12 20 545 https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/222/1882-Rolt-Frederick.png ff88e0c1a357cf00062b1c443b97442a 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1826 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1895 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Solicitor Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Frederick Rolt (1826–1895); solicitor. Committee(s) A list of committees the person was a member of Copyright Sub-Committee Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Post Office London Directory, 1882. Part 4: Law, Court & Parliamentary Directories, etc. London: Printed for Frederic Kelly, 1882. p. 2051. <a href="http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/40650/rec/10">http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/40632/rec/10</a>. 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 Rolt, Frederick Subject The topic of the resource Rolt, Frederick (1826–1895) Description An account of the resource Frederick Rolt (1826–1895); solicitor. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Rolt-Frederick copyright law https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/223/1890s-Strutt-John-William.jpg 336182f5cad7d25f6fa8eaf30c37bf25 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1842 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1919 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Physicist Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources John William Strutt, third Baron Rayleigh (1842–1919; Oxford DNB); experimental and mathematical physicist. Primarily published scientific research. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36359" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36359</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Flower, Cyril. Portrait of John William Strutt. Platinum Print. 1890s. NPG Ax15637 © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw156618/John-Strutt-3rd-Baron-Rayleigh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw156618/John-Strutt-3rd-Baron-Rayleigh</a>. 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 Strutt, John William Subject The topic of the resource Strutt, John William (1842–1919) Description An account of the resource John William Strutt, third Baron Rayleigh (1842–1919); experimental and mathematical physicist. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Strutt-John-William physics science Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/224/1889-Lockyer-Joseph-Norman.jpg 6315d85c9362236b2d44a069ef625835 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1836 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1920 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Astronomer Editor Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Sir (Joseph) Norman Lockyer (1836–1920; Oxford DNB); astronomer and journal editor. Published many scientific works, as well as on education and archaeology. Held the position of editor of Nature for fifty years. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a referrer="origin-when-cross-origin" href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/34581" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/34581</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Walery. Portrait of Sir (Joseph) Norman Lockyer. Carbon Print. Sampson Low & Co., 1889. NPG x9147 © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw189813/Sir-Joseph-Norman-Lockyer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw189813/Sir-Joseph-Norman-Lockyer</a>. 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 Lockyer, Joseph Norman Subject The topic of the resource Lockyer, Joseph Norman (1836–1920) Description An account of the resource Sir (Joseph) Norman Lockyer (1836–1920); astronomer and journal editor. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Lockyer-Joseph-Norman archaeology astronomy editing education science Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/225/1870-Sanderson-Burdon-John.jpeg 58fbc6f1b3689193d3671f3e48749e6b 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1828 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1905 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Pathologist Physiologist Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Sir John Scott Burdon Sanderson, baronet (1828–1905; Oxford DNB); pathologist and physiologist. Published many medical works. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/32177" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/32177</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Portrait of John Scott Burdon-Sanderson. 1870. <a href="Portrait%20of John Scott Burdon-Sanderson. 1870. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Burdon-Sanderson#/media/File:John_Burdon-Sanderson_1870.jpg." target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Burdon-Sanderson#/media/File:John_Burdon-Sanderson_1870.jpg</a>. 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 Sanderson, John Scott Burdon Subject The topic of the resource Sanderson, John Scott Burdon (1828–1905) Description An account of the resource Sir John Scott Burdon Sanderson, baronet (1828–1905); pathologist and physiologist. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sanderson-John-Scott-Burdon medicine science Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/226/1882-Rawlinson-Henry-Creswicke.jpg a0f591c5c9c1a4ffb608210932171b33 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1810 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1895 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Diplomatist Scholar Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, first baronet (1810–1895; Oxford DNB); Assyriologist and diplomatist. Published works on cuneiform inscriptions and articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a referrer="origin-when-cross-origin" href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/23190" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/23190</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Lock & Whitfield. Portrait of Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Bt by Lock & Whitfield. Woodburytype. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1882. NPG Ax17660 © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw120775/Sir-Henry-Creswicke-Rawlinson-1st-Bt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw120775/Sir-Henry-Creswicke-Rawlinson-1st-Bt</a>. 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 Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke Subject The topic of the resource Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke (1810–1895) Description An account of the resource Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, first baronet (1810–1895); Assyriologist and diplomatist. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Rawlinson-Henry-Creswicke history India languages military politics Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/227/1859-Kitchin-George-William.jpg 10c678a0d0ddd1d8ec9cd368cbcb53d9 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1827 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1912 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Dean Scholar Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources George William Kitchin (1827–1912; Oxford DNB); scholar and dean of Durham. Published historical and religious works. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/34342" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/34342</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Carroll, Lewis. Portrait of George William Kitchin. Albumen Print. 1859. NPG P7(14) © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw03673/George-William-Kitchin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw03673/George-William-Kitchin</a>. 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 Kitchin, George William Subject The topic of the resource Kitchin, George William (1827–1912) Description An account of the resource George William Kitchin (1827–1912); scholar and dean of Durham. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Kitchin-George-William history theology Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/228/1883-Farrar-Frederic-William.jpg 1a65ac27feaa06f8a3d10997f290cc8d 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1831 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1903 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Author Dean Philologist Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Frederic William Farrar (1831–1903; Oxford DNB); dean of Canterbury, novelist and philologist. Published religious and historical works; also wrote several novels (primarily school stories). Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/33088" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/33088</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Bassano, Alexander. Portrait of Frederic William Farrar. Half-Plate Glass Negative. 1883. NPG x127645 © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw111778/Frederic-William-Farrar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw111778/Frederic-William-Farrar</a>. 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 Farrar, Frederic William Subject The topic of the resource Farrar, Frederic William (1831–1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Farrar-Frederic-William Description An account of the resource Frederic William Farrar (1831–1903); dean of Canterbury, novelist and philologist. fiction history languages theology Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/229/1890s-Warren-Charles.jpg 4c292433b615a71d802e4a529a5ecd57 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1840 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1927 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Archaeologist Army Officer Police Commissioner Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Sir Charles Warren (1840–1927; Oxford DNB); army officer, police commissioner and archaeologist. Published several works on the archaeology of Jerusalem. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36753">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36753</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Bassano, Alexander. Portrait of Charles Warren. Matte Collodion Printing-Out Paper Print. 1890s. NPG P1700(46a) © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw238412/Sir-Charles-Warren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw238412/Sir-Charles-Warren</a>. 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 Warren, Charles Subject The topic of the resource Warren, Charles (1840–1927) Description An account of the resource Sir Charles Warren (1840–1927); army officer, police commissioner and archaeologist. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Warren-Charles archaeology military police Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/230/1883-Wilson-Charles-William.jpg 1a5cc995cfa9fd79d85ade7eb242242b 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1836 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1905 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Army Officer Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Sir Charles William Wilson (1836–1905; Oxford DNB); army officer. Published works on politics and war, as well as serving as director of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, which published texts related to the Holy Land. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36951" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36951</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Hills & Saunders. Portrait of Charles William Wilson. Albumen Carte De Visite. 1883. NPG x197183 © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw249183/Sir-Charles-William-Wilson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw249183/Sir-Charles-William-Wilson</a>. 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 Wilson, Charles William Subject The topic of the resource Wilson, Charles William (1836–1905) Description An account of the resource Sir Charles William Wilson (1836–1905); army officer. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Wilson-Charles-William history military politics Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/231/1895-Hollingshead-John.jpeg ed338f2ed7ccb02e3d902f128d6b9132 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1827 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1904 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Journalist Theatre Manager Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources John Hollingshead (1827–1904; Oxford DNB); journalist and theatre manager. Published articles in Household Words, Cornhill Magazine, The Morning Post and Punch. Also published volumes of essays and books about the theatre. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/33946" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/33946</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Portrait of John Hollingshead. Reproduced in Hollingshead, John. My Lifetime. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1895. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hollingshead#/media/File:John-hollingshead-1895.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hollingshead#/media/File:John-hollingshead-1895.jpg</a>. 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 Hollingshead, John Subject The topic of the resource Hollingshead, John (1827–1904) Description An account of the resource John Hollingshead (1827–1904); journalist and theatre manager. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Hollingshead-John drama journalism Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/232/1876-Russell-William-Howard.jpg 65346668afd0c337e9739db4bf7603b9 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1820 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1907 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Journalist Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Sir William Howard Russell (1820–1907; Oxford DNB); journalist. Celebrated war correspondent for The Times; also wrote for the Daily Telegraph and other major publications on international affairs. Appointed a Vice-President of the Society of Authors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a referrer="origin-when-cross-origin" href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/35889" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/35889</a> Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Vice-President Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Lock & Whitfield. Portrait of William Howard Russell. Woodburytype. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1876. NPG Ax17511 © National Portrait Gallery, London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw122196/Sir-William-Howard-Russell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw122196/Sir-William-Howard-Russell</a>. 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 Russell, William Howard Subject The topic of the resource Russell, William Howard (1820–1907) Description An account of the resource Sir William Howard Russell (1820–1907); journalist. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Russell-William-Howard international journalism military Vice-Presidents https://historysoa.com/files/original/1/233/Pollock-William-Frederick.jpeg 039d791e40ae8bbcf1ed5e759cbbf427 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 Members Description An account of the resource By the time of the first general meeting on 18 February 1884, the Society of Authors had 14 <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=66&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vice-President&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">Vice-Presidents</a> and 68 members. Annual subscription was set at a guinea; life subscription was 10 guineas. Initially, new members could join as Fellows, Members or Associates. Fellow status was abolished; not all Fellows paid for subscription and their position within the Society was thus unclear. Members had to have authored at least one full-length work (whether published or performed). Associates were aspiring writers who may not have had any work published. By 1886, there were 153 members. This rose to 240 in 1888, 372 in 1889, 662 in 1891 and 870 in 1892 (Walter Besant, <a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1893-Besant-The-Society-of-Authors">The Society of Authors: A Record of Its Action from Its Foundation</a>, 1893). By 1912, there were over 2,000 members (<a href="https://historysoa.com/publications/1912-Prospectus">Society of Authors Prospectus</a>, 1912). This collection currently includes over 200 prominent members of the Society. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context people Person Birth Date of birth (YYYY) 1815 Death Date of death (YYYY) 1888 Sex Sex as assigned at birth M Occupation Occupations drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Author Lawyer Biography Short summary drawn from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other sources Sir William Frederick Pollock, second baronet (1815–1888; Oxford DNB); lawyer and author. Published a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy (1854); also wrote an autobiography (1887) and edited William Charles Macready's Reminiscences (1876). Chairman of the <a href="https://historysoa.com/exhibits/show/management-committee">Committee of Management</a>, succeeding <a href="https://historysoa.com/people/Morison-James-Augustus-Cotter">James Cotter Morison</a>. Stepped down in 1888 due to ill health; replaced by <a href="https://historysoa.com/people/Besant-Walter">Walter Besant</a>. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Entry Static URI for the person's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, where available <a referrer="origin-when-cross-origin" href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/22480" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/22480</a> Committee(s) A list of committees the person was a member of Committee of Management Position(s) Positions within the Society of Authors or committees (the latter specified by the [Committee(s)] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary Chairman (Committee of Management) Position Start Date The date the person took on the position within the Society of Authors or committee (the latter specified by the [Position] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary 1886 Position End Date The date the person stepped down from the position within the Society of Authors or committee (the latter specified by the [Position] field) such as Chairman or Honorary Secretary 1888 Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Portrait of William Frederick Pollock. Albumen Print. 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 Pollock, William Frederick Subject The topic of the resource Pollock, William Frederick (1815–1888) Description An account of the resource Sir William Frederick Pollock, second baronet (1815–1888); lawyer and author. Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Pollock-William-Frederick Committee of Management editing law translation https://historysoa.com/files/original/3/234/1892-Authors-Syndicate.png 597b9af9cd51d7474ca3381cef5c63c1 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 Groups/Organisations Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context groups-organisations Group/Organisation Location The location of the event or organisation 4 Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields London Start Date A start date for the group/organisation or publication 1890 End Date An end date for the group/organisation or publication 1926 Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission The Author 2.12 (May 1892): p. 423. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031017927">https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031017927</a>. 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 Authors' Syndicate, The Subject The topic of the resource Authors' Syndicate, The Description An account of the resource A literary agency, assisting authors in placing manuscripts with publishers. Management was voluntary and unpaid, and there was a separate Council for the Syndicate. The Syndicate's services were, initially, only available to members of the Society. Run by <a href="https://historysoa.com/people/Colles-William-Morris">William Morris Colles</a>, it was based on the same floor as the Society of Authors' own offices in Portugal Street. In 1898, there was a split between the Society and the Syndicate, dissolving the partnership entirely after a series of problems with Colles' running of the organisation. Colles continued the business until his death in 1926. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Colles, William Morris Type The nature or genre of the resource Group/Organisation Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Authors-Syndicate affiliated organisations publishing https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/235/1888-American-Dinner-Report.png ccdd23e5fcba310cea7aed5373396e2f 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) 1888 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 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/. Title A name given to the resource Report of the Proceedings at the Dinner Given by the Society of Authors to American Men and Women of Letters at the Criterion Restaurant, on Wednesday, July 25, 1888 (1888) Subject The topic of the resource Report of the Proceedings at the Dinner Given by the Society of Authors to American Men and Women of Letters at the Criterion Restaurant, on Wednesday, July 25, 1888 (1888) Description An account of the resource A report listing attendees and offering a transcription of all of the speeches given at the dinner. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Society of Authors Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101046820708" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101046820708</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1888-American-Dinner-Report publications https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/236/1889-Sprigge-Society-of-French-Authors.png b3ea8962e571a3c23cda5a3b3af6daf0 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) 1889 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 Henry Glaisher Location The location of the event or organisation London Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Sprigge, Samuel Squire. The Society of French Authors (La Société Des Gens De Lettres): Its Foundation and its History. London: The Society of Authors, 1889. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044010126399" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044010126399</a>. 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 Society of French Authors (La Société Des Gens De Lettres): Its Foundation and its History (1889) Subject The topic of the resource The Society of French Authors (La Société Des Gens De Lettres): Its Foundation and its History (1889) Description An account of the resource Written by <a href="https://historysoa.com/people/Sprigge-Samuel-Squire">Samuel Squire Sprigge</a>, providing a history of the French Society of Authors (founded in 1829). Offers an overview of the legal and political standing of authorship in France, and the work of the Society in changing the landscape. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sprigge, Samuel Squire Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044010126399" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044010126399</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1889-Sprigge-Society-of-French-Authors international publications https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/237/1896-Lunge-Contract-of-Publication-in-Germany-Austria-Hungary-Switzerland.pdf 38831cc8a09fa5f98d2204c0f4704d44 PDF Text Text || sº | THE - CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN GERMANY, AND Austria, HUNGARY, SWITZERLAND. By ERNST LUNGE, J.U.D. 2s. 6d. ��º º THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SWITZERLANI). By ERNST LUNGE, J.U.D. Published for the Society of Authors. | ??- -- s �º Q, e 5. º ‘IBRARS PRINTED BY HORACECOX, WINDSORHOUSE, BREAM's BUILDINGS, E.0. �THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY AND SWITZERLAND, BY ERNST LUNGE, J.U.D. or in be no in of in it its THE following synopsis of the leading principles of law governing the Contract of Publication refers to those European States that have either adopted the German original form closely followed Code of Commerce in corresponding codes; the former being the case with the German Empire and Austria, the latter with Hungary legal thinking thereby and Switzerland. The affinity widely differing many other respects evinced countries in ” a of to of of of or in as in by or in of of to as for the States under our notice may comprising “greater Germany regard Unfortunately, the Contract the evolution the law. Publication has found no place the German com mercial code, and the more less pronounced uniformity statutes, practice, and doctrine secured that great legislative work for commercial law throughout central Europe has been seriously obstructed regards the legal publisher; relations between author and even the German Empire has, apart from one two accidental provisions the Copyright Bill 1870 and elsewhere, no common law the Contract Publication with the authority an imperial enactment. No doubt that omission was mainly improve, the caused by, but certainly has not helped is accident, described B �2 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN unsatisfactory state of all doctrine connected with Authors’ Rights. For this is by far the most disputed ground of all civil law in Germany, and whoever is aware of the enormous influence wielded by pure doctrine and theory on the practical issues—i.e., legislation and practice, of German law, will readily understand that the matter can never be settled until Jurisprudentia Docens has made up her mind; of which there is not much of a prospect at the present moment. I Like every self-respecting student of German law, am, of course, provided with notions of my own upon the subject, and am prepared to part, at a great sacrifice, with a brand new theory of Authors’ Rights, dissenting, in every particular, from anything said before. But here should like to leave abstractions and classifications out of I court and merely to show the most important issues raised and identically or similarly decided within the provinces of German law. Now, in spite of all said above, the Contract of Publication will be found, when descending from the theory and appearing in cothurnus of semi-metaphysical real life, to be, in all main respects, the same all over the States under our cognizance. The institutions of the trade and (unfortunately) the conditions of literary production are the same; this ensures similar sets of conflicting interests, and they in their turn can meet with no great variety of legal conception and treatment, where the cast of the judicial mind is the same. If, then, theoretical squabbles have prevented uniform legislation, the exigencies of life have called for, and the German lawyers, trained in the stern school of Roman Law, were able to provide, a set of rules covering the whole ground of the Contract of Publication and insuring a tolerable uniformity of practice for the German speaking nations. But for a few fragments and occasional utterances, we should know nothing at all about publishing and the manu �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SWITZERLAND. 3 script trade of ancient Greece, and we cannot hope for any addition to those scanty sources of information. Yet we are safe in assuming that author and publisher had no occasion for a legal understanding as to the publication of the works of the former. Fees were as unknown as the principle of copyright; no learned Greek would have stooped to make money by work for the book market. No doubt authors sold their manuscripts, but to wealthy gentlemen, and not to the trade. All trade profits publisher managed went to the who to obtain a new work. considerable This is little enough, but we do not know even as much as that about prosperous Alexandria. The influx of learned Greeks after the subjection of their own country gave the lagging book trade of Rome a mighty spurt, and caused it to rise to a noble height.* The wholesale business of an important Roman publisher was equal to the production of enormous numbers of cheap copies; it was by no means so far behind our modern achievements as might be imagined, and certainly superior to the efforts of the primitive printing press. The methods of the Roman trade anticipated modern publishing on more than one line. As Birt remarks, the Roman author could address the masses and write for the wide world. Horace might have lived in our days, to have written: Hic meret aera liber Sosiis, hic et mare transit, Et longum noto scriptori prorogat aevum. The highly evolved trade of Rome cannot have dispensed with some sort of real agreement between author and * Prof. Kohler has appended a brilliant review of the social conditions production and of the publishing trade of Rome to his “Autorrecht.” Valuable historical notes will also be found in Birt’s “Das antike Bucherwesen; ” Kapp’s “Geschichte des deutschen Buch handels,” and Schuermann’s “Rechtsverhaltnisse der Autoren und Verleger,” cover the age of printing up to this century. I am indebted to these works for many of the following data. of literary B 2 �4 THE CONTRACT OF IN PUBLICATION publisher; but, clearly defined as they were even then, the peculiar interests of the parties to the Contract of Publication do not appear ever to have called for special juridical consideration anyhow, and construction; the records of Civil Law are absolutely silent on the subject. This evident absence of litigation is easily explained. Authorship was no recognised profession; social economics had no cognisance of the writer as bread-winner; the dignity of free labour as a factor of production is a modern notion. And then publicity was by no means, as a rule, the main object of a Roman author's work. This in itself barred the evolution of typical author's interests which, must otherwise, in the course of time, have engaged the attention of lawyers and found some legal formulation. It was rather to the court, to magnates and rich grandees, than to publishers, that authors in quest of reward might look for remuneration, and we have sufficient evidence of extraordinary prices realised by the sale of MSS. to that class of patrons. This had, of course, no direct connection with the success of any one publication; but manifestly the market value of those dedications and sales depended, on the whole, upon the appreciation of poet or author by the public, and this appreciation was contingent on the dispersion of their works. Yet the author's more or less noble, but readily discerned, interest in the success of his publication does not seem to have been recognised as sufficiently substantial to lead to a claim on the publisher to force the sale. in is at It of to an it, At that period copyright and piracy were terms as yet unknown. The notion of “intellectual property” would have been unintelligible to those times. It was a general custom to copy manuscripts for one's own use; special copyists were kept by such as could afford and some rich bibliophiles kept organised staff writers work bringing their private libraries up date. not im ~ �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUN GARY, AND SWITZERLANI). probable that the etiquette of the trade held wholesale competition in check; friendly understandings, if not 5 illicit bind ing agreements, may have led to some sort of protection of a publisher's new enterprises; but they cannot have been very effectual or far-reaching. Birt's hypothesis, according to which collegia librariorum or bibliopolarum enforced respect for publishers’ rights, is entirely unsupported by evidence, and Kohler himself must disclaim the existence of any proof for his belief in protective privileges or monopolies supposed by him to have been granted to publishers. Nor can the absence of complaints about competition be taken as evidence of any of those restraints on special competi tion. It is rather the other way; measures against piracy must remain a dead letter, where the detection of spurious copies, easy enough since uniform editions are printed, was a technical impossibility; apart from other considerations, no system of legal protection could have suggested itself to the Roman publisher, who had his editions produced by troops of slaves writing to dictation. For all this, the trade flourished; publishers were on the look-out for new writings, and an author prepared to do with private libraries could see no objection to selling a copy of his latest work to a bibliopole who made it worth his while. But the transaction in question thing and nothing comprised the sale of a corporeal beyond, and even its frequent occurrence does not substan tiate the hypothesis of a type of contract ensuring other valuable rights to the author than that to the purchase They never came to distinguish the value of the price. author's production apart from its material substratum, the manuscript; the disposal of the latter invariably included the former—they sold manuscripts, but made no Contracts of Publication. We shall see later on that the business same confusion own century. obtained in the age of printing, up to our �THE 6 CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN There may have been isolated cases in which writers made a regular income by the sale of their manuscripts to publishers, as was very probably done by Martial; on the whole, however, there was no money in it; that class of transactions was never important enough to receive specific legal treatment or an independent economic status. Quinctilian's letter to his publisher Tryphon does not as much as allude to the question of remuneration. Juvenal's satire, seventh whilst enumerating the most trifling sources of income of rhetoricians, advocates, and other professions, As has not a word to say about authors’ fees. rights” were there to be assigned, the no “authors’ publisher of a new work had to rely on turning to profit the advantage gained by his priority in the market, by getting the start of his competitors with his new publica tion. Even the highly problematical restriction of the forms of illicit competition by conventions or would not have made much difference in this respect. On the other hand, it was a matter of common decency for the author to warrant that priority, grossest trade-usage, perhaps even to refrain from competing later on with copies prepared for his own account; some trace of such a rule may be found in Martial's testimony: Exigis ut donem nostro tibi, Quinte, libellos. Non habeo, sed habet bibliopola Tryphon. Martial IW., 72. . . et faciet lucrum bibliopola Trypho, Martial XIII., 3. At any time would copies produced by, or under the control of, the author himself have got the better of a publisher's edition which, at its best, was a perfunc torily manufactured article. Simple, then, as were their business dealings, yet authors and publishers were often intimately associated. The personal correspondence seller's weighty of Cicero with Atticus discloses the book influence on the great writer's publications, �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SWITZERLAND. 7 and amply illustrates the attention paid by Cicero to his publisher's opinion on the daily progress of his labours. Many a Roman publication was due to publishers' incitation, to their appeals for new works, or their encouragement of hesitating authors. As remarked above, the term of author was far from being identical with that of writer for the public. Style and form were far more important in those times than nowadays, and all those works that had been composed for ephemeral purposes, or for certain circles only, would but reluctantly be yielded to publicity, to be for ever attached in a definite shape to the author's name and fame. That sort of scruple had to be Then, overcome by the publisher's powers of persuasion. purely very a serious obstacle of a technical nature encountered every author aspiring to publicity, in the exigencies of the materials from which the editions were manufactured: in the limited size of the rolls, each of which was supposed complete to contain an independent work or section, and the limits of which the writer was bound to observe, not only when arranging and rigidly distributing subject-matter, but throughout the Thucydides or Plato knew of no procrustean restrictions, but now a work intended for publication was of necessity the result of a compromise between the impulse to free, unfettered production and the hampering conditions of the book market. the composition. Publishing enterprises were commonly carried through at the risk and expense of the publishers, some of whom were wholesale tradesmen on a grand scale. In some cases, however, the author was his own publisher, as Cicero in the beginning of his career as a writer. Again, in others we find a stage of transition from the latter (the earlier), system into the former, the author taking part of the expense upon himself; so Cicero shared the consider able cost of the paper with his publisher. On the other �THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION 8 hand, nothing to prove that the author had a we have pecuniary IN interest in the sale. If Cicero decided to let have all his future works, because that clever Atticus publisher had brought about an extensive sale of the speech pro Q. Ligario, we need not look beyond the orator's notorious vanity and craving for popularity for an explanation. Birt has arbitrarily interpreted that deter mination of Cicero's as emanating from satisfaction at his share in the profits, and believes this hypothetical partnership to prove a common system of remuneration. letters, whilst All that is mere guess work. Cicero's referring to the least important details, never allude to any of in In to an and, when finished copies also highly probable that copies free charge, which of by to a was allowed number he would dispose his best advantage. of of is were revised and corrected. he necessary, the It was recognised, a ; to of a by to in by if by to or of a in of of, financial benefit derived from his connection with Atticus. Publications by, or on behalf the writer himself probably originated the production small copies for exchange with other authors number for patrons, under the author's immediate control, sale not his own hand; but we are left doubt about the disposing methods employed him his work where real edition was offered the public. return for the pecuniary sacrifice made author contributing the cost the edition, his literary interests met with some consideration his claim careful reproduction Italy its in of to of of of of The fall the Roman Empire was not survived the vigorous literary life and the grand book trade days affluence. All learning, the entire production and reading matter were banished consumption the higher civilisation monasteries, until the resurrection in of a awakened considerable demand for manuscripts, calling into life new systems organised copying that had, however, nothing common with the Roman trade �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SWITZERLAND. 9 Above all, there was no occasion for dealings between authors and publishers. It remained for the printing press to bring contemporary scholars again together with literary enterprisers. The production of printed books was originally a purely undertaking. industrial When the publishers first ap methods. men of letters, it was in quest of services that were to be entirely subsidiary to their own trade purposes. proached It did not occur to the publisher of the German-speaking nations to look for works by living authors until the 16th century was well advanced; certainly any original works that may have appeared before then have been lost amidst the reproduction of mediaeval manuscripts; the demand for books was well met by Fathers of the Church, Bibles, classics, and school-books. The main conditions of a satisfactory reproduction were possession of a correct manuscript, and the control of the printers by a literary expert. Not a few of the early continental publishers were qualified for editing the manu the scripts themselves, being men of considerable learned This was no mere coincidence, for a pub lisher's success in business was often dependent on the taste he displayed in selecting the treasures of the classic ages. Publishers like Aldus and Froben were supported by alike their enthusiasm and by their knowledge. But technical skill was not always paired with literary ability; those printers who knew their own trade but could not dare to undertake the recension of ancient texts themselves, turned to specialists for this part of the work, at first to clergymen, later on with a preference for young humanists. The progress of printing and publishing made this division of labour the rule. The office of the correctors, attainments. or castigators, as they came to be called, was of no mean importance; they were responsible, not only for the pre paration of the copy, but also for correct composition, as �10 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN yet by no means a matter of course. The choice of suitable recensors and castigators was always of much concern to the great printers of Strasburg, Nuremberg, and of Basle, and they managed to secure the ser especially vices of a number of the most important savants of the Brandt, age of the Reformation ; men like Sebastian Melanchthon, Beatus Rhenanus, Erasmus, were retained as castigators literary experts. The times had changed of letters was openly paid for services rendered. Erasmus tells us, that Froben spent enormous sums for the recension of his publications. We have, however, no record of specific amounts paid to casti or Now the indeed. man gators. The legal the contracts relations in question were simply those of for services, for doing work on materials, or for doing a specific piece of work. But the association embraced, from the very first, the nucleus of interests of which the pure types of contracts named would have no literary interest of the editor in the work cognisance—the under his care. Even the earliest humanists, to whom the recension of classics was intrusted, wrote intro produced ductory notes, verses of praise or appendices, never omit ting to advance their own claims to be known as editors This was no innovation. Up to the last, the Romans were at the greatest pains to carefully preserve and transmit the true text of the classics. The subscriptions added to the manuscripts, with their legi, distinati, ememdavi, bear witness of that in an unmistakable way. Those who charged themselves with the labour were not of the clergy, but laymen, and were often enough of the highest secular standing. Even a Roman emperor, Theodosius II., prided himself in his capacity as recensor. The great humanists of the Reformation could never have under rated the classics, importance and a lofty of their work as trustees view did they take of of the their �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 11 Their dignity was not thought to be fact that they stood under a contract for services; often enough the publisher himself was prompted as much by his enthusiasm for letters as by the functions as editors. impaired by the love of gain. And then, the office of the mere corrector or proof-reader was soon differentiated from that of the learned editor, when once the first professors of the age had stepped into the ranks of castigators. No less a man than Erasmus objected strongly to being confounded with the common proof-reader. These facts of history go far to explain the peculiarities of the German Contract of Publication. To instance one, every and any sort of fee paid to authors is called, up to the present day, “honorarium,” in unconscious imitation of those early contracts for professional services, though the transaction in question may be a sale pure and simple. But the reason of that affinity lies deeper than in superficial traditions. Had the Romans known a special Contract of Publication, it would have been adopted as a matter of course, at least for original contemporary works when they once began to be published, for the Civil Law was then on its triumphal march through the civilised But, in the absence of Roman enactments, and, of world. course, of anything of the kind among the old Teutonic institutes, they did not trouble themselves about finding some other suitable type of contract, e.g. partnership, as legal adjustment of their dealings; and the publication of original productions was regarded, as far as the relations between authors and publishers went, in much the same light as that of revised classics. The a deliberate occupation of castigators, performed under the contract services, for had become too dignified an office to let that contract quite improper in the case of original Then, as said before, the publisher might be of a savant himself as a mere tradesman, and seem production. as much �IN THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION 12 his profession was not yet so clearly differentiated from that of the author's as it became later on. The man of letters was rather his collaborator, than a quite inde pendent factor of production, and would not feel called publisher with the immense upon impress to the superiority of original work, or to seek for a fundamental re-adjustment of their relations. But the conditions of original production were vastly different from those of the castigator, the learned employé, and could not but make themselves felt by raising many complications and conflicts of interests for which the pure contract for services, the locatio conductio operis or operarum, could not provide. However, they were as little by the age of the Reformation as they had understood been by the Romans: and the result was a confusion which retarded, not only the evolution of a definite type of Contract of Publication, but probably also the general recognition of Authors' Rights for centuries to come. The contract for services has managed to obtain in some important details, up to the present day, where its real basis, the relation of author to publisher as that of he it, employé to employer is but rarely met with. Thence the modern legal presumptions, that a publisher who invites the production of a work tacitly agrees to pay for and at to a a ab on of he it he a to it a to of may have that bear the risk locator operis. On the other hand, was quite the exception for an author receive fee for original work produced his publisher with own instance, when had offered whom had not had previous dealings under contract initio, services, which now would have placed them, in at it by to in of is, a to kindred material basis when coming terms. tracing the absence beyond doubt, right Schuermann remuneration this case the opposite arrangement, under which the author had his book printed the printer-publisher, and then published his own risk �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND swiTZERLAND. 13 and expense, having, as a rule, none but pure literary interests in view. The same authority assures us that the comparatively high fees known to have been paid for original work must be referred exclusively to those cases in which the publisher occasioned its production, and where his professional point of view was of dominant on the composition. The works of the many popular authors and compilers that swamped the market of the 16th century, were one and all written as mere industrial enterprises to comply with the publishers' influence speculative interests. The profession of an author was, on the whole, a poorly paid one, and was not supposed to offer a living. Payments in cash remained the exception up to the 18th century, and they were never considerable, but often humiliating ; and the more erudition, the less pay. The celebrated Elzevirs enjoy the unenvied distinction of exceptionally Now, the same men who were ready mean shabbiness. enough serve for a good fee as castigators did not recognise as gentlemanly payment for original works quite contrary to the practice of the Roman authors. But in Rome the author's fee was the price of an article to immediately sold, whereas the business relations of authors and the early printers originated in the contract for services, and though not the slightest ignominy was now attached to that contract, yet to take money for one's own original thoughts as another's employé, seemed at first as hiring out one's freedom of thought. The rapid growth of the importance difference of original works for the market soon made the between the original writer and the hired labour of the proof reader too palpable able comparisons, vanished. and the to admit of any disagree sensibility regarding fees - The contract for the services of scholars was, then, the first of the institutions from which the German Contract of �14 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION Publication was evolved. IN The other source of the modern is to be found in the contract for the production of books at the author's expense, which has been mentioned contract above. When a modest market for new writings first managed to establish itself amidst the masses of new editions of old books, the authors had to bear, not only the expense of their production, but also, to a large extent, the labour of disposing of them to the public. There were only a few isolated exceptions to this rule during the first and second decades of the 16th century. The next of at as by its step was taken when the authors began to charge their pro printers with the sale of the book in addition to duction, was done Martin Luther the outset his literary career. Luther's later dealings mark another on of to in if of to of important stage the contract's progress. The printer allowed the amount due stand over and paid himself pro they fell short from the sales effected; the cost duction, Luther paid the difference, relinquishing, the other hand, any profits derived the printer, return an of a or to of at to for his trouble and for his crediting the expense. Of course this arrangement could give satisfaction those authors only who aimed nothing but the dissemination their works; but then Luther never looked his publications for profit, claimed fee. From agreements this type, to it easy step the contract under which the not only credited the expense, but charged himself with the risk the enterprise, still appearing, principle, the author's agent, far was bound produce and properly publish the book. To these types contract we may trace the origin modern rule, according which the author may control the production and claim proof sheets, but must bear the cost unreason was he as a so of to of of to in as of on publisher The only regular material authors was the free copies supply; those his work which the publisher engaged to of to ably numerous alterations. benefit commonly granted �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 15 he either sold outright, bartered for other books (which again were not unfrequently sold) or presented to patrons. Patronage had to eke out the poor scholar’s scanty income; towards the end of the 17th century, the system of public dedications to rich and influential men, to corporations and cities, had attained a magnitude, grand in its baseness. The right of dedication was a property concerning which special agreements were made. The dealings of authors and publishers had outgrown the clearly defined but narrow boundaries of the pure contracts for services, but not to be dealt with and conceived with legal precision or to be classified as a type of contract. new specific Untold modifications and loose agreements stood in the place of any institution exactly describing the mutual rights and duties of the parties, and the confusion was still enhanced by the rarity of written agreements (which did not come into common use before the 18th century) and by the motley systems, under which the innumerable autono mous states issued copyright privileges. These privileges were the only protection afforded to the author's, or rather the publisher's interests, and their very name implies the inability of the times to conceive of Authors' Rights as a Up to the last the manuscript embodied all rights in contents, and its reprint it—a legal possession was copy title conception undoubtedly derived from the common practice printing. This the age the castigators, the infancy implied the right publisher who had once acquired an print liked, the many editions author's work purchase being its or of absolute unconditional. their own licence and he as as to a of of of a to species of real immaterial property. Conversely, or to of to publish the authors vindicated competing editions elsewhere, subject, course, the publishers' claims from public privileges special arrangements. All this may explain how Goethe could �16 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN write in 1824–“Fifty years ago, a contract for the future was unimaginable.” The author's right of altering new editions and claiming a fee for them was highly problematic till this century. It is true, that the eighteenth century had somewhat consolidated the conception and crystalised the types of publishing arrangements. But the develop furthered one, stating explicitly that even the Prussian Code of 1794 omits primary obligation publisher, viz., the of the to actually produce a work once accepted for publication, whilst some ment was so little a conscious or deliberately of the code's provisions take that obligation—highly con Though originating troversial up to then—for granted. in the earliest institutions of the age of printing, the Contract of Publication, as a deliberately developed institute, is thus a product of our century—of the age of general recognition of Authors' Rights, Prussia was the first state to codify the law of the Contract of Publication, and most of the provisions of the Civil code of 1794 are still in force. Since then, the most important statutes passed were those of Austria (1811), of the Canton of Zurich (1853-56), of Saxony (1865), of Hungary (1875), and of Switzerland (1883). Then, occa sional remarks are to be found in the copyright bills or ordinances of the minor German states, as well as in those of the states named above, and in the Imperial German copyright bill of 1870. The “Dresdener Entwurf,” the project of a code of obligations prepared for the federated German states, but deprived of its raison d'être through the events of 1866, has been of marked influence on the subsequent development of the law. all content themselves with establishing a limited number of leading propositions, and it has been left to the high courts and the unofficial work of specialists to set up rules for their application to practice. The most important book on the subject is These statutes one and �AUsTRIA, HUNGARY, GERMANY, AND swITZERLAND. 17 Waechter’s“ Verlagsrecht,” published 1857-58, up to the by is, present day the standard work on the Contract of Publica tion, in spite of many antiquated opinions. A long list of authority greater writers of or minor will be found in Dr. Osterrieth's “Altes und Neues zur Lehre vom Urhe of statutes in of G. in very complete copy and legislative projects, the most the law Leipzig, the pertinent besides other by sections (1870) of has published a of B. of Osterrieth the way, one original and influential reformers the realm copyright and publication. Tuebner, berrecht.” A F. in of in be or to in set is of by “ to be authoritative utterances, compiled W. Petsch. similar compilation, far less complete, but more convenient date, will and brought up found Streissler's Urheber, Recht für Buchhandel und Presse" (published 1890 Baron Biedermann). The publishers' view the Voigtlaender's“ Verlags subject forcibly forth every recht" (1893). Short digests are found modern compendium Teutonic Commercial law. The following abbreviations are used below: Bes. Beseler, System des gemeinen deutschen Privat Blu. I. rechts (1866). Blu. II. Bluntschli, Deutsches Privatrecht, Vol.I. (1851). Bluntschli, Kommentar zum Zürcher Privat Gesetzbuche. Dernburg, Preussisches Privatrecht. Eisenlohr, Das literarisch-artistische Eigentum und Verlagsrecht (1855). End. I. rechtlichen Der. Eis. End. II. Endemann, Das deutsche Handelsrecht (1865) Gesetz, &c., vom 11. (1871). Gengler, Lehrbuch des deutschen (1854). Gerber, System des deutschen Juni, 1870. Privatrechts Privatrechts (1853). C Ger. I. Geng. Endemann, �Ger. IN THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION 18 II. Gerber, Gesammelte Juristische Abhandlungen Klo. I. Klo. II. (1872). Klostermann, Das Urheberrecht (1876). Klostermann, in Vol. III. of Endemann's Handels-, See-, Handbuch des deutschen Kohler. Schneider. und Wechselrechtes (1881-85). Kohler, Das Autorrecht (1880). Schneider & Fick, Das Schweiz. Obligationen Stobbe. recht (1892). Stobbe, Handbuch des deutschen Privatrechts, Vol. III. (1878). Wii. Wächter, Das Verlagsrecht (1857-58). German C.R.B German copyright bill of June 11, 1870. Austrian C.R.B. Austrian copyright bill of Oct. 19, 1846. Hungarian C.R.B. Hungarian copyright bill of May 1, 1884. Swiss C.R.B. R.O.BI. Swiss copyright bill of April 23, 1883. Entscheidungen des Reichsoberhan delsgerichtes. Prussia: : Saxony: Baden: Austria Allgemeines Landrecht, Part Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch. Landrecht. I., Where the number of an article or section is appended to the name of a state, the following laws must be under stood as cited : Title 11. Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch. 1875, Title II. Code (Article 37) Switzerland: Schweizerisches Obligationenrecht. Zurich Zuercher Privatrechtliches Gesetzbuch. : of Hungary: by as Anomalous statutes and such contain special limita tions, &c., are enclosed square brackets. �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 19 I.—DEFINITION. The Contract of Publication from an author exclusive right to copy a work engages to procure and publish 1. a person acquires is the agreement whereby or his legal successors an of literature or art, and the copies at his own expense and risk. 2. Legal successors: Any person or persons who have acquired by legal means all Authors’ Rights in a work. 3. Every work falls under the Contract of Publication that is qualified both for protection from piracy and for sale. 4. The transferee need not be a professional publisher. 5. The work concerning which the contract is made may which he is 145) until bound to do. the author has completed it, (Klo. effects I., be ready for reproduction, unfinished, or merely projected; is not ready, the contract has none but obligatory if it (c) is to essential Publication risk. Publication; publish; the publisher's own expense and the transferee to of of of the Right at (a) Transfer (b) Obligation It as is generally regarded The following Publication: the Contract of 1. II.-EssBNTIALs. not essential: a of that the transfer 2 But few authorities deny c 2. of at of of a (a) That the author should stipulate remuneration; (b) That the transfer the Right Publication should involve an unlimited use; (c) Or that the publication should take place the expense and risk the publisher alone. �THE 20 CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN “Right endorsed adopted question has been nearly all jurists. statutes practice, and have of for the purposes this com pilation. Contracts concerning works without copyright— generally e.g., old inedita, text revisions classics—are devoid most those features that mark our matter, but must, the whole, treated analogically the typical contract: (Hungary, The authorities agree that the contract implies not obligation merely the right, but the transferee publish the work his own risk and expense. “This publisher criterion excludes those agreements whereby 5.) to pay for orders work and undertakes engagement no about publication”: Both parties presumed it, a at to of an 3. § to be of on of of it unreservedly the I their view by in the affirmative is answered Anyhow, by opinion. dominant As of of a of I., of Publication” is of necessity involved in Con tracts of Publication : (See Kohler, 291; Stobbe, 285; Dern., 640; Gerber II.) Their objections are set aside by that view of the matter which has ultimately gained 144; Wii., 219, the ascendancy (See Klo. II., 717; Klo. &c.), although they are based upon truer conception the real nature the contract than that the pre but enters into (Klo. II., 717.) a contract a in in be to 5. to a as a to of no 4. at a of of to for valuable consideration. “The Right Publication derives all its importance from the value the manifold reproduction”: (Eisen., 85.) The publisher expects profit from the sale, whereas the author sees his work propagated the publisher's risk and expense. The writer may share risk and expense with the publisher, but Contract Publication exists where publisher undertakes publish work the author's agent, without any risk himself, though his own name, and though share the profit may allotted him: (R.O.H. XVI, 251.) are These legal presumptions have determined the �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, 21 AND switzERLAND. evolution of the Contract of Publication and still determine its operation, even where other considerations step in, as where the publisher is prompted by ideal purposes or where the author writes for pecuniary profit. Even where they agree to share loss and profit, an ordinary Contract of Publication exists between them in addition to the partner ship, and defines their mutual relations and obligations; their partnership acts upon nothing but the ultimate II. 719; Blu. II. 514.) (Klo. 6. One of the most important consequences of this conception of the Contract of Publication is the universal financial settlement: opinion that remuneration to, nor even presumable of the author is neither essential from, a bare Contract of it. Publication in itself. If a fee has not been expressly stipulated, it is only then regarded as implied, when special circumstances point to III.-NATURE RIGHT OF PUBLICATION. OF THE or of to to a as by 1. of Complete agreement about the legal nature the right transferred has not yet been arrived at. Literary proprietorship was conceived the earlier authorities property, and they believed the contract mere species partly transfer the original Authors' Rights entirely re, in in is 3. is of re in a re in a a a no 2. be I, 61; Blu. II. 509.) the publisher: (Wä., 111, 219; Blu. “There can doubt that the publisher cannot jus claim the entire ‘Authors’ Rights,” but only jus immateriali, use, not real but use an immateriali, that immaterial property—a singular jus indissolubly connected with the personal performance an obligation”: (Kohler, 289, 291.) The conception predominant among modern jurists is by or to a of to of to of similar that von Daniels who says (in his Preussisches Privatrecht): “The Right Publication the authority literary reproduce any means artistic production multiplication and sell the copies without competition. �22 THE The Right dependent CONTRACT IN PUBLICATION OF right that is of Publication is a derivative upon that original right of the author's to debar, within certain limits marked copying his work.” its 4. Endemann has given possible forms of transfer. out by statute, others from the following summary of the “The author may transfer his in it he on to be in of to of a an so jus), no (quoad of totality with the substance his rights entirely parts that with them and right whatever; e.g. when retains author sells manuscript finally and disposes his right control the publication, and pecuniary his interest the work. An author may found have yielded up his work in he of a of in be of an of the remodelling his work for future editions by agreement this kind. Then, again, the Authors' Rights may disposed way that such does not assign his seignory and the substance his rights, but only their exercise and produce (exercitium). This influence he of is he in of can take place under manifold modifications and limita tions, but every case the essence Authors' Rights parts with remains with the author. All the printing and publishing pecuniary use, i.e., the right work. And retains not only the intellectual command over the future shaping his work for new disposal peculiar authorship. editions, but every form This not even precluded transfer for all editions, is by a to of of the be to i.e., the perpetual exclusive use. The use and the spiritual fathership appear very different things. And most a in is It . . quoad jus, the other quoad exercitium. And the right of is be .” of . is of of by is if certainly does the author (or his successor) continue Now, dominus the transfer was made with limitations. generally brought this the state affairs that about only the Contract Publication. exceptional cases that transfer all Author's Rights Under the common will found presumable. contract “there are two claimants: the one entitled �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, one, but latter is no absolute the AND switzERLAND. is derivative and 23 is of of or by in no it to the publisher abandons his right reverts the author. statutory law, This theory meets with obstacle 6. If of of 5. of I., founded on the ‘Authors' Rights,” the substance of which remains with the author. . . .”: (End. II., 11-13.) says: Right And Klostermann “The of Publication is not to be confounded with Authors' Rights”; (Klo. 153.) The Right Publication for any number editions does not include the Right Translation (in case dramatical works being published) Public Performance; nor does the author lose the control over future editions. a of Switzerland, Art. 375: and has explicitly been received special understanding, the Contract “In the absence PLANNED BY to it as of IV.-WoRK so so in to of Publication makes over the exercise Author's Rights publisher far, long, the and for serves secure the publication.” ANOTHER. of a 3. in of by 2. of in no of an of a to to of to of ; , of 1. of be joint authorship need not The question dealt with here but there are similar relations that are copyright and publication has interest us. The law supply, and no cognizance the amanuensis who intends actually supplies, contribution subservient the pro work, vitally determining duction the author's but not the substance the whole (Wä., 184); such assistant has Authors' Rights whatever the resulting work. work, The mere completion which the greater part was written another, does not always vest the author the completing part with independent Authors' Rights his contribution: (R.O.H., XVII. 39.) An author who makes over his work to another may the understanding that the transferee raw material for his own work, and without as in reservation, will stand the same legal relation resulting work the mere amanuensis. to a on as it author, use the �24 THE IN CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION 4. But in no case may a literary production, or any part of one, be given out as the work of another author who has not written it in the form in which it is published: XV. (See below, 8.) which someone orders a literary or artistic work for his own use, but not for reproduction, is not under our notice: (See VI. 2, ad fin.) 6. Where an author has worked on a plan supplied by a publisher, the circumstances of the case may debar the writer from acquiring Authors' Rights in the work pro 5. The case in of to on of A be to is of however, of merely the technical single parts, does not so its embrace the substance the work, but finishing, the supplementary composi is or a of interwoven to be subordinate contribution that with the whole; and when the employer produce the substance intends himself the work and actually produces it; then those contributors are mere to tion the order the integral of “When, production of 9. in as a is of in its in a its “ 8. an : as or he or : A of A of is or it of a it, duced: (R.O.H., XVII. 39.) employer 7. But the who merely gives an external impulse to the author's independent production acquires no Author's Rights in but only claim the valuable use of under the law the Contract Publication. This even then the case, when the publisher suggests Dictionary Chemistry, determines the topic (e.g., Compendium Penal Law, Series Articles Bimetallism, &c.) (R.O.H., XVII. 36.) Even where the publisher has supplied the author with single editor regarded motives, ideas, materials, still only (Wii., 186.) the author's amanuensis employer only acquires the rights Such author ship who has laid out definite plan for the work which entirety and details, governs execution that the worker the instrument another's ideas, not only undertaking the task whole, but throughout the workmanship”: (Wä., 192.) �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SwitzERLAND. 25 is the author of the resulting original copyright; work and has the and his artificers have no share in the Authors' Rights, and their claims are confined to such payments as may have been stipulated ”: (Wä., 186.) 10. These principles are now regarded as decisive for the interpretation and application of such statutory pre scriptions as touch upon the subject. [11. In Prussia, the author's control of future editions amanuenses; the employer if its lapses, “when the publisher has conceived an idea and has charged a writer with elaboration, the writer under in by a as be to in so by of by in he a “If a a : § § of ”: writing special reservation (Prussia, 1021.) 12. Austria, 1170 writer undertakes the plan laid out for him elaboration work after the publisher, (the author) can claim nothing beyond the remuneration agreed on. The publisher has the free copyright for all the future.” provision has been accepted 13. This Austrian Switzerland Art. 291 the Code; “This article applies those cases only where the plan framed the publisher must considered the main achievement, that takes the task without it, a or to as it is if, or employee the writer appears contractor his quite thing happens often service. But another enough, the publisher merely suggests the work the author, plan for perhaps lays down the resulting work being really the author's own independent produc tion”: (Schneider, 509.)] W.—CLAssIFICATION OF THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION. is of of to of to no above of It 1. apply attempt that the traditional kinds contracts the Contract Publication has gained common acceptance. To-day, the Contract nearly universally Publication was remarked the special rules �26 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN be of to its on It us to by its regarded as a peculiar modern institution, a transaction sui generis; it is subject to the general law of contracts, but stands a distinct species, and details must jurisprudence according treated its special features. would lead too far, were we trace the influence of to to be 2. of in development other institutions this place. How pronounced the isolation the Contract readily Publication has seemed some authorities, will following inferred from the nonsensical utterance peculiar junction dare, praestare, the special of rather nature the of as It I. (Ger. a to be as of in of of by but in and actions called for the Contract Publication. Intellectual workmanship literary production, and the the form publisher's propagative activity are performances just original import “dare" and “praestare,” and cannot jurisprudence”: reduced more general term facere, in a found of be a which celebrated jurist has committed himself: “The distinctive feature of the Contract of Publication will not 459.) an of of That happens, however, some where an author disposes by of of a to is 3. quite the exception for author's business pure category transactions fall under Civil Law, instead under our typical Contract Publication. cases of it the of at a to a or place takes deliver some specific work and publisher disposal operis), free the (loc. cond. &c. to a or in of or in the sale at a of as noticed donation it; manuscript and all Authors' Rights where publisher writer places his services the free disposal (locatio conductio operarum); where writer under above, Prussia, WALIDITY, CoNSTRUCTION. 998, makes the validity written agreement. But of WI.-ForM, of Art. a of on a § a 1. the contract 272 the Common German Code Commerce declares the Contract of Publication commercial transaction when made with dependent �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 27 professional publisher, and as such it is released from all formalities by Art. 317 of the same Code. And as in Germany, the law of the States is overruled by Imperial legislation, a written agreement is now prescribed, then alone, and only in Prussia, when the publisher is not a corporation or private tradesman, e.g., a non-commercial person who may undertake a publication for public benefit, for religious purposes, &c., or for profit : (Dern. 640.) Nowhere but in Prussia has a written contract been prescribed for our agreement. At the present day, the Contract of Publication is universally regarded as a consentient contract—i.e., a valid contract exists as soon as the parties have agreed on the 2. points. This agreement may be inferred from of the parties (R.O.H., XVI. 249); e.g., if an author delivers a manuscript to a publisher on having received certain proposals from him (Wä., 374); or sends in a manuscript to a periodical : in either case without a reservation. But the intention of entering into essential the conduct or acts parties reciprocal are is Publication to construed after the The real ascertained well contracts. in as the its copyright: of as principles be tentions Contract of of A 3. general title 5.) to IV. no all copyright legislation, (See above, of ing to is, a contract must be inferable from previous transactions or from usage; for the mere possession of a work accord in be it be no of to do be to to of is of no of to possible, consequences and the reasonable these drawn; for kept intentions must always view that the relations between author and publisher are capable untold modifications which are restricted by legal inhibitions. Then only, when there evidence the intentions the parties, the legal presumptions construed, not only take effect. These intentions are according the expressions used, but also their previous relations and transactions, the special nature the �28 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN business in question, and special circumstances to which a trade-usage is attached. In view of the complexity of the relations established by the contract and of the subtlety the principles of bona fides are here of enhanced importance. of its performance, VII.-CHIEF RESTRICTIONs. contracting with a publisher must be 1. A person entitled to dispose of the Authors' Rights in question (Switzerland, art. 374); the author himself is liable to his publisher for his exclusive Right of Publication, he must inform the publisher of any previous disposal (Switzer land, art. 374); even if such previous disposal does not preclude the publication now contemplated. The publisher can recover damages for defect of title of the author, if a third person asserts with success an older right to the work in question, or proves it to infringe a copyright of his own: (Klo. II. 721; Dern., 642; Eis., 84.) 2. The author's future disposal of the work is governed by two main principles (Wä., 280): (a) He has curtailed his rights by constituting the publisher's Right of Publication and is deprived, to the extent of this right, of their exercise: (b) He has implicitly, if not expressly, entered into an obligation not to interfere with the publisher's valuable interest in the Right of Publication. The author, then, is limited to narrower bounds than a third person that manages to escape a copyright action by altering the form of the work sufficiently to avoid a tech nical piracy. The author is liable for every and any illicit competition: (See X.) 3. On the other hand, the publisher is bound not to make any use of the work not authorized by the contract. [4. Legislation on copyright has gone farther than the �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 29 law in insisting on the liabilities arising from the contract. In the German Empire and in Hungary, a reprint of works made by author or publisher in violation of their agreement, especially the production of a larger edition than that which the contract allows the publisher, constitutes a criminal infringement of copyright: (German C.R.B., § 5; Hungarian C.R.B., § 6.)] 5. The prohibition of any disposal of the work by the author, to the disadvantage of the publisher, is expressly enacted by Saxony, § 1140; Hungary, $ 517; Switzerland, common Art. 375. VIII.-ExcLUSIVENESS OF THE RIGHT OF PUBLICATION. 1. The transfer of the Right of Publication authorises the publisher not only to copy and publish the work but also to prevent others from doing so. “This exclu siveness determines the very nature of the Right of Publication as a valuable right, a property” (Wä. 108.); it is the gist of the use transferred to the publisher. 2. Now in some cases the mere priority or even a licence with that of any number of others may be of value to a publisher. This will generally be the case with “news; ” a newspaper's interest lies rather in bringing concurrent § on s. 2; a s. of 9, § no of it. important news before, or at least not later than its competitors, than in preventing others from reprinting Recognising this, the law copyright affords the ephemeral 7b; newspaper article protection (German C.R.B., 4); Hungarian C.R.B., Swiss C.R.B., Art. 11, only where the value the use depends its exclusive production against piracy. ness does the law protect gist the author's work 3; the is the I. : article from (See above, of to presumed The exclusiveness publisher's consideration wherever is newspaper Publication be excludes the common the Contract of the scope II. 2.) of But this fact �THE 30 IN CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION legally qualified for, and the circumstances point to the intention of entering into a Contract of Publication, which Literary, is nearly always the case with “books.” scientific and other contributions are usually disposed of to periodicals under a contract of publication; but here the exclusiveness 4. Sometimes is limited : (See XI. 7 et seq.) the author gives the publisher the exclu sive right to publish a work for certain districts only, and if, reserves the right of republishing other editions elsewhere; certain complications are apt to arise regarding the collis however, the sion of the different publishers' interests; it to to be of of of a a to 6. of of of of to of a is a of 5. of et it to author has avoided assigning more rights than were left fight dispose of, him will for the publishers out between themselves, under the copyright laws: (See Kohler, 272 seq.) contracting with The author may reserve the right another publisher about editions intended for other circles library edition readers; so, often followed by popular edition, &c. Though the co-existence such editions cannot fail call forth some competition between them, the valuable interest each publisher generally substantially unimpaired. remains This arrangement publication. allows true contracts Other modifications this “Divided Right Publication” are possible. An ordinary Contract Publication can exist wherever the publisher has not right merely copy and publish the author's work, but from, and has advantage derives some independent in, protection valuable interest the the author against piracy. IX.-ExTENT OF THE PUBLISHERs' RIGHTS. is in by is is to 1. of The number editions that the publisher usually fixed produce authorised the contract. frequently overlooked settling the But this point �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 31 the agreement. In this case, the right trans presumed to cover one edition only, and the permission is requisite for every new edition. of ferred is author's Being a Art. 1 of terms by Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and of specifically §§ to a to is as a 2. of § of on to he a to on of a an § by $ 522; Switzerland, Art. 377; and 1142. [Austria alone gives the publisher right 1164, 1167. all editions: Should author reservation, and there have disposed his work without publish later desire new and altered edition through another firm, indemnify the first would have publisher for copies original the edition still hand: (Austria, 1168.)] doubt, presumed In case new edition enacted Saxony, Hungary, it is Prussia and ; statutes of it, common trade usage, this principle has, under the German Commercial Code, invalidated such viz., of German States as conflicted with certain number what was stipu 1015.)] ($ of for the first one : by the author for half of as If remuneration a lated 3. been disposed of to : stand under the same agreement the preceding one (Switzerland, art. 384.) [In Prussia, however, the law presumes the second and following editions each have copies have been agreed on, he as to in of § as if to is to print them, and most certainly the publisher bound print not more. But the contract leaves this point unsettled, the publisher may print many copies (Hungary, 520; Switzerland, likes: art. 377.) [The limiting the edition Saxony stands alone code copies, where a as he he a in as 4. to be he of a is (§ a the contract has not fixed certain 1142.)] The publisher may not, however, produce smaller edition than consistent with bond fide performance the contract: (See XV. 5.) If, then, the publisher chooses run the risk, print may many copies likes. But they must If, therefore, the work finds more produced one lot. reception may favourable than the publisher hoped for, 1000 number: �“printing of a to no bounds of up he of to printed copies. for him determine the number the publisher has once made his mind and copies, certain number himself has set right produce the edition and has a “When his shelves under pretence lots,” although was several to originally gaps the the edition it fill not IN CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION in in THE up 32 at notice and without considerable publisher's Right expense. be shortest a of he 5. ”: reprint without the author's permission (Blu. II. 509.) The publisher may consequently neither stereotype the work nor leave the type standing without the author's permission and control, i.e., may not procure himself producing surreptitious edition the means the of a a as be to is of so of as to to it or of to to of if all a to 6. he of Publication may certain space time. When the term expires, rights from the contract. loses But the contract, limiting Right besides the Publication certain term, authorises produce the publisher certain copies editions, number will construed authorising the publisher sell, even when the term has produce, expired, the copies that the contract allows him merely terminating the exclusiveness and his Right Publication, dispose that the author then free elsewhere of his work. The limited X.—SPECIAL LIABILITIES. confined in specific wrong (i.e., infringement right): of of to a is a of 1. as against third parties “Whilst the publisher's rights only reproduction cover one and the same work the rights same form; and any encroachment on his sphere copy It to no in by is restricted, over the party contracting with him engagement, way and above, the conventional on its by it to a of in be of interfere with the exercise the stipulated rights. trust, would the teeth contract entered into possible for the author were render the right assigned illusory realisation, though not actions preventing �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SwitzERLAND. 33 happening to involve a criminal infringement”: (Wä., 346.) Any proceedings prejudicial to the legitimate interests of the publisher make the author liable for damages to the full of those interests, i.e., the trade-value of the on the publisher's hands: (See also Kohler, extent copies still 293.) 2. This does not say that the author may not publish any new work on the same subject. “In no case has the publisher a right to prevent am altered edition altogether. For it is of the essence of intellectual productivity that it continually innovates, As and is expanded, and replenished. little as the author can prevent others from making use of his thoughts when once published, can the publisher of a certain work hinder the author from modifying the issue of his mind, and from giving the public access to the new production”: (Wä., 294.) It remains to be seen, how the conflicting interests may be reconciled under different circumstances. 3. In some cases the question of damages is altogether precluded. the work is quite antiquated or can be quite unsaleable, the author may publish a shown to be If of the same matter at his pleasure, for publisher's then the interest has practically expired. 4. The author may publish an essentially different work on the same subject, even if the previous publication should thereby lose the public's interest. 5. But in either case (viz. 3 and 4), the author is bound to observe any agreement entitling the publisher to a new new elaboration elaboration of the same subject. 6. The Prussian Board of Literary rischer Sachverständigenverein), opinion : firm work on has Experts (Litera the following given for the author who has given a bookseller his work for publication cannot therefore be forced to abstain from publishing by the agency of another a “ . . . a cognate, or even the same, subject, D so �34 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN long as it is a new, independent, production of the mind. It is altogether irrelevant to the questio facti of infringe ment of copyright, that the new work may enter into com petition with the previous publication, or even render it unsaleable. As soon as the new work is found to be a new work of the mind, the author is free of any imputa tion of piracy. This only is legally prohibited, that the author encroach on the rights of the first firm by giving to another firm a work, the contents of which are identical with those of the previous work, so that it is but a ”: (Nov. 18, 1870.) It stands to reason that the author's bona fides must be unimpeach able. mechanical reproduction 7. An author desiring to publish an edition with altera tions that do not suffice to qualify the work as a new production within the meaning of the principles laid down above, must buy up the copies on the hands of the pub lisher at their trade price: (Prussia, § 1019; Austria, § 1168.) 8. If the publisher is entitled to further editions [in Austria, whenever the author has not limited the right transferred to the publisher] the author must offer the publisher the new edition; only when he has met with a refusal may he dispose elsewhere of his work: (Wä., 295.) 9. The author has, however, an unlimited right of pub lishing separately additions or corrections. 10. These principles imply that the author may not, in the absence of a special understanding, incorporate a work made over to a publisher into a collective edition of his works produced by another publisher. The following is a decision of the Supreme Tribunal of Stuttgart (of Jan. 18, 1848): “On the general principles of contracts, a writer may not encroach on the right transferred to his publisher, and most especially may he not enter into a contract with a work already surrendered for a new publisher about �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SWITZERLAND. 35 publication. This, however, takes place as soon as the author incorporates a work that has appeared as an inde pendent publication into an edition collecting all his works, produced by another publisher before the rights of the first publisher have expired. As the individuality of each single work is not here consumed by that of a aggregate of higher order, such a collection cannot be regarded as a new work.” 11. The same restriction binds the publisher: in the of a special agreement to this purpose, he may neither publish separately works that he is entitled to absence publish as an aggregate, nor may he produce a collective edition of works by the same author, which he has acquired separately in the course of time. On the one hand, few authors would like to see a collection of essays written as an organic whole, torn asunder and published separately. On the other hand, the term, “The Complete Works of Mr. N.N.” implies an important qualitative distinction from the mere plurality of separate works of one author; “for a collective edition is supposed to be the complete organism of the author's intellectual work”: (Wii., 299.) The opening words of Macaulay's preface to his “Essays” bear strongly upon this view. XI.-Con TRIBUTORs To Coll ECTIVE WORKs. relations arise where one literary enterprise unites the contributions of several authors: (See Kohler, Special 278 et seq.) 1. We have not to deal here with collections independent of works that appear separately in the market, united by some merely incidental indication of a common or similar destination: as a series of independent mono graphs on special topics of one science, or series for certain circles of readers (e.g., Workmen’s, Students' Series), or series of novels uniformly got up. Here every D 2 �THE CONTRACT 36 IN OF PUBLICATION work is the object of a special contract, and neither the publisher nor the author will derive, in the absence of an understanding, any particular right from the fact that it is introduced to the public as one of a series. Only 2. such works are legally treated as “collective as appear as an indivisible whole, as, Encyclo paedias, Dictionaries, Collections of Essays or Treatises. 3. Here the editor acquires a copyright in the work at works” large, concurrent with the copyright retained by each author regarding his own contribution: (German C.R.B., § 2; Austrian C.R.B., § 1a, $2; Hungarian C.R.B., § 2); “for to him the work owes the production of its funda mental idea and of the organic connection of its elements” (Wä., 203); he has consequently an unlimited Right of Publication for all purposes for which the authors made their contributions. An author may not, by withdrawing his contribution from subsequent editions, prevent the exercise of the editor's original copyright in the whole. 4. An editor to whom all Authors’ Rights in another of course, proved, is total transfer can presumable of it he may, chooses. be But where IV.) (See whenever and wherever no work have devolved no 5. reprint it, person's a to an it in or be to of in that the author consented use his contribution beyond its reproduction collective work the kind described him (Wä., 305), the alienation interpreted strictly; publisher can will the editor publish any separately, neither the contribution nor other work than the one was intended for. to it in by no an of limited by is is his work the publisher's may not publish his contribution in use, i.e., he future disposal of of a of to is 6. An author who has merely authorized editor reprint his work putting bound restrictions If, however, the transaction bears the other purposes. Publication, whereby criteria real Contract transferred, exclusive Right Publication then the another �GERMANY, form until AUSTRIA, the AND switzERLAND. 37 (or editor's) speculation is HUNGARY, publisher's ended. 7. The more ephemeral the character of the collective work, the less is the author restricted. “The importance of the periodical passes away with the moment of its publi cation. The single articles in a newspaper or journal reached their destination as soon as they are published; at any rate, it is immaterial to the publisher if later on they are reprinted and remembered. But the less the periodical is of merely transient interest, and the nearer the single essays approach to independent works, the less may the author dispose of them to the publisher's disadvantage”: (Blu. II. 509.) 8. In an Opinion of May 3, 1843, the Board of Literary Experts laid down the following as customary law: “The publisher of a periodical that addresses itself to the interest of the day only and has no scientific tendencies, may use the contributions but once, and his rights in them are limited to the period within which the original edition of the periodical circulates in the world of literature and still excites interest. The author has to conform to these have rights of the publisher, and is bound not to republish contributions to a periodical until that period of interest has passed by.” 9. Recent legislation has accepted the principles laid down here as fixing the limits of authors’ and publishers’ rights, but has given them a greater precision as regards the duration of publishers’ rights. [10. German C.R.B. § 10, settles the question for the German Empire as follows: “In the absence of an agree ment providing otherwise, single essays, treatises, &c., that have appeared in periodicals, e.g., journals, vademecums, almanacs, &c., may be published elsewhere by the author, even without the consent of the editor or publisher of the work in which they were inserted, as soon as the two years �THE CONTRACT OF 38 IN PUBLICATION have expired that began with the end of the year in the Note, that of which the publication took place.” this privilege refers to contributions to periodicals only. 11. Switzerland, art. 376: “The author may immediately republish newspaper articles and smaller essays from periodicals. The author may not republish contributions to collective works or larger contributions to periodicals course of three months after the complete publication of his contribution.” Note, that in Switzer land any contribution to the most important collective work, not only to newspapers, &c., may be disposed of by the author, at the latest after three months. “An exact dividing-line between the smaller essays of the first section and the larger contributions of the second section, (Schneider, 501.) cannot be drawn to Hungary, the authors' 517, we find still greater deviation, advantage, from the general principles: a 12. § In '': before the expiration “An of as at as to or a of if in or a author who has supplied collective work with contributions may republish them separately his collected works, those contributions were not, though parts collection, independent objects sale. Smaller journals periodical works that have been delivered publications are the author's free disposal soon they have been published.”] certain XII.-TRANSLATION. to be of a on of it to no is § is of in 1. Publication, the an unlimited Right implied Translation never presumed (Hungary, 518; Switzerland, art. 382); and the pub lisher more entitled than any third person. pre-existing On the other hand, the mere correction translation will not confer Authors’ Rights the editor: Even Right (R.O.H. 39.) or of If the Right Translation (complying the title sheet with copyright laws) 2. on XVII. the author has reserved �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SwitzERLAND. 39 he may publish a translation without the original publisher's consent. If the author, however, has not given his publisher to understand that he intended himself to produce or countenance a translation, he is liable for damages, where the publisher can prove the sale of the original work to have been seriously impaired by the publication of a translation: (Wä., 318; Klo. I. 146) and provided that the publication of a translation involved a breach of good faith on the author's part. 3. But in no case is this liability from the contract to be confounded with the infringement of copyright con otherwise, stituted by an unauthorised translation produced third person. XIII.-PERFORMANCE by a BY THE AUTHOR. 1. If a contract is made about a work that is ready for reproduction, the contract is performed by the author with the delivery of the work in the condition it was in when the contract was made : (Klo. II. 721.) 2. If a contract is made about an unfinished work, the author is bound to bring the object into existence, the Right of Publication of which he has transferred to the publisher. The work must be executed by the author himself, so far as the individuality of his mind is likely to influence it (L. 31 Dig. de solut., 46, 3; End. I. 817); the work of an amanuensis employed by him must be over shadowed by the activity of his own mind: (Wä., 322.) 3. The author must conform to the contract throughout the execution of the agreement (Wä., 323); conformity to the agreement implies the observance of all under standings about the form, size, completeness of the work, and the time of delivery : (End. I. 814.) several States this conformity to the contract is enforced by special enactments. [Prussia, §§ 1008, 1009: the author finds it neces 4. In “If �40 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN sary to alter the volume or arrangement of his work before it is put in print, the publisher has the option of countenancing the alterations or withdrawing from the But an author who makes such alterations after contract. the printing has begun, without the publisher's consent, is liable to the publisher for any damage ensuing there from.” “If the author fails to deliver the work at the time or in the condition agreed on, the publisher may withdraw from the contract; and he can recover damages of the author, if the performance failed through any negligence of the author's.” 6. Hungary, § 516: “The author (artist, draughtsman, &c.) is bound to deliver the stipulated work to the publisher in the condition and within the time agreed on. If, by any fault of his own, the author fails to perform this obligation, the publisher has the option of (1) enforcing the specific performance and recovering damages from any disadvantage ensuing from the delay; or (2) recovering damages for breach of contract; or (3) he may treat the contract as null and void.” 7. Switzerland, Art. 379: The author is liable for 5. Austria, § 1166: unforeseen expense caused by belated alterations.] the interpretation of such enactments is by considerations like the following: “As regards topic and contents, the author's workmanship enjoys the most extensive freedom, which is intimately 8. But governed connected with the advantage expected by him; and then, too, the publisher has in this respect trusted to the author's reputation ”: (Walter, 357.) “A contract about a work that is not finished binds the author in so far only, as he may not make such alterations of contents or volume as would make the work quite a different thing”: (Eis., 85.) “Even where it is certain what has been agreed on, the doubt arises, especially where the contract is concerning �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 41 works that are still to be executed, whether every deviation must be considered a breach of contract producing legal consequences. The nature of such workmanship refuses to countenance that the author should under all circum be bound to observe the agreement to the last On the other hand, the publisher must not be made absolutely dependent on the author's whims and fancies. No legislation and no theory will be able to draw the sought-for boundary line between freedom and bondage; that is only possible on examination of each stances letter. case as In it arrives”: (End. I. reality then, 814.) restriction of the author is marked out by the real interests of the publisher, and alterations within these limits involve no breach of 9. the contract (Klo. I. 146); this holds even where the contract was made concerning a work that was finished and had by a publisher on examination been accepted of it: (Klo. II. 722.) The author may, in particular, alter the text for every new edition, if no considerable expense or of the work is thereby caused (Klo. II. 733); if the publisher refuses to countenancesuch legitimate alterations, the author will be at liberty to contract with depreciation another publisher for the new edition: (Stobbe, 290.) 10. In Switzerland, art. 379, the author's right of altering his work is most emphatically insisted upon : “As long as the author is able to do so, he has a right to make such corrections and improvements of his work as he may consider necessary; but he is liable for unforeseen costs ensuing from such alterations. The publisher may issue no new edition or reprint without first offering the author an opportunity of making the necescary improvements. This right is a personal right of the author's, and does not descend to his heirs. But the publisher may object to alterations that would injure his interest in the publica tion, or enhance his responsibility.” �42 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN 11. The publisher has no claim to alterations by the author for new editions, if the contract does not set forth this obligation (Stobbe, 290); or where such alterations are not essential to the integrity of the work and therefore If, however, the sale implicitly agreed on : (Wä., 326.) of a new edition to which the publisher is entitled, is manifestly dependent on a revision of the original work, and if in spite of representations the author refuses or is unable to undertake the revision himself, the publisher may cause the necessary improvements to be made by any other competent person (Wii., 327); in this case the additions must, by suitable typographic arrangements, made distinguishable from the original text: (Klo. be II. 732.) rule, author alone is competent to the intellectual organism of his work to be complete or incomplete. But in some cases the incom pleteness is self-evident (e.g., an unfinished biography) (Wä., 325); here, or where flagrant blunders are dis covered, the publisher may insist on completion or cor 12. As pronounce a the rection. 13. The author's liability for faults that diminish the commercial value of his work falls under the cognizance of the general private or commercial law of each State (Klo. 721); if such faults can be neutralized by supplements II. or appendices, the author is liable for the extra expense: (Klo. II. 720.) But the author can never be held liable for the internal literary value of his work: (Klo. II. 721; End. I. 814; Dern., 642). 14. Where the author causes unforeseen expense by belated alterations or by exceeding the volume agreed on, the special facts of the case and his bond fides will have to be taken into consideration when his liability is under judgment (Dernb., 641); trade usage allows him a certain latitude : (Wä., 348.) �GERMANY, 15. the It AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. lies in the author's free choice to co-operate or not, if he has not entered into correction 43 in an to do so (Klo. II. 722); provided that his supervision of the printing is not essential to the production of the work, as where his manuscript was more or less illegible, or where special knowledge is required, e.g., in works, works in foreign languages, mathematical &c. : (Wä., 349). 16. The author is bound to deliver a manuscript suitable for reproduction. The publisher may refuse illegible writing. Every part of the work must be in proper place: (Wä., 329; Blu. 61; Schneider, 499). delivery course, determined 17. The term by If any of of is, I. its engagement of is to be of in relevant clause the contract. the instrument does not prove what the intention the parties really was, optional with the author: presumed the term (Geng., 533; Eis., 83); but the circumstances the special Prussia, the publisher may call binding term, the appointment on [In an it be be case and trade usage may indicate the proper term (Klo. II. 721); and the delivery may not deferred to, any may more than demanded at, unreasonable time. he he of of of of a of of In - (§ to a of the author may, for and comply request, should the author refuse with this 1004; withdraw immediately from the contract: Eis., 83.)] any case 18. doubt the publisher can apply for the judicial appointment delivery. term The court justice would take into consideration the general way living and working and any concurrent occupation the sufficient is if volumes however, the work parts, it is successive work. If, the whole or appear in to manuscript of is - of author's (for entered into the contract under these lasting conditions life) (Wä., 330); besides the nature of the work and other circumstances. 19. The author not released until he has delivered the �44 THE IN CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION publication : its he delivers the manuscript for each section in due time for (Wii., 331.) remains the author's property. [Baden alone has enacted the contrary: according $577 D., the publisher acquires the manuscript property.] The publisher may retain the manuscript until the reproduction finished. manuscript is as D. to 20. The XIV.-PUBLISHER's REMEDIEs. : to his (the 516; Geng., 532; Bes., occasioned § any losses ensuing from delay author's) negligence: (Hungary, 945; Eis., 83; Klo. II. 722.) by to is 2. I. § to or 1. an An action for specific performance lies against perform duly perform altogether author failing (Hungary, 516; Wä., 334, 386; Stobbe, 291; Geng. 539; Ger. 461; Klo. II. 722.) indemnify the publisher for The author bound in be by of subject: (Stobbe, 292; Ger. 946; Eis., 83.) I. 461; the work the public the Geng., 533; Bes., value in of the delay, e.g., where the commercial depends upon the transient interest of in or or to If 3. the delivery fails take place due time, the publisher can withdraw from the contract, provided that altered, the quality value the performance would the publisher's interest the contract diminished, In 4. this case the publisher can, besides withdrawing, recover damages for damnum emergens and lucrum cessans. The same action lies against an author, where an action to of in In 5. or delivery, for has not led where the negligence author's own has rendered the performance impossible: (Wä., 386; Stobbe, 291.) withdrawing some states the publisher's right holds other cases also: performance to In [(a) Prussia: The publisher can withdraw when ever, and from whatever cause, the author fails perform �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 45 within the stipulated term (§§ 1000, 1001); and if the author refuses to appoint a term of delivery when requested to do so: ($ 1004.) (b) In Austria: If the work is not delivered at the time or in the condition settled by the agreement (§ 1166); this right is not contingent on the author's negligence. (c) In Hungary: If through the author's negligence the stipulated term of delivery and qualities of the work are of a by it, is no or to be not complied with : (§ 516.)] 6. The action for specific performance aims at the delivery of the manuscript. If the author is in possession of a complete copy, it may be seized under a writ of execution (Stobbe, 292; Klo. II. 723; Bes., 946; End. II. 16). Where the general law allows of the defiant specific performance author will held means fine even imprisonment (Wä., 335); especially where of has made the productiveness of he a is of the work lower intellectual range, i.e., where special inspiration, &c., but only the writer's goodwill requisite for performance (Klo. II. 723.) “For who his mind the bearer an that his intellectual powers were subject and subservient his degree that promise will such due completion and delivery was founded entering into firm basis; and obligation, such divested himself ipso facto the plea (not unreasonable itself) the action for per formance, that the activity the mind could not submitted the coercive measures the judiciary. The plead author can none but true hindrances that have set through negligence his own, and that might compared with vis major; and the validity such pleas pronounced must, however, the court. We admit that there are innumerable valid pleas”; (Geng., 540. 541; confer Ger. 461, n.) And Bluntschli says, with regard the promise deliver the work: “This has contractu, must have been convinced of a of be in is be by he to to I. on of of in no to of of in an he in on a a to to ea obligatio �46 THE . CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN As, however, promised, and he has to fulfil his promise. the individual produce of a mind is here in question, the individual circumstances of the author must be considered. The creative powers of the mind cannot be bound by and defy any extraneous coercion. On the other disposi hand, they are dependent upon the ever-changing contract, tion and faculties of body and mind of the author himself. This susceptibility is recognised and presumed by the Contract of Publication, and limits the author's obligation. We find that in the following cases: (a) Not only health wholly incapacitating the author for work, but also an important change in his course of life depriving him of the time or of the elasticity of mind indispensable for work of this kind, are to be considered a sufficient reason ill for releasing him from the obligation of performance. He may not, however, plead such hindrance and at the same time undertake other similar works. Not the plea, but the real obstacle alone affects his liberation. (b) Such circumstances, if lasting, would warrant the author's withdrawing altogether from the of above) appreciation possible a the several applicable in is of which essential here as as Wà., 389, &c.) the nature the work, and of will have to of course, seq.; similarly : 506 of II. et (Blu. careful examination all concomitant circumstances, 7. of Bona fides A ": contract. there is, technical determine (partly indicated case. “The judicial perfectly free. They aspects given whether admitted (Klo. to an pretext”. on II. or to be to if or be is the hindrances entirely subjective, i.e., conscientious doubts only these subjective obstacles personal considerations, stringent motives for the author appear withdraw from the contract. But the author cannot withdraw at random, without any substantial reason, some mere may 722.) The authorities are not agreed author, pleading personal objections that are liberate him from the performance, but which �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SWITZERLAND. 47 to actual and absolute impossibility of ought not to indemnify the publisher for do not amount performance, such damnum emergens If as the avoidance has caused. the author's reasons for withdrawing are not found sufficient, to say nothing of a wanton withdrawal, for the purpose, e.g., of contracting with another publisher, 8. his plea of “subjective impossibility” will not be admitted, and the publisher will recover damages to the amount of his interest in the due performance. [This holds in Prussia under all circumstances, if the work in question appears within a year from the dissolution of the contract, but under the auspices of another publisher: (§ 1007.)] 9. a reliable standard for the assessment of damages If is not otherwise obtainable (e.g., from the actual results of the publication by another publisher), the court of justice will assess them, assisted by experts, to the amount of profit that was likely to ensue from the publication, in addition to the amount by which the publisher is t actually out of pocket. XV.-PERFORMANCE PUBLISHER. BY THE We have seen (II. 3) that the author's consideration is presumed to consist in the reproduction and publication of his work by the publisher, and that this obligation is an essentiale of the Contract of Publication. The publisher his right: (Eis., 85; Kohler, does his duty in exercising is, 285). cannot release himself payment of a profit (Eis. 85); withdraw wants to he by (Wä., 340); and of loss instead from some other reason he nor if reasons for expecting a of he of he on $ § to 1. The first, then, of his obligations have the work 519; Switzerland, printed: (Saxony, 1141; Hungary, art. 372, art. 378.) The publisher cannot avoid this losing his hopes profit (Klo. II. 724); cannot even Publication, when then abandon his Right has good �48 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN the stipulated fee (Stobbe, 287); for the author's right to the fee is an independent obligation: (Wä., 341.) 2. The reproduction must take place in the manner, to the extent, and within the time stipulated by the contract or presumable as tacitly agreed on : (End. I. 816.) Where the special intentions of the parties are not to be ascer tained, the particular circumstances of the work, as, its volume, the urgency of the publication, technical difficul ties, &c., will usually prescribe a term for finishing the production. The author may apply for the judicial appoint ment of a term. In the absence of a special understanding, the work must be put in print immediately on delivery of the complete manuscript, and the production must proceed without intermission: (Eis., 85 ; Klo. II. 723.) 3. In the absence of a special agreement, the publisher may get up the book entirely after his own judgment and taste (Saxony, § 1141; Baden, § 577, D.E.; Klo. II. 724; Eis., 86; Geng., 534); but the technical execution must be suitable (Saxony, $ 1141; Switzerland, art. 378); and adequate to the purpose and importance of the work (Hungary, $ 520). For the reproduction, typography is presumed to have been agreed on (Klo. II. 723). The quality and correctness must come up to a fair average (Wä., 342), which involves the responsibility of the publisher for the correction (but see XIII. 15). If the publisher grossly neglects these claims of the author (if, e.g., the utility of the work is appreciably diminished by errata), an unusual number of the author can demand a new reproduction and (Eis., 86; Dern., recover damages for the delay: 642.) 4. The publisher has to put the whole of the manuscript in print and may suppress no part delivered, not even indices, &c., that he may himself think wholly superfluous: (Wä., 343.) 5. Where the agreement has not fixed a certain number, prefaces, �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 49 the publisher may determine the number of copies at his own discretion (see IX. 3, 4); for not only must he be the best judge of the market, but the publication takes place at his risk and expense: (Wä., 270.) But he does not perform duly, if he does not produce a reasonable number of copies (Wä., 343); and at the author's bidding he must cause at least so many impressions to be taken, as a proper publication demands: (Switzerland, art. 377.) 6. The same obligations devolve upon the publisher he has expressly entered into an agreement to publish further editions, when the first one is disposed of. If he has not done that, but merely acquired a right to the future editions (which is always presumed to be the case unless the engagement is explicitly stated in the clause disposing of the coming editions) the author may call upon him to put the work again in print as soon as the present edition is sold ; the author may apply for the judicial appointment of a term, on the expiration of which the publisher loses all rights in the work if he has failed to produce a new edition : (Switzerland, art. 380.) [In Hungary alone is the principle of this contract (viz., Right of Publication—obligation to publish) consistently applied to future editions. Hungary, $ 522, says: where &4 if the future editions were assigned, the publisher is bound to produce a new edition immediately on completion of the sale of the preceding one.” And § 523 provides the author with every desirable remedy: XIX. 5.)] The author has bestowed the Right of Publication on the publisher, but beyond this exactly defined right he has transferred no particle whatever of his Authors’ Rights. No power, then, is vested in the publisher that (See 7. would entitle him to alter the work, whether by additions or omissions, without a special authorisation: (Switzerland, art. 378; Hungary, § 519; Bes., 946; Dern., 643; E �50 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN Eis., 86); and he must leave every word as it stands in the manuscript: (Wii., 359.) He may not even alter unim portant details, as, single expressions, the author's spelling, except obvious slips of the pen, not to mention the arrangement, the sequence, or the connection of the parts, &c.; (Wä., 345.) 8. “The editor of a journal or other compilation stands in a relation to contributors that differs somewhat from that of the publisher who has to reproduce the author's work without any alterations; the editor undertakes, not an exact reproduction, but the insertion of the contribution in accordance with the proportions of the whole, as determined by his editorial functions. The editor, then, of an encyclopædia is entitled to suppress such parts of the contributions as would conflict with the standpoint and tendencies of the work at large, but this principle may not be understood to sanction the falsification of the contents; for the contributions were made in expectance of none but the usual and necessary editorial alterations: (Blanc. Traité, p. 100.) The authorisation to make such alterations involves no right to wholly remodel the author's work; the permission, on the other hand, to wholly recast the work, will warrant the insertion of it with but a few unimportant alterations”: (Wä., 346.) XVI.-SALE OF THE WORK. 1. The author, says Bluntschli, has not bargained to have his work stored up at the publishers; he wants to see it spread abroad. And one of the publisher's principal duties is to do his best to bring about a good sale : (Saxony, § 1141; Hungary, § 519; Switzerland, art, 378.) He must proceed with the solicitude of careful booksellers, as defined by the institutions of the trade, even if he has no prospect of profit (Klo. II. 724; Wä., 352); and he must employ the usual ways and means (Switzerland �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 51 art. 378; Eis., 88; Stobbe, 287; Geng., 534); in case of litigation, the court will appoint experts to examine whether the publisher made due efforts to sell the work: (Dern., 642; Stobbe, 287.) 2. The publisher is bound to distribute copies for review and to issue public advertisements of the work: (Switzerland, art. 378; Klo. II. 723; Wä., 352; Stobbe, tion that the cannot avoid the usage (Blu. II. and must bear expense the ’’: advertisements are but part of the publica author may claim. The publisher, then, “Public 287.) 511.) or do to to if is he of as if a to he a sale: (Stobbe, 287; may not, without new contract duce an edition once destroyed, regard the chances the work destruction. pronounce bring about On the other hand, with the author, repro should happen improved since to likely to if experts were he exertions his part Wä., 353.) as reasonable the edition, on new production of a a be be to be 3. The publisher may not destroy the copies remaining on his hands, the sale proves difficult slow (Wä., 352); only entitled that, when the positively unsaleable, when work proves further reasonably expected (Klo. II. 724); the sale cannot rash destruction of the work would render him liable for the fix to is to he is if be to at it is 4. As the edition the publisher's property, and, more over, risk and expense are his, for him the price sold, which the copies are the contract does not provide otherwise. respect But here, too, bound of by an is in a in proper sale the author's interest the book, even where the author not interested the financial success. he : Ś $ He may not, then, impede the sale unreasonable price (Saxony, 1141; Hungary, 520; Switzerland, arbitrarily reduce the publication art. 378. Nor may E 2 of or or price under circumstances that might damage the author's literary fame scientific the commercial value �52 The CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION future work of his : (Eis. 88; Klo. II. the court to decide, in case of litigation, lisher's course of action in reducing the was justified by the circumstances of the XVII.--THE IN 724.) It is for whether the pub price of a book case. AUTHoR’s REMUNERATION. 1. The stipulation of a fee is neither an essentiale of, nor even inferable from, the Contract of Publication in itself. On this point all authorities are agreed: (See II. 3.) Yet, a pecuniary consideration joins, not only frequently, but mostly, with the author's literary, &c., interest (Ger., 459); usually by the stipulation of a definite or definable sum of money that the publisher is to pay over to the author: (Saxony, § 1143; Austria, § 1165; Hungary, $525; Switzerland, art. 383; Stobbe, 292; End.I.817; Dern.,642.) 2. The publisher is bound to remunerate the author of the case point to this, that the reasonably not have been expected without transfer could a remuneration : (Hungary, $ 525; Switzerland, art. 383; when the circumstances Stobbe, 292.) is a professional writer has, for remuneration (Wä., 356); so also when he is one whom the publisher knows For it is a principle to usually take a fee for his work. Law, that “whoever accepts the of German Common services of one whom he knows not to render those ser 3. Every author generally speaking, who an action to vices but for remuneration, enters into an engagement give him what he will claim, provided that the amount is not inequitable" (Windscheid, Pandekten II. § 404); this principle is usually (but not, as regards the matter in hand, unanimously) supported by L. 22 Dig. de Praescr. Verbis 19, 5. 4. A tacit stipulation of a fee will always be presumed, where a publisher has in his own interest ordered work from an author: (Wä., 357.) �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 53 5. Where no other evidence is forthcoming to indicate the intentions of the parties, the custom of the trade will usually afford guidance, e.g., where the remuneration of a contribution to a periodical is in question. 6. “The motives that lead the author to the work, and his literary aims have nothing to do with the question of remuneration; those intentions may never be brought forth to prove that the author had not desired a fee"; (Wä., 357.) 7. The remuneration of the author is a matter of course, where the agreement is based upon, or refers to, a previous transaction between the same parties where a fee was paid. If, then, the author allows his publisher a new edition or gives him a new work of the same kind, and if the question of remuneration is not otherwise settled, the author will be entitled to preceding payment edition at or work: the (See rate IX. of the 2.) fee for the 8. If the original contract prescribes a new fee for every new edition, this fee includes the remuneration of the author for the trouble of editing revised editions. If no remuneration was stipulated at all, the publisher cannot claim the author's services for the preparation of new editions, without offering him a reasonable remuneration. If a fee for all editions was prepaid, it must be gathered, from all circumstances of the case, whether it was the intention of the parties to bind the author to gratuitous services in editing future editions: which intention is by If, how no means presumable without distinct evidence. ever, the author is really bound to gratuitous services, he will have to compensate the publisher for the expense of a revision by third parties, should he himself refuse to perform that obligation : (See XIII. 11.) 9. The claim to a fee is established with the constitution of the contract; it does not depend on the financial success of the work, and can never be contested on ground of the �54 IN THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION disproportion between price and goods (laesio enormis); proceeds of the sale fall to the publisher's speculation, and the claim to a fee is independent of them : ” (Blu. II. course, inapplicable where the 513.) This principle agreement made dependent author's remuneration the success the work, as, under the royalty the half profits system, not mention the case common partnership. writing 10. Bluntschli says: “If the contract made usually and no fee mentioned the conclusion admissible that no claim fee exists; and where an by is, is to in a it, is is in to of or of on is of “the is he supported by be no it of if to be by a as ” to in of he to a publisher, unknown writer offers his work will right doubt, presumed, case that has acquired remuneration, and desires nothing beyond the publica tion (Blu. II. 512); the latter assertion has been opposed rule; anyhow, either too sweeping these presump tions will set aside one favourable the author, sufficient evidence, XVIII.-TERMs. it of of by is of copies produced, and the publica 2. tion price: (Blu. II. 513.) If the author's fee was fixed in consideration of a expenses, the number of $ to the fee be 1. neither fixed by nor ascertained means one the presumptions recorded above, the court will assess on hearing experts (Hungary, 525; Switzerland, art. 383; Stobbe, 292); taking into consideration the publisher's Where the amount agreement a be to is Where the author an as of no 3. 360.) paid by $ But this rule does not apply where approximate number sheets was only mentioned binding estimate, with intention the author: (Wä., 526). of (Hungary, of in to be of sheets, the publisher cannot certain maximum number pay for copy held excess the volume agreed on the sheet, all �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 55 copy delivered, including titles, index, prefaces, &c., counts as remunerable matter. In the absence of a special agreement, it is presumed that the parties had sheets of an average size in view. 4. it is generally for the publisher to choose the yet the author may demand size of the book (see XV. calculation his fee on the basis medium size: (Klo. II. a of a of 3), Although 725.) to or of is of of If author's § 5. entirely on remuneration depends partly the sale the book, the publisher bound the usual settlement accounts and proof sale (Zurich, 1611; Switzerland, art. 386); this holds wherever the the of to to to is of or in an controlling the publisher (Bes., author has interest 947); especially where the agreement limits the number copies editions the publication which the publisher entitled. This involves that the author may claim access the publisher's books: (Klo. II. 725.) is of separate on If a 7. part or : of of on § $ § to on is a 6. established, and Where the author's claim fee provide otherwise, the publisher the agreement does not delivery payment immediately bound the complete manuscript, for then the author has acquitted his obliga 1143; Hungary, 527; 1165; Saxony, tion: (Austria, Wä., 362; Klo. II. 725; Stobbe, 292.) [Switzerland alone does not follow this common principle, and prescribes, publication agreeing with some authorities, payment the work (Art. 385); the first draft the Code by Prof. Fick followed the common rule (Schneider, 506.)] remuneration was agreed for each section, the nature of complete if a of a on on If of or of on of in a on is of work that appears such sections, delivery due each the sections: (Wä., 362.) [In Switzerland publication the part volume: (Art. 385).] the remuneration was not fixed separately for each part, the author may call the publisher for proportionate part payment delivery volume the payment the work makes the �56 THE CONTRACT OF IN PUBLICATION is, calculation of such quotas possible, and without prejudice to the publisher's right of then demanding security for the delivery of the rest of the work: (Wä., 362.) 8. The exact calculation of a fee that is to be determined of is is it is as a is as is a is by the volume of the work when printed course, only possible when the type set up; tacit agreement therefore presumed that the payment due when the printing Now, composed, finished. soon sheet the fee for as much of the author's work as contains as it determined, be might regarded and due the general usage and several enactments declare, however, the fee due completion the printing: (Saxony, 1143; Hungary, 527; Switzerland, art. 385.) ipso facto of § § on (Wä., 362); a of so he on if II. 9. “But the publisher may not protract printing and publication, and thereby unduly defer the payment” 513); (Blu. does the author may demand provisional estimate: (Wii., payment the basis 363.) a be is to of an of Instead of, by a or fee, concurrent with, certain copies are often stipulated number authors. But obligation by no the publisher that effect 10. to a general trade usage cannot means presumable, and (Wä., 364); proved exist author's copies must therefore explicitly stipulated (Klo. 725); they are stipu II. action and in to is of at an execution (Hungary, claim. be claim REMEDIEs. action for every equitable have the work produced can The author has to 2. 1. by good booksellers: (Wä., 364.) XIX.—AUTHOR’s His them general custom the trade, the get copies from the publisher the 725); and can claim any discount § to allowed is entitled trade price (Klo. deliver he author bound to to a the if II. be publisher time: (Dern., 642.) 11. According lated, realised 523; Eis., 85); the �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 57 compasses the production of the work at the defiant publisher's expense. execution 3. The author has an action for holding the publisher to the disposal of the copies in conformity with the rules usually observed in dealing with works of the kind in question: (Klo. II. 724.) 4. If the publisher does not perform duly, or at the proper time, he is liable to the author for damages: (Hungary, $ 523; Wä., 341; Ger. I. 462; Dern., 642; End. I. 816; Bes., 947; Walter, 359.) 5. If it can be shown that the author's interests demand the dissolution of the contract, the author can withdraw without prejudice to his action for damages (Hungary, § 523; Bes., 947), especially where the publisher's failing to perform in due time has diminished the author's interest in the contract (Wä., 386), or where it is rather to his interest to give the work to another publisher, than to sue for specific performance (Wä., 386,) [In Hungary “If, nothing through any the author has left to wish for. negligence of his own, the publisher fails to produce the work, and place it in the market, or to produce a new edition as soon as the previous one is exhausted, the author has the option (1) of demanding specific per formance of the contract and damages for the delay; or (2) of recovering damages for the non-performance; or (3) of withdrawing from the contract and regarding it as never made”: (§ 523.)] XX.—SUCCESSION TO THE PUBLISHER. 1. The derivative Right of Publication is not less trans ferable than the original Authors’ Rights in their totality. On principle, the Right of Publication may be alienated wherever the transfer is not precluded by the import of the contract. 2. But the publisher can dispose of a Right of Pub �58 THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION IN lication in so far only as his rights are separable from his obligations, for obligations from contracts cannot be trans (Kohler, p. 285 ferred without the consent of the obligee. emphatically seq., et and other authorities most assert that a publisher's rights and his obligations under a Contract of Publication are indissolubly bound together, so that any transfer of his rights affecting his obligation to perform in person, must of necessity violate the contract.) 3. It will have to be decided by the features of each case arising, whether the rights are separable from the (End. I. 817.) is true, that by the transfer of a Right of Publi cation acquired under a Contract of Publication, the publisher does not substitute another as obligor in his place, but merely causes another to perform for him, whilst he himself remains liable for the performance: (Klo. II. 734.) But the publisher is not entitled to do even that, if the Right of Publication was trans ferred to him as a strictly personal right (Klo. I. 13); the Contract of Publication is usually made in con sideration of the publisher's person, especially as the rule, unable author control the production work, copies produced. and sale his and the number author, therefore, guarantee The seeks for the respectability his publisher, the solidity the firm with which contracts (Wä. 365); and their honesty, circumspection and dexterity business: (Geng., 536; Walter, 359.) And further, the liability the original publisher for obligations: to by 5. of of in in he or of a in of a as It of is, 4. of is it as a as very limited value, the performance the transferee for, rule, the contract does not fix the publisher's duties with such juridical preciseness would make in as to no to in liquidate them an action: (Wii., 366.) may the publisher transfer an Under circumstances author's work other persons, except such are skilled possible �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND switzERLAND. 59 the publishing trade and ready to devote their energies to the work transferred. Persons not answering to those requirements, do not acquire the rights that the transfer tends to bestow on them: (Dern., 644.) 6. If the author objects to the transfer, the court will be called upon to answer the question, whether the nature of the case does or does not imply the tacit agreement that a transfer by the publisher is precluded. 7. An unconditional right, therefore, of the publisher to transfer a Right of Publication to others cannot be taken for granted (Bes., 947); but it is true that in many cases the contract can be duly performed by any publisher (Klo. I. 147); and as a matter of fact such transactions a is, in by the authors. 8. But an assignation of Rights of Publication involved in the alienation of a publisher's business, his entire rule, valid, more especially where the firm taberna, as are mostly acquiesced of proprietorship necessity affected by the mere change seq.); and trade usage has established the (Kohler, 289 validity of of to of on right a of Rights transfer Publication under without prejudice the author's opposing such transfers the ground material circumstances, of those et of of ; in remains the same for such cases the principles, con nections, institutions, and resources the business are not and substantial objections. to of by a 9. of publisher succeed The heirs all rights and duties ensuing from Contracts Publication made him. XXI.—SuccEssion To THE AUTHOR. by is it in If to he if 1. of usually dissolved by The Contract Publication death, completed the author's had not the work; his heirs are neither bound nor entitled finish his place. the author had lured the publisher into making the as be be finished, his estate representing contract the work will liable for damages; and damages will recover �IN THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION 60 able in every case where the non-completion is due to the negligence of the deceased: (Wii., 376.) 2. But iſ at the author's decease the work is finished, or “in in seized Or, exceptional surrender it; and Switzerland, art. 389, cases, where it are bound execution. appears it puts this), the heirs it, be clude may as to its at least so far completed that it can be finished by another writer (provided, of course, that nature does not pre possible be upheld entirely that the contract should partly, the continuation will decreed and the necessary details prescribed the court.” The publisher bound accept and publish the work was finished the author before his decease; he finished section or independent marketable value: (Schneider, 508.) sections the publisher had acquired title future by it a if to If to If by to a to to if of by on he having the book brought may insist that called for the nature the work. the author was bound undertake such alterations, his provide for heirs are bound suitable revision. the author was not bound revise future editions, the pub date, is editions, up a If 3. of or if to is by or be and equitable be to any competent person; lisher may cause that done and the heirs cannot withhold their consent without urgent rea,SOInS. XXII.-DIssolution of THE CONTRACT. of of he of to an if of or 1. The contract ends when the publisher has disposed copies all editions the publication which was entitled, and, unlimited Right Publication was transferred, with the expiration the copyright. § : is If 3. to by of or by 2. But the contract may end before one those events taking place, either mutual consent, other facts; always without prejudice already claims established. the author dies before completing the work, the 531; Switzerland, dissolvedea, nunc (Hungary, contract art. 389; See XXI.) �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SwitzERLAND. 61 4. The publisher may withdraw and sue for damages if the author concealed the existence of rights of other persons in the work concerning which the contract is made, provided that those pre-existing rights conflict with those of the publisher: (See VII. 1.) 5. If severe illness, lunacy, &c., incapacitate the author from fulfilling his obligations or attending to his interest in the contract, the analogy to the case of an author's decease will obtain, without prejudice, of course, to the operation of the general law. 6. An accidental loss of the manuscript, which renders the production of the edition impossible dissolves the contract; for the author cannot be compelled to do the work over again : (Hung., § 531; Sax., § 1144; Klo. II. 735.) But the publisher in the hands of whom a manuscript is accidentally lost, is not thereby released from such obligations as can still be fulfilled by him : he is in particular bound to pay the author's fee. supply him, for however, bound 8. The author a to is, 7. a $ of he he if one a of of manuscript, and the the work, not merely only then sufficient reason for the manuscript the author's acquittance when the performance the of a is loss of delivery possesses or § if script, 529); of copy with the lost manu (Saxony, 1147; Hungary, producing one without has the means (Switzerland, considerable labour: art. 387.) “For the author's obligation from the contract embraced the consideration, reasonable no by if is 9. contract has become impossible”: (Wä., 380.) This implies that the author means freed without further ceremony the manuscript intended for and the elaboration substantially or is a destroyed, of if is is accidentally lost before delivery. his publisher The only freed when the performance has become author impossible (Blu. II. 515), i.e., this work lost new �62 IN THE CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION - work would be necessary. But then he cannot claim the stipulated fee, unless the publisher has been in mora accipiendi. 10. The author can, on the other hand, compel his publisher to accept and publish a copy of a manuscript lost after delivery. 11. It stands author and publisher resulting in the loss of the to reason that both liable for negligence manuscript. are it. 12. It has been deemed equitable to allow the publisher to reproduce an edition accidentally destroyed without paying a second fee to the author (Switzerland, art. 388; Hungary, $ 530); but not to hold him to the reproduction. For he has performed an essential, certainly the most onerous part of his obligation in placing the edition at the disposal of the market.” He does not, however, escape the obligation of paying the fee stipulated for the lost edition by declining to reprint is in Ś by an to is by if it to a to or he to as as is If 13. the edition lost after the sale has begun, the sold, and the publisher's rights lost copies are treated consumed; the author this edition are regarded royalties profits not entitled that would have received, had those copies really been sold, but does not lose his claim fee should not yet have been paid. singular exception Saxony, 1148, [A made allowing the publisher destroyed reproduce edition after the sale has begun.] or to be he if § or § on if he he borne to in occurred is be he it to then, If accident, occurred. of it An is the party the person business pay the author's fee, the publisher, will have though may released from the publication; from only then liberated that obligation the author can place his work with another publisher the same terms: (Saxony, 1146; Hungary, 528); but not loses the manuscript the edition. 14. which �GERMANY, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND SWITZERLAND. 63 15. The unforeseen occurrence of events rendering the publication futile, is regarded as an accident that annuls the contract ea nunc (Saxony, Ś 1146; Hungary, § 531); e.g., the abrogation of the law on which the author has written a commentary, &c. The author's title to a fee is not affected by this contingency, but the publisher will successfully defend an action aiming at the production of the work, with the exceptio doli : (Klo. II. 735.) [In Hungary this principle holds only where such events occur after the delivery of the manuscript; if they occur before the delivery, the author (or his representatives) cannot claim the stipulated fee, and must refund the publisher for any payment on account: (§ 531.)] 16. We have seen above (XIV. 3, 4, 5; XIX. 5) that non-performance or improper performance may entitle the party other to avoid the contract. XXIII.-BANKRUPTCY OF THE PUBLISHER. of our subject has neither in theory nor a satisfactory development. The following principles may, however, be regarded as established: 1. the contract has not yet been performed by either party when the publisher fails, the author may avoid the contract (Klo. II. 735; Wä., 384); if the contract is to This by chapter casuistry attained If be continued, a new agreement must be made by the author and the trustee of the bankrupt’s estate. Under all circumstances the author may withhold the manuscript until the payment of his fee is either made or secured: (Wä., 384.) [2. German Empire: Klostermann says, that both the author and the bankrupt's trustee may withdraw, provided the work has not yet been put in print: (Klo. II. 735.) 3. The law of Switzerland deviates in some particulars from the general rules laid down above: “If the pub �The CONTRACT OF PUBLICATION. 64 lisher fails, the author may assign the work to another publisher, if security is not given him for the acquittance of those obligations that were not yet due at the time of the declaration of insolvency’’: (Art. 390.) 4. Hungary, too, deviates from the common principles, but decidedly, from the standpoint of authors, in the right direction. “The author contract if the publisher fails. If, may withdraw from the however, the printing if is of should have begun, the administration the bankrupt's estate may uphold the contract, due security offered 532.)] rule, the printing he separation of those the work reduces of the rank of the author's claims to a 5. to (§ the author’’: general As other creditors; be in of or an of the a on be and of the to claim (Wä., 384, 385); of his work from the Right Publication sold behalf the estate (Klo. II. 735); but the author may resist transfer others than able publisher (Dern., 644); his rights being the same this respect, whether the sale the publisher's rights voluntary under bankruptcy: (Kohler, 289.) cannot estate may �•■■~~~~======----- • • **** �PUBLICATIONS to 2. the past year can The Author. Literature and the Pension List. on That the Secretary. 3. application be 1. The Annual Report. for SOCIETY OF AUTHORS had to on be of to A to Monthly Journal devoted especially the protection and maintenance Literary Property. Issued application all Members. Back numbers can obtained the Secretary. of of of this work specimens are given important forms type, size page, &c., with showing what produce the more common costs - Production. kinds of books. 2s. 6d. 7. Copyright Law Reform. An 8. The Society 9. by in of of an to of in In S. of By Publication. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. this work, compiled from the papers the Society's offices, the various forms agreements proposed Publishers Authors are examined, and their meaning care fully explained, with account the various kinds frauds which have been made possible by the different clauses their agreements. 3s. The Various Methods d By 1s. In the Society. to estimates to the Société des Gens des Lettres. it The Cost the most 6. By W. MORRIS CoLLEs, - 3s. SQUIRE SPRIGGE, late Secretary of 5. of The History S. 4. Barrister-at-Law. The Contract Publication Hungary, and Switzerland. By an of J. of # of right of Exposition Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill, now before Parliament. With Extracts from Appendix 1878, and the Report the Commission containing the Berne Convention and the American Copy M. LELY. Authors. 18. 6d. SOCIETY in Germany, Austria, By ERNST LUNGE, J.U.D. application to obtained on can be - All the above publications 4, of A of 2s. 6d. of Record its action from its By SIR WALTER BESANT (Chairman Foundation. Com mittee, 1888–1892), 1s. the Secretary, OF AUTHORS, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 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 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) 1896 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 Image Source A citation for the image. All images are either used under a Creative Commons licence or with permission Lunge, Ernst. The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. London: The Society of Authors, 1896. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102667700" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102667700</a>. 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 Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland (1896) Subject The topic of the resource The Contract of Publication in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland (1896) Description An account of the resource A synopsis of publication in several European countries which follow the German Code of Commerce, written by Ernst Lunge. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lunge, Ernst Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102667700" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102667700</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1896-Lunge-Contract-of-Publication-in-Germany-Austria-Hungary-Switzerland international publications publishing https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/238/1891-The-Author-1-index.pdf 51629cd8925bd25b1a78082b7e954517 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) 1891 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 Alexander P. Watt Location The location of the event or organisation London Volume 1 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 Index to The Author, Vol. 01 (1891) Subject The topic of the resource Index to The Author, Vol. 01 (1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Index Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-The-Author-1-index publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/239/1890-05-19-The-Author-1-1.pdf ae892ea373becd69c31163f89cd21da5 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) 1890-05-19 Volume 1 Issue 1 Pages Page range in volume 1–24 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18900519 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. I.--No. 1.] MAY 15, 1890. [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Published for the Societe by ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. 1890. ## p. (#12) ################################################# The Society of Authors (Jncorporated). PRESIDENT. THE RIGHT Hon. THE LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. . SIR EDWIN ARNOLN, K.C.S.I. ROBERT BATEMAX. WALTER BESANT. - Rev. Prof. BONNEY, F.R.S. T. COMyxS CARK. EDWARD CLODD). ThĚ EARL OF DESART. A. W. DUBOURG. PROF. MICHAEL FOSTER, F.R:S. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. EDMUND GOSSE. II. RIDER HAGGARD. THOMAS HARDY. PROF. E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S. COUNCIL. Rev. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. GEORGE MEREDITH. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. J. C. PARKINSON, The EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY, SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart., LL.D. WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. W. BAPTISTE Scoones, J. J. STEVENSON. JAS. SULLY. WILLIAM MOY THOMAS. H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L.. Hon. Counsel-E. M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. : Auditor-Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE, F.L.S. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Robert BATEMAN. EDMUND Gosse.. Chairman-WALTER BESANT. H. RIDER HAGGARD. J. M. Lely. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. Solicitors. Messrs. Field, Roscoe & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. ## p. (#13) ################################################# (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. A/onth/v.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. i.] MAY 15, 1890. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. The Author Something like a Publisher The First Principles of Literary Property Notes on Copyright A Hard C The Helpable Author On Committee Literary Queries, No. 1 1 Dinner—To p Editions : Advice PAGE ... 13 ... 14 ... 15 ... 15 ... 18 .. 18 A copy of this paper will be sent free to any member of the Society for one twelvemonth. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 65. 6d. including postage, to be sent to the Society, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. representative gathering, ana uie uu^u have a tendency to drop into the hands of a few, and so be robbed of half their value. It is also to be considered th?t no discussions can have any real value which are not founded on knowledge of the facts. Now, the ordinary member knows little of the facts. It was, therefore, then thought that occasional leaflets might be issued conveying the facts. To this plan, however, there appeared many obstacles. First, leaflets are tossed aside and lost; then, even if they are read and preserved, there is no place for discussion, for questions, or for suggestions. The private member of the Society would feel that he was taking no real part in its will intorni thought the he right, too •e would be by writing a d before the many points to have our De the organ ds—the one .nd ventilate ofession of rill be the our Society heir doings, and it will become a public record 01 transactions conducted in the interests of literature, which have hitherto been secret, lost, and hidden for the want of such an organ. The chief aim of the Society—this has been advanced again and again—is to promote the recognition of the fact, hitherto most imperfectly understood, that literary property is as real a thing as property in every other kind of business: that it should be safeguarded in the same manner, and regarded with the same jealousy. Hitherto the mere existence of literary property ## p. (#14) ################################################# The Society of Authors (Jncorporated). PRESIDENT. THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.S.I. ROBERT BATEMAN. WALTER BESANT. Rev. PROF. Bonnev, F.R.S. T. COMyxS CARK. EDWARD CLODD. THE EARL OF DESART COUNCIL. Rev. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. GEORGE MEREDITH. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. T. C. PARKINSON, THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK, BART., LL.D. G. ROSS. Solicitors, Messrs. FIELD, Roscoe & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. ## p. 1 (#15) ############################################### The Author. (The Orgon of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. VOL. I.—No. 1.] MAY 15; 1890. [Price SIXPENCE. CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE ... 13 ... 14 ... The Author ... Something like a Publisher ... The First Principles of Literary Property Notes on Copyright ... A Hard Case, No. I.... Questions and Answers Leaflet No. I.-On Syndicating The Press and the Society ... ... 6 The Helpable Author On Committee... Literary Queries, No. 1 ... At Work ... ... Notes.-The Annual Dinner-To those who seek Advice New Books and New Editions ... Advertisements ... 8 ... 10 THE AUTHOR. management and government. If he thought the Committee was moving too slowly in the right, too THE Report of the Society of Authors for the quickly in the wrong, direction—there would be year 1890 spoke of the great importance no opportunity for saying so, except by writing a of keeping members more fully and more letter to the Secretary, to be by him laid before the regularly supplied with information, not only on the Committee. work of the Executive Committee, but also on the Considering the question from its many points various matters which concern the author in the of view, it has seemed most desirable to have our safeguarding of his interests and the preservation own organ for our own purposes. of his property. The simplest method of effecting The Author is therefore founded to be the organ this, it was thought, would be to hold frequent meel- of literary men and women of all kinds—the one ings for the purpose of conference and discussion. paper which will fully review, discuss, and ventilate As, however, a large number of our members live in all questions connected with the profession of the country, we could seldom hope to obtain a really literature in all its branches. It will be the representative gathering, and the discussions would medium by which the Committee of our Society have a tendency to drop into the hands of a few, will inform its members generally of their doings, and so be robbed of half their value. It is also to and it will become a public record of transactions be considered that no discussions can have any real conducted in the interests of literature, which have value which are not founded on knowledge of hitherto been secret, lost, and hidden for the want the facts. Now, the ordinary member knows little of such an organ. of the facts. It was, therefore, then thought that The chief aim of the Society—this has been occasional leaflets might be issued conveying the advanced again and again-is to promote the facts. To this plan, however, there appeared many recognition of the fact, hitherto most imperfectly obstacles. First, leaflets are tossed aside and lost; understood, that literary property is as real a thing then, even if they are read and preserved, there as property in every other kind of business : that it is no place for discussion, for questions, or for should be safeguarded in the same manner, and suggestions. The private member of the Society regarded with the same jealousy. would feel that he was taking no real part in its Hitherto the mere existence of literary property ## p. 2 (#16) ############################################### 2 THE AUTHOR. even in the face of such patent facts as the enrich- ment of publishers, has been carefully concealed and even denied. Risks of publishing, costs of publishing, have been dangled before the eyes of authors, so that they should regard the subject as one of extreme peril and pure speculation. One can never even now read a leading article about publishing without being solemnly assured that the trade is one in which frightful risks are constantly run, and that the success of any book is pure speculation. Now, as a matter of fact, there is very little speculation indeed in publishing, and there are very, very few publishers—only the leading houses —who ever run any risks at all, either by buying books or by bringing out books at a risk. Risks are run when a House starts a magazine, or when it embarks on illustrated editions of an expensive kind, or when educational books are published. The ordinary risk run in the production of books is, as a rule, next to nothing. For, first, the author is seldom paid except by results; next, the author, when a house consents to "take the risk," is, for the most part, one who commands a certain sale. With the smaller houses books about which there is the slightest risk are always paid for by the authors in advance, either wholly or in part. And very, very seldom indeed, do the ill-advised authors who advance their money ever see it back again. Again, as to the actual cost of production. By carefully keeping this a profound secret, interested persons have succeeded in establishing a kind of taboo, as of some holy, sacred thing which must not be so much as touched. We have, however, thoroughly investigated the whole question, and are now in a position to throw complete light upon the cost of producing any kind of book that can be named, in any type and in any form. This is a very important step. Its importance cannot be over-estimated. It enables the author, for the very first time in the history of literature, to know what it is he is asked to concede to the publisher, and what it is he reserves for himself. We have also done more: we have collected together a vast amount of information as to pub- lishers' agreements: especially as to what, in reality, is the meaning of the clauses contained in them: we have ascertained what it is they ask the author to surrender and for what consideration. And we have acquired a knowledge of various frauds, made possible by the terms of these agreements, in the different methods of publishing. This knowledge is so beneficial to the author that its existence ought to be widely spread and made known to every person who is engaged in the production of literature of any kind. Again, the Society is constantly engaged in answering questions connected with every branch of literature and its practice. Many of these ques- tions are answered by letter over and over again, taking up a great deal of the Secretary's time. They would be answered much more effectively in a journal. It follows from these clauses that we may have a good deal to say about the seamy side of the pub- lishing trade. It must, however, be borne in mind very carefully that the Society has not and never has had, any quarrel with honourable publishers. It has always asked for one thing only—''ustand honest treatment, fair and of en agreements, and honourable observance of those agreements. It has therefore been determined to establish this journal as an organ for the especial use of the Society. At first we shall bring out The Author on the fifteenth of every month. The journal will contain papers, notes, letters, questions, and in- formation on all subjects connected with literature and its profession. The members of the Society will be kept informed of all that part of our work which is not confidential. Among other features of novelty and interest will be an account in each number of some one case that has been brought before the Society—of course without the names. The consideration of these cases will, we are certain, show the world the absolute necessity for some such organisation as our own, though the widespread ignorance which we have unfolded was hardly guessed by our founders at our first institution. Each number will also contain an article or leaflet on some topic be- longing to our own interests. There will be notes on the various branches of our work. Our columns will be open to suggestions, letters, and questions. ## p. 3 (#17) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 6 We shall send out this journal to all our members as their own organ. We shall continue it for one year at least. We shall be very glad to hear from members who may be willing to assist us by original contri- butions, which should be short, and on some subject belonging to our special field, which is the safeguarding of literary property for the producer of literature. Members are invited to send in notices of the books which they are about to produce, and copies of their books when they appear. It is intended to give a short notice of the purpose and contents of these works when this is possible. In the case of fiction a very brief account, but not a review, will be attempted. * SOMETHING LIKE A PUBLISHER. —•— I. HE was a young man, and he was from the country. He stood in the bar of a Camden Town public-house, and he turned abouta glass ofstout in his hand with anxious countenance. Many young men of anxious coun- tenance may be seen in London bars all day long. He had the customary cigarette of vile paper and bad tobacco between his lips. Beside him, also with a glass of stout in his hand, stoodanolder man,upon whom fifty springs, at least, had smiled in sunshine and in shower. His face showed the soft influences of the former, but in patches, as one on the right cheek, one on the end of the nose, and one on the forehead. Thus will flowers grow in my lady's garden, here a few and there more, for Nature loves not regularity. His coat also showed by its appearance that many springs had distilled upon it many showers. The habits of the man could be easily inferred from his appear- ance : he was one of those who look upon wine when they can get it, but not for long, because they make haste to swallow it; when there is no wine, such a man looks upon, and swallows, any other kind of drink that is ardent and intoxicating; such anonealso loves tobacco, the society of men, and the flare of gas lamps. As for his profession, that was more difficult to discuss. Not exactly a sporting man, though probably ready to get a "bit upon a cert."—hiseyes lacked the shrewdness of thesporting man, and he was too shabby: not a journalist—he was too slow in his movements, and his speech; journalists, even if they loaf about the bar, always possess a certain smartness: not a clerk, that is, not a clerk in a berth: not a tradesman, or a working man, or an artist of any kind. A certain cunning, of the kind harshly called low, lurked in his eyes and on his lips. He might certainly be set down as one who lived by his wits, and that in spite of his character and reputation. Now when you have lost your character it is a good thing to have some wits to fall back upon. "Seems to me," said the young man, "that there is not a single berth left in the whole of London." "Not without a hundred fighting for it," said the elder. "I've stumped round every place of business in London and I can find nothing." "What might be your line, young man?" "Why, when I came up to town I thought that something in the publishing line" "Publishing?" echoed the other. "Ah! that is a line and no mistake—if you're fly to the dodges. Publishing? Ah !" he heaved a deep sigh. "If I only had the capital—ever so little capital—I say —ever so little capital," he repeated meaningly, "there is a fortune in it—for self and partner—a fortune, I say. Easy living after the first fortnit, and a fortune afterwards." "Why? Are you a publisher, then?" "Do I look like it in this get up? No. But I wish I was. Young man, there isn't a trick on the cards but I know it. There isn't a dodge in the trade that I ain't up to." "Where did you learn it?" "Never mind that. Perhaps I had a berth in a publisher's house. Perhaps I hadn't. That's my business. Young man, have you got any capital?" "Mighty little." "Let's go partners. I'll find the business and you shall find the money. How much have you got?" The young man emptied his waistcoat pocket, There was a small heap of silver. "Thai's all I've got," he said. He counted it. "Comes to thirty- four shillings and thruppence." He put back the money in his pocket. "Capital? I wish I had any." The eyes of the other man twinkled with greed. "Thirty-four shillings?" he cried. "Why there's enough and more than enough. Keep the four and thruppence for yourself. Miss, two fours of Scotch—I'll stand. Good Lord! man, your for- tune's made. Hands upon it, partner." "Why" "Hands upon it, I say. I'll land the first Juggins in a week. Then the way they'll come in will astonish you. It will indeed. Here's success to the firm." ## p. 4 (#18) ############################################### 4 THE AUTHOR. In this way, and on a capital of thirty shillings, was founded the Imperial and Colonial Publishing Company, Limited. You may, however, look in vain for the registration of the Company, because it never was registered. II. The advertised offices of the Company were in a small street leading out of a main thoroughfare. Those who called upon the manager, if they worked their way up the stairs, found that the offices con- sisted of one room at the back of the second floor; there was no brass plate; publicity was not courted in any way; and the manager was out. Two girls rang the bell. A woman came up from the depths below. "He's out, Miss," she said to their enquiry. "We have called every day at different times and he is always out." "He is generally out, Miss. Business takes him out. But he comes for his letters. There's lots of letters and parcels "At that moment a red cart stopped at the door and delivered three bulky parcels. "They're always coming. You write to him and you'll get an answer. Better write than call." The girls turned away. They were gentlewomen, but not rich. One glance at their gloves showed so much. Another at their jackets confirmed the first impressions. They were, however, gentle- women, and they were sisters. "Nell," said one, "the man is a rogue, I am sure of it. No one but a rogue would hide himself away. He is a rogue." The other one sighed heavily. "Oh!" she said, "who is to keep ignorant girls like us from the hands of rogues? What shall I do? What shall I do?" "Have you sent him all he wanted, dear?" "All. He asked first for ^45. He said if I would give him ^45 that would be the whole of my risk, and he would take the rest. He said that I should have three-fourths of all the money that the book produced. He said that his reader reported so favourably that its success was certain. You know how I got the money, dear." "You sold everything, your watch and chain, your two rings, your bracelet, and the silver spoons that had been grandmother's. Oh! I know." "Then he wrote again and said that he had made a mistake, and must have ten pounds more, and I found that and sent it him, and since then I can get nothing—no answer to my letters—no proofs—nothing!" "Nell, he is a rogue. And oh! to think of the months and months of work you have given to the story. Nell, it was a beautiful story. Oh 1 we will, we must, do something to the man." "Yes, dear. But who is to pay the lawyer?" "Can you write it all over again?" "What's the use when the man has got the right of publishing it?" "Nell, sit down and write another." "No," she answered, " I have no heart to write another. Let us go home, dear. I will take that place of cashier in the draper's shop—fifteen hours a day and eight shillings a week; that will be better—anythingwill be better than meeting another McAndrew. Oh! I have no heart," her voice choked, " I have no heart to try again." III. "My name is Trencher, and if you'll give me only five minutes, I should take it kindly." "I will give you those five minutes," said the Secretary, with affability. "Now, Mr. Trencher, what is your business?" Mr. Trencher was a young man of fashionable get up, yet, as nasty particular persons would say, not quite. In fact, certainly nowhere near. His manner, however, at this moment betrayed anxiety. He was jumpy: in certain circles, it would be whispered that it looked like "having 'em again." He produced, with trembling fingers, a card on which was written this legend "Imperial and Colonial Publishing Company, Limited. Manager, Mr. A. McAndrew." "A., Christian name. Stands for Ananias?" asked the Secretary. "I don't know. It's about him" he said mysteriously. "It's about A. McAndrew. If you can run him in I don't care what happens." "I know a good deal about this gentleman already," said the Secretary. "I'll tell you all about him. He got my money first—thirty shillings he had off o' me. That's how we began. We were to go partners and he was to manage. First he put an advertisement in the papers." "It is here," said the Secretary, laying his hand on a book. "Country papers at first—saying that all MSS. would be carefully considered, and that the Com- pany were prepared to offer most liberal terms. We had a dozen replies to that first batch of advertisements. Lucky we had, because there was no more money for a second batch. Out of the dozen we got ten MSS. sent up. Out of the ten three stood in with our terms. In a week we divided a hundred and five pounds between us." "Your terms," said the Secretary, "were con- tained in this letter. He opened the book and read. 'Our reader has reported so favourably on your MSS. that we are prepared to offer you the following liberal terms. You will send us the sum ## p. 5 (#19) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 5 of £$0 or '—or whatever it was—' and we will publish your book at no risk or expense to your- self, and we agree to meet all demands up to 10,000 copies. All proceeds to be divided into two por- tions: one of two-thirds for yourself, the other of one-third for the Company. You will kindly reply at your earliest convenience, because in the present enormous press of work the Company cannot keep such an offer open. 'Your obedient servant, 'A. (meaning Ananias) McAndrew, 'Manager. 'P.S.—The present is the best time of year for publishing.'" "That's the letter," said Mr. Trencher ; "always the same letter. No occasion ever to alter that letter, except the figures, sometimes." "And with that single letter you bagged your prey?" "Yes. Oh! He knew what he was about. No Juggins like a liter'y Juggins, he used to say, and I'm sure he was right. Believe all you tell 'em, they will—anything you tell 'em. You can't pile it up too high. Well, sir, three year ago that game begun." "I see. And how many works did you actually have sent you?" "First and last there was more than a hundred." "And how many did you publish?" The fellow grinned. "Well, what with putting off and telling lies, and not answering letters, he didn't actually print more than three. Sometimes a first sheet would be struck off just to keep 'em amused, but not if he could help it, because it runs into money. The printers wouldn't set it up without being paid beforehand." "Shameful want of confidence." "Mostly they gave up writing, when they found they got no reply." "And those you did print?" "Well; we printed a hundred copies and gave the author a dozen, and there was an end of that." "Where are the MSS.?" "He's got'em. They're no use, though. He won't make anything out of them. There's a hundred and more lying there. All paid fcr." "I judge, therefore, from your coming here to make a clean breast of it, that you and your partner have quarrelled?" "It's like this, mister. He says to me, three months ago, he says, 'Pardner,' he says, 'the game's getting much too hot for us. Time for us to separate. Time for us to go divers ways, as wide apart as we can. Now we'll value the business and I'll buy. you out.' That's what he says. Well, I, thinking that sooner or later there must be a shindy, and that he'd get run in—not me—because, you know, this kind of business after all, is" "It certainly is," said the Secretary. "And some time or other somebody who'd been kidded on to stump up would go before a magis- trate" "Which would be awkward," said the Secretary. "Jes' so. I says, then, 'Give me my share,' I says, 'and lemme go.' So we valued the business and agreed. I was to have four hundred quid for my share—that was agreed—and I took it in a three months bill, and went away and started on my own account. The Royal Britannic Federated Publishing Company, mine was. J. Trencher, Manager." "J. standing for Judas, probably," said the Secre- tary. "Excuse me. You have done pretty well?" "No, I haven't done at all well yet. And I don't know what you mean about Judas, neither." "Never mind. Pray go on," said the Secretary. "We are coming apparently to the most interesting part." "I hadn't been started a week before the letters began to come in." "What letters? More MSS.?" "No. Letters from the people he'd done out of their money. What does he do? Oh! the villain! Directly after I was out of the office, he tells every- body who threatened or complained that his case belonged to me, and he must write to me and that I was no longer his partner. There are fifty of 'em at this moment wanting their money and their MSS. back. Well, I could have stood that, because you can't give people what you haven't got. But yester- day—yesterday—" Here his emotion got almost too much for him—" the bill fell due. You'd hardly believe it, but it's true. His bill fell due—the bill for that four hundred, my share of the business, it fell due, and I presented it and—and—no one would believe that such a villain could be living" "It was not met, I suppose ?" said the Secretary. "No—it wasn't met. He's done me out of my share and he's got the business still, and he's turning over all the people that are going to bring actions on to me. And now I'm ruined, and I come to you to make a clean breast of it, if you can run him in.' Mr. Ananias McAndrewis, however, still at large, and when last we heard he was beginning the game again under another name and with a new company. Note by the Editor.—This story is literally and exactly true. The man, we have just learned, is really beginning the game over again. Moral.— Never answer an advertisement of a so-called pub- lisher without first writing to the Society for advice. ## p. 6 (#20) ############################################### 6 7 HE AUTHOR. THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF LITERARY PROPERTY. THE following considerations and maxims may appear to some readers elementary. The cases which constantly arise before the Society prove, however, that like the Ten Com- mandments, it is wise to have them exposed to view, and to be frequently reminded of them. 1. Literary property is a very real thing. It is as real as property in land, houses, mines, or any other kind of property. Hundreds of people live upon its proceeds in great luxury, plenty, and comfort. Thousands of people live upon it by thrift and carefulness. 2. When a man has made a book lie has increased the wealth of the country, provided it be a book serviceable to the community and saleable. 3. He has created this wealth; it is his own; he must be as careful not to part with it, except for a just consideration, as if it were a mine or a quarry, or an estate. 4. Literary property is subject to the laws which protect all other property; the simplest and the mostcomprehensive of these laws is the Eighth Com- mandment, "Thou shalt not steal." Applied to literature and to the persons whose business it is to buy and sell various forms of literature, the Commandment is thus to be inter- preted, "Thou shalt not cheat the author in buying his work from him; thou shalt not write or speak lies concerning the cost of preparing his work for the press; thou shalt not agree with him on terms such as will give to thyself the profits on his labour. The work is his, not thine at all; his the design of it, the invention,the fancy, the imagination,the learning, the brain and the hand of it—all is his. If it be- comes thine, it must be by an equitable agreement, which shall give thee a fair reward for labour done, and leave to him all the rest." In no other way can the Eighth Commandment be interpreted by those who deal with authors. 5. What is the commercial value of a book? Clearly it depends upon the number of copies which the public will take. So the value of a field depends upon its fertility; of a ship upon her carrying power and seaworthy qualities; of a horse upon his strength and youth. Some fields are sterile—they are sold for a small sum—some are worthless. So with books. An author's income from a book must depend upon the copies bought by the public. 6. Most books published have no commercial value at all—a very large number have no literary value at all. How, then, do they get published? They are published at the expense of tlie author. 7. The book which does succeed may have a nominal success, or it may have an enormous sue cess. If a MS. has any literary value, a thing which may be easily ascertained by having it examined at the Society of Authors, its success is always possible. And so often of late years has a book unexpectedly taken the world by storm that the author must always consider his MS. as a pos- sible great success. 8. It must be remembered that publishers live by publishing. They therefore look to make money by every book which they issue. It is a great mistake to suppose, as some authors do, that the publisher does not first consider the commer- cial prospects of a book. In many cases it is the only thing he does consider. 9. Therefore the publisher must be paid. He must be paid for the time and trouble he, through his servants, gives to the preparation of the work for the press; for the publicity which he gives to it; and, in a very few cases, for the prestige of his name. 10. It is self-evident that every book must stand or fall by its own merits. That is to say, that it is idle to talk of the failure of one book being a reason for giving the author of another book less than his due. With these considerations, which are indisput- able and elementary, before him, let every author read carefully over any agreement offered to him, and before signing it, ascertain what it gives the author, and what it gives or reserves for the pub- lisher, (1) for the first edition, (2) for the second and following editions. Next let the same author take any of his agreements in the past, and with the light of the accounts which were afterwards rendered to him, and the information which we now give him, let him draw his own conclusions. * NOTES ON COPYRIGHT. I. Copyright in Lectures. DOES anybody ever take the trouble to secure his copyright in a public lecture? It is a curious and amusing process which the law in its wisdom requires him to go through. There is, perhaps, nothing objectionable in his having to give two days' notice of his intentions to two justices of the peace, both of whom must live within five miles of the locus in quo. But, beyond the presumption that the aforesaid justices might, if the notice were civilly worded, take tickets for, if ## p. 7 (#21) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 7 not attend, the lecture, it is not easy to understand the object of the interesting proviso. There is cer- tainly no necessity to make it public that on this occasion only "all rights are reserved." It is no business either of the author's or of the magistrates to warn reporters off the premises. Nevertheless, the former would, on giving the statutory notice, be entitled to confiscate any printed and published reports (or, for that matter, the whole edition of every newspaper in the Kingdom which published the lecture without leave), and, moreover, to re- cover a penny for every sheet in their custody. What a fortune Mark Twain would realise if he went on tour in the silly season! But, to further illustrate the beautiful simplicity of the law, a lecturer is powerless to protect himself against unauthorised re-delivery. It is only publication that is prohibited by statute. Anybody who likes is entitled to take down a lecture verbatim and can re-deliver it with perfect impunity, or, in other words, while there is copyright there is no such thing as performing right in a species of literary production in which this may be really valuable. Sermons, on the other hand, seem to be clearly public property, that is, if delivered "by any person in virtue of or according to any gift, endow- ment, or foundation." In other words, Noncon- formist ministers, unless they, too, come within the category, enjoy an advantage denied to the Clergy of the Established Church. For it would, we imagine, be open to them to give the statutory notice of the intended delivery and so secure the copyright, if not the performing right (if we may use the expression), in the production in question. The Clergy of the Church of England cannot, however, under any circumstances reserve their rights. The only remedy open to them if their pulpit eloquence is reproduced is, like the Bishop of Peterborough, to take a leaf out of the book of the "old Parlia- mentary hand," and deny that they have been "correctly reported." In the same way, too, no lecture delivered in any university, public school, or college, or on any public foundation can under any conditions be protected. But there is seldom any very great demand for sermons, university or college lectures, so that their authors enjoy rather more protection, independent of statute, than most of them desire. II. Copyright in Recitations. Should the recitation ot popular pieces be pro- hibited by law? The relative advantage or disadvan- tage accruing to an author is, of course, wholly beside the question. It is quite possible that in many cases an author might regard himself as quite sufficiently recompensed by probable sales. It is notorious that more than one well-known firm of musical publishers not only do not reserve their rights in their songs, but announce to all whom it may concern that they can be sung anywhere. But now that recitations are once more becoming popular, there is no doubt whatever that the right of delivery of favourite verse will become valuable, and the question of its protection acquires an added import- ance. There is no more reason why an author should have no control over and derive no profit from the recitation of his work than that a novelist should have to submit to be dramatized whether he likes it or not. The results of protection would, of course, be that royalties would have to be paid if the author chose to reserve and enforce his rights. It would perhaps be necessary that some analogous conditions to those required by the Copyright (Musical Compositions) Act, 1882, should be devised to prevent people being " Walled." III. Anglo-American Copyright. It is always risky to prophesy, and Anglo- American Copyright is a subject on which even a sporting prophet would hesitate to hazard a forecast. It is, however, not impossible that the Bill before Congress should, in the words of its sixth section, "go into effect" on the 1st July, 1890. Committees of both Houses have reported in favour of the measure: not that that counts for much! We are not likely to forget that in 1889 it was thrown out at the last moment by a single member who had no views on the subject, and was really opposing another measure. But, still, it is satisfactory to know that .the tariff men, the petty pirates, and the moneyed ignoramuses— the three classes of which the opposition con- sists—have so far made a very poor show. During the sittings of the House Committee on Judiciary Mr. Roger Sherman, formerly a Phila- delphia publisher, declared that "the outcry for the passage of the Bill was simply the clamour of 200 authors against the interests of 50,000,000 people." There is a truly delicious naivete about this confession of a preference for stealing litera- ture instead of buying it. As for the Bill itself it will undoubtedly confer valuable rights upon those English writers who can conform to its conditions. These require the books to be printed from type set up in the States, and two copies to be delivered to the Librarian of Con- gress "on or before the day of publication." If the Bill becomes law in this form considerable diffi- culty, it may be remarked, will arise in securing copyright in serial stories, for, as it now stands, each number would have to be delivered as an independent publication, a matter obviously of ## p. 8 (#22) ############################################### 8 THE AUTHOR. great practical difficulty. But in view of the multifarious exigencies which have compelled modifications innumerable, and hampered the efforts of the American (Authors) Copyright League, it is idle to criticise the measure as a final settlement of the difficulty. It is enough, for the present, if it makes Anglo-American Copy- right ultimately possible. IV. The securing of American Rights. Since the above was written, the International Copyright Bill has been brought before the House of Representatives and has been defeated by 126 votes to 98. The conscience of the great Re- public therefore remains unawakened, that is to say, five-ninths of the American conscience is un- moved. The other four-ninths may be trusted to keep moving. Perhaps our grandchildren may reap the fruits of their agitation. What is now to be done? There seems to be but one way for an English author to hold at bay the piratical publishers of the United States: it is to enter into collaboration with an American writer. By this arrangement a perfect copyright is obtainable; one which will defy the devil—the printer's devil—and all his works. One American member of the Incorporated Society of Authors has already written to offer an honourable partnership of this kind with British authors who desire to protect their literary property. Enquiries relating to the subject should be addressed to the Secretary of the Society of Authors, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, W.C. * A HARD CASE. No. 1. IT is now some five years ago since a young lady wrote a volume of poems and sent them to a certain advertising society for publication. The so-called managing director told her in reply that, although her work was of indubitable merit, it required to be revised by some one who understood the "rules of Poetical Composition." Such an article he had on hand, and he begged to recommend that she should apply to a per- son in Fleet Street, posing as the editor of a non-existent journal, for advice. This gentleman expressed himself willing to teach her poetry for the comparatively moderate fee of jQt, 14J. 6d. As his grammar was not, however, without blemish he would seem to have been only duly modest. For three months the young lady received instruction in poetry from him, and then again applied to the advertising society to have her verses published. Apparently her tutor had proved of service, for the managing director now agreed to issue her book for her, on her advancing the sum of ,£50. For this sum he was prepared to produce the MS. in volume form and " to meet all demands for sales up to 3,000 copies." The volume was to be published at 6*., Cr. 8vo., good toned paper, and to be bound in cloth boards, and gilt lettered. The payment was to be made in the following manner: £20 at once; £20 on seeing the last proofs; and the balance within three months. The only agreement made between author and publisher was the interchange of letters ratifying the above proposition. The lady's friends lent her the money, evidently having no idea of the true commercial value of poetry, and the book went to press. The phrase, "to meet all demands," will receive full consideration in our next number. Now it would seem that the publisher's first opinion as to the value of the author's work was nearly a correct one, when he recommended that she should learn verse, but that he rather over-rated the improvement that had been effected by his friend, the instructor in poesy. For there was no sale. But, on the other hand, there were, in addition to the ^50, several small items to pay for. There was advertisement in the publisher's own lists, £2 2S. There was the "time of the traveller" in offering the work to the trade, £1 1js. There was £2 for warehousing, £2 2s. for the privilege of membership of the Literary Association, of which the publisher was managing director. These sums, with others for postage, &c, brought the author's account on the whole transaction into the following position. (1) She had paid for three months' poetical instruction. (Exactly what she paid is not quite clear—over ,£10, however.) (2) She had paid £50 for the production of her work. (3) She still owed j£g odd to the publisher. (4) There were no sales at all: so that she had received nothing. Then the publisher began to write in a threatening way for this £9. He expressed himself as not surprised at the ill- success of her book (though on previous occasions he had spoken well of her work), and attributed this to the lack of advertisements. He badgered her to advertise through himself to the extent of j£$ or jQio, assuring her that she would then get good ## p. 9 (#23) ############################################### THE A UTHOR. 9 reviews. But her means would nol allow her to take his advice. Then he suggested that she should contribute at the rate of is. a line to a column of advertisement that he proposed to insert in the Standard of a good many other books he was bringing out. Here, again, she was obdurate. Then he sent her a lawyer's letter. She applied to the Society of Authors, and escaped further payment; but it would have been useless to attempt to extract from the publisher the money he had already received on grossly false re- presentation, for about this period he became a bankrupt. Of the numerous letters two are appended. 1. The first received by the author from the "Secretary." 2. The second received by the author from the "Editor." I. Date.—March 6th, 1884. Name.—Miss C. D. Address.—16, High St. . Title and No.—Poems. Length.— Opinion.—" Requires revision by an expert, who understands the rules of poetical composition. "Author should write Mr. L., Street, London, forhis instructions topoetical students. Writer has ability, and if she only studied the rules of poetical composition she would do well. "One poem could be set to music. Charge, including composition of music, would be Ss. for 250 copies." A. B. C, Secretary. II. Re MSS.from the Metropolitan Publishing and Literary Society. "We have received your MSS. and beg to say we cannot accept same, as they are unprepared for press. You write them as though poetry, but they are prose. If you write out the Penalty as though prose, no capital letters, &c, you will find it reads better. If you do this and send again we can finish revising for half a guinea, and print. "Yours faithfully, "The Editor." It seems almost incredible that even an inex- perienced girl should not have guessed that these people were common sharpers. But she did not. "The Managing Director " advertised largely and the number of his victims is proportionally large. Yet he has never got into prison. His victims were generally helpless, and generally sensitive to ridicule, while it always seems an unsatisfactory thing to spend ^50 in bringing a criminal action against a person who has robbed you of .£50. It should be observed that this case has nothing to do with the story on pp. 3-5. * QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 1. Is it right for editors to keep a book sent to them for review when they give no notice of the book ?—It is right because it is impossible for every book that is published to receive a review, and every book is sent for review on the chance of getting it. 2. How long should an editor be free to keep a MS. without reply?—If the article is one of immediate interest he should return it at once if he cannot find time to consider it. A contributor in such a case should state the urgency of the sub- ject. Under ordinary circumstances no one who knows the labours of an editor or the piles of MSS. into which he must look should grumble at waiting for three or four months. 3. How long should a contributor be expected to wait before payment?—All the honourably conducted magazines pay on publication, or a few days afterwards. It has, however, been proved to the Society that there are certain journals— happily only a few—who make a point of never paying unless they are compelled by threats of law. It seems incredible that a magazine proprietor or editor should thus make as many enemies as he has contributors. It is unhappily, quite true. 4. What payment should be made for a magazine article?—This question is often asked. There is no answer possible, because the practice necessarily differs. A magazine of limited circulation obviously cannot afford to pay its contributors much. Then if payment is made by the page, that too varies; some magazines, such as Blackwood's or Mac- millan's, have a page double that of Longmans'. The best advice to be given is this. In the high- class magazines contributors are paid by a regular scale, unless special terms are made. Therefore, the contributor may rely on the usual treatment according to the scale of that journal. In maga- zines of inferior kind the contributor would do well to ask beforehand what payment will be made if the paper be accepted. Suppose the Editor refuses to name his scale and sends back the MS., that will be better than to have it taken and pub- lished, and then not paid for. ## p. 10 (#24) ############################################## IO THE AUTHOR. LEAFLET No. I. On Syndicating. IT was in the Report issued at the beginning of last year that we first made an announce- ment concerning our attempt at forming for ourselves a syndicate of our own members. We guarded ourselves at that time by a warning which we hoped would be sufficient to prevent the raising of hopes doomed to disappointment. We were wrong. There has been a good deal of dis- appointment among some of our members who thought that in this way their own work might be disposed of. It was found at the outset, first, that the news- papers among which we at first proposed to place the works of our members were engaged to the various syndicates in existence for a year, a year and a half, or even longer. It was next found, what had been expected, that no writers have any chance at all of getting their work taken in country and colonial newspapers except those who have already achieved a certain reputation. So that both the time of commencing operations was postponed, and the writers for whom the syndicate was to work were limited in number. After a great deal of consideration and experi- menting, it has been found that the best and fairest way of working is, as regards short tales, to arrange for one batch at a time covering a whole quarter. Each writer of this batch takes, first of all, his market value; that is to say, the price he can command in magazines, or that which other syndicates—trade syndicates—are willing to pay him: he sells to our syndicate, not, as in all other syndicates, the story outright, but the right to its appearance once, and only once, in a certain quarter. This done, the work becomes again his own property. Next, when all the writers have been paid, the balance, if any, is equally divided among the writers in proportion to the length of their work. That is to say, for a tale running over three weeks, a writer would receive three times that accorded to one of a single week. About twenty-five per cent, of the whole is required for agency printing and postage. This may seem a large amount, but the trouble involved is very great, and there is no way of avoiding such charges except by keeping a special clerk for the purpose in the offices of the Society. The services of such a clerk, properly qualified and experienced, would amount to quite as much as the commission of an agent. After a little there must be a further charge for the work of editing, which hitherto has been done for nothing. Then comes, next, the question—Where to place these stories? At first it was thought that the provincial press would be the best medium. It has, however, been found that, though the pro- vincial press may sometimes be useful, it cannot always be depended upon, and that it may in some cases be best to sell the work to some one pro- prietor or editor. This has, in fact, been done in the case of the first quarter's collection. One pro- prietor has bought the right for Great Britain and Ireland. They have also been sold in America— also to one man; in Australia and New Zealand to another; and in India to another. The amount to be divided among the writers of this batch will rule far higher than anything they could obtain from ordinary syndicates. The next quarter's batch is now in course of preparation. If members think they already possess the kind of name that popular journals desire to place in their columns, they may communicate with the Editor at the Society's office. The Editor's busi- ness is very simple: it is merely to provide such a collection of stories as will be vouched for by the names of their writers. He is not, in fact, the judge: he has only to record the judgment of purchasers, and to cater for them. It is not so much the quality of his wares that he has to con- sider, as their fashion and popularity. Therefore, the Editor must not be blamed if he has to tell a member that he cannot offer to syndicate his work. There is, however, another branch of syndicating work—that of longer stories. Here, again, though names come first, there may be special reasons why a work by a less known hand might be syndi- cated with a certain measure of success. ## p. 11 (#25) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. If any member, therefore, would like to try this method, he should send, first of all, his name, his list of previous work, and a complete scenario of the work, showing its length, number of chapters, the story, the place and time, and anything that may recommend it. This scenario should be type-written, which would not cost more than two or three shillings. He can then learn whether he may hope for any success in this way. But, again, let him not blame the Editor should failure follmv. He would like to oblige all the members of the Society if he could. This syndicating is intended, of course, as a first step in the action of authors for themselves and by themselves. When we consider all the difficulties in the way: first, the profound distrust of anything to do with publishing that is spread over a des- pondent world; next, the suspicion and jealousy with which authors too often regard each other; thirdly, their colossal ignorance of all matters con- nected with their own business; and, fourthly, the danger of awakening extravagant hopes of a millen- nium to come the day after to-morrow—we might be excused if we desisted from the attempt. But when we consider how much the Society has done already, and is now doing, when we remember that we are the pioneers, and when we remember that in such a cause progress must be slow, we are resolved to persevere. All the steps that we have taken, all that we are going to take, are based upon one proposition: that literature belongs to the Poet—the Maker—not to the Trader—not to him who only sells. Editor. * THE PRESS AND THE SOCIETY. ONE reason, and that not the least, for the existence of such a journal as this is the necessity for keeping the Society and its objects from misrepresentation—wilful or through ignorance—in the newspaper press and in the magazines. We have read from time to time articles, both generous and appreciative, presenting our aims truthfully. We have also been misrepresented by numerous paragraphs, written either by persons totally unacquainted with this Society, or wholly ignorant of the subject, or maliciously inspired by our enemies. For instance, it has been the constant habit of these gentlemen to represent the Society as inspired by a blind hatred of all pub- lishers, thus attempting to identify themselves and their own frauds with the honourable houses. Or they find occasion to gird at the Society as talking against "the wicked publisher," implying that we are not defending ourselves against dishonest people, but attacking the whole trade. It has, however, been reserved for the Con- temporary Review, of all magazines in the world, to produce an article on the Society, and its work which is indeed amazing. One would not take notice of this production but for the fact that it suggests certain questions which should not only be administered to the author, but to all those persons who are contemplating such articles on this subject. If before sitting down to write, they will kindly read and consider these questions, they may possibly save themselves the subsequent affliction of discovering that they have been writing on a subject of which they know nothing. It is not necessary that we should reply in detail to the article; and, indeed, very much of it is exactly what we have always ourselves advocated. As for the rest—but the questions will themselves indicate the nature of the reply which might be made. They are these :— "Have you ever studied the different methods of publishing? If so, when and where? Under whose guidance, and with what advantages? "What steps have you taken to ascertain the cost of producing books, the money spent on advertising, the trade price of selling, the demand for different kinds of books, the risk in producing books, what and of what kind? In fact, what special knowledge do you possess of the publishing trade? "Whit have you learned, before writing this precious article, concerning the various kinds of agreement presented to authors by publishers? "Do you know, by personal examination and ex- perience, what these agreements represent, namely, can you tell, by reading an agreement, what the publisher offers to the author, and what he reserves for himself? "Do you know, by experience of your own, the treatment of authors by their publishers? In the case you quote, where you received twelve guineas, have you ascertained what amount was made by the publisher? "Are you aware that the body of men, whom you take upon yourself to assail, have been engaged ## p. 12 (#26) ############################################## 12 THE AUTHOR. for five years in a most careful and painstaking examination of the whole of the publishing business in every branch? "Are you aware that this body of men, the Committee of the Society of Authors, in all their publications have made, and are making, but one demand, namely, for just and honourable deal- ing? "Are you also aware that they have demanded, and are still demanding, not only equitable agree- ments, but the keeping of those agreements to the letter? "Have you read their reports and their circu- lars?" If you cannot answer these questions, we would submit another. "What right have you to be heard on the questions at all?" We would also ask you to select those adjectives in the English lan- guage which apply to one who ventures to talk in public on a subject concerning which he is pro- foundly ignorant. If you can answer these questions; if you have really made a study of a very difficult and obscure subject, kept purposely in obscurity by interested persons; if you have really read the reports and papers of the Society, and have duly considered and meditated on them, you have, perhaps, a right to speak. Supposing this to be the case, let us ask the writer what he means by the following :— "The bargain between author and publisher is one perfectly well understood." Is it? Then, we will ask him another question. It is this. "Will you, who so perfectly well understand the bargain between author and publisher, kindly ex- plain the following agreement?" A. B. publishes covenants with C. D. the author, as follows :— He is to have the sole copyright of a MS. on the following conditions. He is to publish it at his sole risk and expense: he is to sell it at 6s. each copy: after 500 copies are sold he is to give the author a royalty of 15 per cent, on the trade price, not the published price. He is to decide if any cheaper editions are to be issued: he is to have the power of selling off remainder of stock: he is, in fact, to have the complete control of the book. The book is printed in small pica, crown 8vo, and contains 21^ sheets. The question for you who understand so clearly the bargain between author and publisher is this. When 3,000 copies of the book have been sold, allowing ^30 for advertising, what profit the author has made and what the publisher? We will answer this question for you in our next number. Again, the author of this paper says, "The royalty system is so obviously fair that there is no need to say much about it." Quite so. Then we will put to him the follow- ing questions. "Will you kindly explain what you mean by the royalty system? What, if you please, is the royalty system? What percentage should be given on an equitable royalty? And why? What does that leave the publisher? You had, probably, something in your mind when you wrote the passage. What, we repeat, is the royalty system? Is it ten, twenty, thirty, forty per cent.? And, in any case, why do you fix upon that proportion, and what does it leave for the publisher?" Again, seeing that if our Society is strong on any point at all, it is upon the point of equitable agree- ments, seeing that from the outset it has never ceased to argue in favour of such agreements, and seeing that it has always insisted on such agree- ments being carried out honestly and to the letter, what does the writer of the paper mean by the following solemn peroration? "Are our contracts to be binding upon us only so long as we find it profitable to ourselves to keep them? "Are our moral instincts getting feebler? Are we losing our sense of honour? "Is our respect for the sacredness of plighted troth on the wane? "If they who ought to be the trainers of the national constitution are helping to improve it, and helping others to believe that literary workers are only workers for hire and determined on getting it, even at the price of broken faith and broken pledges, then there can be but a gloomy outlook for us all— the days of shame are at hand!" Really! This is indeed terrible. But this critic now has our questions before him and will perhaps answer them. Let us remind him, lastly, of certain lines, written a hundred and fifty years ago, and still, unhappily, applicable. Look thro' the world, in every other trade, The same employment's cause of kindness made; At least, appearance of goodwill creates, And every fool puffs off the fool he hates. Cobblers with cobblers smoke away the night, And in the common cause ev'n players unite. Authors alone, with more than savage rage, Unnatural war with brother authors wage. * ## p. 13 (#27) ############################################## the author. THE HELPABLE AUTHOR. From an Address by Edmund Gosse.* GRUB STREET is with us to-day. It is mitigated to some degree, no doubt— greatly mitigated—by the blessed institu- tion of journalism, which has opened the sluice and, to a great extent, let out the waters. With journalism in particular we have nothing to do here. But when we put aside the relief now afforded by journalism we find things much in the same condition as they were in the last century, or even in many cases worse, since, if journalism now exists, the patron does not exist. You have perhaps some idea, but I think it very possible that you have but little idea, of how much suffer- ing and miserj' is going on among what are called "people of letters" in the present day; how many men there are'that are struggling, loafing about the British Museum, and walking idly up and down Fleet Street—men who might perhaps be the Otways and Chattertons of the age if they had a little more encouragement given to them. But these people-—for again we must face the matter not with sentimentality but with common-sense— these men are divided into two great classes, the helpable and the unhelpable. Permit me for a moment to deal with the unhelpable. In the last century the unhelpable was typically exemplified by a certain Samuel Boyse, the author of a poem on the Deity. Samuel Boyse seems to have started in life with as many advantages as ever befel a man of letters. The number of Earls and Countesses that filed through bis career is enough to make the modern unpatroned author envious; but it was impossible for them to help Boyse. His whole life was a long continuation of his being picked up out of the gutter by some noble patron, put on his legs, and seen to fall again the moment he was left. He is the person who spent six weeks in his bed with his arm thrust through a blanket, because he had pawned every- thing which he possessed in the world, and who, when a subscription was made for him, spent the first money that came in, still in bed, with his hand still through the blanket, in a feast of truffles. The same Samuel Boyse opened a subscription for his poems, and, marvellous as it may seem, that was responded to. As the contributions came in they were, with slow regularity, expended upon a delightful potation called "Twopenny" — hot "Twopenny." Samuel Boyse had a commission given to him by a publisher, to translate Fenelon "On the Existence of the Deity," and he celebrated that event by immediately marrying. There was no help whatever for Samuel Boyse, and at last, * "Grievances of Authors." Field and Tuer. 2s. (xl. when he had gone through every possible phase of beggary and misery, he died. Do you suppose that there are no Samuel Boyses nowadays? Pardon me for insisting that there are. I will mention one instance which it is impossible can wound anyone now, an instance of a man who has been for some years past dead' and who I believe was known, or known of, by some of my friends on this platform. He was a man who came up from one of the Universities with some amount of knowledge, for he said he had taken a First, although it must be confessed that his name never could be found in the lists. This man had the highest ambition to excel in literature, yet all that he managed to make was 35*. a week from the editor of a weekly paper, to keep himself in board and lodging. Well, if this man had had the slightest power of helping himself, there is no doubt that he might have risen to better things; but he was in a much worse position than Boyse, for there was no interest taken in him by the aristocracy, and no curiosity felt about his poems. He was left to his unaided efforts. His unaided efforts plunged him lower and lower in the tide of things, till at last, at the office where he got his only salary, a meerschaum pipe was missed by the editor. There was some mystery about it for a little while, when there came a letter from the contributor, saying that the Rubicon was now crossed, and that he wished to resign his position on the paper; he enclosed a ticket from a pawn- broker. After this unfortunate incident, he sank lower and lower, till he hung all day about the British Musuem. At last he became a super at a theatre, and then he faded out altogether. Now, those two persons, whom I take as types, belong to the unhelpable class, with which we can do nothing. What, then, of the helpable author? The helpable author is not the fashionable novelist, the fashionable essayist, the successful man who has many other strings to his bow, who has a salary here, who has private means there. No! The person whom we wish, if possible, to do some- thing to help is the half-successful writer, the person who has a right to exist, and who yet cannot force himself, or herself, strongly upon the public. And there are two classes of the helpable to whom I would specially draw attention. One of those consists of women. Here again I speak of the smaller, yet legitimately successful, lady-writers. My own impression is that most ladies of this class claim rather less than more of what they have a right to; they have their small circle of readers, a circle for whom they prepare innocent and delightful recreation. They have a right to be protected for the sake of these readers, as well as for their own sake. They have ## p. 14 (#28) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. a right to demand that there should be some body, some society, ready to see that they do not fall into traps, that they.do not become the prey of sharpers, and, in short, to protect their legitimate interests. And there is, again, another class of the helpable; that is the beginner, the new man of genius. I know nothing that strikes one more in observing literary life than the fact that the new man, the man who comes forward with a book for the first time, unless he is exceedingly lucky, makes a mistake. He forms a disadvantageous bargain, he does something or other which cripples him at the outset, and this he has to wipe out and forget before he can make a proper start. The beginner, therefore, forms another class whom we desire, by this Society, to have the privilege of protecting and helping. * ON COMMITTEE. DURING the present year, up to May the first, forty-eight new members have joined the Society. This is a very gratifying increase. At the same time it cannot be denied that there are a large number of persons engaged in the profession of literature who look coldly on without joining the Society, while we are working in their interests. That our efforts have not been fruitless is shown by many facts. For instance, before we began, every publisher would have felt himself insulted at the mere proposal to audit his accounts. No publisher would now refuse. Again, while four or five years ago authors were meekly accepting a ten per cent, royalty, they are getting almost everywhere two- pence in the shilling, which is a sixteen per cent, royalty, and in some cases twenty and twenty-five per cent, royalty. The influence of the Society is also shown by the eagerness of certain houses to offer guarantees of good faith. The policy of the Committee has always been the same: to ascertain carefully and to set forth the truth as to cost of pro- duction, trade returns and profits, methods of pub lication and what they mean—agreements and what they mean—in short, to supply their members with the means of ascertaining what it is that a prof- fered agreement gives the author and what it reserves to the publisher. To learn these things has taken the Committee five years of unremitting labour. Nor are they quite certain, yet, that they have learned the whole truth. Those who looked for a sudden revolution in the business relations of literature, as well as those who looked for no prac- tical results at all, are equally disappointed. The Society, however, has pursued and is pursuing the even tenor of its way. The "Cost of Production" is out of print— another edition, after correcting a few errors of no great importance, will be issued as soon as it can be got ready. The Committeehave carefully considered theques- tion of the proposed "leaflets," the result of these deliberations being the appearance of "The Author." The Chairman was fortunate enough to secure at a second-hand book shop, Wilkie Collins's large collection of tracts and papers connected with International Copyright. He has presented them to the Society. A memorial has been drawn up addressed to the First Lord of the Treasury on the subject of the Civil Pensions List. Next month, perhaps, we may have more to say on the subject. At the beginning of last year the Chairman addressed to the Guardian a series of letters on the management of the Literary Department of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, with no other apparent effect than to call forth a good deal of private correspondence from authors who have been in the hands of this Department. Early this year he again addressed the Publication Committee on a special case, with the expected result. He has now written a pamphlet on the whole question, which, together with the previous correspondence, will be published immediately. The points at issue are confidently left to the decision of the public. A case of extensive fraud—so extensive that the man chiefly concerned is found to have a hundred unpublished MSS. in his possession—was taken up by the Committee, but broke down owing to the refusal of the victims to give evidence! This is an interesting illustration of the black ignorance which prevails as to literary property. Not one of these men or women, had he or she been robbed of a watch, a purse, a mantle, or an umbrella, but would have gone straight to the nearest magistrate and gave evidence fearlessly. But it was only a manuscript—only a thing which might have been worth many thousand pounds! In such a case as this, we can only hope to instruct the world and gradually to create as great a jealousy over literary property as prevails for every other kind. In another case, however, when the victim was willing and ready to come forward, we recovered for him the money of which he had been plundered and the unsold copies of his work. A case was recently brought before us in which a country newspaper had republished, without permission, a paper from a magazine. We obtained compensation for the author. Mr. Sprigge's book on the "Methods of Publica- tion," with the frauds, tricks, and dangers to which the author is exposed in every one, is very nearly ready. It will be issued as soon as possible. ## p. 15 (#29) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 15 A circular letter has been issued by the Copy- right Committee addressed to colonial libraries and booksellers asking for information on the sale of pirated editions in the various colonies, and how far such editions damage the sale of the authorised English editions. The draft of the Copyright Bill has been placed in the hands of Mr. James Rolt, New Square, Lincoln's Inn, for revision up to the date of the latest legislation. The question of copyright in pieces for recitation has been brought before the Committee. It was suggested that perhaps authors might not feel themselves injured by a recitation which could not fail to increase their popularity. It was decided to ask the opinion of two gentlemen, well known pro-' ducers of such pieces. It was recently stated in a morning paper that any person, author or not, may become a member of this Society. The statement was publicly denied by the Chairman. As, however, there existed no bye-law on the subject, but only the practice of the Committee, and the implied understanding that members should be authors, three have been passed, viz.:— 1. No one shall be eligible for membership or fellowship of the Society who is not actually an author of some published literary or artistic work. 2. Should anyone desire to consult the Society as to literary work, without having as yet qualified for membership, the Secretary may then and there— reporting the case at the next Committee Meeting — admit him as an Associate only, on payment of one guinea, his privileges to consist only of the right to ask advice from the office, this right to terminate at the end of the current year. Such an Associate can have no part in the administration. 3. Any donor of ten guineas shall be admitted by the Secretary then and there, reporting the case at the next Committee, to be an Honorary Associate of the Society. Such Associate can take no part in the administration. * LITERARY QUERIES. I. Who Wrote This Ballad? BOLD TURPIN upon Hounslow Heath His black mare Bess bestrode, When he saw a Bishop's coach and four Sweeping along the road: He bade the coachman stop, but he, Suspecting of the job, His horses lashed—but soon rolled off With a brace of slugs in his nob. Galloping to the carriage door, He thrust his face within, When the Chaplain cried—" Sure as eggs is eggs That is the bold Turpin." Quoth Turpin, "You shall eat your words With sauce of leaden bullet:" So clapped his pistol to his mouth, And fired it down his gullet. The Bishop fell upon his knees, When Turpin bade him stand: And gave him his watch, a bag of gold, And six bright rings from his hand. Rolling with laughter Turpin plucked The Bishop's wig from his head, And popp'd it on the Chaplain's poll As he sat in the corner dead. Upon the box he tied him then, With the reins behind his back, Put a pipe in his mouth, the whip in his hand, And set off the horses smack! Then whispered in the black mare's ear, Who luckily wasn't fagg'd, "You must gallop fast and far, my dear, Or I shall be surely scragg'd." He never drew bit, nor stopped to bait, Nor walked up hill or down, Until he came to Gloucester Gate, Which is the Assizes town. Full eighty miles in one dark night He made his black mare fly, And walk'd into court at nine o'clock, To swear an alibi. A hue and cry the Bishop raised, And so did Sheriff Forster, But stared to hear that Turpin was By nine o'clock at Gloucester. So all agreed it couldn't be him Neither by hook nor crook: And said that the Bishop and Chaplain was Most certainly mistook. * AT WORK. This column is reserved entirely for Members of the Society, wlio are invited to keep tlie Editor acquainted with their work and engagements. PROFESSOR MAX MULLER is engaged in preparing for the press his second volume of Gifford Lectures, delivered last year at Glasgow. The title will be Physical Religion. The next courses, which will be delivered at Glasgow in 1891 and 1892, will treat of Anthropological and Psychological Religion. Professor Max Muller's new edition of the "Rig- Veda," with Sayana's Commentary, is progressing. ## p. 16 (#30) ############################################## i6 THE A UTHOR. Two volumes of 800 pages 4to. are finished. The third volume is passing through the press, and it is hoped that the whole work, in four volumes, will be ready for the ninth meeting of the International Con- gress of Orientalists, to be held at Oxford in 1892. Mr. Edmund Gosse will publish this month a reprint of his early poems, under the title of " On Viol and Flute" (Messrs. Kcgan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co.), with illustrations by Mr. Alma Tadema and Mr. Hamo Thornycroft. The June volume of the "Camelot Classics" will be the Scandinavian portion of Mr. Gosse's "Northern Studies," originally issued in 1879. Mr. Gosse is also engaged on a collected edition of the poetical works of Thomas Lovell Beddoes, founded on the papers placed in his hands by the late Mr. Robert Browning. Mr. Alfred Austin is engaged upon a poem, in form more or less like "Prince Lucifer," which will exhibit the influence and operation of Pessimism on a richly endowed nature. Messrs. Macmillan will publish early in the autumn a collected edition of his poetical works in six volumes. The collected verses of Mr. Walter Herries Pollock will shortly appear in one of the volumes called the "Rosslyn Series" (Remington and Co.). A story, entitled "A Blind Musician," adapted from the Russian of Korolenko by Stepniak and William Westall, has just been published by Ward and Downey. In the course of a few days the same publishers will issue by the same author a collection of strange crimes put into narrative form and told in tales. Mr. James Payn's "The Burnt Million," 3 vols., has just been published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. "London City." Those who appreciated Mr. Loftie's " Kensington," will be glad to hear that he has completed a similar work for the same publishers —Messrs. Field and Tuer. It will be illustrated by Mr. W. Luker, junior. The published price will be 42J.; but subscribers who pay in advance can have it for 2 if. Mr. Stanley Little is engaged upon a novel dealing with Sussex life and scenes. His new play will probably see the light in the autumn. Mr. Rudyard Kipling's "Plain Tales from the Hills " will form one of the next volumes of Baron Tauchnitz's Continental Series of English Authors. Mr. Henry Hermann's "Scarlet Fortune" is to be issued in shilling form by Messrs. Trischler and Co. His "Eagle Joe" will shortly appear as a special number of the Illustrated London News. Mr. David Christie Murray has completed his lecture engagements in Australia, and is now lecturing in New Zealand. Mr. G. G. Chisholm's "Handbook of Com- mercial Geography" has recently been published by Messrs. Longmans and Co. (515 pp., 29 maps, and index, price \(ss.) This work is an attempt to give interest to the leading facts of commerce by setting forth the natural conditions that account for the magnitude and direction of international com- merce all over the globe. The work is divided into two main sections, one dealing with com- modities, the other with countries. There is also a statistical appendix which shows by five years' averages the absolute and relative amount of foreign trade in the more important articles of the chief commercial countries of the world. Mrs. Alec Tweedie, author of "A Girl's Ride in Iceland" (Griffith, Farran, and Co., 5*.), has pub- lished (Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., 2s. 6d.) a little book on the "Oberammergau Passion Play." It contains historical notes, an account of the origin of Passion Plays, a full account of the Play itself, and of the country (how to reach it, &c), with a chapter on Church Plays specially written for this work by the Rev. Canon Shuttleworth. Mr. John W. Lovell, of New York, has effected a publishing combination which may prove of great importance to English authors. Under the system of unlicensed competition in the sale of English books, which has been developing in the United States for the past five years or more, the works of popular English writers, and especially of English novelists, have been reproduced in half a dozen ditferent editions within a week of the appearance of the authorised American edition. This has resulted in a war of prices which has left little or no profit out of which the recognised editor can pay the English writer. At the same time the quality of the books produced under this suicidal system has grown steadily worse. Mr. Lovell has purchased the plates and stock of no less than twenty of the principal American firms engaged in the business of issuing reprints of English books. This reduction of twenty competing houses to one will certainly tend to bring order out of the chaos which has been so destructive alike to the interests of the English author and the American publisher. Mr. Lovell has a large opportunity and should he, as there is reason to hope, use it responsibly, the amalgamation of trade interests which he has accomplished will be likely to bring about beneficent results for English writers. Mr. James Baker, F.R.G.S., has recently brought out "By the Southern Sea, a Summer Idyll" (Longmans, 6s.). The work has been well received, not only here, but in America. The same author's ## p. 17 (#31) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. *7 "Papers on Forgotten Great Englishmen," which appeared in the Leisure Hour, have had the effect of reviving the memory of one Englishman at least, who was for nearly fifty years a leader of the Wyclyfites in Bohemia. The papers have been translated into Czech, and will appear as a feuilleton in the Silve Slivo, a Bohemian paper. Mr. T. Bailey Saunders has in the Press "Coun- sels and Maxims," being the second part of Arthur Schopenhauser's "Aphorismen zur Leibesweis- heit." It is to be uniform with his "Wisdom of Life," the first part of the same work (Sonnenschein and Co., 2s. 6d.). His translation of Schopen- hauser's "Religious Dialogues, and other Essays," is going into a second edition. The Rev. E. Gough has brought out (Kegan Paul, and Co., price i6x. each volume) the third volume of his work, entitled, "The Bible True from the Beginning." He proposes to complete it in seven volumes. The author writes, "The two chief principles of the work are the following. First, that there is in Scripture a system of grades and grade words which proves the Bible to be verbally inspired. Second, that far beyond what is usually supposed, the histories contained in the Bible are moral and not literal." Mr. Rider Haggard's "Beatrice," now running, is published by a syndicate of papers. The "World's Desire," in which he has collaborated with Mr. Andrew Lang, is running in the New Review. The first quarter's collection of stories syndicated for the Society has been sold for serial right—one appearance only, after which each becomes again the property of the owner—in Great Britain, America, India, Australia, and New Zealand. The Editor is now preparing the second quarter's col- lection. Will members who desire to belong kindly read the leaflet on "Syndicating " in this number? Mrs. Oliphant will next year contribute a novel to the Sun. At present she is in the Holy Land, and writes that the change of air and scenery has greatly invigorated her. Dr. George Macdonald has written the Christmas Number for the Sunday Magazine. Mr. W. F. Smith, Fellow and Lecturer of St. John's College, Cambridge, has finished a new translation of Rabelais. The text will be illustrated by copious notes, giving among other things the sources whence this great Master drew. A limited edition only will be published, signed and numbered. No cheaper edition will be produced. The trade will not sell it at a lower than the subscription price. The agent for the work is Mr. A. P. Watt, 2, Paternoster Square. The editor of Lippincott's Magazine has secured Mr. Clarke Russell and Mr. Rudyard Kipling for an early date. The many admirers of "Owen Meredith " will make a note that his "Ring of Amasis" has just been published (Macmillan, 3*. 6d.). Mr. Grant Allen has completed a new three- volume novel. Sir George Douglas is compiling the volume of "Scottish Minor Poets" for the Canterbury Series. Starting with Ramsay's publication of the "Tea Table Miscellany" in the year 1724 (in which a few original contributions were included), the collection will comprise selections from Tannahill, Mother- well, Lady Nairne, and a whole host of minor writers, and will terminate probably with a specimen of the song-writer's art by the late Dr. Charles Mackay. The volume will be prefaced by a critical and historical introduction, and will be inscribed to the Lady John Scott, the foremost living writer of Scottish Song. The new weekly called Short Cuts begins with a novel by Mr. George Sims. The conductors seem to have secured as fine a collection of contributors as can be found in the lists of any magazine in the world. Presumably, taste in popular reading has been developed as well as the number of readers. Almost every writer of note seems included in the list. The Rev. Charles D. Bell, D.D., of Cheltenham, has just published "A Winter on the Nile" (Hodder and Stoughton, price 6d.), containing the record of a tour up the Nile as far as the Second Cataract, with a sojourn at Luxor and a description of recent discoveries and antiquities at Bubastis and the Fayoum. The same author has recently issued " Reminiscences of a Boyhood in the Early Part of the Century" (Sampson, Low, and Co., price bd.). "Church and Creed" (William Blackwood and Sons, price 4s. 6d.), by Professor Momerie, which appeared in December last, has gone into a second edition. His "Origin of Evil" is in its sixth edition, and his "Agnosticism " in the third. Mr. Edward Walford, his long connection with Messrs. Hurst and Blackett being severed after a period of twenty-seven years, has commenced a new Peerage, called the "Royal Windsor Peerage," at a cost of one-third the price of Lodge. He has added lists of an order of knighthood, that of St. John of Jerusalem, of which the Queen has become Patron and Head, and the Prince of Wales Grand Prior. ## p. 18 (#32) ############################################## i8 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Walford is also bringing out at, he requests us to say, his own cost, a "Life of William Pitt," in which he advances new and striking views of that statesman. The title of Mr. C. F. Keary's newly-published novel is "A Mariage dc Convenance" (Fisher Unwin, 2 vols., price 21s.). Mr. McGrigor Allan, author of "Women's Suffrage Wrong in Principle and Practice," has in hand two treatises, one called "The Tobacco Scourge," the other, "Advantages of a Channel Tunnel to our Enemies. A second edition is just ready of Mr. F. Howard Collins's " Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy" (Williams and Norgate, 1 vol., 8vo, 15s.). The work has been favourably received in America, and has been translated at the present time into French, German, and Russian. Professor A. H. Church, F.R.S., has just issued his "Chemistry of Paints and Painting" (Seeley and Co., 8vo, pp. 312). Mr. Geo. Williamson, editor of Boyne's "Seven- teenth Century Tokens," has in hand a book on "Coins of the Bible." Mr. Egmont Hake's work, "Free Trade in Capital," which has greatly interested the Emperor of Germany, is being translated into German. * NOTES. HE date of the Annual Dinner has not yet been fixed, but it will be held rather earlier in the year than formerly. Circulars will be sent out as soon as the date has been definitely decided upon. The Secretary earnestly begs that in all cases where a member can do so, he will give notice at the office early of his intention to be present. Last year the dinner suffered from the fact that the tables were over-crowded. As, however, one quarter of those present signified their intention within the last day or two, the discomfort, if any, was unavoid- able. The tickets for the dinner will be, as last year, 10s. 6d. This sum will include claret. Payment should be made to "Society of Authors (Dinner Account)," and all Cheques and Postal Orders should be crossed, "Imperial Bank, Westminster Branch." Much letter writing would be saved—a serious consideration to an office whose clerical staff is very small—if members would enclose the money when ordering the tickets. The Committee hope that as many members as possibly can, will be present. In all cases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents and a type-written scenario. This latter can always be done at the expense of two or three shillings. It must be clearly understood that a prac- tised reader does not require to read the whole of an author's work before being perfectly able to give a just opinion on its merits. If by the help of a scenario the reader can grasp at once the story, he is so much the more able readily to point out any errors of construction, and to devote more time to examination of style and other technical points. If he know the author's design, it is possible to say if he has succeeded or failed. With the honestest intent in the world to thoroughly peruse a manu- script, it is difficult not to get weary when the work is badly written, and wrongly paged, and when much time has to be idly spent in finding out what the author's story is before a decision can be arrived at concerning its merits. The more the reader is helped, the better he can discharge his duties. It has been brought to our notice that certain people are advertising that they publish "on terms approved by the Society of Authors," or words to that effect. It is pleasing to receive this acknowledgment of our labours, but we are compelled to warn readers that the Society is wholly unconnected with any firm of publishers whatever. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. This list includes books by members published since the beginning of the year. In future issues the list will be monthly. If omissions are dis- covered the Editor will be glad to receive them. Religious. Gough, Edward. The Bible true from the Beginning. Vols. II and III. Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. 165. each. Harper, Henry A. The Bible and Modern Discoveries. 8vo, pp. 536. A. P. Watt. ids. Lightfoot (Late Bishop of Durham). The Apostolic Fathers. Part II. 3 vols. Mac- millan. 48.C Art, Fiction, and Belles Lettres. Allen, Grant. The Tents of Shem. A Novel. Chatto and Windus. 6d. The Tents of Shem. 3 vols. Chatto and Windus. 3if. 6d. ## p. 19 (#33) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 19 Besant, Walter. The Holy Rose. Chatto and Windus. 6s. Black, William. The New Prince Fortunatus. 3 vols. Sampson Low. 31J. 6d. Blackmore, R. D. Kit and Kitty: A Story of West Middlesex. 3 vols. Sampson Low. 3is. 6d. Bramston, M. Apples of Sodom. A Novel. 2 vols. Smith and Innes. 12s. Caird, Mona. The Wing of Azrael. 3 vols. Triibner and Co. 3 if. 6d. The Wing of Azrael. Kegan Paul and Triib- ner and Co. 6s. Cameron, Mrs. H. Lovett. The Cost of a Lie. A Novel. 2nd Edition. F. V. White, is. Crawford, F. Marion. Sant I'lario. New Edition. Macmillan. 6,r. Marzio's Crucifix. New Edition. Macmillan. 3*. 6d. Zoroaster. Macmillan. 3^. 6d. Coleman, John. The White Ladye of Rosemount: A Story of the Modern Stage. Hutchinson. 2S. Collins, Wilkie (The late). A Rogue's Life from his Birth to his Marriage. Chatto and Windus. 2s.; y. 6d. Blind Love. A Novel. 3 vols. Chatto and Windus. 315. 6d. Croker, Mrs. Some One Else. Low. 2s.; 2s. 6d. Crommelin, May. Cross Roads. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. Crommelin, May, and Brown, John Moray. Violet Vyvian, M.F.H. A Novel. F. V. White. 2s. 6d. Desart, Earl of. The Little Chatelaine. 3 vols. Swan Sonnenschein. 315. 6d. Goodchili>, J. A. A Fairy Godfather. Reming- ton. 6s. Hoey, Mrs. Cashel. The Question of Cain. New and Revised Edition. Ward and Downey. 6*. Kennard, Mrs. Edward. Landing a Prize. A Novel. F. V. White. 2S. 6d. Kipling, Rudyard. Departmental Ditties, and other Verses. Thaclter and Co. Soldiers Three: Stories of Barrack Room Life. Sampson Low. Lang, Andrew. Old Friends. Longmans. 6s. 6d. Lyall, Edna. The Hardy Norseman. New Edition. Hurst and Blackett. 6s. Lytton, Lord. The Ring of Amasis. Macmillan and Co. Mackay, Charles (The late). A Thousand and One Gems of English Prose. New Edition. Routledge. 3*. 6d. Middlemore, S. C. C. The Great Age of Italian Painting. Simpkin. 5*. Mitford, Bertram. The Fire Trumpet. A Romance of the Frontier. 3 vols. Spencer Blackett. 315. 6d. Monkhouse, Cosmo. The Earlier English Water Colour Painters. Seeley. 21*. Murray, D. Christie. John Vale's Guardian. 3 vols. Macmillan. 31J. 6d. A Dangerous Catspaw. Longmans. 2s. 6d. Aunt Rachel: A Rustic Sentimental Journey. Macmillan. .3*. 6d. Nomad. A Railway Foundling. 3 vols. Trischler and Co. Oliphant, Mrs. Lady Car: The Sequel of a Life. New Edition. Longmans. 2s. 6d. Payn, James. A Prince of the Blood. 4th Edition. Ward and Downey. 2s. ■ The Burnt Million. 3 vols. Chatto and Windus. Praed, Mrs. Campbell. The Romance of a Station. 2 vols. Trischler. 2ij-. Price, Eleanor C. A Loyal Mind. A Novel. Remington. 6s. Ross, Ronald. The Child of Ocean. A Romance. Remington. 6s. Robinson, S. W. A Very Strange Family. Heeneman. Sala, G. A. Not a Friend in the World, and other Stories. Dicks, is. Speight, S. W. The Sandycroft Mystery. Chatto and Windus. is. Tytler, Sarah. Duchess Frances. 3 vols. Low. 21s. Vredenburg, Edric. Her Secret: A Short Account of Some Extraordinary Episodes in the Life of a London Beauty. Eglington and Co. is. Wills, C. J. The Great Doremi. Wells Gard- ner, is. Winter, John Strange. Beautiful Jim of the Blankshire Regiment. 5th Edition. F. V. White. 2s. Yonge, Charlotte M. Womankind. Smith and Innes. 3*. 6d. Politics and Questions of the Day. Hake, A. Egmont and Wesslau, O. E. Free Trade in Capital. Remington. 15^. Linton, E. Lynn. About Ireland. Methuen. is. Children's Books. Holland, Clive. Raymi; or, The Children of the Sun. Illustrated by Percy E. Ebbutt. Henry and Co. 5*. ## p. 20 (#34) ############################################## 20 THE AUTHOR. Lyall, Edna. Their Happiest Christmas. Chambers, is. Wilde, Oscar. The Happy Prince, and other Tales. Nutt. 3s. 6d. Local History. Kitchen, G. W. Winchester (Historic Towns). Longmans. 31. 6d. Classics. Lang, A. Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus. Ren- dered into English Prose, with Introductory Essay. Macmillan. gs. MacKail, J. W. Virgil: the Eclogues and Georgics. Translated from the Latin. Rivingtons. 5s. Stedman, A. M. M. Greek Vocabularies for Repetition. Arranged according to Subjects. Methuen. is. 6d. Biography and History. Bryce, James. The American Commonwealth. 2 vols. Macmillan. 25J. Garnett, Richard. Life of John Milton. (Great Writers.) Walter Scott. is.; l.p. 2s. 6d. Govett, L. A. The King's Book of Sports. Elliot Stock. 4s. 6d. Haggard, H. Rider. Cetywayo and his White Neighbours; or, Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal. Triibner. 6s. Meiklejohn, J. (M.D.) A New History of Eng- land and Great Britain. With Maps and Tables. Holden (St. Andrew's) Simpkin. 2s. 6d. Nicoll, W. Robertson. James Macdonnell, Journalist. With Etched Portrait by H. Manesse. Hodder and Stoughton. 1 is. Poetry and the Drama. Blind, Mathilde. The Ascent of Man. Poems. Chatto and Windus. 5*. Jerome, Jerome K. Stage Land. 5th Edition. Chatto and Windus. 3.1. 6d. Tennyson, Lord. Demeter, and other Poems. Macmilian. 6s. Poems, Songs from. J. M. Dent and Co. Gilt, is. 6d.; Six Illustrations, 2s. 6d. Music. Stanford, C. V., Prof. Suite for Violin Solo, with Orchestral Accompaniments (Op. 32). Full Score. Novello. 21*. European Languages. Stedman, A. M. M. French Vocabularies for Repetition. Arranged according to Subjects. Methuen. is. Medical and Surgical. Squire, Balmanno. On the Treatment of Diabetes. Churchill. 2s. 6d. Law and Parliamentary. Lely, J. M., and Peck, W. A. Precedents of I.eases for Years and other Contracts of Tenancy. Sweet and Maxwell. 10s. 6d. Pollock (Sir Frederick). Principles of Contract. 5th Edition. With a New Chapter. Stevens and Sons. 285. Philosophy. Nevill, F. Retrogression or Development. Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. 3s. 6d. Directories and Guide Books. Walford (Edward). The County Families of the United Kingdom. New Edition. Chatto and Windus. 505. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, VV.C.) 8vo. 4*. 6d. Opinions of the Press. "An instructive inquiry."—Daily News. "Contains abundance of interesting material."— Saturday Review. "A review of the Pension List is not calculated to make us more content with the way in which the Grant is administered."—Spectator. "The volume contains a complete list of all those who have received Civil List Pensions during the present reign, and an investigation into the principles upon which the Grant has been based, and those upon which it should have been based." —Athena; urn. "Full of curious literary interest."—Pali Mall Gazette. "Since it deals only with officially authenticated facts, there can be no doubt about the evidence on which its conclusions are based."— World. "An interesting work."—Truth. "The lesson it conveys is, that some alteration in the law is essential."—Liverpool Daily Courier. "One can only hope that the book, interesting and trustworthy as it is, will effect its purpose."— Yorkshire Daily Post. ## p. 21 (#35) ############################################## AD VER TISEMENTS. 21 CHATTO & WINDUS, Publishers. NOVELS BY WALTER BESANT AND JAMES RICE. Crown ivo., cloth extra, 3/. 61/. each ; post 8ro., illustrated, boards, 2s. each ; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. The Golden Butterfly. The Monks of Thelema. By Celia's Arbour. The Chaplain of the Fleet. Also a New Library Edition of the above 12 vols., printed from new type on a large crown 8vo. page, and handsomely bound in cloth. Price 6s. each. Ready-Money Mortiboy. My Little Girl. With Harp and Crown. This Son of Vulcan. The Seamy Side. The Case of Mr. Lucraft, &c. 'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay, &c. The Ten Years' Tenant, &c. NOVELS BY WALTER BESANT. Crtnvn &ro., cloth extra, p. 6rf. each ; post %vo., illustrated boards, 2.r. each; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. All Sorts and Conditions of Men. Illustrated by Fred. Barnard. The Captains' Room, &c. With Frontispiece by E. J. Whbelkr. All in a Garden Fair. With 6 Illustrations by Harry FlTRNISS. Dorothy Forster. With Frontispiece by Charles Green. Uncle Jack, and other Stories. Children of Gibeon. The World Went Very Well Then. Illustrated by A- FoRESTlER. Heir Paulus: his Rise, his Greatness, and his Fall. For Faith and Freedom. Illustrated by A. Forestier and F. Waddv. Crown 8vo., cloth extra, 3J. 6d. To Call Her Mine, &c. With nine Illustrations by A. Fcrestier. Crown 8vo., cloth extra, dr. The Holy Rose, &c. With a Frontispiece by F. Barnard. Crown 8vo., cloth extra, 6x. The Bell of St. Paul's. Crown 8vo., 3/. 6d. Shortly. Fifty Years Ago. With 137 full-page Plates and Wood- cuts. Demy 8vo., cloth extra, 16s. The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies. With Photograph Portrait. Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth extra, 6s. The Art of Fiction. Demy 8vo., is. NEW LIBRARY NOVELS. The Burnt Million. Proxy," &c. 3 Vols. By James Payn, Author of "By Syrlin. By Ouida. 3 Vols., crown 8vo. Without Love or Licence. By Hawley Smart. 3 Vols. The Bishops' Bible. By D. Christie Murray and Henry Hkrman. 3 Vols. A Waif of the Plains. By Bret IIarte, Author of "The Luck of Roaring Camp.' With Sixty Illustrations by Stanley L. Wood. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3*. 6d. NEW SIX-SHILLING BOOKS. Paul Jones's Alias, &c. By D. Christie Murray and Hf.nry Herman. With Thirteen Illustrations by A. Forestier and G Nicolet. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6*. The Lawton Girl. By Harold Frederic, Author of "Scth's Brother's Wife. With Frontispiece by F. Barnard. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. The Firm of Girdlestone: A Romance of the Unromantic. By A. Conam Doyle, Author of " Micah Clarke," Szc. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. The Man from Manchester. By Dick Donovan. With Twenty-three Illustrations by J. H. Russell. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s History of the Four Georges. By Justin McCakthy, M.P., Author of "A History of Our Own Times," &c. 4 Vols., demy 8vo, cl. ex., i2i. eact». [Voir. I. &* II. retniy.] Short History of our own Times. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. Popular Edition. Post 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. HISTORY, &c. The French Revolution. By Justin H. McCarthy, M.P., Author of " Ireland since the Union," &c. 4 Vols., demy 8vo, 12*. each. [Vols I. cV //. ready.] Tales of our Great Families. By Edward Walford, M.A. Revised Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3*. 6d. NEW "PICCADILLY NOVELS. Croivn Svo., cloth extra, p. 6d. each. An Ocean Tragedy. By \V. Clark Russell. I Sowing the Wind. A Rogue's Life. By Wilkie Collins. [ "Patrica Kemball," &c. By E. Lynn Linton, Author of {Shortly.} A Social Departure. How Orthodocia and I went Round the World by Ourselves. By Sara Jeannette Duncan. With 112 Illustrations by F. H. Townsend. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7J. 6*1. [Shortly]. TRAVEL AND SPORT. The Blue Ribbon of the Turf. Cuhzon. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. By Louis Henry HENRY BLACKBURN'S ART HANDBOOKS. Academy Notes, 1890. Grosvenor Notes, 1890. With Sketches, is. With Sketches, is. New Gallery Notes, 1890. With Sketches, is. The Paris Salon, 1890. With Sketches, 3s. London: CHATTO & WINDUS, 214, Piccadilly, W. ## p. 22 (#36) ############################################## 22 A D VER TISEMENTS. MESSRS. WHITTAKER'S BOOKS OF REFERENCE. Large post 8w, cloth js. 6d.; half bound, 94-. SOBRIQUETS AND NICKNAMES. By Albert Frey. With an Index arranged by True Names. "The first work that li;is twen iU;voted to the cxpl.in.ition and derivation of the numberless witty and sonmiinabus ve npptMl.itions ... it dcserres the heartiest praise."—Glasgow Herald. "More than five thousand subjects are given, and the information supplied is trustworthy and often extensive; a' close scrutiny of the book show* the work to l»e thoroughly done."—Notts and Queries. "Oilers an ample fund of informal ion and amusement—deserves a place in every well-chosen library."—Meriting Post. A Dictionary 0/Parisisms and French Slang. Large Post Zro, ioj. 6dt ARGOT AND SLANG. A New French and English Dictionary of the Cant Words, Quaint Expressions, Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases used in the High and Low Life of Old and New Paris. By A. Bakrkke, Officier de l'lnstruction Publique, Professor R. M. Academy, Woolwich. The work treats of the cant of thieves; the jargon rf Parisian roughs; the military, naval, parliamentary, academical, legal, and freemasons' slang, of that of the workshop, the studio, the stage, the boulevards, the demimonde. A Companion to the Works of Allan Ramsay, R. Burns, Sir W. Scott and all the Scottish Poets. Just fiublishtd, large Post Zvo, cloth, ys. 6d.t or half bound Ss. 6d. A dictionary of lowland scotch, with an Introductory chapter on the Literary* History and the Poetry and Humour of the Scottish language, and an appendix of Scottish Proveros. 'By Charles Mack ay, LL.D. Also a large paper edition, limited to 125 copies, each numbeied and signed by the Author, of which a few arc still on sale, in Vellum, at j£i 5J., and in Roxburgh, at £1 10s. London: WHITTAKER & Co., Paternoster Square. MR. ELKIN MATHEWS'S LIST. Noiv ready, crown Svo., brotiw buckram, gilt to*>, js. 6Vf*. ROBERT BROWNING: Essays and Thoughts. By JOHN T. NETTLESIIII'. Also Edition de Luxe, limited to 75 copies, Whatman L. P., numbered and signed, price 21s. net. Just Published, finely printed l>y Claris, of Edinburgh, on hand-made paper, in an edition 0/ 350 copies, foo.'scap fc'O., at 6s, net, and 50 copies, crtni'ft Ato. (for sale), numbered and signed, at 15*. net. CORN AND POPPIES. By COSMO MONKHOUSE. The L.P. copies contain as Frontispiece, proofs of an Etching by William Strang. Ncnv ready, criKv/t 8i'0., buckram, gilt top, 6s. THE POETRY OF TENNYSON. By the Rev. HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D. eady early in June, printed on hand-made Paper at the Chisivich Press, in an edition of 350 copies, at 55. net, and 50 copies large Paper, numbered and signed, at :cr. 6d. net, CHAMBERS TWAIN. By ERNEST RADFORD. With a Frontispiece by Walter Crane. Ready shortly, post 8ro., cloth, 2S. DANTE: Six Sermons. By the Rev. PHILIP H. WICKSTEED, M.A., Author of "The Alphabet of Economic Science," &c. Realty shortly, post St'O. cloth ys. 6tl., luith portrait, &c. GEORGE MEREDITH, Novelist and Poet. Some Characteristics. By RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. With a Bibliography by John Lane. London: Elkin Mathews, Vigo Street, London, W. Sent, post free, upon application. A Complete Catalogue of Works published by MESSRS. BELL, Containing the following Standard Works, which they think will be found peculiarly suitable to Authors as Works of Reference. Bibliotheca Classica. 26 vols. (Onlyfewsetsleft). Bohn's Dictionary of Poetical Quotations. Fourth Edition. Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. 2 volumes. New Edition, Revised. By Walter Armstrong and others. Cooper's Biographical Dictionary. 2 volumes. Denton's England in the Fifteenth Century. Dodd's Epigrammatists. The most complete work on Epigrams yet issued. Gasc's Concise Dictionary of the French and English Languages. Fourth Edition, Revised. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology. 4 Volumes. Guest's History of English Rhythms. Lewin's Life and Epistles of St. Paul. Illustrated. 2 volumes. Long's Decline of the Roman Republic. 5 volumes. Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature. In n parts or 4 volumes. Lupton's Life of Dean Colet. Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists of the English School. Smith's Synonyms and Antonyms. Sowerby's English Botany. 12 volumes. Cloth, Half Morocco, and Whole Morocco. Stevenson's Dictionary of Roman Coins. (Republican and Imperial). Strickland's Lives of the Queensof England. 8 volumes. Webster's English Dictionary. In Cloih, Half Calf, Calf or Half Russia, and Russia. Webster's English Dictionary with Appen- dices. Cloth, Half Calf, Calf or Half Russia, or Russia. Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction. Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Pro- vincial English. 2 volumes. The following Works are offered at Reduced Prices. Archer's British Army. Bloxam's Ecclesiastical Architecture. 3 vols. Burn's Rome and the Campagna. Burn's Old Rome. Castle's Schools and Masters of Fence. Davies's Supplementary English Glossary. Dyer's Ancient Athens. Palmer's Desert of the Exodus. 2 Volumes. (Only 12 Copies left). Palmer's Folk Etymology. (Only 8ocopies left.) Scrivener's Codex Bezae. Smith's Synonyms Discriminated. London: GEORGE BELL & SONS, York St., Covent Garden. ## p. 23 (#37) ############################################## AD VER TISEMENTS. NEW BOOKS A New Translation. By W. F. Smith, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of Saint John's College, Cambridge, Issued to Subscribers in a limited Edition of 750 copies, all numbered, of which 500 copies are for this country and 250 for America. In two hand- some 8vo. vols. Price 25.1. the set The aim of the above translation has been to render more accessible, to explain and illustrate a book which has exercised a wide influence on the French language as well as on European literature. A system of marginal reference has been introduced. Great attention has been paid RABELAIS } to t'le mst0"ca' aspect of the book, and points bearing on the political and religous affairs of the times have been carefully noticed. As the work must be presented as a whole, and as certain passages and parts can no longer be presented in English, these have been left in the original old French, where they can be read by such as desire it. The work will be accompanied by a life of Rabelais, a notice of the translators, Urquhart, and Motteux, a map of the environs of Chinon, the part of France where Ralielais was brought up, notes on the language and style, and on other points. It will be, in fact, an entirely new and complete presentation of the great French master. Prospectus giving/nil details ami ail information to be luul on application from the Publisher. A BOOK NECESSARY TO EVERY AUTHOR. SLANG AND ITS ANALOGUES — Past and Present. B^jr John S. Farmer, Author of "Americanisms—Old and New," &c. A new and absolutely unique Slang Dictionary. In three volumes, foolscap 4to, printed antique style, on thick paper, large margin, to the number of 500 copies for England and 250 for America, each copy being numbered and signed, to Subscril>ers : The" . . .- The price will be mis Americanisms—Old and New." A Dictionary, Historical and xtu*—i \ only as follows : The Set (3 vols.) £5 5s. net. In half-calf, parch- ment sides. The price will be raised on completion as in the case of Comparative (on the lines of Dr. Murray's New English Dictionary) of the Heterodox Speech of all Classes of Society for more than 300 years; the whole presenting a Curious Pictuie of Social Life and Manners of the English People. A'aUs and Queries says—* For the first time in a dictionary the subject of English slang is seriously treated. Recent works have been catchpennies, and Mr. Farmer is the first to treat the subject of sl;imj in .1 manner com- mensurate with its importance. . . . Very full is Mr. Farmer's list, the first volume extending to over four luindred double columned pages. . . . II is book commends itself warmly to our readers, and its progress cannot be otherwise than interesting. As it is issued in a limited edition It can scarcely fail of becoming a prized possession." Prospectus and all information to be hadfrom the Publisher. AMERICANISMS: OLD AND NEW. By John S. Farmer. In 1 vol. Foolscap 410. printed in antique style, and bound in vellum. £2 as. A booli for the library, desk, or general reading: for journalists, Members of Parliament, public speakers, and all professional men. It is a dictionary of words, phrases, and colloquialism:, peculiar to the United States, British America, the West Indies, &c, &c, together with their derivation, meaning, and application. "Certainly the r>est and completes! dictionary of Americanisms at present existing."—Athenaum. THREE NEW BOOKS ON THE HOLY LAND. PALESTINE UNDER THE MOSLEMS. By Guv lf. Strange. With Map, and numerous Plans and Drawings specially executed for this work. Handsome post 8vo, pp. 604. Cloth extra, 12s. (yl. "A work intended to render the mass of interesting Information about Palestine, which lies buried in the Arabic texts of the Moslem geographers and travellers of the middle ages, available to the Fnglish reader,' ** .... is written throughout with a sort of loving care which proves how thoroughly the author has felt the fascination of his subject."— Saturday Review. Third Edition, now ready. THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. By Henrv A. H \rper. With an Introduction by Walter Besant. Coloured Map and numerous Illustrations, demy 8vo, i&r. "Instructive, interesting, and in many ways admirable . . . cnablos the reader s* to revise his impressions of Scripture typography as in many cases to throw quite a flood of new light upon a hitherto obscure narrative. —Manchester hxamitter. "Supplies a long-felt want by connecting in a popular and vivid manner the work which has been done by the Society with the Bible narrative."— Christian Leader. NORTHERN AJLUN, "Within the Decapolis.' By Herr Schumacher, Author of "Across the Jordan,"' &c- With Maps, Plans, and over 60 Illustrations, crown 8vo, 3^. 6J. "Altogether we have to thank Mr. Schumacher for an Important addition to our knowledge of what has long remained a terra incognita."— Saturday Review. THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. Only 17 sets of this magnificent work now remain. It will never be reprintedi with the exception of the two volumes "Flora anil Fauna " and "Jerusalem." The price of I he set is 25 guineas. It consists of the following in seven uniform and handsomely bound volumes. 4/0. THE MEMOIRS. Being the Notes taken in the Field by Major Cornier, D.C.L., R.E., and Colonel Kitchener C.M.G., A.D.C.R.E., re-written and arranged after (heir return. With thousands of illustrations of tombs, ruins, etc., drawn expressly for these volumes, aud not to be found anywhere else. 3 vols. THE NAME LISTS. Transliterated from the Arabic with translation by Major Conder, R.E.,and edited by Professor E. H. Palmer, x vol* THE VOLUME OF SPECIAL PAPERS. Con- sisting mostly of reprints of important papers from the "Quarto ly Statement," by Col. Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.O , F.R.S., D.C.L., I.L.D., R.E. ; Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., R.E.: Major Condor, D.C.L., R.E.; M. Clermont- Ganneau, Mr. Greville Chester, &c. i vol. THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF PALESTINE. With many Illustrations (hand-painted). By Canon Tristram , LL.D., F.R.S. 1 vol. THE JERUSALEM VOLUME. With a Portfolio of 50 Plates. Iiy Co!. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., and Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E. 1 vol. THE MAPS. An Illustrated Circular, giving all information about the above, will be lent, post free, on application. Published for the Palestine Exploration Fund by London: ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, Paternoster Square, E.C. ## p. 24 (#38) ############################################## 24 AD VERTISEMENTS. OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY. i 1. The maintenance, definition, and defence of literary property. 2. The consolidation and amendment of the laws of Domestic Copyright. 3. The promotion of International Copyright. The first of these objects requires explanation. In order to defend Literary Property, the Society acts as follows :— a. It aims at defining and establishing the principles which should rule the methods of publishing. f). It examines agreements submitted to authors, and points out to them the clauses which are injurious to their interests. 7. It advises authors as to the best publishers for their purpose, and keeps them out of the hands of unscrupulous traders. 8. It publishes from time to time, books, papers, &c, on the subjects which fall within its province. e. In every other way possible the Society protects, warns, and informs its members as to the pecuniary interest of their works. WARNINGS, Authors are most earnestly warned— (1) Not to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Not to enter into any correspondence with publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves down to any one firm of publishers. (4) Not to accept any proposal of royalty without consultation with the Society. (5) Not to accept any offer of money for MSS., without previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Not to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Not, under ordinary circumstances, when a MS. has been refused by the well-known houses, to pay small houses for the production of the work. ## p. 24 (#39) ############################################## AD VER TISEMENTS. iii. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1890, can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal, devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer). 2^. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister- at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) \s. 6d. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. The work is printed for members of the Society only. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigce. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. The book is nearly ready, and will be issued as soon as possible. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow. ## p. 24 (#40) ############################################## ADVERTISEMENTS. Furthers hairless paper, (60) Pada Pad holders (One Shilling: - The LeadenhaltPress.E.C. “With Bad Paper, one's Best is impossible.” THE AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD (Issued by the Proprietors of The Leadenhall Press). Contains, in block form, fifty sheets of strong hairless paper, over which-being of unusual but not painful smoothness—the pen slips with perfect freedom. Easily detachable, the size of the sheets is about 71 by 8 inches, and the price is only that charged for common scribbling paper. THE AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS Paper-Pad may be comfortably used, whether at the desk, held in the hand, or resting on the knee. As being most convenient for both author and compositor, the paper is ruled the narrow way, and, of course, on one side only. Sixpence each ; 5/- per dozen, ruled or plain. * . THE LEADENHALL Press, E.C. THE AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD HOLDER, Suggested by Punch, is equally useful to the busy few who write when travelling, and to stay-at-homes who dislike the restraint of desk or table. It is intended that the wooden rim at the side of the Author's HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD HOLDER should be grasped by the left hand, the right being free to travel over the whole surface of the paper from top to bottoin. The height of Pad and Holder will be kept uniform if each written sheet is placed as torn off underneath the Pad, the base of which is now thick blotting paper instead of the old and useless cardboard. - The ordinary sloped position when in use keeps Pad and Holder together. One Shilling. * * If to be forwarded by post, send 2a. extra for postage of single Pad, and 10ld. for postage of one dosen Pads. The postage on one Pad-Holder is 3d., and one Pad-Holder and one Pad together, 44d. THE LEADENHALL Press, 50, LEADENHALL STREET, E.C. Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. Text A transcription of the document <button class="toggle">The Author, pp. 1–3</button> <div class="content"> The Report of the Society of Authors for the year 1890 spoke of the great importance of keeping members more fully and more regularly supplied with information, not only on the work of the Executive Committee, but also on the various matters which concern the author in the safeguarding of his interests and the preservation of his property. The simplest method of effecting this, it was thought, would be to hold frequent meetings for the purpose of conference and discussion. As, however, a large number of our members live in the country, we could seldom hope to obtain a really representative gathering, and the discussions would have a tendency to drop into the hands of a few, and so be robbed of half their value. It is also to be considered that no discussions can have any real value which are not founded on knowledge of the facts. Now, the ordinary member knows little of the facts. It was, therefore, then thought that occasional leaflets might be issued conveying the facts. To this plan, however, there appeared many obstacles. First, leaflets are tossed aside and lost; then, even if they are read and preserved, there is no place for discussion, for questions, or for suggestions. The private member of the Society would feel that he was taking no real part in its management and government. If he thought the committee was moving too slowly in the right, too quickly in the wrong, direction – there would be no opportunity for saying so, except by writing a letter to the Secretary, to be by him laid before the Committee. Considering the question from its many points of view, it has seemed most desirable to have our own organ for our own purposes. The Author is therefore founded to be the organ of literary men and women of all kinds – the one paper which will fully review, discuss, and ventilate all questions connected with the profession of literature in all its branches. It will be the medium by which the Committee of our Society will inform its members generally of their doings, and it will become a public record of transactions conducted in the interests of literature, which have hitherto been secret, lost, and hidden for the want of such an organ. The chief aim of the Society – this has been advanced again and again – is to promote the recognition of the fact, hitherto most imperfectly understood, that literary property is as real a thing as property in every other kind of business: that it should be safeguarded in the same manner, and regarded with the same jealousy. Hitherto the mere existence of literary property even in the face of such patent facts as the enrichment of publishers, has been carefully concealed and even denied. Risks of publishing, costs of publishing, have been dangled before the eyes of authors, so that they should regard the subject as one of extreme peril and pure speculation. One can never even now read a leading article about publishing without being solemnly assured that the trade is one in which frightful risks are constantly run, and that the success of any book is pure speculation. Now, as a matter of act, there is very little speculation indeed in publishing, and there are very, very few publishers – only the leading houses – who ever run any risks at all, either by buying books or by bringing out books at a risk. Risks are run when a House starts a magazine, or when it embarks on illustrated editions of an expensive kind, or when educational books are published. The ordinary risk run in the production of books is, as a rule, next to nothing. For, first, the author is seldom paid except by results; next, the author, when a house consents to "take the risk," is, for the most part, one who commands a certain sale. With the smaller houses books about which there is the slightest risk are always paid for by the authors in advance, either wholly or in part. And very, very seldomn indeed, do the ill-advised authors who advance their money ever see it back again. Again, as to the actual cost of production. By carefully keeping this a profound secret, interested persons have succeeded in establishing a kind of taboo, as of some holy, sacred thing which must not be so much as touched. We have, however, thoroughly investigated the whole question, and are now in a position to throw complete light upon the cost of producing any kind of book that can be named, in any type and in any form. This is a very important step. Its importance cannot be over-estimated. It enables the author, for the very first time in the history of literature, to know what it is he is asked to concede to the publisher, and what it is he reserves for himself. We have also done more: we have collected together a vast amount of information as to publishers' agreements: especially as to what, in reality, is the meaning of the clauses contained in them: we have ascertained what it is they ask the author to surrender and for what consideration. And we have acquired a knowledge of various frauds, made possible by the terms of these agreements, in the different methods of publishing. This knowledge is so beneficial to the author that its existence ought to be widely spread and made known to every person who is engaged in the production of literature of any kind. Again, the Society is constantly engaged in answering questions connected with every branch of literature and its practice. Many of these questions are answered by letter over and over again, taking up a great deal of the Secretary's time. They would be answered more effectively in a journal. It follows from these clauses that we may have a good deal to say about the seamy side of the publishing trade. It must, however, be borne in mind very carefully that the Society has not and never has had, any quarrel with honourable publishers. It has always asked for one thing only – just and honest treatment, fair and open agreements, and honourable observance of those agreements. It has therefore been determined to establish this journal as an organ for the especial use of the Society. At first we shall bring out The Author on the fifteenth of every month. The journal will contain papers, notes, letters, questions, and information on all subjects connected with literature and its profession. The members of the Society will be kept informed of all that part of our work which is not confidential. Among other features of novelty and interest will be an account in each number of some one case that has been brought before the Society – of course without the names. The consideration of these cases will, we are certain, show the world the absolute necessity for some such organisation as our own, though the widespread ignorance which we have unfolded was hardly guessed by our founders at our first institution. Each number will also contain an article or leaflet on some topic belonging to our own interests. There will be notes on the various branches of our work. Our columns will be open to suggestions, letters, and questions. We shall send out this journal to all our members as their own organ. We shall continue it for one year at least. We shall be very glad to hear from members who may be willing to assist us by original contributions, which should be short, and on some subject belonging to our special field, which is the safeguarding of literary property for the producer of literature. Members are invited to send in notices of the books which they are about to produce, and copies of their books when they appear. It is intended to give a short notice of the purpose and contents of these works when this is possible. In the case of fiction a very brief account, but not a review, will be attempted. </div> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 01 (May 1890) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 01 (May 1890) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&view=1up&seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1890-05-19-The-Author-1-1 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/240/1890-06-16-The-Author-1-2.pdf 0e782e419ce1e0f01bbad5fa958b897c 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) 1890-06-16 Volume 1 Issue 2 Pages Page range in volume 25–58 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18900616 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. 1.—No. 2.) JUNE 16, 1890 [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Published for the Society be ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE LONDON, E.C. 1890. ## p. 24 (#42) ############################################## The Society of Authors (Incorporated). PRESIDENT. The RIGHT HON. THE LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.S.I. ROBERT BATEMAN. Walter BESANT. Rev. PROF. BONNEY, F.R.S. J. COMYNS CARR. EDWARD CLODD. THE EARL OF DESART. A. W. DUBOURG. PROF. MICHAEL FOSTER, F.R.S. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. EDMUND GOSSE, H. RIDER HAGGARD. THOMAS HARDY. PROF. E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S. COUNCIL. Rev. W. J. LOFTIË, F.S.A. George MEREDITH. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. J. C. PARKINSON." THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart., LL.D. WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. George AUGUSTUS SALA. W. BAPTISTE' Scoones. J. J. STEVENSON. JAS. SULLY. William MoY THOMAS. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Hon. Counsel-E. M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. Auditor—Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE, F.L.S. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman-Walter BESANT. 1. H. Rider HAGGARD. I J. M. Lely. ROBERT BATEMAN. EDMUND Gosse. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. Solicitors. Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. ## p. 24 (#43) ############################################## (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 2.] JUNE 16, 1890. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. News and Notes "Thou shah not Steal," by Wilkie Collins The Troubles of a Beginner "Cursed Coincidences" The Exchange of Books Leaflet No". II.—On Royalties Royal Literary Fund A Hard Case, No. II PACE ... 35 ... 31 - 35 ... 37 - 37 ... 38 - 39 ... 41 The Chestnut Bell "The Art of Authorship" ... Notes Literary Puzzles Questions, Cases, and Answers At Work New Books and New Editions Advertisements **AOE . . 42 ... 44 ... 47 ... 49 ... 50 ... 52 ... 54 ... 56 NEWS AND NOTES. AMONG other suggestions received from readers some have been sent anony- mously. I thought it was unnecessary to warn correspondents that no notice can be taken of unsigned communications. As, however, the warning has to be made, I hope that this note will be sufficient. It was stated in our last number that we proposed inviting the First Lord of the Treasury to receive a deputation on the Administration of the Civil List Pension. A memorial was prepared and sent with the letter. The following is the reply of the Right Hon. W. H. Smith. The memorial will be published in our next number with a lew obser- vations on the whole subject in general and on Mr. Smith's letter in especial:— Downing Street, June 6th, 1890. Dear Sir, Mr. W. H. Smith desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult., forward- ing a memorial in regard to the Administration of the Civil List Pension Fund, and requesting him to receive a deputation on the subject. Mr. Smith has carefully read the statements and suggestions placed before him, and he need not say that he would be glad to receive such a vol. 1. deputation if any useful purpose could be served thereby; but he fears that there is some misappre- hension as to the power of the First Lord of the Treasury in regard to the Fund. The administration is governed strictly by Act of Parliament, and the intervention of the First Lord is limited to that discretion which must in such cases finally rest with some one responsible minister; his decisions, although not subject to the review of Parliament, are by Act yearly brought under the cognisance of both Houses and of the public, by the annual return of all pensions granted within the year. To make such changes as the memorial suggests would necessitate a new Act of Parliament, and Mr. Smith does not think that there has been any such expression of dissatisfaction either in the House or outside of it as would justify the proposal, while on the other hand, he fears that Parliament would be very unlikely to agree to an increase of the sum annually set apart for the Pension List. Mr. Smith must also point out that the figures in the memorial, accepting them as fairly correct, show that the practical administration of the Fund is almost identical with the distribution proposed by the Societies, namely, one-third to the services rendered to the Sovereign and under the Crown, and two-thirds to the representatives of Science, Literature, and Art. With this explanation, and looking also to the extreme pressure of engagements on his time, c ## p. 24 (#44) ############################################## Zhe Society of Hutbors (Jncorporateb), PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. COUNCIL. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. T. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptiste' Scoones. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Bon. Con/isei—'E. M. Underdown, Q.C. Auditor—Ret. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besani Robert Batbman. H. Rider Haggard. Edmund Gosse. J. M. Lely. Solicitors. Messrs. Field, Roscoe. & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.S.I. Robert Bateman. Walter Besant. Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S. J. Comyns Carr. Edward Clodd. The Earl of Desart. A. W. Dubourg. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M. P. Richard Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. ## p. 25 (#45) ############################################## (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 2.] JUNE 16, 1890. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. News and Notes "Thou shall not Steal," by Wilkie Collins The Troubles of a Beginner "Cursed Coincidences" The Exchange of Books Leaflet No~ II.—On Royalties Royal Literary Fund AHardCase.No.il I ACE ... 25 ... 31 ••■ 35 ... 37 ■•• 37 ... 38 ... 39 ... 41 The Chestnut Bell "The Art of Authorship" ... Notes Literary Puzzles Questions, Cases, and Answers At Work New Books and New Editions Advertisements PAGE • • 42 ... 44 ... 47 ... 49 ... 50 ... 52 ••■ 54 ... 56 A copy of this paper will be sent free to any member of the Society for one twelvemonth. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 6s. 6d. including postage, to be sent to the Society, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. 111C XVIglJl HUH. »». 11. OllllLU. inv. uuuuuu. ..... be published in our next number with a few obser- vations on the whole subject in general and on Mr. Smith's letter in especial:— Downing Street, June 6th, 1890. Dear Sir, Mr. W. H. Smith desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult., forward- ing a memorial in regard to the Administration of the Civil List Pension Fund, and requesting him to receive a deputation on the subject. Mr. Smith has carefully read the statements and suggestions placed before him, and he need not say that he would be glad to receive such a vol. 1. nOUSC Or UUIS1UC VI 11 tu mmu jUu...; proposal, while on the other hand, he fears that Parliament would be very unlikely to agree to an increase of the sum annually set apart for the Pension List. Mr. Smith must also point out that the figures in the memorial, accepting them as fairly correct, show that the practical administration of the Fund is almost identical with the distribution proposed by the Societies, namely, one-third to the services rendered to the Sovereign and under the Crown, and two-thirds to the representatives of Science, Literature, and Art. With this explanation, and looking also to the extreme pressure of engagements on his time, ## p. 26 (#46) ############################################## 26 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Smith hopes that the gentlemen represented in the memorial will not feel it necessary to seek for a personal interview. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, S. S. Sprigge, Esq. C. Maude. It is pleasant to find that one's efforts are appreciated by all the persons concerned. I am therefore glad to report that The Author has received a cordial welcome from the Publisher's Circular. It has also received the kind of criticism which somewhat cools the cordiality. Let us re- peat, therefore, one point on which we have always insisted and which those who profess to write in the trade interest always try to evade or else boldly deny, viz., that there is very little speculation or risk in modern publishing. However, since the Publisher's Circular declares that the Society has their "most hearty sympathy" in asking for "just and honest treatment, fair and open agreements, and honourable observance of those agreements," we will not find fault with these criticisms, and we shall look for the practical co-operation of the Publisher's Circular, especially in our determination to show authors what, in their agreements, they concede to publishers and what they keep to them- selves. I am happy to report that The Author has met with a very satisfactory reception from all quarters. The "literary ladies " met at dinner on the 30th of May at the Criterion. The chair was occupied by Mrs. L. T. Meade, who was supported by Miss Mabel Collins, Mrs. Pennell, Miss Corkran, and Mrs. Grahame R. Tomson. Letters of apology for non-attendance were read from Lady Colin Campbell, Miss Jessie Fothergill, Mrs. Crawford, Miss Sarah Tytler, and Mrs. Leith Adams. Let us hope that a pleasant evening was the result. We shall be very glad to see the literary ladies side by side with the literary men at our own dinner next month. And I, for one, have no doubt as to which will prove the pleasanter function. Literature, like the world itself, is of both sexes, and therefore happiest when fully represented. The fusion of the two old publishing firms of Longman and Rivington, or rather the absorption of the latter by the former, destroys one of the few remaining old publishing firms. The history of Literature in all ages is that of the publication of new works, if only for the simple reason that authors must work to live, and that if men are not forced to work they will for the most part produce nothing. The history of Literature in the eighteenth century is very closely bound up with the two houses of Longman and Rivington. If it were written, which never has been done, we should learn howtheliterary public—the people who read and look for new books, and buy them—gradually increased during this century, until by its close publishing was no longer a speculative and uncertain business conducted in ignorance by persons who had small means of judging the state of the market, who bought MSS. for so many guineas apiece, losing largely by one work, and doing pretty well by another. By the end of the eighteenth century the reign of the Book Clubs had already well set in; these were literary centres in provincial towns, such as Norwich and Birmingham; the clergy were scholars and students; a publisher knew where he could "place" a certain number of every good book; and a great change had come over the whole art and mystery of publishing books. Prac- tically, "Risk," that good old Bogey whose demise is still so persistently denied, had already vanished. ♦ There appeared lately in the New York Tribune a communication signed by the well-known letters, G. W. S., which, beginning with the relations of bookseller to publisher, passed on to the questions in which we ourselves are mainly interested. It is this portion of the letter which we reproduce, sup- pressing the name referred to, as it has nothing to do with the argument. "It is A. B. who, among others, makes himself responsible for the statement that it is rapidly becoming impossible for a bookseller, pure and simple, dealing in current literature, to make a living profit from his business. No doubt A. B. is right, if the publisher's view of what constitutes a 'living profit' is to prevail. A. B. is a partner in a very eminent publishing house, and anything he says on the publishing or selling of books deserves attention. He has written a long letter about bookselling to a trade organ, and expresses some sympathy with the booksellers in their present difficulties. Before we proceed with that, might I suggest to A. B. that some of his sympathies might be bestowed on another person concerned in the book business, the author? If the figures I have given above are correct, the seller of books, even in his present wretched estate, makes a profit of 30 per cent. Will A. B. be so kind as to tell us in what proportion the profits on a successful book are distributed between author and publisher? Does the author make a ' living profit' on what is commonly the only capital he possesses, his ## p. 27 (#47) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 27 brains? Let us take an imaginary case. We will suppose that an eminent firm publishes a book, say, of reminiscences in two handsome volumes at $7.50, and that, notwithstanding the high price, the public buys four editions of it. That, surely, is a successful book, and one that ought to pay everybody concerned a living profit, and perhaps something more. Does A. B. think he could find out what share of the proceeds the author received and how much the publisher kept for himself, and, if he could, will he let us know? "A private transaction? Oh, no, A. B., that is one of several mistakes into which you publishers occasionally fall. It is a matter of very considerable public interest. It concerns the community deeply that literature should be encouraged, and should be profitable to the producer of it. The patron on whom the author once in some measure depended has disappeared. The publisher has taken his place. He is, or ought to be, the Maecenas of the nineteenth century. But if Johnson were living now, do you think he would soften the terrible lines which he wrote under the sting of Lord Chesterfield's neglect? 'There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,— Toil, envy, want, the patron and the jail.' "To substitute publisher for patron would spoil the metre. Would it much affect the sense? The publisher is a man of business, the author is not, or seldom is. Do you think publishers have always borne that in mind? They have drawn their own contracts. Have the interests of the author or of the publisher been most carefully considered in those printed forms, filled up ac- cording to circumstances which are presented to the author, all unacquainted as he is with affairs, for him to sign? "Do not imagine, my dear A. B., that I address these questions to you because I mean to imply that you personally do not conduct your business on the most honourable principles. I am per- suaded that you do. But I apprehend you would admit, or perhaps even assert, that among your many rivals in the business of publishing books are to be found some whose treatment of authors is less considerate than your own. I will not say, and perhaps you would not, that any of them are dis- honest. I prefer to use a word which was a favourite with Matthew Arnold, and to suggest that in their dealings with the authors on whose productions their own prosperity depends, some of them are sometimes indelicate. You would not, I think, refuse to go as far as that. You would say, no doubt, there are publishers and publishers, and that not every firm is so scrupulous in its trans- actions or so high-minded as your own. "If they were, how would you explain, for ex- ample, the existence of the Incorporated Society of Authors, and what construction would you put upon some of its recent proceedings? Some of the most respected and popular authors of the day are members of that Society. They have an executive committee, and that committee go so far as to declare that there are firms of so-called publishers which exist solely by robbery and cheating. Surely you, and all other publishers of high character and repute, must desire to dissociate yourselves as widely as possible from the scoundrels who profess to carry on the same business that you do. You would agree with the committee, would you not, in their urgent re- commendation that authors should send their agreements with publishers for examination by the Society before signing? If there were clauses in those agreements injurious to the author, he would be warned not to sign. If there were none, no harm would be done. You would heartily dis- approve, I am sure, every attempt to induce an unwary writer to bind himself not to publish in future with any other house than that which was then to issue a particular book—an attempt which Mr. Besant calls monstrous and indecent. You would, if the Society called upon you for advice, strike out that agreed statement of the cost of production which the less delicate publisher some- times inserts; and is sometimes careless enough to exaggerate. You would not justify for a moment the refusal of a publisher to submit his books to examination, in order that his statement of the expenses of publication, of the number of copies printed and sold, and other such interesting and vital particulars, might undergo an indepen- dent audit. You will rejoice in the appearance of that little treatise on 'The Cost of Production,' and that other now preparing on 'The Different Methods of Publishing'; including, I think, the Half-Profit System, and probably pointing out the method by which the indelicate publisher charges the author full price for advertisements which cost the publishers nothing, and omits to deduct the discount he obtains on the nominal prices of paper, printing and other important items. Mr. Besant, less scrupulous in his choice of words than our lamented friend Arnold, talks of frauds. You would join him in exposing and repressing and preventing them. In short, you and the Incor- porated Society of Authors have so many aims and interests in common that you will perhaps permit me to wonder that you are not already a member of it. For the one person to whom it is of the utmost consequence that the business of publishing should be freed from all stains and all suspicion is the publisher." vol.. 1. c 2 ## p. 28 (#48) ############################################## 28 THE A UTHOR. The death of Mr. Fletcher Harper, the senior of the second generation of the brothers, removes another of the American firm which first began to recognize the right of English authors. Perhaps the child is already born in the United States who will, before he finally droops his snow-white head, see a tardy justice sullenly granted. But we must not hold out illusive hopes. The great American public from whom are taken the members of Congress are not exactly composed of gentlemen, nor are they in their public, any more than their private acts, guided by the delicate sense of honour for which we ourselves still try to retain a traditional reverence. In fact we are too apt to suppose that the cultivated, well-bred American cousin we meet here is a specimen—perhaps a little favourable— of the ordinary citizen of that big Republic which will perhaps some day be great as well as big. The attitude taken by the American editors and authors alike on the Copyright Question is every- thing that can be desired, or, indeed, expected of a body of gentlemen. It must not be thought, there- fore, that in publishing Wilkie Collins's views we are in the least reflecting upon our American con- jrlres. One of them writes, "The Copyright Bill was defeated by ignorance misled by greed, but we hope to retrieve our reputation soon. Everybody is hard at work to this end." Wilkie Collins says nothing so severe. Here is a practical suggestion. Some time ago we poor English had to pay, justly or unjustly, ^3,000,000 for the Alabama claims. The claims did not amount to half that money. Suppose the Government of the U.S.A. were to hand over the difference to British authors. The moral effect in the States of such an act of reparation would be enormous, while its material effect in this country would be, to say the least, extremely beneficial to a hard-working and deserving set of men and women. This is what Mr. Lowell says :—" I have had too long experience of the providential thickness of the human skull, as well as of the eventual success of all reasonable reforms, to be discouraged by the temporary defeat of any measure which I believe to be sound. I am too old to be persuaded by any appearances, however specious, that truth has lost or can lose that divine quality which gives her immortal advantage over error. Foreign right to property in books stands precisely on the same footing as Ameri- can home right, and the moral wrong of stealing either is equally great. But literary property is at a disadvantage, because, as the appropriation is not open, gross, and palpable, it is not regarded as wrongful. It touches the public conscience more faintly. In ordinary cases it is the thief, but in this case the thing stolen, that is invisible. To steal is no doubt more immediately profitable than acquisition by the more tedious methods of honesty, but it is nevertheless apt to prove costlier in the long run. How costly our own experiments in larceny have been, only those know who have studied the rise and progress of our literature, which has been forced to grow as virtue is said to do, in spite of weight laid upon it. But, even if this particular form of dishonesty against which we are contending, were always and everywhere com- mercially profitable, I think the American people are so honest that they may be made to see that profit which is allowed to be legitimate by us alone among all civilised nations, profit, too, which goes wholly into the pockets of a few unscrupulous men, must have something queer about it, something which even a country so rich as ours cannot afford. I have lived to see more than one successful appeal from the unreason of the people's representatives to the reason of the people themselves. I am there- fore not to be tired with waiting. It is wearisome to ourselves and to others to go on repeating arguments which we have been using these forty years, and which to us seem so self-evident, but I think it is true that no reformer has ever gained his end who has not first made himself an intoler- able bore to the vast majority of his kind." Out of the fine chorus of indignation which has ascended from the better class of American papers unto the heavens like incense, and, like that fragrant smoke, probably of small practical use, I extract the following from "America," a Chicago paper of great promise. "The International Copyright Bill has been slaughtered in the House by protectionists after almost all the authors' interests in it had been sacrificed to the manufacturers and mechanics in order to get protectionist votes for the bill. There was very little protection for authors in the bill, and a great deal of protection for publishers and paper-makers and type-setters, and then the bill was knifed by the statesmen who have great respect for manual labourers, who are numerous on election day, and none for authors, whose vote is not a political factor. We Americans look well, do we not, rejecting an International Copyright Law for fear that it would make books dear; that is, after paying for the paper and the type-setting, we flatly refuse to pay anything additional for the author. Our statesmen oppose the bill because they want cheap books for the people. By all means then, let us steal the books as well as the learning, or the imagination contained therein. Let us repeal the law against horse stealing, and we may all ride. ## p. 29 (#49) ############################################## THE A UTHOR. 29 This objection to the International Copyright Bill, that under it book purchasers would have to pay the foreign author of the book something, is the most shameful proposition I have happened to hear in Congress. The interest of the American author is perfectly plain; if the American publisher can get English copy for nothing, he will be propor- tionately unwilling to buy a copy of an American author. The Congress that proposes to pass the McKinley bill for the additional protection of American manual labour, refuses to pass the In- ternational Copyright Bill for the protection of American intellectual labour. It is easy to see what kind of labour we value most highly." How it strikes the American author, again, is set forth by Mr. J. D. Gilden, in "The Critic." Says Pirate A. to Victim B. :— "You've got no reason to complain; Just see how popular you be; Your books is read from Tex. to Maine. "Were not the foreign stuff ' free grat.' I'd buy some native fellow's wares; Just paste that 'memo.' in your hat, And don't go puttin' on such airs." "Aye, true enough my books are read,— No doubt your imprint makes them sell; But if on air I must be fed, Why won't that fare serve you as well? "Henceforth we both will write for fame,— I write, you publish, free of charge; Whatever type proclaims my name, Yours shall be printed just as large. "Should profits by some chance accrue, Deed them forthwith to charity: I'm rich, of course; and as for you, What's wealth to popularity?" How the present question struck Wilkie Collins is pretty well known. The paper printed in this number by him was recovered by accident, and is here published by permission of his literary executor. Mr. Edwin Waugh, the poet, is dead. With him dies a pension on the Civil List. It has been pro- posed to the First Lord of the Treasury that he should transfer this pension to Mr. Ben. Brierly, the well-known Lancashire writer. Mr. W. H. Smith cannot transfer a pension which dies with its recipient. He will, however, consider Mr. Brierly's claims. The centenary dinner of the Royal Literary Fund took place on May 14th, the Prince of Wales being in the chair. This venerable Society was founded, and still exists, for the purpose of granting doles to distressed authors. It administers a good deal of money in this way every year. It is sad that there should be distressed literary men and it is very good indeed that there should be a fund for their relief. The Prince of Wales, in an excellent speech, dwelt largely on the precarious nature of the literary calling. The occupation of the literary man, he said, is uncertain; his remuneration is not high. There is no flow of promotion for literary- men. All this is true indeed; it is said every year at the dinner; never once has it been asked by the Council of this Society why this remuneration of the literary man is so small—why his calling is so uncertain. Well: it is small and uncertain because there is no rule arrived at as to the share which he should justly take in the proceeds of his own labours. When that rule is airived at and put into practice the labours of the Royal Literary Fund will be con- fined to the relief of the distressed incompetent. It may be asked why our Society does not at once lay down this Golden Rule; well, there are two reasons, of which the first should be enough, viz., (1) that the Society has not yet arrived at the Golden Rule, though it is getting nearer, and (2) that there is no use in laying it down until public opinion is riper. It is a rule well known in legislation that to make laws before the people are ready for them, unless you can carry them out in spite of popular resistance and apathy, is not good government. Let us go on a little longer teaching people the reality of literary property and its sacredness. Let us go on a little longer hammering into the heads of authors their folly and madness in signing agree- ments by which they ignorantly give themselves away and go into slavery. We shall then have a better chance with our Golden Rule. ♦ Mr. John Morley, who always speaks" well on literature, made a very curious slip the other day. He stated that there are not fifty or even twenty men and women who live by authorship. Why, by the writing of novels alone there are at least fifty who make over a thousand a year, let alone a vast number, especially ladies, who live on incomes of a hundred or two made by authorship. As for this great mass we may find at an early opportunity some- thing profitable as well as interesting to say about them and their incomes and their methods of work. I have written a small pamphlet for the Publi- cation Committee of the Society for the Promotion ## p. 30 (#50) ############################################## 3° THE AUTHOR. of Christian Knowledge. My intention has been to point out to this body, first, certain elementary laws which govern literary property and its ad- ministration, &c, and next, to set forth certain cases which illustrate their own administration of the literary property in their hand. Lastly, I have invited them to draw their own conclusions for themselves as to their own methods. There is no desire to make any money by this pamphlet—■ which is published by Mr. Henry Glaisher in the Strand—and if any member of this Society would like a copy I will send him one on the simple con- dition that he undertakes to read it and to pass it on to some person interested in the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The following explains itself. The ingenious Rand, M'Nally and Company, of Chicago and New York, have added a new terror to literary men. Not only do they steal their works but they alter and mutilate and ruin them. The idea will doubt- less be copied and widely adopted in Pirate-land. In a few years, probably, there will be two Rider Haggards in the field, one of Great Britain and the other of that other country, totally unlike each other and of literary reputation entirely different. Let us have patience. "Gentlemen, June $rd, 1890. "A pirated edition of my novel ' Beatrice' has been forwarded to me, bearing your names as its publishers. I find, on lookng through it, that the book has been hacked and hewed till it bears about as much resemblance to the work which left my hand as an oaked felled and barked does to the same tree in leaf. "Thus, to take one or two examples among many which offer:—Chapter 18 has been reduced to little more than three pages, and from chapters 25 and 26 some 16 pages have been omitted bodily. Nor is this all; another chapter has been mis- named, and in one place, at least, your editor, or, judging from the style, perhaps I should hazard, your compositor, has tried his hand at improving my text —has printed under my name words which I never wrote. In short, the story is turned into a string of disjointed situations, its life, spirit, and meaning are gone, all of which is done without warning to the reader, and, I need hardly add, without reference to the author. "At first I believed that these evils must have been wrought maliciously, perhaps to save expense in the printer's bill, but reflection shows me that it cannot be. Of course, when the Legislature of your country, alone among those of civilized nations, has hoisted the black flag, not merely by tolerating an established custom but publicly and after full debate—thereby declaring the labour of foreign writers to be the spoil of any who wish to profit by it—it would be Quixotic of you to refuse to sail beneath that flag. But I feel convinced that your native courtesy and kindness would prevent you knowingly from treating an author as I have been treated in this instance. You would remember that in America almost the only good left to an English writer is his chance of a literary reputation, and this, at least, you would strive to protect in every way as some small return for the amusement he affords your readers and the money which he earns for you. Certainly, therefore, you would not send his work willingly from your press in such a questionable shape, and thus expose him to the contempt of critics and the wonder of your reading public. "This being so, I have to ask, I am sure not in vain, that for the sake of your own fair name, as much as for the sake of mine, you will withdraw from circulation the pages of printed matter which are being passed off, no doubt unwittingly, by you among the American public as a reprint of my novel 'Beatrice,' and that you will give this letter of repudiation every publicity in your power. Awaiting the favour of a reply, "I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, "H. Rider Haggard. "To Messrs. Rand, M'Nally, &■> Co., Publishers, "Chicago and New York." Coincidences (see p. 37) are interesting. Here is one sent me by a correspondent from the North. The editor of a certain paper lately received the scenario of a story submitted tor his approbation. He liked it, and commissioned the author to write it for him. The day after he received the same story, that is, the same plot and the same set of characters distributed in the same way, from another correspondent writing from a different part of England. Therefore one of two things. Either two minds were at the same moment pursuing the same imaginary series of events, or two minds were at the same time cribbing from the same source. One would like to read the scenario. Perhaps it was only a commonplace plot such as one may read in any penny novelette. There is another ex- planation possible. One lady at least there is among us who adds to her income by the sale of plots for stories. There may be more than one plot inventor among us, and he—or she—may have sold the same plot twice over, a thing which has happened once or twice in the buying and selling of sermons. The Editor. ## p. 31 (#51) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 3i "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL:" Considerations on the Copyright Question. Addressed to an American friend by WILKIE COLLINS. YOU were taking leave of me the other day, Colonel, when I received from the United States a copy of a pirated edition of one of my books. I threw it into the waste-paper basket with an expression of opinion which a little startled you. As we shook hands at parting, you said, "When you are cool, my friend, I should like to be made acquainted with your sentiments on the copyright question." I am cool now, and here are my sentiments. I shall ask permission to begin by looking back to the early history of your own family. The fact is, that I wish to interest you personally in the otherwise unattractive subject on which I am about to write. I. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, one of your ancestors, voyaging with the illustrious Hendrick Hudson, got leave of absence from the ship and took a walk on Manhattan Island, in the days before the Dutch settlement. He was pos- sessed, as I have heard you say, of great ability in the mechanical arts. Among the articles of per- sonal property which he had about him was a handsome watch, made by himself, and containing special improvements of his own invention. The good man sat down to rest and look about him at a pleasant and pastoral spot—now occu- pied, it may be interesting to you to know, by a publishing house in the city of New York. Having thoroughly enjoyed the cool breeze and the bright view, he took out his watch to see how the time was passing. At the same moment, an Iroquois chief—whose name has, I regret to say, escaped my memory— passed that way, accompanied by a suitable train of followers. He observed the hand- some watch; snatched it out of the stranger's hand; and, then and there, put it into the Indian substitute for a pocket—the name of which, after repeated efforts, I find myself unable to spell. Your ancestor, a man of exemplary presence of mind, counted the number of the chiefs fol- lowers; perceived that resistance on his single part would be a wilful casting away of his own valuable life; and wisely decided on trying the effect of calm remonstrance. "Why do you take my watch away from me, sir?" he asked. The Indian answered with dignity, "Because I want it." "May I ask why you want it?" The Indian checked off his reasons on his fin- gers. "First, because I am not able to make such a watch as yours. Secondly, because your watch is an article likely to be sufficiently popular among the Indians to be worth . . Thirdly, because the popularity of the watch will enable me to sell it with considerable advantage to myself. Is my white brother satisfied?" Your ancestor said that he was not satisfied. "The thing you have taken from me," he said, "is the product of my own invention and my own handiwork. It is my watch." The Indian touched his substitute for a pocket. "Pardon me," he replied, "it is mine." Your ancestor began to lose his temper; he reiterated his assertion. "I say my watch is my lawful property." The noble savage reasoned with him. "Possibly your watch is protected in your country," he said. "It is not protected in mine." "And therefore you steal it?" "And therefore I steal it." "On what moral grounds, sir, can you defend an act of theft?" The chief smiled. "I defend it on practical grounds. There is no watch-right treaty, sir, be- tween my country and yours." "And on that account you are not ashamed to steal my watch?" "On that account I am not ashamed to steal your watch. Good morning!" The prototypes of modern persons have existed in past ages. The Indian chief was the first American publisher. Your ancestor was the parent of the whole European family of modern authors. II. You and I, Colonel, are resolved to look this copyright question fairly in the face. Suppose we look at it from the historical point of view to begin with. The Dutch emigrants settled on Manhattan Island about two hundred and fifty years ago. They might have pirated the Island on the ground that it was not protected by treaty. But they were loth to commit an act of theft; they asked the Indians to mention their price. The Indians men- tioned twenty-four dollars. The noble Dutchmen paid, and a very good price, too, for a bit of un- cultivated ground, with permission to move your "Wigwam" to the neighbouring Continent. In due course of time arose the Dutch City of New Amsterdam. Civilization made its appear- ance on Manhattan Island; and with civilization ## p. 32 (#52) ############################################## 32 THE AUTHOR. came Law. Acting as the agent of Justice, Law- protected property. In those days of moral im- provement, if an Indian stole a Dutchman's watch, he committed an offence, and he was punished ac- cordingly—for, observe, a watch was now property. Later dates brought their changes with them. The English forced themselves into the Dutch- men's places. New Amsterdam became New York. As time went on, a foolish English King, and a tyrannical Government were deservedly beaten on a trial of strength with the descendants of the first English settlers. The Republic of the United States started on its great career. With peace came the arts of peace. The American author rose benignly on the national horizon. And what did the American Government do? The American Government, having all other property duly protected, bethought itself of the claims of Literature; and, looking towards old Europe, saw that the work of a man's brains, pro- duced in the form of a book, had been at last recognised as that man's property. by the Law. Congress followed this civilised example, and re- cognised and protected the published work of an American citizen as that citizen's property. Having thus provided for the literary interests of its own people within its own geographical limits, Congress definitely turned its back on all further copyright proceedings in the Old World. After a certain lapse of time, the three greatest nations on the Continent of Europe, France, Ger- many, and Italy, agreed with England that an act of justice to Literature still remained to be done. Treaties of international copyright were accord- ingly exchanged between these States. An author's right of property in his work was thus recognised in other countries than his own. It was legally forbidden to a foreign bookseller to republish his work for foreign circulation without his permission; for the plain and unanswerable reason that his work belonged, in the first place, to him and to no other person. With this honourable example set before it by other Governments, what has the United States done? Nothing! To this day it refuses to the literary property of other people the protection which it gives to the literary property of its own people. To this day the President and Congress of America remain content to contemplate the habitual perpetration, by American citizens, of the act of theft. III. Having now done with our historical survey—in plainer words, having now got our facts—we may conveniently confront the grave question :—Why does the Government of the United States refuse to foreign writers the copyright in their works which it concedes to the works of its own citizens? Colonel, when honest men perceive an act of justice to be done, and determine really to do it, there are never any insuperable difficulties in the way. On the plain merits of the case—work that if you please, you will see why—there are no more difficulties in the way of international copyright between England and America than between England and France, England and Germany, England and Italy. The cases run on parallel lines; the necessity of foreign translation, in the European case, being an accidental circumstance which adds to the expense of publishing the book, and nothing more. My work is republished in America in English, and republished in French. Whatever difference there may be in the language of the republication, the fact of the republication remains the same fact in both instances. 1 am very careful to put this plainly; there must be some clear ground to stand on before I can attempt to clear away the extraordinary accumu- lation of delusions under which the unfortunate question of copyright has been suffering in recent years. If you see any difficulty in accepting my statement of the case thus far, let us revert to first principles, and ask ourselves—What is the object to be obtained by the thing called International Copyright? In answering this question I will put it person- ally for the greater facility of illustration. The object of International Copyright is to give me, by law (on considerations with which it is possible for me to comply), the same right of control over my book in a foreign country, which the law gives me in my own country. In Europe, this is exactly what we have done. When I publish my book in London, I enter it at Stationers' Hall, and register it as my property— and my book is mine in Great Britain. When I publish my book in Paris, I register it by the per- formance of similar formalities—and again my book is mine in France. In both cases my publisher (English or French) is chosen at my own free will. His position towards me is the position of a person who takes the business of publishing and registering off my hands, in consideration of a bargain pre- viously made between us—the essence of which bargain is, that the book is my property, and that my written permission is necessary before he can obtain his right to publish the book, and his ex- clusive claim (for a greater or lesser period of time) to the privilege of selling it. Why can I not do the same thing in the free Republic of the United States? ## p. 33 (#53) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. do IV. Here the Colonel lays down my letter for a while, and looks bewildered. "The copyright difficulty, as stated by Mr. Wilkie Collins," he says, "appears to be no diffi- culty at all. What am I to think of the multitu- dinous objections from the American point of view, raised in leading articles, pamphlets, speeches, and so forth?" My good friend, a word in your ear. The American objections (I say it with all due respect for the objections) are, one and all, Ameri- can delusions. The main object of this letter is, if possible, to blow these delusions away. I promise not to be long about it, and to keep my temper—though I have lost some thousands of pounds by American pirates. Let us begin with the delusion—the most extra- ordinary in the whole list—that the American people have something to do with the question of International Copyright. An American citizen sees a reprinted English book in a shop window, or has it pitched into his lap by a boy in a railway train, or hears from a friend that it is well worth reading. He buys the book, and reads it—and, as I can gratefully testify from my own personal experience, he feels, in the great majority of cases, a sincere respect for litera- ture and a hearty gratitude to the writer who has instructed or interested him, which is one among the many honourable distinctions of the national character. When he has done all this, what in Heaven's name has author, publisher, orator, or leading-article writer any further right to expect from him? When I have paid for my place at the theatre, and added my little tribute of applause in honour of the play and the actors, have I not done my duty as one of the audience? Am I expected to insist on knowing whether the author's rights have been honestly recognised by the mana- ger, and the players' salaries regularly paid without reductions once a week? It is simply ridiculous to mention the American people in connection with the settlement of the copyright question. The entire responsibility of honourably settling the question in my country rests with the Legislature. In the United States the President and Congress are the guardians and representatives of American honour. It is they, and not the people, who are to blame for the state which book-stealing has set on the American name. Ixt us get on to another delusion which has amused us in England. We are gravely informed that the United States is the paradise of cheap literature, and that In- ternational Copyright would raise the price of American books to the inordinately high level of the English market. Our circulating Library system is cited as a proof of the truth of this assertion. There can be no two opinions on the absurdity of that system—but, such as it is, let us, at least, have it fairly understood. When a novel, for example, is published at the preposterous price of a guinea and a half, nobody pays that price. A de- duction of one-third at least is made. An individual speculator buys the book, and lends it to the public. Even this man, as an annual subscription, demands the nominal price originally asked for the book (a guinea and a half), and he will send you at least three novels a week, for a whole year. If this is not cheap reading, what is? But you will say the public may want to buy some of the best of these novels. Very well. Within a year from the date of its first issue, the book is republished at five or six shillings (a dollar and a half); and is again republished at two shillings (fifty cents). Setting the case of stolen literary property out of the question, are these not correct American prices? But why should the purchaser be made to wait till the book can be sold at a reasonable price? I admit the absurdity of making him wait. But is that absurdity likely, under any conceivable circumstances, to be copied in America? In England the circulating library is one of our old institutions which dies very slowly. In America it is no institution at all. Is it within the limits of probability that one of your citizens should prefer lending a novel to a few hundred subscribers, when he can sell it to purchasers by the thousand? It is a waste of words to ask the question. The one thing needful, so far as works of fiction are concerned, is to shew you that our popular price for a novel is the American popular price. Look at the catalogue of " Harper's Library of American Fiction," and you will find that the prices range from two to three shillings—fifty to seventy per cent. Turning to literature in general let us consult Messrs. Harper again. I am away from home while I write, and I have no means of quoting from a more recent catalogue than the summer list of 1878. However, the prices of less than two years ago in New York cannot be obsolete prices yet. Here are some specimens :— "The Atlantic Islands." Illustrated. 8vo. Cloth. $3 (twelve shillings). "Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1877." Large i2mo. Cloth. 82 (eight shillings). "The Student's French Grammar." i2mo. Cloth. $1.40 (say five shillings and six- pence). ## p. 34 (#54) ############################################## 34 THE AUTHOR. "Art Education applied to Industry." Illus- trated. 8vo. Cloth gilt. (Sixteen shillings.) "Harper's Travellers' Handbooks for Europe and the East. $3 per volume (twelve shillings). I am quite ready to believe that every one of these books is well worth the price asked for it. But don't tell me that American books are always cheap books, and let it at least be admitted that English publishers are not the only publishers who charge a remunerative price for a valuable work, which has proved a costly work to produce and which is not always likely to command a large circu- lation. To sum it up, literature which addresses all classes of the population is as cheap in England as it is in America. Literature which addresses special classes only will on that very account always be published at special prices (with or without inter- national copyright) on both sides of the Atlantic. V. I must not try your patience too severely, Colonel. Let me leave unnoticed some of the minor misunderstandings which obscure the American view of the copyright case, and let me occupy the closing lines of this letter with a really mischievous delusion. Just consider what this extra- ordinary delusion really amounts to. "We don't deny (the American publishers say) that you English authors have a moral right of property in your books, which we are quite ready to make a legal right, on conditions that we are to dictate the use which you make in America of your own property. If we confer on you international copy- right, we see with horror a future day when English publishers and English printers may start in business under our very noses, and we will only give you your due, with the one little drawback that we prohibit you to employ your countrymen to pub- lish your books in our country. Our respect for justice is only matched by our respect for our purses. Hurrah for honourable dealings with the British author—so long as there is no fear of a decrease in the balance at our bankers! Down with the British author, and away with the national honour if there is the slightest danger of the almighty dollar finding its way into other pockets than ours!" Am I exaggerating? Let two of the American publishers speak for themselves. Hear Messrs. Harper Brothers first. After reciting the general conditions on which they pro- pose to grant us copyright in the United States, they proceed as follows :—" And provided further, that within six months after registration of title the work shall have been manufactured and published in the country, and by a subject or citizen of the country in which such registration has been made." Mr. \V. H. Appleton, writing to the Ixmdon Times (in a curiously aggressive tone), expresses himself more plainly. "Our people," he says, evidently meaning our printers and publishers, "would rejoice to open this vast opportunity of your intellectual labours . . . But they hold them- selves perfectly competent to manufacture the books that shall embody your authors' thoughts, in accordance with their own needs, habits, and tastes, and in this they will not be interfered with." (Extracted from Messrs. Harper Brothers pamphlet, "New York, March 17th, 1879.") To argue the question with men who are of this way of thinking would be merely to waste your time and mine. It we are ever to have international copyright between the two countries we must have the same unreserved recognition of a moral right, the same ungrudging submission to the law of honour, which has produced the treaties exchanged between the European Powers. In this respect England has set the example to the United States. And, let me add, England has no fear of compe- tition. I have put the question myself to eminent London publishers ; they have no idea of intruding their trade interests into a gTeat question of national justice. They are ready to welcome wholesale competition in an open market. If they set up branch establishments in New York, the American publishers shall be free to follow their example in London. What does Mr. Marston (of the London firm of Sampson Low, Marston and Co.) say on this subject, in his letter to The Times, published May 12th, 1879 ?— "As a publisher, I trust I shall l>e absolved from the charge of advocating trade interests, when I express my strong conviction that the only Convention between the two countries which can possibly bear the test of time, must be one based upon the original and inherent rights of property! Let registration in Washington and London, within a month or two months of first publication in either country, convey respectively to English and American authors the same right in each other's country as in their own, and one's sense of justice will be satisfied. . . . Such restrictions as those proposed by American publishers exist in no other Conven- tions; they arise out of a most unfounded and unnecessary fear of competition by English publishers!" There is the opinion of one member of the representative of the trade. I could produce similar opinions from other members, but I must not needlessly lengthen my letter. Hear, instead, an American citizen who agrees with Mr. Marston, and with me. Let Mr. George Haven Putnam speak—delivering an address on International Copyright in New York, on the 29th of January, 1879:- "I believe that in the course of time the general ## p. 35 (#55) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 35 laws of trade would and ought to so regulate the arrangements for supplying the American public with books that, if there were no restriction as to volumes, the author would select the publishing agent, English or American, who could serve him to best advantage, and that agent would be found to be the man who would prepare for the largest possible circle of American readers the editions best suited to their wants ... If English pub- lishers settling here could excel our American houses in this understanding and in these facilities they ought to be at liberty to do so, and it would be for the interest of the public that no hindrance should be placed in their way." I have now, I hope, satisfied you that I do not stand quite alone in my way of thinking. If you make inquiries you will find that other American citizens, besides Mr. Putnam, can see the case plainly as it stands on its merits. Thus far I have been careful to base our claim to international copyright on no larger ground than the ground of justice. Would you like, before I conclude, to form some idea of the money we lose by the freedom of robbery which is one of the freedoms of the American Republic? Take-the illustrious instance of Charles Dickens. The price agreed on with his English publishers for the work interrupted by his death, " Edwin Drood," was seven thousand five hundred pounds, with a promise of an addition to this sum if the work exceeded a certain circulation. Even Dickens' enormous popularity in England is beaten by his popularity in the United States. He was more read in your country than in mine, and, as a necessary consequence (with international copy- right) his work would be worth more in America than in England. What did he get in America for the "advance sheets?" With the pirates to be considered in making the bargain? Less than a seventh part of what his English publisher has agreed to give him before a line of his novel was written—one thousand pounds! But the case of Charles Dickens is a case of a writer who stands apart, and without a rival in popularity. Take my case, if you like, as repre- sentative, the position of writers of a lesser degree of popularity. I fail to remember the exact price which Messrs. Harper paid me for the advance sheets of "The Woman in White." It was certainly not a thousand pounds; perhaps half a thousand, or perhaps not so much. At any rate (with the pirates in the background waiting to steal) the great firm in New York dealt with me liberally. It has been calculated by persons who under- stand the matter better than I do that for every one reader in England I have ten readers in the United States. How many nnauthorized editions of this one novel of mine—published without my deriving any profit from them—made their appear- ance in America? I can only tell you, as a basis for calculation, one American publisher informed a friend of mine that he had sold one hundred and twenty thousand copies of "The Woman in White." He never sent me sixpence! Good-bye for the present, Colonel. I must go back to my regular work, and make money for my American robbers, under the sanction of Congress. * THE TROUBLES OF A BEGINNER. THE perusal of a " Hard Case" in the first issue of The Author tempts me to put on paper my own experiences as a beginner. Owing to what might be called a mild inoculation of the fraudulent publisher at the commencement of my career, the consequences of my gullibility have not proved so pecuniarily serious as they were in a "Hard Case"; but that has not been for lack of trying on the part of the various so-called societies, or dishonest tradesmen, who thrive on the inexperience and vanity of the literary fledgling. I launched my first effort in the shape of a short story, under the auspices of the "London Literary Society." Their prospectus was all that could be desired. For the modest sum of one guinea per annum my literary success was assured. They undertook to place MSS. in the hands of magazine editors, who (apparently) had no other means of obtaining copy for their publications. Thus young and unknown authors were placed upon the first rung of the ladder of fame, and it would be their own fault if they did not eventually reach the top. By thus establishing a regular method of communi- cation between author and publisher, interest and prejudice, so fatal to beginners, would be over- ridden, and a long-felt want supplied. So it would, —but the "long-felt want" was that experienced by the organizers of the Society. I sent in my guinea and my MS., and waited hopefully for the result. The receipt for the money was a work of art; it was no common receipt, it was a Diploma informing me that I had been enrolled a member of the London Literary Society, and re- questing that in future I would add L.L.S. after my name when communicating with the Secretary. In due course I received an official looking docu- ment which proved to be a criticism of my story. Then for the first time I knew, what I had hitherto only suspected, that I was undoubtedly a writer of merit! According to the criticism nothing stood between me and success but the narrow-minded- ness and prejudice of undiscriminating editors. ## p. 36 (#56) ############################################## 3« THE AUTHOR. The document concluded by recommending me to send my story to a publication entitled Lloyd's Magazine. Of course I was delighted. Certainly I could not remember having ever heard of Lloyd's Maga- zine, but then it was hardly to be expected that I had heard of all the magazines published, and at any rate I hoped they would pay well. It was probably connected with Lloyd's paper. The editor was very civil, and assured me he would be pleased to print my story, adding casually that some alterations would have to be made, and little technicalities attended to, before the MS. would be ready for the printer's hands, but that half a guinea would cover these necessary expenses. Hard as it may be to believe, I sent my half guinea! How I marvel at my credulity. But then I knew nothing of such things, and it seemed quite possible that a tyro like myself might have made technical mistakes that would entail a certain amount of trouble. I also received a prospectus setting forth the advantages enjoyed by subscribers to Lloyd's Magazine. "Every talented author would ensure immediate appearance in print;" this, it was as- serted, would prove most beneficial in treating with editors who objected to unknown writers. "Ster- ling merit would be amply remunerated;" this was satisfactory, as the verdict of the Literary Society- had inferred that my particular qualifications came under that head. In fact, the advantages were so great, and so plausibly set forth, that I felt I really must get into Lloyd's Magazine at any price. Finally, the editor wrote to say that the MS. was now corrected and ready for the press, and that if I invested in twenty-four copies of the magazine, at 6d. apiece, my story should appear in the next issue! Having already paid so much, I took the twenty-four copies, thinking, as so many beginners do, that to get a story printed in anything was better than not getting it printed at all, and trust- ing to the promises of the prospectus as to the future. However, one glance at Lloyd's Magazine was sufficient to dispel any such hopes. To judge by the calibre of its contents all the contributors must have paid as heavily as myself, to induce anyone to print their productions; and heartily disgusted I sent in my resignation to the London Literary Society. I was informed in return that not having given three months' notice I was liable for my subscrip- tion. I sent it, and at the same time an intimation that I wished to withdraw. The following year I received a claim for my subscription, upon which I drew the attention of the Secretary to my previous communication. The only answer to this was another claim, of which I took no notice. Again, the year after I was sent a request for two years' subscription, which was quickly followed by a letter threatening me with the law. Whether further proceedings would have been taken against me I never knew, as the Secretary solved the question by going bankrupt. The Court of Bankruptcy informed me that I was down on the books of the Society for two guineas, but on explaining matters the affair was dropped, and my dealings with the London Literary Society became a thing of the past I think that I bought my experience cheaply. One of the most ingenious attempts at fraud of the kind was perpetrated by a Society calling itself the "Southampton Association." Upon seeing the advertisement of a new magazine entitled Pen and Ink, I sent in a sample MS. In response, I got a letter informing me that, after looking through my MS., the Society was prepared to accept me as a "staff member" of the Association. This, at first sight, seemed all I could wish for—there is a peculiarly fascinating ring about the word "staff" to a beginner's ear. The letter, however, went on to explain what the privileges of a staff member were, i.e., "one whose contributions can be accepted and paid for," not will be "immediately proofs are passed by the editor." The wording of this sounded suspicious, and when the epistle concluded by a casual request that I would fill up the form enclosed and return it, the said form being a pledge on my part to pay a guinea to the Society, I decided to have nothing further to do with it. My course of the Literary Society had rendered me proof against any more attacks of the same sort. I was very nearly falling a prey, however, to the wiles of the fraudulent publisher. I had perpetrated a one volume novel, and sent it up to Messrs. A. and B. Of course it was "favourably reported on" by the reader, and was going to make a great impression. The firm offered to publish it and pay half expenses, if I would pay the other half, the profits to be also equally shared. This offer sounded reasonable to inexperienced ears, and I asked for an estimate. The answer was, that my half share would amount to ^55 io*. (Refer- ence to a little book since published by the Society of Authors will show that the entire cost of publish- ing such a volume is £25 18*. yd.!) Fortunately I was alarmed at the sum asked, and declined the offer. They wrote again, offering to publish the book if I would pay ^40 towards it, and receive one-third of the profits; this I also declined. They then suggested bringing it out in is. form for the book stalls, my share to be ^28 10s. At this point, however, I became a member of the Society of Authors, and on sending the whole correspondence to the Secretary, received a letter ## p. 37 (#57) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 37 in reply, which saved me from the clutches of the respectable A. and B., and quite decided me that it was better posterity should suffer from the loss of my book, than that I should suffer from the loss of my money. I may add that the above are a few of the ex- periences to which any beginner is liable when acting without advice. In my successful under- takings I have been fortunate enough to fall into the hands of one of the most honourable members of the profession. * "CURSED COINCIDENCES." London, June io, 1890. There is a source of great annoyance and pecuniary loss to authors for which it is possible that some remedy may be found by your aid. I can best set it forth by stating the simple fact that every one of the last six works which I have written, or on which I have collaborated, has been met or anticipated by a similar publication on the same subject; in every instance to my own detri- ment and annoyance, or that of others. In some of thesecases the coincidence was doubtless accidental; and I am satisfied that the authors of the books were as ignorant that I was engaged on a like work, as I was of their intentions. Could we have known it I am sure that we should have been spared in one way or the other great trouble, loss, and vexation. It is true that such an extraordinary run of bad luck savours of the marvellous; but if anyone who reads this suspects me of mistake or exaggeration, I shall be glad to supply him with all the details, and refer him to my publishers, who will fully confirm my assertions. But the history of literature is full of instances of men who, after devoting months or years to a work, have had the sorrow to learn that another had been engaged in a similar task. The very obvious remedy for this among honour- able men would be for authors to announce their intentions, and make it known in your columns what they are actually engaged on and really intend to publish. On the other hand, there are innumerable hacks and quacks in literature who would avail themselves of these very announce- ments to "hurry up " works on the same subjects, to say nothing of the half-honest scribes who would pre-empt a subject by declaring that they are engaged on it—the engagement being like that of the American young woman who admitted, in a breach of promise case, that she had nothing written to prove a betrothal, nor had the defendant ever spoken to her, but that "looks had passed between them." Many men seem to think that if they have only looked at a subject it is their property for ever. If there were a real guild of literary men holding and exercising power—such as the Society of Authors may become—this great evil of "the unlucky chance," or cursed coincidence, could really be obviated. For it could declare thieves and plagiarists "niddering" or infamous, and by establishing and exacting a high code of honour it could eliminate much of the disreputable Bohe- mianism or carelessness as to morals from the profession of letters. And if it be not really a profession it would soon become one by the simple process 01 outlawing all who disgrace it. For in fact the dishonest writer is as great an injury to his betters in the craft as the dishonest publisher, and deserves even greater punishment. A few cases of flagrant meanness vigorously exposed would soon end the career of many literary sharpers. Charles G. Leland. THE EXCHANGE OF BOOKS. WOULD it be possible 10 open a Book Exchange in the pages of The Author? I am myself continually compelled to buy books which serve their purpose and are hence- forth of no more use to me. I buy them not for their rarity but for their practical use. Others there are who are always looking out for the completion of sets or the improvement of collections, for first editions, for books specially bound, for books privately printed (of which a certain second-hand bookseller is now bringing out a catalogue). Everybody who wants books depend upon those excellent people, the second-hand booksellers and their lists. They depend upon the people who, like myself, are always wanting to get rid of books. Why cannot The Author give us space, if only a page, to advertise our wants and our wares? Members of the Society should, perhaps, be allowed to take up a certain space for the mere cost of the printing and paper. Other people might be made to pay for the privilege at such a rate as would assist the finances of the paper. Can my suggestion find a corner? F. R. S. ## p. 38 (#58) ############################################## 3« THE AUTHOR. LEAFLET No. II. On Royalties. WHAT is loosely and ignorantly called "The Royalty System"—a system where all is chaos—may be defined as pay- ment by results. It came into existence chiefly as a sop to authors who were discontented with the so-called half-profit system, after it had been worked into a system which gave all the profits to the publisher. "At least," they thought, "there will be something for us if we are to have so much for every copy sold." They therefore signed any agreement in this sense that was placed in their hands without asking what it meant—what the proposed arrangement kept for the publisher and what it would give them. They signed what they were told to sign, and they took what was offered them. They began to sign these royalty agreements about twenty years ago, when the "system" first came into use. They have continued to sign them; they are signing them every day, and it is not too much to say that not one single author up to this day of writing, outside the office of the Society, knows when he signs, what he has kept for himself, or what proportion of the results of his labour he has given to the man who sells his book. In accordance with the principles of this Society, which endeavours to throw light upon everything connected with the production and sale of books, or in other words, enables authors to understand exactly what they give away and what they reserve —what, in fact, an agreement means—the Leaflet of this month is devoted to a very brief statement of the "Royalty System " in its various forms applied to author and publisher. The discovery that the author was as easily gulled by a Royalty as by a show of half profits, caused certain gentry to introduce improvements into the original plan. Thus the Royalty at first offered and eagerly taken by the ignorant author was 10 per cent, on the published price from the beginning. Then one man sharper than his brothers discovered that his authors would take 5 per cent, from the beginning; another that his men would take 10 per cent, on the trade price; a third, and this was the most happy discovery of all, that his men would take 10 per cent, to begin when a great number of copies had been first sold. In the forthcoming work on "Methods of Publication," the author prints a table which shows the working of the system and the results to author and publisher. He takes as an example an ordinary novel in one volume, sold at 6s., a very common form of book at this day. These six shilling novels vary considerably in length, running from 70,000 words to 180,000 words—or even more. The average length, however, may be taken as from 70,000 to 100,000 words. The cost of producing such a work is, with a liberal allowance for advertising, as follows :— (1) For the first 1,000 copies nearly £100. (2) For the second edition of 3,000 copies, £120, or with a liberal increase of adver- tising, .£150. (3) If the success be so great as to justify a large edition of 10,000, the cost of production of this edition would be about ^360, or with increased advertising say ^400. (4) The trade price of the book varies from 3s. 4</. to 3-r. Sd. We may fairly take it at 3*. 6d. The trade price is generally arrived at by - taking two-thirds of the published price and allowing thirteen copies as twelve. In the case of the great distributing houses an additional 10 per cent, is allowed. There are also cases in which lower terms are given for special reasons. Many copies, however, are sold at a higher price. (5) The publisher therefore obtains— a. For the first edition of 1,000 copies, ^175- /3. For a second edition of 3,000 copies, 7. For an edition of 10,000 copies, ^1,750. Out of this he has to pay the author, printer, paper- maker, binder, and the advertisements. We might proceed at once to our table, but for one objection which will be raised. It is this. ## p. 39 (#59) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 39 Suppose the publisher prints io,ooo copies and sells only 1,000 copies, he then has 9,000 copies on his hands. That is true. To overprint is a mistake that inexperienced publishers often make: experi- enced, rarely. The wise publisher feels his way even though to print 3,000 only will cost him a halfpenny more on each copy than boldly to order 10,000. When the demand for a popular book ceases, which is not suddenly but gradually, the prudent publisher is not generally left with many copies on hand. It must be remembered that we are here speaking of a popular and successful book, of which there are a great many issued every year. Now, then, for our table. We deduct from the publisher's profits (1) what he pays to the author, (2) what he pays for production. The reader will see set forth in order the respective shares of profit presented by a 5 per cent, up to a 35 per cent, royalty to author and to publisher. The per- centage is taken on the published price, the full price of 6s. I. On the sale of the first 1,000. Per cent. ■ 10 ■5 20 25 30 £ £ £ £ £ £ Publisher 60 45 3° — — Author ... '5 3° 45 60 75 90 II. On the sale of the next 3,000. Per cent. 5 10 "5 20 3° 35 £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Publisher 33° 285 •40 195 ■ 50 105 Author ... 45 90 13s 180 225 270 315 III. On the sale of an edition of 10,000. Pe r cent. 5 IO IS 20 3" 35 £ £ £ £ £ C £ Publisher 1,300 1,050 900 750 600 45° 300 Author ... 150 450 600 75° 900 1,050 Since it is more common to meet with a success corresponding with the second than with the first table, let us consider what the figures mean. They speak for themselves, but to those who cannot understand figures let us explain. "Your publisher, dear Sir or Madam, when he benevolently offers you a 5 per cent, royalty, will on a second edition of 3,000 copies make ^330 to your ^45, i.e., eight times your share. If he gives you 10 per cent.—which is common—he will make ,£285 to your £90, that is, three times your share. If 15 per cent, he will make ^240 to your ^135, i.e., twice your share. If 20 per cent., .£195 to your ;£i8o. If 25 per cent., ^170 to your .£225. If 30 per cent., £10$ to your ^270. Consider this, and refuse the 10 per cent, with indignation." As for the "fancy" royalties, those on trade price, those to begin when a certain number of copies have gone and so forth, the reader may calculate for himself the meaning of these pro- posals. We will, however, on a future occasion assist his calculations. With the help of these tables, too, the reader will be able to make an intelligent attempt towards finding an answer to the question, "What proportion of profit should in equity be the share of the publisher in the case of a book which has no risk?" * THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND. "Yours be the task to foster and protect Genius in rags and learning in neglect." W. T. I- ITZGERALD. THE object of the Royal Literary Fund, as summed up in Mr. Fitzgerald's Anniversary Ode, is one of which all of us, members of this Society, must cordially approve. Here are its aims set forth a little more at length:—■ "To administer assistance to Authors of published works of approved literary merit and of important contributions to periodical literature, who may be reduced to distress by unavoidable calamities, or deprived by enfeebled faculties, or declining life, of the power of literary exertion. This assistance may ## p. 40 (#60) ############################################## 40 THE AUTHOR. be extended at the death of an Author to his widow and children." Every one may not know the pathetic incident to which the Fund actually owed its origin. It was this. A member of a club in London, much frequented by literary men, being arrested for a small debt, died in consequence. It then leaked out that the unfortunate scholar had lived for years in the extremest poverty, but had borne his suffer- ings in silence. Some fifteen years before this occurrence, in the very club of which he was a member, an attempt had been set on foot to found some sort of pension scheme, but it had fallen through, after a few desultory meetings. This, however, galvanized it into life again. Mr. David Williams was from the first the life and soul of the movement. He had been the person with whom the idea first originated, and he was the first to assist in its resuscitation. He organized the scheme, and was indefatigable in its promotion. He levied taxes on all his friends and acquaintances, and persuaded actors, poets, and princes to sound the praises of the new institution. We fear he must have been, good worthy man, a terrible bore. We learn that he himself made house-to-house visits in behalf of his project, and collected large sums of money in that way. In addition to which he gave personal attention to all the routine business, with the result that, when the Society had literally thousands invested, and a most magnificent roll of supporters, the executive expenses were returned as only £$o. In 1818 the Society was incorporated. After Williams's death, however, the Society had rather a stormy time. This was not only due to the loss of their indefatigable leader. The extreme secrecy with which the doles were made, while show- ing the kindly delicacy of the administrators, might, it is obvious, if sufficient care were not taken, be the source of abuse. Sufficient care was not taken, and abuses followed. The affairs of the Society were at that time administered by an Executive Committee and a Council. The Executive Committee did the work, and the Council lent their name. When some of the work could not be approved of, a quarrel took place between the Council and the Committee. Many of the Council joined in the general demand for an investigation into the manner in which the Society's affairs had been conducted. Then came an agitation for reform. The leader of this was Dickens, who attributed the malpractices, which had undoubtedly occurred, to the demoral- izing effect inflicted upon men by much sitting on boards of direction. The demand was to a certain extent acceded to, and Dickens, Mr. Wentworth Dilke, and Sir E. L. Bulwer were placed upon the first Committee of reform, and no one has since that day breathed a word against the way in which the Fund is administered. The benefits are disposed entirely without regard to religious sect, the only disqualification being offences against public morality. Neither are they con- fined to Englishmen. At the dinner of 1822, when Chateaubriand's health was proposed by the Duke of York, as the ambassador of France, he mentioned, in his acknowledgment of the toast, that he was himself aware of the benevolent character of the Fund, for, during the period of the French Revolution, a French literary gentleman was in difficulties, and these difficulties having been repre- sented to the Committee by one of his friends, a sum was voted sufficient to relieve him from all anxiety, and that at a time when the institution was itself struggling into notice. ' This gentleman, Chateaubriand continued, was thus enabled to maintain his ground. At the Restoration he returned to France to acquire fresh honours as a literary man, and to rise in the favour of his Sovereign. He had now returned to England, but in a different capacity—as the ambassador of his Sovereign; and he was that man. When Macaulay inveighed against all institutions having for their object the pecuniary relief of authors, he was taking a position he might be expected to take, one which it was dignified for him to take, and one which we sincerely wish could rationally be taken. Macaulay's contention was that good work would always find sufficient pay, and that therefore the very people who would require such assistance were the people who did not do good work. That, in fact, all such Societies must lead to the encouragement of the incompetent. This of course is very far from being the case. A great deal of admirable work, useful to mankind, and most creditable to the author, never can command sufficient circulation to make it remunerative. The Fund most wisely allows for the fact that, whereas while the author is able to work at full pressure, he may keep his head above water, there may come a time when such "H state cannot be continued. His methods may get out of date. The very lucidity of his teaching may have enabled some younger man, more in touch with modern thought, to carry similar work to a point of higher perfection. Old age and sickness may arrive. At once poverty stares the author of unremunerative work in the face. He need be in no way impro- vident and yet be unable to lay aside money to meet such an emergency. It is in such cases as these that the bounty of the Royal Literary Fund is freely and delicately bestowed. ## p. 41 (#61) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 4- It is in such cases as these that such assistance is too often urgently necessary. There exists another institution for the relief of authors. There is a provision on the Civil List for pensions to the amount of ^1,200 per annum, which should be devoted to the reward of (1) Persons having just claims on the Royal benevo- lence; (2) Persons who have rendered personal service to the Crown; (3) Persons who have benefited the public by discoveries in science; (4) Persons who have benefited the public by their attainments in literature and the arts. Mr. Colles' book* has shown very clearly that these pensions are awarded in a most reprehensible manner, and are very generally devoted to the relief of people often having no claim to charity at all, certainly having no claim upon this establish- ment, and occasionally having a distinct claim to bounty from other sources. The author may well look somewhat askance at an institution whose benefits are administered with so much caprice, and so regularly reaped by the wrong people. While there is no doubt that the writers of much good work do not derive much good pay from it, so that in certain cases the assistance of charity be* comes absolutely needful, it is perfectly certain that there would be fewer such cases if the literary man were more alive to his own interests, mors careful of his own property. We learn from the Prince of Wales's speech that the Royal Literary Fund has lately made grants to the families of the late J. G. Wood and the late R. A. Proctor. These men's names were household words; their teaching and their books were known in every family. They were not devoted to abstract and abstruse science; they did not produce works of great research, appealing necessarily to so small a public as to make it impossible that their work should be pecuniarily successful. On the contrary, they were the most popular expositors whom the world has ever seen of the physical and natural wonders of the world. Their books had an enormous popular circulation, and the fact that it has been necessary for their families to apply for assistance to the Royal Literary Fund speaks volumes for the statement made so often in the paper of this Society. "The nature of literary property is mis- understood and its very reality is hardly recog- nized." Had these writers understood the value of their own property they would never, perhaps, have become the recipients either in life, or through their widows, after death, of the Literary Fund Bounty. * "Literature and the Pension List," by W. Morris Colles. Cr. 8vo., y. td. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. VOL. I. A HARD CASE. No. II THIS publisher, Mr. Henry Skimpington- Brown, prided himself on his double- barrelled name. It certainly lent weight to his assurances that he was in a position to pro- duce guarantees from most influential people that he was honest—nay more, that he was generous. He came under the notice of the Society of Authors in the following way. He was an adver- tising person, whose letter paper bore the elastic title of "publisher" upon it, and whose address was in Fleet Street. An author, bitten by one of his specious circulars, sent a manuscript to him for his consideration. Here is the author's account of what followed :— "I unfortunately entrusted my book to Mr. Skim- pington-Brown. He engaged to publish for me any number of copies required " up to 1,000," beginning at 200. The book came out. I at once began to receive letters from friends, acquaintances, and book-sellers, complaining that they could not obtain copies through the ordinary channels. Mr. Mudie also informed me privately that my publisher was quite unable to meet his orders. I wrote re- peatedly to Mr. Skimpington-Brown demanding an explanation. Sometimes I got an evasive answer; generally no notice was taken of my letters. By this time I was quite certain that something was wrong, and a friend of mine, who interviewed him for me, elicited from him :—that he had only printed 100 copies; that the type had been broken up; and that he had not enough money to pay for composition again." The author had given the man £%o to produce the book. Now, although a part of the money paid was for advertisement of the book, no adver- tisements were ever seen except in a trade circular once or twice. Hardly any copies were sent out for review. What reviews were obtained were very good ones. Therefore when the author applied to the Society of Authors, the position of affairs was thus:—He had been induced to pay the publisher a sum of money equivalent to double as much as was actually spent in bringing the little book out; also an extra ^5 on some pretext or other; third, a large sum for author's corrections. Only 100 copies were printed. The circulating libraries could not put the book on their lists, because they could get no copies. The author had received nothing back but a small sum obtained by privately disposing of a few copies to his friends. A few letters were written which seemed to have 11 ## p. 42 (#62) ############################################## 42 THE AUTHOR the effect of temporarily frightening Mr. Skimping- ton-Brown, for it was at this time that he sent to the Society a letter in which he said that most in- fluential people were willing to come forward and speak to his honesty and generosity. It happened that another author had some idea of publishing a work with Mr. Skimpington-Brown. To this gentleman, whom he seemed to think might possibly prove a new victim, the worthy publisher mentioned the first author's book, and stated that he was bringing out a second edition of it, for which there was already a demand for neatly 3,000 copies! But the two authors were acquainted with each other, and this communication reached the first author. As he said, "the state of things is worse now than ever. As long as the book was prac- tically unpublished, there was a chance of getting a new publisher for it; but if this man, hiving evidently no position, no capital, and, indeed, no right to the name of publisher, really keeps his hold on the book, it is a ruined work. He cannot, in fact, publish it himself, and yet he deprives the author of his chance of finding another publisher." So it was determined that, at all events, the book must be got out of his hands, and that after- wards the possibility of making him disgorge some of the plunder must be considered. The agreement was unstamped, that is, for prac- tical purposes. It must be admitted that it had affixed to it a penny postage stamp. In it the publisher covenanted to "print,publish, and push(\) the book, and meet all demands up to 1,000 copies." This latter phrase alone would have put anyone of experience upon his guard. It is almost invariably the prelude to the following dodge for extortion. A large number of copies is named, say 10,000; then a correspondingly large figure is named as the publisher's risk, say £50. The author may feel that £50 is not much for 10,000 copies; more, he may ask someone who knows, and will be informed that the demand is not very exorbitant. So he pays it. Then only 100 copies are printed. The author objects. The other per- son says: "I never said I should produce 10,000 copies. No good publisher ever produces such large editions of new men's work. I said I would 'meet demands' up to that number. I have as yet not been asked for more than I have printed." But the author may say: "It did not cost you ,£50 to produce 100 copies." To which the other person may reply: "I never said it did." Only in one way had Mr. Skimpington-Brown contracted to do something definite. He said he would advertise up to £20. He was asked to pro- duce vouchers for this sum. He then said that he had only advertised to the extent of j£g, and that, of course, the surplus would be refunded. The Society of Authors made an appointment with this honest tradesman to meet their accountant. But the accountant found the office locked up, and received a note stating that his books were at his suburban office! At last, upon threats of legal procedure, Mr. Skimpington-Brown appeared, and, with tears in his eyes, refunded j£io. He said that was all he pos- sessed. This was all the satisfaction that could be possibly obtained for the author. Nothing would have been gained by legal procedure, and the author was advised to take Mr. Skimpington- Brown's little all. * THE CHESTNUT BELL. THE sound of the Chestnut Bell is now be- coming rare in America; heard indeed as seldom as those of the Sunken City, comme- morated by Riickert, which "peal once more their old melodious chime" but once or twice in a century, and then only to the Sunday child who is born to hear what is inaudible to the Philistine. But before the last Ming of this extraordinary instrument dies away, it may be worth while to record its history, and give for the first time what is probably a true clue to its origin. About four years ago Senator Jerome, of New York who, because of his immaculate life, admir- able gravity, and personal resemblance to a famous picture byMurillo, has always been known as Saint Jerome—was one day pouring forth in a speech a grand series of moral axioms, which, however admirable, "had not," as Heine says, "novelty for merit," when all at once Senator Riddleberger, of Virginia, the licensed clown, jester, and mischief maker of the Senate, called to a point of order. And on being asked what it was he replied: "Mr. Speaker, I want the Senator from New York to stop ringing that d -d old Chestnut bell of his." The mot was new and it spread "like wildfire" over the Union. Wherever the Frenchman of 1840 would have cried connu, the American roared Chestnut. If an orator uttered a truism—if any body dared to say " be virtuous and you will be happy"—"Chestnut!"was sure to be heard. Woe to the narrators of old Joes, for the nuts were cast at them, and they were abashed. Ere long the Chestnut Bell itself appeared. It was a small highly resonant apparatus of a tintinnabulistic or campanological nature, worn as an appendage to the button hole—it went with a spring, and its sound became a terror in the land. I am now in posses- ## p. 43 (#63) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 43 sion of six different kinds of Chestnut Bells—none of them are loud, but all are of piercing, insulting, aggravating, tone. It has happened that even clergymen when using platitudes or dropping into cant, have been called to silence by the dreadful bell. It is usual in the United States whenever a new slang term appears for all the minor literati of the press to at once invent Jts origin. Consequently there were innumerable anecdotes, every one more anthentic than the others, telling how and when the term Chestnut came into existence. Of these I have made a collection, with the result of distrust- ing them all. In such cases it is almost invariably "the oldest which is truest." The oldest in this case is Italian. In Northern Italy, especially in Florence, when a man would discredit or snub another, and intimate that what he says is untrue, or contemptible, or worn out, he puts his thumb between his fore and middle finger, and presents it. This is called making the Chestnut. In Naples they call it la fica, or the fig, but the castagna or Chestnut is the most ancient term. All of the American origins confine themselves to the Chestnut, but say nothing of the bell. For the bell is the real object, "Chestnut" being only the adjective which qualifies it. This part of the problem is specially interesting. There has long been known in Bavaria, possibly in other parts of Germany, but I have only known it in the Bayerisches Land, what is called the Lugnermesser or Liar's Knife. This is a knife of wood exactly resembling those which are used by grocers in England to scoop butter or lard. There is a hole iri it in which hangs a hawk's bell, and on the blade is an inscription of which the following is, though not a translation, a toler- able imitation:— Who liftes thys Knyfe Nor ringes y* Bell, Ne'er in his Lyfe A Lye did tell. The most remarkable of these knives which I have ever seen is in the possession of Miss Mary B. Reath, of Philadelphia. Another was in the great Art Exhibition at Munich in 1888. A third is in the Artists' Club of Munich. Whenever a member tells a doubtful or a worn-out or commonly known story, and tries to pass it off for new, some one rings the bell. All three bore inscriptions in old Bavarian which were, however, so peculiar and requiring so much explanation, that it is hardly worth while to give them here. The ringing of the Liar's Bell is a kind of shut- ting off or condemnation, and as such is manifestly derived from the " bell, book, and candle," the form vol. 1. of excommunication of the Church of Rome, ending by closing the book against the offender, extin- guishing the candle, and ringing the bell. (" Reliq. Antiq., i, 1, Gawaine and Gavin, 3023— Halliwell.") Also to bear the bell, to carry off the prize, to be unsurpassed as a liar. For a bell, a whetstone, a knife, and, in America, a hat have here or there been substituted. It is very strange that Friedrich in his "Symbolik der Natur," says of the chestnut that it is a type of the unchangeable, of the old which ever persists in remaining—which is the very spirit of all that is hackneyed, "the reason for this being that its leaves femain so long unchanged." "And as most races name their national fools from some popular dish, as Jack Pudding, in England; Hanswurst, in Germany; Pickle Herring, in Holland; Jean Potage, in France; so the Italians call a silly, stupid, would-be witty fellow a Marone, which is a large kind of chestnut." But the real ancient meaning of the nut is Beharrlich- keit, obstinate endurance, like that of an old story which holds its own for ever. Therefore the Greeks called it the Euboic acorn, and con- secrated it to Jupiter, he being of all the gods the most unyielding. It is also to be noted that the Greeks and Romans carried little silver bells, the tinkling of which drove away witchcraft and evil spells—which latter certainly include old Joe Millers, so well known to possess a kind of dire and intolerable fascination. I have a fac simile of one of these ancient chestnut bells, with its strange incantation, which I carry in my dressing case as a warning. I trust that the reader will not conclude, from what I have written, that I need it! C. G. Leland. * The Death of a Scholar.—" Come and see the difference there is between the powerful Rabbis of the Land of Israel and the pious Rabbis of Babylon. Resh Lakish made a funeral oration in honour of a certain disciple of the wise, and exclaimed, 'Alas! the I and of Isiael has lost a great man!' Whereas Rabbi Nachman at Babylon declined delivering a funeral oration on a similar occasion; for, said he, 'What can I say more than Alas! a basketful of books is lost'?"—Talmud Megillah. * i) 2 ## p. 44 (#64) ############################################## 44 THE AUTHOR. "THE ART OF AUTHORSHIP." In August, 1888, a well-known English novelist received the following letter :— "Coventry, "Dear Madam, "August 21, '88. "I am wanting to address our young people, in response to their request, by way of a lecture upon the art of composition and the means essential to secure a forcible and interesting style of expression. I have thought that the only way by which I could add any considerable interest and usefulness to an evening's pleasant intercourse upon such a topic would be to secure, if at all possible, a personal testimony of the experience of one or two of our most skilful and honoured authors. "To that end I have taken the very great liberty to write to you and solicit your generous help. May I be permitted to ask whether in early life you pave yourself to any special training with a view to the formation of style, and also whether you can give us any information of your own methods that would aid us to realize, in some degree at least, the secrets of your own great powers in the use of a clear and forcible English. "I write to you because your finely conceived novels are cherished friends of my own, delightful companions which give me more pleasure than I can well say; and also because I feel in asking such a favour, that you must be so accustomed to people getting truly attached to you by reason of your beautiful stories, that you will very readily forgive the request even though you cannot grant it. But if you are able to spare a few minutes to do me this kind service, I can assure you of the gratitude of many beside myself. "Pray excuse this long letter, and if I am giving you any trouble, or ignorantly making an undue demand on your time, do more than forgive me, take no notice of me, and you will be appreciated and understood by "Yours most faithfully and respectfully, "GEORGE BAINTON." "Mrs. Parr. Now this was really a very polite and appreciative letter, and to it she returned a courteous answer. It was nice to be considered among "one or two of the most skilful authors," and kindness of heart prompted her to assist a clergyman in his task of lecturing to his young people upon a subject that, like Ah Sin, "he did not understand." But in May, 1890, she received the following letter from her correspondent:— "Dear Madam, "May 2, '90. "Some time since I wrote to you concerning a lecture I was about to give to a number of young men upon the art of composition, and asked your aid. You most generously responded to my appeal, and gave me the privilege of using your kind words of counsel and experience in the event of my being desirous to put the lecture into printed form. I thought you would like to see the extract from your letter thus incorporated into the lecture—a lecture I have expanded into book form and published through Messrs. Clarke & Co., Fleet St., under the title'The Art of Authorship.' The little volume now issued is simply the lecture amplified—matter growing under my hands until it far exceeded the limits of the pamphlet I at first intended. "For your valued aid I again thank you most heartily, and am "Very faithfully yours, "Mrs. Louisa Parr. "George Bainton." The author gave the Correspondence to this Society. She denies having given Mr. Bainton leave to print her letter, and considers that its appearance in a collection of letters headed "The Art of Authorship," and published as a book by Mr. Bainton, is a breach of faith. On receiving these letters it was decided to in- vestigate the case a little and to appeal to a few of our members, whose names were mentioned both in the book and in public advertisement as "personal contributors," and ascertain if they thought like- wise. It will not be possible to print all the replies in full, but here are a few extracts :— Mr. Alfred Austin says:— "I answered Mr. Bainton's enquiries concerning how I formed my style, from motives of courtesy and good nature, and I hear of the use he has made of what I wrote with surprise and regret." Mr. Hall Caine :— "The man wrote to me to say that he was about to lecture on style to his young men, who were enthusiastic readers of mine, etc., etc., and would take it as an honour, etc., if I would write them a letter on my personal aims and endeavours, early efforts, etc., with much of the same sort. Of course I was drawn by the silly subterfuge, and when, some time later, a second letter asked for permission to print my answer in a pamphlet that was to contain 'the text of the lecture,' I was once more made victim. It was not until the book appeared that I realized that the man had ## p. 45 (#65) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 45 written to everybody, that his 'young men ' were all fudge, that the book was the thing, and that, thanks to the folly of folks like myself, he had got it cheap." Here it becomes evident that, at any rate to novelists, Mr. Bainton employed an almost in- variable form—the letter, in fact, which we began by quoting. For Mr. Grant Allen, Mr. R. D. Blackroore, Mrs. Lovett Cameron, Mr. W. S. Gilbert, Mr. Rider Haggard, Mrs. Kennard, Mr. George Meredith, Miss F. M. Peard, Mr. F. W. Robinson, John Strange Winter, Mr. Edmund Yates, and Miss Charlotte Yonge all were ignorant that Mr. Bainton intended to print their remarks; all believed that their assistance was being asked by a clergyman and a stranger for his young people, and none had an idea that they were being vic- timised by a circular letter. This simplicity is the more excusable that in the specimens before us as we write, Mr. Bainton distinctly says he is applying to "one or two" authors. Unless one knows him personally before- hand, how is the ordinary gentleman, how is the ordinary lady, to have an idea that by this state- ment Mr. Bainton may mean one or two hundred authors? Space will not allow that we should print more than brief extracts from these authors' letters. Mr. Rider Haggard says :— "Some years ago Mr. Bainton, or some person, wrote to me saying he was going to give a lecture, and asked my opinion on certain literary matters. I replied, and, if my memory serves me, stipulated that if he printed anything, I should have a proof. The other day I received a printed slip, which I took for and corrected as a proof. On further examination of covering letter, however, I found it was an exiract from a printed book forwarded for my perusal. "I think it quite unjustifiable that matter obtained for one purpose should be used for another without reference to its author." Mr. Bainton does appear in Mr. Rider Haggard's case to have gone through the form of obtaining permission to print his remarks, although he disre- garded the stipulation that his request evoked. But in some cases he appears to have gone more directly to work. Mr. George Meredith says:— "I received a letter some weeks back from Mr. Bainton, enclosing two printed pages of his book, with his thanks to me for 'my kind permission' that he might make public use of my private remarks to his young men, through him, at his request, upon styles in writing. I am not aware of having even granted the permission. It would not have been in accord with a system I hold to—which is, to spare the public any talk upon my methods and doings. If I wrote the words of the grant, I must have done so heedlessly, and I shall require to see them in my handwriting, before I can attach any belief to the statement made by Mr. Bainton. The one object of my writing, was to be of service to an audience that he, ' a stranger to me, wrote of as being hungry for literary instruction.'" Mr. George Meredith is not singular in his belief that, albeit Mr. Bainton says so, he never received any permission. Miss Charlotte Yonge believes the same. So does Professor Huxley. Miss F. M. Peard writes :— "I am more surprised and annoyed than I can say at hearing of the use Mr. Baintdn has made of my answer. I imagined him to be a clergyman rather at his wits' ends for subjects for parish entertainments or lectures, and that he was merely getting up the subject in the abstract. It did not even occur to me that he would use my name in talking about it, much less that he would drag it into print. You will see that he speaks of 'an e\ening's pleasant intercourse.'" Miss Peard encloses Mr. Bainton's first—and only—letter to her, which is almost the exact counterpart of his letter to Mrs. Parr. Miss Peard, like Mrs. Parr, is one out of "one or two," and she also is appealed to because her books are Mr. Bainton's cherished friends. Mr. Bainton is evidently a man of lively sympathies. Mr. Grant Allen says:— "I was not aware Mr. Bainton meant to publish in book form. Mr. Bainton only mentioned that he wished for the information for an apparently private lecture to young people. I was much annoyed at the use Mr. Bainton made of my letter (which he printed incorrectly). The details I gave were far more personal than I should have dreamt of making them had I expected them to be published. What is perfectly allowable in answer to a private question about one's own methods mayseem like impertinence and bad taste if obtruded on the general public, which never asked to know how one writes one's books or articles." Mr. R. D. Blackmore writes:— "When I complied with Mr. Bainton's request I was not aware that he intended to publish or even print my words. His letter suggested that he wanted aid in a lecture to young people and would use my ## p. 46 (#66) ############################################## 46 THE AUTHOR. reply for that purpose, and (as I naturally concluded) for that purpose only. Now that I know the nature of Mr. Bainton's book I do object to the use he has made of a reply procured through the goodwill due to a clergyman and for clerical purposes." Mr. W. S. Gilbert writes :— "When I complied with Mr. Bainton's request I was not aware that it was that gentleman's intention to publish my letter in book form. His first letter to me suggested that he wanted aid in compiling a lecture. I consider that he was not justified in publishing my letter without my express permission. His action appears to me to amount to a breach of faith." Mrs. Lovett-Cameron says:— "I certainly had not the smallest idea that he intended to publish the letter which I wrote to him. He informed me that he was about to give a lecture to young people, and I understood most clearly that it was for this purpose alone that my letter would be made use of. I do most strongly object to the use he has made of my letter, and consider that in publishing letters written to him for private use only Mr. Bainton is guilty of a most unwarrantable breach of faith." On the other hand, the Bishop of Carlisle, Mr. Thomas Hardy, and Sir John Lubbock have no objection to the use Mr. Bainton has made of their letters, while Mr. T. Marion Crawford writes as follows : — "Two or three years ago Mr. Bainton wrote requesting me to give him an expression of my opinions in regard to the course to be followed by beginners, who would acquire some practical skill in the use of the English language. I believe that was the substance of his letter. Mr. Bainton stated clearly that he wished to make use of my answer in lecturing to young people. "I complied with his request and wrote at some length. I said that I would prefer my letter not to be printed. Mr. Bainton wrote again to thank me, but added, that if I would not consent to his printing the matter, it could be of little service to him. I then replied that since he so much desired it, he might make any use he pleased of my com- munication. The correspondence ended, and I considered Mr. Bainton at liberty to print the whole, parts, or a part of what I had written. I now learn for the first time that he has published a book, and I infer that something of mine has appeared in it. I do not consider myself in any way aggrieved, as Mr. Bainton's conduct towards me was perfectly frank and consistent throughout." But Mr. Marion Crawford has been better used than many of Mr. Bainton's contributors. It may seem that we have gone into this matter at more length than the circumstances warranted. As long as ladies and gentlemen are so far polite that when they receive a letter, made to bear all thestamp of a private letter in contradistinction to a circular, they answer it, and so far charitable that, when they are told a thing by a person they know nothing of, they accept his statement, so long will ladies and gentlemen be victims. To the Editor of The Author. Sir, When I sent Mr. Bainton the letter published in his book, I was not aware that it would ever be printed. He wrote to me in September last, saying that he wished to address "our young people" upon the art of composition, and he had thought that it would add "considerable interest and use- fulness to an evening's pleasant intercourse" on such a topic, if a few authors would give him their personal experiences in acquiring their respective styles. It will be obvious to anyone, from the compo- sition of my letter, that I had no thought of my words being used verbatim. Some time afterwards he wrote asking if he might make use of some parts of my letter in a pamphlet in which he proposed to preserve his lecture, and I gave him permission to do so. I cannot say that / particularly object to the use he has made of it, though I do not think it was quite fair to issue the opinions of authors in book- form, after winning their confidences for a benevo- lent purpose; but I do most utterly and strongly condemn the great discourtesy of issuing such a book without sending proofs of the matter to each author (and I know one author of high standing whose permission to print Mr. Bainton did not trouble to ask for at all). I think far more of that than I do of his having picked our foolish brains to make profit for himself. In my own case, probably a glance at proof sheets would have caused me to amplify one of my statements—that when I was a very young writer "I found myself slipping into the Rhoda Broughton school"—in such a way as to give a would-be witty reviewer less chance of misrepresenting my meaning and making merry over my comprehensive phrase. For myself I would be the last to discuss criticism, however flippant or unjust; but as Miss Broughton may have seen the much-quoted article, and per- haps have felt some annoyance through reading my meaning with the writer's eyes, may I say here that I meant no disrespect for the strong, vigorous, and fascinating author, whose books have always ## p. 47 (#67) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 47 charmed me, and whose portrait hangs near me each day as I work—but very much the reverse, Miss Broughton would probably join her con- tempt to mine for the host of imitators of her style, whose work is a weak reflection of her manner without any of her genius or her strength— the "school" to designate which her name is com- monly employed—and entirely agree with me that if, as an inexperienced writer, I felt myself drifting toward this justly despised group, it was well for me—and perhaps for others—that I should re- solutely set myself to work out a style of my own rather than become even a successful imitator of another. It seems to me that cheap sneers at this kind of effort are a little unworthy of a great literary Review. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, John Strange Winter. * NOTES. I. Copyright. UNDER this head, and that of "The First Principles of Literary Property," in the first number of The Author, I find one or two statements which, if not in terms erroneous, are capable of misleading or unduly alarming readers who do not know any law. "Literary property," it is said, "is subject to the laws which protect all other property." That it is recognized and protected by law as something of value is quite true; and probably this is all that the writer meant. But "the laws which protect property" differ greatly according to the kind of property. Land is not protected in exactly the same way as goods, and a trade mark and a copy- right are again protected by means different from those in use for tangible property, and differing in details from one another. Let not the unwary reader therefore imagine that he or she can have a literary pirate dealt with as a thief. Copyright is not, in the legal sense, a thing capable of being stolen. It is asked, "Does anybody take the trouble to secure his copyright in a public lecture?" (meaning, by the process of giving notice to two Justices of the Peace as provided by the Act 5 and 6 Wm. IV, c. 65). The answer is, probably not. But there is an excellent reason for not doing it which the author of "Notes on Copyright" seems to have overlooked. The common law gives a sufficient remedy without the help of the Act, as was decided by the House of Lords in 1887, in Professor Caird's case in Scotland {Caird v. Sime, 12 App. Ca. 326). It is a question of fact whether the delivery of a lecture implies authority to the hearers to republish it. Whatever may have been the opinion of the framers of the Act of William IV (which expressly preserves the general law, only giving the benefit of special new sanctions to lecturers who fulfil the formalities of notice to two justices), no such authority is presumed, as a matter of law, from the mere fact of a lecture being delivered to a more or less numerous audience. If there be any presump- tion it seems to be the other way. In truth the right to restrain the publication of an orally delivered lecture is not copyright at all. It is distinct from and antecedent to copyright, like the right to restrain publication of one's private letters. As that right is unaffected by the original letter having become the property (for all purposes short of publication) of the person to whom it was sent, so the lecturer's right is unaffected by his lecture having been orally delivered to a particular audience or any number of audiences. The commentator goes on to say that "a lecturer is powerless to protect himself against unauthorized re-delivery." I am not aware of any authority for this statement as regards an unpublished lecture, and am not at all disposed to agree with it. As for the exception of university and certain other public lectures and discourses in the Act of William IV, it has, by its express terms, only the effect of leaving them in the same con- dition as if the Act had not passed. Caird v. Sime shows that at least some university lectures are efficiently protected by the general law. Therefore a person acting on the commentator's opinion that sermons "seem to be clearly public property" would be more likely to make practical acquaintance with the nature and operation of an injunction than to make his fortune by unlicensed reprints of pulpit eloquence. When the writer adds that "there is seldom any very great demandfor sermons, university or college lectures," he is so far right that in these, as in other kinds of literary production, the suc- cessful and popular authors are a minority. Still, both sermons and lectures are known to become fairly successful books. It is the fact that the greater part of Sir Henry Maine's works (for example) was first delivered in the form of lectures. An uncon- trolled right to print the matter which afterwards became "Village Communities" from notes taken in Maine's lecture room at Oxford would have been a right of no small value. And the fact that no attempt was ever made to exercise such a supposed right is some evidence that no one at the time imagined it to exist. I have made these remarks only for the purpose ## p. 48 (#68) ############################################## 48 THE A UTHOR. of preventing misapprehension as to the existing law. But I wish to add that I am wholly adverse to the proposal of creating a new kind of performing right in the recitation of verses or prose already printed and published, and therefore already enjoying the protection of ordinary literary copy- right. Where is this kind of thing to stop? Why should not Sydney Smith have had an exclusive "performing right" in his jokes and anecdotes? The author of "recitations" who wants to keep them to himself has only not to publish the text, a pre- caution quite consistent with privately printing any number of copies that may be convenient. He can then make his own terms with anyone who desires to use it. Frederick Pollock. II. Charges for Corrections. I suppose all authors have their grievances against publishers. I have had mine. Yet, taking all in all, I must say that I have been well treated oy my English publisher. My advice to young authors is—find a respectable publisher and stick to him. But I have had a long-standing grievance against printers, and I wonder whether The Author can help me. Is there no means of checking the charges for corrections? I know that in good printing offices there is a man specially appointed to check off charges for corrections. But, in spite of that, there must be something wrong in the system. The estimate one receives from a printer seems at first sight very reasonable. But when the bill comes, there are always high charges for corrections, for extra- small type, for foreign matter, for reading and putting to press, &c, so that one has often to pay twice as much as the original estimate. Much seems to me to depend on the judgment and the good-will of the compositor in making corrections. If a few words are put in by the author, surely, with a little management, they could be squeezed in; some other words might be left out, or two paragraphs might be run into one. But if, instead of that, ten or twenty pages are disturbed, of course the bill is very much swelled. One line too much on any one page is looked upon as high treason in every printing office. But surely it would matter less than twenty shillings for re making twenty pages. I know quite well what compositors will say. Copy your MS., or have it copied and carefully revised, and then the charges for corrections will be next to nothing. My answer is, I am willing to pay what is reasonable for my own careless writing, and for my changing my mind at the last moment. But I do not like to see corrections treated as mere " fat." F. Max Muller. III. American Rights. Before the collaboration of an American citizen can procure copyright, the following conditions must be borne in mind. 1. The American collaborator must not receive a lump sum for his share of the work, but must receive a portion of the royalty, i.e., he must have a continuous interest in the sale of the work. 2. He must be a bond fide collaborator. Some people suppose that it is sufficient for an American citizen to write a paragraph, or even a sentence only, put his name on the title page with that of the author, and that the copyright is secured. It is not so. In case of such a book being " pirated," he might be called to swear what he wrote before a judge, who would order the " pirate " to take out of the book the paragraph or sentence, or whatever the American wrote, and then advise the " pirate" to help himself to the rest. The collaborator must be able to swear that he is the author of the book quite as much as the European one, that there is not in the book a single sentence he did not approve of and sign, whether he actually wrote it or not. 3. The European author must have a contract with his American collaborator, in which the above conditions are set down; and a copy of it must be in the hands of the American publisher. I think that all the good American publishers would tell you that I am right. At any rate, these are the conditions on which I have published my " Jonathan and his Continent" in America; and the "pirates." knowing it, have not touched it—to the comfort of Paul Blouet. IV. The Raising of the Dead. I have received the first number of The Author, and, on lroking through it, it has occurred to me that our members might possibly be interested in the following personal experiences bearing on the question as to whether a book that has practically fallen dead can by any possibility be revived. The work to which I refer was, on its first appearance, absolutely ignored by the London literary organs of opinion, and the sales in con- sequence fell, after the advertisements had ceased to appear, to about ten copies a year. This continued ## p. 49 (#69) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 49 for three years, during which time I left no stone un- turned in my efforts to bring the book into notice. I sent copies to the number of thirty or more to such of our most eminent thinkers and writers as 1 deemed most likely to give it a favourable reception ; at the same time sending second copies to the editors of the most important literary journals, soliciting a second inspection, and explaining in justification that the work had not been run off at the point of the pen, but had occupied ten years in preparation, and four in actual construction and writing. But the eminent writers, as Was only to be expected in the case of a work sent to them in forma pauperis, replied by courteous acknowledgments merely; while my efforts to get a second hearing fiom the editors completely failed—with the exception of the editor of T/ie Spectator, who, with his usual fair- mindedness, and a generosity which I shall not soon forget, at once gave me a long and complU mentary review, expressing at the same time his surprise that the work had been allowed to fall through. But it was too long after publication to be of any service; the sales fell lower and lower; and it seemed as if the book would now slip quietly into oblivion. Meantime one or two of the well-known writers, to whom I had sent private copies, had evidently glanced into the work, and had become sufficiently interested in it to express the opinion that some- thing further ought to be done to try and revive it. After some consideration, and with the consent of the publishers, I determined on my plan of campaign, which was this: to bring out the unsold copies as a new edition; to reduce the price from 14*. 10 51.; to write a fresh preface; and, most important of all, to concentrate and mass together in large advertise- ments the best extracts I could select from the various scattered notices which in the interim I had succeeded in extorting from more or less un- willing editors! The effect of this new move was immediate and decisive. The whole unsold edition of some 700 or 800 copies went off at the rate of forty or fifty a month until it was exhausted; the demand increas- ing rather than diminishing at the time when the last copies were sold out. The above recital, in view of the common tradition that a book, once practically fallen dead, cannot again be revived, seems to me to have some interest for young authors struggling against adverse fate; and it may perhaps be worth while to ask here to which of the above circumstances the resuscitation of the work was principally due. My own feeling is that it was due not to the reduction of price, for purchasers of that class of work are not much affected by its price, in the first instance at least; nor yet to the press notices taken singly, although these no doubt were exceptionally strong; but rather to their being massed together so as to catch the eye in large and glaring advertisements. At any rate it was on this theory that I acted at the time, and the event, it must be admitted, fully justified my anticipation. Now. that a work of a serious character, on a wide and all-important subject of human interest, and professing at least to add another story to the hitherto existing super- structures of thought on the same subject ; that a book of this kind, I say, should have to save itself from extinction by methods suitable rather to the sale and success of some '" Pears' Soap" or " Hol- loway's Pill," must give rise to considerations on the curious conditions of literary success at the present time well worthy the attention of all thinking minds. J. B. C. * LITERARY PUZZLES. THE Ballad of Bold Turpin is to be found in a volume called "Gaieties and Gravities," written by one of the authors of " Rejected Addresses." The "one," I believe, was Horace Smith. It was published in 1825, when Dickens was a boy of fourteen, by Henry Colburn, of New Burlington Street. It occurs in a sketch called " Harry Halter the Highwayman," in which two other efforts in verse also occur—the volumes, indeed, are crammed with verses, sprightly and jolly, and full of mad rhymes. The song, for instance, called "Bachelor's Fare " follows that of "Bold Turpin." Funny and free are a Bachelor's revelries, Cheerily, merrily passes his life; Nothing knows he of connubial devilries, Troublesome children and clamourous wife, Free from satiety, care, and anxiety, Charms in variety fall to his share, Bacchus's blisses and Venus's kisses, This, boys, this is the Bachelor's Fare. A wife like a canister, chattering, clattering, Tied to a dog for his torment and dread, All bespattering, bumping and battering, Hurries and worries him till he is dead. Old ones are two devils haunted with blue devils, Young ones are new devils raising despair; Doctors and nurses combining their curses, Adieu to full purses and Bachelor's Fare. Through such folly days, once sweet holidays, Soon are embittered by wrangling and strife Wives turn jolly days to melancholy days, All perplexing and vexing one's life. ## p. 50 (#70) ############################################## 50 THE AUTHOR. Children are riotous, maid-servants fly at us, Mammy to quiet us growls like a bear; Polly is squalling and Molly is bawling, While dad is recalling his Bachelor's Fare. When they are older grown, then they are bolder grown, Turning your temper and spurning your rule, Girls through foolishness, passion or mulishness, Parry your wishes and marry a fool. Boys will anticipate, lavish and dissipate, All that your busy pate hoarded with care; Then tell me what jollity, fun or frivolity, Equals in quality Bachelor's Fare? * QUESTIONS, CASES, AND ANSWERS. Now that authors have a medium to voice their woes and, let us hope, their victories, we may look forward to many questions of interest being thrashed out. And, in order to set the ball rolling ever so little a distance, may I crave space to point out how—as it seems to me—authors can combine and gather strength even in their hours of ease? In short, what is wanted is an "Authors' Club." There are many clubs in existence which are partly intended for literary men and largely patronised by them; but in every instance where the club is accessible to the mass, other interests have been introduced to the prejudice of literature and the literary profession. In one case, it may be the egotistic actor; in another, the aesthetic or impressionistic painter; in a third, that blight on society—the man who wishes you to remember that he is a tenor. These introduce an element which many authors feel to be jarring, if not actually antagonistic. The general desire is for a Lotos Eater's Land where neither jar nor an- tagonism is possible; what is really sighed for is "The Authors'Club." Is not the profession strong enough to support such a club? Cannot the Society of Authors pro- vide the men who will help to make it a success? Who will adopt the idea and give it their personal support and service? The financial details could easily be arranged, if a strong committee were ap- pointed; and if the matter be mooted now, by the time that the evenings draw in and the days grow chill, "The Authors' Club" should be a fait accompli. A. M. Allow me to bring the following facts before the readersof The Author. About two years ago I had printed a mathematical work which I brought to a well-known firm for publication in England in conjunction with my Irish publishers. I paid the former ;£io for advertising, but all that I ever saw were two or three in the Saturday Revieiv. As a result I find they have practically sold no copies in England, and all that they have sold are about 30 copies in America, from which I infer that ad- vertisement money has been spent there. Conse- quently nearly all sales of my book were in Ireland, and these have all been effected without any ad- vertisement expenses. At the time of the publi- cation of my book, the author of a book on the same subject as my own was under an apprehen- sion that the sale of the latter might interfere with that of his, and I have reason to believe exerted pressure on his publishers the same as those of my book, not to push or in any way promote the sale of the latter. All that they have done is to sell it in America, which is but a poor return, as, besides the difficulty of getting it off there, I am only allowed barely 50 per cent, of the published price. A. B. The following case is submitted with the con- viction that it is not by any means an isolated one. A gentleman proposes to the Editor of a Magazine to write a short article on a new book, and the proposal is immediately accepted in writing. The article is sent in, and at the request of the con- tributor (who is leaving England for some months) the Editor shortly afterwards forwards him a proof of the article and a cheque at the current rate of remuneration. A letter of inquiry from the writer some months afterwards as to why the article has not appeared elicits no information, and it turns out that the article is not published. Has the contributor any claim in this case for the loss of that part of the remuneration which, it need hardly be said, may be indirectly of quite as much pecuniary consequence to him as the money- payment? In the case of a daily paper a review- is, as we all know, liable to be crowded out by press of matter. But is the case of a magazine, that does not in a general way review books, on precisely the same footing? As an aggravated instance of the business methods described under "QuestionsandAnswers," No. 3, at page 9, of the May number of The Author, I offer the following personal experience. I sent a short story to the Editor of a fairly reputable and outwardly prosperous London periodical, no doubt regarded by its numerous readers as a marvel 01 enterprise and cheapness, enclosing, as I always ## p. 51 (#71) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 5* do, a stamped directed envelope for the return of the MS. if not required. I received neither manu- script nor answer of any kind. I wrote repeatedly after waiting some months, when to my surprise I heard quite accidentally through a friend who recognised my nam de plume that my story was then actually being published in the magazine I had sent it to, and which I do not always see. I waited a month or two and wrote for payment. I wrote two or three times more, but from first to last I never had a reply to a single communication. I then got the Secretary of the Society to write, and he very kindly did write a pretty strong letter con- taining a plain threat of the legal proceedings; that produced an interview with the editor, an apology, and a cheque. The whole affair took about a year. Now does anyone believe that if I had not by the merest fluke found that the story had been printed, I should ever have had the money to this day? I do not. I may add that others have had similar experiences in the same quarter, and the periodical in question continues to be a marvel of enterprise and cheapness. M. O. H. What is the true position of affairs in such a case as this? An author (young, struggling, and inexperienced) fires off a composition—say a short story—at the editor of a magazine. He either writes with it to say he "encloses a MS. and hopes it will prove suitable," or writes his name and address on the back of it, and sends postage stamps for its return. The editor "begs to accept it, and encloses a cheque from the proprietors for £5." A few years later, less young, and perhaps less struggling, the author wishes to republish some of his former efforts in a volume, or has a chance of re-selling them, but is confronted with the difficulty that he really does not know whether he has the right to with regard to a story originally disposed of as indicated above. He asks himself and other persons, "Who has the copyright?" Has the writer been employed by the proprietor of the magazine? Have they a joint ownership? Has the author sold the copyright right out? Or has he only sold "serial rights?" Ought not all books to be dated on the title- page with the year and month of publication? Ought not reviewers to state the price of books in reviewing them, and if not, why not? Is a contributor on the staff of more magazines than one justified in proposing an article on the same subject to them all contemporaneously, and if more than one accept, selecting the acceptance which pleases him best? Ought a reviewer to write more than one review of the same book? Ought a publisher's advertisements in his own magazine to be charged to the author? And can a publisher charge such advertisements to the author without first obtaining his consent to an expenditure which goes into the publisher's own pocket? %— In answer to your query I am detailing briefly my own experience, and I understand that many other authors have suffered similar treatment. In 1882 I sent an article to"" (a well-known monthly): it was accepted. It ap- peared 17 months afterwards. I was paid, however, directly it appeared. In 1885 I sent an article to"" (another well-known monthly), and I heard no more of it. It may have appeared, or it may have been lost. I have never seen it in proof, and I have never been paid for it. In this year I sent a short story to a journal with a fair reputation and position. They cut it down, and in so doing cut out a small episode—of itelf unimportant—to which reference happened to be made twice later on in the story. That is, they made nonsense of my work. They did not pay until three months after printing the story. In 1889 I sent a story to a daily paper. They did not accept it or refuse it, or acknowledge it. One day I saw it in print, and three monihs after- wards I received most inadequate payment for it. It appears, however, that I have no remedy. A Scribbler. I sent a story to a weekly journal. They printed it without acknowledgment almost directly after- wards. I wrote a second—not knowing the fortu- nate fate of the first—and sent it to them. Then I heard that the first one had been printed. I wrote to ask for payment. They did not answer. I wrote again. They did not answer, but printed my second story. Months afterwards, with no apology, I received a cheque for both of them. If these people had accepted my first story in the usual manner, I should have looked for it, and if I had been paid for it at the rate I eventually received for the two, I should have never sent them the second story. I can get more from a daily provincial paper and get my money promptly, as well as have proofs sent to me for correction. The paper was" ." A. E. ## p. 52 (#72) ############################################## 52 THE AUTHOR. AT WORK. This column is reserved entirely for Members of the Society, who are invited to keep the Editor acquainted with their work and engagements. R. WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI is at present engaged upon an annotated edition of Shelley's "Adonais" for the Clarendon Press. It will contain a considerable amount of prefatory matter, and a long series of notes. Mr. Rossetti is also engaged u|.on a scries of articles, bearing the title "Portraits of Robert Browning," which are appearing, with copious illustrations, in J he Magazine of Art. Mrs. Brightwen, who is one of the Vice-Presi- dents of the Selborne Society, is issuing a small book, entitled "Wild Nature Won by Kindness." It will be illustrated partly by the author, and partly by Mr. Carruthers Gould, and will be pub- lished by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin. Mr. T. Bailey Saunders has in the press "Counsels and Maxims," being the second part of Arthur Schopenhauer's "Aphorismen zur Le- bensweisheit." It is to be uniform with the "Wisdom of Life," the first part of the same work (Swan, Sonnenschein, & Co., 1 vol., 2s. 6d.). His translation of Schopenhauer's "Religion: a Dia- logue," and other Essays, is going into a second edition. Mr. H. G. Keene, CLE., is engaged in editing an Oriental Biographical Dictionary. The work—■ founded on materials collected by the late Mr. Thomas Beale, an assistant of Sir H. Elliot's— was originally brought out in Calcutta undrr the auspices of the Government of the North-West Provinces. As the editor was at a distance from the press, and his time was much forestalled by his official occupation, a good many clerical and typographical errors escaped attention; but the book was found useful by scholars, and is now scarce. Mr. Keene's edition, besides containing corrections of these errors, will also include con- siderable additional matter. It will be published by Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co., and the price, to subscribers, will be 15J. In the new edition of " Chitty on Contracts," now being issued under the auspices of Mr. J. M. Lely and Mr. Nevill Geary, there will be found (p. 665) a recently settled agreement for publication on com- mission, the author retaining his copyright. The agreement was settled by the Society of Authors. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge has in preparation a story entitled "The Slaves of Sabinus." The scene is laid in the time of Vespasian, and the book will be published in the autumn season. The seventh series of the "Cameos of English History," by the same author, is now appearing. Mr. W. A. Copinger, F.S.A., the author of "The Law of Copyright in Works of Literature and Art," has now in hand a Bibliography of the various editions of the Latin Bible in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with full collations, and fac similes of pages of the principal editions. The life of "Carmen'Sylva," Queen of Rou- mania—a translation from the German (Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner, & Co.)—contains numerous extracts from the illustrious lady's poetry, which have been gracefully rendered into English by Sir Edwin Arnold. "Thomas Dain, the Memoirs of an Irish Patriot, 1840-1846," is also announced by the same pub- lisher. The author is Sir Charles Gavan Duffy K.C.M.G. M. Jusserand, author of "English Wayfaring Life," and an honorary foreign member of our Society, has revised and enlarged his work, "Le Roman au temps de Shakespeare," and a translation of it has just been issued (Mr. T. Fisher Unwin). Miss Jane E. Harrison, author of " Myths of the Odyssey, &c," has written an introductory essay, with archaeological comments, to Miss Verrall's work upon Ancient Athens (Messrs. Macmillan & Co.). The Rev. Charles D. Bell, D.D., of Cheltenham, has just published "A Winter on the Nile" (Hodder and Stoughton, price 6s.), containing the record of a tour up the Nile as far as the Second Cataract, with a sojourn at Luxor and a description of recent discoveries and antiquities at Bubastis and the Fayoum. Marion Crawford's new book, "A Cigarette Maker's Romance," will be published this month (Macmillan). Mr. Edward Clodd's "Story of Creation" will be issued in a cheaper edition next month by Messrs. Longmans. An Italian translation will also be published in Rome shortly. Mr. Edmund Gosse announces the first three volumes of an International Library, under his editorship (William Heineman). Cine is from the French, one from the German, and one from ## p. 53 (#73) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 53 the Norwegian. A search is to be made on all hands and in all languages for such books as com- bine the greatest literary value with the most curious and amusing qualities of manner and matter. If such a search is only rewarded by a modicum of success a large body of readers should be placed under a great debt to editor and publisher. A new edition of Lamb's "Adventures of Ulysses' will be issued shortly, edited by Mr. Andrew I-arig. The Open Court—a Chicago journal—is at present publishing a series of papers by Mr. T. Bailey Saunders, constituting a short critical re- view of recent theories on the Origin of Reason. Miss Mary Rowsell is engaged upon a biography of Charlotte de la Tremouille, Countess of Derby (the I^idy of Lathom), (Vizetelly & Co.). The book is to form one of a series of Romantic Biographies. Miss Rowsell is also dramatizing her novel "The Red House." Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G., Her Majesty's Consul at Oporto, author of " Portugal: Old and New," "Beyond the Seas," "Sylvia Arden," is working upon the final revise of "Round the Calendar in Portugal," a book dealing chiefly with rural life and rural themes in that country. The work is copiously illustrated by Miss Dorothy Tennant, Mrs. Arthur Walter, Miss Alice Wood- ward, Miss Winifred Thomson, Mr. Tristram Elles, Mr. Ambrose Lee, and the author. Mr. William Sharp has written a memoir of the great critic to be prefixed to Sainte Beuve's Essays, which are announced by Mr. David Stott, as a volume in a new series, entitled " Masterpieces of Foreign Authors." The latest volume of the Camelat Series, "Northern Studies," is by Mr. Edmund Gosse; the latest volume of the Canterbury Series, "Great Oder," has been selected and edited by Mr. William Sharp (Walter Scott). A new edition of "The Story of a Marriage," by L. Baldwin, will appear immediately (Ward and Downey). "The Roll of the Highland Clans." This is a sheet somewhat similar to "The Roll of Battle Abbey," about 34 inches by 24 inches, on which is an inner scroll bearing the names of the principal cadets, the badge, and coloured specimen of the Tartan of each Clan. It has been prepared by Mrs. Philip Champion de Crespigny, and is sub- scribed in a limited edition by Mr. Bernard Quaritch, at a guinea. Dr. Beattie Crozier, whose book, "Civilization and Progress," met with such success last year, has in hand a book dealing with the Labour Question. The book will be a sequel to "Civilization and Progress," and will be published by Messrs. Long- mans & Co. Mrs. Kennard has begun a new novel in London Society, entitled "A Homburg Beauty." Her story, "That Pretty Little Horse-breaker," will run upon the Syndicate System with Mr. Tillotson, at the end of this year. "John Strange Winter " will also employ the Syn- dicate System over her new novel. This will run as a serial in various newspapers from September to December. Mr. H. J. B. Montgomery, author of "The British Navy in the present Year of Grace," is publishing some reminiscences of the Naval Service in the Naval and Military Argus. These will shortly appear in book form. The names of subscribers to Mr. W. F. Smith's "Rabelais " are rapidly coming in. It is expected that the book will go to press almost immediately. The agent for The Author is Mr. A. P. Watt. Mr. Rudyard Kipling's "A Conference of the Powers," which appeared in The United Services Magazine in this country, was also published simultaneously in America, Australia, and India. Mr. Bret Harte is engaged writing a short story for a syndicate of newspapers. Henry Herman is about to issue shortly "Between the Whiffs" (Arrowsmith). The book is a collection of theatrical anecdotes which have appeared in various journals. William Werlah is writing a fifty thousand word romance for Lippincotfs Magazine, which will probably appear in the August number. The title of it is "Roy the Royalist." It is mainly a romance of adventure, but in part historical. The interest centres round the siege of St. Jean d'Acre (1799), and among the characters introduced are Bonaparte, Sir Sidney Smith, and Ahmed Dgezzar, the famous Pacha of Syria. ## p. 54 (#74) ############################################## 54 THE AUTHOR. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Allincham, Herbert W., F.R.C.S. Treatment of Internal Diseases of the Knee-joint. J. A. Churchill and Co. i vol. 5s. Archer, William. William Charles Macready. Eminent Actor Series. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co. 1 vol. 2s. 6d. Besant, Walter. Herr Paulus. Chatto and Windus. 1 vol. 2s. "Bickerdyke, John." The Book of the All-round Angler. L. Upcott Gill. 1 vol. 5s. 6d. Large Paper Edition. 25*. Black, William. The Penance of John Logan. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 1 vol. 6s. Blackmore, R. D. Mary Annesley. Cheap Edition. Sampson Low. 1 vol. 2^. Springhaven: a Tale of the Great War. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. 1 vol. 6*. Blind, Mathilde. The Journal of Marie Bash- kirtseff. Cassell and Co. 1 vol. Bramston, M., and Coleridge, C. R. Truth with Honour. Smith and Innes. 1 vol. 5^. Browning, Oscar. The Life of George Eliot. 1 vol. Walter Scott. Calmour, A. C. Confessions of a Doormat. F. V. White and Co. 1 vol. if. Clifton, Alice. An Unwilling Wife. Reming- ton and Co. 6.?. Collins, Mabel. Ida; An Adventure in Morocco. Smith, Elder and Co. 1 vol. is. Cooke, C. W. Radcliffe, M.P. Four Years in Parliament, with Hard Labour. A reprint, with additions, of articles which have appeared in The Times and National Rwiew. 1 vol. W. H. Allen and Co. Four Years in Parliament with Hard Labour. W. H. Allen. 1 vol. 2s. 6d. Copincer, W. A., F.S.A. A Treatise on Pre- destination, Election, and Grace. Jas. Nisbet. 1 vol. 10s. 6d. Crawford, T. Marion. Sarinesca. New Edition. Messrs. Blackwood and Sons. 1 vol. 6s. With the Immortals. New Edition. 1 vol. Macmillan and Co. Cunningham, Dr. W. Growth of English Indus- try and Commerce, Early and Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. Davies, Helen. For so Little. Swan Sonnen- schein and Co. 1 vol. 6/. Edwardes, Charles. Sardinia and the Sardes. Richard Bentley and Son. 1 vol. Erichsen, J. Eric, F.R.S. The Art of Surgery. 9th Edition. In 2 vols. Longmans and Co. $2S. Esler, E. Rentoul. The Way of Transgressors. Sampson Low 3 vols. 3 if. 6d. Ffoulkes, L. Florence. Sunlight and Shade: Poems. Field and Tuer. 1 vol. 6s. Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough : a Study in Comparative Religion. Messrs. Macmillan and Co. 2 vols. 28^. Garnett, Dr. Richard. Iphigenia in Delphi; with some translations from the Greek, being Vol. IV of the Cameo Series. T. Fisher Unwin. 1 vol. 3s. 6d. Gilchrist, R. Murray. Passion the Plaything. William Heineman. 1 vol. 35. 6d. Gosse, Edmund. On Viol and Flute: Lyrical Poems. With frontispiece by L. Alma Tadema, R.A., and tailpiece by Hamo Thornycroft, R.A. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co. 1 vol. 6s. Hake, Dr. J. Gordon. New Day Sonnets. Remington and Co. 1 vol. $s. Harland, Henry. Two Women or One. Cassell and Co. Hollingshead, J. Niagara Spray. Chatto and Windus. 1 vol. "H.R.H." Prince Maurice of Statland. Reming- ton and Co. 1 vol. 6s. Lothair's Children. Remington and Co. 1 vol. 6s. Huxley, Prof. T. H., F.R.S., &c. Autobiography. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. Jennings, Hargrave (the late), author of The Rosicrucians; their Rites and Mysteries. The Indian Religion; or, Results of the Mysterious Buddhism: concerning that also which is to be understood in the Divinity of Fire. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co. 1 vol. 1 os. 6d. Jusserand, J. J. (Hon. Member). The English novel in the time of Shakespeare. Translated by Elizabeth Lee. T. Fisher Unwin. 1 vol. 21S. Keary, C. F. A Mariage de Covenance. T. Fisher Unwin. 2 vols. 21s. ## p. 55 (#75) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 55 Kipling, Rudyard. The Story of the Gadsleys. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. i vol is. Lankester, Prof. E. Ray, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. The Advancement of Science. Macmillan and Co. i vol. io*. 6d. Lawless, Emily. With Essex in Ireland. Smith, Elder and Co. i vol. 7.?. 6d. Lely, J. M., and Geary, Nevill. Chitty on Contracts. 12th Edition. Newly arranged in 27 chapters, with much added matter, and increased facilities for reference. Sweet Max- well, Limited. 1 vol. Lytton, Earl, G.C.B. The Ring of Amasis. 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M. M. Oxford: its Life and Schools. Methuen and Co. 1 vol. 5J. Toynbee, William. Lays of Common Life. Remington and Co. 1 vol. 35. 6d. Traill, H. D. Saturday Songs. W. H. Allen and Co. 1 vol. $s. 6d. Tytler, Sarah. French Janet. Smith, Elder and Co. 1 vol. 2s. Vallings, Harkold. The Quality of Mercy. Gardner and Co. 2 vols. 21s. Vaughan, Very Rev. C. J., Master of the Temple, The Epistle to the Hebrews. Macmillan and Co. 1 vol. Walford, Edward, M.A. Tales of our Great Families. Chatto and Windus. 1 vol. y. 6d. Westall, William. Strange Crimes. 5*. "Winter, John Strange." Ferrers Court. F. V. White and Co. 1 vol. is. Dinna Forget. Trischler and Co. 1 vol. is. 6d. Mrs. Bob. New Edition. F. V. White and Co. 1 vol. 2s. 6d. Yonge, Miss Charlotte. The Reputed Change- ling: a Story of the period of James II, and William III. Macmillan and Co. 2 vols. 12s. ## p. 56 (#76) ############################################## 56 A D VER TISEMENTS. "THE LITERARY HAJYDJWAID OF THE CHURCH." HENRY GLAISHER, 95, STRAND. Price ONE SHILLING. NOW READY. This pamphlet is a reply to the invitation' issued by the Publication Committee of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in their Report of last year, for any suggestions, which they "will gladly receive," on the best way of making "the Venerable Society the most efficient literary handmaid of the Church of England throughout the world." The suggestions offered in these pages contain, first, some of the elementary principles which guide honourable men in the administration of literary property. The writer next advances three cases, as illustrating the methods adopted by the Society. A copy of this pamphlet will be sent to any member of the Society by application to the Office, including two postage stamps. THE METHODS OF PUBLICATION, BY S. S. SPRIGGE, B.A. NEARLY READY. This book, compiled mainly from documents in the office of the Society of Authors, is intended to show a complete conspectus of all the various methods of publication with the meaning of each; that is to say, the exact concessions to publishers and the reservation of the owner and author of the work. The different frauds which arise out of these methods form a necessary part of the book. Nothing is advanced which has not been proved by the experience of the Society. ## p. 57 (#77) ############################################## A D VER TISEMEN IS. 57 MESSRS. WHITTAKER'S BOOKS OF REFERENCE. Large post Zvot doth js. 6d.; half bound, 9*. SOBRIQUETS AND NICKNAMES. By Albert Krey. With an Index arranged by True Names. '• The first work that has been devoted to the explanation and derivation of the numberless witty and sometimes abusive appellations ... it deserves the heartiest praise."—Glasgow Herald. "More than five thousand subjects are given, and the information supplied is trustworthy and often extensive; a close scrutiny of the book shows the work to be thoroughly done."—Notes and Queries. "Offers an ample fund of information and amusement—deserves a place in every well-chosen library."—Morning Post. A Dictionary 0/Parisisms and French Slang. Large Post Bcw, ior. &/. ARGOT AND SLANG. A New French and English Dictionary of the Cant Words, Quaint Expressions, Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases used in the High and Low Life of Old and New Paris. By A. Bakkere, Officierde PInstruction Publique, Professor R. M. Academy, Woolwich. The work treats of the cant of thieves; the jargon rf Parisian roughs; the military-, naval, parliamentary, academical, legal, and freemasons' slang, of that of the workshop, the studio, the stage, the boulevards, the demimonde. A Companion to the Works op Allan Ramsay, R. Burns, Sir W. Scott and all the Scottish Poets. Just published* large post Bvo, cloth, 71. 6d., or half bound 8*. 6t£. a dictionary of lowland scotch, with an Introductory chapter on the Literary History and the Poetry and Humour of the Scottish language, and an appendix of Scottish Proverbs. By Charles Mack ay, LL.D. Also a large paper edition, limited to 125 copies, each numbei ed and signed by the Author, of which a few are still on sale, in Vellum, at £1 5*., and in Roxburgh, at £1 10s. I-ondon: WHITTAKER & Co., Paternoster Square. THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. Only 17 sets of this magnificent work nmv remain. It will never be reprinted, with the exception of the two volumes "Flora and Fauna " and "Jerusalem." The price of the set is 25 guineas. It consists of the following in seven uniform and handsomely bound volumes, i/to. THE MEMOIRS. Being the Notes taken in the Field by Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E., and Colonel Kitchener C. M.G., A.D.C.R.E., re-written and arranged after their return. With thousands of illustrations of tombs, ruins, &c, drawn expressly for these volumes, and not to be found anywhere else. 3 vols. THE NAME LISTS. Transliterated from the Arabic with translation by Major Conder, R.E., and edited by Professor E. H. Palmer. 1 vol. THE VOLUME OF SPECIAL PAPERS. Con- sisting mostly of reprints of important papers from the "Quartelly Statement," by Col. Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.O., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., R.E. ; Col. Sir Charles Warren.G.C.M.G.,K.C.B., F.R.S., R.E.: Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E.; M. Clermont- Ganneau, Mr. Greville Chester, &c. 1 vol. THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF PALESTINE. With many Illustrations (hand-paintedl By Canon Tristram, LL.D., F.R.S. 1 vol. THE JERUSALEM VOLUME. With a Portfolio of 50 Plates. By Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., and Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E. 1 vol. THE MAPS. An ninitmted Circular, giving all information about the above, will be lent, post free, on application. Published far the Palestine Exploration Fund by Alexander P. Watt, 2, Paternoster Square, E.C. Sent, post free, upon application. A Complete Catalogue of Works published by MESSRS. BELL, Containing the following Standard Works, which they think will be found peculiarly suitable to Authors as Works of Reference. Bibliotheca Classica. 26 vols. (Onlyfewsetsleft). Bohn's Dictionary of Poetical Quotations. Fourth Edition. Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. 2 volumes. New Edition, Revised. By Walter Armstrong and others. Cooper's Biographical Dictionary. 2volumes. Denton's England in the Fifteenth Century. Dodd's Epigrammatists. The most complete work on Epigrams yet issued. Gasc's Concise Dictionary of the French and English Languages. Fourth Edition, Revised. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology. 4 Volumes. Guest's History of English Rhythms. Lewin's Life and Epistles of St. Paul. Illustrated. 2 volumes. Long's Decline of the Roman Republic. 5 volumes. Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature. In 11 parts or 4 volumes. Lupton's Life of Dean Colet. Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists of the English School. Smith's Synonyms and Antonyms. Sowerby's English Botany. 12 volumes. Cloth, Half Morocco, and Whole Morocco. Stevenson's Dictionary of Roman Coins. (Republican and Imperial). Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England. 8 volumes. Webster's English Dictionary. In Cloth, Half Calf, Calf or Half Russia, and Russia. Webster's English Dictionary with Appen- dices. Cloth, Half Calf, Calf or Half Russia, or Russia. Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction. Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Pro- vincial English. 2 volumes. The following Works are offered at Reduced Prices. Archer's British Army. Bloxam's Ecclesiastical Architecture. 3 vols. Burn's Rome and the Campagna. Burn's Old Rome. Castle's Schools and Masters of Fence. Davies's Supplementary English Glossary. Dyer's Ancient Athens. Palmer's Desert of the Exodus. 2 Volumes. (Only 12 Copies left). Palmer's Folk Etymology. (Only8ocopies left.) Scrivener's Codex Bezae. Smith's Synonyms Discriminated. London: GEORGE BELL & SONS, York St., Covent Garden. ## p. 58 (#78) ############################################## 5S AD VER TISEMENTS. TYPE-WRITING! TO AUTHORS! AUTHORS' MSS., LECTURES, SPEECHES, ESSAYS, and REPORTS Copied at 1/3 per 1,000 Words. MS. Type-written at ij- per 1,000. Duplicate Copies 6d. per 1,000 (for over 10,000 words). Plays from 5/- per act. Shorthand Writers and Type-writers sent out to Hotels. For further particulars write or call at— TYPE-WRITING HEADQUARTERS, Type-Writers Sold and Let on Hire. 38, KING WILLIAM STREET, E-C. Booh and Jobbing Printers, and Lithographers. THE METROPOLITAN SCHOOL OF SHORTHAND, Ltd., 27, Chancery Lane, W.C. Estimates given for all kinds ok Printing. TELEPHONE NO. 2801. TELEGRAMS "SHORTHAND." LONDON. MRS. OXXiIi, Misses GILL & CARPENTER, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, EX. TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, Authors' MSS. carefully copied from i/- per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. 6, ADAM STREET, References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. STRAND, W.C. OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The maintenance, definition, and defence of literary property. 2. The consolidation and amendment of the laws of Domestic Copyright. 3. The promotion of International Copyright. The first of these objects requires explanation. In order to defend Literary Property, the Society acts as follows:— a. It aims at defining and establishing the principles which should rule the methods of publishing. ft. It examines agreements submitted to authors, and points out to them the clauses which are injurious to their interests. 7. It advises authors as to the best publishers for their purpose, and keeps them out of the hands of unscrupulous traders. f.. It publishes from time to time, books, papers, &c, on the subjects which fall within its province. 6. In every other way possible the Society protects, warns, and informs its members as to the pecuniary interest of their works. WARNINGS. Authors are most earnestly warned— (1) Not to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Not to enter into any correspondence with publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves down to any one firm of publishers. (4) Not to accept any proposal of royalty without consultation with the Society. (5) Not to accept any offer of money for MSS., without previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Not to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Not, under ordinary circumstances, when a MS. has been refused by the well-known houses, to pay small houses for the production of the work. ## p. 58 (#79) ############################################## A D VER riSEMEN TS. iii. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER saves the eyesight. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents writer's cramp. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents round shoulders. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER enables you to keep pace with your thoughts, the operation requires less mental effort than the use of a pen, allowing you to concentrate your mind more fully on the matter you are writing on. The writing of the BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER is equal to a printed proof, and can be used as such for corrections, thus saving large printer's charges which are sufficient in many books to defray the cost of a Bar-Lock. Supplied for Cash, or on our Hire Purchase System. CORRESPONDENCE AND INSPECTION INVITED. W. J. RICHARDSON k Co, 12 & 14, Queen Victoria St, E.C. 40, North John Street, Liverpool; 22, Renfield Street, Glasgow; Guardian Building, Manchester; Exchange Building, Cardiff; 385, Little Collins Street, Melbourne. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1890, can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance oi Literary Property. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer^. 2.?. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 4s. 6d. S The History of the Socidte" des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society. is. 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. The work is printed for members of the Society only. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. The book is nearly ready, and will be issued as soon as possible. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession willfollow. ## p. 58 (#80) ############################################## IV. AD VER TISEMENTS. CHEAP PRINTING, A NECESSITY OF THE AGE!!! Attention U called to the following important features of this Company:— There is no Promotion Money to be paid. There is no Payment for Goodwill or Old and Worn-out Machinery and Plant. There are no Founders' Shares, all the Profits belonging to tin Shareholders without preference or distinction The ECONOMIC PRINTING & PUBLISHING COMPANY, Limited. Incorporated under the Companies Acts, 1862 io 18S6. O^.X*XT^.Z. - - - £100,000. 100,000 SHARES OK £1 EACH UPON WHICH IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT NOT MORE THAN ioj. PER SHARE WILL BE CALLED UP AT PRESENT. ISSUE OF 100,000 SHARES, payable as follows:-2s. Bd. per SHARE on APPLICATION, 2s. 6d. per SHARE on ALLOTMENT Two Months' notice will be given oj subsequent Cells, -which are not Co excxfJ 3s. M. each. DIRECTORS. JUSTIN MCCARTHY, Esq., M.P., 20, Cheyne Gardens, S.W., Chairman. JOSEPH HOULTON, Esq. (Messrs. Joseph Houlton & Co., Limited), Printers and Publishers, Worship Street, E.C. A. MONTAGUE HAINES, Esq. (Messrs. Haines & Co.), 155, Fenchurch Street, E.C, and Lloyd's. CAMPBELL PRAED, Esq., 30, Norfolk Square. HENRY P. WELCH, Esq. (Messrs. Welch, Perrin, & Co.), 7, Mark Lane, E.C. And one or two Directors to be chosen by the Board from the first Shareholders. Bankers.—Messrs. WILLIAMS, DEACON & Co., 20, Birchin Lane, E C.; Messrs. PRAED & Co., 189, Fleet Street, E.C. Solicitors.—Messrs. SAUNDERS, HAWK.SFORD, BENNETT, & Co., 68, Coleman Street, London, E.C. Broker.—TAMES GILLISPIE, Esq., 11, Copthall Court, E.C, and Stock Exchange. Auditors.—Messrs. PiXLEY it Co., Chartered Accountants, 24, Moorgate Street, E.C. Architect.—WILLIAM DAWES, Esq., Manchester and London. Secretary {pro />/».).—A. G. SYMONDS, Esq., M.A. Oxon. Registered Offices (pro tern.).—68, Coleman Street, London, E.C. 1' I;, PROSPECTUS. The Company is formed for the purpose of engaging in the business of cheap printing and publishing on a large scale. The demand for cheaper books, magazines, and newspapers, is rapidly on the increase owing to the spread of education and the growth of population. Hundreds of the best serial publications and standard works are beyond the reach of the masses by reason of their virtually prohibitive prices ; whilst the works of specialists in the various scientific and learned professions find but a limited field amongst those for whom they are intended, because the purchasing of books, varying in price from six shillings to thirty shi lings a volume, constitutes a severe tax on the fixed incomes of many pro- fessional men. Recent developments in printing machinery prove that cheap and good books, magazines, and general literature is certainly attainable, especially if modern plant and appliances be combined under one administration and under one roof. A Printing Establishment combining all the aforesaid requisites in one set of hands, with abundance of the newest plant, and placed in the position of a ready cash purchaser of paper, will be enabled to produce printed literature—the greatest necessity of the age—cheaply and on a large scale, and in a quarter of the time it would otherwise take to turn out work. Good printing or publishing houses, even in the worst times, are hardly ever idle ; and the continuous high dividends declared by them attest the solid and profitable nature of the printing and publishing industry generally. The following are the only firms whose Shares are quoted in the Stock Exchange Official List, &c. :— Ord. Share Capital. £363,890 j£toO|Coo ... 10 ... 10 ... 21 The Shares in these and other similar Companies are held in high repute, and are difficult to obtain, the concerns being in some cases little more than private family partnerships, from participation in the profits of which both author*, customers, and the general public are shut out. Accordingly, the Company will erect entirely new workshops on an eligible site near London which the Directors have in view. Some of the best modern printing works are now situated at Guildford, Aylesbury, Redhill, Kingston, and other places outside I,ondon. The Company's workshops will have good railway and cartage facilities. They will be erected from the designs of Mr. William Dawes, Architect, of Manchester and London. Their estimated cost is moderate, and the buildings are designed on such a scale as will admit of gradual expansion in sections as business grows. The first sec.ion can be open for business, already promised, within a few monthi of the allotment of shares. They will be fitted throughout with the electric li.-;ht, a great boon in itself to compositors. As they will be new, great expenses for repairs will be avoided; and, being practically fireproof, their insurance will be at low rates. No payments have been or will be mad-i for ' ooodvill' or promotion money, or, in fact, initiatory charges of any kind other than the pre- liminary expenses incident to the fonnatioq and successful establishment of the Company. The Directors believe that the value of the shares will at least equal CasseU & Co., Limited , Waterlow Bros. & Lay ton Limited , Num. value uf Shares. I*3iu* up. 9 •• Market Price. those of the Companies mentioned above, and that there is every probability of substantial dividends. In the selection of the printing plant the Directors have taken into consideration the fact that, whereas in all but one of the branches connected with the printing of books and newspapers enormous economies have in the past fifty years been effected, mainly through the increased productive power of various machines, in -the one central and essential branch, viz., the composing room, not only have the expenses increased, but the modus operandi is almost as primitive as in the days of Guthenberg and Caxton. The Directors believe that the machine known as the Linotype Com- posing Machine is capable of effecting the largest nett economies over the present cost of type-setting by hand, and that by adopting it they save a large capital outlay for type. They have accordingly contracted for a supply of Linotype Machines under special conditions, of which the following are among the most important: The rate of wages paid to ordinary compositors in London varies m piece work from 8d. to tod. per 1,000ens of typeset up, corrected, and distributed ; but the Linotype Company (Limited), agrees to hire to the Economic Printing and Publishing Company Linotype Composing Machines, and to charge a Royalty equal to only 2d. per 1,000 ens of matter set up, corrected, and automatically distributed. When machines are unemployed, a small sum only is charged for each working hour. The Linotype Company also gives to this Company a monopoly as regards the use of their machines for London and ten miles round, subject only to certain exceptions. To make the Company's operations partake as largely as possible of a co-operative character, a percentage rebate off the ordinary printing tariff" will be allowed to all authors who are shareholders in the Company, and all employes will, as far as possible, be chosen first from amongst the shareholders. It is intended to apply to the Stock Exchange for a quotation. The following contract has been entered into: Contract dated the 3rd day of June, 1890, made between the Linotype Company (Limited) of the one part, and A. G. Symonds, as trustee for the Company, of the other part, being the contract referred to above. The above is the only contract to which the Company is a party, but arrangements have been made with other persons relating to the pre- liminary expenses of formation of the Company, and procuring .capital which may constitute contracts within the meaning of section 38 of the Companies Acts, 1867; but applicants for shares shall be deemed to waive their rights to specification of any particulars of such arrange- ments or contracts, and to accept the above statements as sufficient compliance with Section 38 of the Companies Acts, 1867. The Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Contract men- tioned above can be inspected by applicants for Shares at the Offices of the Company's Solicitors. Applications for Shares may he made by letter or on the prescribed form, and forwarded, with a remittance for the amount of the deposit payable on application, to the Bankers of the Company, or to the Secretary, at the Office of the Company. If the whole amount applied for by any applicant is not allotted, the surplus paid on deposits will be credited to the sum due on allotment, and where no allotment U made the deposit will be returned in full. PROSPECTUSES AND FORMS OF APPLICATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE OFFICES OF THE COMPANY, OR OF EITHER OF THE BANKERS, BROKER, OR SOLICITORS OF THE COMPANY. Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 02 (June 1890) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 02 (June 1890) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&view=1up&seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1890-06-16-The-Author-1-2 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/241/1890-07-15-The-Author-1-3.pdf 4619135617444e4073491561b013fcc6 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) 1890-07-15 Volume 1 Issue 3 Pages Page range in volume 59–88 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18900715 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. 1.–No. 3] JULY 15, 1890. . [Price, Sixpence, The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Published for the Society Be ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. - 1890. ## p. 58 (#82) ############################################## Berton, Sept 1yh1878 anse Mersands of letters. Men. Marie, Todd & Co. Jene t it as of our one ..... und and I hohe ou une I have seus me of your do the beat you can for it frius, to have a point meuded . Though I have in the mean rough Meu Hoshu, leurs : Trier bought another of qui It. of Mencity. Ton may like to know that shake - Corrugated mached C. Thave and this yeu constantly I do not know whether : formure than twenty years, que caus hin this testimonial hine the days of a book of min hot'I jul as if the fun when called "The Automath of the Breakfast talle "1857-8 mutie . has cancied out to much of muy thought and brought back last Friday without repair and always with herfect satisfaction To much in banin farms in ehun was enlitted to this I have written with in halfa - Certificat of hinnata tecnica dozen or more volumes, a lange number of Ennys de Mira Wordleli Hermes ILLUSTRATED Price List will be sent, free and post paid, on application to MABIE, TODD & BARD, 93, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. ## p. 59 (#83) ############################################## (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 3.] JULY 15, 1890. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. News and Notes ... "The Literary Handmaid of the Church" The German Society of Au-hors A Hard Case, No. Ill La Federation du Livre Unauthorized Publication of Sermons— I. Note by W. Morris Colles II. Note by F. P III. IV. Letters reprinted from the Times by the Bishop Peterborough {by permission) The Inauthorated Corpses Leaflet No. III.—On Paying for Publication of Questions, Cases, and Answers A Personal Experience Chestnut Bells Encore. By Charles G. Leland The Queen's English. By Oswald Crawfurd ... The Memorial to the First Lord of the Treasury The Pensions of the Year A New Guide to Books Mr. Bainton on Himself At Work New Books and New Editions Advertisements PAGE ... 7« ... 78 ... 79 ... 79 ... 80 ... 82 ... 8a 83 ... 84 ... 85 ... 86 NEWS AND NOTES. TH F. Council of the Society has been strength- ened by the accession of the following names: — Lord Brabourne, Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G., Messrs. Alfred Austin, R. D. Blackmore, James Bryce, W. Martin Conway, P. W. Clayden, Oswald Crawfurd, Marion Crawford, Eric Erichsen, G. R. Sims, and Edmund Yates. Of these gentlemen Mr. W. Martin Conway joins the Committee of Management. The Third Annual Dinner of the Society was held on Tuesday, July 8th. The Chair was taken by Prof. Jebb. There were 200 present on the occasion. A full report will be presented with the next number. A lady who wishes to be anonymous has offered to present to the Committee the sum of ^30 annually for three years, to be expended in such a manner as may appear to be for the best interests of Literature. This offer of pecuniary assistance is a new thing of this year. It shows that the work of the Society is being understood and ap- preciated. Another sign of advancing opinion is that on the foundation of The Author a good many members came forward to give it a start. It isastound- ing how much may be effected even in such a Society as ours by means of the little cheque. We have never yet gone begging, but . Meantime, there would be no pecuniary anxieties if we had two thousand members instead of six hundred, and if everybody would remember the modest annual obligation. Amid the general mingled chorus of denunci- ation, exasperation, disappointment, satire, and dis- gust, caused by the loss of the International Copy- right Bill, there has hitherto been lacking—what it specially behoves The Author to supply—some recognition of the noble efforts made by the leading men, the men of culture, in the Eastern States. These men have never rested, and are still active, in advocating by every means in their power the passage of the Bill. They include all the authors of America, all the honourable publishers, and a great number of editors. The opponents of the Bill are the ignorant Western farmers, who know nothing about literature, literary property, authors' rights, or anything else except their own local interests. The education of these men is a slow process; they take a great deal of time to grasp new ideas; the existence of authors is not suspected by them ; the existence of authors' rights is absolutely unknown to them. But they are gradually being educated. Let us consider our own case before we throw stones at the Americans. It is now five years since vol. 1. E ## p. 60 (#84) ############################################## 6o THE AUTHOR. this Society began its endeavours to educate the British world into the perception of the fact that there is such a thing as literary property and that it is a very real thing. We are not Western farmers. Yet we have not learned to grasp this one central fact any more than these honest members of Con- gress. Still the old ideas cling; still those who talk of literary property as if it was a real thing, like turnips, are regarded as madmen. Still the leading articles talk of the dangers and uncertainties of publishing. Still the old belief remains, that authors must take whatever their employers choose to bring them; still that old Bogey, "Risk," is trotted out to frighten us; still men continue to talk about the "generosity " of their publishers—as if writers were beggars, humbly holding out their hands for doles, instead of honest men demanding their just share in the proceeds of the work of their hand and brain. These ideas will slowly pass away. But meantime since they linger in this country, and are every day traded upon for their own purposes by interested persons, we cannot be surprised at an equal ignorance among the narrow-minded and half educated people who form the greater part of Congress. Consider, again, a special case, recent and treated further on in these columns. There is a certain great Society called the Society for Promot- ing Christian Knowledge. Its President is the Arch- bishop of Canterbury: its Vice-Presidents are other Archbishops and Bishops: its Publication Committee are all clergymen. Now, not one of these illustrious men seems as yet to have grasped the simple truth that an author may be sweated as well as a needlewoman; and that in the purchase of literary property there are elementary laws of morality based on the Eighth Commandment. Not one, so far as I know, up to the present moment of writing, when their Society has been called upon to compare its methods of publishing with these simple principles of truth and equity, and has, so far, by its silence, refused to do so, has boldly declared that he will no longer pre- side—or vicariously preside—over a great Corpora- tion, which, unless certain ugly allegations can be explained, seems to be little better than a Society of Sweaters for the greater glory of Christ. With this illustration before them can the authors of Great Britain expect from an ignorant Western farmer a keener thirst for righteousness than they have found at home among the Societies of the Anglican Church? As for what is said on International Copyright by newspapers in the Eastern States, read the enclosed from the New York Evening Post. It refers to the pirated edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." "A certain man went from Edinburgh to America and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his sheets, and electrotyped him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And a certain Doctor of Divinity passed by on the other side; and when he saw him he went over, and came where he was, and said unto him: 'How is it with thee, my friend?' And he answered him: 'I am in sore distress, for that I have been robbed of nearly all that I possess.' And the Doctor of Divinity spake and said: 'My heart is heavy for thee, my friend; but hast thou yet anything left?' And he answered him again, saying: 'Yea, the half of what I had is left me; but I am in fear least my enemy return and carry off the rest!' 'Nay,' said the man of God, 'but if others are to have a cast at thee, I may as well come in for my share; but, for that I have great compassion on thee, I will leave thee a portion of what these wicked men have spared.' And, so saying, he took what pleased him of the man's goods, and having preyed upon him, gave him his blessing and went and prayed in the temple. Likewise a certain Pharisee, who was also a haberdasher and a man of letters, passed that way, voyaging from Washington by way of Philadelphia; and he came and looked on the man and saw that he was helpless, and heard his groans. And he also inquired of him what ailed him; and when he had heard his story he beat his breast and cried aloud: 'This is flat burglary, to take all that thou hast, and to leave next to nothing for me! Verily, I must protect myself against such wicked- ness, and must circumvent the doers thereof; since it is expected of me that when circumventing is to be done, I shall be there!' And with that he seized on the balance of the man's stock, and blessed him in the name of his peculiar god, and went his way. But a certain Government having on his breast a breastplate whereon was writ in letters of gold, 'In God We Trust,' came where the man was, and when he saw him, he had com- passion on him, and went to him, and opened his wounds, and rubbed into them salt and vinegar, and set him on a wild ass of the desert, and put a bunch of nettles under the tail of the beast, and cried unto the man: 'Away with thee, thou foreigner! What rights hast thou that I need respect? I care not twopence for thee or thy wrongs; and if ever thou darest come again, I will repay thee!"' In another place will be found a letter from Mr. Bainton on the subject of what he is pleased to call a " stab in the dark." Everybody else thinks that it has been a stab in the open. But never mind, ## p. 61 (#85) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 61 The point and moral of the correspondence to the readers of The Author should be that in future they should not allow themselves so easily to be drawn. Why should authors alone, of all professions, be asked to explain their methods? Why should they, when they are asked, be so ready to reply? For my own part, I fell into the trap, like my neighbours, but fortunately wriggled out again and did not explain my methods. In future, let us behave with greater reticence. Now what would be thought if some enterprising gentleman were to write to all the barristers in practice in the following terms ?— Dear Sir, I must speak at last. There comes a time when silence is culpable. I have long" considered you the most eloquent orator as well as the most accom- plished and learned lawyer that at present adorns the Outer or the Inner Bar. I read nothing at all but your speeches; my wife reads nothing at all but your speeches. She takes them after early dinner, with a nap; moreover, I have for a long time given my mother-in-law, who lives with us, and is now in declining spirits, nothing at all to read but your speeches; my children learn your speeches by heart. My youngest—Teeny Wheeny, three—is now learning her alphabet out of your speeches. They are, in fact, deeply alphabetic. I am going to give a little lecture—just a little lecture —to one or two young people. I wish to call my lecture the "Art of Demosthenes, or the Ciceronian Bag of Tricks." I desire above all things to strengthen it by a description of your own Bag of Tricks, oratorical and legal. Will you therefore kindly tell me where you picked up your method of oratory, and how you manage to seem to know so much law? I remain, Sir, Your obedient admirer and respectful worshipper, Theophilus Swipe. Now who would expect a barrister to answer this letter, or to take the least notice of the writer? Vet the authors, when they receive a similar letter, reply all together en masse, without, apparently, any exception. There was, I learn, an exception. It was an American man of letters, and one of great distinction. He positively did not reply. It is not generally known that a certain fable of ^isop referring to a fox and a crow and a piece of cheese, was written for authors, who have so far failed to observe the moral. The following is a close translation of the fable in its first form. Amid the leaves—the leaves of bay—■ The leaves they use for crowns— The author sat, the livelong day, Above the common clowns; Well skilled was he the crafty rhyme And artful plot to mix; And in his hand he held, meantime, His precious Bag of Tricks. "Oh! Master, Master, greatest, first—" He heard, and blushed to hear— "All other bards with envy burst— I've seen 'em—that I swear. Day in, day out, the week about, Thy great works through and through, I read and read—I do, indeed; So do my children too. "Tell me, sweet author, whom I love— Ah !head so fitly crowned! Thy place so rightly set above, The bay leaves circling round!— Tell me, sweet author, if thou wilt, Oh! condescend to tell- How are thy tales romantic built? How canst thou rhyme so well? "Thy art, thy secret, and thy craft, Confide—confide to me." The author smiled—the author laughed; Yet never a word said he. "Oh! by the crown of glory grand That on thy pale brow sticks" That crown to feel, he raised his hand And dropped his Bag of Tricks! There is no moral to this fable in the original. But La Fontaine's will do— "Mon bon Monsieur, Apprens que tout flaneur Vit aux depens de celui qui lecoute.' The Daily News, which has always been on the alert to watch any step in the movement for International Copyright, reportsadecision which may lead to very valuable results. It was delivered on June 25th, by Judge Shipman, of the United States Circuit Court. Three suits were begun some time ago by Messrs. A. and C. Black, cf Edinburgh, and the Scribners, their American agents, against an American firm which had published a pirated edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" from photographic plates, charging infringement of the American copyright laws because the republication contained articles written by Americans and copy- righted in this country by them. The defendants entered demurrers based on the general ground VOL. I. E 2 ## p. 62 (#86) ############################################## 62 THE A UTHOR. that the publishers of the "Encyclopaedia Britan- nica," in employing American authors to treat of American topics and then publishing their articles under copyright, thereby laid a trap for the American public and American publishers, and therefore a court of equity could not interfere to protect such a fraud. Judge Shipman overruled the demurrers, and declared that the assignments in no way permitted other parties to infringe authors' copyrights. This decision has been hailed with delight by the advocates of International Copyright, who regard it as the most serious check the piratical publishers have yet had. There are three photo- graphic editions of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" now selling at about a seventh of the price of the authorized edition. The decision is likely to alarm the publishers, since, if sustained in further judgments, Messrs. A. and C. Black will bring suits against them for heavy damages. "I have never yet had any disagreement with my publisher," said a well-known man of letters the other day. "Therefore, I have not joined the Society." The remark and the inference alike illustrate a common disposition to look on the Society as one which exists for the purpose of patch- ing up or even of creating quarrels and grievances with publishers. That is not the case, of course, only one is well-nigh tired of repeating the fact. It suits certain persons who regard us with natural hostility to keep this delusion alive. The Society has no quarrel with publishers as such, and never has had any. It maintains continually that the services which publishers render to Literature are solid, and must be substantially paid for. The Society exists, however, mainly for the purpose of maintaining the rights, the sacredness, and the reality of Literary Property. Therefore it fights the battle of all authors, and should be supported by all who approve of its principles. Briefly, they are these :— (1) Literary property is created by the author, and belongs at the outset to him. (2) Literary property must be held as sacred as any other kind of property. (3) Literary property is ruled by the demand for a book just as colliery property means the sale of the output. And as the value of a colliery depends first on the output in tons and their price, so the value of a book can only be estimated with reference to the number of copies sold. (4) The author must not part with his property without due consideration, nor without understanding exactly what possibilities, as well as what certainties, he gives and what he receives. (5) What the author is entitled to, is, after pay- ment of the cost of production and the publisher's agency and labour, all the remain- ing proceeds. This proportion of the returns is the property which he has to sell for a lump sum down, or to receive year by year. (6) The publisher has to be remunerated for his agency and labour out of the returns of the book in a certain proportion, which should be a fixed proportion recognised by both contracting parties and understood by both. These principles have long been recognized by the French after a good fight, carried on by the Socie'te des Gens de Lettres, an association of which ours is a successor and an imitator. But how, it may be asked, if publishers will not agree to the adoption, once for all, of an equitable arrange- ment? It is the task of the Society to create such a consensus of opinion on the subject as will cause all houses which desire to maintain a good name to fall in with the Society's views. It will also cause all authors of ability and reputa- tion to insist upon equitable agreements. How, it may be asked again, about the unfortunate begin- ners and those who have no name? The scheme to be put forward by the Society will cover their case as well. But they must, first of all, be protected. And for this reason our pages are full of stories of the scoundrels who deceive and rob the literary beginner. Consider. Is there to be no protection for the weak? Is a pickpocket to get off with impunity because he has only stolen a girl's purse? The Council of this Society does not hold that opinion. There are many who still maintain that sharks and thieves should be free to do as they please— devour and destroy—rob and lie with impunity, because ignorant and young literary aspirants ought to take care of themselves, and because most of their work is rubbish. In no branch of the industrial community should thieves be per- mitted to exist. And even if good quality of work were to be the condition of protection, we should have to protect a whole hundred because one of them—an unknown one—may have in him the gift of authorship. As a curious illustration of the growing change in opinion on this subject, it may be mentioned that in one of the most popular penny- papers of the day, a paper which circulates by the hundred thousand, there lately appeared an article on " Bogus Publishers," written by one who knows the gentry and has served under them. The article might have been written in this office, ## p. 63 (#87) ############################################## THE A UTHOR. 63 so true it is, and so complete in its details. Was it conscience or was it revenge which forced this ex- perienced person to reveal the secrets? "We have taken your new MS. on the old terms," said a certain small publisher recently. "Of course, however, you will not join the Society of Authors. In fact, we put a black mark against the name of every member of that Society." The writer of that work is a member. If this remark has been made to anybody else, let me hasten to point out that if this publisher were to put all the black marks he has got against all the names of all the authors, no harm whatever would be done because in such a case we should immediately find other publishers who would do the work of production and distribution quite as well, and in this case perhaps much better. Fortunately the public cares nothing who publishes a book; it is concerned solely with the contents. Plenty of men—hundreds and thousands of men— are willing and anxious to step into any trade by which they can make money. But to the marker in black—the black marker—we would point out very seriously that the Society itself can do a great deal more harm to a publisher than he can do to any individual member. We are now, he should under- stand, by no means a small, harmless, or a feeble body. One does not like even the appearance of boast- fulness, but the following little fact illustrates some- thing approaching to power. There is a certain firm in this city of which it is sufficient to say that all the worst things ever alleged against the publishing trade maybe brought together, and, with the greatest truth, alleged against this particular firm. We have for a long time kept work out of their hands, and we intend to go on doing so until they mend their ways. It was reckoned the other day, by one who has had the chief conduct of this business, that in the space of eighteen months or two years over ,£2,000 worth of work has been kept from these people, and that without reckoning on the chance of a big success among the authors kept from them. Now as writers learn more and more to distrust their own ignorance and to seek advice of those who know as to whom they should trust, this branch of our business will naturally increase and multiply. My statement in last month's Author that there are fifty men and women who make a thousand a year by writing novels has been questioned. I have, therefore, taken the trouble to draw up a list, which, however, must not, for obvious reasons, be published. I find that I can enumerate almost off-hand more than fifty—Americans and English —who are called novelists by the world, and make over a thousand a year by writing, though the whole income may be sometimes derived from other kinds of literary work. I know the facts partly from ex- perience acquired in the offices of the Society, partly from information. A note in the St. James's Gazette asks whether these works are worth the money. This question denotes some confusion of ideas. For what is the actual worth of a book? You cannot measure it at all by money. A suc- cessful novelist is one who holds the attention, commands interest, awakens emotions, amuses or terrifies, calls up tears or laughter, and brings brightness into millions of dull lives. This great power is not to be valued by money at all. If the St. James's critic asks whether the books really produce by their sale all this money, that is a very different question. They really do—and a very great deal more. Here is an interesting little proposal. A "Graduate of Oxford," modestly hiding his philan- thropic name, has conceived a theory that there are many poets, as yet unrecognized, who would like their "best" verses—only their best, mind—to be published. He invites them, therefore, to send him two or three short poems not exceeding in all 120 lines. With their best verses is to be forwarded a guinea. In return the contributor will receive two copies of a handsome volume in which—oh! Joy and Glory!—his own best verses will appear. It will be like bringing out the best china, or wearing the best clothes, or sleeping in the best bed room, all these things being among the innocent pleasures of our ancestors. "These," will say the glorified bard, "are my best verses; others I have, second best, for home consumption, and even third best, for washing day, but these are my best." If the poet is to be made happy, what shall be said of the benevolent Graduate? His handsome volume contains, we will suppose, 20 sheets, or 320 pages, with, at the rate of three pages apiece, 107 contributors. He must print 214 copies at least. The cost of the volume will be about ,£35. Grateful to their Graduate, the poets will contribute ^107. Net profit to the Graduate (besides gratitude, warmth of heart, and glow of virtue) ^72. Who will say that he is overpaid? The Society does not, as a rule, work for people whojare not members, but there are occasions on which it is necessary to break this rule. One such occurred the other day when a young writer sent up a grievous case. He had been writing steadily for a certain firm, until their obligations amounted to a considerable sum. He therefore ## p. 64 (#88) ############################################## 64 THE AUTHOR. wrote for a cheque. He received no answer. He wrote again—and again. There was still no answer. He wrote therefore to the Society. The firm were informed that if they preferred legal proceedings to paying their just debts, they could have them. They preferred, however, paying the author in full, with the statement that they had not received more than one letter of application. Now the firm will probably never take any more work from the young man. But this is the very best thing that could possibly happen to him. He will now try to get employed by some firm which does pay. I give, after these notes, a brief resume of a pamphlet addressed to the Publication Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. I have received other instances of their treatment of authors, even more flagrant than those quoted in the pamphlet. No answer has been vouch- safed to this pamphlet either by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the President of the Society, or by the Publication Committee. As this worthy body will not meet till October, further action in the matter is deferred until then, when I hope to parade a few more facts to delight the world with the "Christian" methods of dealing with other people's property. —* Among the " warnings " which we publish every month in Tlie Author, and every year in the "Annual Report," is one which cautions writers against signing any agreement, in which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, without consulting the Society. A little circumstance which happened a year or two ago, and was related to me the other day by a very well known man of letters, illustrates the necessity for this warning. It is what mathematicians call an extreme case— that is to say, we have never at the Society come across one quite so "extreme." Here it is :—A person had produced a MS. on a certain subject which she—it was a lady—wished to publish. She accordingly took it to a man whom she believed honest, and asked him if he would produce it. He agreed to do so if she would pay the whole cost of production. He sent an estimate of this. It amounted, according to his showing, to £120 for so many copies. She showed the estimate to a friend, who submitted the MS. to a printer. He offered to print and bind as many copies for the sum of ^16—of course it was a very short manuscript. This was done and the work published. We have often seen the "cost of production" set down at double. But to multiply the actual cost by seven and a half shows an amount of enterprise which we could not previously expect. Waltlr Besant. "THE LITERARY HANDMAID OF THE CHURCH." THIS pamphlet appeared in the third week of June. A copy has been sent to the President and all the Vice-Presidents of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The following is an abridgment of its contents :— "The Publication Committee of the Society for the Promo- tion of Christian Knowledge, in their Report for last year, announce that they will 'gladly receive any suggestion' which may enable them to make * the venerable Society the most efficient literary handmaid of the Church of Eng- land throughout the world.' "A Publication Committee has to do with Literary Property. It is therefore desirable first of all to lay down certain pre- liminary observations on the nature of Literary Property. "(I.) First of all, it is very real property; it has its fluctua- tions, like corn, wine, and any other property; but it is a species of property which enables a few hundreds to live in great comfort, plenty, and luxury, and a great many thousands to live simply and carefully. "(2.) Literary property is subject to the laws w hich protect all property. The simplest and the most comprehensive of all these laws is the Eighth Commandment, ' Thou shalt not steal.' "Applied to literature and addressed to Publishers, Publish- ing Societies, and Publication Committees, this Command- ment is thus to be interpreted: 'Thou shalt not cheat the author while buying his work from him; thou shalt not pay the workmen a price which will reserve for thyself the principal profit ; thou shalt remember that the work is his—his the design of it, his the invention, the fancy, the imagination, the learning, the brain, and the hand of it. It is not thine at all. If it becomes thine it must be by an equitable agree- ment, which shall give thee only a fair reward for labour done, and leave to him all the rest.' In no other way can this Commandment be read and interpreted by a conscien- tious Publication Committee. "(3-) What is the value of a book? Clearly it is the price which it will fetch in the market. That is say, it depends upon the number of copies which the public will buy. An author, therefore, can claim his reward solely with reference to that number, and a publisher, can, equitably, make his offer of remuneration only with reference to that number. "(4.) The publisher is an agent ; he must be paid for his agency in managing, distributing, and collecting, out of the proceeds of the lxx>k. For his trouble he is entitled to a reasonable percentage on the proceeds. "For example, if a publisher gives an author £yi for a book out of which he makes a nett profit of £100, knowing, or reasonably expecting, that he is going to make that, or some similar amount, he may be a successful trader, but he must lie classed as a sweater and a robber in the eyes of honour- able men, and especially of a Society which exists for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. For if Christian Know- ledge be not promoted on Christian principles, then were it better not to be promoted at all. The author may never know that he has been robbed. But the fact remains. The Eighth Commandment still hangs upon the wall." The pamphlet then goes on to speak of the four kinds of publishers. "First, the upright, or perfect publisher. He, sensitive and lender of conscience, will not take from an author one penny more than is his own just due. lie has settled with his conscience what he should lie paid for what he has done, and ## p. 65 (#89) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 65 he will lake no more. If he pays an author a sum of money down, it is considered by this person only as an advance on what may become due to him afterwards if his work succeeds. He will not publish bad work, or work that will not succeed. To have that publisher's name at the foot of a title-page is a hallmark of excellence. To be in his hands is to rest easy in the assurance that he will do the best for the book and be honest, that is, just, with the author. "Where is that publisher to be found? Surely, we should look for him first in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It is a Society whose President is the Primate of all England ; whose Vice-Presidents are all the Archbishops and Bishops; whose General Literature Com- mittee contains nine clergymen out of twelve members; and whose three Secretaries are also Clergymen. "There, if anywhere, should we expect to find the upright publisher. "The second kind of publisher is he who belongs to a house well established and desirous to be considered as honourable. The distinction, let us remember, between the 'honourable' houses and those which are not honourable is well known and perfectly understood by all who have studied the business of publishing. Now when we divide publishing houses into those which are honourable and those which are dishonour- able, there cannot, surely, be a doubt or a question on which side we ought to place the Literature Department of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge—the 'Literary Handmaid of the Church.' The gentlemen who form the Publication Committee shall themselves, if they please, when they have inquired into the conduct of their own business, answer that question, each in turn, after the manner of the House of Lords, every man his hand on his heart— 'Upon my Honour.' "The third class is that of the knavish publisher. These gentry, of whom there are many, are those who rob and cheat the ignorant author in every account that they produce, who chea-t and lie in their statements of the cost of produc- tion, of t he sums spent in advertising, in the moneys they have received, and, in fact, in every way that can suggest itself to the ingenuity of man. "The fourth class is that of the sweating publisher. "The Select Committee of the House of Lords, on the sweating system, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury, President of the Society for Promoting Christian Know- ledge, was a member, reports that the first evil of the sweating system is 'A rate of wages inadequate to the necessities of the workers or disproportionate to the work done.' Let us accept this definition, and apply it to this class of publishers. "The sweating publisher, then, is one who grinds down the faces of his unfortunate authors, who offers a miserable sum for work which is going to bring him in a hundredfold profit—who scruples not to toss an author a ten-pound note for his labour, and without a pang of shame or remorse makes ^50 or .£100 or £$oo profit for himself; who knows no law but the cruel law of supply and demand, and recognises no other right in an unfortunate author but his right to receive meekly the highest sum that he can obtain. "There are many of these people abroad. They deal largely with the productions of women. The sweater, it is well known, works more comfortably by means of women. They are helpless, they are ignorant of business, they are yielding; if they cannot be frightened they can be cajoled. And literary women, again, are timid about their own work, not knowing what amount of stability they have achieved or what is the extent of their popularity. Therefore the sweater can do what he pleases with them. If they venture gently to remonstrate, he bullies them; if they weep and entreat, he threatens. He enjoys making them feel that he is their master; he is never so happy as when he has them at his feet, humiliated and submissive. The sweater is always a bully as well as a sweater. "He has got all kinds of excuses for his sweating. His first excuse—in fact, the words are seldom out of his mouth—is that there is perfect freedom of contract between himself and his authors. 'It is take it or leave it. Here is a sum of money, there is the MS.' That is all. There is no other consideration. "Freedom of contract! It is freedom of contract w hen the wretched seamstress toils all day long—a day of sixteen hours—for 11 hi.—or less. She is free to take it or to leave it. It is freedom of contract when the poor woman who writes for her bread submits a manuscript which has cost her weeks and months of labour; yes, and that of a kind which requires, before it can be produced, a pure heart, a lofty soul, a brain rich with knowledge and a-glow with ideas, fancies, and a imaginings, and a trained hand. Such a woman is a most precious gift and blessing to the generation in which she lives and works. She may lie a most potent force in the advancement of humanity. But she is also a most sensitive, and delicate instrument. And she has to deal with a sweater! She goes to him trembling, because she knows what to expect. He will toss her j£\0, £20, ^30, £$o, whatever it may be. And out of her book he will make to himself a profit of ten, twenty, fiftyfold. "Freedom of contract! No greater mockery, no greater cruelty than to speak of such a woman driven to such necessities, as free to choose—free to accept or to reject. She is not free, she is the slave of the sweater." After these preliminary considerations, the pamphlet quotes three several cases and describes the treatment received by the author in each, and the sums received. In the first of these cases the Society bought, outright, the copyright of a small biographical work for the stupendous sum of £12! There was also a promise, as affirmed by the author, of future payment should the book prove "a success." \Vhat constitutes a success? The book is now in its seventh thousand—perhaps by this time in its eighth or ninth. The Secretary, while denying the promise, owns in his letters to a profit of about six times that of the author! This he states without a word of shame. Just as if it was a right and proper thing, a thing in accordance with the highest Christian ethics, that the Society should make this enormous proportion of profit! In a second case, the author, a lady, wrote ten books for the Society. She received, on an average, £50 a-piece for them. They were historical books and works of fiction. Taking one of the books as an example, it is shown that if 6,000 copies have been sold this just and generous Society has made a profit of about ^330 to the author's £50, i.e., £Z2> 5s- > so that taking the whole ten books the profits of this Christian Society seem to stand at the figures of ,£2,739 10 ^4rS—tne actual sum— given to the author. Who are the authors who write for this Society? "I turn next to the list of authors. Setting aside the clergymen who have written religious books and still keeping to the department of belles lettres and fiction, I find among the writers hardly one single name of those who at present ## p. 66 (#90) ############################################## 66 THE AUTHOR. stand in the first rank, of those in the second rank'half a dozen. The rest are wholly unknown and obscure. Why is this? Why does not this venerable Society, with its enormous prestige, its immense clientele, its unparalleled power of selling books, command the services of the best writers? Have all the authors of Great Britain and Ireland abandoned the Kaith of their Fathers? No bruit or rumour of so deplorable an apostacy has reached my ears. How, then, can we account for their absence? "Is not the reason proclaimed—shouted aloud—by the facts quoted above? Does the needlewoman continue in her bondage when she has found a door of escape? Does she return to her old employer unless she is compelled by famine? "Let us, however, consider another imaginary scene. I see before me a Society which has a department devoted to the publication of books of all kinds; it defends, in the first in- stance, the tenets and doctrines of the Christian religion, and in the second place those of the Church of England. Besides these books it publishes, on terms and methods prepared with the most scrupulous attention to justice and righteous dealing, a vast mass of general literature. It is an honour to write for the Society ; it is a voucher of the value of the work, only to have the name of the Society on the title-page; no books have so wide a circulation. Hither come the historians, the scholars, the poets, the essayists, the novelists, the writers on science, art, music, everything. All the best men come to this Society. Its corpus of literature contains all that is best and noblest of the work of each generation. Those who are authors by profession long to get into the lists of the Society. If a clergyman of the Church writes such a lxx>k as Farrar's ' Life of Christ,' it is to the Society that he goes with it quite naturally, and as if it was the only thing to do. If another writes such a book as Green's ' History of the People,' it is to the Society that he offers it. If a novelist has a finished work, it is to the Society that he takes it. This Society leads all other publishers, and is an example for them; fair and honourable dealing is rendered necessary to all by the bright and shining example of the 'Literary Handmaid of the Church.' Nor is the money received the only thing. This Society, while it continues to defend the Church, regards literature from a broad and comprehensive point of view. The Church is better served by those who write for men, than by those who write for girls." This "Reply" to the invitation of the Publica- tion Committee of the S.P.C.K. has created a certain amount of interest, as was to be ex- pected from the nature of the subject and the position of the venerable Society concerned. The principles laid down in the pamphlet as to the Ethics of Publishing are simple, and will probably command general acceptance by all but persons interested in keeping up the old fictions. Among other letters received upon the subject is one from a Bishop which so remarkably and so fully (though in small space) illustrates a common attitude of mind that I venture to quote from it. His Lordship writes as follows :— (i) "I do not find any reason to suppose that the publishing department of the S.P.C.K.. act otherwise than other publishers." One is sorry, indeed, that the Bishop thinks so badly of other publishers. The pamphlet shows some of the prices given by the S.P.C.K. and some of the profits made out of the unfortu- nate authors. Now, the good Bishop would boil with indignation were he to read or hear of sweaters in other trades. Yet he can find no tear, no sympathy, for the sufferings of the man or woman who writes and is sweated. (2) "Nor am I convinced that there is any injustice in a publisher who has purchased an author's copyright making a larger profit on the particular work than he seems to have paid for. All publishers risk losses by books that do not pay, and take their chance of profit or loss. The author will not share the loss. He has made his own bargain and receives the money. I do not see that he is entitled to claim a share in the gain unless indeed that is part of the bargain." The Bishop has here confused two or more points of importance which should have been kept separate. Let us divide the word. a. No risk need ever be incurred by the S.P.C.K. Let us repeat this over and over again, be- cause of all the Bogies, Spectres, and Ghosts ever raised by interested persons this is the hardest to lay. No Risk. No Risk at ALL NEED BE INCURRED BY THE S.P.C.K. In the old days, in fact down to very recent times, the business of publishing was specu- lative and risky. It is so no longer. That is to say, the area of the reading public is so vast; the book trade is so enormous; the demand is so varied; the knowledge of markets and the demand is so much in- creased, that no publisher who knows his business need ever undertake a risk. In other words, having regard (i) to the literary worth of a MS. (ii) to the subject; (iii) to the name of the author; (iv) to his own machinery—the publisher who knows his business knows very well before he consents to publish a book that he can "plant" such a minimum number of copies as will repay the cost of production, in- cluding a certain profit for himself. p. In the case of the S.P.C.K. their machinery for the disposal of books is unrivalled. They have shops and agents all over the country; they have an immense number of subscribers; and they have the invaluable reputation of publishing only books that are doctrinally "sound." Another reason why the S.P.C.K. need never actually pub- lish a book which results in a loss. 7. "The author will not share the loss." First, there is, as I have said above, no loss except such as is caused by an error of judgment. ## p. 67 (#91) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 67 Next, apply this principle to other branches of production. A man makes a beautiful desk. He takes it to a shopkeeper who sells desks. The shopkeeper says, "My friend, this is an admirable desk. It should be worth three pounds to you. But as I was a fool yesterday, and bought a desk which is too bad for me to sell again, I can only give you thirty shillings. You must share in the loss." The Lord Bishop's ears shall not be shocked by hearing the reply of that cabinet-maker. i. The principles laid down by this Society are few and simple. For our part we contend that they are based upon a commandment which is read in the Churches every Sunday once and sometimes in the week. It is contended by the defenders of the Society that they give away their books largely. Perhaps they do—but perhaps their gifts are not so very large. In one of the cases quoted the Secretary did not claim to have given any away: he only owned that the profits made by the Society amounted to something like six times the sum paid to the author. Now to repeat the Archbishop's own definition, "The first evil of the sweating system is a rate of wages inadequate to the neces- sities of the workers or disproportionate to the work done." Six times the author's profit! Six times! My Lord Archbishop, late of the Com- mittee on the Sweating System, will you produce that sweating cabinet-maker, that sweating shoe- maker, that sweating shirt-maker who sweats his workmen to the tune of a profit six times the men's wage? And there are other cases behind even worse than those quoted in the pamphlet which shall be produced in good time. It remains to be said that as yet no reply at all to this pamphlet has been issued by the Publication Committee, nor has any answer been received by the author from the President of the Society. * THE GERMAN SOCIETY OF AUTHORS. AS at present constituted the Deutsche Schrift- steller Verbund originated from a fusion of the old Schriftsteller Verbund (founded in 1878) and the former Schriftsteller Verein, a fusion which took place some three years ago, and it comprises now about 700 literary men and women of Germany, Austria, and German Switzerland. Its objects are :— {a.) To look after the members' interests as to their calling in general. (6.) To support them in case of need and in old age, as well as to provide for those they may leave behind. The constitution of the Society under the Presidency of Herr Robert Schweichel in Berlin, is similar to that of the English Society of Authors, but it is at the same time sub-divided into branch societies at Berlin, Breslau, Hamburg, Leipsic, Frankfort-on-Maine, Munich, Stuttgart, Vienna, Prague, and Gratz. Rather important factors in the working order of the General Society are :— (a.) The "literary bureau," a kind of agency established with a view to placing literary work of the members, to providing situa- tions (in editorial offices, &c), and to find out pirated reprints. (d.) The "Syndikat," under a lawyer, to give advice gratis on all questions regarding their literary interests. (c.) Courts of Arbitration, settling any disputes between the members who, it must be remembered, consist of editors as well as contributors, and even as regards publishers, I should think he would be a rash man who would not readily submit to it. The official organ of the Society is the "Deutsche Presse," which comes out weekly. All this may look satisfactory enough, but I am afraid I must add that all is not yet in such perfect working order as it might be, and I feel sure, one day—will be. As a special feature of our Society, however, I should like to mention also the facilities for social intercourse afforded thereby, and which by drawing kindred—or may be sometimes even the reverse— spirits of the same calling together, constitute perhaps the greatest advantages cf all. There are not only frequent meetings all through the year ot the members of the different branch societies—some having even special "Vergniigungs" Committees for arranging entertainments, excursions, &c.—but once a year a particular place is chosen, to which a goodly number of the members always flock from all sides for several days' fete, and of course for the transaction of some important business of the Society. The place chosen for this summer is Breslau, and if you, or any of your members, should like to have any further information on the "Schriftsteller Tag" of this summer, I should be happy to give it as soon as the programme is out. If any of the members of your Society should be anywhere near Breslau at the time and care to be present at the gathering, I feel sure they would be heartily welcomed by my friends in Germany. Wilhelm F. Brand. ## p. 68 (#92) ############################################## 68 THE AUTHOR. A HARD CASE. No. III. THIS was certainly a hard case, but it was also one where the author's negligence largely contributed to his own mishaps. For this was a publishing transaction undertaken without any agreement at all. The publisher approached the author with regard to the production of a technical work. According to his proposal the author was not only to contribute to the work, but was also to obtain and edit the other material necessary, and to pay towards the cost of production of the first edition ^150; it being understood that all other monies necessary for the issue should be found by the publisher. Any profits that might result were to be equally divided between the author and the publisher. These terms, however, were never embodied in any agreement. It is easy to see what they might mean. When the cost of production is left entirely in the publisher's hands, he can make it as high as he likes. He can make it as low as he likes. He can advertise to what extent he chooses. He need not even advertise at all. He can receive money for advertisements to be inserted in the work—it was an annual of the nature of an almanac, appealing to a very large body of scientific men, and especially likely to be used as a medium of advertisement by many tradesmen—and he can settle the scale at which such advertisement shall be charged for. He can print as many, or as few copies as he chooses. He can, in fact, if he pleases, put off the author's chance of a share of profits indefinitely, because it is in his power so to manage matters that there shall never seem to be any profit to share. He can, almost without fear of detection, add what sums he likes to the various items of the cost of production; he can receive from tradesmen and from advertisers whatever commission they may choose to give him: he can, in fact, so arrange a system of secret profits for himself, that he shall receive at least six times as much as the author, even should he allow the author ever to receive anything at all. Of course he would always and in all cases do such things at the risk of a law-suit or a criminal prosecution, and, if the author had provided himself with an agreement, having in it a clause giving him the right to demand an audit of the account, with the examination of the actual charges incurred by the publisher, it is clear that the publisher—though as unjust as the steward of Scripture—would not be able to render "cooked" accounts. Whether or no some such "cooking" took place in the case before us, cannot be certainly stated, but the publisher asserted that the first three annual editions only just covered the expenses, so that there were no profits to divide, while it came to the author's ears that considerable profits had really been made. He then directed his solicitors to apply for a statement of accounts. Then a strange thing happened. The publishers wrote repudiating the author's claim on the grounds that they had nothing to do with the matter at all! They were, they said, only issuing the annual on commission for another gentleman—naming one of their own employes, whose Christian name was par- tially, andsurname entirely identical with those of the head of the firm—and that to him all application for redress must be made. They reminded the author that all the correspondence concerning the business had been transacted between himself and this gentleman, who had, it appeared, represented him- self as the firm. Shortly afterwards the publishers went into bank- ruptcy. The trustees then communicated with the author, telling him that the accounts of his publish- ing transaction with the bankrupts were open to his inspection, but refusing to recognise his claim" against the estate upon the grounds alleged by the bankrupts. Considerable profits were then found to have been obtained upon the first three editions. The employe^ whom the publishers declare to be their client, and responsible to the author for the author's share of profits, then wrote and denied his liability. He asserted that the book was issued by the firm, and not hy himself, and that it was ridiculous for the firm to attempt to set up such a plea. He promised to give the author every assistance in his power, and, further, said that the accounts opened for inspection did not reveal the true state of the case, but that the profits were really larger than they were there made to appear. There was nothing to be done. The offenders were bankrupt, and the author had no agreement whereby to substantiate his claim. The want of a proper agreement has often, to our knowledge, been the source of great loss to an author in various ways, but this is the only case that has come before us in which the author was not able to prove with whom he had made a con- tract, having no written contract at all to show. This book, treated with such a contemptuous want of formality, seems to have been a fairly valuable property. Would tlie author have allmved a pig-stye of his to be hired of him without knowing who his tenant actually was, and without taking the trouble to record on paper the terms of the trans- action? ## p. 69 (#93) ############################################## THE A UTHOR. 69 It remains to be stated that the author, who only came to the Society when he thought it might help him, retired when he found that nothing could be done for him. This was, in fact, a Hard Case for the Society. There have been many such, of writers who keep aloof till they are in trouble, then get proposed and elected, pay the first year's sub- scription, sometimes entail upon the Society legal expenses amounting to many years' subscription, and then resign. * LA FEDERATION DU LIVRE. To the Editor of'The Author. I have read the " Literary Handmaid" with much interest; the correspondence in the Guardian I had seen at the time. I hope the Authors' Society will keep up the discussion, and give an eye also toother Religious Societies, which I do not imagine to behave much better to their authors than the S.P.C.K. This question of the duty of charitable or religious institutions, as employers of labour, is not new ; it must be thirty years or more since the Bookbinders' Union appealed to the dignitaries at the head of the Bible Society not to cheapen Bibles to such a point as to make them hateful to the starving folders and sewers. But in those days good people were afraid of labour questions and the operatives got no satisfaction. Has it occurred to you that in this matter the author, the printer, the binder—and even the ink and paper-makers—are more or less in the same boat? The unprincipled publisher, who grows rich by grinding the faces of poor authors, also has his binding and printing done cheap by the houses which the Workmen's Unions call "unfair." And these employers of cheap labour undersell liberal publishers, and make it more difficult for them to deal fairly by all grades of book pro- ducers. Now as authors—I won't say are—but are sup- posed by an indulgent public to be—a superior race of intellectual beings, would it not be appro- priate for them to take the initiative in organizing the industry with which they are connected dc fond en cortbic, in a reasonable and righteous manner? Should we not have a better position, as regards the public, when trying to convince the " Literary Handmaid " that the labourer is worthy of his hire, if we spoke on behalf of all those who get their living by assisting in the manufacture of books as well as in the interests of the writers? Is it even fair for the author to take a high moral ground and lecture the publisher on his duties unless he him- self is careful not to have any share in the profits of iniquity? But unless there is some concert and co-opera- tion between authors and operatives, through their respective organizations, how can the most scrupu- lous writer be secure against a partnership in the very evils, perhaps denounced in his book? At present there is nothing to prevent authors who, by position or principles ought to be most secure against such dangers, from falling a victim to them. There must be something rotten in the state of the book trade when it is possible for the works of a great and honourable writer to be printed at—what the mass of workmen call—an "unfair " house : or when the journal of a certain most illustrious Authoress (who does not depend for maintenance on her pen) narrowly escapes causing a strike among the women sewing it. (The book referred to was on extra thick paper, and the firm of binders employed by the publisher refused to pay extra on this account; the sore fingers produced by the hard work required in a short time are still well remembered in the trade.) On the other hand, supposing the printing trade to be hampered by any unreasonable or ignorant prejudices among the operatives, who could medi- ate with more effect than writers, who have an interest in cheap printing, controlled by the con- scientious desire to secure fair wages throughout the trade? Some slight approach has been made in Paris towards recognizing this natural solidarity among all workers in the book industry. I do not know whether the Soci^ti; des Gens de Lettres is in any relation with the Federation du Livre, which last year had between 5,000 and 6,000 members in Paris, including, besides ordinary compositors and bookbinders, highly-paid lithographers and various classes which have not yet learnt to act together in England. In the printing trade the State is not a better employer than the Church, and while State, Church, and competing private publishers continue to en- force the "Law of elevenpence ha'penny," what avails it for one eloquent author to lift up his voice against it? No doubt some people will say, authors have enough to do to fight their own battles without troubling about the operatives, who can take care of themselves. But it is often easier to do a big thing than a small one. Suppose there are six sets of work- men employed in turning out a book, including the humble functionary who writes it. Each of the six has to do with an employer or entrepreneur, with an interest in keeping down his wages; and all six, author included, are more often defeated A ## p. 70 (#94) ############################################## 70 THE AUTHOR. thrm victorious in their bargains with this opponent. But let the six interests be allied, and they are stronger than any one adversary; and as a disin- terested alliance is only possible in a good cause, there is nothing to be feared from a rival federation of sweaters. If you object that the plea for extended organi- zation comes with a bad grace from a scribbler who has not joined the Society, I plead guilty and am willing to amend, but the fact is, I have been waiting for an occasion to ask your views on this point first, as one feels now-a-days that any or- ganization partaking of the character of a Trade Union is particularly bound to recognize the rights and interests interwoven with its own, and to sus- tain rather than endanger their just claims. Edith J. Simcox. * UNAUTHORIZED PUBLICATION OF SERMONS. I. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK in your June number criticises my note on "Copyright in Lectures " which you published in May. I hope you will permit me, as the writer of the note, to point out that the common law only gives protec- tion to lecturers so long as their lectures are not published by being publicly delivered. This protec- tion is afforded by the Courts in a practical way by issuing an injunction against infringers. But directly there is publication (as when a clergyman preaches a sermon in church or a public lecture open to all without condition is delivered) the common law protection is at an end, and the lecturer is left to such protection as the statute gives him. I am glad of an opportunity to make this distinction clear, although as my note only referred to public lectures I did not before allude to the common law rights in unpublished lectures. Sir Frederick Pollock cites the case of "Caird v. Sime" (12 App. Ca. 326) but it was there held by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Watson (Lord Fitzgerald dissenting) that Professor Caird's lec- tures to the students of Glasgow University were not public but private, and that, therefore, he was entitled to a "perpetual interdict" against their publication. Moreover, Lord Watson in his judgment remarks :—" On the other hand I do not doubt that a lecturer who addresses himself to the public generally without distinction of persons or selection or restriction of his hearers has, as the Lord President observes in this case, abandoned his ideas and words to the use of the public at large." The preamble of the Statute 5 and 6, Will. IV, c. 65, runs:—"Whereas printers, &c, have frequently taken the liberty of printing and publishing lectures delivered upon divers subjects without the consent of the authors, &c, to the great detriment of such authors, &c." This, I suppose, was true. As Lord Watson puts it in "Caird v. Sime," the purpose of the Act is to secure their right of property to the authors of such lectures, notwithstanding their having been pub- lished by delivery. Nor are all University, &c, lectures private, for, as Lord Watson was careful to add, "there may be lectures delivered within the walls of such institutions which do by their delivery become public property just as there may be others which do not." It was pointed out by the Copy- right Commissioners, 1878, that these are denied statutory protection. It was, as Lord P'itzgerald observes in his dissenting judgment in the same case, thought desirable by the House of Commons of the day that these lectures should remain public property, and that their authors should be denied statutory copyright. My authority for the statement that " a lecturer is powerless to prevent unauthorized re-delivery," is in the Report of the Copyright Commission, 1878, pp. xvi, xvii. "The present Act of Parliament," the Report runs, "which gives copyright in lectures, seems only to contemplate one kind of copyright, namely, that of printed publication, whereas it is obvious that for their entire protection lectures require copyright of two kinds, the one to protect them from printed publication by unauthorised persons, the other to protect them from re-delivery." The Report goes on to suggest that an author's copyright should extend to prevent re-delivery. If the Commissioners are right, I am correct in stat- ing that "there is no such thing as" performing right "in a species of literary production in which this may be really valuable." Sir Frederick Pollock further remarks:—"There- fore, a person acting on the commentator's opinion that sermons 'seem to be clearly public property,' would be more likely to make practical acquaint- ance with the nature and operation of an injunction than to make his fortune by unlicensed reprints of pulpit eloquence." But I contend that it is a fact that the piracy of pulpit eloquence is a systematic, and, perhaps, a profitable trade. Lord Eldon, in Abernethy v. Hutchinson [3 L. J. (Ch.) 214], distin- guished the case of a clergyman as one in which there was no remedy by injunction, and Copinger remarks (Lmv of Copyright, p. 35), "it would appear that sermons by Clergy of the Established Church, ## p. 71 (#95) ############################################## THE A UTHOR. 7i in endowed places of public worship, are deemed public property." The Bishop of Peterborough, to whose case I referred, in complaining of the unlicensed publication of his sermons by the Editor of the Contemporary Pulpit, remarked (Times, June 14th, 1888):—"I am aware that for this kind of literary assassination an unhappy preacher has no redress; he is completely at the mercy of penny- a-liners and enterprising editors who make 'per- nicious nonsense ' of his discourses, and then vend them for their own gain." A story is told of the late Canon Henry Melvill to the effect that, on one occasion, he paused in the middle of a sermon, and exclaimed, pointing an indignant finger at a reporter, "There is a thief. He is stealing my property." Sir Frederick Pollock writes with authority, but it is more than singular that an injunction was never sought by any injured and outraged preacher; and I venture to think that the explanation is to be found in the fact that sermons, like public lectures, are, in Lord Eldon's phrase, "communicated urbi et orbi by the mere act of delivery." W. Morris Collet II. The point is certainly unsettled. I have little doubt that a generation or two ago Mr. Colles's opinion was the commonly received one. But, in addition to disclaiming any pretension of writing with authority myself (which would be superfluous if I were writing for lawyers only), I may point out that there is no real authority on the other side. The opinion of the Copyright Commissioners could not be referred to in a Court of Justice, and the dicta in Caird v. Sime are extra-judicial, not being at all necessary to the decision. It may be a long time before we get a legislative declaration, and meanwhile case-law can be improved only by those who have the courage to dispute current opinions. Many opinions quite as current as this, and having more show of authority, have been over-ruled in our own time. There would be a fair chance, to the best of my judgment, of inducing the Court of Appeal to throw on the unauthorized reproducer the burden of proving an unlimited dedication to the public. I do not know why authors should acquiesce more than other men in that view of a doubtful point which is least favour- able to themselves, and I only wish the Bishop of Peterborough had been advised to stand in the breach. At all events the author who publishes a revised text of his discourse has the protection of ordinary literary copyright for his additions and corrections. F. P. III. [Reprinted from The Times, June 14th, 1888. By permission of the Bishop of Peterborough.] To the Editor of The Times. Sir, I have just received a copy of a publication purporting to be a series of sermons on the Church Catechism by the Bishop of Peterborough, re- printed, apparently, from the Contemporary Pulpit. I ask your permission to state that this publication has been made without my consent or knowledge; and that (with the exception of the first sermon of the series, which was partially corrected by me) I am in no way responsible for its contents. The facts of the case are interesting as an illus- tration of what preachers, who, like myself, do not use manuscript, have to suffer at the hands of re- porters and editors of religious periodicals. I have preached lately a series of short sermons in Peter- borough Cathedral on the Church Catechism. These were reported in the local newspapers; and the editor, I think, of the Contemporary Pulpit, or, if not, some other editor, sent me shortly after a proof of the first of these for correction, with a view to publication in his magazine. I found it, as might have been expected, both imperfect and inaccurate. I could not afford the time, even if I had the ability, to reproduce the sermon from memory. I was obliged, therefore, to content myself with rendering into English a good many sentences which were certainly not printed in that language, and with erasing one or two amazing doctrinal statements which were the reporter's and not mine. The remaining sermons were published in the Contemporary Pulpit without any revision or cor- rection from me, and are now republished in a permanent form for the profit of the publisher or editor, with the heading "Magee Extra; price sixpence. I am aware that for this kind of literary assassina- tion an unhappy preacher has no legal redress; he is completely at the mercy of penny-a-liners and enterprising editors, who make "pernicious non- sense" of his discourses and then vend them for their own gain. I do not grudge them their gains, though, if I might be allowed the choice, I would gladly pay them what they might think their venture worth on condition that they would forego it. But what I do complain of is that, because I will not, and indeed cannot, reproduce for them my sermons, I must submit to the publication and circulation of all the bad English and worse theology which they think fit to give to the public as mine. I complain, too, of the further annoyance of having to answer numerous letters from per- ## p. 72 (#96) ############################################## 72 THE AUTHOR. plexed, and occasionally angry, correspondents, who ask, "Did you really say this?" "Can it be possible that you said that ?"and of having to write to each one an assurance that I never said "this" or "that," and an explanation—sometimes a long one—as to what I really did say. I know that these complaints of mine will fall— so far as enterprising editors are concerned—upon deaf ears. Preachers are their natural prey and diet. But, as a matter of common honesty, I think it only due to any intending purchaser of this particular "Magee Extra "to apprise him that, if he expends upon it the sum of sixpence, he will get for his money a good deal more of the "Extra" than of the " Magee." I am, Sir, Faithfully yours, W. C. Peterborough. Palace, Peterborough, June nth. —» IV. [Reprinted from The Times, June 25th, 1888. By permission of the Bishop of Peterborough.] To the Editor of The Times. Sir, The editor of the Contemporary Pulpit alleges that "misunderstanding has been caused" by my not having "communicated with him" on the subject of his " Magee Extra," about which I lately wrote to you. I confess that I see no reason why I should have communicated with him on the matter. The injury of which I complained— namely, the publication of a volume of sermons as mine without my consent or knowledge and with- out any correction or revision from me—was done and could not be undone by means of any com- munication of mine to the doer of it. It seems to me that it would be as reasonable to expect me to "communicate " with a person who had assaulted me in the street in order to prevent any misunder- standing that might arise from my giving him into custody. Might I suggest to the editor of the Contemporary Pulpit that previous communication, in either of these cases, from the intending assailant to his intended victim, would be the more reason- able course of the two? It would prevent some pain to one of the parties concerned, and a good deal of trouble to both. I hasten, however, to correct, as far as possible to make amends for these "misunderstandings" that I have caused. I was "mistaken," it appears, in thinking "that my sermons were reprinted from the Contemporary Pulpit." That periodical, it seems, is none of your "penny dailies," nor six- penny weeklies even. It is nothing less—so please you—than a quarterly, which "publishes every quarter full reflexes of the best preaching of the day"—obtained in my case, at least, by printing off a bundle of uncorrected newspaper cuttings— edited with no greater pains or cost than is implied in the use of the scissors and the paste pot. I admit and apologise for my ignorance as to the rank and dignity of this youngest of the "quarterlies." Possibly, however, some of the editor's elder breth- ren may think that, under the circumstances, and for the credit of the family, some apology is due to them from him. I was also wrong, I am told, in believing that the editor was guilty of the weakness of allowing me to revise the proof of even one of my sermons. As a matter of fact, I did not assert this. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and said that this was done either by him or " by some other editor." I admit, however, my mistake in crediting him with even this small amount of fair- ness and courtesy, and I apologize accordingly. Having now, I trust, sufficiently explained my "mistake," I proceed briefly to comment on the remainder of the editor's letter. He is evidently a person who, in conducting his business, is in the habit of "supposing" a good deal. For (1) he "supposed " (he does not say why) that I revised all the reports of my sermons for the newspapers in which they appeared." (2) He " supposed" that the necessarily hurried and rough correction of reporters' errors and mistakes of the Press, which alone is possible in such a case, was really equiva- lent to the careful revision and to the supply of omitted passages which a preacher might not un- reasonably desire to make in a re-publication in a permanent form of newspaper reports of bis sermons. (3) He "supposed" that I had no "intention of publishing these sermons myself." For, as he assures us that it is his rule in such a case never to publish, and as he certainly never said a word to me on the subject, he must have either taken for granted that I had no such intention, or he must (4) have "supposed" that it was my business to notify such intention to every religious editor in the country, and that failing such notification they were free to publish the sermons on their own account. In the next place, I observe that this editor measures out his civilities to preachers in the same way that railway servants are sometimes accused of measuring theirs to railway passengers —namely, according to their rank. To a "more eminent preacher" than myself, it seems, "any terms " for the right to publish his sermons revised and corrected by himself." To second class preachers like myself he offers no terms whatever, ## p. 73 (#97) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 73 and no opportunity for revision or correction. He roundly claims the right to republish our sermons as a literary speculation, uncorrected and unrevised, when and how he pleases, unless, indeed, we in- form him beforehand of our intention to publish them for ourselves. How he treats third-class preachers I hardly dare to imagine. It may be that he does not publish their sermons in any shape. If so, I should be infinitely obliged to him if he would henceforth put me in the third class. Probably, however, if we had the opportunity of interviewing the eminent preacher above referred to, he would tell us that, having been offered the uncomfortable alternative either of devoting much valuable time and pains to revising and correcting his sermons for another man's profit, or of allowing them to go forth unrevised, he chose, as the least of two evils, the latter course. So should I, were I given the choice, of which, however, it appears I am not worthy. The editor adds that "it is impossible for him to yield to any further claim of mine." Let me assure him that I made and make no claim upon him whatsoever. I fully anticipated, as I said in my former letter, that any claim of mine on him, either for justice or mercy, would "fall on deaf ears." Preachers are, as I said, "the natural prey and diet of religious editors;" and I have never heard that the carnivorous animals are much affected by the sufferings of the creatures upon which they dine. All that I claimed was the right to disclaim all responsibility for the "bald, disjointed trash," which he has published as mine, and to warn in- tending purchasers of it as to what they would get for their money. One word more on the general subject. I make no complaint of reporters. They do their best, often under very difficult circumstances, and it is no discredit to a country reporter if he is not as deft and practised as one of the staff of The Times, nor so well skilled in divinity as to qualify him for detecting doctrinal misstatements in his reports, which nevertheless may be distressing to a preacher. Nor do I in the least complain of the editors of local newspapers for publishing such reports. I am not so absurd as to expect that editors of newspapers should send me, even if it were always possible to do so, the proofs of my sermons or speeches, and still less that they should find space, to the exclusion of other matter, for sermons in extenso. I am quite content in this respect to share "neighbours' fare," and to suffer, as every public speaker must, the passing annoyance of some misquotation, which I can correct, if I care to do so, in the next day's paper, or the suppression of what I might wish had been published, but which the editor, probably quite rightly, thought might not interest his readers. I know that all such reports will, in a day or two, find decent in- terment and oblivion in the common grave of speeches and sermons, the back files of old news- papers. But it is quite another matter when some re- ligious editor exhumes the mangled corpse, labels it as mine, and displays it in an exhibition, "ad- mission sixpence," in order that he may turn what I suppose he calls an honest penny at my expense. To protest against this may appear to the editor a "claim " so outrageous that he "declines to com- ment on it." To me it appears a perfectly just and reasonable protest against a practice which I had rather not describe by its proper name. I am, Sir, Yours faithfully, W. C. Peterborough. The Palace, Peterborough, June 22nd. * THE INAUTHORATED CORPSES. TWO Congresses, fifteen Legislatures, one House of Commons, and several hundred newspapers had sat upon the question of International Copyright for years; and nothing beyond pirated editions were ever hatched of it. As the honourable member for Lower Idaho pointed out in Congress: "If we can hike down the fruit of the centuries from the moss-gnarled trunks of an effete civilization over the sea, why in Paradise should we pay a dollar for a book when we can hook it for a dime? Let the good work go on." In England every vestryman knew that there were no votes to be obtained from authors, and no one could quite understand what it was the gang wanted, or why they should actually own what they had " made out of their heads, y' know," and the situation crystallued itself into a round game of grab. The American publishers began by giving an English author ten pounds for advance-sheets of a book which they brought out for fifty cents. Then the Sad Sea Wave Library would undercut the first firm, and produce a thirty cent edition; and last of all the "Bowery Bloodsucker Serials" would set a muzzy German to abridge and adapt the book and would issue the mutilated fragments for a dime or ten cents. When a man had taken some trouble over his book and put perhaps one or two ideas into it, and was feeling happy, his friends would post him American variorum edi- tions of that book to make him happier. Later ## p. 74 (#98) ############################################## 74 THE A UTHOR. on the American publisher discovered that it was not worth while to pay the author for advance- sheets at all. The syndicates established an agency for appropriation, and their agents moved among the English printing-houses and turned the handle of a printing press four or five times more than was necessary, and went away with the advance- sheets. That was called Enterprise, and it made both the British and American reading public laugh. Then the authors borrowed some writing-paper and wrote a petition to Parliament asking that the fight might be made if not a fair, at least a free one. They respectfully prayed that all the laws were on one side, but, they said, if the matter of copyrights were "left to be fought out by such instruments as your petitioners' resources allow they would ever pray, &c." Parliament being then extremely busy with a new scheme for Local Self-Government in Cornwall (which county had discovered that it was Phoenician and not British), said, "Let it be law as it is desired," and it was law. Three days after it came into effect, the London representative of the great "publishing" firm of Fibbs and Glew met an author-man by appoint- ment in the former's rooms. "How is the Legend of the Spotted Death getting on ?" said the representative, with a grin. "Gone to press," said the author. "What are you going to do about it?" "Nothing much. One of our men photoed the MS. page by page in the office, with a button- hole camera. I've mailed the enlarged films to America, and I guess we've got the drop on your English lirm this time." "But I'm going to knock the thing about in proof a great deal," said the author. "There's more bad work in the last chapter than I care to think of." "'Can't help that," said the representative. "We must be first in the market if you wrote a revised edition of the alphabet with twenty-six misprints. However, we've dealt with you from way back. Here's a tenner. Take it or leave it." He turned to his desk to get the money. When he faced round he was looking directly down the barrel of a '440 Derringer. His hands stiffened above his head, the bank note in the right fist. "Who has the drop now?" said the author. "It's a fair fight at last—with such resources as we can command. Keep your hands up, please." "Don't be an ass," said the representative. "This isn't a theatre." "Quite right. It's a court of law. Understand, I'm not in the least angry with you. You had a perfect right to steal my work, which is about all the property I have or ever shall have. You were entitled to insult me with the sort of 'tip' his uncle gives to a boy going to Eton, as well as to make hay of my sentences to suit your con- venience. There was no law, and so you reverted to the primitive man. Quite right. Now you're going to learn the law just as a horse-thief in Idaho learns it—through fear of death and physical pain." He took the bank note from the uplifted hand. "Lie down on the hearth-rug with your hands behind you. I'm going to take all the money I can find in the office. Drop!" The representative obeyed, and the author made investigations which repaid him for two years' sales of unauthorized editions. "Now it's not safe," he concluded, "to leave you with a fighting hand. I should be within my right if I killed you as your countrymen kill horse-thieves. And let us be moral. Why do they kill horse- thieves?" "Because," said the representative, his face on the hearth-rug, "the assumption is that when you steal a horse you dismount a man, and the man may die in the wilderness." "Exactly. How do you know where I wish to ride on these my books, and why do you try to dismount me before I dismount myself?" "There was no law," said the representative. "The law has come now. It's primitive for the nineteenth century, but I think it will work. Hold your right hand over the fender-rim; I don't want to spoil your carpet. There! Through the right wrist. That will cripple you for life. If you can shoot me with your left next time we meet, well and good. Then you can go on stealing without fear. Let me tie your hand up. We must all learn the Law with pain and sorrow. Good bye!" The author departed while the representative lay fainting with his head in the fender. He came of a nation eminently just at heart, so he brought neither a civil nor a criminal suit against the author, but went to the very best doctor and the best gunmaker in all London, and made arrange- ments to bring out an edition as soon as possible of that author—in boards—limited to one copy. ## p. 75 (#99) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 75 LEAFLET No. III. On Paying for Publication. THOSE who pay for the publication of their works are young poets, travellers, novelists, essayists, and clergymen who bring out their sermons. The number of poets who at the present moment can dispense with the ceremony of pre-payment for publication is certainly small, probably not more than eight or nine. And there appears no indication of an immediate increase in their number. The handsome illustrated books of travel appear also, for the most part, and judging from the agreements sent to this Society, to be largely paid for by the author, who is asked to "guarantee," that is, to take and pay for, at a certain price, so many copies. The greater number, however, of those who pay for the production of their books are novelists. Now in the year 1889 lhere were 828 new novels published and 353 new editions of novels. (Let us here remark that both writing and publishing of novels ought to be in a healthy condition since so many new editions are called for.) Out of the 828 new works of fiction at least one-half are children's books or goody books, of which the output is enormous. Of the remaining half between two and three hundred are three volume novels; the rest are either six shilling one volume novels, or shilling stories. In any case at least two-thirds, and perhaps three-fourths, of this long list of novels are books paid for by the author. The following is the invariable process. The author has written the book—perhaps with im- mense pains and trouble; perhaps he has " dashed" it off at odd moments when there was nothing else to do. In any case the MS. is at last ready. The writer of it now begins to send it round. He looks at the advertised lists of books. He selects a firm: if he is wise, he begins with a big house: and he sends off his manuscript. He then waits with a beating heart for a reply. Presently he receives a polite answer declining the work. He tries another publisher with the same result. And a third —being rejected again. At this point he generally commits a fatal error. For, if he were a wise man, he would argue that (1), these firms all vol.. 1. ardently desire to publish good work which they can sell; that (2), the fact of their refusal to pub- lish his work shows that it lacks at least com- mercial value, if not literary merit; and that (3), he should now revise it and submit it to some third person, say one of the readers for this Society, for an independent opinion as to the cause of these repeated failures. But he does not take this line at all. He says, "Perhaps, if a great house will not take my MS., a smaller house will." Now, there are small houses of various kinds. Most of them mainly live by bringing out books which are paid for by the authors. Some of them do this work, which can hardly be called the highest class of publishing, honourably and honestly. Others, to put it mildly, do not. He goes to one of these and he pays for production. Whether the author pays a large sum or a small sum need not here be considered. The question is, why he pays anything at all. Consider. There are many authors and many publishers. But there is only one public. It is true that there are many branches of the public. One branch, for instance, likes sporting books, and another likes religious books; some like love stories and others like murders. Still only one public, wherever the author goes—for all publishers alike. Let him ask this question then. If this public should refuse to buy this MS. if published—say —by Longman or Bentley, of what other pub- lisher would they buy it? and for what reason ? . In other words:—If a MS. is offered to all the respectable houses in vain, it is refused because all the respectable houses are agreed in thinking that the public will have none of it. Where, then, is that other public which will demand it when it is published elsewhere? In this Society, cases by the score—by the hundred—have been examined in which the author has had to pay for the production. Nay, in look- ing down the lists of new books advertised in the papers, we are able to name the books which are paid for because we know the houses which publish in this way. Seldom, indeed, does a case come before us in which the writer gets any of his money back. Never does he get any kuIo* at all. He 1 ## p. 76 (#100) ############################################# 76 THE A UTHOR. gets contemptuous reviews, his friends snigger at his failure, he writhes under the shame and pain of the plain truth : and when his accounts come in there prove to have been no sales. Only yesterday I read a letter from a young lady. She had paid ^50, being deluded by glowing hopes, but not actual promises, of large profits to divide. The sales amounted to £1 2s. gd. Sometimes, however, there are absolutely no sales at all. Literary vanity is, of course, at the bottom of this folly. All the writer asks for is to be in print, only to be printed; if he can obtain this, as he always can on such terms, he will pay anything and sign anything. No rebuffs, no reader's opinions, no rejections can persuade him that his MS. is worthless, and that, whatever he pays, he will meet with nothing but disappointment, vexa- tion and shame. He is quite sure that his work is brilliant and certain to succeed. There are instances on record of books, after- wards successful, having been refused by one pub- lisher after the other. The famous and leading case of Vanity Fair is one. These instances do mightily comfort the rejected author. He feels himself a possible Thackeray // only he can get printed. Mistakes, he says, have occurred before now. Readers are fallible. Mistakes may occur again. And perhaps the reader is also himself a novelist. We all know that jealousy is a common as well as a hateful vice. Or perhaps the reader knows some private enemy of the author and bears a grudge. What more likely than that the jealous reader should wish to smother a dangerous rival? Or perhaps the perfidious reader has not even taken the trouble to look at his work. Anyhow, since the best firms are so foolish as to refuse to make money by his work, some other shall have the chance. He will get it printed even though he has to pay for it. And so the output of worthless books is increased by one more, and the reviewers grow more and more savage over the swelling flood of rubbish, and the noble art of fiction is degraded and insulted. Will not the readers of this paper join in dissuading, by all means in their power, their friends from paying for produc- tion? Editor. QUESTIONS, CASES, AND ANSWERS. "Some years ago I wrote a biographical paper for a magazine. It was accepted and published. When I wrote for payment I had no reply. I wrote another paper also on an historical subject for a weekly newspaper. The editor returned it, ask- ing me to enlarge it. This I did, and he printed it. But he never paid me. "I recently sent an article of a similar character, on which I had expended a considerable amount of trouble and time, to a monthly magazine. The editor has now lost it. I have kept no copy, and must write it again. Is there no redress? "A publisher lately signed an agreement in which he covenanted to bring out a written work in a certain series at a certain price. He has printed the work and now refuses to bring it out, alleging that he believes it would be a failure. He offers the author the printed sheets for the price of set- ting up the work. What should the author do?" ♦ If such a thing should now occur of an editor accepting a MS., publishing it in his paper, and refusing payment, the author has only to bring the case before the Society and he will get redress. But the Society cannot take up old cases. As for losing a MS. most editors find it necessary to warn authors that they will not be responsible for losing MSS. If contributors could see the piles of MSS. offered to every editor they would not be surprised at this stipulation. The third question is one for a lawyer to con- sider. The proposer of the case should sent up all the agreements and letters to the Secretary. "When an author has paid for the publication of a book is it fair on the part of the publisher to sell the remainder of the edition as waste paper without consulting the author, without giving him the choice of buying up the remaining copies, which he would assuredly in many cases be glad to do at a price even above that of waste paper? "If the publisher is entiiled to do this can the poor author lay no claim to a share in the proceeds of this melancholy transaction?" The reply to the last question is that the agreement generally contains a clause giving the publisher such power. It is for the author before signing the agreement to make a stipulation that he shall first be consulted If he has paid for the publi- cation all the copies should be his own, and the remainder of the stock should be sent to him as soon as the sale is finished. ## p. 77 (#101) ############################################# THE A UTHOR. 77 Up to the present, authors have always felt that to have an MS. published in a magazine was to ensure payment according to the scale of the maga- zine. This prop appears about to be knocked from under them. An enterprising publisher has now hit upon the ingenious plan of getting work into his magazine for nothing. His method and the generosity of his soul are shown in a letter addressed to an author. He says that he has been in con- sultation with the editor of the Magazine since he received the writer's MS. The Editor is willing to insert this story as a serial, if it is illus- trated. This the Firm would be willing to do at their expense, "if you are willing to make over the story to us free of charge." Should the Firm, in the future, think to bring out the work as a volume, they should perhaps be able to offer some small sum. The pages of the magazine, he says, are full for twelve months to come, but the Firm will retain the MS. and insert it after that period if the writer wishes. "It would have the effect of placing your name before the public at all events." He goes on to say, "The Firm feel that the publication is such a speculation, that considering that a great deal of money will have to be spent upon illustration and advertising before its publica- tion, no payment can be offered to the author until the work appears in book form." The letter con- dudes with these words: "We have really only made the offer to insert the story in the magazine so as to try and give you some encouragement to continue writing." Observe upon this:—i. The publisher, con- sidering the vast sums he spends on illustrating and advertising his magazine, cannot pay for the work at all. The same reasons apply to all other con- tributions. Therefore, we suppose, he has a good reason for paying nobody. 2. The author is to give him the copyright of the work. If he chooses, he is to give her " some small sum," whether it succeeds or not. Even if it turns out to be a great success, he is not bound to give the author anything. 3. This noble offer is wholly disvnteresttd and prompted by nothing but a disposition to help a struggling author! Generous, large-hearted, whole- souled Patron of Letters! One other observation presents itself. How enviable is the lot of the editor of such a magazine! "In your last number, quoting Mr. Rider Hag- gard's letter to Messrs. Rand, McNally & Co., you very justly denounce what you call a 'new terror to literary men.' But this piratical liberty of mutilating as well as stealing literary property is by no means new. It must be some fifteen years ago that I picked up by chance on an American book- vor. 1. stall a little book of my own, which, without my knowledge, had been fitted for theft by the altera- tion of phrases likely to wound transatlantic sus- ceptibilities. I fancy such a process of judicious editing of stolen matter is far from uncommon. Has no enterprising American firm thought of bringing out a revised edition of the Bible, with desirable omissions—for instance, of the eighih commandment! We can sympathize with Mr. Rider Haggard; but he must not expect from all robbers the courtesy of a Claude Duval." A. R. H. M. "Do warn," a lady writes, "all young authors of the folly of doing all or nearly all their work for one editor. Editors die, or, as in my case, take up another paper or magazine, and the faithful old contributor finds her position changed. "Ten years ago I did an immense amount of work for a certain paper, which we will call the Strand Circus—essays, stories, &c. It was then edited by the eldest son of the proprietor, and I was given to understand that it would be worth my while to work away at the Strand Circus, to study- its interests, and not go roving here and there with MSS. Therefore I declined offers of work from other papers, and never sought new openings. All went well for many years. Then the father died; his son had to take over other work, and a new editor was appointed." The sequel may be guessed. The warning, however, is serious. Let no young author be contented with one magazine or journal. In every fresh opening he should find another pillar of support, and another body of readers and friends. ♦ Bad authors create bad publishers. This fact, once fully apprehended, should be an inceniive to the production of good work. But perhaps the state- ment wants explanation. A correspondent fur- nishes an illustration. "A lady once wrote to me 'as a successful author'—I had at that time published one in- different novel, which had been gently reviewed— asking my advice under the following conditions. She had published three novels at her own expense, not one of which had attracted any attention. What did I think she had better do now? The style of her stationery, as well as this confession, pointed to her being wealthy, while the literary style of her letter proved that she had no idea of writing at all. "This experience directed me in certain inquiries, and I discovered how- the idiotic three volume novels which are found in circulating libraries at F 2 ## p. 78 (#102) ############################################# 7« THE A UTHOR. seaside places get beyond the MS. stage. They are written by well-to do women who are ready to pay £200 to get a novel published. "Does not the existence of 'authors' of this kind account in some measure for the existence of low class publishers? May we not go even further and call this fact a justification of their existence? Honourable publishers refuse books which .ire foregone failures; they will not allow their names to appear on the title-page of such rubbish. Where, then, are the poor rich things to go with their MSS. and their money, save to such a friendly gentleman, who will kindly take £200 for publishing a book which costs less than £100 to produce?" My correspondent is a little too hasty. It is not only the rich woman but the poor woman as well who is responsible for the existence of these persons. It is any one, man or woman, who believes that a MS., refused by those who only publish books certain to be in demand, will be accepted by the public when they are issued by those who publish any rubbish brought to them. In another part of this number we deal with the question of paying for publishing at greater length. "I think," says a correspondent, "that you do not realise that small authors really get a great advantage in selling their copyright. In this way we get the money at once, without waiting for a year, and we have no risk or anxiety as to whether the book will sell or not." Well, if there is any risk or anxiety on that score the publisher will not buy the MS. at all. At the same time there are very few writers who would not rather take a lump sum down than the same or a little more spread over a term of years. The hardship is that the lump sum down is too often such a very little lump indeed. One fair and honest way would be for the publisher to buy an edition of so many copies, a new arrangement to be made when these were gone. * A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. MY remarks arise out of one made by Mr. Max Miiller :—" Find a respectable pub- lisher and stick to him." It has been the ambition of my literary life to do so, but I shall have to postpone it, I fancy, to another and a better world! I began full of hope ten years ago, deter- mined to give the public the best work of which I was capable as a novel writer. I loved the work and spared no pains to make it good. I sent what I had written to a firm of leading publishers, who accepted my novel. Terms—half profits. I accepted the offer with joy, thinking myself fortu- nate th:it I had not been asked to take any risks. My book was well launched and excellently re- viewed by all but the Athenceum, Academy, and the Saturday Revieiv. The Athenceitm called it "a wealth of nonsense," whereupon I asked the editor—when I told him it had been accepted on its merits by the firm in question, who, he admitted, would not have accepted "a wealth of nonsense "— how he permitted such an unjust criticism in the pages of a journal supposed to guide literary opinion. The Academy critic cast odium on his paper by uttering an opinion on the book and the writing which a subsequent critic in the same paper emphatically contradicted. He spoke of the book as "beneath criticism," while my next critic in the same referred to it as a book of " distinct merit." The Saturday Review danced upon it. The result of this handling by the three leading papers then, was, that the short three months' existence enjoyed by a three volume novel, by an unknown author, was insufficient to sell the number of copies published, and my publishers, while admitting that I had written a good book, found me a non-financial success, and bade me go else- where. The consequence of their decision was that other firms fought shy of my next book, which took three years in finding a publisher and was refused by twelve, one of whom took twelve months to consider it, and finally refused it "regretting—"! It was published at length and favourably reviewed. But all this came too late. The three years lost in finding a publisher made me practically once more a beginner after the lapse of five years between my first and second book. I lost heart after this, and tried no more "leading firms," since I found it was not good work they wanted so much as quick financial returns. Last year, ten years after my first work appeared, I went casually and as a stranger into a first class library in a fashionable watering place. I asked for a small shilling story I had just brought out—not by a leading firm. Of course it had never been heard of, so I humbly said, "It is by the author of and "naming my books. "Oh," ex- claimed the librarian, brightening up, "I know those books well, they are among the best read in our library." This after ten years! Moral:—Would it not be well for leading firms to be a little more patient with the slow sales of an unknown author's work ripening into "profits." My difficulty has been not so much in not being able to find a publisher I could stick to, but in finding one who would stick to me. I think I have proved that the adhesive properties are not lacking in ## p. 79 (#103) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 79 consequence of bad work, or work that is short- lived. Where is the remedy for such a case as mine? Editor's Note.—Perhaps the author is wrong, and the three leading literary papers were right. That is to say, they were probably right when they condemned the book from a literary point of view, and in regard to style or artistic construction. In such matters these papers do not often go wrong. But there are readers in plenty who regard neither style nor artistic construction. For them the story—that is the leading situation—is everything. And the leading firms do publish many books every year the sale of which is necessarily slow. * CHESTNUT BELLS ENCORE. APROPOS of Chestnut Bells. We often see the hand-bell in grotesque sculptures of the middle ages used in a manner which clearly indicates that it is intended to impose silence, oras an intimation that what one person is saying is not believed in, or is ridiculed by another. Thus on the grand portal of St. Stephen's Church, Vienna, there is a sp;rited stone-picture of a rollicking witch and a reprobate priest (perhaps a sorcerer), engaged in a tussle, he holding her by one leg, while she with the right hand pulls his head back by the capote, and with the other rings a bell in his ear—as if to silence his love-making, and say, "Yes, I have heard all that before—enough—shut up!" A copy of this will appear as a vignette in my work on gypsy sorcery now in the press. On more than one bas-relief of the fourteenth century, we see a goat dressed as a monk, and in one instance, a sow, ringing a small bell. The allusion here is to telling coarse tales, since in modern German phrase doing this is called ringing the Sauglocke, or sow-bell, and I possess an outrageous little old work bearing that name, with the picture of a bell on the cover depicted in a manner "which could convey little joy to either moralist or Christian." The Lumpenglock, or blackguard's bell, is a term applied in Germany to the bells in steeples, rung at eleven o'clock p.m., as a signal to close all the beer-houses. So we are told of that veteran rois- terer, the Herr von Rodenstein, that when he died— "The blackguard's l>ell in the old Town Hall, Began of itself to ring." A man who is always telling coarse and rude tales —or a Zotenreisser—is commonly said to be contin- ually ringing the sow-bell. And I think it very probable that at a time when symbolism entered into every- thing, there was something of all this implied by the bells on the cap of the professional jester or fool. There was mockery in their sound, as in the words of their wearer, and both were like the ring of the chestnut bell, and the tinkling of brass pots of yore—all synonyms for vain repetition and idle chatter. It may be here observed that the primary object of church bells was not so much to call the faithful together to worship, as to drive away and avert evil influences, especially devils, concerning all which there is a deeply learned chapter in Southey's Doctor. The primitive Christian church bell was very truly what Mr. William Sikes called a " tinkler," since it was precisely of the shape, material, and make of the same which, in America especially, is hung to the necks of cows. Their object is to keep the cows from straying afield too far—that of the chestnut bell to recall men from wandering in discourse. When I was a schoolboy, I once invested my last cent in the purchase of a black letter Latin folio—the " Moralization of the entire Bible," by Petrus Berchorius, all of which I perused faithfully and admiringly many times. By the way, my copy had belonged to Melancthon. It just occurs to me that the spirit of the old monk Pierre Bercheur is living again in these disquisitions on the true inwardness of the chestnut bell, and the esoteric mysteries of the Sauglocke. "Oh, good old man— even from the grave thy spirit" comes over thy disciple, into the year eighteen hundred and ninety, prompting him to find preaching in pebbles and sermons in grains of sand ; of which "making great amount of small things," all that can be said is that it is better than making no account of or be-littling great ones, which is the vice of our day. Chari.es G. Leland. * THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH. '"T^ HE enrolment into a single company of I so numerous and influential a body of English writers as composes the Society of Authors, may perhaps be profitably utilized in a manner which, if it be a little outside the scope of its foundation, would interest and benefit every reader and writer of the English language. There has never yet existed in this country any academic body, any authoritative company of edu- cated Englishmen qualified to pronounce judgment upon moot points connected with the writing of English. It has been questioned whether the formal institution of such an Academy would be ## p. 80 (#104) ############################################# 8o THE AUTHOR. for the lasting benefit of literature, and I doubt myself if the ex cathedra pronouncements of an official Board of Letters would ever carry much weight with Englishmen. We are too impatient of law and precedent; but in a humble way some nse- ful work might surely be done. An expression of the consensus of opinion of so influential a body as our Society, can never be without influence and effect, and a resolution of the doubts and uncer- tainties that exist on manypoints in syntax, spelling, prosody, and phraseology would be welcomed by every educated man and woman in the land inside and outside of our own circle. I venture to sug- gest therefore that the Society of Authors should from time to time hold an inquest upon some one or other of the aforesaid moot points, and that their deliberation should issue in the shape of verdicts to be arrived at by unanimity, or by a large majority of votes; the verdicts to be published to the world at large in the columns of The Author. There is another and perhaps a still greater service which our Society and its new organ might confer upon English letters, and that is by their sanction of the admission of useful provincial words into general usage. Many an admirable English word has no circulation beyond a limited district, many a word expressing ideas that can only be rendered else- where by a clumsy paraphrase. More competent persons than myself could cite many local words, which, if they were made general, would enrich the language. I will give but one example at present. In parts of the West and of the North of England backword signifies a refusal to comply with a pomise made or to fulfil some intention declared. The following telegram was recently offered at a London Post Office: "Dine with me on Saturday. A sends me a backword." The telegraph clerk refused "backword" as a single word, properly observing that it was in no dictionary, and the recipient of the message—a cockney—had no notion of its meaning. Now surely such a word deserves to pass into circulation, to enjoy the approval, to be stamped with the mint mark of some academic body, and to become at once current coin of full weight and value in the realm of English literature. Oswald Crawfurd. THE CIVIL LIST. I. The following is the Memorial which it was proposed to submit to Mr. W. H. Smith :— "This Memorial Sheweth as follows:— "(a) It was enacted by section 5 of 1 Vict., c. 2. That your Memorialists respectfully submit that further Legislation is urgently needed on the grounds and for the following purposes :— "(b) Section 6 of 1 Vict., c. 2, declared that it is the bounden duty of the responsible advisers of the Crown to recommend to her Majesty, for grants of pensions of the Civil List, such persons only as have just claims on the Royal beneficence, or who by their personal services to the Crown by the performance of duties to the public, or by their useful discoveries in science or attainments in literature and the arts, have merited the gracious consideration of their Sovereign and the gratitude of their country. "(c) The Select Committee appointed in 1837 to inquire into the then existing pensions, classed them under the following heads:—(i)Army; (2) Navy; (3) Diplomatic; (4) Judicial and Legal; (5) Political; (6) Civil and Revenue; (7) Colonial; (8) Services to Royal Family and in Household; (9) Rewards for Literary and Scientific Attain- ments; (10) Royal Bounty and Charity; (11) Compensation for Forfeited Estates; (12) Mis- cellaneous. "The said Select Committee also reported as follows :—The operation of the Superannuation Acts, the system of retired allowances, the military and naval pensions for good services, the pensions granted by 57 Geo. iii, c. 65, for pensions holding high political offices, and the pensions for the diplomatic and consular services, have to a great extent superseded one of the original purposes of the Pension List. These Acts have also substi- tuted a strictly-defined and regulated system of reward for a system which depended on the arbitrary selection of the Crown or the recommen- dation of the existing Government exposed to the bias of party or personal consideration. "(d) The said regulated system of reward has since the passing of 1 Vict., c. 2, been confirmed, amended, and extended by the following statutes: The Superannuation Act, 1859 ; The Naval and Marine Pay and Pensions Act, 1865 ; The Colonial Governors' Pensions Act, 1865; The Superannua- tion Act, 1866; The Diplomatic Salaries Act, 1869; The Political Offices Pensions Act, 1869; The Colonial Governors' Pensions Act, 1872; ## p. 81 (#105) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 81 The Superannuation Act, 1876; The Pensions and Yeomanry Pay Act, 1884; The Pensions (Colonial Service) Act, 1887. "(e) Notwithstanding the said Statutes, and the Report of the said Select Committee, pensions on the Civil List have been granted for services per- formed in the (1) Army; (2) Navy; (3) Diplo- matic Service; (4) Civil and Revenue Services; and (5) Colonial Service. "(J) It appears from the 'Returns of all Per- sons now in receipt of Pensions charged on the Civil List' (1889), that of the ,£25,221 13*. 4*/. (the total annual charge of the pensions payable at the date of the said Return) £8,625 was payable at the date of the said Return in the following proportions for services in the (1) Army (.£2,710); (2) Navy (£1,335) j (3) Diplomatic Service (£9°°); (4) Civil Service and Revenue (£3,455) J (5) Colonial Service (.£225). "And your Memorialists respectfully submit that further Legislation is urgently needed for the following purposes :— "(a) The restriction of the grant of pensions on tie Civil List within ascertained limits. "(b) The allocation of pensions amounting to ru t less than £800 in each year to those who by th.iir useful discoveries in Science or attainments in Literature and the Arts have merited the gra- cious consideration of their Sovereign and the gratitude of their country, or their widows and children. "(c) The increase of the Royal Bounty Fund and the Civil List Pension Fund so that her Majesty may be enabled to relieve distress and reward merit in a manner worthy of the dignity of the Crown." The Memorial speaks for itself and requires little further elucidation here. It places on record the following facts :—(1) That notwithstanding the wording of the Civil List Act, and notwithstanding the Report of the Select Committee, pensions on the Civil List have been improperly granted; (2) That of the £25,221 13*. ^d. (the total annual charge of the pensions payable in May, 1889), .£8,625 was paid to the classes of persons not contemplated by the Act or the Report of the Committee. Mr. VV. H. Smith remarks in his letter to Mr. S. S. Sprigge, which we published last month, " that the figures in the Memorial, accepting them as fairly correct, show that the practical administration of the Fund is almost identical with the distribu- tion proposed by the Societies, namely, one-third to services rendered to the Sovereign, and two- thirds to the representatives of Science, Literature, and Art" From this it appears that the First Lord of the Treasury defends the grant of pensions on the "Civil List" for services performed in the Army, Navy, Diplomatic, Civil and Revenue, and Colonial Services on the grounds that these are "services to the Sovereign." The Act, however, only empowers the grant of pensions for " personal services to the Crown," and it is, we imagine, merely idle to pretend that this expression was ever intended to have any such meaning as that which it is now sought to give it. It was no doubt one of the original purposes of the Pension List to reward all these classes of public servants, but as the Report of the Select Committee (cited in the Memorial) points out, various statutes have been passed "substituting a strictly-defined and regulated system of reward " in all these cases fcr a system which depended on the caprice of the Crown and of Her Majesty's advisers. It was clearly not the intention of the Act or the desire of the Committee-—and it is necessary to remember that it was a Select Committee of Inquiry into this very question appointed in deference to a loudly expressed public opinion—that any pensions for these services should in future be charged on the Civil List. We think, then, that we have fully established the irregularity of all these pensions, and we regret that the First Lord of the Treasury, who admits that he enjoys "that discretion which must in such cases finally rest with some one res- ponsible minister," has attempted to evade the conclusion. Mr. W. H. Smith further remarks that" to make such changes as the Memorial suggests would necessitate a new Act of Parliament." This we are not prepared to deny. The Memorial prays for " further legislation " for certain specified pur- poses. We feel some diffidence in making any rejoinder to Mr. Smith's expression of opinion that there has not been "any such expression of dis- satisfaction either in the House or outside of it as would justify the proposal." But we think it due to ourselves to say that the Incorporated Society of Authors and the Institute of Journalists do not stand alone in objecting to the present administration of the Civil List Pension Fund. The press has almost without distinction or exception condemned the existing system in no measured terms, and we are not aware that a single voice has been raised in its defence. If the Fund were administered strictly within its proper limits, it would, it is universally admitted, be impossible to satisfy the just claimants. Restrictions, it appears, already exist. It will be seen from the correspondence published in the current report of the Executive Committee that literary pensions can only be granted to the writers of "historical novels and technical and useful books," owing ## p. 82 (#106) ############################################# 82 THE AUTHOR. to the unexpected existence of certain regulations, or, as Mr. Smith denned them in the House of Commons, "notes on practice." The Society has already placed on record a protest against the "permanent exclusion of any class of Literary, Scientific, or Artistic production from the just claims on the Royal beneficence contemplated by section 6 of i Vict., c. 2." The Society has already demanded that "the regulations, if any, under which the Civil List Pension Fund is administered should be communicated to the public." The case for reform is now complete. It cannot be left to private secretaries to draw up rules which vary the meaning and affect the application of an Act of Parliament. It is high time that genuine regulations were framed, if necessary by statute, which should restrict the grant of pensions not upon an artificial theory but in accordance with public opinion. Mr. Smith "fears that Parliament would be very unlikely to agree to an increase of the sum annually set apart for the Pension List." We, on the other hand, believe that if the necessity were shown to exist, the popular representatives would ungrudgingly support such a use of public money. And there is only too little doubt as to the urgent character of the necessity. It is the unanimous testimony of every First Lord of the Treasury that he is year by year deluged with applications for pensions which he is unable to grant. Many of those cases which now, perhaps, "lie forgotten in the cupboards of the Treasury," were, we do not doubt, sad and saddening, although no whisper of them reached the unofficial world. There are moreover, few years that pass by without the country being startled by the announcement that a pension has been refused to some distinguished man of letters or his surviving widow and children. We do not doubt, we repeat, that the public would support even an increase of the Pension List, but be that as it may, it cannot be denied that the country at large would welcome a re- form in the administration of the Pension Fund, which would ensure it being devoted to the pur- poses for which it was founded. II, The Pensions of the Year. The Civil List Pensions granted during the last twelve months have now been published. They are as follows:—William Muggins, LL.D., a pension of ^150 (very good). Ellen S. Scott, widow of (General H. Scott, R,E., a pension of j£iqo (very bad). The widow of a soldier does not fall within the limits of the grant. Bessie Hatch (widow of Rev. Edwin Hatch, a pension of £100 (very good). Ellen Isabella Tupper, daughter of Martin Tupper, a pension of ^75 (very good). Rosamond Bur- nard, daughter of Gen. Sir H. W. Burnard, a pension °f £lS- 1"ne daughter of a soldier has no business in the list at all, unless that soldier was also dis- tinguished for service, art or literature. Henrietta Elizabeth Wood, widow of the late J. T. Wood, a pension of £,!$■ Augusta Theresa Motteram, widow of the late Judge Motteram, a pension 0^75. l>ady Wilde, a pension of ^70. Pensions of ^50 each to Mrs. Caroline Blanchard, Mr. John Absolon, Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, Dr. William Spark, Mrs. Kate Livingstone, Miss Catherine Shilleto, Mrs. Jane Eleanor Wood (widow of Rev. J. G. Wood). Pensions of ^25 each have been granted to the Misses Eliza and Mary Maquire, daughters of the late Dr. Thomas Maquire, of Trinity College, Dublin, and of £20 each to the four unmarried daughters of the late Rev. M. J. Berkeley, F.R.S. General verdict. On the whole, a great improvement on many recent lists. * A NEW GUIDE TO BOOKS. AGUIDE to Books should be found in any review. That is to say, the reader should be able to depend upon the review which he reads regularly to guide him in the ordering of books from the library. And, no doubt, the reader of the Saturday Review, for instance, would find no difficulty in understanding what is promis- ing in the way of new literature. But one can very well understand that there may arise cases in which the most perfect review may fail to inform the reader as to the best books on special subjects. For instance, the Saturday Review may be acknow- ledged by its best friends to be weak in the Department of Surgery, or of Pure Mathematics, or of Electricity. Therefore, a certain compilation which will first appear in the autumn may prove of great use to specialists, if not to the general reader. The object of the editors is to "place at the service of the reader the opinions of those who may be trusted to give sound advice upon the books which are of value in each department of knowledge." A great many people—specialists- have promised to assist. Among them—members of the Society—we find the names of William Archer, Courthope Bowen, James Bryce, John Earle, Richard Gamett, J, W. Hales, E. Ray Lankester, J. Norman Lockyer, Erikr Magnusson, Max Miiller, Sir Frederick Pollock, Burden San- derson, J. R. Seeley, Sir Henry Thompson, Andrew Tuer, and Sir Charles Wilson, ## p. 83 (#107) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 83 MR. BAINTON ON HIMSELF. To the Editor of The Author. Sir, I deeply regret I should have been the cause of so serious an amount of feeling and annoyance as the correspondence in your paper reveals—a correspondence which comes upon me as a most painful surprise. I must ask your corres- pondents to believe me when I say that my fault or folly, whichever it may be, was wholly unintentional ; and that how- ever carelessly I may appear to have acted in certain instances, I have had no other than the purest purpose in view, and have been moved by no mean or dishonourable motive. Un- fortunately the book in question was quite an after-thought. When preparing my address I had no idea of so extended a compilation. I simply desired my lecture to be issued in pamphlet form, shoul 1 it stem likely to answer the purpose for which it was designed. My fault has been in changing the form of publication without first acquainting all my generous correspondents of what I purposed doing. But I acted under the impression that this was not necessary after having solicited their consent to use their words in print. That in this I committed a serious over-ight I now learn to my bitter cost, and I deeply regret it should have happ ned. But that I have been guilty of the unfairness, the wilful discourtesy, and other outrageous sins which some of your correspondents—and especially yourself—are anxious to fasten upon me, I most earnestly and indignantly deny. After the first portion of the address was given here in the Old Grammar School, to a united meeting of the Young Men's Associations of the City, and largely reproduced in the columns of our local papers, I was repeatedly urged to return to the subject, and put the matter I had already spoken into print. Through lack of time long delays inter- vened before I could make any attempt to compile a promised second part of the same address, or before I could do anything towards remoulding what I had roughly sketched out. When I did the contributions with which I had to deal were so many, and the interest attaching to them so great, that my MS. quickly exceeded the limits of an ordinary pamphlet. It was then, and not till then, the idea of the book occurred to me. Had I for a moment conceived that in this I was exceeding the bounds of a strict courtesy and integrity, I should most certainly have communicated again with the authors who had generously sent me the items of their experience. Indeed the book would have been at once abandoned had I known it would have given pain to any. I had no interest to serve by concealment, and nothing what- ever to lead me to act in the spirit Mr. Hall Caine insinuates. Some of your correspondents, and several critics outside the columns of The Author, have Hung the ungenial sneer at my supposed sordid desire for gain. The imputation is most unjust, and does not speak well for the spirit of those by whom it is made. I have not received one penny from the book. When towards the close of last year I finished the MS. and submitted it to the publishers, I did not stipulate for any payment, I did not ask for any terms on my own behalf, but gladly accepted their suggestions, with the assurance I should be only too pleased and grateful if the book repaid them the cost of production, and proved of some real in erest and value to its readers. Should anything ever come to me from its sale it will be hea tily at the disposal of those who made the book possible. I prepared the book with a good motive, and it was not the motive of personal gain. I notice in many of the letters you have reproduced your cor- respondents speak of their communications to me as private. They quite overlook the fact that I wrote to them upon a matter for a pitblic and not a private purpose. Letters sent expressly for use in illustrating a lecture can hardly be regarded as ordinary private correspondence. A lecture is not usually private ami confidential. It is liable to be reported and reproduced in print, with or without the lecturer's consent ; and as a matter of fact the lecture in question, which Mr. Hall Caine angrily infers was never given, was in great part printed in the columns of a local paper,* portions of the same appearing three successive weeks, with Ion*; extracts from the most interesting and useful letters, Mr. Hall Caine's not excepted. The com- munications were not sent to me as private, or for a private purpose ; they were not requested for any private aim, else they would have been treated strictly as such. A few of the most helpful letters I received and retain, were not used at all, because the writers expressly objected to their contents being made public. You mention several persons and say they were all ignorant that I intended to print their remarks. That is not correct. I wrote to almost every person you name, to almost every correspondent in your columns, asking permission to use their words in print. Only in two instances am I uncertain of having done so. To Mr. Allen, then in Italy, I wrote twice, to make sure he should receive my request, and neither letter was returned. Several like Mr. Allen did not reply. Was I wrong in assuming that such silence meant either indirierence or consent? If Mrs. Parr, Mr. Gilbe rt, and others had the opportunity to refuse and did not, where is the breach of faith of which they speak? Surely if they had felt so serious an objection to the use of their words they would at least have given expression to it. But though opportunity was afforded they did nothing of the kind; they left me, therefore, free to act as I thought best, and I inter- preted silence as consent. The majoiity did reply, and gave the consent I asked. How then can they have been ignorant of my intention to print their remarks? One of the most eminent of your correspondents assures you I acted in his case with perfect frankness and consistency throughout. In no instance have I sought to be less open and (rank. Why should I i What had I to gain by such concealment with one person more than another? Whatever you or others may affirm to the ontrary I am at least guiltless of any intention to deceive. Memory does not serve some of your correspondents with any great fidelity. Miss Yonge mvy perhaps recall her assurance that I could make the use I asked of what she had written, when I remind her that such consent was given upon condition that no mention should be made of a statement concerning a recent writer. I was careful to respect her wish. Mr. Blackmore too was asked and consented to the use of his letter in print ; and only a few weeks since, May 3rd, 1890, wrote in acknowledgment of acopyof his printed letter, "Am glad to hear of the appearance of your book, which I hope to procure at the first opportunity. With all good wishes for its success, &c." Yet this gentleman "'objects to the use Mr. Bainton has made of the reply procured through the good will due to a clergyman, and lor clerical purposes." Mrs. Kennard also joins in the protest that she did not know, though her letter was printed with her consent ; while writing on May 5th, 1890, she says, "My poor remarks scarcely deserved such prominence as you have been g'>od en ugh to give them. Thanking you for the compliment you have paid me, &c." To Mr. Rider Hagyaid I owe a special word of explanation and apology. The proof he requested when consenting to mv use of his letter would have been submi'ted, but for a statement I saw at the time that he was travelling in the Erst. I trust he will accept the expression of my sincere regret that for this reason his desire was not complied with. * Coventry Times. ## p. 84 (#108) ############################################# «4 THE AUTHOR. Permit me to add in conclusion that only this week have I learned, and that quite casually, of this painful corres- pondence. No copy of The Author was sent me, and no intimation was given that you were endeavouring so seriously to injure my good name. Is it fair dealing to stab a man in the dark? Is it fair dealing to seek to destroy a man's reputation without a word of warning, and without so much as a hint of the course of action you have taken? Is this the spirit in which the Society of Authors is conducted? If so it is the spirit of a ruthless cruel'y. I do not for a moment doubt that your purpose is just and your motive pure; but surely before seeking fataby to injure the reputation and character of another, you might at least have had sufficient considerate feeling to give him a chance to vindicate himself and explain his conduct in the same issue of the journal in which you have printed your hard and harsh judgment. You have not done so, and I now claim the right that my letter shall appear in the following number of the paper, the columns of which have been used to do me so grievous a wrong. Gf.orgf. Bainton. Coventry, /tine 26/h, 1890. P. S.—When writing the above letter more than a week since, I could discover scarcely any of the replies I had re- ceived frc-m authors giving me permission to use their communications in print. 1 can now put my hands upon several, and I may even yet find others. Unfortunately I did not conceive the matter would ever be called in question, and, therefore, never thought it necessary to preserve them. But it would have been strange had I been so punctilious about the consent of some, and so careless about that of others of my correspondents. An impartial judge would surely admit the strong probability that what was done in so many cases was haidly neglected in the bulk cf the others. When I have used no more than a sentence or two I did not trouble the writers with a note of request ; but if I missed any others the omission was purely accidental. My complaint of the lady who opened this painful controversy is, that she printed two of my letters, and said not a word about the letter in which I responded to and thanked her for her communica- tion. It was in that I asked her to do me the kindness to consent to the use of her letter. Much has been made of the fact that I used in many cases the same form of request. After writing to the first author I retained a rough copy of the letter sent, and used it whenever its terms made it possible, or altered it as the circumstances of the case rt quired. This was done to save unnecessary trouble, and I cannot think in doing so I did wrong. I spoke in some of those letters of the author's books as having given me very special pleasure and help. After twenty-five years constant reading, a man may well have very many pleasant companions amongst the authors of the day—it would be strange if he had not. In my own case I think the book itself will sufficiently show I hardly deserve the suspicious comments you have made. It is easy for a critic to indicate a special point in the speech or conduct of another, and then draw from it a general adverse conclusion. At first I only purposed securing the aid of a few favourite authors, and wrote to that end. The words, which I fain hope were not often used, to which you so seriously and justly object, formed part of the draft of the earliest commu- nication sent out, and were not written with any attempt to mislead. All the correspondence I hold relating to the matter in question is freely open to the inspection of anyone concerned in it. George Bainton. July 5th, 1890. To the Editor of The AUTHOR. Sir, Mr. Bainton has only himself to thank for our change of tone towards him. Many may have wished him success—as I did—through misconception of his purpose. W ho could foretell from a page of his book what the nature of the volume was to be? It proves to be a piece of patchwork, collected from fifty quarters; and the patches, though not exactly pilfered, were procured for a very different use. If Mr. Bainton had said at first—" I am writing to all the English authors I have heard of, to ask them how they do their work; I shall use their replies for my own pupils first, and then (if I see my way) make a book out of them "—how many answers would he have got? Later on, when he had obtained replies (by writing to scores of authors, as if to each exclusively and for a benevolent purpose), in fairness he should have explained to each the character of his forthcoming volume, instead of describing it as a mere expansion of his lecture. In that case, how many would have allowed him to pour on the literary world (instead of his Coventry class) their off-handed replies? Faithfully yours, R. D. Blackmore. [Mr. Bainton's letter only shows the justice of those who complained of his conduct. He asked certain questions, the answers to be used for a lecture. That he admits. He then used them for a book. That he also admits. If a man prints a communication for one purpose which was intended for another it is not enough ;o write for permission—he must also obtain permission. A letter is a private document, unless the contrary is stipulated expressly. As for the spirit in which this Society is conducted, it is one of continued hostility to all who invade or attack the rights of authors. Having printed Mr. Bainton's reply, we can now leave the matter as between Mr. Bainton and his correspondents and between him and The Author to be judged by our readers. —Editor.] * AT WORK. This column is reserved entirely for Members of the Society, who are invited to keep the Editor acquainted with their work and engagements. R. J. NORMAN LOCKYER, F.R.S., is editing Am£dee Guillemin's work, "The Heavens." Mr. J. E. Gore, F.R.A.S., has presented to the Royal Irish Academy a "Catalogue of binary Stars for which orbits have been computed." The Catalogue, which will be published by the Academy, contains the elements of all the orbits hitherto calculated, the magnitudes and colours of the components, spectra, "hypothetical," and measured parellax, the relative brightness of each compared with a standard star, and data for computing the velocity in the line of sight, for use in the spectroscopic method of measuring the star's distance from the earth. The Catalogue is followed by a series of notes giving further details and the most recent measures of position of the component stars. There has been a change in the Editorship of the Publishers' Circular"; Mr. J. A. Steuart is the new Editor. Mr. Steuart has in the press a work of Criticism and a novel, both of which will be published in the autumn by- Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston & Co. ## p. 85 (#109) ############################################# THE A UTHOR 85 Mr. Charles Leland is now preparing a work on "Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling." There will be an Edition de Luxe. 150 copies only, and all numbered. The publisher, Mr. Fisher Unwin, receives names of intending subscribers. Mrs. Cashel Hoey has this year written the summer number for Household Words. It is a complete story called "His Match and More." In last month's "At Work," two mistakes were left uncorrected. The name of William Westall appeared as "William Werlah," and Mr. Watt wis announced as the agent for The Author under Ithe heading of Mr. W. F. Smith's new version of "Rabelais." The author should not be in italics. It refers to the translation of "Rabelais," not the Journal. Mr. E. M. Edmonds will contribute an English edition of the "Autobiography of Koloko Kenes," with an historical introduction on the Klephts for Mr. Fisher Unwin's "Adven- ture Series." His biography of Klugas, the Protomartyr of Greece (Longman), has already shown his knowledge of kindred subjects. Mr. Oscar Wilde's story, " The Picture of Dorrin Grey," which constituted the July number of LippincotCs Magazine, will shortly be issued as a one volume novel by Messrs. Ward and Lock. Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson will shortly issue, through Messrs. Chatto and Windus, "Father Damien: an open letter to the Kev. Dr. Ande." A second edition is ready of Mr. Eustace A. R. Ball's "Mediterranean Winter Resorts." It is a handbook to the principal health and pleasure resorts on the shores of the Mediterranean (London, L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand; and Paris, The Galignani Library, 224, Rue de Rivoli). The article on "Alexandria," in Nos. 9 and 10 of Cassell's "Picturesque Mediterranean," is by Mr. Eustace A. R. Ball, who is also the author, under the pseudonym of Evelyn Ballantyne, of the article called "The Pit and Its Critic." Rev. James J. Hillock has issued the third edition of his "Hard Battles for Life and Usefulness" (Houlston and Sons). Crown 8vo. 3*. 6d. Miss Frances Armstrong begins a story for the young called "Changed Lots; or, Nobody Cares," in the July- Number of Newbery House Magazine. Miss BIyth's new story is entitled " Adolphus Etherton ; or, the Boy who was Always Amused." Mr. Edric Vredenburg has recently completed a new story which will be published in the Weekly Times and Echo, beginning January 3rd of next year. Mrs. Elizabeth Harcourt Mitchell's book on Palestine, called " Forty Days in Holy Land," is in the press, and will be published by Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co. A new edition of Mr. Justin McCarthy's " History of the Four Georges" is being issued by the same publishers. Volumes I and II are now ready. Esme Stuart commences a new serial tale in the July number of the Newbery House Magazine. It is now stated that Mr. Christie Murray is not lost at all. He has sailed for Samoa vid Sydney with the intention of joining Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson. The author of "Thoth" (Blackwood), and of " Toxar" (Longman) is Professor Nicholson of Edinburgh, a member of this Society. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Aubyn, St. Alan. A Fellow of Trinity. Chatto and Windus. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. (Shortly.) Author ok "Thoth." Toxar, a romance. 1 vol. 6s. Longmans. BESANT, W. H., D.Sc, F.R.S. Notes on Roulettes and Glissettes. Second Edition, enlarged. Messrs. Bell. 8vo. 5/. Collins, M. The Blossom and Fruit: A True Story of a Black Magician. Crown 8vo. 2s. Conway, H. Martin. Climber's Guide to Central Alps. I vol. 10s. T. Fisher Unwin. Conway, W. M. Climbers' Guide to the Central Pennine Alps. i8mo. lew. Crommelin, May. Midge. Trischler and Co. 6s. Dowden, Professor. The Poetry of John Donne. Chap- man and Hall. Farrar, F. W. The Passion Play at Oberammergau, 1890. W. Heinemann. 4to. 2s. 6d. James, C. T. C. The New Faith. 3 vols. 31*. 6d. Ward and Downey. "John Strange Winter." Dinna Forget. Trischler and Co. Paper, is. ; cloth boards, Is. 6d. Kennard, Mrs. G. Matron or Maid: A Novel. Crown 8vo. 2s. td. Lange, F., Ph. D. Elementary German Reader: A Gra- duated Collection of Readings in Prose and Poetry. With English Note and a Vocabulary. Messrs. Bell. 8vo. is. 6d. Linton, E. L\ nn. Sowing the Wind: A Novel. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. Murray (C), and Herman (H.). Wild Darrie. i2ino. 2s. Murray (D. Christie) and Herman (Henry). Paul Jones's Alias. Chatto and Windus. is. "Nemesis." By Seyton Crewe. Eden, Remington and Co. 6s. Oliver, Cai'T. P. Madagascar; or, Robert Deury'sJournal during Fifteen Years' Captivity on that Island. T. Fisher Unwin. 5*. Powell, F. York, M. A. History of England, Part I, From the Earliest Times to the Death of Henry VII. Rivington. 2s. 6d. Robinson, F. W. The Keeper of the Keys. Hurst and Blackett. 3 vols. Ruskin, John, D.C.L., LL.D. The Seven Lamps of Architecture. New cheap editions. George Allen. Small post 8vo. p. 6d. each. ■ Aratra Pentelici. Seven Lectures on the Elements of Sculpture. Val D'Arno. Ten Lectures on Art of the Thirteenth Century in Pisa and Florence. Salmone, H. Anthony. An Arabic-English Dictionary on a New System. 2 vols. Triibner & Co. Symonds, John Addingto.n. Essays, Speculative and Suggestive. Chapman and Hall. 2 vols. Warden, Florence. St. Cuthbert's Tower. Popular Edition. Cassell and Co. $s. Westall, William. Strange Crimes. I vol. 6s. Ward and Downey. Whistler, J. McN. Gentle Art of Making Enemies. W. Heinemann. 4th thousand, ioj. 6d. ## p. 86 (#110) ############################################# 86 AD VER TISEMENTS. THE LITERARY HAJYDJHAID OF THE CHURCH" J3 -V -%KT AIiTBB 3B E S A T. HENRY GLAISHER, 95, STRAND. Price ONE SHILLING. NOW READY. This pamphlet is a reply to the invitation issued by the Publication Committee of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in their Report of last year, for any suggestions, which they "will gladly receive," on the best way of making "the Venerable Society the most efficient literary handmaid of the Church of England throughout the world." The suggestions offered in these pages contain, first, some of the elementary principles which guide honourable men in the administration of literary property. The writer next advances three cases, as illustrating the methods adopted by the Society. A copy of this pamphlet will be sent to any member of the Society by application to the Office, including two postage stamps. THE METHODS OF PUBLICATION. BY S. S. SPRIGGE, B.A. READY IN OCTOBER. This book, compiled mainly from documents in the office of the Society of Authors, is intended to show a complete conspectus of all the various methods of publication with the meaning of each; that is to say, the exact concessions to publishers and the reservation of the owner and author of the work. The different frauds which arise out of these methods form a necessary part of the book. Nothing is advanced which has not been proved by the experience of the Society. ## p. 87 (#111) ############################################# 87 NEW BOOKS. RABELAIS. A New Translation. liy W. F. Smith, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of Saint John's College, Cambridge. Issued to Subscribers in a limited Edition of 750 copies, all numbered, of which 500 copies are for this country and 250 for America. In two hand- some 8vo vols. Price 2$s the set. The aim of the al>ove translation has l>een to render more accessible, to explain and illustrate a book which has exercised a wide influence on the French language as well as on European literature. A system of marginal reference has been introduced. Great attention has been paid to the historical aspect of the book, and points bearing on the political and religious affairs of the times have been carefully noticed. As the work must be presented as a whole, and as certain passages and parts can no longer l>e presented in English, these have been left in the original old French, where they can lie read by such as desire it. The work will be accompanied by a life of Rabelais, a notice of the translators, Urquhart, and Motteux, a map of the environs of Chinon, the part of France where Ra!>elais was brought up, notes on the language and style, and on other points. It will be, in fact, an entirely new and complete presentation of the great French master. Prospectus giving /nil details ami all information to lie had OH a/plication from the Publisher. A HOOK NECESSARY TO EVERY AUTHOR. SLANG AND ITS ANALOGUES — Past and Present. By John S. Fakmkk, Author of "Americanisms—Old and New," &c. A new and absolutely unique -Slang Dictionary, In three volumes, foolscap 4to, primed antique style, on thick paper, large margin, to the number of 500 copies for England and 250 for America, each copy being numbered and signed, to Subscribers only as follows: The Set (3 vols.) £5 51. net. In hall-calf, parch- ment sides. The price will be raised 011 completion as in the case'of "Americanisms—Old and New." A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative (011 the lines of Dr. Murray's New Ivnglish Dictionary) of the Heterodox Speech of all Classes of Society for more than 300 years, the whole presenting a Curious Picture of Social Life and Manners of the English People. Sotes and Queries says—" For the first time in a dictionary the subject of English Jantf is seriously treated. Recent works liavu been catchpennies, and Mr, Farmer is the first to treat the subject of slant in a manner com- mensurate with its importance. . . . Very full is Mr. Farmer s list, the first volume extending- to mer four hundred double columnct panes. . . . His book commends itself warmly to our readers, and its progress cannot be otherwise th.ui inUTi-^ttnif. As it is issued in a limited edition it can scarcely fail of becoming a prized possession." Prospectus and all information to be hadfrom the Publisher, AMERICANISMS: OLD AND NEW. By John S. Fakmeh. In 1 vol. Foolscap 4tot printed in antique style, and bound in vellum, £2 2s, A book for the library, desk, or general reading; for journalists. Members of Parliament, public speakers, and all professional men. It is a dictionary of words, phrases, and colloquialisms peculiar to the United States, British America, the West Indies, &e, &c, together with their derivation, meaning, and application. "Certainly the best and completes! dictionary of Americanisms at THREE NEW BOOKS ON THE HOLY LAND. PALESTINE UNDER THE MOSLEMS. liy GUY LE Strange, With Map, and numerous Plans and Drawings specially executed for this work. Handsome post 8vo, pp. 604. Cloth extra, 12s. txl. "A work intended to render the mass of interesting iiiN'niiatiun about Palestine, which lies buried in the Arabic texts of the Moslem geographers and travellers of the middle ages, available to the English reader." ".... is written throughout with a sort of luting care which proves how thoroughly the author nas lelt the fascination of his subject."— Saturday Review, Third Edition, now ready. THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. By Henry A. Hakier. With an Introduction by Walter liesant. Coloured Map and numerous Illustrations, demy 8vo, 16*. "Instructive, interesting, and in many ways admirable . . . enables the reader so to revise his impressions of Scripture typography as in many caser, to throw quite a flood of new light upon a hitherto obscure narrative." —Manchester hxamintr% "Supplies .1 long-felt want by connecting in a popular and vivid manner the work which has been done by the Society with the Bible narrative."— Christian Leader, NORTHERN AJLUN, "Within the Decapolis," liy Hkrk Schumacher, Author of "Across the Jordan," &c. With Maps, Plans, and over 60 Illustrations, crown 8vo, 3.1. 6*/. "Altogether we have to thank Mr. Schumacher for an important addition to ojt knowledge of what has long remained a terra incognita,"— Saturday A'eriert'. THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. Only 17 sets of this magnificent work now remain. It will ttevtr be reprinted, ~<<ith the exception of the two volumes "Flora and Fauna " and "Jerusalem." '/'he price of the set is 25 guineas. It consists of the following in seven uniform and handsomely bound volumes. $to. THE MEMOIRS. Being the Notes taken in the Field by Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E,, and Colonel Kitchener, C.M.G., A.D.C.R.E., re-written and arranged after their return. With thousands of illustrations of tombs, ruins, &c, drawn expressly for these volumes, a'id not to be found anywhere else. 3 vols. THE NAME LISTS. Transliterated from the Arabic with translation by Major Conder, R.E.,and edited by Professor K. H. Palmer. 1 vol. THE VOLUME OF SPECIAL PAPERS. Con- sisttug mostly of reprints of important p.ipers from the "Quartet ly Statement," by Col. Sir Charles Wilson, K..C.B., K.C.M.G., F.K.S., D.C.L., I.L.D., K.E. ; Col. fcir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., K.C.U., F.R.S., K.K.: Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E.; M. Clermont- 1 Ganneau, Mr. Greville Chester, etc. 1 vol. THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF PALESTINE. With manv Illustrations (hand-painted). riy Canon Tristram, LL.D., F.R.S. 1 vol. THE JERUSALEM VOLUME. With a Portfolio of 50 Plates. By Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., and Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E. 1 vol. THE MAPS. An IUnalrated Circular, giving all information about the above, will be sent, post free, on application. Published for the Palestine Exploration Fund by London: ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, Paternoster Square, E.C. ## p. 88 (#112) ############################################# 88 TYPE-WRITING! CHARING CROSS TYPE-WRITING ASSOCIATION, ■* 447, STRAND *■ (Directly opposite Charing Cross Station). Managers - Miss ROUSE & Mrs. URQUHART. Authors' MSS. copied with accuracy and despatch. Specifications. Law copying. Translations from and into all foreign languages. Shorthand Writers always in attendance. Misses GILL & CARPENTER, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, ADAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. MISS ETHEL DICKENS, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND (Over the Office o/ " All the Year Round" ). MSS. copied. Price List on application. CATALOGUE OF SECOND-HAND BOOKS, AND SUNDRY REMAINDERS OK NEW UNCUT BOOKS, No. 72, JULY. At Greatly Reduced Prices, Post Free. WILLIAM POTTER, 3o, EXCHANGE STREET EAST, LIVERPOOL. TO AUTHORS! MS. Type-written at i/- per i,ooo. Duplicate Copies 6d. per 1,000 (for over 10,000 words). Plays from 5/- per act. Shorthand Writers and Type-writers sent out to Hotels. Type-Writers Sold and Let on Hire. THE METROPOLITAN SCHOOL OF SHORTHAND, Ltd., 27, Chancery Lane, W.C. TELEPHONE NO. 2801. TELEGRAMS "SHORTHAND." LONDON. TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUD6ATE HILL, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from i/- per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. Catalogues of Rare, Curious and Useful BOOKS in all classes issued Monthly by J. W. JARVIS & SON, 28, KING WILLIAM STREET, CHARING CROSS, LONDON, W.C. Cat. 70, of Choice Books from the Gaisford and other Libraries. Cat. 72, in preparation, of very fine Books, early English Literature, WvNKYN de Worde, Pynson, and other important Presses, etc. Free on receipt of Stamp. Revolving Book Stands. Particulars on application. ESTABLISHED 1851- SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE. THREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. TWO per CENT. INTEREST on CURRENT ACCOUNTS when not drawn below £100. STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVuras dhpartmbstt. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows interest, at the rate of THREE ™.r rvVT ner Annum, on each completed £\. The Interest is added to the principal on the 31st March annually, per C LM. per .annum, u. v FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. TroW to PURCHASE A HOUSE FOR TWO GUINEAS PER MONTH, OR rl A PLOT OF LAND FOR FIVE SHILLINGS PER MONTH, with immediate Dossession Apply at Office of the Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. THF BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars post free on application. 1HB. BiKM5c<~n. ah v r FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. ## p. 88 (#113) ############################################# AD VER TISEMENTS. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER saves the eyesight. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents writers cramp. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents ronnd shoulders. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER enables you to keep pace with your thoughts, the operation requires less mental effort than the use of a pen, allowing you to concentrate your mind more fully on the matter you are writing on. The writing of the BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER is equal to a printed proof, and can be used as such for corrections, thus saving large printer's charges which are sufficient in many books to defray the cost of a Bar-I ,ock. Supplied for Cash, or on our Hire Purchase System. CORRESPONDENCE AND INSPECTION INVITED. W. J. RICHARDSON & Co., 12 & 14, Queen Victoria St, E.C. 40, North John Street, Liverpool; 22, Renfield Street, Glasgow; Guardian Building, Manchester; Exchange Building, Cardiff; 385, Little Collins Street, Melbourne. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1890, can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all members. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer.) 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 4-f. 6d. 5. The History of the Soctete" des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. The work is printed for members of the Society only. 2s. 6d. (A new Edition preparing.) 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. The book is nearly ready, and will be issued as soon as possible. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow. ## p. 88 (#114) ############################################# The Society of Authors (Jncorporated). PRESIDENT. The Right IIon. The LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.S.I. ALFRED AUSTIN. ROBERT BATEMAN. Sir HenRY BERGNE. WALTER BESANT, R. D. BLACKMORE. REV. Prof. BONNEY, F.R.S. LORD BRABOURNE. JAMES BRYCE. P. W. CLAYDEN. J. Comen's CARR. EDWARD Clodd. W. MARTIN CONWAY. MARION CRAWFORD. OSWALD CRAWFURD. THE EARL OF DESArt.. A. W. DUBOURG, ERIC ERICHSEN, F.R.S. PROF. Michael Foster, F.R.S. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D, COUNCIL. EDMUND Gosse. II. RIDER HaggarD. THOMAS HARDY. PROF. E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S.: Rev. W. J. LOFTIÉ, F.S.A. GEORGE Meredith. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. . T. C. PARKINSON.. THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart., LL.D. WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK.. A. G. Ross. GEORGE AUGUSTUS Sala. W. BAPTISTE SCOONES. G. R. Sims. J. J. STEVENSON. JAS. Sully. WILLIAM MOY THOMAS. H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L. EDMUND YATES. - Hon. Counsel-E. M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. Auditor-Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WKAE, F.L.S. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman-WALTER BESANT. I ROBERT BATEMAN. W. MARTIN COYWAY.. EDMUND Gosse. H. RIDER HAGGARD. A. G. Ross. J. M. LELY, Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK. Solicitors. Messrs. FIELD, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, PORTUGAL Street, LINCOLN's Inn Fields, W.C. Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 03 (July 1890) Subject The topic of the resource The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 03 (July 1890) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&view=1up&seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1890-07-15-The-Author-1-3 publications The Author