence in 1834-35 to a hunting "nation" of Pawnee Indian?, in whose lodges he lived for several months, is another episode in his interesting career. Many unpublished letters from Carlyle, Lord Brougham, Samuel Rogers, Alison, Praser, and others will be given in the memoir. Sir Charles Murray was at one time a constant frequenter of the famous breakfasts of Rogers at 22, St. James's-place. Mr. H. B. Wheatley, of the Society of Arts, is the author of a volume on " The Prices of books," which will form one of the Library Series pub- lished by Mr. George Allen. Sir George Robertson has written a history of th3 defence of Chitral from the point of view of those inside the fort. The work, which Messrs. Methueu will publish, will also give a connected narrative of all the stirring episodes on the Chitral frontier in 1895. At the time of the siege Sir George Robertson was, of course, British Agent at Gilgit. The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund will shortly have ready a work by Mr. Frederick Jones Bliss, Ph.D., explorer to the fund, entitled " Excavations at Jerusalem, 1894- 1897." Among the ten chapters there will be one on the chronological bearings of the excavations, another on the wall from the Protestant cemetery to the Jewish cemetery, and a third giving a historical sketch of the Wall of Jerusalem. The book will contain plans and illustrations by Mr. Archibald Campbell Dickie, A.R.I.B.A. Sir Wyke Bayliss will have ready in a few days his study of the likenesses of Christ. It is to be called "Rex Regum," and published by Messrs. Bell. Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, who was formerly President of the Aristotelian Society, has written a work, which will run to four volumes, entitled "The Metaphysic of Experience." It will be published shortly by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. Dr. Robert Munro, F.R.S.E., has written a volume on Prehistoric Scotland, which will be published by Messrs. Blackwood in a style uniform with their County Histories series. The Diary of Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm, who played chess with Napoleon at St. Helena, is expected to be published in a few months. Malcolm, after seeing much service at sea, and commanding in the North Sea during the Waterloo campaign, was appointed to the St. Helena station in 1816 in order to prevent the prisoner from escaping. "Interludes" will be the title of a volume of popular lectures on musical subjects, by the late Professor Henry Banister, which Messrs. George ## p. 328 (#778) ############################################ 328 THE AUTHOR. Bell and Sons will issue shortly. The work has been edited by Professor Stewart Macpherson, of the Royal Academy of Music. The forthcoming volume of the Social England series, published by Messrs. Sonnenschein, will be "Life in an Old English Town,'' by Miss M. Dormer Harris. It deals especially with the history of Coventry in inediseval times, contains illustrations taken from old prints and other sources, and facsimiles of ancient MS8. A short guide to Coventry will be included. Mr. Lionel Cust has compiled, and Mr. Sidney Colvin edited, a history of the Society of Dilettanti, telling its social life and its antiquarian and artistic enterprises fr< m 1732 to the present day. Only 350 copies will be printed, and 100 of these are reserved fov the members of the society. Messrs. Macmillan are the publishers. Dr. Emil Reich's volume on Hungarian litera- ture is now nearly ready for publication by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons. In their series dealing with periods of European literature, and edited by Professor Saintsbury, Messrs. Blackwood will shortly issue "The Augustan Ages," by Oliver Elton; and later, "The Fourteenth Century," by F. J. Snell. Other volumes arranged for are "The Dark Ages," by Professor W. P. Ker; " The Transition Period," by G. Gregory Smith; "The Mid- Eighteenth Century," by J. Hepburn Millar; "The Eomantic Revolt," by Professor C. E. Vaughan; "The Romantic Triumph," by T. S. Omond; and " The Later Nineteenth Century," by Professor Saintsbury. A series of essays on Church Reform, edited by Canon Gore, will be published immediately by Mr. Murray. Among the contributors are the Dean of Norwich, whose subject is "Pensions for the Clergy," Rev. Dr. Fry (" Church Reform and Social Problems "), Mr. Justice Phillimore ("Legal and Parliamentary Possibilities"), Lord Balfour of Burleigh ("The Actual Methods of Self-Government in the Established Church of Scotland"), Canon Scott-Holland, and Canon Gore. An annotated edition of the " Lyrical Ballads" of Wordsworth and Coleridge, by Mr. Hutchinson, of Trinity College, Dublin, will be published by Messrs. Duckworth in this the centenary year of the original publication of the work. Mr. Edmund G. Gardner has written a critical work entitled "Dante's Ten Heavens," which is intended mainly to serve as an introduction to the "Paradiso." The author is a Cambridge man. Messrs. Constable are the publishers. "The Early Relations between Britain and Scandinavia" is the title of a work by Dr. Hans Hildebrand, Royal Antiquary of Sweden, to be issued by Messrs. Blackwood. It consists of the Rhind Lectures in Archaeology for 1896. Mrs. Meynell and Mr. William Hyde are joint- authors of an artistic work called "London Impressious," which Messrs. Constable will issue shortly. Mr. Hyde is also doing twenty illustra- tions for Mr. Meredith's " Nature Poems," which is to appear in the collected edition of Mr. Mere- dith's works published by the same house. Mr. Horace Hutchinson, the well-known autho- rity on golf, has written a gossipy volume on the pastime, which will be publi.-hed by Messrs. Methum under the title " The Golfing Pilgrim." A popularly written work on Cricket by the Hon R. H. Lyttelton will be published by Messrs. Duckworth on an early date. Mr. Pitt Lewis, Q.C., delivered recently in Middle Temple Hall a historical lecture on the Temple. It is now about to be published in a revised and expanded form by Mr. John Long. A fourth and uniform edition of Mr. James Baker's well-known West Country story, "By the Western Sea," will shortly be issued by Messrs. Chapman an 1 Hall. It appears at an apropos moment, when so many will be visiting Lynmouth and its lovely neighbourhood. Mr. Trevor-Battye's new book, "A Northern Highway of the Tsar," is due from Messrs. Constable. Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. have begun the issue of an edition of Thackeray's works with biographical introductions by his daughter, Mrs. Ritchie. There will be thirteen volumes, which will appear at the rate of one per month. Every- body knows, of course, that Thackeray requested that his life should not be written; therefore, what Mrs. Ritchie does is merely in each volume to give the public little glimpses of the author. The first is " Vanity Fair," which the publisher issued on April 15. "I cannot help thinking," she remarks, "that although 'Vanity Fair' was written in 1845 and the following years, it was really begun in 1817, when the little boy, so lately come from India, found himself shut in behind those filagree iron gates at Chiswick, of which he writes when he describes Miss Pinker- ton's establishment." During the publication of the work, Thackeray wrote as follows to his mother: Towards the end of the month I get so nervous that I don't speak to anybody scarcely, and once actually got up in the middle of the night and came down to write in my ## p. 329 (#779) ############################################ THE AUTHOR 329 night chimee; but that don't happen often, and I own that I had a nap after dinner that day. And he writes on July 2, 1848:—"'Vanity Fair' is this instant done, and I have worked so hard, that I can scarcely hold a pen and say God bless my dearest old mother." Concerning the original of Becky Sharp, Mrs. Ritchie only says: One morning a hansom drove np to the door, and out of it emerged a most charming, dazzling little lady dressed in black, who greeted my father with great affection and brilliancy, and who, departing presently, gave him a large bunch of fresh violets. This was the only time I ever saw the fascinating little person who was by many supposed to be the origin il of Becky; my father only laughed when people asked him, but he never quite owned to it. He always said that he never conecioualy oopied anyone. Novels to be published by Messrs. Macmillan include "A Philosopher's Romance," by Mr. John Berwick; "The Concert Director," by Mrs. Blissett; "The Man of the Family," by Miss Emily Phillips; "The Forest Lovers," by Mr. Maurice Hewlett. New novels by Mrs. W. K. Clifford and Mr. Edward H. Cooper are in the hands of Messrs. Duckworth for early publication. The late Mr. James Payn's novel, " By Proxy," is about to be published in a sixpenny edition by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. The same firm have acquired the copyright of Mr. Payn's " A Modern Dick Whittington," and will issue a 3*. 6d. edition of it. Theatrical life in London, which has been the subject of numerous works of late, will also be the theme of Mr. Leonard Merrick's new novel, "The Actor Manager," which Mr. Grant Richards will publish. "Men, Women, and Things," is the title of a volume of stories by Mr. F. C. Phillips, which Messrs. Duckworth are to publish. Mr. Vincent Brown has written a novel entitled "Ordeal by Compassion," which Mr. Lane will publish. The author issued, through Messrs. Ward and Lock eighteen months ago, a novel called "My Brother." His new work is a study of a man who does ill, and finds his punishment lie in being compassioned. Sir Courtenay Ilbert is issuing, through the Oxford University Press, a digest of Indian statute law up to date. In existing works the subject is only carried down to the year 1873. Mr. Sydney J. Murray has written a treatise on money which aims at giving a popular exposition of the various technicalities which confront the investor and the speculator from time to time in the course of actual transactions. It will be called "A Popular Manual of Finance," and published by Messrs. Blackwood. Lord Farrer, who is of course a monometallist, is about to issue a voluma entitled "Studies in Currency." "Blastus, the King's Cliamberlaiu," one of Mr. Stead's recent Christmas numbers of the Review of Reviews, is to be reprinted in the form of a six-shilling volume and published by Mr. Grant Richards. The first number has appeared of the Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature, edited by Mr. H. Frank Heath, which is a resuscitation of the Modem Language Quarterly of last year. It is published by Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co., price half-a-crown. Amongst the articles are "An Elizabethan MS. Colle -tion: Henry Con- stable," by Professor DowJen; "Alphonse Daudet," by Mr. Charles Whibley; "Historical Notes on the Similies of Dante," bv Professor W. P. Ker; "The Influencj of Goethe's Italian Journey upon his Style," by Professor Herford; and " Erne Niederliindische Paraphrase des Veni Sancte Spiritus," by Mr. Robert Priebsch. In- cluding a classified list of recent publications, the magazine contains ninety pages. Mr. Heath is assisted by Dr. Braunholtz, Dr. Breul, Mr. I. GoUancz, Mr. A. "W. Pollard, Professor Walter Rippmann, and Professor V. Spiers. The frontis- piece to the number is a portrait of Dr. Furnivall, who attained his seventy-third birthday on Feb. 4. Next July (writes the Naples correspondent of the Daily News) Signor Crispi will consign to the English publisher, who has acquired the copy- right, the MSS. of his memoirs. They form nine volumes of MS. pages, each volume numbering 400 pages. The first part recounts the polemics between Mazzini and Cavour, which werj sum- marised by Crispi for the French journals of the period. The second part treats of the idea of unity and the autonomy of Sicily. The third relates to the disembarkment at Marsala and the provisional government in Sicily. The other five parts treat of events from i860 upwards. There will be a special portion dedicated to the part Crispi had in the Triple Alliance. In view of his pulpit Jubilee, Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son are publishing, under the general title of " Studies in Text," six volumes, by Dr. Joseph Parker, of the City Temple. The first volume is now ready. Another kind of book by the same author is in the press, and will be published at once by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett. The title is "Christian Profiles in a Pagan Mirror." A pagan lady visits England for the purpose of discovering what Christians believe, what they do, and ## p. 330 (#780) ############################################ 33° THE AUTHOR. •wherein they differ from other people. This book is her report. Mr. Charles Bright's work on "Submarine Telegraphs," their history, construction, and working, will be published on May 2. It will appear in one volume, super royal 8vo., 780 pages, with a good number of plates and maps. The publishers are Crosby Lockwood and Co. Mr. Bloundelle-Burton's new novel entitled "Across the Salt Seas " was published by Methuen and Co. on March 21 last. In her "Reminiscences," just issued by Mr. Redway, Miss Betham-Edwards, poet, novelist, and writer on French rural life, glances back through sixty years, and gives a racy account of England in "the good old times," and records her life in France and Germany. She has been the confidante of George Eliot and the friend of Listz, to mention only two of the celebrities. Mrs. Eentoul Esler's new book has just been published by Mr. John Long, of 6, Chandos- street, Strand. It tells how the old Edenic theme, "It is not good that man should be alone," was treated in ten modern instances. The book is entitled "Youth at the Prow." The biography of the late Bishop of Wake- field, Dr. Walsham How, is being written by his son, Mr. F. D. How, and will probably be ready, at Messrs. Isbister's, early in the autumn. Dr. C. Harford Battersby is writing a biography of Mr. Pilkington, of Uganda, which will be pub- lished immediately by Messrs. Marshall Bros. One of the most interesting questions to politi- cians is the relations between the Indian Govern- ment and the tribes on the North-West and Western frontiers of India, from Chitral to Baluchistan. It is the subject of a forthcoming work entitled "War and Policy on the Indian Frontier," by Mr. Stephen Wheeler, who wrote the volume on the Ameer in the "Public Men of To-day" series. He will sketch the history of the tribes, and give an account of the military expedi- tions which have been necessary; geography and ethnology will also be dealt with. Religious works to appear shortly include: "Jewish Life After the Exile," by the Rev. Professor Cheyne, to be published by Messrs. Putnam; and "The Hope of Immortality," by the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, Head Master of Harrow School (Seeley). Dr. Forbes Winslow has written a book on "Mad Humanity," for Messrs. Pearson. Mr. Arthur Thomson will write the volume on "Heredity" for the Progressive Science S ries, published by Messrs. Bliss, Sands and Co. A series of memoirs of American politics, by Mr. Coit Tyler, of Cornell, in the first of which Monroe and his doctrine are discussed, will be published by Messrs. Putnam. Reviewers who have habitually to deal with books at very short notice, will be grateful to Messrs. Service and Paton for the introduction of a useful practice. In sending out a book lately this firm appended to their printed notice the following:—" Note.—The leaves of this copy have been cut for the convenience of the reviewer." Professor Max Midler's works are being pub- lished in a collected edition, at the rate of one volume per month, by Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. In a preface which appears in the first volume (" Natural Religion ") Professor Muller says that the chief object of all his literary labours has been "to show that with the new materials placed at our disposal during the pre- sent century by the discoveries of ancient monu- ments, both architectural and hterary, by the brilliant decipherment of unknown languages, and the patient interpretation of ancient litera- tures, whether in Egypt, Babylonia, India, or Persia, it has become possible to discover what may be called historical evolution, in the earliest history of mankind." "Phil May's Annual" is to be published in future by Messrs. Thacker, who will issue the summer number, enlarged, this month. This firm has taken over the publications of the late firm of Neville Beeman, Limited, including Mr. Laird Clowes's Naval Pocket Book. THE, BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [March 24 to April 23.—273 Books.] Aldous, J. O. P. (en.). Physics. Elemontary. 7/6. Macmillan. Anderson, Izett. Yellow Fever in the West Indies. 3/6. Lewie. Anderson, Mary. In tbe Promised Land. 6/- Downey. Anonymous. The Little Christian Year (Unicorn " Books of Verse," II ). S/6 net Unicorn Press. Anonymous (*4Ono who speaks concerning the Church1'). The Excellent Lady Kyrius. 2/6. Wells Gardner. Anonymous (tr. from French). The Beign of Terror (under Marat and Bobesplerre). 16/- net. Smtthers. Anonymous. Scenes and Life in the Transvaal. 52/6 net Art Photograph Co. Anonymous, rriesthood in the English Church. 1/- S.P.C.K. Anonymous. The Queen's Empire. Pictoiial and Descriptive. Vol. I. 8/- Cassell. Armitage-Smith, G. Tbe Free Trade Movement and its Results. 2/0. Blackie. Astrup, E. Wiih Peary near the Pole. 10/6. Pearson. Bell, J., and Wilson, 8. Practical Telephony. 2/6. Electricity Office. Barlow, W. 8. L. A Manual of General Pathology for Students and Practitioners. 21/- Churchill. Barrister, A. Story of the Schoolmaster's Sister, .to. 1/- Cox. Beresford, Lord 0., and Wilson, W. II. Nelson and His Times. 9/- Eyre and S. Besant, Sir Walter. King Alfred the Great Cd. Cox. Binstead. A. M., aLd Webs, E. A Pink 'Un and A Pelican. 21/- net Bliss. ## p. 331 (#781) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 331 Binyon, L. Porphyrton. and Other Poems. 8/- net Bichards. Binyon, L. Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists, Ac, In Depart- ment of Prints and Drawings in B. M. Vol.I. British Museum. Blackwell. G. Law of Meetings 2/6 net Butterworth. Blayney, Owen. The Macmahon. 6/- Constable. Bodkin, M. McD. A Stolen Life. A Novel. 6/- Ward and Lock. Bodkin, M. McD. Paul Beck. 8/8. Pearson. Boothby, Guy. The Lust of Hate. 8/- Ward and Lock. Bottone, S. B. Badiography and the X Bays in Practice and Theory. S> Whittaker. Bourne, G. A Tear's Exile. 3/6. Lane. Bowack, W. M. Formation of Philosophical Opinion and the Future Mind. Edinburgh: Thin. Brazier, M. A Twofold Sin. A NoveL 2/6. Dlgby. Bright, Wm. The Law of Faith. 6/- Wells Gardner. Brough, W. Open Mints and Free Banking 8'- Putnam. Brownlie, Bev. J. (ed ) Hymns from East and West. Nisbet, Bryant, E. M. Kitty Lonsdale and some Eumsby Folk. 8* Kelly Bullock, C. Prebendary Wlghtman and Mrs. Wightman. 1/6. Borne Words Office. Burgess, J. J. H. Tang. A Shetland Story. Lerwick: Johnson and Greig. Burton, J. Bloundelle. Across the Salt Seas. 6/- Methuen. Bnrton, the late Sir B. F. The Jew, the Gypsy, and El Islam. 21/- Hutchlnson. Buxton, E. N. Short Stalks. Second Series. Stanford. Byng, M.. and Bell, F. O. Popular Guide to Commercial and Domestic Telephony. 2/6. Whittaker. Byron, Lord, The Works of. Poetry. Vol. I. Ed. by E. H. Coleridge. 6/- Murray. Cadman, H. Harry Druldale. Fisherman. 8/6. Macmillan. Csldlcott, 0. Tho Way About Warwickshire. 1/-net Iliffe. Cameron, Mrs. Lovett. A Difficult Matter, c. - Long. Campbell, H. Bospiratory Exercises in the Treatment of Disease. 7/6. Ballliero. Capes, B. Tho Lake of Wine. 6/- Heiuemann. Carr, J. A. Life-Work of Edward White Benson. 6/- Stock. Chadwick, G. A. Pilate's Gift, and Other 8ermons. 5/- Beliglous Tract Society. Chalmers, J. Fighting the Matabele. 8/6. Blackie. Cheetham, T. A. Elementary Chemistry. 1/6. Blackie. Choster, Norley. StorleB from Dante. 8/6. Warne. Churchill.W. Tho Celebrity. An Episode. 6/- Macmillan. Churton, E. T. The Sanctuary of Missions. 4, 6. Longman. Clark, Frances E. The Great Secret. 1/- Sunday School Union. Clarke, H. S., and Wasner, C. Tho Century Beciter. C/6. Warne. Clarke, H. W. The City Churches. 15/- net. Simpkin. Clifford, Hugh. Studies in Brown Humanity. 6/. Richards. Collins, W. E. 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Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 12 (May 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 12 (May 1898) 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 1898-05-02-The-Author-8-12 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/314/1898-04-01-The-Author-8-11.pdf a726a8ce945f3a578137daa6a5bb67eb 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) 1898-04-01 Volume 8 Issue 11 Pages Page range in volume 277–304 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980401 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XTbe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESA2TT. Vol. VIII. No. ii.] APRIL i, 1898. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. PASS! PASB General Memoranda and Warnings 277 , The Cost or Production.—I. Another Set of Estimates. II. The From the Committee 278 BrilUh Wctklg and the Chairman 289 Literary Property— Notefl and News. By the Editor 291 1. A Proposal from the Booksellers. By T. Burleigh 270 The Society's Dinner 2. Lord Berachell's Bill. From the Laic Timet 280 The " Literary Ycar-Book." By the Editor . 3. Art In Lord Herschell'B Bill. By Basil Field 281 i The " Tax " upon Publishers: with the American View 295 4. Mr. Thring on Copyright Legislation 282 5. Copyright in Germany 288 6. A Law Book's Copyright 284 7. To Secure Copyright 285 8. A Question and an Answer 286 9. Old Friends 287 10. A Copyright Action 287 Literature in the Pel lodicals 297 Obituary 298 Correspondence.—1. Mrs. Atherton Explains. 2. An Experi- ence 298 Questions and Answers 299 Personal 300 Book Talk 300 New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood 287 The Books of the Month 302 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annua,! Report. That for January 1897 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. L, 10s. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 80. 6d. each (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature alld the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 4. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, late Secretary to the Society, is. 5. The Cost of Production. 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 of 1890. 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 SpottiB- woode. is. 6d. 8. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). fs. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2*. 6d. ## p. 276 (#722) ############################################ 11 AD VEli 11 SEMEN 1 'ff. $ociefg of Jluf^ots (gncorporafeb). ib Edwik Arnold, K.C.I.E., C J. H. Barrie. A. W. 1 Beckett. ROBEBT BATEMAN. F. E. Beddabd, P.E.S. Sib Henbt Bebgnk, K.C.M.Q. Sib Walter Besant. AuaCSTINE BlBBELL, M.P.| Rev. Pbof. Bonnet, P.E.S. Right Hon. James Bbtce, M.P Bight Hon. Loed Burghclebe Hall Caine. Eoebton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edwabd Clodd. w. mobbis colles. Hon. John Collieb. Sib W. Mabtin Conwat. P. Habion Crawford. P -ht Hon. G. N. Cubzon, P.C., PRESIDENT. GEOEGE MEEEDITH. COUNCIL. S.I. | The Earl of Desart. Austin Dobson. a. conan dotle, m.d. A. W. Duboubg. Prof. Michael Foster, P.E.S. D. W. Fbbshfibld. Bichabd Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rideb Haooabd. Thomas Habdt. , P.C. | Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jebome K. Jebome. Rudtabd Kipling. Prof. E. Rat Lankester, F.R.S. W. E. H. Leckt, P.C. J. M. Lelt. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Rev. W. J. Loftie, P.S.A. Sib A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doc. M.P. I Pbof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Hon. Counsel — E. M. Undebdown, Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middlbton-Wake. Sib Lewis Mobbis. Henbt Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. J. C. Pabkinson. Right Hon. Lobd Pibbbight, P.C, P.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LLJ>. Walteb Hebbies Pollock. W. Baptists Scoones. Miss Floba L. Shaw. G. R. Sims. S. Squibb Spbigge. J. J. Stevenson. Fbancis Stoeb. William Mot Thomas. H. D. Tbaill, D.C.L. Mbs. Humphbt Wabd. Miss Chablotte M. Yonge. Q.C. A. W. X Beckett. Sib Walteb Besant. Egebton Castle, F.S.A. W. Mobbis Colles. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Sib W. Martin Conwat. D. W. Freshfield. J. M. Lelt. H. Rider Haggard. Henbt Nobman. Anthont Hope Hawkins. Fbancis Stobe. ART. Hon. John Collieb (Chairman). Sib W. Martin Conwat. M. H. Sfiblmann. SUB-COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C. Villiebs Stanfobd, Mus.D. (Chairman). Jacques Blumenthal. „ .. .. f Field, Roscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. eoi rn 1 G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. DRAMA. Henrt Abthub Jones (Chairman). A. W. 1 Beckett. Edwabd Rose. OFFICES: Secretary—G. Herbert Thring, B_A. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. JL. IF. WATT &c SOIN", LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SttTJAEE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. f REWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest I process. £ 1 n-DTWTOTIsOF CLIEHTS.—DiSTiKQCiSHKn AcTHOtt:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever Been." Lady of Title:—"Tha | a work waferT we" lncl clearly done." Pbovinoial Editor :—" Many thanks for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy." 5 I 'JVLISi '"T< V. EIJDON CHAMBER8, 30, FLEET STREET, E.G. > IT ## p. 277 (#723) ############################################ b e Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. n.] APRIL i, 1898. [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 1'hring, 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. ijm 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. FOE some years it has been the praotioe to insert, im every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notioes, &e., 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 his business in his own way. Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to bo 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 whioh 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. VIII. 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. III. 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 is 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 objeoted 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 chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books whioh belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. C C 2 ## p. 278 (#724) ############################################ 278 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE TEE SOCIETY. I. Ill VERT member has a right to ask for and to receive Pj advice upon his agreements, his choioe of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the condaat 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 oase is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions 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 suoh 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 proveB unfavourable, you should take advice as to a ohange of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the oase of fraudulent houses—the trioks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advanoing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To 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. THE services of the Authors' Syndicate may be secured by members upon terms to be arranged between themselves and it. 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 oonnected 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 Bend 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 does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The present location of the Authors' Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, 4c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? H they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly asrist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of Bending out a reminder Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishoneet? Of oonrse they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 'Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of oourse, we have not included any sums whioh 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. THE Roxburghe Press Limited, has, we understand, gone into voluntary liquida- tion. All claims on behalf of members of the Society against the company should, therefore, be sent in to the Society's offices as soon as pos- sible. Mr. Justice Wright has ordered the con- tinuation of the voluntary winding-up under the supervision of the court. ## p. 279 (#725) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 279 It should be further stated that Stories Limited has also gone into liquidation, and a liquidator has been appointed under the Companies Acts for the purpose of winding-up the company. All claims should at once be sent in to the Secretary's offices, as the matter is in the hands of the Society's solicitors. G. H. Thbinq, Sec. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—A New Scheme of Publishing. ME. T. BURLEIGH, hon. sec. of the Book- sellers' Association, has communicated to the Committee the following scheme of a new system of publishing. The objects of the following scheme are— (1) To give booksellers the same profit off all books (except educational books at 6s. and under) that they at present receive off 6s. novels; while the publishers are not asked to give better terms than they do at present. (2) To enable booksellers to charge more for credit than for cash. Scheme, I. Odd books to be abolished, and all books to be supplied at the average present terms. II. The invoiced price of each book to be the lowest cash price to the public. [This rule not necessarily to apply to books supplied in bulk to schools and school boards.] Thus— (a) Nett books would be invoiced at full published prices. (6) Novels and similar non-nett books at 6*. and under, would be invoiced at 25 per cent, off published prices. (c) Non-nett books above 6*. (on which the price to the public does not need to be "cut so fine") would be invoiced at not more than 2d. in the is. off pub- lished prices. III. A minimum trade discount of 20 per cent, to be allowed at settlement to those booksellers who ayree not to sell books to tlie public below tlie invoiced price, and to them only. (In the case of educational books published at 6s. and under, the discount at settlement might be 15 per cent, instead of 20 per cent.) The settlement discount for prompt payment might be arranged by publishers and booksellers individually; for, from the following figures it will be seen that a publisher could give, in addition to the minimum discount of 20 per cent., an additional i\ per cent, for prompt payment, and yet receive as much as he does at present. Books above 6s. Present Terms. £. s. d. £ s.'d. 3 Books at io». 6d., 7s. 6d 1 2 6 13/12^ n io«. 6d., 7«. 6d 4 13 9 13/12 „ 1 o«. 6d., js. 6d 4 10 o 10 6 3 Less s per oent o 10 3 9 16 o Suggested Terms. 29 Books at 10s. 6d., 8a. gd ^12 13 9 Less 20 per cent 2 10 9 10 3 o Novels at 6«. and under. Present Terms. 3 Novels at 6s., 4s. 2d 012 6 7/6J „ 6s., 4s. 2d 1 7 1 7/6i „ 6»., 4s 1 6 o 3 5 7 Less 5 per oent o 3 3 324 Suggested Terms. 17 Novels at 6s., 4s. 6j 3 16 6 Less 20 per cent 015 3 3 « 3 Educational books at 6s. and under. Present Terms. 3 Books at 6s., 4s. 2d o 12 6 7j6\ „ 6s., 4s. 2d 1 7 1 13/12$ „ 6s., 4s. 2d 2 12 1 4 11 8 Less s per oent 047 4 7 1 Suggested Terms. 23 Books at 6s., 4s. 6d 5 3 6 Less 15 per oent o 15 6 480 Adding these together we get— Present Terms. Suggested Terms. £ s. d. £ s. d. 9 16 o 10 3 o 324 3 1 3 471 480 £17 5 5 <*'7 12 3 But nothing is allowed in these estimates for travellers' terms given on present rates, which would amount to say 1 per cent, on the whole account. Deducting this amount off present terms, and 2 i per cent, off the total of the sug- gested terms, we find— Present Terms. Suggested Terms. £ $. d. £ 1. d. 17 5 S 17 '2 3 Deduct 1 per Deduct z\ per cent 034 cent o 8 jo .£17 2 1 .£17 3 S ## p. 280 (#726) ############################################ 28o THE AUTHOR. Pro Forma Account. Messrs. A. B. C, booksellers, Oxford, in account with Messrs. X. Y. Z., publishers, London. A trade discount at settlement will be allowed only on condition that these boohs are not sold to the public under the invoiced prices. Acceptance of these books is to be deemed an agreement to these conditions. £ s. d. £ a. d. 3 A.'a Travels in America, nett I 16 O 4 B.'a Africa, 12». 10s. ■■ 200 12 E.'a Algebra, 6s. 4s. 6d. = 214 o 12 F.'a Novel, 6s. 4s. 6d. = 2 14 o £2 14 o £6 10 o 15 per cent, off £2 148 080 £260 20 per cent, off £6 10s. 1 6 o £5 4 o 260 £7 10 o The total of the above account brings about 21 per cent, more to the publisher than the present terms. May I point out: 1. That all booksellers are offered books upon the same terms, whether they are 2d. or 3d. dis- counters. It is open to anyone to refuse these terms. 2. The abolition of the odd copy enables the smaller bookseller to stock, without ruin, a few of each. It also makes "sale or return" possible. As already pointed out, with the odd copy, this is a delusion. 3. Competition amongst publishers is left open because the settlement discount may be raised by bargain between individual publishers and book- sellers. A suggestion has been made that the Book- sellers' Association should be advised by a professional reader. But I think "sale or return" covers it. There is no risk taken, the bookseller can judge for himself whether the book will suit his trade. For position of shop and personal connections are considerations that count a good deal—what would do for me at one place is useless at another—and many good in one are useless in another. This applies specially to poetry, theology, short biographies, and such books as are not talked about, but not to large ones, such as " Tennyson's Life," Lord Eoberts'" India," Bryce's "Impressions of South Africa." These are bought if seen by casual visitors (mostly to give away) upon the strength of the name. T. BuBLEIGH. II.—Lord Hersc hell's Bill. The Copyright Bill of Lord Herschell, "to con- solidate and amend the law relating to copy- right," unfortunately appears without any preliminary memorandum, so that it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the old law from the new. Lord Herschell is one of the few surviving members of the Copyright Commission of 1878, and while in the House of Commons, obtained leave, in conjunction with Mr. Edward Jenkins, to introduce a Bill to codify the tangled law of this subject, so that he moves in the matter with an authority second to none in the country. We see no reason, however, to change the opinion, which we have more than once expressed, that amendment should, in the case of copyright law, precede consolidation, and not be mixed up with it. Lord Monks well's Bill, which passed the House of Lords last session after examination by a Select Committee, and has lately passed a second reading in that House, was framed on these lines, and we hope that the Government will assist its passing as soon as it reaches the House of Commons. An article by Mr. Thring in the current number of the Fortnightly Review summarises this Bill, and fully gives the reasons for preferring it, at the present juncture, to a consolidating one. Lord HerschelFs Bill contains fifty-three clauses and repeals nineteen Acts, amongst them being what we take to be Lord MonksweU's Bill when it shall become an Act, the figures "61" standing by themselves in a. schedule of Acts proposed for repeal, of which the last is " 51 & 52 Vict. c. 17, the Copyright (Musical Compositions) Act, 1888." The principal amendments which Lord Herschell's Bill will effect are the change of the term of copyright from forty-two years, or the life of the author and seven years, to the duration of the life of the author and thirty years after his death, the restriction on abridgments, the reduction of the period after which contributors to magazines may publish separately from twenty-eight to three years, the summary pre- vention of unlawful hawking of copyright works, and a curious allowance of republication in this country of any article of political discussion which has been published in any newspaper in a foreign country "if the source is acknowledged." —Law Times. ## p. 281 (#727) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. HI. — Copyright. — Short Notes on Lord Herschell's Bill (1898) so far as it Relates to Artistic Works. Communicated to the Copyright sab-committee of the Incorporated Society of Authors. The intention of this Bill is favourable to the art producer. It seeks to treat the man who expresses his thought on canvas with a paint-brush as it treats the man who expresses his thought on paper with a pen, and to give him equal rights over and protection for the property he has created. This is just, and has been the object steadily kept in view in the various Bills for amending the present law introduced by Mr. Hastings, Mr. Agnew, Lord Monkswell, and others. Before examining the mode of carrying this ♦bject into effect, it may, however, be observed that whereas in literary work registration is a condition precedent only to enforcing the author's rights, in artistic work it is a condition precedent to the rights themselves. In other words that the author need not register until he has cause to take legal proceedings; whereas the artist can get no redress or compensation for wrongful acts committed before registration. The commandment "Thou shalt not steal " is read, "Thou shalt not steal 'registered work.'" Registration has always been a pitfall to the artist. It has been a boon to the pirate, who can by examining the register ascertain whose brains he may pick with impunity. It lias doubtless been of great use to the legiti- mate art publishing trade in easily and cheaply supplying prim/1 facie proof of title to copyright in cases of infringement by photographers of copyright in works engraved or otherwise repro- duced by them. But this trade advantage would still be available were registration optional or precedent to action only, as in literature, which it is suggested it should be. The art publisher is a man of business and would register if he found it worth his while so to do. Thirty-six years' experience has shown that the artist is not, as a rule, a man of business and does not register, though he often suffers from his neglect. Indeed, as there are many thousand original works of art exhibited every year, to say nothing of the unexhibited, and of these, as it is impossible to predict which will be of value for reproduction, it is not to be expected he should go to the expense and trouble of registering bis works. It would seem more reasonable without recourse to the register to presume the copyright to be in the artist until the contrary is shown. An art publisher who has acquired it by assignment in writing can have no difficulty in proving his title —whether registered or not—but he probably would register for the sake of convenience. The only difficulty that could arise would be in the case of "commissioned work," where no written assignment of copyright is now by law, or in the present Bill, required to invest the commissioner with the copyright. It is submitted that there is no essential or inherent diffierence between work executed on commission, and work that is sold. Both are the offspring of the artist's brain expressed by him in concrete form in his work, and it seems reason- able that in the absence of special agreements, control and command of reproduction should be equally his in either case. He is the natural guardian of his own work, and the person to whom the art publisher would, as a matter of course, apply if he wished to engrave his work— while the purchaser or other owner of the paintin/ can, independently of copyright, sit on his picture, as a mortgagee can on his deeds, and defy both painter and publisher—though as a matter of fact most owners like to have their picture engraved, as it enhances its value. The distinction between an agreement to buy an unfinished work and a commission to paint one —maybe from an existing sketch—is often very slight, and yet upon this distinction depends the ownership of the copyright. This anomalous treatment of commissioned work owes its origin to a natural desire to protect the subjects of portraiture (which is chiefly com- missioned work) from the danger of multiplica- tion and sale of their likenesses without their consent; which it was anticipated might result from the control being left in the hands of the artist, and as photography was included in the Fine Art Act of 1862, this fear was not ill- founded. It was a clumsy expedient, and does not work well in practice. For instance, some years ago it was desired to engrave a subscription portrait of the popular master of a well-known hunt which had been presented by the hunt to his wife. It had been painted on commission. Who owned the copyright? The body of subscribers or the hon. secretary, who was their mouthpiece in arranging with the artist? Again, there are many commissioned pictures that are not portraits. A large collector, who owned many such, got into money difficulties, and sold his collection to meet his liabilities. The copyright in these remained vested in him. Suppose him to have died, shortly after the sale. ## p. 282 (#728) ############################################ 282 THE AUTHOR. so poor that no one cared to administer his estate. No one could make a title to the copyright of any of these pictures. Then came the difficulty about replicas. Several well known R.A.'s, now deceased, were notorious for multiplying copies of their most popular works, generally for America or the Col lonies. Unless by chance any of their works were painted on commission, the owner, who may have paid a long price for a work he considered unique, was liable at any time to find in the market other examples of the work, of the same size and in the same material as his own; nor was it always certain which was the original in point of date. The simplest and most consistent plan of meet- ing all difficulties seems to be that adopted by the Royal Academy of Arts in their Bill, and. followed by the Bill Lord Monkswell introduced for the Society of Authors, namely, in the absence of special agreement, to give the copyright in all cases to the artist, but to safeguard both com- missioner and purchaser alike against replicas such as could imperil the identity or value of the original work; and in the case of portraits, to forbid, in the absence of special agreement, all reproductions in any form of art without the consent of the person by whom or on whose behalf the portrait was paid for. This mode of dealing with the subject not only recommends itself to artists but to purchasers, dealers, and art publishers, as may be gathered from the fact that Mr. Agnew (now Sir William) one of the largest purchasers and dealers in the kingdom, put his name on the back of the Bill prepared by the Royal Academy of Arts, and that it was approved amongst others by some leading members of the "Printsellers' Asso- ciation." With these objections to the scheme and general form of the Bill, it seems unnecessary to criticise its provisions in detail. It is, however, evident on the most cursory perusal of this Bill that if its general scheme of treatment were unfortunately adopted, much alteration of detail would be necessary. For example. Who can say when an original work of art first comes into existence? It may be possible to say approximately wrhen some par- ticular figure subject has become so far advanced as to indicate the intention of the painter. But in the case of a landscape — such as one of Turner's, for instance—a few touches of high light and a dark cloud, often painted on varnishing day, after the work lias actually been hung on the walls of the exhibition, will totally change its composition. Again, I have known figure subjects first come into existence in pen and ink on the fly leaf of an old letter, and even on the blotting- pad at the old "Art's Club." This difficulty arises from the draftsman having in his mind the particular piece of painted canvas rather than the design of the artist expressed on that canvas, which design is- capable of being expressed in many other forma of art. "Design" is, I think, only mentioned once in the Bill (clause 21), and is not defined or interpreted. The old stumbling-block "publication" appears again in this Bill. "Publication " is applicable to engravings and other reproductions; but it has been found to give rise to much trouble when applied to original works of creative art, capable of alteration even after completion. One more criticism of detail. Under this Bill the subsequent purchaser of a picture originally painted on commission could not without sub- jecting himself to the risk of penalties lend it for such an exhibition as that lately held at Burlington House of the works of the late Sir John Millais. He would have to get the consent of the person for whom it was originally painted or his representatives—people probably unknown to him, and who might even be trustees of a marriage settlement, committees in lunacy, or trustees in bankruptcy. Basil Field. March 23, 1898. IV.—" Recent Attempts at Copyright Legislation." The Secretary of the Society, Mr. G. H. Thring, has contributed to the Fortnightly Review for March a paper in which he briefly traces the history of Copyright legislation in this country and describes recent attempts made at mending or consolidating the various Acts passed from time to time. It has been found that many of our readers take a practical interest in the question. They are referred to the article itself, which they are recommended to preserve separately as a useful resume of the whole question. In the year 1896 a sub-committee was appointed by the Society of Authors to consider the question of consolidating and amending the Copyright Acts. "The question of applying for a full, consolidating, and amending Bill was very seriously discussed, and finally, for several reasons, set aside." Here we are referred to the opinion of Sir Courtenay Ilbert: Experience shows that, under existing conditions of English Parliamentary Government, consolidation should not be combined with substantial amendment of the law. Where a Bill aims both at consolidation and at amendment, ## p. 283 (#729) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 283 it is practically impossible to confine proposals for amend- ment to the new provisions as distinguished from those which are merely reproductions of existing law. The whole Bill becomes open to criticism and amendment in com- mittee, and if the subject is in the least degree contentions, the chances of passing it are very small. Where amendment of substance, as well as of form, is needed, one of three courses may be adopted. An amending Bill may be introduced, and, when passed, followed by a con- solidation Bill. Or, when the provisions of the amending Bill are past the committee stage, they may be embodied in a consolidation Bill. This course was adopted with the Housing of the Working Classes Aot, 1890, and the Public Health (London) Aot 1891, but is attended by many risks, and is difficult to combine with the more recent practice of referring consolidation Bills to a joint committee of both Houses. Or, lastly, it may be more expedient to make • onsolidation precede substantial amendment, an assurance being given that re-enactment of the existing law is notin any way to prejudice or preolude future amendments. The fact is that simplification of the form of the law facilitates amendments of substance. Mr. Thring points out, further, that a Bill embodying the question of consolidating Acts of Parliament is never likely to be brought forward, except by the Government: It is no longer a question of obtaining uniformity for different kinds of literary and artistio property, and for the methods of dealing with them in Great Britain and Ireland. There is the wide question further involved of the British Colonies, which question, a little time back, reached a very acute stage with regard to the reproduction of oopyright books in Canada, and there is the still wider question of International copyright under the Berne Convention. To have a full knowledge on these points, it is absolutely necessary to be behind the scenes, and to know the negotia- tions of the Colonial and Foreign Office that have been or may be pending. The Society, therefore, wisely settled to bring forward a small amending Bill which might deal with the points which were in most pressing need of amend- ment. A Bill was accordingly prepared, with the support of a committee nominated by the Pub- lishers' Association, and another by the Copy- right Association It was read in the House of Lords for thf> third time last year. Unfortu- nately, the secretary of the Copyright Association summoned a committee in the autumn to consider a full Consolidating and Amending Bill. This Bill has been pushed forward and been brought into the House of Lords at the beginning of this Se ssion concurrently with the Bill of the Authors' Society. It is feared that the Government will show some support to the Bill of the Copyright Association, as they know it will be impossible to push the measure through both Houses, and that, therefore, the (to them) worrying question of Copyright Legislation and Imperial Federa- tion will be postponed indefinitely. Mr. Thring states that the Society of Authors refused to join the proposed joint committee for the promotion of the Bill on the grounds that it was impossible to pass it ■. that it would injure the Amending Act: VOL. VIII. that the draftsmanship was doubtful: that it con- tained clauses materially differing from those already approved iu the Amending Act: and that amendment must come before consolidation. In other words we had a good Bill as far as it could be: there was a chance of passing it. As to the Bill itself, it is marked private and cannot be discussed. Since Mr. Thring wrote this article the Consolidation Bill has passed the second reading in the House of Lords, and is, therefore, in print. The Copyright Committee of the society are now further considering what course it should advise the society to adopt in order, if possible, to save the situation. Mr. Thring concludes his case with the following words: Where suoh serious questions as the position of Great Britain and Ireland with its Colonies, and with other countries in the universe, have to be discussed, it is not only fitting, but absolutely necessary, that the party representing public opinion at the time should take np a subject so vast and so important. It cannot possibly be of any avail that a few gentlemen, honourably known as pub- lishers, or highly gifted as authors, should solemnly sit down to discuss a consolidating Bill without any recognised legal adviser or Parliamentary draftsman, and without any previous and laboured inquiry into the copyright laws. V.—Copyright in Germany. A notification as to provisions for the execution of the Convention respecting the formation of an International Union for the protection of works of literature and art, concluded at Berne on Sept. 9, 1886, has recently appeared in the official "Central Blatt," and will be of interest to British authors, Ac. The following is a translation :— The treaties which existed between the German Empire and several German States on the one part, and Great Britain on the other part, relative to the protection of copyright in works of literature and art, were put out of force on Djc. 16, 1897. For works of British origin, which have hitherto been dealt with in accordance with the provisions of those treaties, the follow- ing regulations, based npon S. 2 of the Ordinance of 29th Nov., 1897 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p. 787), respecting the execution of the Convention for the formation of an International Union for the pro- tection of works of literature and art, concluded at Berne on Sept. 9, 1886, shall apply in regard to the stamping and registration of the specimens and apparatus described therein. S. 1. Whosoever shall be in possession of copies or specimens of works of literature and art (writings, pictures, drawings, musical compositions, works of sculpture), which on Dec. 16,1897, had already been D D ## p. 284 (#730) ############################################ 284 THE AUTHOR. produced, or were 011 that day in course of pro- duction, shall be under the obligation, should he desire to sell or distribute the same, to submit them for stamping to the police authorities of his place of residence on or before March 31, 1898. Booksellers, commission agents, &c, who may be in possession of such copies or specimens, can submit them for stamping on behalf of the pub- lishers or of their clients without producing a special power of attorney. S. 2. The police a\ithorities shall keep an exact list of the copies or specimens submitted to them in the form indicated by the enclosed model (marked A), and shall stamp each separate copy or specimen with their official seal. S. 3. Whosoever shall be in the possession of appa- ratus of the kind described in s. 1, No. 1, of the Ordinance (such as moulds, engraved plates, lithographers' stones, stereotypes, &c), and desires to continue using them for the production of copies—at most until Dec. 31, 1901—must submit such apparatus for stamping to the police authorities of his place of residence on or before March 31, 1898. The copies produced by means of the stamped apparatus need not themselves be stamped. If desired, however, this also can be done. Any person who wishes to have such copies stamped must submit them to the police autho- rities on or before Dec. 31, 1901. . S- 4- The police authorities shall keep an exact list of the apparatus submitted to them in the form indicated by the enclosed model (marked B.), and shall stamp the apparatus with their official seal in such a manner as to injure them as little as possible, while guarding against the possibility of the erasion of the stamp. They shall also, if copies produced by such apparatus are submitted to them for stamping, keep an exact list of such copies, according to Model A., mentioned in s. 2, and stamp each separate copy with their official seal. S. 5. The police authorities are not called upon to determine whether the production of the copies or the use of the apparatus was permissible; on the other hand, they shall refuse the stamping in case they ascertain that the copies or specimens referred to in s. 1 or the apparatus referred to in s. 3 did not yet exist on Dec. 16, 1897, or that the printing of copies had not yet commenced on that day, or that the copies described in s. 3 have been produced by means of unstamped apparatus. S. 6. The list shall be sent in by the police autho- rities to the competent central authorities within six weeks after their completion, and shall be pre- served by the latter. A notice on the part of the police authorities that no copies or apparatus have been presented for stamping is not neces- sary. S. 7. No fee shall be charged for the registration and stamping of copies or apparatus. For the Imperial Chancellor. (Signed) Nieberding. Berlin, Feb. 3, 1898. A. List of Copies presented for stamping to the undersigned police authorities. No. Date of Pre- sentation. Name or firm of person presenting copies. Title of tbe writ- ings, pictures, eom- positions. <fec. Number of List of Apparatus (moulds, plates, stones, stereotypes, &c.) presented for stamping to the undersigned police autho- rities. B. copies stamped. Name or firm of person presenting apparatus. Title of the writ- ings, pictures, com- positions, Ac., to be produced by the apparatus. Description and size of No. Date of pre- sentation. the apparatus. VI.—A Law Book's Copyright. Chancery Division.—Before Mr. Justice Romer. Palmer v. Effingham Wilson and Simonson was an action by Mr. Francis Beaufort Palmer, the author of "Company Precedents," a well-known work on company law and practice, against the defendants, Effingham Wilson (publisher) and Mr. Paul Frederick Simonson (barrister), for the purpose of establishing that a book on " Deben- tures and Debenture Stock," recently published by the defendants, was an infringement of the plaintiff's copyright in "Company Precedents," and for an injunction and damages. The case was heard, and occupied the whole of the sitting of the court on Tuesday, and it was now con- cluded. Mr. Levett, Q.C., Mr. Swinfen Eady, Q.C., and Mr. Dickinson were for the plaintiff; and Mr. Farwell, Q.C., and Mr. Scrutton for the defendants. The plaintiff and the defendant Simonson both gave evidence on affidavit, and were cross- examined, and at the conclusion of the learned counsel's speech for the defence, the judge, with- out calling on the counsel for the plaintiff to ## p. 285 (#731) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 285 reply, asked whether the plaintiff would be dis- posed to make any concession to the defendant in respect of the copies already printed. This the plaintiff's counsel stated that he was quite ready to do, and after some discussion the following order was made by consent: The defendants, their printers, agents, and workmen to be restrained by the order and in- junction of the court from printing, publishing, selling, delivering, or otherwise disposing of, or advertising or exposing for sale the said book of the defendant Simonson, or any copy or copies thereof, and any book containing any passage or passages copied, taken, or colourably altered from the plaintiff's said books, and from doing any other act or thing in invasion or infringement of the plaintiff's said copyright in his said works. The defendants to pay the costs of the action, and also .£50 by way of damages to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff to allow the defendants to sell 300 copies of the defendant's book, including those already sold.—Extracted from the Daily Telegraph, March 3. VII.—Directions for Securing Copyrights. Under the Revised Acts of Congress, including the Pro- visions for Foreign Copyright, by Aot of March 3, 1891. 1. A printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, photograph, or chromo, or a description of the painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or model or design for a work of the fine arts, for which copyright is desired, must be delivered to the Librarian of Congress, or deposited in the mail, within the United States, prepaid, addressed Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C. This may be done on or before day of publication in this or any foreign country. The printed title required may be a copy of the title page of such publications as have title pages. In other cases the title must be printed t.vpressly for copyright entry, with name of claimant of copyright. The style of type is immaterial, and the print of a typewriter will be accepted. But a separate title is required for each entry, and each title must be printed on paper as large as commercial note. The title of a periodical must include the date and number; and each number of the periodical requires a separate entry of copyright. 2. The legal fee for recording each copyright claim is 50 cents, and for a copy of this record (or certificate of copyright under seal of the office) an additional fee of 50 cents is required, making 1 dollar, if certificate is wanted, which will be mailed as soon as reached in the records. TOL. Till. For publications which are the production of persons not citizens or residents of the United States, the fee for recording title is 1 dollar, and 50 cents additional for a copy of the record. Certificates covering more than one entry in one certificate are not issued. Money orders, bank cheques, and currency only taken for fees. No postage stamps received. 3. Not later than the day of publication in this country or abroad, two complete copies of the best edition of each book or other article must be delivered, or deposited in the mail within the United States, addressed Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C, to perfect the copyright. The freight or postage must be prepaid, or the publications enclosed in parcels covered by printed Penalty Labels, furnished by the Librarian, in which case they will come free by mail (not express), without limit of weight, according to rulings of the Post-office Depart- ment. Books must be printed from type set in the United States, or from plates made there- from; photographs from negatives made in the United States; chromos and lithographs from drawings on stone or transfers therefrom made in the United States. Without the deposit of copies above required the copyright is void, and a penalty of 25 dollars is incurred. No copy is required to be deposited elsewhere. The law requires one copy of each new edition, wherein any substantial changes are made, to be deposited with the Librarian of Congress. 4. No copyright is valid unless notice is given by inserting in every copy published, on the title page or the page following, if it be a book; or if a map, chart, musical composition, print, cut, engraving, photograph, painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, or model or design, intended to be perfected as a work of the fine arts, by in- scribing upon some portion thereof, or on the substance on which the same is mounted, the following words, viz.: "Entered according to act of Congress, in the year , by , in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, or at the option of the person entering the copyright, the words: Copyright, 18—, by — ." The law imposes a penalty of 100 dollars upon any person who has not obtained copyright who shall insert the notice, " Entered according to act of Congress," or "Copyright," or words of the same import, in or upon any book or other article. 5. The copyright law secures to authors and d d 2 ## p. 286 (#732) ############################################ 286 THE AUTHOR. their assigns the exclusive right to translate or to dramatise any of their works; no notice or record is required to enforce this right. 6. The original term of a copyright runs for twenty-eight years. Within sir months before the end of that time, the author or designer, or his widow or children, may secure a renewal for the further term of fourteen years, making forty- two years in all. Applications for renewal must be accompanied by a printed title and fee; and by explicit statement of ownership, in the case of the author, or of relationship, in the case of his heirs, and must state definitely the date and place of entry of the original copy- right. Within two months from date of renewal the record thereof must be advertised in an American newspaper for four weeks. 7. The time of publication is not limited by any law or regulation, but the courts have held that it should take place " within a reasonable time." A copyright may be secured for a projected as well as for a completed work. But the law pro- vides for no caveatt or notice of interference— only for actual entry of title. 8. Copyrights are assignable by any instrument of writing. Such assignment to be valid, is to be recorded in the office of the Librarian of Congress within sixty days from execution. The fee for this record and certificate is 1 dollar, and for a certified copy of any record of assignment dollar. 9. A copy of the record (or duplicate certifi- cate) of any copyright entry will be furnished, under seal of the office, at the rate of 50 cents, each. 10. In the case of books published in more than one volume, or of periodicals published in numl>ers, or of engravings, photographs, or other articles published with variations, a copyright must be entered for each volume or part of a book, or number of a periodical, or variety, as to style, title, or inscription, of any other article. To complete the copyright on a book published serially in a periodical, two copies of each serial part as well as of the complete work (if published separately), should be deposited. 11. To secure copyright for a painting, statue, or model or design intended to be perfected as a work of the fine arts, a definite title and descrip- tion must accompany the application for copy- right, and a mounted photograph of the same, as large as "cabinet size," mailed to the Librarian of Congress not later than the day of publication of the work or design. The fine arts, for copyright purposes include only painting and sculpture, and articles of merely ornamental and decorative art should be sent to the Patent Office, as subj ects for design patents. 12. Copyrights cannot be granted upon trade marks, nor upon names of companies, libraries, or articles, nor upon an idea or device, nor upon prints or labels intended to be used for any article of manufacture. If protection for such, names or labels is desired, application must be made to the Patent Office, where they are regis- tered, if admitted, at a fee of 6 dollars for labels, and 2 5 dollars for trade marks. 13. The provisions as to copyright entry in the United States by foreign authors, &c, by act of Congress approved March 3, 1891 (which took effect July 1, 1891), are the same as the fore- going, except as to productions of persons not citizens or residents, which must cover return postage, and are 1 dollar for entry, or 1.50 dollar for entry and certificate of entry (equiva- lent to 4*. 5c?. or 6*. 7<1.). All publica- tions must be delivered to the Librarian at. Washington free of charge. The free penalty labels cannot be used outside of the United States. The right of citizens or subjects of a foreign nation to copyright in the United States extends by Presidential proclamations to Great Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Portugal; and Americans can secure copyright in those countries. For this direct arrangements must be made abroad. The Librarian of Congress cannot take charge of any foreign copyright business. 14. Every applicant for a copyright should state distinctly the full name and residence of the claimant, and whether the right is claimed as author, designer, or proprietor. No affidavit or witness to the application is required. Office of the Librarian of Congress. Washington, 1895. VIII.—A Question and an Answer. Feb. 8, 189S. A man is offered by a publisher a certain per- centage on the published price of a book. The author accepts this, believing, as one would naturally suppose, that the book was to be pub- lished subject to the usual discounts to the trade. The publisher produces the book as a nett book, and pays the author on the published price; but. of course, receives a much greater amount for himself than he would have done if it was subject to the usual discounts. Has the author any right of "objecting on the grounds that he signed the agreement believing that the book was going to be published subject to the usual discounts"? ## p. 287 (#733) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 287 Reply by the Society's Solicitor. I would say—if there is no express or implied obligation to the contrary in the contract—the publisher can sell without the usual trade dis- counts (assuming, of course, he acts in good faith). When I say implied, I refer to implication from words used in the contract, not from the ordinary course of business. If there be any express or implied obligation to sell subject to usual dis- counts, and the publisher breaks this, the author's remedy would be for damages (the most palpable damages would be if he could show that the publisher had sold fewer books in con- sequence); it would not give him a right to repudiate the contract, or to claim a higher royalty. 36, Lincoln's-inn-fields, London, W.C. Feb. 9, 1898. IX.—Old Friends. Our readers may make a note that while our old friends often quoted in these columns still continue, the principal partner has retired from it, and is now carrying on business apparently on the same lines. The flavour or aroma of the old firm clings to the new. I have seen two of his letters. The first begins in the old familiar way by stating that " I have received from my reader the report on this work, and it is sufficiently favourable to induce me to make you the following offer," &c. The offer means that the author has to pay a certain sum of money—in the case before us .£75. The publisher proposes to spend ,£30 on advertis- ing the book; the remaining £45 is to pay the cost of production. The author is to receive three-fifths of the "net proceeds" of sales. The publisher is to print 1500 copies. As the book is to be published at 3*. 6d., it is presumably a good deal shorter than the average 6s. novel. Let us see what the "cost of production" may mean. We assume, for want of further informa- tion, a book of small pica of 12 sheets of 16 pp., or 6 sheets of 32 pp., and we copy from an esti- mate before us, somewhat lower than our own— remember that the figures are only guess work, but this is an average. If the book is longer the cost would be greater. Composition, £2 7*. 6d. per sheet £ s. d (6 sheets) 14 5 o Printing, £1 7s. (6 sheets) 8 2 o Paper, at 2\d. per lb 8 9 9 Binding, say 120 copies to begin, at 4</ 2 o o 32 16 9 Of course the publisher is not obliged to bind more than are wanted. We have put the demand at 80 copies, and the "press " at 40. The "net proceeds" of sales may mean any- thing. In another letter before us the same publisher has received from his reader "a favourable opinion on the whole" of the work. He offers therefore to produce 3000 copies; to bind in attractive cloth as demands warrant; to publish at is. 6d.; to spend .£20 in advertising the book; and to pay the author two-thirds of the "net proceeds" of sales. In return the author is to pay £65. It is impossible to speculate as to a book at this price, which may mean anything. We remark, however, that the trade price of such a book would be about iod., so that on the most favourable terms—if the whole 3000 were sold, less fifty presentation and author's "copies "— the lucky author would actually make about ,£17— all for himself. What the publisher would make, one knows not from ignorance of the book. X.—A Copyright Action. In the Westminster County Court, Hudson and Others v. Stead was tried by Judge Lumley Smith, Q.C. The action was for an injunction to restrain the defendant from selling, in a volume of " Penny Poets," a poem by Mr. Coulson, which was the property of the plaintiffs. It was sub- mitted that care had been taken to include only those poems for which leave had been obtained from the authors or proprietors, and that the sale of the book was stopped on the plaintiff's com- plaining. In the end an injunction was granted, the counsel stating that he did not ask for damages, but for the sale of the poem to be stopped. NEW YORK LETTER. New York, March 18. PROBABLY there is no way in which the literary taste of this country, and espe- cially of this city, has been illustrated more clearly this year than in the fate of the various efforts to produce the literary drama. The total result seems to indicate that our public is becoming more cultivated, to have more taste for dramatic literature, at least, than it has had formerly, although, at the same time, the season's experience shows how far we have to go before we shall be anywhere near even, in dramatic standards, with Paris, Berlin, or even London. It has to be remembered, in studying the part which literature plays on our stage, that the ## p. 288 (#734) ############################################ 288 THE AUTHOR. accidental presence of great actors counts for much. A generation ago Shakespeare was much nore prominent than he is to-day, largely because Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett were then alive, and to-day what position he has is due largely to the fact that while Madame Modjeska remains, among the older actors, to give us the best plays, a few of the younger ones, of whom Julia Marlowe is the most successful, have Shakespeare in their repertories; and Richard Mansfield and the Daly Company always give us more or less of the higher drama. The public taste is, of course, represented to some extent by the success of these players, but it is also repre- sented largely by the iron power of the Theatrical Syndicate, the leading member of which, Charles Frohman, although he is a popular man, liked by all his friends, has absolutely no element of art or culture in him. He is a mere good-natured speculator, loyal to his friends, willing to star an actor whom he likes, if it can possibly be done, willing to fight any actor, however high, whose business interests are opposed to his. He measures success by receipts, and it is a very open question here now whether he really represents the American public, or simply rules it as a big grain speculator may control the price of wheat. There will have been by the end of this week three productions of "As You Like It" in New York this season; one by Modjeska, one by Daly, and one by Miss Marlowe. Modjeska has not yet given hers; Miss Marlowe, with a poor com- pany, played Shakespeare in the true traditions; Mr. Daly, with a good company, killed the whole spirit of the play by the over emphasis and lack of proportion which characterises the acting of all players who have come under his con- trol. Richard Mansfield plays "Shylock" and "Richard III." everv year. Mr. Daly also put on "Twelfth Night," and did it far better than the earlier comedy, for the simple reason that the cast fitted it better, and that Miss Rehan, feeling a melancholy element in Viola, refrained from the exaggerated gambol in which so much of her art consists. More Shakespeare, however, has been given at a little Italian theatre on the Bowery than anywhere else in the city, and, indeed, the repertory at that theatre is the highest we have, including the German and French, as well as the English and Italian classics. Next to it comes our German Theatre, with much the best acting in town, and the list of plays, which is still better than any English-speaking theatre here has, although it has been getting steadily worse for several years, owing to the growing taste of the younger Germans for the kind of farce which forms so large a part of the American diet. The other classic authors who have had a showing here this year are Schiller, Sheridan, Wycherley, and Congreve. The main thing brought out by these productions was that Schiller's "Mary Stuart," given as Modjeska gives it, has, with all its poetry, more real dramatic theatrical interest than most of the plays which are built nowadays purely for the theatre. The Restoration comedies and the "School for Scandal" were so butchered at Daly's and by the company of students who produced "Love for Love," that no conclusions could be drawn, except that it is mere folly to subordinate the dialogue in these plays to a kind of rapid action made by running around the stage and sticking in extra exclamations. More significant, perhaps, than any list of the classics which survive, is the fate of the new plays. Among those which have literary elements "The Little Minister" is far the greatest success, but it is more a success for Miss Maud Adams than for Mr. Barrie. Indeed, the play is injured essentially by the subordination of the character of the minister in order to let Lady Babbie stand easily in the foreground. Next to that, the " Lady of Quality " comes; but the play itself has been a failure, at least to judge from the critics, who have agreed almost unanimously that it was a wretched piece of Philistinism, badly constructed, carried to success by Julia Arthur, excellent stage management, and a good company. The " Princess and the Butterfly" was a surprise. When Mr. Daniel Frohman put it on he believed, so it is generally understood, that the piece must lose money because it was of too fine a humour to be popular. It was so successful, however, that it was making more money when it was taken off than it was a month earlier, it has been necessary to give extra matinees of it since, and there is a possibility that, when the company goes on the road next month, the demand for this play will force the "Tree of Knowledge "—which is to be in the repertory— almost off the boards. Mr. Daniel Frohman, although he is a business man, differs from his younger brother in having some sincere interest in the better class of modern drama, and nothing has pleased him more for a long time than the unlooked-for popularity of Pinero's comedy. Richard Mansfield also scored a heavy success with one modern play, "The Devil's Disciple," by George Bernard Shaw, which is the best find he has made in years. It is the general opinion that this succeeded, however, less for its good qualities, which are very high, than for the melodramatic ones, which dis- tinguishes it from "Arms and the Man," which was anything but a success last year. Mr. ## p. 289 (#735) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 289 Mansfield, however, is such a believer in the possibility of making a living without cheapen- ing his art, that he has bought the American rights to " Cyrano de Bergerac," and will produce it next year. Only a few weeks ago we had a really encouraging experience with "El Gran Galeoto," for although this Spanish play was given at a little theatre off the beaten track, its success was much greater than was expected. Ibsen has had a singular fate. "John Gabriel Borkman " failed utterly, but the Norwegian always succeeds at our German theatre. Miss Elizabeth Robins is probably going to test our taste for him with a series of revivals later in the season. Although this, perhaps, is not a showing to be particularly vain of, there is much of encourage- ment in it for us, since our stage has been in so bad a way that its degradation is one of the most common topics of conversation. The effect of the long run system, and the cheap flimsy plays favoured by the syndicate, is no worse for the public than it is for the actor. Our best young actors hardly know where to turn to get the training which alone can give them artistic futures. With Mr. Daly they can learn only the Jumping Jack style; and under Mr. Frohman, who controls most of the country, they have to train themselves, and can only act shallow parts, and few of those. A company of American actors are just about leaving to give " The Heart of Mary- land" in England. One of the parts is taken by Mr. E. J. Morgan. He is a young actor who has never distinguished himself very noticeably, but, after a year spent in New York theatres, I thought that he was the most striking example of what opportunity means in the drama. He has no gifts that are great, but he has an all-round sincerity, force, and fineness, which is exactly what is far more needed than individual bril- liancy, and what would be immediately appre- ciated and brought to the front if we had reper- tory theatres properly conducted. If Sir Henry Irving or Mr. Alexander, for instance, took him in hand, much might be done with him. Norman Hapgood. THE COST OF PRODUCTION. I.—Another Set of Estimates. WE gave in February three actual estimates showing that the cost of production had, in some branches at least,and on the whole, 3ne down since the appearance of the Society's ok on the subject. Yet there are some papers who continue the same belated cry that the Society's figures are impossible. We are able this month, thanks to one of our members who has placed actual estimates obtained by himself in our hands, to furnish five more estimates, of which three are under the Society's figures, one very little above, and one considerably above. The book is one of 20 sheets of 16 pages each: or 10 sheets of 32 pages: the type small pica: twenty-nine lines to a page, and " 3jjni by 5im." The number of copies is to be 3000. We first place the figures of the Society :— £. s. d. £. s. d. Composition, £1 ys. 6d. per sheet of 16 pages, or £2 15s. per sheet of 32 pages 27 10 o Printing, £1 12s. 4<J. per sheet of 32 pages 16 3 4 43 '3 4 The other estimates were as follows:— £. *. d. £. g. d. (1.) Composition per sheet of 32 pages, £2 5«. 3d 22 12 6 Printing, £\ is. per sheet of 32 pages 10 10 o 33 2 6 (2.) Composition, at £2 4*- 22 o o Printing, at £ I ys. 13 10 o 35 10 o (3.) Composition, at £2 ys. 6d 23 15 o Printing, at £1 ys 13 10 o 37 5 0 (4.) Composition, at £2 12« 26 o o Printing, at i!i iSs 19 o o 45 ° ° (5.) Composition, at £3 3s 31 10 o Printing, at £1 16* 18 o o 49 10 o The lowest of these estimates is £10 less than that of the Society. Then follows the question of paper. In the "Cost of Production" the paper is estimated by the sheet. The more common way of calculating is by the pound weight. It is found that for such a book as we are con- sidering, one ream of paper prints 1000 copies of 32 page sheet with some sixteen overs. Therefore a book of 10 sheets = 320 pp. requires ten reams. How is this expressed in pound weight? A ream of paper varies in weight from ioolbs. to i3olbs. The lower weight may be accepted as an average. Therefore ten sheets (— 320 pp.) will require from 1000 to i3oolbs. The price of paper is now from 2d. a lb. to 2\d. a lb. A very good paper can be had for 2\d. a lb., and that at 2d. is considered by many to be quite good enough. £ s. d. £ s. d. So that at 2d. a lb. the paper varies from 8 6 8 to 10 16 8 and at 2Id. a lb. ..10 8 4 to 13 10 10 ## p. 290 (#736) ############################################ 290 THE AUTHOR. Or, for 3000 copies it varies £ s. d. M s. d. (1) at 2d. a lb. from 25 o o to 32 10 o (2) at 2\d 31 5 o to 40 12 6 The cost given in the Society's book is ,£46 10s. The binding, set down in the Society's book at id. a volume, or =£50, is to be done for this book at 3frf. a volume, or £45. Now consider the whole. Society's The new figures. estimate. £ 1. (I. £ s. d. Composition 27 10 o ... 22 12 6 Printing 16 3 4 ... 10 10 o Paper 46 10 o ... 31 5 o Binding 50 o o ... 45 o o £140 3 4 £109 7 6 Therefore, compared with the Society's figures, the new estimate shows an actual saving of £30 15*. lod. And this, not on bulk of work, but on a single book! Corrections are left out. The author, if he is wise, will have very few. Let us say £5 for this item. Advertising has been left out. It is well to advertise some books widely, it is foolish to spend much money on advertising others. We have already exposed the meaning of advertising—let us repeat it. If 3000 copies are printed—• An expenditure of £10 means *sd. on each copy. That of £20 means 1 Id. on each copy. That of £30 means 2±d. on each copy. But if the first 1000 are to bear the whole expense of the advertising, then— An expenditure of £10 means \%d. on each copy, and of £20 means 3 ></. on each copy. A book which will not be persuaded to "go" after £20 has been spent in advertising it, in addition to the publishers' free exchanges, his free list, the help of the circulating libraries, and the reviews, will probably not go at all. II.—The British Weekly and the Chairman. 1. The following is an extract from "The Correspondence of Claudius Clear" appearing in the British Weekly :— The Authors' Society information published on this subject is not to be trusted. If anyone doubts this, I will ask him to find for me a single publisher in London who will differ from my judgment. Of course, if you say that all publishers are rogues and thieves, the question is not settled, but if it be admitted that a single honest man exists in the whole publishing trade, the question is settled, for nobody will bring forward any man who has had practi- cally to do with books who does not know that the figures in the " Costs of Production " are useless. 2. The following letter from Sir Martin Conway appeared on March 19th in the British Weekly:— Claudius Clear and the Authors' Society. To the Editor of the British Weekly. Sir,—I have only just seen a communication in the British Weekly of March 3, signed "Claudius Clear," in which I read that the "Authors' Society's information pub- lished on the subject"—of the " Cost of Production "—" ie not to be trusted "; and, in another place, is " useless." The figures given in the " Cost of Production " were not invented by the Authors' Sooiety. They are actual esti- mates furnished to the Society by printers; or furnished by printers to authors. This fact has been 3tated so often that it is truly surprising to see the old charge reproduced. If your correspondent will tell me any better way of arriving at the truth than by getting estimates from printers, I shall be glad to hear of it. These figures sometimes prove to be over the mark; seldom under. In the February number of The Author, three estimates for printing and binding the same work were quoted, all by first-class houses; all three much under the total cost given in the " Cost of Production." The Secretary has at the present moment in bis hands, for immediate publication, five estimates for another book, of which three are much under that given in the "Cost of Production" for a similar MS. with the same type, size of page, number of words in a page, &c. When printers, who determine the " Cost of Production," begin to send in estimates above those given by the Sooiety in their book and in The Author, the figures now given by the Society will be altered. Meantime your readers may depend upon getting from us the exact figures, neither invented nor altered, furnished by printers of town and country, for every kind of book, and all the commonly used kinds of type.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Martin Conwat, Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Incorporated Society of Authors. 4, Portugal-street, W.C., March 18. 3. The Editor of the British Weekly appended the following comment:— Our contributor invited the Authors' Society to find any publisher who would Bupport its statements. If Sir Martin Conway will find one, we shall be very happy to hear him. If he cannot, the inference is obvious. There is either (1) no honest publisher, or (2) no competent publisher in this country.—Ed. B. W. (4.) To this comment the only reply is that the business of the Authors' Society is to find, by printer's estimates, the cost of producing different kinds of books. The Society, having ascertained the facts from printers and others, publishes these facts in the interests of authors: it has nothing to do with the opinions of publishers on these facts. If any publisher says that he cannot get these figures, then the only reply is that, if he goes where the Society got them, he can. "Claudius Clear" means, perhaps, that the Society invents these figures. Indeed, that seems the only mean- ing that can be put upon his words. At all events, if it is to be a question whether publishers are "rogues and thieves," or the committees and ## p. 291 (#737) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 291 secretaries of this Society, the side taken in these pages would probably lean in the former direc- tion. But the question does not arise, because ublishers have not denied the accuracy of these gures. NOTES AND NEWS. JAMES PAYN is dead. His death has called forth a spontaneous and unanimous voice of regret and praise which makes one think better of the world. His, indeed, was the ideal literary life—one of devotion and unwearied industry, one without envy, malice, or jealousy. Of him it may be written, that he never uttered a word of malice: that he never grudged a rival his success: and that he neither log-rolled nor depreciated. The following notes I have already contributed to a little causerie of my own. I seem to have known him for the greater part of my life. As a fact, I have only known him personally for twenty years. In the late fifties, however, when I was an undergraduate, I often heard about him. He used to turn up at his own College (Trinity) from time to time, and his stories—the delight of the Combination Room— were sometimes retailed to me by a friend, then one of the Junior Fellows. He was a companion of other friends of mine in the Lakes when he was compiling his Guide Book, which he wrote, I believe, without climbing a single hill, for Payn was always singularly averse from bodily exercise. However, without meeting the man in the flesh until the seventies, I used to hear about him constantly. In letters he has tried almost everything, and succeeded in every- thing he has tried. He has written excellent verses; he has told excellent stories; he has written charming cauteries; but, above all and before all, he has been a humorist born. That way his genius lay; no modern writer has been a greater humourist than Payn. He bubbled over with good things; he made humour out of every- thing. As for any of his work surviving, who knows? If a story of the keenest interest, admi- rably constructed, filled with excellent characters, is likely to survive, then there are half a dozen books by Payn which will eurvive. I should be sorry, indeed, to institute any odious comparison between the work of the younger men and the work of Payn, but at least one may that, for brightness of dialogue, sunshine of atmosphere, artistic construction, the former have a great deal to learn from the elder writer. A delightful companion, a man full of kindliness, who has never said an ill word of anyone, who has always delighted above all tilings, when he was an editor, in finding out young writers and advancing thein. What did I say above? The younger writers have indeed a great deal to learn from James Payn. I remember, for instance, about sixteen years ago, receiving from Payn an advance copy of a certain new book. He asked my opinion upon it. I read it all one Saturday evening with enormous delight. For he had found a new man, and with characteristic rejoicing he was eager that his "find" should be shared by other people. The book was " Vice Versa," the first of many books by another humorist of the front rank. It is generally believed that literary men are jealous of each other. That was not James Payn's case; he has never been been capable of jealousy or of venom, or any other of the vices supposed to be inherent in the profession. In a single word, Payn has always been a " gentleman of letters" through and through. I think that he will not readily be forgotten even by the people who never met him personally. In another column will be found more figures and more correspondence as to the " Cost of Pro- duction." The case for our figures is this: 1. They are actual estimates obtained from printers of acknowledged standing. Any attack upon the figures is therefore a charge of false- hood directed against the managers of the Society. 2. The figures given in the "Cost of Produc- tion" were estimates obtained six or seven years ago. 3. Since that time prices of machinery and paper have gone down, the latter enormously. 4. The figures given on p. 289 show that the estimates in 1898 are lower than those of 1891. 5. The duty of the Society after ascertaining these figures was to make them public in the interests of their members. If an author obtains an estimate or a charge exceeding these figures, from a publisher, he now knows what to think. 6. At the same time it must be remembered that there may be reasons for choosing a specially expensive paper or an expensive binding. Also, that, as the difference in the estimates proves, it is impossible to give more than the average estimate. . Is it quite impossible for after-dinner speakers —even persons unconnected with the manage- ment of literary property—to speak of the Society of Authors with something like regard for facts and for decent manners? At the recent dinner of the Correctors of the Press, there is reportcl a speech by Sir Henry Craik. Now, to begin with, P fi ## p. 292 (#738) ############################################ 292 THE AUTHOR. Sir Henry Craik is a responsible person; he is not one of those persons who are expected to kick at the publication of the facts. He is a K.C.B. and an LL.D.; he is Secretary of the Scotch Education Department. He has written a Life of Swift; he has also written a work on the State and Education; and he has copied out "Selections" from various writers. In a word, he is a man of apparently solid parts. Now how does this responsible person allow himself to speak of the Society of Authors? Tbis is what he is reported as having said: (1.) "The Society of Authors had told them that the publisher was a needless invention." The Society of Authors has never to my know- ledge said anything of the kind. (2.) The Society of Authors had told them that "the chief duty of the author was to make himself a sprightly commercial agent, who brought the most worthless wares to the dearest market." This statement seems to me a statement as to the Society's position, which I should be very glad to see the Committee take up seriously, if it were possible. One such case seriously undertaken, and carried through, would put a stop at once and for ever to such misrepresentations. "Marguerite" writes to state that from her own experience editors are courteous, and pub- lishers ready to explain the reasons of their deci- sion as to her MSS. One editor told her that her MS. was not rejected on account of any want of literary merit, but solely because he was already "full up." She has received other letters fr.-m other editors equally courteous in tone. There- fore, she says, " all civility is not reserved for the other side of the water, as E. L. A. seems to imply." Did E. L. A. imply so sweeping a view of the matter? One is very glad to print these testimonials to the courtesy of many editors, the existence of which has never been disputed, while the discourtesy of other editors is still insisted upon. As regards publishers, "Marguerite" gives the letter in full, which accompanied the return of her MS. It informs her, with far more consideration than is generally the case, that, while the book is "pleasant, it is too slight for separate publication." "Marguerite " says that she will send her next MS. to the same firm. This shows the value of a little politeness, which costs nothing. At the same time politeness, one would point out, is not the only quality which makes a firm desirable for an author. The new journal, the Ontlook, noticing certain remarks of mine on the new Literary Year-Booh made in another paper, says that I would not allow "any author even to murmur under his breath au unkind word of another." This is hardly the way I should like it put. My contention is simply that one writer ought to observe towards another writer the same attitude of courtesy and good breeding that is expected of one barrister towards another; or of one medical man towards another. That is a reasonable claim, surely, and not too much to ask—simple courtesy. As a gloss upon this proposition I would point out that the fact that a poet or a novelist, an antiquarian or an essayist, does not necessarily possess the faculty of criticism: and does not, therefore, exercise by right the utterance of judgments upon other poets, or novelists, or essayists. The critical and the literary faculty do not, in other words, mean the same thing. As regards the Year-Book (see p. 293) before us, there are two questions quite distinct. (1) Is it decent or desirable to present in the Literary Year-Book a wholesale attack upon living literary men and women? And (2), if it is decent and desirable, is Mr. Joseph Jacobs likely to be accepted as quite the proper person for the job? _ Mr. Anthony Hope's experiences in the United States, otherwise pleagant, have had their seamy side in the publication of certain paragraphs in certain papers, quoting words which he did not use, and opinions which he never held or expressed. In a letter to the New York Critic Mr. Anthony Hope indicates in the concluding paragraph, with- out naming him, the real offender. It is not the obscure journalist who invents things for the sake of creating a little excitement who is to blame, it is the editor who allows their inventor to continue on his staff. He says—the italics are mine: "I suppose it is not customary to attempt to sift paragraphs of this description in any way before publishing them as facts. Lf some such process is not altogether impossible in a newspaper office it xcould seem to be desirable. In the pre- sent state of affairs a wise man treats all para- graphs as more or less amusing fiction; probablv this is only taking them in the spirit in which they are offered by their ingenious authors." The portrait of Mr. Herbert Spencer, which representatives of the literature, philosophy, and science of the country asked that he should allow to be painted as a mark of congratula- tion upon the conclusion of the "Synthetic Philosophy," is now at length finished. Professor Hubert Herkomer, R.A. has painted the portrait. Mr. Collins declares that "all who know Mr. Spencer will agree in praising it both as au admirable likeness and as a work of art." It will ## p. 293 (#739) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 293 The Rev. E. A. Abbott, D.D. Grant Allen. William Allingham, F.R.C.S. William Archer. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., &c. Mrs. Gertrude At her ton Sir Eobert S. Ball, LL.D., F.R.S. Eobert Bateman. A. W. a Beokett. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. The Rev. Canon Bell, D.D. E. F. Benson. Mrs. Oscar Beringer. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Sir Walter Besant. W. H. Besant, Sc. D., F.B.S. Miss M. Betham-Edwards. Ponlteney Bigelow. Augustine Birrell, Q.C., M.P. The Rev. Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Ac. Oscar Browning. Prof. C. A. Bnchheim, M.A., LL.D. Mrs. Mona Caird. Lady Colin Campbell. The Very Kev. the Dean of Canterbury. Rosa Nonchette Carey. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. Sir William Charley, Q.C., D.C.L. Prof. A. H. Church, F.R.S. P. W. Clayden. Mrs. W. K. Clifford. Edward Clodd. The Hon. John Collier. Sir W. Martin Conway. Mrs. B. M. Croker. Francis Darwin, F.R.S., &c. Sir George Douglas, Bart. Prof. E. Dowden. The Very Rev. the Dean of Durham. The Rev. J. Earle, LL.D. Basil Field. Prof. Miohael Foster, F.R.S. Richard Garnett, C.B., LLD. "Maxwell Gray." H. Rider Haggard. Prof. J. W. Hales. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Miss Beatrice Harraden. Silas K. Hocking. "John Oliver Hobbes." Jerome K. Jerome. Henry Arthur Jones. J. Scott Keltie, LL.D. Mrs. Edward Kennard. Prof. E. Ray Lankester. W. E. H. Leoky. J. M. Lely. Mrs. Lynn Linton. The Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., P.C., D.C.L. "Edna Lyall." The Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sidney Lee. J. Norman Lockyer. The Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., P.C., &o. Phil May. Justin McCarthy, M.P. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. The Rev. C. H. Middleton- Wake. Miss Jean Middlemass. F. Frankfort Moore. Arthur Morrison. "E. Nesbit." Henry Norman. W. E. Norris. Max Pemberton. The Right Hon. Lord Pir- bright, P.C., F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. William Pole, F.R.S. Morley Roberts. Edward Rose. W. M. Rossetti. Sir W. H. Russell, LL.D. Miss Adeline Sergeant. The Rev. Prof. W. W. Skeat, Litt. D., &o. Herbert Spencer. M. H. Spielmann. S. S. Sprigge. Sir John Stainer, Mus. Doc. Bram Stoker. Francis Storr. "Annie S. Swan." The Right Hon. Sir Richard Temple, Bart., P.C., G.C.S.I., &o. W. Moy Thomas. The Right Hon. Lord Tenny- son. Sir Henry Thompson, F.R.C.S. John Todhunter, M.D. "Mark Twain." The Rev. Chas. VoyBey. Charles Waldstein, Litt. D., &o. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Theodore Watts Dun ton. Peroy White. J. McNeill Whistler. Major-Gen. Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., &c. I. Zangwill. be sent to the next exhibition of the Royal Academy. It is proposed to offer the picture to the trustees of the National Portrait Gallery for hanging upon their walls. It is hoped that this may be long deferred, as the gallery does not exhibit portraits of the living. The trustees and directors of the National Gallery of British Art agree to exhibit the portrait upon their walls during Mr. Spencer's life. Walter Besant. THE ANNUAL DINNER. E Annual Dinner of the Society of Authors will be held in the Venetian Room of the Holborn Restaurant on Monday, May 2, at 7.30 p.m. The chair will be taken by the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, P.C. . Tickets for the Dinner will be 1 guinea, inclusive of everythiug. The formal notice of the Dinner will be sent out to each member in the course of a day or so. The following ladies and gentlemen have kindly con- sented to act as Stewards of the Dinner: "THE LITERARY TEAR-BOOK." THE new volume of the "Literary Tear- Book " * is before me. The first volume contained faults of omission which were inevitable at the outset. The new volume has filled up some of the omissions, and has given many additions; but it suffers from a failure on the part of the editor to understand what such a book should be. Its primary function is to supply all kinds of information that may be of use to those who follow the Literary Profession. Its clientele is not the outer world at all: the outer world does not greatly care about the details and manage- ment of the Literary Profession; it likes to have its books, papers, articles, poems, &c, supplied without asking how they come. The "Literary Tear-Book " is addressed, in fact, solely to literary folk, a thing that must be carefully considered by everybody concerned in its production. This being so, the editor has, in my judgment, committed a very grave error in choosing to begin his work by a misplaced attack upon the Profession at large, and upon members of the Profession individually. It is an age, he begins, benevolently, of " machine- made books and of reclame-made reputations.-' What are the "machine-made books Y What life have they Y What success Y Who publishes them? Who buys them Y What encouragement is there for the manufacture of machine-made books? Surely an editor who laments the * "The Literary Year-Book, 1898." Edited by Joseph Jacobs. (London: George Allen. 3s. 6d.) ## p. 294 (#740) ############################################ 294 THE AUTHOR. machine-made book might at least explain, with a few illustrations, what he means. Again, whose are the reputations made by reclame F There must be a great many of them according to the editor, because this is an "age" for them. One knows the names of one or two persons who have done, or are doing, their very best to advertise themselves, but they have failed, as a rule, to achieve the admiration they desire. Where are they, then, these reputations of reclame for which this age is so famous? Let us imagine, if we can, a professional book intended for lawyers, which should begin by telling its clientele that they know no law, and that their reputation is made by reclame; or a book intended for the medical profession, which should begin by saying that all doctors are quacks; or a book intended for the army, which should begin by lamenting the decay of courage among our officers! We cannot imagine such an absurdity. Yet this is exactly what has been done for the literary profession by the editor of the "Literary Year-Book." He actually begins by scattering, broadcast, attacks upon the work of the very people to whom he looks for support! And, which is worse, he seems to think it the function of the "Year-Book" to depreciate the very profession which it is meant to represent and to support! In the course of his Introduction, for instance, the editor asks how many of the 7000 books of last year will survive. So put, the question certainly involves the assumption that they ought all to survive. But, consider. Out of the 7000 at least ninety-nine in a hundred are books produced for the needs of the day; as the educational, technical, and scientific books: books for children: the magazines and journals. Of the remainder it will be time enough in twenty years to ask how many books of those published for more than the needs of the time, as poems, plays, essays, fiction, have survived from 1897. There are other charges of less importance but, unfortunately, equally out of place. "Nowadays a writer sends forth his message into the air with no definite target to aim at." What does that mean? If a man has a message to deliver he wants no target. If he has an arrow to shoot he does want a target; but not if he has a message. It means that the editor proposed to say something disagreeable and has said it. "There has been no literature in 1897." That is a comfortable assertion; it is especially calcu- lated to please the people for whom the " Year- Book " is published. The editor says that he has "stated and proved " it. I see the statement, but not the proof, which has somehow dropped out. The novelists will be, above all, pleased with the book, for the writer demonstrates that they are all in a decaying, or decayed, condition. How- ever, one need not follow the Introduction any further. Considered as an introduction to a "Year-Book" of Literature, compiled entirely for literary folk, it is certainly lamentable. This fundamental error of supposing that criti- cism of any kind—even real criticism—is wanted in such a work is carried throughout the volume. There are, for instance, half a dozen photographs of authors. Each is accompanied, not by a simple statement of the writer's work, which is all that is wanted in a Year-book for the Profession, but by an attempt at smart criticism of the writer, with a pat on the back or a snub, either of which is unasked and out of place. Then follows a list of fiction for 1897, which is incomplete. Here, again, the editor remains under the delusion that his judgment has been invited. Nobody wants his judgment or his selection. A Year-Book wants neither criticism, nor selection, nor judgment. It wants facts. The editor should take his judgment and his selections to any of the literary and critical journals, where they might be accepted and where they would not be out of place. I hope that in the third volume of the " Year- Book " the proprietors will recognise the broad and simple fact that it is not the function of the book to abuse and insult the very people for whose use it is produced. Common politeness is due to your customers. The " Year-Book " should fill a very important function indeed. That is the reason why these remarks are offered ; but one is hardly encouraged to recommend it when one finds what is offered. I do not like to quote the remarks made on Mr. Hall Caine, on pp. 24, 25, while on p. 2 5 Mr. Seton Merriman, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling —the writer actually speaks of the "moderate height" of " The Light that Failed"—the "mode- rate height!"—George Gissing, Anthony Hojie, S. E. Crockett, Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Marion Crawford, Richard Le Gallienne, and Olive Schreiner, all come in for the appreciation of this genial editor. This is sweeping enough: but there are other broad and comprehensive strokes of the broom by which the editor jjroves to his own satisfaction that there has been no literature in 1897. But in that case if there is no literature, what is the use of a "Literary Year- Book "? Why is it published? And why all this trouble to compile lists, and arrive at information as to the management of the Literary Profession? Surely, a profession which is from beginning to end an imposture and a quackery, does not demand a book of its own. The sooner it is dis- couraged, swept away, and made unprofitable, the better for the world. ## p. 295 (#741) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 295 Lastly, there is an attempt made to give the birthdays of literary people. Would it not be better to confine the attempt to the dead? I find myself, for instance, honoured with a birthday. I am stated to have been born on All Saints Day. I was not born on that day. Nor was I born in the year mentioned. The editor kindly gives me eight years of life more than I can claim. I have thought it necessary to speak plainly as to this unfortunate work, partly because it is most important to the Craft that we should have a good Year-Book, such as may be useful for reference and for facts: partly bocause the laudable attempt to produce such a book by Mr. George Allen should be recognised, and the need of such a book, properly prepared, should be acknowledged: and partly because in the Intro- duction I am named as one of those who gave advice. I remember a little correspondence with the late editor, Mr. Aflalo, but not with Mr. Jacobs, and I have no recollection at all of offering him any advice. My memory, however, on this point may be at fault. In any case I have to dissociate myself entirely from this ill-advised and unfortunate attempt to convert the " Literary Year-Book" into a medium for attacking the followers of Literature. W. B. THE "TAX" UPON PUBLISHERS- (I.) JI iHE following is an extract from the I Manchester Guardian on the subject of this alleged tax :— "Another matter about which a great deal of nonsense has been talked of late is also handled very plainly by the editor of The Author. This is the so-called 'tax' upon publishers of five copies of • each copyright work which have to be presented to the chief libraries of London, Edin- burgh, Dublin, Oxford, and Cambridge. The editor runs a sharp pin into the bubble of a grievance, and makes it instantly collapse. 'Most books,' he says, ' the vast majority of books, do not sell right out. Many leave "remainders," which are sold at a few pence each. Now, in every case where there is a remainder there has been no loss by this tax at all. . . . The tax would appear to be a burden when the demand is greater than the supply, but even then new editions came out, to be followed by remainders in the long run. It is therefore a tax which, if it is real at all, is very small.' We should be exceedingly sorry in any case to see the free supply of books to the four great libraries out- side London cut off, for they serve a population to which the British Museum is not available." (II.) The following paper, which shows American opinion on the matter, has been com- municated to the editor by the author, Mr. S. H. Ranck, Librarian of the Enoch Piatt Free Library, Baltimore. It is part of a paper read at a conference of the American Library Associaton, held at Denver, Colorado, in August, 1895 :— "The modern idea of the librarian is that of the distributor, rather than the keeper of books; but the idea of the ' keeper' is not entirely lost. Almost every librarian feels that he owes some- thing to his successor and to the public of the future. He believes that he ought to preserve for them as complete a record as possible of every human activity—the life and the work of the people of his day. In this view the library is a museum of civilisation, accumulating and preserving the results of human progress or degeneration. Nevertheless, the work of collecting and preserv- ing is important, and many libraries are doing it for their communities, as far as it lies in their power; but the larger the community and the greater the number of books, the more difficult such a task becomes. "Too many librarians, however, impressed with the importance of the work of collecting and pre- serving for the future, attempt to do too much. Libraries in the same community overlap each other in a way that is often wasteful; and, on the other hand, they neglect to preserve matters of importance. Almost everything depends on the whims or tastes of the persons who, for the time, may happen to be in charge of the library. It seems that the time has come when libraries should have a very clear understanding of the work each one is to do in the line of collecting for preservation. "Many of our public libraries of a popular character add from five to fifteen thousand volumes every year, and they must do so to supply the demand for new books, and to do the work they ought to do; but how many of these books will be so much as even remembered by the most intelligent general reader one hundred years hence? The library that continues buying ten thousand volumes a year for a century, and preserves them, as almost every library is now doing, will then have over a million books, a number that is exceeded by only two or three libraries in the world to-day. "The expense of administration and the inter- ference of tens and hundreds of thousands of unused volumes, will force most of our libraries to carry only a working stock. These librariet ## p. 296 (#742) ############################################ 2g6 THE AUTHOR. must discriminate, and they should not attempt to collect and preserve, except in very limited fields; but there ought to be a few libraries whose particular work should be that of gathering and saving for the future. These few should have every opportunity of getting all the mate- rial within their field, so that they could be depended upon, for all time, to have everything within their intended limits. "To show the need of systematic collection for preservation, to point out a method to insure a more reasonable degree of completeness and safety, and, at the same time, to make such a collection more accessible to the students of this and succeeding generations, is the purpose of this paper. "Books of local interest and value are con- stantly published, but they do not get into the regular channels of the trade, and so they are lost to the libraries and to the future. This state of things must continue so long as present methods are followed. In how many States is there a library with anything like a complete collection of the books, not to mention news- papers, pamphlets, &c, published within, or relating to, the State? There is not a library in the State of Maryland where one-third of the several thousand books published within her borders before the Civil War can be found. The same is true, I know, of other, and no doubt to some extent of all, the States. "You may say that most of these books de- serve to be forgotten. It may be true, but never- theless they were once a part of the life of the people. Do we believe that the census should enumerate only the 'important' men of the nation? As a record of the life of a people a complete collection of their books is fully as important as the enumeration and classification of every man, woman, and child. As no one can select the 'important' people for the census returns, so no one can select the 'important' books for a collection that must represent the intellectual life of the people: for we should be constantly repeating the experience of the critics who would have denied the earlier works of a Wordsworth, or a Byron, and many other great writers, when first their works appeared, a place on library shelves. "The Constitution of the United States pro- vides that the Congress shall have power 'to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.' In accordance with this power our copyright laws have been passed. Such laws are wise, and they should apply to citizen and alien alike. These laws give the owner of the copyright a great monopoly, and one that increases in value with the growth of population, of general intelligence, and of libraries. Even now a publisher can safely count on disposing to libraries alone of a considerable edition of a very ordinary book; and there is an ever growing demand for larger editions. To obtain this copyright the owner must pay a fee of one dollar and deposit two copies of the book in the Library of Congress (national library) at Washington—all of which is very well as far as it goes. "But our copyright law provides only one depository for the United States, On the other hand, an Act of Parliament provides five for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and before the convenience and rapidity of travel by railroad there were eleven. The British law requires that a copy of every edition of a book must be delivered to the British Museum, 'bound, stitched or sewed together, and upon the best paper on which the book is printed.' Furthermore, 'copies of every edition of every book published must, if demanded, be delivered to an officer of the Stationers' Company for each of the following Ubraries: the Bodleian Library, the Cambridge University Library, the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, and the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.' From this source, in 1893, as stated ihthe annual report, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, received 39,619 items. "And now be it remembered that the area of Great Britain and Ireland exceeds the area of the single State of Colorado by less than 12,000 square miles—Colorado contains 103,925. On the other hand, the population of the United States is nearly twice that of the British Isles. On the basis of population the United States should have, at the present time, ten depositories for the five of the British. Of the twenty or more political divisions of Europe, though only one exceeds the United States in the number of its inhabitants, a number of them have more depositories. "Again, the area of the United States (includ- ing Alaska) and the area of Europe are so nearly equal that the annexation of the single province of Ontario would make the two areas almost exactly the same. We are forced to believe that in the course of a few centuries, at the very most, the number of people in the United States will exceed the present number in Europe, about three hundred and fifty millions, an average of one hundred per square mile. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island already exceed this average— the average per square mile in Massachusetts and Rhode Island being 278 and 276 respectively. ## p. 297 (#743) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 297 One depository is not enough for such a vast number of people, nor for such a large area. "Whilst there are a dozen or more languages in Europe, each with its own distinct literature, in the United States the English language is common to nearly all the people; and, if present tendencies continue, the proportion of people in America, who will express their thoughts in Eng- lish, will be greater a hundred years hence than it is now. A great multitude of intelligent and educated people, speaking a common language, require more than one depository for the pro- ducts of their intellectual life. "Under the present arrangement the student of the history of California must cross the conti- nent if he wants to find all the copyrighted books that are now published in the State, or relating to it, and a hundred years hence his need to go to Washington will be even greater; for books have a curious way of disappearing. Can the National Library at Washington assure the student of 1995 that all the books relating to California of to-day will be there? Is it safe to risk every- thing in one place? A national library is sub- ject to all the ordinary risks of any library, with the additional risk of loss by an act of war. We need only recall the history of our own National Library, burned by the British in 1814, and Washington terrified by hostile armies during the civil war. The carefulness and foresight of ordinary business affairs demand that all should not be risked in one place. •' All these difficulties and dangers of a single depository can be overcome by an amendment to the law of copyright. The law should provide for more depositories. How many more will be largely a matter of judgment. It should provide first of all, that every State may be assured that it can get, within the State, a copy of every work that is copyrighted by one of its citizens. Where it should be deposited would be for each state legislature to decide—the State Library, the State Historical Society, or the Library of the State University, suggest themselves as proper places." LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS. Local Colour according to Taste — A Word to Magazine Writers—The Short Story. The historic advice "verify your quotations," may be varied or supplemented by the warning, "Confirm your cabled agreements by letter." Mr. H. G. Wells has suffered at the hands of an American editor—a Boston editor, no less. When he agreed with one of the New York daily journals for the serial publication of his story "The War of the Worlds," he stipulated that no alterations should be made in the text of the story without his consent. The editor of the Boston Post saw the story running in the New York paper, and cabled to Mr. Wells an offer for the reproduction of it " as New York Journal." To this Mr. Wells replied " Agreed." Nothing fur- ther transpires until Mr. Wells receives a cutting from a chipping bureau acquainting him with the fact that his story " as applied to New England, showing how the strange voyagers from Mars visited Boston and vicinity," was appearing in the Post. He writes a letter in the New York Critic protesting in the most emphatic way against this manipulation of his work in order to fit it to the requirements of the local geography. An encouraging word for magazine writers is said by one of themselves—an old hand—in the National Review. He calls his article "The Sorrows of Scribblers," and admits, as an evidence of his own experience in climbing the "hill of Parnassus," that he has a desk full of super- annuated and unappreciated talent—fifty manu- scripts which he fondly turns over in reflective moments as if they were old love letters. He preaches patience with editors. They are quite alive to a good thing when they can get it; t here is, as a rule, no regular staff on a magazine, but "a fair field and no favour." Periodicals as a whole do not pay so well as papers, and journalism is a better staff than magazine hack writing. "If literature, as a living, may be compared to sweeping a crossing, then periodical writing may be likened to a crossing in a suburb where few men come and go, and journalism to that of a busy street in the City." Here is a piece of general advice that is tendered among this magazine con- tributor's "confessions " :— As far as possible, avoid all personal dealings with editors and publishers. Should you be shabby, they may (for after all they were once men) think less of you; should yon be in evident want of money, they will cut your price down: should you be nervous, they will paralyse you; and, beyond all else, their one and very reasonable desire will be to get rid of you as soon aB possible, and on the easiest termB. No; always send everything by post; it is by far your best chance. Though manuscripts, like curses, came home often to roost, so quickly—especially should they happen to be poetry—as to be a tribute to the postal service, still the post is your best friend. Mr. Frederick Wedmore writes in the Nine- teenth Century upon the Short Story, and disowns the favourite definition of this as "a novel in a nutshell." On the contrary, he claims it as a separate thing, and involving the exercise almost of a different art. So. that it is quite an absurd reward to speak of a short story as " a promising little effort," " an earnest of better things." The ## p. 298 (#744) ############################################ 298 THE AUTHOR. short story, says Mr. Wedmore, "admits of greater variety of form than does the long novel, and the number of these forms will be found to be increasing." Plot, or story proper, is no essential part of it. But it may be, as a long story is, in the narrative form, or in the first person (though this should be used very charily), or in the rare form of letters. Forms which by common consent are for the short story only, are simple dialogue, and the diary form. The latter must be used charily, and is not suffered gladly. '' It is for the industrious who read a good thing twice, and for the enlightened, who read it three times." The lighter work leans oftenest on the form of all dialogue; the graver, on the form in which there is no dialogue at all. Compression is indispensable; every sentence must tell. As to the tendencies of the day, Mr. Wedmore observes that among the better writers more care is being given to expression, to an unbroken con- tinuity of excellent and varied style. "The short story, much more than the long one makes this possible to men who may not claim to be geniuses, but who, if we are to respect them at all, must claim to be artists." The profession of the literary pessimist is already overcrowded, and Mr. Wedmore predicts that the short story at its best will return to a spirit humane and genial, sane and wide. OBITUARY. MR. JAMES PAYN died on March 25, at his residence in London. Born at Cheltenham in 1830, and educated at Eton, Woolwich Academy, and Trinity College, Cambridge, he made a beginning in authorship in his undergraduate days with a little volume of l>oetry called " Stories from Boccacio." Another lx>ok of verse was published in 1855, and was favourably received. Household Words and Chambers's Journal began to take stories and articles from him, and in 1858 he succeeded Mr. Leitch Ritchie as editor of the latter magazine. In its pages appeared, in 1864, the story "Lost Sir Massingberd," which proved a great success. He had already published "The Foster Brothers" (1859), and "The Family Scapegrace" followed in 1869. These were the first fruits in a literary career singularly industrious and successful. Others that may be named of his fifty or so pub- lications are "Like Father, Like Son" (1870), "By Proxy" (1878), "Two Hundred Pounds Reward (1879), "For Cash Only" (1882) and "The Burnt Million" (1890)." Mr. Payn's latest work was "Another's Burden," published last year. In 1882 he became editor of Cornhill Magazine, succeeding Mr. Leslie Stephen, and held this position until failing health compelled his retiral in 1896. He was literary adviser to Messrs. Smith. Elder, and Co., and well known to readers of the Illustrated London News by his weekly " Note-book " in its pages. In "Literary Recollections," published in 1884, and "Gleams of Memory," in 1894, he gave to the public- clearer knowledge of a character which was always popular with them, and good-natured and cheery in its outlook. Nevertheless Mr. Payn was never physically strong. The chief relaxation of his busy life was found in whist playing, at which he was an accomplished hand. The deaths have also to be recorded, during the past month, of Sir Richard Quain, the eminent physician, and author of the "Dictionary of Medicine"; Mr. Aubrey Beardsley, the young artist and writer, whose work was identified largely with the Yellow Booh and the Savoy; and Zacharias Topelius, the most distinguished author and poet of Finland. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—" Americans Cannot Stand Criticism." IAM always interested when Americans attempt to "spoke my wheel," although not always moved to comment. But I think that Mr. Norman Hapgood should explain why it is that if the people of the United States do not "take me as seriously as the English people do," I cannot write an article for a newspaper, much less a novel, without throwing the entire United States Press into a ferment. Some two years ago I published a letter in the London Chronicle in which I rashly instituted comparisons between Englishmen and American men, to the advan- tage of the former—solely on account of the many more generations which had contributed to their building; and although the most exciting and important presidential election of recent years was at its height, I received a sufficient number of abusive articles from the American Press to paper a good-sized flat. And when "Patience Sparhawk and her Times" appeared, there were only two papers that did not arise and vociferate at it—the Boston Herald and Town Topics. In fact, I have had a similar experience in a greater or less degree with every book I have published, although the antagonism of the United States Press has been far more persistent and loud-voiced since I came to England to live. The reason is a simple one. The Americans cannot stand criticism from anyone. But criti- cism from an American-born who has taken up ## p. 299 (#745) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 299 his residence in a foreign country, and thus gained two ears instead of one, irritates and worries them out of all self-control and perception of justice. If I romanced about them they would, beyond doubt, ignore me, but as I have never in a single particular deviated from the truth nor been guilty of an exaggeration, they have tried every possible method to frighten me into the peaceful realms of obscurity. Of course there are Americans and Americans. A large and enlightened class understand that the country needs an impartial critic more than any country on earth. I hope I shall never do the United States an injustice, but I shall certainly not be deterred from telling the truth about it in every book I write. Gkrtrude Atherton. 22, Granville-place, Portman-square, W. II.—An Experience with a First-class Firm. I am a beginner in literature, but I have, as in duty bound, joined the Authors' Society, and take The Author. I read therein of the ways of pub- lishers, which seem to be various and occasionally crooked. In the cases that are given, the name of the publisher is not printed, and, although there is a notice that the name and address of the firm can be obtained at the offices of the Society, I am too far from London to be able to identify them. I have, however, formed the impression that, in most cases, the firms to which unfavourable atten- tion was drawn must be small ones of little note, and that with the greater firms the usual methods of business obtaining in other branches of trade were observed, and that one was, so to speak, safe with them. My recent experiences have consider- ably undeceived me, and they may be of interest to my fellow members. Some three or four years ago I wrote two articles on a certain not very well known episode in history, which articles were published in a magazine of old standing and high reputation. The articles had a great success, though in no way pertinent to current affairs. Very shortly after I obtained more material, and I proposed to the publishers of the magazine to combine the old articles and the new material into a book to be illustrated. The suggestion was accepted, almost effusively, and I wrote the book. I was at that time very busy with other affairs, and it was written hastily. It was sent to the publishers, but I subsequently wired to my agent in England to withdraw it from them, and send it back for correction. I may say that I live three weeks' journey away from England. The MS. was returned, and the publishers wrote to say that the book was full of charm, but was hastily written and wanted balance. If I would re-write it they would be glad to have it sent to them for consideration. It was accord- ingly re-written very carefully, with a due regard to balance, and sent to the publisher. The revised MS. must have reached them in the first week of June, 1897. By October no answer was received, and I wrote and asked my agent at home to find out what the publishers were doing. At last in December the publishers answered. There was now no complaint about want of balance, no, the book was a great credit to me, and had fascina- tion, but they could not publish it because the subject was not one likely to be popular. To properly estimate the value of this astonish- ing remark it must be remembered that the gist of the book had been published in the magazine and had attracted great attention; the publishers had accepted at once the suggestion to make a book of the articles,and had mentioned their terms; six months before the final delivery of the MS. they had seen the book, and the only objection was that it wanted balance. The subject is not an ephemeral one, and was no more before the public in 1893 and 1895 than in 1897. If the final reason of the firm be correct, it simply means that they knowingly encouraged me to waste much valuable time writing a worthless book. In any case, their reason for keeping the book for seven months, although aware of its subject and its consequent worthlessness, and thereby preventing me offering it to another firm before the close of the publishing season, is not explained. This is a first-class firm at the very head of the business of publishing. It may be that this is the usual treatment that a young writer may expect, it may be that in the publishing world there is nothing unusual in this. I do not—perhaps happily—know the pub- lishing world and its ethics. But I may say that if indeed this sort of thing is common, the ethics of the publishing world are very different to that of other worlds, with which, fortunately, I am better acquainted. H. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Qaem Deas vult perdero, prias dementat. IBEG to thank your three correspondents for their answers to my question, and to apolo- gise for my bad German, the blame of which must fall on me and not on the printers' reader. As I have been so successful in asking one question, I will now venture to ask another. The ## p. 300 (#746) ############################################ 3oo THE AUTHOR. Latin words above—where do they come from, and in connection with what were they written? I have twice heard a very learned man declare that to give their authorship is impossible. I would, however, hazard the suggestion that the words should run iambically thus: Qaem Jupiter vnlt perdere, dementat prins, and that they have survived by citation from some lost writing of Publilius Syrus, whose "Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur" shows how much better his matter could be than his metre. Querist. PERSONAL. ON the occasion of his seventieth birthday (March 20) Dr. Henrik Ibsen was pre- sented by a group of English friends and admirers with a handsome set of silver, consisting of a ladle, a loving cup, and a small cup. The letter which accompanied the gift was signed by Mr.Wil- liam Archer and Mr. Edmund Gosse on behalf of the forty subscribers—"a few from among the many in England," they wrote," whom your execu- tive skill has stimulated and your intellectual intrepidity encouraged." A propos of the medallion to the late Poet- Laureate, which is to be erected in Lincoln Cathedral, Canon Rawnsley asks, in a letter to the Daily News, if it would not have been feasible to obtain by national subscription the little old manor house at Somersby. "Many in America and England," he observes, "would delight in years to come to see that old bird-haunted home of the greatest of Victorian poets still unchanged, and to find unharmed the Somersby house and garden that was a very haunt of nightingales." Sir William Fraser, formerly Deputy Keeper of the Records of Scotland, who died a fortnight ago, has bequeathed to the University of Edinburgh ,£25,000 for the foundation of a Chair to be called the Sir William Eraser Professorship of Ancient History and Paleography; £ 10,000 for the pur- pose of the library; and one-half of the residue of his estate, which is expected to amount to between .£9000 and £ 10,000, for general require- ments, bursaries, research, publications, &c. Mr. Arthur W. a Beckett, who is a member of the Committee of Management of the Society of Authors, has just been unanimously elected chairman of the London district of the Institute of Journalists. BOOK TALK. HER WILD OATS" is the title of a novel which Mr. Thomas Burleigh, of 370, Oxford-street, has recently published for John Bickerdvke, author of "Daughters of Thespis," "Lady Val's Elope- ment," &c. The scene of the story varies between the Upper Thames and London, and the book contains a slight theatrical interest. Mr. Thomas Burleigh's name is familiar to authors at the present time, owing to his post as secretary of the Booksellers' Union. He has the premises where for many years a publishing business was carried on by Mr. David Stott. On May 2, 1898, it will be fifty years since Queen's College, London, opened its doors for women. This was the result of a plan originally discussed by Charles Kingsley, Alfred Tennyson, Hullah, Maurice, Mrs. Marcet, Mrs. S. C. Hall, &c, for the better teaching of girls, and Queen's College thus became the pioneer of all higher education for women. How times have changed in these last fifty years! An educated woman is no longer the exception, but the rule, the result being that women are now to a great extent able to earn their own livings and work honourably at professions. In commemoration of the jubilee, Mrs. Alec. Tweedie originated the idea of a memorial booklet, comprised of articles by old college students on their own professions, and undertook its editor- ship. This little volume will be sold at the College for the benefit of the building fund, and in its pages will be found the original lecture by Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice on the " Objects and aims of the College," a resume" of the half century's work by Miss Croudace, the Lady Resi- dent, besides articles on medicine, music, art, classics, literature, journalism, cookery, laundry work, hospital training, mathematics, the stage, &c., by well known women writers. A serial novel, called "Whips of Steel," by Annabel Gray, is now appearing as a feuilleton in the columns of the Daily Mail. There will presently be issued from the ofBces of the European Mail another work from the pen of "Sundowner," entitled "Tarns from the Never-Never." The volume will contain some three dozen "yarns from the Australian back- blocks." A volume containing two stories by Mr. Henry James will be published early in the summer by Mr. Heinemann. "Perish the Bauble," a shilling novel of an exciting nature, will be out in May, published by ## p. 301 (#747) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 301 Vincent Clare, 71, Wendover-road, Harlesden, N.W. It is by Frances Hariott Wood. "Comedies and Errors " is the title chosen by Mr. Henry Harland for a new volume of short stories, which Mr. John Lane will publish for him shortly. Sir Edward Grey, M.P., is to contribute a volume on angling; Dean Hole one on gardens; the Marquis of Granby one on sport and wild life in a northern county; and Mr. George A. B. Dewar one on sport and wild life in Hampshire and the New Forest, to a new series of books on country life which Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co. have projected. This is to be called the Haddon Library. The Marquis of Granby and Mr. Dewar will edit the series. Mr. Dewar wrote "The Book of the Dry Fly," which appeared a year ago. Sir Martin Conway's new book, " With Ski and Sledge over Arctic Glaciers," will be published in a few days by Messrs. Dent. It is, of course, a result of the author's recent explorations in the interior of Spitzbergen. Mr. Alfred Bussel Wallace has written "The Wonderful Century: Its Successes and Failures," which Messrs. Sonuenschein will publish on May 15. It will give a short descriptive sketch of the more important mechanical inventions and scien- tific discoveries of the century, and discuss the intellectual and moral failures. Sir James Ramsay, Bart., is engaged on "The Foundations of England: a History of England to the Death of Stephen," which Messrs. Sonnen- schein will publish. The child-labour in British industries is the subject of a book by Mr. Frank Hird, entitled "The Cry of the Children," which Mr. Bowden will publish. "The Progress and Prospects of Political Economy," by Professor J. K. Ingram, and "Labour Colonies," by Professor Mavor, are to be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. Captain Shadwell, of the Suffolk Regiment, who acted as a special correspondent on the North-West Frontier, has written "Lockhart's Advance through Tirah." The volume will be published shortly by Messrs. Thacker. An earlier chapter in Indian history is dealt with by Mr. J. W. Sherer, whose volume, entitled " Daily Life during the Indian Mutiny," Messrs. Swan Son- nenschein will publish next month. Mr. Sherer is an old Anglo-Indian civil servant, and the author of the novel " A Princess of Islam." Among the works to be published during the spring by Mr. Henry Frowde (the Clarendon Press) is "Lectures and Essays," by the late Professor William Wallace. Messrs. Chapman and Hall are publishing "The Song of Solomon," with twelve full-page collotype plates and numerous head and tail pieces by H. Granville Fell. Mrs. Humphry ("Madge" of Truth) has written "Hints: A Book for Women and Girls," which Mr. Bowden is to publish shortly. Besides his new novel called " Robin Hood," which Messrs. Harper Brothers are to publish, Mr. Barry Pain will be represented this season by a book entitled "Tompkins' Verses," which are contributions on topical subjects, and have been appearing in the Saturday Daily Chronicle for the last year or two. Professor William J. Knapp's Life of George Borrow, which has already been announced, will not be ready until the autumn. Mr. Murray is the publisher. Dr. Robert Wallace, M.P., who was at one time a Presbyterian divine and afterwards editor of the Scotsman, is writing his reminiscences, and has entered into an arrangement with Messrs. Bliss, Sands and Co. for the publication of the book. Mr. John A. Doyle is responsible for the "Memoir and Correspondence of Susan Ferrier," which Mr. Murray is to publish. Susan Edmon- stone Ferrier is of course the author of " Marriage," "The Inheritance" and other novels. Sir Walter Scott, whose friendship she enjoyed, used to be credited with the authorship of her tales. She died in her native city, Edinburgh, in 1854. A biography of W. G. Wills, poet, dramatist, and painter, by his brother, the Rev. Freeman Wills, will be published by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. The correspondence of an aunt of the Queen is being edited by Mr. Philip C. Yorke, and will be published by Mr. Fisher Unwin. This aunt was the Princess Elizabeth, who became by marriage Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg; and most of the letters in the forthcoming volume were written to a lady friend, Miss Louisa Swinburne. The title of Lieutenant Peary's book on his Arctic explorations will be "Northward over the Great Ice." It will be in two volumes, and have 800 illustrations. Messrs Duckworth, Henrietta-street, who will publish Mr. Wheeler's book, are a new firm, and the following are some of the books they have arranged for:—" Studies iu Biography," by Mr. Leslie Stephen; "Tom Tit Tot; or Savage Philo- sophy in "Folk-Tale," by Mr. Edward Clodd; "Cricket," by the Hon. R. H. Lyttelton; "A History of Rugby School," by W. H. D. Rouse; novels by Miss Clemence Housman, Charles Kennett Burrow, John Sinjohn, Mrs. W. K. Clifford, and Edward H. Cooper; and a volume ## p. 302 (#748) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. of verse bv Miss Margaret Armour, entitled " The Shadow of Love." Mr. Sidney Pickering has written a story of an educated gentleman, who seeks refuge from the conventionalities of English society by becoming a tramp of the road. The title of the book is "Wanderers," and Mr. James Bowden will pub- lish it. Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co. will publish "Mrs. De La Eue Smyth," by Riccardo Stephens, M.B., CM. A novel by Mr. Archer P. Crouch, "For the Rebel Cause," a tale of the Chilian civil war, is to be published by Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Co. A new story by "Alan St. Aubyn," will be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus in a few days. The title is "Fortune's Gate." This firm also announce "The Heritage of Eve," by H. H. Spettigue. Mrs. Gertrude Atherton's new novel, "The Calif ornians"; a work by Mr. H. B. Marriott Watson, entitled " The Heart of Miranda "; and another from Mr. Le Gallienne, entitled "The Romance of Zion Chapel," are to be published by Mr. John Lane. Among forthcoming novels to be published by Messrs. Hutchinson are Mr. Douglas Sladen's "The Admiral," a romance of Nelson, for which, as a considerable part of it is laid in Naples in 1798-9 at the place of Sir William and Lady Hamilton, the author has gone to Naples to verify a point; "The Millionaire," by Mr. F. Frankfort Moore; "A Bachelor Girl in London," by Miss Q. E. Mitton; "The Renunciation of Helen," by Mr. Leader Scott; "An Angel of Pity," by Florence Marryat; "Mars," by Mrs. S. D. Barker; "Adrienne," by Rita; and "In the Shadow of the Three," by Miss B. L. Tottenham. Fiction to come from Messrs. A. D. Innes and Co. will include the following volumes:— "Children of the Mist," by Mr. Eden Phillpotts; "A Woman's Privilege," by Miss Marguerite Bryant; "The Island of Seven Shadows," by Roma White; "The Indiscretion of Lady Asenath," by Mr. Basil Thomson; and "The St. Cadix Case," by Esther Miller. "The Keepers of the People," a romance, by Mr. Edgar Jepson, will be published this month by Messrs. Pearson. Professor Hugh Walker, of St. David's College, is engaged upon a history and criticism of English literature in relation to national life, from the end of the Georgian period to the present day. The work will be published by Messrs. G. Bell and Sons. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Feb. 24 to March 23.—316 Books.] Adamson, W. Life or Rev. Jts. 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Sixpence each. 5s. per dozen, ruled or plain. Authors should note that The Lkadknhall Press Ltd. cannot be responsible for the loss of MSS. by Are or otherwise. Duplicate copies should be retained. THE KNIGHTS and KINGS of CHESS. By the Eev. G. A. MACDONNELL, B.A. With Portrait and 17 Illustra- tions. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, price 2s. Gd, net THE ART of CHESS. By James Mason. Price 5s. net, by post 6s. 4d. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. 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. 08 Issue 11 (April 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 11 (April 1898) 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 1898-04-01-The-Author-8-11 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/313/1898-03-01-The-Author-8-10.pdf a2044b6f6211ebdb54245c61587638fb 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) 1898-03-01 Volume 8 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 253–276 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980301 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. VIII.—No. 10.] MARCH i, 1898. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAOE General Memoranda 253 Our President's Birthday 255 Literary Property— 1. General Meeting 255 2. Authors and Debontute-holders 257 3. The night to Destroy 257 V Pirated Music 257 New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood 257 Mr. Nutt Again 289 Notes and News. By the Editor 260 pas ■ Questions and Answers 262 The Criterion of Literary Excellence. By D. F. Hannigan ... 203 Correspondence. — 1. "The Gentle Answer "! 2. A "Bold" Agreement 3. The '• Bluggy" Element. \. Proposed Journalists' Union. 5. The Haunch of Venison. 6. An Appeal to Editors 7. Forego and 1 orgo. 8 Who Bids Highest? 9. A Young Author's Grievance. 10. Honour Among Reviewers. 11. Style and Substance 265 Book Talk 26!) Literature in the Peiiodieals 272 The Books of the Month 275 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 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., ios. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8«. 6d. each (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry GHaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 4. The History of the Sooiete des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprioge, late Secretary to the Society, is. 5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 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 of 1890. 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 Spottis- woode. is. 6d. 8. The Society of Authors. A. Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2s. 6d. ## p. 252 (#694) ############################################ 11 AD VER TISEMENTS. ^l)e §>ociefp of Mutyoxs (gncotporateb). PRESIDENT. O-EOBGE MEREDITH. COUNCIL. The Earl of Drsart. Austin Dobson. A. Cohan Doyle, M.D. A. W. Dubourg. Prop. Michakl Foster, F.R.S. D. W. FRE8HFIBLD. Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Qosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. RUDYARD KlPLING. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. W. E. H. Lecky, P.C., M.P. J. M. Lely. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mub.Doo. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. J. M. Barbie. A. W. 1 Beckett. Robert Bateman. F. E. Beddabd, F.R.S. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Sib Walter Besant. Algustinb Bibbell, M.P. Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S. Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P. Right Hon. Lord Burghclere, P.C. Hall Caine. Egebton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clayden. Edwabd Clodd. w. mobbis colles. Hon. John Collieb. Sib W. Mabtin Conway. F. Mabion Crawford. Right Hon. G. N. Curzon, P.C, M.P. Herman C Mekivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sir Lewis Morris. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. J. C. Parkinson. Right Hon. Lobd Pirbrioht, P.C, F.R.S. Sir Feederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herbies Pollock, w. bapti8te scoone8. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. R. Sims. S. Squire Spbigge. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Stobr. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. A. W. X Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. W. MORBIS COLLES. ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman) Sir W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spielmann. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge Hon. Counsel — E. M. Undeedown, Q.C COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—H. Rider Haggabd. Sir W. Mabtin Conway. D. W. Freshfield. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. SUB-COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C Villiers Stanford, Mus.D. (Chairman) Jacques Blumenthal. Sir A. C Mackenzie, Mus.Doo. Henry Nobman. Francis Storr. Solicitors f ^IELD> Boscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. o %ct ors | q Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. DRAMA. Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman). A. W. a Beckett. Edward Rose. -street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbino, B-A. OFFICES: 4, Pobtugal Stbeet, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C .A.. IP. W^TT &c SOF, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON", W.C. THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. f TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prices. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest ^ process. ^ OPINIONS OP CLIENTS.—Distinguished Author:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever Been." Lady or Title:—"The , work waB very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanks for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy." MISS &ENTKY, ELDON CHAMBKR8, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C. ## p. 253 (#695) ############################################ XL he Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. io.] MARCH i, 1898. [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 nhould be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be Bent 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. 1/^OR some years it has been the practice to insert, in f* every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &e., 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 bis true character, and Bhould be left to carry on his 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 oost 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. VIII. 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. III. 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 "ides. It is 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 tbe chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may oome. The four points which 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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. Z 2 ## p. 254 (#696) ############################################ 254 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. ~T7> VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive JjJ advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of hiB business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions oonneoted with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To 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 secured will be forwarded upon detailod 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 Btate that the members of the Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in the Syndicate. NOTICES. 11HE 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 ehort 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 thoir 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 khid, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communioate to the Editor any points connected with their work whiob 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 iB aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in. which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-oourt, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do thiB, 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 is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest ## p. 255 (#697) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years? "Those who possess the 1 CoBt of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any gums 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. THE Secretary would be obliged if those members of the Society and others who have entered into dramatic contracts would kindly forward to him copies of the same, together with any notes showing the difficulties to which dramatic authors are exposed. The Secretary, at the desire of the Committee, is undertaking a work dealing with dramatic and musical contracts on the same lines as the "Methods of Publish- ing " already issued by the Society. Those members of the Society who have state- ments of account involving the cost of production would oblige the Secretary by forwarding the statements to the offices of the Society, together with a sample of the page of the book if possible. The Secretary is undertaking on behalf of the Society a fresh edition of the " Cost of Produc- tion." All information, therefore, from members and others will be useful. At the General Meeting of Feb. 17, Mr. Perry Coste asked how many members had replied to the circular letter on the publication of the list of members. The Secretary was unable at the moment to give the number, hut promised to look up the point. He has now done so, and finds that between eight and nine hundred members sent in an answer to the circular. From private inquiries it would appear that those who did not reply desired no change. It is, indeed, obvious that those who wanted a change would have taken this opportunity of expressing their desire. OUR PRESIDENT'S BIRTHDAY. ME. MEREDITH received the following letter on Saturday, Feb. 12. It was a private letter, was signed by thirty men and women of letters, but was not sent from the Society, where the occasion was unfortunately not remembered :— "To George Meredith: "Some comrades in letters who have long valued your work send you a cordial greeting upon your seventieth birthday. "You have attained the first rank in literature, after many years of inadequate recognition. From first to last you have been true to yourself, and have always aimed at the highest mark. We are rejoiced to know that merits once perceived by only a few are now appreciated by a wide and steadily growing circle. We wish you many years of life, during which you may continue to do good work, cheered by the consciousness of good work already achieved, and encouraged by the certainty of a hearty welcome from many sympathetic readers. "(Signed.) J. M. Barrie, Walter Besant, Augustine Birrell, James Bryce, Austin Dobson, Conan Doyle, Edmund Gosse, R. B. Haldane, Thomas Hardy, Frederic Harrison, "John Oliver Hobbes," Henry James, R. C. Jebb, Andrew Lang, W. E. H. Lecky, M. Londin, F. W. Maitland, Alice Meynell, John Morley, F. W. H. Myers, James Payn, Frederick Pollock, Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Henry Sidgwick, Leslie Stephen, Algernon Charles SwiNr burne, Mary A. Ward, G. F. Watts, Theodore Watts-Dunton, Wolseley." Mr. Meredith, acknowledging it in a letter to Mr. Leslie Stephen, wrote: "The recognition that I have always worked honestly to my best, coming from the men and women of highest distinction, touches me deeply. Pray let it be known to them how much they encourage and support me.'' LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—General Meeting. f~|"\HE annual general meeting of the Incorpo- | rated Society of Authors was held on Feb. 17, at 4 p.m., in the rooms of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, 20, Hanover-square, W Mr. fl. Rider Haggard ## p. 256 (#698) ############################################ 256 THE AUTHOR. took the chair. Amongst those present were the following:— Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, Mr. A. W. a Beckett, Mr. "j. M. Lely, Mr. Egerton Castle, Mr. P. W. Clayden, Mr. Henry Norman, Mrs. George Corbett, Lady Colin Campbell, Mrs. Alfred Baldwin, Mr." A. E. W. Mason, Mr. Silas K. Hocking, Mr. Mowbray Marras, Mr. Edwin Pugh, Mrs. Pennell, Mr. Edward Rose, Mr. Mackenzie Bell, the Rev. Dr, S. Kinns, Miss H. M. Stanton, Mr. Perry Coste, and a great many other members. Mr. Hagoard, on rising, apologised for the absence of Sir Martin Conway, who, as Chairman of the Society for 1898, ought to have occupied his position. He then proceeded to comment on the report of the Society. He stated that the Society was in a flourishing condition, and had elected 180 members during the past year. He went on to explain how the work of the Society had increased enormously during the past year, but he was sorry to say that there were still a good many authors who did not belong to the body. He hoped that all authors would stand by their profession, since even, although individually they might not benefit by the action of the Society, yet collectively they did so benefit, and he trusted that all members present would do their best to establish amongst other authors that esprit dc corps which was necessary to support the profession, and to raise it to its proper status. He submitted that all those members who placed their cases in the Secretary's hands should be pre- pared to carry them through the courts, as it was useless for the Society to take up serious action on behalf of its members if that action was ulti- mately liable to fail owing to the member con- cerned not being desirous of giving evidence. He then stated that the Society had on behalf of its members carried through certain claims against bankrupt papers, but had been unsuccess- ful in obtaining any satisfaction from such papers. The committee now proposed to try and pass a short Bill by which contributors to magazines should be reckoned as preferential creditors, together with clerks, servants, and other em- ployes. He put forward, as an instance, the case of a magazine which fell into difficulties, then issued debentures, the debentures being taken up by people interested in the company. The com- pany becoming involved, the debenture-holders foreclosed, and although the goodwill of the magazine was sold for a large amount the con- tributors were unable to obtain anything, all the money being absorbed by the debenture debt. This was a very unsatisfactory position so far as the authors were concerned. He suggested that if members in the first instance referred to the Secretary with regard to the papers to which they were contributing it would be very possible that they would get such information as would prevent them from further dealings with such papers, and thus they might be spared a very unpleasant position. Mr. Haggard further mentioned that the Society had a short Copyright Bill before Parliament which they hoped to be able to pass through the Commons. The Bill had already- passed the second reading in the House of Lords this Session on the 14th inst., and the Society would use their utmost efforts to secure its passage through the House of Commons. He quoted Lord Knutsford's speech with reference to this Bill. The quotation ran as follows: "Viscount Knutsford thought that there was just a chance that a Bill like that now before their Lordships might get through the other House. On the other hand, a Copyright Consolidation Bill, such as the noble Earl had referred to, would have little or no chance of passing." The Chair- man next referred to the discount question which had occupied the work of a sub-committee of the Society during the autumn, and he repeated the reasons for the Society having been unable to adopt the publishers' suggestions—viz., that in the first instance the committee had come to the decision from the evidence before them that no preventive measures would prove effectual, but would always be evaded, and that apart from this question the proposals of the publishers were really an interference with the doctrines of free trade. He also pointed out that the com- mittee had deemed it unwise from the answers they had received to publish a list of the members of the Society. Before sitting down he asked whether any member had any comment to make on the report. Mr. Perry Coste then rose and asked some questions. It was stated in the report that only one-third had consented to the ptiblication of their names. He would like to know how many had actually answered, as it might be deduced that those who had not answered had given their consent by silence. The Chairman pointed out that he could not at the moment reply to this question, not having the figures at hand, but that the numbers would be printed in The Author. In answer to further questions, he stated that it was not a fair deduc- tion to draw that those who had not answered had desired the publication of their names. Another question referred to the publication of some suggestions made by Mr. Perry Coste in The Author on the occasion of the last annual meeting. He wanted to know whether any members of the Society had expressed an opinion upon them, and the Chairman replied that no one ## p. 257 (#699) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 257 had written to the Secretary with regard to the matter. After this discussion a vote of thanks was proposed by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kinns and seconded by Mr. Silas K. Hocking, to the Chair- man, and carried unanimously. Subsequently a vote of thanks was also passed to the Committee and the Secretary for the work they had done during the past year, and this was responded to by Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins. II.—Authors and Debenture-Holders. The following letters have appeared in the Daily Chronicle, addressed to the editor of that journal:— "Sir,—I quote the following from your report of the meeting of the Society of Authors yester- day :— The Chairman dwelt on the hardships of eontribntors to a certain periodical—cited as an example, and also name- less—who had been unable to get paid for articles, althongh the society had taken np the matter. To meet such a con- dition of things, it was proposed to promote a Bill in Parliament. The object of it—and here were the typical details - would be to give contributors to periodicals, np to a limited amount, a precedence over debenture-holders in instances where the periodical was conducted by a limited company. "Why should authors have precedence over debenture-holders? Take my own case, for instance, which is probably connected with the periodical referred to. I was induced to take over debentures for a considerable amount, had to pay up fully all calls, never received the last year's interest for them, and am required by my fellow- authors to 'take a back seat.' 'In the name of all that's inflammable,' as Mr. Pickwick says, where is the justice or reason of this? Such a proposal savours of childishness.—I am, &c, "Geo. B. Burqin. "Feb. 18." "Sir,—In reply to Mr. Burgin's letter, pub- lished in your issue of the 21st inst., it seems clear that he must have known something of the inner working of the company to which he refers, otherwise he would not have taken over the debentures. He will reap his reward when the debenture-holders are paid in full out of the sum realised by the sale of the company's assets. Other contributors will not be similarly protected. But if the Bill of the Authors' Society had been passed into law before this particular case arose, he would not have needed to protect his own interests by becoming a debenture holder, and other contributors would have enjoyed a protection of which he apparently now possesses a monopoly. Most magazine writers are not capitalists, but humble folk working with brain and hands for their daily bread. They are eminently deserving of a protection similar to that extended to the wage-earners attached to any industry.—Yours faithfully, "Martin Conway, "Chairman of the Authors' Society. "Feb. 22." . III.—The Eight to Destroy. A member of the Society forwarded a MS. to a publisher about a year ago. The publisher stated that he was unable to undertake the publication of the MS. at his own cost, and asked the author to send stamps for its return. This the author neglected to do through inadver- tence. Nearly a year afterwards he received a post card from the publisher stating that unless stamps were sent for the return of the MS. he would have to destroy it. The position taken up by the publisher is legally unsound. Even though the MS. may be forwarded to him without his expressed desire, he is bound to take ordinary care of it. If he wittingly burnt or destroyed the MS. it would be a case of the grossest negligence, and he would be liable to the author for the value of the MS. This is clearly the legal position, and authors are referred to the number of The Author of Feb., 1897, where Counsel's opinion on the matter was fully set forth. _ IV.—Pirated Music. The Daily Mail for Feb. 8 announces that the music publishers of London are going to appeal for Parliamentary protection against the sale of pirated songs at a very cheap rate in the streets. There has been a meeting of the publishers, who have presented a memorial to the Home Secretary calling attention to the publication of these pirated editions. The piracy is not only of the music and the words, but of the words separately. It is hoped to get an Attorney-General's fiat to institute criminal proceedings under the Printers' Act against the offenders. NEW YORK LETTER. New York, Feb. 18. ~]^TO publisher does more for American litera- ls ture than Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Their Riverside Literature Series has a particular popular value in putting the best works of the country within the reach of every- body, usually with valuable notes. Their last volume, just published, includes a number of tales and poems by Edgar Allen Poe, and has an introduction by Professor W. P. Trent, who ## p. 258 (#700) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. recently published a book on "Southern States- men of the Old Regime." Professor Trent points out what is undoubtedly true, that Poe's position is unique among our authors for the exaggerated praise ■which he has received ou the one hand, and the absurd detraction which he has received on the other. Professor Trent thinks Poe's critical work is dead as literature, but that his poetry stands much higher. These volumes are published at fifteen cents in paper and forty cents in linen. Another recent publi- cation in this series is, the great debate between Robert Young Hayne and Daniel Webster, oue of the most dramatic occurrences in American history. A book on America, which is soon to be pub- lished in England, by Mrs. Atherton, is a reminder that this lady is taken very much more seriously in England when she writes about American affairs than she is by Americans. As her book is on the subject of "American Wives and English Husbands," it may be recalled that the Scribners published a novel last fall called "American Nobility" by a Frenchwoman. It can hardly be stated too often that almost all the departments of American life which he touches are discussed with greater accuracy by Mr. Bryce than by any other foreign critic. It is well known by this time that the Mac- millan Company is extending its field rapidly, especially along the lines of American literature. Among their recent books are, "A History of the United States," by Professor Channing, of Harvard, and some essays on the "Civil War and Reconstruction," by Professor Dunning, of Columbia. At the same time that they go in for such sterling works, their desire to build up a very large business is leading them into what it leads so many publishers into—the issuing of a lot of inferior work. A volume on "American Literature," by Professor Katharine Lee Bates, of Wellesley, for instance, adds nothing to any subject treated in it; and there are a lot of novels, books of travel, &c, without the least value, published purely for immediate sale. I do not call attention to this in order to disapprove of it, but merely to mark one of the results of extending the American business of such a promi- nent house. The same firm has just published a work on "The Finances of New York City," by Edward Durand. Among the most interesting books which will be published within a month or so is a collection called "Emerson, and other Essays," by John Jay Chapman, to be put out by the Scribners. Mr. Chapman is a young lawyer who has recently gone into politics to a certain extent, and also into magazine criticism, in both of which fields he is attracting decided attention. His essays on Browning, Whitman, Stevenson, Michael Angelo's last sonnets, and other literary subjects, are some- times erratic, but always vigorous. The Scribners are also about to publish a book called " The Eugene Field I Knew," by Francis Wilson, which is a story of a long and intimate friendship between the Chicago poet and the only one of our younger actors who is especially known for his interest in literature. Francis Wilson j>lays in the broadest musical farce, but, outside of the theatre, his life is spent in a house full of the best books, and he is a man of real culture. Another book just out, worth mentioning for observers of our literature, is "An Introduction to American Literature," by Henry S. Pancoast, published by Henry Holt and Co. "The Hon. Peter Stirling," by Paul Liecester Ford, is in its sixteenth edition. The success of this book points to the popularity of a field which has been much exploited in American fiction. Politics are now in a formative, interesting, and important state, giving the best kind of material to the novelist. Doubtless the only reason that more use is not made of them is that so little is known about them practically by the kind of people who do our writing. In connection with the talk about Stephen Phillips, it may be noticed that more poetry is read in this country than is commonly supposed. Of course, fiction leads by far, but poetry stands comparison with any other form of literature. Of 543 manuscripts submitted to a Boston publish- ing house in 1897, 212 were fiction; next came verse, 69. There were 44 books for young people; and the remainder were essays, history, travel, biography, and religious works. Our young pub- lishers are showing themselves particularly willing to put out volumes of verse which have any merit. Two subjects connected with the book market in this country have recently been fully dis- cussed by correspondents in the New York Times. One on " The Best Books for Children " resulted in nothing of any value, only a very long collec- tion of lists having nothing in common; but an article by Mrs. Sherwood—a sort of social autho- rity in the newspaper world—ou "What Society Reads," was so plausible that it raised an interest- ing amount of indignant protest. Her opinion was that the smart set reads mainly the most lurid, sentimental, and entirely trashy novels of the day, and that literature of any solidity or worth, even in fiction, is practically unknown in the fashionable circles. Taking all this with a grain of salt, it is yet undoubtedly true that the people in this country who are most conspicuous socially, lack altogether the literary ## p. 259 (#701) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 259 taste and training which society has in some other lands. The bound volumes of the principal magazines of 1897 suggest some of the individual features. In the Century Magazine the most conspicuous features are Dr. Mitchell's latest novel and Gen. Porter's scries of articles on " Campaigning with Grant," which is the extension of the war paper idea which sent the circulation of this magazine so ripidly upward a few years ago. This maga- zine has, perhaps, more poetry than its rivals, but almost all the verse now published here is without value. - Its miscellaneous articles include many sporting papers and tales of travel. The Scribner's Magazine runs to serials more than any of the others. "The Conduct of Great Busi- nesses," "Undergraduate Life at the Colleges,' Gibson's articles on London, are among them. Harper's has a less definable character than either of the others. It is run more by instinct—by a general feeling or mood of the hour; but pictu- r< st|ue descriptive articles and fiction of the safe and original kind are prominent in it. In the drama some recent English work has been successful, and some decidedly the reverse. Mr. Esmond's "One Summer's Day," which John Drew has just brought to New York, after giving it in other cities, has fallen more flat than that popular actor's productions usually do. "The Tree of Knowledge," on the other hand, by E. C. Carton, is having a steady though not an extreme success. If England is to see " The Conquerors," it will find that whatever success it has is largely a sneers de scandalc, of a rather cheap sort. As a general rule, where indecent drama pays in New York, it is because the large mass of floating population supports it. These 300,000 strangers who are in the city every day, go out of curiosity to see what residents of the city have Ion c since tired of. Norman Hap<*ood. MR. NUTT AGAIN. TN writing to the Academy in Deceml>er last, I Mr. Nutt began by saying, "Nobody heeds statements made by The Author, which are as little likely to mislead as those, let ine say, of La Libre Parole or the New York Sun." In the n< xt letter he says: "I am not a reader of The Author. I do not think 1 hare seen more than two numbers in my life." The italics are ours. A few lines further on he speaks of the "base- lessness of many statements made" in The Author. Yet he never sees it or reads it: he has only seen two numbers. Further on he says that those statements "have since been repeated in VOL. VIII. The Author without one word of qualification." Yet he never sees The Author. Now, in the face of these assertions, which one mint with sorrow describe as unmannerly, Mr. Nutt sends me a long letter about the case which I have exposed already. He asks me to print this letter!!! \ shall not do so, because he cannot in reason wish to set his case in a better light in a paper which nobody heeds, and partly because everything that has to We said upon his last letter has been said—except one point, on which there will perhaps be something more to be said next month. I would only extract from it two passages, which would be amusing if they were not somewhat pitiful. You remember how, in the Academy—see Last month's Author—he laid it down that a 6s. book contained 388 pages "at least." I called attention to the word "at least," because by means of that limitation he thought he would bowl over our figures. He now calls it an " average." No: nothing at all was said of an average. He also endeavours to call away attention from the main issue by offering to get up a jury to decide how many " overs" there are. What can any jury tell us that we do not know? Of "overs" there may be many—few—none. That is all that can be said. On Kisk. In consequence of Mr. Nutt's assertion that The Author has stated on several occasions that "publishers always recover their outlay and never make any losses," I have been looking back through the pages of The Author. I cannot find that statement made even once, not to speak of repetitions. I do find, however, several state- ments on the subject of risk. Thus I find, Vol. I., p. 165: "The publisher, who very, very seldom knowingly runs any risk at all, may lose, because in all trades there are mistakes made, on one or two books, but as the general result of a large business he is certain, as his business is now conducted, not to lose." This was in answer to an argument that he might have no risk on one or two books, but that, on the whole, there is risk. My point was the exact eon- verse. And it is most certainly true, as the Hourishing condition of the trade shows, and the number of new publishers constantly springing up. If it were not true the trade would collapse. But that is not what Mr. Nutt says I stated. Again, Vol. I., p. 209, it is stated: "In no trade need there be fewer losses than in the publishing trade. They very seldom—it cannot be repeated too often, or be too strongly asserted—they very seldom take any risk whatever." When we see publisher after publisher expecting the writer to A A ## p. 260 (#702) ############################################ 260 THE AUTHOR. pay for production: when the young writer goes from one to the other in vain, the truth of this statement becomes manifest. Fortunately there are exceptions. Again, in Vol. II., p. 108, I pointed out that the publisher's risk, where there was any, was the liability, not the outlay, less the first returns. In other words, if the book costs .£100, and the first three months' returns were £ 101, there would be no money paid, and no risk; if .£99, there would be a risk of £1 to be covered by following sales. In the same volume, p. 179, I call Mr. Putnam to account for saying "that the Authors' Society contend that the publishers never take any risk." For "never," I say, he must put "rarely," and then it will be true. And again, p. 146, I call the attention of Mr. Lang to a passage in which he accuses me of say- ing that "there is no risk in publishing." Plenty of risk, but very few publishers take a bit more than they can help. All this, however, is not what Mr. Nutt alleges. Now, I have been through the first four volumes, and this is what I find. It is all most perfectly and absolutely true. But it is not what Mr. Nutt alleges. I am now, however, waiting for a reply to my last letter, the fourth he has received on the subject, inviting him to tell me where he' found those passar/es tchich he quotes. W. B. NOTES AND NEWS. [N another column will be found a note from the Secretary, inviting readers to send him (1) copies of dramatic or musical agree- ments; (2) copies of publishers' accounts where t he author had consented to an administration of his property on a profit-sharing agreement. In the latter case it would be well to lend the Secre- tary a copy of the book, in order to ascertain the size of the page, the form of the type, the quality of the paper, and the true cost of the binding. If readers will only help in this manner, the new edition of the "Cost of Production" may be greatly helped. For my own part, as I was Chairman when the first edition was produced, I know what great pains were taken to get at the facts. I also know that nothing the Society has ever done has produced such widespread benefits to writers: that the figures liave been most impu- dently denied: but no denial has ever been accom- panied by any proof: that estimates such as the three published in last month's Author have proved the general correctness up to the hilt, and t hai printers have expressed themselves (privately) as quite willing to execute work in bulk, not by single volumes, on these figures. At the same time I have always felt somewhat dissatisfied with them: they were always put forward as approximate, I wanted to be nearer the truth, and now I think we shall get nearer. The result will be, I believe, to show that pro- duction costs less than what we advanced. The composition will be perhaps more: the machining certainly less: the paper very much less: the binding less. As for the advertising, that was put down in the rough at ,£20 and ,£30. Now for an ordinary book — say of essays, memoirs, minor travels, biography, &c.— or for the kind of novel which is certain not to get beyond seven or eight hundred—of which there are a great numl>er— the average publisher does not advertise to any- thing like that extent. He may exchange with monthly magazines for nothing: but as regards advertisements for which he has to pay, .£ 10 is about his limit. And this means $d. a volume on such a sale. On the other hand, in the few instances where a book has a wide circulation, instead of £20 the advertisements mav run up to £50 and more. I have seen a note, which I neglected to cut out, in a certain paper, to the effect that a pub- lisher, or some publishers, design the establishment of small book shops about the town. This seems like a deliberate attempt to extinguish, once for all, the retail bookseller. Perhaps they propose to recognise in this way the fact of his extinction. But he is not dead yet, and perhaps he will recover. We have suggested certain steps, and are ready to suggest other steps, by which his position may be improved. These recommenda- tions are in the hands of the Booksellers' Associa- tion. They have tried the publishers, and have received from them the recommendation to become their slaves. I venture to think that if they will turn to the authors in a conciliatory spirit, things might be arranged which would really advance their cause—which is the cause of those who write, but not necessarily the cause of the middleman. Meantime the book shops might teach their proprietors the kind of risk which the booksellers run daily. It should prove a whole- some lesson. A member of the Society sends me a collection of reviews of two books by himself. There are nine of the first and dozens of the second. They are all laudatory; some are enthusiastic. They all appeared in journals of good standing—some of the highest standing. Why, asks the author, have my books, in spite of these reviews, proved financially disastrous? This is a question which has lx>en put by many writers. The answer seems ## p. 261 (#703) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. to be, first, that people no longer care much for the "opinions" of reviewers. Their authority has very greatly decreased. If further proof were wanted, cases might be adduced of books virulently attacked by reviewers which proceeded immediately and without the least check to a great circulation. One is not blaming the reviewer, but stating the position. What is the reason for the decay in the authority of the review? The critic of the day is not so savage as his prede- cessor of the earlier part of the century. He is more polite, and he does not, as a rule, jump upon every book as if it was a personal enemy. He is, I think, a more competent critic and a safer guide. How, then, has it come to pass that he is so little regarded? I have talked this matter over with many journalists. I find that their opinion is the same as my own. The decay of authority in the literary columns is mainly due to the prevalent desire to review everything that is published. Now, as has been pointed out in this paper before, it is impossible—perfectly im- possible—by any conceivable rate of pay, to get a reviewer to read a book which he has to discuss in a dozen or twenty lines. The result is often a weak stream of generalities, with a word of fault-find- ing, a thing quite easy for any book ever written, whether it be read or not—and only vague words of praise, because praise if it is sincere must be based on actual reading. All journalists seem to be agreed on one point: there must be a selection of books for review as there is a selection of news and letters and communications. There are still admirable reviews in the daily papers, but even their authority is lowered by the column of short notices and paragraphs which do not even tell the reader the nature, the bare outlines, of the book reviewed. A publisher may say that if he sends a paper all his books he expects something in return. It has been reported that some of them hint at the value of advertisements. As regards the latter argument, it is certain that books must be advertised, and that they must be advertised by preference in those journals whose literary autho- rity stands high. As regards the value of all the Press copies, it must be remembered that if they belong to works which do not sell largely, the value of the Press copy is the value of the remainder copy—that and no more: that in the few instances where they belong to successful works, their value, which is represented by the trade price of each, not the advertised price, would be fully repaid, and a hundredfold repaid, by a single serious review devoted to one out of twenty. ^ We are constantly told that we are not a book- buying nation. Yet when figures get into print they are amazing: there are, for instance, over 400 publishers in London alone: many of them are quite small publishers: some are companies which publish religious books: some are pub- lishers of cheap educational books: taken all together they produce about 6000 books every year, which, counting only one edition of one thousand to each, shows that 6,000,000 copies are published at least, if not sold. It is not possible to arrive, even approximately, at the numbers actually bought by the public, but as publishers produce books to be sold, it is probable that we may reckon on the sale of three-fourths of that number, namely, 4,500,000 copies. In addition, there is the sale of books of current literature and that of non-copyright works. It is quite impossible to estimate the number of books belonging to the latter class. Sometimes, however, there are gleams of light. Thus -. a writer in Chambers's Journal speaks of the enormous sale of Scott. He says that of their cheap editions, Messrs. A. and C. Black, between 1851 and 1890, sold 3,000,000 copies. This statement is very much below the mark. I am enabled to state that the sale of their sixpenny edition between 1866 and i8yo amounted to the enormous number of five millions and a half! Other publishers have produced editions of Scott which have also, perhaps, sold by millions. But Scott is not the only writer who has attained universal popularity. What about Dickens r What about Marryat? What about individual books, such as "The Woman in White": "The Cloister and the Hearth": "The Mill on the Floss," &c.? When our free libraries are every day crowded with readers: when all the available books are taken out and read at home: when books are printed ready for circu- lation, if they are not circulated, by the million, we cannot be accused of being a people who do not read: we cannot be accused of being a people who do not buy books. The meaning of the " tax" commonly supposed to be laid upon publishers alone by the rule of supplying a copy of every book, or every new- edition, to five libraries has never, I believe, hitherto been examined or pointed out. A recent letter in the Times made a series of most amazing statements which nobody challenged. Indeed, another writer called attention to the figures as "fair," which was still more amazing than the previous statement. 1. The writer first gave as his conclusion that the average price of a l>ook is 5? As to ## p. 262 (#704) ############################################ 262 THE AUTHOR. that average, inquiry can lie made when the source of his discovery is accessible. Let it pass, however, for the present. He then says that when a publisher sends a book to the libraries he loses 5*. by every volume. That makes, for 6000 volumes, £7 500 a year. He next assumes that there has been the same output of books every year for the last sixty years, an assump- tion which naturally enables him to put the publishers' "tax" at a very high figure indeed. i. "The publisher loses 5*. by every book pub- lished at that price which he gives away." Tiet us take the statement. The trade price of a 5s. book is generally 2*. lod. What the publisher loses, there- fore, is not 58., but 2s. lod. But a great number of books are now pub- lished on a royalty. On such books the author's royalty would be, say, I*. The publisher's loss is, therefore, not 5.V., nor 2s. iod., but is. lod. But, again, most books, the vast majority of l>ooks, do not sell right out. Many leave "remainders" which are sold at a few pence each. Now, in every rase where there is a remainder there has been no loss by this ta.v at all. For instance. If an edition of 1000 has been printed, and after the sale is over there are twenty copies remaining, which with the five given to the libraries make twenty-five, the demand has not been equal to the supply by twenty-five copies. How, then, can there be any loss on these five copies 3. The tax would appear to be a burden when the demand is greater than the supply, but even then new editions come out, to be followed by remainders in the long run. It is, therefore, a tax which, if it is real at all, is very small. 4. It is also real when authors print their own works for which the demand is equal to the supply. 5. It appears also to be real in the case of expensive editions, though even here the consideration of the remainder may apply. But the whole of the argument as implying a hardship on publishers is condemned by the existence of the remainder stock. It is rather late in the day to call attention to Mr. William Archer's Lecture on Living Poets— rather on the younger living poets. It was remark- able for the display of a generous spirit of appre- ciation, and a desire, quite unusual among critics, to find out in a poet all that is ljest in him. When a poet is a poet, he would have that man praised for the strength of his work when it is strong, not condemned for his work when it becomes weak: and at the same time he showed himself ready to receive with extreme intolerance the rhymester who is not a poet. The passages he quoted assured a great many living poets of his regard for them as poets. Walter Bksant. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Versohmerzen werd' ich diesen Schlag, das weiss ich, Demi was verschmerzte nicht der Mensob. T11 HE above lines are by Schiller, and are to lie I found (in a slightly different form to that quoted by "Querist" on p. 247 of The Author) in "Wallenstein's Tod," Act V., Sc. 3. Coleridge, in a note to his own translation, adds the literal rendering :— I shall grieve down this blow, of that I'm conscious: What does not man grieve down p A reference is given to the passage in Fliigel'.s Dictionary (4th edit. i8gi), under "verseh- merzen." J. E. Sandys. St. John's College, Cambridge. I beg to answer the question asked by "Querist" in The Author for Feb. The quotation is taken from Schiller's " Wallen- stein's Tod," Act V., Sc. 3. The words are put into the mouth of Wallenstein himself, and the passage in full is as follows :— Vereohmerzen werd' ich diesen Schlag. das weiss ich, Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch; Vom H<"<ohsten Wie vom Gemeinsten lernt er sioh entwihnen, Denn ihn besiegen die gewalt' gen Stnnden. Bexley. Stella M. During. I think I can answer the question put by your correspondent "Querist." He asks where the following lines come from :— Ich will versohmerzen diesen Sohlag, das weiss ich, Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch. I believe that they come from Schiller's "Wallenstein," Act V., Sc. 1, and that they rightly run as follows :— Yerschmerzen werd' ich diesen Schlag, das weiss ich; Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch? Coleridge in his "Wallenstein " translates them thus :— This anguish will be wearied down, I know; What pang is permanent with man? And he adds in a note that this is "a very inadequate translation of the original." Liverpool. C. B. Roylance-Krnt. ## p. 263 (#705) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 263 MB. BUSKIN AS PUBLISHER "f I ^HE publication of Mr. Ruskin's books is I an experiment which, should not be omitted. It is well known that tbe author has been his own publisher for many years; but the details of the concern are not generally known. There was no special friction between the Messrs. Smith and Elder and the author of 'Modern Painters' which led to the change. It was a matter of principle, far deeper than could possibly be involved in a passing dispute. It was simply that the author felt that the men who produced books did not get their proper share of the rewards, and that the public did not get the full value of their outlay. And the reason, he felt, was that too great a propor- tion was swallowed up in the transit from author to public. Therefore, it seemed clear that the remedy should be found in the establishment of closer contact between writer and reader. Here was his problem, and he resolved to experiment. "Fortunately, Mr. Ruskin had discovered a man after his own heart on whom he could rely for help. This man was a working-man student he had met in his drawing class at Great Ormond- street, in whom he thought he saw possibilities of better work. He had at once taken him in hand, and later business developments have shown the instinct to have been a right one. It was in 1854 that the Professor and his future publisher first met, and during the three suc- ceeding years their relationship was of the closest kind. George Allen was taught engraving and etching by Mr. Le Keux, who had done some exquisite work for Mr. Ruskin, and then some mezzotint instruction was given by Thomas Lupton, who had been engraver to Turner. "Having obtained his engraver and otherwise useful man, the next thing was to get his printing press and make arrangements for binding. These were all established in the beautiful and quiet village of Orpington in Kent, and the master personally presided over the works for several years. It was a gigantic undertaking, and critics laughed at the publishing business ' planted in the middle of a country field'; but it became a pheno- menal success. "The first book issued was 'Fors Clavigera,' and an early number of that work contained the following explanation:— It costs me £V> to print 1000, and £5 more to give yon a pictnre, and a penny off my sevenpence to send yon tbe book; a thousand sixpences are £2b; when yon have bought a thousand ' Fors' of me, I shall therefore have £5 for my trouble, and my Bingle shopman, Mr. Allen, £5 for bis; we won't work for less, either of us. And I mean to sell all my large books, henceforward, in tbe same way, well printed, well bound, and at a fixed price; and the trade may charge VOL. VIII. a proper and acknowledged profit in retailing the book. Then the public will know what they are about, and so will tradesmen. I, the first producer, answer, to tbe best of my power, for the quality of the book—paper, binding, eloquence, and all; the retail dealer oharges what he ought to charge openly; and if the public do not choose to give it, they can't get the book. That is what I call legitimate business. "Since then the business has steadily increased, and, when such big undertakings as the produc- tion of a new edition of ' Modern Painters' and 'The Stones of Venice' were proceeded with, the accommodation of the Kentish village was found insufficient, and a London house had to be opened. The main work, however, of the making of the books of Mr. Ruskin is still done amid the pleasant surroundings of the village of Orpington."—From "Character Sketch of John Ruskin," in the Revieic of Reviews, Jan. 15. THE CRITERION OP LITERARY EXCELLENCE. THE question recently raised by Professor Courthope, as to the extent to which the principle of authority may be introduced into the province of literature, is one of more than academic interest. Owing to the fact that in our own time criticism has run riot, and, in some cases, actually degenerated into the mere expression of egoistic partiality, it is assumed that differences of taste are in their nature irreconcilable and incomprehensible, and that, therefore, there can be no criterion of literary excellence. Now, this notion rests on a fallacy of the worst description. The ignorance or incompetence of individual critics should not lead us to the false conclusion that loose or bad criticism has any intrinsic value. The appreciation of literary productions requires not merely education, but a rare faculty for dis- tinguishing between superior and inferior work. The tendency to praise or dispraise either a poem or a novel indiscriminately—or perhaps through interested motives—of which unfortunately we find too many examples nowadays, cannot be too strongly condemned. If criticism had not become such an " unweeded garden," the irrespon- sible or dishonest reviewer would be treated as a species of blackleg, and would be deservedly banished from the world of letters. There is such a thing as sound criticism, and the just appreciation of authors and of their specific works is entirely within the range of possibility. The whims or prejudices of indivi- duals can in no way modify the truth of this pro- position. Mr. Alfred Austin may regard Byron B B ## p. 264 (#706) ############################################ 264 THE AUTHOR. as the greatest poet of the nineteenth century, while Professor Dowden may dogmatically assert that the author of " Childe Harold " is " dead and buried." The opinions of these gentlemen do not determine the question as to Byron's real place amongst poets. Nor is a collection of such opinions entitled necessarily to greater weight, however distinguished may be the persons who happen to give expression to them, unless they are found to be based on critical canons which are logically indisputable. For this reason, nothing can be more grotesque than the hysterical violence with which Mr. Swinburne in some of his attempts at criticism deuounces poets whom he dislikes and eulogises those whom he admires. Unreasoning likes and dislikes are as fatal to right judgment in dealing with literary works as they are to our true knowledge of human life and character. Curiously enough, this subject has hitherto received no attention from writers on aesthetics. It must be acknowledged that Mr. Buskin in his "Modern Painters " did something to enable us to apply fixed principles to the pictorial art; and yet his exaggerated estimate of Turner shows that he himself was not exempt from that enslavement to blind prejudice which is the worst vice of a critic. It may seem a perilous thing to lay down that every production which comes under the head of literature may be subjected to an infallible criterion. Such a statement appears, at first sight, opposed to the experimental method of reason- ing, of which Mill was the most noteworthy representative. But literature is not a matter of experiment. It is essentially the pursuit of an ideal, and when it ceases to have any ideal, it ceases to be literature. This explains the failure of M. Zola's attempts to establish a school of fiction on a purely materialistic and experimental basis. Novels may be transcripts of life; but, if they are only transcripts of human animality, they are utterly false, for they ignore the essen- tial elements in man's being. The Bougon- Macquart series will be regarded by posterity as sawdust—the mere skin and bones of humanity. Even -the late Guy de Maupassant, whom M. Zola claimed as a disciple, threw off the yoke of materialism, and in "Pierre et Jean" and "Mont-Oriol" showed that he recognised will and conscience as factors in human existence which could not be overlooked. What, theu, is this criterion which should be applied to every literary work, and which, if properly applied, will unerringly determine its worth? We may lay down four canons, or rules, on the subject:—A literary work should have unity of idea; it should have cohesion of structure; it should enlarge or enrich our knowledge of life or of the universe; and it should be written in a style possessing either originality or distinction. No work which fails to comply wirh these canons can ever be ranked amongst the masterpieces of literature. If we apply the test to Shakespeare, we shall find that his greatest plays fulfil the requirements of the rules above laid down. For instance, it cannot be denied that " Hamlet" and "Macbeth" exhibit unity of idea and cohesion of structure ; that they add to our knowledge of the human heart, and reveal the workings of the passions in a new light; and finally, that they are written in a style at once dignified and marvellously original. The same observations may be made with regard to Goethe's "Faust." Coming down to writers of a later epoch, we find that the canons we have formulated may be applied to a book like "Gulliver's Travels," though scarcely to a work such as "Bobinson Crusoe," for Defoe, with all his wonderful gifts as a story-teller, had a commonplace style, and certainly "the light that never was on sea or land" does not cast its radiance over his rather prosaic narrative. According to our standard, "Tom Jones " must be considered a masterpiece of fiction. Of course Balzac's "Comedie Humaine," viewed in its tout ensemble instead of being taken in fragments, will harmonise with our canons of criticism. The poets of the century will be found nearly all to fall short of the highest standard of literary excellence, if the rules we have formulated be correct. Perhaps the only exceptions are Cole- ridge's "Ancient Mariner," and two works of Shelley, "The Ceuci" and "Prometheus Un- bound." Byron's magnificent " Childe Harold," and his astounding serio-comic epic "Don Juan" (if such a description of it is allowable) are, after" all, only fragments. Wordsworth, too, has produced only an immense fragment in "The Excursion"; and in any event the inequality of his style causes the work to fall short of per- fection. It may be dangerous, having regard to the tenacity of old-fashioned prejudice in favour of individual authors, to pursue the subject much further. Scott will always have his admirers ; but none of the Waverley novels will stand the test of our criterion. It might not unjustly perhaps be claimed for Thackeray that, in " Vanity Fair" and in "Esmond," he produced works which satisfy even this high standard of literary excellence. Ji unity of design and beauty of style alone could constitute a work of com- paratively slender dimensions a masterpiece of fiction, Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" should ## p. 265 (#707) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. take rank beside the greatest works in prose literature. These remarks are only tentative, for the diffi- culty of the subject is obviously enormous. Even if our general propositions be correct, their application is by no means easy. It is, however, useful to point out the path along which the critic ■of the future should travel. Personal predilection must give place to rational compirison and conscientious appreciation based on clearly- defined principles before anything like a science, •or even an art, of criticism can be said to exist. It is time that the clamorous " ego" should dis- appear from the pages of reviews, and that those who write about books should realise their organic character and the necessity for dealing with them as systematic expressions of human intelligence. D. F. Hannigan. CORRESPONDENCE. I. —" The Gentle Answer "! IRECEIVED, with a returned MS., the following printed communication from the Illustrated American Office, New York. It is in such contrast to the brevity of the English ■editorial style, and contains so much which literary beginners would do well to remember, that you may like to print it. E. L. A. Dear Sir,—We thank you heartily for the favour you have shown us in submitting this contribution. We have carefully examined it, and are sincerely sorry that it does not seem available for our use. Of course you are Aware that many considerations besides intrinsic quality must govern the acceptance of contributions. Among these considerations are the policy and scope of this journal, the space at our disposal, the matter already on hand, the previous treatment of the same theme, and the length and style of the article. Much admirable fiction is reluctantly declined because of length or because of variation from the type desired. Great numbers of pleasing and interesting photographs are returned because of pecu- liarities which make good reproduction impossible. All contributions submitted are appreciated and are thoroughly considered. On account of the limits of the editors' time, we beg that the absence of criticism or of specified reasons for the return of contributions will in all oases be kindly ■excused.—Respectfully yours,—The Editors. II. —A "Bold" Agreement. Last year I sent you a copy of an agreement from a certain firm. At that time I could not lay my hands on the enclosed copy. Yesterday I came across it, and I gladly send it to you, as it is only by showing up these publishing gentry that simple aspirants can be put on their guard. The agreement I send is too glaringly bold to take in, I should fancy, the greatest ignoramus breathing. Still, it is as well that you should see it. If I may do so, let me urge upon beginners the necessity there is for their seeking good advice before their first long effort is submitted to a publisher. Quite recently I had a reader's opinion, for the comparatively small fee of a guinea, on a story. That opinion was favourable, but the reader very candidly pointed out a flaw in the plot. The opinion was, I say, flattering, but the flaw marred the technicality of the narra- tive. Now, had I sent the MS. on its rounds, and had it been sent back to me again and again, I would, in all probability, have had some nasty things to say about stupid publishers who could not appreciate talent! The reader has put me on the right track, and I will know, when the pub- lishers say "No," that they have their hands too full to be bothered with my first decent effort. We never t>ee ourselves as others see us; nor can we realise how our grand ideas, exciting scenes, and sprightly dialogues read until an utter stranger, and one competent to offer an opinion, gives an estimate of our work. S. R. Dear Sir,—We have given the work our careful atten- tion, and our opinion of it being favourable, we have decided to offer you the following favourable terms for its pro- duction and publication, viz.: That, in consideration of a payment from you of £66 (.£36 on signing the agreement and ^£30 when you see the last proofs), we agree to produce your book, publish it at the popular price of 3s. 6d., hand- somely bound in cloth, gold lettered, good paper and type, and print a first edition of 1000 copies, to be followed by further editions as demands warrant. The expenses of all future editions would be borne entirely by us, you receiving half the profits. The above amount would constitute your sole outlay, the copyright remaining your property. Author to receive two-thirds of the prooeeda of sales on the first edition. It may be, perhaps, superfluous to mention that adver- tising, reviewing, and all the other technicalities of pub- lishing necessary for placing the book on the market, would have our especial care. We should advertise the book at our sole expense to the amount of .£10, thus bringing your name and the work well before the public —Faithfully yours, and Co. [This agreement has been sent to us, word for word the same, dozens of times. There was formerly one "firm" practising in this way. There are now two.—Ed.] III.—The "Bluggy" Element. In looking over the magazines of the day, I am reminded of an old woman who objected to her new minister's preaching on the ground that she liked to hear sermons t hat made her spinal marrow creep, for, judging by the popular taste in litera- ture, the majority of people appear to be of the same opinion. Take up almost any magazine, is there a page which does not harrow the reader's ## p. 266 (#708) ############################################ 266 THE AUTHOR. feelings with tales of horror and crime; and, us if the pen were not powerful enough to this end, the pencil is called to its aid, and picture after picture portrays scenes of murder, bloodshed, and every conceivable horror, so that no point of misery shall miss its mark. To the sensitive reader half an hour with the magazines is as depressing in its effects as a visit to the cave of Trophonius to those who of old consulted the oracle. Instead of being cheered and calmed to face and endure the trials and vexations of life, he is led into regions dark with despair, where Thousand phantoms joined— Prompt to deeds accursed the mind. L S. IV.—Proposed Journalists' Union. Your correspondent "Still in Grub Street" has perhaps not considered that by paying after production, when dealing with authors not known to them, editors gain a certain amount of protec- tion against fraud. Not very long ago I came across a story of my own that had come out anony- mously in the St. James's Gazette a year or two before, elegantly illustrated, and under a name certainly not mine, in a monthly periodical. I communicated, of course, with the editor, but it was too late. It was not his fault, of course, that he had not read it before, and the person who had sent it to him had pressed for early payment, received it, and quitted his address. The fraud is so simple that payment after an opportunity has betn given for possible detection is the only safeguard an editor can have, and what little experience of editing I have had myself has increased my belief in the necessity for it as a general rule. Where the writer is known to the editor, I firmly believe that by paying cash he could as a rule oblige the writer with profit to himself, as most writers would accept a smaller price if it were a case of " money' down." E. A. A. V.—The Haunch of Venison. If the writer of the " neat little letter" quoted in this month's Author be correctly reported, it would seem that even he might know his Gold- smith better. Six mistakes—" to be precise," four wrong words, and two which have been mulcted of the elisions due to them—are surely more than a fair allowance for a couple of lines. There may be other versions, but the one which I possess is as follows :—■ Thanks, my Lord, for your ven'son, for finer or fatter, Ne'er ranged in a forest, or smoked in a platter. As to the letter "e," I notice that the printer of the Atheneeum is befogged by the changes now in progress, and spells " forbears "—substantive- —without the " e," which is its just due. S. G. VI.—An Appeal to Editors. I believe that The Author is widely read by editors of the best kind. Some of them are unable to effect such reforms as I venture to- suggest here; to others, who have the power, they may not have occurred. Reform No. 1 is the acknowledgment by post- card of the receipt of MS. within a reasonable time of its coming to hand. Registering MS. is an unnecessary expense, as no perfectly sane author sends out a MS. without keeping a copy. Reform No. i is already followed by one paper to this writer's knowledge. Reform No. 2.—The return of MSS. within a reasonable time. Six months is not a reasonable time; three months is as long as a decent fellow who has thought about the matter will keep a MS., or allow his subordinates to do so. As an addendum to Reform No. 2, I would respectfully suggest that an editor who keeps a MS. which deals with a passing topic, a moment longer than is necessary, ought to be kicked; and that the said editor who disregards applications for its return, whether civilly and reasonably couched or inspired with righteous indignation, ought to be kicked again, and harder. May the writer be allowed to add here that, when he says kicked, he means kicked. Reform No. 3.—That an editor who has decided to retain a MS. for publication should, wherever it is possible (and how often is it otherwise ?), intimate his intention to the writer; otherwise the author must waste time and money over the wretched paper or magazine till either his MS. is published or returned. The signatory, for example, whose output is large and returns in- considerable, spends shillings weekly, which he can't afford, and wastes unnumbered hours in looking through his papers. An objection may be taken to this reform, that all editors are careful and all are honest, so that the author need not trouble to see to the appearance of his MS., since the cheque's the thing, and that will come along right enough. The objection may be dismissed, and the objector as idealist or ass, ac- cording to taste, which brings me to Reform No. 4.—That the editor through his subordinate should always specify in respect of what article, appearing in what medium, and on what date the payment is made. That author is in a parlous state, whom, though the most jaded of hack writers, the joy of appearing in print has ceased to stimulate. More, his published work is an advertisement for him and he has a right to a ## p. 267 (#709) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 267 copy of it . An alternative Reform No. 4 is that the editor shall order that a copy of the publication in which a contribution apjiears shall be sent to the contributor. I am aware that is sometimes done, but how often? Reform No. 5.—That an editor shall not embezzle postage stamps sent to him in good faith by his contributors for quite other purposes. Or that if he does, by right omnipotent, so deal with the postage stamps, he shall not deduct id. from a remittance for the cheque. The objection that the office boy collars the postage stamps may be dismissed. The contributions are not sent to the office boy, and the cont ributor has no cognisance of him: the editor is the responsible person. Reform No. 6.—That the editor shall wash his hands before reading MS., since re-typing costs money and re-writing time. Reform No. 7.—That the editor shall give the MS. of the unknown outsider as much considera- tion as he does to that sent in to him by his friends, his acquaintances, and the " doosid smart chap" he vaguely recollects Tomkins of the Weasel introduced to him about two in the morning at the club. Note.- The signatory declines to be fathered with any ridiculous inferences, as that he believes all editors have dirty hands, that they all see that kissing goes by favour, that they all steal postage stamps, and so forth. He wishes them, however, to grasp the initial fact that contributors are as much entitled to fair treatment as bootblacks. >>m_ Balbus. VII.—FoKEGO AND FoROO. Will you allow me to point out to yt»ur corre- spondent "S. G." that he confuses two separate words, "forgo," meaning "to go without,'- and "forego," meaniog " to go before." The place of the latter has been taken by "precede," and the word, hardly survives except in the adjectival use of its past participle, "a foregone conclusion," a survival due probably to the circumstance that the past participle of "precede" is not capable of being employed in the same sense. No person surely with any claim to education would write "a forgone conclusion "; but there are, perhaps, some who have failed to note the erroneousness of "a reward foregone." Clementina Black. VIII.—Who Bids Highest r There is a question which perplexes me, and may perplex other young authors. Perhaps you may think it worth while to answer it in the columns of The Jut/tor. Am I justified in submitting a MS. to two editors or publishers at once? That is to say, do I, by the act of sending it to A. B. for inspection, enter into any understood contract that he shall have the refusal of it? I cannot see that I do. but friends with whom I have discussed the m ttter appear to think otherwise. Suppose that I do send two copies of a MS. simultaneously to A. B. and C. D., I do not make either of them a formal offer of the MS., because I mention 110 terms. They would not, presumably, be justified in using it without an agreement. I send the MS. in order that, when they have inspected it, negotiations may Ihj opened if desirable. It is clear that I should know much better how to negotiate with A. B. if I knew what C. D. was willing to give me. I am at liberty to withdraw the MS. from either A. B. or C. I), at any time, and why not withdraw it from on! in conse- q> ence of an advantageous offer received from the other Y An employe of any kind does not, I believe, hesitate to negotiate for two posts at once, up to the point of entering into a definite en^a^ement. Am I mistaken in considering the two cases to lie parallel? M. C. A. [As to the above proposal, there seems no reason why a person who has anything to sell should not offer it to a dozen people at once and accept the highest otter. There are, however, certain considerations which make it undesirable that this method should be adopted generally by authors. First of all, at the outset the first impulse of the better class of publishers would be to send the MS. back if they knew that it was offered to other houses at the same time. But if the practice became common they would have to adapt them- selves to it, as they have adapted themselves to the literary agent, after declaring that they would have nothing to do with him. In the second place, we have always strongly recommended authors to put their business relations in the hands of business men. The literary agent might very well inform a publisher that he intended to offer the work to others and that he should take the best offer, but such a method of procedure seems to come better from a man of business than from the author himself. There are other reasons why this method should not be adopted, except by those who know the position and character of the publishers. One is that certain publishers are people with whom no one should be connected in any way; that is to say, it is quite certain that they will "best" the author by some trick or other if they can. Another is that there are publishers who do not stem able to circulate the books which they have produced. A third reason is that there are others ## p. 268 (#710) ############################################ 268 THE AUTHOR. whose credit is shaky and who might offer large terms in order to get a book, and in the long run be unable to carry them out. These three con- siderations are extremely important, and the ordinary author cannot be expected to know any- thing about them.—Ed.] IX.—A Youno Author's Grievance. "C. B. B.'s " experience is not unique. It took me some years to collect the notes for an article. When the article was written it was accepted, but I had to wait nearly another eighteen months for publication—and for my money. Another article has been in an editor's hands nearly twelve months. I know not if it is accepted. All the time I am precluded from offering that or any similar article elsewhere. "C. B. B." speaks of contributions sent in on chance. And of course many good articles are sent to just the wrong magazines; because it tak> s an author a lifetime to find out the special needs of all the different publications. Cannot some of this chance be eliminated? Conld not The Author publish a list of magazines, noting the particular lines which they affect? And further, as it is the practice with some, especially scientific, magazines not to pay anything for contributions, could not they be listed to prevent wasted efforts !J Agency between authors and editors might do much to direct MSS. to the right channels, but agents will not work for unknown authors. Even "the Authors' Syndicate works only for those whose work promises a market value.'' This s^ems to shut out the young author, for he scarcely knows if his work does possess a market value. Even the highest class of scientific work is shut out, for though it is piiblished, and sometimes at great cost, the poor author gets nothing. J. I). X.—Honour among Reviewers. "Pay no attention to reviews," wrote Matthew Arnold to a charming contemporary poet and essayist; "leave thorn to your publishers." A very humble member of the authors' craft ventures to put an interpretation of his own on Arnold's counsel, and to say with emphasis to his fellow workmen: Never reply to a reviewer. Last year Sir Martin Conway gave his opinions on the ethics of reviewing in a remarkable letter to The Author. His contention was that a reviewer had an indubitable right to condemn a book in one journal and to notice it favourably in another. To anyone familiar with "Little Dorrit," it was impossible not to be reminded of the opinions of Mr. Henry Gowan on his absent friends. Here would lie a tolerable specimen: "Jones is an ass; yet he's the dearest, kindest, brightest, fellow in the world." However, the significant question raised by Sir Martin Conway in The Author, and dealt with in a less apprecia- tive fashion by Mr. William Archer elsewhere, » as the fact that one man may have the power of reviewing the same book in a considerable number of wholly independent newspapers. And here it is that the author should be on his guard. A man may have devoted months, perhaps years, to a single work: in some instances that work may have involved him in the necessity of travel and residence abroad: as a rule he has common sense enough to know that the result , like all mortal results, is far from perfection; yet he offers his book with a conscience fairly at ease to the public. It may fall into the hands of a jaded reviewer, who makes a dozen slips in a* many lines. The author, full of his own subject, and armed, as he thinks, at all points, is amused, and undertakes to set bis critic right. The truth is made clear, the author triumphs; but he little knows at what cost to himself. Those who, either in social life or in the world of letters, engage with such light hearts in murdering the reputations of others, are usually the most thin-skinned of creatures themselves. There is no man more restlessly vindictive than a critic whose ignorance has been publicly exposed. Unhappily, the system of reviewing referred to gives him all the advantages he requires for soothing his mortified self-esteem, among these advantages being the consciousness that while nobody but the author and his publisher would ever think of reading a favourable review, every man and woman acquainted with the author pores with joy over one which is hostile to him. So the reviewer, armed at all points in his turn, goes on his way complacently. In one journal after another, and with ever increased remorse- lessness, he pursues his victim. And thus what seems to the unwary a practical unanimity of censure is frequently no more than a cloak for the active malignity of one man. The advice, then, cannot be too often repeated: under no imaginable provocation answer a re viewer. Ne Obliviscari. XL- -Style and Substance. Pray do not take amiss what I am going to say; let me assure you that far from lteing a fault-finder your persistent adherence to facts in matters relating to publishers and their ways affords me quiet mirth, waxing into something like glee as the gridiron gets hotter and hotter; and I join in the laughter-provoking discomfiture ## p. 269 (#711) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 269 of a foe who, from behind a bush, tries to wing a poisoned arrow into your ranks. Speaking of the Academy "Crown" you remark, " That the practice will produce a bene- ficial effect on literature I do not doubt, for the simple reason that style and form will be theJirst things considered, and that young writers wi'l have the necessity of attending to style and form kept constantly before their eyes." The dangling before the eyes of young men of a £ 100 or a ,£50 prize may be a proper incen- tive to the cultivation of literature as a profession —i.e., as a means of living, but surely not for that higher mental culture which seeks the enlarge- ment of the understanding, of power to compre- hend that which lies within the range of man's ken. Style and form are graceful adornments, but what of the body they are to adorn? Is the carver of a graven image to rank higher than the discoverer of a great truth? Is mental conception and development to maturity—the creator—to be veiled in presence of the artist? Clear eyes and lissom fingers are very good tools to work with, but how superficial of themselves. There can be no room for doubting which of the two is the better for both old and young to aim at, and I can well believe that you, sir, would insist upon a writer having in him some solid matter upon which to exercise his art. Would it not then be well to point out to youthful aspirants—and others—the necessity of paying some attention to mental achievement l>efore indulging in artistic display? Then, possibly, readers might lie spared some enormities which a tickle fancy, owning no allegiance to reason and disdaining probability, inflicts upon their too receptive minds. The vagaries of unbridled imagination when decked out in the newest "style" and finest "form" of modern art. are fascinating, but a trifle misleading. But all that doesn't matter if there is only—" money in it," and it " catches on." Highbury, N. Ed. Vincent Heward. BOOK TALE. ITERANCES MACNAB," the author of a 1 work entitled "On Veldt and Farm: In Bechuanaland, Cape Colony, the Trans- vaal, and Natal," published about a ypar ago, has now written a work on British Columbia, over the greater part of which she has travelled alone. The point of view of the book is indicated by its title—"British Columbia for Settlers." It will )«; published by Messrs. Chapman anil Hall. The writer is a Miss Praser, and is of the family which created Fraser't Magazitie. Sir William Flower has collected a number of his essays on natural history and such subjects, whic'h will form a volume to be published shortly by Messrs. Macmillan. Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., is writing a novel of the Elizabethan age, which Mr. Unwin will bring out. The scene is laid in western and north-western Ireland, and the title of the 9tory is " A Queen of Men." Mr. O'Brien is already the author of one work of fiction—" When We Were Boys." A translation of Ferdinand Gregorovius's work on the Emperor Hadrian is being done by Miss Mary Robinson, and will be published in a volume by Messrs. Macmillan, and entitled " The Emperor Hadrian: A Picture of the Roman Hellenic World in His Time." Professor Pelham, of Oxford, has written a preface for Miss Robinson. Mr. Harold Spender is gathering the fruits of two summers spent in the high mountains of the Pyrenees, in a volume to be published next month by Messrs. Innes. An account of the Republic of Andorra will be given. Mr. Llewelyn Smith will contribute appendices and illustrate the book. Mr. Spender is a member of the Alpine Club. A three-volume work on West Africa, is being pushed forward for publication by the Imperial Press, Limited, in view of the universal interest in that part of the world at the present time. The author is Major A. F. Mockler- Ferryman, who has large experience in these regions. British East Africa is the subject of a work by Mr. W. W. A. Fitzgerald, which the firm of Chapman and Hall are to issue immediately. The author travelled during over two years through the coast lands there on a special mission from the Imperial British East Africa for tin- purpose of exploring and reporting upon the agricultural and other capabilities of these little- known countries. In the book there will be twelve maps and sketch maps and numerous illustrations. The eminent cricketer, Dr. W. Q. Grace, is writing his reminiscences. Mr. Bowden will publish the volume during the summer. A new novel by Sir Walter Besaut, entitled "The Changeling," begins in Chapman's Magazine for March. Professor John Milne has written a volume on earthquakes for the International Science Series, published by Messrs. Kegau Paul. ## p. 270 (#712) ############################################ 270 THE AUTHOR. Miss Menie Muriel Dowie (Mrs. Norman) has written a novel, which is about to appear, called '• The Crook of the Bough." It is to a large extent a study in the difference of the Eastern and the Western temperament, the action taking place in the Balkans and in London. The conclusion, if the quotation from Mr. Watson on the title-page be an index to this, is that the two types are well-nigh irreconcileable. The author studied the Eastern character from life during a journey to the Balkans two years ago. Mrs. Steele is at present staying at Lucknow. Her next book will probably deal with the plague and the famine in India. Mrs. Humphry Ward's new novel is likely to be ready in May. Studies of childhood, by Miss K. Douglas King, will be published by Mr. Lane in the form of a volume of stories, entitled "The Child Who Will Never Grow Old." Count Tolstoy is not now to issue his expected novel, as his attitude towards the purpose of the Btory—which was to be a study in sex morality —has undergone a change. A novel entitled "The Philanthropist," by a new writer, Miss Lucy Maynard, is to be published by Messrs. Methuen. "The Consecration of the Hetty Fleet" is a new novel by Mr. St John Adcock, which Messrs Skeftington are to publish soon. Mr. John Buchau is writing a Jacobite storv, to be called " A Lost Lady of Old Years." He 'is also preparing for publication a collection of short stories, which will be entitled "Grey Weather." 1 Mr. Buchan's Chambers's Journal serial, " John Burnet of Barns," is to be published by Mr. Lane. A travesty of Mr. H. G. Wells's " The War of the Worlds" has Ix-eu written by Mr. C. L. Graves and Mr. E. V. Lucas, entitled " The War of the Wennses." Mr. Bret Harte's "Tales of Trail and Town" will be publish? 1 by Messrs. Chut to and Wind us this week. Miss Arabella Kenealy has written a new story, entitled " Woman and the Shadow," which will he published in a few days by Messrs. Hutchin- son. The heroine of this story by the author of "Dr. Janet of Harley-.street," lives for a time en fami lie with some aristocratic connections who have a title but no money. For this association with blue blood she pays liberally. Mr. Fergus Hume has a new novel in twelve sections, entitled "Hagar of the Pawnshop," about to l>e published by Messrs. Skeftington. Within the next few days, Mr. Ernest G. Henham's new novel, "Tenebrae," will be pub- lished by Messrs. Skeftiugton. "Under One Cover" is the title of a collection of stories by Mr. Baring Gould, Mr. Henhain, Mr. Richard Marsh, Mr. Fergus Hume, and others, which Messrs. Skeftington are publishing. The last books to come from the Kelmscott Press will be " Love is Enough," and " A Note by William Moiris." They will appear on the 24th inst. The former will have two illustrations by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. "Hints for Eton Masters," is a volume by the late Mr. William Cory, who was connected with the famous school from 1845 to 1872. The Oxford University Press is about to issue the work, which makes rather a wider appeal than its title suggests. Mr. Lewis Sergeant, who has finished an his- torical sketch of "The Franks," for the Story of the the Nation Series, has entered the ranks of novelists. His first essay in this field, "The Caprice of Julia" (Hurst and Blackett ), deals partly with theatrical life. Stage life is also dealt with, though not from what may be willed the strenuous point of view, in Mr. Francis Gribble's new novel, which Messrs Innes are to publish, called "Sunlight and Limelight." Mr. Meredith is revising his Essays and Poems for publication in May in the collected edition of his works (Constable), which will then be com- pleted. Curiously, Mr. Meredith had lost sight of a poem which appeared in the Pull Mall (lazelle ten or twelve years ago, and which was lately recalled to his recollection by a fellow guest reciting it to him at Mr. Edward Clodd's seaside residence. A second series of "The Law's Lumber Room," by Mr. Francis Watt, is to be issued shortly from the Bodley Head. Among the articles are "Tyburn Tree," "Some Disused Roads to Matrimony," "The Border Laws," and " The Serjeant-at-Law." Mr. Lewis Day is at work on a volume of "Alphabets Old and New." It will consist of illustrations, with short letterpress descriptions. "Studies on Many Subjects," by the late Rev. Samuel Harvey Reynolds, vicar of East. Ham from 1871 to 1893, and author of "The Rise of the Modern European System," is about to be pub- lished by Mr. Edward Arnold ## p. 271 (#713) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 271 Mrs. Ritchie, the novelist's daughter, is to write an introduction to each volume of the biographical edition of Thackeray's works which Messrs. Smith and Elder are about to issue. New examples of the letters and drawings of Thackeray will be given, and reproductions of a number of little known portraits, including those by Maclise which the Garrick Club are lending. M. Max Rooses, keeper of the Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp, has undertaken to continue the publication of Rubens's correspondence, the first volume of which appeared in 1887 by the care of his colleague, the late M. Charles Ruelens, whereas the second,extending from 1609 to 1622, is now about to be published. He asks, by means of the Times, that the private possessors, as well as the custodians of public collections, who have any autographs of Rubens, should advise him of their existence. The Daily News is moved with concern for the English of the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament. In the first place, a reference was made to expenditure which is beyond "former precedent." On reading the following sentence the term in apposition to " elsewhere" is naturally inquired for: "A portion of the Afridi tribes have not accepted the terms offered to them, but elsewhere the operations have been brought to a successful close." In the reference to Crete it was stated that: "The difficulty of arriving at an unanimous agreement upon some points has unduly protracted their deliberations (i.e., the deliberations of the Powers), but I hope that these obstacles will before long be sur- mounted." What obstacles? As "the diffi- culty" is the subject in this sentence, "that obstacle" would appear to be the appropriate phrase. Our contemporary observes also "an unanimous agreement." Mr. Arthur Waugh is publishing through Mr. Arrowsinith a volume of verse entitled " Legends of the Wheel." The "wheel" is of course the bicycle. A book on Harrow School, edited by Mr. E. W. Howson and Mr. Townsend Wamer, and containing contributions by Harrow masters and old pupils—among the latter Lord Crewe, Sir Henry Cunningham, Sir Charles Dalrymple, M.P., Mr. Walter Long, and Mr. Chandos Leigh, Q.C.—is to be published by Mr. Edward Arnold. Earl Spencer, chairman of the governors, writes a preface to the work. Mr. MacAlister,the hon. secretary of the Library Association, has received an intimation from the Home Office to the effect that Her Majesty and Council have been graciously pleased to grant a royal charter of incorporation to the Library Association. In October next (says the Illustrated London News) Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton will publish the first number of a new religious periodical under the title of Ian Maclaren's Magazine. It will bd edited by the Rev. John Watson (Ian Maclaren) and Dr. Robertson Nicoll, and it is understood that the former will henceforth confine his writings to it. "Mirabeau," by Mr. P. F. Willert, will be the next volume in Messrs. Macinillan's Foreign Statesmen Series. Professor Michael Foster and Professor Ray Lankester are editing the papers contributed by Professor Huxley to the journals of the Royal, Linnean, and other societies. There will be three volumes, the first of which is due. A number of the papers appear in the edition of his works which Professor Huxley arranged shortly before his death. Canon Rawlinson's biography—largely made up, however, of diaries—of Major-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, will have a preface by Lord Roberts. We mentioned some time 6ince that the Glasgow Weekly Herald offered ten guineas each for short serial tales in five instalments, and one guinea for short weekly tales. The offer for short serials has now been withdrawn, and the editor has been compelled to warn contributors of weekly tales that so many excellent examples of these have been received and accepted that contributors need have no hope of tales appearing earlier than twelve months after thev are accepted. The Brotherhood Publishing Company is now circulating, under the title "What is Art r" a translation of a work by Count Tolstoy. This title was anticipated in 1885 by Mr. J. Stanley Little, and used by him for a book on art, published by Swan Sonneuschein. Mr. Little has had in preparation for some time past a second edition of his work, and there seems to be some prospect of a conflict of title. Count Tolstoy's book was originally announced as " On Art"; but it issued from the press in this country under the title to which Mr. Little has certainly the prior claim. Messrs. Seeley and Co. have recently published a new historical romance by Mrs. Marshall, "In the Choir of Westminster Abbey in the Time of Henry Purcell." It will be followed shortly by a story of "The Queen of Hearts " (the Princess Elizabeth) by the same author. Mrs. Marshall's works are published in the Tauchnitz edition, and are translated into German and French. ## p. 272 (#714) ############################################ 272 THE AUTHOR. The fifth volume of the " English Catalogue of Books" will be published very soon. It covers the years 1890-1897. The editor invites authors who have published books within these limits to send him, c/o. Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., Fetter-lane, the full titles, sizes, prices, year and month of publication, with the author's and publisher's names, as soon as possible. Another serial by Jean Middlemass, entitled "In Storm and Strife," is about to appear in the newspapers of the National Press Agency. The author's "Blanche Coningham's Surrender," has just been published by Messrs. White. Mr. Alan Oscar, the sea story writer, has written for the Strand Magazine a true sea story, recounting one of his own experiences. It will be illustrated by the author. In "The Devout Pilgrim's Guide to the Holy Land in the Way of Prayer," by Elizabeth Harcourt Mitchell (Church Printing Company, 11, Burleigh-street, Strand. 5*.), Mrs. Mitchell has tried to turn the thoughts of tourists in Palestine towards the devotional aspects of their tour, and hopes to make the work a companion to Murray and Baedeker's guides. Written at the request of the English Bishop in Jerusalem, it gives a very short account of each place, then the whole of the Scripture narrative concerning it, so that a hurried horseman need not wait to look out texts. This is followed by a short reflection and act of devotion, and sometimes Dy a few religious verses. A list of English churches in the Holy Land gives it a practical value. The German rights of Mr. Charles Lowe's historical romance of the Seven Yeais' War—"A Fallen Star; or, the Scots of Frederick "—kavn been acquired by the Deutsche Verlagsantalt of Stuttgart and Leipzig, which will shortly issue a translation from the pen of a distinguish°d German litterateur. Mr. Lowe has written for the Northern Newspaper Syndicate a series of ten articles on " Our Future King," which are also to appear in booklet form. "Heroes of the Reformation" is the title of the newest of new series. The first volume will be "Luther," by Professor Eyster Jacobs, of Philadelphia. In appearance the volumes will resemble those of the "Heroes of the Nations" series by the same publishers—Messrs. Putnam; and they will be issued at the rate of three per annum. Mr. Bernard Wentworth, author of "The Master of Hullingham Manor" and "Allerton Farm," had a blank verse poem in the Western Mail of Jan. 15, entitled " Anti-Agnosticism: A Vision." Another poem by the same author was published in the Western Mail of Jan. 29, 1897, entitled "Tintagel, by the Cornish Sea." This has passed into a second edition in booklet form, published by Messrs. Weighell and Co., Laun- ceston. An inscription to the memory of one Richard Hill, a contemporary of Shakespeare and an alderman and mayor of the town, who died in 1593, has been brought to light by the work of restoring Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon. The first sentence over the rudely carved raised tomb is a Hebrew text from Job, the next is Greek, and the latter part of the inscription is as follows:— Hore lieth intombed the corps of Richard Hil, A woollen draper being in his time; Whose virtves live, whose fame dooth floriah stil, Thovgh hee deaolvi-d be to dvst and slime, A mirror he and paterae may be made, For evch as shall svekcead him in that trade; He did not vse to sweare, to glose, either faigne, His brother to defravde in burguninge; Hee woold not strive to get excessive gaine In ani cloth or other kinde of thinge: His servant. S. I., this trveth can testilie. A witness that beheld it with mi eie. Two novelties in the book world of the past month have been a book by Charles Dickens and one by Mr. Buskin. The Dickens volume, published by Mr. George Bedway, consists of a number of scattered papers, most of which appeared in Household Words, which have been collected by Mr. F. C. Henvon, who is well known for his research in everything that re'ates to the great novelist. Mr. Ruskin's book, published, of course, by Mr. George Allen, consists of a series of lectures on landscape, delivered at Oxford in the Lent term, 1871. LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS- Public Libraries, Authors, and Pub- lishers: Views of Mr. Spencer and Mr. Lecky.—Mr. J. A. Steuart on Bookselling and Reviews.—Newspapers and the Libel Law.—Count Tolstoi on Maupassant and Fiction. The principal subject of discussion during the past month has been the relations of authors and publishers to free libraries, upon which the views of Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. W. E. H. Lecky have been given. Mr. E. Marston vented the question in the Times by setting forth certain figures upon what he called the "enormous tax" ## p. 273 (#715) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 273 that publishers have to pay in being obliged to present to the nation five copies of every book that they publish. He estimated that, during the eight years, 1890-97, 250,000 volumes have been thus presented to the British Museum and the four other public libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Dublin, which, if taken at the average published price of 5*. per volume, amounts to .£62,500; or, extending the period to the whole of Her Majesty's reign, 1,500,000 books, equal to •£375,000. As to this estimate, see " Notes and News," p. 261. Mr. Herbert Spencer pointed out that (exclud- ing non-copyright books) the burden is not borne mainly by the publishers; it is borne in chief measure, and often wholly, by the authors. Mr. Spencer goes on to say :— It is borne indirectly by the antbora in all tboae cases where there is sold the copyright of an edition, or where there is an agreement to pay half profits or a royalty; for in all such cases the publisher, in estimating the expenses of publication, sets down the gratis copies to be distributed, including among these the copies for the public libraries. This is one of the items which together form a total on the basis of which the amount offered to the author, under either form of publication, is calculated. And hence, whatever burden the cost of the five copies may be to the publisher, that burden is practically transferred to the author when settling the terms. But the burden falls directly upon the author in all cases of publication by commission. In the publisher's accounts the author is debited with the five copies, as he is with all gratis copies distributed on his behalf. The tax is levied by the nation on him whether he makes anything by his book or not, and no less when it entails on him a loss. During the firBt twelve years of my literary life every one of my books failed to pay for its paper, print, and advertisements, and for many years after failed to pay my small living expenses—every one of them made me the poorer. Never- theless, the forty millions of people constituting the nation demanded of the impoverished brain-worker five gratis copies of each. There is only one simile occurring to me which at all represents the faot, and that in but a feeble way—Dives asking alms of Lazarus! Mr. Lecky took an opposite side. I am always reluctant to differ from anything which Mr- Herbert Spencer writes, but I earnestly trust that the old and well-established obligation of sending a copy of all books published in the kingdom to five public libraries may not cease to be limited to the British Museum. It is scarcely possible to overrate the importance to those who are engaged in literary research of having accessible libraries where they are certain to find all such books easily and gratuitously, and I should much regret if this privilege were confined to London students. The tendency to centralise literary life in the metropolis is already more than sufficiently strong, and suoh a measure would certainly increase it. In this, as in most things, we have to strike a balance between good and evil. In the case of valuable illustrated books which are printed in small numbers, the present system is no doubt a hardship; but as the chief expense of a book is laying down the type, the cost of the few additional copies is in most caBes trivial. A little known writer who has sterling merit will almost certainly find readers in a public library, who will repay his outlay by helping to accelerate the period of his popularity; and even when books remain permanently un- remunerative it is often some satisfaction to their authors to know that they have found a dignified resting-place. In my opinion any change that made these great libraries less complete than at present would be a serious calamity to literature. To the above letter Mr. Herbert Spencer makes the following re[dy :— Mr. Lecky rightly says of the required gifts to libraries that11 the cost of the few additional copies is in most cases trivial." To Mr. Lecky it has always been so, and it is so to me at present; but it is not so to the struggling author, *ith whom for long years it is a question whether he will sink or swim. Moreover, his first loss is the parent of a second and larger loss. The few copies which the State takes from him are used by it to intercept the buyers of many copies. After the year of grace during which his book is withheld, numbers who would otherwise purchase it read it at the museum library, and already a loser, he loses much more. While agreeing with Mr. Lecky that facilities for literary research are very desirable, I do not agree that they can be achieved only through public institutions. Fifty odd years ago some men of letters and others (Mr. Carlyle being a chief mover) set up the London Library for the purpose of facilitating research, the British Museum library failing in sundry respects to meet their needs. From the London Library books may be taken home; fifteen may be had out at a time, and if any book a student wants is of appreciable value it is bought for him and afterwards put on the shelves. The library has now 175,000 volumes and grows at an increasing rate. Of course it is far from all-embracing. But, had there existed no public libraries: had the felt need prompted establishment of it a generation or more earlier; had its claims then become widely known, as they would; had it received, as it now does, gifts of books and of private libraries, as well as probably dona- tions and bequests of money, it would by this time have gone far to fulfil all the requirements. It is true that we have not, like the Americans, millionaires who found universities or build magnificent observatories. Still, there are instances of the required public spirit; and when we learn that in 1890 charitable bequests reached over .£1,000,000, that within the few preceding years bequests for art galleries and oollectionB had reached over half a million, and that London and Edinburgh and other places have recently witnessed kindred gifts, it is not an over- sanguine calculation that, under pressure of the need, an institution like the London Library, earlier founded, would before now have grown to vast proportions, quite meeting the want, and would have accumulated a fund .(.£200,000) the interest of which would suffice to purchase copies of all new works. But now from this Bide issue let me return to the main issue. Grant that to facilitate literary research there must be public libraries. Does it follow that these must be recruited by oopies of all new works taken from their authors under penalty r Is it not possible that copies may be bought? Admit the want, and the first question arising is : By whom shall the cost of satisfying it be borne? Shall the public who profit by the books bear it, or the authors who have laboured to produce the books P Shall the tax be paid by the many millions benefited, or by the few hundreds who benefit them P As implied above, I accept neither alternative. But, assuming that one must be accepted, then I say that in equity the burden should be borne by the State with its hundred millions of revenue, and not imposed on a small class of men, most of them needy, ## p. 274 (#716) ############################################ 274 THE AUTHOR. and many of them passing their lives " in shallows and in miseries." Among the variety of opinions current on the question of the value of reviews, comes Mr. J. A. Steuart's advice to booksellers to utilise these more than they do. The editor of the Publishers' Circular, in a paper in the Fortnightly for February, estimates the whole present position of the commercial interests of literature, and he counsels more push being exhibited in the retail trade to advertise books. "At present," he remarks, "the advertising is left wholly to the publisher, a circumstance which may have sug- gested to the Authors' Society that hint to the retail trade about energy and enterprise." The man in the street does not read reviews, but it is the business of booksellers to parade these reviews before him, with practical results. "I know one bookseller who, when he finds a eulo- gistic review of a new book, instantly cuts it out and displays it in a conspicuous manner. He tells me the system is a gratifying success. Could other booksellers not follow his example?" Mr. Steuart views with disfavour the recommendation of the sub-committee of the Society of Authors that booksellers should bring out new editions of non-copyright books on their own account: "It would merely mean the creation of a publisher and the spoiling of a bookseller; and of pub- lishers we have no scarcity, either for old books or new." Mr. Steuart finally observes that it is clearly to the interest of all concerned to have a prosperous retail trade; and he agrees with the secretary of the Society of Booksellers that the work of reform is but beginning. Reference was made in The. Author a few months ago to the dangerous simplicity of getting up actions for libel against newspapers, and to the remarks of the Lord Chief Justice upon the frivolity which often distinguishes the grounds for such actions. The Daily News states that the list for the Hihvy Sittings on the Queen's Bench Division contains thirty actions for libel, mostly against newspapers. Anyone who brings an action against a leading newspaper is sure of getting his costs and damages if he succeeds; if he fails he may be, and very often is, unable to pay the costs either of the journal against which he has proceeded or of the solicitor who has taken up his case on speculation. The Daily News is satisfied that the result of a case tried before Mr. Justice Hawkins the other day, following as it does the actions recently laughed out of court by the Lord Chief Justice, warrant us in believing that happier days have really at last dawned upon journalists. A Bill was introduced last Session by Mr. Boscawen to amend the law, and it is being brought in again this year. It is supported by members of all political parties, including Sir Albert Rollit, a Conservative; Mr. Frederick Wilson, a Liberal; and Mr. T. P. O'Connor, an Irish Nationalist. The first clause provides that particulars of the libel or libels, with dates, must be endorsed on the writ. This is to give the defendants an opportunity of at once apologising or paying money into court without waiting for the next stage, the statement of claim, and thereby incurring needless expense, which may l)e very considerable. The second clause allows of alter- native pleadings. The law at present, for no assignable or intelligible reason, forbids alterna- tive pleading in actions of libel, and in actions of libel alone. In an article on " Maupassant and Fiction" in the February numlier of Chapman's Magazine, Count Tolstoi represents this writer as having, in all his novels subsequent to "Bel Ami," bowed to the theory that in a work of art it is not only of no moment to have a clear conception of right and wrong, but that, on the contrary, an artist must igncre all moral considerations, and that there is even a peculiar merit in his power to do so. The theory set forth above is not only supreme at present in a Parisian circle, but amongst artists everywhere; it is fashionable. More, Count Tolstoi thinks French authors are at fault in the matter of describing their nation. "For France to exist as we know her, with her truly great acquirements in science and art, and her civic, national, and moral improvement of humanity, the working people which has main- tained and is supporting this France upon its shoulders must be composed not of brutes, but of men with great mental capacity." If we turn, meantime to M. Bastide's pjaper in the Fortnightly for February (" Cacoethes Literarum") we get the suggestion that in France literature is a disease. There is a ministry of fine arts; theatres are subsidised ; numerous pensions and still more numerous honours granted; anyone may dabble in literature; there is no risk whatever. "The novel's objective, even exteriorily," says Count Tolstoi, " is the description of one or many com- plete human lives, and therefore the writer of a novel must have a clear and fine conception of what is right and wrong in life." This De Maupassant had not; but, fortunately, he wrote short stories, "in which he did not cramp himself by the false theory he had accepted." ## p. 275 (#717) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 275 THE BOOES OF THE MONTH. [Jan. "24 to Feb. 23.—262 Books.] Adams, Brooks. Law of Civilisation and Decay. 7/6 net Macmillan. Allen, A. V. G. Christian Institution!. 12'- T. andT. Clark. Anderson, J. G. Manual of French Prose Construction. 5/- Klackie. Anonymous (** Lucus a non Lucendo "). Ray a from the Starry Host. A/. Roxburgbe. Anonymous. Novels and Novelists. 7/fi net. W H. Allen. Armitage. E. Pictures and Drawings selected from the Works of. Low. Bliss. Richards. O. Allen. Blackwood. Burns and Oatea, Blackwood. Head ley. Macmillan. Oliphant. Dulau. Macmillan. Unicorn Press. £8 net or £» 8s. net Atherton, Gertrude. His Fortunate Grace. 2 6. Atkinson. A. G, B St Botolph. Aldgate. 5 - net. Attwell, H. Panaies Irom Frencb Gardens. 2 - Audon, H. W. 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The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe. 15;- Constable. Zenker, E. V. Anarchism. 7/6. Methuen. Z. Z. Cleo the MagniQcent, 6/- Heinemann. "THE AUTHOR." SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMEXT8. Front Page Other Pages Balf or a Page Quarter of a Page Eighth of a Page Single Column Advertisemei Bills for Insertion per inch per 2000 £4 0 3 0 1 M l) It 0 7 0 6 1 0 Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed either to the Advertisement Uanaobr, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, W.O.; or to the Publishes (Horace Cox), Windsor House, Breams - buildings, E.O. ## p. 276 (#719) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. Ill A Charming Gift-Book. "What would not the intelligent tourist in Paris or in Home give for such a book os this?-'—The Timet. "A brilliant book."— The Sketch. "Particularly pood."— The. Academy. 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BOURNEMOUTH AND THE NEW FOREST. I THE WYE VALLEY. BRIGHTON, EASTBOURNE, HASTINGS, AND ST. LEONARDS. LLANDUDNO, RHYL, BETTWSYCOED. BANGOR, AND SNOWDON. ABERYSTWITH, TOWYN, BARMOUTH, AND DOLGELLY. MALVERN, HEREFORD, WORCESTER, AND GLOUCESTER. LLANDRINDOD WELLS AND THE SPAS OF MID-WALES. BRISTOL, BATH, CHEPSTOW, AND WESTON-SUPER-MARE. 3s. 6d. net. *> Illustrations, 24 Maps and Plans. LONDON and Environs. Fcap, 8vo., Is. THE HOTELS OF THE WORLD. Llangollen: DARLINGTON * CO. London: SI MPKIN. MARSHALL, & CO. Ltd. ttailway Bookstall* nod all Booksellers. PHOTOGRAPHS-BIRTHDAY and SEASON CARDS from negatives by Ralph DAhLiNtiTOj, F.K.G.S.. of scenery. Ruins, &c, in I'aly, Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt, Is , Is. 6d., 2s., 2b. Cd. Mounted Specimen, post free, with complete list. Is. DARLING-TON Sc CO., LLANGOLLKN. Demy 8vo., cloth boards, price 10s. 6d. IN NEW SOUTH AFRICA. Travels in the Transvaal and Rhodesia. With Map and Twenty-six Illustrations. By II. LINCOLN TANGYE. CONTENTS. Introductory. PART I. Chapter I.—The Land of Hold and the Way there. II.—Across Desert and Veldt. III. —Johannesburg the Golden. IV. —A TranBvaal Coach Journey. V.—Natal: the South African Garden. VI —Ostracised In Africa. Home with the Swallows. PART IX—RAMBLES IN RHODESIA. Chapter I.—Eendragt Maakt Magt. ,, II.—Into the Country of Lobengula. „ III.—The Trail of War. „ IV.—Goldminlng, Ancient and Modern. „ V.—Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. VL—To Northern Mashonaland. „ VII.—Primitive Art. The Misadventures of a Wagon. Index. London: Horace Cox. Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, S.C. Crown 8vo., with illustrations, price 6s.. to be had of all booksellers. FOR HIS COUNTRY'S SAKE; or, Eaca, a British Prince at the Court of Trajan. By L. M. P. BLACK. HORACE Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, London, E.C. RECENT VERSE. LYRICS, price 5a. NORTH COUNTRY BALLADS. Price 5s. TALES IN VERSE lettered, price 6a. SONGS OF THE CASCADES. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3a. 6d. SONGS OP THE PINEWOODS. BELL. Price 3a. fid. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth lettered, By HENRY TODD. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth By EEL VIKING. By ARTHUR CAMP- THE FAIREST OF THE ANGELS, and Other Verse. By MARY COLBORNE-VEEL. Feap. 8vo., cloth boarda, 3a. fid. "Some of the shorter lyrica are much above the average, being clear in thought and musical in expression. The merita of the collec- tion are considerable"— The Bookman. THE WANDERER IN THE LAND OF CYBI, and other Poems (188fi-93). By CLIFFORD BROOKS. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boarda, 3s. fid. POEMS. By THOMAS BARLOW. Crown 8vo., bevelled boards, gilt edges, price 5a. POEMS. By LEWIS BROCKMAN. Crown 8vo., cloth boarda, 5b. "The ballads are full of the spirit and directness of style proper to the ballad."—Saturday fterieu?, 11 Mr. Brockman 1b a writer of good poetic mettle, and no doubt the reading world will hear more of him yet."— Glasgow Herald. "The graceful smoothness of Mr. Lewis Brockman'a poems."— Daily Tekgi*aph. "He is decidedly inventive, and often highly Imaginative. . , . The element of originality pervades the book. . . . His long poem, 'Ronald's Cross,* is well sustained . . . it is like the plaint of the 'Mariner,' and it holds us."—Queen. "A reader who values cultured sentiments and flawless versifica- tion will And much to admire."— Scotsman. London: Horacr COX, Windsor Houso, Bream's Buildings. E.C. ## p. 276 (#720) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. TYPEWRITIITG "With Accuracy and Despatoh. Authors' MSS. 9d. per IOOO words. Plays, Translations, Indexing, General Copying. MISS WAY, 33, OSSIAN KOAD, STROUD GREEN, LONDON. N. BcCRS. GILL, TYPE-WBITINO OFFICE, 35, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABL^H^n 1883.) Authors' MSS. carefully copied rrom Is. per HKK) words. Duplicate copies third price. Skilled typihtB sent out by hour. day. or week. French MSS. accurately copied, or typewritten English translations supplied. Eeferences kindly permitted to Sir Walter Benant; also to Messrs. A. P. Watt and Son, Literary Agents, Hastings HouBe, Norfulk-strppt. Strnml. W.p Stick in your Scraps with STICKPHAST PASTE. Heaps better than gum. 6d. and Is., with strong, useful brush. Sold by Stationers, Chemists. Stores, Ac. Factory, SUGAR LP AH1 CQXT RT, K.C. MISS GS-. DAVIES, 178, OAKLEY STREET, CHELSEA, S.W. Typewriting Accurately and Promptly Executed. A Floating Policy of Insurance. All MSS. received are insured against loss or damage while being copied and on transit. Demy 8vo., with Map and Illustrations, price 10s. 6d. AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA: Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to British Burma. By G. E. MORRISON, "Mr. Morrison is an Australian doctor who has achieved probably the most remarkable journey through the Flowery Land ever attempted by a Christian . . . He was entirely unarmed and unaccompanied, save for the coolies who carried his baggage. Such a journey—three thousand miles in length—could not fail to present many curious customs and as many curious people. But it is owing entirely to Dr. Morrison's graphic manner of description, and his acutely keen observation, that his travels are such a reality to the reader. This portly volume is one of the most interesting books of travel of the many published this year. It is frank, original, and quite ungarni:shed "by adventitious colouring."—.Sf. James's Budget. '* One of the most interesting books of travel we remember to have read."—European Afail. "A very lively book of travel. . . . His account of the walk of 1W0 miles from Chungking to Burma, over the remotest districts of Western China, is full of interest."—The Timet. "Dr. Morrison writes, crisply, sensibly, humorously, and with an engaging frankness. . . . There is not a page he has written that is not worth the perusal of the student of China and the Chinese."— The Scotsman. "By far the most interesting and entertaining narrative of travel in the Flowery Land that has appeared for several years."— The World. London : Horace Cox, Windsor House. BreamVbuildings, E.C* Typewriting by Clergyman's Daughter and Assistants. MISS E. M. SIKES, The Weat Kensington Typewriting Agency, 13, Wolverton Gardens. Hammersmith, W. (Established 1898.) Authors' MSS. carefully and promptly eopipd. Usual Terms. Legal and General Copying. Typewritten Circulars by Copying Process. Authors' References. NOTICE TO STORY WRITERS. THE PROPRIETORS OF THE GLASGOW WEEKLY HERALD Have meantime WITHDRAWN their offer of Ten Guineas for Short Serial Stories in Five Instalments. The Weekly Guinea Complete Tales are still accepted. AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD (The LBAOBNHALL PRESS LTD., Publishers & Printers 50, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.) Contains hairless paper, over which the pen slips with perfect freedom. Sixpence each. 6s. per dozen, ruled or plain. Authors should note that The Leadenhall Press Ltd. cannot be responsible for the loss of MSS. by Are or otherwise. Duplicate- copies should be retained. Crow i 8vo., Cloth Boards, Silver Lettering, Price 6s. A LADY OF WALES. "A Story of the Siege of Chester, 1645:' BY THE Rev. YINCENT J. LEATHERDALE, M.A. London: Horace Cox. Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, price 6s. HATHERSAGE: A Tale of North Derbyshire. BY CHARLES EDMUND HALL, Author of " An Ancient Ancestor," &c. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildtngs. E.O. 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. 08 Issue 10 (March 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 10 (March 1898) 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 1898-03-01-The-Author-8-10 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/312/1898-02-01-The-Author-8-9.pdf ae50f216c913e7ec62bd05ce46770a49 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) 1898-02-01 Volume 8 Issue 9 Pages Page range in volume 229–252 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18980201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin TLhe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 9.] FEBRUARY I, if [Price Sixpence CONTENTS. General Memoranda Literary Property— 1. The Anflo-Oennan Copyright Ooovetition ... 2. Gcrraro r. Rldeal S. The Law of Author and Publisher 4. The Coat of Production 5. Cost of Binding '*. Copyright in Photographs 7. Schopenhauer on Authorship, Copyr fth' and Amendment of Copyright Law New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood The Birthday of the Alhamm PAOK 229 281 231 282 2'2 282 2:12 S'yle— 232 233 284 PA8B ... ise ... 237 ... 289 ... 23!l ... 240 ... 243 SotM and News. By the Editor. The Discount System Another Sporting Offer Personal A Sporting Offer Agreemont Books of W.<7 Correspondence.—1 Psper Corel lishlng. 'I The Fate of the Journalists' I'nion 6. Editor and Contributor. 6. Diseases in Fiction. 7. The Letter •* K." S. Question* and Answers... 244 Book Talk 247 Obituary t*l Books of the Month 2*1 2. The Problem of Pub- ■ Unknown." 4 Propose PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 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, 6s. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the following prices: Vol. I., io«. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8*. 6d. eacli (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Grlaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3.*. i. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By s. Squire Sprigoe, late Secretary to the Society, is. 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. 2s. 6d. 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigoe. 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 of 1890. 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 Spottis- woode. i*. 6d. 8. The Society Of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is. •* 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2.?. 6d. i. ## p. 228 (#666) ############################################ 11 AD VER TISEMENTS. ^ti)e $ocieip of Jlut^ots (§ncorporafe6) PRESIDENT. GEOEQE IMTZEIEtlEIDITIH:. COUNCIL. 3ir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. J. M. Baerib. A. W. 1 Beckett. Robert Batsman. P. E. Bkddard, F.R.S. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Sir Walter Bebant. Algustine Birrell, M.P. Rev. Prof. Bonnet, P.R.S. Right Hon. Jameb Brtce, M.P. Right Hon. Lord Burghclere, P.C. Hall Caine. Egerton Cabtle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colles. Hon. John Collier. Sir W. Martin Conway. F. Marion Crawford. Right Hon. G. N. Curzon, P.C, M.P. Hon. A. W. a Beckett. Sir Walter Bebant. Eoerton Cabtle, F.S.A. W. Morris Colles. The Earl of Desart. Austin Dobson. A. Conan Doyle, M.D. A. W. Dubourg. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. D. W. Freshfibld. Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gobse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthony Hopb Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. W. E. H. Lecky, P.C, M.P. J. M. Lely. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.SA. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doc. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Counsel — E. M. TJnderdown, COMMITTEE OF MANAGE Chairman—H. Rider Haggard. Sir W. Martin Conway. D. W. Freshfield. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. Herman C Merivalk. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sir Lewis Morris. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. J. C. Parkinson. Right Hon. Lord Pirbbioht, P.C, F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bajrt., LL.D. Walter Herrieb Pollock, w. bapti8te scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. R. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Storr. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. Q.C. M ENT. Sir A. C Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Henry Norman. Francis Storr. SUB-COMMITTEES. MUSIC C Villibrs Stanford, Mns.D. (Chairman). Jacques Blumbnthal. ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman). Sir W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spielmann. ( Field, Roscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. \ G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thring, B.A. OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C DRAMA. Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman). A. W. 1 Beckett. Edward Rose. Solicitors- .A.. IP. WATT &c SO IDT, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SCIUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON", W.C. I THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. f YPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prices. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest $ process. ^ ^OPINIONS OF CLIENTS —Distinguished Author:—"The moat beautiful typing I have ever seen." Laot of Titlk :—11 The $ $ work was very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanks for the spotless neatnesw and beautiful accuracy." S MISS GENTRY, TCI,DON CHAMBKRg, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C.? |T ## p. 229 (#667) ############################################ ^Ibe Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 9.] FEBRUARY 1, 1898. [Pbicb 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, See. T riHE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all I 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. FOB some years it has been the praotioe to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," 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 Bhould be borne in mind, and if any publisher refuges a clause of precaution he simply reveals his true character, and should be left to carry on his 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. VIII. 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. III. 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 tides. It is 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 figureB 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 groat 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, Bhould arrange on the chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both Bides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those aooount 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 oharged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. u 2 ## p. 230 (#668) ############################################ 230 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. Ij^ VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive JjJ advice upon his 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 advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions conneoted with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and paBt accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the oountry. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- lence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To 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 npon which its services can be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days' notice should be given. 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi- cations promptly. That stamps should, in nil 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 oases 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 oost 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 Seoretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Sooiety 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 P Communications for The Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each mouth. 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 Sooiety does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year P If 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 is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they wonld give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest ## p. 231 (#669) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 231 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 1 Cost of Production' are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent." This clause was inserted three or four years ago. Estimates have, however, recently been obtained which show that the figures in the book may be relied on as nearly correct: as near as is possible. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any Bums 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. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—The Anglo-German Copyright Convention. THE telegram appearing in the Times of Jan. 29, announcing the withdrawal of Germany from the Anglo-German Conven- tion for the protection of authors' copyright, refers to those treaties existing between Germany, Prussia, and England prior to the Berne Con- vention. Questions have arisen from time to time during the past few years as to how far these prior treaties had any effect on the articles existing between the countries under the Berne Convention. As stated in the telegram they have lost their legal force in Great Britain, and have now been declared null and void by the withdrawal of Germany. There is, however, one question, how far this withdrawal may have an effect on books published under these treaties prior to the Berne Convention, whether the with- drawal is retrospective, and in what way it may bear upon past publications. The secretary has written to the Foreign Office asking whether they can forward information to the Society on the effect of the withdrawal. II.—Gerrare v. Rideal. In the Westminster County Court on Thursday, Dec. 16, his Honour Judge Lumley Smith (Q.C.) and a jury had before them the case of Gerrare v. Rideal and the Roxburghe Press, in which the plaintiff Mr. W. Gerrare, an author, sued the defendant to recover the sum of £27, which amount, he contended, was due to him under an agreement with the defendants for the publication of a book entitled " Phantasms." The plaintiff was called, and said he entered into an agreement with the defendants to publish his book, and place it on the market for three months, the idea being that during that time it would be seen what the public demand would be for it. That arrangement was duly carried out and the book was withdrawn from sale on Lady- day, 1895; but in spite of his repeated applica- cations for a statement of account, he (plaintiff) had been unable to induce the defendants to supply him with one; and, although he felt sure that there was a considerable sum due to him in respect of sales, he was unable to get from the defendants any approximate idea as to what was due to him. It was within his knowledge that 1000 copies of the book were issued, half at half- a-crown, and the remainder at three-and-sixpence, and all he now asked for was a statement as to what had been done with them. He had paid the defendants £6~ for printing expenses, but they had failed to register the book, as they undertook to do by the agreement, and on that point alone he contended that he had suffered damage. He further complained that the defen- dants agreed to pay the artist for the frontispiece, but he (plaintiff) had been threatened by the artist with an action. At tliis point of the case his Honour remarked that the plaintiff's damages looked rather remote at the present moment, but it was quite clear that he was entitled to a proper account, and could, if he wished, have it taken by the Registrar. The Plaintiff.—I have applied time after time to the defendants during the past three years, but have been unable to get one. In cross-examination by defendants' counsel, the plaintiff swore most positively that he had never received an account of which that now pro- duced was a copy. He had on several occasions expressed his willingness to have the figures gone into by a chartered accountant, but he could get no satisfaction of any kind. Counsel for the defence said his clients were perfectly willing to have the account taken by a chartered accountant, and were willing to pay the costs of any gentleman whom plaintiff chose to name. The Plaintiff.—That is what I have been asking for for the past three years, and 1 have a letter to the effect. His Honour said it was quite clear that the plaintiff was entitled to a full account as to what had become of the books which were printed. The defendants could not expect to have things all their own way, even although they were pub- lishers. Plaintiff.—I have paid the defendants .£67 in respect of their expenses, and all I have received back is =£23. ## p. 232 (#670) ############################################ 232 THE AUTHOR. In the end his Honour said he thought it was quite clear that the defendants had broken their agreement with the plaintiff, but as they had undertaken to supply him with a proper account, he would adjourn the case for that purpose. Defendants' counsel.—We will see that a proper account is rendered, but we should like the plaintiffs claim for damages settled. His Honour.—Well, the jury are here. You may go further and fare worse. If the jury give damages they must do so. In the end it was agreed that the jury should lie discharged without giving a verdict, on the understanding that the plaintiff was to be supplied with a proper account drawn up by a chartered accountant. . III.—The Law of Author and Publisher. Mr. Wicks' s case, of which we extracted a. report from the Atheweum last month, though it lays down no new principle, is of great impor- tance from its recognition by the Lord Chief Justice of England of the rule that the contract between author and publisher is of a personal character, and cannot be assigned by one pub- lisher to another without the consent of the author. The rule was first laid down so far back as 1855 in the case of Stevens v. Benning, and was acted upon last year in Griffith v. Tower Pub- lishing Company by Mr. Justice Stirling, who restrained the receiver of an insolvent company, in a debenture holder's action against the com- pany, from assigning the benefit of a publishing agreement without the consent of the author. In Hole c. Bradbury, which was heard in 1879, the same rule was recognised by Mr. Justice Fry, and it is now settled law, although contracts except those between author and publisher, and any others in which a person is employed "with reference to his individual skill, competency, or other personal qualification," can be assigned by either party merely on notice to the other. IV.—The Cost of Production. Here are certain estimates received by an author anxious to learn what his book would cost to produce. They are placed side by side for com- parison with the figures in the Society's " Cost of Production." It must be explained (1) that the composition includes three lines of small type for every page, which partly accounts for the difference betweenthe printers' estimates and that of the Society; (2) that the estimates are for a single book, whereas those of the Society are intended, as approximately as possible, to represent the figures obtained where a large quantity of printing is ordered—many books, that is, not one; and (3) that the estimates include a profit on paper and binding, which would be avoided by going direct to paper-makers and binders, and ordering in large quantities. Even with these additions to the cost, an edition of 1000 copies can be produced by a first-class London house at a cost of ,£21 less than the estimate of the Society. Twenty-Bix sheets at 320 words to a page. The edition to consist of 1000 copies. Society (P- 47)- £. t. d. £. 8. d. £. d. 4. Composing ) (per sheet) ) 1 18 6 . .. 2 2 0 . 1 «4 0 . 1 Printing 0 9 0 . .. 0 10 0 . 0 11 6 . .. 0 Paper ... 0 9 6 . .. 0 17 0 0 16 6 . 1 Moulding... 0 S 0 . .. 0 5 4 .. 0 6 0 . 0 Binding ... 0 0 5 ■ .. 0 0 6 .. 0 0 9* .. 0 IOI 8 8 [21 12 8 125 10 8 136 9 o * Half open. V.—Cost of Binding. It is no longer necessary to continue the note as to the increased cost of binding. Binding has not increased; it has gone down. There is before us an estimate from a first-class bookbinder for a single book, not for a number of books. The estimate, with a specimen showing excellent work, is 30.V. per 100 copies, i.e., 3 a volume. Now, if a large number of copies could be ordered at once, the cost would be very much less. Therefore, the price per copy estimated in the "Cost of Pro- duction" may stand till further notice. VI.—Copyright in Photographs. A case is reported in the Birmingliam Post which seems to consider the copyright in photo- graphs to be established as soon as the photo- graph is taken. If the case is properly reported the facts were as follows: A. B., the photo- grapher, took a portrait of C. D., who paid nothing for the first dozen, but did pay the ordi- nary price for the next dozen. Certain local printers then printed some 400 copies, either for sale or for distribution, whereupon the photo- grapher took the case before the Petty Sessions. The defence was that there was no written agree- ment. The Bench fined the defendants, and ordered them to give up the block. VII.—Schopenhauer on Authorship, Copy- right, and Style—Amendment of Copy- right Law. Schopenhauer's essay on authorship and style, ably translated by Mrs. Rudolph Dircks, and to be had for I*. 6f/. with a dozen of his other ## p. 233 (#671) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 233 essays, contains so much that is good as to choice of a title, and avoidance of diffuseness and obscurity, that every author who can spare the time would do well to read it through if he has not already done so. But in saying that " writing for money and the preservation of copyright are the ruin of literature," he not only said what is not true, but flew in the face of our EDglish Copyright Act (passed in the fifty-seventh year of his age), which by its preamble declares its object to have been "to afford greater encouragement to the production of literary works of lasting benefit to the world." That Act now confessedly requiring amend- ment in certain particulars, as pointed out in the Report of the Royal Commission of 1878, a Bill to promote the more urgent amendments was prepared by members of the Authors' Society, acting in concert with representatives of the Pub- lishers' Association and the Copyright Associa- tion last year, and intrusted to Lord Monkswell, who carried it through the House of Lords, after an investigation (with the aid of witnesses) by a Select Committee, and has kindly consented to reintroduce it, as amended by that committee, in the approaching Session. It may reasonably be hoped that the House of Lords will again pass the Bill, but popular enthusiasm for it can hardly be expected to be warm enough to make success in the House of Commons a certainty. The Bill was printed at length, together with a memorandum of its contents, in an Author of last year. Shortly put, its effect is to make trans- lations infringements of copyright, to reduce from twenty-eight years to three the period at the end of which contributors to periodicals may separately publish their contributions, to simplify copyright in lectures, to prohibit abridgments without the consent of the owner of the copy- right in the work abridged, to make the dramati- sation of novels and the novelisation of dramas alike infringements of copyright, and to give a summary remedy for the infringement of dramatic copyright. Judging from the declarations of Lord Dudley in the House of Lords, on the second reading of Lord Monkswell's Bill, it may, perhaps, be hoped that the Government will come forward, in the forthcoming Session, with a measure of their own. "The Board of Trade," the noble lord is reported in the Times to have said, "would he quite ready to introduce a Bill, dealing not only with the amendment of the copyright law but also with its consolidation," when certain negotiations between this country, the colonies, and foreign countries should be completed. I would venture to suggest, however, that the consideration of amendment, apart from and prior to consolidation, would be for the interest of all parties concerned. Such a consideration would, in all probability, give us something before the end of the Session, whereas the consideration in one whole of a con- solidating and amending Bill would be only too likely to end in nothing. J. M. Lely. NEW YORK LETTER. New York, Jan. 18. ONE of the members of a large publishing firm, having a house in England as well as in New York, said the other day that there was a rapidly growing interest in Great Britain in historical and literary works about the United States, especially in those which go into the causes of its development in various direc- tions. It is very probable that the scheme which the Macmillan Company is about to carry out will find almost as much attention on the other side of the water as on this. It is the publication of the sixth volume of Craik's "English Prose," dealing with the United States. The preparation of this volume and the amount of attention given to the different writers really involves the task of placing American prose writers in the order of their importance more carefully than has ever been done before. The work is in charge of Professor Geo. R. Carpenter, of Columbia, whose books on grammar and rhetoric, besides his occa- sional writings and college teaching, have made him well known. He is particularly fitted also to reach a final decision of this kind by tempera- ment, and to carry it out successfully by wide acquaintance with living writers. In selecting the men to criticise the authors he will draw somewhat on English as well as on the leading American critics. The task is somewhat simpli- fied by the fact that only dead writers will be dealt with. The longest space will be given to seven authors, namely, Hawthorne, Holmes, Irving, Lowell, Cooper, Emerson, and Poe. The selection of these seven for a little fuller attention than any of the others means practically that they are, from a strictly literary point of view, the most important authors that this country has produced. Personally, I should be inclined to doubt whether Irving and Holmes will in the long run find their places ahead of two men who come in the second rank. Of course, the authors are not divided off this way in the book, and the relative amount of importance attached to them is indi- cated by space only. That Emerson, Hawthorne, and Lowell come first would hardly be disputed ## p. 234 (#672) ############################################ 234 THE AUTHOR. by anyone, and the originality of Poe, and espe- cially the very American originality of Cooper, probably make it safe to put them next. In the second class are Whitman, Thoreau, Franklin, Parkman, Motley, and Webster. Whitman is just now enjoying a special vogue, and it is impossible to form any valuable guess at the verdict of time in his case. New editions of his works have been issued recently, and another will be issued at once, and Whitman societies are forming in various parts of the country, with the same spirit of worship which marked the Browning excitement in a few of our cities some years ago. Thoreau is marked by the intense admiration of a comparatively small number of intelligent readers. Parkman and Motley, of course, owe their main value to their historical comprehension of the tendencies of American civilisation. The other two men are the ones who seem to me to belong in the very first rank of American literature; especially Franklin, who has been appreciated time and again for his common sense, judgment, and inven- tion, but much less than he deserves to be for his peculiar and permanent literary charm. The others who are admitted come in the third class, and include Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, Prescott, Lincoln, Washington, Jeffer- son, Samuel Adams, Mrs. Stowe, George WiUiam Curtis, Tom Paine, Chauning, Margaret Fuller, Hamilton, Madison, Phillips, Garrison, Sumner, and Calhoun. Of these writers it may certainly be said as a generality, that the earlier ones are far more interesting. Alexander Hamilton has an importance not only for what he thought, but for the way he expressed his ideas, which puts him very near the top in genuine literary interest. Edwards is among the most important figures for students of our life and literature to understand, for he represented Calvinism at its height as ably as Franklin represented common sense and Emerson Transcendentalism. Samuel Adams and Tom Paine and Margaret Fuller were all jour- nalists essentially. They all have a profound interest for that kind of strong, scattered influence on their times which American journalists have exerted and still do exert. Washington is in only by courtesy, I fancy, as his writing is common- place, and Lincoln is probably included mainly for one great speech. The importance of George William Curtis is a very difficult thing for me to understand. It is practically certain that when the volume appears it will give rise to more dis- cussion about the various landmarks of American literature than any book of recent times. Other works somewhat allied to this in interest will also be brought out shortly. Professor Moses Coit Tyler is preparing a volume on the literary history of the American Republic during the first half century of its independence, to be published by Putnam. The two volumes on the literature of the Revolution, also published by the Putnams, were so valuable in bringing these fertile fields within the reach of the ordinarv reader, that this new volume will attract especial attention. The same author will also publish a series of works, through the Putnams, called "A Century of American Statesmen," beginning with Jefferson and coming down to our day. The first volume will include chapters on Jefferson, Hamilton, Burr, John Randolph, Josiah Quiney, Madison, Monroe, Gallatin, Marshall, and John Quincy Adams. Senator Perkins has introduced into Congress a Bill proposing a change in the copyright law. by which six copies of every book published in the United States must be deposited with the Librarian of Congress iu order to secure copy- right, instead of the present number of two. One of these copies is to be given to the public librarian at Chicago, one at Denver, one at San Francisco, and one at New Orleans. It is said that this Bill is backed by the Librarian Association of Central California, which wishes to get books nearer home than the Congressional Library, and so proposes to steal them from the authors or publishers under forms of law. There is cer- tainly very little probability that the Bill will pass. There has been a good deal of agitation lately about the effect of the immense sale of books by the department stores on t he publishing business. A recent investigator finds that, although it is easy to get standard works very cheap in almost any one of these mammoth shops, uew books are much slower in finding their way to them. His optimistic conclusion is, that there will be plenty of business for the regular publishers at the same time that standard literature is brought at a cheaper price within reach of the large reading public. Norman Hapgooo. THE BIRTHDAY OF THE "ATHEN.EUM." ON Jan. i, 1828, the first number of the Atheiueum was published, the first editor, or proprietor, being Mr. James Silk. Buckingham. Teii years afterwards the paper passed into the hands of a member of the family with which it still remains. It was reasonable, and to be expected, that the present conductors of the journal should take the opportunity of congratulating themselves upon the long life and honourable record of their paper. ## p. 235 (#673) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 235 It will be acknowledged, I think, that, although there may have been cases of injustice and incom- petence, even of personal spite—all of which it is extremely difficult to keep out of a literary paper—the Athenseum has deserved well of litera- ture during the whole of this long period. In some branches, especially that of poetry, there has been a very high standard of criticism, maintained to the present day with no falling off as to canons and standards, and with increased generosity and readiness of appreciation. It will also be acknowledged that the reviews of im- portant works have generally been confided not only to scholars of the branch of learning con- cerned, but also to men of fairness and justice. "But," to quote from the paper, "what the Athenseum specially claims to have inherited without change from the t-aditions of its founders is that deep sense of the enormous responsi- bility of anonymous criticism which is seen in every line contributed by the Maurice and Sterling group who spoke through its columns. While in a signed article the things said have the power of the utterer's voice and none other, in an unsigned article the speaker is clothed with all the authority of the journal in which he writes. Even for those who are behind the scenes, and know that the critique expresses the opinion of only one writer, it is difficult not to be impressed by the accent of authority in the editorial' we.' But with regard to the general public, the reader of a review article finds it impossible to escape from the authority of the 'we,' and the power of a single writer to benefit or to injure an author is so great that none but the most deeply conscien- tious men ought to enter the ranks of the anonymous reviewers. These were the views of Maurice and Sterling: and that they are shared by all the best writers of our time there can be no doubt." Some very illustrious men have given very emphatic expression to them. "There is one kind of mis- creant," said Eossetti, " a miscreant who in kind of meanness and infamy cannot well be beaten, the man who in an anonymous journal tells the world that a poem or picture is bad when he knows it to be good. That is the man who should never defile my hand by his touch. By God, if I met such a man at a dinner-table I must not kick him, I suppose; but I could not, and would not, taste bread and salt with him. I would quietly get up and go." Tennyson, on afterwards being told this story, said: "And who would not do the same? Such a man has been guilty of sacri- lege—sacrilege against art." When the Athenaeum was founded, the literary papers were regarded as "the mere bellows of the great publishing forges," used only to puff their books. The mere suspicion of such a thing is fatal VOL. VIII. to the authority of a literary paper. "Trade criticism " was the name of this blowing of the bellows. The Athenseum announced that it would be " under the influence of no publisher." Next to " Trade Criticism," the chief abhorrence of the early writers for the Athenseum was " the cheap smartness of Jeffrey and certain of his coadjutors." "From its commencement the Athenseum has striven to avoid slashing and smart writing. A difficult thing to avoid, no doubt, for nothing is so easy to achieve as that insolent and vulgar slashing which the half-educated amateur thinks so clever. Of all forms of writing, the founders of the Athenseum held the shallow smart style to be the cheapest and also the most despicable. And here again the views of the Athenseum have remainel unchanged." The Athenaeum rejoices in its early appreciation of Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and others, There are still modern dragons to fight. "Trade Criticism " is not dead, although scotched. The "log-roller " is always with us—let us hope that he may keep out of the Athenaeum. The spiteful misiepresenter is also with us: and the " smart slasher." There are also two new dragons, neither of them to be despised: the critic who does not read the books he is paid to review, and the review that has an eye to the advertisements. This last is, perhaps, the modern form of " Trade Criticism." Publishers' advertisements ought not to be considered, because publishers must of necessity advertise in a literary organ of authority. The very honesty and fearlessness which some of them would fain see corrupted and defiled by dishonest puffs of their wares, make an advertise- ment in the columns of such a paper absolutely necessary to every publisher. Therefore, let us look to the fat layer of advertisements in each number of the Athenseum as a sign that its reputation and its authority are based upon a seventy years' record of honesty and competence, and fearlessness. One may take this opportunity of acknowledg- ing the position of the Athenaeum with regard to our Society. It was not to be expecteJ that attacks would not be made upon us by those persons whose interest it is to keep from writers the truth about the administration of their estates. The publication of such attacks we had no reason to resent, provided there was a fair field and no favour. There has been a fair field: our replies have always been inserted, with the result that the Society has advanced year after year always the stronger for every attack made upon it. Perhaps in another seventy years another cause for congratulation will be that the Athenseum x ## p. 236 (#674) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. at the outset gave a fair field and no favour to men of letters ■when they were struggling towards independence. For this reason, if for no other, one reproduces with all good wishes for the future the words with which the Athenivum of Jan. i sums up its retrospect:—" We look back through our career and recall the writers whose talents have gone to make the journal what it is—writers like Charles Lamb, Landor, Thomas Hood, Maurice, Sterling, Carlyle, Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Douglas Jerrold, Mrs. Browning, Barry Cornwall, Mary Brotherton, Miss Strick- land, Sydney Dobell, Archbishop Whately, West- land Marston, Faraday, Sir William Hamilton, Sir Charles Lyell, and the rest. We remember the rise and fall of smart journal after smart journal, whose audacity or whose insolence or whose fireworks were to illuminate the course and eclipse all those old-fashioned drivers with the dull motto of ' honesty and fair play.' We look back, and we remember these things, and the future seems full of hope." W. B. NOTES AND NEWS. f 11HE best of the attacks by publishers, one of I which is dealt with in another part of this issue, is that they do the Society of Authors so much good. One would wish for one every week. They generally, besides, lead to side lights of an unexpected kind. Who, for instance, would have suspected that publishers are united together for the purpose of preserving the honour of the trade't Yet it must be so, for Mr. Heinemann says so. "We publishers," he declares, "are anxious—no class more so—to purge our ranks of black sheep if they exist." This is very good reading. We had hitherto been under the impression that publishers had neither the desire nor the power of "purging" their ranks of black sheep. Perhaps they have not the desire because they have not the power. However, let us see. If a publisher solemnly assures an author that the figures given in these pages and in the "Cost of Production" are wholly wrong and untrustworthy: that he cannot print on those terms, and that he cannot sell his books on the terms there presented; if, at the same time, he is disputing with another writer who knows whether a book can be produced on terms actually lower than those figures; if he is therefore a liar and a " black sheep," and if he was presented to the Publishers' Association as such, what would that body do "to purge their ranks of this black sheep "? They cannot forbid him to publish: they cannot forbid booksellers to sell him: they cannot forbid the public to buy him. Then what can they do Y What purgative medi- cine will they apply? However, it is pleasant to learn that there has arisen this new and unex- pected development in the direction of virtue. The Academy has made its selection of the two best books of the year. The judges have chosen a poet for the first prize. To Mr. Stephen Phillips has been awarded the first "crown " of 100 guineas; to Mr. W. E. Henley, for his *' Burns," has been awarded the second "crown" of fifty guineas. If Mr. Henley has ever derided the custom of "crowning " books, it is hoped that the arrival of this substantial coronet will change his views. To the younger man the prize will bring with it a great increase of popularity, with a corresponding demand for his works. It will probably lift him out of the unregarded class of minor poets into the front rank. There can be no doubt that, if this "crowning" of writers is continued, the honour will be derided by some and questioned by some, but it will be refused by none and it will be coveted by all. That the practice will produce a beneficial effect on literature I do not doubt, for the simple reasons that style and form will be the first things considered, and that young writers will have the necessity of attending to style and form kept constantly before their eyes. A lady sends me a letter from a daily paper in which the writer very humorously calls the atten- tion of a critic in that paper to the fact that Sir Walter Scott did not, as he stated, write the lines:— Thanks, dear sir, for your venison, for finer or fatter, Never roamed in a foreBt or smoked on a platter. He says: "They are the opening lines of a poem, ' The Haunch of Venison,' by a man named Goldsmith—to be precise, Oliver Goldsmith. This Goldsmith was a contemporary of a Dr. Johnson, an eminent lexicographer of the last century. If your reviewer takes an interest in English literature, he might do worse than buy a collected edition of Goldsmith's works." My correspondent speaks of "ignorant and incompetent reviewers." Yes; but this funny mistake does not prove either ignorance or incompetence. There is no end to the extraordi- nary mistakes which a journalist may make. I do not for a moment believe that this writer really thought that the lines were Scott's, but that he got confused for the moment. The mistake is too elementary to betray ignorance. Of course, it laid the writer open to the neat little letter from which I have quoted. My ## p. 237 (#675) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 237 correspondent goes on to say that she has before her a " notice" in the same paper, so full of mis- statements that it must have been written by someone who had not read the book at all. Just so: it has been pointed out over and over again that no scale of pay—not the most lavish ever offered—will make it possible for the writers of short "notices" to read the books. The writers are not to blame: it takes the best part of a day for a book to be read and reviewed; when the review has to be compressed into a few lines, who can afford to spend many minutes upon it? This consideration seems to me perfectly simple and harmless: it has, however, been violently assailed. Would it not be possible to give up the short " notice" altogether, and to give instead a column "describing" the books—subject, length, price, illustrations, outline, and statement of its intentions and aims, and so forth? In the case of poetry, would it be impossible to give a specimen to show the author's powers, all this without a word of praise or blame? Eeviews, on the other hand, would be given only of books judged of sufficient importance to deserve one: they would be written seriously, they would be of reasonable length, and they would not be entrusted to friend or enemy of the author. A long review in a great daily is a prize for the author; to be considered important is a "crown- ing" of the book. Some change in this direction seems necessary unless the reputation of the reviewer and the influence of the review are to decay and die altogether. Mr. Birrell, Q.C., M.P., the Queen's Professor of Law, University College, will deliver a series of lectures on Copyright at the Old Hall, Lincoln's-inn, on Monday and Friday afternoons, at 4.30, beginning on Friday, Feb. 4, until the course is completed. These lectures—open to the public, without payment or ticket—will be very interesting to members of the Society, as according to the syllabus, in addition to other important matters, the present state of public opinion on copyright will be treated, the Authors' Society, the commercial value of copyright, and last but by no means least, the Society's amending Bill that passed the House of Lords last Session. A correspondent sends the following correc- tion: "With regard to the statement in The Author of Jan , 1898, that'ten or twelve years ago a ten per cent, royalty was the utmost ever offered,' I am informed of instances to the contrary (royalties of one-sixth and sometimes one-fifth of the published price) in the practice of one leading house between fifteen and twenty years ago. But, with the substitution of 'commonly' for ' ever' I still believe the original statement to be correct, and in that form it is sufficient for its purpose." o-c In order to strengthen the assertion referred to, in case it should be disputed, I referred the matter to one who knows better than myself the former practice as regards royalties. He assures uie that the statement is practically quite correct. "The former custom used to be a ten per cent, royalty with half the profits from American and Conti- nental editions. But there were certain excep- tions." Among them he mentioned one or two writers who were able to extort larger royalties. Walter Besant. THE DISCOUNT SYSTEM. IT was to be expected that the Report of the Society on the Discount System would be received with a certain amount of dissatis- faction, especially from those publishers who desire to enslave the bookseller, and those book- sellers who see no hope except in slavery. Among the letters and papers issued on the subject, there is one by Mr. Robert MacLehose, of Glasgow, which is remarkable for its extreme virulence. He says, among other things :— "The main ideas underlying the Report are three: (1.) That a very low place is to be given to literature generally. (2.) That the novel must be taken as the standard on which all calculations are to be based. (3.) That the pub- lisher is not to be trusted." The reason for the first idea is difficult to be gathered from his words. He quotes Mrs. Oliphant as saying that "Literature is now weighed by the thousand words, like a packet of tea," and says that the Society accepts the "gentle irony" in serious earnest. I wonder what he means, except that he is certainly muddling things. If literature is sold there is but. one way of selling it, by the book. Or, if we regard the author, by the MS. Does Mr. MacLehose mean that a poem by Swin- burne would be bought by an editor by the thousand words? Or does he pretend that the Society has ever said so? In the sale of papers and stories to magazines, undoubtedly length must be considered; whether length is reckoned by so many sheets or by so many thousand words makes no difference. The second point is that the Society has only considered the novel. The ## p. 238 (#676) ############################################ 238 THE AUTHOR. average book considered is the 6s. book simply because it is a convenient and a common form. Afterwards he attacks our figures. The Report said the bookseller makes a profit of "lod. to a shilling in the sale of a book for 4«. 6d." It is impossible to state his profit exactly, because there are so many different prices. This, however, is acknowledged to be very near the mark. Mr. MacLehose says we are wrong because we have not reckoned the working expenses. But we do not reckon publishers' working expenses when we say that their profit on a book of the kind which pays a shilling royalty is eighteenpence when the sale is large. Nor do we reckon the author's working expenses. The next " idea" is that the publisher is not to be trusted. Very well. That is most true. The confidence that should be reposed in a publisher is neither more nor less than should be reposed in any other man of business. When property is administered, as a book, for its creator, the same precautions must be observed as in any other form of business. One does not "trust" the man in the street when he proposes to take your house and to fix his own rent—if he pays any. We are quite right in pointing out all the dangers and all the possibili- ties of over-reaching, or of trickery, or of fraud; and no honest publisher has any reason to be offended at the attitude which we recommend in business of this kind, an attitude which he himself assumes in every other kind of transaction. Therefore, of the three " main ideas" advanced by this gentleman the first two are silly stuff, and the third is not only a simple precaution, but a simple necessity. Of course when a writer sits down with the intention of finding materials to feed his wrath upon we expect incoherence. The Bookseller contains half a dozen letters, chiefly from country booksellers, on the question. These letters express strong disappointment for the most part: indignation with some. One writer says that it was a "gigantic mistake of the publishers to consult the authors in any way whatever." In other words, the administrators of property are not to consult the owners! One writer, however, Mr. Simms, of Bath (where the great number of booksellers seems to show a healthy condition of trade), takes a more sensible view:— As regards the Publishers' Association, I believe their policy (defeated for the present) to be, if not illegal, at least unwise and doomed to fail ultimately. Of what other busi- ness besides the bookseller can it be said that the owner of goods bought and paid for is liable to dictation as to how he Bhall dispose of them to his customers P It is rumoured that other means are to be resorted to to bring about the desired equalisation of discounts. If bo, they will fail, as other schemes have done, and deservedly so. I don't admit the con- dition of the country bookseller to be so very desperate. Only let him face the difficulty and fight it manfully. Leaving alone the new book trade, which is not worth his notice, let him take up the "remainder" and second-hand business (books of the day), the chief reprints which in these days are made bo attractive, and copy the tactics of his neighbour the draper, who with his unjust "Wonderful Bargains," "Alarming Sacrifice," Ac, arrests the attention of passers-by to "compel them to oome in "—and inasmuoh as the draper does not scruple to sell books and stationery, so let the bookseller add to his stock purses and haberdashery, or anything else (their name is legion) which oomea under the title of fancy goods. By these means he may hope to leave off deploring his sad fate, and find life after all to be worth living. The Committee advocated a great extension of the sale or return system. It already prevails to a certain extent. A bookseller, however, com- plains that a certain publisher will send on sale or return seven copies to count as six: but if, say, only five of them are taken and he returns two, he is not allowed the odd copy: i.e., he pays as if he had ordered five separate copies. The follow- ing seems a practical suggestion. "Here is a suggestion. Let publishers send out broadcast to the trade advance copies bound in brown paper. If these were stocked, they could get orders for bound copies. The difficulty of sale or return is the enormous proportion of soiled copies. I am just closing an account, and we are bothered by a number out on sale or return, as to which we cannot get any certain information, and I can understand that to publishers this is a difficulty." The whole system of thirteen as twelve is intro- duced for the apparent benefit of booksellers, and is used by some publishers—pray observe the word some, because the next thing will be for some interested person to proclaim that all are charged with the offence—-as a means of grinding the author. Thus he enters in his agreement that royalties are to be paid on thirteen as twelve. This is equivalent to a reduction of 8 per cent, on the author's returns, of which, perhaps, half goes into the publisher's pocket, for he does not sell all, or anything like all, at thirteen as twelve. I believe that the two agents whom we recommend to our members are awake to this little trick. The following extract was quoted in the Daily Chronicle from the New York Nation. We copy it with gratitude to both papers for publishing so fair and sensible a summary of the case: The real difficulty, from the point of view of a cIobc corporation, or ironclad agreement, among publishers, is that there is no law, human or divine, by which they have the sole right to print and sell books. This truth was set forth with much force by the committee of the Authors' Society. Granting the desirability of keeping up the prices of books, there was no way of compelling a popular author to do it. If he knew that he oould sell 20,000 copies at ## p. 239 (#677) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 239 one dollar as against only 5000 at two dollars, he would have the publishers at his mercy. He could print his book himself, or get a draper or a department store to do it. And if it were said that he would be kept out of the regular ohannels of the trade, the answer would be that one of the big shops often sell more books in an hour than a country book store does in a year. It thus appears that book publishing is, in the nature of the case, not a business which can be monopolised or made into a trust, even if the majority of authors were willing to see it done. ANOTHER SPORTING OFFER. IN the December number of The Author was published a proposal called a "Sporting Offer." This was the offer which was made the subject, as may be seen in another column, of many inventions by our amiable and imaginative well-wisher Mr. Alfred Nutt. There is before us another offer of precisely the same kind, The publisher humorously proposes to produce an edition of 2000 copies at 3s. 6d.: and to give the author a royalty of is.6d. a copy after 250 are sold. He is, however, to advance the sum of £112. The beauty of this arrangement is that, under the most favourable conditions, viz., the sale of the whole 2000 copies, the author realises on the whole transaction the magnificent sum of e£i 5 or so, while the publisher gets all the rest. Are there, really, people bound to accept such a proposal? When a writer pays the publishers for the pro- duction of his own work—a thing no one should do except under very exceptional circumstances— he makes the publisher simply an agent for its sale. What should he do then? (1) He should get an estimate from the pub- lisher of the full cost of production. (2) He should get another estimate from a good printer. The latter to be some check on the former. (3) It is best to deliver the book bound and ready for sale to the publisher. This avoids dis- putes and suspicions. (4) The author should then pay the publisher a royalty cr percentage—say 12 J per cent.—on the sales. Now compare the difference between this method and the one proposed in the agreement before us. On the most favourable terms, the sale of 2000 . copies—say 1950—of a 3$. 6tl. book would pro- duce the sum of about ,£210. We then have: • Cost of production, say £112, since that sum was asked for. Publishers' com. at i2| per cent., £2(1 54-. Author, £71 i$s. instead of £15. At the same time it must be remembered that a VOL. VIII. MS. which no publisher will accept is very doubt- ful. Most probably the sales would not amount to anything like the whole edition of 2000 copies. PERSONAL. LADY MURRAY has just purchased (accord- ing to the Daily Mail) near Autibes, in the Riviera, a large house which she pro- poses to convert into a home of rest for authors and artists, of any nationality, in poor health and circumstances. The following are the rules :—■ 1. That the health of the applicant is such as to make a winter in a mild climate necessary, or at least advisable. 2. That he is unable to obtain this without such assis- tance as he will find here. 3. That his medical advisers are able to give a fair hope that, with the benefit of a winter abroad, he will be ablo to return to his work. 4. That those admitted pay their journey out and back and £ 1 a week for board and lodging. Personal washing, extra fires and lights, and wine, will be charged extra. No dogs allowed. Applicants should address Lady Murray, at the Villa Victoria, Cannes. This year the Home will be open from Feb. 1 to May 31, and in future years from Nov. 1 to May 31. Mr, William Black wrote the following letter to the Scotsman in reply to Mr. Balfour'.s recent speech on novel-writing :— At this pacific season of the year, would you allow a perfectly obscure person to endeavour to calm the perturbed spirit of Mr. A. J. Balfour f He appears to be agitated about the probable future of the novel. At Edinburgh the other day be spoke of " the obvious difficulty which novelists now find in getting hold of appropriate subjects for their art to deal with": and again he said, with doubtful grammar, " Where, gentlemen, is the novelist to find a new vein? Every country has been ransacked to obtain theatres on which their imaginary characters are to show themselves off," and so forth. Mr. Balfour may reassure himself. So long as the world holds two men and a maid, or two maids and a man, the novelist has abundance of material, and there is no need to search for a "theatre " while we have around us the imperishable theatre of the sea and the sky and the hills. If Mr. Balfour cannot master these simple and elementary propositions, then it would be well for him to remain altogether outside the domain of literature, and to busy himself (when not engaged in party politics) with somo more recondite subject—say, bimetallism. The Royal Institution has received £'1000 from Mrs. Louisa C. Tyndall, the widow of the late Professor Tyndall, "as an expression of his attachment to the Institution with which he was so long connected, and of his sympathy with its objects." The money will be employed for the promotion of science. y ## p. 240 (#678) ############################################ 240 THE AUTHOR. A SPORTING OFFER AGREEMENT. ri^HE following is a comment upon certain I remarks of ours on an agreement (see The Author of December, 1897). Another agreement on similar lines is considered in the present number (p. 239). The letter appeared in the Academy, and was followed by certain obvious remarks from the editor of this paper. Nobody heeds statements made by The Author,Q) which are as little likely to mislead as those, let me say, of La Libre Parole or the New York Sun. But copied into your columns under the title of "A Faulty Agree- ment" they may do some mischief. It is worth while, therefore, to examine this characteristic example of The Author s method of dealing with figures. In the agreement criticised the publisher asks the writer to contribute <£no to the cost of pro- ducing 1500 copies of his work, and the result arrived at, according to The Author, is that the publisher makes close upon M100 profit without risking a penny, whereas the writer in return for his risk only nets X'65. Now, in the first place, the cost of production is set down at, "say, £100," an assumption based upon nothing but the conviction that the publisher must inevitably be trying to swindle the author. (2) Let us see if we can test its validity. As the book produces 3s. 6f/. to the publisher, it must be published at 6s., and may be assumed to be a crown 8vo. of 12 sheets of 32 pages, or 388 pages at least.(3) The binding of 1500 copies at 5*7. each (a low figure) works out at £31, paper for the same number (36 reams of double crown at 155.) at £27, so that only £42 are left for composing and machining 388 pages. I will not say this price is impossible, but it is very low, and it allows absolutely no margin for corrections (which may safely be estimated at from £7 to £10), nor for the printing of prospectuses, circulars, order forms, &c, nor for the postage of gratis copies, nor, most remarkable omission of all (and one which the Academy should surely have spotted), for advertising. Unless the author differs greatly from his kind, and the publisher is less squeez- able than most of his fellows, this last item may be put down at £20 at least. In other words, the cost of production assumed, in order to create a prejudice against the pub- lisher, to be £100, is almost certainly from £130 to £140, and may, if author and publisher believe in advertising, reach any figure up to £200. So much for tht basis of The Authors calculation. (') Then why pay so much attention to them '{ Hardly a month passes without someone declaring that no one heeds the statements made in The Author, and then proving most forcibly that he does heed them verv much. (■') There is not one word or hint that any "swindle" was attempted. The agreemeut was quite open. The author had only to examine into its meaning, and then to accept or reject. It is really very unfair on publishers for one of them- selves to sniff out a swindle with such alacrity. (3) He lays down a rule, observe. He states that it is the rule that a certain book must lie at least 388 pp. in length. There is no such rule. A great many books of the kind are very much shorter: the average is very much less, according to the experience of the Society. Observe, also, that if this "rule" is proved base- less, down go the whole of Mr. Nutt's figures. There is no such rule. There is no such obser- vance. There is no such custom. The length varies as in the old-fashioned three-volume novel, whose length varied from 100,000 words to 300,000 words. Here are some examples taken from my own shelves. They are for the most part writers accepted and popular. I do not buy, as a rule, novels except by such writers :— Pages. Sheets. Rudyard Kipling, "The Light that Failed". 248 or 15J Becke, "The First Fleet Family" 271 „ 18A Barri' A Window in Thrums" 267 „ 14! ## p. 241 (#679) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Now for some further developments. The sale of the entire edition is assumed to bring in .£262 10s. to the publisher (ieoo copies at 3*. 6d.), so that nothing is deducted for copyright purposes, nothing for traveller's and office copies, nothing for gratis copies to the author, nothing (how came you, Mr. Editor, to pass over this omission'() for review copies! According to The Author's calculation the young writer's work has sold without being circularised, without being adver- tised, without being reviewed. Lucky young writer, and yet he and The Author are not happy. (4) We are now in a position to substitute for the misleading figures given by The Author the following approximately correct ones :— Pages. Sheets. Stanley Waterloo, "A Man and a Woman" 321 „ 20 Mark Twain, "Prince and Pauper" 332 „ 20} Couan Doyle," Brigadier Gerard" 334 „ 21 Besant, "Citv of Refuge" 312 „ iyi J. O. Hobbes", " Some Gods, &e." 296 „ 185 Rider Haggard, " Nada" 295 „ 18i „ "Allan Quarter- main" 278 „ i7i "Montezuma's Daughter"... 295 „ i8£ The average length, then, of eleven novels, all by popular writers, so far from being at least 388 pages, is 295 pages; while the average number of sheets, so far from being as Mr. Nutt says, 24 sheets of 16 pages, i.e., 12 sheets of 32 pages, is 18^ sheets. It would be quite easy, of course, by looking about, to find many longer: it would also be quite easy to find many shorter. The average, in my own opinion, as well as that of the secretary, is about 17 or 18 sheets. For further proof here is a list taken from the books standing on a club table. There were thirteen novels of one volume, all appearing to be 6*. books. One of them, "Peter Halkett," only reaches 264 pages by using very large type. God's Foundling 316 Peter Halkett..'. 264 Count Antonio 337 Christie Murray's "Tales" 271 Pride of Jennico 346 Martha Washington 283 Miss Balmaine's Past 324 Folly of Pen Harrington 248 A Hard Woman 346 The Tormentor 288 Traits and Confidences 372 David L* all 302 Way of Marriage 308 The average here is 30S pages and 18J sheets. (*) All this is absolutely without foundation. Allowance was made for such advertising as would be spent on such a book, and for review and other copies. ## p. 242 (#680) ############################################ 242 THE AUTHOR. On the sale cf 1500 copies ("') — £ s. Cost of production, say 140 o Royalty to author on 1400 copies (allowing 100 for gratis copies), at 2*. 6d 17; 10 Profit to publisher 39 10 £ 355 o By author no By sale of 1400 (allowing 100 for gratis copies), at 3.V. 6d 245 355 o Ex hypothesi the author risks A'no and gets ■£175 10s., or =£65 10s. profit, the publisher risks ^30 and gets ,£39 10*. profit. But if he adver- tises beyond the figure of ,£20 his risk is increased pro tauto, and if the advertisement charge rea ches the figure of ^50, his possible profit is reduced to a vanishing point. The bargain, assuming the entire edition to be sold, is a hard one for the writer, but it is not the iniquitous one denounced by The Author. Moreover, no mention is made of the possible failure to sell 100 copies, in which case tho publisher gets nothing for his risk. True, the writer is in the same plight, but he has at the least the satisfaction of seeing his book published, a satisfaction conceivably worth £\oo to him, but under no circumstances worth any- thing to the publisher, unless, indeed, the work has a scholarly value, and he issue it for the benefit of science. I ask you, sir, and readers of the Academy generally, if it is advisable to give the sanction of your support to statements which can only be cleared from the charge of unfair animus by a plea of gross and ignorant carelessness ? (") Alfred Nutt. 11. To my notes, which are the substance of my reply iu the paper, Mr. Nutt makes a lame defence. He states :— '• I do not wish to take up the . tcademy's space by showing that the other assumptions made by The Author in order to arrive at its imaginary balance-sheet are just as reliable as the one I have examined. One assertion, however, is too characteristic to be passed over. I pointed out that The Author made no allowance for review and presentation copies, and I estimated thern at 100. Sir Walter asserts that only forty would be used,(r) and that this number would come out of the ' overs.'(8) I can assure him that the nominal 'overs' do little more than compensate for the inevitable 'shorts' on a long number. On an edition of 1500 I should think myself lucky to (5) All these figures are bowled over by the simple fact that there is no such " rule " as that assumed, and that the average is much less than that advanced for the purpose of destroying the figures of The Author. (") There is neither unfair animus nor gross and ignorant carelessness. The former is cer- tainly manifest in Mr. Nutt's production. As to the latter, no—He is not ignorant. (7) I did not say that " only forty would be used," but "I estimate for such a book forty copies." That is not quite the same thing. (8) I did not say that "this number would come out of the ' overs.'" I said that " probably " on ## p. 243 (#681) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 243 get a clear twelve or fifteen over the nominal number (on an edition of 500 copies, which I have just issued, I get one over), and these have to be reserved against the inevitable chapter of accidents, returns of damaged copies, &c, the loss entailed by which would otherwise fall upon the book." in. Again Mr. Nutt comes forward. He now says, wisely leaving figures alone, "I do not see that I can say anything fresh. So far from fixing upon this or that detail, (8) I stated, in the broadest way, a charge, which Sir Walter Besant makes absolutely no attempt to meet. Let me restate it —finally, I hope.(10) A publishing proposal is sub- mitted to The Author; whether that -proposal be fair or not obviously depends upon the special circumstances of the case—extent of the work, presence or not of illustrations, quality of paper and binding, amount expended in adver- tising, &c." an edition of 1500 there would be enough to meet the demand. I did so with some knowledge of " overs." (") Look back. Why, his letter is all detail. (10) Very good. This proposition can be met with the greatest ease. There was no need of inquiry because it was very well known what kind of work was offered to the publisher. There was no need of asking what we knew already. Mr. Nutt never reads The Author. Just a copy now and then by accident falls into his hauds. We congratulate him on having the good chance of always finding something to make him fall into an unholy rage. Perhaps, at the same time, Mr. Thring has been engaged in reading Mr. Nutt's agreements. BOOES OP 1897. rpHE Publishers' Circular has issued its I usual classified list of books published in 1897. The numbers show an increase of 1010 over those of 1896. We must expect this increase to go on, because the readers are every year increasing by leaps and bounds. Every department shows an increase, except those of Arts and Sciences, Voyages and Travels, and Pamphlets. If we consider that a single edition of 1000 copies represents the average circulation, then 7,926,000 books have been bought and sold during the year. If 5.?. be the average price, this represents a total of £1,981,500 spent on new books and new editions, without counting old books, which would, perhaps, come to as much again. These figures are quite likely to be wrong, but, some time since, certain publishers were questioned as to the average book trade, and some put it down at ,£3,000,000. If, however, a list were compiled of all the books announced (not advertised) in the columns of a London daily, it would not give anything like these figures. For instance, the novels would include only those issued by London publishers, which are, practically, all that need be considered. These alone would certainly not amount to 1000; and so with other things. A more important column is that of the new editions. They represent not new editions of books of 1896, but new editions of all the books that form English literature from the very beginning. There are probably among them Chaucer, Milton, Pope, Cowper, Defoe, Scott, Thackeray, Dickens, Wordsworth, Keats. There are also among them Barrie, Conan Doyle, Hall Caine, Ian Maclaren, and many others. The new editions of the year include probably the whole corpus of English literature that is thought worth preserv- ing, except such things as Anglo-Saxon and Early English Literature, Theology, Philosophy, History, works of scholarship, and works which are only wanted and only read by students on special subjects. Ought " year books and serials in volumes" to be counted? If so, we ought surely to include Army Lists and Law Lists, and the Cambridge Calendar. ## p. 244 (#682) ############################################ 244 THE AUTHOR. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—Paper Covers. IS there any reason why it pays publishers in America to issue, at the same time, two editions of their books—a dollar edition in cloth, a quarter-dollar one in paper covers—while English publishers bring out only a single 6s. edition \ I would put in a plea for paper covers. There are numbers of persons who do not care to belong to librarips and cannot afford to lay out money in expensive books that they may or may not like; just as there are many who would never buy one that would not look well on their book- shelves. It seems a pity all classes should not be catered for here as in America. X. II.—The Problem op Publishing. Ten years ago nothing was more common than a royalty of 10 per cent., or even 5 per cent. "Where is now the publisher who dares offer a royalty of 5 per cent. '<" I quote from the Decem- ber Author. I believe a 10 per cent, royalty is still very commonly offered to authors who have made no particular mark, and many are glad enough to get it. I refused it for a book I wrote a year and a half ago, and have since had no offer at all! My first novel was a success, and several pub- lishers wrote to me asking to see my second. This was instantly snapped up It was not a success, although critical persons declared it vastly superior to my first. The third has been going the weary round for eighteen months, and seems doomed to go on for ever, despite the judg- ment of several readers (unknown to me person- ally) who have praised its literary merit!" Not likely to be popular" is the usual verdict. I wa3 a year studying my characters and think- ing over this novel; another year writing it. Three years and a half have gone by. How can I stand out for a 15 or 20 per cent, royalty? Is it not natural that, as I feel convinced this is the best work I have done—the most care- ful, thoughtful, and ambitious—I shall be ready to jump at any chance of getting it published't Is it surprising that I am inclined to say to a publisher, "Give me what you can after expenses are paid; only let my book see the light"? What is to be done? I can't make a publisher share my conviction, and unfortunately it is a fact that a book may be good and yet not sell. Of course, I can wait a few more years, but the MS. is getting very dog-eared, and I paid nearly ,£6 for having it typed. It has to come out, and I can't afford to pay for its production. What then p It must he given awav—if I can find anyone to accept it1 One of the Unarrived. III. —The Fate of the "Unknown." A friend of mine recently proposed to submit a MS. novel to a London publisher. In the course of the publisher's reply, he said, " I regret to say that it would be useless to send it (that is, the MS.) to me, or, I imagine, to anyone else, to publish, unless you are prepared to incur the risk and expense. Novels by 'unknown' writers are not the sort of books we care to take up as a commercial speculation." So the murder is out at last! Hapless authors, anxious for fame and cash, are deluging the publishers with manuscripts good and bad, new and old. The average publisher courteously permits the anxious author to forward his manu- script, and, after the lapse of a decent period, courteously returns it to him again. Here, however, is one publisher who has the courage of his convictions, and declnres that if you happeu to be " unknown " you must remain "unknown" for .ever, unless your pocket is deep enough to pay for the production of your own work. O shades of Dickens and Scott! Other authors, please copy! ^ Richard Free. IV. —Proposed Journalists' Union. Although your organ is primarily intended for the interests of authors, you have, I believe, before now generously permitted the bitter cry of the poor journalist to be heard in its columns. Will you allow me, then, to appeal to my brothers and sisters of the trade or profession—or whatever they like to call it—of journalism, to consider whether some union may not be formed to compel (of course, by moral, not legal, pressure) the pro- prietors of magazines and weekly journals to pay cash for the literary goods they purchase, or, failing this, to pay higher terms for credit. If this became the custom, instead of as now, a favour, the editor of a magazine would no more keep a contributor waiting six months or twelve months for productions he has purchased than he would his butcher or baker. Of course, I know very well that objections will be raised: "pro- prietors naturally want a turnover for their money;" that "if they cannot purchase goods upon the present system, they will buy a much more limited stock, and so indirectly injure the casual contributor." I do not propose to take up your space by any reply to such arguments, beyond saying that if editors, &c, did purchase articles in smaller quantities, used them within more reason- able time, and paid for them on acceptance, the ## p. 245 (#683) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 245 mass of genuine literary bread-winners would be immeasurably happier and better off. All that is needed is for each contributor in sending in his article to stipulate for such a price upon im- mediate payment, and for a higher price for pay- ment on publication, with the result, as a rule, of payment on acceptance. The Strand Magazine—all honour to it—in- variably pays upon acceptance if requested, yet such journals as are considered beyond reproach in their treatment of contributors decline to make any payment till publication, which may mean waiting a year, perhaps two years, for one's money. Still in Grub Street. V.—Editor and Contributor. 1. 1 have just had an experience with an editor which might be of use to other beginners, if you thought it worth mentioning in The Autlwr. I sent a MS. to him in Jan. 1896. A year later I wrote inquiring for it, as I had heard nothing from him. He replied that the MS. was accepted, and would be published and paid for in due course. I wrote again this January, asking when it would be published. The MS. was then returned, with a letter to say that the old editor had gone abroad, and the new editor apologised for the delay in returning it. I had, in my letter to him, mentioned the date on which it was accepted. I then wrote to Mr. Thring, and he replied that the new editor had no right to return an accepted MS. unpaid, but unless an Inland Revenue stamp was attached to the form of acceptance within a fortnight after receiving it I should be heavily fined. I have had MSS. accepted by many magazines, but have never yet had the form of acceptance stamped, and do not quite understand about it. Should the form be returned to the editor for its stamp? I might add that I am not pursuing this case, as the sum due to me would probably not cover the fine. A. I. 11. A propos of the letters which have recently appeared in The Author on the subject of "Young Authors' Grievances," the following may serve to show to what extent young and unknown writers are often subjected to incon- venience and annoyance by the loss and delay of their MSS., and I regret to say that editors of prominent and well-known periodicals are invari- ably the worst offenders. Exactly sixteen months ago, I sent a MS. to the editor of a well-known magazine (having pre- viously obtained his consent to do so, I may mention), and in a few days I received a letter informing me that the article had been accepted. Very patiently I waited, almost daily expecting to receive the proofs, but when three months went by, and these had failed to put in an appearance, I wrote to the editor. He replied that the article was accepted and due notice of publication would be given me. Several weeks went by, and I heard nothing farther, and wrote again, but received no reply. At length T wrote again, but, to insure a reply, I inclosed a stamped addressed envelope. This had the desired effect. The editor replied: "If a contributor does not receive his MS. back within a week he may conclude his article has been accepted." Then he went on to state that he could not give exact date my effusion would appear, but "it should be put forward." This was in the early part of '97, and from that time to this I have heard nothing more concerning my unfortunate contribution. In conclusion, I might add that I lost no less than four MSS. in twelve months. The first, a story of 3000 words, was sent to a certain weekly (now defunct) and never returned. The second, a story of 4000 words, was submitted (by request) to the editor of a certain Christian paper, and has never appeared in print or been returned to me. The third, specially written for a well-known weekly, met with a similar fate; and the last, a story of 8000 words, written by request of the editor for the '96 Christmas number of a prominent weekly, reached the editorial offices quite safely, but has not since been seen or heard of. And I cannot do anything to recoup myself for the loss I have sustained, for the simple reason that I am one of a vast multi- tude of struggling writers who cannot afford to offend those who sometimes "give us a show." F. J. M. VI.—Diseases in Fiction. With reference to the letter in the July number on "The Mockery of Realism," has not H. K., as well as Dr. Conan Doyle, been more severe on novelists than they deserve? At least, I would contend that the convention as to diseases applies only to heroes and heroines; minor characters, so fur as I can see, being left perfectly free to have any ailment, above or below the diaphragm, that Fate, in the form of a realistic novel-writer, chooses to send them. Then even for the more romantic personages, the list is a little longer than H. K. makes it. Think of cholera, for instance, a disease which kills off subordinate characters without mercy and sometimes brings a tragical ## p. 246 (#684) ############################################ 246 THE AUTHOR. end upon the hero. Frank Headley in "Two Years Ago" describes its first attack: "Can you conceive a sword put in on one side of the waist, just above the hip-bone, and drawn through, handle and all, till it passes out at the opposite point?" And with cholera you may kill anyone but the heroine. I don't think it is allowable to dismiss her in that way, unless in a very short story, such as Rudyard Kipling's "Without Benefit of Clergy." Spinal diseases are frequently useful. Poor wicked Adelaide in "Ravenshoe" breaks her back, and the same accident has happened, with more or less of lingering agony afterwards, to many of my acquaintances in fiction. The heroic parson in "It is Never too Late to Mend" suffers from jaundice; and Maisie, in "The Light that Failed," according to Dick Heldar's account, was "a bilious little body." Gastric fevers, typhoid fevers, and typhus itself, all with the seat of illness below the belt, are by no means denied to novelists. Argemone, in another of Charles Kingsley's novels, died very realistically, of typhus. Miss Haleombe had typhus fever at a very critical moment; and Robert Blackmore gives an interesting account of a typhoid illness treated successfully by the heroine with yeast. You will observe generally, however, that it is only when these are epidemic that they become dignified illnesses. If introduced in any arbitrary way, apart from the impressiveness of a wide- spread pestilence, you must make it very clear that it was through some self-denying action or other that your hero or heroine fell a victim. It would be interesting to know how much truth there is in Miss Nightingale's dictum, that persons dying of hurts above the diaphragm are inclined to be bright, cheerful, and religious, while those hurt below have a tendency to despon- dency and gloom. This might suggest a very reasonable explanation of the novelist's preference. If one wishes a heroine to be saintly, or a hero strong-souled, it is manifestly wiser not to handi- cap them by giving an illness that would operate in the wrong way. How much better to visit them only with the lung affections and heart troubles, keeping gout and liver diseases for those unimportant elderly folk whose fractious- ness will not hurt the pathos of the story. Again, should one not consider, even for Realism's sake, that diseases of the lumbar regions do not as a rule attack persons in early life, that is, until the hero and heroine days are over? Imagine any heroic young man or charming young woman of our acquaintance being un- fortunate in love matters, and thereupon develop- ing gout, or cancer, or dropsy! Whereas a young woman neglecting her health and pining in a love disappointment, in real life, is extremely likely to fall more or less into a consumptive state. And fretting, brooding, overstrain of all the emotional faculties, has a real tendency to pro- duce an actual heart trouble. The romantic school has a very fair founda- tion of fact to go upon. Speaking as a constant and warmly grateful friend of novelists since the age of seven, may I take the side of the "third class passenger " and the multitude "who only ask to be amused "? We don't require that our heroes and heroines should l>e invulnerable; we can even stand a great deal of blood-shedding at times. If they get soaked in a boat-upset, or lose their way in a storm, we are quite prepared to hear of rheumatic fever. If they visit infectious fases, from the best of motives, they do it at their own risk and must take the consequences. Then, with scarlet fever, brain fever, heart disease, spinal troubles, bronchitis, pleurisy, inflammation and congestion of the lungs, besides every manner of violent accident to choose from, surely the most medically and siu-gieally-minded of romancers should be satisfied. I do not say, like Marianne Dashwood, that a man is absolutely disqualified for a lover if he has felt a twinge of rheumatism and wears a flannel waistcoat, but why should H. K. wish to see every hero only in the guise in which dear Alan Breck presented himself to the good wife, "A fine, canty, friendly, cracky man, that suffered with the stomach, poor body!" M. C. V. New Zealand, Aug. 17. VII.—The Letter "E." The letter "e" seems to be in a condition of unrest at he present time. As we have no Academy to settle our orthography for us, it would be interesting to know who does settle the fashion of our spelling; and one would like to suggest to these unknown powers that it would be only con- siderate if they would advertise the changes they introduce in some conspicuous place, the first column of the Times for instance. As things are, one may wake up some morning and find that what was right the day before is now frowned upon by examiners, and vice vcrsd. Now, this is hard upon those who still have to face exams., unless due notice be given of the changes inaugu- rated by the powers who arrange these matters. For example, a few years ago, only a few, it would have been the worse for the examinee who ventured to spell "forego'- without the "e "; though he would have been as much in the right as he is to-day, when he would be held guilty if he put it in! ## p. 247 (#685) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 247 The letter " e" is being gradually eliminated from words in which it is either superfluous or incorrect, and, of course, "forgo" has no more right than "forget" to an "e" in the first syllable ; Dr. Pusey, we believe, clung to the last to the middle "e" in "judgment" ; but there is not much beyond old association to be alleged in its favour here. If, however, "e" is being ousted from some words, it is in turn superseding "a " in others; though upon what grounds it is hard to see. Thus fashion, or some other power, appears to have decided that we shall henceforth write "ascendent," "dependent," "descendent," &c, no matter whether employed as substantives or adjectives. Is this a change for the better, or does it not rather savour of literary atavism? Surely these, and similar words, come to us immediately from our Norman ancestors, who had adopted them from the Latin. It was they who substituted the " a" for the " e," as we have substituted the "a" in the word "liar," and for a similar and sufficient reason — to prevent ambiguity. The Trench have, of course, both dependent and dependant—the third person plural, aud the present participle; and, as we use the latter as an adjective, it seems a mistake to ignore the source whence we have taken it. Can it be that we desire to forget the Norman Conquest, and remember only the Roman? And, more important inquiry still, is fashion presently going to require us to write "be- havior," "favor," &v.? Absit omen. The very look of them sets one's teeth on edge. S. G. VIII.—Questions and Answers. Ioh will verscbmery.cn diesen schlag, das weiss ich: Uenn was vemchmerze nicbt der Mensch r I have long wanted to know where the above lines come from, and how they came to be written. Could any correspondent of The Author kindly tell me through its pages? I have a faint idea that Goethe wrote them after the appearance of some unfavourable review of one of his early poems. Is there anv foundation for this? References of some kind or another are so often J wanted that perhaps The Author might somejday, with advantage to its readers, start a column of " Questions and Answers." Querist. BOOK TALK. DR. ALEXANDER B. GROSAKT, the author of the volume on Robert Fergus- son in the "Famous Scots" series (Oli- phant, Anderson, and Ferrier) is engaged, with the assistance of a staff of contributors, upon a complete history of Scottish literature from its earliest period. The literary partnership between the late Alphonse Daudet and Mr. R. H. Sherard (says the Academy) yielded a story which is shortly to be published in Mr. Sherard's English transla- tion. The original plan was for Daudet to dictate, and for Mr. Sherard subsequently to elaborate. But the dictated matter was so good and self-sufficient that Mr. Sherard wisely left it as it stood. The story will be called " My First Voyage: My First Lie." It is a reminiscence of the author's boyhood. A book by Mr. H. Z. Darrah, on " Sport in the Highlands of Kashmir," is about to be published by the firm of Rowland Ward, Ltd. Dr. Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer, is writing the narrative of his travels and adventures in Central Asia. Messrs. Methuen and Co. will publish the book in October. Mr. Trevor Battye's new book, " A Northern Highway," will be out shortly (A. Constable ami Co.). It is dedicated to the Emperor of Russia. One of the events of the past month has been the publication of an English translation of "II Trionfo della Morte" (" The Triumph of Death "), by Gabriele d'Annunzio, the Italian poet and novelist. The author expressed to a Paris correspondent lately his belief in his mission for "the propagation of joy" in the world, but in reviewing the work the Daily Chronicle remarks that he takes a queer way of setting about this. Mr. Henley's now famous essay on Burns, in the Centenary edition, has been reprinted at 1*. by Messrs. Jack, of Edinburgh. The book would have looked better had the pagination for it been done specially, instead of being merely transferred from the larger volume. Dr. Andrew Clark is editing for the delegates of the Clarendon Press the "Brief Lives, chiefly of Contemporaries, set down by John Aubrey between the years 1669 and 1696." There are 400 of these Lives, and they will be published now for the first time in their entirety. Mr. William Bayne has written a volume on James Thomson, the author of " Rule Britannia," for the "Famous Scots" series. ## p. 248 (#686) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Mr. Michael Davitt is writing a book about his recent visit to Australia (Methueu and Co.). Professor Knapp is bringing to a completion his minute labour of several years upon a biography of George Borrow. The book will be published by Mr. Murray. Mr. Sidney Jeffrey has written the life of Dr. J. E. Taylor, the naturalist, who was curator of Ipswich museum and editor of Science Gossip. Messrs. Chatto and Windus are the publishers. Mr. Kinloeh Cooke is writing a memoir of the late Duchess of Teck. A full biography of the late Mr. Henry George is being written by his son, who is also getting out. "The Science of Political Economy," the work left by the reformer at his death. Mr. John Charles Tarver, author of "Some Observations of a Foster Parent," has written a series of essays on secondary education, which will l>e published bv Messrs. Constable under the title of " The Debatable Land." The author of the biography of the Prince of Wales, which appeared anonymously during the past month, is Miss Marie Belloc (Mrs. Lowndes). Mr. Conan Doyle's novel, "The Tragedy of the Koroski," which has been revised since its appearance in the Strand Magazine, will lie pub- lished to-day, and Mr. Stanley Weyman's latest novel—" Shrewsbury "—on the 4th inst. Mr. W. S. Maugham, the author of " Liza of Lambeth," has written a second novel, dealing with a revolution in an Italian town of the fifteenth century. Miss Rosaline Masson, daughter of Professor Masson, is the author of a volume entitled " A Departure from Tradition, and other Stories," which Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co. are about to publish. A new story by Miss Mary Angela Dickens will shortly come from Messrs. Hutchinson, under the style " Against the Tide." Mrs. Cou'son Kernahan has written a story of medical life entitled "Trewinnot of Guy's," which will be published by Mr. John Long. It is reported from Northampton that Sarah Grand's "The Beth Book" has been refused a place in the free library there. The chairman of the committee admitted that he had not read a line of the book he objected to. A novel by Miss Norma Lorimer, entitled "Josiah's Wife," will be published shortly by Messrs. Methuen. Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co., will publish immediately Mr. Pereival Pickering's new novel. "The Spirit is Willing "; a volume of sporting reminiscences of Arthur M. Binstead and Ernest Wells, edited by the former; and a book of "Tales of the Klondyke" by Mr. T. Mullett Ellis. Mr. Kipling's new volume of short stories will not appear until the autumn. The author ha< gone to South Africa for a holiday. He has written a long novel called "The Burning of the Sarah Sands." Mr. David Christie Murray is about to publish through Messrs. Chatto and Windus a new story entitled "A Race for Millions." Mr. Owen Rhoscomyl's new story, to be pub- lished by Messrs. Pearson, is of the Elizabethan period, and entitled "The Veiled Man." Mr. E, W. Hornung has written "Young Blood," for early publication by Messrs. Cassell. Another story to apj>ear early from the same house is Mr. E. S. Ellis's " A Strange Craft and Its Wonderful Voyage." Miss Annie Thomas has written a story called "Dick Rivers," which will be published by Messrs. P. V. White and Co. This firm also have nearly ready " For Liberty," by Mr. Hume Nisbet, and "the Induna's'Wife," by Mr. Bertram Mitford. Mrs. Gertrude Atherton's new novel on Anglo- American marriages is to be published by Messrs. Service and Patou. Miss Braddon's new story, " Rough Justice," will be issued in a few days by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. A volume of devotional verse by Mr. Lawrence Housman will be published shortly by Mr. Grant Richards, the title being "Spikenard: a Book of Devotional Love Poems." The Poet Laureate (says the Globe) who is spending the winter near Florence, is working upon a new book, "a Tuscan sequel" to his charming " Garden That I Love." A full-sized volume of verse by Mr. Henry Newbolt is promised for the autumn, to be pub- lished here by Mr. Elkin Mathews, and in America by Mr. John Lane. Mr, Newbolt s "Admirals All," which will be included in the forthcoming book, lias gone into an eighth edition. The first number of the Outlook, a new three- penny weekly review of political, social, and literary life, which is to be edited by Mr. Percy Hurd and contributed to by many well-known writers, is due on the 5th inst. ## p. 249 (#687) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 249 An American paper quotes the following un- published verses by Whittier, from the album of Mr. C. F. Adams, the author of " Leedle Yawcob Strauss," and other Anglo-German poems :— "As on wave-washed sand or the window's frost I write, and the reoord will soon be lost; And the Spider, Forgetfulness, weave and wind The paper parcels I leave behind; Yet I sometimes think, though spiders spin, And frost will melt, and the waves wash in. That the thousand albnms whieh hold my rhyme Will baffle even the teeth of time; And that, snngly lodged in some maiden's chamber Or grandame's trunk like a fly in amber, Will evermore somewhere be found in city or Country the name of John G. Whittier.'' Mr. W. P. Ryan deals in a forthcoming work with nearly all the prominent authors and schools of the day, and with such subjects in satire as "The Great Young Man, and the New Style of Literary History," "The New Doom of Nar- cissus," and "The Devil and a Modern Knight- Errant." The book will be published by Mr. Leonard Smithers, and will be called " Literary London: Its Lights and Comedies." Mr. Pinero's recent play, "The Princess and the Butterfly," will be issued shortly in the series Mr. Heinemann publishes. Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. have taken over a number of publications from Messrs. Neville Beeman, Limited, who are giving up business as publishers. Mr. W. Hall White (otherwise " Mark Ruther- ford") who edited the recently published "Description of the Wordsworth and Coleridge MSS. in the possession of Mr. T. Norton Long- man," has written "An Examination of the Charge of Apostacy against Wordsworth," which will be published immediately by Messrs. Long- mans, Green, and Co. Mr. Vernon Blackburn, musical critic of the Pall Mall Gazette, has written "The Fringe of an Art: Appreciation in Music," which will be published by the Unicorn Press on the 15th inst. There will be portraits of Mozart, Berlioz, Gounod, and Tschaikovsky. Lord Archibald Campbell has written " High- land Dress and Ornament," a volume which Messrs. Constable will have ready immediately. The following are among other works to issue from this house:—" The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe," by Mr. E. Young; "Book of Travels and Life in Ashantee," by Mr. R. A. Freeman, illus- trated by the author's drawings; an account of "Andre'e's Balloon Expedition," by two members of the expedition to Spitzbergen in 1896; and "Two Native Narratives of the Mutiny in Delhi," translated from the originals by the late Mr. Charles T. Metcalfe, C.S.I. Mr. Hardy has collected a number of his short stories, which will be published shortly in a volume. "C. K. S.," in the Illustrated London News, states that Mr. Hardy is engaged on another long novel, which will not be on the lines of "Jude the Obscure" and "The Well-Beloved." Mr. Edward A. FitzGerald has arranged with Messrs. Methuen and Co. for the publication of the record of his explorations in South America. The author returned to England a few weeks ago, after an absence of fourteen months. His expedi- tion succeeded in climbing Mount Aconcagua (23,000 feet), the highest ascent ever made, lx'sides lesser peaks. Memliers of the party suffered a great deal of hardship. The book will be enriched with many unique photographs, and ■will contain records of the flora and fauna of Argentina. The publishers expect to have it ready early in the autumn. The Idler has become the property of Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co., publishers. The Ruskin Society of Birmingham has begun the issue of a quarterly magazine, called Saint Georyc. Mr. Elliot Stock is the London pub- lisher. Our contemporary, Nature Notes, goes straight to Wordsworth and Shelley for a case against the eating of larks, thus: Can it be imagined that Wordsworth, after finishing his ode with "Type of the wise who soar, but never roam; True to the kindred points of heaven and home" could sit down to a dish of larks. Or Shelley? Would the author of "Teaoh me half the gladness That my brain must know, Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow. The world should listen then, as I am listening now!" call for lark pudding? There is no more reason for poets to be squeamish about their victuals than other folk of refinement. Oysters, beefsteaks, geese, and so on, are quite fitting as bardic nourishment, at any rate until honoy-dew and the milk of Paradise be brought to market; but if Wordsworth or Shelley ate larks, faith receives a Bhock indeed. We observe that the Shakespearean (6d. monthly), which is just beginning a new volume, is now published by the Roxburghe Press. Miss M. Dormer Harris has now in the press a book dealing with municipal history. The title of the volume, which forms one of the "Social England" series published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenscheiu, and Co., is " Life in an Old English Town: The Story of Mediaeval Coventry." The city in question is very rich in MS. records, ## p. 250 (#688) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. particularly in those belonging to the fifteenth century, and the volume contains much that has lieen hitherto unpublished. Messrs Bliss, Sands, and Co. will shortly pub- lish a new novel by A. B. Louis, entitled " A Branch of Laurel." The plot is founded on events occurring in the reign of Louis XIII. Messrs. W. Blackwood and Sons are to publish immediately a book on " Millais and his Works," by Mr. M. H. Spielmann, the editor of the Magazine of Art. In addition to a chapter on Sir J. E. Millais' life and an appreciation of his art, Mr. Spielmann has written a picture-by- picture comment of the works of the late president, now being exhibited at the Royal Academy, as well as on the numerous pictures l>y the artist not included in that collection; and there will be a chronological list of Sir J. E. Millais' oil pictures of which trace can be found. Permission has also been granted to include in this volume the important article, reproducing Sir John Millais' opinions on art, written hy the late president for the Magazine of Art, and not hitherto republished. A list will t>e added of those pictures which have been engraved. The book will be fully illustrated from many of the late j (resident's most interesting and important pictures. Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of "The Pink Tulip," by Caroline Stanley. Mr. Bernard Wentworth, author of "The Master of Hullingham Manor," is engaged upon a new novel, to be published serially next year, entitled " Anne Pentargen; or, the Spirit of the Tor," a tale of the Cornish moors. Mr. Went- worth had a short story, entitled " Allerton Farm," in the Christmas number of the Cornish and Devon Post. Mr. Bloundelle-Burton's romance " Across the Salt Seas," which ran last year in the Nary and Army Illustrated, will appear in volume form in the spring, Methuen and Co. being the London publishers, and Stowe and Co., of Chicago, the American ones. At the same time Mr. Bloun- delle-Burton will commence a new historical novel in a London paper, to be followed by another in the autumn, while he has also engaged to furnish two modern novels of adventure to other papers during the year 1899. Raymond Jacberus, author of "Common Chords," has written for the Sunday Heading for the Young Magazine (Wells Gardner, &c), lieginning with the January number, a story e ititled " Ups and Downs." Also, for Sunshine Magazine, beginning with the January number, a school story entitled "The Odd Number." "Common Chords" is now in its second edition. Messrs. Harper and Bros, are publishing " The Story of Hawaii " for J. A. Owen—Mrs. Visger. As Mrs. Owen Visger lived for some years in the Hawaiian Islands, and has kept up a close correspondence with relatives living in Honolulu ever since, she is well informed as to that little republic and its people. Some years ago she published a book on child life in Hawaii called " Our Honolulu Boys," but it has long been out of print. Her new book will be illustrated. Mr. Henry Charles Moore, author of "The Dacoit's Treasure," is writing a historical novel, having for its central figure Alompra, the warrior king of Burma, and founder of the late Burmese dvnasty. Alompra is frequently mentioned in ""The Dacoit's Treasure." The fifth edition, revised throughout and slightly enlarged, of Mr. Rice Holmes's " History of the Indian Mutiny," the appearance of which has been delayed by the recent strike in Edin- burgh, will be issued immediately by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., who have taken over the publication of the work. The type has been re-set, and new maps and plans have been prepared. A district fresh to English holiday makers, and reached as easily as the Ardennes, will be opened up in "New Walks by the Rhine," by Percy Lindley, whose "Walks in the Ardennes " and "Walks in Holland " did so much to popularise new Belgian and Dutch touring grounds. Starting from the Rhine mouth at the Hook of Holland, "New Walks by the Rhine" will cover the picturesque wooded and rocky side valleys of Rhineland, from the Ahrthal, near Cologne, to the Neckarthal and the "Blue Alsatian Moun- tains" of the Vosges; and will include the districts of the Tauuus, Eifel, Odenwald, Huns- ruck, and the Palatinate. Living is said to be as inexpensive in some of these districts as in the Ardennes. Mr. J. F. Weedon will sujjply the illustrations. The fourth—new and popular—edition of " The Care of the Sick at Home and in the Hospital: A Handbook for Families and for Nurses," by the late celebrated surgeon-physician, Dr. Th. Bill- roth, is in the press, and will shortly be ready for issue. The translation by J. Bentall Endean was specially authorised by Dr. Billroth, and the new edition has been revised and enlarged. It will be published by Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. ## p. 251 (#689) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 25i OBITUARY- THE Rev. C. L. Dodgson, better known iu literature as "Lewis Carroll," died at Guildford 011 the 14th ult., aged sixty-five. Graduating at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1854, he was appointed in the following year Mathe- matical Lecturer to the College, which post he occupied up to 1881. He held a Senior Student- ship since 1858 to the end of his life, and took orders in 1861. Mr. Dodgson was ambitious of a reputation in mathematical works, of which he published several in the early sixties, and subse- quently, "Symbolic Logic" appearing in 1896. In 1865 the most popular work of "Lewis Carroll," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," one of the best known of books for the young, was published, with forty illustrations by Tenniel. It has been translated into German and French. Equally a favourite was the sequel, "Through the Looking- Glass, and What Alice Found There" (1871). Among later works of a similar character were "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876), which was republished in the volume, " Rhvme and Reason" (1883); "Sylvie and Bruno"" (1889), and its "Conclusion" (1893). "Lewis Carroll" was very fond of children — poor or rich—and delighted to entertain them in his rooms at Christ Church. A link connecting the present with the days of Lamb, Hunt, and Keats, is severed by the death of Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke, author of the well known " Concordance to Shakespeare," and many other works. Mrs. Clarke was taught Latin by Mary Lamb, and heard Hunt read Dogberry's charge to the watchmen, and scenes from Sheri- dan's "Rivals." The daughter of Vincent Novello, she married Charles Cowden Clarke in 1828. The Clarkes saw a good deal of Coleridge, Dickens, and Jerrold, among others; and in " My Long Life," her autobiography, published last year (Unwin), Mrs. Clarke recalls these associa- tions. Her husband, with whom she annotated an edition of Shakespeare and did other work, died in 1877 at the age of ninety. Mrs. Clarke died last month at Genoa in her eighty-ninth year. The Very Rev. Henry George Liddell, formerly Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, died at his resi- dence, Ascot, on the 18th ult., in his eighty- seventh year. He was Head-Master of West- minster in 1846, and Vice-Chancellor of his Univer- sity from 1870 to 1874. In 1892 he resigned the position of Dean after thirty-seven years' service, as he felt no longer able for the duties. As an author his name will be identified with the Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon; and he also wrote a " History of Rome." THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH, [Dkc. 24 to J.^N. 22.—191 Books.] Addleshuw, P. Tho Cath'xii-iil Caurch of Exeter. 16. Bet], Akerman, W. Eip Van Winkle, and other Poems, 5'- Bell. Allan, James. Under the Dragon Flag. 3/6. Heinemann. Allen, F. II. Nature's Diary. 5/- any and Bird, Amateur Angler, The. "On a Sunshine Holyday."' 1/6. Low. Amours, F. J. (ed.) Scottish Alliterative Poems. Scottish Text Society. Andrews, William (ed.) Bygone Norfolk. 7/6. Andrews. Anonymous ("J. R. C") Leet we Forget. 1/- net. Simpkin. Anonymous (author of Tho Lando' the Leal"). David Lyalla Love Story. 6/- Hodder and Stoughton. Anonymous. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales 19 6. Richards Anonymous ("S. E. B.C.") Stewart Clark 7,6 BiUliere, Anonymous. Judicial Decisions affecting Building Societies. Vol. II. 5/- Building Societies Association Anonymous (author of " Pruo "). A Barren Victory. 16. Steven? Arch, Joseph. Story of His Life, by Himself. VI - Hutchinson. Archbishop and Bishops of Westminster. 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By Norman Hapgood PAOK ... 201 ... 203 ... 204 ... 205 ... 205 ... 205 ... 207 ... 208 ... 210 Notes and News. By the Editor. A Chapter of the Past Mr. Balfour on the Novel International Relations of Authors Personal Correspondence—1. A Young Author's Grievance lished Price Book Talk Literature in the Periodicals The Books of the Month The p.* cik ... 211 ... 214 ... 217 ... 217 ... 218 Pnb- ... 218 ... 219 PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 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., 10*. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3s. I. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres, By s. Squire Sprigqe, late Secretary to the Society. 1*. 5. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, <fcc, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprioge. 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 of 1890. 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 Spottis- woode. i«. 6d. 8. The Society Of Authors, A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). i«. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2*. 6d. \ ## p. 200 (#634) ############################################ 11 AD VER TISEMENTS. §t)e g>ociete of Jtuffrors (gncotporateb). PRESIDENT. GEOBQE MEEEDITH. COUNCIL. The Eabl of Desart. Austin Dobson. A. Conan Doyle, M.D. A. W. Duboubo. Pbof. Michael Foster, P.E.S. D. W. Fbeshfibld. Kichabd Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. Eudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Eat Lankester, F.E.S. W. E. H. Lecky, P.C., M.P. J. M. Lely. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Bev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Sib Edwin Abnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. J. M. Babbie. A. W. X Beckett. Eobebt Bateman. F. E. Beddabd, F.E.S. Sib Henby Beronb, E.C.M.G. Sir Walteb Besant. Augustine Bibrell, M.P. Eev. Prof. Bonney, F.E.S. Eight Hon. James Bryce, M.P. Eight Hon. Lord Bubghclxre, P.C. Hall Caine. Egebton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clayden. Edwabd Clodd. w. mobbis colleb. Hon. John Colliee. Sib W. Martin Conway. F. Marion Crawford. Eight Hon. G. N. Cdbzon, P.C, M.P. Hon. Herman C. Meritale. Eev. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sib Lewis Mobbis. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Obmebod. J. C. Parkinson. Eight Hon. Lobd Pibbbight, P.C, F.E.S. SibFbedebick Pollock, Babt., LL.D. Walteb Hebbies Pollock. W. Baptists Scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. E. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Storr. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.CL. Mrs. Humphry Wabd. Miss Chablotte M. Yongi. Q.C. A W. X Beckett. Sib Walteb Besant. Egeeton Castle, F.S.A. W. Mobbis Colles. COMMITTEE Chairman- OF MANAGEMENT. -H. Eider Haggard. Sir W. Mabtin Conway. D. W. Freshfield. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Henby Norman. Fjiancis Storr. COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C. Villibrs Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman). Jacques Blumenthal. SUB ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman). Sib W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spielmann. f Field, Eoscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. \, G. Hebbebt Thbino, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Tubing, B.A. OFFICES: 4, Pobtuoal Stbeet, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C DEAMA. Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman). A. W. X Beckett. Edward Eose. Solicitors IP. WATT <Sc SO¥, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SUUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. YPEWEITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest process. S OPINIONS OF CLIENTS— Distinguished Author:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever seen." Lady op Titlb:—"The j work was very well aud clearly done." Provincial Editor:—"Many thanks for the spotless neatnesB and beautiful accuracy." MISS &KNTEY, KLDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C. T ## p. 201 (#635) ############################################ TLhe Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 8.] JANUARY i, 1898. [Pbick 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 notioe 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 Bent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects conneoted 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. IT^OR some years it has been the praotice to insert, in J every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &o., 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 his 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 pooket by charging for advertisements VOL. Till. 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, ni. 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 neoessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is 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 oopies 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 whioh has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no oharge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. a 2 ## p. 202 (#636) ############################################ 202 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. "T7WERY member has a right to ask for and to receive Fj advioe upon his agreements, his ohoioe of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case ia 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. Eemember that questions connected with oopyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not soruple to use the Sooiety first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon suoh questions for us. 3. Send to the office oopies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the bookB 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 ohange of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Sooiety you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To 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 oan be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days' notice should be given. 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi- cations promptly. That Btamps 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 Seoretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor ia always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects oonnected 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 P 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 oommunioate 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 Seoretary. 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 Sooiety does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &o. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year P If 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 is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to oome, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest ## p. 203 (#637) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 203 or dishonest f Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for throe 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 oost of binding is set down in onr book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at JE9 48. 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 elaatio a thing that nothing more exact can be arrived at. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the " Cost of Production" for advertising. Of course, we have not included any Hums whioh may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there iB 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 frand; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—The Discount Question. 1. THE Publishers' Association having con- sidered the report of the Sub-Committee of the Society of Authors, published in The Author last month, has forwarded the following letters, which explain themselves :— "H. Eider Haggard, Esq., Society of Authors. "Dec. 9, 1897. "My dear Haggard,—I laid the report of your Society on the discount question before our council to-day, and the following resolution was passed: 'That in view of the report of the Society of Authors, the council feel that it is not possible for them to proceed with the proposed scheme in its present form, but they are not without hope that some other means of meeting the difficulty may be suggested.' I was requested to forward a copy of this resolution to you, and also to the Associated Booksellers.—I am, yours faithfully, "(Signed) Chables James Longman, "President." 11. "T. Burleigh, Esq., Hon. Sec. Associated Booksellers, 370, Oxford-street, W. "Dec. 9, 1897. "Dear Mr. Burleigh,—Tou have no doubt seen the report of the Society of Authors on the discount question. It was considered by the council of the Publishers' Association to-day, and I need hardly inform you that they greatly regret the authors' decision, for though the council were conscious of many difficulties in the way of carrying out the scheme, they were pre- pared to give it a fair and loyal trial if the co- operation of the Authors' Society had been secured. Although the present effort must be considered to have failed, the council hope that all who are interested in the circulation of books will continue to give the matter full and careful consideration in the endeavour to discover some practicable scheme. The following resolution was carried unanimously at to-day's meeting: 'That in view of the report of the Society of Authors, the council feel that it is not possible for them to proceed with the proposed scheme in its present form, but they are not without hope that some other means of meeting the difficulty may be suggested.'—I am, yours faithfully, "Wm. Poulten, Secretary." in. Mr. Burleigh, hon. secretary of the Associated Booksellers, has addressed the following letter to the secretary of the Publishers' Association:— 370, Oxford-street, London, W. Dec. 13,1897. Dear Mr. Poulten,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th inst., with the copy of resolution of the Publishers' Council. The disappointing condition of affairs will be considered at our next council meeting early in January. I trust the council and booksellers generally will support me in the determination to continue the struggle, until literature of a higher class can be profitably placed upon our shelves, and many authors, now smothered, obtain a better chance with the public.—Yours faithfully, Thomas Burleigh. Hon. Sec. Associated Booksellers. W. Poulten, Esq., Secretary, The Pubhshers' Association. IV. The following letters also explain themselves. The first is addressed to the secretary:— Dec. 5, 1897. Deab Sib,—I have belonged to the Society of Authors for some years, and I am much indebted to it for valuable advice given me on one occasion when I was in a position of great difficulty. But I so entirely disagree with the Report of the Sub- committee on the Discount Question, and am so anxious to dissociate myself from it, that I am ## p. 204 (#638) ############################################ 204 THE AUTHOR. forced to resign my membership of the Society, as I now do. There is hardly any kind of business in which the evils of reckless competition have not been felt during the la>t half century, and remedies of various kinds have been sought after and adopted with success in many trades. To take their stand, as the Committee do, on the formulae which were current in 1852 about the " freedom which ought to prevail in commercial transactions," seems to me an absurd anachronism. Had it been clear that the Committee had accepted Mr. Longman's offer, and had met with the publishers' sub-committee in conference on the subject, I should attach more importance to their contention that the proposed organisation could not be carried out. I am sending a copy of this letter to the presi- dent of the Publishers' Association.—I remain, yours sincerely, (Signed) Wm. Cunningham. v. Dec. 6, 1897. The Rev. W. Cunningham.—Dear Sir,—I am in receipt of your letter, and have removed your name from the books of the Society for the reason that you disapprove of the Report of the Com- mittee on the Discount Question. The Committee did not take their stand "on the formute which were current in 1852." They have had a great amount of evidence before them, and it is on this evidence that they have come to draw their present conclusions. We did not meet the sub-committee of the publishers, because we had already the publishers' views in the fullest manner before us from the documents we had collected. We did, however, as you will see by the Report, have the views of booksellers of all classes, who surely are more concerned in the affair than the publishers. I must apologise, however, for going into these details now.—Tours truly, G. Herbert Thring. II.—The Law of Author and Publisher. An order was made last week by the Lord Chief Justice of considerable interest to authors and the publishing trade. It related to the deal- ing with copies of books remaining unsold upon the bankruptcy of a publisher. The decision come to was in the nature of a compromise, and lacks the authority of a judgment; but it is probable that the case may become a precedent, and the facts have therefore a special interest to those connected with literature. The plaintiff was Mr. Frederick Wicks, and the defendants Remington and Co. (Limited), Mr. Sidney Cronk, the liquidator of the company, and Mr. John Grant Macqueen, the purchaser of Remington's business. The company and its predecessors, Eden, Remington, and Co., had published and sold three editions of "The Veiled Hand," of which Mr. Wicks is the author, and had printed a fourth edition of 5000 copies. Between 2000 and 3000 of these remained unsold when the company went into liquidation. The company had also printed 5000 of "The Broadmoor Patient" and 5000 of " The Infant," by the same author, and had sold about 2000 of each. The defendant Macqueen therefore acquired posses- sion of some 8000 copies of the three works. The agreements made by Mr. Wicks with Messrs. Remington were agreements to print and publish only, and in each case the author retained the copyright. It is part of the established law that agreements of this kind are not assignable with- out the consent of the owner of the copyright, and that they do not pass to an assignee in bank- ruptcy nor to a liquidator of a company. Mr. Cronk, however, assigned the agreements, and sold the stock to Mr. Macqueen, who gave him an indemnity for all the consequences of this act. The correspondence showed that Mr. Wicks en- deavoured to procure from Mr. Macqueen some acknowledgment of his rights and some arrange- ment for the continuance of the sales; but his title to any participation in the proceeds of the sale was denied in the first instance by both parties. Later an endeavour to make an arrange- ment was promised by Mr. Macqueen, but Mr. Wicks was requested to wait until full considera- tion could be given to the matter. A few months later, nothing having been arranged, Mr. Wicks found his books on sale at Messrs Smith and Son's bookstalls at a slightly reduced price. He ascertained that some 1200 copies had been bought and paid for three months before without any consent on his part, and when he applied for an account it was refused. Some months after he was offered a third of the royalty stipulated by the original agreement on a part of the sales only, and the court was applied to. Pressure being put upon the parties by the Lord Chief Justice to make an arrangement, it was ultimately decided to take an order requiring Mr. Macqueen to bind the books to the satisfaction of Mr. Wicks, to sell them at prices agreed to by Mr. Wicks, to expend a reasonable amount in advertising the books, which amount would be fixed by a third person, and to pay to Mr. Wicks the amount acknowledged in the account rendered, and a royalty on future sales as stipulated in the origi- nal agreement respecting "The Veiled Hand." This agreement fixed the royalties at 1*. lod. per ## p. 205 (#639) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 205 copy on the 10s. 6d. edition, and 9^. on the 3s. 6d. edition, to be increased to 2*. 3d. and io\d. respectively after the sale of 5000, which has been the case with "The Veiled Hand." The liquida- tor of the company, who, the Lord Chief Justice said, had assigned agreements that he had no power to assign, was ordered to leave in the hands of .the plaintiff five guineas paid into court.—The Athenmum, Dec. 25. m.—The Cost of Binding. Exception has been taken to our estimate of t,d. as the cost of plain binding. We have called attention to an increase in the cost of binding. This increase seems to belong to small orders. Those who have sufficient business to give large orders for cloth can still bind very cheaply. The following taken from a publisher's account shows what is actually paid for binding. There were 1328 copies bound, viz.:— 262, in paper, at id. 150 at 31*. 6d. a hundred, or $zd. a volume. 916 at 38s. 6d. the hundred, or $\d. a volume. The average amounts to 3^m«?.—i.e., a little over 3|rf. It is pleasant, after hearing frantic declarations that the work cannot be done at the price, to receive actual accounts showing that the work has been done at the price. IV.—Thk Copyeight Association. A service of plate was presented to Mr. Daldy on Dec. 9 by the Copyright Association in recog- nition of his services in the cause of copyright. The association, as is well known, has been in existence a long time. It consists of a few authors and some publishers: of late it has been working with the Society. It is now very much to be desired that the authors who are in the association should remember that the Society has done a great deal of solid work in connection with * copyright, and that a continuance of their membership might lead to complications with the Society, which should have the first claim upon their support. V.—Muddock v. Blackwood. (Before Mr. Justice Kekewich.) This was a copyright case of some importance. Two copyright actions had been brought, one having been commenced in the Chancery Division and the other in the Queen's Bench Division, but they had since been consolidated by an order in the Chancery action. The writ in the Chancery action was issued on Nov. 24, 1896, by the plain- tiff, Mr. James Edward Muddock, the author or and the registered proprietor of the copyright in a work called "A Wingless Angel," against Mr. James Blackwood, a publisher, and a firm of pub- lishers called J. Blackwood and Co., claiming an injunction, an account of profits, and delivery-up of copies in respect of a work published by the defendants under the same title, and being, in fact, a reprint of the plaintiff's work. On Dec. 10 the principal defendant, Mr. James Blackwood, wrote to the plaintiff offering to submit to an in- junction, to pay =£10 as damages, to deliver up all copies in his hands, and to pay the plaintiff's costs as between party and party. The plaintiff, however, refused the offer, and on Dec. 18 made a demand in writing on the defendants under sect. 23 of the Copyright Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45), for all copies of the book unlawfully printed or imported; and then, on Dec. 23, 1896, issued the writ in the Queen's Bench action, claiming damages for wrongful conversion of copies of the book unlawfully printed without the consent of the plaintiff. Then he delivered a statement of claim in that action, and on Feb. 1,1897, obtained an order in chambers in that action transferring it to the Chancery Division, but expressly reserv- ing the costs of that action to be dealt with by the Chancery judge at the trial. On Feb. 8 Mr. Justice Kekewich, on the plaintiff's application, made an order that the two actions should be consolidated and proceed as one action, and in the consolidated action the plaintiff delivered a state- ment of claim, claiming an injunction, delivery up of all copies in the defendants' possession, an account of profits made by the defendants by the infringement, or, alternatively, damages in respect of the infringement, with an inquiry as to the amount thereof, £2 50 damages for conversion as in an action of trover, and costs. It appeared that the plaintiff had not published any copies of his work since 1875; that in 1886 the defendant Mr. James Blackwood bought the stereotyped plates of the work at an auction sale at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's, of Leicester-square, and had used them without demur until last year. An account furnished by the defendant showed that in 1886 he sold 1010 copies at a total price of ■£38 199. g^d., and at a profit of £8 lot. 4$<Z.; also that in 1896 he sold 29 copies at a profit of £1 4«. 2d., his total profits thus amounting to =£9 148. 6\d. -. also that, after taking into account the purchase of the plates and repairs, amounting altogether to <£io, there had been a net loss on production and sale of the book of 58. $\d. Warrington, Q.C., and J. G. Joseph for the plaintiff, relied on sect. 23 of the Copyright Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45) (Scrutton on Copyright, p. 246), which provides that "all copies of any book wherein there shall be copyright, and of which entry shall have been made in the said ## p. 206 (#640) ############################################ 206 THE AUTHOR. registry book, and which shall have been unlaw- fully printed or imported without the consent of the registered proprietor of such copyright, in writing under his hand first obtained, shall be deemed to be the property of the proprietor of such copyright, and who shall be registered as such, and such registered proprietor shall, after demand thereof in writing, be entitled to sue for and recover the same, or damages for the deten- tion thereof, in an action of detinue, from any party who shall detain the same, or to sue for and recover damages for the conversion thereof in an action for trover." Renshaw, Q.C. and J. W. Baines, for the defendant Blackwood, referred to sect. 15, which enacts that " if any person shall, in any part of the British dominions, after the passing of this Act, print or cause to be printed, either for sale or exportation, any book in which there shall be subsisting copyright, without the consent in writing of the proprietor thereof, or shall import for sale or hire any such book so having been unlawfully printed from paits beyond the sea, or, knowing such book to have been so unlawfully printed or imported, shall sell, publish, or expose for sale or hire, or cause to be sold, published, or exposed for sale or hire, or shall have in his possession, for sale or hire, any such book so un- lawfully printed or imported, without such con- sent as aforesaid, such offender shall be liable to a special action on the case at the suit of the pro- prietor of such copyright, to be brought in any court of record in that part of the British dominions in which the offence shall be com- mitted." They submitted that the two sections were inconsistent, and that the plaintiff was wrong in claiming, as he had done, both in detinue and in trover, for, under sect. 23 he must select the one mode of action or the other, not both. As to the alleged profits made by the defendant, when the price of the plates and the usual trade dis- count were taken into consideration, it was clear there could be no profits. [Mr. Justice Kbke- wich.—I should think wingless angels would require some discount to make them fly. (Laugh- ter.)] The plaintiff had resorted to a "multi- plicity" of actions, when he might have sought relief by one action. The action had been, in fact, continued without any necessity, the defen- dant having offered all the plaintiff could justly claim. Mr. Justice Kkkkwich said it was somewhat strange that in the end of the year 1897 he should be called upon for the first time to say what was the meaning of sect. 23 of the Act 5 & 6 Vict, c. 45—whether the remedy given by that section was inconsistent with that given by sect. 15; but he supposed he was really called upon to do that because no counsel had suggested to him that there was any decision; and, moreover, the book on copyright which was in the bands of the pro- fession, and to which reference was usually made on all questions of copyright, did not give any case on the subject. Two points had been raised. First, it was said on behalf of the defendant that sect. 15 gave the proprietor of copyright a remedy by special action on the case: that that meant that this was the remedy which he was intended to pursue, except so far as his remedies at common law were not interfered with; that the offender under sect. 23 was a different person to the offender under sect. 15; that under sect. 15 he was dealing with a person who had " unlaw- fully printed or imported " a book in which there was a subsisting copyright, and that the other Kect., 23, provided a remedy against the accidental possessor of the infringing book, so as to give a right of action against that accidental possessor independently of his being otherwise a wrong- doer. That might b-j the right view, but the language of the sections was not sufficiently clear to compel his Lordship to adopt it. No doubt there were words in sect. 15 which were not to be found in sect. 23, and he was unable to suggest why the two sections should not have been put into one, and why they should have been sepa- rated as they were. But, on the other hand, he did not see why, because the proprietor of copy- right had a remedy under sect. 15 against the wrong-doer, he could not sue that wrong-doer, if so advised, under sect. 23. Then the next point was this. The book being vested in the pro- prietor of the copyright, sect. 23 said he "shall, after demand in writing, be entitled to sue for and recover the same or damages for the deten- tion thereof, in an action of detinue, from any party who shall detain the same, or to sue for and recover damages for the conversion thereof in an action of trover." That provided an alternative remedy; and the argument on behalf of the defendant was that the plaintiff claiming to sue • under that section must elect to sue either in detinue or in trover, and could not sue in both. That was an easier point than the other. There was an alternative remedy. It would, in his Lordship's opinion, be adopting an extremely narrow construction of the Act to say that the proprietor of the copyright in a book, knowing that a person had a certain number of copies in his hands and that he had sold other copies, could not sue that person in respect of the copies that he had detained, and also in respect of those that he had converted to his own jise. It seemed tolerably plain upon the Act itself, and in accordance with what was the appa- rent intention of the Legislature, that the two ## p. 207 (#641) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 207 actions might be reduced to one action distributed in the way he had suggested—that is to say, the plaintiff might sue in detinue in respect of the copies the defendant had detained, and might sue in trover in respect of the copies he had sold and converted to his own use. Having got so far, the plaintiff in the present case, who was the proprietor of the registered copyright in a book called "A Wingless Angel," was entitled to sue under sect. 23, and to sue the defendant not- withstanding that he might have brought what was called " a special action on the case " under sect. 15; and he might have exercised his privi- lege of bringing an action on the case by pro- ceeding in the Chancery Division. What, then, was the plaintiff's remedy? In his Lordship's opinion he was entitled to the delivery-up on oath of all books in the possession of the defendant—that is to say, delivery-up, and also damages as in an action of trover for the books the defendant had sold. The defendant had sold twice. In 1886 he sold 1010 copies and realised .£38 19*. g^d., or, say, .£39, making a profit of £8 10s. 4%d.; and then he published the book again in 1896, and sold twenty-nine copies, and made a profit of <£i 40. 2d., which on his own showing was rather more than one-eighth of what he had made in 1886. His Lordship de- clined to order an inquiry as to damages. It would be almost wicked to send the case to the master or to an official referee to find damages for conversion; if necessary, he should have the inquiry before himself. Mr. Warrington had asked him to fix a sum, and if he added forty guineas for the whole, he thought he was giving the plaintiff as much as he was entitled to. The plaintiff was also entitled to an injunction as part of the order. Upon the question of costs, his Lordship said that the plaintiff might have obtained all the relief he sought by one action in the Chancery Division. He seemed, however, to have determined to multiply costs in every possible way, and his Lordship would do his best to mark his sense of that proceeding. He should therefore give him only the costs of the Chancery action; the costs of the other proceedings he must be ordered to pay.—The Times, Nov. 17. SHELLEY'S PUBLISHES. CHARLES OLLIER began his working life in Messrs. Coutts's bank, but a classical education had developed literary tastes, and these he first indulged by becoming a publisher. He had not been a year in business when, through Leigh Hunt—whose "Foliage," "Hero and VOL. VIII. Leander," and the second edition of " The Story of Rimini" he published—he was introduced to Keats, and the acquaintance led to his publishing the first poems of Keats in 1817. The book was not a success; Keats blamed the inactivity of the publisher, and went over to Taylor and Hessey with his subsequent works. With Shelley the case was different. It was due to Oilier that Shelley's "Laon and Cythna" was altered and converted into "The Revolt of Islam"; and, although the poet complained of that proceeding, all his subsequent works published in his life- time, except "Swellfoot the Tyrant," were brought out by Oilier. When Shelley sent his "Defence of Poetry" to Oilier in 1821, indeed, he wrote that " if any expressions should strike you as too unpopular, I give you the power of omit- ting them; but I trust you will, if possible, refrain from exercising this." Although his brother James was the man of business, the firm of Charles and James Oilier, of Vere-street, did not prosper. Li 1819 he published " The Literary Pocket Book," in which Shelley's poem of " Mari- anne's Dream" was first printed; and in 1820 he brought out the first part of " Oilier's Literary Miscellany, in Prose and Verse, by Several Hands." This publication, which, as the title- page said, was "to be continued occasionally," contained a remarkable article on the German drama by Archdeacon Hare, and another by Peacock on "The Four Ages of Poetry." As the latter, in which the writer regarded poetry as a worn-out delusion of barbarous times, provoked Shelley's "Defence of Pcetry," the following entertaining passage may be quoted as a taste of its quality. The year of writing is 1820:— In the origin and perfection of poetry, all the associa- tions of life were composed of poetio materials. With us it is decidedly the reverse. We know, too, that there are nu Dryads in Hyde Park nor Naiads in the Regent's Canal Bat barbaric manners and supernatural interventions are essential to poetry. Either in the scene, or in the time, or in both, it must be remote from our ordinary perceptions. While the historian and the philosopher are advanoing in and accelerating the progress of knowledge, the poet is wallowing in the rubbish of departed ignoranoe, and raking up the ashes of dead savages to find geegaws and rattles for the grown babies of the age. Mr. Scott digs up the poachers and cattle stealers of the anoient border. Lord Byron cruises for thieves and pirates on the shores of the Morea and among the Greek islands. Mr. Southey wades through ponderous volumes of travel and old chronicles, from which he carefully selects all that is false, useless, and absurd, as being essentially poetioal; and when he has a oommonplace book, full of monstrosities, strings them into an epic Mr. Wordsworth picks up village legends from old women and sextons; and Mr. Coleridge, to the valuable information acquired from similar sources, superadds the dreams of crazy theologians and the mysticisms of German metaphysios, and favours the world with visions in verse, in whioh the quadruple elements of sexton, old woman, Jeremy Taylor, and Emanuel Kant are harmonised into a T ## p. 208 (#642) ############################################ 208 THE AUTHOR. delicious poetical compound. Mr. Moore presents as with a Persian, and Mr. Campbell with a Pennsylvanian tale, both formed on the same principle as Mr. Southey's epics, by extracting from a perfunctory and desultory perusal of a collection of voyages and travels, all that useful investiga- tion would not seek for and that common sense would reject. "Very clever, but false," said Shelley of Pea- cock's tilt against poetry. Shelley's " Defence" was originally intended to appear in the second part of "Ollier's Miscellany," but no second part ever appeared. Then Ollier's business was wound- up, and the " Defence" came into the possession of John Hunt, who prepared it for publication in the " Liberal," but that periodical also expired before it could be published. Meanwhile Oilier had become a literary adviser to Bentley, and he continued long in this position. He also contributed to magazines, and occasion- ally gave lectures on celebrated writers. He admired Shakespeare to such a degree, and held himself under such a loyal weight of obligation to him, that, says Hunt, "I have known him involuntarily measure persons, whom he other- wise respected, from head to foot if tbey ventured to maintain the least objection to the great poet; as though, in default of some possible intellectual cause for it, he was trying to discover some cause physical." As an author, Oilier possessed two faults in Leigh Hunt's eyes. First, he should have written more; and, secondly, he should have taken more pains to keep what he did write before the public. His first work was "Altham and His Wife: a Domestic Tale" (1818). Shelley wrote of this: "It is a natural story, most unaffectedly told in a strain of very pure and powerful English." Sir Walter Scott, in a critique which he wrote in the Quarterly Review on the novel of " Haggi Baba" in England, refers to the story of "Altham and His Wife" as furnishing pleasant authority for the telling of love-tales under umbrellas during a shower. Ollier's second book, "Iuesilla; or, the Tempter: a Romance, with Other Tales" (1824), Hunt said was "the best bit of diablerie in the language." So high an opinion was entertained of it by the authoress of "Frankenstein," that a publisher having proposed to piece out the requi- site size of a volume of stories from her pen by one worthy of its companionship, she said she should prefer this production of Mr. Oilier. Then followed "Ferrers" (1842), a romance on the execution of Earl Ferrers in 1760; "Fallacy of Ghosts, Dreams, and Omens, with Stories of Witchcraft, Life-in-Death, and Monomania" (1848), reprinted from Ainsworth's Magazine, and published by the author himself. Edmund Oilier, author, who died in 1886, was a son of Charles Oilier. EUSSIAN COPYBIGHT. AT present, no international copyright exists in Russia. Not only is the Russian Empire by far the largest and by far the most important of the European States outside the Berne Convention, but it is also without any private copyright convention with any other State. The readers of The Author will not require to be told what that implies. The results are, of course, as unsatisfactory to Russian authors as they are to the authors of other countries, all whose works are at the free disposal of the subjects of the Tsar. Even editors and publishers do not find it always convenient to be unable either to inhibit the unlimited introduction of translations of foreign works, or to get any protection for those which they have themselves brought out. In fact, the situation appears to be rapidly becoming intolerable. The object, however, of the present article is not to explain that the results of unlimited piracy are as unsatisfactory in Russia as elsewhere. That is a matter of course. But it is pleasant to be able to mention, on the other hand, that the Russians are beginning to realise that piracy is unsatisfactory, and that, in consequence, some steps in a more hopeful direction have been recently taken. For some time past pleas have been urged in favour of the renewal of the copyright conven- tion formerly existing between Russia and France. This lapsed upon the denunciation, in 1887, of the treaty of 1861. In 1893 M. Zola published in the Temps, "An Open Letter to the Russian Press." In 1894 both the St. Petersburg Society of Authors and the St. Petersburg Association of Publishers named commissions to consider pro- posals for some new legislation. The Musical Society of St. Petersburg and the Society of Artists took also similar steps. In the meantime the Russian Government had instituted under the presidency of Count Muravieff, then Minister of Justice, but at present of Foreign Affairs, a com- mission for the revision of the Russian code. Upon reaching the section relating to copyright, certain new regulations, in accordance with modern views, were proposed and submitted for consideration to various Russian societies com- petent to give opinions concerning them. More recently the text of the proposed legislation was communicated to the congress at Monaco, accom- panied by a letter from the Chancellor of the Russian Imperial Commission. This letter ex- plained that the projected regulations were by no means to be regarded as final, and that the right of translation, at present ## p. 209 (#643) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 209 treated in a manner altogether inconsistent with the spirit of the Berne Convention, would probably be reconsidered and placed upon an entirely different basis. The Monaco Congress was naturally much gratified by the compliment paid it by the Russian Government, and a special commission of the association was nominated to study the proposals laid before it. Those who are specially interested in the subject will find lengthy and highly instructive articles upon it in the recent numbers of Le Droit d'Auteur, to which publication we are indebted for the facte briefly summarised in the following paragraphs. All literary, musical, and artistic works are to be protected. With some restrictions, copyright is accorded also to collections of national ballads, and of other folk-lore, hitherto orally transmitted (an excellent provision in a country so rich in folk-lore as Russia), and to editors of ancient manuscripts—the last without prejudice to editors of other manuscripts of the same work. Lectures, sermons, and public discourses are also to be copyright. Of judicial, municipal, and other public speeches of the same kind, the authors are to have a copyright, but the newspapers to be free to report. Laws and public regula- tions are not copyright. Both writer and receiver, or their heirs, have control over private letters. Amongst artistic works the following are particularly specified as protected—maps, plans, and architectural and technical designs. Photographs are protected, with some restric- tions. Unpublished literary and artistic works cannot be seized. Damages can be claimed for infringe- ment of copyright, whether wilful or uninten- tional. In the latter case the culprit is respon- sible only for a sum representing his actual gain. Proceedings before either civil or criminal tribunals will be easily taken. The owner of the copyright can proceed within a limit of three years after his discovery of the infringement of his rights. The penalty for illicit production of dramatic works will be forfeiture to the author of the whole of the gross receipts. Cession of a work does not include cession of the right of translation. Cession of right to publish a drama does not include right to perform. The author's rights are subject to certain restrictions. The entire reproduction of works of insignificant extent is permitted if they are reproduced in voluminous works of an original character. Reproduction in chrestomathies, or in similar works of a scientific or educational character, is also allowed. Periodicals are allowed to copy matter from the columns of others, pro- vided that the extracts are of small extent, not VOL. VIII. of a literary character, and not continuously drawn from the same source. All such extracts are to be accompanied by an indication of their origin. The interests of the author are also sacrificed to those of the musical composer. Words for music may be taken freely from any published work, unless the words have been written exclusively for setting to music, and the composer may sell the words with the music without restriction. For restrictions on the rights of artiste we must refer the rt ader to Le Droit d'Auteur. A literary work may be dramatised without the author's consent after a lapse of ten years from its publication. Respecting translation much remains to be desired. The author of a work published in Russia enjovs an exclusive right of translation for ten years, if this right is expressly reserved by a declaration on the title or in the preface, and if he publishes a tsanslation within three years after the appearance of the original work. Works simultaneously published in different languages are to be considered as original works in every one of these languages. When the right of translation has become public property, a translator has no power to inhibit any other translation of the same work. The duration of copyright will be the same as at present, the life of the author and fifty years afterwards. This applies also to music. Fifty years from the death of the author is the dura- tion of the copyright of posthumous works. Fifty years from the date of publication will be the duration for— (a) First editions of folk-lore; (6) First editions of ancient manuscripts; (c) The publications of universities, academies, educational institutions, and learned societies. The copyright of an anonymous or pseudony- mous publication has a duration of thirty years from the date of publication, unless the author declares himself within that period, in which case he acquires his ordinary rights. The duration of copyright for a photograph is five years only; for a translation it is the life of the translator and thirty years afterwards. The editors of periodicals, encyclopaedias, almanacks, and similar works, composed of the writings of different authors, have a fifty years' copyright commencing from the date of publi- cation. The contributors, without prejudice to their rights in the miscellany, may, unless the contrary has been expressly stipulated, reprint their works two years after their appearance in the miscellany. The author who has ceded his right for a single edition may, unless the contrary has been ex- pressly stipulated, publish a new edition as soon t 2 ## p. 210 (#644) ############################################ 2IO THE AUTHOR. as the first is exhausted, or, even if it be not exhausted, after five years; or at any time, if the work has undergone such modifications as will make it really a new book. These regulations will apply to all works pub- lished in Russia, whether the author be a Russian or a foreigner. They apply also to the works of a Russian subject published in a foreign country. No protection is given to the works of foreigners published outside the Russian Empire. Nor is any hint given of conventions ultimately to be concluded with other States. This would appear to indicate that complete non-recognition of the rights of foreigners is to be the rule. Happily, the letter of the Chancellor of the Imperial Com- mission leaves some hopes of an ultimate more liberal arrangement. Henby Cbesswell. NEW YORK LETTER. New York, Dec. 17, 1897. ANUMBER of interesting changes in the tendencies of publishing are visible in the Christmas books this year, and they are nearly all encouraging. All of the leading houses are publishing less of those books which, intended exclusively for Christmas sale, are of flimsy and ephemeral character, with slight real interest. Trifles for children, and gift-books full of cheap illustrations and decorations, are not published by any but some of the weaker houses. Instead of that we see the solid books being advertised as especially suitable for gift-books. A few of the smaller houses, however, have just as large a supply of tinsel as ever. Among the solid books which seem to be especially popular for this par- ticular purpose are those on the popular aspects of science and philosophy, and especially on those branches of those subjects which can be treated in a half pictorial way, which explains an un- common amount of literature about birds and plants this year, and also explains the big Christmas demand for books on art and travel. The decoration is improving in the same way as the contents. Really rich and luxurious paper and binding are taking the place of the cheaper devices, although one wasteful tendency is notice- able—that of making the books so delicate that any reasonable amount of handling would ruin them. Perhaps of all the Christmas books, properly speaking, the two most conspicuous are Gibson's book on London (published by tbe Scribners) and "Joan of Arc," by Boutet de Mouvel, published by the Century Company. John Li Farge's "Artist's Letters from Japan" has attracted a good deal of attention, and it is a reminder that the growing familiarity with Japanese and French ideas in regard to decoration is responsible for much of the im- provement. One of the most interesting of all the solid books is the history of dancing from the earliest stages to our own times, published by Appleton and Co. as a translation from the French. The text itself is complete and intelligent, and the illustrations reproduce some of the finest works of art from the earliest times down to Sargent, Degas and Cheret. Among the books which will appear before a great while it must be said, to the credit of the cheap magazines and the cheap publishing houses, that the most interesting, to my mind at least, will be given by Mr. Munsey. It will be made up of a series of articles now running in the magazine which give the judgment of various writers of fiction on their favourite novelists. The date of the issue cannot be fixed until it is known when the series will be completed. Anthony Hope's article on Sterne, in the November number of the magazine, struck me as being the best piece of literary criticism of recent publication that I have seen anywhere. It suggested one rather gloomy conclusion for the professional critic, which is, that the man who sits down occasionally to express ideas which he has thought of for many years gives something more permanently worth while than most of the criticism which is written by men who turn everything they know into copy. This observation, by-the-way, has its relations to an article which Professor H. T. Peck has recently written, in which he says that the influence of the magazine on authors has been generally deteriorating, by inducing them to write too constantly. Except in the cases of genius, he thinks it makes no difference to the author, because he wouldn't do anything anyway; but where a man has genius he is ruined by the in- ducement to hasty work. The corresponding harm to the public is obvious. Mr. Howells, who has just returned from Europe, said while abroad that there was no one in this country whose good opinion was like that of Mr. Gladstone, able to make a reputation, and that Lowell's opinion in his closing years would have done more in that way than any other. Seeking the reason for this truth, the Nation thinks that it is because criticism here is too gentle, and that Mr. Lowell's influence lay largely in his freedom from the fault of indiscriminate praise, which is surely an explanation altogether insufficient to explain the lack of strong criticism here—-ather the effect than the cause. ## p. 211 (#645) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 211 One queBtion that might with profit be dis- cussed fully in this country is the ethics of editing, which has received such thorough treat- ment from The Author. The degree to which some of the magazine editors change the words and ideas in signed articles, not only in those written by the less known men, but often in those written by some of the most prominent authors in the world is very marked. It would not he safe for me to give the facts too specifically. A subject about which I have found marked differences of opinion lately is that of dating books. One writer of long experience held that in publishing a book of essays it was decidedly better to date each essay, in order that the earlier ones might be recognised as not the latest product of the author's mind. Another man, of equal ability and almost equal experience, said that to date the essays, or in any way, as by an acknowledgment in the front of the book, to show that they had been published, would injure the sale, so strong is the desire for " something new." The literary success of the last few weeks in New York belongs to England. The enthusiasm with which intelligent people have received " The Princess and the Butterfly" is as much due to Mr. Pinero'8 literary qualities as to the dramatic ones. There is no doubt that the play has made a stronger impression on the minds of the intelli- gent people of New York than anything else which has been given here this year. Norman Hapoood. NOTES AND NEWS. THE Speaker once more kindly devotes two or three columns of abuse to this Society. It appears that we contain few men of recog- nised standing: that we are run by a small clique of busybodies: that we claim to determine the conditions upon which books shall be sold: that nine-tenths of the known authors of the country know nothing about the Society: that it is the desire of the Society to establish a fixed royalty for the author: that our Report on the Discount System is a masterpiece of inconsequential reasoning: and so on. Of course they put my name forward as the supposed leader in all this wickedness: to that I am quite accus- tomed. It is the old trick of representing the Society as consisting of one man. I only wonder that they ever allow any others to be connected with it at all. There are others, how- ever: the writer acknowledges so much, though, as he assures his readers, my friends, like myself, only " cater for the middle class." This is a very terrible charge. How is one to get out of it? Since, however, the middle class of this country furnishes the great bulk of readers: since from the middle class come all our men of science, of art, of literature; all our preachers, most of our leaders, all our engineers, lawyers, merchants—in fact, all the people who ever do any- thing— I really see no disgrace in "catering" for them. The Speaker, of course, " caters " for the aristocracy alone. I wonder how it is done. However, the true meaning of all this wrath presently appears when the writer wanders from his subject in order to talk about royalties. It is the increase of the royalty which inspires this real and genuine indignation. Now, it is certainly not true, as the writer says, that we have ever advo- cated a fixed royalty. We have, however, pub- lished the meaning of royalties—what they give to authors and what they give to publishers. These truths have given a great deal of dissatisfaction. It is undoubted that, thanks to the action of the Society, royalties have very greatly advanced; it is also true that certain publishers who used to offer a sweating royalty, say, of 5 per cent., have had to treble, and more than treble, their terms, or else to see books taken elsewhere. Other little trifles have also been secured to the author, such as dramatic rights, American rights, Continental rights, through the action of the Society in pub- lishing the facts of the case. Authors, again, have been kept out of certain hands to the great loss and detriment of those hands: light has been poured upon the meaning of production and its cost. In this way it is possible that dividends may have fallen in this or that company. Such a consideration suggests a very simple explanation if a paper should happen to be controlled by a publishing house. But, if the Speaker can reason at all on the subject, one would ask if any purpose is gained by all this invective? Is the Society one whit the worse for these attacks \ I believe not. Never has any associa- tion been more savagely attacked than the Society of Authors. Yet it is larger, stronger, and of better repute to-day than ever before. And the editor of the Speaker may ask himself if, by any of his previous attacks upon the paper, he has injured the Society in the slightest way? And we may ask, generally, all these persons, publishers or other- wise, who attack the Society, whether they find their own position improved by these attacks? And we may ask the whole world whether authors, like other people, are prepared to give up an asso- ciation which has so enormously advanced their own interests? . Let us remind our members that ten or twelve years ago a 10 per cent, royalty was the utmost ## p. 212 (#646) ############################################ 212 THE AUTHOR. ever offered. Generally it was less—a 5 per cent, with something down. A certain very popular novel was once given to a publisher for .£50 in advance and a 5 per cent, royalty. That author's terms would now be 25 per cent. Look at the difference on a sale of a thousand. On a 5 per cent, royalty .£15 per thousand copies. On a 25 per cent, royalty ,£75 per thousand copies. On a sale of fifty thousand—it was more than that—there was a difference — clear gain — of £3000. And this is evidently the work of the Society which was the first to investigate the meaning of the figures and the corresponding meaning of royalties. Take, however, a more common case, the old royalty of 10 per cent, compared with that of 25 per cent. On 10 per cent, the sum of ,£30 for every thousand copies. On 25 per cent, the sum of J675 for every thousand copies. On a sale of fifty thousand—I repeat that the book in question was very popular—the author is a gainer of £1250. As to other services of the Society, we may speak of them at another time. Let the reader only consider that if the Society were to become extinct these figures would very speedily be lost and forgotten—and the old con- dition of things would be restored. I have before me certain remarks upon our estimates and figures in a new paper of which this is only the second number. It is called the Qtiilldriver. The writer speaks well of the Society, but complains that in The Author young writers are led to believe that the average circu- lation of a novel is 3000. Not so: the average is not spoken of; in preparing these figures we have nothing to do with the average, we have to deal with the possibilities. In dealing with, or speaking of, literary property we must consider actual, substantial literary property — which means the achievement of popularity: we must prepare agreements for possibilities — never, perhaps, to be realised, yet always possible. That is the meaning of our figures. When we assume a circulation of 3000 it is in order to provide for the possibility of that number. Nor can I believe that anyone is so foolish as to think that the majority of novels do actually attain this figure. When a young barrister enters upon his profession he considers the prizes: the great practice possible: the great reputa- tion; he then lays himself out, so to speak, for the attainment of this great practice: he does not consider the many failures which are, of course, possible for him as for any other. So a young writer should, and does, consider the great prizes open to him, though he may never arrive at them. That is, again, the meaning of the thousands introduced into our figures. The writer before me goes on to say that he has made a list of 150 writers well known to the public; that he applied to their publishers for information as to the circulation of their books; and that this information was actually supplied! This is a most wonderful thing. Publishers are confidential agents; they have no more right to reveal the secrets of their authors than lawyers those of their clients. It is conceivable that such a revelation might damage a writer very seriously, say, when one of deserved name and reputation was found to enjoy a very limited circulation. However, for some unknown consideration, all the publishers of the Hundred and Fifty are said to have betrayed their trust, and to have given the information asked for. The average circulation of the lot, says my writer, was 4535 volumes. Yes, perhaps. But is this the average of the whole army of novelists? Can it be considered as even approximately the average? Let us just examine the figures. There were 150 novelists selected; their average was 4535. This represents no more than 68,025 volumes. Consequently it cannot include Hall Caine, whose last novel circulated to the tune of 150,000 copies at least. Put him in: the average rises to 1444 copies for every one of the 151. Nor does it include Rider Haggard, whose most successful story means at least 120,000. Add Eider Haggard and the average for 152 goes up to 2224. Add "Treasure Island" with, I believe, 80,000, and the average for 153 is 2732. Add Marie Corelli with 80,000 (say) and the average goes up to 3234 for 154. Putin adozen others with a circula- tion of only 10,000 each and the average for 166 amounts to 3723. With these figures before us it becomes evident that the figures quoted cannot represent an average, which must include the successful as well as the unsuccessful: and that if, in The Author, we were to claim 3000 as an average we might perhaps be justified. We do not, however, advance any such claim. We are quite prepared to admit that most novelists fail to catch the public ear: in all professions it is only the small minority that succeeds; we are also prepared to admit that if we take the lower half of living novelists their average is very small. But then the lower half includes the unhappy people who believe that by paying for production they pay for publication, and that a printed book is a published book, and that every novel is a mine of gold. ## p. 213 (#647) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. The report of the Sub-Committee to consider the proposals made by certain publishers for the enslaving of the bookseller has been received by the world with apparent satisfaction. Our own members, with one exception, have not expressed any dissatisfaction at the result of the inquiry. The one exception sent a letter to the secretary, which he also forwarded to the Publishers' Asso- ciation. It is printed in another column. One would not deny to every member the right to his own opinion; but in cases where, as in that lately before us, the independence of literature, the dignity of men and women of letters, and their material interests, were all together threatened under cover of coercing booksellers: when, under the same pretence, it was sought to raise the price of books upon a public which already pays too much: in such a case it is above all things neces- sary that authors should stand together, and that they should sink their individual opinion and think only of the general good. That means that they should accept the decision of the Committee, which alone, remember, was able to hear the evidence. Mr. Cunningham says that the decision was arrived at by adhering to old arguments. That is not a correct statement of the case. The whole report has been published in this paper, so that readers may judge for themselves. Weight was certainly given to the opinions of the men of 1852—distin- guished men—all of whom have a right to be considered, even fifty years after the event. But the Committee were chiefly guided by the evidence before them, rather than by the arguments of 18 5 2; they learned and recognised the absolute impos- sibility of coercion: the degradation of the book- seller, who, if the proposed plan succeeded, would become a mere clerk and servant of the publisher: and the absolute certainty that the next step would be the degradation of the author. Indeed, the Times, in making a precis of the report, left out altogether the statement of the case in 1852, so little importance was attached by their reader to that part of the report. Mr. Cunningham disagrees with the report. That is to be lamented; but everyone must form his own opinion. He then, after acknowledging the valuable aid which he has received from the Society, withdraws from membership. This step shows that he has not the least esprit de corps, and that he owes no sense of duty or of brother- hood to others engaged in literary work. How could the Society have assisted or advised him but for the association of a great many who by their collective subscriptions enable us to provide offices, collect cases, get legal advice, and maintain a staff? How can such a Society be kept up if every member who disagrees with a report or with the action of the Committee immediately withdraws? Surely a certain amount of loyalty is required in the defence and the advancement of every cause— in our case more than any other, on account of the fierce resentment which has always met it on every side, and the unscrupulous falsehoods with which it is constantly assailed. The first thing necessary, however, is the feeling that every writer ought to support the Society not so much for the assistance which he may receive, or for gratitude for the assistance which he has received, so much as for the solid work which the Society has rendered to the material interests of litera- ture, and for the assistance which it is constantly giving to writers in trouble or in doubt. To do this effectively, we ought to have at least 2000 members—that is, 600 more than our present number. . Literary men will do well to take legal advice before accepting employment under the city of New York, if the experience of Mr. Charles Burr Todd, the historian of the city, counts for any- thing. In 1895 the Common Council was desirous of printing the early records of Dutch Man- hattan and English New York which were stored in ancient safes in the city library, and were fast going to pieces with age and handling. The Mayor appointed a committee to superintend their publication, the members of which previous to appointment met the Mayor in his office, and agreed to serve without pay provided they could have a secretary and editor to do the work, who should be paid, and they named Mr. Todd as such editor. The Mayor said he had wished Mr. Todd on the committee, but it was pointed out that the latter could not afford to serve without pay; to all of which the Mayor agreed. Mr. Todd was soon after appointed on the committee, and, with the understanding that he should be paid, accepted. Later the committee appointed him editor, agree- ing to pay him, though no sum was fixed. He served eight months and resigned, whereupon the committee voted him 150 dollars per month. The city refused to pay on the ground that the com- mittee were to serve for nothing, whereupon Mr. Todd sued for the amount. The case was tried before Judge Russell in the Supreme Court of New York, on Nov. 18, and the learned judge held that as Mr. Todd was a member of a com- mittee which was appointed to serve without pay he could recover nothing. Mr. Todd says that while this may be good law it is very poor equity and justice; that somebody laid a trap for him in order to get his services as editor for nothing, ## p. 214 (#648) ############################################ 214 THE AUTHOR. and that altogether it is pretty small business for the second largest city in the world. He worked five years preparing his history of the city, for which he has received about one hundred and fifty dollars, and thinks if he per- forms other services for the city it should be willing to remunerate him. Waltee Be8ANT_ A CHAPTER OF THE PAST. THE following extracts from Babbage's "Economy of Machinery " are interesting at present:— (295.) . . . "A powerful combination, of another kind, exists at this moment to a great extent, and operates upon the price of the very pages which we are now communicating informa- tion respecting it. A subject so interesting to every reader, and still more so to every manu- facturer of the article which the reader consumes, deserves an attentive examination. "We have shown in Chapter XX., p. 166, the component parts of the expense of each copy of the present work; and we have seen that the total amount of the cost of production, exclusive of any payment to the author for his labour, is 28. tfd. "Another fact, with which the reader is more practically familiar, is, that he has paid, or is to pay, his bookseller six shillings for the volume. Let us now examine into the distribution of these six shillings, and then, having the facts of the case before us, we shall be better able to judge of the merits of the combination and to explain its effects. Distribution of the profits on a six-shilling hook. BayB at. Sells at. Profit on capital expended No. 1. The publisher, who s. d. s. d. accounts to the author for every copy received 3 10 4 2 10 per No. 2. Bookseller, who retails cent. 4 2 6 0 44 per cent. Or 4 6 6 0 33i Par cent. "No. 1, the publisher, is a bookseller, he is in fact the author's agent. His duties are to receive and take charge of the stock, for whieh bo sup- plies warehouse room, to advise the author about the times and methods of advertising, and to insert the advertisements. As he publishes other books, he will advertise lists of those s^ld by him- self; and thus by combining many in one adver- tisement, diminish the expense to each of his principals. He pays the author only for the books actually sold, consequently, he makes no outlay of capital, except that which he pays for advertisements, but he is answerable for any bad debts he may make in disposing of them. His charge is usually 10 per cent, on the returns. "No. 2 is the bookseller, who retails the work to the public. On the publication of a new book the publisher sends round to the trade to receive subscriptions from them for any number of copies, not less than two. These copies are usually charged to the subscribers, on an average, at about 4 or 5 per cent, less than the wholesale price of the book, in the present case they pay 4«. 2d. for each copy. After the day of publica- tion, the price charged by the publisher to the booksellers is 4*. 6d. Different publishers offer different terms to the subscriber, and it is usual after intervals of about six months for the pub- lisher again to open a subscription list, so that if the work be one for which there is a steady demand, the trade avail themselves of these oppor- tunities of purchasing at the reduced rate enough to supply their probable demand. (296.) "The volume thus purchased of the publisher at 4*. 2d. or 4*. 6d. is retailed by the bookseller at 6s. In the one case he makes a profit of 44, in the other of 33 per cent Even the smaller of these two rates of profit on the capital employed certainly appears too large. It sometimes happens, when a purchaser inquires for a book, the retail dealer sends across the street to the wholesale agent, and receives for this trifling service one-fourth part of the money the purchaser pays; and perhaps the retail dealer also takes six months' credit for the price which the volume actually costs him. It is stated that all retail books> Hers allow their customers a dis- count of 10 per cent, upon orders above .£20; and that, therefore, the nominal profit of 44 or 33 per cent, is considerably reduced. H this is the case, it may fairly be inquired why the price of £2, for example, is printed upon the back of a book when every bookseller is ready to sell it at £1 16s.; and why those who are unacquainted with that circumstance should be made to pay more than others who are better informed? Another reason has been assigned for the great profit charged upon books, namely, that the pur- chasers take long credit. This is probably a fact, and, admitting it, no reasonable person can object to a proportionate increase of price. But certainly, it is equally clear that gentlemen who do pay ready money should not be charged the same price as those who defer their payments to a very remote period. In the country there is a greater ## p. 215 (#649) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 215 appearance of reason for a considerable allowance between the retail dealer and the public, because the profit of the country bookseller will be diminished by the expense of the conveyance of the books from London; but even in this case it appears to be too large when compared with the rate of interest which capital produces in other trades. (297.) "That the profit in retailing books is really too large is proved by two circumstances: First, that the same nominal rate of profit existed in the bookselling trade for a long series of years, notwithstanding the great fluctuations in the rate of profit on capital invested in every other business; secondly, that until very lately a multitude of booksellers in all parts of London were willing to be satisfied with a much smaller profit, and to sell, for ready money, or at short credit, to persons of uudoubted character, at a profit of only 10 per cent., and in some instances even at a still smaller percentage instead of that of 25 per cent, on the published prices. "It cannot be pretended that this high rate of profit is necessary to cover the risk of the book- seller having some copies left on his shelves, because he need not buy of the publisher a single copy more than he has orders for; and even if he do purchase more at the subscription price, he proves, by that very purchase, that he himself does not estimate that risk at above from 4 to 8 per cent. . It should also be remarked, that the publisher is generally a retail as well as a whole- sale bookseller; and that beside the profit which he realises on every copy sold by him in his capacity of agent, he is allowed to charge the author as if every copy had been subscribed for at 4«. 2d., and of course he receives the same profit as the rest of the trade for those retailed in his shop. (298.) "Now a certain number of the London booksellers have combined together. One of their objects is to prevent any bookseller from selling a book at less than 10 per cent, under the pub- lished price; and, in order to enforce this prin- ciple, they refuse to sell books, except at the publishing price, to any bookseller who declines signing their agreement. By degrees many were prevailed upon to join this combination; and the effect of the exclusion it inflicted left the small capitalist no option between signing or having his business destroyed. Ultimately nearly the whole trade, comprising about two thousand four hundred persons, have signed the agreement. "As might be naturally expected from an agree- ment so injurious to many of the parties to it, disputes have arisen, several booksellers have been placed under the ban of the combination, who allege that they have not violated its rules, and who accuse the opposite party of using spies, &c, to entrap them. (299.) "The origin of this combination has been explained by Mr. Pickering, of Chancery- lane, himself a publisher, in a printed statement entitled, ' Booksellers' Monopoly.' "The following list of booksellers has been copied from that printed at the head of each of the cases published by Mr. Pickering of the booksellers who form the committee for conduct- ing this combination: Allen, J., 7, Leaienhall- street; Arch, J., 61, Cornhill; Baldwin, R., 47, Paternoster-row; Booth, J.; Duncan, J., 37, Paternoster - row; Hatchard, J., Piccadilly; Marshall, R., Stationers'-court; Murray, J., Albemarle-street; Rees, O., Paternoster-row; Richardson, J. M., 23, Cornhill; Rivington, J., St. Paul's Churchyard; Wilson, E., Royal Exchange. (300.) "In whatever manner the profits are divided between the publisher and the retail bookseller, the fact remains, that the reader has paid for the volume in his hands 6s., and that the author will receive only 3s. ioe?.; out of which latter sum the expense of printing the volume must be paid, so that in passing through two hands this book has produced a profit of 44 per cent. This excessive rate of profit has drawn into the book trade a larger share of capital than was really advantageous, and the competition between the different portions of that capital has naturally led to the system of underselling, to which the committee above-mentioned are en- deavouring to put a stop.* "There are two parties who chiefly suffer from this combination—the public and authors. The first party can seldom be induced to take an active part ag linst any grievance; and, in fact, little is required from it except a cordial support of the authors in any attempt to destroy a combination so injurious to the interests of both. "Many an industrious bookseller would be glad to sell for 5«. the volume which the reader holds in his hand, and for which he has paid 6*.; and, in doing so for ready money, the tradesman who paid 4*. 6c?. for the book would realise, without the least risk, a profit of 11 per cent, on the money he had advanced. It is one of the objects of the combination we are discussing, to prevent the small capitalist from employing his capital at that rate of profit which he thinks most advan- * The monopoly cases, Nos. 1,2, and 3 of those published by Mr. Pickering, should be oonsulted; and as the pnblic will be better able to form a judgment by hearing the other side of the question, perhaps the chairman of the 00m- mittee (Mr. Richardson) would print those regulations respecting the trade, a copy of which Mr. Piokering states is refused by the committee even to those who sign thorn. ## p. 216 (#650) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. tageous to himself; and such a proceeding is decidedly injurious to the public. (301.) "Having derived little pecuniary advan- tage from my own literary productions ; and being aware that from the very nature of their subjects they can scarcely be expected to reimburse the expense of preparing tbem, I may be permitted to offer an opinion which I believe to be as little influenced by any expectation of advantage from the future, as it is by any disappointment at the past. "Before, however, we proceed to sketch the plan of a campaign against Paternoster-row, it will be fit to inform the reader of the nature of the enemy's forces and his means of attack and defence. "Several of the great publishers find it con- venient to be the proprietors of reviews, maga- zines, journals, and even of newspapers. The editors are paid in some instances very hand- somely for their superintendence, and it is scarcely to be expected that they should always mete out the severest justice on works by the sale of which their employers are enriched. The great and popular works of the day are, of course, reviewed with some care, and with deference to public opinion. Without this the journals would not sell, and it is convenient to be able to quote such articles as instances of impartiality. Under shelter of this a host of ephemeral productions are written into a transitory popularity; and by the aid of this process the shelves of the book- seller, as well as the pockets of the public, are disencumbered. To such an extent are these means employed, that some of the periodical pub- lications of the day ought to be regarded merely as advertising machines. That the reader may be in some measure on his guard against such modes of influencing his judgment, he should examine whether the work reviewed is published by the bookseller who is the proprietor of the review, a fact which can sometimes be ascertained from the title of the book as given at the head of the article. But this is by no means a certain criterion, because partnerships in various publica- tions exist between houses in the book trade, which are not generally known to the public; so that, in fact, until reviews are established in which booksellers have no interest, they can never be safely trusted. (302.) "In order to put down the combination of booksellers, no plan appears so likely to succeed as a counter-association of authors. If any con- siderable portion of the literary world were to unite and form such an association; and if its affairs were directed by an active committee much might be accomplished. The object of this union should be to employ some person well skilled in the printing and in the bookselling trade, and to establish him in some central situation as their agent. Each member of the association to be at liberty to place any or all of his works in the hands of this agent for sale; to allow any adver- tisements or list of books, published by members of the association, to be stitched up at the end of each of his own productions, the expense of preparing them being defrayed by the proprietors of the books advertised. "The duties of the agent would be to retail to the public for ready money, copies of books published by members of the association. To sell to the trade, at prices agreed upon, any copies they may require. To cause to be inserted in the journals, or at the end of works published by members, any advertisements which the committee or authors may direct. To prepare a general catalogue of the works of members. To be the agent for any member of the association in treating respecting the printing of any work. "Such a union would naturally present other advantages, and as each author would retain the liberty of putting any price he might think fit on his productions, the public would still have the advantage of reduction in price produced by com- petition between authors on the same subject, as well as of that arising from a cheaper mode of publishing the volumes sold to them. (303.) "Possibly one of the consequences re- sulting from such an association would be the establishment of a good and an impartial Review, a work whose want has been felt lor several years. The two long-established and celebrated Reviews, the unbending champions of the most opposite political opinions, are, from widely different causes, exhibiting unequivocal signs of decrepi- tude and decay. The Quarterly advocate of despotic principles is fast receding from the advancing intelligence of the age, and the new strength and new position which that intelligence has acquired for itself demands for its expression new organs, equally the representatives of its intellectual power and of its moral energies; whilst, on the other hand, the sceptre of its Northern rival has passed from the vigorous grasp of those who established its dominion into feebler hands. "A difficulty has been stated that those most competent to supply periodical criticism are already engaged. But it is to be observed that there are many who now supply literary criticisms to journals whose political principles they disap- prove, and that, if once a respectable and well- supported Review* were established, capable of * At the moment when this opinion aa to the necessity for a new Review was passing through the press, I was informed that the elements of snoh an undertaking were already organised. ## p. 217 (#651) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 217 competing, in payment to its contributors, with the wealthiest of its rivals, it would very soon be supplied with the best materials the country can produce.f" ME. BALFOUR ON THE NOVEL. MR. ARTHUR J. BALFOUR, M.P., pro- posed the toast of "Literature" at the fourth annual dinner of the Sir Walter Scott Club, held in Edinburgh on the 20th ult. He said it was hard to believe there was a time when the world did without novels, and, in its own opinion, did well without novels. Like tobacco and the daily Press, novels had now become a general necessity. It was an interest- ing speculation to reflect what the future of the novel was to be. He took it that there was hardly any instance in literature of any sub-class of composition being cultivated with success for an indefinite period. The cause of decay was commonly to be found either in the habit of driving peculiarities to excess so that the whole species of composition seemed weighed down by its own exaggerations, or else dying away in a kind of senile imbecility and perishing slowly amid general contempt. An example of the first kind they found in the death of the Elizabethan drama, and of the second in that particular kind of literature of which Pope was the greatest ornament. But as to the novel, if there were any signs of decadence, peihaps they should look for it in the obvious difficulty which novelists now found in getting hold of appropriate subjects for their art to deal with. Scott, however, had not only his unique genius to depend upon; he had the specially good fortune to open an entirely new vein. Where was the modern novelist to find a new vein? Every country had been ransacked to obtain theatres upon which their imaginary characters were to show themselves. They had stories of civilised life, of semi-civilised life, of barbarous life. They had novels of the natural and the supernatural; they had scientific novels, and they had thaumaturgic novels. So hardly set were they for subjects that even the quint- essence of dulness was extracted from the dullest t It baa been suggested to me that the doctrines main- tained in this chapter may subject the present volume to the opposition of that combination which it has opposed. I do not entdrtain that opinion, and for this reason—that the booksellers are too shrewd a class to supply such an admirable passport to publicity. But, should my readers take a diffe- rent view of the question, they can easily assist in remedy- ing the evil by each mentioning the existence of this little volume to two of his friends. localities, and turned into a subject of artistic treatment. Yet there was one aspect of human nature, and perhaps the most interesting of all, which for obvious reasons had been very sparingly treated by the novelists—the develop- ment of character extending through the life of the individual. A novel seldom or never—not in one case in a thousand—attempted to take an individual and trace what in natural science would be called his life history. It would be very inappropriate and very unnecessary to dwell upon reasons why this biographical form of fiction was difficult—he would not say impossible —and he certainly did not venture to foretell that any artist would be found who would be able to overcome them. Whatever be the future of the novel, they might always console themselves with the reflection that every great literary revival had been preceded by a period in which no revival could by any possibility have been anticipated by the closest critics of the time. He doubted whether any contemporary of Sydney could have foreseen Shakespeare; he doubted whether any- body living in the Commonwealth was likely to have foreseen Dry den in his maturity. He felt sure nobody living in the time of Johnson could really have foreseen Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Scott. But though the provinces of literature were many, the kingdom of literature was one; however diverse were the fields, they all furthered one cause. He did not pretend that literature necessarily softened the manners or carried all the cardinal virtues in its train. But it was the greatest engine for the production of cultivated happiness. It was daily producing more innocent and refined pleasure in every class in every country where education was known than any other source of pleasure. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF AUTHORS. IN the recent " Memoir" the evidences given of good feeling toward America and Americans on the part of Lord Tennyson have been noted in the papers. To be sure, one might ask, "Why not r And yet there were special annoy- ances from American sources which must have been particularly trying. An American man of letters visiting England, years ago, spent some time not far from Fresh- water. Knowing many of Tennyson's American and English friends, it would have been natural, perhaps, for him to obtain an introduction; yet he even kept away from Tennyson's end of the Isle of Wight. Meeting once, in London, the younger son of the Laureate, he told him he could ## p. 218 (#652) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. tell his father that at least one American was not peering over his fences or shying stones at his Farringford chickens. The prying English tourist made himself a nuisance to the Laureate; but the tourist who came across the seas was, perhaps, a little more likely to be troublesome, owing to his greater enthusiasm and enterprise. But, however a sensitive bard may have resented intrusion upon his privacy, and whatever com- plaints of their inconsiderate countrymen some visiting Americans may at times have had to listen to, it is evident that good feeling for " kin across sea " was at the bottom of the poet's large heart. Some of his American friends are named in the book, but there were other American acquaint- ances, some of an earlier date than certain of those chronicled. There were Americans unknown to fame who met with warm welcome from the master of Farringford, and gained there a genuine, helpful, and lasting friendship. A pleasant chapter in the curiosities of English literature could be made of international literary relations—those between Scott and Irving, Emer- son and Carlyle, for instance. Such a chapter might include the friendship of American and English writers with individuals less distinguished of the opposite country. Some of the most inti- mate friends of the Brownings were Americans, and Lowell had English friends true and stead- fast. International relations of this kind do not depend upon any treaty; they ought to, and do, favourably affect the public opinion of the two countries. While writers on both sides have done much to fan the flames of unreasoned prejudice, men of letters, being often, fortunately, men of imagination, insight, and goodwill, have also stood for brotherhood, and not for the brutal inherited instinct of fight.— " Topics of the Time," Century Magazine Christmas number. PERSONAL. THE American Ambassador, Colonel John Hay, was the guest of the Omar Khayyam Club at its first dinner of the season, held in Frascati's Restaurant on Dec. 8, Mr. Henry Norman, the president, in the chair. His Excel- lency passed an eloquent eulogy upon FitzGerald's translations of the Quatrains. Omar was a Fitz- Gerald before the letter, or FitzGerald was a reincarnation of Omar. Each seemed greater than his work. Omar sang to a half barbarous province, FitzGerald to the world. Wherever the English speech is spoken or read the Rubaiyat had taken their place as a classic. He heard Omar quoted once in one of the most lonely and desolate spots of the high Rockies. Certainly, Omar could never be numbered among the great popular writers of all time. The suffrages of the crowd were not for the cool, collected observer, whose eye no glitter could dazzle, no mist suffuse. Mr. Augustine Birrell, Q-O, M.P., delivered an address at the Commemoration Service of Brown- ing, held at the Robert Browning Settlement, Walworth, on the 12th ult. The obscure poet of the obscure " Sordello," he said, had an influence on literature which was indescribably majestic. Like Carlyle and Tennyson, he never bowed the knee to Baal. Poverty they knew, and depression of spirit, but no one of them abated a jot or tittle of his pretensions, or ever asked the people what they wanted. Browning's religious belief was not attained through the dark and mystical passage of the Sacraments, but rather was the result of a firm belief in a personal God, and his strong faith in the soul of man. To call him a cheerful poet would be wrong. He was too well read in the literature of hell. But he was indeed a cheering poet. The Christmas dinner of the New Vagabond Club took place in Holborn Restaurant on the 10th ult. The company was very numerous, and included many ladies. Mr. Israel Zangwill pre- sided, and Lord Charles Beresford was the particular guest. Lord Rosebery, speaking at the annual meeting of the Scottish History Society, suggested that there should be a book of those dignities which were conferred by the Stuarts after their depar- ture from England in 1689. Owing to the pressure of the Jubilee year, the committee charged with the project of a memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson in Edinburgh did not make an urgent appeal for subscriptions in the year just closed. They will now shortly do so. As to the form the memorial shall take, a monument in St. Giles's Cathedral and another on Calton Hill are suggested. Professor Masson, who for thirty years occupied the chair of English Literature in the University of Edinburgh, has been presented with his portrait painted by Sir George Reid. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—A Young Author's Gbievancb. IRECENTLY read some letters in The Author complaining of the time taken by editors in returning rejected MSS. Personally I have always found that rejected MSS. were returned ## p. 219 (#653) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. within a reasonable time, and it must be remem- bered that contributions sent in on chance are not invited. When, however, an editor has personally interviewed an author, and verbally arranged with him to accept a certain article for a certain number of a magazine, the author natu- rally looks for his article in—let us say, the number for June. The proof is sent to the writer some time in May, but on looking at the magazine in June he is often doomed to disappointment—at least if he is a young author feeling his way. None of his work appears. He calls on the editor, and is told that his article was "crowded out," but that it will appear in July. He looks again in the July number, but to no purpose. He is put off with the same excuse for three, four, or even six months. All this time he is obliged to stand out of his money. Of course such a thing could not happen to a well known man, but most of us must climb the ladder of fame by degrees. This is essentially a young author's grievance, and is felt by those who are entirely dependent on their pens. C. B. B. II.—The Published Peice. It is satisfactory to learn from Mr. Millar's letter in your last issue that the Dundee Adver- tiser, as well as Literature, the Literary World, and the Bookman, announces in the reviews themselves the prices of all b >oks reviewed. It may, perhaps, be hoped that this at present very rare practice may gradually become more general, and that publishers and authors will combine to encourage it by procuring the price to be marked on the binding, or a notification of the price to be sent out with the review copies, and by selecting as recipients of review copies those newspapers which adopt the practice. By the way, of the 379 "books of the month" catalogued in your last issue at page 198, I observe that no less than thirty-seven—about one-tenth of the whole—have no price affixed to them. How are the prices of the omitted thirty- seven to be ascertained? J. M. Lely. Dec. 20. BOOS TALE. ME. MACKENZIE BELL'S memoir of Miss Christina Rossetti will be pub- lished by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett early this month. Two offers of marriage, we are told, were made to Miss Rossetti, but the charming lady simply chose to be an "old maid." This volume will give for the first a little Italian "octave " written by her father, Gabriele Rossetti, in celebration of his " dear daughters" Christina a.nd Maria—" fresh violets, opened at dawn." Mr. Bell also records that Miss Rossetti and her brothers and sisters were accustomed to address their father invariably in Italian, his native language. Several portraits of the poetess will appear in the memoir, including, as frontispiece, a reproduction of the chalk drawing of his sister, which Dante Rossetti executed in 1866. The scene of Mr. Rider Haggard's new historical romance is laid in Holland in the days of William of Orange. He has also engaged to write for the Graphic a story of the Boers at the time of their great trek in 1836. It will be called "Swallow," and will commence in the above journal in the latter part of this year. Mr. Gilbert Parker has written a storv called "Mrs. Falchion." Mr. Max Pemberton has gone to the Balearic Isles, which will be the scene of his next story. Mr. E. L. Voynich, author of "The Gadfly," is about to visit Austria in order to collect material for a work dealing with contemporary life there. Mr. Henry Seton Merriman has written for Harper's Magazine, beginning with the January number, a novel entitled " Roden's Corner." The score or so letters which passed between Emerson and Sterling, and which were briefly noticed in The Author a few months ago, are now to be published by Messrs. Gay and Bird in book form, edited by Edward Waldo Emerson, and entitled "A Correspondence between John Sterling and Ralph Waldo Emerson." The letters appeared during last year in the Atlantic Monthly. Mr. William Black has completed his new novel, and entitled it "Wild Eelin; otherwise called Eelin of the Eyes like the Sea Wave." It will begin its course as a serial this month. Miss Lilian Goadby is retelling the story of Homer's Iliad for bovs and girls. The book, entitled "The Wrath of Achilles," will be pub- lished shortly by Messrs. Edwin, Vaughan and Co. Mr. Anthony Hope has written a sequel to "The Prisoner' of Zenda," entitled "Rupert of Hentzau." It is now running serially in the Pall Mall Magazine. Miss Emily Lawless is publishing with Messrs. Methuen a volume of Irish stories, entitled "Traits and Confidences." ## p. 220 (#654) ############################################ 2 20 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Bram Stoker has written the first story— "Miss Betty," a seventeenth century romance— for a new fiction series, which Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson and Co. are projecting. This series aspires to give in each volume six shillings' worth of material for half-a-crown. Mr. Stoker's volume will appear this month. Succeeding volumes, to be issued at monthly intervals, will be by Messrs. W. L. Alden, Clive Holland, Joseph Hatton, Douglas Sladen, George Griffith, Fred. Whishaw, and others. Miss Adeline Sergeant has completed a novel called "The Lady Charlotte " for publication by Messrs. Hutchinson shortly. Mr. Grant Allen has written a story entitled "The Incidental Bishop." Mr. William Le Queux is staying at Milan, and writing a novol to be called "Scribes and Pharisees." Mr. Robert H. Sherard is writing the story of the Dreyfus case for an American magazine. "David Lyall's Love Story" is a volume of Scotch idylls which Messrs. Hodder and Stough- ton are publishing immediately. There has been much speculation as to the identity of "David Lyall," the author of this work and of " The Land o' the Leal." We believe she is a sister of Annie Swan (Mrs. Burnett Smith). The Christmas number of Good Words con- sisted of a novel entitled " The Looms of Time," by Mrs. Hugh Fraser. It will be published in book form by Messrs. Isbister during the spring. Mrs. de Courcy Laffan (" Mrs Leith Adams ") is writing a novel called " The Prince's Feathers: a Story of Leafy Warwickshire in the Olden Time," and a story of public school life entitled "The Gift of God." "A Voyage of Consolation" is the title of a new story by Mrs. Everard Cotes. Mrs. Pendler Cudlip (" Annie Thomas ") has a novel, "Dick Rivers," about to be published by Messrs. F. V. White and Co. She is engaged upon another, to be called "Between the Devil and the Deep Sea," and also upon a group of stories for Messrs. Tillotson. Mrs. Lovett Cameron's new novel "Devil's Apples," will be published this month by Messrs. White. Mr. R. Andom has written of cycling incidents and misadventures in a volume entitled "Side Slips" which Messrs. Pearson will publish. "Scenes from the Suburbs " is another humorous work by the same author, which will be published by Messrs. Jarrold. The books will appear in the spring, the former illustrated by Mr. A. Frederick, the latter by Mr. A. Carruthers Gould. A volume of Stories from soldier fife, by Mr. E. Livingston Prescott, will be published this month by Messrs. Warne. The author has now in hand a romance (not military), entitled " Dearer than Honour." Mr. Archibald Forbes's "Life of Louis Napo- leon" will be ready about the middle of the month. It will contain, among other illustrations, a drawing of the house which, prior to 1848, the future head of the Third Empire occupied in London. Mr. Richard Kearton, F.Z.S., is writing a series of sketches and tales of open-air life in the North of England. Dr. W. G. Blaikie is writing the life of the late Principal David Brown, of the Free Church College, Aberdeen. Professor Max MUller's recollections of royalty, and of musical, literary, and social life, which have appeared in Cosmopolis, will be published shortly in a volume by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co., under the title " Auld Lang Syne." The features of Cosmopolis this year will include, in English, unpublished letters of John Mill and notes of Coleridge; in French, the letters of Emile Ollivier to Richard Wagner, the correspondence of Marshal Magnan, and the memoirs of the painter Ingres; and in German, further correspondence of Tourguenieff. Mr. Meredith has written three " Odes in Contribu- tion to the Song of French History," entitled "The Revolution," "Napoleon," "Alsace- Lorraine," which will appear in the numbers for March, April, and May. The manuscript of "In Memoriam," given by the poet to the late Sir John Simeon, has been presented by the Hon. Lady Simeon to the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, Tennyson's own college, to which he intended it should fall. A volume of sporting reminiscences by Mr. Thomas Haydon will shortly be published by Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Co. Mr. R. Farquharson Sharp, of the British Museum, has compiled " A Dictionary of English Authors, Biographical and Bibliographical," being a compendious account of the lives and writings of 700 British writers from the year 1400 to the present time. Mr. George Redway will publish the work. English translations of two notable French works will be published shortly, simultaneously with the appearance of the originals in Paris. ## p. 221 (#655) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 221 These are M. Zola's new novel "Paris," trans- lated by Mr. Vizetelly; and M. Huysman's " La Cathedrale," whose translator is Mrs. Clara Bell. Mr. William Archer and Miss Diana White have completed their translation, from the Danish, of Dr. Georg Brandes's critical study of Shakespeare. The important work "Industrial Democracy," upon which Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb have long been engaged, is to be issued by Messrs. Longmans on the 4th. Prince Henry of Orleans's book of travels, "Tonkin to India," is due this week from Messrs. Methuen. Sir Martin Conway's "Climbing and Explora- tion in the Karakoram Himalayas" (Unwin, 1894) having been translated into French and published serially in the Tour du Monde, is now issued, abridged, in book form, by MM. Hachette et Cie. Several of Mr. A. D. McCormick's pictures to the work are reproduced in the French volume. A propos the teaching of English literature in schools, the Academy notes that a recent school edition of Carlyle's essay, " The Hero as Divinity" (George Bell and Sons) is composed as follows: Introduction, 90 pages; Carlyle's Essay, 42 pages; Notes, 53 pages; Index, 4 pages. The essay thus forms about 22 per cent, of the whole, and our contemporary asks whether it is the powder or the jam. America sent over a story the other day, which had some appearance of actuality, telling of a popular music-hall artiste having been subjected to a kissing test. How many kisses could a woman stand? The limit of endurance was reached, if we remember the story rightly, at 547 or thereabouts. Our brisk Chicago contemporary, the Chap-Book, on the other hand, has just been discovering what it calls "the most thoroughly kissed young woman in English fiction." This curiosity, it avers, is the heroine Birdalone in William Morris's posthumous romance "The Water of the Wondrous Isles." She is pissed eighty-six times according to the analysis of the Chap-Book—fifty-two by men, and thirty-four by women and children. Here is a summary and description of the men's kisses :— 1 Merchant 4 Peasants 8 Servants Hands. Feet Face. Mouth. 4 ... ... 2 ... ... 0 ... ... 1 .. 0 ... ... 1 ... » ... ... 0 ... 6 ... 13 t 3 33 Mr. A. C. Benson is writing a biographical history of Eton and leading Etonians. Mr. Edward Marston will shortly have ready another book on outdoor life. There will be an Edition de lujce. The publishers are, of course, Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. Mr. E. F. Benson is preparing for publication by Messrs. Methuen his story called "The Vintage," which has been appearing in the Graphic. It deals with the opening year of the Greek War of Independence in 1820. A new publisher. He is John Long, 6, Chandos- street, Strand. Mr. Long's programme is: "Fiction by popular authors; fiction by new writers of undoubted promise; works of travel; medical works; poetry that may appeal to the public." A re-edited and enlarged edition of Dickinson's "Glossary of Cumberland Words and Phrases" is to be published, by subscription, by Dr. E. W. Prevost, of Newnham, Glos. The work was origi- nally published by the English Dialect Society. Many words and phrases are being added in the re-issue. A special sub-committee of the Publishers' Association is considering the subject of title- pages. The late strike of printers in Edinburgh caused delay in the appearance of a number of books during the past month. One that has suffered postponement from this cause is the biography of the Prince of Wales, which Mr. Grant Richards now expects to publish early this month. The narrative is said to exhibit "a truly loyal and intelligent appreciation of His Royal Highness's career and his services to his country." The first representation of the play " Admiral Guinea," by Messrs. W. E. Henley and Robert Louis Stevenson, took place on Nov. 29 at the Avenue Theatre, London. It was produced by the New Century Theatre Company, and got a favourable reception. Immediately before the rising of the curtain Miss Elizabeth Robins delivered a prologue written for the oocasion by Mr. Henley, of which the following is a part: Once was a pair of Friends, who loved to chance Their feet In any by-way of Romance. They, like two vagabond schoolboys, unafraid Of stark impossibilities, essayed To make these Penitent and Impenitent ThieveB, These Pews and Oaunts, each man of them with his sheaves Of humour, passion, cruelty, tyranny, life, Fit shadows for the boards: till in the Btiifo Of dream with dream, their Slaver-Saint came true, And their Blind Pirate, their resurgent Pew (A figure of deadly farce In his new birth) Tap-tapped his way from Hades back to earth; And so, their Lover and his Lass made one. In their beat prose this Admiral here was done. One of this Pair sleeps Ull the crack of doom Where the great ocean-rollers plunge and boom, The other waits and wonders what his Friend, Dead now, and deaf, and silent, were the end Revealed to his rare spirit would find to say If you, his lovers, loved him for this Play. ## p. 222 (#656) ############################################ 222 THE AUTHOR. Mrs. Sara H. Dunn has written "Sunny Memories of an Indian Winter," which Messrs. Walter Scott Limited will publish. Mr. W. E. Henley has resigned the editorship of the New Review, which hereupon ceases to be a monthly magazine. Uncertain health and the necessities of his own literary work have com- pelled Mr. Henley's retirement. The Review, completely transformed, will appear shortly as a weekly journal, price 3c?. Mr. James Britten retires from the editorship of Nature Notes, which he has conducted for six years. Mr. E. Heron-Allen is translating Omar Khayyam's " Rubaiyat," from the original Persian, Many quatrains not hitherto translated will be included, and the original Persian text will also be given page for page. Messrs. H. S. Nichols and Co. are the publishers. Early in the year an illustrated book of "Allegories," by Dean Farrar, will be published by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. He has in hand a more important work which will be called "Texts Rightly Interpreted." Gallant little Wales now comes in for its volume in the series of Stories of the Nations, published by Mr. Unwin. The writer of the history is Mr. Owen M. Edwards, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. The same publisher will shortly issue a volume entitled " The Welsh People," consisting of a series of essays, by Pro- fessor Rhys and Mr. Brynmor Jones, on the history, antiquities, ancient laws and customs, and the social characteristics of Wales. Mr. Oscar Browning is to write a life of Charles XII. of Sweden, which Messrs. Hurst and Blackett will publish. The same writer's Life of Peter the Great is on the point of publication by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. A century and a half is a long life for a news- paper. The Aberdeen Journal first appeared on Jan. 5, 1748, so that in a day or two it will have completed its 150th year. Some time ago it published a pamphlet recording its life-history. It was founded by a fellow-apprentice of Benjamin Franklin; its conductors bore an exciting patt in the romantic rebellion of '45; it chronicled the visit of Dr. Johnson and Boswell to Aberdeen and the north; and its office was visited by Robert Burns. In the United Kingdom only four other daily newspapers of to-day can call up a longer flight of years than the Aberdeen Journal. They are Leeds Mercury (1718), Bristol Times and Mirror (1735), Be/fast News Letter (1737), and Birmingham Gazette (1741). The oldest existing newspaper in the world is the Gazette de France (1631), for which Louis XIII. wrote an article. Mr. Inderwick W. Foster has published (Biscoke and Son, Richmond) a Bibliography of Lawn Tennis (1874-1897). The work contains titles and particulars of nearly 250 books, pamphlets, <fec, on the game of lawn tennis. Professor Buchheim, who has already contri- buted two popular volumes to Macmillan's " Golden Treasury Series," viz., "Deutsche Lyrike" and "Balladen und Romanzen," will shortly add a third volume, entitled, "Heine's Lieder und Gedichte," selected, and edited with notes and an introduction. We also hear that the professor, who, by-the-bye, has recently received the honorary degree of M.A. from the University of Oxford, is engaged on a monograph treating of the attempts made in this country and America to popularise Heine as a poet and a prose writer. Mr. Rider Haggard, at the request of the Com mittee of Management, has writteu a Christmas appeal for the Victoria Hospital for Children at Chelsea. It is called "A Visit to the Victoria Hospital." The Daily Chronicle has discovered a new poet—Mr. Henry Newbolt (London: Elkin Matthews, ii.) I have sent for a copy of his poems. Meantime, I venture to extract one poem from the columns of the Daily Chronicle in the belief that it will send all our readers straight to their booksellers to order a copy. DRAKE'S DRUM. Drake he was a Devon man, an' ruled the Devon seaa (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below P), Rovin' tho' his death fell, he went wi' heart at ease, An' dreamin' arl the time 0' Plymouth Hoe. "Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore, Strike et when your powder's runnin' low; If the Dons sight Devon, I'll qnit the port o' Heaven, An' drum them up the Channel as we drummed them long ago." Drake he's in his hammock an' a thousand mile away, (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below ?), Slung atween the round shot in Nombre Dios Bay, An' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe. Yarnder lames the island, yarnder lie the ships, Wi' sailor lads a-danoin' heel-an'-toe, An' the shore-lights flashin', an' the night-tide dashin', He sees et arl so plainly as he saw et long ago. Drake lies in his hammock till the great Armadas oome, (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below P), Slung atween the round shot, listenin' for the drum, An' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe. Call him on the deep sea, call him np the Sound, Call him when ye sail to meet the foe; Where the old trade's plyin' an' the old flag flyin', They shall find him ware an' wakin', as they found him long ago. Early this year Sir Charles Alexander Gordon's "Recollections of Thirty-uine Years in the Army" ## p. 223 (#657) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 223 will be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein. Sir Charles was in the Mutiny, with Lord Elgin in China, and in Paris during the siege. A new edition of Whitman is to be published by Messrs. Putnam, with thirteen short poems that did not appear in the edition prepared by the poet shortly before his death. "Though you have put the finishing touches on the 'Leaves,'" said one of his friends to Whitman, " you will go on living a year or two longer and writing more poems. The question is, what will you do with these poems when the time comes to fix them in the volume?" "I am not unprepared," said Whitman, and I have a title in reserve—' Old Age Echoes'—applying not so much to things as to echoes of things reverberant, an aftermath." A translation of the Italian masterpiece, the "Pecorone" of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, has just been published by Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen. Although it was published in 1558, this novel has never before been done into any tongue. The translation will be by Mr. W. G. Waters, and illustrations will be by Mr. E. R. Hughes, R.W.S. Here is a tale of literary appropriation from America. Mr. George Cable has been correcting an American editor as to the authorship of a certain poem. The editor had credited it to some one named George Cooper, but Mr. Cable recog- nised the poem, and wrote to the editor as follows: I have an impression that it was Coopered by quite another George. My impression is that it was written by myself twenty-seven years ago, on the occasion of the birth of my first child. If yon can't take my word for it, I can show yon the child. I am not a frequent versifier, and never should have prized this bit if it had not immediately, upon its first publication (in the New Orleans Picayune), begun a mad career of getting stolen—like " Helen of Troy" and others. It is only three days since I wrote to a Chicago publishing house to say that it was not written by Mortimer M. Thompson, as accredited in a volume called "The Humbler Poets." Let me tell you, oven the humblest poet "will turn." And I wish my consoious or unconscious trespassers would give this much-stolen trifle a respite. Zounds, man! have I done nothing else worth stealing? It's mortifying. Mr. Walter Wood has completed and delivered to Messrs. Tillotson and Son, for serial publica- tion, a military story which deals largely with Frontier warfare. The story will run for about three months and publication is to begin at an early date. This is the second military serial which has been written of late for Messrs. Tillot- son by Mr. Wood, who has just published a series of short stories in To-day. The issue of the "Literary Year Book" for 1898 will be edited by Mr. Joseph Jacobs. This annual, published by Mr. George Allen, now makes its second appearance. The editor this year has been assisted by two eminent bookmen, a popular novelist, and a well-known editor. Mr. Buskin's portrait will be the frontispiece. At the sale of the second portion of the library formed by the late Earl of Ashburnham, a remark- able price was paid for a Caxton. This is " Le Fevre (R.), a Boke of the Hoole Lvf of Jason, translated out of the French by William Caxton," circa 1477, black letter, small folio, a rare Caxton book, one of the earliest productions of the press at Westminster. The whole of the volume is genuine throughout, sound, and clean. It was formerly Richard Heber's, and was sold in 1817 for .£162 15s., afterwards for .£95 11*., and at the Heber sale for £87. The late Earl bought it from Payne, the bookseller. It now fetched the record price of .£2100, the purchaser being Mr. Pickering. Mr. John LI. Warden Page has written two papers, which he has also illustrated, for Travel. One is a description of the Great Fair of Nijni Novgorod, the other is callled " Up the Volga." The same author's new book on the "North Coast of Cornwall" (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.) is now ready, with twenty-one vignettes by the author, and a map. The price is 6*. net. Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of Miss H. M. Burnside's volume of verses and ly rics, "Drift Weed" (Hutchinson and Co). Messrs. Nelson and Son have just published two stories for children, written by Miss Burn- side, entitled "The Little V.C." and "The Lost Letter." LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS. Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. Leading articles: The Times, Deo. 6; Daily Chronicle, Dec. 4; Publishers' Circular, Deo. 11 ; The 8peaker (" A Question of Discount") Dec. 11. Letters: "Z" and "Economist" in Times, Deo. 4; "Country Bookseller" in Daily Chronicle, Deo. 27; "Z." in Daily News, Dec. 7; Mr. Frankfort Moore, Mr. Frederick Evans, and " A Publisher" in Chapman's Magazine for December. What the Trade Thinks. Interviews with Mr. Burleigh, Mr. Frederick Evans, and others, regarding Society of Authors' Committee Report on Discounts: Daily Chronicle, Deo. 6. BOOKBELLINO: A DECAYING INDUSTRY. Neville Beeman. New Century Review for January. Literary Grievances. From various standpoints. And leading article. Morning Post for Deo. 18. ## p. 224 (#658) ############################################ 224 THE AUTHOR. The Payment and Fostering) op Poetry. Glasgow Herald for Nov. 20. The Comino Litebabt Bevival. II. J. S. Tunison. Atlantic Monthly for Dooember. The Importation of German. Leslie Stephen. National Review for December. Commenting upon the "carefully-prepared report" of the Society of Authors' special Com- mittee on book-discounts, the Titnes agrees that "no compact can restore the country bookseller to his old position," and advises him to reshape his way of doing business and be to his customers more than a mere transmitter of orders. The contingency of an author publishing his books through a bookseller, through a printer, through a literary agent, or through a draper, the Times says " is not so very probable," although " there are authors powerful enough to defeat any attempt to fix the terms on which their books are to be sold." But, finally, our great contemporary states that " both authors and publishers are apt to overlook the interests and bias of the reader, who never was less disposed to fall in with proposals to put things right at his expense. For good books, which are rare, he does not probably pay enough, but for indifferent and ephemeral productions he is satisfied that he pays too much." The Daily Chronicle, in placing the facts and issues of the report before its readers, confesses also that it sees no way to an artificial enhance- ment of prices, and reads the country bookseller the lesson that if he would survive " he will be wise to lay to heart the suggestions made to him by the Society of Authors." In anticipating the concurrence of the Publishers' Association with the finding of the Committee, it observes that the relations between authors and publishers were never closer or more sympathetic than at the present moment; and "never was a mere author of the least merit so certain of a publisher and therefore of a chance to win for himself an audience ": Therefore neither publishers nor authors stand in need of any adventitious helps. The; would both oommit a fatal error if in an attempt to turn back the stream of irresis- tible economic forces, they tried to help a section of the retailers at the cost of the multitude of readers. "Economist," writing in the Times, thinks that if it is the interest of the author and the publisher to have their books on show in shops all over the country, surely the necessary steps ought to be taken by them and at their expense. As to any idea of restrictions upon the price at which a bookseller shall offer books to the public, we quote "Economist's " own words: The druggist is more necessary to the well-being of a country town than the bookseller, and, nowadays at least, he is usually a man more expensively educated. Yet he has to go outside his proper sphere, selling tobacco, hair- brushes, and any " fal-lals " that he can find room for. The reason is that the turnover even of his indispensable goods is not great enough to occupy all his time, or to furnish the inoome that he desires. The country bookseller merely suffers under a general disadvantage. It there are to be trade combinations to supply him with an inoome greater than the market affords, why not go back to pure medievalism and put on restrictions all round to make every tradesman happy. "A Country Bookseller" says that publishers could stop the anomalies to-morrow if they would forget the superstitious age and call twelve a dozen, giving to the poor what they give to the rich; if copyright publishers would sell five copies at the same rate each as twenty-five; and the non-copy- right man would sell twenty at the same rate as 200. We are assured by the Publishers' Circular that although " publishers have done all in their power to aid the retail trade," booksellers will not cease to agitate. Mr. Burleigh, the secretary of the Associated Booksellers, has said as much, indeed, to an interviewer. The booksellers—who are, of course, disappointed with the report— cannot give up the movement, he said, "unless they are to relinquish all prospects for them- selves." Mr. Frederick Evans spoke to the same effect. Mr. F. Stoneham, on the other hand, who represents the discount side of the trade, thought the report a very fair statement of the whole case. "It got together the essential facts governing bookselling, and, that done, its conclusions were inevitable." The recommendation of greater energy and enterprise in the bookselling trade is not, the Publishers' Circular considers, "to be taken seriously." The remaining criticisms which the organ of the publishing trade passes upon the report are contained in the following passage: Publishers are told they would do well to remember the development of the system of serial publication; in other words, they are asked to pay attention to a method of pub- lication whioh they have themselves called into existence and are carrying on. Collective wisdom could not go beyond that. Whether the bookseller can be converted into a news- agent, or the newsagent into a bookseller, readers may decide for themselves. It is true there are houses which now handle both books and newspapers in large quantities; but the results of a general adoption of the principle are, to say the least, a little doubtful. The Speaker acknowledges, in the name of the world, that the report is an "amusing document." Hasn't seen anything so amusing for a long time. The writer hurls at the Society of Authors, after some personalities, the state, ment that the whole question is one of money; and concludes with the assertion that the people of Great Britain begrudge every shilling which they spend upon literature, and the pro- phecy that"the middleman will disappear, leaving ## p. 225 (#659) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 225 as his only memorial a thousand desolated homes, and the wholesale publishers will become more and more the masters of the great trade in books." Mr. Neville Beeman tells booksellers that they are chiefly responsible for their impecuniosity. They are incompetent to buy cautiously, and unable to sell in an intelligent manner. But in defence of the bookseller it must be said that many pitfalls are laid for him by those who should be his best friends. To take the author: he writes a good book; he becomes known by it; he is seized by the wicked literary agent, who "proceeds to make arrangements with as many publishers as possible, who are all keen to secure a rising man, and one fine morning the author wakes up to find he is bound to write so many words a day, whether he feels inclined or not, to fulfil the contracts which his master has concluded for him." Mr. Beeman uses the word "master" advisedly, his one objection to the literary agent ("a useful and even necessary adjunct to the literary man") being that he is "master" instead of "servant." The author, then, having scored a success with his first book, proceeds to turn out hurried and slipshod work; meanwhile the bookseller, buying on the original reputation, finds himself saddled with dead stock. Moreover, "there is no device, however low, that an author will not stoop to in order to puff and advertise himself to the notice of the bookseller." Mr. A. rides on his bicycle in velvet knickerbockers and lace frills. Mr. B. always drinks toddy while writing. Mr. De Bow sends a notice to the papers saying that he is off to Monte Carlo to study up local colour, but Mrs. De Bow secretly divulges the fact that poor Mr. De Bow is really at the British Museum getting h*8 local colour! The bookseller's grievance against the publisher is even more serious. "The bookseller has no one to blame so much for his present position than [sic] the publisher." In his selection of MSS. the publisher is guided, as a rule, by his readers, the greater number of whom — so Mr. Neville informs us — " are authors who have failed to make a living them- selves at writing." Readers, then, are full of cranks and fads in their choice of books. A publisher is perhaps unable to fill his autumn list with books of good merit, so he makes up with second-rate books. And as the publisher's traveller is persuasive, and the bookseller easily persuaded, the latter in the end is stocked up with books that do not suit him, and suffers a serious loss. A third sinner arraigned alongside the author and the publisher, is the Press, against whom Mr. Beeman makes charges in connection with reviewing. But we pass to the panacea which the writer suggests to the Book- sellers' Association: Instead of trying to mnlct the pnblio of extra pennies, which do the trade no good, and only drive away business, they should suggest to the publishers that they should Bupply a oopy of every new book to the Booksellers' Asso- ciation one clear fortnight before issue. The Association should appoint an expert to examine each book and report on its merits. Then to each member of the Asso- ciation a report would be sent, and, in the event of the book proving saleable, a short epitome of the plot should be printed on a leaflet for the bookseller's guidance. This would get over to a large measure, the item of bad stock. Following up Mr. Lang's article of the previous month, an author — Mr. Frankfort Moore — a publisher (anonymous), and a bookseller (Mr. F. Evans) give their views in Chapman's. Neither Mr. Moore nor Mr. Evans thinks that the reduc- tion of discounts to the public need necessarily mean a diminution of sales; and the publisher remarks that his class has nothing to gain by proposing to enforce " 2d. in the is.," but they wish to save the booksellers from ruin. An author, a publisher, and a critic air their re- spective grievances, by request, in the columns of the Morning Post, which devotes a leading article to their views. The author says the London publisher is " very much of a sheep; he lacks initiative." If one publisher gets a " boom" with a certain kind of novel, then nothing will serve either him or his publishing brethren but that kind of novel written by Tom, Dick, and Harry, till the reader is gorged. Publishers do not know how to advertise their books, and they do not offer them to the dying country bookseller on the principle of sale or return. The critic, too, is given over to a belief in fashions; and he is too generous to the established popular favourite, too grudgini; to the deserving writer who has not quite arrived. The critic, on his part, implores authors to lighten his labours by making their work either very good or very bad. Most of the books that come under his notice are pretty good, and he is overwhelmed by the the monotony of their average excellence. Finally, the publisher is on the whole well content except that he is troubled about the retail bookseller's condition. His remedy for this is suggested by the following confident conclusions: "To advertise a book at a fixed price and then to tell buyers privately that that is not the price is a sham and a delusion unworthy of our honourable calling. The price at which a book is published and advertised is the price the public should pay for it. The true solution is to fix a net price which the public must pay, and from which no bookseller can make any allowance whatever—and live. That is the conclusion of the whole matter." The Post finds the most interesting feature of these letters ## p. 226 (#660) ############################################ 226 THE AUTHOR. the fact that the author and the publisher think poorly of the criticisms of the periodical Press, while the reviewer's complaint is merely that great works are rare, and bad work not so common as is supposed. It suggests that the general public would welcome "selection," and the practice of curtailing reviews of most books to a few words, saying whether they are worth reading or not. Anyhow, " there is evidently at present a magnificent opportunity for critics whose judgments can win the public confidence. To no man is a greater reward offered in the literary world than to him who can prove his judgment is so true and so fair that the public will be ready to read the books which he recom- mends." We noticed in this column some months ago the proposal of Mr. Le Gallienne that millionaires should endow the genuine poets of the country. He had thought, of course, of the State doing something, but abandoned the idea as hopeless, and turned persuasively to the millionaires, and offered them the opportunity of immortality by providing for the material wants of our singers. The Glasgow Herald, however, harks back to the State. The apathy of the public to poetry at the present day is very plain, and yet, says our Scottish contemporary, "there is probably no one among us that is so much of a Philistine or so pronounced a Platonist as to wish to see poetry starved out." To place all the proved poets of the day beyond the reach of want, and thus enable them to cultivate their poetical gifts with their whole mind, a not very extravagant annual sum would be required. The question arises, how to prove them; and here the Glasgow Herald writer sees the possible use of some body like the French Academy, which would raise the higher criticism from the slough of sheer com- mercialism into which it has fallen within the last quarter of a century. "If such a body were formed, the State would find in it, and ready to its hand, a committee of selection which would guide as to who are and who are not proved poets. Here, at all, events, is a suggestion for adding to the beneficent powers of the State which has in it no taint of Socialism." THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Nov. 24 to Dec. 23.—299 Books.] Abcrnethy, J. S. Life and Work of James Abernethy, 0. E. 7/6. Abbott, Jones. Abney, Captain. Scientific Requirements of Colour Photography. 1/- net. Frowde. 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Horace Marshall. ## p. 227 (#661) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 227 Cox, the father of Rev. W. S. Evly Promoted: A Memoir. 2/6. Low. Oragg, A. B. HintB to Young Valuers. Land Agent s Record. Crawford, Arthur. Our Troubles in Poona and the Deccan. 14/- Constable. Greswlcke, Louis. Love's Usuries. 3/6. Drane. Crosland, N. Bumbles Round my Life, 1819-96. 7/6. E. W. Allen. Cuthbertson, Evan J. William Shakespeare. 1/- Chambers. D'Ache, C., and Wolseley, Hon. F. The Story of Marlborough. 10/6. Grevel. Danvers, F. C. (ed.). Letters Received by the East India Company from its Servants in the East. 21'- net. Low. Derbyshire, A. An Architect's Experiences. Manchester: Cornish. Dawson, W. J. The Endless Choice, 1/6. Nisbet De la Pasture, Mrs. H. Deborah of Tods. 6/- Smith, Elder. De Nolhac, Pierre* (from the French of). Marie Antoinette the Dauphine. 63/-net. Simpkin. De Salis, Mrs. Art of Cookery, Past and Present. 2/- Hutchinson. D'Esperance, E. 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"Far superior to ordi- nary guides." — London Daily Chronicle. HANDBOOKS M Sir Henry Ponsonby is commanded by the Queen to thank Mr. Darlington for a copy of hie handbook." Edited by RALPH DABLHSQTON, F.BM.S. Is. each. IUuttrated. Maps by John Bartholomew, F.B.Q.S. THE ISLE Of WIGHT. I THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. THE TALE OF LLANGOLLEN. THE NORTH WALES COAST. BRECON AND ITS BEACONS. I THE SEVERN VALLEY. BOURNEMOUTH AND THE NEW FOREST. I THE WYE VALLEY. BRIGHTON, EASTBOURNE, HASTINGS, AND ST. LEONARDS. LLANDUDNO, RHYL, BETTWSYCOED, BANGOR, AND SNOWDON. ABERYSTWITH, TOWYN, BARMOUTH, AND DOLGELLY. MALVERN, HEREFORD, WORCESTER, AND GLOUCESTER. LLANDRINDOD WELLS AND THE SPAS OF MID-WALES. BRISTOL, BATH, CHEPSTOW, AND WESTON-SUPER-MARE. 3s. 6d. net, 60 Illustrations, 24 Maps and Plans. LONDON and Environs. Lokdoh: 8IMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. Llisoollis: DARLINGTON AND CO. THE Fcap. 8to., 1b. HOTELS OF THE WORLD. Llaxoollkk: DARLINGTON & CO. Londoh: 8IMPKIN. MARSHALL, ft CO. Ltd. Railway Bookstall * and all Booksellers. PHOTOGRAPHS-BIRTHDAY and SEASON CARDS from negatives by Ralph Dablinoto'i, F.R.G.8.. of ocenery. Ruins, ftc, in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt, Is., Is. 6d., 2s., 2s. Od. Mounted Specimen, post free, with complete list. Is. DARLINGTON <&e CO., LLANGOLLEN. Demy 8vo., cloth boards, price 10a. 6d. IN NEW SOUTH AFRICA. Travels in the Transvaal and Rhodesia. With Map and Twenty-six Illustrations. By II. LINCOLN TANGYE. Introductory. CONTENTS. PABT L Cuaptkr I.—The Land of Gold and the Way there. II.—Across Desert and Veldt. III. —Johannesburg the Golden. IV. —A Transvaal Coach Journey. V.—Natal: the South African Garden. VL—Ostracised in Africa. Home with the Swallows. PAST IX—EAMBLES IN BHODESIA. Chapter I—Eendragt Maakt Magt. ,, II.—Into the Country of Lobengula. „ m.—The Trail of War. ,, IV.—Goldmlning, Ancient and Modern. ,, V.—Sle Transit Gloria Mundl. „ VL—To Northern Mashonaland. „ VIL—Primitive Art. The Misadventures of a Wagon. London: Horace Cox. Windsor House, Bream'a-buildings, E.C. Crown 8to., with illustrations, price 6s., to be had of all booksellers. FOE HIS COUNTRY'S SAKE; or, Esca, a British Prince at the Court of Trajan. By L. M. P. BLACK. HORACl COX, Windsor House, Bream's-bulldlngs, London, E.O. RECENT VERSE. Cloth lettered, By HENBY TODD. LYRICS. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. price 5s. NOBTH COUNTRY BALLADS. Price 6s. TALES IN VERSE. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth lettered, price 5s. SONGS OF THE CASCADES. By ERL VIKING. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. SONGS OF THE PLNEWOODS. By ARTHUR CAMP- BELL. Price 3s. 6d. THE FAIREST OF THE ANGELS, and Other Verse. By MAEY COLBOBNE-VEEL. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. Cd. Some of the shorter lyrics are much above the average, being s of the collec- tion aro considerable."— The Bookman. clear in thought and musical In expression. The meritB t THE WANDERER IN THE LAND OF CYBI, and other Poems (1886-93). By CLIFFORD BROOKS. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. POEMS. By THOMAS BARLOW. Crown 8vo., beveUed boards, gilt edges, price 5s. POEMS. By LEWIS BROCKMAN. Crown 8vo., oloth boards, 5b. 11 The ballads are full of the spirit and directness of style proper to the ballad."—Saturday Review. 11 Mr. Brockman is a writer of good poetic mettle, and no doubt the reading world will hear more of him yet."—aicugov Herald. "The graceful smoothness of Mr. Lewis Brockman's poems."— Daily Telegraph. M He is decidedly inventive, and often highly Imaginative. . . . The element of originality pervades the book. . . . His long poem, 1 Ronald's Cross,' is well BUBtalned . . . it is like the plaint of the ♦ Mariner,' and it holds us."—Queen. "A reader who values cultured sentiments and flawless versifica- tion will find much to admire."—Scotsman. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's E.C. ## p. 228 (#664) ############################################ iv AD VER TISEMENTS. MERCANTILE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. (Manageress-MISS MOEGAN.) 158, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from lOd. per 1000 words. Special Terms for Contract Work. All descriptions of Typewriting. Shorthand, and Translation work executed with accuracy and despatch. TYPEWRITING. Authors' MSS. accurately Copied from IOd. per IOOO words. EIOHTY unsolicited testimonials. MBS. BRAY, 53, BEDFORD BOAD, CLAPHAM, S.W. T Y IF E -W RITIITG With Aoouraoy and Despatch. Authors' MSS. 9d. per IOOO words. Plays, Translations, Indexing, General Copying. MISS WAY, 33, OSSIAN ROAD, STBOUD GBEEN, LOUDON, N. MRS. Q- ILL TYPB-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 Besant: also to Messrs. A. P. Watt and Son, Literary Agents, Hastings House. Norfolk-street. Stniml, W.O. Stick in your Soraps with STICKPHAST PASTE. 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SIKES, The West Kensington Typewriting Agency, 13, Wolverton Gardens, Hammersmith, W. (Established 1893.) Authors' MSS. carefully and promptly copied. Usual Terms. Legal and General Copying. Typewritten Circulars by Copying Process. Authors' References. MISS PATTHX, TYPIST. 44, Oakley Street Flats, Chelsea. S.W. Authors' MSS. cabkfully transcribed. References kindly permitted to many well-known Acinous. Fire - Proof Safe for MSS. Particulars on application. Telegraphic address: "Patikn, London." AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD (The LBADENHALL PRESS LTD., Publishers & Printers 50, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.) Contains hairless paper, over which the pen slips with perfect freedom. Sixpence each. 5s. per dozen, ruled or plain. Authors should note that Ths Leadenhall Press Ltd. oannot be responsible for the loss of MSS. by Are or otherwise. Duplicate copies should be retained. A N Elderly MAN, who for some years had a School in Hampstead, would thankfully UNDERTAKE TRANSLATION, or work of any kind requiring good classical scholarship, for the most modest remuneration. Address "A. B.,*' Care of The Author. TheTh? Artof I89?nd PubUahed °y Hobacb 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. 08 Issue 08 (January 1898) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 08 (January 1898) 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 1898-01-01-The-Author-8-8 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/310/1897-12-01-The-Author-8-7.pdf 14e2aea3cadc7f33e2cca4cc138bc5e2 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) 1897-12-01 Volume 8 Issue 7 Pages Page range in volume 173–200 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18971201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Uhc Butbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER i, 1897. [Price Sixpence. General Memoranda The Society of Authors and the Discount Question . Literary Property— I. Report on Copyright J. The Cost of Production 3. Serial Rights 4. A Case 5. A Fancy Offer New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood CONTENTS. PASS PA8B ..ITS j Note* and News. By the Editor. 187 .. 175 Two Poems—1. Ishmael. 2. Light and Night 190 Correspondence—1. "Literature." 2. The Published Price. 8. .. 182 Current Criticism. 4. The Publisher's Header as School- ..182 master. 5. "The Scotsman's Library." 6. A Book Wanted 190 .. 182 Book Talk 192 ..184 ! Literature in the Periodicals 198 .. 185 1 Story Competition 198 .. 185 The Books of the Month 198 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 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., III., and IV., 8s. 6d. each (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d< (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 4. The History of the Societe des (Jens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigqe, 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. 2s. 6d. 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigqe. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s. 7. Copyright Law Reform, An Exposition of Lord Monks well's Copyright Bill now before Parlia- ment. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d. 8. The Society Of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is. 9. The Contract of Publication in Sermany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ebnst Lunoe, J.TJ.D. 2s. 6d. ## p. 172 (#602) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. lft)e $ociefg of Jluffrors (gncotporqfe&). PRESIDENT. C3-EOieC3:E MEEEDITH. COUNCIL. S.I. | Austin Dobson. A. Conan Doyle, M.D. A. W. Duboueg. Pbof. Michael Fosteb, F.E.S. D. W. Freshfibld. Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund flossn. H. Rider Haooabd. Thomas Habdt. Anthony Hope Hawkins. P.C. | Jerome K. Jerome. Rudtard Kipling. Prof. E. Rat Lankester, F.R.S. W. E. H. Leckt, P.C. J. M. Lelt. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Rev. W. J. LoFTiE, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doc. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Herman C. Merivale. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.I J. M. Barbie. A. W. X Beckett. Robert Batsman. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. Sib Henrt Bebone, K.C.M.G. Sir Walter Besant. auqustine blrkell, m.p. Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S. Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P. Right Hon. Lord Burohclere, Hall Caine. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colleb. Hon. John Collier. Sir W. Martin Conwat. F. Marion Crawford. The Earl of Dbsart. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wakk. Sir Lewis Morris. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. J. C. Parkinson. Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioht, P.C, F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. w. bapti8te scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. O. R. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Storr. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. Hon. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Q.C. A.. W. X Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Eoerton Castle, F.S.A. W. Morris Colles. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—H. Rider Haooabd. Sir W. Martin Conway. D. W. Frbshfield. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mas.Doo. Henby Norman. Francib Storr. COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C. Villiers Stanford, Mus.D. (Chairman). Jacques Blumenthal. J. L. Molloy. SUB ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman) Sir W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spislmann. 8oUeitors f *"IBLD> Roscob, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields \ G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbino, B.A OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. DRAMA. Henry Abthub Jones (Chairman). A. W. X Beckett. Edward Rose. j±. :p. watt & sonsr, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON. W.C. THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. * TYPEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prioes. Dnplioates of Circulars by the latest -*- process. OPINIONS OP CLIENTS.—Dibtihbuishrd Abthor:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever Been." Lady or Title:—"The work waa very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanlra for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy." MISS GENTRY, KLDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C. ## p. 173 (#603) ############################################ XL he Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 7.] DECEMBER 1, 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. EOR some years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," 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 his 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 TOIi. VIII. in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for " office expenses," unleBS 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 neoessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is 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. Headers 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 chanoe of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that thiB is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied o withheld. (3.) That there shall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing shall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exohanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. Q 2 ## p. 174 (#604) ############################################ i74 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. i. ill VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is snch that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions 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, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houBes—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the oountry. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yo are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Seoretary, 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, "V/T EMBERS are informed: J3_L 1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of the business of members of the Society. That it Bubmits 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 whioh its services can be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days' notice should be given. 6. That 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. f 11HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the I 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 Seoretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make The Author oomplete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send thoir names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write? Communications for Tlie Author should reach the Editor not later than the 21 st 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 does not, under any circumstances^ undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, Ac. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the- trouble of sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest ## p. 175 (#605) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i75 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 t 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 •f "doing sums," the addition of three shillings in the pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at £g 48. 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 course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too •ften 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. THE SOCIETY OP AUTHOKS AND THE DISCOUNT QUESTION. THE Report printed below has been forwarded to Mr. C. J. Longman, president of the Publishers' Association, with the following letter from the chairman of the Committee of Management of the Society of Authors:— "Nov. 30, 1897. "My dear Longman,—In reply to your letter of July 6 re the publishers' and booksellers' pro- posals on the discount question, I now beg to forward to your Association a Report which has been presented to us by a sub-committee of our society appointed to consider and take evidence upon these proposals. The Committee of Manage- ment of this Society endorse and adopt the con- clusions arrived at by its sub-committee. I may add, however, that, independently of these detailed conclusions, we feel it impossible to give support to the joint proposals of the publishers and book- sellers as presented in the papers forwarded by you, on the broad ground that, even were it possible to carry them into effect—which remains an open question—they would, as we understand them, be in restraint of free trade and a fetter on individual liberty. It is with the greatest regret that we have come to a decision adverse to the wishes of your Association and to those of a large proportion of the bookselling trade, since the result of our inquiries and our own observations amply convince us that the distress among the country book- sellers is genuine and widespread. Thanking you for so kindly submitting the matter to the consideration of our Society, Believe me to remain, my dear Longman, Very sincerely yours, (Signed) H. Rider Haggard, Chairman of Committee of Management. P.S.—I shall be much obliged if you will con- sider the enclosed Report as confidential to your association until its appearance in The Author on Thursday next. To C. J. Longman, Esq., President of the Publishers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland." REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE. Report of the Sub-Committee ■ appointed by the Committee of Management of the Society of Authors to consider the Publishers'' and Book- sellers'1 proposals with regard to Raising Discounts. YOUR Committee have been constituted to inquire into and report upon a letter addressed to the Society on July 6th by Mr. C. J. Longman, President of the Publishers' Association, which is to the following effect:— "Stationers' Hall, E.C., July 6th, 1897. My dear Haggard, In accordance with a resolution passed item. con. at a special general meeting of the Publishers' Association, held on July 1st, I am writing to ask the attention of the Society of Authors to a matter which has for some time been the subject of anxious consideration in the bookselling trade. I need not go into the matter in detail, as the papers I inclose herewith, which I hope you will lay before your Society, contain full information on the matter in which we ask your co-operation. Briefly, we are anxious to assist the retail trade in the very serious difficulties which beset their business owing to the excessive discounts which are now given to the public in London and many other towns, though not in all. Although it is the retail trade only which are directly interested in the movement which we ask you to support, yet it is a matter of great importance, both to authors and publishers, that a numerous and flourishing body of retailers should exist throughout the Kingdom. I inclose six copies of a Report of the Sub- committee on Trade Terms to our Council, which contains the details of the proposal, and also six copies of the Publisher«' Circular for July 3rd, containing a report of the meeting on July 1st, which I have already mentioned. Great hopes are entertained among the retail booksellers ## p. 176 (#606) ############################################ 176 THE AUTHOR. throughout the country that this movement will be carried to a successful issue, as has been done satisfactorily in France and in Germany. We trust, therefore, that we shall receive the hearty support of the Society of Authors. Should this be the case we have little doubt of the success of the movement, while in the contrary event the proposal must necessarily drop, to the deep disappointment of the retail trade. Should you desire it our Sub-Committee would be happy to meet you to give any further information you may desire. I am, yours faithfully, (Signed) C. J. Longman, President Publishers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland. H. Rider Haosaed, Esq., Incorporated Society of Authors." Your Committee having read the various documents and pamphlets placed before them, and having examined a numb, r of booksellers and representatives of trade societies, have now the honour to report: At the general meeting of the publishers on July 1st, the chairman, Mr. Longman, began by stating that "It is alleged by retail book- sellers, in town and country, that it is impossible for them to make a living profit by the sale of copyright books at the discount now given of 3d. in the shilling. . . . It is not stated that booksellers as a whole do not make a profit, but that the profit is derived from the sale of non- copyright literature, stationery, and fancy goods." (Publisher's Circular, July 3, 1897, p. 7). The proposals of the publishers to remedy the grievance were set forth by Mr. F. Macmillan at the same meeting as "Briefly, that the present trade terms should be given only to booksellers who agree to allow no more than 2d. in the shilling on ordinary books, and sell net l>ooks at full prices : and that those dealers who refuse to come into the arrangement, or who break their agreement, should be supplied at no better terms than scrip without odd books, or discount at settle- ment" (16. p. 8); or, speaking in plain terms, if a bookseller chose to sell the books at 25 per cent, discount, he would be selling them at cost price. Mr. Macmillan concluded by observing, "It is imperative that before entering into any arrange- ment with the Associated Booksellers as to this important question, we should approach the Society of Authors, should explain to them what it is that we and the booksellers propose, and should get them to agr^e with us in saying that the suggested action is taken in the interest of all connected with the commercial side of literature—of the authors who write books, of the publishers who bring them out, and of the booksellers who sell them to the public. I do not anticipate that there will be any difficulty in putting the matter before the Society of Authors in such a way as to induce them to coincide with our views and those of the booksellers" (ib. p. 8).* Your Committee desire at the outset to endorse the statements as to the present depressed state of the retail book trade. Injury to the bookseller must partly fall upon the author, since much of his own welfare is bound up with the prosperity of the bookseller. Many books, indeed, cannot be said to be effectively published until the booksellers are interested in them; and no bookseller can be said to be interested in a book unless he gains a fair profit from selling it. In the general interest of literature, moreover, it is important that the race of trained and intelligent booksellers in this country should not be crowded out of existence. While fully recognising and deploring the existing conditions of the bookselling trade, your Committee cannot recommend you to give the "hearty support" asked for in Mr. Longman's letter, and still more difficult do they find it to agree with Mr. Macmillan's much more decided assertion that "the suggested action is taken in the interest of all connected with the commercial side of literature." The discount question is not one of senti- ment. It is purely an economic question, and must be considered from a commercial point of view. It is produced by modern com- petition, and it is to be paralleled by examples in many other trades. Chemists and druggists make the same complaint of excessive reductions in the retail price of patent medicines and well- known drugs. Retrospect. So far in general terms. Before proceeding to consider the question in detail, and as it is affected by the conditions of the day, it if necessary to recall previous attempts made in the same direction. The first and most serious attempt to regulate the rate of discount was made in the years' 1848-52. On July 12, 1850, the following de- claration was signed by every bookseller re- * The exact words of the resolution referred to by Mr. F. Macmillan were: "That the present trade terms should be given only to those booksellers who pledge themselves not to exceed 2d. in the Is. discount, and to maintain the published price of Net Books. "Those who are unwilling so to pledge themselves to b» supplied at scrip, net, and no odd copy." ## p. 177 (#607) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. •77 siding within twelve miles of the Post Office. Their number was 1200. "1. That we will not supply books at trade price, except to those who are in possession of a ticket. Special trades dealing occasionally in books connected with their trade, may be supplied with such books at trade price, at the discretion of each bookseller. "2. That, as a general rule, no greater allow- ance than 10 per cent, for cash be made to private customers unconnected with the trade or with publishing. "3. That, as a general rule, no greater allowance than 15 per cent, be made to book societies. "4. That we will not advertise, or ticket, at less than the publication price, copyright books, unless bond fide second-hand or unless depreciated by the publisher, or such as are notoriously unsuccessful. "We mutually agree that any one systematically acting contrary to these regulations, after remon- strance, shall be no longer considered entitled to the privileges of the trade." This engagement was broken as soon as made. The chairman himself (Mr. J. M. Richardson at that time) admitted that he supplied books to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and that the latter re-sold them to its members at cost price. Another prominent member supplied books to a college at 25 per cent, discount. A third supplied the books to form the Bank of England library at a similar discount; and so on. Certain country book- sellers would on no account be guilty of selling a book under its published price, but to be equal with their neighbours who had no such scruples, they fell upon the following expedient: "If a person asked one of them for a book, published at 2s. 6d. for example, it was offered to him at that price, but if he objected that he could get it at 2s. elsewhere, the vendor at once overcame the difficulty by cutting open a few leaves of the volume, or if it chanced to be cut when published, by allowing a drop of ink to deface it—the conscientious bibliopole being able to regard it in that condition as ' second-hand,' and therefore holding himself entitled, according to orthodox principles, to sell it at a reduced price!" In April, 1852, an important paper on "The Commerce of Literature " appeared in the West- minster Review. It was written by Mr. John Chapman. This article vigorously opposed the restrictive action of the publishers. The Times followed up the article; that great paper could not discover any valid reason for " this anomalous interference with the free course of competition and the natural operation of trade," and did not hesitate to call the methods of the publishers "an organised system of coercion." On May 6th, 1852, a meeting of authors was held at Mr. Chapman's, 142, Strand, Charles Dickens taking the chair. It was a very remarkable gathering. Amongst the men distinguished in literature and science who were present were Professors Owen, Newman, and Ansted, Mr. Babbage, Mr. Tom Taylor, Dr. Lankester, Dr. Arnott, and Mr. Crabbe Robinson. Letters concurring in the views of the meeting were read from Mr. Carlyle, Mr. John Stuart Mill, Mr. Gladstone, Professor de Morgan, Mr. James Wilson, M.P., Mr. Cobden, M.P., and others. From this meet- ing there arose the definite steps taken which ended in the abolition of the trade restrictions. Five resolutions were adopted, declaring that free trade ought to be applied to books as to all other articles of commerce; that the principles of the Booksellers' Association were not only opposed to free trade, but were tyrannical and vexatious in their operations, and had the effect of keeping the prices of books much higher than they would otherwise be; and that the retailer, not the publisher, should determine the retail prices. This was not enough. On April 30, 1852, a circular was issued by Messrs. J. W. Parker and Son, addrossed to leading authors, inviting them to send a reply to the following question: "If a retail bookseller, of ascertained credit and respectability, applies to your publisher for copies of any book in which you are directly or indirectly interested, which he is ready to purchase on the terms at which the publisher has offered them to the trade at large, but with the avowed intention of retailing his purchases at a smaller profit than that provided for between the wholesale rate and the retail price fixed for single copies, do you consider the intention to sell at a low rate of profit a good and sufficient reason why the pub- lisher should refuse to supply him with books which he is ready to purchase and to keep in stock at his own risk? All, with the exception of three, who were dubious, answered in the negative. Among those who then replied were J. S. Mill, Tennyson, Dickens, Carlyle, Qoldwin Smith, Herbert Spencer, Darwin, Charles Kingsley, Francis Newman, Babbage, Forbes Winslow, Cornewall Lewis, and Leigh Hunt. Finally the question was referred to a commis- sion, consisting of Lord Campbell, Dean Mil- man, and George Grote. The commission decided that the regulations were unreasonable and in- expedient, and contrary to the freedom which ought to prevail in commercial transactions. ## p. 178 (#608) ############################################ 178 THE AUTHOR. This, then, was the opinion of the most distin- guished men in Literature, Law, and Science in 1852. In 1869 another attempt was made to impose restrictions upon the retail booksellers. This proposal was speedily dropped. Witnesses and Documents. Your Committee, in order to ascertain the facts and figures necessary for th«ir guidance, have received evidence from: 1. Mr. Thomas Burleigh (secretary of the Booksellers' Association), 370, Oxford - street, W. 2. Mr. E. Gowing-Scopes (secretary of the Retail Newsagents' and Booksellers' Union, 185, Fleet-street, E.C.) 3. Certain representatives of booksellers, viz.: Mr. Frederick H. Evans, of Queen-street, Cheapside, E C. Mr. Henry Glaisher, of 95, Strand, W.C. Mr. Henry W. Keay, of Eastbourne. Mr. Robert Maclehose, of Glasgow. Mr. N. V. Collier (Mr. Edward Stanford's), of Cockspur-street, S.W. Mr. Arthur L.Humphreys (Messrs. Hatchard's), of Piccadilly, W. Mr. John Stone ham, of Cheapside, E.C. 4. The Committee have also before them a pamphlet issued by Mr. William Heinemann, of 21, Bedford-street, W.C, who kindly forwarded it to them. 5. The evidence contained in various issues of the Publishers' Circular, together with a full account of the speeches of Mr. Frederick Mac- millan and others, setting forth the publishers' views on the subject. 6. An article that appeared in the Westminster Review of 1852, entitled "The Commerce of Literature." 7. A pamphlet by Mr. Thomas Bosworth, of 215, Regent-street, W., dated 1868. 8. The evidence from the Booksellers' Review and correspondence in the Times and the other papers on the subject, together wifh a ' mass of private and confidential letters written to the Committee. 9. They have also had before them the answers of members of the Council of the Society to the same question as that put in 1852 by Messrs. Parker. Evidence. The following facts and opinions have been elicited: 1. It has been stated that the larger book- sellers get better terms than the smaller. 2. "Office expenses" are by some booksellers 'estimated as high as 15 or 16 percent, on receipts. This item must obviously vary enormously. 3. It is stated that country booksellers obtain 10 per cent, discount, instead of the London allowance of 5 per cent., as a set-off against carriage. 4. Books that are non-copyright are sold to the trade at various prices. The most common terms are a little over half the published price. 5. It is stated that the increasing practice of the drapers in selling non-copyright books very cheaply—even under cost price—greatly injures booksellers. 6. Several of the most experienced witnesses stated as their conviction that the proposed coercion could not be carried out; although they were aware that in the case of magazines some- thing has been done in certain provincial towns by the Newsagents' Association. 7. The probable effect of raising the price was variously estimated. The public, according to many booksellers, will not mind the addition of sixpence or so: the public, according to others, will not pay an additional sixpence: the public, according to some, will readily pay a net price: according to others, will insist on getting dis- count. The truth appears to be that the public will have discount if they can get it. As for reducing the retail price, it is generally considered by the trade that the increased sale would not compensate the loss. 8. Several witnesses were of opinion that some form of "sale or return" would be very helpful. One practical proposal before your Committee was to treat books as magazines are treated, viz., to allow so many per doz. to be returned; the book- sellers, of course, to have the choice of books to be sent to them. In the case of highly priced books it is absolutely necessary that they should be sent on sale or return if they are to be shown to the public by the smaller country booksellers. 9. There seems to be a universal consent in the trade that it would be of no use to rearrange terms with publishers unless some way could be found to prevent further increase of discount. 10. The publishers fix the price of books. One witness suggested that the publishers should fix only the trade price, leaving the booksellers free to sell the books at any price they please. This is the custom with prayerbooks. 11. As regards the proposed regulation of the trade, it is urged, on the oue hand, that there is no fear of further coercion, and that booksellers cannot be worse off than they are. On the other hand, it is pointed out that booksellers desire immediate relief by the reduction of the discount, and that they do not realise the state of dependence in which the attainment of their desires would place them. ## p. 179 (#609) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. '79 Causb8 of Depression. So far for the evidence. We have next to consider the causes of the present depression of trade. 1. The 3d. in the shilling discount is generally advanced as the sole cause. This, however, is not the case; there are other causes, and this discount is not universal. Where the practice prevails, it is quite clear that the small bookseller cannot live by the sale of copyright works alone. Booksellers, however, have brought this discount system upon themselves. Publishers do not appear to have recognised it in their trade prices. Book- sellers introduced the system, and there is no possible guarantee that they would not be com- pelled, in the future, by the necessities of com- petition, to render inoperative any improved terms of sale that might be introduced with a view to their benefit. 2. A second cause of the position of the book- seller is the depression of agriculture, which has inflicted such enormous losses on country gentle- men, cathedral and county clergy, and fellows of colleges, all of whom were formerly buyers of books. 8. The competition of other traders who have added books to their other wares. 4. The partial loss of the educational book trade, whether of elementary or of higher schools, which is now often carried on direct between schools and publishers. 5. The practice of many Free Libraries, which deal with the publisher or the wholesale agent direct instead of with the local bookseller. (i. The failure of the bookseller to meet the new demands for reading from the many millions added to the number of readers by the spread of education. The drapers, for instance, seem to have discovered a new stratum of purchasers. 7. A want of energy and "push" among book- sellers as a whole. It is quite evident that if the mass of people are to buy books they must have lK>oks attractively offered to them. Conclusions. In considering the condition of the trade, and the proposals of the booksellers and publishers, your Committee have come to the conclusion that the coercive measures proposed could not be carried out. This was proved in 1852. Evasion in every form was then, and would be now, practised by the discontented, and successfully practised now as then. In connection with the vital question of the possibility of enforcing upon unwilling booksellers a uniform and reduced discount, your Com- mittee think it necessary to draw attention to an VOL. VIII. aspect of the matter which frequently escapes notice. Let us suppose that the publishers decide to raise their terms or to refuse books to any bookseller who gives a discount of more than 2d. in the shilling. Many booksellers would gladly welcome the announcement, but others—amongst these the great London shops, who often sell in an hour as many copies of a popular work as a small country book- seller sells in a year—certainly would not. On the contrary, they would frankly endeavour to find some method of evasion. "But," reply the publishers, " since ex hypothesi we should all be united in action, evasion would be impossible. The would-be 25 per cent, discount man simply could not get his books to sell, cither from us, or from a wholesale distributor himself dependent upon us." It is in comment upon this assertion that your Committee feel it necessary to speak. The publishers' contention may be perfectly true con- cerning the publishers who now exist, though all publishers do not belong to "the Association ": it is completely shattered by the fact that nothing prevents other publishers from coming into existence—indeed, from coming into existence ad hoc. For example, the success of the publishers would be at the mercy of a single author whose new book was certain beforehand of a very large sale. Such an author is in no way dependent upon a publisher. He might publish his new book hiinself, publish it through a bookseller, through a printer, through a literary agent, or through a draper. Having done so, he would supply it to booksellers at cheaper rates than those previously charged for his books, and leave the booksellers to give what discount they chose. Thus, instead of retail discount being reduced by the combinaton of publishers, it might well be increased. Lest it be thought that your Committee is imagining an impossible state of things, we may call attention to two statements in the evidence before us. First, a retail bookseller, doing, perhaps, the largest business in the United Kingdom, seriously asked your Committee, " Why not start a branch of the Authors' Society as the Authors' Publishing Association?" Secondly, a witness of great experience, being asked whether booksellers would be prepared to deal with the author direct, replied: "The trade would be quite willing to deal with a popular author direct, providing he gave suitable terms. In my opinion, such a move would have astound- ing results." We know of no reason why the retailer of R ## p. 180 (#610) ############################################ i8o THE AUTHOR. books should be fettered as to the prices he charges, more than the retailer of any other commodity. If it were found possible to enforce the present proposals, other and more stringent restrictions would, doubtless, follow, such as refusal to supply books to booksellers who bought of firms outside the Publishers' Association. The independence of the author would be seriously compromised by the existence of a close ring of publishers and booksellers, who might as easily dictate to him a royalty of 5 per cent, as to the bookseller a 2d. discount. If experience showed that the public, would pay without complaint the enhanced price of books caused by the lowering of the discount, the next step would be that publishers would be strongly tempted to use the monopoly thus created to go on augmenting the price of their wares. Thus a result of the present proposals would probably be that the individual book - buyer would have to pay more and more for his literature. It should be observed that, according to the figures given to us, a 6s. book, now sold to the public at 48. 6d., yields to the bookseller a profit of from lOd. to Is.; if sold at 5s., it would yield him a profit of from Is. 4d. to Is. 6d.; on the other hand, a book sold to the public at a net price of 5s., yields to the bookseller, by the present arrangements of the trade, a profit of Is. 0|d. Thepubbsher receives for a 5s.net book from 3|d. to 5|d. more than for a 6s. book subject to the discount system, whether the discount be 3d. in the Is., or whether it be lowered (as by the proposal under consideration) to 2d. The net system, therefore, being so much more profit- able to publishers, would tend to supplant the revised discount system, and the author must be prepared to rearrange terms with the publisher on this new basis. If proposals limiting the freedom of the retail bookseller are to be considered at all — a course of action which your Committee earnestly deprecate — they must be taken up by representatives of authors, publishers, and booksellers. In every such consideration or dis- cussion the whole question of book production will have to be freely and openly laid on the table, including actual cost of production, money actually spent on advertisements, &c, before anything definite can be arrived at as regards the proper proportion of profit to be assigned to the author, the bookseller, and the publisher. With regard to the pamphlet issued by Mr. Heinemann, and sent by him to your Committee: The German system there explained is a system of which it can only be said that no tiador in these islands could possibly adopt or endure it. While all other dealers and traders around him were free to do as they pleased with their own property, he alone would be a ser- vant and a clerk, ordered to sell as he was told or to be ruined. The pamphlet invites the closest attention, as showing the actual desire of some among the promoters of these measures. Your Committee believe that the Germanisation of the British Book Trade in- volved in these proposals would not be to the advantage either of the "commercial," or any other side of literature. Remedial Measures. Tour Committee venture to suggest the following as remedial measures: 1. An endeavour by local booksellers to get the whole of the local trade—school books, prize books, books for free libraries—and to reach the lower strata of readers by stocking and pushing the sale of cheap editions of sound literature. Greater energy and enterprise, as displayed in other retail trades, if the country book trade is to be saved from extinction.* 2. The development of a system of sending out on sale or return books protected in suitable wrappers or cases. 3. The publication of non-copyright books by booksellers for themselves. The printing and issue in an attractive form of such books would require little preliminary capital, provided there were an undertaking of the trade generally to further the sale of the series. 4. It is obvious that unless the retail book- seller himself knows the difference between good and bad style and workmanship in paper, print, binding, and illustration, he cannot direct the taste of his customers to purchases which, while securing for him a remunerative business, provide them with a collection of books of permanent and even increasing value. 5. It is suggested that country booksellers should add to their business that of selling second-hand books. 6. A great feature of modern trade in printed publications is the sale of magazines, and the consequent notable increase in the number of newsagents. It is suggested that the news- agent, who must (at present, at any rate) be a local tradesman, is destined to supplant the country bookseller, unless the latter, on his * Ono of our most capable witnesses—himself a book- seller—declared that the country bookseller who fails to make a living deserves to fail, and that the profits upon bookselling are sufficient to-day in the hands of a man of real intelligence, ingenuity, and industry to enable him to thrive. ## p. 181 (#611) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 181 side, takes over the business of the newsagent, and adopts his methods, as, indeed, the more enterprising are already beginning to do. Pub- lishers, we think, will do well to bear this development in mind, and extend accordingly the system of issuing expensive books in cheap weekly or monthly parts. 7. The fusion of the Booksellers' Association with the Booksellers' Union and the sinking of minor differences, are desirable in the interests of the trade. your Committee venture to suggest that the Committee of Management of the Society of Authors should signify to the Booksellers' Trade Organisations aud other similar bodies their willingness to advise and assist in the discussion of trade questions if so desired. Tour Committee make the above suggestions as the best that have come to their notice, with- out, however, attaching undue importance to them. We cannot hope that the country book trade will be restored to prosperity by com- paratively superficial methods. Owing to the operation of economic forces, destined in the future to increase and not to diminish in energy, the old - fashioned methods of book- selling cannot possibly survive. Rapid- and cheap means of communication tend to place all small local dealers at a disadvantage, and no formation of trading rings, or limited monopolies of sale, can invert the normal development of the processes of trade. It is only by following and taking advantage of new opportunities afforded by that normal development that injuries suffered can be repaired. (Signed) A. VV. a'Beckett. P. E. Beddard. Walter Besant. Martin Conway. Henry Arthur Jones. Henry Norman. P. Storr. Henry R, Tedder. The Bookselling Question, As one who has had nearly forty years practical experience of the book trade, perhaps you would allow me to venture a suggestion that, if given effect to, might help very considerably to relievo the present unsatisfactory condition of the retail book business. The main pressure upon the town and, particu- larly, the country bookseller is felt in the risk he is made to run in stocking his shop with new copyright books. These, when asked for, he is expected to dispose of at so bare a margin ($d. in the is.) above the invoice price that insufficient VOL. VIII. profit remains to allow of a certain proportion of his stock failing to find purchase, but which he has to pay for all the same. Here it is the publishers might come to the help of the retailer by adopting the practice which so largely prevails in Germany of permitting the bookseller to obtain new books " on sale or return" for a limited time after publication. By this means the retailer is freed from loss on unsuccessful books, while the volumes are exposed to the public on his counter, and the author can count upon his work being brought within the purview of the book-buyer for a month or two after it has been published. This arrangement may not be an alto- gether agreeable one to the publishers, who have naturally a strong preference for the " buying out and out" system. They don't take kindly to "returns." Nevertheless, the proposed relaxation of the purchase terms would radically improve the pecuniary conditions of retail bookselling, and at the same time be a gain to the public and. to the author as well. _____ Ex-Publisher. Additional. [The following additional considerations are submitted by a member of the Committee.] The bookselling trade has been subject to two contrary, though not contradictory, tendencies of the age, the tendency to combination, and the tendency to differentiation, and by both these movements the present race of booksellers have been disastrously affected. The former move- ment, of which the Co-operative Stores are the concrete embodiment, will be considered in a later portion of this report. Of the tendency to specialisation, one result is such an integral feature of our inquiry that it must be clearly pointed out at starting. To the general public, booksellers form a single class, distinguished only by the extent of their business. Those behind the scenes know that they may be roughly divided into two distinct classes—those who deal in copyright books, and those who deal in non- copyright books. There is, of course, the hard- and-fast line between the two; the seller of new books will keep among his ware a popular reprint of a standard work, and the seller of reprints will speculate in a new novel bearing some well-known name on its title-page—there are not at the present moment more than half a dozen such names at most—and he will procure for his cus- tomers any new book they may demand, but he will not keep it in stock. But though the two classes may overlap, the distinction between them is essential. Thus among the hundreds of book- shops and bookstalls east of St. Paul's, we believe there is not a single boo_aeller, in the older and stricter sense of the word. And the b 2 ## p. 182 (#612) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. reason is not far to seek. In rough figures, the seller of copyright books makes 15 per cent, gross profits on his sales, the seller of non- copyright books makes anything from 2 5 to 50 per cent., or even more. This is a no less serious matter for authors than for booksellers. A book that is not dis- played can hardly be said to be published, and the vast majority of the population, all—in fact, except the inhabitants of great centres like London, Manchester, and Oxford—have uo oppor- tunity of seeing a new book, unless it happens to be in the Free Library, or they order it through the Circulating Library, and the class which makes use of these two agencies is not to any great extent a book-purchasing class. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—Report on Copyright. THE Report of the Royal Commission on the Law of Copyright, which has been out of print for some ten years, has been reprinted, in consequence, we presume, of a fresh demand being caused by the proceedings in the House of Lords in connection with the amending Bill pro- moted by the Society of Authors last session, which passed the House after investigation by a Select Committee with the assistance of skilled witnesses. Since the first issue of the Report in 1878, con- solidation and amendment of the law have been three times attempted: first, in 1879, by the present Duke of Rutland, then Lord John Manners, on behalf of the Conservative Govern- ment; secondly, in 1886, by the Society of Authors in a Bill which was not brought before Parliament; and thirdly, in 1891, by Lord Monkswell's Bill, promoted by the same society after consultation of all parties interested, and read a second time in the House of Lords subject to the singular condition imposed by Lord Hals- bury, as representing the Government, that it should not be further proceeded with. Various amending Bills have also been introduced, notably that of last session by Lord Monkswell, which will be re-introduced in Parliament as soon as possible. All the Bills, whether consolidating or amending, have, as might be expected, been framed on the lines marked out by the Report of the Commission of 1878. The Bill of 1891 is prefixed by an elaborate memorandum summaris- ing its contents, and giving reasons for almost every alteration proposed; and the same course was pursued on a smaller scale in connection with the Bill of last session. Perhaps the best mode of procedure in the matter would be for Parlia- ment to pass the Bill with such amendments, if any, as may seem desirable, but to postpone its operation for a few months, before the expiration of which period a consolidating Bill repealing and precisely re-enacting it may also be passed. This procedure, which has the advantage of dis- tinguishing amendment from re-enactment, and of enabling the opinion of Parliament to be taken separately on amendments, was successfully fol- lowed in connection with the amendments of the law of lunacy which were placed on the Statute- book in 1889 and 1890.—Law Times, Nov. 13, 1897. II.—The Cost of Production. I have before me estimates from four printers of a certain piece of work. I tabulated these estimates, and compared them with the corre- sponding figures in the Society's "Cost of Production." Whenever I get accounts or esti- mates I always make this comparison, and always with the same result. And yet we find certain publishers gravely and impudently asserting that the figures in the "Cost of Production" are far too low: Composing Printing Paper for the Per sheet. Per sheet. whole work. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Society's figures 1 16 6 ... o 16 2 ... 28 7 o PrinterA i is 6 ... 1 4 6 ... 18 2 3 » B 1 16 o ... 1 40 ... 30 2 o „ C 2 5 o ... o 17 6 ... 18 o o ( (Lumped these items } 1, U > . , i IS II O (. togother) ) 3 The very low estimate of printing—16s. zd. a sheet—(see "Cost of Production," p. 28) is perhaps due to its being the charge for printing after stereotyping. Observe the wonderful unanimity of the charge for composing. As for the cost of paper, we must, it is evident, lower this item by 36 per cent., an immense saving. The Secretary showed me recently three accounts. They all came from the same house: they were all, under every head, lower than those of the Society's book. I think, with these facts before us, we need not distress ourselves with the complaints about our impossible figures. W. B. III.—Serial Rights. As serial rights have been steadily growing in importance, it has been found necessary from time to time to repeat in The Author the difficul- ties of dealing with this kind of property and the pitfalls that should be avoided. By serial publication is meant not publication in a series of books, but publication in the form ## p. 183 (#613) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. »83 of periodical issue. Serial rights may be divided as follows. These are the common formB: :. Rights in Some important London maga- zine or paper. 2. Rights in some important American maga- zine or paper. 3. Secondary rights in England. 4. Secondary rights in America. 5. Rights in the Colonies and Dependencies of Great Britain. In selling any of these rights the author should be very careful of what he is selling, and of the date of publication. If the author is careless, he may find that he has sold all serial rights, that his story is being syndicated in the provinces and in America and is bringing in moneys that he could have put into his own pocket, or that his work is being con- stantly reproduced in serial versions in the same paper. Another result of this carelessness may be that he finds his work in serial form advertised at absurdly cheap prices, which may tend to depre- ciate the value of any fresh work from his pen. He may find again, that he has brought him- self within the toils of the 18th section of the Copyright Act. The 18th section runs as follows: "XVIII. And be it enacted, that when any pub- lisher or other person shall, before or at the time of the passing of this Act, have projected, con- ducted, and carried on, or shall hereafter project, conduct, and carry on, or be the proprietor of any encyclopaedia, review, magazine, periodical work, or work published in a series of books or parts, or any book whatsoever, and shall have employed or shall employ any persons to compose the same, or any volume, parts, essays, articles, or portions thereof for publication in or as part of the same, and such work, volumes, parts, essays, articles, or portions shall have been or shall hereafter be composed under such employ- ment, on the terms that the copyright therein shall belong to such proprietor, projector, pub- lisher, or conductor, and paid for by such pro- prietor, publisher, projector, or conductor, the copyright in every such encyclopaedia, review, magazine, periodical work, and work published in a series of books or parts, and in every volume, part, essay, article, and portion so composed and paid for, shall be the property of such proprietor, projector, publisher, or other conductor, who shall enjoy the same rights as if he were the actual author thereof, and shall have such term of copyright therein as is given to the authors of books by this Act; except only that in the case of essays, articles, or portions forming part of and first published in reviews, magazines, or other periodical works of a like nature after the term of twenty-eight years from the first pub- lication thereof respectively, the right of publishing the same in a separate form shall revert to the author for the remainder of the term given by this Act: Provided always, that during the term of twenty-eight years the said proprietor, pro- jector, publisher, or conductor, shall not publish any such essay, article, or portion separately or singly, without the consent previously obtained of the author thereof, or hiB assigns: Provided also that nothing herein contained shall alter or affect the right of any person who shall have been or who shall be so employed as aforesaid to publish any such his composition in a separate form who by any contract, express or implied, may have reserved or may hereafter reserve to himself such right; but every author reserving, retaining, or having such right shall be entitled to the copyright in such composition when published in a separate form, according to this Act, without prejudice to the right of such proprietor, projector, publisher, or conductor, as aforesaid." It will be seen from this that when the pro- prietor employs and pays (a most important feature) a writer on the terms that the copyright in the work done shall belong to such proprietor, then the proprietor can for twenty-eight years republish the work, but only with the consent of the author; but that the author may on the other hand expressly or impliedly retain his copy- right. The question of what would happen if nothing was said about copyright is left open. Does the author impliedly reserve it? One case decided in the courts seems to point to this view, but the question is still by good authorities considered doubtful. The author should always endeavour to have a special contract with regard to the sale of serial rights, and should under all circumstances try to avoid coming under the ban of the 18th section. The Society of Authors in their Copyright Bill which passed through the House of Lords last session, having been settled by a very strong committee of that House, have remedied this difficulty, and in that Bill have repealed the 18th section. The committee of the Society intend to use their utmost endeavours to push the Bill through, as they have the support of the Publishers' aud Copyright Associations and hope to succeed, but as the 18th section is still law it must still In- dealt with. If the author can sell both the American and English serial rights he must arrange for simul- ## p. 184 (#614) ############################################ 184 THE AUTHOR. taueous publication so as not to lose t he American copyright. There are certain periodicals that publish long stories in single numbers. This is often the case with annuals. The author when selling to such periodicals should keep this point before him, as it is possible that such circulation may damage the book rights, and if this is likely he should secure an enhanced price. The author should never sign a receipt for moneys in payment for serial use which is so expressed as to convey the copyright to the proprietor. If an author does not understand what he is signing he had better take the advice of someone who does. He should be careful of the date of publication, for the very simple reason that the tale will be published in book form, and it cannot appear in this form until it has ran at any rate for some months as a serial. It is important for an author to arrange that the publication of one story does not conflict with the publication of another. There is the further question that many periodicals do not pay until publication takes place. This, of course, could not be delayed indefinitely, but the expense and difficulty of bringing the machinery of the law to work ought, if possible, to be avoided. Let the contract be quite clear by taking a little care in the beginning. Authors should be careful also that their MS. is sent type-written. If type-writing is too expensive, then the writing should be very distinct. There is no doubt, however, that a type-written MS. increases an author's chance of being read, and he should not neglect this chance. The author should always retain a copy in case of accidents, and should be very careful of the position and repute of the periodical he intends to deal with. An author when writing to an editor should clearly state what he is offering for sale. Thus: "Dear Sir,—I beg to offer you the enclosed for serial publication in number of , or any number that may be subsequently agreed upon." The author should also mention the price that he is willing to take, that is if he is particular on this point. If the tale is accepted without any further special stipulations, then it is accepted on the terms of the letter. It is important therefore to keep copies of letters. Lastly, and this is most important, do not assign to publishers when contracting with them for the publication of a book, "serial, &c, &c., rights," either on half profits or any other terms. The much-abused agent charges in nearly all cases between 5 and 15 per cent., whereas the publisher when undertaking this agency work for sale of serial rights charges anything from 2 5 to 50 per cent. He is, in addition, not nearly so competent as an agent to carry through this work, and in many cases does not even attempt to do so. As this work is really outside his publishing business he does not strive to make a good bargain in order to maintain the author's interests, but is willing to sell for whatever he can get, as he is reaping a large benefit from that for which he has not toiled. It would be possible to quote many clauses taken from various agreements in the Society's hands, but the following, as perhaps most typical, is chosen as an example: "That the publisher shall have the sole right to sell or assign the serial, American, Colonial, Continental translation and dramatic rights in the above work, and the publisher shall pay to the author one half of the profits from the sale of the same, such amounts to be payable as and when provided in Clause 5 hereof. In the case of stereo-plates, electro-plates, or shells with rights being sold, the net profits of their sale, after deducting the invoiced cost of their production, shall be received, divided, and paid over in the same way. Quires or bound copies sold to America shall come under Clause 5 hereof." IV.—A Case. The following case will no doubt be a very interesting one to members of the Society :— An article was sent to one of the best known evening papers on a certain subject, and shortly afterwards the writer obtained the following letter: Aug. 24, 1897. Dear Sir,—Your article on" "has been accepted by this paper, and will be nsed in due course,—Tours faithfully, (Signed) , Acting editor of the paper Two months later, without hearing anything in the meantime, the writer received the subjoined letter. He had naturally taken for granted that his article would either appear in due course, or in case of non-publication that the editor would at any rate pay him for it as it had been definitely accepted. It never entered his head that the ## p. 185 (#615) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. •85 editor would not carry out the contract that he had entered into: ^ a ^ The editor of the" "regrets that he is unable to make use of the enclosed MS., whioh he accordingly returns with many thanks. The article has been returned to the paper, but nothing further has been heard from the editor up to the present date. The secretary of the Society will be pleased to give the name of the paper to any member of the Society who cares to verify this statement. V.—A Fancy Offee. Here is a publisher's offer of a fancy or sport- ing kind. A young writer has a MS. which he thinks likely to attract attention. He offers it to a certain firm; he receives the following pro- posal: 1. He is to pay down in advance «£uo. 2. The publishers will produce an edition of 1500 copies free of cost to the author. 3. After 100 copies have been sold, they will pay the author is. 6d. a copy royalty. Let us see how this works out. (1) On the sale of 500: £ s. £ s. Cost of production, say 100 o Royaltyon400at2*.6rf. 50 o Profit to publisher ... 47 10 197 10 (2) On the sale of 1000: Cost of production ... Royalty on 900 at2s. 6d. Profit to publisher ... I 10 0 87 10 100 0 112 10 72 10 IIO 0 175 0 197 10 285 (3) On the sale of 1500 copies: Cost of production ... 100 o Royalty to author on 1400 copies 175 10 Profit to publisher ... 97 o 285 372 10 By author no o Sale of 1500 at 3*. 6d. 262 10 372 10 £ *. So that, the author, by 500 copies, loses 60 o „ 1000 „ gains 2 10 „ 1500 „ „ 65 io The publisher by 500 „ „ 47 10 1000 „ „ 72 10 1500 „ » 97 ° Very likely the new writer accepted the pro- posal because he wanted his work to appear. Yet, you see, the publisher, who is completely covered from risk, gains =£72 io*. on a thousand copies, and the author £2 10s. I The fault of the agreement is that the royalty is paid by the publisher to the author instead of by the author to the publisher. NEW YORK LETTER. New York, Nov. 16. THE questions of ethics and of business between authors and publishers are being discussed with as much liveliness now in the United States as they are in England. The latest contribution to the subject is an article by Professor C. G. D. Roberts, a minor poet of some reputation, in the Illustrated American. He makes some pleasant concessions to the human nature of publishers, but says that before the days of international copyright they acted like brain cannibals. One of his exceptions, the Harpers, who tried to pay Mr. Gilbert some- thing on account of one of his operas, had the cheque returned by him with a sarcastic letter! Rather entertaining light is thrown on the busi- ness of providing the public with what it wants by the prospectus for 1898, just published by Scribner's Magazine. A series of articles on great businesses is to be continued another year. The central idea of each article is to show what a tremendous lot of brains the men who run the business possess. Anything critical, anything which takes away from the magnificence of the impressions, is frowned upon. The idea is not unlike that which animates our so-called yellow journals, to get the reader excited, enthu- siastic, to give him what we call a sensation. Of course, that is only one part of a great magazine, though it is coming to be the principal part. Another of the Scribner's announcements is a con- tinuation of a series of articles which tell how a college graduate occupied himself with various humble employments and learned to know the people. This series has been very popular, and shows that there is rather wide taste for this condescending interest in all sorts and con- ditions of men. One of the more cheerful signs of the times as given by the fodder promised by the magazine is that, if a man is famous enough, he may write as well as he pleases. A poem is promised on Stevenson by James Whit- comb Riley, which will undoubtedly have life in it, and Kipling is to be a contributor. Henry Cabot Lodge will write a history of the American ## p. 186 (#616) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Revolution in instalments, and it is interesting to notice that the principal emphasis is put on the pictures. The picture is becoming the central point, not only of magazines, but of a large part of the book-publishing business. The other day a writer was talking to a publisher about a forth- coming yolume. "I wish we could have that book," said the publisher, " it would go well; but the difficulty would be to make the pictures." Now, the book was a series of essays, requiring absolutely no illustration in the real sense, for pictures would do nothing to bring out the mean- ing of the text. The publisher's comment simply represented a judgment which is becoming an instinct. Another commercial feature of the treatment of literature is brought out by the Chap Book in its last number in connection with a matter of which I have already spoken, the great library of the World's Best Literature. The periodical calls attention to the fact that Abigail Adams has 25 pages and Addison 23 ; iEschylus 17 and T. B. Aldrich 37; Alfieri 12 and George W. Cable 20. The moral is very obvious, and besides, it has been clearly enough stated before. Clearly as we may see these unhappy elements of literary life, however, it is only decent to realise the strength of the temptation. Most of our publishers are exceptionally moral and high- minded men. They almost always succeed in deceiving themselves before they deceive the public. When a strong temptation to make a popular move comes up they reason about how much more good you can do by working with the prejudices of the populace than by working against them, and what bad taste and unkind- ness it is to speak evil of anybody. After a little course in this sort of thought, the habit of cater- ing to a large circulation becomes an easy one, quite in line with their convictions. While some men seem to lose their equilibrium in the business desire to stretch the maxim Vox Populi Vox Dei beyond its legitimate meaning, others lose it by too thorough distrust of the popular verdict. George Bernard Shaw, whose clever play "The Devil's Disciple" is running with unexpected success here, has taken the trouble to write an open letter, in which he shows how he is always right and the public always wrong whenever there is any difference of opinion about the success of one of his manwuvres. Now the particular thing which aroused bis wrath was not a moral or intellectual difference at all, but a very bad piece of execution, where human beings were made to act ridiculously in order to keep the outcome of the plot from being seen at a particular time. Mr. Shaw accuses the public of Philistinism, which whether true or not, is beside the mark. The audience in America, at least, and presumably elsewhere, is an un- critical mass of persons which responds to certain dramatic effects and fails to respond to others. It may put its judgment in intellec- tual terms, but what really causes the success or failure of the play is usually a matter of con- structive workmanship. Mr. Barrie's "Little Minister," now running in New York to remark- able houses, is an instance of practically perfect dramatic construction. The play is so well balanced and so neatly written, so without any superfluous touches, that even Mr. Charles Frohman's characteristic move of making one of the principal characters unimportant in order to pay only one prominent actor, fails to ruin the play. An instance, however, of how a bad play can be made to score some sort of a success is being given at the same time. "A Lady of Quality " is constructed in such a childish way, so full of idiotic speeches, long pauses, and affected explanations, that almost everybody is surprised that even Julia Arthur's acting carries the venture to success, but it does with the aid of a liberal allowance of scenery. One of our most intelligent actors, Minnie Madden Pisk, has just made a strong protest against what is known as the Theatrical Trust, an institution which does more to stifle original dramatic production than anything else in the country. It is under the control of two or three small-natured but successful business men, who control the largest theatres in all of the cities, and all of the theatres in some of the cities, and refuse to allow any play or actor there until con- cessions are made to them. Not one of these two or three men has any idea of art, or any ideal beyond money and large type for his own name in the playbill, and the result is disastrous. One trifling incident which happened a few weeks ago has been a good deal misjudged. "Les Miserables " was excluded from a course of reading in a Philadelphia school on account of supposed impropriety. The Journal des Debats say that commercial motives were uppermost in this move. A good deal has been done to favour American books, but nothing quite so ridiculous as that. The motive was honest, however foolish. It was a case of ignorant goodness. Norman Hafoood. ## p. 187 (#617) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. THE Keport of the Sub-Coruuiittee appointed to consider the publishers' proposals with regard to the discount question will be found in another page. The Committee was intended to be a representative one. In Mr. a'Beckett and Mr. Henry Norman, Literature and Journalism are combined. Sir Martin Conway is not only a distinguished traveller but he is also a distinguished writer on Art. Mr. Beddard, F.R.S., is a leader in science. Mr. Storr, editor of the Journal of Education, is an authority on all subjects connected with educational literature. Mr. Henry Arthur Jones very fitly represents the Drama. Mr. Tedder probably knows more about books and the history of books and their circu- lation than any other living man. Of the last member, myself, it would be false modesty to pretend, after five years' chairmanship of the Society, and six years' editing of The Author, that I do not know something of the subject. I hope that every member of the Society will read this Report very carefully, and will agree with it. The Sub-Committee, briefly, cannot adopt the proposals. There is every conceivable reason why they should not, and not one why they should, for— (i.) The 3(7. in the shilling discoimt is only one of many reasons, as is shown in the Report, for the alleged depression in the book trade. (2.) There is no depression in the book trade, which was never more flourishing, but a grave depression in the trade of the country bookseller. (3.) It would be impossible to carry out the proposed coercion. (4.) If it were possible, the reduction of a large body of men to practical slavery is a thing against which all Englishmen must protest. (5.) The system is in vogue in Germany, where it is a grinding tyranny. (6.) These reasons are enough, but the Report shows more. Should we, for instance, regard the proposal as the first step in an organised plan for placing the whole of the business of literature in the hands of the publishers H (7.) The next step would then be to prohibit booksellers from buying and selling any other than the books of the Publishers' Asssociation. (8.) That step would prevent the author from publishing at all, except through the Association. (9.) The Association would then be able to make any terms they pleased with authors. (10.) The slavery of the author following on that of the bookseller, would naturallv lead to the decline of literature. This anticipation is not by any means imagi- nary. There is every reason to believe that some such action is contemplated with the view of bringing royalties down to 10 per cent. What does a 10 per cent, royalty mean? It means several things. (1.) That the publisher on a 6s. book gives the author jd. and takes for himself is. nd. (2.) That no one except the few very successful men could live by writing. (3.) That a writer who now makes ,£2000 a year would be reduced to £800 a year. (4.) That a writer who now makes £600 a year would be reduced to £250. Of course similar reductions would be made in the magazines. If any other reason were wanted, we might find it in the consideration that the reduction of the discount by one penny in the shilling would increase the price of books in a corresponding degree, and therefore prohibit the sale. In a word, people will not pay 5*. when they have been accustomed to pay sixpence less. But the whole business is a question for book- sellers. If they agree among themselves in any town it is open and legitimate for them to do so. It is also to be observed, very carefully, that the proposals of the publishers do not cost themselves a single penny. On the other hand, as they contemplate the substitution of net prices for the present system, they actually mean to put a substantial addition of money into their own pockets. Thus, the 6«. book will become 5*. net. At present the publisher gets 3s. 6d. on an average for a 6s. book. At the net price he will get 3«. n^d. He therefore pockets 5|rf. by the change so benevolently advanced for the good of the book- seller, who takes for his share about $d. It is indeed disinterested. The question of the Publishing " Trust" must be kept over for a time. Action of some sort may be forced upon us sooner than was anticipated. Meantime many encouraging notes have been received, and I shall be glad to hear more if members, especially members whose works have been successful, will consider the scheme, or any scheme of a similar nature. It may, for instance, be found more easy to develop the trade outside the regular channels: to make drapers and others booksellers in reality of new and copyright works. _ I have received the following private letter from a member. It seems to me to concern all of us, not the editor of this paper alone; therefore, I have asked leave to publish it:— ## p. 188 (#618) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. "I am always concerned when I read the annual report of the Committee to mark how slow the progress of the Society is. Do you agitate enough? Do you make the world of letters really understand that the Society does not exist for novelists only, as our enemies are fond of declaring: that it is not a fad or a sham distinc- tion or an affectation of this, that, or the other: t hat it is not a body which arrogates to itself the function of 'encouraging' literature, or " advanc- ing " literature: but that it is, on the other hand, a perfectly serious society, whose work is wholly devoted to the business aspect of the literary profession? If writers once understood and realised this they would all flock in. If they would be taught, at the same time, what the Society has already effected: how royalties have been doubled, trebled, quadrupled; how lying accounts have been checked; how the cost of production has been, for the first time, revealed to the world, having always before been studiously concealed—the intention being to trade on the ignorance of the author: how, for the first time, the author has found himself protected: then there would be no hesitation: every man of letters whose work was a property, however small, would become a member. And it would be the duty, even of those who did not want the services of the Society, to join for the sake of others. "General literature and fiction, I take it, are well represented on your list. I believe that education is very poorly represented. Why is this? Educational books are, commercially, the most important branch of letters. Your late report shows how widespread are the iniquities endured by educational writers. Why do they not become members in larger numbers? They have great interests, increasing every day, to defend. They seem to have received your educa- tional report with a kind of apathy. In business matters they are for the most part entirely at the mercy of their publishers. Yet they seem incapable of making an effort for themselves even by joining a society which would look after their affairs for them. It may be that some of them are afraid of publishers. If they themselves are of repute and in demand, they have no occasion to be afraid, because where there is money there are always business men to snatch at it. Some, perhaps, look on their books as a means of extend- ing their own connection: still, if their books sell, there are men of business always ready to take them over. My point is this: Why do not educa- tional writers give the Society a larger support P "Men of science, I am informed, do belong, but not all men of science. My own desire is to see the Society a catholic body, including men and women in all branches of literature—that is to say, in every line of intellectual endeavour, because every line has its own literature. Will not the members themselves take this view, and bring the claims of the Society before those who have not yet thought it worthy of support from themselves?" _____ I make no apology for criticising the critic, first because he ought to be criticised as well as the author; second, because in this case it is the Spectator, a paper which, more than any other, endeavours to present the whole truth to its readers. The paper to which I refer is a review of Putnam's "Authors and Publishers," a book which has been already noticed in these columns. The writer, after pointing out that the Messrs. Putnam do not like the literary agent, and quite failing to see the humourous nature of their objection, goes on to speak of the literary agent. He says, "After all, it is the author who, though he may not know it, pays the literary agent." Is it? Let us examine. The author hitherto has been made to sign agreements in complete ignorance of what they mean. It therefore follows, as a matter of course, that his ignorance has been made the means of getting a one-sided agree- ment. Much stronger language might be used, suitable for the great majority of cases. But this will suffice. The literary agent knows. That is the first thing. He knows. He therefore pre- vents his client from suffering through his ignorance. The publisher has to substitute a proper agreement. Who pays for that transaction? The author, whose property is perhaps doubled in value? Or the publisher, whose gains have shrunk by a half? Here are two cases, both of which are abso- lutely true: I. A. B. is a novelist of repute. He took a MS. to a certain firm, who offered him a certain sum of money. Fortunately he became suspicious. He went to a literary agent, who, the very same day, obtained from the very same firm four times their original offer! II. C. D. received a call from a publisher, who invited him to write a paper for a certain magazine. C. D. expressed his willing- ness to consider the proposal. The pub- lisher drew out his cheque book. "Let me say," he spread it on the table and took a pen. "Let me say—so much." He relied on the temptation of an out- ward and visible cheque. "My work," said C. D.," is in the hands of Mr. . He will call upon you." The literary ## p. 189 (#619) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. agent called: the amount he arranged for was exactly five times the amount offered. Who paid the literary agent in these two trans- actions? Was it the author or was it the pub- lisher F And now, I hope, if the writer of that review sees this note he will alter his views as to the side which pays the agent. | If one thinks of the situation for a moment it becomes .self evident that so long as the literary agent exists, it is the publisher who pays him and not the author at all. For the literary agent exists for the purpose of obtaining fair terms for the author. The moment that the publisher of his own accord proposes those fair terms, the literary agent is not wanted: he has no locus standi: if the author knows that he has only to present himself to the publishers to receive equi- table proposals, there is no reason at all for the existence of the agent. That existence, in fact, is a standing proof that publishers as a body do seek to trade on the ignorance of the author, to get him to accept the very lowest terms they can venture to offer. Ten years ago nothing was more common than a royalty of 10 per cent, or even of 5 per cent. Where is now the publisher who dares to offer a royalty of 5 per cent.? Out of the difference between the old prices and the new the literary agent is paid—by the publisher. The Americans take a sensible view of the literary agent. I have before me a long slip from the New York Sun, describing the work .and the great success of the literary agent in this country. The writer, who is not accurate in all the details, begins with a statement which will be received with a smile :— The literary agent is one form of the middleman against whom little complaint has been heard. Maybe this oomes from the fact that he deals with writers who are apt to know little abont business matters. However that may be, it is certain that the writers accepted the middleman with enthusiasm. With his advent the traditional antagonism between publishers and writers lost its sharpest edge. Nor does the old spirit vent itself on the agent who serves as buffer between the opposing interests. The writers swear by him. The publishers are not unfriendly to him. He has never heard of the publisher's clerk who was put on to abuse the literary agent in a maga- zine; or of the publisher who called the literary agent a "canker," because he protects authors; or of the publisher who refused to deal with the literary agent—till he found he was obliged to do so; or of the publishers who go behind the back of the agent and try to trap the author into con- ducting the business himself. Whatever the American publisher may do, the English pufj lisher as a rule resents the appearance of the agent and would refuse to deal with him if he dared. In America, according to the Sun, the publisher is pleased to deal with an agent simply because he is a business man. As regards his work and functions, they are thus summed up:— The snocess of the literary agent here is easy enough tc understand, for he relieves the writer of the work whioh the latter was least capable of doing. The agent has time to make himself acquainted with facts whioh the writers wonld never have the opportunity of finding out. He knows, for instance, where books or stories of a eertain kind are needed and how badly they are wanted. He knows which magazine is buying material and spending its money and which is using only stuff that was bought long before. Among the publishers, he knows whioh firm is in search of a book on any particular subject, or, if a novel is wanted, what kind it should be. These are things which no writer has the time to find out, even if he oonld learn them. Knowing the situation as well as he does, the literary agent can demand better terms. It happens sometimes that a magazine may have enongh stories of adventure or travel to last for two or three years and yet be entirely withont stories of social life. In another office exactly the opposite condition may exist. The writer does not know this usually, and it is a waste of time to send to these places the sort of material which is not needed. But writers do this, and it of course moans a loss of time. The agent knows just where to place material so that it will have a show. One magazine has for the past two years paid out absolutely nothing for fiction and has used the large supply on hand. But writers are not supposed to know that, and the magazine had no idea of allowing it to become known. So writers continued to send stories right along, and the manuscripts were always returned. By placing work where it is most wanted and by attending to the business of writers, with a care which the writers themselves are not likely to show, the agents can get better rates and insure the sale of more matter. Since I have had an agent to take charge of my work I have as many orders as I can fill and get a cent more a word than I ever did before. The agent simply means the introduction of business principles into the business of publishing. One cannot understand why a publisher should resent his intervention save on the ground that he decides to go on the old system of trading in ignorance. If there is any other reason one would like to know what it is. I cut the following paragraph from the West- minster Gazette of Nov. 23 :— The old literary gibe, " Now Barabbas was a publisher" has been steadily losing point since the new generation of publishers arose. The London correspondent of the Western Daily Mercury hears of a case of confidence placed in one of the newest of our publishers by a novelist whose books sell by thousands and tens of thousands. This writer was so well satisfied with the fairness and even generosity displayed by the publisher in regard to his last book, that he has now given him his next work unreservedly, without contract or promise, saying that he will be per- fectly content with whatever cheque the publisher may ultimately send to him. This is a very pretty paragraph. First, we are ## p. 190 (#620) ############################################ i go THE AUTHOR. informed that "since the new generation of pub- lishers arose" the old gibe has lost point. Does that mean that the older publishers were all robbers? I suppose that it is useless to ask whether the author of the remark has ever read a book issued by the Society of Authors, called "Methods of Publishing" The old gibe has cer- tainly not lost its point, Barabbas is among the new publishers as well as the old. Yet not even' new publisher—any more than every old publisher —is a Barabbas. There are new publishers who, if they can, will fleece and rob every author who is so unfortunate as to go to them. This is not a surmise or a suspicion. It is a grave, serious fact: and it is the reason why the Society must be carried on, and why literary agents exist. Next, for the story of the confidence case. A novelist whose novels "sell by tons of thousands "—■ there are not a dozen of them, so that it would be easy to "spot" the writer—is pleased with the fairness and "even the generosity" of his publisher. Generosity? I really had thought that we had done with the degradation of the word "generosity." Is the steward " generous " with his employer's money? Has this novelist no sense of self-respect at all? He has now given his next work unreservedly to his publisher, and will be content with whatever the latter is good enough o give him. Well, he can do what he likes with his own. If he chooses—1>eing the master— to become the servant: bein< the employer, to become the employe1: being the owner of a great estate, to give it to a steward: he can. At the same time, as I know the names of all the novelists whose works command a sale of " tens of thou- sands," and as I know, besides, how most of them manage their own affairs, I venture to express my profound disbelief in the whole story. Walter Besant. TWO POEMS. I.—ISHMAEL. Some men have souls like gardens: Fair plots of fruitful ground; Smooth lawns, and ways well orderM, With choicest blossoms border'd, And walls to fence them round. Oh, still and safe and fragrant! Fair homes of peace and lore! All things unoouth excluding. Free only to the brooding Of the great sky above. Tis said, by angel footsteps Those garden paths are trod— Angels, the sky forsaking, Tend every blossom, making A pleasure-place for God. I have walk'd in some such garden. How well it was, how meet'. Yet, down eaoh alley shining, With tears I wander'd, pining For wild things round my feet. Sweeter than thrush or robin, To me, the seagull's scream. Fairer the blacken'd heather That fronts the bleak moor-weather, Than that soft garden-dream! Ob, peace is not bo precious, Perchance, as is distress'. Forbid Thine angels, Father, To tend me! Keep Thou rather One unwall'd wilderness! II.— LlOHT AND NlOHT. Ligh t.! Light! Light! Mother of the wide-ey'd flowers, Mother of glad lips, and bright Dancing feet of the noon-day hours, Dancing with delight! Oh, the joy, the rapture (strong Thrilling thro'- the adoring air, When thy glory rides along Heaven's high ramparts Dare! Mother of ecstasy, mother of might, Come, sweet Light: Light, fierce Light! O intolerable gaze! 0 unslaked, relentless blight, Battening thine insatiate blaze On hidden roots of sight! Mercy! mercy! Mind and heart Writhe beneath the answering 6re. Mercy, mercy, Light' Depart, O thou first-born of Ire! O for darkness, dulness, Night! Hence, dread Light! B. K. B. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—" Literature." IAM delighted to see that the new publica- tion, Literature, print* the prices of the books reviewed in the review itself, and is issued with machine-cut pages, but regret that the publishers have not seen their way to placing the table of contents on the front page, as in The Author, the Spectator, and one or two other weeklies, but, alas! no dailies as yet. The important new departure in treatment of books sent for review and not intended by the editor to be reviewed (on which I commented in your last issue) is carried out as follows in the issue of Nov. 6: A considerable number of volumes, which will not be noticed in Literature, are at the disposal of publishers, and will be handed to anyone they may authorise to receive them. They will be otherwise disposed of if not called for by the 20th inst. ## p. 191 (#621) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 191 The period during which the books are to be at the disposal of the publishers is, I think, shorter than that stated in the prospectus, but this altera- tion would be a small matter when the importance of the new departure—which cannot be too widely made known—is considered. As for the contents of the new publication, their praise (or blame) "is hymned by loftier harps than mine," but I will ask you to allow me to suggest, hpropos of the fourth volume of Dr. Pusey's life and its review (unhappily omitted from the table of contents) that four octavo volumes are too much for the biography of any man whatever, and the index to the fourth volume might well have been at least four times longer than it is. J. M. Lely. Nov. 7. II.—The Published Price. In the current number of The Author Mr. J. M. Lely writes as if the only periodicals that announce the prices of books in reviews were Literature, the Literary World, and the Book- man. Permit me to state that for many years past the Dundee Advertiser has regularly given the prices of all books reviewed, where these prices had been furnished by the publishers. I have forwarded the two most recent copies of the Advertiser in which reviews appear, and from these you will see how this announcement is made. A. H. Millar. Dundee, Nov. 11. III.—Current Criticism. Have you not admired Mr. Stephen's bold and original estimate of Tennyson in the National Review? Surely, in the din of indiscriminate eulogy, it is something to find the voice of a critic who can keep his head. One is reminded of Landor's comment on the " Ode on the Exhibition of 1862," where the grand old Pagan writes: "I wish our present roets would pay more attention to solid models, and less to hollow and light plaster. The Laureate could well afford to throw away the last verse, which, in fact, is two verses—an Alexandrine in an overall. Do not think I undervalue this excellent man o' poetry." Mr. Stephen is one of the few sincere and thoughtful critics who have seen that the real merit of the late Laureate is his technique and not his philosophy. If only he could have had Browning's mind, or Browning his incomparable art! You are perhaps acquainted with an anecdote which shows how much truer was Tennyson's own appreciation. Dining with John Sterling at Ventnor, about the time when his lovely little volume of lyrics appeared, he suddenly observed: "I don't think that since Shakspere there has been such a master of the English language as I," and when those at table looked round as if astonished, added calmly, "To be sure I've got nothing to say." I had this from one who was present; and it may be new, and not uninteresting, to some of your readers. Senex. IV.—The Publisher's Beader as School- master. Another terror for the unfortunate author! The manuscript of a novel which I submitted a few weeks ago to a well-known publishing firm has just been returned to me "declined with thanks." So far, so bad! But what is my amazement and horror, on turning over the pages of my work, to discover that the obliging "reader" has been amusing himself by giving gratuitous advice and making gratuitous correc- tions, and that page after page of the manuscript will have to be re-typed at considerable expense. On and off I have been scribbling for the press for a good many years, but this is the first time in my experience that a "reader" has assumed the post of schoolmaster as well. A broad state- ment against the work as a whole might have been wholesome, and perhaps tolerable; but the finicking manner in which this gentleman has played the critic is, to a sensitive author, simply unbearable. I cull one or two instances from many of this "reader's" method. I wrote colloquially, "A 'varsity man"; the correction is "university man." "Rubbish and commonplace" is the comment in another place. I am not even allowed the use of certain words, and for "pallid" my censor insists on " pale." As for punctuation, I am nowhere; and the self- appointed critic waxes diffuse on this subject. "Clauses in opposition," he says, "must not be divided by a full stop." Heavens alive! why not? He is rigid, too, on capital letters. I ventured to personify wind and rain, honouring them with a capital W and a capital B respec- tively. The "reader's" well-pointed pencil stabbed them through, and neat "l.c.'s dis- figured the margin for yards. Somehow I cannot escape the conviction that this gentleman has gained the critic's chair from the compositor's desk at a single leap. Bichard Free. V.—"The Scotsman's Library." Will you allow me to inquire among your correspondents and readers whether anyone knows a small book called "The Scotsman's Library"? I bought a copy of it in Edinburgh some years ago; it has lost its title-page; the ## p. 192 (#622) ############################################ 192 THE AUTHOR. printer's name is D. Sidney and Co., Northuniber- iand-street, Strand. The only information I could obtain respecting its authorship is that it was compiled by "Mitchell of Aberdeen." I should be very glad to know who Mitchell was, who Sidney and Co. were, and whether they are non- represented by any publishing firm. F. Bayford Harbison. f ^Suffolk House, Weybridge, Nov. 14. VI.—A Book Wanted. May I suggest to authors through The Author that a book is much wanted describing and illus- trating the mansions of Great Britain, something after the style of "Baronial Halls," published in 1858, and "The Stately Homes of England," 1 inly that it should be very much more compre- hensive and complete than either? Owners would probably give a competent author considerable assistance. The work would probably comprise several volumes. It would be in great demand by owners, the various branches of their families, by local residents, solicitors and agents, as well as by the general public. C. P. Dowsett. 3, Lincoln's-inn-fields. London. BOOK TALK. MR. MORLEY is writing a work on modern political history, in which, we understand, much of the inner history of the Irish Home Rule movement will be revealed. It is probable that his monograph on Lord Chatham, for the "Twelve English States- men" series, will also, at length, be completed before long. The first volume of the important revised edition of Byron—prose and verse—will probably be ready about the beginning of February. It is being issued with the authority of the family and representatives of Byron, whose grandson, Lord Lovelace, and Mr. E. H. Coleridge are responsible for the laborious revision. There will be twelve volumes in all, and new material from the MSS. in the possession of Mr. Murray will be incorporated. Thus the first volume will con- tain several unpublished poems of Byron's early days, and some new portraits of him. The pub- lisher of the work is, of course, Mr. Murray. A series of College Histories of Oxford, and another of Cambridge, will be published by Mr. F. E. Robinson during the next two years, begin- ning early in 1898. Each book will be written by one connected with the College; the Oxford series will consist of twenty-one volumes, and the Cambridge of eighteen, price 54-. net each. Among the writers in the Oxford series are: University College, A. C. Hamilton, M.A.; Balliol, H. W. Carless Davis, B.A.; Queen's, Rev. J. R. Magrath. D.D., Vice-Chancellor of the University; New, Rev. Hastings Rashdall, M.A.; All Souls, C. Grant Robertson, M.A; Magdalen, Rev. H. A. Wilson, M.A.; Brasenose, J. Buchan; Corpus Christi. Rev. T. Fowler, D.D.; Trinity, Rev H. E. D. Blakiston, M.A.; Jesus, E. G. Hardv. M.A.; Wadham, J. Wells, M.A.; Pembroke, Rev. Douglas Macleane, M.A. The writers iu the Cambridge series include: Peterhouse College, Rev. T. A. Walker, LL.D.; Clare, J. R. Wardale, M.A.; Pembroke, W. S. Hadley, M.A.; Caius, J. Venn, Sc.D., F.R.S.; Corpus" Christi. Rev. H. P. Stokes, LL.D.; King's, Rev. A. Austen Leigh, M.A.; Queen's, Rev. J. H. Gray, M.A.; St. Catherine's, the Lord Bishop of Bristol; Christ's, John Peile, Litt.D., the Master; St. John's, J. Bass Mullinger, M.A.; Magdalene, W. A. Gill, M.A.; Trinity, Rev. A. H. F. Boughey, M.A., Fellow and late Tutor of Trinity, and J. Willis Clark, M.A. After a month, the late William Morris's Kelmscott Press will be no more. The type will be retained by the trustees; the special orna- ment will be discontinued; and in the British Museum the charming wood blocks will find a resting place. There are still some works to appear from the Press, however. Among them "Sigurd the Volsung," "Love is Enough," "The Sundering Flood," and "Some German Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century." The last- named consists of thirty-five reproductions from books that were in the library at Kelmscott House. Last of all will come "A Note by William Morris on his Aims in Starting the Kelmscott Press," to which Mr. Coekerell adds a list of the books there printed. Mr. Wells's "War of the Worlds" will In- considerably revised, and several chapters added, for book publication, which will take place iu January (Heinemann). The author is writing a long novel of city life in the next century, to be entitled " When the Sleeper Wakes." Mr. Kipling will contribute " Just-So Stories" —about animals— to St. Nicholas during 1898. Mrs. Croker's new novel, to be published by Messrs. Chatto, is called "Miss Balmain's Past." Mr. Zangwill's "Dreamers of the Ghetto," is not expected lefore January. It will contain a character-sketch of Heine. ## p. 193 (#623) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i93 Mr. Robert Chambers is writing " The Haunts of Men," which will appear early in 1898. Mr. William Le Queux's novel of Monte Carlo life, "If Sinners Entice Thee," is running in the Golden Penny and New York Truth. "Edna Lyall" is writing a romance of the period of William and Mary's reign. The action is in the North Country, and the title will be "Hope the Hermit," but the book will not appear for a year yet. Lady Gregory will publish shortly (Smith and Elder) the correspondence of her late husband's grandfather, the Bight Hon. William Gregory, Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1813 to 1830. New light on the government of Ireland during that period is promised in the work. A Life of the Prince of Wales is being prepared. Dr. Traill, the editor of Literature, is reported to be the author, but the ascription is not confirmed. The publisher is Mr. Grant Richards. The Life of Cardinal Wiseman, by Mr. Wilfrid Ward, will appear on Dec. 7 (Longmans). Mr. P. H. Emerson has edited a genealogical history of the family from the earliest times, which Mr. David Nutt will publish shortly under the title of " The English Emersons." The first volume (of four) of the Life of Spurgeon, edited by Mrs. Spurgeon and Mr. Harrald, who was the preacher's private secre- tary, will be ready about the middle of this month. A book on the Indian frontier warfare, from the pen of Major Younghusband, will be issued shortly by Messrs. Kegan Paul, in their "Wolseley " series. Commenting on the analysis of the books of the season, which appeared in The Author last month, the Globe says:— It is a little sad to find only 20 books of essays on this list. The essay is so exquisite a vehicle for the presentation of thought and fancy and pleasant personality, that one can- not bnt regret that its vogue is for the time over. Perhaps a better day will dawn soon. When the 20 volumes of essays are placed beside the 54 mathematical works our loss is made the more clear. Nor is it right for 221 theological books to assail ns in one Beason. The number of children's books is again vastly greater than it should be. Children are not to-day one whit happier, with all this reading afforded them, than they were a hundred years ago, with a nursery library of some poor half-dozen volumes. A poor half-dozen—but better thumbed than is the case with any- thing now published. Mr. Warington Smyth was superintendent of mines under the Siamese Government for five years, and he is about to publish, through Mr. Murray, a work on "Siam and the Siamese," with reproductions of his own sketehes Captain Count Gleichen, of the Grenadier Guards, who acted as Intelligence Officer to Mr. Rennell Rodd's mission to Abyssinia, has written an account of the expedition, entitled "With the British Mission to Menelik, 1897," which Mr Edward Arnold will publish immediately. "The great historic county of Bucks," as Beaconsfield, who knew the district well, called it, is the principal subject of Mr. J. K. Fowler's "Records of Old Times," which Messrs. Chatto and Windus are about to publish. Its character is variously social, historical, sporting, and agricultural. A series of volumes on modern schools of painting, under the editorship of Mr. Gleeson White, is announced by Messrs. Bell. The first, "The Glasgow School," will be by Mr. David Martin, with an introduction by Mr. Frank Newbery and sixty reproductions of paintings. Count Tolstoy's new book, translated by Mr. A. Maude, and to be published by the Brother- hood Company, Croydon, will be called "On Art." Mr. Arthur H. Neumann tells of his elephant- hunting experiences in East Equatorial Africa, in a volume which Messrs. Rowland Ward will shortly publish, with illustrations and a map. Captain Mahan, of the United States Navy, is publishing through Messrs. Sampson Low a work on "The Interest of the United States in Sea- Power, Present and Future." He will also con- tribute a paper to the third volume of Mr. Laird Clowes's History of the Royal Navy. Mr. Sidney Low has resigned the editorship of the -S'f. James's Gazette, and is succeeded by his assistant, Mr. Hugh Chisholm. Mr. Barry Pain has succeeded Mr. Jerome as editor of To-Day. "The Antipodean," a Christmas annual written by Australians, will be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. Mr. E. S. Prior is dealing, in a book on English Gothic which Messrs. Bell will publish, with the evolution of an original and characteristic style from the style which, introduced by the Normans, was for a time common to England and Northern France. Mr. Gerald Horsley will illustrate Mr. Prior's work. The story of England's growth from Elizabeth to Victoria has been told by Mr. Alfred Thomas Story, in two volumes which Messrs Chapman and Hall will publish shortly, entitled "The Building of the Empire." There will he portraits of these two Sovereigns in photogravure, and upwards of 100 portraits and illustrations. ## p. 194 (#624) ############################################ i94 THE AUTHOli. From the Pall Mall Gazette :— BALLADE OF THE PUBLISHING SEASON. Year by year, at the sommer's close, I watoh the Season of Books draw nigh, Troops of poetry, hordes of prose, Books, books, books for the world to buy. Can you wonder reviewers sigh i Think of the parcels strewn about, Cases for critics to test and try— MoBt of them books we could do without. • • * • But fiction—there is the stuff that goes: Novels and stories, piled on high, What becomes of them? Goodness knows Critics are hard to satisfy. Many are smitten hip and thigh (They sell the better for that, no doubt). Some are published only to die— Those are the books we conld do without. Envoy. Prinoe! Who writes this rubbish, and why '< All the lot should be put to rout, Save two or three; and you can't deny Most of their books we could do without. Mr. Frank Preston Stearns, an American, is the author of "Modern English Prose Writers," which Messrs Putnam will publish. Mr. T. B. Harbottle has during many years been preparing a dictionary of classical quotations. The work is nearly ready to be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein. "The Gleaming Dawn," by James Baker, which has just gone into its third thousand, has elicited some remarkable letters from well- known Churchmen. The Bishop of London, in writing upon it, says: "It deals with a period of English history which is often overlooked. The connection of England with Bohemia is of great interest, and Peter Payne is a forgotten Englishman who deserves notice. I think your story is very true to the time of which it treats." The Bishop of Manchester also writes: "I have read ' The Gleaming Dawn' with great interest, and believe it may be profitable at the pi'esent time. It is written with great spirit and power." The Bishop of Hereford, Dean Farrar, and Archdeacon Sinclair also write of it in terms of appreciation and praise. Mr. Lawrence Gomme's lectures on " Principles of Local Government," delivered last year at the London School of Economies, have been revised and will be published by Messrs. Constable. The letter Z will be reached in the " Dictionary of National Biography" in the course of 1899. Another year will be occupied with getting out a supplement containing memoirs of persons who have died during the progress of the "Dictionary," and a general index. The relations of Scot', and the Ballantynes are discussed from a special point of view by the Rev. James Hay. of Kirn, in a work on Sir Walter Scott which he is writing. Scott, he contends, was ambitious of reaching the position of head of a great publishing house which should outrival that of Constable. An essay on bimetallism, by Major Darwin, is among Mr. Murray's forthcoming publications. Lord Charles Beresford and Mr. H. W. Wilson are writing the " Life of Nelson," and giving new letters, &c. Messrs. Harmsworth are publishing the work in parts. A new edition of Mr. Ferrar Fenton's "New Testament in Current English " is called for, and will be shortly issued. This will make the fifth edition of his "St. Paul's Epistles" and the second of the Gospels. A one-act play by Mrs. Clifford, the author of "Mrs. Keith's Crime," &c., will be produced at the Comedy Theatre in a few days. It is called " A Supreme Moment." The chief part is to be taken by Mrs. Bernard Beere. It has been translated into French by Mr. Walter Pollock with a view to its production on the French staj;e. An adaptation of one of Mrs. Clifford's stories was lately played in Paris. The author is herself dramatising the same story for home consump- tion. "A Woman Tempted Him," a story written by William Westall and syndicated by Messrs. Tillotson and Son, will be published by Chatto and Windus early in 1898. The same author is writing a story for Pearson's Weekly, and in the course of next year he hopes to complete a historical romance, begun some time ago, dealing with the same period as " With the Red Eagle," which is now in a third edition. Several illustrated poems by Miss Helen Marion Burnside are published as Christmas and New Year gift-books by the Artistic Lithographic Company, 13, Buuhill-row. Of these one entitled "A Cycle of Song" is also suitable for a gift-book for any season. The same firm also issues daily text-books, edited by Miss Burnside. Mrs. George Corbett has been one of the first to make copy out of the new goldfields, and her latest novel, " The Star of Yukon," is now running in serial form. It is being syndicated by Messrs. Tillotson and Son, and will be published in book form twelve months after the commencement of the serial run. Mrs. Corbett has also written a musical farce entitled "Back from Klondyke," which was enthusiastically approved by the West-end audience before whom it was produced on Oct. 21. ## p. 195 (#625) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i95 Jean Carlyle Graham hopes to finish a seven years' labour of love early in 1898. She wishes to present "The Words of Oliver Cromwell" on good paper, printed at the Edinburgh University Press, bound in comfortable volumes, with por- traits of Cromwell, his family, and correspon- dents. Only 100 copies will be printed, and she trusts that each free library in the British Empire will possess a copy, in order that the veriest man in the street may have, at last, a chance of knowing the mighty Englishman who strove to win for him hie individual liberty. "Many Memories of Many People," by Mrs. Simpson, daughter of the late Mr. Nassau Senior, is to be published by Mr. Arnold. The daughter was companion to the father, and with him dwelt among various distinguished people. A privately-circulated volume of the reminis- cences of Miss Grant of Rothiemurchus, after- wards the wife of General Smith, of Baltiboys, co. Wicklow, is now to be published by Mr. Murray, and is being edited by Lady Strachey, a niece of the author. A chief note of the book, which is to be called "The Memoirs of a High- land Lady," will be its light upon Scottish social life in the early part of this century. The author, however, also introduces the names of Mr. Perce- val, Mr. Canning, Lord Lauderdale, Shelley, Sir Walter Scott, and other notabilities. Dr. Max Nordau is very displeased with the Maupassant monument which Paris has just erected in the Pare Monceau. The monument is a bust on a pedestal, below which is represented a French woman reclining on a couch with one of Maupassant's novels in her hand. "The likeness," says the author of "Degeneration," "is almost terrifying. It has the low forehead, the short fleshy nose, the bristling moustache, the vulgar, coarsely sensual mouth, and the general expres- sion of a soldier on his Sunday out bent on gay adventures." Travel and adventure are to be the interests of a new magazine—the "Passport "—which Mr. Pearson will begin to publish, probably in the spring.—Mr. Newnes, at a much earlier date, gives to the world a monthly paper called the "Ladies' Field." Antiquarian Gossip is a new sixpenny monthly which will aim at making the study of antiquities popular. Mr. H. C. Cust contributes an introduction to the ninth of the reproductions of Tudor trans- lations, Philemon Holland's " Historie of Twelve Ceesars, Emperors of Rome," translated from Suetonius. The work will be issued (600 copies) early next year by Mr. Nutt. LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS. Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers. The Times on the following dates: Article, "From a Correspondent," Nov. 9; E. Marston and K. MaoLehose, Nov. 10; the editor of the Bookseller and Messrs. Skeffington, Nov. 11 ; Secre- tary of the Society of Author?, Eev. Harry Jones, and W. Day, Nov. 12 ; The Writer of the Article, A Member of the Publishers' Association, M. J. B. Baddelcy, A Country Hook seller, Publisher's Reader, Alfred Wilson, Nov. 15; Leading Artiole, Nov. 15; The Writer of the Article, F.R.S., Andrew W. Tuer, Nov. 19. Thc Bookselling Question. Andrew Lang. Chap- man's Magazine for November. An Academy -of Letters. The Academy for Not. 6, 13, 20. Is it Literary Suicidei Daily Chronicle for Oct. 28. Tennyson. Hamilton Wright Mabie. Atlantic Monthly for November.—Blackwood's Magazine for November.— Tennyson in Ireland : A Reminiscence. Alfred Peroival Graves. Cornhill Magazine for November. Modern Education. Professor Mahaffy. Nineteenth Century for November. The Coming Literary Revival —I. J. S. Tunison. Atlantic Monthly for November. The analogy between the bookselling question of the early fifties and that of the late nineties is borne out in still another respect by the appear- ance of this controversy in the columns of the Times. If such a mild judgment may be allowed to one who has studied both series of letters, there is now a spirit of reticence and guardedness in expressing opinion in favour or against the proposed system of uniform discounts, which was not a pronounced feature of the letters of the earlier period. This may be, and probably is, clue, however, to the fact that the Society of Authors has the matter under consideration. One correspondent, Mr. Robert MacLehose, of Glasgow, does, indeed, attest anxiety and zeal, if these qualities be judged by the fact that, writing from the important bookselling centre of the West of Scotland, he is able to publish a reply to the Times article in the very next issue of that journal. The article "From a Correspondent" which opened the discussion, did not favour the new proposal of compulsorily making the discount 2d. in the shilling instead of $d. In the first place, he argued, a strong minority of the booksellers themselves is opposed to it. Let such be boy- cotted 'i But that was done in 1850, and yet the recalcitrant firms succeeded in obtaining the books they wanted; and it has been done now in the case of certain firms who persisted "in doing what they liked with their own," with the same result. Next, the proposal is one involving " thc well-being, nay, the very existence of the author." Were the rate of discount reduced, sales would drop; because the public cries aloud for cheap books. In this connection the writer places books outside the economic pale as being neither ## p. 196 (#626) ############################################ 196 lllh AUTHOR. necessity nor luxury. Willy, nilly, the average book-buyer thinks that in this age of mechanical ingenuity books might be produced both in better taste and at less cost; and the writer goes so far as to say that, as a rule, sixpence more or less will decide whether a book shall be bought or remain unsold. Nor has salvation been found in the net system, which, he says has been "prac- tically abandoned owing to the rooted aversion of buyers." The writer plumps, therefore, for a cheaper book:— Matthew Arnold was generally accounted a visionary, bat he was eminently practical when he pleaded for cheap books. That way lies the true remedy for existing evils. Were a popular writer and powerful publisher to make the experi- ment of bringing out, let ub say, the six-shilling novel at 3s., the result would probably be gratifying beyond expecta- tion—provided, of course, the booksellers did not repeat their old folly. Tne history of popular literature proves that fortunes lie, not in high prices, but in big sales. The cost of production need not frighten anyone. The book of to-day is produced at a figure which even five years ago would have been thought impossible ; and the cheaper book could be produced at a yet lower rate without sacrifice of quality. What has been done in France with Buoh signal success can be done in England. With the three-shilling or the half-crown volume "every genuine reader," to quote Arnold again, " will feel that the book be cares to read he will care to possess." Would not that awakened desire of possession be the best of all auguries? Would it not, in fact, mean a final solution of all the difficulties whioh now hamper and oppress the book-trade? "A Member of the Publishers' Association" came forward with a case for the 6*. novel. He takes a recent popular book; he estimates the cost of production and advertising at is. 6d. per copy; he knows very well that it is under a shilling: this fact vitiates all the figures that follow. "A Country Bookseller " asks, what is the use of books being both "good" and "cheap" if the public is not to have a chance of examining them in booksellers' shops? The public ought to pay adequately for this service, and every town, large or small, support its bookseller. The Rev. Harry Jones, on his part, attributes the non-purchasing of books to the fewness of the booksellers, whom also he would have show their menu as attractively as the newspaper shop at the corner of a dirty street. The editor of the Bookseller credited the Society of Authors with having, in taking up with the matter, recognised the advantage that less-known writers would reap if booksellers were enabled to display their books; stated that, as a matter of fact, the author was a "wholly unimportant factor in the arrangement of trade terms" ; and was corrected on the following day by Mr. Thring for having assumed that the Society had assented to the new proposal—the fact being, of course, that the sub-committee had not yet issued its report. He supported the idea of coercion, pointing to the leading case of Germany as a shining example of "completest success " in this policy. Even at home, in places where the reduced discount had been now enforced, the public readily acquiesced in the arrangement, and the booksellers' turnover had in no way suffered. As for the cry for cheap litera- ture, to obtain this a wide circulation must be assured, and, except in the case of a well-known and popular writer, such wide circulation was usually impossible. Let the coercion be rigid, and recalcitrant booksellers would soon find resistance to be unprofitable. Apropos," Publisher's Reader" suggested that someone learned in the law should first say "whether it will be a sufficient protection for the Publishers' Association, should they resolve to follow the editor's advice, to declare themselves a 'trade union,' and register their association under the Trades Union Act of 1871." Mr. MacLehose intervened in defence of the net system, which, he said, so far from having been "practically abandoned," had grown quite remarkably within the last few years. Mr. M. J. B. Baddeley testified that his "Thorough Guide " series, notwithstanding the facts that the net price was printed on the binding and that big firms in London who advertised 25 per cent, dis- count on all books had boycotted these volumes, had been eminently successful all round. In answer to Mr. E. Marston, publisher, who said that whatever the published price might be the public expected their full 2 5 per cent, therefrom, Mr. Alfred Wilson, bookseller, said that the public certainly wanted to buy at the lowest price, but if they could get no discount they would be quite content to pay the published price if they thought the book worth it. Mr. Andrew W. Tuer contributed to the dis- cussion the interesting speculation that " books, like tea and tallow, may oue day perhaps be bought and sold by the pound," but, for a league of publishers to charge all booksellers alike would mean simply that another and more complacent race of publishers would arise. "Too many books and ' cutting' are ruining the book trade. Among the other letters was one of Mr. W. Day, a business man, who suggested a fresh way out of the difficulty, namely:— for the publisher to work out the exact net amount per book he gets from the large buyer, including odd books and extra discounts, and then, having arrived at the figure, for ever after charge this price, thus getting rid of odd copies and extra discounts, charging the bookseller who buys one book the same price as the man who buys 1000. The little man would thus have the same rate of profit as the big man, and would have a margin of profit to work upon. The country bookseller would be at a disadvantage still as com- pared with the London bookseller, as he would have to bear carriage in addition to the cost of the books. ## p. 197 (#627) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 197 Everything turns, said the Times itself officially, on the point of whether the frugal and often impecunious book-buyer will be persuaded to forego the discount of 3d. Upon this it will not commit itself at the present stage. If the bulk of the leading publishers legally decline to supply books except on the basis of the 2d. discount, "it is not very easy to see how eveu the largest retail booksellers can continue to make a profit by selling at the larger discount." And if the case were properly put to him the aforesaid frugal book- buyer would probably recognise that his interests and requirements are best served by supporting the booksellers. After a reflection upon the general superiority of the provincial bookseller "whom many of us recollect," compared with his successor who to-day "ekes out a precarious existence by catering for the taste in trifles of customers whose taste in literature is nothing if not trifling," the Times concluded as follows: Meanwhile the " hungry sheep," who onee were wont to browse on the pastures of good literature, "look up and are not fed "—we will not continue the quotation, though it is not a little to the purpose. In any case we are satisfied that if the retail bookseller could be restored to his former ttatus and dignity in the world of letters neither authors nor publishers, neither booksellers nor book-buyers, would in the long run have any reason to complain of the result. It may be, as our correspondent has suggested, that the loss incurred by book-buyers through the proposed reduction of discount will have to be compensated in some measure by a general reduction in the price of books. But ... it is not perhaps amiss to observe that publishers probably understand their own business best, and that not many of them have been known to make their fortunes. Mr. Lang does not pretend, in his discussion of the question in eight pages of Chapman's Magazine, to give an opinion about the discount question, which, he says, " I am sensible is beyond my limited faculties." He is willing that his own royalties should be cut down, if that will make even one bookseller happy. But before "the few rich authors" will be equally charitable, publishers must have a trade union, and persecute the pub- lisher who pays the author more than a certain rate. Mr. Lang confesses, indeed, that he knows no remedy for devotion to discount but increased enerosity, and no specific against the circulating brary but the production of books which readers will desire to own—though verily the public "does not greatly want any book." But in the last case he appeals to "our great dealers in fiction." "Peddling science and history of belles lettres are ndgligeables. We therefore await the voice of the novelist on Discount." The custom of using bad paper in books—a subject which contains the possibility of " literary suicide "—has not offered any practical evidence up to the present at the British Museum. Dr. Garnett has not seen any consumptive books there, but probably the particular kinds of paper which hold the germs of decay have not been in use sufficiently long to permit of the disease show- ing itself. Mr. John Murray wonders whether poor land in England might not be employed to grow some fibrous plant which would make good paper at a cheap rate. Much of the paper now iu use he stigmatises as abominably cheap and nasty. The interviewer who has thus questioned several authorities on the matter supposes the case of a historian, three generations hence, going to the British Museum to consult Blue Books, which, as he takes them up, fall to dust in his hand; for Blue Books, on the authority of Mr. MacAlister, are the worst offenders. Such a prospect Mr. John Murray's father used to laugh over. "It will be the grand time for publishers," he would say, "when a book on falling from a table goes to pieces like a piece of china." Finally, the views of Mr. Frank Lloyd, of the great paper-manufacturing firm of Edward Lloyd (Limited), on this question of bad paper (which a committee of the Society of Arts is now consider- ing) possess a special interest:— There were one or two facts whioh might be taken for granted. A considerable proportion of the paper printed upon at present must be expected to prove wanting in the qualities of very lengthened endurance. He instanced paper made from wood pulp from which the resin had not been extracted. Technically this ingredient was called "mechanical wood," as distinct from wood pulp which had been purified by ehemioal process. Needless to say, paper made from the latter oost muoh more than paper manu- factured from the former. Now, paper in which there remained " mechanical wood " had for years been used in the printing of books. The Germans had done a good deal towards the introduction of this, but the great factor was the rise and development of popular literature. That meant the production of paper at less and less cost; otherwise there could not be the wonderfully cheap books. It was one thing or the other. Similarly it was only the cheap- ness of paper that made possible the size of the modern journal. "I am afraid," Mr. Lloyd summed up, " that after a hundred years a book would not bear handling if its paper had been of the nature to whioh I have alluded." The "coming literary revival" is coming on the other side of the Atlantic. There, the present is the age of the short story and the minor poet, two classes of literary art that " lack seriousness, if considered as an end in themselves," and "are characteristic of a tentative, a waiting age." Who is to write the great American novel, or the great American drama, or the great American epic? If the outline here given of the opportunities of genius be approximately correct, this much- desiderated American may never emerge. "The only lesson which America is now teaching the world in the ideal realm is precisely the lesson which von Hartmann has already put in words— namely, that the literature of the future is to be as the tarce which the Berlin business man goes g li ## p. 198 (#628) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. to see of an evening by way of recreation." The writer would welcome a profoundly one-sided thinker who should arise and "shake to pieces the eminently respectable but fatally monotonous philosophy of the American schools." For him a search will be made over a wide area in another article. Professor Mahaffy discovers, in spite of national reforms in education, a decline in the quality of our reading: the great masters—poets, philo- sophers, historians, even novelists—set aside for the trivial, the sensational, the affected, the ephemeral. STORY COMPETITION. 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PAOE ... 187 ... 139 ... 141 ... 142 ... 143 ... 144 ... 148 ... 150 ... 154 ... 156 The Tennyson Biography The Library Association. Presidential Address The Wisdom of 1772 The Historical English Dictionary Correspondence—1. "Literature." 2. Effect of Eeviews. 3. Novelist v. Reviewer. 4. Editor and Contributor. 5. Stamps for MSS. going Abroad 6. The Bight of Reply 162 PAOK .. 157 . 159 .. 161 .. 162 Book Talk Literature in the Periodicals Two Memorials The Books of the Month ... 1(4 , 1«7 169 , 170 PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY. 1. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of hooks. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 2. 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 hy Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s. 3. 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. Lilt. Eyre and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d. 4. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is. ! THE TEMPLE TYPEWRITING OFFICE. I ^ rpYPE PEWRITING EXCEPTIONALLY ACCURATE. Moderate prieeB. Duplicates of Circulars by the latest § process. ^ J OPINIONS OF CLIENTS— Distinguished Author:—"The most beautiful typing I have ever seen." Lady op Title:—"The J ^ work was very well and clearly done." Provincial Editor :—" Many thanks for the spotless neatness and beautiful accuracy." ^ 5 MISS GENTRY, ELDON CHAMBERS, 30, FLEET STREET, E.C. ^ TYPEWRITING. Authors' MSS. accurately Copied from IOd. per IOOO words. EIGHTY unsolicited testimonials. MRS. BRAY, 53, BEDFORD ROAD, CLAPHAM, S.W. ## p. 136 (#562) ############################################ 11 AD VER TISEMENTS. ^f)e g>octefg of Jluiljors (gncoxpoxateb). 8ib Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C. J. M. Babbie. A. W. 1 Beckett. Robert Bateman. F. E. Beddard, F.B.S. Sib Henrt Berone, K.C.M.G. Sib Walter Besant. augustine blbbell, m.p. Rev. Pbof. Bonnet, F.E.S. Bioht Hon. James Bbtce, M.P. Bight Hon. Lord Bdbghclere Hall Caini. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colles. Hon. John Collieb. Sib W. Mabtin Conwat. F. Marion Crawford. The Earl of Desart. PRESIDENT. GEORGE MEBEDITH COUNCIL. S.I. I Austin Dobson. A. CONAN DOTLE, M.D. A. W. Dubourg. Pbof. Michael Foster, F.B.S. D. W. Fbeshfibld. Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Ridxb Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthont Hope Hawkins. P.C. | Jerome K. Jerome. Budtard Kipling. Prof. E. Eat Lankesteb, FJB.S. W. E. H. Leckt, P.C. J. M. Lklt. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton. Eev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Herman C. Mbrivale. Hon. Counsel — E. M. Underdown, Bet. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sir Lewis Morris. Henrt Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. J. C. Parkinson. Bight Hon. Lord Pirbright, P.C, F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. W. Baptiste Scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. R. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Storr. William Mot Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphrt Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. Q.C. A. W. X Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. W. Morris Colles. ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman). Sir W. Martin Conwat. M. H. Spielmann. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—H. Rider Haggard. Sir W. Martin Conwat. D. W. Freshfield. Anthont Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lelt. SUB-COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C. Villiers Stanford, Mns.D. (Chairman). Jacques Blumenthal. J. L. Mollot. Solicitors | Field, Boscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Sib A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Henrt Norman. Francis Storr. DRAMA. Henrt Arthur Jones (Chairma A. W. X Beckett. Edward Eose. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbing, B.A. OFFICES: 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. IP. WATT & SO 1ST, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. Stick in your Scraps with STICKPHAST PASTE. Heaps better than gum, 6d. and Is., with strong, useful brush. Sold by Stationers, Chemists, Stores, Ac. Factory, SUGAR I^O-A-TP COURT, E.G. WANTED. Advanced Lessons in Novel-Writing. State Successful Works. Replies will be considered Confidential. Address— "FICTION," Advertising Offices, 10, High Holhorn, W.C. ## p. 137 (#563) ############################################ XT b e Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. Vin.—No. 6.] NOVEMBER 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, bnt on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL MEMORANDA. EOR some years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, &c, 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 his 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. VIII. 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. III. The royalty system. In this system, which has opened the door to a most amazing amonnt of overreaching and trading on the author's ignorance, it is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both 'ides. It is 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. Headers can also work out the figures themselves from the "Cost of Production." Let no one, not even the youngest writer, Bign a royalty agreement without finding out what it gives the publisher as well as himself. It has been objeoted 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 iB known within a few copies what will be their minimum circulation, it is not known what will be their maximum. Therefore every author, for every book, should arrange on the chance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of tho3e 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 charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If these points are carefully looked after, the author may rest pretty well assured that he is in right hands. At the same time he will do well to send his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. N 2 ## p. 138 (#564) ############################################ 138 THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. liT VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive ITi advice upon his 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 advice Bought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions 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 qnestions 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, yon should take advice as to a ohange of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish, ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of coarse, 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 AUTHOES' 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 whioh its services can be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that al$ 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 alt 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 arc 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 Tlie Author begs to remind members of the* Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the oost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6tZ. subscription for tho 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 Bhould 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 mnst also be distinctly under- stood that the Sooiety does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do this, and remit the amonnt, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and Bave him the trouble of sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to tho following warning. It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest ## p. 139 (#565) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. l39 or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years? Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This 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 £g 4s. 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 course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—Educational Report. Report of the Sub-Committee of the Society of Authors appointed to deal with the Publi- cation of Educational Works. Approved by the Committee. THERE is no literary property more valuable than a successful class book. The yearly consumption of such books in elementary schools may be reckoned by the hundred thousand, and even in secondary schools a class book of repute, such as the Public School Latin Primer or Bradley's Arnold, has a sale of from five to ten thousand copies a year. Such hits in educational books, no less than in other branches of literature, are, of course, rare, yet we could name ten eminently successful school books for one scholastic author who has made a considerable income by his writings. The reason is not far to seek. Hitherto the educational writer has, as a rule, been either a schoolmaster who regards what he makes by his pen as an unexpected bonus in addition to his regular salary, or else a distinguished specialist, who, at the request of a publisher, writes a primer of history or geography in his leisure hours, and is content, for a mere nominal sum, to dispose of a valuable property because it has cost him little time and trouble to create it. It may be argued that by so doing the scholar only wrongs himself, and that not only the pub- lisher, but the general public, benefits by his care- less generosity; as a matter of fact, it is only the publisher who gains. The published price of a book is not appreciably, if at all, affected by the consideration whether the author has been paid lio or jfiiooo for the copyright; but the terms that a publisher is willing to give are determined by what the leading authorities are willing to take. In this way the market price is lowered, and the out-put of educational literature is stopped. It ceases to be a paying profession. In all branches of literature the professional author must expect to be under-bid by the amateur, but the condi- tions under which educational works appear are in some respects peculiar. Very often the inducement to write is the need the author has felt for a certain manual or class book in his own teaching, and if he can find a publisher who will produce the book he needs, and relieve him of all risk, he is indifferent to any profit. Let us urge upon all persons connected with educational literature to take over into their own hands the management, in part, at least, of their own books. A study of the notes appended to this Report will perhaps open their eyes. These notes point out at least some of the dangers to be avoided. The leading principles to be insisted on are these:— 1. Never to sell the copyright of an educational book under any circumstances. 2. To arrive at an understanding what the agree- ment gives the publisher as well as what it gives the author. If the publisher refuses to give these figures, the author should either refuse to sign the agreement, or should take advice as to the cost of producing the book, and therefore the proportion the publisher proposes to reserve for himself. A sliding scale offers a certain kind of remedy. 3. The insertion of clauses in the agreement which would prevent the publisher from altering the book, transferring the book, or killing the book. 4. Provision for improved terms if the book becomes a success. And as a further security we should urge upon all authors of educational books to join the Society of Authors, and to sign no agreement without sending it to the secretary for revision. Notes on the Cases. The sub-committee appointed for considering the present condition of educational publishing have received and analysed a certain number of cases. Notes of the chief objections to the contracts and terms for publication investigated by them are epitomised below as follows :— ## p. 140 (#566) ############################################ 140 THE AUTHOR. Deferred Royalty. 1. The worst feature that one observes after tabulating the agreements is the deferred royalty. The author is induced by the bribe of a small sum, generally =£25, to accept an agreement by which he actually gives the publisher many thousand—say, seven to ten—copies for himself, should the book succeed! After this, the author is to have 10 or perhaps 15 per cent. Let us, remembering that even with books actually carry- ing great risk the publishers never used to venture on asking for more than half profits, consider what this means. Most of these works are small books, pub- lished at 2s. or 2s. 6d. It must be a very expen- sive little book that, offered at 2,v. 6r/., would cost more than 6d. to produce in a large edition of 6000, including advertising. This means an apparent risk of .£75. As for the cost of advertising, the sum of JE10 spent in advertising means no more than ?d. a volume for an edition of 6000. As educational books are published, the publisher gets about is. yl. a copy or gd. a copy profit, taking, oi course, an average book of the size and price under consideration. So that in, say, 6coo copies lie gains .£250, less what he advanced the author, say .£25. In fact, this agreement says, practically to the author: "Yours is the book: it is your pro- perty, your estate: if I administer it I must have for the first 6000 copies nine times your share. Afterwards, at a 10 per cent, royalty, I am to have three times your share." What is the way to put an end to the accept- ance of these one-sided terms? The first thing is to pour a flood of light upon the situation, so that everyone shall clearly understand it. After- wards to refuse the agreement on such terms, and to take the book elsewhere. Amount oj Royalties. 2. Ten per cent, used to be considered a very fair royalty. This means, however, that, with a large sale, the publisher generally gets about three times what he gives the author! Deferred Payments. 3. It is a commou practice to makeup accounts to Dec. 31, and not to pay till three, four, or six months later. This should not be consented to. It means at least three months' enjoyment of the author's money, which is more than enough. It has been contended that a large part, if not the whole, of a publisher's working expenses are frequently defrayed by this mode of with- holding money due to authors for six months or a whole year. For instance, if a publisher has to pay £25,000 a year to authors, and keeps it back for a year, there accrues to the house the sum of ,£2500 (reckoning a commercial interest of 10 per cent.) out of which to pay their clerks, accountants, and travellers. A clause in one agreement, for instance, states that accounts are to be made up once a year— say, June 30, and rendered to the author soon after that date; and the money due is to be paid on or bt-fore Dec. 31 of the same year. Therefore the account of June 30, 1896, includes all sales from June 30, 1895. The author, therefore, has none of the money due for the sales of July, 1895, until Dec. 1896. He is kept out of his money for eighteen mouths! The fact has ODly to be stated in order to show the monstrous nature of the thing. Small Sums Paid to Great Scholars. 4. There is a certain series of books, all of which have run into many thousands of copies. It will hardly be believed that the publishers have actually offered one of our greatest living scholars ,£35 and ,£40 respectively for the preparation aod editing of two books in this series! Arbitration Clause. 5. In one or two cases the appointment of an arbitrator in case of dispute is provided for, and this may frequently prove useful. But it is of the utmost importance to point out that an arbitrator after the agreement is signed is frequently quite unnecessary, because the dispute is generally as to the keeping of the agreement, which is a simple matter for a lawyer's letter. What is wanted is an arbitrator before the agreement is signed. We would suggest that the secretary of the Society of Authors should be called in to approve every agreement on behalf of the author, to meet the publisher's representatives if need be, and to procure a settlement by some conveyancing counsel, perfectly indifferent to both parties, in case of difference. Remainder Stoci. 6. In one of the cases before us the publisher binds himself not to sell off the remainder stock for a certain time. After that time he can, if he pleases, kill the book in favour of some other on the same subject by selling the remainder stock. The clause should contain a proviso that the remainder stock should not be sold unless with the author's consent. This consent would, of course, be given if the book were clearly dead. Binding Clauses. 7. The author frequently contracts not to write another book on the subject. We never find, however, the publisher entering into a similar ## p. 141 (#567) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. contract not to publish another book on the subject. It is essential that either both or neither of the parties to the contract should be bound by such a stipulation. Royalty Lowered. 8. There is often a clause about lowering the royalty in case of bringing out the book in America. Care must be taken that the lowering should be in proportion to the actual price paid by the public. Thus, in a 6s. book, a shilling on each copy is a shilling on 4s. 6d„ i.e., 22* per cent, on the pub- lished price. If the American edition is published at 75 cents, the corresponding American royalty should be 8d. Odd Copies. 9. In one case a publisher so far presumed upon the ignorance of his author as to insert a clause stating that for " odd copies " no royalty should be granted! In other words, if a book- seller ordered single copies of the work, the author was to have nothing. Rex ipsa loquitur. "13 as 12." 10. In some agreements the royalties have to be paid on the sale of "13 as 12." This means knocking off 8 per cent, from the author's profits, and, as the publisher does not sell 13 copies as 12, except in special cases where a batch is ordered, he must not account at this rate as if the practice were universal. A Good Agreement. 11. If a half profit system is ever a good system, then we have one good agreement in the following case actually before us: i. The author is provided with vouchers for every item of cost. ii. He is not charged with office expenses—both himself and the publisher paying his own. iii. The advertisements are detailed, with date and cost. iv. All the discounts are allowed in the account. v. It is a real bond fide, half profit system, with no secret profits, and everything fair and above board. vi. "Overs " are included in the account. This will be news to most of our readers. At any printing off of an edition the press runs on to make uptime. Extra numbers—called "overs" —are thus printed, and used to supply the place of spoiled copies. In the book before us there were in three editions seventy-eight " overs," the sale of which, supposing there were no spoiled copies, meant about ,£14. Never once in any publisher's account have we seen these " overs" entered and accounted for except in this. Sale of Copyright. 12. Perhaps the most unfair clause of these agreements is that which assigns the copyrights of the book to the publisher. The dangers behind this clause are unbounded. Above all things, an educational writer must keep the control of new editions. This he cannot do if the copyright is in the hands of his pub- lisher, nor can he prevent additions, alterations, and omissions to the book except by expensive lawsuits, which may, after all, go against him. Or the book might be transferred to some other house, where it would conflict with another book on the same subject. Such transfers are not unknown. Or the publishers might resolve not to re- edit the book in favour of a new one which might sell better. Right of Author to Re cdit. 13. One additional proviso should be added to the present notes. In a case where the author sells his copyright, a system of which the society gravely doubts the expediency, but which perhaps for some reason the author might desire to adopt, it is absolutely essential that the author should bind the publisher, in case a fresh edition is wanted, to give him the option to re-edit upon a fixed notice. The following clause appears in a publisher's agreement where he has purchased the copyright: The said author, in consideration of the payments and royalties reserved to him under this agreement, undertakes, as occasion may require, to edit new editions of the said work, and supply any new matter that may be necessary to bring- the information contained in the work up to date. This is very clumsily expressed. The author, so far as the words go, binds himself to re-edit, but the publisher, on the other hand, does not bind himself to ask the author to do so. If this be the proper construction of the clause, the author might find himself in the position of having his book re-edited by an incompetent hand with no redress. _.. II.—Alleged Infringement op Copyright. Metcalf v. Conway. A suit dealing with an alleged infringement of copyright was taken before the Chief Judge in Equity. The parties were Sydney Metcalf, plaintiff, and James Conway, defendant. Mr. F. J. M'Manamey (instructed by Messrs. Lane and Roberts) appeared for plaintiff, Mr. J. T. Lingen (instructed by Mr. W. H. Piggott) for defendant. In the statement made by plaintiff it was said that about the end of 18y6 the Public Service Board issued and published certain regulations in connection with certain competitive examiua- ## p. 142 (#568) ############################################ 142 THE AUTHOR. tions to be held by the Board, and also certain directions to be observed by candidates, together with instructions for the guidance of persons appointed to superintend at such examinations. In Feb., 1897, the plaintiff printed and pub- lished an original work of thirty-two pages, entitled "A Guide to the Public Service Com- petitive Examinations," which was duly registered in accordance with the Copyright Act of 1879. Plaintiff was sole proprietor of the copyright of this work. Defendant was editor and part pro- prietor of a certain periodical published monthly in Sydney, called the New South Wales Educa- tional Gazette. About April and May last defendant printed and published, in the issues of the Gazette for those months, certain paragraphs about the said examinations, which, in the arrangement of the matter, abridgement of the statements, and otherwise, consisted almost ex- clusively of extracts from the plaintiff's said work, with slight variations. No authority or permission had been given by plaintiff for the use of his work, or of extracts therefrom, to defen- dant, or any other person, on behalf of or con- nected with the said Gazette, and the use made of plaintiff's work in the said monthly numbers was an illegal and unauthorised infringement of plaintiff's rights, and plaintiff had sustained great damage thereby. It was asked by plaintiff that an amount be token of the profits made by defendant by the sale of the said monthly nuuibers, that the damages sustained by plaintiff by the sale of the said numbers be ascertained by the Court, that defendant be ordered to pay to the plaintiff the amount of such profits and damages, and that defendant be restrained from disposing of any copies of the Gazette containing any portion or extract from "The Guide to the Public Service Competitive Examinations." For the defence it was not admitted that the work printed and published by plaintiff was an original work, and it was denied that what had been publislnd by defendant was an illegal or unauthorised infringement of the plaintiff's alleged rights. Defendant also denied that plain- tiff had sustained any damage by the publication of the same, and said that the sale of the book ceased prior to such publication, and that his book had become obsolete owing to alterations of the regulations in the examinations. It was also said that the alleged paragraphs consisted only of a verbatim copy of the examination 2^apers, of which many hundred copies had been published and distributed by the Government, and were public property, before plaintiff printed them in his book, and that defendant was himself the possessor of a printed copy sent by the Govern- ment of every question published in his Gazette, and were the result of no independent work 011 the part of the plaintiff, and were the mere re-publication of information which was open to all the world to publish and obtain from the same source. After hearing lengthy argument, his Honour said there appeared to have been no infringement of any kind, and he was satisfied that the suit haxl failed. The suit would be dismissed with costs. —Sydney Daily Telegraph, Sept. 10. III.—The Berne Convention. The following is from Le Droit a"'Auteur • Ratification of the Additional Act and of the Interpretive Declaration of Mav 4, 1896. Sept. 9, 1897. Certain circumstances having rendered it im- possible to execute, within the period originally fixed, the exchange of the ratifications of the Additional Act of May 4, 1896, modifying articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 12, and 20 of the Convention of Sept. 9, 1886, and the Xos. 1 and 4 of the Final Prvtovol attached to it, as well as the Declaration interpretive of certain provisions of the Convention of Berne of Sept. 9, 1886, and of the Additional Act signed at Paris on May 4, 1896, it has been unanimously agreed that the period originally fixed should be extended to the present day. In consequence of which the imdersigned have met to sign and to deposit the present deed. Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Luxemburg, Monaco, Montenegro, Switzerland, and Tunis have ratified the two Acts. Great Britain has ratified only the Additional Act, both for the United Kingdom and for all the British Colonies and possessions. Norway has ratified ODly the Interpretive Declaration. The copies of these ratifications having been produced, and found to be in right and due form, have been placed in the hands of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic, for deposition in the archives of the Ministry, this deposition being in place of the exchange of the said Acts. (The date, Paris, Sept. 9, 1S97, and the signa- tures of the representatives of the various countries, follow.) The Droit a" Auteur adds the following interesting note: According to the fourth article of the Additional Act of May 4, 1896, this Act will come into force three months after the exchange of the ratifications by the ratifying countries— that is to say, in all countries of the Union, with the exception of Norway and Hayti. It accord- ## p. 143 (#569) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i43 ingly becomes law on Dec. 9, 1897. From that date it will form one whole with the Convention to which it is attached, so that it cannot be separ- ately denounced. The Interpretive Declaration becomes law as soon as it is ratified. It therefore applies to all countries of the Union, with the exception of Great Britain and Hayti, from Sept. 9, 1897. — ON BRINGING OUT A BOOE. I.—Do We Want a Publisher? 1. BEG to submit the following observations for the very serious consideration of readers: What does a publisher do for a book which could not be done by a clerk of intelligence suffi- cient to carry out a work of the most common routine? First; he arranges with the printer about the printing, with the papermaker about the paper, with the binder about the binding. These matters can be so adjusted that nothing is to be paid until the first returns of the book. It will be observed that experience makes the three arrange- ments perfectly easy and a mere matter of a few minutes. He then, before he decides on the number to be printed, subscribes the book in London as a kind of feeler or guide. He knows pretty well from the number thus taken how many will be taken by the country. The diffe- rence between the cost of production and the first subscription is the "risk" of a book. In the case of books attractive by their subject or by the reputation of their writers, it is needless to say that the risk is nil; that is to say, without counting money that may have been paid to the writer. The advertising follows. It needs very little intelligence to understand that very little advertising is wanted for a book which can have but a limited demand; and, still less to under- stand that it is quite useless to advertise in papers which either have a small circulation, or deal with subjects not concerned with that of the book in question. What else does a publisher do for a book? He has travellers who "push" it: that is to say, offer it to the trade, which is already ruined by taking books at prices which do not allow them to make a living profit on them. These things being so, why cannot authors recognise the fact that the publisher is no longer necessary, and that the present method of pub- lishing should be buried and regarded as a relic VOL. VIII. of bygone days when authors were few and the circulation of publications very limited? What is to-day required, if the pecuniary results of a book are to be apportioned justly to the source of production, is for all, great or com- paratively unknown, to create a publishing agency of their own, become their own pub- lishers, and dispense absolutely with the pub- lisher. To accomplish this would necessitate no colossal task, or present any insurmountable barrier. The only one principle of difficulty involved to some would be that every author must be liable for deferred payment on account of the first outlay in the production of his work. To do this it will be necessary for the agent to arrange for the printing and production in the author's name; he himself will not be personally liable for any expenditure. Otherwise his method of procedure would be exactly the same as that of the publisher. Of course, when a work has no marketable value, or is not appreciated by the public, no advantage would result, which is only natural, and would result in a loss under any circum- stances; but if there is any profit possible to be derived, it could be obtained under this system, when a heavy loss would be the only reward under present conditions; and an author would be recompensed up to the very hilt for his works, whereas now, even in the most favourable case, he is compelled to accept but a small proportion of the published price of his volumes. When the successful circulation of books on this system was achieved, it is obvious that the old methods would fall into complete disrepute and would be aban- doned. F. B. 11. On the above proposition— It may be objected that the agent would want a warehouse. But some publishers do not keep their books in a warehouse: they let them lie at the binder's till they are wanted: they are sent out by the binder. A few copies of each book would be sufficient. The details of management would be exactly the same in all respects as at present, save and except the very important—though essential— point that the selling price of the book would be divided between bookseller and author, the agent taking only his percentage. Let us see how this method would work with a book fairly successful. We take the 6». book—our most convenient unit. If 3000 copies were sold, the figures would come out approximately as follows: 1. The cost of production may be assumed tc- o ## p. 144 (#570) ############################################ 144 THE AUTHOR. be i«. with advertising. There is before me a publisher's account showing cost of production of 1750 copies—without advertising, q\d. a copy. 2. The trade price, covering carriage, might be 3*. id. 3. The agent's charge on all moneys received would be \2\ per cent. 4. The price paid by the public would be 4*. 6d. £ s. d. Cost of production at i*., wilh advertising 150 o o Agent's charge 60 18 9 For the author 276 11 3 487 10 o By 3000 copies at 3*. 3d 487 10 o So that the three persons concerned, the author, the bookseller, and the agent, would profit in the following proportion: Author, .£276 iii. 3<?., i.e., a royalty of is. io\d., or 31 per cent., a copy. Bookseller, £187 10s., i.e., a royalty of is. 3d., or 20 per cent., a copy. Agent, £60 18*. gd., i.e.,a royalty of 4}d., or 7 per cent., a copy. Of course, the bookseller could be " squeezed," so as to afford a still larger profit to the author; but he has been squeezed too much already. It is .greatly to the interests of the author that the trade should be treated with far greater liberality than has hitherto been the case. Take the more common case, however, where the book produced only sells about a thousand copies. How will the figures come out? There lies before me a publisher's bill in which the cost of producing 1750 copies is =£70, without advertising: £ t. d. Cost of production of 1750 copies... 70 o o Advertising 20 o o Agent 20 7 o Author 52 3 o 162 10 o By sale of 1000 at 3*. 3^ 162 10 o i.e.—Royalty to the author, is. a, copy. Royalty to the bookseller, i*. 3</. a copy. Royalty to the agent, 5J. a copy. But, it may be objected, by such a method the newcomer would have no chance. Has he much chance now? Under this method the newcomer would take the advice of the Society's reader before becoming liable: it must be remembered that the liability which interested persons always represent as the whole cost of production, is nothing but the difference between the cost of production and the Jirst subscription. This difference, when booksellers recognise the agency and understand what it means, would speedily vanish. In addition to the machinery advised by " F. B.," it is suggested that a small board, unpaid, of men and women of letters should decide what books should be taken by the agency. A business or publishing agency which admitted all books, good or bad, would very soon become a mere machinery for the production of any stuff for which the writer chose to pay. From the outset the agency must possess authority and command respect. Apart from the question of author and pub- lisher, the present methods of publishing are in many respects antiquated and mischievous. The method advocated is simple and easy. It could be started in a single day and perfected in a month, provided that a certain number—not a great many—of popular and successful writers would adopt the method. The figures given above are only tentative and approximate: in the case of writers having a very large circulation the authors' royalty would be, of course, much greater. This is only one answer to the question of " Do we want a Publisher?" The method proposed will sweep away the whole tribe of small publishers. There will remain, however, the solid houses. For instance, it is not conceivable that any body of scholars should of their own will unite in the production of an encyclopaedia; a dictionary of biography; a dictionary of antiquities; the estab- lishment of an illustrated magazine, or any series requiring thought, management, and care for arrangement and detail. These things require, first, the mind, which watches the requirements, demands, and fashions of the day; the organiser; the administrator. The method of publishing recommended by "F. B. " seems to me very good, and extremely simple. But it is not the only answer to the question. We do want a publisher, and must have a publisher, for vast fields of intellectual work which a publishing agency could only attack if it had a large reserve fund at its disposal. But for the contributor to the various departments of general literature a publishing agency, managed intelligently, would remove the whole of the fric- tion, suspicion, and jealousy which, it cannot be denied, now exists in the relations of author and publisher. W. B. II.—Another View. In the following paper is attempted a sober discussion of the relationship between authors and their public, eliminating on the one hand the ## p. 145 (#571) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 145 purely business speculations of large or small publishing houses, such as reprints, standard collections, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and so forth, and on the other hand all contentious questions as to what relation the Society of Authors, or other official body, shall bear or shall not bear toward facilitating the path of literary beginners. And to clear the ground, a few intro- ductory remarks on the function of the publisher are necessary. The function is twofold. It is that of entre- preneur—undertaker, as the economists say; it is also that of agent pure and simple. As entrepreneur the position of the publisher is not only unassailable, it is essential. In other words, this is the legitimate branch of the publishing business. In the production of a "series " or set of "lives," it is a mere matter of supply and demand, a speculation in which the publisher contracts for his literary wares according to the quality he desires, and purveys them to the pubbc. No one is compelled to do this class of work except at his own price, and if A.'s repute makes it essential that he and he only should be intrusted with any particular division of it, A.'s price has to be paid. If, on the other hand, anyone can do the thing, it falls into the class of literary unskilled labour, and is paid for accordingly. No amount of grumbling will ever alter this. In work of this kind the initiative belongs to the publisher, and he is accordingly and rightly master of the situation. In the second division of the publisher's func- tion, that of agent, the initiative belongs to the author, and therefore he, and he only, should have control. Now, the real mischief is that the pub- lisher always, the public generally, and the author often, allow the vast difference between these two very diverse functions of the publisher to drop out of sight. Add that few, we fear very few, literary people have the least idea of the most ordinary business transactions, and the spectacle of the publisher as autocrat need arouse no surprise. It is the working of this function that we propose to examine. Having defined the subject of our paper as dealing with books initiated by the author and written by him at his own proper charge, we arrive at the necessity for a fresh division of what is after all a very large subject. We have to consider (1) books written by authors of sufficient means to pay the real expense of printing and advertising them, and (2) books written by less fortunate authors who cannot bear any expenses whatever. There will be of course a few who are able to pay a certain sum towards cost of production, but for the purposes of the argument we will classify these VOL. VIII. under the second heading and treat them as (pro- ductively) insolvent. Let us consider the second category first. It is to be feared that for persons thus situated no drastic remedies can possibly be devised. Con- sider that almost everyone above a certain level is, in these days, capable of writing a book of some sort, just as everyone is able to daub a canvas, and set piano wires vibrating on some kind of preconcerted plan. It is the average talent that is thus seeking to perpetuate its existence. But it is unfortunately the average achievement that is of no earthly interest to any- body, and only those things can possibly attract attention which contain the element of progress, lifting us out of the old ruts on to the ridges, and permitting a new survey from that vantage ground. It is quite clear that the impecunious author must offer himself to the publisher—the publisher, be it remembered, operating in his first and legitimate function, the publisher as entrepreneur. And it is unfortunately equally clear that here the stern and inflexible maxims of commercial business will operate. In risky transactions the success- ful ones have to pay for the unsuccessful. That is no fault of the publisher. Were he a thing of iron and steel, a merepenny-in-the-slot mechanism, he could not be expected to give out more than he got in. And besides, the publisher works neither for hope nor glory—he wants dividends. There is little advantage to him if a book has high literary merit but lacks sale. Such things we believe have been known. He gains no renown. On the other hand, the author stands to profit largely by such a contretemps. Directly by kudos, indirectly possibly by work, which he would otherwise have lacked. We have desired to do justice to the publisher. It is to be feared many persons not only mix the two distinct functions we have referred to, but import into the question a very debateable and wholly foreign thing, viz., the desirability of pro- viding some kind of "foundation" whereby talented and deserving authors may have their first works subsidised. In the July Author, the letter of "E. W. H." furnishes us with an example of this. He wishes to see a most portentous phenomenon—an academy, a literary publishing company, limited, and a censorship pledged to "raise the tone of English literature —all in one. This is a large order. It is most desirable that all such schemes for stimulating the production of literature be left out of account in the discussion of the vexed question of the relations between Author and Publisher. It may be desirable to adopt the o 2 ## p. 146 (#572) ############################################ 146 THE AUTHOR. principle of the Prize Essay; it would be very feasible if only some philanthropic person would provide the funds; but it is utterly beside any question arising out of publishing considered as a serious business. We are, therefore, regretfully compelled to leave the unfledged author (with his pile of manuscript which he lacks means to put into print) diffidently seated in the awful presence of the Publisher operating as entrepreneur, and the best we can do for him—is to wish him success. • * » • # If we have hitherto been genially inclined towards the publisher, and have even mentioned the word "justice " in connection with his deeds, it is only because we have not yet considered the case of those authors able and willing to finance their own works, and requiring the publisher's assistance only in his second function—-that of agent. We may say at once that there appears to be in this direction room for sharp and drastic altera- tion of existing relationships. It is a very fundamental principle, not of pub- lishing only, but of most other things also, that "he who pays the piper has a right to call the tune." But when it conies to publishing books, it appears that the author is expected to pay and be thankful that the "house condescends to accept his money. This is no personal experience of our own; it is based upon facts accessible to everybody—the publications of the Society and the very interesting little histories they contain. Enough, however, of recrimination, which, though pleasant and helpful to the intellect, can easily be overdone, perhaps has already been overdone. The point is, what is the remedy? We will first collect the facts pertaining to the average production of a book, initiated by its author, and waiting in MS. form to be offered to the public. It will readily be allowed that the details of printing and binding are purely mechanical, and that the real crux of the problem is reached when the green and gold volumes stand in the printer's (or the binder's) warehouse at the disposal of the person who has paid for them. Those volumes have to gain the attention of the reviewers, and not only of the reviewers, but of the public; they have to be distributed through- out the kingdom, perhaps throughout the world, to the public; they have to be paid for by the public, and by more or less indirect channels the amount so paid has to be collected by the author. Not so simple a matter after all. It is manitlnit that the author, even were he willing, cannot hawk his own wares. He must, at every stage mentioned above, avail himself of the services of other persons, which services will have to be paid for. But the question at once suggests itself—shall he pay exorbitantly for those services; shall he, for the sake of those services, part with all right and control over his own property, or shall he establish a state of things by which those services shall bear a recog- nised and constant and modest market value, and himself be the sole person to benefit by any exceptional favour shown by the public to his work. In our opinion the author who is in a position to finance his own output has entire mastery of the situation, and is himself to blame if he allows others to make speculative profits to his detriment. He can effect this desirable change in one of two ways—by forming a healthy public opinion, by helping to establish a compact body of prece- dents, and thus entrench his position relatively to the existing publishing fraternity: in other words by consulting with and supporting the Society of Authors before and during every negotiation he undertakes, until the various ideals striven for have become matters of course, and this is perhaps, though the least heroic, the most obviously practical way; or he can originate or assist in originating a new organisation for reach- ing the public. By this we mean the establishment of a pub- lishing centre, whose business shall be entirely confined to publishing the works of its members at a fixed percentage on cost, or, more accurately, on receipts. Nothing whatever stands in the way of such an establishment. There is no mystery, no masonic secret in the art and craft of publishing that a competent man familiar with its ins and outs cannot be secured at a fair remuneration to undertake those details of business which, as we have said, no author can with any possibility, or at least with any regard to dignity, do for him- self? We speak, it is true, without knowledge of the inner life of publishing, but having had a somewhat varied experience of commercial affairs, it appears to us inconceivable that it should be unlike all other businesses, without energy and talent of management ready to be engaged by any holder of a sufficiently long purse. To deal a death-blow to the whole system of demands for transfer of copyrights, of exorbi- tant charges for printing, of inordinate and useless expenditure in advertising, is a very simple matter. It requires only a little courage. It requires only that a few, perhaps a very few, authors of repute shall countenance the forma- tion of a Trust on business lines, and shall con- ## p. 147 (#573) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. sent to serve on its committee or directorate, in the face of the world. There must be many persons, probably very many, who desire to publish their works at their own expense, could they be assured that the working of such a Publishing Centre would be above suspicion, and would, on the other hand, not be regarded as an eccentric and doubtfully "respectable " avenue of publicity. As a business speculation it would undoubtedly pay well. The records of the Society show that. There would be fewer victims. If no good were done, at least no harm would be done, to the interests of those who would have otherwise fallen into the clutches of the greedier type of publisher. But such an undertaking must be a business oue, ran on business lines. There must be no Utopian ideas about publishing works of genius by unknown writers. In fact, no risks whatever must be undertaken, either from the experienced or the unexperienced author. Such a Trust would not in any sense supersede or render superfluous the work of the Society. On the contrary, however eminent the sponsors, however experienced the management, the lynx- eye of the Society should watch over its proceed- ings with as zealous care as if it were a publisher strongly suspected of impending bankruptcy. The Society is and should remain a regulating agency, no suspicion of other motives (pace "E. W. H." and others) should be allowed for a moment to sully its 'scutcheon. As well the Royal Society start a manufactory of microscopes! We are advocating no impracticable system of "co-operation." Co-operation as applied to the selling of cheese and the wholesale handling of tea is a great success, but it is a co-operation of consumers and not of producers. Indeed, for our purpose it is not essential that the capital required be held by literary persons at all. It is only necessary that it be countenanced by them, and, broadly speaking, supervised by some of them. As a matter of business the organising of a publish- ing Trust on the lines indicated would not be a difficult undertaking if set about in something like the following way. Seven or more persons, being authors of repute, meet and mutually agree to form a public com- pany for the publication of their own and others' works. They draw up or adopt a prospectus setting forth the objects of the Trust, which they declare to be as follows:— (i) The engagement of a competent and expe- rienced manager, familiar with the publishing trade, to undertake the business management of the Trust's affairs. (2) The production, i.e., printing, binding, Ac., of the works of authors who are willing to pay in cash for the work done, such printing, &c.f to be given out by the Trust to competent tradesmen by tender in the usual way, and the cost price—the actual net cost price, free of all rebates, dis- counts, and allowances—charged against the author. (3) The advertising of the author's work on an estimated scale to be previously agreed on with him (with the same provision as to net cost and cash payments by the author). (4) The introduction to the retail trade and Press (by the usual recognised methods) of the author's work, the coat of such introduction being charged against the author as a fixed percentage on the transaction. (5) The collection of moneys and the crediting of same to the author. (6) The author to pay to the Trust a fixed per- centage on receipts for its services. (7) The stringent limitation of the Trust's business to the publishing of works whose authors are able to pay in advance for the work to be done, or furnish approved guarantees for the said payment. It should not be competent for the Trust to undertake any business whatever of a speculative character. Thus far for the Trust. It is clear that pro- vided a sufficient number of works be published through its agency, it would be a financial success. But in consideration of the special purpose of the organisation, and to exclude the speculative com- mercial spirit as far as may be from its councils, two useful principles might be worked into its constitution. It should not be competent for it to pay bonus or dividend exceeding, say, 7 per cent., nor to increase its management expenses beyond a certain percentage of turnover. And the author. How would he benefit? 1st, by retaining absolute control over his own productions; 2nd, by an increased revenue from his work. And the effect of this control and increased value would reach favourably over the whole field of literary work. Did he desire to sell outright, and realise at once the prospective profits, the market price of such a "deal" would be affected in his favour by the increase in average profits that would thus have come to him. Yet we believe that the financial is the least important side of the question. Literature would gain a new freedom and a new dignity by shaking off the shackles of commercialism that at present have it strongly in grip. Not only the strong and prosperous would benefit, but many would be lifted out of the ranks of dependents into that of masters of their own work. When this reform shall have been carried out ## p. 148 (#574) ############################################ 148 THE AUTHOR. it will bo time to consider the bitter cry of impecunious genius, and how best it can be assisted on to the ladder of fame. In this paper, already too long, the test of all theories, i.e., figures, cannot be gone into. In a future article, if the Editor is willing, the practical details of such a Trust can be threshed out. But it would be an interesting thing if those of the readers of The Author who would be prepared to support such an institution by publishing through it on the terms suggested would write to the Editor and say so. By this means the amount of support the scheme would receive may be tentatively gauged. We suggest that each reader of The Author ask himself this question: "Were a Trust instituted, the workings of which (freely open to the Society's inspection) tcere recognised to be abore suspicion, and whose entry into the icorld tcere to be countenanced by men of rejmtation, should I, in that case, be in a position to place my work in its hands, pay for the cost of production and advertising, and receive all the proceeds, less a percentage for the Trust's trouble." And when each reader has answered this question to his own satisfaction, let him embody that answer in a succinct phrase, and send it on a post-card to the Editor. N. C. NEW YORE LETTER. New York, Oct. 16. THE second volume of the " Literary History of the American Revolution" has just been published by the Putnams. Like the first volume, it gives a mass of information of the most interesting kind about the intellectual and artistic activities of our country at a time when it was most alive to real subjects. One who has any interest in the Revolution or in the origin of American literature should read the whole book; but if one were picking out the most salient poiuts he might call attention to Sam Adams, the character who counted for so much during his life, and was so much in the shade a little while after. Adams, although he wrote with correctness and distinction, had his greatest influence through the action of his mind on his contemporaries, but the historical tendency of the day is restoring him to his former im- portance. Tom Paine, the most remarkable pure journalist of the time, who seemed to voice the very feelings of the people from day to day, is another exceptionally interesting figure; and the poet Freneau, the first genuine poet of American democracy, stands out vividly. The production! of a certain number of dramatic works, both by the loyalists and by the Tories, is an enter- taining episode of the times. By the way, the most interesting dramatic success of the present season in this country, is that of Richard Mansfield in George Bernard Shaw's play of the American Revolution. Everybody goes to see it. and everybody comes away somewhat baffled. The general feeling is one of satisfac- tion, which promises that the drama will hold American interest for a long time. Of course^ the principal ideas in the play deal with human nature in its general aspects, but the two quali- ties of the American character, a love of praise for this country and a love of fair play, are so cleverly mixed up by Mr. Shaw with his alternate raps at the British and the Americans, that the- national element does count for something in the attractions of the play. As for Mr. Mansfield, it has always been something of a puzzle to many of his admirers that there seems to be no more interest in him in England than there is. Nobody in America can compete with him along his line of subtle critical characterisation, and the general feeling of dramatic experts that he is the first American actor in rank—at least if an exception be made of Joe Jefferson, who is so near the end of his career—is founded on a good deal of undoubted truth. In connection with this subject of patriotism, an interesting occurrence of the last few weeks may be mentioned. Three English poets were to be put among a list of names in the new Con- gressional Library at Washington, and the large Irish societies of this country fought hard to have Tom Moore among them. He was finally excluded upon the the ground that he once made a bitter attack on Thomas Jefferson. Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. have on their list of fall books some essays by Charles William Eliot, the President of Harvard University, who writes about American affairs, especially in their educa- tional, sociological, and political aspects, with the- authority of long and careful observation, in a. strong and simple style. Another Harvard pro- duction of interest, to the specialist at least, is a new edition, in five volumes, of Professor Child's great ten-volume work on English ballads. A limited edition of the last volume is to be pub- lished by itself in gorgeous form. The new firm of Doubleday and McChire has. started a device which seems to bring the pub- lishing business still nearer daily journalism. Upon the temporary paper cover of some of their books is printed a synopsis of the contents, intended to let the casual wanderer in the book- store decide whether he cares to purchase the ## p. 149 (#575) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 149 work. Most of our newspapers now publish serial stories, in which each chapter is preceded by an abstract of everything that has gone before. McClure and Munsey in their new book-pub- lishing ventures, as well as in their magazines, illustrate the truth of Mr. Steffen's article, referred to in my last letter; they have jumped for a vacant field. Munsey goes frankly for the greatest number, without any pretence of refine- ment—in fact, with a rather aggressive declara- tion that he does not want to be coloured by any literary tastes. The McClure Company, on the other hand, are trying to give the people as much literary quality as they can without reducing their sales. At the other end of the gamut in periodical literature stands the Atlantic Monthly, which, in its last number, celebrated its fortieth anniversary, and declared that it should stand hereafter, as it has stood in the past, for literature pure and simple, and no considerations would turn it from that path. The new venture in England, Literature, is looked upon with much interest here, but the business man's point of view—that is the point of view of the practical publisher or business manager—is that the magazine is entering a field in which in this country the Nation is impregnable. The Nation, which stands as high here as anything of the kind could, not only treats literature in much the indiscriminating and severe way which Mr. Traill promises, but has the additional appeal of political interest: yet its circulation is less than ten thousand, mainly in the colleges, libraries, and clubs. There could not be a more distinct issue than that which is presented to-day between the temptation to this kind of success and those larger possibilities which lie in an appeal to the common people. It is by no means true that the most cultivated persons are all on the side of the exclusive and severe kind of criticism. One reviewer in New York, of very high standing as a professor of English, has recently sarcastically dismissed the Atlantic Monthly from very serious considera- tion, on the ground that literature was so much smaller than life. He much prefers Harper's and the Century and Scribncr's, which aim at the heart of the Philistine. It seems to me, however, that the representative quality of these publica- tions is lacking in vital interest. If you are going to mirror the interests of the people in- discriminately, a daily newspaper is a more faithful engine, and I for one do not see what the magazine of 300,000 circulation is worth as a half-way step between the newspaper and real literature. Mr. Bret Harte in an article this month makes a point which might seem in conflict with this position, but of course is not; for to put into real literary form what should have a strong and lasting interest for the simple man is an entirely different matter, and one of the highest objects that a writer can aim at. Mr. Harte says: "We may wish him to know of what our hero is thinking—he only cares for what he is doing; we may—more fatal error !—wish him to know of what we are thinking—and he calmly skips! We may scatter the flowers of our fancy in his way; like the old fox hunter in the story, he only hates 'them stinkin' vi'lets' that lead him off the scent we have started. Action! Movement! He only seeks these, until the climax is 'run down,'" The Saturday Berieic,s attack on Bret Harte, in which he was charged with carelessness and insincerity, opens an interesting question which is far from decided; but whether Mr. Harte has reached the end of his gamut or not, he has left American literature something that few writers of his generation can equal. The most popular books during the last summer have in them some rather interest- ing facts. It will be seen that the Am>-rican literary jingo has some reason for satisfac- tion, as American books occupy so much larger place than those of any other country. The old wail about the English novelist having two fields and the American novelist only one has been raised again, the writer saying that Mark Twain, Mary Wilkins, and Bret Harte, with perhaps two or three others, are the only Americans known in England; but the demand for fiction about local subjects is so strong here now, that if any writer does not get a good circulation for a story, it simply means that he has not been equal to the thousand untaken opportunities offered by the present American conditions. This writer, by the way, says that the royalties in this country average from ten to twenty per cent. The assets of the firm of Stone and Kimball are in the hands of the sheriff. It should be noticed that this firm is really Mr. Kimball's, Mr. Stone having set up his own firm of H. S. Stone and Co. in Chicago some time ago, and being extremely solvent. The question about the importation of books which has been raised here is set at rest by the following official answer from Washington to a private letter: "In reply to your letter of the 27th inst., I have to state that a book printed in a foreign language, with the exception of the title-page and the preface, is not exempt from duty, such book not being printed exclusively in a language other than English, as prescribed in paragraph 502 of the Act of July 24, 1897." Norman Hapqood. ## p. 150 (#576) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. ATTENTION is very earnestly invited to the report of the sub-committee appointed to consider the question of educational publications. Headers are especially entreated to place their report in the nands of educa- tional writers, and the latter are urged to place themselves in the hands of the secre- tary, and to submit to him a statement of their own agreements and their results. The report has been prepared after a long and careful investigation into all the facts that could be obtained. The committee will be very grateful for any additional information. This branch of literature is, from a business point of view, the most important of any. It rests with educational writers themselves whether they will follow up the lines of action indicated in the report. They may reckon upon every assistance possible from the committee. . The first number—by this time, the second number—of Literature is in everybody's hands, and is under discussion everywhere among those who write and those who read. The importance, to the former class, of a paper wholly devoted to literature and t-qual to its responsibility cannot be overrated, while to the greater class of those who read, such a paper ought to prove of inestimable value as a guide and counsellor. There is a third class: those who write reviews. For this class, which contains a great number of persons absolutely incompetent to write, criticism simply means not even a question of liking a book or not, but a chance of saying something smart. They know no canons: they have no standards: they are ignorant of the subject on which they write: a few of them are absolutely untruthful. If, for instance, one of the latter tribe reads these lines, he will be impelled to sit down and say that I call all reviewers ignorant and incompetent. That is the kind of falsehood which he always delights to write down. I am in hopes that this new paper, which has time to prepare its judgments, and can confide the work to competent hands, will act as a model and a standard, and will put a stop to some at least of the slipshod, spiteful and inaccu- rate stuff which we have to read in some papers. A leading article—the first by Mr. Augustine Birrell—on some literary subject: reviews and criticisms: a poem—this time by Mr. Rudyard Kipling: and the bibliography of some subject: this is the table of contents of Literature. For my own part, I am sorry to see no space devoted to correspondence. I am always of opinion that correspondence is a most important part of English journalism. In America there is little or none. By means of correspondence the world hears the opinion of specialists: the writers on the staff have the subject presented to them from every point of view: the judgment of the paper is deferred until it has been so presented: the paper is kept in touch with its readers. Where there is no correspondence, there must be authority: if there is no authority, the paper is naught. The old Saturday Review, for instance, had no corre- spondence. Its influence, therefore, was measured by the authority it commanded: the belief in the wisdom of an anonymous staff. Great as that authority at one time undoubtedly was, the paper never got the same hold of its readers as the Spectator with its columns of correspondence. It is from the letters in the Times—letters on all possible subjects, letters written by the greatest authorities and specialists—that its readers are mostly instructed; and, of course, the same thing must be said of other papers. Literature may do well as an anonymous, in- dependent organ, with an amount of authority, like that of the Saturday, measured by the general belief in the capacity and the integrity of the staff. On the other hand, the interests of literature are many: opinions vary on all kinds of points: will the paper be silent on these points? Consider the variety of topics always coming before our own paper, which takes charge of one side of literature only—what certain interested persons call the sordid side. There are the group of questions connected with copyright: trans- lation: magazines: play writing: novel writing: education: lectures: the various methods of pub- lishing: what is meant by royalties: the tricks and traps of the crafty: how to meet the tricks, and avoid the traps—one could go on for columns. If so much has to be said on the business side of literature, there will be as much on the purely literary side. For instance, there are the relations of editor and author: these want a great deal more examination and discussion than they have received. That is only one point. The rela- tions of literature to the public libraries: the distribution and dissemination of books: the introduction of standards: the share that poetry ought to take in education and reading—there are a thousand subjects of the deepest interest. Let us hope that in time the new paper may take the lead, with authority, in considering these and all other questions which affect the welfare of Literature and her followers. No anecdote in the Memoir of Tennyson has been more quoted than Mr. Aubrey de Vere's story of the three ## p. 151 (#577) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. judgments on Bums delivered to himself in the course of a single day by judges no leBS eminent than Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Sir Henry Taylor, and their amusing mutual oontradiotoriness. Tennyson forgave " those stupid things, Burns's serious pieces," for the sake of the exquisite songs, perfect as a berry, radiant as a dewdrop. Wordsworth forgave " those foolish little amatory songs " for the sake of his " Berious efforts, suoh as ' The Cotter's Saturday Night.'" To Sir Henry Taylor both songs and serious efforts wero alike tedious and disagreeable reading. We venture to suggest that gentlemen like Sir Walter Besant, who are scandalised because all the reviewers do not agree about a new book, should ponder the moral of this story. These three oritios, at all events, were not men who had failed. Why, indeed, more uniformity should be demanded in literary oritioism than in philosophy, politios, and religion, one cannot quite see, especially as questions of taste are proverbially disputable. The above paragraph is taken from the St. James's Gazette of Oct. 23. Surely the conclu- sion to be drawn is not that drawn by the writer. He presents us with three critics contradicting each other. Now, a man may be a very fine poet and a very bad critic. Of these three, two were poets of the first rank: one a poet of a much lower rank. What are the poems of which they spoke? They are written in one branch of the many Scottish dialects—I believe I am right in thinking that the country people of the east of Scotland speak a tongue that is in many respects different from that of the west. However, they are in a dialect of which about 20 per cent, of the words have to be explained in a footnote for English readers. Is there any other reason wanted to account for the fact that three English readers have arrived at three different conclusions? If the three readers had taken the pains to master the language, they would not have arrived at conclusions so contradic- tory. I am quite sure that one to whom the Burns language has been familiar from childhood reads his verse with a joy and an appreciation which cannot be felt by one who has to "look out" the words. That is the true moral of the story. The writer says that "these three critics, at all events, were not men who had failed." The true critic, the man who brings to his work learning, reading, and canons of criticism; who is quick to appreciate; slow to depreciate; and abhors the criticaster's tricks, is never a man who has failed. Quite the contrary: he is a man who has succeeded. Again, true criticism is not a question of taste. And it is impossible—perfectly impossible—for a book to be charged by two critics with possessing qualities absolutely opposite. And the chief reason why criticism is so bad, and judgments so irreconcil- able, is that criticism is regarded as a " question of taste." It is very much to be desired that one of the very few living masters of criticism would VOL VIII. give the world such a treatise on the subject as would convince some of the young gentlemen who tackle literature with so light a heart that there is very much more in the "Gay Science" than the question of how they like a book—or the author. One reason why I welcome the new venture is the hope that Literature will become an example and a model of what modern criticism should be. And I beg the above-named young gentlemen to resist the temptation—I own it is strong—to abuse me for saying that there is no criticism in our papers. Because that would not be true. The real critic, one must add, is careful not to misrepresent, not to overstate, never to set down, in a word, a thing which is not true. I should like to call attention to what seems to me a new dodge, and one that ought to be put down at the outset. An unknown person sends to a man or woman of letters a request for an answer to some question—it matters not of what nature, frivolous or ostensibly serious. He requests that the answer mav be written on an inclosed card and forwarded to him The question is always something in general terms, on the face of it made up for the purpose, and evidently invented to cover the dodge of getting a large number of signed opinions out of persons more or less popular for some private purpose of the writer. I believe in some cases it means only autographs which may be after- wards sold; in other cases it means an album of opinions which may afterwards be sold. In some cases it may mean only a collection of opinions or autographs for private use. I venture to recommend that recipients of these documents put them at once, and without replying, into the wastepaper basket. The bookstalls along the quays of France— the quays of the "other" side, are going to be swept away, This is very sad. How many delightful mornings and afternoons have we all spent among those boxes where the books were laid out to catch the eye of the purchaser! How many retired professors, dilapidated scholars, and eager book-hunters will lose the principal occu- pation of their lives! Where will they go, the secondhand—the third and fourth hand—book- sellers? I fear we cannot invite them over here, otherwise the Thames Embankment cries aloud for the booksellers' boxes, but so far cries in vain. oio There seems to be a feeling in the minds of many that they ought to put on a show of indig- nation at what is called selling literature by the thousand words. The imagination is called upon p ## p. 152 (#578) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. to create the effigies of an author counting his words and running up the value by the introduc- tion of a thousand words here and a thousand there. It is all part, they mournfully declare, of the spirit of sordid greed which has seized upon writers of all kinds, and especially writers of fiction. The indignation iB entirely wasted, for the simple reason that it is the publisher or the editor who speaks of MSS. as of so many thousand words, not the author at all, unless it is put to him in that way. The question of length is always, and must always be, of very great impor- tance to publisher or editor. In the case of a book the main thing to find out before a pub- lisher finally decides to bring it out, is the length it will make. He used to measure the length by sheets, and now, in some cases at least, he measures it by the thousand words. In the case of an article for a magazine, it is still more neces- sary to ascertain the length, because a magazine can only afford so many pages for the paper. Now, many writers, unpractised writers, have no knowledge at all of the connection between printed sheets and written sheets. It is, however perfectly easy for anyone to understand that his page of writing makes so many words, and that there are so many words in a page of the maga- zine. So that there is nothing sordid at all about an author counting his words, but, on the contrary, the action is necessary and a part of the business of literary work. Do the indignant moralists mean that a writer is to set down his thoughts, or to spin his story, without the least reference to the form in which it is to appear? But there is another side to the question. The writer is paid, they say, by the thousand words. Formerly he was paid by the sheet, and in the last century a guinea a sheet was the common rate of pay. Twenty years ago he was paid by the page—generally a pound a page; he is still paid by the page by some of the magazines, by others he is paid by the thousand words. I can- not, for the life of me, understand what it matters. For instance, I was invited some time ago to contribute to the pages of the Illustrated London News a story which should run three months. The editor meant, and he knew that I meant, written instalments, each varying in length from 6000 to 7000 words. He was not going to count the words, nor was I, because I knew very well how many pages of my writing, more or less, without actual counting, would be wanted. I mean that I was allowed just so much space, more or less, as would not reduce me to the necessity of counting. Another personal experience. I was invited to write a story by another editor, who said, simply, "I want it about so many thousand words." Again, he is not going to count the words, nor am I. Now, I ask what difference it makes whether, as in the one case, the editor wants so many instalments, and says so: or whether, as in the other case, the editor wants so many thousand words, and says so. Oh! but it is sordid to sell by the space. Is it? Then it is sordid for a barrister to take a larger fee for a long case than a short case. It is sordid for a doctor to charge by the visit. It is sordid i to be paid by the column: by the page: by the sheet. It is sordid, in fact, to be paid at all. And this old assumption is at the bottom of the whole talk. It is sordid to be paid at all. _____ This silly prejudice is a survival of the old feeling that it does not become a gentleman to take money for anything except rents first, and official salary next. Lord Lyttelton inarches into Dodsley's shop and presents him with his "Life of Henry II." Horace Walpole despises the author who is paid. Lord Byron, at first, is ashamed of taking money. Therefore we are to be ashamed of taking money, though we live by our pens: we are to talk about sordidness of authors' gains, while we grab at every farthing we can get. There was a pretence, formerly, that every lady drove out to a dinner party in her own carriage: nobody owned to a cab. There was formerly a pretence that no gentleman could carry anything in his hand: nobody would own to not having a man servant. There was formerly a pretence that it was degrading to write for the press: nobody would own to such a practice. These pretences are gone off to the distaut past: they are almost invisible. Is it not time to leave off talking about the sordidness of looking after our own affairs? To be sure the prejudice has so far retreated that it lingers now almost altogether among those whose affairs are not worth looking after. There is no one so keen to the necessity of preserving literature from any taint of commercialism as those who by no possible efforts of their own can bring their writings within the domain of commerciahsm. Some months ago I called attention in these columns to a very dastardly outrage committed upon Mr. Robert Sherard. Some person unknown, he complained, had been amusing himself with writing letters in his name, that is to say, pre- tending to be signed by him, to editors and pro- prietors of papers, abusing and threatening violence. This annoyance ceased for a time, and has again commenced. The manager of a certain ## p. 153 (#579) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. newspaper syndicate has written to Mr. Sherard expostulating with him on a letter " from him" addressed to editors of papers in the North of England, and the editor of the Referee has received a letter signed "Robert Sherard" threatening to horsewhip him. The only way to meet a practice such as the above is a warning advertised extensively, with the offer of a reward. The poet who flatters himself that he has erected a monument more lasting than brass, may be reminded that his monument is made of paper, and that the paper now used is warranted to crumble to dust within a certain very limited period. The authority for this terrible warning is Mr. MacAlister, the hon. secretary of the Library Association, who curdled the blood of his hearers at the meeting of Oct. 20 by this fearful announcement. The paper used by the publishers and proprietors of the journals of to-day is made chiefly of sawdust: dust it is, and unto dust it will return. Imagine the whole of the Victorian literature vanishing, say, in five or ten years' time! Picture the despair of the immortal bard who sees, in his own lifetime, the destruction of his immortality! Think of the Keeper of Printed Books, when he discovers that the miles upon miles of Victorian books have all become, like the dolls, stuffed with nothing but sawdust: the life and spirit and breath of them gone! Nothing left but the bindings, and these in a condition so dilapidated as to have even their titles illegible. Where, then, will be the name and fame of our poets, essayists, and novelists? Who will be able to give reasons for his admiration of Tennyson or his worship of Browning? Mr. MacAlister says that he has written to the leading publishers, and that " most of them had frankly acknowledged that the paper used would not last, but complained that the modern craze for cheap, but at the same time highly- finished, papers was to blame." This is a grave charge, but it does not appear who the persons are who are affected by the craze. Certainly not the public, because they do not get their books any cheaper: the tendency is in the opposite direction. Certainly not the authors, who cannot desire to witness the reduction of their works to sawdust. There remain the publishers, who are thus accused of so great a craze for producing cheaply, that they put forth shoddy wares for sale which will only last a few years. Had anybody in this Society brought such a charge against publishers there would have been an outcry. Publishers, we should have been told, are beyond all suspicion of desiring to produce cheaply. Since the charge is brought by "leading publishers" we can only recommend it to the consideration of the Pub- lishers' Association. It will, no doubt, be re- ferred to a sub-committee for inquiry, and mag- nanimity in the matter of paper will be insisted upon. Meantime Mr. MacAlister proposed the following resolution:— "(1) That the Copyright Act should be amended by the addition of a clause stipulating that books sent to the copyright libraries should be printed upon a paper of approved specifica- tion. (2) That the libraries of the country should notify publishers that they would not in future purchase books unless the paper used came up to a certain normal standard. (3) That a committee should be appointed to consider the whole question, and to take such action as seemed to them most desirable." On this subject a good many suggestions occur. Thus, a first edition, or the whole demand for a twelvemonth or for five years, might be printed on paper certain to return to its original sawdust within a certain period—say, ten years. If any demand exists for the book after five years, then a new edition would be issued on durable paper. In this way the "crazed" publisher would be able to gratify his yearning after cheap produc- tion; the people who buy the book and never wish to read it again would be happy in feeling that it was sure to become extinct of its own accord, when its place on their shelves could be swept up; and the poet who saw him- self doomed to popular oblivion, just as much as if he had been a cheesemonger, would console himself by remembering that his rivals, the bad poets, would, like him, be plunged in Lethe. Charming verses will be written on tho Common Lot. How many books, do you think, survive the first five years? Look at the lists in the Athenmum of twenty years ago. Five years is a very long life, far beyond the average; a book which could put in a claim for durable paper would bo a veteran, tried and proved, a popular favourite—good for another ten years, perhaps for twenty, even for fifty. The death of Mrs. Katharine Hodges, at the age of sixty-nine, took place a few days ago at. Chicago. The name probably conveys very little meaning to most of our readers. Some, however, may remember how in one of the " rooms "—or inclosures—in the Women's Huilding at the Chicago Exhibition, Mrs. Hodges, an elderly lady, sat at a table covered with papers, ami welcomed, all day long, a stream of visitors to whom she distributed her papers ami told her tide and the tale of others. Her ease was tho tule of her treatment by a certain firm, of American pub- ## p. 154 (#580) ############################################ »54 THE AUTHOR. lishers. I do not know what effect was produced upon the business of that firm by the disclosures of Mrs. Hodges, or whether that firm ever answered her charges: in this country an answer would have to be forthcoming, or the result would certainly be damaging to the business of the firm concerned. However, there is no doubt that many thousands of visitors left the Exhibition with the belief that Mrs. Hodges was a greatly injured person. After this courageous act, which took up her whole time while the Exhibition remained open, Mrs. Hodges founded an asso- ciation, called the American Authors' Protective Publishing Company. This company has pub- lished several works, but I am not able to ascertain how far it has proved successful in enabling American writers to do without a publisher. Mrs. Hodges was the author of several books: among them, a " History of Colorado," a " History of New York," "Fifty Years a Queen," and the "Life of Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher." She was also a journalist of considerable repute. I first met her at the Chicago Exhibition, when her personality greatly impressed me for its earnest- ness and directness. She was not punishing or persecuting a publisher; she was maintaining a principle, the same principle, in fact, that we ourselves advocate continually: that the commer- cial side of literature must be governed by the same rules as obtain in all other kinds of business, so that to charge as expenditure what has not been expended is neither more nor less than common theft, and to trade upon the ignorance of an author is the part of a horse-coper or a thimblerigger, and should be considered as such by all honest people. Nor was she afraid, even in the States—where to fight a case in court is even worse, if possible, than it is here—to bring or defend an action, and to give evidence herself. She was, in a word, a brave and true and loyal woman. One who knew her well writes to me: "She worked to the last, with all her noble heart, for all that could tend towards helping writers, especially struggling journalists While she loved America, she never forgot her birthplace "—she was born in Kent—" nor her Queen, as her lost labour bears eloquent witness." Her "lost labour" was the book called "Fifty Years a Queen," which, if I remember aright, provided the subject for one of her circulars. I have spoken above of the educational sub- committee. Another sub-committee is now sitting to consider the question of book-selling general, and the discount system especially. As this is a subject which deeply interests all readers of this journal, I venture to suggest that if any of them have suggestions to make, or opinions to offer, or facta to contribute, they should without any delay communicate with the Secretary. The most important points are: (i) the probable effect of raising the price of a 6*. book from 4s. 6d. to 5*.; (2) the effect of "net " prices instead of a discount allowance for cash; (3) the expediency of allowing publishers the complete control of the whole book trade; (4) the effect of making book- sellers the mere servants of publishers; and (5) the interference with free trade. The following cutting has been sent to me. It is taken from the Middlesex and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries :— Lamb's Neglected Grave.—For long past it has been my custom to visit, onoe a year, Edmonton Churchyard, and to view the resting-place of Charles Lamb. The quotation "lies apart from the great city" is no longer applicable to Lamb's resting-place, for London has now orept up to Edmonton and surrounded it; and as for his grave, only those who know it well can succeed in finding it, surrounded and overtowered as it is by other graves. Its condition, when found, is not satisfactory, and something should be done to put it into, at least, decent order. A drawing of the grave and the monument was presented some years ago to the Authors' Society by Mr. Robert Bateraan, from a sketch made by himself. It hangs in the Secretary's office. I do not know how much it would take to keep the grave in order, but it would surely be a fitting thing for the Society to undertake this little tribute of gratitude and affection for the best loved of all English men of letters. I would suggest that someone should visit the place, ascertain what is wanted, and form a little committee for the purpose of getting a small fund and carrying out the work. I shall be very glad to receive any offers of assistance. It is not, of course, posssible for the Committee to expend their funds on this object, but, if we can get up a little committee among the members, we might submit the scheme to the Committee of the Society for their approval. Walter Besant. THE DIGNITY OP AUTHORSHIP. THE Spectator (Oct. 16, 1897) has been in- dulging itself, and pleasing its readers, with a really good old-fashioned grumble over the decay of the times, especially with regard to the "dignity of authorship." Formerly no author was allowed to put his name to what he wrote: he was expected to take humbly what- ever was given him. That gave him dignity, you see. "Mr. Blackwood," says the writer, ## p. 155 (#581) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. •55 "expressly stated" — expressly is good — that although he made a principle " of giving prompt and liberal payment for whatever he published, he never would hold out money as the induce- ment to any man of ability to write." The author had only to accept what was tossed him with the gratitude which became his professional dignity. We understand that it is the dignity of a servant to accept whatever wages the master may offer. This, however, is now changed: "the author now employs the publisher." So low has his dignity sunk that he has now become an employer. Nay, more, "any of the dozen well-established novelists can sell his work years before a line is written. He contracts to furnish at such a date so many thousand words at so much per thousand. Nothing is specified as to the quality." Quite so. Pray, at what period in history was anything ever said about " quality" to a " well-established " novelist ?" There must be so many thousand words, which can be sold to the world as authentic John Smith." Well—but if they are authentic, why not? Should they be sold as " authentic " Dickens when they are John Smith? People want to read the John Smith whom they know and love, not auother anony- mous John Smith whom they do not know or love. The writer next laments that a magazine no longer commands the respect of the public on its own merits: this surely is not the fault of good writers, because a magazine entirely written by good writers would command enormous respect. The English magazine of the present day is falling into decay because it is not written entirely, or for the greater part, by good writers. Again, " the modern author writes for posterity, and bitter is his complaint if the editor should attempt to alter a line of his inspired effusion." Does the modern author really write for posterity? Surely, with examples as thick as autumnal leaves falling all round him, of writers once popular dropping into rapid oblivion, the modern author cannot expect immortality. Anthony Trollope, Lytton, George Eliot, are but seldom called for at the libraries; even Dickens and Thackeray are reported to be falling into neglect: Reade and Wilkie Collins are remem- bered by two or three books each: and that •m mortal work — what was it ? — of which so many hundreds of thousands were circulated three or four years ago—where is it now? No. One cannot l)elieve that the modern author writes for posterity. That he resents an editor's emendations, is quite another matter. It is part of the miserable decay of his dignity that he should not allow anyone to improve him. "The editor's rule is being rapidly reduced to one of acceptance or rejection." Not quite. There are magazines of which this cannot be said— may we mention the Nineteenth Century, the Contemporary, the Pall Mall, with some of the lighter ones whose editors are always planning and contriving in advance? There are, it is true, some of which the charge is true, but these are not the successful magazines. "The only things which influence popular opinion seriously are the anonymous journals." Is that really so? Then what of papers contributed by men who write on their own subjects? Could the writer seriously contend that a paper by a great man of science on his own subject—signed, say, by Professor Ray Lankester — would command less respect than an anonymous column in the Spectator? The writer sums up—the paper should be called "In Defence of the Anonymous," not "The Dignity of Authorship " :—" In the real reward of thought or dialectic vigour in magazine work, which is the power to influence other minds, they "—the modern writers—" are far worse off than were the gentlemen who, with not inferior talents, consented to sink their own personality in the collective unity of some organised and disciplined body of opinion. Free-lances may be very fine fellows, but it is drilled soldiers who win battles." The writer starts on one line and goes off on another. It is quite true that anonymous writing in an organ of repute may command very great authority and influence. The influence of the Spectator itself is a case in point. But the drilled soldiers may be good officers. If they are not only good officers, but known to the out- side world as such, they will command more influence by writing signed articles than by writing anonymously. That seems elementary. To return to the question of dignity. The decay of dignity is shown by the use of the new standard of measurement—words by the thousand instead of words by the page or words by the sheet. In the imagination of the writer, the man of letters is now laboriously counting his words, putting on a few or taking off a few. This is pure ignorance. The new standard is in fact a much more elastic way than the old one, as is stated elsewhere (p. 152). The alleged decay of dignity is therefore proved by the servile meanness of the author, who refuses any longer to take just what the great and magnanimous publisher chooses to toss him; and it is illustrated by the fact that he now employs the publisher instead of being employed by him! No wonder we live in a time of general decadence. Literature will never become great and grand and noble again till we return to the arched back and the bending knees. ## p. 156 (#582) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. THE AUTUMN LISTS. THE following table of new books of the season has been compiled from the Publishers' Circular of Oct. 2. The table includes new editions as well as new books. The total number is 1941. In the classification fiction heads the list. It is needless, however, to point out that a great many under this heading are merely trifling little tales for children, or for school presents. Perhaps 120 may be subtracted on this ground as not being of general interest. When the new editions have also been subtracted there will remain about 250 books calling themselves new novels, and inviting the public to read them. Of other kinds the large number of classical, mathematical, scientific, and historical books mean niainlv educational books. Of children's books there are 178, but to this number must be added the stories already indicated published by the religious societies. Poetry seems to be slowly advancing—year after year. We may look forward to a time when the people will demand poetry as they now demand fiction. Essays are in small demand. There are two or three writers who are favourites in this branch but reputation for essay writing is extremely difficult to achieve. We note, of course, year after year, the in- creasing number of publishers. There are now sixty-five on the list. It is beginning, in fact, to be found out that publishing is about the best business going. We may expect to see this list more than doubled in a very short time. George Allen William Andrews Edward Arnold B. T. Batsford George Bell and Sons Bemrose and Sons Black, A. and C Blaokie and Son Blackwood and Sons Bliss, Sands, and Co James Bowden Burns and Oates Cambridge University Press Cassell and Co W. and B. Chambers Chapman and Hall Chatto and Windus Church Monthly J. and A. Churchill Clarendon Press T. and T. Clark James Clarke and Co Cotton Press J. M. Dent Gardner, Darton and Co. .. H. Grevel and Co Griffith, Farran, Browne W. Heinemann Hodder and Stoughton Home Words A. D. Innes Lawrence and Bnllen Crosby Lockwood and Son Longmans, Green Sampson Low, Marston Mocmillon and Co John Macqneen Methaon and Co National Society i heological. Mathematics. History and Biography. rcbitectnre. a g hildron s Books. 1 1 :ientific. S.s ED oetry. iction. oi I el ! S3 3 « 1 1 B ! i S 00 +j H 0 03 w PM P ■3 a J y 03 I 3 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 4 18 I 1 6 2 2 12 I 3 4 1 4 1 4 2 20 11 1 2 8 1 i 16 3 3 1 2 4 3 1 1 2 38 2 2 1 2 1 1 9 I 2 1 3 5 2 5 "9 2 4 12 1 8 27 3 18 5 11 4 I 6 2 4 54 5 1 6 2 6 1 1 2 1 25 3 1 2 5 1 1 13 7 1 3 11 23 '7 9 12 13 2 8 2 1 5 92 8 4 2 11 9 I 1 23 2 3 7 2 1 74 1 1 2 6 S 15 3 2 2 I 4 6 2 3 3 2 28 3 1 1 7 I 3 49 1 3 1 70 1 1 11 • 2 11 ■7 21 1 2 5 6 1 9 1 1 64 11 1 12 4 1 1 1 6 1 5 17 4 1 7 IS 1 1 7 3 2 2 2 33 8 2 4 1 1 6 2 6 3 1 10 1 30 8 1 »5 23 4 2 10 I 4 29 3 2 56 21 3 1 16 3 1 45 6 5 11 2 3 2 3 4 28 1 1 1 1 5 1 3 6 1 1 7 27 11 10 9 4 1 10 5 6 7 1 7 2 9 61 3 7 1 12 10 I 18 2 3 57 7 12 •9 13 3 «7 1 4 '7 93 1" 7 7 4 11 2 1 20 12 1 3 1 s ## p. 157 (#583) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 157 T. Nelson and Sons J. C. Nimmo Ernest Nister David Nutt Oliphant, Anderson S. W. Partridge C.A. Pearson G. Philip and Son G. P. Putnam's Sons ... George Redway L. Reeve and Co Religious Tract Society Grant Richards Messrs. Rivington G. Rontledge and Sons Walter Scott Seeley and Co Service and Paton Skeffington and Son ... Smith, Elder, and Co. S.P.C.K Swan Sonnenschein ... W. Thacker and Co. ... Univ. C. C. Press T. Fisher Unwin Ward, Look, and Co. ... P. Warno and Co Theological. Classical. Mathematics. Scientific. History and Biography. Architecture. Letters and Reminiscences. Children's Books. Literature. | Poetry. Fiction. oi § 4ci *5 0 Sports. Total. GO a Art. a 2 K 17 9 28 1 2 1 3 1 8 14 14 4 13 2 4 7 S 3 3 40 5 3 2 2 2 1 '5 4 1 6 1 29 12 53 1 '5 16 1 II 1 I 1 "5 1 6 S 2 17 I 4 2 5 1 1 45 1 4 1 8 3 4 1 3 1 2 1 30 6 6 6 1 S 26 5 43 1 2 1 2 1 4 2 1 2 16 9 2 2 6 I 1 7 28 1 2 2 1 2 7 I 16 1 1 1 1 6 1 11 1 1 3 1 1 7 4 1 «3 1 >9 7 8 '5 5 6 6 2 6 2 1 1 29 9 3 3 18 3 36 2 2 3 32 14 2 4 1 6 66 3 1 2 4 1 11 «3 S 2 7 2 8 37 2 4 13 4 "4 7 5 49 1 3 I 1 IS '4 35 3 2 4 2 9 ~i 20 3 43 221 181 54 214 243 20 86 506 23 31 3 7' 178 45 48 1941 THE TENNYSON BIOGRAPHY.* THE biography of Lord Tennyson was pub- lished on Oct. 6, the fifth anniversary of his death. As Tennyson's letters to Arthur Hallain—" A. H. H." of these volumes—were destroyed by Hallam's father, the world now gets practically everything that can be looked for in respect of the life and letters of the late Poet- Laureate. Many fragmentary poems are pub- lished for the first time in the biography. The work lias had a distinguished reception every- where, and the Queen—to whom the Memoir is dedicated with a hitherto unpublished version of the lines to Her Majesty written in 1851 For, tho' the faults be thick as dust In vaoant chambers, I can trust. —has congratulated Lord Tennyson upon the success of his accomplishment. Personal recol- lections by Mr. F. T. Palgrave, Jowett, Tyndall, the Duke of Argyll, Mr. Aubrey de Vere, and others, are included in the woi'k. * " Alfred, Lord Tennyson. A Memoir." By his Son (Hallam, Lord Tennyson). (London: Macmillan and Co.) The main facts of the late Poet-Laureate's life are well known; a notice in The Author may therefore be concerned lather with the rich anecdotal character of the Memoir. Tennyson and the Critics. The reception of his first volume of poems was so unsympathetic that he was inclined to take up residence in Jersey or the South of Prance, or Italy. He was "very sensitive," writes Jowett of Tennyson, "and had an honest hatred of being gossiped about. He called the malignant critics and chatterers 'mosquitoes.' He never felt any pleasure at praise (except from his friends), but he felt a great pain at the injustice of censure." He wrote to James Spedding in 1835 as follows:—" John Heath writes me word that Mill is going to review me in a new magazine, to be called the London Review, and favourably; but it is the last thing I wish for, and I would that you or some other who may be friends of Mill would hint as much to him. I do not wish to be dragged forward again in any shape before the reading public at present, par- ticularly on the score of my old poems, most of ## p. 158 (#584) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. which I have so corrected (particularly 'CEnone ') as to make them much less imperfect, which you who are a wise man would own if you had the corrections. I may very possibly send you these some time." Aid after being persuaded by Mr. Gladstone to accept the peerage, he was eager "as soon as possible to get over the dis- agreeable results of the newspaper comments and abuse." This side of Tennyson is well illus- trated by the following anecdote he related about 1883 to Mr. Gladstone :—" I heard of an old lady the other day to whom all the great men of her time had written. When Froude's 'Carlyle' came out, she rushed up to her room, and to an old chest there wherein she kept their letters, and flung them into the fire. 'They were written to me,' she said,' not to the public!' and she set her chimney on fire, and her children and grand- children ran in—'The chimney's on fire!' 'Never mind !' she said, and went on burning. I should hke to raise an altar to that old lady, and burn incense upon it." The Author's Notes. A valuable part of the Memoir is the series of Tennyson's notes on his poems. "The coming of Arthur," we are told, " is on the night of the New Year; when he is wedded 'the world is white with May'; on a summer night the vision of the Holy Grail appears; and the 'Last Tournament' is in 'yellowing autumn-tide.' Guinevere flees through the mists of autumn, and Arthur's death takes place at midnight in midwinter." Some of the other notes are the following :— "In Memoriam."—It must be remembered that this is a poem, not an actual biography. It is founded on our friendship, on the engagement of Arthur 'Hallam to my sister, on his sudden death at Vienna just before the time fixed for their marriage, and on his burial at Clevedon Church. The poem concludes with the marriage of my youngest sister, Cecilia. It was meant to be a kind of "Divina Commedia," ending with happiness. The sections were written at many different plaoes, and as the phases of our intercourse came to memory and suggested them. I did not write them with any view of weaving them into a whole, or for publication, until I found that I had written bo many. The different moods of sorrow as in a drama are dramatically given, and my conviction that fear, doubts, and suffering will find answer and relief only through Faith in a God of Love. "I " is not always the author speaking of himself, but the voice of the human race speaking through him. After the death of A. H. H. the divisions of the poem are made by First Xmas Eve (section xxviii.), Second Xmas (lxxviii.), Third Xmas Eve (civ. and cv., eto.). "The Northern Farmer."—Kodon Noel oalls these two poems "photographs," but they are imaginative. The first is founded on the dying words of a farm bailiff, as reported to me by a great-unole of mine when verging upon eighty — " God A'mighty little knows what He's about, a'taking me. An' Squire will be so mad an' all." I conjec- tured the man from that one saying. The "Farmer, new style" (in " The Holy Grail " volume), is likewise founded on a bingle sentence, "When I canters my 'erse along the ramper (highway) I 'ears proputty, pro- putty, proputty." I had been told that a rich farmer in our neighbourhood was in the habit of saying this. I never saw the man, and know no more of him. It was also reported of the wife of this worthy that, when she entered the mile A manger of a sea bathing plaee, she slapt her pockets and said, "When I married I brought him .£5000 on each shoulder." Here is a specimen of his studies for his finished work :— (Babbicombe.) Like serpent coils upon the deep. (Torquay.) As the little thrift Trembles in perilous plaoes o'er the deep. (From the Old Bed Sandstone.) As a stony spring Blocks its own issue (tho' it makes a fresh one of oourse). (Fowey.) A cow drinking from a trough on the hillside. The netted beams of light played on the wrinkles of her throat. No Biography in "Locksley Hall." Replying to the writer of a book who had assumed that "Locksley Hall" was autobio- graphical, Tennyson said :—" I must object, and strongly, to the statement in your preface that / am the hero in either poem. I never had a cousin Henry; 'Locksley Hall' is an entirely imagina- tive edifice. My grandsons are little boys. T am not even white-headed; I never had a grey hair in my head. The whole thing is a dramatic im- personation, but I find in almost all modern criticism this absurd tendency to personalities. Some of my thought may come out in the poem, but am I therefore the hero. There is not one touch of biography in it from beginning to end." Jowett on Tennyson. Carlyle described Tennyson as "one of the finest looking men in the world." "I do not. meet in these late decades such company over a pipe!" Here is his picture by the late Master of Balliol:—" He was a magnificent man, who stood before you in his native refinement and strength. The unconventionality of his manners was in keeping with the originality of his figure. He would sometimes say nothing, or a word or two only, to the stranger who approached him out of shyness. He would sometimes come into the drawing-room reading a book. At other times, especially to ladies, he was singularly gracious and benevolent. . . . His repertory of stories was perfectly inexhaustible. . . . In the commonest conversation he showed himself a man of genius." Froude's Tribute. Of his happy married life ("The peace of God came into my life before the alter when I married her," he said); of his correspondence with the Queen; of his'intimacy with Browning, ## p. 159 (#585) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i59 Thackeray, Dickens, Douglas Jerrold, Coventry Patinore, Edward Fitzgerald, William Allingham, George Eliot, with Bossetti and William Morris, and of many other relationships; of his admira- tion of Scott as having the finest imagination since Shakespeare; of his belief in the genius of Burns—his visit to Alloway Kirk, he owned, was the most treasured incident of an early journey through Scotland; and of his intense love for Shakespeare—of all these the volumes contain record. We may take leave of the biography here with quoting a letter written by the late Mr. J. A. Froude to the present Lord Tennyson: I owe to your father the first serious reflections upon life and the nature of it which have followed me for more than fifty years. The same voice speaks to me now as I come near ray own end, from beyond the bar. Of the early poem°, " Love and Death " had the deepest effect upon me. The same thought is in the last lines of the last poems which we shall ever have from him. Your father, in my estimate, stands, and will stand, far away by the side of Shakespeare above all other English poetB, with this relative superiority even to Shakespeare, that he speaks the thoughts and speaks to the perplexities and misgivings of his own age. lie was born at the fit time, before the world had grown inflated with the vanity of Progress, and there was still an atmosphere in which such a soul oould grow. There will be 110 such others for many a long age. THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION - PRESIDEN- TIAL ADDRESS. (Pro-a the Timet of Oct. 21.) THE Library Association, which was founded in 1877, began on the 20th Oct. its twentieth annual meeting in the rooms of the Society of Arts. The retiring president is Mr. Alderman Harry Rawson, and his successor in the chair is Mr. Henry Richard Tedder, of the Athenaeum Club. There were present Dr. Garnett, Keeper of Printed Books, British Museum, who introduced the new president to the meeting; Mr. J. Y. W. MacAlister, the hon. sec.; Mr. Douthwaite, of Gray's-inn; Mr. Charles Welch, of the Guildhall Library; Mr. Sidney Webb, Mr. Cyril Davenport, of the British Museum, and many others. Twenty Years' Progress. In the course of his address the President, after a brief reference to the great conference which took place in July last, said that he rejoiced to see present of the twenty-two members of the committee which organised the conference of 1877, Dr. Garnett, Mr. Douthwaite, and Mr. Wheatley. Of the others he was sorry to say only five remained. At the commence- ment the association professed that "its main object shall be to unite all persons engaged or interested in library work for the purpose of pro- moting the best possible administration of exist- ing libraries and the formation of new libraries where desirable. It shall also aim at the encouragement of bibliographical research." Before 1877 the British and American librarian had no means of exchanging experience with his fellows—no journal, no organisation. Among their publications were the handsome volumes of reports of their earlier meetings. Many regretted their disappearance. Their first attempt in the way of a journal was Monthly Notes, a modest and in many respects an adequate organ. Then came the more spacious pages of the Library Chronicle, edited by E. C. Thomas, a name ever to be remembered with affectionate regret. This was followed by the Library, for which they were indebted to Mr. MacAlister. The "Year Book" was a useful work, which at least ought to keep to its name. The "Library Association Series" contained some extremely helpful little treitises, which were not yet superseded by more ambitious attempts. As to growth in numbers, they began with a roll of 140; it was now about 550. Librarians were upon the eve of a great alteration in their position. They hoped shortly to be recognised by the State as belonging to one of the organised and professional classes. The council's report told them that a charter of incorporation would probably soon be granted by the Privy Council. In 1877 their roll included 217 names. In July last they numbered about 600 members, about seventy or eighty of whom came from America. Others were present from France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Japan. He congratulated the association on the twenty- first number of the Library Journal, and among other publications of interest and importance to them were the catalogue of the "Bibliotheque Nationale," two volumes of Dr. Garnett's series; Mr. Ogle's and Mr. Burgoyne's interesting volumes, Mr. Pollard's "Bibliographia," and the British Museum catalogue of Shakespeare literature. Private Book-Collecting. As to modern private book-collecting, as he was addressing lovers of old and curious books and fine manuscripts, as well as librarians, the private collector as a factor in the formation of the public library should not be forgotten. It was not till the middle of the eighteenth century that book-collectors thought of prizing the dramatic and poetic literature of old England. One of the men who valued Caxtons as litonture ## p. 160 (#586) ############################################ i6o Ulh AblHOll. was Stanesby Alchorne (died 1800), whose hooks were incorporated in Lord Spencer's library in 1813. 'Another was Sir John Fenn, who may be bracketed with the bibliographers Ames and Herbert, as a discoverer of old English dramatic and poetic literature. Next after him came the Duke of Roxburghe (died 1804), really the first who attached their due importance to the innumerable volumes and pamphlets in which English writers from 1400 to 1630 were lying neglected. This was the main feature of his col- lection, which was a very large one (30,000 volumes), and comprised several valuable manu- scripts of the old Anglo-French romances of the Round Table, which belonged as much to the literature of England as to that of France, and some books more decidedly foreign, including the famous Boccaccio of 1471. About the same period Michael Wodhull was collecting the books of the early presses, while the Rev. Mr. Crofts, Colonel Stanley, and "Don " Bowie were paying attention to old Spanish literature. Italian books had been for more than two centuries a favourite secondary pursuit with all English collectors, and it still maintained its vogue. William Roscoe kept up the tradition in a more special form, and it was not until the middle of the present century, or a little later, that Italian books began to decline in interest. The great Lord Spencer came into the field in the last decade of the eighteenth century, and spent over forty years in the accumulation of his marvellous library. The late Lord Ashburnham was of similar type, but his interest in books comprised a wider circle. The earliest traces of intellectual exercise were sought in MSS., the more ancient the more esteemed, while Morris cared little for MSS., except as examples of ornamental art during the twelfth to the fourteenth century. Lord Ash- burnham prized them for their contents, and, being also keenly alive to beauty, did not limit his appreciation of decorative MSS. to any par- ticular period. It was a remarkable test of his shrewdness and knowledge that he bought for £8000, over the heads of the British Museum authorities, the Stowe MSS., which the present earl a few years ago sold to the English Govern- ment for ,£45,000. The first of the great modern book sales was that of the library of Henry Perkins, dispersed in 1873, which was formed between 1820 and 1840. It consisted of only 865 numbers, but realised =£26,000. It included two copies of the Mazarine Bible—one (,£2680) on paper, now in the Huth Library, one (.£3400) on vellum, at one time in Lord Ashburnham's possession. Sir William Tite's library was large (about 15,000 volumes), and brought ,£20,000, and the sale was the second of the great modern book auctions, that is, of those in which a marked change in the prices of books began. It was formed bet ween 1835 and 1865, and was sold in 1874. It contained rare books which had passed through the Roxburghe, George Daniel, and other sales, Shakespeare quartos, English Bibles, in- cluding a Tyndall's "Pentateuch" of 1530-31, a blockbook " Apocalypse," and some Caxtons. The Beckford collection, of which the final sale took place thirteen years ago, was even then a marvel- lous gathering of books in all departments, except the purely English. The Duke of Hamilton's library, so far as printed books were concerned, was somewhat in the style of Beckford's-—general in character, but dashed with a by no means too prominent Scottish tinge. It was in the main gathered between 1780 and i860. The most striking books were the 1481 "Dante," with all the engravings, and the copy of Boyce's "Scottish History," printed on vellum for James V. The MSS. were, however, of matchless excellence, and unfortunately for the greater part secured by the Berlin Royal Museum. Amongst them were the celebrated "Dante" drawings by Botti- celli, and some glorious Italian illuminated works of the period of 1490-1510, besides a number of rare volumes from Burgundian and Rhenish monasteries in the eighth and ninth centuries, There was also the superbest volume of "Latin Gospels," written on purple vellum in letters of gold, in the eighth century, which had belonged to Henry VIII., but this came back to England in 1887 with several other MSS., which the Berlin authorities unwillingly sold to make up the purchase money of the whole collection. It is now in America. He next referred to the Thorold and the Osterly collec- tions. The late Earl of Crawford achieved the rare distinction of creating a library perfect in balance and completeness, representative of all branches of literature, art, and science, including the most modern books, as well as the finest examples of early typography and priceless MSS. in all languages and of all periods. The Librarian op To-Day. The first president, Mr. Winter Jones, gave in his conference address a remarkable general view of the whole field of librarianship. In twenty years the subject had become too extensive to be treated in the same manner, but he would venture to place before them a certain standard of excel- lence to which the librarian should aspire. It was rarely the lot of man to attain even a limited mastership in any calling, but it was within the compass of all to follow, even at a distance, in the footsteps of such a noble example of pro- fessional ardour and technical excellence as Brad- ## p. 161 (#587) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. shaw bequeathed. No two libraries were exactly alike. No two University libraries, no two scientific libraries, no two rate-supported libraries had precisely the same income, appealed to pre- cisely the same public, were organised in precisely the same manner; and the qualifications of their respective librarians must also vary in as many ways. But the main qualifications were:—i. A good general education and a knowledge of several languages and literatures. 2. Next, pro- fessional training, kept up by converse with fellow- workers. 3. The study of bibliography was of paramount importance, and nothing was more absurd than to think that it could only concern rare, old, and curious books. Every printed volume in a library demanded full and exact description, and the contents of each book must be noted for the purpose of classification. 4. Love of books and reading. To the librarian reading was a duty, perhaps his first duty. He was not only the guardian of books, but had a higher office as a humble apostle of light and learning. In Milton's stately phrase, they should be " Enflamed with the study of learning' and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages." THE WISDOM OF 1772. (From "Joineriana," 1772). To The Author. WRITE not to the million, but to the under- standing few—so shall praise, in pro- portion to what you have merited, crown your endeavour. Invent not idle tales—more to seduce the heart than mend the morals. Be well assured your tale can do no harm, and promises much good. Write not for hire—that's pitiful, for the most part swelling vast volumes seldom to any profit save the bookseller's. Write not for the sake of applause, but for the sake of truth. On Books. Books, like friends, should bo few and well chosen. Books change their fashion, almost as much as apparel. There is nothing from which humanity derives so much honour. The greatest monuments of men are letters— they are not only the foundation of all, but they outlive all other. Books, to judicious ^compilers, are useful—to particular arts and professions absolutely neces- sary, to men of real science, they are tools—but more are tools to them. The Bookseller. He is generally a bad judge of everything—but his slupidity shines most conspicuously in that particular branch of knowledge by which he is to get his bread. Yet he takes upon him to cater both for the learned and unlearned, and, by the help of his bookmaker, provides plentiful messes of literature of all sorts—olios, fricassee and hashes without number and without taste. In other words, he is a cook without a pxlate. Yet the fate of the living author, in these abused and hard times, depends much upon the- caprice of this tasteless confectioner. On Literary Property. The property being once conveyed, whole and entire, from the author, for what is called a valuable consideration to the bookseller, he, the said bookseller, has an unquestionable right thereafter to multiply copies of the same after any form and manner as to his good liking shall seem best, for his own particular benefit and emolument, neither shall any have licence to utter, vend, print, pirate, abridge, hash, fritter part or parcel thereof, without the concurrence of him, the said purchaser. It is become a part of his freehold—and so I understand it to be accounted in every country in Europe—the Imperial, Royal, Ducal, or State privileges amounting to no less. He may sell, let; lease, mortgage the whole or any part thereof; he may convey in trust, give outright, devise by will. In case of any mis- fortune to himself, it becomes the property of his creditors. In the purchase thereof he hazarded a considerable part of their substance as well as his own, and it now devolves to them to make good deficiencies. But it seems it bears no title, at best an imaginary one. To the right owner, by purchase, whom it cost a thousand pounds, it is not worth a thousand pence; but to the thief, who stole it, knowing it to be another's property (there being no Law to hang such thieves) it has been worth far more than the first purchase. This appears to be a matter of some moment, upon several accounts, and, sooner or later, we hope will be thought an object worthy the atten- tion of the Legislature. I need say no more upon this head—much has been said upon it, within these few years, in the Courts of Chancery and King's Bench—but nothing has been effectually done, save that not ## p. 162 (#588) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. only the usual but even enormous fees (too much in use of late, and advancing every Term) have been expended. At present the matter of literary property scarce amounts to any property at all, and leaves the case of authors a lamentable case indeed. For disappoint them of their booksellers and they are undone. Cry down the only market for literature, where shall they sell their ware':' Spoil them of the only patrons which modish folly and a dissipated age have left, what must become of them? They will no longer be able to wait upon ministers and managers in clean shirts and hose! Ragged and darned ones they have been contented to put up with a long while. But you would not, surely, reduce them once more to the painful necessity of hawking their histories and singing their ballads through the streets. THE HISTORICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY. THE Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the Rev. Dr. Magrath, Provost of Queen's, entertained at dinner on Oct. 12, in the hall of Queen's College, Dr. Murray, Mr. Henry Bradley, and others who have helped in the production of the Historical English Dic- tionary. Dr. Murray, in reply to the toast of the even- ing, gave a resumd of the work in which he was ■engaged, quoting the efforts of lexicographers of centuries ago. It was not until 1857, when Dr. 'Trench read his papers on the deficiencies of the English dictionaries and recommended the Philo- logical Society to make an effort to redress them, that the Dean and Dr. Furnivall and others took the work in hand; but Hartley Coleridge died before the letter A was completed. From that time, through various societies, dictionary work had gone on, but the interest in it fell off; and when he joined the Philological Society the move- ment had almost come to an end. In 1875 he received an offer for an effort to make a dictionary. Negotiations followed, and ultimately the Claren- don Press undertook the present work. New quotations by the million were sent in from all parts, and in 1882 began the serious work of making the dictionary. Three years later he .gave up his school work and came to Oxford; and since then, with the help of his assistants •and contributors, the work had been hastened in the Scriptorium. One of their most serious ■difficulties was to know what words should be put in and what should not. With regard to the ■time at which the dictionary would be finished, he saw it was stated that it would be finished about the year 1918. By a simple rule of pro- portion which he had worked out his estimate was that it would be finished about 1910; and with the additional strength that the delegates might perhaps give he saw no reason why it should not be finished by the year 1908.—Times. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—" Literature." IOBSERVE with great satisfaction that two important new departures in the conduct of periodicals will be taken in the newest of them, "Literature," of which I have just read the prospectus. They are: (1) Books sent, but not reviewed, will be at the disposal of the publishers for two months. (2) Books if reviewed at all will be reviewed within not much more than three weeks from being received. The first-named is one which I have before now advocated in The Author, and the example of " Literature" will, I hope, be followed by other periodicals. The Athenaeum, to my knowledge, has at least once returned an expensive unre- viewed book on the ground that it was "not in their way," but I believe the almost universal practice is for the proprietors of periodicals to sell for their own benefit all books received for review, whether reviewed or not and whether expensive or not. Surely this practice should be checked, if not discontinued. I have heard of cases in which the books are destroyed, but have not been able to verify them. It is also stated in the prospectus of " Litera- ture " that the price of all books sent for review will be stated, but I do not gather that it will be stated in the review itself, as should, I submit, be universally the case, but is, I believe, done in the Literary World and Bookman alone. The mention of the price in the review itself is not only a great convenience to readers generally—who fre- quently fail to find the book of their choice for the moment amongst a crowd of advertisements— but must also greatly assist the sale of a book. Oct. 12. ^ e J. M. Lelt. II.—The Effect of Reviews. Is it a logical conclusion that, because a very large number of a new work has been taken immediately on publication, hostile reviews have not injured the sale, as maintained in The Author (page 121)? How is it known that twice as many copies would not have been disposed of if ## p. 163 (#589) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. favourable notices had appeared in the place of those that were adverse? And, since people buy the books before they have made themselves acquainted with their contents, how can the large sale show the approval of the public taste? I suppose that a desire to be able to join in discussions upon the latest production induces many to buy it, but who knows how many private purchasers in the end regret having spent their money and time over the work so far as their own entertainment in its perusal is concerned. Many, perhaps, would prefer that reviewers should not go further than giving information about a work, pointing out the author's errors as to fact, &c. Too often a reviewer uses a book as a peg on which to hang his own views for public inspection, whilst he adopts an ex cathedra style which is not pleasant, nor justified by his own superior abilities. F. R. [The above note contains three points. To the first the answer seems plain. In the case of a book by an unknown writer it is impossible to say how the circulation is affected by a hostile review. In the case of a known writer, when it is found that in spite of hostility the demand is as great as, or greater than, that of previous books by the same writer, the conclusion is, surely, that the reviewers' opinions have had no weight. The second point is that people do not buy books by unknown writers unless they are recom- mended to do so by their own friends after read- ing. All the persons who have been consulted on this point agree that such recommendation is the chief cause that makes a book to "go." The third point shows that the writer himself pays no regard to a critical opinion on any book. He says that many would prefer a mere "account" of a book. Well, so far as the public is con- cerned, that would, perhaps, be quite enough, but that would not be criticism, and there are still many who desire not to suppress criticism, but to lift criticism out of the fields of log-rolling, personal animosity, and office boy's work into which it has fallen in some of our organs.—Ed.] III.—Novelist r. Reviewer. I have read with considerable interest your allusion, in the October number of The Autlwr, to my article on " Novelist v. Reviewer," which appeared in the August number of the New Century Review. Will you forgive me for sug- gesting that your remarks miss entirely the main point of my argument? You quote a passage in which I say that " no critic would wilfully defame a good book," but in your comments on this you lose sight altogether of that most important word wilfully. I have, in my article, given reasons for the proposition advanced, and I still fail to see how these reasons admit of logical refutation. In speaking of critics, my article was, of course, meant to refer to those only who are com- petent to form an opinion of value upon the works they criticise. Many criticisms, and more especially those appearing in local newspapers, are written not by critics but by reporters, who are obviously in eVery way unfitted to act in a critical capacity. I entirely agree with you when you say that a critic should be a scholar; but I think his education should be conducted more or less with a view to that special branch of critical work which he proposes to undertake. Heaven forbid that reviews of novels should be written by a mere scholiast, a man almost invariably pedantic and ignorant of the world. The cntic should be essentially broad-minded. One should have read at least a thousand novels and five hundred miscellaneous books before beginning to review a single work of fiction. And the thousand novels should not be merely skimmed; each should be read with an eye to its technical construction, its style, and its psychology. You attribute to me the assumption that novelists are the sole traducers of the critics. This was certainly not my intention. I merely considered the case of the novelists as being the most common, and of greatest general interest. Again, you deny that the attacking force com- prises those only whose work has failed to win favourable reviews. But I never asserted that it was so. I simply remarked that it was from this class that the attacks "almost invariably 'r emanated. As a general rule it certainly is the adversely criticised authors who start the battle, but others may join in afterwards. Before closing this letter, I should like to emphasise one point which, it seems to me, has attracted less attention than it deserves. It is that critical notices are in so few instances written at the best moment for writing them. I believe it is a very common practice to write a review immediately after reading the book to be reviewed This I venture to think is too soon: one's opinions of a book should have time duly to allocate themselves, to find their proper level. Personally, I never—if I can possibly avoid so doing—review a book on the same day that I read it, and I never defer the writing of a review more than three days after reading the book. If this system be methodically pursued, there need be no diminution in the amonnt of work accom- plished, and the result is infinitely more satis- factory. Finally, may I suggest that the three great duties of a critic to himself are: to culti- vate the analytic faculty, to pay great attention ## p. 164 (#590) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. to literary style, and to observe with care all that goes on in the world around him? It is by ■doing his duty to himself that a critic will best be able to do his duty to the public. Cecil J. Mead Allen. The Cedars, Exeter, Oct. 12. IV.—Editob and Contributor. I notice, periodically, in The Author, com- plaints as to editors retaining for many months MSS. offered for consideration, and then return- ing them as unsuitable without a word of apology. In the October issue "Hard Worker" complains of this practice. I have not yet seen any letters referring to the other side of the question, and as I think we ought to be perfectly fair in our dealings with the long-suffering editor, perhaps you will allow me to say that my short experi- ence has been the direct opposite. For the past three years I have been bom- barding editors with MSS., and am not able to charge any one of them with discourtesy or with unduly retaining a MS. Perhaps I may specially refer to To-Day, Chapman's, and Answers, as being most con- siderate to a totally unknown writer, returning MSS. within a few weeks if unsuitable, and promptly paying for those accepted; so that in this last important particular my experience does not coincide with that of " M.," who writes to you in the same issue, In one case where Answers had kept a MS. a long while a letter of apology came with it, and on my mentioning (in my reply) the length of time it had been kept, a further letter came with a request that I would send it back so that it might be made use of. Of course, I have had numbers of MSS. refused, that goes without saying; but I do not expect unreasonable things from such heavily-burdened fellow creatures as popular editors must be. I think, if writers would send in nothing but type-written matter, and be careful that their full name and address appeared upon each, and if stamps were affixed to each article or story for return if unsuitable, it would make our unfortunate editors' lives less a burden to them, and ensure for us more prompt attention. Fancy having to wade through and decide upon all the short stories which a popular magazine receives! _____ Alan Oscar. V.—Stamps for MSS. going Abroad. I observe that a correspondent of The Author wants to know where unused foreign stamps can be procured for the purpose of prepaying the postage of MSS. despatched to, and liable to be returned from, the United States or other distant lands. All the big stamp merchants have such stamps in stock, and they may also be bought at most of the offices at which foreign money is exchanged. The window of one such office, close to Charing Cross Station, is plastered with such stamps. Francis Gubble. VI.—The Right op Reply. A question interesting to authors, critics, and editors, but especially interesting to editors, comes on early next month for decision by a French tribunal. It involves a no less important matter than the right of reply. M. Dubout, a dramatic author, recently produced a play which was not a success. M. Jules Lemaitre, who does the theatrical criticism for the Revue des Deux Maudes, explained in that periodical why M. Dubout's "Fredcgonde" was a failure. The explanation was unsatisfactory to M. Dubout, and he claimed the right to reply to it. Now, French law is somewhat peculiar in the matter of this right. It gives it to any person whatsoever who, not having manifestly put himself out of court, may consider himself disparagingly referred to in a public print. And, further, it gives such per- son the right to have his reply inserted in the print inculpated to the extent of double the num- ber of lines employed upon the disparagement. By virtue of this law, M. Dubout claimed the right of replying to M. Lemaitre, to the fullest extent, in the Revue. M. Brunetiere, the editor, refused to insert his reply. Hence, an action at law. If M. Dubout wins, as he confidently expects, some very curious complications must necessarily follow.—Pall Mall Gazette. BOOE TALE- MISS BETHAM-EDWARDS has edited "The Autobiography of Arthur Young, with Selections from His Correspond- ence." In this volume, of which Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. are the publishers, many letters of eminent persons will be given for the first time, and will, it is expected, be an interesting and valuable addition to the history of the last forty years or so of the eighteenth century and the first twenty of the nineteenth. Two portraits of the famous traveller and two views will illustrate the work. A book on the "British Post Office," written by a member of the administrative staff, is about to be published by Messrs. Partridge. ## p. 165 (#591) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Mr. Edwin Pugh has written " Tony Drum: a Cockney Boy," for publication by Mr. Heinemann shortly. Mr. Wickham Flower, F.S.A., is the author of a large volume—" Aquitaine: A Traveller's Tales "—which Messrs. Chapman and Hall will publish. Professor Robert K. Douglas has co-operated with Mrs. L. T. Meade in writing a series of stories dealing with social life in China. "Under the Dragon Throne," as the volume is entitled, will be published by Messrs. Gardner, Darton, and Co. Madame Sarah Grand's new novel, "The Beth Book," is due on Nov. 5. A volume of tales of the West Highlands, by the Marquis of Lorne, is announced by Messrs. Constable, under the title of "Adventures in Legend." The same firm will publish "The Pupils of Peter the Great," by Mr. Nisbet Bain. Mr. Anthony Hope has written a new romance, "Born in the Purple." It will appear serially, and a year hence in book form. Mr. William Le Queux is engaged on a new story, called " In the Day of Temptation." The work is to be in Messrs. Tillotson's hands for serial publication about March. Mr. A. Cotgreave, librarian of West Ham, is preparing a contents subject-index of a popular character to general and periodical literature. A work on "The Artists and Engravers of British and American Bookplates," by Mr. H. W. Fincham, member of council of the Ex-Libris Society, will be published shortly by Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co. Signed examples of all periods will illustrate the subject, and some will be printed from the original copper plates. The Rev. J. Baly, late Archdeacon of Cal- cutta, is the author of a philological work which Messrs. Regan Paul have in preparation, and which will contain a pedigree of the greater portion of English words now in use. "Essays and Reviews in English Literature," by the Rev. Duncan C. Tovey, Clark Lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge, is to be pub- lished by Messrs. Bell. A work entitled "Picturesque Dublin, Old and New," by Frances Gerard, will be published shortly by Messrs. Hutchinson. The fund organised by the Neie Age for a tribute to the memory of the late Mr. James Ashcroft Noble has been very successful. A portion of the sum has been used to raise a memorial stone over the grave in Wandsworth Cemetery, and the balance is to be devoted to the education of his children. Professor J. K. Laughton is editing a volume entitled "Twelve British Sailors, from Sir Francis Drake to Lord St. Vincent," which Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen are to publish. The contributors will include Sir Frederick Bedford, Captain Montagu Burrows, Admiral Markham, Sir Edmund Fremantle, and Admiral Colomb. For a companion volume dealing with "Twelve British Soldiers, from Cromwell to Wellington," Mr. Spencer Wilkinson, who edits it, has secured as writers Sir Archibald Alison, General Maurice, Count Gleichen, and other authorities on military subjects. The autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Keppel, G.C.B., from 1809 to 1897, will be published shortly", in two volumes, by Messrs. Bentley, with illustrations by the late Sir Oswald Brierly, marine painter to Her Majesty. The long-expected biography of Cardinal Wise- man, by Mr. Wilfrid Ward, will be ready shortly. Mr. Oswald John Simon is preparing a memoir of his father, the late Sir John Simon, serjeant- at-law, formerly M.P. for Dewsbury, who had interesting correspondence with eminent law- yers and statesmen, and took an active share in Jewish affairs. The Earl of Camperdown is writing a Life of Admiral Viscount Duncan, which Messrs. Long- mans, Green, and Co. will publish early in 1898. Mrs. Arthur Bell has prepared a memoir of Gainsborough, for which an effort has been made to trace many specimens of his work hitherto unknown. Gainsborough seldom signed his work. The book will be published by Messrs. Bell. A companion volume to "London City Churches " will be " London Riverside Churches," written by Mr. A. E. Daniell and illustrated by Mr. Alexander Ansted, which Messrs. Constable are to publish. Mr. Gerald Duckworth is about to terminate his connection with Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co., in order to set up, in company with a friend, as a publisher on his own account, under the style of Duckworth and Co. Messrs. Macmillan and Co. (Limited) have removed from Bedford-street to new premises in St. Martin's-street, W.C. (leading out of Leicester- square) . Miss Beatrice Harraden's "Echoes of Olden Days " is in the press for issue by Messrs. Black- wood in time for the children's Christmas season. The illustrations are by H. R. Millar. ## p. 166 (#592) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Mr. H. B. Irving has written a study of Ju<lge Jeffreys. The book will appear after Christmas. Dr. Emil Reich has written a study of Hungary, its characteristic literature, and people, which Messrs. Jarrold and Sons will publish. In Mr. Cuthbert Hadden's work, "George Thomson, the Friend of Burns," to be published by Mr. Nimmo, the author will reveal that at the time when Thomson sent ,£5 to the poet he had only <£ioo a year, and was a married man with a young family. He will also show that Thomson did see Burns. Letters will be included from Scott, Hogg, Byron, Moore, Campbell, Beethoven, and others. Mr. Christie Murray has written a book describing his travels in the Colonies and America, which Messrs. Downey will publish, the title being "A Cockney Columbus." Two more volumes of the "Diaries of Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duff'' are to be published by Mr. Murray. The period covered is from 1873 to 1881, and they are to contain anecdotes of Tour- guenieff, Hans Andersen, Renan, Taine, Lord Melbourne, Disraeli, Mr. Gladstone, Jowett, Thackeray, Kinglake, Cobden, Bright, Kingsley, Newman, Gambetta, and other notabilities. Mr. Harry Furniss has drawn the illustrations for Miss Davenport Adams's story for the young, entitled "Miss Secretary Ethel," which will be published by Messrs. Hurst andBlackett. The book on etching, by Mr. William Strang and Dr. Singer, which was announced a long time ago, is now about to appear, published by Messrs. Kegan Paul. Professor Flinders Petrie has seen the final proofs of his work, " Six Temples at Thebes," which Mr. Quaritch is to publish. This includes the one inscription hitherto found in Egypt wherein the name of the people of Israel is men- tioned. Professor Petrie's account of his excava- tions last spring, under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, is now being printed, and will be called " Deshasheh." Mr. Ernest Rhys is editing the " Hampstead Annual," an enterprise which will see the light this month. Among the contributors are Canon Ainger, Sir Walter Besant, Mr. Buxton Forman, Dr. Birkbeck Hill, Mr. H. W. Nevinson, and Mr. Frederick Wedmore. Hollandia, a Dutch weekly journal for all Hollanders abroad, will be published on the 6th inst. at no, St. Martin's-lane, London, W.C. It will be conducted by Mr. J. T. Grein. Chapman's Magazine has hitherto been devoted entirely to fiction, but future numbers will contain one or more articles by expert writers on subjects of immediate social, literary, or general interest. '• Philosophy and Psychology," writes a corre- spondent, "are not represented in the American list, given in the October number. Let me remove the reproach, if there is any, by informing you that Messrs. D. C. Heath and Co. are bringing out a book by Mr. John Adams on 'The Herbas- tian Psychology applied to Education.'" "On London Stones," a novel, by Catherine March ("Carl Swerdna"), author of "Cruel Kindred," " A Long Lane," "Snared," " A Year Between," &c, is announced by Messrs. James Clarke and Co. One volume. 6s. "Fidelis, and other Poems," by Mrs. C. M. Gemmer, has just been published by Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co. It is a pretty little book of verse, and we especially recommend the first poem, after which the book is named. A valuable prize recently offered by T. Winter Wood ("Vanguard"), of Paignton, Devon, has been awarded to W. B. Wallace for a poem on "Liberty." A novel by the late Mr. George Augustus Sala is about to be published by Mr. Unwin. The story is one of London life, and called " Margaret Forster." Mrs. Bird's book on Korea, is to appear from Mr. Murray this month. Mr. Fred. J. Whishaw has written " A Tsar's Gratitude," a story which Messrs. Longmans will publish. The Countess of Warwick has edited the report of conferences and a congress held in connection with the educational section of the Victorian Era Exhibition. "Progress in Women's Education in the British Empire," is the title of the volume, which Messrs. Longmans will publish. A correspondent to the Chronicle calls attention to another change of title. He says "' The Beetle: A Mystery,' a novel by Mr. R. Marsh (Skeffington) has previously appeared in Answers under the title of 'The Peril of Paul Lessing- ham.'" The correspondent wants to know the reason. "The Nurse's Handbook of Cookery," by E. M. Worsnop, assisted by Miss M. C. Blair, has just been published by Messrs. A. and C. Black. By a curious coincidence, the title of Miss Mary Wilkins' latest novel is the same as one written by Annabel Gray, called "Jerome," which was published in 1891 by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein. ## p. 167 (#593) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 167 Messrs. Hutchinson are preparing to publish this autumn a novel entitled "For Love of a Bedouin Maid," by Le Voleur, author of a novel entitled "By Order of the Brotherhood" (which had a large sale both here and in the colonies). The story, which is one of adventure in the days of the first Napoleon, is illustrated with sixteen drawings by a rising young Sussex artist, Mr. Ernest Dyer. Mr. Ferrar Fenton, author of "St. Paul's Epistles" and the "New Testament in Current English," is about to publish, through Mr. Elliot Stock, of Paternoster-row, " The Book of Job in English." The peculiarity of this version is that it claims to be absolutely literal, and yet in the same metrical verse as the original Hebrew, and line for line. The sacred poem contains about two thousand lines. "John Gilbert, Yeoman," by Richard Gilbert Soans, is published by Messrs. Frederick Warne and Co. It is an historical romance of ye times of Cromwell, the scenes of which are for the most part laid in beautiful Sussex. "The Hand of His Brother," by Edith C. Kenyon, is about to be published by Messrs. Gay and Bird. Many of the scenes of this novel are laid in the picturesque neighbourhood of Hastings —the Lovers' Seat, the old Church at Winchelsea, Pett Levels, &c. "Stories from Italy," by G. S. Godkin, is about to issue from the press of A. C. McClurg and Co., of Chicago. This author writes out of the fullness of a long residence in Italy, and presents Italian character in a new and intimate light. The volume contains six or seven stories, different in action and scene, and yet connected here and there by the reappearance in the later tales of characters that had appeared in the earlier. LITERATURE INTHE PERIODICALS. The Publisher in Ireland. B. Blake. New Ireland Recieiv for October. The Celtic Mind. Sophie Bryant, D.So. Contemporary for October. John Dat. Algernon Charles Swinburne. Nineteenth Century for October. Latin Verses. Times for Oct. 8. Letter of Major Alex. B. Tulloch in Times for Oct. 16. The Harleian Library. J. M. Stone. Blackwood's for October. Edmond de Goncourt. Macmillan's Magazine for October. A New Academy. Macmillan's Magazinelor November. Letters of Dr. Holmes to a Classmate. May Blake Morge. Century Magazine for October. The Children's Book. Editorial Note in Harper's for October. Alfred Lord Tjsnnnyson. By Andrew Lang. Long, man's Magazine for November. By Stephen Gwynn. Macmillan's Magazine for November. By William Canton. Good Words for November. By Leslie Stephen. National Review for November. By Harold Spender. Fori nightly Review for November. By Agnes Grace Weld. Contempo- rary for November. What of publishing in Ireland? Is it like the proverbial snakes in Ireland? A writer on the subject tells us that it is, more or less, only that there is a great possibility ia it. Edinburgh, and Glasgow a little, still maintain a fair output for Scotland, but one does not often come across a book that has been published in Dublin or Belfast. While he is about it, the writer in the New Ire/and Review indulges in a scathing characterisation of what London—the centre of the publishing trade of the Kingdom—reads, and what she does not want to read. "As publishing is to so great an extent centralised in London, and is almost exclusively in the hands of Eaglish firms," he says, " there is a constant paralysing pressure exercised by trade influence against the development, even against the survival, of those peculiarly Irish gifts, to the splendour of which the literature of the English language owes so much. Anglo-Saxon readers will have nothing, we are told, except those slap-dash, tear-away tales of extravagant incident which are poured out in such profusion from the London Press; and in poetry the only quality they value is an obscurity sufficiently profound to be a good excuse for not reading it at all." And it is because such work does not suit Irish litterateurs ■—unless they "mortify their senses"—that Ireland's opportunity is created! Genuine Irish books, full of Irish wit and humour, will find a market, not only among the Irish in all parts of the British Empire, but among all the people to whom the modern Anglo- Saxon literature is oppressive or offensive. But this Irish literature must issue from Ireland, for, if published in London, it would inevitably be the fruit of perpetual compromise, which would deprive it of all virility. From a material point of view, England may have evolved a higher culture than Ireland, but where literature is con- cerned, says the writer, England cannot even claim equality. "In taste, fertility of imagination, humour—in fact, in all the gifts which are needed for the production of a great literature, Irish writers infinitely surpass those of England." A genuinely national literature for Ireland is wanted; not "a mealy-mouthed temporising literature, written by men who are afraid to speak out about those among whom they are obliged to live." The gifts of the Irish mind, meanwhile—its adaptability, its expressiveness—are the subject ## p. 168 (#594) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. of a psychological study in the Contemporary by Dr. Sophie Bryant. A useful future for M. de Goncourt's new French Academy is not predicted by the writer in Macmillati's. Its design to encourage literature (although it excludes funeeionaries—i.e., civil servants—and poets) and to make war upon the Academy, is excellent. But so little does it encourage literature, that its president (M. Alphonse Daudet) is a distinguished novelist who needs no encouragement, while two of its members are practised journalists, who see the reward of their work at the week's end. M. Huysmans alone indisputably deserves his place. The critic is sarcastic at the expense of both the old and new institutes. The old—it will never lack esteem—is a gentlemanly club, which every Frenchman would be glad to enter, and bored when once he got there ; the Academic dictionary is an amiable and foolish pastime : not even forty angels could purify a language. The new includes the same elements in a state of less intensity; it is not to discuss literature, and will only save itself from boredom if it takes to collecting Japanese prints. In fact, genius holds aloof from Academies. To mention some, Balzac, Dumas, Gautier, Barbey d'Aure- villy, "could never have been elected to the Academy, because their talents set them too high above the decent level of mediocrity which is essential to a branch of the civil service"—the Academy being now a conspicuous department of State. M. de Goncourt's Academy will award the monthly prize to a mediocre piece of prose— for ten men at variance with themselves are not likely to make an admirable choice. They will quarrel as much as fifty men at their monthly dinner—men of letters are notoriously quarrel- some. The only regret is that M. de Goncourt himself is not here to enjoy the spectacle, because none was more skilled than he in half-irony. Above all, the writer concludes, the new Academy will never profit literature, since literature is too wayward to be fostered by endowment: Give a man a thousand pounds and a comfortable house, and probably he will refrain from that masterpiece which once was seething in his brain. Moreover, the very power of election prevents a simple honesty. The unhappy ten may perhaps discover Borne common ground of sociability, and shift their judgment from literature to life. But what- ever their fate they will eat their dinner disdained or for- gotten by the writers of France. They were ohosen to found an Academy, and they will never escape from a collection of coteries. "Are we to go on ■« ith Latin verses ?"—the question Mr. Lyttleton's pamphlet puts—is dis- cussed by a writer in the Times, who thinks that, on the whole, we are. There is no alternative classical subject that can take the place of classical verse-writing, and if the object and effect of it are such as the supporters of the present system assert them to be, it cannot be abolished without injury to classical learning. As for the schoolboy's ignorance the while, that may be, but he is sent to school to "learn t o learn"—to be grounded for the future. The question is not whether the making of Latin verses is directly useful and informing, but whether it is a valuable educational instrument. The answer is that it is such an instrument. Spenser, Milton, Addison, Gray, and other famous men wrote Latin verses. Major Tulloch is entirely with the writer of the article in sup- porting a thorough classical education, but observes that for those entering the military service modern languages are far more important than Latin verses. Is the children's book a useful, a good insti- tution P The editor of Harper s is among those who think that books written for children have done more harm than good. Children recognise a genuine thing almost as soon as we do, and they are "turning their backs upon the fictitious twaddle of little Joe and little Lucy, and the impossible goody-goody children of recent years." At the same time the editor makes a distinction between the literature merely for children, and that—the Grimm stories and the Andersen stories —about children. "We and all healthy-minded children" admire every bit of folk-lore and every legend that is touched with creative imagi- nation. The classmate to whom the few Holmes letters were addressed is the late Hon. Isaac E. Morse of New Orleans. The two were at Harvard together, afterwards met in Paris, and in the later days became fast friends at home. Holmes's letters (which could not be found when the "Life " was being prepared) are in a light, sometimes even gay tone, and discuss family affairs, the relations of the South and North, &c. In one case there is an interesting reply to a request for an opinion of some poems by Morse. "No one can fail of appre- ciating the feeling they show," Holmes wrote: "they have the truth which real sorrow crushes out of a sensitive and delicate nature, and which is the stuff that poetry is made of. . . . In art the lines are deficient, perhaps too much so to be offered to the surly criticism of the public. You will find this axiom of mine true, I think: the more personal and intimate are the feelings which a poet reveals, the higher art is required to justify their exposure. . . . They are too artless, too careless, too much like an extract from a private letter, to be made common property. I should not, therefore, recommend their publica- tion; but I am only one adviser." ## p. 169 (#595) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 169 TWO MEMORIALS. Felicia Hemans. ANOTHEE meeting has been held of the members of the Felicia Hemans Memorial Committee at Liverpool under the presi- dency of Mr. Mackenzie Bell. It has been followed by a letter addressed to the editor of the Liver- pool Mercury, which we have great pleasure in producing in these columns, in the hope that the memorial will be supported by our readers. (To the Editors of the Liverpool Mercury.) Gentlemen,—It is gratifying that this city is at length awakening to the fact of its long neglect of the claims of Felicia Hemans to adequate local recognition. We do not forget that Liverpool has also been the birthplace of other prominent personages in literature—such as Clouyh, to name only one. But, nevertheless, it can hardly be questioned that Time, " the editor of editors," to quote a happy phrase of Mr. Alfred H. Miles in his "Poets and Poetry of theCentury," has awarded to Felicia Hemans a conspicuous and almost unique place in letters as an exponent in verse of simple emotion. Canon Blencowe, in his interest- ing note read at the meeting of the Memorial Committee on Fridiiy, rightly characterised her work as "unambitious "; but he added with truth, that it "always appeals to our best feel- ings," and, nowadays, though it is well that we should lay great stress on technical craftmanship in verse, it is also well that we should feel grateful to the poet who has touched our hearts, thus showing the possession of a gift beyond and, as we think, higher than any mere craftsmanship, however excellent. There is much force in the classical adage, bis dat qui cito tint. The Liver- pool public have now a good opportunity of show- ing in a practical way that they believe in it by subscribing at once to the Felicia Hemans Memo- rial, and also by giving any suggestions whereby the claims of a memorial to her can be brought to the notice of the poet's multitudinous admirers throughout the English-speaking world. Mackenzie Bell. oi_ W. H. PlCTON. Cjedmon, the Saxon Poet. This memorial has been undertaken by the people of Whitby, the place of Csedmon's resi- dence, if not of his birth. The Eev. H. D. Rawnsley, one of the promoters of the memorial, writes a letter to the Daily Chronicle on the doubt concerning Csedmon's existence. He adduces as evidence, first, the Venerable Bede, second, J. R. Green, the historian, and third, Mr. Stopford Brooke. We should be content with the evidence of Bede and the translation of his poems The memorial will consist of an Iona cross inscribed to the memory of the poet, set up on the Abbey Hill overlooking the town of Whitby. (The Editor of the Daily Chronicle.) Sir,—First let me thank you for your courteous notice of the meeting which inaugurated the pro- posed memorial to Csedmon, and then let me say in answer to your assertion that " there have been historical sceptics who have expressed doubts as to whether Csednion ever had a corporate exis- tence," that we at Whitby are obstinately con- vinced not only of Csedmon's actual existence, life work, and death here at St. Hilda's Abbey, but that we also look upon him as the founder of English poetry. Untd the Daily Chronicle disprove the statement of Bede and discredits such a careful historian as John Richard Green, or a man of such literary acumen as Stopford Brooke, we shall go on holding to our faith, and giving the reason for that faith that is in us. Bede was seven years old when Csedinon died in 63o, and no one grew to know Northumbrian history better than Bede. Bede lxad no doubt of the corporate existence of Csedmon. "There was in the Abbey of Hilda," says he, "a certain brother who had an extraordinary gift, and whose name was Csedmon "; and he continues, " Sweet and humble was his poetry; no trivial or vain song came from his lips: others after him strove to compose religious poems, but none could vie with him, for he learned the art of poetry, not from men or of men, but from God." John Richard Green had no doubt of the cor- porate existence of Csedmon. "The stern gran- deur of the spot—Whitby," says he, "blends fitly with the thought of the poet who broke its stillness with the first great song that English singer had wrought, since our fathers came to Britain." And the historian adds, "The memory that endears Whitby to us is not that of Hild, or of the scholars and priests who gathered round her . . . the name which really throws glory over Whitby is the name neither of king nor bishop, but of a cowherd of the house." Stopford Brooke has no doubt apparently of the corporate existence of Csedmon. "Csedmon,"' writes he, "is the first Englisman whose name we know who wrote poetry in our island of Eng- land, and the first to embody in verse the new passions and ideas which Christianity had brought to England . . . honour from all the English race, from all the poets, greatest of the English race, is due to Csedmon's name." It is something of this honour that the Whitby people are about to pay, by erecting a beautiful Iona cross inscribed to Csedmon's memory, upon ## p. 170 (#596) ############################################ 170 THE AUTHOR. the Abbey hill overlooking the town. Such a memorial will be a recall to the beginnings of our English literature, and may be an inspiration to generations who pass up the church steps to the ruined abbey of St. Hilda.— Yours truly, H. D. Rawnsley. 4, West-terrace, Whitby, Oct. 25. THE BOOKS OF THE MONTH. [Sbpt. 24 to Oct. 23.-424 Books.] Alexander, lira. 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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) 1897-10-01 Volume 8 Issue 5 Pages Page range in volume 109–136 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18971001 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XL he Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 5.] OCTOBER i, 1897. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAOB .. 109 .. Ill General Memoranda From the Committee Literary Property—1. A Case. 2. Another Cafe. 3. A Copy- right Case. 4. Publishers'Obligations. 5. A Warning from America m "Authora and Publishers" 113 Printing in the Victorian Era 117 New York Letter. By Nornian Hapgood Bad Paper 119 The American Autumn List 119 Notes and News. By the Editor WO Public Library Theft* I*» Cheapness of Books 123 A Bule for the Use of the Subjunctive Mood. Collins Robert Louis Stevenson The Autograph Fiend Sir Henry Cralk on Impressionism A Small Literary Problem. By H. Q. Keene ... Book Talk FAU By F. Howard lis IM IM 1*5 m 126 Correspondence—1. The Beturn of MSS. 2. Criticism in Conflict. 8. "Dictionary of National Biography" Dinner. 4. An Inquiry. 5. An Unpaid Magazine Article 181 Obituary 133 Literature in the Periodicals 134 The Books of the Month 133 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1897 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, 6s. 6d. per annum. Back numbers are offered at the following prices: Vol. I., 10s. 6d. (Bound); Vols. II., III., and IV., 8*. 6d. each (Bound); Vol. V., 6s. 6d. (Unbound). 3. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colleb, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 4. The History of the Societe des Q-ens de Lettres. By S. Squire Spriooe, late Secretary to the Society, is. 5. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 6. The Various Methods Of Publication. By S. Squire Spriooe. 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 Eeport of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelt. Eyre and Spottiswoode. it. 6d. 8. The Society of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). 1*. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2s. 6d. ## p. 108 (#530) ############################################ 11 AD VER TISEMENTS. ^fye g>octefp of JluiJjors (§ncotpotafc5). 8ib Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. J. M. Barrie. A. W. 1 Beckett. Robert Bateman. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. Sib Henry Bebgne, K.C.M.Q. Sib Walteb Besant. AUGUSTINE BlBBBIiL, M.P. Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S. Right Hon. James Brtce, M.P. Right Hon. Lord Burghclerb, P.C Hall Caine. Eqebton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colles. Hon. John Collieb. Sib W. Martin Conwat. F. Marion Crawford. The Eabl or Desabt. PRESIDENT. Q-EO^a-E MEBEDITH. COUNCIL. Austin Dobson. A. CoNAN DOYLE, M.D. A. W. Dubourq. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. D. W. FRE8HFIELD. Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Anthont Hope Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. Rudtard Kipling. Prof. E. Rat Lankester, F.R.S. W. E. H. Leckt, P.C. J. M. Lelt. Mrs. E. Ltnn Linton. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mns.Doc. Prof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Herman C. Meritale. Bon. Counsel — E. M. Undebdown, Q.C. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake. Sir Lewis Morris. Henry Norman. Miss E. A. Ormerod. J. C. Parkinson. Right Hon. Lord Pirbrioht, P.C., F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. W. Baptists Scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. R. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. j. j. steven80n. franci8 storr. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Tonge. COMMITTEE Chairman- k. W. 1 Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. W. Mobbis Colles. Sir W. Mabtin Conway. D. W. Freshfield. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. OF MANAGEMENT. -H. Rider Haggard. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doc. Henry Norman. Francis Storr. S U B- CO M M I TTE E S. MUSIC. C. Villiers Stanford, Mas.D. (Chairman) Jacques Blumenthal. j. l. molloy. _ ,. . ( Field, Roscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Solicitors £ G Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-Btreet. Secretary—G. Hebbebt Thring, B.A. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman) Sib W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spielmann DRAMA. Henry Arthur Jones (Chairman). A. W. a Beckett. Edward Rose. OFFICES: .A.. J?. WATT &c SO 1ST, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON", W.C. Published every Friday morning: price, without lieports, 9d.; with Reports, Is. THE LAW TIMES, the Journal of (lie Law and the Lawyers, which haa now been established fen .vcr half a century, supplies to the Profession a complete Record of the 1'rogress of Legal Reforms, and of all matters affecting the LecM Profession. The Reports of the Law Times are now recognise.1 the most complete and efficient series published. Offices: Windsor House, Breani's-bniMings, E 0 THE ART of CHESS. By James Mason. Price 5s. net, by post 5s. 4d. London: HORACE Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.O. THE KNIGHTS and KINGS of CHESS. By the Rev. O. A. MACDONNELL, B.A. With Portrait and 17 niustra tions. Grown Svo., cloth boards, price 2s. 6d. net. London: Horaoe Cox, Windsor House, Bream'e-bulldlngs, E.O. ## p. 109 (#531) ############################################ ^Tbe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. Vin.—No. 5.] OCTOBER 1, 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 t/iey 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. EOK some years it has been the practice to insert, in every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," 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 oharacter, and should be left to carry on his 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 VOL. VIII. 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. III. 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 "ides. It is 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 which 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 whioh has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none for exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall b« 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. L 2 ## p. 110 (#532) ############################################ no THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. "TTWERY member has a right to ask for and to receive J_}J advice npon his 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 roujht is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions 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 suoh questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of 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 npon 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 servioes can be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days' notice should be given. 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi- cations promptly. That stamps Bhould, 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 Syndioate 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 arc invited to communicate their requirements to the Manager. There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose servioes 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 oharge, 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 thoir names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write? Communications for The Author should reach the Editor not later than the 2ist 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 despatoh is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. . The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year P If 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 is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest ## p. 111 (#533) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years? Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This 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, bo that it now stands at J89 48. 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 course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisem mts 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, ky 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. ri^HE sub-committee appointed to inquire into I the publishing of educational works com- pleted its labours and sent in its report in July last. It was adopted by the committee of management, and ordered to be circulated among lecturers and masters of colleges and schools after the summer holidays. The sub-committee appointed in July last for the purpose of inquiring into the proposed change in the discount system has commenced its work. By Order. G. H. Thring. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—A Case. AN author had a book, the publication of which he wanted to transfer, as his publisher was retiring from business. He went to one of the largest firms in London and offered them the publication of his work. The book was a technical work and had an established position and a firm and constant sale. After some discussion with one of the partners an offer was made to publish the book for the author on a certain financial basis, the details of which it is not necessary to mention. The author applied to the Secretary of the Society for advice, and was strongly advised by him to accept the offer, which was, in his opinion, fair to all parties. The author thereupon wrote to the publisher and asked for an agreement to be forwarded, embody- ing the terms arranged. The agreement came to hand in due course; but, on the author bringing it to the Secretary, the latter was astonished to see that one of the first clauses in the agreement was a clause for the transfer of all copyrights and all rights whatsoever and wheresoever in the said book to the publisher. Not the slightest mention had been made in the first interview between the author and publisher with regard to the transfer of the copyright, and no point had been brought forward with the exception of the point giving the publisher the right to publish, on a certain stated royalty. The Secretary pointed out the fatal disadvantage of transferring the copyright in an educational book of this kind, and stated at the same time that he was surprised that such a clause had been inserted when the point had never been mooted before. The author there- upon wrote a letter explaining his view of the matter, and the publisher at once withdrew the clause referred to, as no doubt he was anxious to obtain the publication of a book which had such a reputation and was such a good property. If the publisher at the time had desired to purchase the copyright it would have been only fair in the first instance to have stated so to the author, who could have accepted his proposition or not as he thought fit. If, in the present case, the writer of the book had not had the advice of the Society behind him he might have signed the agreement, thinking that it was properly drawn up on the basis of the previous conversation. This example shows how careful an author should be before signing the final contract. II.—Another Case. An author took a book to a well-known firm of publishers, and they, after perusal, stated that they would be willing to publish the work on a certain basis.* (The only point that it is neces- sary to mention is that the royalty was to be paid after the cost of production had been covered.) In the conversation that followed, the author mentioned that it would be necessary to have the right to see the books of the firm. To this the publishers demurred in a half-hearted sort of way, and nothing further was said on the subject at the time. In due course the agreement was forwarded to the author. In it was the usual clause for rendering accounts, but no clause was inserted giving the author the right to inspect the books if necessary. The author had read the little book published by the Society on the * They offered an exceedingly bad form of agreement, one not recommended by the Society. In this case, however, there was a special reason for the author acquiescing. ## p. 112 (#534) ############################################ I 12 THE AUTHOR. Methods of Publishing, and had gleaned from that the absolute necessity of being able, should occasion arise, to check the accounts from the books and vouchers of the publishers. He did not know that there existed a common law right to see these books, and accordingly he drafted a clause which should cover the point. As the right existed, of course, this clause was unneces- sary. As soon as the agreement was returned with the clause, the publishers refused to have anything further to do with the publication of the book. To the ordinary mind there can only be one deduction to be drawn from this refusal. These examples are not, as has often been stated by those who wish to minimise the value of them, drawn from the imagination of the writer. The Secretary of the Society will be pleased, as in all cases published in The Autlior, to give the name of the publishers referred to to those members of the Society who desire to have such information. _ HI.—A Copyright Case. "I am a writer of poems for children,and some time since gave permission to a musical composer to set one of them to music. The composer, not knowing that the words were mine (they had been published anonymously in a collection I had made) spoilt one of the stanzas—to my thinking —by a material alteration, of which I knew nothing till after the song had been published. Meanwhile, the copyright of the music was sold to a well known musical publisher, whose name pro- mises a wide circulation both of the song and the travestied stanza. The composer, with whom I have remonstrated, is as sorry as I am for what has occurred; but what remedy have we? The publisher has, of course, no right in the words, of which the composer did not possess the copyright. Can he be required to withdraw or modify them, or at least to do so—if we are content to wait so long—as soon as the present edition is exhausted? I should be grateful for advice in the matter. Meanwhile, I trust other writers will take warning by my example, and protect both themselves and their musical coadjutors from mistakes as to copy- right by a proviso against alteration of words." A Membek of the Society. [The Secretary advised the writer of this letter as follows: That she could obtain an injunction against the musical publishers for infringement of copyright, and also could maintain an action for damages against the composer for user of her words and for consequent infringement, but that the best plan would be, if possible, to arrange for some satisfactory payment, as is usually the case with other song writers.] IV.—Publishers' Obligations. An interesting case has been recently decided in the French courts. It may be found in full in the Publishers' Circular of Sept. 11, from which we quote the decision of the court. Briefly, the case is as follows: A publisher bought of the compiler a work entitled " Vocabulaire des Vocabulaires," being a dictionary of terms used in the French language. The publisher was to give the compiler the sum of 12,500 francs, with a certain number of copies. In return, the property was to be his own abso- lutely, to alter if he pleased, and to publish in any manner that he pleased. This was in 1891. In 1892 there were troubles about charges. In 1893 the compiler consented to take 10,485 francs, instead of 12,500. In 1894, as the book was not published, the compiler brought an action to compel the publisher to produce the book, or to restore the MS., with 15,000 francs damages. On Jan. 10, 1897, the tribunal delivered its judgment. The arguments of the publisher, as quoted in the Publishers' Circular, stated that there were many errors which had to be corrected; that there was nothing in the agreement about time of pub- lication; that it would take two years to produce the book, &c. The tribunal concluded that, "con- sidering the documents and the examination ordered by this tribunal, it appears that in this case the compiler cannot be considered as a collaborator who has contributed with other writers to a work which the publisher had conceived, edited, and combined in one whole, but that it is he, on the contrary, who brought to the publisher the plan of the work at the same time as the collection of documents composing it; that the publisher cannot, therefore, deny him the title of author and allege that only an ordinary contract of hire of work has been made between him and the applicant; that if it is established that on the terms of the agreement the publisher has bought the entire and exclusive rights of the compiler's dictionary; that he has even reserved the right of adding to it such modification as he might judge fit, and to dispose of it as he pleased, it is no less true that the compiler has only ceded to him the right of printing on the tacit under- standing that he should exercise it; that the pub- lisher would not be justified in alleging that the appellant ought to have stated, with respect to the publication of his book, the rights which he intended to reserve; that it is, in fact, inadmissible that, unless stipulated to the con- trary, an author alienates his work in such an ## p. 113 (#535) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 113 absolute fashion, that from that moment there should enter into his calculations the possibility of seeing his work neutralised, his thoughts annihilated; that the use made by the purchaser of the work become his property ought not to injure the author's interests, which survive the cession; and that the publisher who has bought has not fulfilled all his obligations when he has paid the price, but that there remains the obligation to do what he has contracted to do, that is to say, to publish, from which only clear and precise agreements could dispense him. But such stipulations do not exist in this case." The verdict was that "within a period of eighteen months from the notice of this judgment the publisher shall be bound to publish the dictionary which has been ceded to him by the appellant, and to deliver to the latter twenty com- plete copies, and this under a penalty of 50 francs per day's delay during one month, after which date judgment shall be given as well with regard to the demand for cancelling the agreements entered into between the parties as with regard to damages and the restitution of the manuscript. Condemns, also, the publisher to pay all costs. This judgment was appealed against by the publisher. Miiitre Straus, plaintiff's counsel, replying, hoped the court would maintain the judgment. After hearing M. Van Cassel, Advocate-General, the Court annulled the appeal, ordering that "that which is appealed against shall have full and entire effect; says, neverthe- less, that the penalty of 50 francs for each day of delay shall only begin to run in default of the publisher having published the dictionary and delivered twenty copies to the compiler within a period of one year, to be calculated from this day; condemns the publisher in the fine and all costs of appeal." V.—A Warning from America. The following is a curious story, and suggests a few points: 1. Did the Press Directory give no hint that the Revietc was an American organ? 2. Does the editor habitually write without any address? 3. Are all the papers submitted to the editor sent through the English publisher? In which case, who pays the postage r 4. Where can one get American stamps for inclosure with a MS.? 5. Readers will take notice that stamps must be sent with MSS. At the same time they will do well to keep a copy in case of accident. "On June 4 I sent a typewritten manuscript, which was originally a prize essay, to the Psycho- logical Review, care of Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Bedford-street, Strand, which was the address I found in the Newspaper Press Directory. On July 4 I wrote to the editor asking whether he intended to use the manuscript, and on the 23rd of the same month received the following reply (no address given); but the post mark indicated that the post card was from Princeton, New Jersey. 'Dear Sir,—We cannot attempt to return MSS. sent us which, as in your case, had no available (American) stamps inclosed. Tour paper, which we did not find valuable, is not preserved.' I have written to the editor, pointing out that the manuscript was valuable to me, and requesting that he make some effort to recover it and return it to me." "AUTHORS AND PUBLISHEES. THIS book, by Messrs. G. H. and J. B. Put- nam, professes to be a manual of sugges- tions for beginners in literature containing all kinds of information for their use. It has arrived at a seventh edition, and is now re-written with additional material. Let us acknowledge at once that up to a certain point, and within certain limitations, the book is admirable—from the publishers' point of view. The style and the e xcellent Engbsh, the manner of conveying such information as it gives, are worthy of great commendation. Yet for prac- tical purposes—the great practical purpose—of guiding the beginner as to the nature of literary property, and the best way of having it adminis- tered, the book is silent. It says nothing of the dangers which lurk in the agreement: it points out none of the tricks which the author must expect: it does not warn him of the absolute certainty that if he trusts himself, helpless and ignorant, in the hands of one who wants to make money out of him, he will be "bested"—the reader may put what interpretation he pleases upon this word. In short, it does not, at the outset, as it should, admonish the young author that in publishing, as in everything else, if a man has absolute freedom to impose what terms he pleases, with secrecy, ignorance, and long success in the confidence trick, that man will abuse the position. This is a mere commonplace. And when a book is published, pretending to be a guide for the young author, which does not recognise this cardinal fact, it is necessary to warn the young author very seriously on this point. It is, indeed, as if a man should write a book on the buying of a horse—or the sale of a house— or the acquisition of a business—and should absolutely ignore the existence of sharpers and ## p. 114 (#536) ############################################ ii4 THE AUTHOR. rogues. Everybody understands that the thing would be too ridiculous. Yet the authors of the book before us blandly sail along the unruffled surface which they imagine, without so much as a hint that the author must expect in this business exactly what he is taught to expect in every other: viz., that advantage will be taken of ignorance, and that rogues will overreach him. The book gives many quotations from writers in favour of publishers: Howells, G. W. Curtis, Thomas Hughes, Washington Irving. But their testimonies are absolutely worthless unless the writers had been able to examine the books of the men they praise. We do not say, or hint, or suggest that their publishers were unworthy of the praise. It is only contended that the favourable opinion, any opinion, favourable or otherwise, as to the honesty of a publisher's treatment of authors is mere guess work unless the books could be examined. In other words, a publisher might cheat in his charges: cheat in his returns: cheat in the money he paid for royalties: cheat in his royalties: and yet, for all that these laudatory writers know, stand out as a most honourable and upright man Surely it is better to make agreements as in other kinds of business, those, namely, in which the facts of the case are admitted and known on both sides. And, since the author is probably ignorant, an honourable publisher cannot object to a Society which provides him with full light on every part of the commercial side of his work. On the question of publishers' risk, the book presents the usual claims made by publishers without any arguments to support them. Our position is absolutely impregnable. Any book, considered from the commercial point of view, must stand by itself. For example, it is ridicu- lous to suppose that Dickens's books should be loaded with the losses made by an incompetent publisher over his unsuccessful ventures. These writers draw an imaginary picture of a publisher losing all his capital by successive losses. Such a picture is misleading, for the simple reason that in every department of literature men are writing by the dozen whose name is a guarantee against loss: that the publishers who take risks are very few, and the books they issue that carry risk are also very few—excepting such great works as Encyclopaedias, National Biographies, Dictionaries, and such books, which the Messrs. Putnam would not mix up with general literature : and that publishers, with very few exceptions, do all prosper, while those who do the largest trade prosper the most—a thing natural in trade, but only in profitable trade. The chapter on "Publishing Arrangements" complains that authors have "paraded their grievances" before the public. Well, it was their only way to make them known, and. to warn others. He asks why Dean Farrar " appealed to the public for sympathy because his publishers had made more money than himself from the publication of a book that had been written ' to order' under their suggestion and contract, and for which, according to the statement of the Canon himself, he had been paid a good deal more than his contract price?" This is not the proper way to put it. Dean Farrar received a sum of money for a book. He did not complain of this, because he had accepted an offer. He complained of the offer made to him for the second book. Did the publishers explain to him the meaning of his first success? Then Messrs. Putnam ask, "Why should authors, presumably of adult age and sound mind, plead the 1 baby act' in regard to their contracts (or their failure to make contracts) any more than the clients of lawyers, architects, or stockbrokers?" By the use of the word "clients" they give away their case. Every man is safe if he is the "client," in any business, of a lawyer who knows the subject. He is only in danger when he acts for himself in ignorance of the conditions. The writers speak of "compensation." What do they mean? Compensation means payment in atonement of injuries. If authors were compen- sated for the injuries inflicted on them by the publishers of their books there would be a large crowd of the latter in Portugal-street. They have yet to recognise the fact that a MS. is a piece of property belonging to the writer, who may sell it or may let it out to a publisher to be administered, or may go into partnership with a publisher. We do not ask, however, for compensation, but for our own property. Then follow the pages on " publishing arrange- ments." And here there is no explanation, except one or two lame ones, of the reason why a pub- lisher should have this or that share, or what he does to earn his money. As for the lame explanations: I. The writers (p. 47) state that a royalty of 10 per cent. "on the retail price was ca culated on the basis of securing for the author an average return of half the net profits." This may possibly be true in America. In this country nothing could be more untrue or more misleading. Take an average 6*. book—exactly such as that considered in the "Cost of Production"—one with a sale, not of 10,000 copies, to which the writers object, but of 4000, which is much more common. The cost of each volume, including advertising, is as near as possible a shilling; the ## p. 115 (#537) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. retail price is 3*. 6d., as near as possible. A royalty of 10 per cent, on the retail price means 4}d. The profit of the publisher would be 2s. i±d.! And this is what the writers of a book which has gone through six editions seem to regard as a system of high profits!! II. On the "Cost of Production," issued by the Society, the Messrs. Putnam say: Authors who hare read in the mannal of the " Authors' Society" the cost of producing a i6mo. ori2mo. volume containing a certain number of pages, are likely to assume that the figures should be precisely the same for any other volume printed in the same size and containing the same number of pages. It is necessary, however, to remind them of various possible differences which will affect the com- parison, such as the number of words contained in the page, the width of the printed text, the leading of the lines (npon whioh items depend the number of thousand eme charged for in the printing-office), the printing of the edition from type or from plates, the quality of the paper used, the quality of the material put into the cover, the character of the cover stamp (involving an initial expense for designing and for cutting, and a later current expenditure in the stamping of the covers), and a number of other similar details. It is a great pity that the writers did not look at the "Cost of Production" before committing themselves to this statement. For in that book care has been taken to give the number of lines and the number of words in the page, in order to prevent this mistake. The quality of the paper is an average quality: the price of the binding shows that it is a plain average binding: the extras, such as a small stamp, extra gilding, finer binding, are surely matters of easy arrangement with the author. The "Cost of Production" gives figures which are good working figures in getting at an estimate. After so much fault-finding, it is pleasant to recognise to the utmost the spirit of fairness which elsewhere appears in the book. The writers have not been able to shake off the conventional talk about the importance of the publisher and the fearful risks he runs: but they do recognise to an extent previously unknown some of the points demanded by the Society. For instance, as to the cost of production in a half-profit system: A fourth objection to the half-profit system which is from time to time emphasised on the part of the authors, is that the author is not in a position to verify the accuracy of the charges made by the publisher against the book, and that these charges are frequently made to include items which do not properly belong in such an amonnt or amounts whioh have been unduly increased by manufacturing commissions or " secret profit," whioh is appropriated by the publisher. The remedy for such a difficulty is to be sought in one or two directions. The author should, in the first place, at the time the publication agreement is executed, secure from the publisher an estimate upon whioh this agreement will be based, showing the amonnt that the publisher proposes to debit against the book or against the joint acoonnt, for the various items comprising the cost of its publication and VOL. VIII. distribution. The estimate for the use of such joint account should, in fact, be as precise and as full as if the book were to be undertaken at the entire cost of the author. This estimate would remain available for future reference, and in so far as the conditions of the publication (that is to say, the amonnt of the material to be printed, the style of the printing, the amonnt of changes made in the text while it was going through the press, the outlay for advertising, the oost of circulars, Ac), have not been modified under the instructions of the author or under later agreement between the author and the publisher, the final charge against the joint account should, of course, be in exact accord with the amounts specified in the original estimate, and mnst, in any case, be in accord with the rates so specified. This advice is good but incomplete. In many cases the estimate has been made a means of fraud, by inserting exaggerated figures, which then form part of the signed agreement. The estimate must be submitted to the secretary. One chapter is devoted to the shortcomings of the author. These assume several forms: (1.) A writer has undertaken to contribute a volume to a series, the length and form and price of which have been carefully thought out and fixed beforehand. He presents, when the time comes, a MS. of double the length stipulated: It would also seem hardly probable that an author having been so regardless of the preliminary conditions laid down for his work, should, when this work was com- pleted, be so unreasonable as to insist that his volume must be accepted in the precise form in which he has written it; that, whatever the conditions or the limitations of the series, his own individual literary methods and literary execution must not be interfered with; and that (his own compensation being assured under some fixed payment arrangement) the question of possible profit or loss for the publisher is a matter concerning which he need give him- self no conoern. Improbable as such a state of mind or such a method of action appears to be, as thus sot forth, I can only say that the experience of nearly all publishers and editors who have had to do with the publication of series, will show not a few examples of just such literary perversities. (a.) The practice of rewriting or reshaping work after it has been set up in type. (3.) Breach of faith in delay of delivery. Several instances are quoted of this bad practice. (4.) The production of another work by the same writer on the same subject with another publisher. (5.) The acceptance of a salary and doing no work for it. The sympathy of every man of honour must be with the publisher who suffers in any of these ways. At the same time, one would poiut out the very simple fact that by introducing the ordinary methods of business into this part of the trans- action every one of these dangers can be met. Now publishers—for which one does not blame them—are adamant in the matter of the sum or the royalties for which they acquire control of M ## p. 116 (#538) ############################################ n6 THE AUTHOR. the author's property. Why can they not be as careful in other matters? (i.) Take the first case. In such a series there is generally an editor. Some of us have written for such series : we have all understood the limitations as to length. I cannot understand any editor worth his salt who would find any difficulty in returning a MS. to be reduced to the proper length. The danger on this side of the Atlantic seems wholly imaginary. (2.) In the second case; that of excessive corrections. The agreement in almost all cases safeguards the publisher. Some honourable gentlemen make the corrections a source of profit. They insert a clause limiting the corrections to so many shillings a sheet. But they are very careful not to connect shillings with the number of words, so that the author is in no way helped, and goes on correcting in blind ignorance, which, when profit by over- charge is intended, is carefully left without warning. Nothing is easier or simpler than to give the author a type-written copy, and to tell him that this is a first proof which he may cut up as he pleases, but that he will be allowed no more corrections. (3.) Breach of faith in delivery. In every other business transaction this would mean an action for damages. One such action brought would prevent any more such cases. Nor would any jjublisher suffer who should bring an action of the kind. (4.) The production of another wrork on the same subject. This danger is met by some publishers by a clause to the effect that the author is not to produce another book on the same subject within a stated time. But, so far, I have never yet seen a clause binding the publisher not to produce another book on the same subject within a stated time. (5.) If a publisher calmly offers a man a salary without stipulating for work, one cannot really sympathise with him if he gets no work, whatever opinion one may have of a man who would take money and do nothing for it. But on this side of the Atlantic publishers do not act with such uncalculating prodigality. In a word, these complaints, which are very seldom heard from English publishers, go to show that a man of business who complains of them does not carry on his business on business principles. The above notes were already written when the following were placed in the writer's hands. They are added to show that the objections raised by him have occurred to more than one reader. Page 8. "The interests of authors and pub- lishers are practically identical.'' This may be the case after the agreement has been entered into, but they are certainly diametrically opposed as far as the agreement is concerned. If pub- lishers advance money to their subsequent destruc- tion, it only shows they are not business men, or that their business instincts are false. They do not do this with a view of generosity to the author, but with a view of retaining the author as one of their writers during the term—so long as he does not pay off the money—of his natural life. It is a good speculation. Page 37. "Why should authors plead the 'baby act'?" Mr. Putnam compares the rela- tions between authors and publishers to ordinary business relations between stockbrokers, &c, but there is this vital difference, which he seems to have overlooked, that stockbrokers are competing keen business men with keen business men. Authors, in many instances entirely ignorant of business and incapable of transacting business, place themselves to a great extent in the hands of keen business men, who take advantage of their ignorance. Mr. Putnam is evidently writ- ing from the methods of his own firm of trans- acting business, and he appears to be entirely ignorant of the ways of those publishers who do not stand in the very first rank. Page 60. "Half-profit arrangements and charge of business expenses." The statements with regard to half-profit arrangements contained in the book certainly give the author an erroneous idea of this very disastrous method of pubUshing. Page 66. "Unless the author," &c. The whole chapter on publishing arrangements is written from the point of view of the publisher's agree- ment and the benefit likely to accrue to the publisher. There are some useful hints to authors on pp. 84 and following, on keeping books together. Also on p. 93, " Syndicating arrangements." Page 98. "Obligations under the pubUshing agreement." These entirely refer to the author's obligations. There is no mention whatever of the points an author should protect himself against with regard to publisher's obligations, which are many and varied, and often broken. He quotes instances of delinquent authors. How about delinquent publishers? Page 119. "Contract between authors and publishers," &c. He has subverted the whole paragraph. Page 149. The paragraph beginning "Here also, however." It may be possible to force a publisher to specific performance in America, but ## p. 117 (#539) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 117 the best legal authorities doubt its possibility in England. Even if you did enforce specific per- formance, a book published by an unwilling pub- lisher might as well not be published at all. It is very seldom that publishers enter into an agreement without the MS. being fully com- pleted, or, rather, out of 100 cases, in quite ninety the MS. is complete and to hand, so that there is no danger from the procrastination of the author. Page 160. "Boards of arbitration." These would be found practically useless. PRINTING- IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. "~]VT"0 good printing has been done since I X 1550," the late Mr, William Morris was wont to say. Mr. John Southward, who has just issued a work on the subject,* contends that better printing has been done during the last sixty years than was ever done before. The progress in book printing begun soon after 1828, when Charles Whittingham became asso- ciated with the publisher and bibliophile, William Pickering. The late Henry Stevens, describing the co-operation of these men, says it was amusing as well as instructive to see each of them when they met pull from his bulging side-pocket well-worn title pages and sample leaves for dis- cussion and consideration. About 1840 Mr. Whittingham's office, the Chiswick Press, acquired an unrivalled collection of head and tail pieces, borders, and other typographical ornaments. Other printers were compelled to rival him; and the forward movement was begun which has gone on to the present day. As regards the inferiority of the printing of process blocks in England as compared with America, the author of this work is of opinion that the explanation is to be found in the weakness and insufficient inking and dis- tributing capacity of our presses, and the inepti- tude of many of our pressmen. "Already efforts are being made," he adds, " to remedy both of these shortcomings." Our general bookwork is not inferior to that of any other country in the world: This is more especially obvious in regard to cheap books, snch as reprints of non-copyright books, issued for a few pence each. They are, as a rule, in all respects, admirable specimens of typography. They are printed on thin, cheap paper, but it has generally received a fine, bnt not excessive, polish, by being rolled before printing. The printing is usually done without damping, and thus destroying the surface of the paper. The types make little or no indents- •" Progress in Printing and the Graphic Arts during the Victorian Era." By John Southward. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 28. 6d. VOL. VIII. tion; both sides of the paper are usually smooth and glossy. The ink is black and the colour full, but not smudgy. The type used has been fresh and clear.and the plate taken from it has been sharp and deep. It may have been printed direct from linotype bars, and it may be impossible to distinguish the type from the linotype. The register is always accurate. Process blocks are freely introduced, and, as a rule, they are well, if not quite perfectly, made ready and brought up. Sixty years ago there were cheap books, but they did not show these qualities. In every element of good workman- ship the book of to-day is as superior to that of 1837 as the locomotive of to-day is to that of the time of Robert Stephenson. Mr. Southward also sketches the progress in job and news printing. His book is fully illus- trated, and itself, of course, a model of excellent production. He is enthusiastic about the Lino- type machine, which, he says, has elevated the condition of the working printer, and also made possible even bigger papers and a larger number of cheap books than we get now. NEW YORE LETTER. New Tobk, Sept. 17. TI^HE Editor's remarks on "little notices," in I a recent number of this paper, apply with even greater force to American reviewing. In this country a really capable judgment is a secondary consideration, and timeliness is every- thing. The worst part of the situation is that this idea that books are news, to be treated with the same haste that the events of every day are treated with, is on the increase, which is perhaps one reason why the Evening Post with its late reviews is the only daily newspaper in the country worth serious consideration from a literary point of view. Any one interested in the fundamental motives which influence publication in the United States should read a convincing and rather de- pressing analysis of the whole newspaper question in the October number of Scribner's Magazine. J. Lincoln Steffens, who wrote the article, is one of the most intelligent and most successful young newspaper men in the city, and he has also written enough for the magazines to know that end of the publishing business. He speaks without fear, or without softening in any way the facts which he has found out. The substance of the article is that pubhshing is not an ideal occupation, but just as much a mercenary one as any commercial enterprise, and this general point of view is worked out in careful detail showing how everything that goes into a newspaper, from the events of the day to the literary notices, is determined by the field which seems most promising; that is, the class of readers who seem to be less well provided m 2 ## p. 118 (#540) ############################################ u8 THE AUTHOR. with a newspaper fitting their taste than any other class. Whether the generalisation can be made with equal safety about the publishing houses is perhaps an open question, but the more one learns the inside of things here, the more sur- prised he is at the number of books where the author takes the risk while the publisher is pub- licly supposed to do so; at the number of books which are taken against the literary judgment of the publishers for purely business reasons ; at the number which are rejected for similar com- mercial reasons, although the publishers think highly of their literary quality; and at the num- ber of articles which leading magazines are paid for accepting. William Gillette, t'.ie dramatic author and editor, gave his idea of what criticism ought to be in a recent talk itpropos of some absurd tech- nical suggestions that had been made to him by less skilful playwrights while he was abroad. "The only criticism I care for," he said, " is the criticism of the simple man who goes to the theatre without a desire to judge what he sees. Emotions are raised in him—fear, suspense, hope, sympathy, anger—real emotions, which he does not put into intellectual terms. It is to the ingenuous man that dramatic art appeals, and if somebody could transcribe his feelings into words, and thus show whether the drama carried out the object for which it was written, that would be valuable criticism, and it would be a work of the highest intelligence." It is rather interesting to notice that the "Almanach Hachette," which published in France recently a long list of books forming a library for a young girl of eighteen years old, selected just two American books and oue about America. From England it took "Robinson Crusoe," " Gulliver's Travels," "Ivanhoe," " Bob Eoy," "Waverley," "David Copperfield "; and from America, "The Last of the Mohicans " and "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It is a pretty fair test of a book to ask whether it appeals to any other nation, and their are no two American novels which give more true and distinctive information about the history of the United States than these two, although one of them, at least, is not remark- able for its artistic form. An excellent choice was also made in the book about contempo- rary America, Mme. Blanc's "Les Americaines Chez Hies." The first fall announcements of the McClure and Doubleday Companies are watched with interest, especially because of the firm's success in other fields of publishing, which the leading men in the new venture have had. Their little sets of "Tales from McClure's" and "Little Masterpieces" at thirty cents each justify their attempt to show that cheap publishing is con- sistent with good taste. They will say very frankly in a future announcement, "We, like other men, wish to gain material success, but we want to gain it by those means which appeal to our intellectual as well as to our moral self-respect." Perhaps the book on their list which is most interesting from the point of view of originality is "Prince Uno," a fairy story written by a prominent New York business man, who wishes to remain anonymous; "Charles A. Dana's Reminiscences of the War," which Miss Ida M. Tarbell is preparing, will begin in the November number of the magazine. The interview is an idea which this magazine is adopting freely from journalism. In the last number Mr. Steffens put a good deal of art into an interview on the Klondike, and in a few- months Mr. Robert Barr will have an interview with Mark Twain. Although nobody holds in some respects a- higher place in New England literature than James Russell Lowell, the attempt to get enough money by popular subscription to save his old homestead promises to be a miserable failure. Very few of the little sums which were expected came in, and there have thus far been no large gifts from rich men. On the Scribners' list of books for next season is "This Country of Ours," by Benjamin Harrison, ex-president of the United States. Mr. Harrison is not a remarkable writer, he is not a man of imagination or great culture, but he is a man of marked business intelligence and some indepen- dence of thought, and for anyone studying the political side of the United States his book is worth reading. A new publishing house is about to begin its career in Boston called Small, Maynard, and Co. The best known member of the firm is a silent partner, Mr. Bliss Carman, rather prominent as a lyric poet. The new firm begins its work with a new edition of Walt Whitman, which is worth while, since the publication of Whitman's writings has heretofore been extremely irregular, and since the interest in him seems to be on the increase. A reader for one of the prominent publishing houses told me the other day that 90 per cent, of the matter submitted to his house was fiction. It is not, as a rule, the echo of any successful book; the idea is original, but weak, and the execution bad. A great many of the writers live by them- selves in small places, and their novels represent the work of years. Mr. Stanley Waterloo, whose works seem to be popular in London, has written an introduction to ## p. 119 (#541) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 119 the New England edition of his first novel—" A Man and a Woman." Whether any of it has yet been made public in England I do not know, but the general purport of it is that there is no school of writers in the region of which Chicago is the metropolis. He prefers " the Chicago group," on the ground that, although the treatment of life by these Western writers varies from that found elsewhere in the country, the writers are so diffe- rent among themselves that the term " school " is somewhat misleading. Another Chicago writer, now dead—Eugene Field—is to be honoured by two clubs this season. The Caxton Club of Chicago will bring out some- thing about him, not yet decided on; and the Duodecimo Club of the same city will bring out a bibliography of his works. NOBMAN HAPOOOD. BAD PAPER. IN an interview with Mr. J. T. W. MacAlister, a well-known librarian, which appeared in the June number of The Author, that gentle- man referred inter alia to the very perishable character of the paper employed for a large pro- portion of the books of the present day. We learn that the Society of Arts have appointed a representative committee of paper-makers, librarians, and chemists, to investigate the ques- tion of the deterioration of paper, and the whole subject of perishable paper when used for books of importance or reference. The committee asks to be supplied with any instances of books pub- lished within the last thirty years which already show signs of perishing, particularly where the books have been much used. Sir H. Trueman Wood, secretary of the committee, will also be glad to have any other information bearing on this matter, which may be sent to him at the Society of Arts, John-street, Adelphi, London. THE AMERICAN AUTUMN LIST. OTJR own Autumn List will not be complete before the end of October, owing to the custom with some publishers of sending in their lists up till November, for publication in the Athenteum. The American Autumn List, how- ever, has been fully announced in one number of the Chicago Dial. The list comprises over a thousand books. In the analysis, and in the remarks which follow, books educational, medical and surgical, of reference, new editions of stan- dard literature, and holiday gift-books, have been omitted: In Biography and Memoirs there are 60 entries. In History 43 .. In General Literature 90 „ In Poetry 23 In Fiction 184 „ In Travels 28 In Art and Archaeology 19 „ In Music and the Drama 7 „ In Science and Nature 27 ,, In Politics and Economics 23 „ In Philosophy and Psychology 15 „ In Theology and Religion 85 „ In Sport 12 „ The English reader naturally asks what pro- portion of these books belong to ourselves. Of English Origin. In Biography there are 32 In History 7 In General Literature 38 In Poetry 5 In Fiction 48 In Travels 12 In Art and Archaeology 12 In Music and the Drama 3 In Science and Nature 4 In Politics and Economics 4 In Philosophy and Psychology ... o In Theology and Religion 22 In Sport 12 Of 28 36 5* 18 136 16 7 4 »3 '9 15 63 o 199 417 These figures may be incorrect to a trifling extent, but they are near enough for our pur- poses. They show that out of 616 books in the principal subjects of literature, 199 are of English origin, and 417 are of American origin. The last time that the present writer analysed an American autumn list, now some years ago, the numbers showed a much larger proportion of English origin. The reason was that while American editors could flood the market with pirated books at a wretchedly low price, the American author had no chance. The effect was to deprive the writers of fiction of the market altogether, and to make it very difficult to persuade the American public to buy any books except at a miserable price. This licence being abolished, the native author begins at once to take his place; so that we now see out of 184 new works of fiction 136 are of American writers: out of twenty-three new volumes of verse, eighteen belong to Americans: and so on. The proportion of English to American writers may be expected to become still less every year. ## p. 120 (#542) ############################################ 120 THE AUTHOR. This is what should be looked for: the bulk of popular fiction must be redolent of the soil: the great majority of writers cannot hope to provide the fiction of the more popular kind except for their own countrymen. There is springing up, as was foretold in these pages two or three years ago, a purely American literature in America: a purely British bterature here: and an Anglo-Saxon literature, containing what is precious and Catholic out of both literatures. To these will be joined before long the literature of the other great branches of our race. It will be a great thing for an American or an Englishman to delight his own countrymen: it will be a far greater thing for him to be included in the list of those writers who belong to all who speak our language over the whole world. s»«<- NOTES AND NEWS. IBEG to inform a great many people who addressed communications to me during the months of August and September that I only received their letters on Sept. 21, owing to the neglect of a clerk at the Society's oflices, to which the letters were addressed. I hope that they will receive this statement as an excuse or explanation for my silence as to their communications. Information has reached the secretary of several attempts recently made to entrap authors by the old trick, regularly denounced in these pages, into binding themselves down for future books with the same publisher. Would any medical man dare to propose that his patient should bind himself to call in no one else; or any solicitor? The worst feature about these cases—there are at least three publishers concerned — is that they occur with first books. The victim is offered low terms—perhaps to be excused in considera- tion of its being a first book—with the condition that the publisher is to have the second book, if he pleases, on the same terms. Take the case of Charles Dickens. His "Sketches by Boz" were sold, I believe, to Bentley for ,£150: what if he had bound himself down to let that publisher have " The Pickwick Papers" for the same sum? Experience shows that the same tricks—always the same tricks—are tried on time after time: and that the same vigilance must be kept up to expose them. The Secretary can furnish mem- bers with the names of the three publishers con- cerned. . The sub-committee to examine into the Dis- ount Question has begun its work. It will be a laborious work. Meantime I refer readers once more to the " Battle of Books," in The Autlior of February, 1897. And, without instructions from the sub-committee to this effect, I may also remind readers of The A uthor, who are probably members of the Society, that the matter under discussion is one of the very highest importance to themselves, and that they ought to consider for themselves what it means. The proposal of certain pub- lishers, which appears to be accepted by certain booksellers, is this: (1) To maintain the present arrangements and prices with the retail trade, provided the latter reduce their discount from. 3<Z. to 2d. in the shilling: but (2) to issue books at a net price for which the bookseller will pay four-fifths of that price. We have to consider how such a change will affect our own interests, the interests of booksellers, the interests of publishers, and the interests of literature generally. nin The new literary journal, concerning which a good deal of whispering has gone round, will appear this month. As we all know now, it is to be called " Literature": it is to be published at the office of the Times: it is to be edited by Dr. Traill. It would seem that the journal could hardly appear at a more opportune moment: the British Review and the National Observer are extinct: so, after a brief existence, is the New Saturday; the Saturday has undergone changes; the Spectator has lost its principal pillar of support, and is practically on its trial for its future position. The Athetueum remains what it always has been, filling a place of its own from which it will not be easily dislodged. The Book- man still remains a monthly paper: the Literary Gazette has got, and will keep, its own place, and a very useful place it is. The Publishers' Circular and the Bookseller are organs of the publishing trade: The Author is the organ of the Authors' Society, and is not a review at all. None of these papers would stand in the way of the new weekly. There would seem to be plenty of room for another paper devoted entirely to Literature. There would seem to be a great future possible for such a paper. Those who remember—sorrowfully I confess that I remember — the early days of the Satur- day Review, will recall the pleasure with which one welcomed reviews of books which were obviously written by scholars who knew, and were guided by, canons of criticism. It was a time, I believe, and have been told, when criticism was at its very worst, with log-rolling—but the name had not yet been invented—and personal ## p. 121 (#543) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 121 animosities of the most violent kind; the most blackguard abuse; and the most flagrant incom- petence. The Saturday Review came, and the •whole tone of criticism changed. Some of the earlier numbers of the new paper were violent, but no paper can be completely in advance of the time. The justice of the line taken by the writers: the ability with which the subject, as well as the book, was handled; the breadth of view: the fearlessness with which abuses were attacked: the separation of the journal from any considerations of advertisements, whether they would be attracted or repelled: the knowledge that the journal belonged to a rich man, who would not care much if it brought him but a small return—these points gave the paper, almost from the outset, a commanding position. Will the new paper be able to take up that position, and so dominate the literary world? The place is vacant: the door is open. No one, I think, understands the position better than Dr. Traill himself, as much distinguished for his journalism as for his books. On all sides we hear the same complaint. Reviews are of no use : they have lost their interest and their value. The world is no longer guided by them. A most remarkable illustration of the fact is before us all at this moment in the case of a certain book which appeared a month or six weeks ago. It was instantly seized upon by all the reviewers for all the papers. I hope that I am not understood as saying or suggesting anything against, or for, the merits of the book, when I use it as an illustration of my position. By one part of the reviewers the work was fiercely, savagely assailed; by the other part it was as cordially welcomed and praised. What is the result? A larger demand for the book than has greeted any other novel on its first appearance for many years. In three or four weeks, in the teeth of the most "damaging " assaults upon the book, the circula- tion has been 50,000, and a new edition of 20,000 is announced. The hostility, therefore, of that part of the Press has not had the slightest effect upon the demand for the book. I am not, I repeat, finding fault with either section of the reviewers. I only point out that, as the " slating" has not affected the book, it is not too much to assume that the praise bestowed upon it has also been unable to affect it. In spite of praise or blame, the public have received the book on their own judgment. I have received twenty letters all asking the same question—I have printed one—p. 132. On all sides the same question is asked: "If critics—educated men — produce judgments so diametrically opposite, what is the use of criticism?" The answer is, that judgments diametrically opposite cannot proceed from critics who work on any canons of criticism. How, then, can a literary paper proceed? The only safe way is to follow the example of the Saturday Review iu 1859 or i860—namely, to admit on the staff none but scholars and proved writers ; and to take the greatest care not to suffer any book to fall into the hands of friend or enemy of the author. The Critic of New York observes this rule most strictly, and would never allow a man to write a second time who infringed the rule. Of course, one need not in this place dilate on log-rolling and animosities. There is anothar point on which the original practice of the Saturday might be followed. It is to give importance to literature as well as to the author by assigning to each review an adequate space. It was then, and should be now, a distinction to be reviewed—to be selected for review. A journal which would follow that custom, without "minor notices" at all, would immediately become distinguished above the rest. As to the "minor notices," the world cares nothing for them: they do not help or instruct the author: they do not advance the interests of the book; they damage the paper by destroying the value of so many columns; worse still—worst of all—it is impossible for a reviewer to read books for which he is allotted only an inch or two of space: no scale of pay ever invented would enable writers of short " notices" to read the books. One has been encouraged by the occasion to make these remarks; which are, after all, mere echoes of what is said everywhere. But no doubt Dr. Traill understands the situation far better than the writer of these lines. At this point I fell in with a paper by Mr. Cecil Mead Allen in the New Century Review, called "Novelist v. Reviewer," in which he takes the side of the reviewer. He assumes, however, that those who find fault with the present con- dition of criticism do so because they themselves have been severely treated; also that they are novelists only. Both these assumptions are baseless. He also says that, "No critic would wilfully defame a good book." The converse proposition therefore follows: "No critic would wilfully praise a bad book." Apply these propositions to the book whose case we are considering. I. If it is good, no writer would defame it. But critics have defamed it. Therefore it must be bad. II. If it is bad, no critic would praise it. But ## p. 122 (#544) ############################################ I 22 THE AUTHOR. critics have praised it. Therefore it must be good. Yet it cannot be both good and bad. Mr. Allen very justly points out that the signifi- cance of a criticism depends greatly on experience and education. Does this fact explain the reason why it is supposed that anybody can review books? So we come back to what was said at first—that the time is highly propitious for the formation of a literary organ whose staff shall be scholars, who will be free from personal motives, who will read the books they judge, and whose judgment shall carry weight. I am very pleased to publish the following letter, which speaks for itself. It will be, I believe, as new to the world as it is to me to hear that the late Charles Dickens was a contributor to the Press. That he was an excellent editor I know very well, for I wrote his Christmas story for him, either alone or with the late James Eice, for ten or eleven years—1876-1886, or 1887— with relations perfectly satisfactory. Of course, one cannot believe that his family would be hurt by the statement that he was a printer. Let us, however, correct these words, and say that the late Charles Dickens was not known to the world as a writer, save of guide-books; that he was an editor for many years; and that he was also a printer for many years. "When commenting upon the above in last month's Author, you remark that the 'late Charles Dickens, jun., was not a writer, except of one or two guide-books. He was a printer.' Will you kindly allow me to say that I think these remarks are calculated to give an entirely wrong impression of the late Mr. C. Dickens's position in the literary world. I fear also they are likrly to give pain to a large number < f your readers, and more especially to those who, like myself, knew him not merely as a personal friend or as a contributor of brilliant unsigned articles to the Press, but also as a most conscien- tious and genuinely artistic editor. As such no slovenly work ever passed muster with him, nor did any really good work ever suffer at his hands from rough and ready pruning. For ten years (dating from 1884) I was serial writer to his two magazines, All the Year Round and Household Words, and, looking back dispassionately upon the work which I placed in his hands during that time, I gratefully acknowledge how much it owes to his most thoughtful suggestions, which were invariably the outcome of genuine artistic feeling and wide literary knowledge." The following note is taken from the Daily News, with thanks to the editor for providing a piece of literary gossip so interesting:—" The oldest member of the Soeicte des Gens de Lettres is neither M. Eugene Veuillot, who is 89, nor M. Legouve.who is 90, but Mme. du Bosd'Elbbecq, who is 99. She is very sorry to have lived so long. Her experience of a very great age is given in one word—solitude. She has outlived hus- band, son, grandchildren, friends, and has, for a little quiet society, gone to live in a convent at Angers. Mme. du Bos d'Elbhecq was a prolific authoress. A list of her books would fill a column of a large newspaper. Some of them were highly successful. 'Le Pere Fargeau' still sells. It had an early sale of 36,000. She has to write every year to the secretary of the Socicte' des Gens de Lettres, to enclose a certificate that she lives. Her handwriting remains firm and legible. She works still as an authoress, chiefly writing for peasants and country folks. When she last applied for her pension, she was suffering from influenza, but has recovered. She began to work for the printers at the age of twenty, that is to say, seventy-nine years ago. She led a regular life, was never poor, never very well off, and had many kind friends. The last of her old friends, Admiral de Eibours, died two years ago. She was elected a member of the Societc fifty-three years ago." Walter Besant. —)» — PUBLIC LIBRARY THEFTS. IN the report of the Stoke Newington Public Library for 1896-7, it is stated that sixteen volumes were stolen during the year, fourteen of which wore taken from the shelves to which the readers had free access, only two being lost under the old system by which books were obtained through the library staff. Not long ago two city libraries, working also under the free access system, had to bewail the loss of some 200 volumes or more, one of the thieves being caught at a library using the old safe method, where, in trying to exercise his thievish ability, he was at once detected and handed over to the police. Libraries at Oxford, Liverpool, Cardiff, Nottingham, and other impor- tant places, which have more or less given up this risky method, have all suffered, and it is obvious that only where the authorities are pre- pared to lose many of their most valuable works, and are not particular as to the general disorder and misplacement of books on the shelves, can such a method be tolerated. One characteristic of this report is its unquestion- ## p. 123 (#545) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 123 able honesty, as it is not pleasant to have to report the failure of a system after once it is adopted. CHEAPNESS OF BOOKS. "T HAVE long felt that a great number of I books are much too cheap. Books are published now at 28. 6d. that twenty years ago would have easily commanded 6s., and those that were once 2s. 6d. are now published at i*., which means qd. Having thoroughly debauched the British public by in- ducing them to believe and to practice the lie that nd. is only t)d., what are we to do? The British public will not repent in sackcloth and ashes, and thus retrace its steps. What is to be done? I think the only thing to be done is for the publishers to agree to revise their prices. Let them, among other things, give up the old conventions-. Haif- a-crown is a price, 5*. is a price, 6*., io*, and 15*. are prices. But you never hear of 3*. 6d., or of 6s. 6d., or of 12s. 6d. Why not '< We have grown into routiue and custom. The publishers can, I fancy, easily break through this. Let them in future make a is. book is. 6d., a zs. 6d. book 3*. 6d., a 5*. book 6s. 6d., and so on. The public will pay only is. i\d. for a is. 6d. book; they will be well pleased, and the publisher will have i^d. on the is. to the good. "The competition in the book market is quite different in character from the competition in fish, or bread, or beef. A book is a book, and on the other hand, a book is not a book. No man buys a book on history when he wants a novel, because the first is cheaper; he has in his head a quite fixed idea of the book he wants and will have; and the temptation of Qd. or is. cheaper does not make him waver (unless he is going to make a present to someone he does not care about). It appears to me that the publishers have not sufficiently regarded this side of the question. Every book has its own public."— (From a Letter.) A RULE FOB THE USE OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 0| INCE the publication of my "suggested 1^ rule" for the use of the subjunctive mood by beginners in literature, in the July number of The Author, I have been in corre- spondence with some who have an acknowledged literary style, and also with others who are authorities on English Grammar. The views of the former class are well repre- sented in a letter which I received from Professor Dowden—the writer of one of the ten books which formed the basis of this investigation. He writes: "Your rule seems a good one for regulating the use of the subjunctive after 'if.' But I am not sure that there are not shades of meaning brought out by its use with other verbs than 'to be'; and, although the use is rare after 'whether,' 'though,' and 'although,'the propor- tion of subjunctives is large enough to suggest that it has some use. I should accept your rule as sufficient for beginners, but, should a yearning for a subjunctive possess me, I should like to think the passion not wholly criminal. I am afraid I have written in what Milton would call the unfettered liberty of a Christian. Now I shall feel that the number of ' tongue sins,' which Baxter fixed at thirty, is at least thirty-one." The sentence, "the proportion of subjunctives is large enough to suggest that it has some use," is interesting as bearing out the views of some other author*, who, while seeming to think that it has "some use," are apparently at a loss to say what that use is. In the words of others, "instinct" or their "ear " leads them to employ this moud without being able to understand or to explain to others why, in particular cases, it seems better than the indicative. Can it possibly be for the reason which leads to the use of synonyms, to avoid, that is, the too frequent repetition of the same word? It would certainly appear to be so in some instances that have come under my notice. Another reason may be traced to the schoolroom, for one author, distinguished for the purity of his style, admits that 'the use with me is simply that I was somehow taught that it was the proper thing to use 'be' after 'if.' I did not ask for any reason, but obeyed blindly." 'J'his is not the only case where this same reason holds. Coming to the other class, the grammarians, as distinguished from authors pure and simple. Professor Skeat writes: "I can only say that you have taken very great pains — that your general rule seems to be quite reasonable—and that there is 110 compulsion or necessity for using the subjunctive mood in any case, unless one wishes to do so. Its use seems to be most agreeable when real contingency is to be ex- pressed by a sentence involving be or were. And certainly the conjunction if is the one which generally goes with it. The net result is clearly that the subjunctive is in a moribund state. Dr. Sweet says, I believe, truly that it is completely dead in the spoken language. I take this to include all but flights of oratory and speeches of an ambitious character. In common talk it ## p. 124 (#546) ############################################ 124 THE AUTHOR. sounds terribly pedantic, and that is why we may disregard it if we please. This 'obsolescent' stage has lasted for a long time. Even in middle English the subjunctive is comparatively rare. '• I think it probable that the reason why the subjunctive of 'be' has survived other subjunc- tives is partly because that verb has peculiarities of its own. In Anglo-Saxon the future and the present of all verbs were alike with one sole exception BE. Thus ic ga, I go=(i) I am going; (2) I will go." But, ic com, I am, is present only; ic beo, I be, is both present and future, but commonly future. Later on 'I am,' and 'I be,' were both common; and the above distinction was often made. But (if I remember rightly) 'I be' died out in northern English at any rate in the indicative mood. There was great confusion. Moreover, the Anglo-Saxon for 'that I may be' was neither 'thaet ic eom,' nor yet, ' thaet ic beo,' but 4 thaet ic sy!' that is, there was yet a third form, used in the subjunctive only. This separated ' be' from all other verbs. "I think we ought all to be much obliged to you. To compile statistics is highly laborious, and is not always appreciated as it should be." Prof. Henry Sweet, the author of the exceed- ingly interesting " New English Grammar," writes: "My own practice, both in writing and speaking, is to use 'were' after ' if' to express rejected condi- tion 'if it were possible,' implying 'it is not possible.' Otherwise I do not think I use the subjunctive at all except in 'petrified phrases'— that is I say and write 'if it is possible' in all cases ... I should advise young authors to follow their own instincts about the subjunctive, that is, to write it only when they speak it; but if they must set up an artificial standard, I think they could not do better than follow your rules." It should be noted that we cannot use "was" everywhere after "if":—"I do not know whether he was there or not; if he teas, I did not see him." Here "were" would make nonsense. The author of a very well known grammar writes: "I feel inclined to put the results of inquiries into the following form: It is not now necessary to use the form of the subjunctive mood except in one single instance—in the past tense of the verb ' to be.' "You can now use the indicative of the present of 'to be' in place of the older subjunctive, without offence to the grammatical sense (of which only a minimum survives in the English nation) or to the ear. If anyone likes to say 'If he be at home I will call on him,' we have a feeling that he is unnecessarily particular, and therefore a little pedantic. But you cannot get out of the necessity of saying ' If only he were here, we should,' &c. If 'was' were used, it would at once be felt to be 'bad grammar '—that is, against all ordinary usage. "I don't myself believe that the English people will ever get out of the habit of using the subjunctive mood in this single instance, ' If I were, he were,' &c, because it seems to me to mark a real need of thought. To substitute 'was' would be to confuse two very different things, and would also be felt as a weakness— that is the feeling that it is impossible he could be here, when we say 'If he were here' would not be done adequate justice to. "Why not go in boldly for the one rule; use the subjunctive only in the past tense of the verb 'to be'—or use the subjunctive only in 'were '?" While much may be said in favour of the brief "Use the subjunctive only in were," I should hardly be summing up fairly the results of the correspondence this investigation has brought me—larger, possibly, than the foregoing extracts would suggest—without giving the "suggested rule" in a form that has met with general assent, and which may easily be remembered. I am now justified in recommending the fol- lowing to those who feel the need of some guidance beyond their "ear" or "instinct":— The subjunctive mood should be used with no other verb than "to be," and then only after "if" in cases (i) where there is real contingency, e.g., "H it be thought advisable, such and such measures will be pro- ceeded With "; (2) OR WHERE DEFINITE ASSER- TION is withheld, e.g., "It is as indispensable as any other . . . if it be not more so." Where the style is familiar the subjunc- tive SHOULD NOT BE USED AT ALL, e.g., do not write, "If he be naughty, he shall go without desert." F. Howard Collins. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. IN a criticism of R. L. Stevenson's collected works, the Athenteum prints the following letter it received from Stevenson himself, after it had reviewed " Kidnapped":— I wish to thank yon for your notioe of "Kidnapped," and that not because it was kind, though for that also I valued it, but in the same sense as I have thanked you before now for a hundred articles on a hundred different writers—you who fight the good fight, contending with stupidity, and I would fain hope not all in vain; in my own case, for instance, surely not in vain. What you say of the two parts in "Kidnapped " was felt by no one more pain- fully than by myself. I began it partly as a lark, partly as a pot-boiler; and suddenly it moved. David and Alan ## p. 125 (#547) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. stepped out from the canvas, and I found I was in another world. Bat there was the cursed beginning, and a cursed end must be appended, and an old friend, Byles the Batcher, was plainly audible, tapping at the back door. So it had to go into the world, one part (as it does seem to me) alive, one part merely galvanised: no work, only an essay. For a man of tentative method, and weak health, and a scarcity of private means, and not too much of that frugality which is the artist's proper virtue, the days of sinecures and patrons look very golden, the days of professional literature very hard. Yet I do not so far deceive myself as to think I should change any character by changing my epoch; the sum of virtue in our books is in a relation of equality to the sum of virtues in ourselves; and my "Kidnapped" was doomed while still in the womb, and while I was yet in the cradle, to be the thing it is. It may not be generally known that Stevenson at one time aspired to fill a professorial chair. The Critic recently printed an article describing this incident. The position he applied for was the Chair of History and Constitutional Law at Edin- burgh University. In the summer of 1881 Stevenson's mother read in the Scotsman the announcement that the chair was vacant. She said to him: "I am sorry that that Chair has become vacant, as I have always thought it was the one position in Edinburgh which would suit you." He replied: "I have never thought of it, but you are quite right, and I don't see why I should not apply now." He at once wrote round to his influential friends soliciting their testi- monials as to his fitness for the post. Copies of these letters were bound in a pamphlet and dis- tributed among those who had the power of filling the vacancy. These pamphlets are now exceed- ingly rare. Stevenson received very eulogistic letters from Leslie Stephen, J. A. Symonds, and Andrew Lang, among others, but did not obtain the Chair. —>•< THE AUTOGRAPH FIEND- THE following is from a circular copied from an American paper, and used by the late Sir Isaac Pitman in reply to letters asking him for his autograph:— "One of the forces not duly rated in this world is the power involved in making oneself disagree- able. "The autograph hunter is the embodiment of it, and it is his crowning glory that few have attained the distinction of being cursed as he has been, for being an unmitigated nuisance; and aroused, even in the breasts of the pious, thoughts that lie too deep, not only for tears, but for words not fit for polite society. Yet it is in proportion to this supreme capacity for making oneself odious that the autograph hunter exhibits, like the Indian, the trophies of his hunt. Nor does it seem to require the brazen hardihood of age and experience. Owing to the fact that age puts by this sort of thing with other follies, it is the youth that most indulge and most exult in this lion- baiting pastime. "One of these young fiends in Brooklyn, having scarcely attained the age of eighteen, has whole folios full of autographic scalps. His waking hours are devoted to the task of plotting against the peace and comfort of the great. Having no scruples and no humanity, he smiles at the refusals of his victims, knowing well that he has settled down upon them never to depart until he shall carry with him in triumph the plunder he is seeking. To his credit, be it said, he is no respecter of persons. Bismarck and the German Emperor are made to stand and deliver as well as Mark Twain and the Sweet Singer of Michigan; Susan B. Anthony and Von Moltke as. well as Mother Goose and K. B. Hayes. He has drawn autographs from people who have regis- tered a solemu vow b3fore high heaven never to write another. Eminent lawyers have pleaded for mercy as they never pleaded for a verdict, but they have not always been let off even with a short sentence. Distinguished clergymen, at first excusing themselves on the ground that they were too engrossed in Holy Writ to furnish the secular sort, have yielded to the inevitable in order to escape eternal suffering in this world." SIR HENRY CRAIK ON IMPRESSIONISM. SIE HENRY CRAIK, K.C.B., Secretary of the Scotch Education Department, delivered an address to the boys of Glasgow High School on the 21st ult., on the occasion of the opening of a new wing of that establishment. His subject was the training for citizenship, and he advised the curbing of the emotions, and the development of the imagination. He suggested that in the nineteenth century we had specialised knowledge too much, and forgotten that balance of judgment which is the chief quality of wisdom; that in our poetry we had torn at our heart- strings too much, and carried our feelings too much upon our sleeves; that in our philosophy we had tried to solve the insoluble, pursuing perhaps some nebulous and misty produce of esoteric philosophy borrowed from Germany; and that in fiction we had neglected the early pic- turesof domestic life—which, after all, had so much of interest, so much of tragedy, so much of comedy —and rather pursued after exaggerated types of morbid ideas in which, to use a common phrase, each ## p. 126 (#548) ############################################ 126 THE AUTHOR. man had striven to go one better than his neigh- bour. It was quite possible we might have to wait for a time before the pendulum swung back; we might have to carry further the exaggeration of emotionalism, of what was called impres- sionism. But sooner or later some reaction would come. What if we reverted somewhat to the tone of an older age; if we repeated some- thing of that much decried eighteenth century, which we thought was wanting in enthusiasm, and sacrificed too much to form? Suppose we attempted, after all our energy of effort, to garner a few of the fruits—to seek after lucidity, clearness, and simplicity in our speculations, calmness in our judgment of politics and of social questions, order and good form in our poetry, simplicity in our pictures of human life as represented in fiction? A SMALL LITERARY PROBLEM. AGENUINE, if not very important, mystery arises out of the strange twist in Sir Walter Scott's nature which led that just and honourable man to take a gratuitous delight in hoax and humbug. The endless population of Clutterbucks and Cleisbothams, indeed, could hardly deceive the most simple-minded readers; and the authorship of " Waverley," though abso- lutely denied, soon became of the sort known in France as "a secret of Punch." But Scott made a most determined effort to mislead the world in another direction. It was early in 1813, while engaged in "Rokeby" and making his new departure in "Waverley," that his fertile brain was inspired by the idea of competing with himself by an anonymous poem. In March of that year the Ballantynes brought out the "Bridal of Triermain," pains being taken to make it appear the work of a friend, William Erskine. The thing took; the critics hailed an imitation—however inferior—of the great Min- strel; and it was not until the appearance of a third edition that the true authorship became known. Had this, however, been the whole story it would have been nothing unusual. "Waverley came out about two years later, in a similar cloud of concealment and mystification; and in 1817 another poem—" Harold the Dauntless "—was launched anonymously, and the critics were once more at fault, and hailed an inferior imitation. What makes " Triermain " a special case is that it was not a frank exercise in the manner of the "Lay" and "Marmion," but rather an attempt at a new style, resembling that of Byron's tales, and apparently modelled on "Christabel," which Coleridge asserted to be written in a new form invented by himself. But the darkness deepens when we remember that "Christabel" was not published until 1816, three years later than the poem of Scott, of which the first canto, in which the Coleridge manner is most apparent, had appeared still earlier.* And yet it is hard to resist the conclusion that Scott must have seen Coleridge's poem in MS. Although of this there seems no external evidence, yet there is the strange similarity of style and manner; above all there is the name of Geraldine's father— "Roland de Vaux of Tryermaine "—which, allow- ing for slight difference in spelling, gives the exact appellation of Scott's hero. "Christabel" was written in 1797, though not published, and Scott must have seen it in MS. before 1809. It is further remarkable that—whatever may have been the opinion of contemporary critics—a great improvement in workmanship made itself manifest in Scott's new venture. The poem is not, perhaps, as well known as it ought to be, by reason of its humour, descriptive skill, and delicate technique- Altogether the unsolved mystery remains full of literary interest. Its elucidation may be commended to those ingenious philosophers who teach that genius is but a form of epilepsy, and essentially morbid. Scott dictated his matchless " Lammermoor " in a state approaching to delirium a few years later; and the mattoid sect will perhaps attempt to account for the strange incidents above noticed by the theory of a disordered constitution. One thing, at least, they may be trusted to do : if they establish no other conclusion, they will certainly add to the already existing proofs that the disease of genius is not contagious. Note —In the atanzaa introductory to Canto First the author uaeB a distinct denial of identity with the Last Minstrel:— Nor "on—beat meed to minatrel true— One fav'ring smile from fair Buoclenoh. H. G. Keene. BOOK TALE. AWORK on Klondyke, by Mr. Harry de Windt, is to be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus under the title "Through the Goldfields of Alaska to Behring Straits." The new work by Mr. Ruskin which Mr. George Allen has unearthed, consisting of the lectures on landscape delivered to Oxford undergraduates in * The fragment first saw the light in the Edinburgh. Annual Register for 1809, no leaa than seven years before "Christabel." It was an avowed imitation (see first preface). ## p. 127 (#549) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 127 1871, will be published with illustrations repro- duced from the author's private collection which accompanied the addresses. A story called " Poppy," by Mrs. Isla Sitwell, will be brought out this autumn by Messrs. Nelson and Co. Mr. Romesh C. Dutt, I.C.S., CLE., the late officiating Commissioner of Orissa, and author of "Civilization in Ancient India," has produced a book called "England and India," a record of pro- gress during a hundred years, 1785-1885. The preface points out that since 1837 there has been a great famine every twenty years: that while the rule of the English has been honest, it has been found necessary to call for reforms in many directions, and that other reforms await the legis- lator. What these are the book attempts to point • out. The publishers are Chatto and Windus. A second and enlarged edition of Miss Roalfe Cox's "Introduction to Folk-Lore" is in the press. The special feature of the new issue is a classified list of books designed for the use of students of the science. The publisher is Mr. Nutt. Messrs. Moran and Co., Crown Press, Aberdeen, will issue early in October an important book, "My First Prisoner," from the pen of Mr. Bartle Teeling, who has an interesting career as governor of an Irish prison and as one of the Pontifical Zouaves. The picture of Ireland and Rome of more than a quarter of a century ago will be found interesting at this moment, viewed in the light of the present political state of Ireland and Italy. The work will be published in London by the Roxburghe Press Limited. "Richard de Lyrienne," the author of the skit on Mr. Le Gallienne's book, published recently by Mr. Lane, is Mr. David Hodge, a Glasgow journalist. This is his first book. Mr. Hodge is connected with the same journal as Mr. Neil Munro, whose volume of stories of life in the Highlands of Scotland Messrs. Blackwood published some time ago. Mr. Thomas Wright, Olney, Bucks, is writing a work on "Hind Head, and Its Literary and Historical Associations." This locality is noted for the number of literary and scientific gentlemen who reside in it. Dr. Wallis Budge is editing the text of the Coptic Psalter discovered about two years ago in Upper Egypt, and the work will be published by Messrs. Kegan Paul. The manuscript was found in the ruins of an ancient Coptic monastery, inclosed in a stone box, which had been firmly fastened into the ground. The manuscript is interesting also as containing the spurious cli. Psalm. Professor George Ebers's novel, "Barbara Blomberg: a Romance of the Days of Charles V," is about to be published by Messrs. Sampson Low. Early this month Mr. Andrew Lang's book for the young, "The Pink Fairy Book," will be published by Messrs. Longmans, Green. Mr. H. J. Ford illustrates it. "Weeping Ferry, and Other Stories," is the title of a volume by Margaret L. Woods (author of "A Village Tragedy "), which Messrs. Long- mans, Green, and Co. have in the press. Golfers will get "Colonel Bogey's Sketch Book" added to their literature shortly. The author is Mr. R. Andre, of the West Herts Golf Club. Mr. F. H. S. Merewether, Reuter's special correspondent during the Indian Famine, who travelled in the stricken districts, has written an account of his experiences. This will be pub- lished by Messrs. A. D. Innes and Co., entitled "Through the Famine Districts of India." This firm also announces "The Coldstream Guards in the Crimea," by Lieutenant-Colonel Ross, C.B., of Bladensburg. Mr. Clark Russell has written a novel entitled "The Two Captains," which Messrs. Sampson Low are about to publish. Mr. James F. Sullivan has written and illus- trated a volume entitled "More Stories," which Messrs. Longmans will publish. The author of " The Devil Tree of El Dorado" has written another novel, entitled "A Studio Mystery," which Messrs. Jarrold will publish. Mr. Silas K. Hocking's serial "In Spite of Fate" is to be published shortly by Messrs. Warne. "Stories of Famous Songs" is a work by Mr. S. J. Adair Fitz-Gerald shortly to appear from Mr. Nimmo's house in King William-street. The writer has spent fifteen years, he tells, upon the work, and has gathered the histories of all the world's most famous and popular songs and ballads from all sorts of sources. Mr. Beckles Willson is the author of "The Tenth Island: being some Account of Newfound- land, its People, its Politics, its Problems, and its Peculiarities." The work is the result of Mr. Willson's special correspondence from North- western America to the London Daily Mail. Sir William Whiteway and Lord Charles Beresford will write contributions to the work. Dr. Newman Hall is writing his Life. The book will be called "Sixty Years Ago, by an Octogenarian." ## p. 128 (#550) ############################################ 128 THE AUTHOR. Mr. F. H. Le Queux is engaged upon a new story, to be called "The Eve of the Seventh Resurrection. It will be ready for publication early in December. "Steadfast and True" is a tale of the Hugue- nots, by L. C. Silke, author of "Margaret Somerset," <fec. Published by the Religious Tract Society. 2s. 6c?. "School Life at Bartram's" is another story by L. C. Silke, author of "A Hero in the Strife," "Margaret Somerset," &c. Same publishers, i*. 6c?. The second edition of "Reflections on the Art of War," price ys. 6c?., and the fourth edition of "Sanitation and Health," cloth, is. 6c?., both books by Brigadier-General R. C. Hart, V.C., C.B. (commanding a district in India), are about to be published. There will be three serial stories in the Monthly Packet during the course of 1898: "The Gospel Writ in Steel," by Arthur Paterson, a story of the American War; "The Main Chance," bv Christabel Coleridge; and " Off the High Road,'"' by Eleanor C. Price. A second edition of Mary L. Pendered's fairy tale, "To Suniland with a Moon Goblin," has been issued by Messrs. Marshall, Russell, and Co. It is a dainty little volume, being the story of one "Queer Eye," a boy of inquiring mind, who wanders it, to strange lands, where he is shown many marvellous things by a goblin guide, whose moralising on the way is quaint and amusing. The illustrations by a child of ten are remarkably clever. Mr. Bloundelle-Burton's new novel, "The Clash of Arms," will be published on the 15th by Methuen and Co., in London, and Appleton and Co., in New York, a colonial edition also appearing at the same time. The author has, during the holiday season, revisited the scene of the novel, viz., the heart of the Vosges moun- tains, and carefully verified his description of the locality. It was in this neighbourhood, many years ago, that Mr. Bloundelle-Burton was told by an old peasant the story which forms the groundwork of "The Clash of Arms," to wit, the abduction of an English girl by a French noble- man serving under Turenne, and the implac- able vengeance with which he was afterwards pursued and brought to bay by one of her countrymen. Among Messrs Harpers immediately forth- coming publications is Mr. J. M. Graham's historical novel, "The Son of the Czar." This work, first announced in March last, but held over for the autumn season, is fixed for issue on Oct. 15. The book deals, of course, from the point of view of the romance writer, with the relations between Peter the Great and the Russian Crown Prince Alexis. And the a.uthor, while not relieving the father from entire responsibility for the tragic fate of the son, seeks to remove some of the stains which have clung to the memory of the Czar in this connection, and, above all, is careful to point to the countless provocations received by Peter from the heir to his throne. "Verdi: Man and Musician" is the title of a monograph now in the press, from the pen of Frederic J. Crowest, author of "The Great Tone Poets," "The Story of British Music," and many other accepted musical writings. The name of the composer of " II Trovatore," " Otello," and "Fal- staff," is a household word, and it is matter for surprise that no English biographer has hitherto been found to give to lovers and students of his music the romantic story of his early struggles and their successful issue, or to attempt to assign to him a position, critically, among the great masters of music. The present volume, while being a complete biography, will contain the results of lengthened research into the hitherto neglected English experiences of the maestro, and will deal with the extraordinary and diverse criticisms which his successive operas evoked from the leading musical critics of the day. The vol ume will be issued on Oct. 5, in demy 8vo. form at js. 6c?., and will contain several full-length family por- traits, including a photogravure frontispiece repro- duced from the latest portrait of the composer, with his dated autograph. "A Frisky Matron," by Percy Lysle, published by Messrs. George Routledge and Sons, has received some very favourable notices, and is going very well. Mr. James Baker, the author of "The Gleam- ing Dawn," &c, has been travelling in Scandi- navia and Finland, visiting the Lap district within the Arctic circle, and the interesting mining mountainous district round Gellivara, from whence he crossed over to Russia to be present at the Faure fetes in honour of the French President at St. Petersburg. He is writing for the Pall Mall Gazette, the Queen, Black and White, and some provincial papers. Messrs. Cassell and Company (Limited) will publish in October a volume of aphoristic poems, "Quiet Waters," by Frederick Langbridge. The book—which is intended as a sequel to the author's "Cluster of Quiet Thoughts"—will have twenty illustrations by Zillah Taylor. Miss Taylor has also designed a cover and a frontis- piece for Mr. Langbridge's "Sent Back by the Angels." ## p. 129 (#551) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Mr. David Nutt will shortly publish Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel John MacGregor's new volume of Gaelic Poems, entitled "Luinneagan Luaineach" (Random Lyrics). The volume will also contain several renderings of the original Gaelic into English verse by the author himself, as well as the Jubilee poems of "Victoria Maxima," lately accepted by Her Majesty the Queen. Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. will publish, on the 5th inst., a work entitled: "A Servant of John Company" (1825-1882), by H. G. Keene, C.I.E., author of "Sketches in Indian Ink," &c, and for many years a district judge in the North-West Provinces of India. Among other subjects the volume deals with: Posting Days in England, Fighting Fitzgerald, Daniel O'Connell, Reminiscences of the Indian Mutiny, Duelling in the Army and the part the late Prince Consort took in the abolition of the same, Agra, Calcutta, &c, Bishop Wilson, the Right Hon. J. Wilson, Lord Canning, Sir Henry Lawrence, Lord Dalhousie, Sir H. M. Elliot, Anglo-Indian Society in the days of the East India Company; interspersed with original stories and anecdotes of the times. The book will be illustrated by Mr. W. Simpson, R.I., the well- known artist and correspondent of the Illustrated London Neics, from original sketches by the author. The Quiver has arranged with Mr. W. Edwards Tirebuck for a new serial story to begin next November. It is to be called "The White Woman: An Adventure." "I was visiting Stratford-upon-Avon," a gentleman writes to the Standard, "and, while looking at a shop window, a boy of about ten or eleven volunteered the information (pointing to a photograph) that that was ' Shakespeare's house.' I inquired, 'Who was Shakespeare'(' and with a merry twinkle in his eye, the boy said, 'He stole the deer.' I said, 'I had not seen anything of it in the papers—was it recently—this week or last?' He replied, ' It was three or four years ago.' I inquired if that was all that Shakespeare did, and why there were so many pictures about of his birthplace?' He said,' He was a rich man, and lived in a big house.'" Mr. Fisher Unwin would be greatly obliged if anyone possessing information about books and etchings of the late Charles Keene, not mentioned in Mr. Layard's "Life," would communicate the same to him for the purpose of a forthcoming bibliography. If a sufficient number of guinea subscriptions are obtained, the Clarendon Press propose to publish, by the collotype process, a facsimile of the original MS. of the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon in Welsh, reproduced from the MS. of Bishop Richard Davies, and compared with the parallel versions of Salesbury (1567) and Morgan (1588). To this will be added an account of a draft petition for a translation into "the vulgar walsh tong," and a bond in connec- tion therewith, bound with the MS., and a disser- tation on some early Welsh versions of Holy Scripture by Archdeacon D. R. Thomas, Llan- drinio. A book of private letters, illustrating high life in the Elizabethan period, has been prepared by Lady Newdegate of Arbury, and will shortly be published by Mr. David Nutt. It is entitled "Gossip from a Muniment Room," and the correspondence is that of two Fitton sisters, one of whom married Sir John Newdigate of Arbury, and the other was maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. Sir William Knollys, Sir Fulke Greville, Sir Richard Leveson, and Francis Beau- mont are among the correspondents introduced. The book will be illustrated from family portraits. The latest volume in Mr. Thomas J. Wise's library of privately-printed books is a collection of "Letters from Shelley to Hogg." These were written in 1810-11. Mr. St. Loe Strachey, editor of the Cornhill Magazine, has succeeded to the post of joint- editor and joint-proprietor of the Spectator, on the death of Mr. Hutton. The Progressive Review is dead.—The Angli- can, an illustrated church review, makes its first appearance this month. It is a monthly, price i*., and is published from 37, Norfolk-street, Strand.— To-morrow has not been issued for the last two months, but begins again now under a new publisher, Mr. Grant Richards. Another series of biographies, this time of "Masters of Medicine" of Great Britain and Europe, has been projected, and will appear before long. Among early volumes to appear will be "John Hunter," by Dr. Stephen Paget; and "William Harvey," by Mr. D'Arcy Power. Miss Beatrice Whitby's " Sunset" and Mr. F. W. Robinson's "Little Nin," are among the new novels which Messrs. Hurst and Blackett will issue this month. "This Little World" is the title of Mr. D. Christie Murray's new novel which Messrs. Chatto and Windus are to publish immediately. Miss Alcock has introduced Armenian history in her novel, " By Far Euphrates," which Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton are about to issue. The Rev. E. Convbeare, whose antiquarian researches in Cambridgeshire are well known, is ## p. 130 (#552) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. engaged on a history of that county for Mr. Elliot Stock's Popular County History series. Particular attention has been bestowed on the part taken by Cambridgeshire in the baronial wars of the thirteenth century. A new work by Count Tolstoy is announced. The subject will be the tardy repentance of a man who is on a jury that condemns a young woman to Siberia for theft. This man recog- nises in the prisoner a girl whom he has wronged years before, and he eventually accompanies her into exile. "Manners, Institutions, and Ceremonies of the Hindus," by the Abbe J. A. Dubois, is shortly to be published by Mr. Henry Frowde. The work has been translated from the author's later French MS. in the Madras Government's records, with notes and corrections, and a biography of the author, by Mr. H. K. Beauchamp. Dean Farrar has written " The Herods" for a set of volumes called the Popular Biblical Library, an enterprise of Messrs. Service and Paton. This firm also announce "Our Churches, and "Why We Belong to Them," by Canon Knox- Little, Dr. Horton, and other preachers. A two-volume work by Mr. J. E. C. Bodley, on "France since the Revolution," is to be published by Messrs. Macmillan. The 6nal part of " Flora of British India," by Sir Joseph Hooker, will be issued this month by Messrs. L. Reeve and Co., who have also in hand the following:—By Mr. A. Fryer, an illustrated "Potamogetons of the British Isles "; by Miss E. M. Bowdler Sharpe, an illustrated monograph on the genus Teracolus. Dr. Jessopp has written a "Life of Donne " for •Messrs. Methuen's "Leaders of Religion" series. Mr. W. S. Gilbert is bringing his old "Bab Ballads" volume into line with his "more chastened sense of humour." The text has been revised, and a number of illustrations added. Messrs. Routledge will publish the book. A volume of poems by Mrs. Shorter (Miss Dora Sigerson) will be published by Mr. Lane this month. A monument is to be erected to the memory of Joanna Baillie at her birthplace, Bothwell, Lanark- shire. It is given by a friend of letters who wishes to remain anonymous. Mr. Owen Seaman succeeds the late Mr. E. J. Milliken on the staff of Punch. Mr. W. E. Henley's "English Lyrics" is announced by Messrs. Methuen for this month. Mr. F. G. Kitton, the well-known authority on Dickens, has discovered a number of stories, articles, and essays by the novelist. These will shortly be published by Mr. George Redway in a volume entitled " To be Read at Dusk." There will be an edition for England, and another for America, and each will contain matter that the other will not. Mr. Aylmer Gowing's new book "Merely Players" is now ready. The publishers are F. V. White and Co. Messrs. Barnicott and Pearce, of Taunton, have issued "Memorials of Wells and Glastonbury," in the shape of two cards, each with collotype views of the cathedral and the abbey respectively, with sonnets by the Rev. Prebendary Godfrey Thring, well known for his hymn "Fierce raged the tempest o'er the deep," and others, in the collection of Ancient and Modern Hymns. Those who know these monuments may note that the cards can be had for a shilling each. Mr. H. A. Salmonc, the professor of Arabic at King's College, London, has devised and is editing a unique souvenir of the Jubilee. This is the third verse of the National Anthem metrically rendered into fifty of the principal languages spoken throught the British Empire. Sir W. B. Richmond has done an emblematic design, and each page will have a decorative border. The Queen has accepted the dedication of the volume, which will be published by Mr. Nutt at Christ- mas. The long legal and political career of the late Sir John Simon, serjeant-at-law, formerly M.P. for Dewsbury, is to be treated in a memoir now being prepared by his son, Mr. Oswald John Simon. The biography of Lord Tennyson will be pub- lished on the 6th inst. It will contain poems and letters that have not yet been made public. Mr. R. H. Sherard is engaged on a biography of Herr Andree for Messrs. McClure. Under the title "Tourgueneff and his French Circle," Miss Ethel Arnold will shortly publish, through Mr. Unwin, a translation of various letters addressed to Flaubert, George Sand, Zola, Maupassant, Gambetta, and others. The volume is edited by Mme. E. Halperine-Kaminsky. The letters have been appearing in monthly instal- ments in Cosmopolis. The posthumous volume of stories by Mr. Hubert Crackanthorpe is to be published by Mr. Heinemann. "The Canon," by a Symbolist, is a work on ancient symbolism and mysticism which Mr. Mathews is to publish. It will have a preface by Mr. R. B. Cunningham Grahame. ## p. 131 (#553) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. A volume of Pitt's letters to Wilberforce is to be published on Monday by Mr. Unwin. Lord Rosebery, who has seen them, describes the letters as "among the most interesting we possess of Pitt." Mr. Archibald Forbes's "Life of Napoleon III." will be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. The memoirs of the late Archbishop of Canter- bury are to be published by Macmillan. Mr. J. Cuthbert Hadden has written a memoir entitled " George Thomson, the Friend of Burns: His Life and Correspondence." Thomson's cor- respondence, which was placed by his descen- dants in Mr. Hadden's hands, includes letters from Scott, Hogg, Bjron, Moore, Campbell, and Joanna Baillie. New material concerning Mary Queen of Scots is promised in a forthcoming biography by Mr. Hay Fleming, to be published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. The work is founded upon documents recently discovered by Mr. Maitland Thomson, the head of the historical department in the Register House, Edinburgh. Mr. Clement K. Shorter's book on Victorian Literature will be published from Mr. Bowden's house this month. Mr. B. T. Batsford has in the press the follow- ing architectural and decorative works :—" The Influence of Materials on Architecture," by Mr. Banister F. Fletcher j "Examples of Old Furniture, English and Foreign," drawn by Mr. A. E. Chancellor; "Windows: A Book about Stained and Painted Glass," by Mr. Lewis F. Day; and "Alphabets Old and New," selected by Mr. Lewis F. Day. An illuminated alphabet, and "An Almanac of Twelve Sports for 1898," both by Mr. William Nicholson, are being brought out by Mr. Heine- mann. A new volume of poems, by the Rev. S. J. Stone, author of "The Knight of Intercession," will shortly be published by Messrs. Longman. The chief poem of the volume will be in seven cantos. The volume will be called "Lays of Iona." A new story by Miss Eliza F. Pollard, entitled "A Gentleman of England," is to be published by Mr. Addison. Mr. F. Anstey has placed with Messrs. Dent for publication his new work, entitled "Baboo Jabberjee, B.A." Stevenson's last novel, "St. Ives," which Mr. Quiller Couch is completing, will be published soon by Mr. Heinemann. The Free Quakers and the American War of Independence share the interest of a tale by Dr. Weir Mitchell, which Mr. Unwin will publish in a few days. Messrs. Methuen announce " Traits and Confi- dences," by Miss Emily Lawless; "A Creel of Irish Tales," by Miss Barlow; "Josiah's Wife," by Miss Lorimer; "A Passionate Pilgram," bv Mr. Percy White; "Lochinvar," by Mr. S. R. Crockett; and "Secretary to Bivne, M.P.," by Mr. Pett Ridge. "The Tormentor'' is the title of Mr. Benjamin Swift's new novel, which Mr. Unwin will publish. The title of Mark Twain's book has been altered to " Following the Equator." Two new stories by Mr. Henty —" With Frederick the Great" and "With Moore at Corunna "—will be published shortly by Messrs. Black. Mrs. Alice M. Dale has written a novel called "Marcus Warwick, Atheist," which Messrs. Kegan Paul will publish. It is in some measure a study of the criminal laws. Mrs. Pinsent is the author of "Job Hildred," a novel to be published by Mr. Arnold. "By the Rise of the River" is the title which "Austin Clare" has given to a volume of Northumberland tales and sketches which Messrs. Chatto are to publish. Mme. Sarah Grand's novel is to be called "Beth Book," and will probably appear at the end of this month. The publisher is Mr. Heinemann, who also announces novels by Mr. H. G. Wells, Mr. Harold Frederic, Mr. Stephen Crane, Mr. Robert Hichens, and Dr. Max Nordan. Mr. Justin MacCarthy's volume of stories, "The Three Disgraces," is due on the 28th. Mr. Lacon Watson has depicted the life of a small coterie, settled in one of the Inns of Court, in his new volume which Mr. Elkin Mathews is about to publish, entitled " An Attic in Bohemia." Miss Violet Hunt's new story, *' Unkist, Un- kind," which has been running in Chapman is Magazine of Fiction, will to-day be published in a volume by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. From the Atlanta Constitution (Georgia) :— Instead of wasting whole columns for or against authors, the critics would do well to pattern by the example of a certain Georgia literary society of which an exohange says: "There was a lively meeting of the literary club last night, at which the secretary and treasurer engaged in a wrestling match to decide which was the best poet—Tennyson or Kipling? The secretary was for Tennyson, the treasurer for Kipling. The latter threw the secretary three times, and Kipling won out." ## p. 132 (#554) ############################################ 132 THE AUTHOR. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—The Return of MSS. WILL you allow mo to point, out in The Author a very real grievance to which even experienced writers are subject. I allude to the practice of accepting MSS. for con- sideration, by editors of reviews and magazines, and retaining them for many months, after which period they are returned to their owners as no longer available. Often such papers depend entirely for their value on being immediately taken up, and are quite valueless after the lapse of three or four months. I contend that an editor of a large periodical should either pay for the privilege of keeping MSS. by him in case he uses it, or should at once return it for use or con- sideration elsewhere. A very real hardship is inflicted on many who are unable to bear the loss of income by this very common delay in returning unaccepted work. So many journalists have seen their usual weekly contributions crowded out during the last few weeks to make room for "Jubilee" matter, whereby the paper has made a rich harvest to the loss of the everyday journalist, that I represent the opinion of many when I say—editors' drawers need prompter overhauling. . Hard Worker. II.—Criticism in Conflict. The amazing divergence of opinion expressed of late as to the literary value of certain works of fiction sets one pondering over what the true standard of excellence may be, and whether those who profess to assay with fidelity the pro- ducts from Brainland submitted to them for analysis are qualified for so responsible a trust. A daily journal which provides much service- able book "chat" for its readers, recently remarked ..." one is tempted to ask one- self ... of what possible use such con- flicting criticism can be in moulding, or at least guiding, the taste of the public in literature?" Of what use, indeed? many will feel disposed to echo. The uncomfortable fact is forced upon us that there must be something rotten in the state of Denmark when such wide clefts in critical unanimity are possible. How to unite these chasms with some more stable platform as foot- hold for the intelligent reading public is the poser now propounded. I imagine the solution thereof should be best left to the appraisers themselves. Meanwhile that body must not be surprised if the already somewhat impaired con- fidence in their judgments becomes even further oosened. Cecil Clarke. Authors' Club, S.W. 21st Aug. 111.—" Dictionary of National Biography" Dinner. In the last issue of this paper, under the head "Personal," occurs an account of Mr. George Smith's dinner " to his friends and the contribu- tors to the 'Dictionary of National Biography.'" I am surprised to find Tlie Author, like all the other papers, repeating this extremely inaccu- rate statement. As a matter of fact, the dinner was given only to one, the larger, section of the contributors. The women, some fifteen to twenty in number, who have worked upon the dictionary, many of them since the early volumes, were excluded from the invitation. And this not- withstanding a printed communication (the first in the annals of the magnum opus in which we have not been addressed as Dear Sir) received shortly before, stating that publisher and editor wished, to take an early opportunity of per- sonally thanking the workers who had assisted in bringing the conclusion so near in sight. That we have not yet mastered the man's art of dining I willingly concede (although our Jubilee dinner might seem to disprove this ancient legend, and to show we have an art of our own); but that our work should be thus publicly ignored and discounted on the score of sex seems alto- gether anomalous in this year of Jubilee, when all the nations of the world have agreed that a woman's rule over one of the greatest has been of unexampled success. From the one or two contributors who meekly repaired on July 8 to a gallery at the Hotel Mctropole, I gathered that some allusion to the absent workers was made by one or two of the "guests who were not contributors," but I did not learn that anyone proposed the toast of "Contributors who were not G-uests." More illogical productions than the cards issued to us, in common with numerous female relations of the staff, a few days before the enter- tainment, I have seldom seen. Headed by the magic words, "Dinner to the contributors, &c, &c„" they went on to request those contributors to honour their host by gliding in afterwards to "listen to the speeches." No one, I think, can have worked for years at this laborious task without feeling the most intense pride and interest in all the other far more distinguished workers, and the disappoint- ment at not sharing in the general felicitations was proportionately bitter. Charlotte Fell Smith. Great Saling, Essex. IV.—An Inquiry. Can you or any of your readers refer me to any bDok containing practical directions as to the ## p. 133 (#555) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. l33 construction of plays, with a view to their pro- duction on the stage, a glossary of terms, a concise account of the technique of the play- wright and stage manager, &c.? I beg to take this opportunity to ask also: "Where is the best guide to correct punctuation? Last year reference was made in The Author to a work published for private circulation by some Oxford printer; and it was suggested that it might be a boon to many if the work could be obtained generally. Tyro. V.—An Unpaid Magazine Article. I wrote an article which appeared in the March number of a certain magazine. Two months afterwards I wrote to the editor to ask whether the publication of an article was, like virtue, its own reward. I was answered that it was not, and that the reward would come. Six months have now passed since the paper first appeared, and the reward has not arrived. Am I justified in writing again to demand it? Or ought I to sit down quietly and wait till I get it? M. OBITUARY. MR. SAMUEL LAING was a second Wrangler and second Smith's Prizeman in 1832, became a Fellow of St. John's, and was called to the Bar in 1837. He entered Parliament in 1852, after being for a time the private secretary to the President of the Board of Trade. In 1859 he became Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and as Finance Minister spent five years in India. On his return he resumed the chairmanship of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Board. His career as an author dated from 1863, when he published "India and China"; then followed " Prehistoric Remains of Caithness" (1865): his best known work, "Modern Science and Thought" (1885); a novel called " A Modern Zoroastrian" (1887); "Problems of the Future" (1889) ; and " Human Origins" (1892). Mr. Laing died on Aug. 6, at the age of eighty-six. Bishop Bickersteth, of South Tokio, who died in England on the 5th Aug., at the age of forty- seven, was the author of "The Church in Japan," "The Anglican Union," and "A Basis of Christian Union." The late Sir George Osborne Morgan, Bart, M.P., was the author of several legal and political work*, and the translator of "Hexameters of the Eclogues of Virgil." Mr. Richard Holt Hutton, editor of the Spectator, died on the 9th ult., after a long and painful illness. He was born at Leeds seventy-one years ago. His father was a Unitarian minister; Hutton also qualified for this ministry, but never filled a pulpit regularly, and soon relinquished preaching. For a brief period he edited the Unitarian organ, the Inquirer, and he also held the Principalship of University Hall until his health demanded a trip to the West Indies. Then he edited the National Review, a short-lived but brilliant quarterly. From this publication his book of "Essays Theological and Literary" was reprinted. These two volumes are now included in Messrs. Macmillan's Eversley Series. His other pub- lished works are: "Modern Guides of Thought," "Criticisms on Contemporary Thought," " Words- worth and his Genius," "Shelley's Poetical Mysticism," "Studies in Parliament," "Holiday Rambles" (jointly with his wife), "Scott" (English Men of Letters series), and a mono- graph, "Cardinal Newman." He also edited the works, of Bagehot. He was intellectu- ally influenced by F. D. Maurice, and at a later date was a strong admirer of Cardinal Newman. Mr. Gladstone called Richard Holt Hutton "the first critic of the nineteenth cen- tury." He "found" Mr. Swinburne, some of whose "Poems and Ballads" first appeared in the Spectator; and Arnold,Tennyson,and Mr. William Watson owed something to him as well. Mrs. Hutton (he was married twice) died two months ago. Mr. Colin Rie-Brown died on the nth ult. in his 76th year. His published works include "Glimpses of Scottish Life" and several volumes of verse. He founded London Burns Club, and was a friend of De Quincey. The late Rev. Edward Arthur Litton was Bampton Lecturer in 1866, the lectures being subsequently published under the title of "The Connection of the Church and the Old and New Testament." Among his other works was " Introduction to Dogmatic Theology on the Basis of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England." Miss Munro Ferguson, who died of influenza on the 13th ult., was a gifted lady, the author of several novels, and possessed a decided talent for verse-writing. The late Rev. Andrew Matthews, rector of Gumley, had written several works on natural history. ## p. 134 (#556) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. LITERATURE INJTHE PERIODICALS. Mb. Robert Barr and His Public. Letters in Daily Chronicle for Aug. 24, 28, and 31. A Warning to Novelists. A Novel-Reader. New Review for September. Maeterlinck as a Mystic. Arthur Symons. Contem- porary Review for September. Are our School Histories Anolophobe? Goldwin Smith. North American Review for September. Wanted: A Philanthropist for Research. The Academy for Sept. 18. A New Criticism of Poetry. Contemporary Review for September. Novelist v. Reviewer. Cecil M. Allen. New Century Review for September. Sir Waltee Scott's Letter Bao. G. le Grys Norgate. Temple Bar for September. Gboroes Darien. Onida. Fortnightly Review for September. Mrs. Oliphant as a Novelist. Blackwood's Magazine for September. Longfellow with his Children. Alice Longfellow. Strand Magazine for September. Jean Inoelow. Helen C. Black. Englishwoman for September. When a story which has appeared in a maga- zine under one title, is published in a volume under another title, who is answerable to the public for the inconvenience that may result? A story of Mr. Robert Barr's, when sold for serial publication, was called "At War with His Workers," and ran its course under that title, but the editor wished to call the book "The Mutable Many." Mr. Barr gave his per- mission to the change, as he says, " I think an editor, who knows his public better than an author can know it, should be at liberty to make such amendments as he deems necessary in the serial he buys." But he suggested that the editor of Tit Bits (in which the story appeared) should refund 6s. to each of his readers who bought the novel under a misapprehension. Sir George Newnes immediately telegraphed a reply, in which he declined—with much good humour— Mr. Barr's proposal. Of course such an altera- tion has occurred before, witness Mr. Hardy's "Hearts Insurgent" being resolved into "Jude the Obscure." The text of much banter by "A Novel- Reader " appears to be that writers of fiction are pandering to public demand, and ciring for the ethic foundation rather than the aesthetic. The Victorian Era, according to this critic of novelists in the lump, is the Golden Age of Fiction, and there was a vague feeling abroad last June that 10,000 British novelists were sharing the Queen's triumph. On the other hand, there are not more than six novelists ("miserable usurpers") who have never congratulated America on her love of arbitration, and never advised Crete to take up arms against half the world. This little minority kes no thought of the public; for them " vast circulation" has no charm. But the faithful 10,000—to be one of them is to be great indeed, but it is difficult. One—the " successful novelist" —" must have a perfect mastery of that brisk market whereon is quoted 'the price per thousand,' and whose jargon suggests the opera- tions of the Wool Exchange. American copyright must keep no secrets from him, and the Colonies must be taught to yield him homage and profit. Above all, he must discover a trusty ' agent' who for a trifling percentage shall act the watchdog upon the shifty publisher, and shall be quick to squeeze the welcome fiver from the pirate journals of Australasia." Nor is this all. He is only on the threshold thus far; for he has next to learn how most accurately to "feel the public pulse," and it is in the triumphant performance of this delicate duty that be best displays his genius. Still, it seems he is 10,000 to six. Only six pretenders, who follow art to a great extent for art's sake; only six who are determined to drag from the English tongue all the music with which it is harmonious; only six who leap for joy at the proper snap of a phrase; to whose vision, as they write, the world of common statistics closes its windows; who think no more of literal fact than their readers, but present that which they have found in tli9 manner best suited to their artistic conscience. The "artistic conscience" is badly wanted, according to Professor Goldwin Smith, in American histories. An examination into the histories in use has convinced him that their special fault is not that they stimulate hatred of Great Britain, but that they are deficient in literary art. This is in reply to charges of Anglophobism from various quarters. Professor Goldwin Smith does not, however, among the accusers whom he combats, mention the indict- ment against American school histories which appeared in Blackwood's Magazine a year or two ago. But he makes the following statement regarding the construction of the books:— A large, and what appears a disproportionate, space is given, perhaps even in the later histories, to the Revolutionary War, and the details of that war, some of whioh, of course, are exasperating, since the royal armies unquestionably committed excesses, are narrated with disagreeable minute- ness. But it is not necessary to ascribe this to deliberate malice. The Revolutionary War does, in fact, fill rather a large space in the comparatively brief annals of the United States. Its chief actors are the national heroes and the national types of patriotic virtue. Its inoidents, or those of the war of 1812, are about the only matter by whioh an nngif ted American writer can hope to enliven his work and appeal to the imagination of young readers. It is not in American school histories alone that a disproportionate space is occupied by the annals of war. Thirst of martial glory ia nowhere extinot, and nothing is so picturesque as a battle. It is not easy to present in a form interesting to a child a Beries of political events and characters, the issues between Jefferson and Hamilton, the ## p. 135 (#557) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i35 struggles between Adams and Jackson, or even the political contest with slavery. Nor can an ordinary writer lend piotnresqnenesB to the progress of social improvement, of commerce, or of invention. A writer in the Academy appeals for more support being given by this country to Oriental studies. In England, he says, a few unpaid chairs at the Universities is all that has been done for advanced studies; whereas in France there are schools subsidised on the ground of public utility, at which a student can obtain the best instruction at a trifling expense; in Austria, Italy, and Q-ermany, the same work is in part done by the Imperial and Royal Academies; while in America similar institutions, founded by individual generosity, are springing up every year. As the Treasury will hardly allow the British Museum enough money to bind its books, it is useless, says the writer, to expect any help from Government. What is wanted is some means by which those versed in advanced studies can find a steady, if small, market for their wares, such as is provided in France by foundations like the Musue Guimet. The providing of these facili- ties would, the writer says, be " a way in which some philanthropic lover of learning might do much to take away England's reproach as the most unkind country in the world to scholars." At the present time no publisher will risk the expense of publishing the result of the student's researches, for they can never appeal to any but a few readers. The philanthropist is to provide a certain sum every year, to be given to the author of advanced works dealing with any branch of study that he may affect, a committee deciding on the merits of the works. .£500—say the interest on ,£20,000—would suffice for the production of one large or several smaller works every year, and yet give a handsome reward to the authors. Poetry has been used very ill by the critics, says a Contemporary Reviewer. It was always thus, indeed, but the modern methods are novel. If a writer uses a quaint epithet from Milton, he is accused of plagiarism; the actual text of a poem may be parodied, and so rendered ridiculous. Then there is the log-rolling art, "in the greatest request among the younger members of the poetic brotherhood "; and, deadliest method of modern critical ill-will, there is the conspiracy of silence, now greatly in use. The writer of the article supports the suggestion of Mr. Charles Leonard Moore—the author of a half-serious paper in an American review—that critics should adopt a scheme of assigning so many marks to the various kinds of excellence which make up a poetical whole. The result, at any rate, would be to make it more difficult for a critic who is really ignorant of the elements of his art to pose as an omniscient judge. THE BOOKS OP THE MONTH. [August 24 to Sept. 23.—201 Books.] Agar, E. 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Old Tales from Greece. 2/6. ## p. 136 (#559) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. Crown 8vo., Cloth Boards, Silver Lettering, Price 6s. A LADY OF WALES. "AStopy of the Siege of Chester, 1645." BY THE Rey. VINCENT J. LEATHERDALE, M.A. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's -buildings, E.O. Demy 8vo., cloth boards, price 10s. 6d. IN NEW SOUTH AFRICA. Travels in the Transvaal and Rhodesia. With Hap and Twenty-sis Illustrations, By II. LINCOLN TANGYE. CONTENTS. Introductory. PART L Chapter L—The Land of Oold and the Way there. „ II.—Across Desert and Veldt. ,, IH,—Johannesburg the Golden. „ IV.—A Transvaal Coach Journey. „ V.—Natal: the South African Garden. ,, VI.—Ostracised In Africa. Home with the Swallows. PAET II.—BAMBLES IN EHODESIA. Chapter I.—Eendragt Maakt Magt. „ IL—Into the Country of Lobengula. „ III.—The Trail of War. ,, IV.—Goldmining, Ancient and Modern. „ V.—Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. „ VL—To Northern MaBhonaland. „ VIL—Primitive Art The Misadventures of a Wagon. Index. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-bnildings, Z.C. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, price 6s. HATHERSAGE: A Tale of North Derbyshire. . BY CHARLES EDMUND HALL, Author of " An Ancient Ancestor," Ac. RECENT VERSE. LYRICS. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth lettered, price 6s. NORTH COUNTRY BALLADS. By HENRY TODD. Price 5s. TALES IN VERSE. By Dr. J. A. GOODCHILD. Cloth lettered, price 5s. SONGS OF THE CASCADES. By ERL VIKING. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 8s. Od. SONGS OF THE PINEWOODS. By ARTHUR CAMP- BELL. Price 3a. Gd. THE FAIREST OF THE ANGELS, and Other Verse. By MABY COLBORNE-VEEL. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. "Some of the shorter lyrics are much above the average, being clear in thought and musical in expression. The merits of the collec- tion are considerable."—The Bookman, THE WANDERER EN THE LAND OF CYBI, and other Poems (1886-93). By OLIFFOBD BKOOKS. Fcap. 8vo., cloth boards, 3s. 6d. POEMS. By THOMAS BARLOW. Crown 8vo., bevelled boards, gilt edges, price 5s. POEMS. By LEWIS BROCKMAN. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, 6s. 11 The balladB are full of the spirit and directness of style proper to the ballad."—Saturday Review, "Mr. Brockman is a writer of good poetic mettle, and no doubt the reading world will hear more of him yet."—Glasgow Herald. "The graceful smoothness of Mr. Lewis Brockman's poems."— Daily Telegraph. "He Is decidedly inventive, and often highly imaginative. . . . The element of originality pervades the book. . . . His long poem, 'Ronald's Cross/ is well sustained . . . it is like the plaint of the 1 Mariner,* and it holds us."— Queen. "A reader who values cultured sentiments and flawless versifica- tion will find much to admire,"—Scotsman. London: HORACB Cox, Windsor House, Bread's Buildings. E.C. Demy 8vo., with Map and Illustrations, price 10s. 6d. AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA: Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Acros China to British Burma. Bv G. E. MORRISON 11 Mr. Morrison is an Australian doctor who has achieved probably the most remarkable journey through the Flowery Land ever attempted by a Christian. ... He was entirely unarmed and unaccompanied, save for the coolies who carried his baggage. Such a journey—three thousand miles in length—could not fall to present many curious customs and as many curious people. But it is owing entirely to Dr. Morrison's graphic manner of description, and his acutely keen observation, that his travels are such a reality to the reader. This portly volume is one of the most interesting books of travel of the many published this year. It is frank, original, and quite ungarnished by adventitious colouring."—St. James's Budget. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 05 (October 1897) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 05 (October 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 1897-10-01-The-Author-8-5 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/307/1897-09-01-The-Author-8-4.pdf dd6297b6a9ace41108b752b31af3394e 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) 1897-09-01 Volume 8 Issue 4 Pages Page range in volume 89–108 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18970901 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XT be Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED B7 WALTER BESANT. Vol. VIII.—No. 4.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1897. [Price Sixpence. CONT PAOl General Memoranda. 89 From the Committee—//! /f« Whitcon.b 91 Literary Property— 1. On the New Law of Copyright 91 J. The Localisation of Copyright 9» Solecisms a Hundred Years Ago 93 New York Letter. By Norman Hapgood 91 ENTS. PAOl Notes from Elsewhere. By B. H. Sherard 97 Feuilleton.—The Story of a Broken Pen *W Book Advertising in 11*00 103 Freedom of Criticism 104 Book Talk J04 Literature in the Periodicals 106 The Books of the Month 108 PUBLICATIONS OP THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report, That for January 1897 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., ios. 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 Colleb, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 4. The History of the Societe des GeilS de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprioge, late Secretary to the Society, is. 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. as. 6d. 6. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s. 7. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parlia. ment. With Extracts from the Eeport 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. 6d. 8. The Society Of Authors. A Record of its Action from its Foundation. By Walter Besant (Chairman of Committee, 1888—1892). is. 9. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. By Ernst Lunge, J.U.D. 2s. 6d. ## p. 88 (#506) ############################################# 11 AD VER TISEMENTS. g>ocietp of Jlufljors (gncorporafeb). 8ib Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. J. M. Barbie. A. W. X Beckett. ROBEKT BATEMAN. F. E. Beddabd, F.R.S. Sib Henrt Bebone, K.C.M.G. Sib Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. Bbv. Prop. Bonnet, F.B.S. Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P. Bight Hon. Lord Burghclebe, P.C Hall Caine. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. P. W. Clatden. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colles. Hon. John Collier. Sib W. Martin Conwat. F. Marion Crawford. The Earl of Desart. PRESIDENT. GEORGE IMZIEIRIEIDITH COUNCIL. Austin Dobbon. A. Conan Doyle, M.D. A. W. Dubourg. Prof. Michael Fosteb, F.E.S. D. W. Freshfield. Bichabd Gabnett, C.B., LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Bideb Haggard. Thomas Habdt. Anthony Hope Hawkins. Jerome K. Jerome. Eudyabd Kipling. Pbof. E. Bay Lankesteb, F.E.S. W. E. H. Lecky, P.C. J. M. Lely. Mbs. E. Lynn Linton. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doo. Pbof. J. M. D. Meiklejohn. Hebman C. Mebivalb. Hon. Counsel — E. M. Undebdown, Q.C. Eev. C. H. Middleton-Wakk. Sir Lewis Mobbis. Henby Norman. Miss E. A. Obmerod. J. C. Pabkinson. Eight Hon. Lord Pibbbight, P.C, F.E.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock, w. bapti8te scoones. Miss Flora L. Shaw. G. B. Sims. S. Squire Sprigge. J. J. Stevenson. Francis Storr. William Mot Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Miss Charlotte M. Yonob. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—H. Eider Haggard. Sir W. Martin Conway. D. W. Fresiifield. Anthony Hope Hawkins. J. M. Lely. SUB-COMMITTEES. MUSIC. C. Villibrs Stanford, Mus.D. (Chairman). JACQUE8 BLUMENTHAL. J. L. MOLLOY. ( Field, Eoscoe, and Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. '( G. Herbert Thring, B.A., 4, Portugal-street. Secretary—G. Herbert Thbing, BA. OFFICES: 4, Pobtuoal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. A. W. X Beckett. Sir Walter Besant. Egerton Castle, F.S.A. W. Morris Colles. ART. Hon. John Collier (Chairman). Sir W. Martin Conway. M. H. Spielmann. Solicitors- Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Mus.Doo. Henry Norman. Francis Storr. DRAMA. Henry Arthur Jones [Chairman] A. W. X Beckett. Edward Rose. IF. WATT &c SOIDsT, LITERARY AGENTS, Formerly of 2, PATERNOSTER SdUARE, Have now removed to HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. Published every Friday morning; price, without JReports, S*d.; with Reports, Is. THE LAW TIMES, the Journal of the Law sx^ the Lawyers, which has now been established for over half a century supplies to the Profession a complete Record of the Progress of * °£au Reforms, and of all matters affecting the Legal Profession. yip Reports of the Law Times are now recognised as the most complete and efficient series published. Offices: Windsor House, Bre&m'B-buildings, E C THE ART of CHESS. By James Mason. Price 5a. net, by post 5s. 4d. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. THE KNIGHTS and KINGS of CHESS. By the Eev. G. A. MACDONNELL, B.A. With Portrait and 17 Illustra tions. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, price 2s. Cd. net London: HoBAOK Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.G. ## p. 89 (#507) ############################################# XT be Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. Vin.—No. 4.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1897. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinion* 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 Sooiety begs to give notioe 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 bo accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. GENERAL MEMORANDA. ]J\OTH some years it has been the practice to insert, in j every number of The Author, certain " General Con- siderations," Warnings, Notices, to., for the guidance of the reader. It has been objected as regards those 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 his business in his own way. Let us, however, draw up a few of the rules to bo 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. VIII. in his own organs: or by oharging exohange advertise- ments. (3.) Not to allow a special oharge 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 Berial 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. III. The royalty system. In this system, which has oponed 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 is 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 tho "Cost of Production." Let no one, not evon the youngest writer, sign a royalty agreement without finding out what it gives the publisher as well as himself. It has been objected that those precautions presuppose a great succoss 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 ohance of a success which will not, probably, come at all; but which may come. The four points which the Society has always domanded from the outset are:— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of tho3e 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 Bhall be no secret profits. (4.) That nothing Bhall be charged which has not been actually paid—for instance, that there shall be no charge for advertisements in the publisher's own organs and none tor exchanged advertisements and that all discounts shall be duly entered. If those 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 Bend his agreement to the secretary before he signs it. i 2 ## p. 90 (#508) ############################################# go THE AUTHOR. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. IjTVERY member has a right to ask for and to receive Fj advioe upon his 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 snch 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 suoh that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use tho Socioty 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 Seoretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent nouses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society yon are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of The Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of members' agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep tho key of tho safe. Tho Sooiety 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: I. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of the business of members of the Society. That it submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree- ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene- rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business details. 2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured will be forwarded upon detailed application. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works only for those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days' notice should be given. 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi- cations promptly. That stamps should, in alt coses, be sont 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 Socioty; 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 aro invited to communicate their requirements to the Manager. There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whoso services will be called upon in any ooso of dispute or difficulty. It is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the Advisory Committee have no peouniary interest whatever in the Syndicate. NOTICES. THE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of tho Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make The Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send thoir names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write P 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 Sooiety does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors' Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the following warning. It is a most foolish and may bo a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest ## p. 91 (#509) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 9i or dishonest? Of conrse they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or fire years? Those who possess the "Cost of Production" are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per oent. 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 Jig 4s. 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 course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. FROM THE COMMITTEE. HIGH COURT OP JUSTICE.—QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION. (Sittings in Bankruptcy, before Mr. Registrar Hope.) In Be Whitcomb. THIS was an adjourned sitting for public examination under a receiving order made against H. and B. W. Whitcomb,described as of 12, Burleigh-street, Strand. The examina- tion of the debtor, H. Whitcomb, was ordered to be concluded on June 30 last, and the other debtor now attended. His accounts showed liabilities <£i 169, with assets ,£1034. Mr. C. A. Pope attended as assistant official receiver, and Mr. Mellor appeared for creditors. In the course of his evidence, B. W. Whitcomb s:ui<mI that he was an actor, and had followed that profession for eight or nine years, his income from that source averaging about £300 a year. In Sept. 1896, he started a journal known as the New Saturday,Andput about*£20ointo the undertaking. He had no knowledge of journalism, and it was arranged that his brother (the debtor, H. Whit- tomb) should act as manager of the paper. He skirted the journal because he thought it would prove a successful speculation. His brother, who had experience in journalistic work, was an un- discharged bankrupt at the time. The Assistant Official Receiver.—Was not the object of your becoming the registered proprietor merely to cover your brother and enable him to carry on the newspaper, in spite of the fact that he was an undischarged bankrupt P The debtor emphatically denied that this was the case, and said that the idea was to form a syndicate to carry on the business, but the syndi- cate never got beyond a suggestion. The paper was a loss throughout, and he was responsible for all the debts incurred. Mr. Mellor also briefly questioned the debtor, and the examination was ordered to be concluded. —The Times, Aug. 17. LITERARY PROPERTY. L—On the New Law op Copyright. THE Incorporated Society of Authors and the Incorporated Institute of Journalists are doing their best to press forward a long- needed amendment of the Law of Copyright. As things are, successful writers, dramatists, lecturers, and even preachers, are at the mercy of the un- scrupulous class of persons who find it much easier to steal other people's ideas than to create ideas of their own. Of course there is a copyright law in existence, but its imperfections are only fully known to those who have had occasion to seek its protection. By some strange perversity of judg- ment, it has long appeared to otherwise honest and honourable men that a broad distinction may properly be drawn between property in the pro- duction of a man's brains and property in the production of a man's hands. If a carpenter lawfully acquires a few slips of wood and makes them into a chair or a table, that chair or table is his own, and the individual who attempts to dispose of it, without first satisfying the maker, runs a good chance of spending a few weeks in close confinement. Even if the thief takes the precaution of taking the chair or table to pieces, and selling the pieces of wood separately, he is still held responsible for an act of dishonesty. Or, in another case, if the carpenter or ironworker or other artificer produces quite a new design in his work, and has the design properly registered, then he can prevent by law a less ingenious com- petitor from palpably copying that design and passing the work off as his own. But mark how the law deals with a brain-production in the shape of a book, or a play, or a lecture, or a sermon. Perhaps sermons are pilfered least; but this, in turn, may be because they are, as a rule, least worth pilfering. The principle holds good all the same, and those who are moving in the matter wish to protect brain-workers of all grades, just as hand-workers are already protected. Their principle is that what a man ## p. 92 (#510) ############################################# 92 THE AUTHOR. produces by the exercise of thought, invention, and cultivated mental effort is as much his own property as the coster's donkey-cart belongs to the coster, and cannot be "appropriated" by the first person who sees his way to make money by the elementary process of taking something that does not belong to him. As a rule it is the novelist and the dramatist who get their brains "picked " most persistently. Mr. Brain Stoker, who gave evidence before the Lords' Committee, put the matter very clearly. The successful novel is forthwith pounced down on by the light- fingered dramatist; and the successful dramatist is the immediate victim of the cadging novelist. In other words, the man who has no ideas walks about like a hungry jackal, ready to devour, without leave and without reward, the ideas of the man more favoured in that respect than himself. Of course, in spite of the doubtful dictum that a good novel usually makes a bad play, there will always be a natural, and perhaps laudable, desire to see the characters of a favourite story personified on the stage. There is no harm in that; indeed, quite the contrary. But surely the man who wrote the story and created all that is worth appropriating from it ought to be pre- sumed to have such legal property in his own production as would prevent its appropriation by anyone without his consent, and without affording him any recompense. So with the dramatist; if after a long expenditure of thought he produces a play which "means money," why should the hack story-writer steal, from a back seat in the gallery, all the ideas, the situations, and the general effect that mean so much to the dramatist? Or, to take the lecturer, why, because he reads or recites his "book," should he be less protected than if he issued it in printed form? What a man writes, so far as it is his own, ought to be protected as his own; and it should be legally his "property" as against all comers who decline to pay the owner's price for it. To the question, Is there not already a Copyright Act? the short answer is that it fails in nine cases out of ten through technical defects, or through its limited application, or, perhaps most of all, through the expense and difficulty of putting it into operation. If a thief steals a pennyworth of tintacks he may be treated with "summary diligence," and the owner's rights be vindicated. If he "appro- j>riates " the year's labour of a man's brain he may go on his way rejoicing, for the chances are the law will be too slow, too clumsy, and too costly to overtake him. It is high time this state of things should be altered.—Birmingham Daily News, July io. II.—Localisation of Copyright. At a meeting of the Council of the Publishers' Association held on Aug. 6, it was resolved that the following recommendation should be circulated among the members:— The subject of the localisation of copyright, as illustrated by special American, Colonial, and Continental editions of English publications, having engaged the attention of the second Inter- national Publishers' Congress, held at Brussels in June, 1897, that body passed the following reso- lution: "La cession d'cditions localisces k certains pays implique pour le cessionaire l'obligation d'indiquer sur ces editions spcciales autorisces les pays auxquels la vente en est liinitee." The importance of the American market to Eng- lish publishers is so great that it seems specially desirable to secure the adherence of American publishers to this resolution. With that object it is recommended that authors and publishers (following the precedent of Continental and Colonial editions) should, in all agreements made with American publishers, stipulate that a noti- fication limiting the American issue to the United States be insisted on, while at the same time the British edition should bear a notice excluding it from circulation in the United States.— The Pub- lishers' Circular. SOLECISMS A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. u Tip j8 weu known that the ancient Greeks and I Romans took infinite pains to improve their respective languages. We have many re- markable instances of their labours to this effect in the writings of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the author who passes under the name of Demetrius Phalereus, Cicero, Quinctilian, Aulus Gellius, and others. The English reader will be surprised to see with what exactness they measured their periods, analysed their phrases, arranged their words, determined the length of their syllables, and avoided all harsh and ele- mentary sounds, in order to give grace and harmony to their compositions. To this refine- ment we may, in a great measure, ascribe that inexpressible charm which every man of taste and learning discovers in some of the classics, and which is not to be found in the generality of modern compositions. Such an attention to propriety and elegance of style is of the greatest importance, as no pro- duction can be read with pleasure, or transmitted to posterity with applause, if it is defective in this respect. It should likewise be considered, that the literary character of a nation will always ## p. 93 (#511) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 93 depend on the accuracy and elegance of its publi- cations. Since the" beginning of the present century the English language has been much improved and refined. Several able writers have examined its principles, and pointed out its beauties and defects, with a critical and philosophical investi- gation. I must, however, observe that many enormous solecisms still appear in almost all the produc- tions of our English writers, such as, You was. This expression sometimes occurs in books, is often heard in conversation, and frequently echoes through the caverns of West- minster Hall. The nominative case is the second person plural, and the verb to which it is united is the first or the third person singular. More or most universal. 'Its success was not more universal' (Gibbon, vol. II., p. 357). 'Money is the most universal incitement of human industry' (lb., vol. I., p. 356; vol. III., p. 66, <fec.). 'Company more universally accept- able' (Zeluco, vol. I., p. 398). 'That which pleases most universally is religion' (' Blair's Sermons,' vol. II., p. 168). What is universal cannot admit of augmentation. Of all others. 'The profession, of all others, for which he was the fittest' (Zeluco, vol. I., pp. 75, 118). 'The most precious of all others' (Anachar, vol. III., p. 288). 'It is that species of goodness with which, of all ot/iers, we are best acquainted' ('Blair's Sermons,' vol. II., p. 129). 'To collect a dictionary seems a work, of all others, least practicable in a state of blindness' (Johnson's 'Life of Milton,' p. 169). This ex- pression resembles the following absurdity in Milton: Adam, the goodliest man of men since born His sons; the fairest of her daughters Eve. B. IV., 322. I would not attempt to vindicate Milton, as some have done, by pleading that this is a figure of speech or a 'poetic licence.' I would rather say, with Horace, it is one of the Macula;, qnas ant incnria fndit, Ant humana parum cavit natnra. Ax. P. 552- No apology, however, can be made for the fore- going expression in prose. Either side. 'Either sex and every age was engaged in the pursuits of industry' (Gibbon, vol. I., 452). 'He retired with a multitude of captives of either sex' (lb., vol. IV., 281). 'Pilled with a great number of persons of either sex' (lb., vol. II., 324; alibi passim). 'In that violent conflict of parties, he (Edmund Smith) had a prologue and epilogue from the first wits on either side* (Johnson's 'Lives,' vol. II., p. 248). Either signifies only the one or the other; and is improperly used instead of each in the singular number, or both in the plural. We meet with innumerable writers who talk of looking into the tcomb of Time. But this expression suggests a gross and indelicate idea, and is in itself absurd; for Time, according to the mytho- logists, is an old fellow, the Chronos or Saturn of the ancients, and consequently has no womb. All personifications ought to be consistent. An accusative or objective case after a passive participle. 'He (Thompson) was taught the common rudiments of learning' (Johnson's 'Lives,' vol. IV., p. 252). 'He (Watts) was taught Latin by Mr. Pinhorae ' (lb., p. 278). 'He (Milton) was offered the continuance of his employ, ment' (lb., vol. I., p. 183). 'Thus I have been told the story' (Telem. vol. I., p. 92, edit 1795). It would be better to say: he was instructed in the rudiments of learning; he learned Latin under the tuition of Mr. Pinhorne; the King, or the Ministry, offered to continue him in his former employment; thus I have heard the story, or thus I have been informed. The author of these remarks has observed, with regret, the last of these expressions in a translation, which he wished to give the public in an unexceptionable style. But he has been long convinced that no work was ever published without some inadvertencies of the author and the printer. 'Two highwaymen were hung this morning.' This is a common vulgarism. We should rather say: 'two highwaymen were hanged.' This verb should be used in the regular form when it signifies to execute, and in the irregular when it denotes only suspension; as, 'he was hanged, and afterwards hung in chains.' The eldest of the two. 'Her eldest son, Esau' (Genesis xxvii., 15). When only two things are mentioned, there cannot be what grammarians sometimes call the third degree of comparison. In this case we should say, the younger, the elder, the wiser, the better. The conjunction nor is frequently used after an affirmative sentence very improperly in this manner: 'It was impossible that a soldier could esteem so dissolnte a sovereign, nor is it easy to conceal a just contempt' (' Gibbon,' vol. II., 5). 'Modern Europe has produced several illustrious women, who have sustained with glory the weight of empire; nor is our own age destitute of such distinguished characters' (lb. 32). It would, I think, be much better to begin the latter part of these sentences without this con- junction, which only seems to form a connection, but in reality has no corresponding negative. ## p. 94 (#512) ############################################# 94 THE AUTHOR. The simple independent word 'not' would be preferable. The impropriety, I believe, has never yet been observed; and some, perhaps, may think the foregoing expressions unexceptionable. I shall not dispute with critics who are so easily satis- fied."—" Eubebiub," in the Gentleman's Maga- zine, for July 1797. NEW YORE LETTER. New York, July 18. THE recent announcement in England, that a magazine is to be started in England to comment on books and literary matters "in the American manner," would be more inte- resting with more explanation. If it means, as it probably does, in a light, bright, and somewhat callow manner, with what we call "freshness," it begins at a time when that tone is less in demand here than it was a short time ago. We have had so much " cleverness " of a certain kind that the public is sick of it. "Chap-Booky" used to be the adjective for this quality. Herbert Stone, editor of the Chap-Book, was in New York the other day, and I asked him if he had any ideal for the periodical. "Yes," he said, "a bi-weekly Atlantic Monthly. At first the ideal was the Saturday Review, but we have now given that up." Smartness simply did not pay any more than the other idea, yellowness—which he also imported from England—did, and he has also abandoned that. "Your book business and your paper will never pay," said a watchful critic to him, " until you make people take them seriously. They were amused by your experiment for awhile, but that sort of interest doesn't last." Stone is now trying to get as solid a line of books as he can, and also to get short essays and stories for the Chap-Booh, which shall carry by their solid worth. The essay of from 1000 to 2000 words on literary subjects or general topics of the day is especially called for just now. The Atlantic Monthly, which is as good as it has ever been now that Walter H. Page has charge of it, and is much the best periodical we have, wishes to get so many of these little essays that it can ru u two departments of them every month. The same sort of thing is wanted in books by all the leading publishers, except the Harpers, who confine their interests, as in fiction and essays and literature generally, to a few men of an estab- lished market. A tendency that is visible in current American criticism, especially in newspapers, is to substitute exposition for judgment; to tell just what is in a book, and quote the best things in it, saying comparatively little by way of comment. This is called " getting the news out of books," and the ethics of it and its effect on the sale have been fully discussed in The Author. Nothing pays like "news" of whatever kind. The marked success of the Bookman is largely due to the unusual amount of news in it. "I have always thought I ought to have been a newspaper man," said Professor Peck, the editor, the other day. Frank A. Munsey is going to show the essence of cheap American literary methods in their most interesting form to the English public by esta- blishing his magazine in London. If he lives up to his reputation, he will make the Strand and. the Pall Mall "bustle" before he has been there long, and also any other periodicals in his field which England may boast. The McClure- Doubleday Company is going into cheap editions of good works in the fall, heavily, relying on large sales, taking classics on which the copy* right has expired, and publishing them in pretty little sets in boxes at 25 cents, a volume. The public, at least, is the gainer. All writers will naturally be interested in the new edition of "Authors and Publishers," by G. H. and J. B. Putnam, especially as there is matter in it which was not in the earlier editions. George Haven Putnam is decidedly entertaining in his introduction, and he puts in many true observations,'_which are mixed, however, with some unconvincing ones. It is an old storv that a man ought not to write unless he is "called to," and Mr. Putnam retells it. But it is not a very pro- found observation. It is an axiom to any observer that a man often does best in something in which he is not most interested, and writing is not an exception to the ordinary laws of human nature. "Go to, let us make a book," has led to many of the best books we have, and the worst books are, in large part, those which the author was "com- pelled by something inside him" to write. Again in the cbapteron " publishing arrangements," Mr. Putnam makes some implications which might be staggered by cross-examination. For instance, he says "royalty is paid either on all the copies sold, or on all copies sold after enough have been sold to return the first manufacturing out- lays and to insure for the undertaking a profit instead of a deficiency. The theory of such a reservation is that the author and the publisher should begin to make money out of the book at the same time." A little later he puts in a parenthesis the argument that the suggestion comes from the author, so the publisher should not be asked to take any more risk than is neces- sary. And that point is worth dissecting. Mr. ## p. 95 (#513) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 95 Putnam probably would not deny that, leaving out authors who have reputations which make it possible for them to make good terms at any time, it is the general custom, in New York at least, for the publisher to pay no royalty on a thousand copies of a book if it has been offered to him, where he would pay from the beginning if he had heard of the existence of the book and asked for it; this even where he is sure the book will pay. In other words, he simply takes advantage of the author's desire to publish to pay him less than he could afford to pay him. Mr. Putnam calls the complaints of literary men about publishers "the baby act." One may admit it is a pure business deal, and yet think it only fair to get all the facts into the mind of writers, as they meet the publisher at a disadvantage as it is, as shown by the fact that a writer whose personal acquaintance with publishers helps him to "know the ropes" is sure to make a better bargain than one of equal standing who has not the information necessary to enable him to make a decent contract. Of course few authors in comparison to the whole number can get at the proper "counsellor" to whom Mr. Putnam refers. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to add that these differences of opinion ought not to turn the attention of any reader of this letter from the fact that no author, publisher, or general reader, who cares for the subject, can fail to find this book one of the most instructive and interesting accessible, and the attractive make-up adds another merit to it. I would add one to the list of methods of advertising mentioned. It appeared recently in the advertising columns of the Dial:— A NEW BOOK SENT FBEE. A new book of verse, issued by a well-known publishing house at one dollar, will be sent free to any address upon receipt of a postal-card request. If you wish to keep the book, sixty cents in stamps or money-order will make it yours. If yon do not wish to keep it, return by mail, and the postage (four cents) is the price you will have paid for the privilege of reading a new book. Address P. A. L., Box 84, Evanston, 111. Last fall the Century Company advertised John La Farge's "An Artist's Letters from Japan" for publication in the winter. It did not come out, and now they promise it again. There are pieces of prose in it as good as (and I have almost the boldness to say better than) any other American writer of the day could produce, and the sketches by the author, in at least two respects our strongest artist, add greatly to the charm. Mr. La Farge is a poet, and Japan brought out the best there is in him. Probably the tariff question will be settled this week. The chances seem to be that the pro- VOL. ▼III. visions about the importation of books will be about what they were under the McKinley law. The Dingley Bill, as originally intended, put a tax on books, whether they imported for sale, or for exhibition or instruction, and the exemptions on behalf of educational institutions amounted to nothing. The outcry from the public and the Press had its effect when the Bill got to the Senate Committee, for books imported for scientific and educational purposes were restored to the free list, and the whole thing left about as it is under the present Wilson law. Later, how- ever, the Senate, by amendments, put it back to the McKinley law, which means that literary productions more than twenty years old will com* in free, and some of the restrictions on importation for educational purposes are taken off; and this will probably be finally adopted by the Conference committee. New York, Aug. 16. Authors whose books appear in the United States this fall apparently have cause to be more cheerful than they have been for some time, if the general notion of the publishers is to be trusted. They seem even in the West and South, where they have been most depressed, to share the streak of confidence which the merchants are feeling. Of course the Republicans think their laws are responsible; others believe that the good crops are starting a change which has been long preparing, and the real fatalistic American spirit says, "When everything has been bad so long there will be an improvement, and nobody will know why." The middle of the summer brings some of the most conspicuous books. Of course they are mostly novels, and it is noticeable that publishers are tending more and more to believe the summer a good time for the publication of important fiction, but there are enough other works on the list to make one wonder if our idea that the three hot months are a fatal time for the birth of a book is to be done away with. With one of the books to come out in the fall a little story is connected. Writers have long been warned in this paper not to allow a publisher to deduct anything for office expenses, and pos- sibly the spirit of that warning would cover this case. A certain firm in this city stands as high as any in America, and it is often said, "Send your book to so and so, and you will be treated squarely, with no unexpected developments when settlement time comes." None stands higher in America, and it is practically part of a firm of equal standing in Great Britain. Last winter it brought out a story, the first literary work of K ## p. 96 (#514) ############################################# 96 THE AUTHOR. a poor man. The story had remarkable success, and is still selling rapidly. Ten per cent, royalty was the arrangement. When the first payment came to be made 150 dollars was deducted for editing. The beauty of the charge is, that the firm had no editing to do, as it was all done by an outsider, a friend of the author, who was inte- rested in the success of the book. It all amounts to this. Some of our little publishers have to say, " We cannot pay you royalty until after we have sold 500 or 1000 copies," but this big firm was too dignified for that, so it takes out the royalty on the first 1500 copies by a subterfuge. Some of the firms have their fall announce- ments ready. On the Putnam's list studies of interesting things in American history are pro- minent. The second volume of the writings of Thomas Jefferson, the fourth volume of the writings of James Monroe, four volumes of the life and correspondence of Rufus King are announced. It is a fact, not a publisher's adver- tisement, that some of the volumes in this series of the works of the early American statesmen have sold at auction at twice their original price immediately after publication, which is a good omen for the direction of the interests of the readers of this country. Lives of Grant and Lee are also on the Putnam's list, and the second volume of the "Literary History of the Ameri- can Revolution," which in its first volume was one of the best books of last season, although not yet announced, will doubtless appear before very long. Among the interesting books of the same company connected with politics will be a volume of essays by Theodore Roosevelt, not yet announced, but probably to be ready during the fall. He is now Assistant-Secretary of the Navy, and before taking that position made a great stir as President of the Police Board of New York City. He has been in politics a good deal, and he has a taste for the picturesque, and a number of his essays and sketches deal with aspects of political life which are peculiar to this country, and which, indeed, offer one of the best literary fields we have, and one of the least worked. Among the novels of prominence which have just appeared, one of the most interesting is Miss Wilkins's "Jerome," published by the Harpers. It is a hybrid, partly a study in her usual line of New England pride and poverty, and partly a love story, which is touching because it plays with accuracy upon the well tested chords. It is, I believe, her third novel, and confirms the indica- tion of the other two, that her permanent repu- tation will rest on her short stories. The strong parts of her novels are precisely the touches that might be taken out and made into short stories, and the more complex structure of the novel is what she is weakest in. In this story the plot, although skilfully handled, is artificial and made up of the conventional devices. The machinery includes several timely inheritances and other overworked means, in carrying out which she is sometimes led to injure her characters by impro- babilities. But Miss Wilkins is an artist, and her conversations especially, which are always her greatest strength, are excellent in this book. Her style is her most marked imitation. When she talks in her own person she is frequently guilty of something approaching precocity, but her cha- racters, varied enough in their well-defined field, talk admirably. She brings out the severer aspects of New England life and character with constant power, and probably with no more exaggeration than is legitimate for artistic em- phasis; and a person who reads her stories and tempers them with Miss Jewett's will get some- where near the facts. Another good student of American life is to be honoured by the Appletons with a uniform edition. The works of Mr. Hamlin Garland, whom the Spectator thinks a woman, will appear as follows: (1) "Spoils of Office"; (2) "Wayside Court- ships"; (3) "Jason Edwards"; (4) "The Member of the Third House." William Gillette, whose recent success in London as dramatic author and actor has been so decided, reached home on Saturday. He is a man of originality as well as of skill. Years ago, after the success of "Held by the Enemy," which had some literary merit, his friends regretted the attention which he gave to pure farce. He used to answer that he was not writing for posterity, which could take care of itself, but that he was endeavouring to amuse the people who were alive to-day, which he thought a sufficiently high aim. The Macmillan Company has just accepted a novel of railroad life by Herbert E. Hamblen, who, under the name of Fred B. Williams, wrote "On Many Seas," one of the successes of last year. The new book tells the life of the railroad engineer with the ingenuousness, so the Macmillan reader tells me, that made the success of the sea stories. Mr. Hamblen is himself an engineer, and the scene of the book is limited to what he sees in his daily life on his engine. Perhaps this will come nearer to making a success of the subject, the possibilities of which have been so much extolled of late, than Mr. Kipling's fanciful treatment of it in the last number of Scribner's Magazine. The tariff on books passed in the form which seemed probable at the date of my last letter. There is no duty on books for public institutions, ## p. 97 (#515) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 97 or on books printed in foreign languages, or on English books more than twenty years old. The tax on Art is retained in its worst form. Norman Hapoood. NOTES PEOM ELSEWHERE. AREVIEW entitled " Industrial Jim-Jams," dealing with my book on the White Slaves, appears to have given such sincere pleasure to many people that it may interest these further to hear that the acting editor of the periodical in which this review appears informs me that it was "written by a very capable man, who was fully in sympathy with your object, but not with your method; and had he felt it possible to deliver a favourable verdict he would gladly have done so." This letter was an answer to one of mine, in which I had pointed out certain misrepresenta- tions, and had objected to the introduction, as irrelevant, of the following remark: "Mr. Sherard, we understand, has published novels. They do not appear to have brought him a great reputa- tion. This is somewhat strange. 'The White Slaves of England' is proof that, as a fiction writer, Mr. Sherard possesses powers of no common order." The acting editor in question concludes his letter with a piece of advice. "Meantime," he writes, " if you will permit me, in all friendliness, to say so, nothing could be calculated to do you more harm than the foolish document you send from the 'degenerate' Max Nordau." This in reference to a long critique which the author of "Degeneration "—whom I have only met once in my life—wrote me spontaneously after reading the book in question. This review and this letter form a valuable addition to the literary documents which the publication of " The White Slaves " has brought with it, and to which I referred in my last. George Cable, the American author, is to visit England shortly on a lecture tour, and will make his dfbnt at Liverpool, when Ian Maclaren will take the chair. Though a man of very small physique, Mr. Cable is a powerful speaker, having been specially trained for the lecture platform by a New YorK elocutionist. He is the delight of American audiences, and it is to be hoped that his reception in England may be a very warm one. Mr. Cable believes in regularity and methodicity of work. He sits down to his work every morning at nine o'clock with the strictest punctuality, and writes till one, when he lunches, resuming work at two, and working on steadily till six. I am very glad to hear that Mark Twain's financial troubles have been greatly exaggerated in the papers, and that his deliverance from the same is only a question of months, so that one of the best fellows in the world will soon be released from what is more cruel to the writer than to any other worker. Mark's troubles all sprang from a type-setting machine, an invention in which he sank every penny of his fortune; and h propos of this a pretty and very creditable story is told of him. When, on a New Year's Day, he carried to Mrs. Grant, as her first returns on the "Lifeof General Grant," the largest cheque which has ever changed hands over a literary transac- tion, Mrs. Grant asked him to invest it for her. "No, no," said Mark Twain, "don't ask me to do that. I should only invest it in this type-setting machine, and there's far too much risk about that." I think this was very fine of Mark Twain. Mark Twain's description of the Jubilee pro- cession, published in the New York Journal, was considered in America a magnificent piece of writing. Hearst, the proprietor of the Journal, is very anxious that Mark Twain should con- tribute a series of fifty letters to the Sunday issue of his paper. The fight for pre-eminence between the Journal and the World is not without its pathos. However much one may disapprove of Mr. Joseph Pulitzer's journalistic methods, one cannot but admire his stupendous energy. He is almost, if not totally, blind; he is a confirmed invalid (they say of him, in New York, that he has seven organic diseases), yet since the competition of the Journal began to make itself felt, he has resumed the entire direction of his colossal enterprise, and may be seen day and night—as in the old days of his early struggles —■ working from fifteen to twenty hours out of the twenty-four, surrounded by stenographers, fighting a fight of the bitterness of which none but those who know the fierceness of the competition in American journalism can have any conception, 10 maintain the supremacy, commercial, it must be admitted, of his creation, a creation of which, he is so proud, that one day he told me that he would far rather see his son edito ■ of the New York World than President of the United States, for the power and influence enjoyed. The Mercnre de France publishing house in Paris allows its authors to stamp each copy of a book published by that firm as a check on sales. Whether this is the reason of the popularity which this firm enjoys amongst authors I do not know, but the fact is that the Edition du Mercure de France is getting all the books of the younger authors, and has scored many successes, ## p. 98 (#516) ############################################# 98 THE AUTHOR. including the most phenomenal success known in the Paris publishing trade during the last five years. A similar plan was under consideration by the Canadian Government. It was proposed that the author should stamp each copy of his book— he could either do it himself or by deputy—at one of the Government offices at Toronto, and that only books so stamped would enjoy copy- right protection, unstamped copies being regarded as piracies. It was also proposed that the author's royalties should be paid to him directly by the Government office. I may add that it would have been necessary, had this proposal been carried into effect, only to bring the fly-leaves of the edition to the stamping house. I remember that when something similar was proposed in England, a publisher wrote pointing out the material diffi- culty of sending van-loads of books—representing the first edition of a popular author's book—to the author's house to be stamped, and suggesting the probable reluctance of the author to deal with such a task. It is, of course, the less popular authors—the men to whom the selling of a single copy is of some importance—who would mainly benefit, and to whom this system would be most welcome. A charming photograph of Sir Henry Irving— as a young man—has recently come to light at a photographer's in Douglas. It should be posses- sed by every admirer. Mr. Edward Terry was acting at that time with Henry Irving in Douglas, and he recently referred to this. "I was only getting thirty shillings a week," said Mr. Terry "and you were the star." "I was a star at thirty-five shillings a week," said Henry Irving. Robert H. Shebaed. FEUILLETON. The Stoet op a Beoken Pen. UP in a garret a young author, with genius enough, as I conceive, to get him a tomb at Westminster, had he lived, died pre- maturely. The poets, therefore, in their select "Corner," have escaped crowding by one memo- rial, which is undeniably a benefit in its way. I know something about the manner of his death and something of the history of his life. I breathed the same air with him, and gripped his hand almost daily for a few years during the early part of his short career, when he roused in me a more than passing interest as a youth likely, if God favoured him, to accomplish no small thing in the world. To me, who am by nature careful, and slow to conceive and act upon ideas, his has always seemed a truly remarkable character. The con- centrated energy of mind which he was capable of manifesting moved me not a few times to admira- tion, even in his youth, and the tremendous enthnsiasm which lay behind an apparently re- served nature made me even then, at times, appre- hensive for his future. In my own mind, there can be no doubt that he had burning within him the divine spark which is called Genius. In appearance, as I last remember him, he was slender and somewhat fair, with a face narrow at the base and broad at the brow, showing the gift of a great imagination. His mouth was like a woman's; but his eyes were, perhaps, the most noteworthy feature about him—very prominent and brilliant, betokening a strong spirit in an unequal body. He was sensitive to the last degree, and, as a consequence, made few friends. With the exception of myself, he talked fami- liarly with no one during the whole term of his stay at the commercial house to which his parents sent him on leaving school, and where I first shook him by the hand. To me, however, for some reason or other, he attached himself strongly. With an almost childish craving for sympathy, when we knew each other better, he would pour into my ear the dreams and aspirations which possessed him, most of which to me seemed splen- didly impracticable, and all of which were exceed- ingly ambitious. There are three books at my side now, formerly belonging to him. They were purchased when he was nearing his fifteenth year, and two of them have a small square disfigurement on the back, underneath the title, where doubtless a secondhand-bookseller's label once adhered marking the price. One is Murray's Grammar, another a Latin Primer, and the third Trench's "Study of Words." On the fly-leaf of each book, written large in the centre of the page in an unformed hand (and yet a hand which betrays the germ of his singular individuality) is the one word, " Advance." I have found in my experience that a single word may sometimes speak a volume; and as I gaze at this one simple verb it seems to me that I see my author completely embodied in its two syllables. In writing that word he seems for the first time to have given voice to what was in him, and to have begun the inglorious tragedy of his life. The parentage of my author was humble, and it was therefore at an early hour of the day that he was started to work in the vineyard of this our world. At the period to which I have come he had for nearly two years tasted the joys of labour in the driving of a commercial pen from nine in the morning until six in the evening. ## p. 99 (#517) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 99 It was an evening close upon a year after the inscription of that motto in his three books, and he was seated behind one of the partitions in a little eating house in North-street, taking tea after his day's labours. Over that simple repast he perused the pages of yesterday's Telegraph. Now it happened that in that paper there appeared a leader, written in a somewhat lofty style and with considerable show of language, and dealing with matters of literary importance. On that leader he at length alighted. "While I read it," he says in his diary, "the strangest thing happened. The earth and all things vanished away from me and I Moated up into a heaven of aspiration and dreamed dreams and saw visions of the future, and found my destiny. When I returned to earth I brought a purpose with me. The spirit of language had at length found me: I had caught the melody of speech and had seen for the first time the beauty of the written word. I could no longer remain a mere reader: I also would write. The question that had for so long been dancing through my brain unanswered was then, under those circumstances, finally decided. I had identified myself: 1 was a writer." He goes on to relate, in his characteristic style, how, lost in his great discovery, he " walked the streets on air like a man with his first love, and spent the midnight hours sleepless, in the restless and delightful torture of a first conception, trying to work out an idea." That is the second chapter in the history of his life; the second stage in his development when he found what he conceived to be his purpose in life. And from the date of this discovery right onwards to the end I should say there was but one idea in his head. Then began the struggle against adverse circumstances. His education, which had been sadly curtailed, owing to poverty on the part of his parents, had to be repaired and extended; and, most galling of all, his lack of means obliged him to continue to give eight of his best hours daily to mechanical drudgery, which became abhorrence itself to him. Writing, in one place, retrospectively of this period, he says: "Ah! How I slaved, even in those early days! While the sun crossed from the East to the West my fingers would be driving that detested office pen in company with ten others, of whom I was the least. Then while the others left the office to wield a billiard cue or sing songs in friends' houses, I would mount to my own room and take up another pen or dip deep into my books for hours and hours until the oil in my lamp became midnight oil, and the short hours sounded, and a man's stride down the silent street suggested to one's mind a footstep in a city of the dead. And next morning there would come the office again; and McCrae, peering into my face with those small keen eyes of his, would point out the bluish tint round my own eyes, and would tell me, perhaps, that my voice was dry and tremulous, a sign that my nerves were becoming deranged. Dear, honest old fellow! How often did he repeat to me the maxim of which he was so fond: 'Safe with caution, Arthur, my boy, safe with caution; you are overdoing it.' I acknowledge his wisdom; but I am built in another way; and that very night would see me in front of my lamp again and my bed empty at one o'clock. No doubt I was a fool. 'Nature never can be defied with impunity, and penalty always follows abuse,' as McCrae taught me. I know it—don't I know it But I can't help it—Excelsior!" In process of time, after training his powers to some extent on syntax, Latin, and standard literature, he began to turn off at intervals scrappy productions of his own, both in prose and verse. One of the former, in a moment of self-exaltation, he posted to the editor of that important publication, Blackwood's Magazine. It was returned. "I hid it away," he says, " at the back of a drawer; read through once more the story of the early struggles of Balzac, greatest of French novelists, and set my pen again to paper." Eighteen months and more passed, and one morning the following telegram arrived at the offices in Abercrombie-street:—" My son unfit to come business for some days. Writing." It was from his father, and it was what I had for some time been expecting. I went to the outskirts of the town that evening and rang the bell of the little house wheie his parents lived. I found him in a condition that was abject; unable to remain still, his forehead like fire to the touch, and in his eyes an expression that frightened his mother, as she told me in the passage, in a whisper, the moment I arrived. I heard (what I already knew) that he had been unable to sleep for five consecutive nights, his imagination working furiously and his head swarming with nightmare immediately he closed his eves. There was nothing to be done but to call in a medical man, who administered a powerful sleeping draught. This had the desired effect of allaying the alarming activity of brain by throwing him into a stupor, but the physician afterwards informed me that he had escaped brain fever by a kind of miracle. After three weeks' complete rest he climbed his stool atthe office again, but very weak, and with his mind in a state of semi-torpor. This condition remained for nearly three months, during which ## p. 100 (#518) ############################################ IOO THE AUTHOR. time the earth spun round him unregarded, and he seemed completely to have lost interest in every- thing—even in his writing. I half began to think that he had abandoned his plans, and that his ambition had died within him. But I was deceived; gradually, as his mind strengthened and freshened, the old ideas returned; the fever to write stirred in his veins again one day, and he cleaned his pens and laid paper out on his table in his bedroom. But his parents mercifully held him off from the resumption of his work for some time, and removed his lamp every night half an hour after he went to his room. At the end of a year, however, from the date of his break-down, (by which time he had recovered to a surprising degree), seeing that it was useless to deny him any longer, his parents to some extent relaxed their prohibition and he fell upon his work again, but with tempered zeal at first. Then a calamity occurred; for in ten weeks his home was empty, his father and his mother descending, almost abreast, into the same grave. He buried them in succession with many tears, and returned to the now silent little house melancholy and unsettled in mind. He was the only child of his parents; they were strange reserved people, with no capacity for making friends; and there were no relatives of theirs living that ever I heard of. I was in Canada on business at the time, and was kept away for six weeks. I am afraid I never properly understood him; I fear nobody really did. Our friendship had been somewhat strained for a while past—I think it must have been because I sometimes failed to see things as he saw them—but I was not prepared for the communication that was put into my hands on my return to Edinburgh. It bore his signature, and was dated two weeks back, my housekeeper having been instructed not to forward it, but to let it await my home-coming. In it he told me that he had sold the household effects of his late home, and, with the modest sum thus realised, intended to repair to London, and fight his way to fame in the city where so many literary men had come to light in the past. Further, he said —and this was the unkindest cut—that, knowing well enough I should not fall in with his plans, and desiring to take all the responsibility of his conduct upon his own shoulders, he would not send me his address until his name was known in the world. From the tone of his letter he evidently did not think that this determination on his part would keep us asunder very loug, and he spoke with enthusiasm of the early day when I should receive the first printed work of his pen. Anyhow, he concluded, come fortune or failure, he would be free; never again should a detested office stool support him. I did not attempt to follow him up for some months; and when I did set inquiries afloat later they came to nothing. It was not until five years afterwards that I heard news of him. The rest of my story comes partly from the lips of those who at different periods housed him as lodger, but chiefly from the many pages of diaries in which, with increasing elaborateness as he neared the end, he recorded the experiences through which he passed and the emotions which beset him as he journeyed through those lonely, ineffectual years. The self-consciousness which he developed in his solitude in the crowded wilderness of London is full of an eloquent pathos for me. He tells how he spent his first few months in the metropolis; how, seizing with avidity upon the marvellous wealth of varied life which it offered for observation, his feet never wearied of treading its highways and low places, and his eyes were never tired of gazing upon the human faces which for ever in the streets crowded about him. Somehow no other town, north or south, is like London in its peculiar fascination for the student of humanity. He says: "I think I have learnt to read the secret writing on men's faces and to gather the tale that is told by the lined mouth, the hungry, the eager, or the saddened eye, and the marked brow. I have become an artist in humanity! I can read, too, the signs of disease; the dusky pallor of complexion; the eye hung with a pouch (there are so many of these amongst the restless city men), the eye painted dark underneath; the yellow tint, the purple tint, the small red fever spot on the cheek. How many faces that pass tell disease, and how many death! And I know the character behind the prominent and the receding chin, and the full cheek, and the one with high cheek bones, and in fair hair and black hair. Also in the walk of a man and in the cut and shape of his hands as he sits in the 'buses. Humanity is becoming an open book to me. Many strangers I pity who pass me, and many I despise, and some I love. There are a few faces burnt deep into my memory that I shall never forget. A woman went by me yesterday in the street—I caught her eyes full - her face I shall never forget." There is much like this in his diary. Had I the skill, I could paint a history of him from this material which would be wondered at for nine full days. Whenever he saw a crowd he joined it, and read the faces, and afterwards recorded what he saw there in his note-books, "An acci- dent," he says in one place, "is a gold mine to me. It opens up the possibilities of the human face as lightning opens up the night." ## p. 101 (#519) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 101 A tall, maudlin woman in University-street, one of his landladies, said to me: "He give me the creeps, sometimes, he did, the way he used to look at you, as if he could see right through you, and all the time making believe he wasn't noticing you." During his first year in London he seems to have written chiefly short stories and essays. One of the former apparently found its way into the pages of some obscure weekly journal. I have not been able to trace it, but there is a note in one of his diaries joyfully recording the event, and also the fact that it was not paid for. One day also he sent a production of his to a leading novelist for criticism, for I find amongst his letters a communication from , in which that competent writer gives him some good advice as well as some warm praise. The letter says :— "You have only to persevere in order to acquire a really fine style, a distinctive style of your own. There are turns of thought and touches which show the true possibility of style. But you seem not to have had sufficient association with the world; jour characters have not enough red blood in their veins, they are too imaginative. You should draw more upon real life for your creations." In the early part of '87, shortly after the receipt of this letter, he began his novel, the work which drew this modicum of praise from the critic's mouth. Remembering his advice, he conceived the idea of putting himself into his work, so that, as he himself expresses it, " there should be at least a pound of real human flesh amongst my characters." "For," he continues, "what my literary friend says is, I fear, but too true. My field, which I thought so rich, is after all a barren one. A man's face I may know, I may be able to read the speech that is in his eyes, or tell the malady that is in his body, but I do not know his soul. I have never seen a mother actually bereft of her child, nor have I yet seen amongst those I know two loving hearts torn asunder. I may fancy I can read the history of such things in the faces of strangers; but I cannot be sure. I have never had another soul beside my own fully bared to my vision. If there would but come a violent passion of love in my own breast! So my characters have not much flesh and bone; they do not seem to palpitate with real emotion as if they had lived and loved, and wept, and beat their hearts out against the world. However, there is myself. I have lived, and if I have not yet loved, I have wept, and I have already been roughly handled by the world. I had. not thought of that before. I will put myself into my work." To this end therefore there sprang into existence at this period some further note books, and he also began to greatly elaborate the diaries which he already used. There is a book labelled "My Emotions," another "My Appearance," a third " Thoughts," and in these he daily dissected himself and served himself up for his novel. I have had tears in my eyes in reading some of these notes. Slowly and with infinite pains the work was created. About the period when he would be in the middle of it there occurs a sentence in the book of "Thoughts," over which I have bent my brows many times. It is in the centre of a clean page; there is no other writing on the page. It is :— "Love paints the world with roses for a man—and for a month!" Why he wrote this sentence and left it alone ou the sheet I cannot gather, for nowhere in the whole number of his books are the details filled in. Only, there is a gap of three months in the diary of '88 caused by the removal of many leaves; and, also, it was about this time that his heart went more completely than ever into his book and he began to sit over it with such incessant energy. The sentence is pregnant and impressive enough; it holds the suggestion of a bitter story within its narrow compass, and the active imagination may fill it in. But one would like to have known in detail how his singular heart was captured and occupied and then left desolate; what the circumstances were and who was the person that stirred that " violent passion of love in his own breast" (if it were such) for which he had so ardently longed. How he lived about this period has been some- thing of a mystery to me, for he was apparently producing nothing that paid. On this matter he is silent in his diaries. But there are certain indications which would had one almost to suppose that he wrote short stories for a woman who paid him for them and published them under her own name. His novel became his very daily bread. "I have sat over it," he wrote just before it was finished, "for six half years, sometimes with burning eyes and flying pen—beautiful sensation! sometimes almost weeping. I have continued over it often, till a dull pain coming out of the side of my head has warned me that I have gone too far, and shall pay for it with a sleepless night." He had been living in a way that was certain to kill him. He had a constitutional weakness which made his mode of life to him like a stone ## p. 102 (#520) ############################################ THE AUTHOtt. round the neck of a man in the water. In one place he says: "It was good of my father to give me his powerful nervous brain for heritage, but I could have dispensed with my mother's weak heart. That dusky pallor is always on my face now; people have begun to notice it in the streets; Mary can run up the stairs easily. I am older than she, and I am a man, but I had to stop four times this morning coming up the stairs, and T get these feelings of deadly faintness more often. I must drink more brandy." And yet, apparently, he never had a serious thought of giving up. The tenacity of his ambition was terrible, and his heart, although weak at the valves, was the heart of a hero. His pen still went from side to side of the MS., and at the other end of it his weakening brain continued to evolve the novel. At length the following entry appears: "I am now a prisoner in my own room as secure as ever Crusoe was on his famous island; I have not been out of the house for three weeks, and see no present likelihood of going. That terrible flight of stairs has mastered me at last. Regent's Park is now a thing of the past. I finished my novel yesterday, and this morning pushed it away from me in disgust. All is vanity beneath the sun! I will get Mary to buy me some flowers—I almost forget the smell of them." On Sept. 20, 1894 he was up in a garret within ear-shot of the traffic of Marylebone-road. It was a tall house in reduced circumstances and now let out to many lodgers. There was a church within throwing distance from the back, and when the wind was in the right direction and the windows were open, one might detect some fra- grance in the air from Regent's Park. But the author's window had not been opened for many days. There was a servant girl at this place between whom and the author there appears to have existed a bond of genuine friendship, and from her I gathered much of the information which has enabled me to fill in the details of these last pages. A little brown-eyed, sympathetic girl, quite out of place in the sordid London lodging- house. The first entry in his diary of this date is unfinished, and the writing is that of one in pain: "It is early morning. I can just hear the market carts rumbling by in the distance. I am half dead. No sleep now for nearly a week, and my head racked with neuralgia" There is also the last entry in the book labelled "My Appearance," which was no doubt made on this day, although he did a quite unusual thing for him in omitting to date the page: "Dark and hollow under the eyes; Hps colourless, and cheeks more dusky white than ever." Mary came up at nine with his breakfast, and found him in his armchair, his novel open on his lap, but his head resting on his hand, and his eyes fixed vacantly upon the fire-place. As Mary was lighting the fire he asked' her a question. "Mary, did you ever hear of anyone who had forgotten how to pray?" Mary said, "No, Sir." "No!" he said in a low voice, and remained quiet. There are no more entries in his books. At one his dinner came up, and went away again untasted. He talked with Mary as long as she could stay, told her the neuralgia had now gone, and that he had had a sort of a doze but did not feel refreshed, on the contrary he felt more exhausted; and asked her about her home in Suffolk. He seemed to cling to her presence like a child. And when the sound of her over-large shoes on the stairs had died away in the base- ment he felt as if all the world had left him alone to die. He told her this when she brought up his tea. That long afternoon must have crawled away by hours that seemed endless. Wrapped in his long overcoat (which he always wore about the room), and with his hands lying listlessly on the chair arms, he waited and waited. Outside, there was a white, dead sky weeping a dismal mist, the smoke, under the influence of the heavy air, curling low as it left the chimney pots opposite and wreathing outside his window; and there was the faint sound of traffic from the streets; and there were the chimes at intervals from the clock of the neighbouring church. What thoughts came to him in that lonely vigil waiting for the Messenger, one can only in faith and hope surmise. One wonders if he had even then quite penetrated to the vanity of human things; if he beheld anything beyond the dust and ashes; if God came first and, in the last hour, before the Messenger arrived, taught him how to pray. Once, unable for the moment to bear it any longer, he sent his hand out towards the bell-rope —the tongue of the bell in the basement lifted and swung within an ace of striking. But it did not: and he waited on alone.' At six, the mockery of tea, and conversation with Mary. At eleven, Marv, looking sleepily in at the doorway, saw the author lying- on his bed ## p. 103 (#521) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 103 in his clothes. She thought him asleep, and carried her candle into her bedroom opposite, but left his door ajar. Twelve; and, later, the clocks with an un- happy want of unanimity struck one. A minute afterwards there was a sound in his room as of a match being scratched along its bos unsteadily; then the same sound again; thea the noise of something like a book striking the floor. Whether it reached his ears or not I cannot say, but next minute there came the creaking of a door, and Mary, in her nightdress, was crouch- ing in his doorway peering into the room with large frightened eyes. What she saw and heard, down to the minutest detail, appears to have been cut into her mind with terrible distinctness. The author was muttering, " It's come at last," meaning, doubtless, the end. He was in his arm- chair, his face showing deathly white against its black leather ; there was a glowing match between his fingers and a candle sputtering on the table immediately before him. There was dead stillness for a moment when the candle burnt with a clear flame and the shadows in the room receded. The servant was about to make a movement to go to him, but she held back; for his hands, still with the match between the fingers, were coming together in the attitude of prayer. But suddenly his head and arms fell forward—a cab rattled by in the street below—and Mary, with a smothered scream, fainted in the doorway. When she opened her eyes and presently recovered, the candle was out, but pale moonlight was in the room and around the figure in the chair. Coming in stealthily, she gazed at the head that was hanging motionless on the breast and at the right hand, which would not hold a pen again, falling straight and limp by his side. Then, shivering, and with her hands over her eyes, she went to call her mistress. When his novel came out one of the critics said: "There are unquestionable signs of something more than talent in this work— there is promise of real genius. Who is the author?" The Vestry of Marylebone, at any time, pro- vided expenses are defrayed, can produce a hand- ful, of bones from one of their pauper coffins, the remains of this dead autltor. BOOS ADVERTISE IN 1900. THE following appears in the Month of New York. It will perhaps furnish a few instructive suggestions to some of our own enterprising publishers:— "A young gentleman, who has had a good deal to do with the adver- tising of books in the conventional, legitimate way, has amused himself by making up the following sample of an advertisement such as we may expect to see in the year ltwo. There is humour In the Idea, and it has been carried out in the happiest spirit" BOOK SLAUGHTER. BELLA BLAIR'S GREAT NOVEL. Her brightest and belt. "HER HUSBAND'S WIFE." With the collaboration of EIGHT (8) FAMOUS AUTHORS. AT EVERY NOTION COUNTER. THRILLING . . . PATHETIC . . U PLIFTING . . Clutches the Heart Strings. SEVEN (7) HEROINES. Four blondes, three brunettes. SIX (0) HEROES. Count them for yourself. One a gambler, one a nobleman; the others, ministers, burglars, divorce's, and college t GREAT TRIPLE PLOT. Enacted simultaneously In London, Duluth, and Smolensk. Characters all from life. (Key with every copy.) Tiro Six Two Tveelre Nine Three One CHIEF Railroad Collisions Marriage* Abductions Court Scenes Scandal* Death Beds (all fatal) Subvay ex}>losion INCIDENTS. Two .Sir Two Txelre Nine Three One ONLY A FEW COPIES LEFT. Tfi ANIV fs\IP ordering before the 16th Inst, we s Kf f\L^ I V/l 1 L. present (for cash orders only) ELEGANT RED AND BLUE MANIOUBE SET. will an HOW TO ORDER. 1st. Press the Are alarm button three times, and simply wit. 2nd. At any Notion Counter. 3rd. Hand your order to any policeman. 4th. Send for one of our female Parisian canvassers. Send for pamphlet of Press Notices: Gladstone, Stedman, and Howells hare all praised it warmly. N.B.—Costumes in this novel described by "Gyp"; subtleties by Henry James; love scenes by K1U Wheeler W. . . . x; railroal accidents by Jolcai; abductions by Edgar Saltua; court scenes by Anna Katharine Green; scandals by the editor of the J ;marriage services by a corps of carefully selected and highly trained bishops; drunks and disorderlies by Stephen Crane. SCRIP & COMPANY, Publishers, Hew York. ## p. 104 (#522) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. FREEDOM OF CRITICISM. AN action for libel was brought a few weeks ago by Miss Lottie Collins, a music-hall artiste, against Society, a journal which had criticised one of the songs of her repertoire. For describing the song as vulgar, the editor had to pay ,£25. Writing in To-Day, Mr. S. L. Bensusan tells us that unintelligent "puff" has been the form of notice which music-hall per- formances have received in the Press until lately, when there has been an attempt to substitute the critique for the " puff." This authority would like to see men representing responsible journals taking up a fair and well-defined position with regard to the variety stage; in nearly every respect, he says, the modern music-hall calls for reform. But that is a question apart. The point the journalist and the critic may be supposed to put is this: If the criticism of a song is penalised to-day, what guarantee is there that a British jury may not fall foul of the criticism of a book to-morrow? Another aspect. The Newspaper Society has issued a return of the number of libel actions, mostly against newspapers, which have been tried in recent years. In 1878 there were forty-six; in 1896 there were eighty-two. The total damages noted in the High Court returns for last year was .£18,238. The amount of the costs is not recorded, nor the amount paid to settle the thirty or forty cases settled out of court; but probably the total penalty is not less than £50,000 a year. The Daily Chronicle, in re- cording these figures, is confident that a large part of the money is a fine which the newspapers have to pay for doing their duty. How easy and cheap a notice of an action for libel is, the words of NortJiern Finance and Trade, a Manchester organ, explain :— The initiatory coat of issuing the writ need not be more than a few shillings, and the man who takes it oat may not even intend to take it into court, the object being to frighten the individual against whom the document is issued, to pay something in damages and costs rather than go through a long, costly, and harassing action at law. No matter how trivial the charge of libel may bo; nor how certain it may be that the plaintiff will withdraw from the action; the unfortunate defendant has to take all Bteps to defend himself as if the action would be fought out; and the first call upon him is generally .£150 on the part of his own solicitor, " to be going on with." Of course, in nine cases out of ten, the plaintiff is no better than a blackmailer and a man of straw, and an action for libel lands an editor in a big loss, although he may win all along the line. A recent utterance of Lord Chief Justice Russell is very valuable as an aid to—at any rate—the critic of financial schemes in the dis- charge of his duty. In the case of Wicks v. The Financial Times, the Lord Chief Justice con- cluded his charge to the jury in these terms: Gentlemen, I repeat, the main question is, Is this an honest article f If you arrive at the conclusion that it is an honest article, I would not advise you to be astute to see whether there may not be here or there a little more exaggeration than your own judgment would go with. I would not advise you to be scrupulous to consider and scrutinise whether the writer has crossed all his t's and dotted all his i's. As was once said in a case of libel, I would not advise you to condemn the defendant merely because the patches and the feathers of his rhetoric have not been composed as you in your better good taste perhaps might have 00m- posed it. If you believe the thing is honest, I would not look for inaccuracies, unless they are inaccuracies which you think of the greatest importance as indicating unfair- ness or as constituting libels and imputations. If, on the contrary, you think it is dishonest, and that there is any foundation, any real foundation, I mean, for the suggestion that it iB not an honestly conceived article, then, of course, you ought to give your verdict for the plaintiff. But if you think it was honest, if you think, taking the whole thing into consideration, either that there is no libel, or that, although there are observations in it which in your judg- ment might be so considered, yet they are covered by fair comment, you ought to give your verdiot for the defen- dants. BOOK TALE. EEADERS who are interested in India may be glad to know that Messrs. W. Thacker, of Creed-lane, have in the press a book of social gossip, dating from a period a little earlier than the "Forty-one Years of Lord Roberts, which has had such a remarkable success. The present work is called "A Servant of John Company," and contains the recollections of Mr. H. G-. Keene, CLE., with illustrations (from the author's sketches) drawn by the well-known artist of the Illustrated London News, Mr. Wm. Simpson, R.I. Mr. Tighe Hopkins has written the Christmas annual for Mr. Arrowsmith's Bristol Library this year, and has called it "Pepita of the Pagoda." Mr. Rudyard Kipling's works are to be issued in a uniform edition of twelve volumes, by Messrs. Macmillan. The first volume " Plain Tales from the Hills," containing a new portrait of the author, etched by Mr. William Strang, will probably appear next month, the others following at monthly intervals. The issue of the edition is limited to 1050 copies. Each volume will cost half a guinea net. Mr. Cutcliffe Hine's new book, "The Paradise Coal-Boat," to be published by Mr. James Bowden, is the outeome of many thousand miles of travel, and deals specially with the life of the steamer sailor. ## p. 105 (#523) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Mr. E. D. Chetwode has a new story to be pub- lished by Messrs. Pearson. It will be called "John of Strathbourne," and it is laid in the stirring times of Francis the First. It has been announced that a Dutch publisher has already brought out a Dutch translation of Miss Olive Schreiner's "Trooper Peter Halkett of Mashonaland," and that the owners of the English copyright are never likely to get a penny therefrom. The Rev. S. Baring-Gould is engaged on a Welsh story. An edition of "The Shepheard's Calender," with twelve pictures and other devices, by Mr. Walter Crane, is in preparation by Messrs. Harper Brothers. Mr. Bichard Ashe King is writing a new Life of Goldsmith. "John Oliver Hobbes's" new novel, "The School for Saints," is announced among the early autumn publications of Mr. Unwin. The Eev. H. R. Haweis has written a volume on "Old Violins" for Mr. George Redway's series of books for collectors. A selection of the late R. L. Stevenson's poems has been set to music by Katharine M. Ram- say, and will be published as "Song Flowers," by Messrs. Gardner, Darton, and Co. Mr. S. R. Crockett has written an introduction for the volume, and the illustrated headings and tail- pieces will be by Mr. Gordon Browne. A book by Miss Susan Horner on Greek Vases, containing a history of their manufacture, their uses, and their gradual development, illustrated, will be published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein. Mr. Claude Phillips is at work on a catalogue of the Wallace Collection of pictures, of which he has been appointed keeper. He has also in view a more elaborate work on the subject. Mr. George Griffith has written an historical romance called "The Knights of the White Rose," telling of the adventures in the service of the Grand Monarch of a company of exiled sons of English, Scotch, and Irish noble families. It will be published by Messrs. F. V. White and Co. Mr. F. C. Burkitt will edit the fragment of Aquila which he recently discovered in the Cambridge University Library. The volume will contain photographs, and probably an excursus or appendix by Dr. Taylor, master of St. John's College. The story for girls written by the late Christina Rosetti nearly fifty years ago, which was an- nounced in these columns some months ago, is now announced by Mr. James Bowden for early publication. It is entitled "Maude," and has not hitherto been published. A short sketch of the authoress, by Dante G. Rossetti, and a preface, giving the history of the story, by W. M. Rossetti, will be included. Mr. Brimley Johnson is editing a selection of the prose writings of the late W. B. Rands, better known under the pseudonym of "Matthew Browne." The volume will be published by Mr. James Bowden. Mr. A. E. T. Watson, editor of the Badminton Magazine, is bringing out a volume of his stories through Messrs. Longman. Mrs. Walford will be represented this autumn by a novel entitled " Iva Kildare," which Messrs. Longman hope to issue next month. Miss Nina F. Layard has placed a volume entitled " Songs in Many Moods" with Messrs. Longman for publication. A new illustrated edition of Thackeray's works will begin to appear shortly, with biographical and anecdotal introductions by Mrs. Richmond Ritchie. Each novel will be complete in one volume, and they will appear at intervals of one month. A hitherto unpublished portrait of the novelist will be given. The publishers, of course, are Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. George Eliot's "Scenes of Clerical Life" will shortly be published in a sixpenny edition, by Messrs. Blackwood. Mr. E. Livingston Prescott's new romance of military life, called "The Rip's Redemption," will be published in a few days by Messrs. Nisbet. "To Be Had in Remembrance" is the title of a new anthology of poems concerning the future life, which will be edited by Mr. A. E. Chance and published by Mr. Stock. Mr. Blackmore's new romance, "Dariel," will be issued shortly by Messrs. Blackwood. "Loraa Doone," by the way, is about to be published by Messrs. Sampson Low in a sixpenny form. Mr. Robert Leighton and Mrs. Marie Connor Leighton, who have written a number of serials, are about to publish certain of them in volume form through Mr. Grant Richards. The first will be '* Convict 99." Miss Jean Middlemass is about to run a serial called "A Life's Surrender" in the syndicate of newspapers connected with the National Press Agency. Mr. Graham Wallas has written "The Life of Francis Place," which Messrs. Longman will publish. ## p. 106 (#524) ############################################ io6 THE AUTHOR. The late William Morris's last wort, "The Sundering Flood," is nearly ready at the Kelms- cott Press. There will be 300 copies at the sub- scription price of two guineas, and ten on vellum at ten guineas. Miss H. C. Foxcroft is the author of "TheLife and Letters of Sir George Savile, Baronet, First Marquis of Halifax," which Messrs. Longman have in the press. The volume edited by Mr. Frederick Wedmore and his daughter, and entitled "Poems of the Love and Pride of England," will be published shortly by Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Co. Among living writers who will be represented in it are Mr. Swinburne, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Watts- Dunton, the Poet Laureate, Sir Lewis Morris, Mr. William Watson, Mr. Kobert Bridges, and Mr. Conan Doyle. Mr. Walter Redmond, M.P., has contributed articles to an Irish newspaper on "A Shooting Trip in the Australian Bush," the result of his visit there. These will be published in book form, and will constitute Mr. Redmond's debut as an author. The Marquis of Granby is writing "The Trout," and Mr. J. E. Harting "The Rabbit," for Messrs. Longman and Co.'s "Fur, Feather, and Fin" series of volumes. The fourth and last volume of the "Life of Edward Bouverie Pusey, D.D.," by Dr. Liddon, edited and prepared for publication by the Rev. J. 0. Johnston, the Rev. Dr. Wilson, and the Rev. Canon Newbolt, is in the press by Messrs. Longman. The second volume of Dr. Gardiner's "History of the Commonwealth" is in the press (Long- man). Mr. J. K. Laughton is preparing "The Life and Letters of Henry Reeve, C.B.," late editor of the Edinburgh Review, which will be published by Messrs. Longman. This firm will also pub- lish in the course of the autumn a memoir of the late Sir Henry Rawlinson, Bart., <fce. It is written chiefly by the Rev. Canon Rawlinson, but the present baronet will contribute one chapter, and Lord Roberts another. Mr. W. W. Yates has written " The Father of the Brontes." He has made a close study of the family history. A portrait of Mr. Bronte as he was in 1809 will be given. "Wellington: His Comrades and his Contem- poraries," is the title of a work on the great soldier by Major Griffiths, which Mr. George Allen will publish. Mr. Bernard Quaritch has in hand the publica- tion of a work entitled "A Florentine Picture- Chronicle: Being a Series of Ninety-nine Draw- ings representing Scenes and Personages of Sacred and Profane History by Maso Finiguerra, Reproduced in Facsimile from the Originals in the British Museum by the Imperial Press, Berlin, with a Critical and Descriptive Text by Sidney Colvin, M.A., Keeper of the Prints and Drawings in the British Museum." The British Museum acquired the drawings in 1889 from Mr. Ruskin, who had bought them eighteen years previously. Mr. Colvin at length discovered evidence to show that they are the work of the famous Florentine goldsmith, niello-worker, and engraver, Maso Finiguerra (1426-1464). Mr. Colvin hopes to set forth in quite a new light the artistic personality of this master. The edition of the work will consist of 300 copies, the price to subscribers before publication being ^9 9s., and afterwards ,£12 12*. LITERATURE IN THE PERIODICALS. Book Titles. Daily Newt for Ang. 7. Daily Chronicle for Ang. 13. Booksellers' Discounts. Interview with Mr. T. Bar* leigh: Daily Chronicle for Aug. 14. Interview with Mr. Frederick Maomillan: Daily News for Ang. 4. Opinions of Booksellers; Daily News for Aug. 11 and 13. Interview with Mr. M. H. Hodder: Daily News for Ang. 16. The True Story of Eugene Aram. H. B. Irving. Nineteenth Century for Angnst. The Novels of Mr. George Gissing. H. G. Wells. Contemporary Revieic for Angnst. George Du Maurier. Henry James. Barper't for September. The Sentiment of Chivalry: Burke and Scott. T. £. Kebbel. Macmillan't Magazine for Angnst. Some Unpublished Letters of Dean Swift. Geo. Birkbeck Hill. Atlantic Monthly for Angnst and September. Ten Years of English Literature. Edmund Gosse. North American Review for Angnst. Stationers' Hall has printed a " Lexicographical Index " of all productions entered there since the passing of the Copyright Act of 1842. From that year up to 1884 all entries made at the Hall are alphabetically indexed, either under authors' names or under titles; while from 1884 forward, not only authors and titles, but sub-titles, subjects, and even publishers, are recorded in the same alphabetical arrangement. This is a substantial reform, but the drawback, as the Daily News writer remarks, lies in the fact that the Copyright Acts impose no obligation to register literary pro- ductions unless the owner of the copyright is about to take legal proceedings for infringement —which he very seldom has to do. "It would certainly be safe to say that of the quarter of a ## p. 107 (#525) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. million or more of books and pamphlets published in Great Britain since 1842, not 25,000 have been heard of at Stationers' Hall." Therefore, "Mr. Payn's felicitations to his brother novelists and men of letters, must continue to be premature till the Legislature has created that long-desired institution, a compulsory register of all literary property." It is also suggested that the fee for registration should be reduced from 5*. to, say, is. Another proposal is that an index of all books as they reach the British Museum should be made there, and kept at the disposal of those who wish to consult it. Mr. T. Burleigh, of Oxfoi-d-street, who is the secretary of the Booksellers' Association, has given extracts from his own business ledger to prove the narrow profits that are being made in the trade. He quotes his dealings with eight first-class publishers for a certain period. All the books are copyright volumes. Here is the statement: JB1649 10s. 6<2. did not produce enough to pay working expenses. JE1391 7s. yd. produced 2j per cent, beyond working expenses. JE406 6s. yd. produced 51 per cent. .£14 28. od. „ 10 „ £$3 31. gd. „ ii „ £74 17s. gd. „ 7 £10 7s. sd. „ 5 „ JB131 118. od. ., 3 „ £16 is. 6d. just paid working expenses. The above represents handling thousands of books by the best authors, "Surely," says Mr. Burleigh, "those authors may well consider whether such a condition of the book trade can be satisfactory to anybody." Out of his profit he has to make good the loss on ,£1649 10s. 6d., and to keep stock. "I want to know," he adds, "where I come in for food and raiment?" Mr. Glaisher, bookseller, declares that the proposed change to a fixed discount of 2d. in the i*. would be bad for authors and publishers, and would make the whole trade suffer. It would mean, for one thing, a decrease in the sale of six-shilling novels, for although the public have said nothing yet about these becoming shorter and padded out with leaded type, they would not give an extra sixpence for them. What the country bookseller suffers from, in Mr. Glaisher's opinion, is lack of enterprise. "I find country drapers much more awake," he declares, "than the booksellers are. Offer a country draper a special book, and if the price is low he will take a large stock. Then he gets a fair profit." Mr. Henry Bumpus, speaking for him- self—as distinct from his firm—doubts the wisdom of the proposed change. He is opposed to coercion, and would have any alteration of discount come about voluntarily. Another large trader is doubtful whether the opposition of the few London houses who are against the scheme could be overcome. This gentleman does not think that to the man who pays 4*. 6d. for a novel another sixpence is of vital importance; but, on the other hand, Mr. Stoneham, one of the leaders of the old "3d. in the is." party, is quite convinced that the public would not submit to this, and once the prices went up, he, for one, would not be able to sell nearly so many six- shilling novels. Mr. Kichard Poole, a country bookseller, disputes the charge that it is "lack of enterprise" prevents his class from buying largely. The reason, on the contrary, he says, is that the demand would not justify it:— Where then can his profit be if he has to pay 48. 2d. and commission, or 48. 6d. net, for his 6s. book, plus expenses? The result of these discounts is that booksellers in small country towns (and in the aggregate they are many) do not now, as a rule, Btock these books, and this fact does not tend to increase sales. The country draper may be open to buy a special book " if the price be low," but I have never yet known this apply to new books of the day. As regards the suggestion that the public will not pay 5*., instead of 4s. 6d., for the 6*. novel, a decided contradiction comes from Sheffield. The District Booksellers' Association there became convinced of the virtue of the proposed reform, and on the 1st July they began the system of allowing 2d. in the shilling off the published prices of the general run of books. Since that time the Sheffield booksellers have sold 6s. novels at 5s., and their experience—expressed officially —is that the public do not object, but, on the contrary, they purchase the books and sympathise with the movement. Mr. M. H. Hodder, of the firm of Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton, publishers, does not believe that an alteration in the discount in the country will greatly help the booksellers there. Indeed, he believes it will take trade from them. The discount system in London he is positive cannot be altered, and he foresees only a greater patronage to the metropolitan dealer if a less discount is the rule in the country. Mr. Macmillan remarks that if the authors are not willing, then the whole scheme will be dropped. Mr. Henry James enjoyed the acquaintance of the late Mr. Du Maurier during nineteen years. One of the most notable things in his paper, which is largely persona', is the account of the effect of the "Trilby" boom upon Du Maurier, an event which coincided with his diminished relish for life. Mr. James has "small difficulty in seeing" these occurrences rather painfully related:— What I Bee certainly is that no such violence of publicity can leavo untroubled and unadulterated the sources of the ## p. 108 (#526) ############################################ io8 THE AUTHOR. production in which it may have found Hb pretext. The whole phenomenon grew and grew until it became, at any rate for this particular victim, a fountain of gloom and a portent of woe; it darkened all his sky with a hugeness of vulgarity. It became a mere immensity of sound, the senseless hnm of a million of newspapers, and the irresponsible chatter of ten million of gossips. The pleasant sense of having done well was deprived of all sweetness, all privacy, all sanctity. . . . The demonstrations and revelations encircled him like a ronde infernale. The new Swift letters are those written by him to his friend Knightley Chetwode, of Wood- brooke, during the seventeen years (1714-1731) which followed his appointment to the deanery of St. Patrick's. THE BOOES OE THE MONTH. [August 24 to Sept. 23.—113 Books.] Allbutt, T. 0. (ed.). A System of Medicine. Vol. III. 25/- net. Ailing-ham, II., and Crawford. B. Captain Cuellar's AdTentures in Connacht and Ulster, A.D., 1588; Captain Cucllar'B Narrative of the Spanish Armada, Ac. 2/- Stock. Ames, P. W. (ed.). The Mirror of the Sinful Soul. A prose trans- lation from the French, made by the PrinccBS (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth. 10 ,'6. Ashor. Anderson, E. J. Some AspectB of Mimicry. Galway : M. Clayton. Anne, Mrs. C. A Women of Moods. 5/- Burns and Oaten. Anonymous ("A.B."). The Blasted Life. 1/- Roxbnrghe. 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Homburg and its Waters. Low. ## p. 108 (#527) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. How Ready, Crown 8to., Cloth Boards, Silver Lettering, Price 6s. A LADY OF WALES. "A Story of the Siege of Chester, 1645." BY THE ReY. YINCENT J. LEATHERDALE, M.A. London: HORACE Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. Now ready, domy 8vo., cloth boards, price 10s. 6d. IN NEW SOUTH AFRICA. Travels in the Transvaal and Rhodesia. With Hap and Twenty-six Illustrations, By II. LINCOLN TANGYE. CONTENTS. Introductory. PABT I Cuaptbr L—The Land of Oold and the Way there. „ IL—Across Desert and Veldt. ,, in.—Johannesburg the Qolden. „ IV.—A Transvaal Coach Journey. „ V.—Natal: the South African Garden. ,, VI.—Ostracised in Africa. Home with the Swallows. PART H.—BAMBLES IN BHODESIA. Chapter I.—Eendragt Haakt Magt. „ II.—Into the Country of Lobengula. „ IH.—The Trail of War. „ IV.—Ooldmintng, Ancient and Modern. „ V.—Sic Transit Gloria Mundl. „ VI To Northern Mashonaland. „ VU.—Primitive Art. The Misadventures of a Wagon. Index. London: Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildlngs, 3.0. Crown 8vo., cloth boards, price 6s. HATHEESAGE: A Tale of North Derbyshire. BT CHARLES EDMUND HALL, Author of " An Ancient Ancestor," &o. London: HOBJLCI^Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.O. Books for Writers and Readers. AUTHORS and PUBLISHERS. A Manual of Suggestions for Beginners in Literature. Comprising a Description of Publishing Methods and Arrangements, Directions for the Preparation of MSS. for the PresB, Explanations of the Details of Book-Manufacturing, Instructions for Proof-Beading, Spocimens of Typography, the Text of the United States Copy- right Law, and Information concerning International Copyrights, together with General Hints for Authors. By G. H. 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PUTNAM'S SONS, LONDON AND NEW YORK. ## p. 108 (#528) ############################################ iv AD VER TISEMENTS. THE MERCANTILE TYPEWRITING OFFICE (Manageress-MISS MORG-AN.) 158, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from lOd. per 1000 words. Special Terms for Contract Work. All descriptions of Typewriting, Shorthand, and Translation work executed with accuracy and despatch. TO AUTHORS A.ND OTHERS. THE LITERARY, TECHNICAL, AND TYPEWRITING ASSOCIATION, 16, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, E.C, UNDERTAKE all kinds or RESEARCHES it the British Museum, Somercet Boose, Patent Office, Ac MSS. Revised and Prepared for Press; Proofs Bead. TYPEWRITING of all kinds carefully and promptly executed. Circulars, Ac. duplicated. SHORTHAND 'WRITERS Sent Out at Short Notice, with or without Type Machine. Only experienced persons employed. Terms moderate. Prospectus and Estimates Free. First-class references. Typewriting by Clergyman's Daughter and Assistants. MISS E. M. 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Address " M.," care of The Warden, Women's University Settlement, Nelson Square, S.E. CROCKFORD'S CLERICAL DIRECTORY 1897. Being a Statistical Book of Reference for facts relating to the Clergy in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the ColonieB; with a fuller Index relating to Parishos and Benefices than any ever yet given to the public. London: Horace Oox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildlngs, E.C. Printed and Published by Horace Cox, Windsor House, Bream's-buildinga, 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. 08 Issue 04 (September 1897) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 08 Issue 04 (September 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 1897-09-01-The-Author-8-4 publications The Author