4 20 545 https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/486/1903-10-01-The-Author-14-1.pdf 70cbe83bcc8951ce88eff9c98294def4 PDF Text Text ���������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-10-01 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages Page range in volume 1–28 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19031001 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin The Huthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. Vou. XTV.—No. 1. THE TELEPHONE. + THE Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. —————_+—>—+_____ NOTICES. + OR the opinions expressed in papers that are K signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. THE Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers - concerned can obtain them on application. —_*+——+—_ List of Members. THE List of Members of the Society of Authors, published October, 1902, at the price of 6d., and the elections from October, 1902 to J uly, 1903, as a supplemental list, at the price of 2d. can now be obtained at the offices of the Society. It will be sold to members or associates of the Society only. —_t——+—__ The Pension Fund of the Society. THE investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. : This is a statement of the actual stock ; the Vou, XIV. OcTOBER Ist, 1903. [PRIcE SIXPENCE. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— DOMME oie services £1000 0 0 iiocal Loans 3... 500 0 0 Victorian Government 3 % Consoli- dated Inscribed Stock ............... 291 19 11 War lvan 2.3 201-953 Total, 2 36 £15993. 9. 2 Subscriptions. 1903. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke » Deane, Rev. A.C. . Jan. 4, Anonymous : + Heath, Miss Helena » Russell, G. H. ; Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline » Bedford, Miss Jessie Jan. 19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. Jan. 20, Cobbett, Miss Alice : Jan. 30, Minniken, Miss Bertha M. M. Jan. 31, Whishaw, Fred : : PRS eeHrocesoosorseoogonoocse od hh SOOWMMAH OOOO PEFFRSOSCSOSOSSSSSSOSCSCOSCCSCS Feb. 3, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred 5 Feb. 1iy7lincoln, ©, ‘ 5 Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert . : 5 » Haggard, Major Arthur . 5 Feb. 23, Finnemore, John . 5 Mar. 2, Moor, Mrs. St. C. . 0 Mar. 5, Dutton, Mrs. Carrie 15: Api. 10, Bird, CP... : : ‘ 10 Apl. 10, Campbell, Miss Montgomery . 5 May Lees, R. J... : : : 1 S Wright, J. Fondi 5 Donations. Jan. 3, Wheelright, Miss E. 010 6 3 Middlemass. Miss Jean » 010 0 Jan. 6, Avebury, The Right Hon. The Lord . : : 37) 0-0 » Gribble, Francis : 010 0 Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . 010 6 Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston Let 0 » Miller, Miss E. T. . 0 5.0 Jan. 19, Kemp, Miss Geraldine 010 6  £ s. a. Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French 0 5 0 Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt 010 0 Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs. : 010 6 Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rey. Silas 11.0 Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. 010 6 5, Ord, Hubert H. - 010 9 Feb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor 010 0 » Carlile, Rev. aC. 010 O Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. 5 0 0 Feb. 26, Speakman, Mrs. - 010 0 Mar. 5, Parker, Mrs. N ella 010 0 Mar. 16, Hallward, N.L. . J 1.0 Mar. 20, Henry, Miss Alice . 0 5 0 » Mathieson, Miss Annie . . 010 0 ;, Browne, 'T. A. (“ Rolfe Boldre- wood”) . : : _ tL 20 Mar. 23, Ward, Mrs. Humphry _. 10 0 0 Apl. 2, Hutton, The Rev. W. H. 2 0 0 Apl. 14, Tournier, Theodore 0 5 0 May King, Paul H. : : 2 010 0 Wynne, Charles Whitworth .10 0 0 » 21, Orred J. Randal 148 June 12, Colles, W. Morris . -10 0 0 » Bateman, Stringer . . 010 6 » Anon 0 5 0 The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S, Rashdall, The Rev. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. Dowsett, C. F. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that, either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. —_—_—_+——_+______ FROM THE COMMITTEE. —_——_—_—_ ++ HE last meeting of the Committee before the vacation was held at 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, 8.W., on Wednesday, July 8th. Twelve members and associates were elected, Their names and addresses are set forth below. Other matters connected with the business of the Society during the vacation, and with the Besant Memorial were settled. Tn addition it was decided to take up a case on behalf of one of the members against a prominent publisher who had failed to meet his account. This case has since been settled—the publisher has paid up in full. THE AUTHOR. Cases. Tye last issue of the cases taken up by the Society on behalf of its members was published in the June number. That took the list for the present year down to the middle of May. The present record therefore covers the four months, June, July, August, and September. Thirty cases have been taken up. Of these, thirteen have been for the return of MSS. ; nine for the payment of money due; two for money and accounts ; four for accounts only; and the remaining two for matters connected with literary property and copyright. Tn ten cases, owing to the prompt attention of the editors to the secretary's request, the MSS. were at once returned and forwarded to the authors. In the other three cases the editors were unable to find the MSS. As there was no evidence forthcoming of neglect, or in fact that the MSS. had actually reached the office, the cases could not be taken further. Of the cases for money, five have been successful. The remaining four are still open, but there is every prospect that they will terminate satisfactorily. In one case however, it is probable that the editor will become bankrupt. Of the claims for account two have been terminated, the accounts having been rendered ; and two are still open. The two cases of money and accounts, owing to the fact that no satisfactory answer could be obtained, were placed in the hands of the Society’s solicitors. One case is still pending in the Courts. In the other case (against a well known publisher), the amount was paid with costs. The other two cases referred to as dealing with literary property have terminated satisfactorily. — July Elections. Ady, Mrs. Henry (Julta Ockham, Ripley, Surrey. Cartwright Corby, Miss E. Esker, Killucan, West- meath. Freed, Thomas, A. H. . Box 76, Nelson, New Zealand. Hodgson, Mrs. Wil- By-the-Sea, Exmouth. loughby Keene, Mrs. . Quetta, Balmenstan, India. 25, St. Thomas Street, Grosvenor Square, W. Grosvenor House, Gros- yenor Square, South- ampton. Ardblair Castle, Blair- gowrie, N.B. Korbay, Francis - Mocatta, Mrs. Mary A. Oliphant, Capt. P. L. K. Blair (Philip Laurence Oliphant)  ee ee THE AUTHOR. 3 Rogers, Mrs. Fanny . Cape Town, South Africa. Russell, Fox : oo Garden Court, Temple, E.C. Shepheard-Walwyn, Dalwhinnie, Kenley, H. W., F.Z.8., F.E.S, Surrey. Vacaresco, Madame . 17, Rue de P Arcade, Paris ; Vacaresis, Roumania. Oo? OUR BOOK AND PLAY TALK. + POPULAR edition of Sir Lewis Morris’s “Epic of Hades,” at 1s. 6d. nett, is announced by Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co, for October 1st. Though twenty-seven years have elapsed since the publication of this poem, which has gone, we believe, through forty-five editions, this is the first edition to appeal to the masses, who it is hoped will appreciate the great reduction in price now made. Sir Lewis Morris has decided to include the story of “ Niobe,” which has hitherto been published separately, in the present issue, the entire text of which he has finally corrected. The poem in question has a new introduction in verse specially written by the poet. A new and augmented edition of Dr. Richard Garnett’s, ‘The Twilight of the Gods,” has been issued by Mr. John Lane. The dedication reads : ‘To Horace Howard Furness and George Brandes. Dabo duobus testibus meis.? The first edition of these tales was published in 1888. It contained sixteen stories, to which twelve are added in the present impression. This volume is the most personally illuminating, the most characteristic Dr. Garnett has given us . and that is to say it is well worth reading, and worth buying for our “ best books” collection. The Syndicate of the Cambridge University Press propose to publish in the course of the autumn a comprehensive work on the “ History of Classical Scholarship,” which has been prepared by the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys. It extends from about 600 B.c. to the end of the Middle Ages, and Consists of more than thirty chapters distributed over six books, dealing with the «“ History of Scholarship in the Athenian and the Alexandrian ages ; ”“ The Roman age of Latin and Greek Litera- ture” ; “ The Byzantine Age” ; and “ The Middle Ages in the West of Europe.” The text, which fills six hundred and fifty crown octavo pages (exclusive of the index), will be accompanied by chronological tables, facsimiles from Greek and Latin manuscripts and other illustrations, Colonel Haggard’s new book, “ Sidelights on the Court of France,” will be issned immediately by Messrs. Hutchinson, the period treated of being that from the reign of Francis I. to the death of Louis XIII., and of course including Henry of Navarre. Prominence ig given to such characters as Diana of Poitiers, Marguerite de Valois, Richelieu and Mazarin. The book is very fully illustrated. Professor Skeat has this year re-issued his text of “ Havelock the Dane” ; it was formerly printed for the Early English Text Society, and ‘has ever since been the standard edition. ‘It is now issued by the Clarendon Press in a revised and augmented, but cheaper form, with a preface that contains all the important criticisms of the poem up to the present date. Professor Skeat is also greatly interested in looking over the sheets of the « English Dialect Dictionary ” and making a few suggestions by way of addition. This important work, edited by Pro- fessor Wright, of Oxford, is making satisfactory progress. It is now in type nearly to the end of the letter Y. Professor Skeat takes special interest in it, as he was the founder, first secretary, and finally the director of the English Dialect Society, which in the course of twenty-four years (1873— 1896) collected and printed some eighty volumes, thus providing sufficient material to make a founda- tion for Professor Wright’s further labours, A good deal of Professor Skeat’s time is taken up with attempts to discover or verify the etymolo- gies of difficult English words, with the view of rendering some small assistance to the editor of the “ New English Dictionary.” A few of the latest results have lately been printed for the Philological Society of London, but have not yet been issued, Dr. Alexander Rattray’s new work, “Divine Hygiene, or the Sanitary Science of the Sacred Scriptures” (Nisbet & Co., two vols.) is well through the printer’s hands, and may be expected soon. Besides the main theme, the object is the advocacy of the Holy Bible as the great educational handbook for humanity ; our pioneer informant in many subjects ; sole teacher in others ; and its science and philosophy, though humanly speaking ancient, not antiquated as often represented, but advanced. Though professionally treated it is popularly written, strictly Evangelical, practically exhaustive, and a vindication of Christianity. Mr. Ferrar Fenton, F.R.A.S., is about to issue a translation of the “ Psalms, Solomon, and Sacred Writers,” in the original metres, but in modern English ; and also his “Complete Bible”  4 in modern English. The publishers are Messrs. S. W. Partridge & Co., of Paternoster Row, London, E.C. Their Majesties, King Edward and the German Emperor have intimated that they will be pleased to accept presentation copies. Mr, Justice Condé Williams, of the Supreme Court of Mauritius, who read _a paper some time ago at the Royal Colonial Institute on “ The Future of our Sugar Producing Colonies,” is about to publish an autobiography under the title of “From Journalist to Judge.” Judge Williams was editor of the Birmingham Daily Gazette in succession to Dr. Sebastian Evans, and was for a short period a member of the staff of the Zimes in Paris. His judicial experiences extend to South Africa, the West Indies and Mauritius. From Journalist to Judge” will be published by Mr. G. A. Morton, of 42, George Street, Edin- burgh. “Romantic Tales from the Punjab” (Con- stable), is the second and final instalment of a body of Indian stories collected by the Rev. Charles Swynnerton, on the North-West frontier of India, of which “Indian Night’s Entertainment ” (Stock), published ten years ago, was the first. Tt consists of the more important legends, and is adorned with over one hundred illustrations by native hands. The longest and most important legend is that of Raja Rasalu, consisting of twelve separate stories, each complete in itself, as spoken and sung by one or other of the three Punjabi bards, Sharaf and Jama of the Rawal Pindi District, and Sher of the Hazara District—with the exception of the first and last stories of the twelve, which, though mainly attributable to Sharaf, contain a few details from other story-tellers. The rest of the legends in the book, as “ Hir and Ranjha,” are also of great importance and most interesting ; while as well there are several short stories, a careful introduction, and an appendix containing many notes, and a selection of Punjabi verses in original from “ Hir and Ranjha,” with literal translations, and notes philological and explanatory. Professor G. F. Savage-Armstrong, author of “Stories of Wicklow” and “Ballads of Down,” is completing a novel which deals with Irish life in the nineteenth century. He is also writing miscellaneous poems for publication in volume form. Miss Rosa Nouchette Carey’s new novel “A Passage Perilous” (Macmillan) has made an excellent start, the sales of the first edition before publication being most satisfactory. THE AUTHOR. Miss Evelyn Sharp’s latest story, to be pub- lished immediately by Messrs. Macmillan, is called “The Children Who Ran Away.” It is meant to appeal to children about the same age as those who liked “The Youngest Girl in the School.” This latter popular story, by the way, is probably going to be translated into Italian. Miss Sharp’s “ ‘Three Story Readers,” published last spring, are doing well. They consist of very easy stories (original, of course), for children who only just know how to read, and the stories are just stories, and not directly instructive in any way: nothing about them suggests the lesson book. Hope Rea, author of “Tuscan Artists,” “* Dona- tello,” etc., has just completed for Messrs. George Bell & Son, the “ Rembrandt” for their miniature series of the Painters. Hope Rea has arranged to spend the coming winter in Italy for the purpose of farther study and research connected with Italian art, and to supplement the material already acquired for a larger work on medieval and early Renaissance Art, which this writer has had on hand for some time. The Clarendon Press is publishing “ Selected Drawings from old Masters in the University Galleries, and in the Library at Christ Church, Oxford.” Part I. contains twenty drawings exactly reproduced in collotype. They are chosen and described by Mr. Sidney Colvin, Keeper of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. Messrs. Macmillan & Co. have decided to make their edition of “Thackeray’s Works” absolutely exhaustive. They have secured the services of the well-known Thackeray expert, Mr. Lewis Melville, author of the “Life of William Makepeace Thackeray,” etc. With his assistance they pro- pose to include in this edition a great number of scattered pieces from Thackeray’s pen, and illus- trations from his pencil, which have not hitherto been contained in any collected edition, and many of which have never been reprinted. Mr. Melville is also collating the volumes with the original editions, and providing bibliographical introductions and occasional footnotes. Mrs. Stepney Rawson’s new noyel will be pub- lished by Messrs. Hutchinson. It is a romance of the Romney Marsh and of Rye Town. The action takes place about 1820, and deals with the warfare of the landowners and the harbour folk of the Marsh at Rye, and also with the shipbuilding industry there, which has since dwindled. There is a strong love interest, and the story principally hangs on the personality of a young designer of boats and ships, who is apprenticed to the chief shipbuilder of the town.  THE AUTHOR. 5 Mrs. Rawson, who is peculiarly sensitive to the atmosphere of Place, has devoted herself to this little corner of Sussex which she finds packed with delightful traditions. She has written a number of stories of new and old Rye; these she hopes to publish in volume form later on. Mr. Hume Nisbet has been travelling for the past two years, and has been collecting material for future work. His next romance “The Trust Trappers ” will be published by Mr. J ohn Long in the spring of 1904. It deals with millionaires and corner syndicates. Besides being engaged upon an Australian romance, Mr. Nisbet is writing his auto- biography as author, artist and traveller. The author of “ A Colonial Tramp” has gone through many adventures by land and sea. This auto- biography will be profusely illustrated by himself. A new edition of “ The Care of Infants” by Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake will be published immediately by Mr. George Morton, of Edinburgh, as the first edition of 5,000 copies has been out of print for some little time. Mr. Bram Stoker’s new novel “The Jewel of Seven Stars” will be published this month by Mr. Heinemann. It is something in the vein of “ Dracula,” and part of it deals with the mysteries of ancient Egypt. Mr. Arthur A. Sykes’s collection of humorous and satirical pieces from Punch will be published this month by Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, under the title of “Mr. Punch’s Museum, and Other Matters.” Mr. Sykes has previously brought out two volumes of reprints from the same source— “A Book of Words,” and “ Without Permission.” The book will also contain “ Life’s Little Pro- blems,” a semi-burlesque series which appeared in Pearson's Magazine a short while ago. Miss Edith ©. Kenyon is publishing a book through the Religious Tract Society entitled “A Queen of Nine Days, by her Gentlewoman Margaret Brown.” The central figure is Lady Jane Grey, and the story is told by a young lady who enters her service and remains faithful to her. Rita’s next novel “The Jesters,” will appear in the early autumn. Messrs. Hutchinson & Oo. will publish it. Rita purposes spending the winter in South Cornwall to complete further work on which she is engaged. Miss O’Conor Eccles has recently published through Falion & Co., of Dublin, a “ Reading Book on Domestic Economy for the Use of Irish Schools,” which is to be adopted by the Board of Education. It takes the form of a little story, and contains such simple, practical instructions as a good mother of the working-class would give her young daughter. : The Department of Agriculture has presented a copy to every village library in Ireland. The Technical Schools of France and Belgium have long had delightful illustrated primers dealing with Household Management, Hygiene, Gardening, Dairy Work, and rural life generally, treated on similar lines ; but, so far as we know, the volume referred to is the first of the kind introduced into schools in the United Kingdom. Mr. J. Beattie-Crozier’s “Civilisation and Pro- gress’ has been translated into Japanese by a Member of Parliament of Japan. We understand from Mr. Leonard Williams that he has been elected a corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy. ‘Fishing in Wales,” by Walter M. Gallichan (Geoffrey Mortimer) which was published a few months ago, is to be re-issued in a new edition, with a map and index. This author is writing a handbook on “ Angling” for Messrs. Pearson’s Popular Series; and he is publishing a volume on “Seville” in the Medieval Towns Series during the autumn. Early this month Mr. G. A. Morton will publish a book by Mr. Robert Aitken entitled “ Windfalls,” the contents being “Some Stray Leaves Gathered by a Rolling Stone.” Mr. Frankfort Moore’s new novel, “ Shipmates in Sunshine” (Hutchinson), is an open-air story, the action taking place on board ship and in the West Indies. Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne’s “‘McTodd” is a volume of stories published the other day by Messrs. Macmillan. McTodd is a ship’s engineer, Scotch, drunken, pugnacious, uncertificated, but a good mechanician. He relates his various adventures in the far north, on whaling trips, on shipboard, or in towns that reek of fish-curing. Need we say that McTodd has a conscience—of a kind ! Miss Jetta S. Wolff has just published “Les Francais d’Autrefois,” Vol. I.—a short history of France, intended for learners of the language (Edwin Arnold). Miss Wolff has also lately written a series of object lessons in practical French, with a companion yolume containing translations and notes, ‘intended as a hand-book for teachers (Blackie & Son). These, and a new collection of her little stories from the “ Lives of Saiuts and Mariyrs” (Mowbray), will appear shortly. Madame Mijatovich has been busy with the preparation of a second edition of her work, “The History of Modern Servia,” which was published a good aany years ago. She has now brought the history up to the accession of King Peter. Madame Mijatovitch is translating the Servian  6 popular ballads on “ Kralyevitch Marko” (the King’s son Marko), who is the national hero of the Servians. «The Padre,” by Rose Harrison, author of “Esther Alington,” honorary secretary of the Children’s Protection League, will be ready in October. This is a story “ dedicated to all who live and work and love the Brotherhood.” _ Price 35. 6d. Itis being published by Richard J. James, 3 & 4, London House Yard, E.C. It is authoritatively announced that six years ago the late Pope Leo XIII. charged Count Soderini with the task of writing a history of his pontificate. While leaving the Count entire freedom of judg- ment, the Pope placed numberless documents hitherto wholly secret at the writer’s disposal, and also dictated much material in explanation of his acts. Mr. F. Marion Crawford is acting in col- Jaboration with Count Soderini in the preparation of the Anglo-American edition, which will be published in London and New York by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. The work will appear in all countries in 1904. Mrs. Humphry Ward has signed a contract with Messrs. Harper for her new story, which will begin to appear in Harper’s Magazine in June next, The original play written by Mrs. Ward, in collaboration with Mr. Louis Parker, is to be produced during the winter season in New York, with Miss Eleanor Robson in the leading part. “ Bleanor” is also to be produced in New York during November, and Mrs. Ward is now revising the play. Anthony Hope has finished a story, which will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson next year, entitled “ Double Harness.” Anthony Hope’s new comedy, “ Captain Dieppe,” founded on a story of his, and written in collaboration with Mr. Harrison G. Rhodes, is to be produced in America this autumn. Mr. Cosmo Hamilton has just published, through Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, a book called “‘ Cupid in Many Moods.” Isbister & Co. is bringing out, at an early date, a novelised version of the play produced last September at the Comedy Theatre, “The Wisdom of Folly”; and a serious effort of Mr. Hamilton’s, “We of Adam’s Clay,” occupies a large portion of this month’s Smart Set, afterwards to make its appearance in book form simultaneously here and in America. Mr. Cosmo Hamilton’s dramatic version of Kipling’s “Story of the Gadsby’s” is the next production at the Haymarket. At present this busy author is hard at work on some commissions for plays. In two plays Mr. Hamilton is col- laborating with his wife, Miss Beryl Faber, the actress. THE AUTHOR. Mr. H. V. Esmond’s new comedy, “ Billy’s Little Love Affair,” is going well at The Criterion Theatre. It is preceded by Miss Rosina Filippi’s charming playlet, “The Mirror.” On Thursday evening, September 10th, 1903, Mr. Beerbohm Tree produced at His Majesty’s Theatre Shakespeare’s historical play,“ Richard IT.” It is a brilliant revival in every sense of the word. Mr. Tree has specially acknowledged his indebted- ness to Mr. Percy Anderson, who has designed and supervised the costumes; and to Mr. G. Ambrose Lee, of the Heralds’ College, who has directed the heraldry and ceremonial. We understand that some pupils of the Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges high schools are coming over to see this revival of “ Richard II.” The play has been selected as a subject for examination this year by the Belgian educational authorities. a PARIS NOTES. ee bee winter season seems likely to be one of great activity in the literary world, while the length of the theatrical programmes is alarming. So many new plays are announced that dramatic critics will certainly not have much rest. The recent death of M. Gustave Larroumet is a great loss to the world of letters. For some years M. Larroumet lectured on French literature at the Sorbonne. He wrote in the Revue Bleue,, the Revue des Deux-Mondes, the Revue de Paris, and the Temps. His work on the life and theatre of Moliére is a most complete criticism, but the book which was perhaps his greatest success was the one he consecrated to Marivaux. The death of another literary critic is just announced, a man whose name is perhaps nob widely known, but who was one of the interesting personalities of the Sainte-Beuve literary circle. M. Jules Levallois, who has just passed away, was Sainte-Beuve’s secretary. He worked, not only at the ‘‘ Lundis,” but also at the invaluable book on Port-Royal. In his day, M. Levallois was a great. authority on current literature. In the paper founded by Adolphe Guéroult he wrote the “ Variétés littéraires,” and his book reviews were considered as highly as Sarcey’s dramatic criti- cisms, Jules Levallois had almost outlived the group of literary friends he knew in the days of Sainte-Beuve, the de Goncourt brothers, Barbey d’Aurévilly, Alphonse Daudet, Hector Malot, Flaubert, About, and others. He retained his keen intelligence to the last, and_was as bright and active as a young man. He was a voracious reader, and only a few months ago he expressed  THE AUTHOR. 7 his thankfulness that his eyesight was so good, He was then collecting a provision of books in the library of a mutual friend, and regretting that in our times people had given up reading, He belonged essentially to the old school, to the days when men had time to meet together and “ talk literature,” and his conversation was worth listen- ing to. One felt in his presence something of the atmosphere of the men of intellect with whom he had associated, for his memories and reminiscences were a part of himself, and gave a great charm to all that he said. A most interesting book has recently been pub- lished entitled “ Idées Sociales et Faits Sociaux.” It contains several lectures which were given last winter at the house of the Baroness Piérard. “ Le Socialisme et son Evolution” is the title of the lecture by M. Souchon, who tells us that the idea of socialism is as old as humanity. He traces it back to the Grecians and Romans, and shows the various stages through which it has passed. “ L’Organisation Professionnelle” is the practical side of the question, and this is a very thoughtful article. The most interesting chapter in the book is the one by M. Riviere, “Vingt Ans de Vie Sociale.” This is not so much an exposition of theories as a statement of experiences. M. Riviére is a practical man, who for the last twenty years has been watching the results of his own experi- ments, and who has discovered for the wheels of his machinery an excellent receipt for oil; “ Beaucoup de patience, non moins de fermeté, pas mal de respect pour la liberté de louvrier, avec addition de justice généreuse, affectueuse méme.” A volume of short stories and sketches by M. Georges Clemenceau, entitled “Aux Embus- cades de la Vie,” is well worth reading. There are in all some fifty stories arranged in three divisions: “Dans la Foi,” “Dans l’Ordre Etabli,” and “Dans l’Amour.” The subjects are all delicately handled, the stories themselves light, but there is much to read between the lines. In “Le Fétiche de Mokou- bamba,” we have a poor negro who is converted and reconverted times without number to the various beliefs and religions of the people who take an interest in him. Then there is a story of a German pastor who is unfortunate enough to wake up to the idea that there is no devil. His wife is horrified and thinks it her duty to leave him, and the members of his congregation decide that he must be an atheist. There is a most amusing story, too, of a poacher, which serves to show up the absurdity of certain laws. Another excellent study is “Justin Cagnard,” a type of the man who works mechanic- ally. He is described as a “ produit de l’accu- mulation quotidienne du labeur ancestral obstiné dans le méme sillon. Il était le rouage d’une machine dont l’impulsion venait uniquement de la Vitesse acquise des anciens. II n’était ni intelligent, puisqu’il ne concevait rien au deli de son métier, ni béte puisque’il suivait avec suects la routine des affaires... .” The whole volume is full of the thoughts and reflections of a keen observer of human nature, “Chez les Rois” is another book of short stories by Adolphe Aderer. The first of thege stories is, however, not fiction. It is entitled “ Meyerling,” and is supposed to be a true account of the celebrated tragedy of the Archduke Rudolf, The other sketches in the book are more or less improbable. ‘ In “Sébastien Trume,” the new novel by M. Sauvage, we are introduced to a number of indivi- duals who are all in search of Utopia. Among them we havea man devoted to the occult sciences, a priest, a professor who is also a philosopher, an anarchist and a young man who listens to the theories and ideas of all the others, and can come to no conclusion about life and_ its meaning. When he is in despair, he is fortunate enough to fall in love with a young girl, who proves to him that in spite of all worries and difficulties life is well worth living. “Les Gens de Tiest,” by George Vires, is a book without any strong plot, and is only interesting as a study of life and customs in a quaint little Belgian town. “ Les Oiseaux s’envolent et les Fleurs tombent ” is the poetical title of the novel recently published by M. Elémir Bourges, one of the members of the Goncourt Academy, We are told that M. Bourges Spends about ten years in writing a book, and certainly these five hundred pages must have required a great amount of time. The scene is laid in Russia about the year 1845, and the whole story is full of action. It is distinctly melo- dramatic, treating of jealousy, the abduction of a child, and of a boy who is a Grand Duke, but grows up to manhood, believing himself to be a very ordi- nary individual. He is discovered asa Communist after the war of 1870, and destined by his parents to marry a princess, who proves to be the very girl with whom he has already fallen in love. The whole book is full of startling incidents, inter- spersed with a certain amount of philosophy. M. de Réenier’s novel « Mariage de Minuit,” is disappointing. One expects, perhaps, too much from a poet, and the tone of this book is distinctly common-place. It is just the story of a young orphan girl left without any means of support. A coasin takes compassion on her and offers her a home. This cousin is a widow and a woman of the world, Her reputation is not spotless, and the young girl’s,position is therefore extremely  8 difficult. The characters are well drawn, but most of them are 80 uninteresting and vulgar that one regrets making their acquaintance. On the whole, there does not seem to be any raison d’ étre for a book of this kind. M. André Hallays has recently published a book entitled “A travers la France.” It is com- posed of notes taken during a ramble through Normandy, Touraine, Burgundy, and Provence. It is full of historical anecdotes and legends belonging to the places visited, so that it is an invaluable guide to anyone making a study of provincial France. : “Une Vie d’ambassadrice au siecle dernier,” by M. Ernest Davdet, is the biography of the Princess de Lieven, the celebrated woman who was so well known in French, Russian and English political circles from 1825 to 1857. The book is as interesting aS any novel, giving as it does so many anecdotes about the men and women of that epoch. Seyeral new writers are coming to the front, and among them M. Charles Recolin. “ Le Chemin du Roi,” by this author is a decided success. It is a story in which all the characters live. ‘Fhe theme is by no means new but it is worked out well. Andrette Jouanollou comes of a family which for more than four hundred years has lived in the Pyrenees. Her father is an artist whose two great interests in life are his daughter and his pottery. Andrette has been educated well, and has great talent as a poetess. A young farmer iS in love with her, but she ig romantic and dreads the thought of a prosaic existence. Just at this critical time a Parisian comes to the little village. He edits a review, and is in search of information concerning certain legends. The schoolmaster introduces him to Andrette, and the sequel is that the village girl, with her fresh, romantic ideas, marries the blasé Parisian. The story reminds one of the “ Princess. of Thule,” but the French story is more subtle and the analysis of character more delicately treated. Among other new novels recently published are “Te Rival de Don Juan,” by M. Louis Bertrand ; “Tes Paradis,” by Auguste Germain ; “La Com- tesse Panier,’” by M. de Comminges 5 “ Marilisse,” by M. Marcelin ; ‘Mademoiselle de Fougeres,” by Ernest Daudet ; “ Un Menage dernier eri,” by Gyp 3 * Flamen,” by Mme. Caro. Mile. Hélene Vacaresco has ] yolume of poems entitled “ Lueurs et among which are some gems. In the action brought by M. Léon de Rosny, the Orientalist, against MM. Boex, to restrain them from using the name of J. H. Rosny in signing their literary work, the plaintiff was non- suited, The Court held that as the brothers ust published a Flammes,” THE AUTHOR. Rosny had used that pen-name for seventeen years without any protest from M. Léon de Rosny, and that as their publications were of an entirely different nature from his, there could be no con- fusion caused by the brothers Rosny continuing to sign the name they had adopted. A literary convention has been concluded between France and Montenegro for a period of ten years. The two governments undertake to prevent any illicit reproduction of artistic and literary works on their respective territories. M. ‘Liebler has made arrangements with M. Henry Bataille for the production of this author’s new five-act play, “ Mademoiselle de la Valliere,” in se York. he piece is to be put on in London also. The principal play at the Sarah Theatre this winter will be “ La Sorciére,” by M. Sardou. The scene is laid in Toledo during the troubled times of the struggles with the Moors. The first night is announced for the end of November. M. Bour, who ran the International Theatre in Paris last year, has now taken over the Trianon Theatre and made arrangements for producing some extremely interesting new plays. He opens with one by M. Paul Loyson, the son of Pere Hyacinthe. M. Porel has a very long programme for us this season, and Madame Réjane has some important creations. Among the new pieces are “ Antoinette Sabrier,” by Romain Coolus ; “La Meilleure Part,” by MM. Pierre de Coulevain and Pierre Decourcelle ; “Tes Menottes,” by MM. Simon and Xanrof. ‘he Odeon Theatre opens with “ Resurrection,” and is soon to produce the French version of «The Second Mrs. Tanqueray,” and later on «“ Plorise Bonheur,” by M. Brisson. Auys HaLLarD. Bernhardt —__—__-—> + LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. —— Dumas Translations. N announcement has appeared in many of the literary papers that Messrs. Methuen & Co. have commenced the publication of a new English translation of the novels of Dumas, under the editorship of Mr. A. R. Allinson. The notice states that Mr. Allinson’s competence is un- questioned and that he is assisted by a group of able scholars, and ends with these words, “It is a bold scheme, and we hope Messrs. Methuen will have an immense success with it.”  aeons “matter: out of the 18th section THE AUTHOR. 9 We should hope so too, did not a letter lie before us, written by the editor, inviting the co-operation of one not unknown as a writer and translator, on the following terms—a remuneration of 2s. per thousand words, printer’s estimate of length to be taken as final, and the translation to be issued in the name of the editor (Mr. Allinson) as being generally responsible for the whole series, If we work out the sum more completely, we find that a novel of 200,000 words would bring the translator £20. We do not know whether this “bold” offer emanates from the firm of Messrs. Methuen or from Mr. Allinson. But will it be accepted ? We trust not. For if the “able scholar” is writing for a liveli- hood, he will hardly attain it at this price. If for pleasure, it is not fair that he should undersell his fellow members of the profession of letters in the labour market. It is to be observed that the translator will not even gain the merit of his work which Mr. Allinson proposes to appropriate. ———+—_ The Serial Use, Tux following point merits the attention of members of the Society :—An author wrote an article for an American magazine called Outing, a periodical holding a strong position in the United States, and copyrighted on both sides of the Atlantic. The member, so far as he was concerned, had no intention whatever of transferring to the magazine a larger portion of his property than the right to produce in serial form in that paper. The article was published in due course. Imagine his astonishment, however, when, at a later date, it re- appeared in an English magazine. He put his objection before the Editor of Outing and com- plained of the use thut had been made of his MS. The Editor pointed out to him that although perhaps he had not intended to convey the whole serial use, yet he had altered the receipt that had been forwarded to him in his own hand- writing from “ All rights to your MS.” to “The right of serial use, of your MS.” without in any way limiting the serial use. The member then referred the matter to the Secretary of the Society in order to obtain a decision as to his exact legal position, and was informed that, under the circum- stances of the case, the Editor of Outing was acting entirely within his rights. The point to which the attention of members must be called is (1) to be careful when they enter into contracts with editors of magazines as to the rights which they sell ; (2) to take the of the Act by making an express contract ; and (3) to limit the express contract to serial use in one issue of the magazine. Tt was not long ago that Mr. Longman, at the meeting of the Publishers’ Association, complained of this sale without limitation of serial rights, and the serious loss that might result to a publisher who purchased the copyright without knowledge of this contract. The point was dealt with in detail in The Author. ot Nethersole +. Bell. Ty the above-named case, an action was brought by Miss Olea Nethersole for infringement of her rights ina play called Sapho,” which was written by Clyde Fitch, the well known American dramatist, and taken from Monsieur Daudet’s novel. The defendants also produced a play called “Sapho,” and put forward in their defence that their play was written in Australia in 1899, before the date of Mr. Fitch’s play, and was an adaptation from an English translation of the novel. The first point to be decided in this, as indeed in every question of infringement of copyright, is how far one play corresponds with or appears to have been taken from the other. This point must be settled on general principles, and for this reason the matter was referred to a theatrical expert, Mr. Seymour Hicks. The second question to be decided is whether the evidence shows that both plays were taken from an original source, or whether one play or, at any rate, great parts of it were taken from the other. Mr. Seymour Hicks’ report has not been set forth in any of the papers, but it would appear that he had no doubt in his mind that the play of the defendants contained great portions of the action of Mr, Fitch’s play. The second question then had to be determined. Whether it was possible that the defendants could have written their play from a common origin, or whether there was any deliberate adaptation from the other work. Mr. Justice Farwell, in summing up, came to the conclusion that he was unable to accept the explanation of the defendants that nothing was taken from Mr. Fitch’s play. He found it impossible to think that so many similari- ties were merely coincidences, and he gave jude- ment for the plaintiff with costs, Every verdict in a case of this kind adds some fresh argument, and some further evidence as to the manner and method by which a case of infringe- ment should be determined. Therefore the judgment should be studied, As, however, an infringement of copyright is not essentially a matter of law, but of fact, the ultimate verdict must in most cases be doubtful.  10 Springfield *. Thame. THs was a case of infringement of copyright of a different kind from that set forth in Nethersole v. Bell. The plaintiff wrote an article on a piece of news, describing an escape from drowning of Dr. MacHardy, Professor of Ophthalmology at King’s College Hospital. The article was produced, subject to considerable editorial alteration, in the Daily Mail, and also appeared in the W estminster Gazette and in the Daily Chronicle. The Evening Standard reprinted the article with very slight alteration from the Daily Mail version, and the plaintiff demanded full payment, but was refused on the ground that the article had not come direct from him. The defendants, however, offered the sum of 2s. 6d., which was not accepted. It is an exceedingly difficult matter to give a fair exposition of a case of this kind, unless it is possible to quote the original paragraph as written by the plaintiff, the paragraph in the Daily Mail, and the paragraph that appeared in the Avening Standard, but the Judge, Mr. Justice Joyce, evidently came to the conclusion that the editor of the Daily Mail had so altered the paragraph that although he had taken the piece of news from the plaintiff he had virtually made the paragraph his own by the alteration. But the plaintiff had been paid for the use the editor of the Daily Mail had made of his work. The cutting from the Evening Standard was merely a statement of a piece of news, though his Lordship seemed to think that if the Daily Mail had inserted the plaintiff's “copy” verbatim et literatim, and the Evening Standard had then printed the paragraph, they would have been liable. The Judge therefore came to the conclusion that the plaintiff’s action must fail. The Referee, the following week, making fun of the eccentricities of Copyright Law, wrote as follows :— “Now that an English Judge has decided that a sub- editor altering a word or two in a paragraph becomes the author, the Incorporated Society of Authors is going to get rid of its committee of original writers and fill up the vacancies with sub-editors. “THE NEw CoPYRIGHT. “The greatest author on the earth Sent in a par. of passing worth, J, changing ‘sailor’ into ‘tar,’ Became the author of the par.” ———————__+——_+_____ CIVIL LIST PENSIONS. — HE following is the list of pensions for 1902 to March, 1908. This statement always draws the attention of members of the literary profession, as one of the first objects of the Act is to reward those who, “ by their useful THE AUTHOR. discoveries in science and attainments in literature and the arts have merited the gracious considera- tion of their sovereign and the gratitude of their country.” It is instructive to follow the extent to which these purposes have been fulfilled :— 1902.— May 8. Miss Rhoda Broughton, in consideration of her merits £ as a writer of fiction ... me a wae ae 18 Mrs. Adelaide Fanny Eyre, in consideration of the services of her late husband, Mr. Edward John Eyre, the Australian Explorer and Governor of Jamaica 100 William Raymond Fitzgerald, George Francis Fitz- gerald, and John Jellett Fitzgerald ... ane ... 100 During the minority of any one of them, and in recognition of the services rendered to Science and Education by their late father, Professor George Francis Fitzgerald, F.R.S.: in trust to their mother, Mrs. Harriet Fitzgerald. Mr. Worthington George Smith, in consideration of his services to Archeology and Botanical illustra- tion, and of his inadequate means of support ore September 12. Mrs. Zaré Elizabeth Blacker, in recognition of the services of her late husband, Dr. A. Barry Blacker, M.D., who lost his life through his devotion to medical research ae oe ae ees 120 October 21. Mr. Justin McCarthy, in recognition of his services to literature... or ae Be x -- 250 Mrs. Margaret Duncan Adamson, in consideration of the services rendered to Philosophy by her late husband, Professor Robert Adamson, and of her straitened circumstances ges ee ee ie Miss Florence Buchanan, in consideration of her scientific researches and consequent failure of sight, and of her inadequate means of support .. 50 December 20 Miss Beatrice Hatch... aa si ae 23 Miss Ethel Hatch ves ees cae ae se e: Miss Evelyn Hatch ee cae aoe a cus In consideration of the services of their father, the late Rev. Edwin Hatch, in connection with Ecclesiastical History, and of their straitened circumstances, such pensious to be additional to their existing pensions. 1903.—March 25. Mr. James Sully, in recognition of his services to Psychology --- es ee oon Sos oe Mr. Alexander Carmichael and Mrs. Mary Frances Carmichael, jointly and to the survivor of them, in recognition of Mr. Carmichael’s services to the study of Gaelic Folk Lore and Literature ... io oe Miss Mary Elizabeth Maxwell Simpson, in considera- tion of the eminence as a chemist of her late father, Professor Maxwell Simpson, and of her straitened circumstances ... Oe ves a8 ove ee Miss Bertha Meriton Gardiner, in consideration of the eminence of her late husband, Mr. 8. R. Gardiner, asa historian .. ets see i ase on Mrs. Jane Earle, in consideration of the services of her late husband, Professor John Earle, to English Literature and Philology AS aes sk DO. 105 40 78 Tol «ee ee  THE AUTHOR. 11 A MUSIC PUBLISHERS’ PROFITS. te WRITER in The Vocalist, a paper whose opinion no doubt thrills the musical world, has thought fit to criticise an article that appeared in the January, 1903, number of The Author. This article to which readers are particularly referred was entitled “ A Musical Agreement,” and set forth one ef those antediluvian documents which the musical publisher is still in the habit of imposing on the author of music. The comments accompanying were drastic, but well deserved. The end of the article set out a few figures of the cost of musical publication and of the musical publisher’s profits. The writer in The Vocalist, like a skilful advo- cate, ignores the terms of the agreement and the caustic remarks—perhaps he catches a scintillation of truth—and proceeds to expose to his own satis- faction the falsity of the figures. In his trite criticism he sneers at the writer—‘a little know- ledge may prove a dangerous thing.” He then proceeds to show not only how impossible it is for a music publisher to make a fortune, but how for an absolute certainty he is bound to become bank- rupt. The retort is obvious, “if a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” “too much learning hath made him mad.” Please note his figures, the following is an extract from his luminous statement— “When a song is published, the first thing to be done is to place it on the market, which may be done in three different ways, according to the intention of the publisher, whose common experience is that although the first is a sine quad non, the two others are essential to commercial success. “(1) By empowering a traveller to tour the country with a copy of the song in question amongst his samples, soliciting orders for ‘the latest novelties,” from the retail trade, i.e., the music seller. (2) By engaging popular singers to warble the strains of ‘the latest novelty’ at their public engagements, before their highly expectant audiences. ** (3) By advertising this latter fact in the columns of a daily newspaper, which is usually done on the front page of The Duily Telegraph. “Now these three things are usually made to work together, “We must therefore calculate, although somewhat toughly, the cost of carrying out these operations. “Cost of No. 1.—A traveller's expenses cannot work out at much less than £6 per week; his remuneration is probably from £1 to £3 a week fixed wages, plus a 10 per cent. commission ; but whatever his system of remuneration, it must surely amount to not less than £4 a week, judging by the superior class of man that must necessarily be engaged in this work. This works out at £10 a week, or allowing for a period during which the weekly expenditure is withheld while on holiday, £400 a year cost to the publisher, Now, assuming that the traveller has ten novelties constantly going, and calculating that one half of his usefulness is to push novelties, it means £200 is spent in ‘pushing’ say twenty novelties a year ; in other words the proportionate share of each song towards this expense is £10 a year, “Obviously this is but a rough calculation, but it is based on the facts as known by practical experience, “The cost under heading No. 2 is by no means easy to apportion, for although a publisher knows quite well that a good hearing is absolutely necessary to secure orders from his customers, the singers also know quite as well that their services have such a distinct market value that they are able to command high prices ‘for taking up ’ new songs, It is quite true that some singers sing songs simply because they suit the voice, or because the songs are artistic and appeal to their better feelings, but such cases are compara- tively rare, and the majority of singers still sing royalty songs for royalties’ sake. Far be it from me to say that if a singer has assisted to earn money for the publisher and the royalty owner, he or she is not fairly entitled to some of the spoil. But the risk to the publisher under existing _ conditions is, nevertheless, considerable, for it is well known how useless it is to try any one or two singers for one or two dozens (this has become the trade term for professional assistance)—if it be done at all it should be done thoroughly, and a gross of programmes is perhaps the very fewest that can be of any material service, Now, supposing the price per programme be taken at an average of seven shillings, this means casting about £50 as bread upon the waters, hoping to find it after very many days of patient watchine and waiting. . “So far the cost of making each song known to the public is £60. “ Cost under heading No. 3.—We now come to what may at first sight seem to be the least necessary, and the least profitable expense in connection with farming songs, ie., advertising the fact of its being sung by a certain singer at a certain place on a certain day in a certain paper. Whether this be profitable or no, I am not prepared to express my candid opinion ; it is sufficient that custom has made it almost absolutely necessary. Now, the cost of advertising In Lhe Daily Telegraph (the recognised medium) is about 5s. for the insertion of each song ; six insertions a week, therefore, amount to £1 10s. (no reduction on taking a quantity), or for—say three months, £18. “It will thus be seen that in addition to the initial cost of printing 2,000 copies of a song (which, bear in mind, the writer of the article in The Author generously puts at £15) other expenses amounted to £78, It is not for one moment suggested that a publisher expends as much on exploiting each of all the songs he publishes, but on an average it may be taken as a reasonable estimate of the expense he incurs in the case of songs that he reasonably hopes to sell.” It will be seen this man of knowledge takes £78 as a not unreasonable figure for advertising one song. His words are “on an average,” ete, The case must not be overstated, say then £60. He accepts the cost of production, quoted in The Author of January—£15 for 2,000 copies— with a sneer. “ Many publishers,” he says in the early part of this article, “ would be only too pleased to publish a song on these terms.” We will accept the same figure, So far, then, in our efforts to save the publisher from bankruptcy, let the cost of production be limited to £75: £15 printing, etc., for 2,000 copies, £60 for advertising and marketing.  12 He then continues : ** “We leave for the present the question of rent, salaries, And other incidental expenses of maintaining the up-keep of an office, which are part and parcel of the machinery of publishing a song, for each song clearly has to bear its share of these expenses, which, it is needless to say, are heavy. So far we have dealt only with the expense of what is known as “placing a song on the market,” and it can easily be seen that the mere printing of copies is but a trifle compared with the greater expense of dealing with the copies when printed. Now let us turn to the more important question of selling them. Happy, indeed, is the man who positively knows that he will certainly sell 1,500 of the 2,000 copies he has made, even if two, or, if you will, ten years are allowed for doing it. Why, the actual experience of pub- lishers is, that on an average, taking large houses (which can always command some gort of sale) with the small, only one song in twenty ever exceeds a sale of 1,000 copies, and songs which reach a sale of 5,000 in a year are quite excep- tional, and it is safe to say that out of every fifty songs published in London, at least forty never see a second edition, and of the other ten only one or two go into a fifth edition. So much, then, for the numbers. But what of prices? The contributor to Zhe Author calculates that the net return is ls. 2d. per copy. This ignorance is tantalizing to the publisher, and provokes exasperation. Why, the novelty rate is never higher than one-sixth of the marked price (4s.) which, of course, is only Sd. each, and very many novelties are sold in the present days of keen competition at one-eighth, which is only 6d. each. We will not mention lower rates, although they are known to most music publishers. This rate, obviously, is not permanent ; if it were, the publisher could not continue his business for six months, unless he carried it on as a hobby, or were actuated by philanthropic motives. No! as soon as a song shows vitality, and * is asked for” over the music-seller’s counter, then a ray of hope does indeed enter the counting-house, for he is able to raise his prices, and when the music-seller orders what he requires, he has to pay in the early days of success 10d. per copy ;_ but if the song has reached a certain height of prosperity, he pays an even shilling, provided he can order a quantity at a time ; if, however, he requires only a few, then the contributor to The Author is actually correct, the publisher really and truly receives ls. 2d. entire. Tn the above I have, perhaps, exposed certain trade secrets; but there are few people who are nowadays not more or less acquainted with them. I may be pardoned, therefore, if I have exposed one of the most fallacious statements ever uttered in a respectable paper of any status or standing. But I have not exhausted the subject by any means, and, although I must not presume on the space allotted to me, I must breathe a sigh over bad debts and long credits which, in the music trade, are without parallel elsewhere. These have to be provided for, however, and, even in the case of most cautious publishers they are a very serious item.” He is tantalised and provoked to exasperation. To ease his mind he blurts out strange trade secrets, that seemingly pervert all the politico-economical doctrines of supply and demand. For in this remarkable trade a large demand with infinite capacity for supply—reproduction is simple and expansive-—makes the product dearer, not cheaper. But his figures are no doubt correct. Again, to give his figures every advantage, in order if possible to save him from the ruin, which, according to the statement, must be the unenviable THE AUTHOR. end of “all those rash enough to produce songs, let it be supposed that the average price of each song is 10d., and that 1,500 out of the 2,000 are sold (an absurd estimate, according to his figures). He would then realise 15,000 pence, or 1,250 shillings, or £62 10s. On each song, therefore, he loses £75 — £62 10s. = £12 10s. Therefore, on the 40 songs out of the 50 he loses 40 x 124= 40 % 25 = LOO" = £500. It is evident that the bankruptcy court must claim its victim. For if the publisher’s actual figures are taken, his loss must at the lowest computation be half as large again. It cannot be that, to save himself from this pre- ordained destruction, he sucks the blood of the composer. Perhaps other members of this generous class of philanthropic tradesmen who, so it is rumoured, make their contracts by word of mouth across their dining tables over the nuts and wine, may repudiate with indignation such a statement. But what does the musical composer say ? i MAGAZINE CONTENTS. ear BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE ONTAINS a graphic description by Mr. Reginald C Wyon of what he has seen in Macedonia, and other articles in the number are : The Homes and Haunts of Edward Fitzgerald. By his grand-niece, Mary Bleanor Fitzgerald Kerrich. ‘An Irish Salmon River. By Sir Herbert Maxwell. The Man Who Knew. A short story by Perceval Gibbon. Personalia : Political, Social, and Various. By Sigma. Translations from Leopardi. By Sir Theodore Martin, K.C.B. Scolopaxiana : How to Walk for and Shoot Snipe. Marco Polo. By Charles Whibley. Lord Salisbury ; Humiliation ; Musings Without Method. ‘A Malay Deer Drive. By George Maxwell. The Fiscal Crisis. Tur CORNHILL MAGAZINE. Barlasch of the Guard (Chapters xxviiii—xxx.). By Henry Seton Merriman (concluded). In Guipuzcoa, II, By Mrs. Woods. The Old Colonial System and Preferential Trade. By Sidney Low, L.C.C. “Rachel.” By Hugh Clifford, C.M.G. Some Recent Speculations on the Constitution of Matter. By W. A. Shenstone, F.R.S. The Pleasures of Fishing. By Stephen Gwynn. “ Sportie.” By Miss Constance B. Maud. ‘A Visit to “ Le Procts Humbert.” Doggerel Ditties. By Dogberry. BRON AISI  Sos THE AUTHOR. 13 A Pastoral. Poetic Justice. The Lapse of the Professor. By the Rev. H. G. D. Latham. By W. Basil Worsfold. By Arthur H. Henderson. FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW. Mr. Balfour’s Economic Creed. Lord Salisbury. By Sidney Low. The Evolution of French Contemporary Literature. By Octave Uzanne. The Fiscal Problem— () Article by Professor W. T. Hewins. (2) Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Chamberlain. Spender. (3) Will a Preference Tariff oppress the Poor ? By David Christie Murray War Commission Report. By Major Arthur Griffiths, The Macedonian Question. By H. N. Brailsford. Legend and Marie Bashkirtseff, By Prince Kara- georgvich. French Friendship and Naval Economy. By Archibald 8. Hurd. Children’s Prayers and Prayer Manuals. H. Cooper. What Ireland Really Needs. By Sampson Morgan. A Maker of Empire. S. F. Bullock. The Questioners. By Herbert Trench. Theophano: The Crusade of the Tenth Frederic Harrison. Correspondence— (1) The Coming Ireland. (2) Mankind in the Making, By Harold By Edward Century. By Lady Bathurst. By Sir Wm. Bennett, LONGMAN’S MAGAZINE, Nature’s Comedian (Chapters vii., viii), By W. 5 Norris, Wagers. By D. H. Wilson. Last Year. By A.C. S. A Michaelmas Move. By Chas. Fielding Marsh. Loafing-time. By Fred. Whishaw. Jellyby’s Plot. Egyptian Irrigation Works, A.M. Inst.C.E, Scholarship Howlers. By G. Stanley Ellis, At the Sign of the Ship. By Andrew Lang. By Lawrence Gibbs, MACMILLAN’S MAGAZINE, John Maxwell’s Marriage (Chapters xxix.—xxxii,), By Stephen Gwynn. Wreckage of Empire. By Hugh Clifford, C.M.G. The Sayings of Sir Oracle. Borough Councils and Rising Rates, Emmel, Ph.D. Hope. The Amusements of the People. Some Opinions of a Pedagogue. A Toiler’s Romance. The Irregulars of the N avy. By W. J. Fletcher, By Aloys N, By J. G. Leigh. By 8. T, Irwin. THE PALL MALL MAGAZINE, Phil May ; the Manand the Artist (with his last sketches in pen and pencil and coloured plates). The Brighton Road and the Motor Car. By C. G. Harper, (Illustrated by the Author.) The Discoverers of Radium. (With Portraits.) Hotels and Hotel Life in New York. (Ilustrated.) Literary Geography : the Lake Country. By William Sharp. Stories by Maurice Hewlett, John Oliver Hobbes, Sir F. C. Burnand, U, L. Sil berrad, and other well-known writers. . THE WorwD’s Work. Gladstone in his Last Days. Unpublished Sketch by A, S. Forrest. (Coloured frontispiece.) The March of Events: An Editorial Comment. (With full-page portraits of Mr. Gladstone (never before pub- lished), Mr. John Morley, M.P., Mr. Herbert Gladstone, M.P. (from special sittings), and the Hon. Whe Dp, Smith, M.P.), Mr. Balfour's Economics. German Agriculture under Dawson. Mr. Morley’s Life of Gladstone. C By Alfred Emmott, M.P. Protection, 3y W. H. By Augustine Birrell, K Why the Navy Costs so Much, The Day’s Work at W. H. Smith & Son’s, Sculpture by Machinery. (Illustrated.) The Poor Man’s Cow. By Home Counties, (Illustrated.) The Trade Union Congress. A Teetotal Island. By Charles T. Bateman, What Theatres Cost. By Fitzroy Gardner. Russia in Manchuria. By Alfred Stead. (Illustrated.) The Art of Swimming. By Montague A. Holbein, Cllustrated.) The Social Life of the Soldier, (IUustrated.) The Royal Commission and the War Office. Ocean Sanatoria. By Eustace Miles. The National Physical Laboratory. Carpenter, Ph.D. Gymnastics for Girls. Clustrated.) The Coming of the Motor Cab. (Illustrated.) The Books of the Month, (With portraits of Mr. James Lane Allen, Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler (Mas. Felkin), Dr, William Barry, Mr. Bernard Shaw.) The World of Women’s Work. Among the World’s Workers, By Archibald 8. Hurd, (ustrated.) 3y Horace Wyndham. By W. C. H. QUARTERLY REVIEW. The forthcoming number will contain the following articles among others :— Sophocles and the Greek Genius, The Religion of Napoleon I. By J. Holland Rose. The Novels of Mr, Henry James. Our Orchards and Fruit-Gardens, By W. E. Bear. The Time-Spirit in German Literature. By Walter Sichel. Leo XIII. and his Successor. Richard Bagot. Impressions of South Africa, 1901 and 1903. The Journal of Montaigne. Macedonia and the Powers. The War Commission and Army Reform, Wilkinson. Lord Salisbury. Protective Retaliation, Mr. Morley’s Life of Mr, Gladstone, ——1—~@—- TRADE NOTES. eee Land and Water (1902), Ltd. N | OTICE has been given that a petition for the winding up of the above company was on the 7th ult. presented to the Court by Spalding and Hodge, Ltd., of Drury Lane, London, creditors of the company, and that the said peti- tion will be heard betore Mr, Justice Buckley, at the Royal Courts of Justice, on the 27th inst. (Second Article.) By By Spencer 14 THE AUTHOR. WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS OF BOOKS. —— + — ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. Selling it Outright. This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained, But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement). Tn this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation, (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for ‘office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. “(.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Ill. The Royalty System. This is perhaps, with certain limitations, the best form of agreement. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately the truth. From time to time very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author. IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production, (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— 1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. (3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright. ——__+—>_+__"__ WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. Saar EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- _ petent legal authority. 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 8. There are three forms of dramatic contract for plays in three or more acts :— (a.) Sale outright of the performing right. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the contract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills, (b.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to perform on the basis of percentages on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system, Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (c.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to perform on the basis of royalties (‘.¢., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply also in this case. 4, Plays in one act are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights-can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that United States rights may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. ——+——_—__—_ WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS. —-—~> + — ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the assistance of producers of books and dramatic authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as a rule, the musical publisher demands from the musical composer a transfer of fuller rights and less liberal finan- cial terms than those obtained for literary and dramatic property. The musical composer has very often the two rights to deal with—performing right and copyright. He  THE AUTHOR. should be especially careful therefore when entering into an agreement, and should take into particular consideration the warnings stated above. a HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. —_— + 1 VERY member has a right toask for and to receive : advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. — The Secretary of the Society is a solicitor, but if there is any special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion, All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not fall within the experi- ence of ordinarysolicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, Before signing any agreement whatever, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of your calling in promoting the independence of the writer, the dramatist, the composer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents.to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers: —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. Fuller particulars of the Society’s work can be obtained in the Prospectus. 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts with publishers submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for interpretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. This 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. The must be done within fourteen days of first execution, Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; sO do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. 10. The subscription to the Society is £1 4s. per annum., or £10 10s. for life membership. 15 THE READING BRANCH. ——>—» EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this N branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term MSS. includes not only works of fiction, but poetry and dramatic works, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea, —————__+—~— NOTICES. —+—~>—+—_ HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish, i Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. —1—~ +. The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES, —+—~>—+ HERE has been some mention in the papers , since the last issue of The Author of Russian copyright, and it has been suggested that it is possible to obtain protection in that country. Inquiries we have made do not confirm this state- ment. Even the Russian author himself cannot always obtain security, as different laws with regard to copyright hold in different portions of Russia. To begin with, the author who publishes in Russia, in order to obtain any protection must be a Russian. This is a sine gud non. Even then he does not always obtain what he wants. We understand, however, that Russia is taking  16 steps (this understanding, like the proposal for copyright legislation in the Empire, has been prominent for many years) to consolidate all the local laws with a view to subsequent amendment. It is to be hoped that this development will be realised at no distant date. An article will be found in another column dealing with the commercial aspects of authorship, and refuting the contention of those who find that it suits their interests to deny the right of literature to have a commercial side. It was largely for the benefit of authors in their endeavour to understand the commercial possibilities of their work, and to secure the benefits from it which business-like methods afford, that the Society of Authors was founded, and has carried on its work ever since. Its members include men and women belonging to - all the three classes of writers into which the article in question divides authors, and the work which it carries on for individuals benefits authors as a whole, whether they be its members or not. From this point of view we would urge all writers to consider whether they are justified in accepting the advantages which the Society has gained for them without seeking to extend and increase those advantages for themselves and for others by joining the Society. -. We must record, if somewhat behind time, the marriage of Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, our late chairman, to Miss Elizabeth Sheldon, on the Ist of July. A number of present and former members of our committee combined with the President of the Society in presenting Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins on the happy occasion with a silver punch- bowl and ladle as some token of their friendship and good wishes and appreciation of the services he has rendered the Society. The Society of Authors has never had a chairman who has been more devoted to its work, or has, by his unfailing courtesy, tact, and sound judgment, done more to promote its efficiency and success. All connected with it will, we are sure, unite in congratulations to Mr. Hawkins, coupled with the selfish hope that he may long be able to spare time to assist in its mavagement, and thus lighten the labour of his suCcCeSSOrs. Mempers of the Society have no doubt seen the letter which appeared in the papers towards the end of July, signed by the President and Chairman of the Committee, referring to the proposed public memorial to Sir Walter Besant. We are glad to have the opportunity to correct a THE AUTHOR. slight mistake which occurred in that letter. It stated that the sum of £340 was raised from among members of the Society only. This is not exactly true, as on looking through the list, we find two of the subscribers were not members of the Society. Messrs. A. P. Watt & Son, of which firm Mr. A. P. Watt, for many years Sir Walter Besant’s literary agent and finally his literary executor, is senior partner, made a subscription of twenty-five guineas. This amount is included in the sum of £340. Aw offer was made, by a firm whose only excuse can be that they do not hold the highest position in the rank of publishers, of £10 for an original novel of 60,000 words from the pen of a writer not altogether unknown for his ability, but unfortu- nately notorious for his chronic impecuniosity. The offer was, we are glad to say, rejected, If the work was worth printing at all, it was worth more than the amount stated. THE list of elections from October, 1902, to July 1903, will be published during the course of the month, as a supplement to the list of the Society already published. The cost of the Supplementary list will be two- pence. 1 OBITUARY. —— R. WILLIAM WESTALL, the Novelist, died on Wednesday, the 9th of September, at the age of sixty-nine. He had been a supporter of the Society almost since its foundation. He joined in 1888. He was a writer of many novels, and although none of them ever became a great popular success, yet he was a sound craftsman and a careful worker, and knew well how to write an interesting book of incident and adventure. It is sad to have to chronicle the death of the older members. WE regret to announce also the death of the Rev. Prebendary Godfrey Thring, who had been a member of the society for nearly ten years. As a hymn writer he was exceedingly well known, some of his verses being the most popular in Hymns Ancient and Modern. His Church of England Hymn Book is now in the third edition.  THE AUTHOR. THE PERIL OF SHAKESPEAREAN RESEARCH. —_1—@—+—_ OR some years past scarcely a month passes without receipt of a communication from a confiding stranger, to the effect that he has discovered some piece of information concerning Shakespeare which has hitherto eluded research. Very often has a correspondent put himself to the trouble of forwarding a photograph of the title- page of a late 16th or early 17th century book, on which has been scrawled in old-fashioned script the familiar name of William Shakespeare. At intervals, which seem to recur with mathematical regularity, I receive intelligence that a portrait of the poet, of which nothing is hitherto known, has come to light in some recondite corner of the country, and it is usually added that a contem- porary inscription settles all doubt of authenticity. I wish to speak with respect and gratitude of these confidences. I welcome them, and have no wish to repress them. But truth does not permit me to affirm that such as have yet reached me have done more than enlarge my conception of the scope of human credulity. I look forward to the day when the postman shall, through the generosity of some appreciative reader of my biography of Shake- speare, deliver at my door an autograph of the dramatist of which nothing has been heard before, or a genuine portrait of contemporary date, the existence of which has never been suspected. But up to the moment of writing, despite the good intentions of my correspondents, no experience of the kind has befallen me. There is something pathetic in the frequency with which correspondents, obviously of un- blemished character and most generous instinct, send me almost tearful expressions of regret that I should have hitherto ignored one particular docu- ment, which throws (in their eyes) a curious gleam on the dramatist’s private life. At least six times a year am I reminded how it is recorded in more than one obscure 18th century periodical that the dramatist, George Peele, wrote to his friend Marle or Marlowe, in an extant letter, of a merry meeting at a place called the “Globe” (which some take tobe a tavern). At that surprising assembly there were present, I am trustfully assured, not merely Edward Alleyn, the actor, not merely Ben Jonson, but Shakespeare himself, and together these cele- brated men are said to have discussed a passage in the new play of “ Hamlet.” The reported talk is at the best tame prattle. Yet here, if anywhere, I am often told, is Shakespeare revealed in uncon- stramed intercourse with professional associates. Are such revelations numerous enough, I am asked, to exeuse a biographer for overlooking this one ? 17 Unfortunately for my informants’ argument, the letter in question is an 18th century fabrication of no intrinsic brilliance or wit. It bears on its dull face’ marks of criminality which could only escape the notice of the uninformed. It is not likely to mislead the critical. Nevertheless it has deceived many of my uncritical correspondents, and largely for this reason it has constantly found its way into print without meeting serious confutation. It may therefore be worth while setting its true origin and subsequent history on record. Nothing that I can do is likely in all the circumstances of the case to prevent an occasional resurrection of the bodiless and spiritless creation, but at present the meagre spectre appears to walk in various quarters unimpeded, and an endeavour to lay it here may not be without its uses. Through the first half of 1763 there was published a monthly magazine called the Theatrical Review, or Annals of the Drama, an anonymous miscellany of dramatic biography and criticism. It ceased at the end of six months, and the six instalments were re-issued as “ Volume I.” at the end of June, 1763; that volume had no successor.* The Theatrical Review, a colourless contribution to the journalism of the day, lacked powers of endurance. All that is worth noting of it now is that among its contributors was at least one interesting personality. He was a young man of good education and independent means, who had chambers in the Temple, and was enthusiastically applying himself to a study of Shakespeare and Elizabethan dramatic literature. His name, George Steevens, acquired in later years world-wide fame as that of the most learned of Shakespearean com- mentators. Of the real value of Steevens’s scholar- ship no question is admissible, and his reputation justly grew with his years. Yet Steevens’s temper was singularly perverse and mischievous. His con- fidence in his own powers led him to contemn the powers of other people. He enjoyed nothing so much as mystifying those who were engaged in the same pursuits as himself, and his favourite method of mystification was to announce anonymously the discovery of documents which owed all their existence to his own ingenuity. This, he admitted, was his notion of “fun.” Whenever the whim seized him, he would in gravest manner reveal to the Press, or even contrive to bring to the notice of a learned society, some alleged relic in manuscript or in stone which he had deliberately manufactured. His sole aim was to recreate himself with laughter at the perplexity that such unholy pranks invariably * Other independent publications of similar character appeared under the identical title in 1758 and 1772. The latter collected the ephemeral dramatic criticisms of John Potter, a well-known writer for the stage,  18 aroused. It is one of these Puck-like tricks that has spread confusion among my correspondents. The Theatrical Review, in its second number, offered an anonymous biography of the great actor and theatrical manager of Shakespeare’s day, Edward Alleyn. This biography was clearly one of Steevens’s earliest efforts. It is for the most part an innocent compilation. But it contains one passage in its author’s characteristic vein of mischief, which requires close attention in this place. Midway in the essay the reader was solemnly assured that a brand-new contemporary reference to Alleyn’s eminent associate Shakespeare was at his disposal. The new story “ carries with it ” (he was told) “ all the air of probability and truth, and has never been in print before.” “A gentleman of honour and veracity,” ran the next sentences, which artfully put the unwary student off his guard, “ in the com- mission of the peace for Middlesex, has shown us a letter dated in the year 1600, which he assures us has been in the possession of his family, by the mother’s side, for a long series of years, and which bears all the marks of antiquity.” The superscription was interpreted to run, “For Master Henrie Marle livynge at the sygne of the rose by the palace.” There followed at full length the paper of which the family of the honourable and veracious gentle- man “in the commission of the peace for Middlesex ” had become possessed “ by the mother’s side.” The words were these :— “ FRIENDE MARLE, “1 must desyre that my syster hyr watche, and the cookerie booke you promysed, may be sent by the man. I never longed for thy company more than last night ; we were all very merrye at the Globe, when Ned Alleyn did not scruple to affyrme pleasantely to thy friend Will, that he had stolen his speech about the qualityes of an actor’s excellencye, in Hamlet hys tragedye, from conversations manyfold which had passed between them, and opinyons given by Allen touchinge the subject. Shakespeare did not take this talke in good sorte; but Jonson put an end to the stryfe with wittielie saying, ‘“ This affaire needeth no contentione; you stole it from Ned, no doubt ; do not marvel ; have you not seen him act tymes out of number”? “Believe me most syncerelie, “ Harrie “ Thyne “G, PEEL.” The text of this strangely-spelt, strangely- worded epistle, with its puny efforts at a jest, was succeeded by a suggestion that “G. Peel,’ the alleged signatory, could be none other than George Peele, the dramatist, who achieved reputation in Shakespeare’s early days. Thus the freakish Steevens baited his hook. The sport which followed must have exceeded the impish angler’s expectations. Any one familiar with the bare outline of Elizabethan literary history should have perceived that a trap had been set. The letter was assigned to the year 1600. Shake- speare’s play of “ Hamlet,” to the performance of THE AUTHOR. which it unconcernedly refers, was not produced before 1602 ; at that date George Peele had lain full four years in his grave. Peele could never have passed the portals of the theatre called the “ Globe’; for it was not built until 1599. No tavern of the name is known. The surname of the peisoas to whom the letter was pretended to have been addressed, is suspicious. ‘ Marle” was one way of spelling “ Marlowe” at a period when forms of surnames varied with the caprice of the writer. The great dramatist, Christopher Marle, or Marloe, or Marlowe, had died in 1593; but “Henrie Marle” is counterfeit coinage of no doubtful stamp. The language and the style of the letter are obviously undeserving of serious examination. They are of a far later period than the Elizabethan age. Safely might the heaviest odds be laid that in no year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth ‘did friende Marle promyse G. Peel his syster that he would send hyr watche and the cookerie booke by the man,” or that “ Ned Alleyn made pleasante affirmation to G. Peel of friend Will’s theft of the speech in ‘Hamlet’ concerning an actor’s excellencye.”’ From top to toe the imposture stands confessed. But the general reader of the eighteenth century was confiding, unsuspicious, greedy of novel information. The description of the source of the document seemed to him precise enough to silence doubt. The Theatrical Review of 1763 succeeded in launching the fraud on a quite triumphal progress. Again and again, as the century advanced, was G. Peel’s declaration to “friend Marle” paraded, without hint of its falsity, to the gaze of purblind snappers-up of Shakespearean trifles. Seven years after its first publication, the epistle found admis- sion in a somewhat altered setting into so reputable a periodical as the “Annual Register.” Burke was still connected with that useful publication, and whatever information the “ Register” shielded, was reckoned to be of veracity. ‘‘G,. Peel” and “friende Marle” were there suffered to play their pranks in the best society in the year 1770. In 1777 there appeared an ambitious work of reference, entitled “‘ Biographia Literaria; or a Biographical History of Literature,” which gave its author, John Berkenhout,a free-thinking physician, his chief claim to remembrance. Steevens was a friend of his, and helped him in the preparation of the book. Into his account of Shakespeare, the credulous Berkenhout introduced quite honestly the fourteen-year old forgery. The reputed date of 1600, which the supposititious justice of the peace had given it in the Theatrical Review, was now suppressed. Berkenhout confined comment to the halting reminiscence, ‘‘ Whence I copied this letter T do not recollect, but I remember that at the time of transcribing it I had no doubt of its authenticity.”  THE AUTHOR. Thrice had the trick been worked effectively in conspicuous places before Steevens died in 1800. But the evil that he did lived after him, and within a year of his death the old banner of imposture was waved by a living hand more vigorously than before. A correspondent, who concealed his identity under the signature of “Grenovicus,” sent Peel’s letter to the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1801, and it was duly reprinted in the number for June. ‘“Grenovicus” had the assurance to claim the letter as his own discovery. ‘‘To my knowledge,” he wrote, “ it has never yet appeared in print.” He refrained from indicating how he had gained access to it, but congratulated himself and the readers of the Gentleman’s Magazine on the valiant feast he provided for them. His act was apparently taken by the readers of the Gentleman's Magazine at his own valuation. Not that the discerning critic elsewhere remained altogether passive. Isaac D’Israeli denounced the fraud in his “ Curiosities of Literature,” but he and others did their protesting gently. The fraud looked to them too shamefaced to merit a vigorous onslaught. They imagined the misbegotten epistle must die of its own inanity. In this they mis- calculated the credulity of the general reader. “Grenovicus” of the Gentleman's Magazine had numerous disciples. Many a time during the past century has his exploit been repeated, and “@, Peel” has emerged from the shades of a long- forgotten book or periodical to disfigure the page of a modern popular magazine. I have met him in all his impudence in at least one collection of Shakespeareana published during the present century. His occasional re-interment in the future from the time-honoured jungle of the ‘‘ Annual Register ” the Gentleman’s Magazine may safely be prophesied. In those dusky retreats the forged letter lurks unchallenged, and there will always be some explorers, who, being strangers to exact know- ledge, will from time to time suddenly run the unhallowed thing to earth and bring it forth asa new and unsuspected truth. Perhaps forgery is too big a word to apply to Steevens’s insolent concoction. Others worked at later periods on lines similar to his ; but, unlike his disciples, he did not seek from his misdirected ingenuity pecuniary gain or even notoriety; for he never set his name to this invention of “Peel” and “Marle,” and their insipid chatter about “ Hamlet ” at the “Globe.” It is difficult to detect humour in Steevens’s endeavour to delude the unwary. But the perversity of the human intellect has no limits. This ungainly example of it is only worth attention because it has sailed under its false colours without serious molestation for one hundred and forty years. Sripney Lug. 19 THE COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF AUTHORSHIP. —_+———_ UTHORS may be classified in various ways, according to the point of view from which they are regarded. For the purposes of this paper they may be divided roughly into three classes : (1) Those who live by tlieir work. (2) Those who supplement by their work incomes derived from other sources sufficient to enable them to live without writing. (3) Those who. write without relying on the profits of their work to any appreciable extent. There are also men and women not yet ranking as authors who aspire to belong to one of these classes. Hach of the three classes defined above may again be divided into two sections, the one consisting of those who pay to their business relations with business men publishing their writings as close attention as they can, and the other of those who do not. The object of an autbor in paying attention to business is usually to make the full profit which is his due. This, however, need not be his only motive, for in some cases a writer is chiefly concerned with gaining access to the largest possible number of the public in order to make his opinions known, or for other reasons, and then the methods by which his work is circulated, and the considera- tion and supervision of details connected with this may be of importance to him. The largest pro- portion of those who from indifference to pecuniary considerations or other causes do not make as large a profit as they are fairly entitled to do, naturally belong to the third of the classes sug- gested. There are, however, many of them to be found in the second, and a smaller proportion in the first. On the other hand, there are some who obtain full value for their literary wares, who might by their position be supposed to be in- different in the matter. The eminent statesman who writes on “Fiscal Fatuity” in a heavy magazine, and the lady of title who publishes an article in a lighter periodical on “Ought Girls to Chaperon their Mothers ?” may be looked on by some of their fellow-contributors as essentially amateurs, but they are as a rule not only desirous, but thoroughly able to obtain very good prices. Their competition may be regarded by some writers as not quite fair, but it is at least as honourable as that of those who endeavour to obtain publication by underselling others to whom payment is a more necessary consideration than to themselves. It is to writers who neglect, and possibly despise, the business side of the author’s calling that this paper is primarily directed, and particularly to any who may not avail themselves of the assistance in such matters which the Society of Authors  20 supplies. They are principally to be found outside its ranks; but the circulation of Zhe Author is not confined to members, nor has the society in establishing and strengthening the commercial position of authorship benefited its members only. That authorship should have a commercial position, or a commercial aspect at all, is treated by some as undesirable. This view is put forward both by those who wish to make as much money as possible by exploiting the author’s work, and by others who claim that art should be pursued “for art’s sake,” and see something degrading in an author bargaining for the best price obtain- able, as if he were a mere capitalist or artizan, or any other person seeking a livelihood. ‘ Art for art’s sake” is an attractive ideal programme con- densed into proverbial form, but like many charming ideas it is more frequently recommended to others than carried into practice by those who preach it. Even they who claim to pursue “art for art’s sake? and gain the reputation of actually doing so, may to some extent be deceiving themselves and others. “ Art for amusement’s sake” is quite a different thing, and so is “art for notoriety’s sake.” Either can be quite harmless to those immediately concerned, but may to some extent affect fellow artists injuriously. At the last dinner of the Incorporated Society of Authors, Mr. Rider Haggard made a speech in which incidentally he proclaimed his opinion that Milton, when he accepted £10 for “Paradise Lost,” did so for no other reason than because it was the best price he could get. Turning to our own times and mentally reviewing the names of those held eminent in the artistic professions, we should find it difficult to discover many who pursue a different policy. We might, indeed, among the ablest writers, painters, sculptors and actors of to-day light upon some who are not keen men or women of business, and who conse- quently do not get for their work the bes! price possible. We should find both among those out- wardly most successful and those less so, many doing their best work without regard for the question whether their best work in an artistic sense would be most popular or most lucrative, but we should not find or expect to find them giving away their productions for less than the market value vis they had succeeded in establishing for them. It would, therefore, be impossible to say with truth that in the professions selected above as entitled to be termed artistic, the best workers were indifferent to pecuniary *value or would repudiate the existence of a business side to art. They would not obtrude it nor should anyone else. The Author, however, is the organ of a society THE AUTHOR. which concerns itself principally with the business aspects of authorship, and these aspects are necessarily conspicuous in its pages. If, however, it is conceded that authorship has its commercial side, which is not altogether undeserving of consideration, it may be worth while to ask whether authors who are indifferent in business matters can in any case justify their attitude. They are not to be found in great numbers, per- haps, in the class of professional writers, but all must recognise the fact that loose business methods may substantially diminish the circulation of the author’s work if it is his ambition to increase the number of his readers, and that from a pecuniary point of view they can increase the profits of no one except the publisher. It has, however, been pointed out that there are authors to whom their literary work as such is not essential to their liveli- hood. A considerable bulk of literature is put upon the market by these, while some of it is of high value, both from a pecuniary point of view and otherwise. Many scientific writers, compilers of educational books, travellers and biographers, for example, are to be found among authors who do not live by their pens, as well as among producers of fiction, poetry, and lighter literary work. It is among these that the business possibilities of authorship are most frequently neglected, and if they are reminded of them, they have many reasons to give for their indifference. In the first place they may say that the matter is their concern, and the concern of no one else. In this they are only partly right. To object to one person under-selling another savours of trades unionism and of protective policies, regarded by some as leading to objectionable interference with the freedom of contract. There is, however, an undeniable hardship inflicted upon all in a weak position (7.e., those who have to work to live and who are struggling to do so), when others in a stronger position (i.e., those subject to no such necessity) under-sell them, or by acquiescing in lax business ways, make it difficult for any to insist upon stricter methods. These are the principal results of easy going ways, where the relations between the author and the publisher or editor are concerned. ‘Those, however, who are under discussion may say on the other hand: “We pursue a course which suits our objects. We desire to obtain public notice, for perfectly honest reasons. We write upon topics which we seek to make widely known, and we can best make them known by giving the terms asked by those who can secure a large circulation for us.” To such as these it may be pointed out that stricter methods will enable them to secure what they desire with greater certainty. Price is not the only important point which is stipulated for‘in a literary  THE AUTHOR. 21 contract. The conditions under which the work will be placed upon the market, the manner in which it will be advertised, and other details also of importance have to be provided for, and the contract to publish will not be carried out with less energy, because the author understands and expects to be informed of the steps which are taken to secure the desired result. Even those, there- fore, to whom the possible money value of literary work is of no interest cannot afford to neglect the business side of literature, if they are in earnest in writing at all. Those who are not in earnest are recommended to become so, or to leave litera- ture alone. In any case the commercial aspects of author- ship are worthy of the study of all writers. It has already been said that such matters need not be made obtrusive, but it may also be observed that the more carefully they are attended to, the less likely they are to be forced into prominence. It is the author who is loose in his business arrangements in their early stages who finds himself later on obliged to make them public in a court of law, or to forego advantages to which his indifference is less absolute than he supposed. H, A. A. $$ GOLLANCZ vy. J. M. DENT & CO. ————1— OME of our readers may have noticed in the daily papers some months ago the report of a law case of interest to authors under the above title. It has not previously been mentioned in The Author because the case decided in the Courts covered only part of the area of controversy between the parties. All matters in dispute were ultimately satisfactorily settled with the assistance of the Society, and the points of interest to authors may now be referred to. The essential facts are as follows: Mr. Gollancz was the editor of “The Temple Shakespeare,” published by Messrs. J. M. Dent & Co.; he also occupied till 1901 the position of general literary adviser to that firm, and was editor of the “ Temple Classics,” etc. The documents embodying the terms under which the parties were working together were informal, and the recent actions arose out of the obscurity of some provisions of these documents. The moral of the case is the old caution which can never be urged too strongly on authors: that their business arrangements should be clearly and accurately defined, however close, as in the present instance, may be their relations with their publishers. When Mr. Gollancz sought and obtained the help of the Committee in 1901 his relations with his publishers had become very strained, and, shortly afterwards, Messrs, Dent gave him notice to put an end to his engagement as their literary adviser, and Mr. Gollancz felt obliged to take action against them. The questions that arose in this action will be dealt with presently, In the following spring (1902) Messrs. Dent announced the production of a “Temple Shakes- peare for Schools,” edited, not by Mr. Gollancz, but by Mr. Oliphant Smeaton and other writers. Mr. Gollancz deeming this to be an infringement of his rights, protested, and, failing to obtain redress, commenced an action for an injunction and damages in the Chancery Division. By one of the clauses of the agreement as to “The Temple Shakespeare,” it had been agreed that, in the event of a cheaper or other form of edition of any or either of the plays of Shakespeare being thought desirable by Messrs. Dent, it should form the subject of a new agreement with Mr. Gollancz on proratd terms. A School Edition had been long in contemplation in pursuance of this agreement, and before the breach between the parties a definite arrangement had been come to as to the amount of royalty to be paid to Mr. Gollancz. As Messrs. Dent persisted in bringing out “The Temple Shakespeare for Schools,” the Chancery action was proceeded with, and came on for hearing before Mr. Justice Swinfen-Eady on March 26th and 27th, 1903. The defence raised by the publishers was that the clause quoted above only referred to a cheaper or dearer edition of “The Temple Shakespeare,” but the judge overruled this contention, and, adopting Mr. Gollancz’s view of the meaning of the agreement and of his arrange- ments with Messrs. Dent, gave judgment in his favour for damages and costs. Mr. Justice Swinfen-Eady in his judgment remarked that the School Edition, as ultimately brought out by Messrs. Dent, although not an infringement of the copyright of “The Temple Shakespeare” (which, in fact, is vested in the pub- lishers) was intended to have the benefit of the reputation of that work. In fact, it was necessary for Mr. Gollancz (as this remark of the judge shows) to establish that he had no connection with the School Edition which bore the name of “The Temple Shakespeare.” Meanwhile, Mr. Gollancz’s action for wrongful dismissal was awaiting hearing in the King’s Bench Division (where work is more in arrear than in the Chancery Division). The main points in this action, which are of general interest, were two: first, whether Messrs. Dent had any right to put an end to Mr. Gollancz’s engagement as their literary adviser which, on the wording of the letters that had passed, appeared to be (what Mr. Gollancz had always understood it to be) a life contract ; and, secondly, whether “The Temple Cyclopedic Primers,” a series planned by Mr.  22 Gollanez and published by Messrs. Dent, were to continue to be treated as “School Books” pro- cured by Mr. Gollancz for the publishers, so as to entitle him to a stipulated royalty thereon. In the result, satisfactory terms of settlement of all disputes between the parties were arrived at with- out this case coming on in Court, so that the deci- sion of the Court was not obtained on these points, one of which would have been of much general interest—i.e., the meaning and extent of the expression “School Books.” By the terms of settlement, however, the justification of Mr. Gollancz’s action was fully recognised by the publishers paying, in addition to all costs, a sub- stantial sum as compensation, and agreeing to continue the payment of royalty on the Primers, as arranged for by Mr. Gollancz. SPECIAL INSURANCE SCHEME. oo i HE Directors of the Legal and General Life Assurance Society are prepared to grant to members of the Society of Authors the following reduction from the tariff rates of endow- ment and whole-life assurance, viz. : 10 % (ten per cent.) off the first premium paid. 5 % (five per cent.) off each subsequent premium, The distinctive features of the Society are : (a) Perfected maximum policies by which life insurance is provided at the lowest possible cost. For example: Age 30, £1 16s. 0d. per £100 insured. Age 40, £2 10s. Od. per £100 insured. Age 50, £3 14s. 4d. per £100 insured. (0) With-profit endowment assurance, payable ‘at any age, or previous death, to which the Society allots the largest bonus of any Insurance Company, viz., 88s. per cent. compound. Thereby a £100 policy increases as follows : Duration 10years. 20 years. 30 years. 40 years. Amount £120 £144 £172 £206 Special quotations for old-age pensions may be had on application to the City office, 158, Leaden- hall Street, E.C., where any further information may be obtained. The directors will be glad to afford every facility for the working of the scheme, which they think will be of advantage to the members -of the Society of Authors. J. P. B. BLAKE, City Branch. 158, Leadenhall Street, E.C. THE AUTHOR. A GOOD BOOK. —— + V E are glad to welcome a new—the fifth— impression of Professor Raleigh’s manual, “The English Novel.”* Modestly described by its author as a little book on a great subject, it gives in its two hundred and eighty pages a singularly effective sketch of the history of this branch of literature from Malory to Scott, with critical studies of the chief English novelists before the appearance of the author of “‘ Waverley,” these two purposes being “connected by certain general lines of reasoning and specula- tion on the nature and development of the novel.” The historical sketch is adequate, the criticism generally penetrating and just, but it is in the connecting lines that we have found most pleasure. No book dealing with literary principles can fail to contain something of interest to authors, and the great expectations with which we approach any contribution to the subject by so eminent an authority as Professor Raleigh are fully realised. in so brief a note as this it is impossible to attempt to criticise this little manual ; we prefer to praise it in general terms and recommend it to the attention of literary men. Most books of the kind lose sight of the historical purpose and tend to become only critical studies ; Professor Raleigh contrives in the space at his disposal to keep both his objects prominently before him. His style is admirably simple and direct, and one lays aside the book with a clear knowledge of the steps by which the novel has risen to what it is, and also with the memory of many illuminating phrases emanating from a finely critical mind, and delicately and humorously couched. The pedigree of the English novel, as set forth here, derives from the novella of the Italians and the romance of chivalry ; the successive stages are represented by the “ Gesta Romanorum,” Malory’s “Morte Darthur,” Lyly’s “ Euphues” (strictly speaking, the first original prose novel written in English), the novellet or love pamphlet of Greene and Nash, “‘ The Character ”’ ; the realistic accounts of adventure represented by Defoe; the picaresque, the autobiographic, the Schools of Terror, repre- sented by Mrs. Radcliffe and Maturin, and of Theory represented by Godwin, the story of domestic satire, and lastly the union of the novel proper with the romance which was effected by Sir Walter Scott. Professor Raleigh avoids the confusion which is a frequent demerit in genealogies of this kind, and he chronicles vividly the conflict that was waged *«“The English Novel,’ by Walter Raleigh; fifth impression, popular edition : London, John Murray, 1903, 3s. 6d.  THE AUTHOR. between prose fiction and the drama, ultimately won for the novel in the eighteenth century, and the later conflict between verse and prose for “ the prerogative possession of romantic themes,” when prose was again the victor. We wish we had space to quote some of the many remarks that have arrested our attention and appealed to our reason during our perusal of this book. It is Professor Raleigh’s merit that they are propounded unostentatiously, and as a matter of course, but from some points of view perhaps this merit may be regretted, for many more popular reputations have been upreared on less sound foundations. With the last one in the volume we may conclude, confident that its truth is sufficient apology for its triteness : “‘ Quod semper et ubique et ab omnibus is the saving creed of a novelist.” 2 TWO KINDS OF AUTHOR. —_—t—— + “PYFNHE Truth about an Author’’* is an anony- mous satire on the profession of letters, so skilfully accomplished that it would not be hard to take it seriously and to be vastly annoyed that it should have been written, in spite ofitsgenuine humour. It narrates the career of one who, starting in the Inferno of provincial journalism, attains at length to a kind of suburban purgatory, and emerges at last into a peculiar paradise of poultry, Dalmatian dogs, and little grey mares in phaetons. Itis, in short, a criticism of the literary life elaborated from the pages of a ledger, but unless our critical sense is sadly at fault, it is written by one who, however greatly he may have regarded literature merely as a trade, had the wit to see the irony of his own attitude and that of his admirers. Heischarmingly candid : ‘“ Ofcourse,” he says, “when I am working on my own initia- tive, for the sole advancement of my artistic reputation, I ignore finance and think of glory alone. It cannot, however, be too clearly under- stood, that the professional author . . . is eternally compromising between glory and something more edible and warmer at nights....I am _ not speaking of geniuses with a mania for posterity.” It is obvious, indeed, that he is not. He is, or pretends to be, one of that admirable and daily increasing class which frankly, with no esthetic pretensions to the contrary, provides sustenance for the melodramatic appetite of the English general reader. He admits that he was never urged to write except by impulses not usually esteemed artistic. But he sits down to write his first novel under the ‘“ sweet influences (sic) of the * “The Truth About an Author” : Constable, 1908. 23 Goncourts, Turgenev, Flaubert, and Maupassant.” Such a galaxy of names would certainly arouse the suspicions of the class to which he claims to belong, yet, after all, it is said that our most notorious female fictionist battens in secret on Shakespeare, Milton, and the Bible. For ourselves, we regard “The Truth about an Author” as an admirable piece of invective, but those who con- template literature, as the wise contemplate matri- mony, simply as a profitable if unpleasant meétier, will be able to find some valuable information in the author’s remarks about journalism. At any rate, the book is a relief after the silly and serious guides that profess to teach the literary art, and only succeed in exposing the dreariness of an existence that the lack or decline of artistic enthusiasm has reduced to a meticulous drudgery. A very different kind of personality is exhibited in an article called ‘“‘ Letters to a Young Writer,” published in Cornhill for July, 1903. The author of the article, at the outset of his literary career, had the good fortune to meet a mature craftsman, who lavished the wealth of his experience on his pupil with a most breezy and unpedantic generosity. The extracts from his letters are all too few—some day, we hope, the recipient, in the interests of youth and literature, may be induced to give us a larger tale—but they are all admirable, enthusiastic, great-hearted, and full of a golden common-sense, a charming and spontaneous humour, that might well have been dated from Vailima. He was always ready to read and criticise the work of his young friend, and his criticisms are invari- ably delightful and of solid value. Here is one: ‘* But how about that ball? There is a long description of a ball, and in the long description there is nothing new except when she asks him to dance with her. But by God you are not justified in describing the band.” And another, after some advice about the financial side of letters : ‘J do not care whether you are or are not angry with me for putting this matter plainly. I do care that you should not be discouraged by what I have said. You must not lose your head either in success or disappointment. Every art requires a long apprenticeship. If youallowthe commercial attitude of your art to press too heavily upon you, the art will be injured.” And again : “ Don’t lay yourself out to be smart. any demi-god or set. Don’t write to vex or to please any mere mortals. just to make yourself cry and laugh and swear.” One is tempted to continue re-quoting the quotations of his disciple, despite the fear of the Procrustean surgery of editors. ‘The words of this critic, “‘as keen as he was gentle,” were, to follow the disciple’s phrase, as humbling as they were bracing. “What can be said of a man who Don’t write against Don’t write for any demi-god or set. Write  24 believed in one before one was a man_ oneself, before anybody else dreamt of doing so? Nothing ; for he is dead and gone and cannot hear, nor ever know. But I like to think of him on those enchanted seas of his, overhauled by an argosy laden with his own letters, dashed off and forgotten when he was here; for he will be the first to appre- ciate them, spontaneously and impersonally as of old, and I can almost hear him laugh.” That is how the disciple’s tribute to his master’s memory ends, and the words are no mean proof that all the cheering counsel he received of old was effective in developing a writer of English, and of winning a fast and unforgetful friend. Someone, —is it Nietzche ? has said that it is impossible. to think of a fine personality without experiencing a sense of liberation, a certainty that humanity can never become wholly and rigidly sordid. One feels, as one reads the extracts from the haphazard letters of this nameless writer, that he was one of those who possessed that total lack of bitterness which is the true wisdom, that frank, unpatronising kindliness which alone can, in the real sense of the word, educate ; and that even though the literary fruit of his life’s work be unenduring, yet his memorial has not perished with him. Sr. Joun Lucas. oo —__- CONCAVE AND CONYEX. eas T fell to my lot a few days ago to read a novel for a publisher. As is his practice when submitting books to my opinion the publisher had carefully removed from the copy the name and address of the author and anything which might furnish me with a clue to his identity, thus leaving it to me to pass judgment solely upon the merit of the work and reserving to himself the power to take into consideration such other points as “name” and “public” and the rest. The book was light comedy ; it had no startling originality of plot, but such as it possessed was ingeniously planned and dexterously handled. I gave my employer an outline of. the story, a general criticism of its style and treatment, my advice—in this case to accept the book—and my estimate of the com- mercial possibilities of the work ; and I concluded my letter by suggesting that it would be kind to advise the author to secure his dramatic rights in the story, and offering to furnish any information desired about the formalities to be observed in that connection. I have assisted at these formalities on more than one occasion ; they are extravagantly farcical, and need not be detailed here ; but however farcical the author has, upon their completion, secured his play right in the manner prescribed by law, and THE AUTHOR. there is an end of the matter, and in all probability the play is never heard of again. It is a common-place that a good novel does not make a good play, and the reason is obvious ; there is as great a difference between the literary and the dramatic presentation of an idea as there is between the concave and the convex surfaces of an egg shell ; a novel is one thing, a play something else ; both are composed of the same material but they are intended to be regarded from opposite points of view. That there are authors who write and communicate to the public both plays and novels, I am, of course, aware, and J am disposed to think that the writer whose anonymous manu- script has suggested these reflections to me, is one of the most prominent among them. Still, the ability to treat a subject twice, from the inside point of view which is the novelist’s business, and from the outside point of view as the audience see it which is the dramatist’s business, is not common. Such authors will, however, support my contention that the play and the book are two substantive pieces of work, bearing no closer relationship than that they deal in their respective fashions with the same theme, and owing no obligation the one to the other. My anonymous acquaintance has written an amusing story, the material of which might be used to make a successful trifling comedy, and I, being a conscientious man, have suggested that he shall take advantage of the ridiculous methods per- mitted by our legislature and secure his dramatic rights. Yet all the time I have a conviction that his chances of success as a dramatist are in inverse proportion to his chances of success as a novelist, and that if the law of probabilities holds good I am recommending him to commit a sort of suicide. The lessee of one hall in London told me that the number of plays produced for copyright purposes on his stage was more than three hundred a year, and that he could not recall the name of one which had been reproduced elsewhere ; at any rate my friend will join a numerous company. But I shall be told that there is always the possibility of huge profits, and that the author will be foolish if he does not protect his dramatic rights by the prescribed method, inasmuch as he will then be doubly safe when some intelligent person sees the dramatic potentialities of the novel ; he will be the owner of the play in which he has statutory play right, and also able to invoke the more doubtful assistance of an injunction against infringement of copyright on the precedent of the decision in the case of Warne v. Seebohm. Quite so; but it seems to me that the whole thing rests upon an unsound foundation. Rights in property presuppose the existence of property ; in the case in point the existence of any is doubtful. The plays knocked up for purposes of technical  THE AUTHOR. representation have not, and are not even intended to have, any commercial value ; they are blown together with the object of meeting certain legal requirements, and so of anticipating any attempt by a bond fide dramatist to use for his advantage any of the produce of the novelist’s brains. If this safe-guarding of property, created in a manner not specifically defined, but at all events created incidentally and not by first intention, is the object of the law, then I think it might be achieved in some less contemptible and clumsy fashion; the English law might be altered to conform with that obtaining in the United States, by which p: tential dramatic rights are protected by the pub- lication of the novel; our present system isunworthy, and if devised only in the interests of the novelist, it is also needlessly expensive and troublesome. If, moreover, the subject were to be dealt with logically and consistently, all novelists should be warned to protect their interests and produce dramatic versions of all their novels “ for copyright purposes” ; doubtless some enterprising person would then appear and devote his attention exclusively to this business: he need never be out of work in these days. Until such an agency is actually opened, things will probably remain in their present absurd condition, and the validity of the protection which novelists flatter themselves they have secured by their technical performances will not be too closely examined. Is it, again, to the best interest that it should be secured at all? I know it is a heresy, but speaking as one who aspires to be a novelist and who has not taken to writing for his health, I confess I can see another side to the matter. An interesting volume might be compiled, with some such title as ‘The Foundations of Fiction,” tracing the common origin of all novels. It would be a difficult matter for any novelist to establish a claim to be the originator of any idea, or even situation ; and if a dramatist utilised the theme of my excellent novel and manufactured therewith his excellent play, I am prepared to hear his counsel argue that as the producer of a substantive work of art of commercial value his client is entitled to all the fruits of his labour. More, if the play were a great one I can conceive its being a public misfortune that its communication to the world should be pre- vented by the existence of my own dramatic version of the theme concocted “tor copyright purposes,” and produced in the perfunctory manner which apparently satisfies the law. That the dramatist would make handsome pro- posals to me for a division of the profits accruing from his play, and that I should deal handsomely with him, of course goes without saying. Iam the most sweetly reasonable member of a sweetly reason- able fraternity, but the amiability and indifference 25 to sordid considerations which characterise British novelists is not the subject of this somewhat heretical note. It is written with the object of advising novelists to consider seriously the validity of the protection they fancy they secnre by this formal dramatisation of their novels, and of eliciting some expression of opinion as to whether it is really in their own interests and—what is perhaps of more importance—in the interests of the community at large, that it should be done at all. V. BE. M. 0 —— © — THE WOMEN WRITERS’ CLUB, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. ——~<—+—— “VT J\ARLY in the year 1902 a movement was set S Hy on foot to start a society of women writers and journalists in Melbourne. The informal preliminary meetings were held at the rooms of Miss C. H. Thomson, The Rialto, Collins Street. The idea gradually took shape, and on May Ist the new club came into existence. Admission to membership is confined to women who are or who have been actively engaged in literary work of any description. The Society began with every encouragement from editors, brother journalists, black and white artists, and the reading public. Mr. Donald Macdonald, the well-known South African war correspondent, came forward with an offer of a lecture on “ War and Peace.” Thanks to the lecturer and to the assistance given by Miss M. G. Bruce as honorary secretary, this brought in a comfortable sum with which to furnish the club rooms. The membership for the first year was 45. The Society has its abode in Flinders Buildings, Flinders Street. Meetings, social and literary, have been held during the year, the most noteworthy being when, last June, the club had the honour of entertaining and admitting as its first visiting member Miss Catherine H. Spence, of South Australia, who was a veteran literary woman long before her name became associated with pro- portional representation. Besides serving as a bond of social union the club hopes to be able to extend a friendly hand to visiting writers, whether from the neighbouring states or from other lands. There is a plentiful supply of magazines and the nucleus of a small library of such works of reference as will be found useful to professional writers. The first committee elected included Mrs. Cross (Ada Cambridge), Mrs. Donald Macdonald, Mrs. I. Aronson, Mrs. Baverstock, Miss Ethel Castilla, Miss F. F. Elmes, Mrs. Sadleir Forster, Miss Henrietta McGowan, Miss C. H. Thomson, Mrs. Evelyn Gough (hon. treasurer), and Miss Alice Henry (hon. secretary). 26 A CAPE LETTER. —+——+ — EGISLATION for the protection of works of art has at last been introduced into the Parliament of this Colony. At the present time, no artistic copyright whatever is in existence here, though literary and musical works have been protected by two Acts, dated respectively 1873 and 1888. For some years past, the Copyright Section of the Cape Town Photographic Society —number- ing among its members several prominent painters —has been endeavouring to secure the termina- tion of this discouraging state of affairs; and, after the war had temporarily paralysed all such legislation, an effort was made to obtain the introduction of a bill during last Session. Parlia- ment, however, was at that time too busy wrangling over racial questions, and the Bill has had to stand over until the evening of the present Session. 1t has now passed its second reading in the Lower House, and its promoters have every hope that it will complete its course before Parliament rises. The Bill, as printed, defines a work of art as “ painting or drawing and the design thereof, or a photograph and the negative thereof, or an engraving,” and secures the copyright of such works for fifty years from date of publication or of registration, whichever of these events may first occur. Registration is made essential to obtaining copyright, but works which have been registered in the United Kingdom are, without further legislation, protected for the period speci- fied in the Imperial Act concerned. The latter provision, which is of course of great importance to English proprietors, may, at the Governor’s discretion, be extended to the other British Colonies, and to foreign countries similarly favoured in the Kingdom. Some minor clauses of the Bill deal with fraudulent signature or disposal, and with alteration, of artistic products ; and another prohibits the exhibition of any portrait executed on commission, if its subject, or the artist’s client, shall object thereto. Mr. G. Crosland Robinson, who is one of the gentlemen connected with the above matter, has been elected President of the South African Society of Artists, in succession to Mr. J. 8. Morland, who has left the Colony. The first annual session of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science was held this year, in Cape Town. Many instructive papers were read, and several interesting excur- sions organised during the proceedings, a full report of which is now in the Press. The Colonial Government has made a grant of money to cover the costs of this publication. THE AUTHOR. “Cape Colony for the Settler,” by A. R. E, Burton, F.R.G.S., issued by the Government, through Messrs. P, 8. King & Co., London, and J. CG. Juta & Co., Cape Town, is a handbook of the physical and industrial conditions of the Colony, each electoral division of which is separately treated. This volume, which contains a number of plates, including eight maps, is intended for the special purpose indicated in its title, and does not supersede the late John Noble’s “ Official Handbook” of the Colony, although, within its scope, more completely up-to-date. “Basutoland: Its Legends and Customs” (London: Nichois & Co.), is the title of a little volume by Mrs. Minnie Martin, the wife of a Government Official in the territory named. The book contains much interesting information con- cerning the history and mode of life of the Basuto people, together with a brief description of the physical features of their beautiful country, whilst the final chapters consist of native folk-tales brimful of quaint superstition. “The Union-Castle Atlas of South Africa” (London, The Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co., Ltd. ; Cape Town, J. C. Juta & Co.), is a large octavo containing twenty-one double-page map- plates, excellently printed in colours ; in addition to which there are forty-two pages of letterpress relating to the geography, climate, resources and history of the country. English publishers have recently issued two novels by South African writers on South African subjects. These are “A Burgher Quixote,” by Mr. Douglas Blackburn, and “ The Story of Eden,” by Mr. Dolf Wyllarde. Little that is worthy of note has been produced by local publishers since the date of my last letter. To meet a need caused by the all-affecting war, Messrs. Juta have published a small treatise by Mr. W. A. Burn, entitled “Claims against the Military. The Law as to Requisitioning, and the Hague Convention on Laws and Customs of War.” In this, the terms of the Hague Conven- tion are printed both in the original French, and in English. One of the local productions connected with Mr. Chamberlain’s visit to South Africa was the first part of “The Commission and ‘Travels of H.M.S. Good Hope,” a brochure written by R. Moore, a member of the warship’s crew. The author’s action, however, proved to be out of harmony with the Navy Regulations, and his literary career was suspended by a sentence of imprisonment. An illustrated guide-book of the Cape Peninsula and environs, entitled “Cape Pleasure Resorts,” a few educa- tional works, and a few volumes of Law Reports and Parliamentary Debates, complete the list of book publications. New magazines continue to  THER AUTHOR. appear in comparatively large numbers. Among these are the following monthlies:—The South African Medical Record, Catholic South Africa, Civil Service Review, the Twentieth Century,—A Magazine of Commerce, and De Goede Hoop—a non- political illustrated paper, in the Dutch language. From Durban, we hear of a new weekly paperentitled Indian Opinion, published in the English, Gujarati, ‘Tamil and Hindi languages, in the interests of the British Indians of Natal. The MS. of a “ Life”? of Sir Richard Southey has just been completed by the Hon. Alexander Wilmot, author of a number of historical and general works on South African subjects. The late Sir Richard Southey was for many years a prominent Colonial statesman and volunteer officer, seeing much service in the Kaffir Wars, and holding various diplomatic posts. His later appointments included those of Colonial Secretary, and of Governor of Griqualand West. The book will be published by Mr. T. M. Miller, of Cape Town. A prize of 10/., offered by the Guild of Loyal Women of South Africa, for a South Africa Patriotic Poem, has been awarded to Miss Ethel M. Hewitt, who dates from London. The competitors num- bered about seventy, and the judging was under- taken by Lady Gill, wife of the Astronomer Royal, and Mr. Rudyard Kipling, who was at the time on one of his visits to the Cape. After prolonged negotiations between the parties concerned, the case of Sass v. Wheeler has been settled out of Court, the defendants agreeing to pay over the sum of £75. This case was recorded in The Author many months ago. Messrs. Wheeler represented Mr. McKee Rankin and Miss Nance O'Neill, whose right to perform “Magda” in South Africa was challenged by Mr. Sass. The death has occurred of Mrs. Sarah Heckford, author of “A Lady Trader in the Transvaal” (London, 1882), and well-known in the late Republic by her energy as an educational reformer, as well as by her literary work. Another lady associated with literature has lately passed away in the person of Mrs. Alexander Scott, one of the historic “settlers of 1820,” and a sister of Thomas Pringle, the South African poet, for whose verse she is said to have maintained a great affection to the end of a long life. SypNEY YORKE Forp. Cape Town, August 19, 1903. 27 DR. JOHNSON AND BOOKSELLERS’ PROFITS. —————+ — HE following extract from a letter of Dr. Johnson to the Rev. Dr. Wetherell, dated March 12th, 1776, may be of interest to readers. It runs as follows : “Tt is, perhaps, not considered through how many hands a book often passes, before it comes into those of the reader; or what part of profit each hand must retain, as a motive for transmitting it to the next. “We will call our primary agent in London, Mr. Cadell, who receives our books from us, gives them room in his warehouse, and issues them on demand; by him they are sold to Mr. Dilly, a wholesale bookseller, who sends them into the country; and the last seller is the country seller. Here are three profits to be paid between the printer and the reader, or in the style of commerce, between the manufacturer and the consumer; and if any of these profits is too penuriously distributed, the process of commerce is interrupted. “We are now come to the practical question, what is to be done? You will tell me, with reason, that I have said nothing, till I declare how much, according to my opinion, of the ultimate price ought to be distributed through the whole succession of sale. “The deduction, I am afraid, will appear very great : but let it be considered before it is refused. We must allow, for profit, between thirty and thirty-five per cent., between six and seven shillings in the pound; that is, for every book which costs the last buyer twenty shillings, we must charge Mr. Cadell with something less than fourteen. We must set the copies at fourteen shillings each, and superadd what is called the quarterly book, or for every hundred books so charged we must deliver an hundred and four. ‘“‘ The profits will then stand thus : “Mr. Cadell, who runs no hazard, and gives no credit, will be paid for warehouse room and attend- ance by a shilling profit on each book, and his chance of the quarterly book. “Mr. Dilly, who buys the book for fifteen shillings, and who will expect the quarterly book if he takes five and twenty, will send it to his country customer at sixteen and sixpence, by which, at the hazard of loss, and the certainty of long credit, he gains the regular profit of ten per cent., which is expected in the wholesale trade. “The country bookseller, buying at sixteen and sixpence, and commonly trusting a considerable time, gains but three and sixpence, and if he trusts a year, not much more than two and sixpence ; otherwise than as he may, perhaps, take as long credit as he gives. 28 THE AUTHOR. “With less profit than this, and more you see he cannot have, the country bookseller cannot live; for his receipts are small, and his debts sometimes bad. oO “Thus, dear sir, I have been incited by Dr. ’s letter to give you a detail of the circulation of books, which, perhaps, every man has not had opportunity of knowing ; and which those who know it, do not, perhaps, always distinctly con- sider, “Tam, &e., Sam. JOHNSON.” SS CORRESPONDENCE. —— To the Editor of THE AUTHOR. Srr,—An article appeared in the Daily Mail for September 15th, signed “ Stanhope Sprigg,” giving some particulars touching _ publishers’ readers. As a publisher’s reader myself, I should like to point out that the statements contained are incorrect. I say nothing of the objectionable task that a publisher’s reader may have of sitting in judgment on fellow craftsmen, but I should like to point out that the remuneration is not, as stated, £1 1s. per MS. The writer in the Daily Mail seems to consider that £1 1s.a MS. is low. Ihave much pleasure in informing him, from bitter experi- ence, that many of the publishers do not pay more than 10s. 6d. a MS., and some as low a 6s. 8d. or three for £1. Thinking this information may be of interest to some of your readers, I beg to remain, yours faithfully, isle + BOOK PURCHASERS AND BOOKSELLERS. (Reprinted from the Zimes of Sept. 18th.) Sir,—The following actual experience may perhaps help to explain the difficulty in obtaining the books they want which is a constant experience in the lives of a large number of readers through- out the British Empire. A well-known London firm of booksellers who supply books to the Colonies seriously protested against our annoying practice of adding a complete list of our Colonial Library to our lists of new and forthcoming volumes which we issue from time to time. The serious objection to this practice—at least the objection seriously urged—was that the firm in question constantly received orders for the volumes in our Colonial Library, and, “of course,” they did not have them in stéck. If we could not vouch for this as an actual fact, surely such an attitude would be incredible. The ostensible business of the firm in question is bookselling. Yours faithfully, ARCHIBALD ConstTaBLE & Co. (LIMITED). 2, Whitehall Gardens, S.W., September 16. — A LITERARY FRAUD. Str,—The following paragraph appeared in a well- known, influential weekly paper. Its authenticity does not admit of a doubt, and the high position of the periodical isan assurance that the information is bond fide. ‘“T could give you the names of several men, and women too, who are féted and flattered and made lions of on the strength of books not a line of which they have written, or could write if they would. I myself have just completed a novel of 120,000 words, which will swell the reputation of a certain popular lady writer.”’ Other instances, which I need not particularize, of similar malpractices have fallen under my own notice. Of course, the perpetrators of these frauds are pledged to silence and secrecy. The person who is writing for a livelihood naturally will not divulge names ; the celebrity who is fattening on the hack’s brains laughs in his sleeve at the uncritical, gullible public, and enjoys ill-gotten gains. It is altogether a disgraceful and debasing business ; a detestable crime so difficult to prove and punish. Of course, the rage for names, stimulated by papers devoted to personalities; the craving to read something by an author who has perhaps startled the public with daring revelations of gush or indiscretion, may account for these spurious imitations. May be, a series of judicious personal paragraphs, unveracious interviews, or audacious logrolling may have lifted a commonplace romancer into dazzling eminence, so that an extraordinary demand has sprang up for the gifted writer’s books, and as time and opportunity have limits, the pro- ductions must be continued by the hacks engaged for the purpose. I have quoted the actual words of one in this article, but there must be hundreds of others ; unknown scribes, who, unable to launch their own ventures, are at this moment encouraging the greed of known authors and publishers. Is it not possible for this fraud to be stopped or checked ? If not, it will continue to flourish and increase, till the time may come when all lucky authors who have made hits may live in leisured ease on immense incomes solely derived by this specious fraud. Is it not of sufficient importance to engage the attention of the Society of Authors ? Is it not a disgrace to literature, a stigma on the profession, and a trial to all honest, literary effort ? IstporE G. ASCHER. 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. 14 Issue 01 (October 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 14 Issue 01 (October 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-10-01-The-Author-14-1 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/485/1903-07-01-The-Author-13-10.pdf 203f4c7db24a85ad219cd634c96b2cca PDF Text Text ���������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-07-01 Volume 13 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 253–280 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030701 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che #uthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. JUNE Ist, 1903. Vou. XIII.—No. 9. [Prick SrxpPENnog. THE TELEPHONE. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. ———_—__—_+—~@— NOTICES. —-~<> + OR the opinions_expressed in papers that are K signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. THE Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. — + List of Members. THE List of Members of the Society of Authors, published 1902, can be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. —-—>+— The Pension Fund of the Society. THE investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou, XIII. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— Coagole 25 Fees. £1000 0 6 POCH) LOANS obec. 500 0 0 Victorian Government 3 ‘ Consoli- dated Inscribed Stock ............... We lon 291 19 Tt 201 9 3s otal o1,995 9 2 Subscriptions. 1908. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke 010 6 »» Deane, Rey. A.C. . 010 06 Jan. 4, Anonymous 0) 5. 6 - Heath, Miss Ida 0 5 0 “ Russell, G. H. ; Ll 0 Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline 0.5 06 », Bedford, Miss Jessie 0 5. 0 Jan..19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. 0 35.0 Jan. 20, Cobbett, Miss Alice ; 1 0 5 0 Jan. 30, Minniken, Miss Bertha M.M. 1 0 0 Jan. 31, Whishaw, Fred : - 0 10 0 Feb. 3, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred 0 5b 0 Feb. 11, Lincoln, C. . ; 0 5 0 Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert . 0° 5 0 » Haggard, Major Arthur . 0° 5 0 Feb. 23, Finnemore, John . 05 0 Mar. 2, Moor, Mrs. St. C. . 1° 0 6 Mar. 5, Dutton, Mrs. Carrie 015 6 Apl.10, Bird, ©. PB. . : A - 0 10.6 Apl. 10, Campbell, Miss Montgomery. 0 5 0 May Lees, R. J... : ; 1 0 : Wright, J. Fondi . ; ~ 905 6 Donations. Jan. 8, Wheelright, Miss E. : , 0 10 6 » Middlemass, Miss Jean . ~ 010 0 Jan. 6, Avebury, The Right Hon. The Lord . D0 0 » Gribble, Francis. : . 010 0 Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . . 010 6 Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston 11 0 » Miller, Miss E. T. . 0 5.0 Jan. 19, Kemp, Miss Geraldine 010 6 226 Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French . - 0) 5) 0 Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt : . 0 16 0 Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs. . : » 0-10 6 Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rev. Silas 210 Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. . : . 010 6 , Ord, Hubert H. . ‘ de) Teb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor : . 010 0 » Carlile, Rev. J. C.. : . 010 0 Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. . : : a2 0-0 Feb. 26, Speakman, Mrs. . : . 010 0 Mar. 5, Parker, Mrs. Nella 2 0 10° 0 Mar. 16, Hallward,N. LL. . : ll 0 Mar. 20, Henry, Miss Alice . : - 0 8.9 » Mathieson, Miss Annie . . 010 0 » Browne, T. A. (“ Rolfe Boldre- wood”) . j : : 12 0 Mar. 23, Ward, Mrs. Humphry. 110.0. 0 Apl. 2, Hutton, The Rev. W. H. - 2070 Apl. 14, Tournier, Theodore : 0 2) 0 May King, Paul H. : : ~ 010-90 : Wynne, Charles Whitworth .10 0 90 » 21, Orred J. Randal . : pedo E70 The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rev. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. Dowsett, C. F. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. Se Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. Tur amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £336 4 9 May 22, Orred J. Randal............... Lied —____—<>—_e____\_ FROM THE COMMITTEE. ee HE Committee of the Society of Authors met on May 6th. Mr. Douglas Freshfield took the chair. ‘Twelve members and associates were elected to the Society. The list is printed below. The case of Parry v. Gollancz, with all the papers and letters, was laid before the Committee and carefully considered. The Committee decided to issue a summary of the case with comments in The Author, (See article, page 232.) The agent of the Society in New York has been forced to give up the work of the Society owing to the fact that he has taken up the work of a THE AUTHOR. literary agent. As he candidly expresses it, “ he found it difficult to have to write peremptory letters of demand to editors and publishers, when at the same time he might be offering them MSS. for acceptance.” Accordingly, the Society has been obliged to appoint another agent, and the Committee have nominated Mr. Morris P. Ferris, counsellor-at-law. ‘There were two or three cases before the Com- mittee. One dealt with the loss of a MS. by a publisher. It was decided to take the matter up on behalf of the member, as from the circumstances connected with the case, it appeared that the publisher had shown considerable negligence. Another case, that of alleged breach of agree- ment by a publisher, the Committee found they were unable to support, as the solicitors of the Society did not consider that there was cause for legal action. It was decided not to republish the list of members during the current year, but in the autumn, to publish a supplementary list of those members who had been elected since the last publication. oo Cases, Tue last statement of the cases taken up by the Society was printed in the March number of The Author. Since that date forty-three have been before the Secretary. They may be subdivided as follows :— Ten for the return of MSS. ; three for accounts ; five for accounts and money ; eighteen for money due ; one dealing with the false advertisement of a book; one with the infringement of copyright ; five embracing disputes which cannot be classed under any particular heading. The Secretary is pleased to report that all the cases chronicled in the March number of The Author have either been settled or have been placed in the hands of the solicitors.. All the cases from that date up to the beginning of April have also been settled or placed in the solicitors’ hands, with the exception of one case, where the author— unfortunately living abroad—had a claim against a magazine for non-payment. The record of the ten claims for the return of MSS. is as follows :— One case has been placed in the hands of the Society’s solicitors, to enable the member to claim damages for loss of a MS. by a publisher, as it appeared clear to the Committee that the publisher had been negligent. In two cases there has been no evidence that the MSS. had been received at the office of the paper. In the remaining seven the MSS. have been returned at the request of the Secretary. Set  In the three demands for accounts the Secretary has been able to obtain the requisite statement, with the exception of one case against a well-known firm that is always dilatory in meeting the demands of the author or the Secretary of the Society for details of this kind. No doubt a little mild persuasion will bring about the requisite result, There has been an increase with regard to demand for unpaid moneys, and the result. of the Secretary’s applications may be catalogued as follows :— In the claims for accounts and money two have been partially settled—this means that part of the money due has been paid, the rest will no doubt follow. One has been completely settled, and two are still in the course of negotiation. The last are demands against an American publisher, whose name is well known on the English market, but whose methods of doing business when it comes to the settlement of accounts appear to be far from satisfactory. In six cases the money has been paid without any difficulty. In five the matters have had to go into the hands of the Society’s solicitors. Two cases are still unsettled, and in one it is impossible to enforce the Society’s claim owing to the fact that the member resides abroad. This is, on the whole, a satisfactory record, especially when it is remembered that those matters referred to the solicitors deal with magazines that are most probably either in liquidation or on the verge of Jiquidation. The case of infringement of copyright has been satisfactorily settled. A full statement of this was printed in 7he Author. The false advertisement has also been remedied, and the remaining matters—various disputes on con- tracts—are in the course of negotiation. Out of thewhole forty-three there are only thirteen which have not been closed as far as the work of the Secretary is concerned. Some of them, as mentioned above, are being continued in other hands, it is hoped with satisfactory result. NEES “ESSE May Elections. 4, Gray’s Inn Squares W.C. Scarborough. Wentworth House, Key- mer, Sussex. The Cedars, Denmark Avenue, Wimbledon, Aitken, Robert Alcock, Joseph Crosby . Arthur, Miss Mary Bedford, Mrs. SW. Dickinson, F. James 6, Claremont Terrace, Hargreaves, F.R.S.L. Claremont Park, Blackpool. Lees, Robert James . Engelbery, Ilfracombe. Macdonald, Mrs. A. E. . Gordon Road, Gordon, Sydney, N.S. Wales, Australia. THE AUTHOR. 227 Merriman, B.C, Pickering, Sidney . Smith, Miss M. C, Labor A., Freetown, Sierra Leone. Stratton, Falmouth. Gretna Hall, Gretna Green, 200, Stockwell Road, Brixton, 8.W, Colonial Institute, Northumberland Avenue, W.C. Trost, Johann Wright, Edward Fondi . +-—<—e OUR BOOK AND PLAY TALK. ae | PROFESSOR RHYS DAVIDS’ “Buddhist | India” in the Stories of the Nations Series, may be out any day now. It was all passed for press some time ago, but it is being printed in America. he Professor has just finished editing the issues of the Pali Text Society for 1903 ; they form the Journal of that Society. He has also edited the second volume of “The Digha” in conjunction with Mr. E. Carpenter. These are now ready for distribution to members. The Government of India has determined to publish, through the Royal Asiatic Society, two series of historical volumes. Of these, one is on the History of India before the arrival of the English, and will be under the editorship of Professor Rhys Davids. The first volumes to be published will deal with the historical geography of ancient India, and with the historical evidence contained in the Vedas. The other series, to be called The Records Series, will embrace the period after the arrival of the English, and will consist mainly of official documents. The first volume will deal with the events connected with the Black Hole of Calcutta. Mr. Arnold White has had a trying experience : He lost, during the fire at the Hotel du Palais, at Biarritz, the MS. of the work on which he was engaged. It is a continuation of the series on Efficiency which began eighteen years ago in “The Problems of a Great City,” and ended in his last two books—* Efficiency and Empire,” and “ For Efficiency.” Mr. White, however, hopes in the course of the next twelve months to re-write and complete a work on National Efficiency, especially with regard to government and municipal administration, and its effects on the pockets, the health, and the lives of citizens of the Empire. Miss Mabel Quiller Couch, whose short stories are well known, has published two volumes of them under the titles of “The Recovery of Jane Vercoe,”  228 and “Some Western Folk.” At present she is completing serial work already ordered, but she means in the near future to write a story for girls on somewhat new lines. Our readers may remember a very interesting volume entitled, “ The Holy Wells of Cornwall,” which Miss Mabel Quiller Couch wrote in conjunction with her sister. Mrs. Mary M. Banks is engaged in editing a MS. collection of tales of the fifteenth century for the Early English Text Society. Some two years ago Mrs. Banks edited the alliterative ‘‘ Morte Arthur,” published by Messrs. Longmans. Since then she has given lectures on modern literature, besides writing articles on literary subjects. Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein have in preparation for the autumn a romance of Italy in the thirteenth century, by Emily Underdown (Norley Chester). This firm lately published “ Dante and Beatrice,” a play in blank verse suggested by episodes in the Vita Nuova, by the same author. It forms one of a series started by Miss Elsie Fogerty. “ Dante and Beatrice” is also published in a tastefully got-up edition, with a reproduction of Rossetti’s painting, “ Dante’s Dream,” as a frontispiece. Members of the Society will be interested to know that Mr. Poulteney Bigelow has been asked to address the United States Naval War College at Newport, on German Colonisation, on the 16th of June. This is the college before which Captain Mahan delivered his lectures on “‘ The Influence of Sea Power on History ”—a book which has been translated into almost every tongue, and yet which, at the time, was declined by the Harpers. Lismore, which the King is to visit next August, is the “ Innisdoyle ” of Julia M. Crottie’s “ Neighbours,” a book of Irish sketches, published by T. Fisher Unwin a year or two ago. Lismore is a quiet old town, beautifully situated on the poet Spenser’s Blackwater, and although now fallen away from its ancient importance, still possesses some features of interest in its fine old abbey and castle. Mr. Frank Rutter, the editor of To-day, has just published, through R. A. Everett & Co., a little volume of scenes and characters from eee life. ‘‘’Varsity Types” is the title of it. “Varsity Types” has a dozen illustrations by Stephen Haweis. The dedication runs thus—‘‘ To those who unconsciously have posed as models for the following sketches, this little volume is grate- fully and affectionately dedicated by the author.” Among the entertaining characters are ‘“ The Swot,” “The Trophy Maniac,” “ The Snob,” and “The Bedder,” while “‘ Ditton Corner,” “ An Art- less Dean,” and “An Academic Court-Martial,” are scenes to laugh over. THE AUTHOR. Miss Julie Sutter’s book on the Social Problems —Brirain’s Next Campaign ”—has just been issued at a shilling net (320 pp.) by R. Brimley Johnson, 4, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. The Daily News this winter thought it worth while to publish a series of articles from its pages, and Sir John McDougall (as chairman of the London County Council) invites ‘every Londoner, official on non-official, to make himself acquainted with this book.” Both he and Canon Scott Holland head the volume with a preface. Mr. F. Stroud’s publishers will issue almost immediately a much-enlarged edition of his Judicial Dictionary. It will be in three thick volumes of about nine hundred pages each. The work is unique in that, whilst it is a dictionary in the ordinary sense of that word, yet the pivot on which it moves is that it deals with the English of affairs as expounded by the English Judges and by Parliament. To search for verbal definitions through the many hundreds of volumes of Reports of Cases, and the Statute Book from Magna Charta down- wards, and to harmonise the authoritative exposition of words and phrases culled from these sources, must have been an enormous task, requiring much prior knowledge and the unfailing patience of years. The idea of this edition is to bring down the exposition from the earliest times to the end of the nineteenth century. Whilst we should imagine it to be indispensable to the practising lawyer, the book cannot fail to be of general interest, for inci- dentally it frequently presents striking phases of the picturesque past. Mr. Percy White has been kind enough to send us the following interesting extract from a letter written to him by a great admirer of George Meredith. The writer is himself a novelist and man of letters :— “THE Two MEREDITHS. “T am reading ‘ Evan Harrington,’ in the original edition of 1861. I find that in the final edition, published by Constable, many admirable passages have been cut out, and a good deal of broad humour and fun has been lost. An interesting little paper might be made on a comparison of the two editions—the old Meredith pruning the younger. It is remarkable how completely ‘modern’ this book of 1861 reads—a book which might have been written to-day, whilst its successful contemporaries, ‘ Framley Parsonage,’ ‘The Silver Chord,’ ‘The Woman in White,’ &c., are all as old-fashioned and uncouth as the crinolines, matador hats, and chenille hair nets of the early sixties.” “ Park Lane” is the title of Mr. Percy White’s new novel—needless to say a very readable one— which has been published by Messrs. Constable at 6s. Mr. G. W. Forrest, O.1.E., ex-Director of Records, Government of India, and author of “ Sepoy  THE AUTHOR. Generals,” has published through the same firm a copiously illustrated book called ‘‘ Cities of India” (10s. 6d. net). Mr. Forrest, who is one of the greatest living authorities on the ancient and modern history of India, has seen with his own eyes the cities he so admirably describes. The illustrations are excellent. ’ The Transactions of the Royal Society of Litera- ture are being edited, as indeed they have been ‘since 1894, by Perey W. Ames, LL.D., F.S.A. Besides publishing the following addresses : ‘‘ Posi- tivism in Literature,” “Supposed Source of the Vicar of Wakefield,” ‘‘ Racial and Individual Tempera- ments,” ‘‘ Superstition, Science, and Philosophy,” “Poetry and Science of Archeology,” &c., &c., Dr. Ames, in 1900, edited, with introduction and one lecture, “‘Chaucer Memorial Lectures.” In 1898 he edited, with an historical sketch of the Princess Elizabeth and Margaret of Navarre, “The Mirror of the Sinful Soul.” Before that he edited, with an introductory address, a volume of “ Afternoon Lectures on English Literature.” Mr. Sydney Lee has brought to a close his tour in America. He has been accorded an enthusiastic reception in the Hastern and the Western States. He has given fifty-three Jectures, and has travelled by rail more than ten thousand miles. Besides delivering addresses before the Library Association at Washington and the State University of North Carolina, Mr. Lee lectured at Staten Island, New York, at the request of Mr. William Winter, in aid of the library founded by him in memory of his son, the late Mr. Arthur Winter. Mr. Lee also gave addresses on Shakespeare at Indianapolis and before the State Universities of Ohio and Indiana. Among recently published books by members of the Society is Mr. Justin McCarthy’s ‘British Political Leaders” (T. Fisher Unwin: 7s. 6d. net). Though all may not agree with his point of view, may not see eye to eye with him, yet readers can scarcely fail to find this volume attrac- tive. It is charmingly written. There is also a couple of volumes issued by Mr. John Murray, entitled, ‘‘ More letters of Charles Darwin,” being a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters, edited by Francis Darwin, Fellow of Christ’s College, and A. C. Seward, Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. (32s. net.) Then, Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, whose remarkable novel, “The Conqueror,’ we all remember, has now published, through Harpers, “A Few of Hamilton’s Letters.” Those who are interested in that famous man’s personality will find this selection from his correspondence well worth reading. 229 Professor E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., etc., Direc- tor of the British Museum of Natural History, has contributed a Preface to Mr. S. Theodore Andrea Cook’s book, ‘ Spirals in Nature and Art” (John Murray). This is a study of spiral forma- tions based on the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, with special reference to the architecture of the open staircase at Blois in Touraine, now for the first time shown to be from his designs. This interesting volume is 7s. 6d. net. Miss Marie Corelli recently addressed a crowded meeting of the O. P. Club in the large hall of the Criterion Restaurant. Miss Corelli spoke on “The Trust on behalf of the Nation at Stratford-on-Avon.” She protested against the destruction of any buildings in Heniey Street, par- ticularly such old and valuable ones as were seen and known by Shakespeare, and were on that account priceless to the literary and dramatic world of to-day. Especially did she plead for the quaint little half-timbered dwelling of Thomas Green, once town clerk of Stratford and cousin of Shakespeare. Miss Corelli protested against the proposed destructive alterations, and earnestly requested that a committee might be formed to inquire into the case she put forward. She considered that the culpable ignorance and carelessness of the Executive Committee of the Shakespearean Trust proved that the time had come when their national duty should be taken up by a wider, more educated and more Shakespearean body. An appeal to Parliament for the preservation of Henley Street was being sent out for signature, and there was every reason to believe that it would bereceived with favour. The clause in the Employment of Children Bill which prohibits the appearance of children under fourteen upon the stage has evoked a series of protesting letters in the Daily Telegraph from such authorities as Sir Henry Irving, Miss Ellen Terry, Miss Ellaline Terriss, Mr. George Alexander, Mr. Beerbohm Tree, Messrs. Frederick Harrison and Cyril Maude, and Mr. Arthur Collins and Mr. F. W. Wyndham. We have room for two quotations only. Miss Ellen Terry says : “T cannot remain silent when I hear of disaster threaten- ing our future actors and actresses. Sir Henry Irving and others have urged the cruelty of taking joy and pleasure from the lives of children by prohibiting their employment on the stage. I go further, and say that the effect of such a law will be to take education from them, education in the widest sense technical. I can put my finger at once on the actors and actresses who were not on the stage when children. Withall their hard work they can never acquire afterwards the perfect unconsciousness which they learn then soeasily. .. . lam anactress, but first 1 am a woman and I love children. I don’tsay that the conditions under  230 which they work on the stage are perfect. I could point to many things which IJ should like tosee altered, particularly the practice of their being too many hours at a stretch in the theatre, as is the case when they are employed in two performances on one day. But surely it is not right to sweep away a fine training for children because it has faults ?” The second extract is from Mr. Tree’s letter : “T will leave to others the task of pointing out in detail how desirable it is for the children of poor parents to have the opportunity of learning in their early years those habits of obedience, cleanliness and orderliness which are part of the discipline of every well-regulated theatre ; also the social value to them in after life of daily mixing, while still young, with those who can teach them good manners and self-respect. The one point I am most anxious to make is this: The Bill as it stands would not only deprive the children of these benefits, but would also deprive hundreds of thousands of the public of the pleasure they derive from those theatrical performances (such as panto- mime, and the like), from which the services of children areinseparable. Moreover, any such new legislation would practically banish from our stage many of Shakespeare's most-admired plays, such as “The Midsummer Night's Dream,” “ The Tempest,” “ A Winter’s Tale,” ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,” ‘Richard III,” “King John,” and other classical works. It is needless to point out that these remarks apply equally to grand opera and public concerts whenever the services of children form an integral part of the entertainment.” All the letters are worthy of careful considera- tion, and we refer our readers to the particular issue of the Daily Telegraph from which we have quoted, 7.¢., that of Monday, May 18th. ———_—_—__- ~~ PARIS NOTES. —— > ANATOLE FRANCE’S novel, “ Histoire Mi e Comique,” is now published in volume form, after running through the Revue de Paris as a serial. There is nothing comic about it except the one word in the title. It is, in fact, a most gruesome story. Félicie, an actress who is considered a star, has deserted her lover of less prosperous days for a young aristocrat, Robert de Ligny. ‘The ex-lover, Chevalier, warns her of his own jealousy and begs her to return to him. She pays no attention to his words and one day, when she is coming away from a rendezvous with de Ligny, Chevalier commits suicide in her presence. From this day forth Félicie has no peace of mind. The dead man’s face seems to haunt her, and at the most unexpected times and places she fancies that she sees him. Chevalier had been an actor, and all his thea- trical friends undertake the arrangements for his funeral. The Church refuses the burial service on account of the suicide, and Félicie, who hopes that the holy water may lay the ghost of the dead man, THE AUTHOR. joins with her comrades in insisting on the religious rites being performed. A certain Dr. Trublet, the medical adviser of the theatre to which Félicie belongs, is the philosopher whom we usually meet in Anatole France’s books. In this instance the artistes have recourse to him for a certificate proving that Chevalier was insane when he shot himself. A priest had suggested, in a wily way, that the dead man had, perhaps, not been respon- sible for his actions, and that if this could be proved the Church would not refuse to bury him. Dr. Trublet accordingly searches among his learned books, and finds various instances of temporary insanity. He delivers a long harangue on the subject of free will and determinism. His con- cluding argument is that the world is an amusing place on the whole, and that Chevalier must have been more insane than other men, since he had voluntarily resigned his place here. The certificate that he makes out is so full of technical terms that the doctor declares that it is “ too utterly devoid of any sense to contain a lie.” The funeral service is accordingly held in the church, All the artistes attend the ceremony and then proceed to the cemetery, but they are all so much occupied with their own private affairs and with ull the gossip and scandal they have to tell each other, that they only remember at intervals what has brought them all there together. Immediately after the funeral Félicie goes with her lover to luncheon at a _ restaurant, and endeavours to forget the dead man. It is of no use, though, and to the end of the story she is haunted by his reproachful eyes. There is not much plot and there is a great deal that is unpleasant in the book, but the keen observation, the delicate sarcasm, and, above all, the perfect style and language are all to be found in “ Histoire Comique” as in every work by Anatole France. In Brada’s new novel, “Retour du Flot,” we have a subject which lends itself well to the weaving of a romance. The mystery is that it has not been adopted more frequently by authors. It is the story of a woman who, after several years of happiness in her married life, loses her little girl and cannot recover from her grief. Her husband, who was also devotedly fond of the child, wearies of the gloominess of his home and the constant sadness of his wife and seeks amusement elsewhere. On discovering that he has been faithless to her his wife applies for a divorce and will hear of no: compromise. After two or three years of loneliness and misery she consents to marry a cousin who has always loved her, and who is a man of fine character. She is quite resigned to her new lot in life when, on the  THE AUTHOR. 231 sixth anniversary of her little girl’s death, as she is walking past her old home, she meets her first husband. He saves her from being knocked down by a vehicle as she is crossing the road. It is the first time they have met since their divorce, and they both realise, as they talk to each other once more, the fatal mistake they made in the old days. The struggle which now takes place in the woman’s heart between the love which has never died and her new duties is described with great delicacy. The loneliness and misery of the man who had formerly been everything to her appeal to her ; and when he begs her to meet him again she con- sents, Her life during the next few months is almost unbearable. The book is charming to the very end, and the dénowement seems most natural. All the characters live, and there is no seeking after effect. It is merely a simple story told in the most simple and natural way possible. During the last year the books which have been most discussed here have been those written by women. ‘This may seem rather flattering to the fortunate writers of them, but it is only fair to add that much of the discussion has been on the subject of the exaggeration of women writers, as shown in several of their recent novels. Judging by some specimens of these realistic novels that have been before the public, it seems as though “women rush in where men fear to tread.” In “La Maison du Péché” we had an example of this, and still more recently in “ La Nouvelle Espérance.” “ I,’ Inconstante,” too, is a novel that has astonished everyone, coming, as it does, from the pen of a woman. Exaggeration of this kind cannot be attributed to Madame Daniel Lesueur in the novel she has just published, “ Le Coeur Chemine.” It is a delight- fully natural story of a woman who makes the dis- covery that she is not as happy as she thought she was in her married life. Thanks to a poet whom she had known years before, and whom she meets by accident at Antwerp, she makes this discovery. She has accompanied her husband on one of his business journeys to Antwerp and Bruges, and the poet wanders through the museums and churches with her, with the result that she realises how prosaic her life is. There is no strong plot running through this book: it is just a psychological study from beginning toend. The poet makes love to the wife of the prosaic husband, and she is tempted to promise, at any rate, to be his friend and his muse. Things cannot stop at this stage, but just at a critical moment the wife discovers the nobility of character of her husband and remains faithful to him. As the years go by life is again most monotonous, and once more the poet crosses her path. She has another terrible struggle with herself, and once more comes out victorious, The minor characters in the story are all well drawn, and the author only attempts to show us the workings of the heart of all these human beings without trying to explain at all why so much that is unsatisfactory should remain so to the end. It is, as she says, a most pitiful mystery that one should be compelled to make sacrifices which, as far as we can see, do no final good, although they cost us so much. The second volume of “Souvenirs sur Madame de Maintenon” has just been published by the Count d’Haussonville and M. Hanotaux. It is one of the most interesting books that has yet appeared on this subject, as it contains the famous “ Cahiers de Mademoiselle d’Aumale.” We get a detailed account of life at the French Court under Louis XIYV., dating from his liaison with Madame de Montespan. In the Preface, by M. Hanotaux, we are told that Madame de Maintenon wished “to remain an enigma to posterity,’ and that she only intended those papers about her life to be published which she had prepared for publication. It was on this account that Madame de Maintenon destroyed all her correspondence with Louis XIV, and with various other persons. ‘ Mademoiselle d’Aumale commences her memoirs with a chapter on “Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Montespan.” Another chapter is on the ‘‘Duchesse de Bourgogne,” and there is also an account of the death of Louis XIV., which Mademoiselle d’Aumale witnessed, “Zette”’ is the title of the new story by MM. Paul et Victor Margueritte. “L’Amoureuse Rédemption,” by M. Armand Charpentier, is a strong book which appears to be having great success. Among other new novels are “ Ballons Rouges,” by Madame de Bovet, “TL Etape Silencieuse,” by Jean Saint-Yves, and “ Petite Fille d’Amiral,” by Pierre Maél. A new poet has also come to the front with a volume entitled “Jamais,” the preface of which is written by M. Sully Prudhomme. The poet is M. Charles Reculoux. Various books on religious questions have been published recently, and are no doubt due to the agitation now going on here with reference to the Congregations. One of these books is “ Le Concordat de 1801, ses Origines et son Histoire,” by Cardinal Mathieu ; and another is “La Révolution Francaise et les Congrégations,” by M. Aulard. At the last meeting of the French Academy literary prizes were awarded to Madame Bentzon  232 and to MM. Adolphe: Brisson, Mandat-Grancey, Pontsevrez, Victor du Bled, de Pommerol and A. Halley. The chief theatrical event here has been the production of Maeterlinck’s new play, “ Joyzelle,” at the Gymnase Theatre. Space forbids our giving any details about this piece this month. There is an excellent article on “ The Works of Maeterlinck ” in the May number of the Interna- tional Theatre, which gives a very good idea of the chief features of this author’s books and plays. M. Mirbeau’s piece at the Francais may be pro- nounced a success, and we hear it is to be put on the English stage by Mr. Alexander as “ Business is Business.” The great theme of the play is the influence of money in modern society. It is a somewhat daring piece and the banker is a cleverly drawn type of the financier of our times. “Le Ruban Rouge” is a melodrama taken from the novel by M. Pierre Sales, whose success as a « fenilletonist” has been as marked. It has been put on at the Ambigu, and was very much appreciated by the house. In honour of M. Rostand’s reception at the Academy, Madame Sarah Bernhardt will revive “J Aiglon” at her theatre, and M. Coquelin will give ‘Cyrano de Bergerac” at the Porte Saint- Martin. Auys HALLARD. __ 9 PARRY y. MORING AND GOLLANCZ. —+—~<—+ — N this action, to which two members of the Society, Judge Parry and Mr. Gollancz, were parties, a point of considerable literary im- portance was decided, and several others were raised either in the pleadings or in the newspaper con- troversy which followed it. The facts on which the action was based are briefly as follows :— In 1888 Judge Parry obtained from their then owner, the Rev. 8. R. Longe, with a view to pub- lication, copies of the original letters written before marriage by Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple in A.D. 1652-4. To the originals them- selves he had no access. The copies were made by the daughter-in-law of the owner, and the gratuitous offer of them had been occasioned by the publication in April, 1886, in the English Illustrated Magazine, of a sketch by Judge Parry, compiled from Courtenay’s “ Life of Temple,” and entitled Dorothy Osborne, Judge Parry re-arranged the letters, many of which were undated, in what he believed to be their proper sequence, and spent some time in modernising THE AUTHOR. their spelling and English and in annotating them. He proceeded to publish the letters after, at the request of his publisher, making excisions’ amounting in all to about 100 lines, in a guinea volume, entitled Zhe Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. He registered the copy- right of his book on June 15th, 1888. In October, 1888, a second edition was issued at the price of 6s. _No mention appears to have been made at the time by the original owner, or by Judge Parry, of the copyright in the letters ; nor was any notice given of the copyright having been previously dealt with when in 1891 the original letters were, after the death of the Rev. 8. R. Longe, sold by the then owner to the British Museum, where the librarian arranged and bound them (with one exception) in the same order in which Judge Parry had printed them. In November, 1902, Judge Parry’s attention was called to the advertisement of a volume entitled Zhe Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. Newly Edited from the original MSS. by Israel Gollancz. On the 1st December Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co., Judge Parry’s solicitors, wrote to Mr. Moring, the publisher of the proposed volume, stating that their client: had copyrighted his publication, of which he was preparing another edition, and that if necessary he would take steps to prevent the publication adver- -tised by Mr. Moring. Mr. Moring answered, on the 2nd December, that the work in question had been prepared from the original letters in the British Museum, and that under these circumstances he presumed Judge Parry would take no further steps. in the matter. Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co. repliedfon the 4th December stating that they and: Judge Parry were unable to understand how Mr. Moring claimed to be entitled to publish the book advertised by him, and under what permission or sanction from the British Museum he claimed such authority. On the 8th December Mr. Gollancz wrote to Judge Parry, alleging that “the fact of the originals now being the property of the nation made the letters common property,” and offering “to con- nect the new edition with your esteemed name.” On the 9th December Judge Parry referred Mr. Gollancz to his solicitors, and on the same day Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co., wrote to both the defendants calling on them “to discontinue the issue of the edition published by you.” Mr. Moring, however—after three months delay issued the volume at 2s. 6d. in March, 1903; and on the 18th March Judge Parry filed an affidavit in the Chancery Division of the High Court in support of an action to restrain its further issue. In this he did not insist on the claim suggested in the correspondence to an exclusive copyright in  THE AUTHOR. the original letters, but based his case on the allegation that the copyright in his work already described had been infringed with regard to (1) his notes, (2) his arrangement of the letters, (3) his text, and (4) his title. The defendants replied by affi- davit alleging that “they had not made any unfair use of the plaintiff’s book,” and as to the notes, they contested in detail the evidences of any such use brought forward by the plaintiff. Mr. Gollancz for himself denied having copied the order of the letters, stating that he had followed with one or two exceptions (based on his own researches) the British Museum order. He ad- mitted that, “as rough working copy, a print was set up of the letters as appearing in the plaintiff’s book,” but he alleged that the editor had collated it with the original letters “ at least ten times” and corrected “about 2,000 errors and differences,” and restored numerous omissions extending from one line to thirty, “the result being a new and very superior text.” He entered into detailed explanation of the cases in which he was charged with having copied or retained errors in Judge Parry’s notes. He submitted that his title was no infringement of copyright. He added, “I have always bond fide believed that I was acting within my strict rights, and in a way that could not be thought unfair to other editors, or in particular to the plaintiff.” The case came on before Mr. Justice Farwell gn April 8rd, 1903, on an application for an interim injunction. The Judge ut once expressed his opinion that the defendants’ admission that they had taken Judge Parry’s book and had copied it was fatal. In reply to the argument that they might “‘have made it their own by ten or a dozen comparisons with the manuscripts,” he added, “ It seems to me the substratum is fatal to you ; you cannot use your scaffolding.” On this point, and on this alone, the case was decided. The defendants’ counsel, “ who stated “‘they were not altogether taken by surprise,” submitted to’ judgment for delivery up on oath of all the books and documents constituting the infringement, and an inquiry as to damages and costs down to the trial. There can be little doubt that the judgment, which was so readily accepted by the defendants’ counsel, was sound in law. No decision, it will be noted, was arrived at by the Court on the three further alleged infringements of copyright brought forward—the title, the arrangement of the letters, and the notes—nor does the Committee presume to express an opinion on the legal points involved. : With regard to the notes the question is a complicated one. The following sentences convey the opinion furnished to the Committee by an 233 eminent counsel on the general rules likely to be applied by a Court of Law dealing with similar cases: ‘The principle of the law, as laid down in various judgments, appears to be that an author may use his predecessor’s work, but must not copy it. He must, by adding something of his own, or derived from other and separate sources, by amalgamating and assimilating his literary material, create a new product. He must incorporate what he takes in his own work. Inthe words of Lord Eldon, he is allowed ‘ the legitimate use of a publication in the fair exercise of a mental operation deserving the character of an original work.’ Mere unintelligent copying, especially if mistakes are copied, will be stopped. Intelligent verification and assimilation of previous research in a work of substantial originality will: not be interfered with. The application of this principle to individual cases must be guided by the study of the particular facts involved.” The result of the trial gave rise to a newspaper correspondence, in which some well-known scholars took part. Dr. Furnivall, in the Zimes, asserted that the case had been decided on a technical point, and that a substantial injustice had been done by declaring illegal a practice which he asserted to be common among scholars and essen- tial in the interests of literature. His letter, however, was not mainly directed to the points brought before the Court, and still less to the point decided. He preferred to lay stress on Judge Parry’s assertion of his own belief that “if at any time an honest attempt were made to copy the MSS. in the British Museum, he could show circumstances entitling him to restrain publica- tion of such a copy if he so desired,” or, as Dr. Furnivall put it, “that he could show circumstances that would entitle him to restrain publication of these manuscripts in the British Museum if he so desired.” Professor Skeat also wrote calling attention to the excisions made by Judge Parry in his text, and commenting severely on his descrip- tion of it as “a complete edition.” In the opinion of the Committee there can be no question that any legal hindrance to the use of manuscripts in a national collection would be a misfortune to literature. But this claim was not put before the Court, and Judge Parry has speci- fically stated that he will never seek to enforce it. It may therefore be dismissed from the discussion. The Committee are unable to regard the point on which the case was decided as purely technical. Mr. Gollancz had the original letters at his disposal. It was open to him to copy them, and to collate his copies with his predecessor’s version if he thought it desirable. He preferred to take the opposite course. He borrowed: his predecessor’s text, and, without reference to Judge Parry, made it the  234 basis of his own. It can be no defence to allege that Judge Parry’s work was at once faulty and defective. If it is the custom among scholars to go to a faulty version, when the original is at hand, or to use a living editor’s text without communi- cating with him until after he has threatened legal proceedings, the Committee consider that the law has done a service to literature in declaring that such practices are illegal. The Committee have not overlooked the literary aspect of the case. Judge Parry’s edition of the letters is admittedly incomplete, and the reason assigned by him for the excisions, namely, the request of his publisher, cannot be considered adequate. It is not disputed that his text and notes stand in considerable need of revision. Although the second edition of his volume was published as far back as October, 1888, he had apparently not availed himself of the accessibility since 1891 of the original MSS. in order to revise his text. For it was not till January, 1903, that Judge Parry employed a copyist to compare the letters in his book with the originals in the British Museum, But, while admitting these considerations, the Committee feel that Judge Parry was entitled to be consulted before any use was made of his work in the preparation of a new edition of the letters. Finally, as in the Z%mes correspondence the action of the Secretary of the Society has been referred to, the Committee think it desirable to state the part he has taken in the matter. Before the trial Mr. Gollancz, as a member of the Society, called on the Secretary, who, at his desire, wrote to Judge Parry in the following terms :— THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS, Mareh 20th, 1903, DEAR SIR,— I have now perused your affidavit. I have also seen Mr, Gollancz, who has given me his view of the position. : Mr. Gollanez has asked me to put this offer before you— but without prejudice to his legal position if you do not accept it—that either I should endeavour to arrange the matter between you, or he is willing to abide absolutely by any decision come to by an arbitrator appointed by the Committee of Management of the Society....... Yours truly, (Signed) G. HERBERT THRING. The omitted portion of the letter is private, and does not refer to any offer. Judge Parry, in his reply, stated that any offer Mr. Gollancz desired to make must be made through the usual channels. This information was com- municated to Mr. Gollancz by the Secretary. ee THE AUTHOR. LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. a Opinions on United States Copyright Law.* I. Music Booxs DrEniep ImportTATION FEBRUARY 15, 1898. I. Reprints of musical compositions are pro- hibited importation. II. The term ‘ books” in the prohibiting clause includes music books. III. Music books made up partly of copyrighted and partly of uncopyrighted compositions cannot be imported. TV. Destruction of unlawfully imported musi¢ books, pursuant to rules of the Secretary of the Treasury, is legal. By the Solicitor-General. I. The Act of March 3, 1891, prohibits “ during the existence of such copyright, the importation into the United States of any book, chromo, litho- graph, or photograph so copyrighted.” Musical compositions are usually lithographed or set from type. They thus fall within the class prohibited. The act indicates an intent to pro- hibit copyrighted compositions, which includes musical compositions, when reprinted by type set or by drawings on stone made outside of the United States. Il. In the clause prohibiting importation, the word “books” signifies the mechanical means to place the author’s intellectual work in_ saleable shape. Courts have construed “books” in this sense to include a musical composition though on but one sheet. The reprint may be a book, a lithograph, or a photograph, according to the pro- cess. In any of these forms the reprint cannot be imported during the life of the copyright. III. Music books made up in part of copy- righted compositions are prohibited. A prohibited - article cannot be admitted by being attached to an article which is not prohibited. A book is an entity. If part is not admissible, it must all be excluded. IV. Under the convention with Canada pro- viding for the reciprocal return of mail matter which is “not delivered from any cause,” books imported in violation of law need not be returned. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster- General have power ($4958, R. 8.) to make rules to prevent importation of prohibited articles. Under this general authority rules for the forfeiture * Extracts from a pamphlet published by the Americam Publishers’ Copyright League.  THE AUTHOR. and destruction of prohibited articles unlawfully imported may be framed so as to provide “ due process of law.” II. DrRaMatic RIGHTS IN AMERICA JUNE 80, 1896. An unpublished drama need not be copyrighted to protect stage-rights. By Mr. Rives.* An American publisher is requested by an Eng- lish author ‘‘to copyright a dramatisation” of a forthcoming story by producing a simultaneous technical performance. In the United States stage-right rests entirely on common law right of property, not upon statute. An unpublished play is protected. The play is still unpublished if the text of the drama has not been printed, although the play has been produced on the stage and the novel from which it is taken has been published. The simultaneous performance desired is un- necessary to protect the stage-right. II. Notice oF CopyricuHt; Form or 1897. Marcu 4, When a story, published in a magazine and copyrighted, is reprinted in book form by another publisher, under an assignment of the copyright, the notice therein should give the date of the original copyright and name of the original publisher. By Mr, Rives. A story was copyrighted by the J. B. Lippincott Company when published in its magazine. The copyright was assigned to Dodd, Mead & Company, who are about to publish the story in book form, and who inquire as to the proper form for the notice of copyright. The law requires a notice to be printed in every book in order to entitle it to protection under its coypright. The notice must be in the required words, Congress declares it must give ‘the year the copyright was entered and the name of the party by whom it was taken out.” If the story is reprinted in the same form the notice should be “ Copyright, 1896, by J. P. Lippincott Company.” If it is not to be published in exactly the same form as in the magazine it may be copyrighted as a new edition, and the notice should be “ Copyright, 1896, by J. P. Lippincott Company ; Copyright, 1897, by Dodd, Mead & Company.” * My. Rives is the Counsel to the League. hd oe Or IV RE-BINDING CHEAP Eprrions ror SALE APRIL 3, 1899, Can the owner of a copyright, who sells a cheap edition of the book, prevent its being put in another cover, so as to compete at lower prices with a better edition of the same book ? By Mr. Rives. The question of how far the owner of a copy - right can impose restrictions upon the use of his book has often been before the Courts. The ques- tion seems to depend on the consideration whether the owner of the copyright has sold the book. If the owner of the copyright has nof sold the book he can restrict its use. So in case of an edition of Blaine’s “Twenty Years in Congress,” the publisher had not sold it to canvassing agents and the bookseller, who got a few copies, knowing of the agreement under which the agents got the book, was restrained. But the moment the book is sold, even though conditions are attached to the sale, the owner of the copyright must rely on his remedy for breach of contract, and not on his right to restrain an infringement of copyright. So, where books damaged by fire were sold toa dealer on condition “that all books be sold as paper stock only and not placed on the market as anything else,” but the books were rebound and put on sale, the Court held the remedy was not for violation of the copyright, but of the terms of the contract. The question next arises how far an owner of a copyright who se//s his books can protect himself by imposing conditions on their use. I think an agreement by which a dealer undertakes, for an expressed consideration, to sell the books only in a certain form would, be valid and enforceable as a contract ; without reference to any copyright. A greater difficulty arises with respect to the one to whom the first purchaser may sell. The contract might also provide that the first purchaser should insert similar conditions in any contract of sale with a subsequent purchaser. How far a con- tract between B. and C., made for the benefit of A., is enforceable by A., is hard to say. The rule varies in different States, but usually A. would have no remedy against C. I advise, the safest course is for the publisher to have a carefully drawn agreement with the dealer providing that the dealer shall not dispose of the books except in proper covers ; and also that in selling to other dealers the original purchaser shall agree to impose the same condition ; and that any breach shall be compensated by liquidated damages. It would also be well to print a notice in each copy of the book referring to the original contract.  236 Such contract should be enforced against the first purchaser, and he might be trusted to enforce it against the dealers to whom he sold. Vv. PUBLICATION TO SECURE COPYRIGHT OcToBER 30, 1901. Is publication of a book necessary to secure copyright ? ae By Mr. Rives. The text of the statute is silent on this point. The act, however, assumes that every copyrighted book is to be published. Copies of the book must be deposited “not later than the day of publica- tion.” No action for infringement can be brought unless a notice is printed in the “ copies of every edition published.’ The question is what the Court will infer from this language. In “ Drone on Copyright,” it is said that “ publication is made an essential prerequisite to securing copyright ; and hence there can be no statutory copyright in an un- published work.” The case of Boucicault v. Hart (Circuit Court of the United States in New York) held that a mere filing of title conferred no rights, unless there was a publication in a reasonable time. There is, however, a dictum in the case of Farmer vy. Calvert (Circuit Court in Michigan) that publi- cation 1s not necessary. The point, therefore, is somewhat doutbful. ‘he Constitution empowers Congress to pass copyright laws, not only to pro- tect authors, but (as it declares) ‘to promote the progress of science and useful arts,” or, in other words, to encourage the diffusion of knowledge. Part of the price an author pays for protection is that his work shall be available for consultation by all who desire it. I am, therefore, of the opinion that the purpose of the law is that the author shall, within some reasonable time, make his work public. As the question is not definitely settled, I should consider it unwise for a publisher to defer actual publication for a long time, as it would be running a serious risk of having his copyright declared invalid if he afterwards tried to prevent an infringement. ® ———+— A Curious ‘Case. In the autumn of 1902 a member of the Society received a communication from a firm of the name of Messrs, J. E. Stannard & Co., calling itself advertising agents aad contractors, offering to procure the copyright of certain of her books in America, for a fixed price. As, however, the books had already been published in England the author _ was advised that this would be impossible. THE AUTHOR. The contractors, however, were not to be beaten and claimed that they had a method of obtaining protection, although the work had already been published in England. They promised great things from the circulation of the book and offered to obtain the control of the whole American market. Still the author hesitated, but finally, under the advice of the Secretary of the Society, refused to accept the offer. The Secretary pointed out that as the American copyright was lost, it would be much better for her to deal with her former American publishers —an old-established and reliable firm—if she desired to test the American market. Her English publishers gave her the same advice. Still Messrs. Stannard & Co. were per- sistent, “ considering that it must be disheartening to theauthor to feel that rights worth somethousands of pounds might slip away at any moment.” Again, in a letter dated October Ist, 1902, they state as follows :— “We think it decidedly unfair that after we have taken the trouble to do for you what neither of your ‘ firms of standing’ ever thought of doing, that is, telling you how to rescue what you have lost, you straightway go and turn over the information to someone else. We could have secured the copyrights ourselves and no one would have blamed us for so doing, instead of which we offered to get them for you. Our clients learn to rely on us for straight- forwardness, and it is natural that we should expect the same in return. We should be pleased to hear from you in due course. We are tempted with an offer which would amply recoup us for our trouble, but as it would not be any to your advantage if we accepted it we have postponed the reply until you come to a decision.” The author was still obdurate. In a letter from Messrs. Stannard & Co., dated October 24th, we find the following paragraphs :— ‘Since we are not in business as philanthropists we have advised our American manager by this mail to secure copy- rights of your books if possible, and retain them in our name. “Failing this, he is to issue a par. to the American Literary Press that the American Literary Copyrights are not secured. “ Since respectability does not enter into the methods of American business men, we have no doubt that this will have the desired effect, and if some cute American publisher . copyrights the works in his own name and prevents you from issuing them in the U.S.A. you cannot say that timely warning was not given you. ‘* As we have pointed out before, the copyrights are worth as much to us as they are to you. If we get them, the law is with us. Under no circumstances will we sign your publisher’s agreement, and unless you are willing to agree to the terms stated in our agreement we must follow our own course in the matter. “A cablegram (prepaid) will be the only course open if you wish our American manager to await further instructions. “Since much valuable time has been wasted, we must ask for a final decision at your earliest convenience.” The daring of the gentleman who writes for the firm is interesting quite apart from his legal know- ledge, which is peculiar, It is abundantly clear  THE AUTHOR. 237 to those who have any knowledge of American Copyright Law that if any person actually obtains copyright in America without the English author’s sanction, he must be taking that which does not belong to him—that is to say, supposing the pub- lication in both countries to be simultaneous. If he does not obtain the author’s copyright, but merely publishes on the American market, he is only acting as a common but legalised pirate, On the 21st of January of the present year, Messrs. Lane and Stannard, presumably repre- senting the same firm in the United States, wrote as follows from New York :— “Re the U.S.A. copyrights of your books. We beg to inform you.that they have been secured in accordance with the law, and should therefore be pleased to hear from you with respect to the publishing of the same in this country. “As the general publishing price in this country is $1.50, and the wholesaler’s price but half that amount, it isnot possible to import an edition and sell at a profit, as there is a duty of 45 per cent. on imported books. Taking your offer of two shillings and sixpence (or 60 cents) per volume, and adding the cost of freight and duty, you will see that the importing cost would be at least $1 per volume, and therefore cannot be entertained as a business proposition. “Weare willing and ready to deal with you on equitable terms for the printing and publishing here, and offer and require similar terms given to your publishers in England, with exceptions which you will note in the enclosed agreement. Under these terms you can have full control over the MSS., and the books can go to press exactly as written, which I understand you keenly desire. “We wish you to understand, however, that unless they are purchased by you, the copyrights will remain in our possession, and we reserve the right, if you refuse our offer, to sell to an American publishing firm, without stipulation as to the editing of the MSS. Should, however, you desire to purchase, your offer would receive premier consideration. “In case you accept our offer to publish, the books will be issued by a New York firm, and will be advertised widely but economically. Please cable your reply on or before February 5th, as after that date we shall conclude that you refuse our offer and shall feel at liberty to conclude negotia- tions with a firm here for the sale of copyrights with the privilege of editing the MSS. as they desire. ‘‘We must warn you that any further shipments of your English edition to this country will be liable to be seized and confiscated, but we will, of course, allow you reasonable time to warn your publishers and agents.” The agreement that they asked the author to sign is interesting and instructive. There are three books in question: 25,000 copies of two of the books are to be published, and 50,000 of the third. The author agrees to pay all expenses of printing and publishing, including illustrating, binding, packing, freights, etc., and also one-half of the total cost of efficiently advertising the said books, No limit is fixed for the cost of production or for the advertisements, and the author has to deposit in cash a sum equal to the estimated cost of production and in addition a sum equal to the estimated initial cost of advertising with the Trust Company of the City of New York. Such deposit to be subject only to the draft or cheque of the said firm on the certification of such bills of indebtedness by the author if residing in New York, or in her absence by her legally appointed representatives. Should, however, bills or accounts as above stated be presented for certification and no action taken on the same within seven days, then the said bank or Trust Company is hereby authorised to pay such cheques or drafts out of the aforesaid deposits on receiving an affidavit by the said firm setting forth such default or negligence. And lastly, in con- sideration of the above articles being faithfully performed and carried out, the said firm agree to pay half profits. It is hardly necessary to make any comment on the above extraordinary agreement or upon the proposals made during the course of negotiations. The facts speak for themselves, Although the first letters were full of large promises of profits of all kinds to the author, yet the last offer is quite distinct. It is possible that the author might have been led away by the temptation held out of large returns arising from obtaining copyright in the United States, but no author, however unaccustomed to the ways and methods of publishers and their dealings in literary wares, could possibly be deceived by the final letter and the finalagreement. Nothing farther remains to be done. The author must stand and wait. If the books are produced in the United States, they are pirated copies of the English edition. If they are produced as copyright, under the American law, the firm will be subject to severe penalties, and if the books are produced as an authorised edition, the author’s remedy is to make the whole case public, G. HE. “FAIR COMMENT.” — oe HE Court of Appeal has now given its judgment in the case of McQuire v. The Western Morning News Company, Limited. The case is a very interesting one, not only from the point of view of the dramatist, but from the point of view of the author. All members of the profession of literature are subject to criticism. Although each particular case of “unfair com- ment’? must be to a certain extent decided on its own especial facts, yet there are certain broad rules which the Court lays down in order to determine on what lines and to what extent a criticism may be libellous. The case was brought by an actor who repre- sented a piece at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth,  238 and objected to the comment that appeared next day in the Western Morning News. In the Court of first instance judgment was given for the plaintiff with £100 damages. The defendant company pleading that the words were not libellous, but fair and bond fide criticism on a matter of public interest. The defendants appealed, and on the appeal the judgment in the Court below was reversed, The Master of the Rolls, in delivering an elaborate judgment, made some very weighty com- ments on the law of “ libellous criticism.” Firstly, as the libel complained of was a dramatic criticism of the play publicly acted, unless it exceeded “fair comment,” it could not be counted as libellous. After going carefully over the statements of the plaintiff and defendants, he proceeded to raise the most important question of what are the limits of “ fair comment.” “ One thing,” he said, “is perfectly clear. That the jury have no right to substitute their own opinion of the literary merits of the work for that of the critic, or to try the fairness of the criticism by. any such standard.” This point is most important, and although it has been made before, yet it cannot be sufficiently insisted upon. If the verdict of whether the criticism was fair or not depended upon the jury’s verdict of the merits of the piece, the result might be in a good many cases extraordinary. Authors and dramatists know but too well how even the highest critics have been known to disagree when writing about or discussing the features of works of art. Secondly, the Master of the Rolls quoted a saying of Lord Ellenborough’s bearing on this subject :— “The Commentator must not step aside from the work or introduce fiction for the purpose of condemnation. Had the party writing the criti- cism followed the plaintiff into domestic life for the purpose of slander, that would have been libellous.” And again, from the same judgment, “ Show me an attack upon the moral character of the plaintiff, or upon his character unconnected with his author- ship, and I shall be as ready as any judge that ever sat here to protect him.” Lastly, he states, “I think the word ‘ fair’ embraces the meaning of honest and also of rele- vancy.” And later, “‘ The comment, in order to be within the protection of the privilege, had to be fair, 7.¢., not such as to disclose in itself actual malice. It also had to be relevant; otherwise it never was within it. And the judge could hold, as a matter of law, that the privilege did not extend to it.’ THE AUTHOR. These are some of the general points, and in this particular case the Master of the Rolls stated that he was clearly of opinion that the verdict was against the weight of evidence, and that he con- sidered the latter part of the summing-up of the judge in the Court of first instance might have led the jury to apply the standard of their own taste to the appreciation of the thing criticised, and to measure the rights of the critic accordingly. Members of the Society from time to time come to the office with questions of this kind, and it is very useful to put before them those fundamental facts on which alone an action for libellous criti- cism will rest. G. Hoo. —$-—<—-—____ A COMMA AND A COW. ++ PWHE British Medical Journal of the 28th of March, 1903, had an interesting account of a dairy visited during an investigation into “The Milk Supply of Large Towns.” One of the incidents was described as follows :— “The driver having finished milking, his cow offered to take me into an adjoining room, where the milk was cooled.” In its following issue the British Medical Journal commented upon the freak of the “ devil” who had thus with the aid of a comma created a bovine successor to Balaam’s ass, and gave two amusing instances of the powers of misplaced punctuation. In the one a well-known Nonconformist divine, wishing to disclaim any ambition to appear in the black coat and white tie, or stock, of orthodoxy, was credited with a public declaration that he would “wear no clothes, to distinguish him from his fellow-Christians.” In the other, a Canadian firm having placed a new patent nursing-bottle on the market, accom- panied it with these recommendations, for the guidance of anxious mothers: “When the baby is done drinking it must be unscrewed, and laid in a cool place under a tap. If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk it should be boiled.” The last example would seem to require some- thing more than the minding of stops, in order to satisfy a critical literary taste. It is not, however, recorded that any baby suffered. In such a case an interesting question of legal responsibility might have been raised by an action for negligence against the vendors of the bottle brought by a chilled or par-boiled infant suing through his or her “next friend.”  THE AUTHOR. GENERAL MEMORANDA. ++ ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement), In this case the following rules should be attended to: C.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher, As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Ill. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author, Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the ** Cost of Production,” IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production, (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book, General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld, o—~<>— WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. —< + EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. [t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager,; 239 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTs : (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory, An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certaindate and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (¢.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (e., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or dificult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (.) apply also in this case. 4. PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event, It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved, 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time, This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. : 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11, An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA«# TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY &—~<}P— — HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion, All this without any cost to the member, bs Ly VERY member has a right toask for and to receive  240 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers : —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements, 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. .8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. —_—_+—>_ +—___—_—_ THE READING BRANCH. — to EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach, The term JISS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. ————_——__.——_o—_____ NOTICES. ———>+ HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s, 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. Communieations for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH, All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. i COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EDITOR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever, Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. —+— + THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. ge R. G. H. PUTNAM, the Secretary of the American Publishers’ Copyright League, has forwarded to the offices a pamphlet privately printed for the League, entitled “ Opinions on Questions of Copyright.” The pamphlet contains opinions upon the more important issues that have been in dispute during the last ten years ending December, 1902. Mr. Putnam, in his letter to the Secretary, states, ‘he will be very pleased to meet any special require- ments that may arise for copies on the part of the managers of the Society.” If, therefore, any member for a special purpose should desire to have a copy of the pamphlet he is requested to communicate with the Secretary, who will, no doubt, under Mr, Putnam’s favour, obtain the work in question. We see, with interest, that the Publishers’ Asso- ciation of America means to print at different intervals further similar summaries as they are able to secure records of decisions on Copyright Cases. These publications will in time no doubt grow to great importance, as it will be possible in a handy form to have a collection of all the leading Copy- right Cases. We thank Mr. Putnam for his courtesy and consideration. Amone@ the Correspondence we print a letter from Mr. Thomas Hardy. It comes at a very suitable time, as the same subject was treated in the May number of The  Author, on page 206, when comment was made on the Annual Meeting of the Publishers’ Association, In that article we stated as follows :— “ Firstly, we have insisted, and now insist again, that it is absolutely essential that contracts deal- ing with the subject of serial rights should be clear and limited and should not be general or indefinite, and when serial rights are sold they should be sold either to one paper or to a limited circle of papers for one issue only or for a limited time.” Unfortunately, Mr. Hardy seems to have suffered from a complaint which is not infrequent among authors, the revival of an earlier work without any reference to the author. Legally, the position is quite correct. If the copyright has been sold or if serial rights without any limitation have been transferred, the position is often very unsatisfactory both for the author, or, as in the case quoted in the May number, for the publisher. It is necessary to warn authors who publish serial work to be careful about their agreements. In the early days of the past month the papers were full of the Stock Exchange walk from London to Brighton, and applauded the fact vociferously that out of some 90 starters 72 covered the distance under thirteen hours. From a physical point of view no doubt the result is highly satis- factory. : : : In the American Author there is an interesting article on the mental activity of authors. Mr. John Swinton, “journalist, orator, and economist,” was desired to write a novel based on certain economical questions, consisting of 500 octavo pages, small pica type, in twenty days. Reckoning a page to contain about 250 words, this meant a book of 125,000 words. Mr. Swinton objected, but the representative of the publishing firm was inexorable, and at last the author stated that he would make an effort. His own words are as follows :— “He demanded the preface of my book at once. I pondered. I was familiar with the subject, having thought and spoken and written much upon it in other years. I hastily sketched a plan as I talked with him. ‘“‘He said he would wait in the house till I had written the preface, which he desired to take to Philadelphia that evening. Becoming desperate under his urging eye, I sat down, and in an hour gave him the preface. The first chapter was mailed in a few days. Chapter followed chapter. I worked day and night, keeping up pluck with never-ending pots of coffee. Three hundred of the five hundred pages were written, and time was nearly up. I padded. I put in things I had formerly written. The twenty days were out, and over one hundred pages were yet needed. I had to get a few days of grace. Finally the book of 500 pages and 125,000 words was finished. Its title is ‘Striking for Life,’ ”’ This was certainly fine mental athletics, but the THE AUTHOR. 241 article goes on to quote from another American periodical, the Bookman, a few facts which have no doubt been fully verified by the writer. For instance—Frank Norris wrote 125,000 words in 89 days. Mrs. Oliphant always wrote at night, and more than once completed a three volume novel in six weeks. The following interesting statements about English authors, from the same article, may come as a surprise to some :— ““Weyman writes one novel a year, and cannot be per- suaded to attempt more. It took Hall Caine three years to write ‘The Manxman,’ Barrie four to write ‘ Sentimental Tommy,’ and four more to produce ‘Tommy and Grizel.’ Maurice Hewlett wrote ‘The Forest Lovers’ four times before he was willing to let it go from his hands, and the late Bret Harte tore up a dozen pages of manuscript for every one that he completed. Harold Frederic was five years writing ‘The Damnation of Theron Ware. ” But for sound mental athletics, consider gravely an offer made by a certain well-known publisher to a gentleman, whom he desired to employ to grind out fiction. This offer was quoted in’ the April number of Zhe Author, and is absolutely authentic. The serial writer was to have £600 a year. To earn this money he would have to produce 5,000 words a day for six days a week, without any provision for sickness or holidays. It will be seen that work under this offer comes nearly up to that of Mr. Swinton, but has to be continued year in and year out, until the publisher, the public, and the author are tired, and the last, a useless wreck, loses his position. In the American Critic an article entitled “Uncertainties of Literature,” written by Elliot Flower, follows the same lines as the articles that appeared in the February and March (1902) num- bers of Zhe Author, on “Some Free Lance Expe- riences.” In reading the record it would appear that the struggling ree Lance meets with much the same treatment on both sides of the water. The record is tabulated. Out of 53 MSS., each MS. had to be sent on its travels on an average slightly over five times before it could be placed. Nine were accepted at once, and 12 on a second trial, but at the other end of the scale, one was sent out 30 times before acceptance, one 18 times, and two 13 times. There is no doubt that when an author has reached a certain point of facility in writing there is nothing like persistence to bring success. Tux following rhyme, written, perchance, with a view to ridicule, has been dropped into the Society’s post bag. We print it for what it is worth, in the hope that  249 the author will put aside his cloak of modesty and discover himself. No doubt, he calls it an epigram. If so, he would, we feel sure, be a proper inmate for one of those beautiful and sanitary buildings that adorn the hills of Surrey and Sussex. To tHE Society of AUTHORS, 39, QUEEN STREET, SrorEY’s GATE. You flourish on Authors’ alarms ; You arouse the unfriendly in Man ; Then you sell healing balms, To stifle their qualms, At the cost of One Guinea per ann. But pause for a moment, I pray, A pen stroke :—your ruin is clear, From the Street that is clean, With the name of the QUEEN, To the street that is doubtful and QUEER. ee <> THE LYTTON CENTENARY. — + HE Lytton centenary has produced the ordinary crop of commemorative articles, the best being Mr. Francis Gribble’s paper in the Fortnightly Review, and the more sober appre- ciation in Blackwood’s Magazine. Of these two papers we think the latter has the greater value as criticism, for Mr. Gribble’s virile intolerance of any- thing savouring of affectation prompts him to con- vey the suggestion, though he does not actually formulate the charge, that Lytton’s vapourings about the Beautiful and the True originated in preciousness ” and were therefore insincere, and his resentment of the seeming insincerity prompts him to do scant justice to Lytton’s compensating merits. With the intolerance of affectation we are in full sympathy, but we do not endorse the very common opinion that Lytton was insincere. He was despe- rately in earnest, ever painfully conscious of his “mission”; he had indeed that high seriousness which, according to Matthew Arnold, comes from absolute sincerity. With it, too, he had a sense of humour ; “ Kenelm Chillingly” proves that, even as it proves its author’s funereal gravity and fathom- less sentimentality. And with those two qualifica- tions, high seriousness and humour, it is odds but what any man will go far. The mistake Lytton made was in allowing his mission to get in the way of his art. “In forming his conception,” Mr. Worsfold says, “the artist should be guided by the test of ‘great ideas ’; in executing his con- ception he must be guided by the ‘rules of art, THE AUTHOR. He, on the one hand, can never be, by the nature of things, so independent of the mass of mankind as to make artistic excellence his sole object; on the other, moral worth, however distinctive, can never of itself suffice to endow his work with the characteristic charm of art.” Lytton’s moral inten- tions were above suspicion, and his literary facility was so extraordinary that it is not surprising that he neglected the rules of art when, without them, he could achieve such an extraordinary vogue as he did at once. The measure of success that was meted out to him might well, indeed, have turned the brain of a much more robust man, and the wonder is, not that he enjoyed such a vogue in the earlier part of his career, but that he was not spoiled by it and wholly incapacitated for doing the much better work that he actually produced in the latter half of his career. Whether Lytton was a great artist or not is a question little likely to be brought up for discussion now ; the centenary merely offers opportunity for reconsidering him as a writer at the expiration of a given period. What he wrote, he wrote ; some of it suited and has been accepted ; “and that’s success.” ‘To describe him in a single epithet is not possible, but the epigrammatic criticism passed upon him by a writer in the Academy is pro- bably as fair a one as could be devised : that he was so full of talent that there was no room left in him for genius. That his bicentenary will be com- memorated, and those books which are read now be read a hundred years hence, may, we think, be assumed ; and of many a better writer so much could not be said. Or THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. — (Reprinted by kind permission from the Publishers’ Circular, May 2nd.) R. ANDREW LANG has been “ pitching in” to the booksellers in the Morning Post—or, what is much the same thing, he has borrowed the stick of a “ trenchant critic ” who writes in 7’e Author and re-applied it—with reservations. He lets his “author” point the moral, and then he adorns the tail, with another sting of the stick. «The bookseller’s affair is,” he says, “to know about books and men. My author, however, ‘believes that it is nearly impossible to exaggerate the lethargy and incapacity of the ordinary retail bookseller.” Mr. Lang kindly adds: “These be very brave words ; I should hesitate to apply them PohCenSORNRRI  THE AUTHOR. to his Majesty’s ministers, much more to the ordinary retail bookseller.” Then why, Mr. Lang, did you not hesitate before-taking such an unfair statement out of its coffin and publishing it to the world ?—it would have remained stillborn had you not godfathered it. ‘“ ‘The habit of reading,’ says my author, ‘is being all over the country dis- couraged by the insutficiency of the vast majority of booksellers.’” Mr. Lang quotes this silly libel, and adds that he deems it “ much too sweeping.” How much ? “*The country,’ says my author ferociously, ‘would be benefited by the bankruptcy of the whole lot of booksellers, and the transference of their business to more competent hands.’” Mr. Lang’s comment is: “This man _ has suffered much.” How much? Anyone would think the whole of the booksellers of the United Kingdom had united to offend him by refusing to stock his works, but all we are told is that some unnamed “suburban bookseller” failed to get him a cheap copy of Milton’s poems. “The book never came, but at the end of a fortnight the bookseller found energy enough to send a messenger to say it could not be procured.” If this cock-and-bull story were true, what ground is there in it for libelling the whole book- selling trade of the country ? Another ‘“ example,” as Mr, Lang calls it, of this man’s sufferings at the hands of the whole trade is that, despairing of getting a learned work on Egyptology from the suburban bookseller—apparently he did not even ask for it—he gives its title and the address of its publisher to a tobacconist, who at once procured it —whether the confiding tobacconist ever got paid for it we are not told. But why should Mr. Lang give credence and publicity to such a Blue Fairy story as this ? ’ “The larger part of the reading public cannot get the books it desires,” says Mr. Lang’s “ tren- chant critic.” If this is trne it only goes to prove that the larger part of the public is what Carlyle said it was. How interesting it would be to have the name and address of this “author” who would like to see the whole bookselling trade made bankrupt because some apocryphal suburban bookseller could not procure for him a copy of the “ Chandos’ Milton. Mr. Lang’s pen is not often dipped in disappointed author’s bile, and it is not as if he believed the charges were true; then why give currency to anonymous and unfounded abuse of the booksellers ? There are thousands of booksellers in the United Kingdom selling millions of books every year, and yet they are all condemned in this wholesale way because some nameless author says he could not get a cheap book from some unnamed bookseller. 243 It is true that one or two other “examples ” are given by Mr. Lang. Some old lady in Norway wrote for Mr. Lang’s books to an Edinburgh book- seller, who gaily replied that they were all out of print. Are we to infer from the strange conduct of this prevaricating Edinburgh bookseller that Mr. Lang has no honour in his own country ? Heaven forbid! Booksellers would be the last to claim that their knowledge and methods were never at fault—but even those of authors are not perfect. o—~<— HALF-PROFITS ON SHEETS TO AMERICA, — + T may seem dull reading to the constant reader of The Author to see the repetition of certain forms of agreement, certain clauses, certain methods of publishing, accompanied with the same comments; but as long as publishers persist in bad clauses so long must Ve Author's objections persist also. There is a clause often embodied in agreements issued by the best houses in London in which the author, who does not obtain the American Copy- right, is entitled to half of the profits on the sale of sheets to America. If this clause is inserted in the usual half-profit agreement there is little to be said against it. The only points at issue, then, are, Is a profit-sharing agreement desirable? In what proportion should profits be divided between author and publisher? But if the clause is inserted in an agreement where the author is to obtain a royalty on the publication of the English edition, there are two very strong points of objection. This sale to an American house is mere agency work. If conducted through the medium of an author’s agent the latter would be highly pleased with the payment of 10 per cent. on the net result. Not so the publisher, although he is constantly crying out against the agent and his charges, It is a well-known fact—instances have often been quoted—that the publisher, although he expresses strong disapproval of the intervention of the agent who charges a modest 10 per cent., makes—when he endeavours to undertake any of the agent’s duties—a general charge of 50 per cent. The lowest percentage which has ever been seen in any agreement before the Secretary of the Society was 25 per cent. Further arguments against allowing a publisher to undertake an agent’s work need not be repeated here. The second objection rests on the fact that a clause drafted on these lines is a distinct pitfall to the author. It is a pitfall for the following reasons :—1. Because to the ordinary person the  244 difficulties with which the clause is pregnant are altogether invisible. 2. Because the amount the author receives in royalty is always calculated— see the books of the Society on the point—on the basis that the full cost of composition is charged against the English edition. If this were not the case, the author ought to receive a higher royalty on British sales. : Let us explain what we mean more fully. ake the ordinary 6s. book :— Cost of composition of 3,000 copies ... £30 0 0 Cost of printing ; ee 16 0 8 Cost of paper a 2 58 0 0 Total... ..£104 0 0 Of the 3,000 copies the publisher sends 2,000 to America, and receives for the same (say) 1s. a copy £100. The cost of composition was compulsory for the completion of the English edition, the author’s royalty, as stated, being based on_ this understanding ; but the publisher takes two-thirds of this cost towards the American edition, as well as two-thirds of the cost for the print and the paper, leaving to be divided between himself and the author— By sale of 2,000 copies to America ...£100 0 0 ‘Two-thirds cost of production ~ 69 6 8 £30 13 4 As the cost of composition has no right to be charged against the American edition, but only the cost of print and paper, the difference would work out as follows :— By sale of 2,000 copies to America ...£100 0 0 ‘Two-thirds cost of print and paper... 49 6 8 £50 13 4 Instead, therefore, of the author receiving £25 6s. 8d., by the publisher’s method of calcu- lation of half profits, the author receives £15 6s. 8d. and the publisher £35 6s. 8d. It is almost as reasonable an arrangement as the ordinary half-profit agreement, whose clauses and workings have so often been exposed in Zhe Author. To show how this method may be worked out in the interests of untrustworthy publishers unfairly to the author, say the publisher in the first instance only publishes a thousand copies. The cost of composition would still be £30; printing, £10; paper, £20. He sells 500 copies to America, and on the same principle the following sum is worked out — THE AUTHOR. Half cost of production .. £30 0 0 By sale of 500 copies to America at 1s. per copy ... one ae «=. 202 0 0 £5 0.0 This would leave a deficit against the author’s account of £2 10s., as the sale to America has failed to cover the cost of production. As soon as the edition is sold and the amount is worked out against the author he prints 10,000 copies for the English edition, but never takes into account the proportion of the cost of production of the 500 sent to America to the 10,000 printed in England. Again, supposing you take the first instance and 20,000 were subsequently sold, the cost of the 2,000 sold to America is still taken in proportion to the cost of the 3,000 of the first edition printed, and not in proportion to the whole cost. It will be seen, therefore, that, quite apart from the contract being unfair and a pitfall to the unwary (as on the face of the agree- ment the difficulty is invisible), even if it is worked out by a publisher with an honest idea of doing nothing dishonourable, the result of its working, its natural evolution, becomes a fraud on the author, as it is impossible to calculate this sale to America on the basis of future sales. It must always be calculated upon the sales that have already been made. The position is ridiculous. It is to be hoped that the Publishers’ Association will dissociate themselves from this form of agreement. G. H. T. —_—-- AUTHORS AND MODERN THRIFT. II.—The Purchase of an Annuity. O possess an annuity is the dearest desire of a poor man’s heart. An income assured for life, against which neither the rumours of wars nor the depressions of the money market has any effect, isperhaps the most comforting of all prospects. For this reason doubtless—the immunity from finan- cial worry—the lives of annuitants extend beyond the common span. One company, in a recent report, stated that the average age of the annuitants dying during the year under review was eighty-eight. The records of other companies confirm this experi- ence, which is remarkable in view of the fact that many of the annuitants are in weak health when they effect their policies, and would not be accept- able for life insurance except at special rates. The Moral Objection is one which arises in the consideration of the annuity. It is held that as the capital invested with the company is forfeited  to them at the death of the assured ; that the con- tract is a peculiarly selfish one; at least this is often the opinion of near relatives. The question, however, depends wholly upon circumstance. For a married man with distracting responsibilites to sink all his available capital might very well be an unwise step. On the other hand, there area variety of situations in which to purchase an annuity might be a most prudent step, inasmuch as the annuitant is relieved immediately of all anxiety—providing the annuity is of sufficient amount—as regards his future. Annuity versus Investment—It is generally agreed by financial authorities that the highest return on money it is possible to obtain from abso- lutely secure investment is 8 per cent. he return from the annuity is much higher, varying from 5 to 20 per cent., according to age. A man of sixty would receive £30 a year from his investment of £1,000, whereas the annuity would produce him an income of £94. The difference might very well mean to him the path from penury to comfort. In consequence of the curious life- giving properties of the annuity it is regarded with disfavour by some of the insurance companies, as it is not a department which is very profitable to them. The occasional early death of an annuitant does not recompense them for the abnormally long lives on which they continue to make a high return. Another aspect of the annuity in comparing it with investments is that the return never varies. The recent depreciation in the value of Consols and certain railway stocks indicates a risk which attaches even to “ gilt-edged”’ investments. The choice of an annuity is necessarily confined to persons of capital. But the return per hundred pounds is the same as per thousand, and to persons whose income comes to them, as it were, in flashes, a few hundred pounds might very well be sunk in producing a small income which has the immense advantage of being guaranteed to them for life. The choice of an annuity, being a perfectly simple contract untroubled by side issues, is one which offers no difficulty. All the well-known British offices are absolutely safe. The object, therefore, should be to purchase the annuity in the office offering the largest return for the particular age. The returns differ far more than in ordinary insurance. For example, a man of sixty can pur- chase for £1,000 a life annuity of £94 in one office, whilst another will return him only £80 10s. The difference is over 14 per cent. Both offices are of the highest standing, but a man would be very unwise to take the latter policy when the former is obtainable. ‘The differences indicated at several ages is clearly shown in the following table. The terms quoted by the Post Office are also given for the purpose of comparison. THE AUTHOR. 245 INVESTMENT oF £1,000, Males. | | Age 40. Age 50, Highest re-| £ 5, d.| £ s.. d.| & $d. & sg 2 Gunn 62 10 0173 10.0104. .0 1134 oO 8 Lowest re- | tora =... | 62 1 0.) 63 10 0130-10 06 114 8 6 Difference..| £9 15 0/10 0 0/1810 01/19 15 0 Average of | 50 offices. | 5 | ! W1t 8) 68 7 6 | 8812 61196 6 § Post Office..| 55 17 6 |.66 18 4187 1 8 195 9 9 Females. : ee Age 40, | Age 50 Age 60. | Age 70, | d.| ee a A es as ga. Highest re-} £ s. | £ 8. CHI cs 56 12 0 | 66 10 O18 0 0 1193 0 6 Lowest re- | | nibunloy eee 48 0 0/5616 8| 7218 4|105 6 8 Difference..|£8 12 0| 918 4/1211 8|1713 4 Average of 50 offices.| 52 11 8 | 62 1 817915 O1115 0 0 Post Office..|] 50 5 0{60 510/78 8 4 111416 8 | -Vote.—For the return per £100 in each instance divide: by ten. There is no doubt, however, that the complete surrender of capital to the company is a material objection, in some minds, to the purchase of an annuity. “Should I die the day after, they argue, the money is absolutely lost, and my estate receives nothing!” The number of annuitants dying in the early days of their contract is so small as to be beyond practical consideration ; but all the same this objection remains. To meet this several com- panies have lately devised a plan by which the income is guaranteed over a stated number of years, usually ten or twenty. This provides against the early death of the annuitant, as, in any case, a return of ten or twenty payments is guaranteed to. the estate. We have shown that the best return obtainable for age sixty for £1,000 is £94 per annum. With the annuity guaranteed for tem years the return would be £80 3s. and for twenty years £62 9s. Such tables would appeal to persons. who wish to provide their estate against the risk of early death. But, on the other hand, most per- sons of mature age are more or less covered by life insurance, and it is perhaps better business to accept the slight risk of early death in order to: procure the materially higher income.  246 THE ANNUAL DINNER OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS. 1+ HE annual dinner of the Society, held at the Hotel Cecil, on Thursday, April 30th, was attended by about 170 members and guests. Mr. Douglas Freshfield, Chairman of the Committee of Management, was in the chair, with Captain Sverdrup, of the Fram, one of the gold medallists of the Royal Geographical Society for this year, on his right hand and Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., President R.G.S., on his left ; and the vice-chairs were occupied by Mr. G. H. Thring (Secretary), Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, and Dr. 8. Squire Sprigge. When dinner was over the Chairman proposed the health of the King in a brief speech, followed by that of the Queen and Royal Family. After these loyal toasts had been duly honoured, Mr. Douglas Freshfield rose again to propose the toast of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Making reference to the important work done by the Society for authors at large and for its members in particular in enabling them to obtain the full market value for their work, he described it as a Society for the Protection of Authors. In their business relations with publishers authors often needed protection. He deprecated the idea that the Society led a crusade against publishers, and preferred to consider it as working to promote an alliance necessary to both; he likened it rather to a trades union, having, however, no power to call its members out on strike. Mr. Freshfield also referred to the subject of the foundation of an Academy of Literature, as a question of interest to authors, on which he believed that there was some- thing to be said on both sides, though he indicated his own doubts as to the advantages to literature and the public taste that might be derived from such a body counterbalancing the obvious draw- backs and difficulties connected with its creation and renewal. Mr. Rider Haggard replied for the Society in a vigorous speech, in which he deprecated the expression of any desire by authors for the institu- tion of an Academy, and inquired what the methods were likely to be by which election to such an Academy might be secured. He declared that he had no wish to see authors—men of letters—touting round to other men of letters in order to secure election to the Academy. He asked by what stan- dard it was proposed that their claims to election should be judged. Was popularity to be the test, and was the author of whose work many thousand copies were sold before it appeared to be the one elected to the Academy, or he whose work was considered to have high literary qualifications ? THE AUTHOR. He hoped that the question of the Academy would be left alone, and expressed the belief that every class had the right to combine for the mutual comfort and protection of its members, and that this was the spirit which actuated those who founded the Society of Authors, of which he had been a very early member. While alluding to the question of the prices paid for literary work and the success of the Society in bettering the position of authors with regard to payment, Mr. Haggard asked why Milton sold ““Paradise Lost” for £10? He answered his own question by saying, with emphasis, that it was because he could not get any more. For unpaid work, amateur work, he expressed no great respect, indeed he questioned the merits of work done without hope of reward in such terms that some of his hearers were inclined to express dissent from his views. In the course of his speech Mr. Haggard referred to the friendly relations which he believed to be those that should rightly exist between author and publisher, and in conclusion he paid a graceful tribute to the memory of Sir Walter Besant. In proposing the toast of the guests of the Society of Authors, Mr. Richard Whiteing referred to those preseut who, representing science, had maintained the connection ever existing between science and literature. He mentioned among those present Mr. C. Longman, Dr. Clifford Allbutt, Dr. Mill, Sir William Church, P.R.C.P., Sir Henry Howse, P.R.C.S., and Mr. G. W. Prothero. In par- ticular he made allusion to the work done recently by Captain Sverdrup on board the Fram, and to the kindred services to science and exploration with which the name of Sir Clements Markham is associated. With these gentlemen he joined Mr. Henry Newbolt as representing the guests of the Society. In replying for the guests, Sir Clements Markham laid emphasis upon the recent achievements of Captain Sverdrup in the department of scientific Polar exploration, and mentioned that Captain Sverdrup himself would probably find difficulty in making a lengthy reply to the toast in any but a foreign tongue. Unfortunately this was the case, and Captain Sverdrup, to the regret of his hosts and fellow-guests, confined himself to a_ brief expression of thanks for the cordial welcome received by him. Mr. Henry Newbolt, replying in his turn for the guests, described himself as being in a sense a publisher as well as an author, and was inclined to think that the attitude of author and publisher towards one another must necessarily be charac- terised by some hostility due to their relative positions and interests. Referring to standards by which modern literature may be judged, Mr.  THE AUTHOR. Newbolt took a hopeful view of his contemporaries, but compared their passage past our range of vision to that of a procession, pointing out that the procession as it goes by seems to be a confused succession of units, while the relative merit of the figures and groups composing it can best be appre- ciated as it passes into the distance. At the conclusion of Mr. Newbolt’s speech Mr. Oscar Browning rose to give the health of the chairman. Mr, Browning avowed himself able in doing this to speak from long acquaintance with the subject of his speech, whom he had first known as climbing Mont Blane while a school- boy at Eton, when he was himself a master there, and with whose work as an explorer of mountain peaks and ranges, and discoverer of ground untrodden by previous climbers, he had been familiar from his earliest days. Mr. Freshfield, in thanking those present for the warmth with which they had received the toast, made graceful reference to his memories of Mr. Browning as an Eton master, and to the long friendship with him which so many Eton and Cambridge men had enjoyed. A soirée was held after the toasts had been drunk, and the members and guests had an oppor- tunity of meeting one another. The following is a list of those present :— Ackermann, A. 8. E. Ackermann, Mrs. Allbutt, Prof. Clifford Armstrong, E. A. Ashley, Mrs. Back, Mrs. Eaton Baildon, H. Belsize Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite Begbie, Miss A, H. Bell, Mackenzie Berene, Sir K.C.M.G. Besant, Geoffrey Besier, Rudolf Bird, C. P. Boddington, Miss Helen Bolam, the Rev. C. E. Boutwood, Arthur Boutwood, Mrs. Browning, Oscar Bryden, H. A. Buxton, Dudley Buxton, Mrs. Dudley Campbell, Miss Mont- gomery Carlile, John C. Childers, Erskine Church, Sir William &., PEC, P, Churchill, Lt.-Col. Seton Henry, Colquhoun, Archibald Colquhoun, Mrs. Archi- bald Craig, Lt.-Col. R. Mani- fold Crawshay, Mrs. Croker, Mrs. B. M. Davidson, Miss L. C, Davy, Mrs. E. M. Doudney, Miss Sarah Douglas, Sir George, Bart. Dowsett, C. F. Duncan, Miss Sarah Jeanette Esler, Rentoul Esler, Mrs. Rentoul Free, the Rey. Richard Freshfield, Douglas Galpin, H. “ Wirt Gerrare ” Gowing, Mrs. Aylmer Grierson, Miss Griffin, H. M. *‘ Victoria Cross ”’ Groser, Horace G. Gunter, Lt.-Col. E. Haggard, Miss Dorothy Haggard, Miss Angela Haggard, H. Rider Hallett, Col. W. Hughes Harrison, Miss Rose Hawkins, A. Hope Henslowe, Miss Hepburn, David Hills, A. E. Hodges, W. O. Holman, Martin Howse, Sir Henry G., P.R.C.S. Humphreys, Mrs. Des- mond (‘‘ Rita ’’) Hutchinson, the Rey, HN, lliffe, Mrs. Irvine, Mrs. Duncan Irvine, Duncan Jacobs, W. W. James, Miss W. M. ( Austin Clare”) Jenkins, Mrs. L. Hadow Keltie, J. Scott Kenealy, Miss Arabella Lechmere, Mrs. Lechmere, Mr. Lee, Miss Alice Lefroy, Mrs. Lennox, Lady William Little, J. Stanley Little, Mrs. Longman, C. J. Lowndes, Mrs. Belloc ‘Maarten Maartens ” Magnus, Laurie Markham, Sir Clements, KO. BE RS: Marks, Montagu Mason, Miss EH. M. Meadows, Miss Mill, Dr. H. R. Montagu, Mrs. Drogo 247 Morris, Mrs. Frank Moscheles, Felix Newbolt, H. Oppenheim, E. Phillip Pennethorne, Deane Pennethorne, Mrs. Perrin, Mrs. Perris, G. H. Petano, D. K. Phibbs, Miss I. M. Praed, Bulkeley Praed, Mrs. Campbell Prelooker, Jaakoff Prothero, G. W. Rae, John * Allen Rainé” Reeves, Mrs. Reich, Emil Rogers, A. “ Leicester Romayne ” Royle, William Savory, Miss Isabel Stanton, Miss H. M. Stanton, Stephen J. B. Stroud, F. Stroud, Miss Smith, Mrs. Isabel Spielmann, M. H. Sprigge, Mrs. Squire Sprigge, 8. Squire Sverdrup, Capt. Thring, Mrs. Thring, G. H. Trench, Herbert Tweedie, Mrs. Alec Walrond, Charles Wells, Mrs. Wells, H. G. White, Arnold Whiteing, R. Wilson, Mrs. —_——___—_1+—>—_ 2 —____—- EDUCATE YOUR OWN CHILDREN. 9 EFORE the South African War it was some- times asked whether such and such a colony was really loyal. That question has been answered. ‘To-day, at any rate in Canada, an Englishman may be forgiven if he sometimes asks of himself “ Does the old country really want to keep us?” If she does not, why not say so openly, and let those who wish to, return to her, and those who wish to, join hands with the States. But if England really wants to keep Canada,  248 why does she allow the United States to educate the public opinion of her colony ? It is not enough that most of our daily news comes to us coloured to suit America, that our telegrams are not altogether reliable, that there are so many Americans amongst us and such go-a- head American towns close to us, that our people must take some tones and colours from their neighbours which an Englishman born would rather they did not ? To all this is added, for the sake of a few paltry pounds in the pocket of the English Post Office, the fact that almost all our light literature and practically all our magazines are American. The way of it is thus: American periodicals are not better than English. Far from it. Better illustrated two or three of them may be, but no one who could get a Blackwood would, I assume, take any ten American magazines in exchange for it. And our people know this; but the American magazines are cheaper than ours, thanks to the extremely high postal rates which our magazines have. to pay. Magazines which cost the same at the offices of publication differ as one to two in price when they reach the Canadian market. Here is an illustration: The Strand and Pearson's are both published in New York as well as in London. Our booksellers sell the old-style edition, of course, which costs them 74 cents in New York, and is mailed to them at 1 cent per lb. If they bought the English edition they would have to pay about 9 cents in London, and 8 cents per 1b. postage. The result of this kind of thing is that, taking the figures of one of our booksellers here as a criterion, we seil four American magazines for every British magazine, though we are a British people and like our own wares best. My first.point is a national one.. If you want to keep Canada British, you had better feed her mind on British literature. My second is for the authors. If you want to keep a market for British books in Canada, you had better ask British publishers to advertise a little (not necessarily in the vilely bad taste common on this continent, but in such a way that a man’s intimate friends may have a chance of finding out that he has written a book), and press for such postal rates as will allow the magazines in which they advertise to compete with American magazines, If any one is sufficiently interested in my subject to pursue it for himself, let him take up any of the leading magazines of the States and see how they advertise their books. When “David Harum” came out you could THE AUTHOR. not walk through the streets of Ottawa without being flipped in the face by long streamers of “extracts ” which floated from the booksellers’ doors ; you could not open a magazine without setting free a shower of notices ; the book haunted you. As to our books, I had to start a crusade against our booksellers, to wake them up to the fact that ‘The Four Feathers ” had been written. Are we not big enough as a nation to sacrifice a few dollars, that our children may learn at their mother’s knee, and not at another’s ? CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY. —_—_____» <> ____ “SIR MACKLIN.” a OLLECTIVE psychology is a subject which, as this volume” testifies, has not escaped the attention of Mr. A. B. Walkley, but one reader, at least, inclines to the opinion that he has not applied his knowledge with sufficient particu- larity in this present instance. Had he done so he would not have forgotten that devices proper to the rhetorician are not always proper to the author and that a looseness of argument may pass un- challenged in the spoken word, but cannot escape so lightly in the written word: in short, that good lectures do not necessarily make good books. There is a certain sort of banter, wholly or partly good-humoured, that frequently is not only lawful but expedient to a lecturer who desires to carry with him the last obstinate objector in his audience ; but the same banter may have a contrary effect when the lecture is reproduced in the unsympathetic medium of printer’s ink and submitted to the leisurely consideration of the same individual in the seclusion of his library. I seem to detect such partly good-humoured banter in the first lecture in the volume before me. I am conscious of an attempt on Mr. Walkley’s part to anticipate any suggestions I may make of flaws in his work and to dispose of them before- hand by belittling my qualifications to estimate its value. He puts me in my place, so to speak, and the human nature in me is disposed to rebel against the operation. ‘Everyone who expresses opinions, however imbecile, in print calls himself a ‘critic.’ The greater the ignoramus, the greater the likelihood of his posing as a ‘critic.’” Sentences of this kind may serve to raise an unthinking laugh and break the ice between lecturer and audience, but they are not worthy of being perpetuated in print ; * “ Dramatic Criticism,’ by A. B. Walkley. London: John Murray, 1903. (5s. net.)  THE AUTHOR. 249 their inaccuracy is only equalled by their antiquity. The sole reason that 1 can find for their preserva- tion here is a desire to rule me, and others like me, out of court by writing me down an ass before I begin to suggest that perhaps Mr. Walkley does not embody all the law and the prophets. As a mere caudal appendage of “that great baby, the public,” I may be a barbarian, or, isolated, a harm- less citizen or a placid British vestryman ; with luck I may be an amateur of culture, in which case my judgment is probably spoiled by the literary bias, or a mundane person, in which case I have a bias either of the individual or the vogue. Whatever I may be, I don’t matter, which is a soothing reflection for Mr. Walkley and a chasten- ing one for me. And yet I can’t help wondering if it is quite true. “From the people whom the critic criticises it would be unreasonable to expect sympathy,” Mr. Walkley remarks ; he omits to say what it would be reasonable to expect from the people who criticise the critic ; perhaps the possibility never entered his head. But he also observes that ‘just as one solid body cannot collide with another with- out the manifestation of a form of energy which we call heat, so one mind cannot impinge upon another without the manifestation of that form of energy which we call criticism.” Inasmuch as it is due to Mr. Walkley, with Mr. Murray as a con- tributory party, that his mind has impinged upon mine, it is not only excusable but natural that I should manifest energy with the best of them. My dissatisfaction with this book is due to the fact that it does not take me any further forward than I was before ; it is nebulous and inconclusive. Portentously serious in intention it is not a serious contribution to the literature of criticism. The author has an irritating trick of proving all sorts of things, and then, when he has triumphantly written Q.E.D. at the end of his argument, hastening to explain that the theorem is wholly immaterial. He reminds me of Sir Macklin, who, as every schoolboy knows, “was a priest severe In conduct and in conversation, It did a sinner good to hear Him deal in ratiocination. “ He could in every action show Some sin, and nobody could doubt him, He argued high, he argued low, He also argued round about him.” It is not for me to suggest whom to cast for the bishop in the story. Thus he refers to Gibbon’s division of critics into three classes, takes leave to reduce them to two, compares these two, showing in the process that there is not so much difference between them as they themselves suppose, and then, having compared and contrasted them to his own entire satisfaction, war's us that the contrast must not be taken too seriously. By such a device the most exiguous contribution to literature might be bumped out to the most ample proportions, but its value, when so bumped out, would be open to question. On page 20 he quotes Mr. Birrell as follows :— “T have had some experience of authors, and have always found them better pleased with the ‘ unprofes- sional’ verdicts of educated men, actively engaged in the work of the world than ever they were with the laboured praise of the so-called ‘ expert.’ ” Then on page 35 he examines the passage as follows :— “ After the crowd, the average or uncultivated amateur, let us turn to Mr. Birrell’s candidate for the critical post— the man of affairs or of the world who dabbles in the arts ; in other words, the amateur of culture. Mr. Birrell puts in a very artful plea for this class. He says the authors like them, preferring their verdicts of approval to the ‘ laboured ’ praise of the so-called ‘expert.’ Here, however, we must be on our guard against the rhetorical device of the pro- fessional advocate—the familiar device of comparing one thing at its best with another thing at its worst. The praise of the ‘expert’ is not necessarily ‘laboured.’ And you will observe that the authors like the men of the world when they deliver verdicts of approval. What the authors think of this class when they deliver verdicts of disapproval we are not told.” I have italicised the words in these two passages which reveal the discrepancy between the text as given by Mr. Walkley and the text as criticised by him. I refrain from giving the exact text of Mr. Birrell’s words, and merely submit that the discrepancy ought not to have been passed in a considered argument, not so much because it affects, or does not affect, Mr. Walkley’s point as because it affects his credit as a dialectician. That there is plenty of good stuff in the book, of course, goes without saying ; most of it is Aris- totle’s, and a perverse and tricksy memory brings before me some lines from an obscure burlesque :— “My grievance is that in these modern plays, There's nothing new and good ; whate’er of praise Their lines deserve, you'll find in the antique ; Whatever's idiotic isn’t Greek.” With the necessary modifications the quotation has point, and in all seriousness I cannot think : : : that this volume will add to Mr. Walkley’s reputation. Meandering has a fascination for most ‘‘amateurs of culture.” I would like to meander a little and express an opinion which, however imbecile, I hold : : : z in common with a good many other people. That opinion is that what is wrong with the dramatic critic of the day is his appalling lack of the sense of humour. It is all very well for M. Anatole France to talk about “the adventures of a soul among master-pieces,” and for Mr. Walkley to announce that “judices nati’? may still be found  250 amongst us. I admire the pretty fancy of the one and rejoice at the good tidings of the other ; but recent happenings in the dramatic world dispose me to think that so far as the stage is concerned people take themselves much too seriously. Mr. Walkley snorts at the fatuity of the question, «« What is the wse of dramatic criticism?” Well, it is a fatuous question. Mr. Walkley replies to it from the point of view of the dramatic critic :— “ The use of any art is asa channel for the communication of ideas and emotions between man andman. It is a mode by which the producer of the art shares out his moods, his soul-states, his views of life, with the consumer. This is what is meant in popular language by ‘ being interesting.’ Just as you may have an interesting novel or an interesting play, so you may have an ‘interesting ’ dramatic criticism. And that is the use of it.” I find that answer very satisfactory, and hope that the “ club of play-goers ”—there is a world of sarcasm in the employment of that form of the genitive case—will perpend it. From the point of view of the manager a dramatic criticism in, say, the 7'imes, at the price of a stall costs only sixpence more than the hire of ten sandwich-men at a shilling a head for the day, and it carries farther. It advertises the “show.” And that is another use of it. As I suggested at the outset, I hesitate to put forward these comments as a “criticism” of Mr. Walkley’s book ; they are merely indicative of my soul’s adventures in that masterpiece. I hope I shall not be deemed irreverent if 1 speed them with yet one more quotation, protesting that they are quite honest in intention, and not born of that little-emindedness which finds pleasure in cheap sneers : “Go, soul, the body’s guest, Upon a thankless arrant ; Fear not to touch the best, The truth shall be thy warrant.” Vy. iE. M. ee POPULARITY. oe OBERT VINCENT, historian and man of letters, had received his death sentence. The physicians gave him one short year to live ; but their word was the signal for a cloud, impalpable as yet, but darker than that of death, to rise upon the dying man’s horizon. He was a young man, and it seemed to the world as if it was but yesterday that he had succeeded in making his name. But the world was mistaken. The initiated knew that the reputation which Robert Vincent had won was of no mushroom growth. He had won it by sweat, by blood, by years of patient labour and research. Nay, as was being proved now, he had bought it with his very life. THE AUTHOR. To this small band of scholars Robert Vincent had been known for years, young as he still was, as the rising historian of the day, as a writer in whom in the highest degree scholarship, imagina- tiveness, and honesty were combined. To this small band he was the ideal historian for whom the world had waited so long. Scholarly historians there have been. Honest historians’ are not altogether unknown. Picturesque writers of history have made their works as household words tous. But the combination of the three qualities in one person has often been pronounced to be an impossibility. 1t appeared in Robert Vincent, and scholars awaited with bated breath its further development. But the world in general, the world which nearly every man secretly craves to enlist on his side, even when he most professes to despise it, turned, for a long time, a deaf ear to the teaching of the historian. To those who knew, this deafness was simply a question of time. The world would hear, and hearing would accept Robert Vincent at his true value. The event proved that, for once ina way, those who knew were right. Robert Vincent won his place as a world power in literature by the publication of his great book, “The Welding of the Races.” It was a great book in every way. Great in conception, great in execution. Well balanced, accurate, and judicial, yet written in language almost passionately picturesque. ‘The Welding of the Races ” threw its search light on a period of English History at once the most obscure and the most salient. ‘‘As at the touch of an enchanter’s wand,” the darkness which for hundreds of years had lain upon the early middle ages was dissipated, and Englishmen knew at last the secret of the greatness of their country. “The dark ages have for England ceased to exist,” was the judgment of the greatest German critic. The wisdom of the small band of scholars was justified. The world knew and, knowing, acclaimed, as with one voice, Robert Vincent as the greatest writer of the century. The author him- self would have been more than human if he had not exulted in his triumph. He was young and he was ambitious, and it is given to few men indeed to realise, to any great extent, the ambition of their lives. “The Welding of the Races” rapidly proved itself the success of the day, and the fortunate author felt that his name had been made for all time, that he was destined to be numbered with the great ones of the earth. “‘ Westminster Abbey,” he said laughingly to his wife, “ will know me yet.” And then the end came. No prank which the Great Jester loves to play is dearer to his heart than the summoning of a man from the prize to gain which he has given  THE the best years of his life, given his very soul, when it is almost within his grasp. We die just when we are beginning to know how to live. So it was to prove with Robert Vincent. Perhaps it was due to the strain which the completion of his work had put upon him, perhaps there was an original weakness of constitution hitherto unsuspected, or perhaps—. Anyhow, whatever may have been the cause, at the very height of his fame the sentence, from which there is no appeal, was pronounced, “ You must die!” There is no need to dwell on the dull, sickening sense of hope frustrated which fell like a black shadow on Robert Vincent’s heart when he knew that he must leave the world, which appeared to him just then to be so full of brightness and beauty. But he was no coward, his life had shown that, and he resolved to face the music like a man, “My body will die,” he said to his wife, “but my soul will live ; for that I have won immortality. I have put my whole soul into ‘The Welding of the Races,’ and while England lasts it will last also.” This he said in no vainglorious spirit. To him it was a simple fact. But as he grew weaker there came upon him a mental uneasiness which puzzled greatly his wife and his doctors. To some extent, but to some extent only, it seemed to be assignable to the stress of previous literary work. The fact was, the dark, impalpable cloud gathered blackness and substance as time went on. It pressed in upon him, making the last few weeks of his life into a hideous, waking nightmare. “Qlang, clang! throb, throb! What are they printing so close to me? Who are printing? Is it Gradband & Shimmery ?” “No, dear,’ said his wife gently, “there is no printing near you.’ The doctor, who overheard the mutterings, looked grave and asked the wife “Did your husband ever have any dealings with these publishers, Gradband & Shimmery ?”’ “No,” she replied, ‘not that I know of. I never heard their names.” “Of course not,” said the doctor with a smile, “it is scarcely likely that Mr. Vincent would have had anything to do with publishers of that class.” The doctor was quite right. It was indeed unlikely—the most unlikely thing in the world. For Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery were known as publishers of fiction of the baser sort, fiction which had an enormous circulation among City ¢lerks and shop girls. The stuff which this firm turned out in vast quantities was lurid and sensational to a degree, especially that for which “Sydney Trevor,” popularly supposed to be an assumed name, was responsible, but it could no more claim to be literature than a farthing rushlight could claim to be the moon. AUTHOR. 251 Of course it was too wildly absurd to suppose that Robert Vincent, of all people in the world, could have had any dealings with such a firm as this. And the doctor made a mental note of his uneasiness as a curious illustration of an obscure brain lesion. But this did very little good to the patient himself. The noise of the printing presses at work seemed to become louder and more insis- tent every day. Every day too his imagination seemed to be haunted by a terror which ever drew closer and closer. His lucid intervals proved to those about him that he had no fear of death, nor even of the act of dying; but even his lucid intervals were haunted by the shadow of the fear which oppressed him so terribly in his delirium. Whatever the fear might be, it was associated with the idea of printing, and with the names of Gradband & Shimmery. Nothing that his wife could do or say—no news she might bring him of the ever increasing success of his book, no assur- ances of the high position, daily becoming more manifest, which he had secured for himself in literature, was able to expel this fear devil from his soul. Thereit sat, grinning at him till he died. As soon as Robert Vincent’s death was an- nounced, steps were taken by those whose word carried weight with the authorities to secure a place for him in Westminster Abbey. It seemed likely that their efforts would be crowned with suecess, and that the historian’s jesting remark to his wife would prove to be a true prophecy. It was urged that the country had only one way now of paying the recognition it owed to an admitted genius. What the leaders of thought said, the general public echoed with all its heart. No name was so constantly on men’s lips and before their eyes during these days as the name of Robert Vincent, historian and man of letters. Westminster Abbey was the place for him, and to Westminster Abbey he must be taken. And then suddenly all this talk stopped. Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery flooded the country with their advertisements—newspapers, hoardings, omnibuses, trains, sandwich-men— every available means of advertisement were pressed into the service of Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery. There had never been known, since books were first printed, such gigantic enterprise in advertising methods. Wherever men looked they saw the names of Gradband & Shimmery ; and underneath, only in larger characters, the name of “Sydney Trevor” in inverted commas ; and below that the name of Robert Vincent ; and below that again a list of books whose lurid and sensational titles spoke for them. Then the world learnt that Robert Vincent was identical with ‘Sydney Trevor,” and Westminster Abbey knew him not. CO. L:  ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Oe (Reprinted from Longman’s Magazine, by kind permission of the Author and the Publisher). (By A Lapy NoveEtist). S there no real critic on these shores Yet to be found? O Tempora, O Mores ! How shall they judge who measure all by rule While Genius, for them, might dwell in Thule? Tis quality, not quantity, decides The merit of such work as mine—Quid rides ? When will they learn the truth that each great writer Of prose or poetry—non fit—nascitur ? When cease to sneer with condescending smile At woman—vyarium et mutabile ? Yet why should I the critics heed? Whate’er They say, ’tis mine—aequam mentem servyare. My place among the Immortals is secure, *Tis mine—divino ac humano jure. I feel within my breast the sacred fire, And I—I know it—non omnis moriar. Already on Parnassus’ sacred slope I dwell with Melpomene and Calliope. No marble tomb I crave, no trophies pious, My monument is—aere perennius. FR. a a CORRESPONDENCE. —1—~> + AN ANSWER TO “A PROTEST.” Sir,—In reference to a letter entitled “A Pro- test’ in last month’s Author, I would like to say a few words in common justice to all concerned in the arrangement of the Society’s annual social function. In the first place, it is a puzzle how the receipt of the announcement of a dinner could shock even the most highly strung and sensitive nerves. If Shakespeare had lived in the twentieth century he would no doubt have participated in a meal at the Hotel Cecil with as much equanimity—and perhaps even enjoyment—as any other author. Next I would like to point ont to the writer in question that as the Soviety is formed for the pro- tection and maintenance of literary property, it must needs respect itself. So, if the Society of Authors were to hold its annual festival at a third or fourth rate restaurant, and charge a low price, as suggested, it would certainly be considered an inferior concern, and be looked down upon accordingly. : Further, the writer contradicts himself, for he says that he has attended several dinners each at THE AUTHOR. increased cost, and then confesses having been present at a guinea one. Comment is needless. If the protester could be present at a guinea dinner it seems inconsistent that the suggestion of a 10s. one should give him a shock. As I did not attend any of the guinea functions I cannot speak from personal experience as to whether it would have been “ dear at eighteenpence,’”” but I can honestly say that at all the four dinners which I have attended the food was as good and as well served as one could wish. I have always understood that the Society does not wish to make money by the dinner, but charges a price sufficient to cover expenses. If the com- plainant refers to the ‘ Annual Report,” he will find that the Society was 5s. 10d. out of pocket by last year’s dinner ; hence, no doubt, the decision to raise the price. With regard to the guests, it seems to me that the Society is honowred by the presence of such men as Sir Clements Markham, Captain Sverdrup. and others ; men noted for their good and useful work, some in one field, some in another. I have never heard of the Society asking subscriptions, so I don’t quite see how it can be brought down to the level of a charitable organisation. Lastly, I will say that I am so far in sympathy with the writer of “A Protest” that I think it would be more agreeable if it were possible to arrange a festival, or annual gathering, in which all the members could participate. It is clearly impossible to please everyone in a large body of people like the Authors’ Society, and if authors are “proverbially irritable,” what a large amount of self-control is needed by a committee formed of authors, whose task in endeavouring to please all can scarcely be an enviable one. H. M. E. Stanton. May 4th, 1903. SERIAL RIGHTS IN STORIES. S1n,—As I receive inquiries concerning my “new story” in the Sphere for May 2nd and 9th, will you allow me space to say that, so far from. being new, it is a resuscitated old story which appeared in a. country journal nearly twenty years ago, and that I am in no way responsible for its publication as if new ? ae I make this an opportunity of reminding inex-. perienced writers of fiction that, in disposing of ‘serial rights” in their productions, they should take care to limit the time during which such rights may be exercised. Tuomas Harpy. 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. 13 Issue 10 (July 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 10 (July 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-07-01-The-Author-13-10 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/484/1903-06-01-The-Author-13-9.pdf 56072fad3b67e397952d12fde700bc4f PDF Text Text ���������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-06-01 Volume 13 Issue 9 Pages Page range in volume 225–252 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030601 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che #uthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. JUNE Ist, 1903. Vou. XIII.—No. 9. [Prick SrxpPENnog. THE TELEPHONE. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. ———_—__—_+—~@— NOTICES. —-~<> + OR the opinions_expressed in papers that are K signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. THE Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. — + List of Members. THE List of Members of the Society of Authors, published 1902, can be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. —-—>+— The Pension Fund of the Society. THE investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou, XIII. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— Coagole 25 Fees. £1000 0 6 POCH) LOANS obec. 500 0 0 Victorian Government 3 ‘ Consoli- dated Inscribed Stock ............... We lon 291 19 Tt 201 9 3s otal o1,995 9 2 Subscriptions. 1908. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke 010 6 »» Deane, Rey. A.C. . 010 06 Jan. 4, Anonymous 0) 5. 6 - Heath, Miss Ida 0 5 0 “ Russell, G. H. ; Ll 0 Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline 0.5 06 », Bedford, Miss Jessie 0 5. 0 Jan..19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. 0 35.0 Jan. 20, Cobbett, Miss Alice ; 1 0 5 0 Jan. 30, Minniken, Miss Bertha M.M. 1 0 0 Jan. 31, Whishaw, Fred : - 0 10 0 Feb. 3, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred 0 5b 0 Feb. 11, Lincoln, C. . ; 0 5 0 Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert . 0° 5 0 » Haggard, Major Arthur . 0° 5 0 Feb. 23, Finnemore, John . 05 0 Mar. 2, Moor, Mrs. St. C. . 1° 0 6 Mar. 5, Dutton, Mrs. Carrie 015 6 Apl.10, Bird, ©. PB. . : A - 0 10.6 Apl. 10, Campbell, Miss Montgomery. 0 5 0 May Lees, R. J... : ; 1 0 : Wright, J. Fondi . ; ~ 905 6 Donations. Jan. 8, Wheelright, Miss E. : , 0 10 6 » Middlemass, Miss Jean . ~ 010 0 Jan. 6, Avebury, The Right Hon. The Lord . D0 0 » Gribble, Francis. : . 010 0 Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . . 010 6 Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston 11 0 » Miller, Miss E. T. . 0 5.0 Jan. 19, Kemp, Miss Geraldine 010 6 226 Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French . - 0) 5) 0 Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt : . 0 16 0 Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs. . : » 0-10 6 Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rev. Silas 210 Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. . : . 010 6 , Ord, Hubert H. . ‘ de) Teb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor : . 010 0 » Carlile, Rev. J. C.. : . 010 0 Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. . : : a2 0-0 Feb. 26, Speakman, Mrs. . : . 010 0 Mar. 5, Parker, Mrs. Nella 2 0 10° 0 Mar. 16, Hallward,N. LL. . : ll 0 Mar. 20, Henry, Miss Alice . : - 0 8.9 » Mathieson, Miss Annie . . 010 0 » Browne, T. A. (“ Rolfe Boldre- wood”) . j : : 12 0 Mar. 23, Ward, Mrs. Humphry. 110.0. 0 Apl. 2, Hutton, The Rev. W. H. - 2070 Apl. 14, Tournier, Theodore : 0 2) 0 May King, Paul H. : : ~ 010-90 : Wynne, Charles Whitworth .10 0 90 » 21, Orred J. Randal . : pedo E70 The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rev. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. Dowsett, C. F. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. Se Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. Tur amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £336 4 9 May 22, Orred J. Randal............... Lied —____—<>—_e____\_ FROM THE COMMITTEE. ee HE Committee of the Society of Authors met on May 6th. Mr. Douglas Freshfield took the chair. ‘Twelve members and associates were elected to the Society. The list is printed below. The case of Parry v. Gollancz, with all the papers and letters, was laid before the Committee and carefully considered. The Committee decided to issue a summary of the case with comments in The Author, (See article, page 232.) The agent of the Society in New York has been forced to give up the work of the Society owing to the fact that he has taken up the work of a THE AUTHOR. literary agent. As he candidly expresses it, “ he found it difficult to have to write peremptory letters of demand to editors and publishers, when at the same time he might be offering them MSS. for acceptance.” Accordingly, the Society has been obliged to appoint another agent, and the Committee have nominated Mr. Morris P. Ferris, counsellor-at-law. ‘There were two or three cases before the Com- mittee. One dealt with the loss of a MS. by a publisher. It was decided to take the matter up on behalf of the member, as from the circumstances connected with the case, it appeared that the publisher had shown considerable negligence. Another case, that of alleged breach of agree- ment by a publisher, the Committee found they were unable to support, as the solicitors of the Society did not consider that there was cause for legal action. It was decided not to republish the list of members during the current year, but in the autumn, to publish a supplementary list of those members who had been elected since the last publication. oo Cases, Tue last statement of the cases taken up by the Society was printed in the March number of The Author. Since that date forty-three have been before the Secretary. They may be subdivided as follows :— Ten for the return of MSS. ; three for accounts ; five for accounts and money ; eighteen for money due ; one dealing with the false advertisement of a book; one with the infringement of copyright ; five embracing disputes which cannot be classed under any particular heading. The Secretary is pleased to report that all the cases chronicled in the March number of The Author have either been settled or have been placed in the hands of the solicitors.. All the cases from that date up to the beginning of April have also been settled or placed in the solicitors’ hands, with the exception of one case, where the author— unfortunately living abroad—had a claim against a magazine for non-payment. The record of the ten claims for the return of MSS. is as follows :— One case has been placed in the hands of the Society’s solicitors, to enable the member to claim damages for loss of a MS. by a publisher, as it appeared clear to the Committee that the publisher had been negligent. In two cases there has been no evidence that the MSS. had been received at the office of the paper. In the remaining seven the MSS. have been returned at the request of the Secretary. Set  In the three demands for accounts the Secretary has been able to obtain the requisite statement, with the exception of one case against a well-known firm that is always dilatory in meeting the demands of the author or the Secretary of the Society for details of this kind. No doubt a little mild persuasion will bring about the requisite result, There has been an increase with regard to demand for unpaid moneys, and the result. of the Secretary’s applications may be catalogued as follows :— In the claims for accounts and money two have been partially settled—this means that part of the money due has been paid, the rest will no doubt follow. One has been completely settled, and two are still in the course of negotiation. The last are demands against an American publisher, whose name is well known on the English market, but whose methods of doing business when it comes to the settlement of accounts appear to be far from satisfactory. In six cases the money has been paid without any difficulty. In five the matters have had to go into the hands of the Society’s solicitors. Two cases are still unsettled, and in one it is impossible to enforce the Society’s claim owing to the fact that the member resides abroad. This is, on the whole, a satisfactory record, especially when it is remembered that those matters referred to the solicitors deal with magazines that are most probably either in liquidation or on the verge of Jiquidation. The case of infringement of copyright has been satisfactorily settled. A full statement of this was printed in 7he Author. The false advertisement has also been remedied, and the remaining matters—various disputes on con- tracts—are in the course of negotiation. Out of thewhole forty-three there are only thirteen which have not been closed as far as the work of the Secretary is concerned. Some of them, as mentioned above, are being continued in other hands, it is hoped with satisfactory result. NEES “ESSE May Elections. 4, Gray’s Inn Squares W.C. Scarborough. Wentworth House, Key- mer, Sussex. The Cedars, Denmark Avenue, Wimbledon, Aitken, Robert Alcock, Joseph Crosby . Arthur, Miss Mary Bedford, Mrs. SW. Dickinson, F. James 6, Claremont Terrace, Hargreaves, F.R.S.L. Claremont Park, Blackpool. Lees, Robert James . Engelbery, Ilfracombe. Macdonald, Mrs. A. E. . Gordon Road, Gordon, Sydney, N.S. Wales, Australia. THE AUTHOR. 227 Merriman, B.C, Pickering, Sidney . Smith, Miss M. C, Labor A., Freetown, Sierra Leone. Stratton, Falmouth. Gretna Hall, Gretna Green, 200, Stockwell Road, Brixton, 8.W, Colonial Institute, Northumberland Avenue, W.C. Trost, Johann Wright, Edward Fondi . +-—<—e OUR BOOK AND PLAY TALK. ae | PROFESSOR RHYS DAVIDS’ “Buddhist | India” in the Stories of the Nations Series, may be out any day now. It was all passed for press some time ago, but it is being printed in America. he Professor has just finished editing the issues of the Pali Text Society for 1903 ; they form the Journal of that Society. He has also edited the second volume of “The Digha” in conjunction with Mr. E. Carpenter. These are now ready for distribution to members. The Government of India has determined to publish, through the Royal Asiatic Society, two series of historical volumes. Of these, one is on the History of India before the arrival of the English, and will be under the editorship of Professor Rhys Davids. The first volumes to be published will deal with the historical geography of ancient India, and with the historical evidence contained in the Vedas. The other series, to be called The Records Series, will embrace the period after the arrival of the English, and will consist mainly of official documents. The first volume will deal with the events connected with the Black Hole of Calcutta. Mr. Arnold White has had a trying experience : He lost, during the fire at the Hotel du Palais, at Biarritz, the MS. of the work on which he was engaged. It is a continuation of the series on Efficiency which began eighteen years ago in “The Problems of a Great City,” and ended in his last two books—* Efficiency and Empire,” and “ For Efficiency.” Mr. White, however, hopes in the course of the next twelve months to re-write and complete a work on National Efficiency, especially with regard to government and municipal administration, and its effects on the pockets, the health, and the lives of citizens of the Empire. Miss Mabel Quiller Couch, whose short stories are well known, has published two volumes of them under the titles of “The Recovery of Jane Vercoe,”  228 and “Some Western Folk.” At present she is completing serial work already ordered, but she means in the near future to write a story for girls on somewhat new lines. Our readers may remember a very interesting volume entitled, “ The Holy Wells of Cornwall,” which Miss Mabel Quiller Couch wrote in conjunction with her sister. Mrs. Mary M. Banks is engaged in editing a MS. collection of tales of the fifteenth century for the Early English Text Society. Some two years ago Mrs. Banks edited the alliterative ‘‘ Morte Arthur,” published by Messrs. Longmans. Since then she has given lectures on modern literature, besides writing articles on literary subjects. Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein have in preparation for the autumn a romance of Italy in the thirteenth century, by Emily Underdown (Norley Chester). This firm lately published “ Dante and Beatrice,” a play in blank verse suggested by episodes in the Vita Nuova, by the same author. It forms one of a series started by Miss Elsie Fogerty. “ Dante and Beatrice” is also published in a tastefully got-up edition, with a reproduction of Rossetti’s painting, “ Dante’s Dream,” as a frontispiece. Members of the Society will be interested to know that Mr. Poulteney Bigelow has been asked to address the United States Naval War College at Newport, on German Colonisation, on the 16th of June. This is the college before which Captain Mahan delivered his lectures on “‘ The Influence of Sea Power on History ”—a book which has been translated into almost every tongue, and yet which, at the time, was declined by the Harpers. Lismore, which the King is to visit next August, is the “ Innisdoyle ” of Julia M. Crottie’s “ Neighbours,” a book of Irish sketches, published by T. Fisher Unwin a year or two ago. Lismore is a quiet old town, beautifully situated on the poet Spenser’s Blackwater, and although now fallen away from its ancient importance, still possesses some features of interest in its fine old abbey and castle. Mr. Frank Rutter, the editor of To-day, has just published, through R. A. Everett & Co., a little volume of scenes and characters from eee life. ‘‘’Varsity Types” is the title of it. “Varsity Types” has a dozen illustrations by Stephen Haweis. The dedication runs thus—‘‘ To those who unconsciously have posed as models for the following sketches, this little volume is grate- fully and affectionately dedicated by the author.” Among the entertaining characters are ‘“ The Swot,” “The Trophy Maniac,” “ The Snob,” and “The Bedder,” while “‘ Ditton Corner,” “ An Art- less Dean,” and “An Academic Court-Martial,” are scenes to laugh over. THE AUTHOR. Miss Julie Sutter’s book on the Social Problems —Brirain’s Next Campaign ”—has just been issued at a shilling net (320 pp.) by R. Brimley Johnson, 4, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. The Daily News this winter thought it worth while to publish a series of articles from its pages, and Sir John McDougall (as chairman of the London County Council) invites ‘every Londoner, official on non-official, to make himself acquainted with this book.” Both he and Canon Scott Holland head the volume with a preface. Mr. F. Stroud’s publishers will issue almost immediately a much-enlarged edition of his Judicial Dictionary. It will be in three thick volumes of about nine hundred pages each. The work is unique in that, whilst it is a dictionary in the ordinary sense of that word, yet the pivot on which it moves is that it deals with the English of affairs as expounded by the English Judges and by Parliament. To search for verbal definitions through the many hundreds of volumes of Reports of Cases, and the Statute Book from Magna Charta down- wards, and to harmonise the authoritative exposition of words and phrases culled from these sources, must have been an enormous task, requiring much prior knowledge and the unfailing patience of years. The idea of this edition is to bring down the exposition from the earliest times to the end of the nineteenth century. Whilst we should imagine it to be indispensable to the practising lawyer, the book cannot fail to be of general interest, for inci- dentally it frequently presents striking phases of the picturesque past. Mr. Percy White has been kind enough to send us the following interesting extract from a letter written to him by a great admirer of George Meredith. The writer is himself a novelist and man of letters :— “THE Two MEREDITHS. “T am reading ‘ Evan Harrington,’ in the original edition of 1861. I find that in the final edition, published by Constable, many admirable passages have been cut out, and a good deal of broad humour and fun has been lost. An interesting little paper might be made on a comparison of the two editions—the old Meredith pruning the younger. It is remarkable how completely ‘modern’ this book of 1861 reads—a book which might have been written to-day, whilst its successful contemporaries, ‘ Framley Parsonage,’ ‘The Silver Chord,’ ‘The Woman in White,’ &c., are all as old-fashioned and uncouth as the crinolines, matador hats, and chenille hair nets of the early sixties.” “ Park Lane” is the title of Mr. Percy White’s new novel—needless to say a very readable one— which has been published by Messrs. Constable at 6s. Mr. G. W. Forrest, O.1.E., ex-Director of Records, Government of India, and author of “ Sepoy  THE AUTHOR. Generals,” has published through the same firm a copiously illustrated book called ‘‘ Cities of India” (10s. 6d. net). Mr. Forrest, who is one of the greatest living authorities on the ancient and modern history of India, has seen with his own eyes the cities he so admirably describes. The illustrations are excellent. ’ The Transactions of the Royal Society of Litera- ture are being edited, as indeed they have been ‘since 1894, by Perey W. Ames, LL.D., F.S.A. Besides publishing the following addresses : ‘‘ Posi- tivism in Literature,” “Supposed Source of the Vicar of Wakefield,” ‘‘ Racial and Individual Tempera- ments,” ‘‘ Superstition, Science, and Philosophy,” “Poetry and Science of Archeology,” &c., &c., Dr. Ames, in 1900, edited, with introduction and one lecture, “‘Chaucer Memorial Lectures.” In 1898 he edited, with an historical sketch of the Princess Elizabeth and Margaret of Navarre, “The Mirror of the Sinful Soul.” Before that he edited, with an introductory address, a volume of “ Afternoon Lectures on English Literature.” Mr. Sydney Lee has brought to a close his tour in America. He has been accorded an enthusiastic reception in the Hastern and the Western States. He has given fifty-three Jectures, and has travelled by rail more than ten thousand miles. Besides delivering addresses before the Library Association at Washington and the State University of North Carolina, Mr. Lee lectured at Staten Island, New York, at the request of Mr. William Winter, in aid of the library founded by him in memory of his son, the late Mr. Arthur Winter. Mr. Lee also gave addresses on Shakespeare at Indianapolis and before the State Universities of Ohio and Indiana. Among recently published books by members of the Society is Mr. Justin McCarthy’s ‘British Political Leaders” (T. Fisher Unwin: 7s. 6d. net). Though all may not agree with his point of view, may not see eye to eye with him, yet readers can scarcely fail to find this volume attrac- tive. It is charmingly written. There is also a couple of volumes issued by Mr. John Murray, entitled, ‘‘ More letters of Charles Darwin,” being a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters, edited by Francis Darwin, Fellow of Christ’s College, and A. C. Seward, Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. (32s. net.) Then, Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, whose remarkable novel, “The Conqueror,’ we all remember, has now published, through Harpers, “A Few of Hamilton’s Letters.” Those who are interested in that famous man’s personality will find this selection from his correspondence well worth reading. 229 Professor E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., etc., Direc- tor of the British Museum of Natural History, has contributed a Preface to Mr. S. Theodore Andrea Cook’s book, ‘ Spirals in Nature and Art” (John Murray). This is a study of spiral forma- tions based on the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, with special reference to the architecture of the open staircase at Blois in Touraine, now for the first time shown to be from his designs. This interesting volume is 7s. 6d. net. Miss Marie Corelli recently addressed a crowded meeting of the O. P. Club in the large hall of the Criterion Restaurant. Miss Corelli spoke on “The Trust on behalf of the Nation at Stratford-on-Avon.” She protested against the destruction of any buildings in Heniey Street, par- ticularly such old and valuable ones as were seen and known by Shakespeare, and were on that account priceless to the literary and dramatic world of to-day. Especially did she plead for the quaint little half-timbered dwelling of Thomas Green, once town clerk of Stratford and cousin of Shakespeare. Miss Corelli protested against the proposed destructive alterations, and earnestly requested that a committee might be formed to inquire into the case she put forward. She considered that the culpable ignorance and carelessness of the Executive Committee of the Shakespearean Trust proved that the time had come when their national duty should be taken up by a wider, more educated and more Shakespearean body. An appeal to Parliament for the preservation of Henley Street was being sent out for signature, and there was every reason to believe that it would bereceived with favour. The clause in the Employment of Children Bill which prohibits the appearance of children under fourteen upon the stage has evoked a series of protesting letters in the Daily Telegraph from such authorities as Sir Henry Irving, Miss Ellen Terry, Miss Ellaline Terriss, Mr. George Alexander, Mr. Beerbohm Tree, Messrs. Frederick Harrison and Cyril Maude, and Mr. Arthur Collins and Mr. F. W. Wyndham. We have room for two quotations only. Miss Ellen Terry says : “T cannot remain silent when I hear of disaster threaten- ing our future actors and actresses. Sir Henry Irving and others have urged the cruelty of taking joy and pleasure from the lives of children by prohibiting their employment on the stage. I go further, and say that the effect of such a law will be to take education from them, education in the widest sense technical. I can put my finger at once on the actors and actresses who were not on the stage when children. Withall their hard work they can never acquire afterwards the perfect unconsciousness which they learn then soeasily. .. . lam anactress, but first 1 am a woman and I love children. I don’tsay that the conditions under  230 which they work on the stage are perfect. I could point to many things which IJ should like tosee altered, particularly the practice of their being too many hours at a stretch in the theatre, as is the case when they are employed in two performances on one day. But surely it is not right to sweep away a fine training for children because it has faults ?” The second extract is from Mr. Tree’s letter : “T will leave to others the task of pointing out in detail how desirable it is for the children of poor parents to have the opportunity of learning in their early years those habits of obedience, cleanliness and orderliness which are part of the discipline of every well-regulated theatre ; also the social value to them in after life of daily mixing, while still young, with those who can teach them good manners and self-respect. The one point I am most anxious to make is this: The Bill as it stands would not only deprive the children of these benefits, but would also deprive hundreds of thousands of the public of the pleasure they derive from those theatrical performances (such as panto- mime, and the like), from which the services of children areinseparable. Moreover, any such new legislation would practically banish from our stage many of Shakespeare's most-admired plays, such as “The Midsummer Night's Dream,” “ The Tempest,” “ A Winter’s Tale,” ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,” ‘Richard III,” “King John,” and other classical works. It is needless to point out that these remarks apply equally to grand opera and public concerts whenever the services of children form an integral part of the entertainment.” All the letters are worthy of careful considera- tion, and we refer our readers to the particular issue of the Daily Telegraph from which we have quoted, 7.¢., that of Monday, May 18th. ———_—_—__- ~~ PARIS NOTES. —— > ANATOLE FRANCE’S novel, “ Histoire Mi e Comique,” is now published in volume form, after running through the Revue de Paris as a serial. There is nothing comic about it except the one word in the title. It is, in fact, a most gruesome story. Félicie, an actress who is considered a star, has deserted her lover of less prosperous days for a young aristocrat, Robert de Ligny. ‘The ex-lover, Chevalier, warns her of his own jealousy and begs her to return to him. She pays no attention to his words and one day, when she is coming away from a rendezvous with de Ligny, Chevalier commits suicide in her presence. From this day forth Félicie has no peace of mind. The dead man’s face seems to haunt her, and at the most unexpected times and places she fancies that she sees him. Chevalier had been an actor, and all his thea- trical friends undertake the arrangements for his funeral. The Church refuses the burial service on account of the suicide, and Félicie, who hopes that the holy water may lay the ghost of the dead man, THE AUTHOR. joins with her comrades in insisting on the religious rites being performed. A certain Dr. Trublet, the medical adviser of the theatre to which Félicie belongs, is the philosopher whom we usually meet in Anatole France’s books. In this instance the artistes have recourse to him for a certificate proving that Chevalier was insane when he shot himself. A priest had suggested, in a wily way, that the dead man had, perhaps, not been respon- sible for his actions, and that if this could be proved the Church would not refuse to bury him. Dr. Trublet accordingly searches among his learned books, and finds various instances of temporary insanity. He delivers a long harangue on the subject of free will and determinism. His con- cluding argument is that the world is an amusing place on the whole, and that Chevalier must have been more insane than other men, since he had voluntarily resigned his place here. The certificate that he makes out is so full of technical terms that the doctor declares that it is “ too utterly devoid of any sense to contain a lie.” The funeral service is accordingly held in the church, All the artistes attend the ceremony and then proceed to the cemetery, but they are all so much occupied with their own private affairs and with ull the gossip and scandal they have to tell each other, that they only remember at intervals what has brought them all there together. Immediately after the funeral Félicie goes with her lover to luncheon at a _ restaurant, and endeavours to forget the dead man. It is of no use, though, and to the end of the story she is haunted by his reproachful eyes. There is not much plot and there is a great deal that is unpleasant in the book, but the keen observation, the delicate sarcasm, and, above all, the perfect style and language are all to be found in “ Histoire Comique” as in every work by Anatole France. In Brada’s new novel, “Retour du Flot,” we have a subject which lends itself well to the weaving of a romance. The mystery is that it has not been adopted more frequently by authors. It is the story of a woman who, after several years of happiness in her married life, loses her little girl and cannot recover from her grief. Her husband, who was also devotedly fond of the child, wearies of the gloominess of his home and the constant sadness of his wife and seeks amusement elsewhere. On discovering that he has been faithless to her his wife applies for a divorce and will hear of no: compromise. After two or three years of loneliness and misery she consents to marry a cousin who has always loved her, and who is a man of fine character. She is quite resigned to her new lot in life when, on the  THE AUTHOR. 231 sixth anniversary of her little girl’s death, as she is walking past her old home, she meets her first husband. He saves her from being knocked down by a vehicle as she is crossing the road. It is the first time they have met since their divorce, and they both realise, as they talk to each other once more, the fatal mistake they made in the old days. The struggle which now takes place in the woman’s heart between the love which has never died and her new duties is described with great delicacy. The loneliness and misery of the man who had formerly been everything to her appeal to her ; and when he begs her to meet him again she con- sents, Her life during the next few months is almost unbearable. The book is charming to the very end, and the dénowement seems most natural. All the characters live, and there is no seeking after effect. It is merely a simple story told in the most simple and natural way possible. During the last year the books which have been most discussed here have been those written by women. ‘This may seem rather flattering to the fortunate writers of them, but it is only fair to add that much of the discussion has been on the subject of the exaggeration of women writers, as shown in several of their recent novels. Judging by some specimens of these realistic novels that have been before the public, it seems as though “women rush in where men fear to tread.” In “La Maison du Péché” we had an example of this, and still more recently in “ La Nouvelle Espérance.” “ I,’ Inconstante,” too, is a novel that has astonished everyone, coming, as it does, from the pen of a woman. Exaggeration of this kind cannot be attributed to Madame Daniel Lesueur in the novel she has just published, “ Le Coeur Chemine.” It is a delight- fully natural story of a woman who makes the dis- covery that she is not as happy as she thought she was in her married life. Thanks to a poet whom she had known years before, and whom she meets by accident at Antwerp, she makes this discovery. She has accompanied her husband on one of his business journeys to Antwerp and Bruges, and the poet wanders through the museums and churches with her, with the result that she realises how prosaic her life is. There is no strong plot running through this book: it is just a psychological study from beginning toend. The poet makes love to the wife of the prosaic husband, and she is tempted to promise, at any rate, to be his friend and his muse. Things cannot stop at this stage, but just at a critical moment the wife discovers the nobility of character of her husband and remains faithful to him. As the years go by life is again most monotonous, and once more the poet crosses her path. She has another terrible struggle with herself, and once more comes out victorious, The minor characters in the story are all well drawn, and the author only attempts to show us the workings of the heart of all these human beings without trying to explain at all why so much that is unsatisfactory should remain so to the end. It is, as she says, a most pitiful mystery that one should be compelled to make sacrifices which, as far as we can see, do no final good, although they cost us so much. The second volume of “Souvenirs sur Madame de Maintenon” has just been published by the Count d’Haussonville and M. Hanotaux. It is one of the most interesting books that has yet appeared on this subject, as it contains the famous “ Cahiers de Mademoiselle d’Aumale.” We get a detailed account of life at the French Court under Louis XIYV., dating from his liaison with Madame de Montespan. In the Preface, by M. Hanotaux, we are told that Madame de Maintenon wished “to remain an enigma to posterity,’ and that she only intended those papers about her life to be published which she had prepared for publication. It was on this account that Madame de Maintenon destroyed all her correspondence with Louis XIV, and with various other persons. ‘ Mademoiselle d’Aumale commences her memoirs with a chapter on “Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Montespan.” Another chapter is on the ‘‘Duchesse de Bourgogne,” and there is also an account of the death of Louis XIV., which Mademoiselle d’Aumale witnessed, “Zette”’ is the title of the new story by MM. Paul et Victor Margueritte. “L’Amoureuse Rédemption,” by M. Armand Charpentier, is a strong book which appears to be having great success. Among other new novels are “ Ballons Rouges,” by Madame de Bovet, “TL Etape Silencieuse,” by Jean Saint-Yves, and “ Petite Fille d’Amiral,” by Pierre Maél. A new poet has also come to the front with a volume entitled “Jamais,” the preface of which is written by M. Sully Prudhomme. The poet is M. Charles Reculoux. Various books on religious questions have been published recently, and are no doubt due to the agitation now going on here with reference to the Congregations. One of these books is “ Le Concordat de 1801, ses Origines et son Histoire,” by Cardinal Mathieu ; and another is “La Révolution Francaise et les Congrégations,” by M. Aulard. At the last meeting of the French Academy literary prizes were awarded to Madame Bentzon  232 and to MM. Adolphe: Brisson, Mandat-Grancey, Pontsevrez, Victor du Bled, de Pommerol and A. Halley. The chief theatrical event here has been the production of Maeterlinck’s new play, “ Joyzelle,” at the Gymnase Theatre. Space forbids our giving any details about this piece this month. There is an excellent article on “ The Works of Maeterlinck ” in the May number of the Interna- tional Theatre, which gives a very good idea of the chief features of this author’s books and plays. M. Mirbeau’s piece at the Francais may be pro- nounced a success, and we hear it is to be put on the English stage by Mr. Alexander as “ Business is Business.” The great theme of the play is the influence of money in modern society. It is a somewhat daring piece and the banker is a cleverly drawn type of the financier of our times. “Le Ruban Rouge” is a melodrama taken from the novel by M. Pierre Sales, whose success as a « fenilletonist” has been as marked. It has been put on at the Ambigu, and was very much appreciated by the house. In honour of M. Rostand’s reception at the Academy, Madame Sarah Bernhardt will revive “J Aiglon” at her theatre, and M. Coquelin will give ‘Cyrano de Bergerac” at the Porte Saint- Martin. Auys HALLARD. __ 9 PARRY y. MORING AND GOLLANCZ. —+—~<—+ — N this action, to which two members of the Society, Judge Parry and Mr. Gollancz, were parties, a point of considerable literary im- portance was decided, and several others were raised either in the pleadings or in the newspaper con- troversy which followed it. The facts on which the action was based are briefly as follows :— In 1888 Judge Parry obtained from their then owner, the Rev. 8. R. Longe, with a view to pub- lication, copies of the original letters written before marriage by Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple in A.D. 1652-4. To the originals them- selves he had no access. The copies were made by the daughter-in-law of the owner, and the gratuitous offer of them had been occasioned by the publication in April, 1886, in the English Illustrated Magazine, of a sketch by Judge Parry, compiled from Courtenay’s “ Life of Temple,” and entitled Dorothy Osborne, Judge Parry re-arranged the letters, many of which were undated, in what he believed to be their proper sequence, and spent some time in modernising THE AUTHOR. their spelling and English and in annotating them. He proceeded to publish the letters after, at the request of his publisher, making excisions’ amounting in all to about 100 lines, in a guinea volume, entitled Zhe Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. He registered the copy- right of his book on June 15th, 1888. In October, 1888, a second edition was issued at the price of 6s. _No mention appears to have been made at the time by the original owner, or by Judge Parry, of the copyright in the letters ; nor was any notice given of the copyright having been previously dealt with when in 1891 the original letters were, after the death of the Rev. 8. R. Longe, sold by the then owner to the British Museum, where the librarian arranged and bound them (with one exception) in the same order in which Judge Parry had printed them. In November, 1902, Judge Parry’s attention was called to the advertisement of a volume entitled Zhe Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. Newly Edited from the original MSS. by Israel Gollancz. On the 1st December Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co., Judge Parry’s solicitors, wrote to Mr. Moring, the publisher of the proposed volume, stating that their client: had copyrighted his publication, of which he was preparing another edition, and that if necessary he would take steps to prevent the publication adver- -tised by Mr. Moring. Mr. Moring answered, on the 2nd December, that the work in question had been prepared from the original letters in the British Museum, and that under these circumstances he presumed Judge Parry would take no further steps. in the matter. Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co. repliedfon the 4th December stating that they and: Judge Parry were unable to understand how Mr. Moring claimed to be entitled to publish the book advertised by him, and under what permission or sanction from the British Museum he claimed such authority. On the 8th December Mr. Gollancz wrote to Judge Parry, alleging that “the fact of the originals now being the property of the nation made the letters common property,” and offering “to con- nect the new edition with your esteemed name.” On the 9th December Judge Parry referred Mr. Gollancz to his solicitors, and on the same day Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co., wrote to both the defendants calling on them “to discontinue the issue of the edition published by you.” Mr. Moring, however—after three months delay issued the volume at 2s. 6d. in March, 1903; and on the 18th March Judge Parry filed an affidavit in the Chancery Division of the High Court in support of an action to restrain its further issue. In this he did not insist on the claim suggested in the correspondence to an exclusive copyright in  THE AUTHOR. the original letters, but based his case on the allegation that the copyright in his work already described had been infringed with regard to (1) his notes, (2) his arrangement of the letters, (3) his text, and (4) his title. The defendants replied by affi- davit alleging that “they had not made any unfair use of the plaintiff’s book,” and as to the notes, they contested in detail the evidences of any such use brought forward by the plaintiff. Mr. Gollancz for himself denied having copied the order of the letters, stating that he had followed with one or two exceptions (based on his own researches) the British Museum order. He ad- mitted that, “as rough working copy, a print was set up of the letters as appearing in the plaintiff’s book,” but he alleged that the editor had collated it with the original letters “ at least ten times” and corrected “about 2,000 errors and differences,” and restored numerous omissions extending from one line to thirty, “the result being a new and very superior text.” He entered into detailed explanation of the cases in which he was charged with having copied or retained errors in Judge Parry’s notes. He submitted that his title was no infringement of copyright. He added, “I have always bond fide believed that I was acting within my strict rights, and in a way that could not be thought unfair to other editors, or in particular to the plaintiff.” The case came on before Mr. Justice Farwell gn April 8rd, 1903, on an application for an interim injunction. The Judge ut once expressed his opinion that the defendants’ admission that they had taken Judge Parry’s book and had copied it was fatal. In reply to the argument that they might “‘have made it their own by ten or a dozen comparisons with the manuscripts,” he added, “ It seems to me the substratum is fatal to you ; you cannot use your scaffolding.” On this point, and on this alone, the case was decided. The defendants’ counsel, “ who stated “‘they were not altogether taken by surprise,” submitted to’ judgment for delivery up on oath of all the books and documents constituting the infringement, and an inquiry as to damages and costs down to the trial. There can be little doubt that the judgment, which was so readily accepted by the defendants’ counsel, was sound in law. No decision, it will be noted, was arrived at by the Court on the three further alleged infringements of copyright brought forward—the title, the arrangement of the letters, and the notes—nor does the Committee presume to express an opinion on the legal points involved. : With regard to the notes the question is a complicated one. The following sentences convey the opinion furnished to the Committee by an 233 eminent counsel on the general rules likely to be applied by a Court of Law dealing with similar cases: ‘The principle of the law, as laid down in various judgments, appears to be that an author may use his predecessor’s work, but must not copy it. He must, by adding something of his own, or derived from other and separate sources, by amalgamating and assimilating his literary material, create a new product. He must incorporate what he takes in his own work. Inthe words of Lord Eldon, he is allowed ‘ the legitimate use of a publication in the fair exercise of a mental operation deserving the character of an original work.’ Mere unintelligent copying, especially if mistakes are copied, will be stopped. Intelligent verification and assimilation of previous research in a work of substantial originality will: not be interfered with. The application of this principle to individual cases must be guided by the study of the particular facts involved.” The result of the trial gave rise to a newspaper correspondence, in which some well-known scholars took part. Dr. Furnivall, in the Zimes, asserted that the case had been decided on a technical point, and that a substantial injustice had been done by declaring illegal a practice which he asserted to be common among scholars and essen- tial in the interests of literature. His letter, however, was not mainly directed to the points brought before the Court, and still less to the point decided. He preferred to lay stress on Judge Parry’s assertion of his own belief that “if at any time an honest attempt were made to copy the MSS. in the British Museum, he could show circumstances entitling him to restrain publica- tion of such a copy if he so desired,” or, as Dr. Furnivall put it, “that he could show circumstances that would entitle him to restrain publication of these manuscripts in the British Museum if he so desired.” Professor Skeat also wrote calling attention to the excisions made by Judge Parry in his text, and commenting severely on his descrip- tion of it as “a complete edition.” In the opinion of the Committee there can be no question that any legal hindrance to the use of manuscripts in a national collection would be a misfortune to literature. But this claim was not put before the Court, and Judge Parry has speci- fically stated that he will never seek to enforce it. It may therefore be dismissed from the discussion. The Committee are unable to regard the point on which the case was decided as purely technical. Mr. Gollancz had the original letters at his disposal. It was open to him to copy them, and to collate his copies with his predecessor’s version if he thought it desirable. He preferred to take the opposite course. He borrowed: his predecessor’s text, and, without reference to Judge Parry, made it the  234 basis of his own. It can be no defence to allege that Judge Parry’s work was at once faulty and defective. If it is the custom among scholars to go to a faulty version, when the original is at hand, or to use a living editor’s text without communi- cating with him until after he has threatened legal proceedings, the Committee consider that the law has done a service to literature in declaring that such practices are illegal. The Committee have not overlooked the literary aspect of the case. Judge Parry’s edition of the letters is admittedly incomplete, and the reason assigned by him for the excisions, namely, the request of his publisher, cannot be considered adequate. It is not disputed that his text and notes stand in considerable need of revision. Although the second edition of his volume was published as far back as October, 1888, he had apparently not availed himself of the accessibility since 1891 of the original MSS. in order to revise his text. For it was not till January, 1903, that Judge Parry employed a copyist to compare the letters in his book with the originals in the British Museum, But, while admitting these considerations, the Committee feel that Judge Parry was entitled to be consulted before any use was made of his work in the preparation of a new edition of the letters. Finally, as in the Z%mes correspondence the action of the Secretary of the Society has been referred to, the Committee think it desirable to state the part he has taken in the matter. Before the trial Mr. Gollancz, as a member of the Society, called on the Secretary, who, at his desire, wrote to Judge Parry in the following terms :— THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS, Mareh 20th, 1903, DEAR SIR,— I have now perused your affidavit. I have also seen Mr, Gollancz, who has given me his view of the position. : Mr. Gollanez has asked me to put this offer before you— but without prejudice to his legal position if you do not accept it—that either I should endeavour to arrange the matter between you, or he is willing to abide absolutely by any decision come to by an arbitrator appointed by the Committee of Management of the Society....... Yours truly, (Signed) G. HERBERT THRING. The omitted portion of the letter is private, and does not refer to any offer. Judge Parry, in his reply, stated that any offer Mr. Gollancz desired to make must be made through the usual channels. This information was com- municated to Mr. Gollancz by the Secretary. ee THE AUTHOR. LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. a Opinions on United States Copyright Law.* I. Music Booxs DrEniep ImportTATION FEBRUARY 15, 1898. I. Reprints of musical compositions are pro- hibited importation. II. The term ‘ books” in the prohibiting clause includes music books. III. Music books made up partly of copyrighted and partly of uncopyrighted compositions cannot be imported. TV. Destruction of unlawfully imported musi¢ books, pursuant to rules of the Secretary of the Treasury, is legal. By the Solicitor-General. I. The Act of March 3, 1891, prohibits “ during the existence of such copyright, the importation into the United States of any book, chromo, litho- graph, or photograph so copyrighted.” Musical compositions are usually lithographed or set from type. They thus fall within the class prohibited. The act indicates an intent to pro- hibit copyrighted compositions, which includes musical compositions, when reprinted by type set or by drawings on stone made outside of the United States. Il. In the clause prohibiting importation, the word “books” signifies the mechanical means to place the author’s intellectual work in_ saleable shape. Courts have construed “books” in this sense to include a musical composition though on but one sheet. The reprint may be a book, a lithograph, or a photograph, according to the pro- cess. In any of these forms the reprint cannot be imported during the life of the copyright. III. Music books made up in part of copy- righted compositions are prohibited. A prohibited - article cannot be admitted by being attached to an article which is not prohibited. A book is an entity. If part is not admissible, it must all be excluded. IV. Under the convention with Canada pro- viding for the reciprocal return of mail matter which is “not delivered from any cause,” books imported in violation of law need not be returned. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster- General have power ($4958, R. 8.) to make rules to prevent importation of prohibited articles. Under this general authority rules for the forfeiture * Extracts from a pamphlet published by the Americam Publishers’ Copyright League.  THE AUTHOR. and destruction of prohibited articles unlawfully imported may be framed so as to provide “ due process of law.” II. DrRaMatic RIGHTS IN AMERICA JUNE 80, 1896. An unpublished drama need not be copyrighted to protect stage-rights. By Mr. Rives.* An American publisher is requested by an Eng- lish author ‘‘to copyright a dramatisation” of a forthcoming story by producing a simultaneous technical performance. In the United States stage-right rests entirely on common law right of property, not upon statute. An unpublished play is protected. The play is still unpublished if the text of the drama has not been printed, although the play has been produced on the stage and the novel from which it is taken has been published. The simultaneous performance desired is un- necessary to protect the stage-right. II. Notice oF CopyricuHt; Form or 1897. Marcu 4, When a story, published in a magazine and copyrighted, is reprinted in book form by another publisher, under an assignment of the copyright, the notice therein should give the date of the original copyright and name of the original publisher. By Mr, Rives. A story was copyrighted by the J. B. Lippincott Company when published in its magazine. The copyright was assigned to Dodd, Mead & Company, who are about to publish the story in book form, and who inquire as to the proper form for the notice of copyright. The law requires a notice to be printed in every book in order to entitle it to protection under its coypright. The notice must be in the required words, Congress declares it must give ‘the year the copyright was entered and the name of the party by whom it was taken out.” If the story is reprinted in the same form the notice should be “ Copyright, 1896, by J. P. Lippincott Company.” If it is not to be published in exactly the same form as in the magazine it may be copyrighted as a new edition, and the notice should be “ Copyright, 1896, by J. P. Lippincott Company ; Copyright, 1897, by Dodd, Mead & Company.” * My. Rives is the Counsel to the League. hd oe Or IV RE-BINDING CHEAP Eprrions ror SALE APRIL 3, 1899, Can the owner of a copyright, who sells a cheap edition of the book, prevent its being put in another cover, so as to compete at lower prices with a better edition of the same book ? By Mr. Rives. The question of how far the owner of a copy - right can impose restrictions upon the use of his book has often been before the Courts. The ques- tion seems to depend on the consideration whether the owner of the copyright has sold the book. If the owner of the copyright has nof sold the book he can restrict its use. So in case of an edition of Blaine’s “Twenty Years in Congress,” the publisher had not sold it to canvassing agents and the bookseller, who got a few copies, knowing of the agreement under which the agents got the book, was restrained. But the moment the book is sold, even though conditions are attached to the sale, the owner of the copyright must rely on his remedy for breach of contract, and not on his right to restrain an infringement of copyright. So, where books damaged by fire were sold toa dealer on condition “that all books be sold as paper stock only and not placed on the market as anything else,” but the books were rebound and put on sale, the Court held the remedy was not for violation of the copyright, but of the terms of the contract. The question next arises how far an owner of a copyright who se//s his books can protect himself by imposing conditions on their use. I think an agreement by which a dealer undertakes, for an expressed consideration, to sell the books only in a certain form would, be valid and enforceable as a contract ; without reference to any copyright. A greater difficulty arises with respect to the one to whom the first purchaser may sell. The contract might also provide that the first purchaser should insert similar conditions in any contract of sale with a subsequent purchaser. How far a con- tract between B. and C., made for the benefit of A., is enforceable by A., is hard to say. The rule varies in different States, but usually A. would have no remedy against C. I advise, the safest course is for the publisher to have a carefully drawn agreement with the dealer providing that the dealer shall not dispose of the books except in proper covers ; and also that in selling to other dealers the original purchaser shall agree to impose the same condition ; and that any breach shall be compensated by liquidated damages. It would also be well to print a notice in each copy of the book referring to the original contract.  236 Such contract should be enforced against the first purchaser, and he might be trusted to enforce it against the dealers to whom he sold. Vv. PUBLICATION TO SECURE COPYRIGHT OcToBER 30, 1901. Is publication of a book necessary to secure copyright ? ae By Mr. Rives. The text of the statute is silent on this point. The act, however, assumes that every copyrighted book is to be published. Copies of the book must be deposited “not later than the day of publica- tion.” No action for infringement can be brought unless a notice is printed in the “ copies of every edition published.’ The question is what the Court will infer from this language. In “ Drone on Copyright,” it is said that “ publication is made an essential prerequisite to securing copyright ; and hence there can be no statutory copyright in an un- published work.” The case of Boucicault v. Hart (Circuit Court of the United States in New York) held that a mere filing of title conferred no rights, unless there was a publication in a reasonable time. There is, however, a dictum in the case of Farmer vy. Calvert (Circuit Court in Michigan) that publi- cation 1s not necessary. The point, therefore, is somewhat doutbful. ‘he Constitution empowers Congress to pass copyright laws, not only to pro- tect authors, but (as it declares) ‘to promote the progress of science and useful arts,” or, in other words, to encourage the diffusion of knowledge. Part of the price an author pays for protection is that his work shall be available for consultation by all who desire it. I am, therefore, of the opinion that the purpose of the law is that the author shall, within some reasonable time, make his work public. As the question is not definitely settled, I should consider it unwise for a publisher to defer actual publication for a long time, as it would be running a serious risk of having his copyright declared invalid if he afterwards tried to prevent an infringement. ® ———+— A Curious ‘Case. In the autumn of 1902 a member of the Society received a communication from a firm of the name of Messrs, J. E. Stannard & Co., calling itself advertising agents aad contractors, offering to procure the copyright of certain of her books in America, for a fixed price. As, however, the books had already been published in England the author _ was advised that this would be impossible. THE AUTHOR. The contractors, however, were not to be beaten and claimed that they had a method of obtaining protection, although the work had already been published in England. They promised great things from the circulation of the book and offered to obtain the control of the whole American market. Still the author hesitated, but finally, under the advice of the Secretary of the Society, refused to accept the offer. The Secretary pointed out that as the American copyright was lost, it would be much better for her to deal with her former American publishers —an old-established and reliable firm—if she desired to test the American market. Her English publishers gave her the same advice. Still Messrs. Stannard & Co. were per- sistent, “ considering that it must be disheartening to theauthor to feel that rights worth somethousands of pounds might slip away at any moment.” Again, in a letter dated October Ist, 1902, they state as follows :— “We think it decidedly unfair that after we have taken the trouble to do for you what neither of your ‘ firms of standing’ ever thought of doing, that is, telling you how to rescue what you have lost, you straightway go and turn over the information to someone else. We could have secured the copyrights ourselves and no one would have blamed us for so doing, instead of which we offered to get them for you. Our clients learn to rely on us for straight- forwardness, and it is natural that we should expect the same in return. We should be pleased to hear from you in due course. We are tempted with an offer which would amply recoup us for our trouble, but as it would not be any to your advantage if we accepted it we have postponed the reply until you come to a decision.” The author was still obdurate. In a letter from Messrs. Stannard & Co., dated October 24th, we find the following paragraphs :— ‘Since we are not in business as philanthropists we have advised our American manager by this mail to secure copy- rights of your books if possible, and retain them in our name. “Failing this, he is to issue a par. to the American Literary Press that the American Literary Copyrights are not secured. “ Since respectability does not enter into the methods of American business men, we have no doubt that this will have the desired effect, and if some cute American publisher . copyrights the works in his own name and prevents you from issuing them in the U.S.A. you cannot say that timely warning was not given you. ‘* As we have pointed out before, the copyrights are worth as much to us as they are to you. If we get them, the law is with us. Under no circumstances will we sign your publisher’s agreement, and unless you are willing to agree to the terms stated in our agreement we must follow our own course in the matter. “A cablegram (prepaid) will be the only course open if you wish our American manager to await further instructions. “Since much valuable time has been wasted, we must ask for a final decision at your earliest convenience.” The daring of the gentleman who writes for the firm is interesting quite apart from his legal know- ledge, which is peculiar, It is abundantly clear  THE AUTHOR. 237 to those who have any knowledge of American Copyright Law that if any person actually obtains copyright in America without the English author’s sanction, he must be taking that which does not belong to him—that is to say, supposing the pub- lication in both countries to be simultaneous. If he does not obtain the author’s copyright, but merely publishes on the American market, he is only acting as a common but legalised pirate, On the 21st of January of the present year, Messrs. Lane and Stannard, presumably repre- senting the same firm in the United States, wrote as follows from New York :— “Re the U.S.A. copyrights of your books. We beg to inform you.that they have been secured in accordance with the law, and should therefore be pleased to hear from you with respect to the publishing of the same in this country. “As the general publishing price in this country is $1.50, and the wholesaler’s price but half that amount, it isnot possible to import an edition and sell at a profit, as there is a duty of 45 per cent. on imported books. Taking your offer of two shillings and sixpence (or 60 cents) per volume, and adding the cost of freight and duty, you will see that the importing cost would be at least $1 per volume, and therefore cannot be entertained as a business proposition. “Weare willing and ready to deal with you on equitable terms for the printing and publishing here, and offer and require similar terms given to your publishers in England, with exceptions which you will note in the enclosed agreement. Under these terms you can have full control over the MSS., and the books can go to press exactly as written, which I understand you keenly desire. “We wish you to understand, however, that unless they are purchased by you, the copyrights will remain in our possession, and we reserve the right, if you refuse our offer, to sell to an American publishing firm, without stipulation as to the editing of the MSS. Should, however, you desire to purchase, your offer would receive premier consideration. “In case you accept our offer to publish, the books will be issued by a New York firm, and will be advertised widely but economically. Please cable your reply on or before February 5th, as after that date we shall conclude that you refuse our offer and shall feel at liberty to conclude negotia- tions with a firm here for the sale of copyrights with the privilege of editing the MSS. as they desire. ‘‘We must warn you that any further shipments of your English edition to this country will be liable to be seized and confiscated, but we will, of course, allow you reasonable time to warn your publishers and agents.” The agreement that they asked the author to sign is interesting and instructive. There are three books in question: 25,000 copies of two of the books are to be published, and 50,000 of the third. The author agrees to pay all expenses of printing and publishing, including illustrating, binding, packing, freights, etc., and also one-half of the total cost of efficiently advertising the said books, No limit is fixed for the cost of production or for the advertisements, and the author has to deposit in cash a sum equal to the estimated cost of production and in addition a sum equal to the estimated initial cost of advertising with the Trust Company of the City of New York. Such deposit to be subject only to the draft or cheque of the said firm on the certification of such bills of indebtedness by the author if residing in New York, or in her absence by her legally appointed representatives. Should, however, bills or accounts as above stated be presented for certification and no action taken on the same within seven days, then the said bank or Trust Company is hereby authorised to pay such cheques or drafts out of the aforesaid deposits on receiving an affidavit by the said firm setting forth such default or negligence. And lastly, in con- sideration of the above articles being faithfully performed and carried out, the said firm agree to pay half profits. It is hardly necessary to make any comment on the above extraordinary agreement or upon the proposals made during the course of negotiations. The facts speak for themselves, Although the first letters were full of large promises of profits of all kinds to the author, yet the last offer is quite distinct. It is possible that the author might have been led away by the temptation held out of large returns arising from obtaining copyright in the United States, but no author, however unaccustomed to the ways and methods of publishers and their dealings in literary wares, could possibly be deceived by the final letter and the finalagreement. Nothing farther remains to be done. The author must stand and wait. If the books are produced in the United States, they are pirated copies of the English edition. If they are produced as copyright, under the American law, the firm will be subject to severe penalties, and if the books are produced as an authorised edition, the author’s remedy is to make the whole case public, G. HE. “FAIR COMMENT.” — oe HE Court of Appeal has now given its judgment in the case of McQuire v. The Western Morning News Company, Limited. The case is a very interesting one, not only from the point of view of the dramatist, but from the point of view of the author. All members of the profession of literature are subject to criticism. Although each particular case of “unfair com- ment’? must be to a certain extent decided on its own especial facts, yet there are certain broad rules which the Court lays down in order to determine on what lines and to what extent a criticism may be libellous. The case was brought by an actor who repre- sented a piece at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth,  238 and objected to the comment that appeared next day in the Western Morning News. In the Court of first instance judgment was given for the plaintiff with £100 damages. The defendant company pleading that the words were not libellous, but fair and bond fide criticism on a matter of public interest. The defendants appealed, and on the appeal the judgment in the Court below was reversed, The Master of the Rolls, in delivering an elaborate judgment, made some very weighty com- ments on the law of “ libellous criticism.” Firstly, as the libel complained of was a dramatic criticism of the play publicly acted, unless it exceeded “fair comment,” it could not be counted as libellous. After going carefully over the statements of the plaintiff and defendants, he proceeded to raise the most important question of what are the limits of “ fair comment.” “ One thing,” he said, “is perfectly clear. That the jury have no right to substitute their own opinion of the literary merits of the work for that of the critic, or to try the fairness of the criticism by. any such standard.” This point is most important, and although it has been made before, yet it cannot be sufficiently insisted upon. If the verdict of whether the criticism was fair or not depended upon the jury’s verdict of the merits of the piece, the result might be in a good many cases extraordinary. Authors and dramatists know but too well how even the highest critics have been known to disagree when writing about or discussing the features of works of art. Secondly, the Master of the Rolls quoted a saying of Lord Ellenborough’s bearing on this subject :— “The Commentator must not step aside from the work or introduce fiction for the purpose of condemnation. Had the party writing the criti- cism followed the plaintiff into domestic life for the purpose of slander, that would have been libellous.” And again, from the same judgment, “ Show me an attack upon the moral character of the plaintiff, or upon his character unconnected with his author- ship, and I shall be as ready as any judge that ever sat here to protect him.” Lastly, he states, “I think the word ‘ fair’ embraces the meaning of honest and also of rele- vancy.” And later, “‘ The comment, in order to be within the protection of the privilege, had to be fair, 7.¢., not such as to disclose in itself actual malice. It also had to be relevant; otherwise it never was within it. And the judge could hold, as a matter of law, that the privilege did not extend to it.’ THE AUTHOR. These are some of the general points, and in this particular case the Master of the Rolls stated that he was clearly of opinion that the verdict was against the weight of evidence, and that he con- sidered the latter part of the summing-up of the judge in the Court of first instance might have led the jury to apply the standard of their own taste to the appreciation of the thing criticised, and to measure the rights of the critic accordingly. Members of the Society from time to time come to the office with questions of this kind, and it is very useful to put before them those fundamental facts on which alone an action for libellous criti- cism will rest. G. Hoo. —$-—<—-—____ A COMMA AND A COW. ++ PWHE British Medical Journal of the 28th of March, 1903, had an interesting account of a dairy visited during an investigation into “The Milk Supply of Large Towns.” One of the incidents was described as follows :— “The driver having finished milking, his cow offered to take me into an adjoining room, where the milk was cooled.” In its following issue the British Medical Journal commented upon the freak of the “ devil” who had thus with the aid of a comma created a bovine successor to Balaam’s ass, and gave two amusing instances of the powers of misplaced punctuation. In the one a well-known Nonconformist divine, wishing to disclaim any ambition to appear in the black coat and white tie, or stock, of orthodoxy, was credited with a public declaration that he would “wear no clothes, to distinguish him from his fellow-Christians.” In the other, a Canadian firm having placed a new patent nursing-bottle on the market, accom- panied it with these recommendations, for the guidance of anxious mothers: “When the baby is done drinking it must be unscrewed, and laid in a cool place under a tap. If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk it should be boiled.” The last example would seem to require some- thing more than the minding of stops, in order to satisfy a critical literary taste. It is not, however, recorded that any baby suffered. In such a case an interesting question of legal responsibility might have been raised by an action for negligence against the vendors of the bottle brought by a chilled or par-boiled infant suing through his or her “next friend.”  THE AUTHOR. GENERAL MEMORANDA. ++ ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement), In this case the following rules should be attended to: C.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher, As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Ill. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author, Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the ** Cost of Production,” IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production, (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book, General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld, o—~<>— WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. —< + EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. [t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager,; 239 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTs : (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory, An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certaindate and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (¢.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (e., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or dificult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (.) apply also in this case. 4. PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event, It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved, 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time, This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. : 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11, An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA«# TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY &—~<}P— — HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion, All this without any cost to the member, bs Ly VERY member has a right toask for and to receive  240 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers : —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements, 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. .8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. —_—_+—>_ +—___—_—_ THE READING BRANCH. — to EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach, The term JISS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. ————_——__.——_o—_____ NOTICES. ———>+ HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s, 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. Communieations for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH, All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. i COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EDITOR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever, Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. —+— + THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. ge R. G. H. PUTNAM, the Secretary of the American Publishers’ Copyright League, has forwarded to the offices a pamphlet privately printed for the League, entitled “ Opinions on Questions of Copyright.” The pamphlet contains opinions upon the more important issues that have been in dispute during the last ten years ending December, 1902. Mr. Putnam, in his letter to the Secretary, states, ‘he will be very pleased to meet any special require- ments that may arise for copies on the part of the managers of the Society.” If, therefore, any member for a special purpose should desire to have a copy of the pamphlet he is requested to communicate with the Secretary, who will, no doubt, under Mr, Putnam’s favour, obtain the work in question. We see, with interest, that the Publishers’ Asso- ciation of America means to print at different intervals further similar summaries as they are able to secure records of decisions on Copyright Cases. These publications will in time no doubt grow to great importance, as it will be possible in a handy form to have a collection of all the leading Copy- right Cases. We thank Mr. Putnam for his courtesy and consideration. Amone@ the Correspondence we print a letter from Mr. Thomas Hardy. It comes at a very suitable time, as the same subject was treated in the May number of The  Author, on page 206, when comment was made on the Annual Meeting of the Publishers’ Association, In that article we stated as follows :— “ Firstly, we have insisted, and now insist again, that it is absolutely essential that contracts deal- ing with the subject of serial rights should be clear and limited and should not be general or indefinite, and when serial rights are sold they should be sold either to one paper or to a limited circle of papers for one issue only or for a limited time.” Unfortunately, Mr. Hardy seems to have suffered from a complaint which is not infrequent among authors, the revival of an earlier work without any reference to the author. Legally, the position is quite correct. If the copyright has been sold or if serial rights without any limitation have been transferred, the position is often very unsatisfactory both for the author, or, as in the case quoted in the May number, for the publisher. It is necessary to warn authors who publish serial work to be careful about their agreements. In the early days of the past month the papers were full of the Stock Exchange walk from London to Brighton, and applauded the fact vociferously that out of some 90 starters 72 covered the distance under thirteen hours. From a physical point of view no doubt the result is highly satis- factory. : : : In the American Author there is an interesting article on the mental activity of authors. Mr. John Swinton, “journalist, orator, and economist,” was desired to write a novel based on certain economical questions, consisting of 500 octavo pages, small pica type, in twenty days. Reckoning a page to contain about 250 words, this meant a book of 125,000 words. Mr. Swinton objected, but the representative of the publishing firm was inexorable, and at last the author stated that he would make an effort. His own words are as follows :— “He demanded the preface of my book at once. I pondered. I was familiar with the subject, having thought and spoken and written much upon it in other years. I hastily sketched a plan as I talked with him. ‘“‘He said he would wait in the house till I had written the preface, which he desired to take to Philadelphia that evening. Becoming desperate under his urging eye, I sat down, and in an hour gave him the preface. The first chapter was mailed in a few days. Chapter followed chapter. I worked day and night, keeping up pluck with never-ending pots of coffee. Three hundred of the five hundred pages were written, and time was nearly up. I padded. I put in things I had formerly written. The twenty days were out, and over one hundred pages were yet needed. I had to get a few days of grace. Finally the book of 500 pages and 125,000 words was finished. Its title is ‘Striking for Life,’ ”’ This was certainly fine mental athletics, but the THE AUTHOR. 241 article goes on to quote from another American periodical, the Bookman, a few facts which have no doubt been fully verified by the writer. For instance—Frank Norris wrote 125,000 words in 89 days. Mrs. Oliphant always wrote at night, and more than once completed a three volume novel in six weeks. The following interesting statements about English authors, from the same article, may come as a surprise to some :— ““Weyman writes one novel a year, and cannot be per- suaded to attempt more. It took Hall Caine three years to write ‘The Manxman,’ Barrie four to write ‘ Sentimental Tommy,’ and four more to produce ‘Tommy and Grizel.’ Maurice Hewlett wrote ‘The Forest Lovers’ four times before he was willing to let it go from his hands, and the late Bret Harte tore up a dozen pages of manuscript for every one that he completed. Harold Frederic was five years writing ‘The Damnation of Theron Ware. ” But for sound mental athletics, consider gravely an offer made by a certain well-known publisher to a gentleman, whom he desired to employ to grind out fiction. This offer was quoted in’ the April number of Zhe Author, and is absolutely authentic. The serial writer was to have £600 a year. To earn this money he would have to produce 5,000 words a day for six days a week, without any provision for sickness or holidays. It will be seen that work under this offer comes nearly up to that of Mr. Swinton, but has to be continued year in and year out, until the publisher, the public, and the author are tired, and the last, a useless wreck, loses his position. In the American Critic an article entitled “Uncertainties of Literature,” written by Elliot Flower, follows the same lines as the articles that appeared in the February and March (1902) num- bers of Zhe Author, on “Some Free Lance Expe- riences.” In reading the record it would appear that the struggling ree Lance meets with much the same treatment on both sides of the water. The record is tabulated. Out of 53 MSS., each MS. had to be sent on its travels on an average slightly over five times before it could be placed. Nine were accepted at once, and 12 on a second trial, but at the other end of the scale, one was sent out 30 times before acceptance, one 18 times, and two 13 times. There is no doubt that when an author has reached a certain point of facility in writing there is nothing like persistence to bring success. Tux following rhyme, written, perchance, with a view to ridicule, has been dropped into the Society’s post bag. We print it for what it is worth, in the hope that  249 the author will put aside his cloak of modesty and discover himself. No doubt, he calls it an epigram. If so, he would, we feel sure, be a proper inmate for one of those beautiful and sanitary buildings that adorn the hills of Surrey and Sussex. To tHE Society of AUTHORS, 39, QUEEN STREET, SrorEY’s GATE. You flourish on Authors’ alarms ; You arouse the unfriendly in Man ; Then you sell healing balms, To stifle their qualms, At the cost of One Guinea per ann. But pause for a moment, I pray, A pen stroke :—your ruin is clear, From the Street that is clean, With the name of the QUEEN, To the street that is doubtful and QUEER. ee <> THE LYTTON CENTENARY. — + HE Lytton centenary has produced the ordinary crop of commemorative articles, the best being Mr. Francis Gribble’s paper in the Fortnightly Review, and the more sober appre- ciation in Blackwood’s Magazine. Of these two papers we think the latter has the greater value as criticism, for Mr. Gribble’s virile intolerance of any- thing savouring of affectation prompts him to con- vey the suggestion, though he does not actually formulate the charge, that Lytton’s vapourings about the Beautiful and the True originated in preciousness ” and were therefore insincere, and his resentment of the seeming insincerity prompts him to do scant justice to Lytton’s compensating merits. With the intolerance of affectation we are in full sympathy, but we do not endorse the very common opinion that Lytton was insincere. He was despe- rately in earnest, ever painfully conscious of his “mission”; he had indeed that high seriousness which, according to Matthew Arnold, comes from absolute sincerity. With it, too, he had a sense of humour ; “ Kenelm Chillingly” proves that, even as it proves its author’s funereal gravity and fathom- less sentimentality. And with those two qualifica- tions, high seriousness and humour, it is odds but what any man will go far. The mistake Lytton made was in allowing his mission to get in the way of his art. “In forming his conception,” Mr. Worsfold says, “the artist should be guided by the test of ‘great ideas ’; in executing his con- ception he must be guided by the ‘rules of art, THE AUTHOR. He, on the one hand, can never be, by the nature of things, so independent of the mass of mankind as to make artistic excellence his sole object; on the other, moral worth, however distinctive, can never of itself suffice to endow his work with the characteristic charm of art.” Lytton’s moral inten- tions were above suspicion, and his literary facility was so extraordinary that it is not surprising that he neglected the rules of art when, without them, he could achieve such an extraordinary vogue as he did at once. The measure of success that was meted out to him might well, indeed, have turned the brain of a much more robust man, and the wonder is, not that he enjoyed such a vogue in the earlier part of his career, but that he was not spoiled by it and wholly incapacitated for doing the much better work that he actually produced in the latter half of his career. Whether Lytton was a great artist or not is a question little likely to be brought up for discussion now ; the centenary merely offers opportunity for reconsidering him as a writer at the expiration of a given period. What he wrote, he wrote ; some of it suited and has been accepted ; “and that’s success.” ‘To describe him in a single epithet is not possible, but the epigrammatic criticism passed upon him by a writer in the Academy is pro- bably as fair a one as could be devised : that he was so full of talent that there was no room left in him for genius. That his bicentenary will be com- memorated, and those books which are read now be read a hundred years hence, may, we think, be assumed ; and of many a better writer so much could not be said. Or THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. — (Reprinted by kind permission from the Publishers’ Circular, May 2nd.) R. ANDREW LANG has been “ pitching in” to the booksellers in the Morning Post—or, what is much the same thing, he has borrowed the stick of a “ trenchant critic ” who writes in 7’e Author and re-applied it—with reservations. He lets his “author” point the moral, and then he adorns the tail, with another sting of the stick. «The bookseller’s affair is,” he says, “to know about books and men. My author, however, ‘believes that it is nearly impossible to exaggerate the lethargy and incapacity of the ordinary retail bookseller.” Mr. Lang kindly adds: “These be very brave words ; I should hesitate to apply them PohCenSORNRRI  THE AUTHOR. to his Majesty’s ministers, much more to the ordinary retail bookseller.” Then why, Mr. Lang, did you not hesitate before-taking such an unfair statement out of its coffin and publishing it to the world ?—it would have remained stillborn had you not godfathered it. ‘“ ‘The habit of reading,’ says my author, ‘is being all over the country dis- couraged by the insutficiency of the vast majority of booksellers.’” Mr. Lang quotes this silly libel, and adds that he deems it “ much too sweeping.” How much ? “*The country,’ says my author ferociously, ‘would be benefited by the bankruptcy of the whole lot of booksellers, and the transference of their business to more competent hands.’” Mr. Lang’s comment is: “This man _ has suffered much.” How much? Anyone would think the whole of the booksellers of the United Kingdom had united to offend him by refusing to stock his works, but all we are told is that some unnamed “suburban bookseller” failed to get him a cheap copy of Milton’s poems. “The book never came, but at the end of a fortnight the bookseller found energy enough to send a messenger to say it could not be procured.” If this cock-and-bull story were true, what ground is there in it for libelling the whole book- selling trade of the country ? Another ‘“ example,” as Mr, Lang calls it, of this man’s sufferings at the hands of the whole trade is that, despairing of getting a learned work on Egyptology from the suburban bookseller—apparently he did not even ask for it—he gives its title and the address of its publisher to a tobacconist, who at once procured it —whether the confiding tobacconist ever got paid for it we are not told. But why should Mr. Lang give credence and publicity to such a Blue Fairy story as this ? ’ “The larger part of the reading public cannot get the books it desires,” says Mr. Lang’s “ tren- chant critic.” If this is trne it only goes to prove that the larger part of the public is what Carlyle said it was. How interesting it would be to have the name and address of this “author” who would like to see the whole bookselling trade made bankrupt because some apocryphal suburban bookseller could not procure for him a copy of the “ Chandos’ Milton. Mr. Lang’s pen is not often dipped in disappointed author’s bile, and it is not as if he believed the charges were true; then why give currency to anonymous and unfounded abuse of the booksellers ? There are thousands of booksellers in the United Kingdom selling millions of books every year, and yet they are all condemned in this wholesale way because some nameless author says he could not get a cheap book from some unnamed bookseller. 243 It is true that one or two other “examples ” are given by Mr. Lang. Some old lady in Norway wrote for Mr. Lang’s books to an Edinburgh book- seller, who gaily replied that they were all out of print. Are we to infer from the strange conduct of this prevaricating Edinburgh bookseller that Mr. Lang has no honour in his own country ? Heaven forbid! Booksellers would be the last to claim that their knowledge and methods were never at fault—but even those of authors are not perfect. o—~<— HALF-PROFITS ON SHEETS TO AMERICA, — + T may seem dull reading to the constant reader of The Author to see the repetition of certain forms of agreement, certain clauses, certain methods of publishing, accompanied with the same comments; but as long as publishers persist in bad clauses so long must Ve Author's objections persist also. There is a clause often embodied in agreements issued by the best houses in London in which the author, who does not obtain the American Copy- right, is entitled to half of the profits on the sale of sheets to America. If this clause is inserted in the usual half-profit agreement there is little to be said against it. The only points at issue, then, are, Is a profit-sharing agreement desirable? In what proportion should profits be divided between author and publisher? But if the clause is inserted in an agreement where the author is to obtain a royalty on the publication of the English edition, there are two very strong points of objection. This sale to an American house is mere agency work. If conducted through the medium of an author’s agent the latter would be highly pleased with the payment of 10 per cent. on the net result. Not so the publisher, although he is constantly crying out against the agent and his charges, It is a well-known fact—instances have often been quoted—that the publisher, although he expresses strong disapproval of the intervention of the agent who charges a modest 10 per cent., makes—when he endeavours to undertake any of the agent’s duties—a general charge of 50 per cent. The lowest percentage which has ever been seen in any agreement before the Secretary of the Society was 25 per cent. Further arguments against allowing a publisher to undertake an agent’s work need not be repeated here. The second objection rests on the fact that a clause drafted on these lines is a distinct pitfall to the author. It is a pitfall for the following reasons :—1. Because to the ordinary person the  244 difficulties with which the clause is pregnant are altogether invisible. 2. Because the amount the author receives in royalty is always calculated— see the books of the Society on the point—on the basis that the full cost of composition is charged against the English edition. If this were not the case, the author ought to receive a higher royalty on British sales. : Let us explain what we mean more fully. ake the ordinary 6s. book :— Cost of composition of 3,000 copies ... £30 0 0 Cost of printing ; ee 16 0 8 Cost of paper a 2 58 0 0 Total... ..£104 0 0 Of the 3,000 copies the publisher sends 2,000 to America, and receives for the same (say) 1s. a copy £100. The cost of composition was compulsory for the completion of the English edition, the author’s royalty, as stated, being based on_ this understanding ; but the publisher takes two-thirds of this cost towards the American edition, as well as two-thirds of the cost for the print and the paper, leaving to be divided between himself and the author— By sale of 2,000 copies to America ...£100 0 0 ‘Two-thirds cost of production ~ 69 6 8 £30 13 4 As the cost of composition has no right to be charged against the American edition, but only the cost of print and paper, the difference would work out as follows :— By sale of 2,000 copies to America ...£100 0 0 ‘Two-thirds cost of print and paper... 49 6 8 £50 13 4 Instead, therefore, of the author receiving £25 6s. 8d., by the publisher’s method of calcu- lation of half profits, the author receives £15 6s. 8d. and the publisher £35 6s. 8d. It is almost as reasonable an arrangement as the ordinary half-profit agreement, whose clauses and workings have so often been exposed in Zhe Author. To show how this method may be worked out in the interests of untrustworthy publishers unfairly to the author, say the publisher in the first instance only publishes a thousand copies. The cost of composition would still be £30; printing, £10; paper, £20. He sells 500 copies to America, and on the same principle the following sum is worked out — THE AUTHOR. Half cost of production .. £30 0 0 By sale of 500 copies to America at 1s. per copy ... one ae «=. 202 0 0 £5 0.0 This would leave a deficit against the author’s account of £2 10s., as the sale to America has failed to cover the cost of production. As soon as the edition is sold and the amount is worked out against the author he prints 10,000 copies for the English edition, but never takes into account the proportion of the cost of production of the 500 sent to America to the 10,000 printed in England. Again, supposing you take the first instance and 20,000 were subsequently sold, the cost of the 2,000 sold to America is still taken in proportion to the cost of the 3,000 of the first edition printed, and not in proportion to the whole cost. It will be seen, therefore, that, quite apart from the contract being unfair and a pitfall to the unwary (as on the face of the agree- ment the difficulty is invisible), even if it is worked out by a publisher with an honest idea of doing nothing dishonourable, the result of its working, its natural evolution, becomes a fraud on the author, as it is impossible to calculate this sale to America on the basis of future sales. It must always be calculated upon the sales that have already been made. The position is ridiculous. It is to be hoped that the Publishers’ Association will dissociate themselves from this form of agreement. G. H. T. —_—-- AUTHORS AND MODERN THRIFT. II.—The Purchase of an Annuity. O possess an annuity is the dearest desire of a poor man’s heart. An income assured for life, against which neither the rumours of wars nor the depressions of the money market has any effect, isperhaps the most comforting of all prospects. For this reason doubtless—the immunity from finan- cial worry—the lives of annuitants extend beyond the common span. One company, in a recent report, stated that the average age of the annuitants dying during the year under review was eighty-eight. The records of other companies confirm this experi- ence, which is remarkable in view of the fact that many of the annuitants are in weak health when they effect their policies, and would not be accept- able for life insurance except at special rates. The Moral Objection is one which arises in the consideration of the annuity. It is held that as the capital invested with the company is forfeited  to them at the death of the assured ; that the con- tract is a peculiarly selfish one; at least this is often the opinion of near relatives. The question, however, depends wholly upon circumstance. For a married man with distracting responsibilites to sink all his available capital might very well be an unwise step. On the other hand, there area variety of situations in which to purchase an annuity might be a most prudent step, inasmuch as the annuitant is relieved immediately of all anxiety—providing the annuity is of sufficient amount—as regards his future. Annuity versus Investment—It is generally agreed by financial authorities that the highest return on money it is possible to obtain from abso- lutely secure investment is 8 per cent. he return from the annuity is much higher, varying from 5 to 20 per cent., according to age. A man of sixty would receive £30 a year from his investment of £1,000, whereas the annuity would produce him an income of £94. The difference might very well mean to him the path from penury to comfort. In consequence of the curious life- giving properties of the annuity it is regarded with disfavour by some of the insurance companies, as it is not a department which is very profitable to them. The occasional early death of an annuitant does not recompense them for the abnormally long lives on which they continue to make a high return. Another aspect of the annuity in comparing it with investments is that the return never varies. The recent depreciation in the value of Consols and certain railway stocks indicates a risk which attaches even to “ gilt-edged”’ investments. The choice of an annuity is necessarily confined to persons of capital. But the return per hundred pounds is the same as per thousand, and to persons whose income comes to them, as it were, in flashes, a few hundred pounds might very well be sunk in producing a small income which has the immense advantage of being guaranteed to them for life. The choice of an annuity, being a perfectly simple contract untroubled by side issues, is one which offers no difficulty. All the well-known British offices are absolutely safe. The object, therefore, should be to purchase the annuity in the office offering the largest return for the particular age. The returns differ far more than in ordinary insurance. For example, a man of sixty can pur- chase for £1,000 a life annuity of £94 in one office, whilst another will return him only £80 10s. The difference is over 14 per cent. Both offices are of the highest standing, but a man would be very unwise to take the latter policy when the former is obtainable. ‘The differences indicated at several ages is clearly shown in the following table. The terms quoted by the Post Office are also given for the purpose of comparison. THE AUTHOR. 245 INVESTMENT oF £1,000, Males. | | Age 40. Age 50, Highest re-| £ 5, d.| £ s.. d.| & $d. & sg 2 Gunn 62 10 0173 10.0104. .0 1134 oO 8 Lowest re- | tora =... | 62 1 0.) 63 10 0130-10 06 114 8 6 Difference..| £9 15 0/10 0 0/1810 01/19 15 0 Average of | 50 offices. | 5 | ! W1t 8) 68 7 6 | 8812 61196 6 § Post Office..| 55 17 6 |.66 18 4187 1 8 195 9 9 Females. : ee Age 40, | Age 50 Age 60. | Age 70, | d.| ee a A es as ga. Highest re-} £ s. | £ 8. CHI cs 56 12 0 | 66 10 O18 0 0 1193 0 6 Lowest re- | | nibunloy eee 48 0 0/5616 8| 7218 4|105 6 8 Difference..|£8 12 0| 918 4/1211 8|1713 4 Average of 50 offices.| 52 11 8 | 62 1 817915 O1115 0 0 Post Office..|] 50 5 0{60 510/78 8 4 111416 8 | -Vote.—For the return per £100 in each instance divide: by ten. There is no doubt, however, that the complete surrender of capital to the company is a material objection, in some minds, to the purchase of an annuity. “Should I die the day after, they argue, the money is absolutely lost, and my estate receives nothing!” The number of annuitants dying in the early days of their contract is so small as to be beyond practical consideration ; but all the same this objection remains. To meet this several com- panies have lately devised a plan by which the income is guaranteed over a stated number of years, usually ten or twenty. This provides against the early death of the annuitant, as, in any case, a return of ten or twenty payments is guaranteed to. the estate. We have shown that the best return obtainable for age sixty for £1,000 is £94 per annum. With the annuity guaranteed for tem years the return would be £80 3s. and for twenty years £62 9s. Such tables would appeal to persons. who wish to provide their estate against the risk of early death. But, on the other hand, most per- sons of mature age are more or less covered by life insurance, and it is perhaps better business to accept the slight risk of early death in order to: procure the materially higher income.  246 THE ANNUAL DINNER OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS. 1+ HE annual dinner of the Society, held at the Hotel Cecil, on Thursday, April 30th, was attended by about 170 members and guests. Mr. Douglas Freshfield, Chairman of the Committee of Management, was in the chair, with Captain Sverdrup, of the Fram, one of the gold medallists of the Royal Geographical Society for this year, on his right hand and Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., President R.G.S., on his left ; and the vice-chairs were occupied by Mr. G. H. Thring (Secretary), Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, and Dr. 8. Squire Sprigge. When dinner was over the Chairman proposed the health of the King in a brief speech, followed by that of the Queen and Royal Family. After these loyal toasts had been duly honoured, Mr. Douglas Freshfield rose again to propose the toast of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Making reference to the important work done by the Society for authors at large and for its members in particular in enabling them to obtain the full market value for their work, he described it as a Society for the Protection of Authors. In their business relations with publishers authors often needed protection. He deprecated the idea that the Society led a crusade against publishers, and preferred to consider it as working to promote an alliance necessary to both; he likened it rather to a trades union, having, however, no power to call its members out on strike. Mr. Freshfield also referred to the subject of the foundation of an Academy of Literature, as a question of interest to authors, on which he believed that there was some- thing to be said on both sides, though he indicated his own doubts as to the advantages to literature and the public taste that might be derived from such a body counterbalancing the obvious draw- backs and difficulties connected with its creation and renewal. Mr. Rider Haggard replied for the Society in a vigorous speech, in which he deprecated the expression of any desire by authors for the institu- tion of an Academy, and inquired what the methods were likely to be by which election to such an Academy might be secured. He declared that he had no wish to see authors—men of letters—touting round to other men of letters in order to secure election to the Academy. He asked by what stan- dard it was proposed that their claims to election should be judged. Was popularity to be the test, and was the author of whose work many thousand copies were sold before it appeared to be the one elected to the Academy, or he whose work was considered to have high literary qualifications ? THE AUTHOR. He hoped that the question of the Academy would be left alone, and expressed the belief that every class had the right to combine for the mutual comfort and protection of its members, and that this was the spirit which actuated those who founded the Society of Authors, of which he had been a very early member. While alluding to the question of the prices paid for literary work and the success of the Society in bettering the position of authors with regard to payment, Mr. Haggard asked why Milton sold ““Paradise Lost” for £10? He answered his own question by saying, with emphasis, that it was because he could not get any more. For unpaid work, amateur work, he expressed no great respect, indeed he questioned the merits of work done without hope of reward in such terms that some of his hearers were inclined to express dissent from his views. In the course of his speech Mr. Haggard referred to the friendly relations which he believed to be those that should rightly exist between author and publisher, and in conclusion he paid a graceful tribute to the memory of Sir Walter Besant. In proposing the toast of the guests of the Society of Authors, Mr. Richard Whiteing referred to those preseut who, representing science, had maintained the connection ever existing between science and literature. He mentioned among those present Mr. C. Longman, Dr. Clifford Allbutt, Dr. Mill, Sir William Church, P.R.C.P., Sir Henry Howse, P.R.C.S., and Mr. G. W. Prothero. In par- ticular he made allusion to the work done recently by Captain Sverdrup on board the Fram, and to the kindred services to science and exploration with which the name of Sir Clements Markham is associated. With these gentlemen he joined Mr. Henry Newbolt as representing the guests of the Society. In replying for the guests, Sir Clements Markham laid emphasis upon the recent achievements of Captain Sverdrup in the department of scientific Polar exploration, and mentioned that Captain Sverdrup himself would probably find difficulty in making a lengthy reply to the toast in any but a foreign tongue. Unfortunately this was the case, and Captain Sverdrup, to the regret of his hosts and fellow-guests, confined himself to a_ brief expression of thanks for the cordial welcome received by him. Mr. Henry Newbolt, replying in his turn for the guests, described himself as being in a sense a publisher as well as an author, and was inclined to think that the attitude of author and publisher towards one another must necessarily be charac- terised by some hostility due to their relative positions and interests. Referring to standards by which modern literature may be judged, Mr.  THE AUTHOR. Newbolt took a hopeful view of his contemporaries, but compared their passage past our range of vision to that of a procession, pointing out that the procession as it goes by seems to be a confused succession of units, while the relative merit of the figures and groups composing it can best be appre- ciated as it passes into the distance. At the conclusion of Mr. Newbolt’s speech Mr. Oscar Browning rose to give the health of the chairman. Mr, Browning avowed himself able in doing this to speak from long acquaintance with the subject of his speech, whom he had first known as climbing Mont Blane while a school- boy at Eton, when he was himself a master there, and with whose work as an explorer of mountain peaks and ranges, and discoverer of ground untrodden by previous climbers, he had been familiar from his earliest days. Mr. Freshfield, in thanking those present for the warmth with which they had received the toast, made graceful reference to his memories of Mr. Browning as an Eton master, and to the long friendship with him which so many Eton and Cambridge men had enjoyed. A soirée was held after the toasts had been drunk, and the members and guests had an oppor- tunity of meeting one another. The following is a list of those present :— Ackermann, A. 8. E. Ackermann, Mrs. Allbutt, Prof. Clifford Armstrong, E. A. Ashley, Mrs. Back, Mrs. Eaton Baildon, H. Belsize Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite Begbie, Miss A, H. Bell, Mackenzie Berene, Sir K.C.M.G. Besant, Geoffrey Besier, Rudolf Bird, C. P. Boddington, Miss Helen Bolam, the Rev. C. E. Boutwood, Arthur Boutwood, Mrs. Browning, Oscar Bryden, H. A. Buxton, Dudley Buxton, Mrs. Dudley Campbell, Miss Mont- gomery Carlile, John C. Childers, Erskine Church, Sir William &., PEC, P, Churchill, Lt.-Col. Seton Henry, Colquhoun, Archibald Colquhoun, Mrs. Archi- bald Craig, Lt.-Col. R. Mani- fold Crawshay, Mrs. Croker, Mrs. B. M. Davidson, Miss L. C, Davy, Mrs. E. M. Doudney, Miss Sarah Douglas, Sir George, Bart. Dowsett, C. F. Duncan, Miss Sarah Jeanette Esler, Rentoul Esler, Mrs. Rentoul Free, the Rey. Richard Freshfield, Douglas Galpin, H. “ Wirt Gerrare ” Gowing, Mrs. Aylmer Grierson, Miss Griffin, H. M. *‘ Victoria Cross ”’ Groser, Horace G. Gunter, Lt.-Col. E. Haggard, Miss Dorothy Haggard, Miss Angela Haggard, H. Rider Hallett, Col. W. Hughes Harrison, Miss Rose Hawkins, A. Hope Henslowe, Miss Hepburn, David Hills, A. E. Hodges, W. O. Holman, Martin Howse, Sir Henry G., P.R.C.S. Humphreys, Mrs. Des- mond (‘‘ Rita ’’) Hutchinson, the Rey, HN, lliffe, Mrs. Irvine, Mrs. Duncan Irvine, Duncan Jacobs, W. W. James, Miss W. M. ( Austin Clare”) Jenkins, Mrs. L. Hadow Keltie, J. Scott Kenealy, Miss Arabella Lechmere, Mrs. Lechmere, Mr. Lee, Miss Alice Lefroy, Mrs. Lennox, Lady William Little, J. Stanley Little, Mrs. Longman, C. J. Lowndes, Mrs. Belloc ‘Maarten Maartens ” Magnus, Laurie Markham, Sir Clements, KO. BE RS: Marks, Montagu Mason, Miss EH. M. Meadows, Miss Mill, Dr. H. R. Montagu, Mrs. Drogo 247 Morris, Mrs. Frank Moscheles, Felix Newbolt, H. Oppenheim, E. Phillip Pennethorne, Deane Pennethorne, Mrs. Perrin, Mrs. Perris, G. H. Petano, D. K. Phibbs, Miss I. M. Praed, Bulkeley Praed, Mrs. Campbell Prelooker, Jaakoff Prothero, G. W. Rae, John * Allen Rainé” Reeves, Mrs. Reich, Emil Rogers, A. “ Leicester Romayne ” Royle, William Savory, Miss Isabel Stanton, Miss H. M. Stanton, Stephen J. B. Stroud, F. Stroud, Miss Smith, Mrs. Isabel Spielmann, M. H. Sprigge, Mrs. Squire Sprigge, 8. Squire Sverdrup, Capt. Thring, Mrs. Thring, G. H. Trench, Herbert Tweedie, Mrs. Alec Walrond, Charles Wells, Mrs. Wells, H. G. White, Arnold Whiteing, R. Wilson, Mrs. —_——___—_1+—>—_ 2 —____—- EDUCATE YOUR OWN CHILDREN. 9 EFORE the South African War it was some- times asked whether such and such a colony was really loyal. That question has been answered. ‘To-day, at any rate in Canada, an Englishman may be forgiven if he sometimes asks of himself “ Does the old country really want to keep us?” If she does not, why not say so openly, and let those who wish to, return to her, and those who wish to, join hands with the States. But if England really wants to keep Canada,  248 why does she allow the United States to educate the public opinion of her colony ? It is not enough that most of our daily news comes to us coloured to suit America, that our telegrams are not altogether reliable, that there are so many Americans amongst us and such go-a- head American towns close to us, that our people must take some tones and colours from their neighbours which an Englishman born would rather they did not ? To all this is added, for the sake of a few paltry pounds in the pocket of the English Post Office, the fact that almost all our light literature and practically all our magazines are American. The way of it is thus: American periodicals are not better than English. Far from it. Better illustrated two or three of them may be, but no one who could get a Blackwood would, I assume, take any ten American magazines in exchange for it. And our people know this; but the American magazines are cheaper than ours, thanks to the extremely high postal rates which our magazines have. to pay. Magazines which cost the same at the offices of publication differ as one to two in price when they reach the Canadian market. Here is an illustration: The Strand and Pearson's are both published in New York as well as in London. Our booksellers sell the old-style edition, of course, which costs them 74 cents in New York, and is mailed to them at 1 cent per lb. If they bought the English edition they would have to pay about 9 cents in London, and 8 cents per 1b. postage. The result of this kind of thing is that, taking the figures of one of our booksellers here as a criterion, we seil four American magazines for every British magazine, though we are a British people and like our own wares best. My first.point is a national one.. If you want to keep Canada British, you had better feed her mind on British literature. My second is for the authors. If you want to keep a market for British books in Canada, you had better ask British publishers to advertise a little (not necessarily in the vilely bad taste common on this continent, but in such a way that a man’s intimate friends may have a chance of finding out that he has written a book), and press for such postal rates as will allow the magazines in which they advertise to compete with American magazines, If any one is sufficiently interested in my subject to pursue it for himself, let him take up any of the leading magazines of the States and see how they advertise their books. When “David Harum” came out you could THE AUTHOR. not walk through the streets of Ottawa without being flipped in the face by long streamers of “extracts ” which floated from the booksellers’ doors ; you could not open a magazine without setting free a shower of notices ; the book haunted you. As to our books, I had to start a crusade against our booksellers, to wake them up to the fact that ‘The Four Feathers ” had been written. Are we not big enough as a nation to sacrifice a few dollars, that our children may learn at their mother’s knee, and not at another’s ? CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY. —_—_____» <> ____ “SIR MACKLIN.” a OLLECTIVE psychology is a subject which, as this volume” testifies, has not escaped the attention of Mr. A. B. Walkley, but one reader, at least, inclines to the opinion that he has not applied his knowledge with sufficient particu- larity in this present instance. Had he done so he would not have forgotten that devices proper to the rhetorician are not always proper to the author and that a looseness of argument may pass un- challenged in the spoken word, but cannot escape so lightly in the written word: in short, that good lectures do not necessarily make good books. There is a certain sort of banter, wholly or partly good-humoured, that frequently is not only lawful but expedient to a lecturer who desires to carry with him the last obstinate objector in his audience ; but the same banter may have a contrary effect when the lecture is reproduced in the unsympathetic medium of printer’s ink and submitted to the leisurely consideration of the same individual in the seclusion of his library. I seem to detect such partly good-humoured banter in the first lecture in the volume before me. I am conscious of an attempt on Mr. Walkley’s part to anticipate any suggestions I may make of flaws in his work and to dispose of them before- hand by belittling my qualifications to estimate its value. He puts me in my place, so to speak, and the human nature in me is disposed to rebel against the operation. ‘Everyone who expresses opinions, however imbecile, in print calls himself a ‘critic.’ The greater the ignoramus, the greater the likelihood of his posing as a ‘critic.’” Sentences of this kind may serve to raise an unthinking laugh and break the ice between lecturer and audience, but they are not worthy of being perpetuated in print ; * “ Dramatic Criticism,’ by A. B. Walkley. London: John Murray, 1903. (5s. net.)  THE AUTHOR. 249 their inaccuracy is only equalled by their antiquity. The sole reason that 1 can find for their preserva- tion here is a desire to rule me, and others like me, out of court by writing me down an ass before I begin to suggest that perhaps Mr. Walkley does not embody all the law and the prophets. As a mere caudal appendage of “that great baby, the public,” I may be a barbarian, or, isolated, a harm- less citizen or a placid British vestryman ; with luck I may be an amateur of culture, in which case my judgment is probably spoiled by the literary bias, or a mundane person, in which case I have a bias either of the individual or the vogue. Whatever I may be, I don’t matter, which is a soothing reflection for Mr. Walkley and a chasten- ing one for me. And yet I can’t help wondering if it is quite true. “From the people whom the critic criticises it would be unreasonable to expect sympathy,” Mr. Walkley remarks ; he omits to say what it would be reasonable to expect from the people who criticise the critic ; perhaps the possibility never entered his head. But he also observes that ‘just as one solid body cannot collide with another with- out the manifestation of a form of energy which we call heat, so one mind cannot impinge upon another without the manifestation of that form of energy which we call criticism.” Inasmuch as it is due to Mr. Walkley, with Mr. Murray as a con- tributory party, that his mind has impinged upon mine, it is not only excusable but natural that I should manifest energy with the best of them. My dissatisfaction with this book is due to the fact that it does not take me any further forward than I was before ; it is nebulous and inconclusive. Portentously serious in intention it is not a serious contribution to the literature of criticism. The author has an irritating trick of proving all sorts of things, and then, when he has triumphantly written Q.E.D. at the end of his argument, hastening to explain that the theorem is wholly immaterial. He reminds me of Sir Macklin, who, as every schoolboy knows, “was a priest severe In conduct and in conversation, It did a sinner good to hear Him deal in ratiocination. “ He could in every action show Some sin, and nobody could doubt him, He argued high, he argued low, He also argued round about him.” It is not for me to suggest whom to cast for the bishop in the story. Thus he refers to Gibbon’s division of critics into three classes, takes leave to reduce them to two, compares these two, showing in the process that there is not so much difference between them as they themselves suppose, and then, having compared and contrasted them to his own entire satisfaction, war's us that the contrast must not be taken too seriously. By such a device the most exiguous contribution to literature might be bumped out to the most ample proportions, but its value, when so bumped out, would be open to question. On page 20 he quotes Mr. Birrell as follows :— “T have had some experience of authors, and have always found them better pleased with the ‘ unprofes- sional’ verdicts of educated men, actively engaged in the work of the world than ever they were with the laboured praise of the so-called ‘ expert.’ ” Then on page 35 he examines the passage as follows :— “ After the crowd, the average or uncultivated amateur, let us turn to Mr. Birrell’s candidate for the critical post— the man of affairs or of the world who dabbles in the arts ; in other words, the amateur of culture. Mr. Birrell puts in a very artful plea for this class. He says the authors like them, preferring their verdicts of approval to the ‘ laboured ’ praise of the so-called ‘expert.’ Here, however, we must be on our guard against the rhetorical device of the pro- fessional advocate—the familiar device of comparing one thing at its best with another thing at its worst. The praise of the ‘expert’ is not necessarily ‘laboured.’ And you will observe that the authors like the men of the world when they deliver verdicts of approval. What the authors think of this class when they deliver verdicts of disapproval we are not told.” I have italicised the words in these two passages which reveal the discrepancy between the text as given by Mr. Walkley and the text as criticised by him. I refrain from giving the exact text of Mr. Birrell’s words, and merely submit that the discrepancy ought not to have been passed in a considered argument, not so much because it affects, or does not affect, Mr. Walkley’s point as because it affects his credit as a dialectician. That there is plenty of good stuff in the book, of course, goes without saying ; most of it is Aris- totle’s, and a perverse and tricksy memory brings before me some lines from an obscure burlesque :— “My grievance is that in these modern plays, There's nothing new and good ; whate’er of praise Their lines deserve, you'll find in the antique ; Whatever's idiotic isn’t Greek.” With the necessary modifications the quotation has point, and in all seriousness I cannot think : : : that this volume will add to Mr. Walkley’s reputation. Meandering has a fascination for most ‘‘amateurs of culture.” I would like to meander a little and express an opinion which, however imbecile, I hold : : : z in common with a good many other people. That opinion is that what is wrong with the dramatic critic of the day is his appalling lack of the sense of humour. It is all very well for M. Anatole France to talk about “the adventures of a soul among master-pieces,” and for Mr. Walkley to announce that “judices nati’? may still be found  250 amongst us. I admire the pretty fancy of the one and rejoice at the good tidings of the other ; but recent happenings in the dramatic world dispose me to think that so far as the stage is concerned people take themselves much too seriously. Mr. Walkley snorts at the fatuity of the question, «« What is the wse of dramatic criticism?” Well, it is a fatuous question. Mr. Walkley replies to it from the point of view of the dramatic critic :— “ The use of any art is asa channel for the communication of ideas and emotions between man andman. It is a mode by which the producer of the art shares out his moods, his soul-states, his views of life, with the consumer. This is what is meant in popular language by ‘ being interesting.’ Just as you may have an interesting novel or an interesting play, so you may have an ‘interesting ’ dramatic criticism. And that is the use of it.” I find that answer very satisfactory, and hope that the “ club of play-goers ”—there is a world of sarcasm in the employment of that form of the genitive case—will perpend it. From the point of view of the manager a dramatic criticism in, say, the 7'imes, at the price of a stall costs only sixpence more than the hire of ten sandwich-men at a shilling a head for the day, and it carries farther. It advertises the “show.” And that is another use of it. As I suggested at the outset, I hesitate to put forward these comments as a “criticism” of Mr. Walkley’s book ; they are merely indicative of my soul’s adventures in that masterpiece. I hope I shall not be deemed irreverent if 1 speed them with yet one more quotation, protesting that they are quite honest in intention, and not born of that little-emindedness which finds pleasure in cheap sneers : “Go, soul, the body’s guest, Upon a thankless arrant ; Fear not to touch the best, The truth shall be thy warrant.” Vy. iE. M. ee POPULARITY. oe OBERT VINCENT, historian and man of letters, had received his death sentence. The physicians gave him one short year to live ; but their word was the signal for a cloud, impalpable as yet, but darker than that of death, to rise upon the dying man’s horizon. He was a young man, and it seemed to the world as if it was but yesterday that he had succeeded in making his name. But the world was mistaken. The initiated knew that the reputation which Robert Vincent had won was of no mushroom growth. He had won it by sweat, by blood, by years of patient labour and research. Nay, as was being proved now, he had bought it with his very life. THE AUTHOR. To this small band of scholars Robert Vincent had been known for years, young as he still was, as the rising historian of the day, as a writer in whom in the highest degree scholarship, imagina- tiveness, and honesty were combined. To this small band he was the ideal historian for whom the world had waited so long. Scholarly historians there have been. Honest historians’ are not altogether unknown. Picturesque writers of history have made their works as household words tous. But the combination of the three qualities in one person has often been pronounced to be an impossibility. 1t appeared in Robert Vincent, and scholars awaited with bated breath its further development. But the world in general, the world which nearly every man secretly craves to enlist on his side, even when he most professes to despise it, turned, for a long time, a deaf ear to the teaching of the historian. To those who knew, this deafness was simply a question of time. The world would hear, and hearing would accept Robert Vincent at his true value. The event proved that, for once ina way, those who knew were right. Robert Vincent won his place as a world power in literature by the publication of his great book, “The Welding of the Races.” It was a great book in every way. Great in conception, great in execution. Well balanced, accurate, and judicial, yet written in language almost passionately picturesque. ‘The Welding of the Races ” threw its search light on a period of English History at once the most obscure and the most salient. ‘‘As at the touch of an enchanter’s wand,” the darkness which for hundreds of years had lain upon the early middle ages was dissipated, and Englishmen knew at last the secret of the greatness of their country. “The dark ages have for England ceased to exist,” was the judgment of the greatest German critic. The wisdom of the small band of scholars was justified. The world knew and, knowing, acclaimed, as with one voice, Robert Vincent as the greatest writer of the century. The author him- self would have been more than human if he had not exulted in his triumph. He was young and he was ambitious, and it is given to few men indeed to realise, to any great extent, the ambition of their lives. “The Welding of the Races” rapidly proved itself the success of the day, and the fortunate author felt that his name had been made for all time, that he was destined to be numbered with the great ones of the earth. “‘ Westminster Abbey,” he said laughingly to his wife, “ will know me yet.” And then the end came. No prank which the Great Jester loves to play is dearer to his heart than the summoning of a man from the prize to gain which he has given  THE the best years of his life, given his very soul, when it is almost within his grasp. We die just when we are beginning to know how to live. So it was to prove with Robert Vincent. Perhaps it was due to the strain which the completion of his work had put upon him, perhaps there was an original weakness of constitution hitherto unsuspected, or perhaps—. Anyhow, whatever may have been the cause, at the very height of his fame the sentence, from which there is no appeal, was pronounced, “ You must die!” There is no need to dwell on the dull, sickening sense of hope frustrated which fell like a black shadow on Robert Vincent’s heart when he knew that he must leave the world, which appeared to him just then to be so full of brightness and beauty. But he was no coward, his life had shown that, and he resolved to face the music like a man, “My body will die,” he said to his wife, “but my soul will live ; for that I have won immortality. I have put my whole soul into ‘The Welding of the Races,’ and while England lasts it will last also.” This he said in no vainglorious spirit. To him it was a simple fact. But as he grew weaker there came upon him a mental uneasiness which puzzled greatly his wife and his doctors. To some extent, but to some extent only, it seemed to be assignable to the stress of previous literary work. The fact was, the dark, impalpable cloud gathered blackness and substance as time went on. It pressed in upon him, making the last few weeks of his life into a hideous, waking nightmare. “Qlang, clang! throb, throb! What are they printing so close to me? Who are printing? Is it Gradband & Shimmery ?” “No, dear,’ said his wife gently, “there is no printing near you.’ The doctor, who overheard the mutterings, looked grave and asked the wife “Did your husband ever have any dealings with these publishers, Gradband & Shimmery ?”’ “No,” she replied, ‘not that I know of. I never heard their names.” “Of course not,” said the doctor with a smile, “it is scarcely likely that Mr. Vincent would have had anything to do with publishers of that class.” The doctor was quite right. It was indeed unlikely—the most unlikely thing in the world. For Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery were known as publishers of fiction of the baser sort, fiction which had an enormous circulation among City ¢lerks and shop girls. The stuff which this firm turned out in vast quantities was lurid and sensational to a degree, especially that for which “Sydney Trevor,” popularly supposed to be an assumed name, was responsible, but it could no more claim to be literature than a farthing rushlight could claim to be the moon. AUTHOR. 251 Of course it was too wildly absurd to suppose that Robert Vincent, of all people in the world, could have had any dealings with such a firm as this. And the doctor made a mental note of his uneasiness as a curious illustration of an obscure brain lesion. But this did very little good to the patient himself. The noise of the printing presses at work seemed to become louder and more insis- tent every day. Every day too his imagination seemed to be haunted by a terror which ever drew closer and closer. His lucid intervals proved to those about him that he had no fear of death, nor even of the act of dying; but even his lucid intervals were haunted by the shadow of the fear which oppressed him so terribly in his delirium. Whatever the fear might be, it was associated with the idea of printing, and with the names of Gradband & Shimmery. Nothing that his wife could do or say—no news she might bring him of the ever increasing success of his book, no assur- ances of the high position, daily becoming more manifest, which he had secured for himself in literature, was able to expel this fear devil from his soul. Thereit sat, grinning at him till he died. As soon as Robert Vincent’s death was an- nounced, steps were taken by those whose word carried weight with the authorities to secure a place for him in Westminster Abbey. It seemed likely that their efforts would be crowned with suecess, and that the historian’s jesting remark to his wife would prove to be a true prophecy. It was urged that the country had only one way now of paying the recognition it owed to an admitted genius. What the leaders of thought said, the general public echoed with all its heart. No name was so constantly on men’s lips and before their eyes during these days as the name of Robert Vincent, historian and man of letters. Westminster Abbey was the place for him, and to Westminster Abbey he must be taken. And then suddenly all this talk stopped. Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery flooded the country with their advertisements—newspapers, hoardings, omnibuses, trains, sandwich-men— every available means of advertisement were pressed into the service of Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery. There had never been known, since books were first printed, such gigantic enterprise in advertising methods. Wherever men looked they saw the names of Gradband & Shimmery ; and underneath, only in larger characters, the name of “Sydney Trevor” in inverted commas ; and below that the name of Robert Vincent ; and below that again a list of books whose lurid and sensational titles spoke for them. Then the world learnt that Robert Vincent was identical with ‘Sydney Trevor,” and Westminster Abbey knew him not. CO. L:  ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Oe (Reprinted from Longman’s Magazine, by kind permission of the Author and the Publisher). (By A Lapy NoveEtist). S there no real critic on these shores Yet to be found? O Tempora, O Mores ! How shall they judge who measure all by rule While Genius, for them, might dwell in Thule? Tis quality, not quantity, decides The merit of such work as mine—Quid rides ? When will they learn the truth that each great writer Of prose or poetry—non fit—nascitur ? When cease to sneer with condescending smile At woman—vyarium et mutabile ? Yet why should I the critics heed? Whate’er They say, ’tis mine—aequam mentem servyare. My place among the Immortals is secure, *Tis mine—divino ac humano jure. I feel within my breast the sacred fire, And I—I know it—non omnis moriar. Already on Parnassus’ sacred slope I dwell with Melpomene and Calliope. No marble tomb I crave, no trophies pious, My monument is—aere perennius. FR. a a CORRESPONDENCE. —1—~> + AN ANSWER TO “A PROTEST.” Sir,—In reference to a letter entitled “A Pro- test’ in last month’s Author, I would like to say a few words in common justice to all concerned in the arrangement of the Society’s annual social function. In the first place, it is a puzzle how the receipt of the announcement of a dinner could shock even the most highly strung and sensitive nerves. If Shakespeare had lived in the twentieth century he would no doubt have participated in a meal at the Hotel Cecil with as much equanimity—and perhaps even enjoyment—as any other author. Next I would like to point ont to the writer in question that as the Soviety is formed for the pro- tection and maintenance of literary property, it must needs respect itself. So, if the Society of Authors were to hold its annual festival at a third or fourth rate restaurant, and charge a low price, as suggested, it would certainly be considered an inferior concern, and be looked down upon accordingly. : Further, the writer contradicts himself, for he says that he has attended several dinners each at THE AUTHOR. increased cost, and then confesses having been present at a guinea one. Comment is needless. If the protester could be present at a guinea dinner it seems inconsistent that the suggestion of a 10s. one should give him a shock. As I did not attend any of the guinea functions I cannot speak from personal experience as to whether it would have been “ dear at eighteenpence,’”” but I can honestly say that at all the four dinners which I have attended the food was as good and as well served as one could wish. I have always understood that the Society does not wish to make money by the dinner, but charges a price sufficient to cover expenses. If the com- plainant refers to the ‘ Annual Report,” he will find that the Society was 5s. 10d. out of pocket by last year’s dinner ; hence, no doubt, the decision to raise the price. With regard to the guests, it seems to me that the Society is honowred by the presence of such men as Sir Clements Markham, Captain Sverdrup. and others ; men noted for their good and useful work, some in one field, some in another. I have never heard of the Society asking subscriptions, so I don’t quite see how it can be brought down to the level of a charitable organisation. Lastly, I will say that I am so far in sympathy with the writer of “A Protest” that I think it would be more agreeable if it were possible to arrange a festival, or annual gathering, in which all the members could participate. It is clearly impossible to please everyone in a large body of people like the Authors’ Society, and if authors are “proverbially irritable,” what a large amount of self-control is needed by a committee formed of authors, whose task in endeavouring to please all can scarcely be an enviable one. H. M. E. Stanton. May 4th, 1903. SERIAL RIGHTS IN STORIES. S1n,—As I receive inquiries concerning my “new story” in the Sphere for May 2nd and 9th, will you allow me space to say that, so far from. being new, it is a resuscitated old story which appeared in a. country journal nearly twenty years ago, and that I am in no way responsible for its publication as if new ? ae I make this an opportunity of reminding inex-. perienced writers of fiction that, in disposing of ‘serial rights” in their productions, they should take care to limit the time during which such rights may be exercised. Tuomas Harpy. 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. 13 Issue 09 (June 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 09 (June 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-06-01-The-Author-13-9 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/483/1903-05-01-The-Author-13-8.pdf 377e4d3dfcab8c24b995cf26ba900624 PDF Text Text �������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-05-01 Volume 13 Issue 8 Pages Page range in volume 193–224 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030501 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Huthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. Vou. XIII.—No. 8. May ist, 1903. [PRICE SIXPENCE. THE TELEPHONE. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. ——_>— > —_____ NOTICES. —— + OR the opinions expressed in papers that are K signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. Tue Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. —+-—~— + —_ List of Members. Tue List of Members of the Society of Authors can now be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. ——— + The Pension Fund of the Society. THE investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou. XIII. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— RO 2 en £1000 0 0 G8 08s 500 0 0 Victorian Government 3 % Consoli- dated Inscribed Stock ............... 291 19 11 We A i 201 8 8 otal 2. £1,993 9 2 SPECIAL APPEAL. Tue Appeal sent out by the Chairman of the Society at the request of the Pension Fund Com- mittee has been very successful. The total amount of subscriptions and donations up to Dec. 1st is :—Subscriptions, £46 8s. 6d.; donations, £116 14s. 6d. Further additions to either list are set out below. Subscriptions. Dec. 1, Finnemore, Mrs. . . £0 Dec. 3, Caulfield, Miss Sophia < 0-1 Dec. 5, Hecht, Mrs. . s 02 » Hamilton, Mrs. G. W. 1 . Brinton, Selwyn 0 Dec. 9, Dill, Miss Bessie 0 Dec. 18, Sutherland, Her Grace the Duchess of : : : Dec. 19, Toplis, Miss Grace . Dec. 22, Anonymous ; Dec. 29, Seton-Karr, H. W. Pike Clement, E. 19038. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke 3 Deane, Rev. A.C. . Jan. 4, Anonymous Heath, Miss Ida i Russell, G. H. : Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline 5, Bedford, Miss Jessie Jan. 19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. Jan. 20, Cobbett, Miss Alice : ; Jan. 30, Minniken, Miss Bertha M. M. — OOS Orn ooocoece ooocoo oOocooaceg 9 22 me Oo Oo Or COCO So OS Oo > bo or on eoooocoocooooan  194 Jan. 31, Whishaw, Fred. > 6 Keb. 3, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred 0 Feb. 11, Lincoln, C. 0 Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert . 0 » Haggard, Major Arthur . 0 Feb. 23, Finnemore, John . : 0 Mar. 2, Moor, Mrs. St. C. . 1 Mar. 5, Dutton, Mrs. Carrie 0 Apl. 10, Bird, C. P. 0 Apl. 10, Campbell, Miss Montgomery . ( oC Donations. Dec. 1, Sanderson, Sir J. Burdon 5 - Smith, G. C. Moore 1 Dec. 2, T'revor-Battye, Aubyn 1 » Marks, Mrs. . 0 Dec. 9, Moore, Henry Charles (0 Dee. 11, Lutzow, Count 9 », “Leicester Romayne ” 0 », Hellier, H. George. 1 Dee. 12, Croft, Miss Lily 0 », Panting, J. Harwood 0 » ‘attersall, Miss Louisa . 0 Dec. 19, Egbert, Henry 0 Dec. 23, Muirhead, James F. 0 Dec. 28, A. 8. 1 » Bateman, Stringer . 0 Dec. 31, Cholmondeley, Miss Mary . 10 1908. Jan. 3, Wheelright, Miss E. : 0 5 Middlemass, 1] Miss Jean . 0 Jan. 6, Avebury, The R ight Hon. The Lord . : » Gribble, Francis : Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston » Miller, Miss E. T. . Jan. 19, Kemp, Miss Geraldine Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs... Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rey. Silas Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. . 5, Ord, Hubert H. Feb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor » Carlile, Rev. J. CO. . Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. Feb. 26, Speakman, “Mrs. Mar. 5, Parker, Mrs. Nella Mar. 16, Hallward, N. L. . Mar. 20, Henry, Miss Alice . Mar. 20, Mathieson, Miss Annie . Mar. 20, Browne, T. A. “ Rolfe Boldre- wood” A Mar. 23, Ward, Mrs. Humphry : Api. 2, Hutton, The Rev. W. H. Apl. 14, Tournier, Theodore cCorcezocoorecocooresm fon = tec Or Or or or — ee acnc es acounorce e H corcauno Cire — i0 THE AUTHOR. caoamoococceo cooooccoococeocesco eageocooco eoocoo The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir ood Bart., F.R.C.S, Rashdall, The Rey. H Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C, Dowsett, G, R ‘here are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. SPECIAL. CONDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Subscriptions, Hawkins, A. Hope : ‘ £10 0 6 Barrie, J. M. . ; : : . 10 0 0 Drummond, Hamilton : ; - 10.0 0 Wynne, Charles Whitworth : - 10 0 0 Gilbert, W. 8S. . : : ; - 10-0 9 Sturgis, Julian . : : : - 10 0 0 oe Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. THE amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £330 3 6 There are a few promised subscriptions still outstanding. The total of these about £4. The subscriptions received from July 1st to the date of issue are given below :— Patterson, A. . : : 8 Salwey, Reginald E. Gidley, Miss E. C. Nixon, Prof. J. E. Dill, Miss Bessie Moore, Henry Charles Kemp, Miss Geraldine Clarke, Miss B. ao acnanoor _ eco coc oF —_—_——_——_-—___+____—_ FROM THE COMMITTEE. —+-~> + T the meeting of the Committee held on the 30th of March twelve new members and associates were elected to the Society. Their names are, as usual, printed below. Mr. George Gissing and Mr. Justin McCarthy were elected members of the Council. They have consented to accept the responsibilities of the position. There was only one case before the Committee, and it was adjourned for fuller information on one or two points. is, roughly, ©  nt THE AUTHOR. Elections. “Ben Marlas”’ Bird, C. P. (D. I, M.) Drybridge House, Hereford. Bowman, Robert Cynwyd, Curwen, N. Wales. Corelli, Miss Marie. Mason Croft, Stratford- on-A von. 11, Chaleote Gardens, England’s Lane, N.W. Exeter College, Oxford. Dearmer, The Rev. Percy Donovan, P. V. de P. Douglas, Miss Maud 28, Oakley Street, Tsidore Chelsea, S.W. Douglas, Robert Langton 50c, South Street, Dorking. Lechmere, Mrs. (Cecil 29, Cadogan Gardens, Haselwood) S.W. Stott, Miss Beatrice Moorside Road, Flix- ton. Sutro, Alfred 10, Russell Mansions, W.-C: Wyatt, Geo. Herbert Henley House, West Side, Wandsworth Common, 8.W. —_—>—+— Another Pension. Iy the month of May the Pension Fund Com- mittee will proceed to consider applications for pensions to be granted under the Pension Fund Scheme of the Society of Authors. Pursuant to the power to make bye-laws for regulating appli- cations for pensions vested in the Committee by the Schenie, the Committee have made and hereby give notice of the following regulations :— 1. All applications must be in writing and addressed to the Secretary of the Society of Authors at the Offices of the Society (39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W.), and must reach the Secretary on or before June Ist, 1903. Envelopes should be marked “ Confidential.” 2. Applications may be made (a) by the appli- cant for a pension, (/) by any two members of the Society on the applicant’s behalf. In the latter case the Committee may require the applicant to signify in writing his willingness to accept a pension if granted. 3. Applications must state, to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person or persons making the same : (a) The fall name, description, and present address of the applicant. If the applicant has written under an assumed name such name should also be given, (6) The age of the applicant and the date at which the applicant became a member of the If the applicant has ceased to be a Society. member, the date of his or her retirement must be given. (¢) The financial position of the applicant, including an account of the applicant’s entire annual income from all sources (including volun- tary allowances, if any). (d) The names of the publications relied on to establish the merit of the applicant’s literary work. 4, Applications may, if desired, be accompanied by not more than two testimonials to the appli- cant’s character, and to merits of the applicant’s works or either of them, and bya further statement of the applicant’s financial position from some person acquainted therewith. 5. Applications and the contents of all state- ments relating thereto will be treated as confiden- tial, the names of the recipients of the pensions and the amounts granted alone being stated in Zhe Author. 6. All communications’ whatever must be ad- dressed to the Secretary, and to him only. Canvassing of members of the Committee, either by or on behalf of the applicant, is prohibited. 7. The pension created will be granted as from March 25th, 1903, and will be payable, as to the first instalment immediately, and thereafter in quarterly instalments in advance on the usual English quarter days. By order of the Pension Fund Committee, G. HERBERT THRING, Secretary. 4 OUR BOOK AND PLAY TALK. i HE Rev. Edwin A. Abbott, D.D., formerly Headmaster of the City of London School, and author of “ The Spirit on the Waters,” ** Newmanism,” “ Through Nature to Christ,” etc., has just published (Adam and Charles Black) a very interesting and scholarly pamphlet, entitled “ Contrast; or, a Prophet and a Forger.” Dr. Abbott is convinced that the author of the Fourth Gospel is often, historically as well as spiritually, closer than the Synoptic Evangelists to the truthful conception of the birth, nature, life, and resurrection of our Lord. At the same time he is firmly convinced that the author was not the son of Zebedee, nor an eye-witness of the facts he relates. He was one who considered him- self but the pen of John the son of Zebedee, and gave unity to the preaching and revelations of John. Dr. Abbott has in the press a work entitled “From Letter to Spirit; an Attempt to Reach through Voicesand Words the Man beyond them”’ (Adam and Charles Black). 196 Sir Lewis Morris has added to the last edition of his works, to be published immediately, several poems written last year, including the lines on “The Peace Thanksgiving in St. Paul’s,” “The Coronation Ode,” written by the King’s request, and set to music by command, by Dr. Cowen ; “ Peripeteia,” or an pode, which appeared in the Times ; the announcement of the King’s illness ; the lines on “The Last Pageant,” of October 26th, and the “Ode on the Installation of the Prince of Wales as Chancellor of the Welsh University at Bangor.” ‘The new issue comprises also the lines on “The Jubilee of the Free Libraries at Manchester,” held as late as the 3rd of the present month. Sir Lewis, we understand, is now desirous of bringing his poetical career to a close, if his friends the public will permit. Lieut.-Colonel E. Gunter has published, through Messrs. Wm. Clowes & Sons, Limited, 28, Cock- spur Street, S.W., a seventh edition of his military pocket-book, ‘‘ The Officer’s Field Note, and Sketch Book and Reconnaissance Aide-Mémoire,” which was much used by officers during the late Boer War. This edition, which has been brought up to date, contains the amendments in war establish- ments, new sketches, showing the latest designs for field trenches, etc., as the result of the war experi- ences, and other matter useful for field training, besides materials for Field Sketches and Reports. The Religious Tract Society has shown its appreciation of Sir William Charley’s recent work, “The Holy City, Athens and Egypt,” by placing in their saloon, 56, Paternoster Row, and 65, St. Paul’s Churchyard, copies of the work for sale. This volume is founded on personal obser- vation and the researches of modern explorers, and is a vindication of the Bible narrative against the assaults of the Higher Criticism. Sir William has written a lecture on “The Higher Criticism and the Bible,” which he will shortiy deliver. Sir William Charley’s legal works, “The Real Property Acts” (Sweet) and “The Judicature Acts” (Waterlow), each ran through three editions and are now out of print. But there are three of his books still in circulation: “The Crusade against the Constitution; an Historical Vindication of the House of Lords” (7s. 6d., Sampson Low); “Ending and Mending the House of Lords” (2s. 6d., Simpkin, Marshall); and the above-mentioned “The Holy City, Athens and Egypt” (10s. 6d., Marshall Bros.). “The Sword of Azrael,’ Mr. R. E. Forrest’s latest novel, is a chronicle of the Great Mutiny. The title-page has it that the writer is Major- General John Hayman, late Hon. E.I.C.S., edited by R. E. Forrest. This is, of course, a mere literary device. We will not divulge the plot of this vividly written story; our readers can THE AUTHOR. follow John Hayman’s realistic narrative for themselves ; they will find it very interesting, , Mr. Forrest has published four books, all con- nected with India. The first one, entitled “The Touchstone of Peril,” was most favourably re- viewed. The second, “ Hight Days,” came out in the Cornhill Magazine, and in book form went through four or five editions. The third was “The Bond of Blood” (Little Novels series : T. Fisher Unwin). It was a small book that evoked many long reviews; notably it had a favourable mention in an Ldinburgh Review article on Anglo-Indian Novelists, known to have been written by Sir Alfred Lyall. Miss Beatrice Marshall has in hand a story of London in the time of the Commonwealth, which will be published next autumn by Seely & Co. Her “ The Siege of York,” a story of the days of Thomas Lord Fairfax (Seely & Co.), published last year, proves that she has inherited her mother’s literary gifts. This was Miss Marshall’s second historical romance, the first being “ Old Blackfriars in the Days of Sir Anthony Vandyck.” When Mrs. Emma Marshall died in 1899 her last story was left incomplete. At the request of her publishers it was-finished by her daughter, and so successfully finished that Miss Beatrice Marshall was encouraged to tread further in her mother’s footsteps. Previous to this she had contributed articles, chiefly on modern German literature, to several papers. Two of these, one on Nietzsche and another on Gerhard Hauptmann, appeared in the Fortnightly Review. After the appearance of her translation of Sudermann’s great novel “Der Kalzensky” (John Lane), Messrs. Smith Elder invited her to take part in the translation of the Bismarck Memoirs. The biographical sketch of her mother has gone into a second edition. It contains a por- trait of that prolific novelist besides twelve illus- trations (6s., Seeley & Co.). The writing of it was a real labour of love. Mr. William Westall, in spite of ill-health, has nearly finished a present-day novel which he pro- poses to call “ Dr. Wynne’s Revenge.” He hopes soon to begin a long contemplated Lancashire story, dealing with the stirring period of the cotton famine and the American Civil War. Ian Maclaren (the Rev. John Watson) is not at present engaged in any literary work owing to considerations of health. Mr. Walter Jerrold is editing a big collection of Nursery Rhymes for Messrs. Blackie. There are to be numerous illustrations by Charles Robinson. Besides this Mr. Jerrold is editing (1) Mrs. Gaskell’s “Life of Charlotte Bronté” for Dents’ Temple Classics; (2) “ Longfellow’s Poetical Works” for a new series of Poets to be published  THE AUTHOR. by Messrs. W. Collins & Sons; (3) and he is also editing Dents’ edition of Thackeray’s Prose Works. Mr. Robert Machray’s new serial, “ The Mystery of Lincoln’s Inn,” started in 7%t-Bits on April 11th, where it will appear for the next three or four months. The story, which Mr. Machray describes as an ‘“‘experiment in sensation,” will be published in book form by Messrs. Chatto and Windus in September. ‘The Mystery of Lincoln’s Inn” is built round that somewhat familiar fact of every- day life, the defaulting solicitor. Miss Montgomery-Campbell has written a Pre- face to a volume, shortly to be issued, entitled “ Old Days in Diplomacy.” It is by the daughter of Sir Edward Cromwell Disbrowe, En. Ex., Min. Plen., G.C.G., and is inscribed to the Honble. Mrs. Richard Boyle (E. V. B.). This volume, illustrated with portraits, is 7s. 6d. net—by post 7s. 11d. The edition is strictly limited, and the price will probably be raised in the case of those who do not subscribe for it. “Old Days in Diplomacy,” written at the request of many friends, gives an account of life at the Courts of Russia, Wiirtemberg, Sweden, and the Netherlands, during the first half of the nineteenth century. The ceremonies at the foneral of the Emperor Alexander and the Coro- nation of the Emperor Nicholas are described, also the official visits of the Dukes of Wellington and Devonshire to St. Petersburg, as well as the inter- course with Prince Metternich. It contains many most interesting personal recollections of royalties and celebrities at home and abroad. A fifteenth edition of Lieut-Colonel Sisson C. Pratt’s “Military Law, its Procedure and Prac- tice,” was published a short time ago, and a fifth edition of the “ Military Law Examiner” (Gale and Polden) will be issued this spring. Before long Lieut.-Colonel Pratt will have to take in hand the revision of the official “‘ Précis of Modern Tactics,” which was re-written by him, and in view of the recent experiences in South Africa a new edition will be of general interest. Mr. Morley Roberts’ new book, ‘‘ The Promotion of The Admiral, and other Sea Comedies,” is a volume of short stories well worth reading. The first, which gives the book its title, is in two parts, and tells how Shanghai Smith, of San Francisco, tries to get even with a sailor who had once given him a thorough licking; this sailor being now Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Dunn, K.C.B. How Shanghai Smith is himself paid out and how the Admiral comes up top we will not reveal. “The Scuttling of the Pandora,” the last in the book, is a remarkable little tale of an unlucky ship. Here is a passage from it :— ‘‘T want to see her sink,” Joe said savagely. “I want to see ’er go where she’s put so many good men. What 197 right ‘as we to save ’er to do more ’arm? It ain’t alone as she’s drownded my chum or the others, but she ’as a black record that ain’t finished unless we finish it. She’s strong and will go on killin’ for twenty years, Geordie. She'll oa praney for them as doesn’t care, but what of the likes of us ?* He was greatly moved. “She’s caulked with men’s lives, and painted with their blood!” he cried passionately. “I'd rather she sunk with me than sailed the seas any more.” Mr. Charles Whitworth Wynne, author of «Ad Astra,” &c., has just published through Messrs. Kegan Paul a drama in five acts, called “David and Bathshua.” It is founded on the story in the Bible, and Saul, Jonathan, Abner, Uriah, Natham, Michal, and Merab are among the dramatis persone. Mr. F. Marion Crawford’s fascinating book “ Ave Roma Immortalis,” being studies from the Chronicles of Rome, has gone into a second and cheaper edition. In his “Studies in Contemporary Biography,” Mr. Bryce gives us twenty graphic impressions of twenty notable men. Lord Beaconsfield, Mr. Gladstone, Dean Stanley, Anthony Trollope, Mr. Parnell, Archbishop Tait, Cardinal Manning, Lord Acton, are among the personalities presented to us in these interesting pages of biographies. This is a book not to be missed. Miss May Crommelin’s “Midge” forms No, 51 of the Weekly Telegraph novels. This is “‘a monthly series of copyright books by the best authors.” “Midge” is a readable story. Miss Iza Duffus Hardy has written No. 31 of this series, ‘‘ Hearts or Diamonds.” John Strange Winter has contributed No. 46 of the same series, “Mignon’s Secret.’ No. 48 is “The Dancer in Yellow,” by Mr. W. E. Norris; No, 47, “The Peer and the Woman,” is by E. P. Oppenheim. ; “Helen” is the name of a new story by Cherry Rowland—a pleasant tale with a happy ending. Copies can be had of the writer at Llwyn-y-brain, Whitland, South Wales. Mr. I. Zangwill’s “ The Grey Wig ” (Heinemann) is a collection of stories old and new. ‘“ Merely Mary Ann” is an old one, but is none the less welcome for that. “The Grey Wig,” the first, and we fancy one of his latest, is very good indeed. In his recently published book “The Danger of Innocence,” Mr. Cosmo Hamilton has given us asmart Society satire. It is published by Greening & Co. at 6s. Mr. J. Bloundelle Burton’s novel, “A Branded Name” (Methuen, 6s.), is full of incident. The name, branded on a woman’s shoulder, was a mark that would remain upon that shoulder as long as her life would last.  198 The “Star-Dreamer,” by Agnes and Egerton Castle, is full of charm—‘ the story of a woman’s influence.’ The atmosphere of a herb-garden and a laboratory respectively permeate the tale. In Sydney ©. Grier’s “The Advanced Guard” (Blackwood, 6s.), the hero is Sir Dugald Haigh, who was doubtfully blest with an uncomfortable wife. The story begins in India; the time is, the ‘* Dickens period.” Mr. Rider Haggard’s new romance, “Pearl Maiden” (Longmans, 6s.), is interesting from start to finish. Miriam, the Pearl Maiden, is born aboard a Phcenician merchant galley bound for Alexandria. Miriam is brought up among the Essenes. She endures many things during and after the siege and fall of Jerusalem. In this portion of the romance Mr. Rider Haggard has surpassed himself. Mr. William Archer’s article in the April Fort- nightly Review has been attracting a great deal of attention. He advocates the formation of a Critical Court of Honour to which disputed ques- tions theatrical should be referred. He suggests that a body of six delegates should be selected from the representative societies of the different classes interested, viz., the Society of Authors, the Institute of Journalists, and the Actors’ Associa- tion. ‘These delegates to elect an additional member as president with a casting vote. Com- plainants would be expected to appear before this board, and Mr. Archer says, ‘‘ We may be sure that a plaintiff who had refused to submit his case to its arbitration would go into the law courts under a heavy handicap.” We understand that the leading réle in Mr. Sydney Grundy’s new play, Zhe Gipsy, is to be played—created, in fact—by Miss Fay Davis. —_—— + +-____- PARIS NOTES. —1—~<—+ MONG the recent novels which have had the greatest success here are “ Dona- tienne,” by M. René Bazin; “L’Inutile Effort,” by M. Edouard Rod, and ‘‘ La Nouvelle Espérance” by the Comtesse de Noailles. Curiously enough, in each of these three books the most prominent feminine character is an absolutely selfish woman singularly devoid of conscience. Donatienne, in M. Bazin’s story, is the young wife of a Breton peasant. She is the mother of three children and the idol of her husband, but poverty compels her to leave the little cottage Just home and engage herself as nurse in Paris. THE AUTHOR. continual presence of the husband’s _ details to the end of the volume. at first she sends her earnings to her husband to enable him to keep the little home together until better times. Gradually, however, she becomes accustomed to the luxuries and amusements of her new life Her letters to her husband are rare and finally cease altogether. The poor Breton peasant is somewhat slow of comprehension, but when it dawns upon him that his wife hus no intention of returning to her family, the little home, with its memories, becomes unbearable to him, and with his three children he sets out with a vague idea of seeking his fortune elsewhere. The story is most pathetic and the dénouement both touching and tragic. It is told with a simplicity that adds greatly to the pathos. There is not a word too much, not a line of any descrip- tion which could be omitted, and the book is certainly one of the finest of M. Bazin’s novels. “L’Inutile Effort” is a. masterly study of character. Leonard Perreuse is the ambitious man of our modern society, the man whose one object in life is to succeed. He is seconded by a wife who is narrow-minded, selfish and unscrupu- lous. They are both somewhat hampered by the brother Raymond, a man who has not advanced or rather degenerated with the times, and who is old- fashioned enough to have a conscience. The story of the book turns on the trial of a French girl in London, who has been arrested on the charge of murdering her child by pushing it into the Thames. On reading the account in the newspaper both brothers are convinced that the child is Leonard’s, and they are equally convinced that the poor girl whom he deserted is incapable of the crime of which she is accused. Raymond, who had always blamed his brother’s conduct in this matter, had taken an interest in the girl, kept up a corre- spondence with her for some years, and helped her when, through illness, she had been in difficulties. He persuades Leonard that their duty now is to go to London and give their evidence in favour of the prisoner. Leonard’s wife, fearing the consequences of ascandal for herself and her children, insists that her husband must relinquish this plan. Raymond, in his indignation, refuses to enter his brother's house again. “Ihe unfortunate girl is condemned to death, and from that moment Leonard’s punish- ment begins. His conscience is aroused at last, and in desperation he leaves everything and goes with Raymond to London to see if anything can now be done. We will not spoil the story by telling all the It is a book in which all the characters live, and it is undoubtedly the strongest of M. Rod’s novels. THE AUTHOR. As regards ‘La Nouvelle Espérance,’ by the Comtesse de Noailles, the title is quite misleading. From the first page to the last of the book one searches in vain for the “new hope.” With such a fine title one naturally expects some elevated thoughts and ideas, but the whole book is “ of the earth, earthy,” with a woman as the principal character who is positively repulsive. ‘‘ The Degenerates’”’ would have been a more suitable title for such a novel, as, with the exception of the unfortunate husband of the heroine, all the cha- racters are more or less unwholesome. There is very little plot or even story to the book. It is merely the account of an idle, selfish, luxurious woman, who imagines herself ultra-refined and who has no aim or object in life. She has a devoted husband whose chief fault appears to be his blindness to his wife’s defects. Having absolutely nothing to do, she is naturally bored to death, and being an extremely self-centred person she spends hours brooding over her own feelings and sensations. She then endeavours to make love to various friends of her husband. Her third attempt, only, is a success, and this liaison with a married man relieves the monotony of her life until the new lover discovers that he has a conscience and retires with his wife to the country. The extraordinary feature of this book is the absolute depravity of the woman, which, consider- ing her education and surroundings, makes the whole story appear unreal. When her lover goes away she decides that she cannot live without him, and without the slightest compunction as far as her husband is concerned, she prepares a strong dose of morphia, writes a farewell letter to the recreant lover, which she leaves for her husband’s sister to forward, and when the clock strikes midnight takes her departure from this world. In this farewell letter she says, “Vous m’aimiez et vous €tes parti parce que votre femme et votre fils yous Pont demandé. . . . Vous avez fait ce que vous deviez faire : les hommes ont de la conscience. Les femmes, mon ami, n’ont pas de conscience ; elles ont une épouvantable volonté de n’étre pas plus malheureuses qu’elles ne peuvent.” _ On closing the book one can only wonder why it should have been written. As a great French eritic said about the works of another author: “ When such things are read and meet with success, eritics can only write a page of history on the Manners and customs of a society which reads such 00ks,” “La Bastille des Comédiens ” is the title of the new book by M. Frantz Funck-Brentano, the well- snown author of “ Le Drame des Poisons” and L’ Affaire du Collier.” In January, 1902, the Société de I’Histoire du 199 théatre opened a competition for a study on For PEvéque, the famous prison in which so many comedians, dramatic authors and critics were incar- cerated. So little was known about this old prison that it has been no easy task to collect the necessary information from the various libraries and the national archives. M. Funck-Brentano’s work was unanimously declared to be the best, and the volume now pub- lished, illustrated with eleven engravings, is a most interesting study of Old Paris and its history and customs. About a third of the book is taken up with a description of the prison itself and its history, while the remaining two-thirds tell us of the strange customs of those bye-gone days, when prisoners were notified that they were sentenced to a few days’ seclusion, and accordingly wended their way to the prison unescorted. The author tells us amusing stories, too, of the way in which fathers could have their sons im- prisoned for a short time. In 1744 a M. Thibaut, of Bordeaux, writes to the police-lieutenant of Paris to the effect that his son, aged thirty, is in the gay capital. ‘He is leading a dissipated life,” writes the anxious father, “and the result may be that he will disgrace his family.” All that’ the father asks is that his son may be detained in prison for a short time and he is quite willing to pay the expenses. The police-lieutenant investi- gates the case, and signs a paper on the 5th of April, “ Bon pour prison, aux dépens du pere.” The son objects to the hospitality provided for him and appeals for a release. The father’s consent to this is necessary, and on the 25th of April, evidently considering that the lesson has had time to be beneficial, he signs the paper for the release of his son. Comedians who were wanting in respect either to the king or to their public were detained at For l’Evéque for a time, and we are told many amusing anecdotes about them. Life in this prison was by no means monotonous, and some of the inmates entertained their friends in the most hospitable manner. ‘The celebrated actress, Mlle. Clairon, gave “des soupers divins et nombreux,” and carriages filled the street from morning till night as long as she was in prison. When the artistes of the Francais were im- prisoned they were always allowed liberty for their performances and rehearsals, as the Comédie could not dispense with their services. In the magazines there are some excellent articles this month. In the International Theatre M. Max Nordan writes on “Theatrical Censorship.” The authorities in Berlin have forbidden the production of Paul Heyse’s “Mary of Magdala,” and M. Nordau thinks that “all civilised Europeans should blush 200 to tolerate the existence of that degrading vestige of feudal despotism : theatrical censorship.” The English are specially favoured in the cur- rent number of this theatrical paper. M. Sardou has allowed the editor to publish photographic reproductions of the principal scenes of his new play “ Dante,” which is to be produced soon by Sir Henry Irving. About eight of these scenes are reproduced, accompanied by an excellent article giving an idea of Dante’s original concep- tion of the Inferno. Madame Réjane has had to postpone until next season the new play she was rehearsing: “ La Meilleure Part.” “Ta Rabouilleuse” is a success at the Odeon. It is a four-act play cleverly adapted by M. Emile Fabre from Balzac’s “ Ménage de Garcon.” Ouida’s “ Two Little Wooden Shoes ” has been produced at the Opéra Comique as “ Muguette.” The music is by M. Missa. “Tyes Affaires sont les Affaires,” by M. Octave Mirbeau, is the event of the moment at the Francais. It is an extremely up-to-date satire on the omnipotence of wealth. The piece is a literary triumph, the dialogue brilliant and the interest well sustained. “T’Autre Danger,” by M. Maurice Donnay, is still a success at the Francais. It is admirably put on, but the subject is a very delicate one—of the same nature as that of M. Paul Bourget’s novel, “Le Fantome.” “Lucifer” was the title of the last piece of this season produced by M. Bour at his International Theatre. It is a very strong play in four acts, translated by M. Monnier from the Italian of M. Butti. Lucifer is the name given to a free-thinker, who was formerly a priest, by the students to whom he lectures. This ex-priest has married and has a son and daughter, whom he has brought up as atheists. An old friend of his comes to live near him as Professor at the University. This friend is a religious man, and has an only daughter. The ex-priest’s son falls in love with her, but her father refuses his consent to their marriage on religious grounds. The lovers elope, and after their marriage return to the ex-priest’s home. In the last act the young wife has taken a severe chill and is dying. Her husband, in the presence of Death, implores his atheist father to teach him a prayer, as in his desperation he suddenly feels the need of religion and the certainty that there is something beyond this life. The struggle between his pride as a savant and atheist and his family affection is very terrible, and the scene between the father and son is most dramatic. M. Bour was remarkably fine in this réle. “Lucifer” and “ Alléluia” are undoubtedly his two THE AUTHOR. best creations. M. Bourny, as the son, was also excellent. M. Bauer had only a small part, but he was as fine as usual in it. M. Bour has also produced another play by M. Robert Bracco, a one-act piece entitled “Don Pietro Carusi,” which is quite a chef d’wuvre. ALys HALLARD. 9 LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. es Literary Larceny. R. HARTLEY ASPDEN, the Editor of the Sunday Companion and Sunday Circle, has - laid before the Secretary of the Society of 7 iw Authors a case of literary larceny of a very serious | character. | As it is probable that similar cases may have oe: occurred, and as it has always been the object of —F the Authors’ Society to maintain the rights of authors against all comers, members of their own profession or not, it has been thought right to publish the facts in detail. In January of this year, Mr. Aspden, as Editor of the papers mentioned, received from a Mr. Reginald Nash, a story entitled “Through Great f°. * Tribulation.” This story he was inclined to accept, and wrote to the author as follows :— B iyky DEAR S1R,—My reader has reported favourably on your : story “Through Great Tribulation.” Please tell me if you are the author of the story, and if you are willing to accept £15 (our usual price for these stories) for it. Yours faithfully. THE EDITOR. The author’s reply was on a post card, to the following effect. Dar SrR,—Received offer for story entitled ‘Through _ Great Tribulation,’ which I accept. Believe me, I am, Yours faithfully, (Signed) R. NASH. By chance Mr. Aspden discovered that the story had already been published about two years pre- viously in another of his publications entitled Golden Stories. The story was word for word the same,” with the exception that the title had been changed and the name of one of the characters. He thereupon wrote a second time to the author, and — requested to know whether the story was his own production. In answer, he received a letter stating it was the author’s own production, and implying that he was” a contributor to many other magazines. . : The original story was written by Mrs. H. B. Welch. If Mrs. Welch had been a member of the” Society of Authors the Committee would, no doubt,  THE AUTHOR. have gladly taken up the case on her behalf and exposed the matter in the courts, but the Com- mittee had no locus standi, and left it therefore to Mr. Aspden to bring the affair before the public. Further correspondence made it clear that this was not the only story that had been taken from other papers and forwarded to editors as the anthor’s own work, and we are indebted to Mr. Aspden for having thrashed out the matter carefully. In con- sequence Mr. Nash has written, signed and published + in the Norwood Free Press the following apology : I, Reginald Nash, of No. 1, Dassett Road, Knight’s Hill, West Norwood, beg humbly to apologise to the Editor of Sunday Stories and Golden Stories for having, without his knowledge and consent, taken stories published in those journals, and endeavoured to dispose of them for payment as my own original compositions, and I hereby promise not to repeat this offence in the case of Golden Stories or Sunday Stories or any other paper. (Signed) Witness, H. Brown, Dated 18th Mareh, 1903. The matter is of serious interest to all members of the Authors’ Society, and we think it expedient to publish in full this apology, which has already appeared in one newspaper. REGINALD NASH. 1 An Unwarrantable Infringement. ANOTHER case has been brought to the notice of the Secretary. In the autumn of last year a paper entitled the Science and Art of Mining gave a prize for the best answer to certain questions concerning mining. One of the questions was : ‘« What are the chief causes of boiler explosions ? —What precautions would you take ?” The prize was awarded to John R. Ford. Mr. Powis Bale, who is a member of our Society, an engineer, and a writer of some valuable books on the subject, discovered in a roundabout fashion that the answer to the prize question was copied directly, without any acknowledgment, out of his book “Steam Engineering,” although one of the rules of the competition especially forbade this. If those who enter prize competitions are in the habit of competing on these lines the sooner the fault is exposed the better. Mr. Bale placed the matter in the hands of the Secretary, who at once wrote to the editor of the paper. It is quite clear from the answer of the pro- prietors that they were unaware of Mr. Ford’s methods. They have at once taken steps to express their regret in a public manner, by publishing in their paper a statement of the facts approved by the author whose copyright they had unwittingly infringed. 201 Mr. Ford’s mistake has been acknowledged, and Mr. Powis Bale has kindly consented to refrain from taking any further action on the publication of the apology set forth below :— In the autumn of 1902, the Science and Art of Mining proposed a prize competition, one of the conditions of which runs as follows : “Original answers are specially desired. In all cases where quotations or extracts are made. the source and authority must be stated. Any breach of this regulation which comes to our notice will debar the offender from all future competitions in these columns.” Contrary to the rule quoted, I copied my answer —consisting of 205 lines—to Question 5, entitled, “What are the Chief Causes of Boiler Explosions ? —What Precautions would you take?” from Mr. Powis Bale’s well-known book, “A Handbook for Steam Users,” published by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Oo. As my answer won the Prize, it was published in the issue of the above periodical on October 11th, 1902, infringing Mr. Powis Bale’s copyright. I tender my sincere regret to the Author of the Book and the Editor of the Paper, and in order to make my apology public, I give leave that you should publish it in the Engineer, Engineering, and the Mechanical World, and in any two others you may think fit. (Signed) Joun R. Forp. To M. Powrs Bats, Esq., 16 & 17, Appold Street, London, E.C. eo THE AUTHORS’ ASSOCIATION. Oe N last month’s Author a short article was pub- I lished referring to this association. One of the statements contained in that article was as follows :— ‘Every member, we must mention, has the right to have one MS. of 5,000 words criticised each year, free of charge.” We have had a letter from Mr. Galloway Kyle in which he points out that we have misquoted the words of his prospectus, which run as follows :— ‘Hach member is entitled to have one novel, or three shorter MSS. of not more than 5,000 words each, dealt with thoroughly per year.” Weare glad to correct this inaccuracy, and express our regret that it should have occurred. The publisher, whose offices are situated at 62, Paternoster Row, E.C., which was referred to in the same article as the temporary address of the Asso- ciation, writes to inform us that this address is no longer connected in any way with the Association. 202 AN AMERICAN POINT OF VIEW. ee a (This Article is taken from the American Book and News Dealer, March, 1903). Of Interest to Authors, Publishers, Booksellers, Printers, Compositors and Electrotypers. + NDER the heading “ A Plea for the Abolition of the Duty on Books,” Mr. George F, Brett has recently written a pamphlet for private circulation, which was published for the author by the Macmillan Company. Mr. Brett says : “Tf it be conceded that a duty on books was needed in the early development of our country, either for purposes of revenue or to protect the printing and allied trades, or, more important still, for the purpose of fostering and encouraging the original work of our native authors, it must be clear that such a duty is no longer for any of these reasons either necessary or expedient.” The argument here used is precisely ment used by all Free Traders to show why protective tariffs should be abolished. It is possible that the next Presidential campaign will be fought on the Tariff issue ; but if so it is not probable that the Free Trade party would be willing to wage the campaign against a special branch of trade or industry that the argu- all would directly antagonise ail American authors, publishers, book- sellers, printers, compositors and electrotypers. It is certain that the Ways and Means Com- mittee of the Congress would give a hearing to representatives of these important industries before reporting to the House a Bill that would strike down all protection they now enjoy under the protective tariff. The undertaking to carry such important legis- lation through the Congress is worthy of one who is credited with the overweening ambition to publish all of the books for all of the American people. But Mr. Brett continues : « When we turn to the matter of protection for the printing and allied trades, the duty is unneces- sary, as these important trades can no longer be called ‘infant industries’ in any sense of this ‘much-abused term, and in the production of the cheaper classes of books this country may, without doubt, I think, claim to lead all English-speaking countries, both in the amount of material produced and in the cheapness of its costs of manufacture. «Tf protection to these trades, moreover, were still needed, it is already provided, and in a much more effective form, by the provision of our Inter- national Copyright Act, which makes a copyright THE AUTHOR. in this country depend upon the manufacture of the article copyrighted within the limits of the United States.” If it be true that the International Copyright Act affords ample protection for the manufacturing branches of the book trade, then why repeal the protective tariff laws that protect and foster these trades? If they are amply protected under the one law, why not give them the benefit of both ? Does not Mr. Brett seek to have this law repealed in order that he may import still more English-made books without paying any revenue into the United States Treasury ? Would not the repeal of the tariff law materially lessen the amount of work now done by the American book-manufacturing trades, in setting up the type, making the paper, electrotyping the plates and printing the English books that are now reprinted in this country ? If not, then why repeal the law ? Again, Mr. Brett continues : «When we turn to the more important reason for the existence of the duty, the only reason, if there be one, worthy of serious attention, 7¢., the necessity of fostering a native literature, a litera- ture which shall echo the needs and voice the sentiments of our national life, it still appears that we may with entire safety abandon the duty on books, a duty which has been often and aptly termed ‘a tax on knowledge.’ “ Here, again, the workings of our International Copyright Act, an act of ‘justice to foreign authors, has had results of great importance to our own people. Our younger and less known authors have, since the passage of the Act, found a much more ready welcome and appreciation at the hands of American publishers, who are no longer able to appropriate and exploit the works of foreign authors without payment. “ Let us, then, remove the duty on books as ‘a tax on knowledge’ and freely welcome what English authors may have to offer us that is worthy of acceptance, in order that we may move forward to our manifest destiny as the greatest nation the world has yet seen, whether we are judged by the standards of finance, commerce, literature or art.” Here, again, it is urged that the International Copyright Act affords ample protection to American authors ; but if so, why repeal the law? Would not its repeal again result in flooding the American market with the product of English authors, manu- factured and published in England ? Are American authors prepared to make the test ? Do American booksellers wish again to have the American market flooded with cheaply-made English books ? There is bu} little profit in the sale of cheap books,  THE AUTHOR. 203 especially when the trade discount afforded by the importer is so short that it allows a sales profit less than the actual cost of handling the books. Would not such a measure directly antagonise all American booksellers ? It is pertinent to enquire whether the publication of this pamphlet by a house of English publishers is the beginning of a Free Trade propaganda ‘to break down the American industry of writing, publishing and selling books. If this is not true, it would be well for the English house of Macmillan & Co. to disavow such purpose before it estranges the goodwill of all American booksellers, If the impression created is allowed to go un- disputed, it will be necessary for all English authors, who hope for a fair measure of patronage in the American market, to take to cover in self- defence. Neither English authors nor English publishers can afford to have their books sold in this country by booksellers who would be compelled to band together in self-defence, and to sell only so many of such books, from under the counter, as may be necessary to hold their favourite customers. In such case it would be necessary for English authors to place their books with such English publishers as have American connections of such character as can command the goodwill and patronage of the American bookselling trade ! It will be recalled that William McKinley was exalted to the Presidential chair, in Opposition to the combined influence of the leading politicians of New York, New England and Pennsylvania, by the American people, simply because he had become recognised as the leading apostle of the American policy of protective tariffs. Since the enactment of the Dingley Law, the American people have been enjoying a great wave of prosperity, that has been constantly accelerated by cumulative energy, until our thriving industries have made this great nation the cynosure of all eyes and the object of envy by our European rivals. This is the priceless heritage left to the American people by our late martyred President. Can it be supposed fer a moment that we will lightly cast it aside ? 9 LITERARY COPYRIGHT: THE PERIOD OF PROTECTION. Se ONSIDERABLE differences of opinion exist as to what should constitute the period of protection for literary matter. Some con- sider that the existing period of protection is not long enough; others contend that literary pro- perty should be regarded like other forms of property, and that copyright should be perpetual. Authorities differ, and distinguished authors dis- agree, as to the expediency of permitting the period of protection to be indefinite. It has been said that an author’s right to his work is, on every ground of reason and justice, absolute ; and that in the whole sphere of property, there is probably no right which rests on such solid foundation, as that of creation. Mr. Edward Jenkins, a member of the Copy- right Commission of 1876-8, appointed to consider the chaotic condition of the existing Copyright Acts, in his report said: “The statute law creates, it does not recognise, copyright. There is no such thing as an inalienable natural right to the form in which a man has embodied his ideas. The copyright law is, like the patent law for inven- tion, a creation of a temporary monopoly, for the encouragement of learning. It is the outcome of expediency and not of principle.” Sir James Stephen, a member of the Copyright Commission, said: “ The law of copyright ought, in my opinion, to protect money interests only ; and I think that the only money interests which it should protect are those which it creates—that is to say, the money interest of the author of a work of literature or art which is capable of being reproduced by mechanical means in such a manner that every copy is as valuable as the original. I approve of copyright in books, because the MS. has no value till it is printed, and because when it has been printed, every copy is of equal value, so that unless a copyright law existed the author of the most valuable book would have no money reward for writing it.” Sir Louis Mallet, who was also a member of the Copyright Commission, in the course of his report, said : “I do not consider that a copyright law, or, in other words, a law which enables a copyright owner to prevent other persons from copying pub- lished works, rests on the same grounds of public expediency as those which justify the recogni- tion by law of proprietary rights generally. Nor does it appear that in modern times it has been ever so regarded by the legislation of the countries where it exists. The right conferred by a@ copy- right law derives its chief value from the discovery of the art of printing ; and there appears no reason for giving to authors any larger share in the value of a mechanical invention, to which they have con- tributed nothing, than to any other member of the community. It is not even claimed that an author should have a right of property in ideas, or in facts, or in opinions. It is impossible ever to ascertain or to define how far these are the product 204 THE AUTHOR. of his own thought or of his own labour. It is merely the form in which they are presented for which this claim is advanced, and for this all that is in principle required appears to me to be that he should be protected in any contract which he desires to make once for all in the original publi- cation of his works. Some of the witnesses whose evidence has been received have urged the claim of authors to perpetual copyright, on the ground that the right of an author to property in his published works is as complete and extends as far as the right of any person to any property what- ever. If this analogy were admitted, it appears to me that it would be difficult to dispute the claim of an author to perpetual copyright ; but I ven- ture to submit that the claim of an author to a right of property in his published work rests upon « radical economic fallacy, viz., a misconception of the nature of the law of value. . . . Property exists in order to provide against the evils of natural scarcity. A limitation of supply by artificial causes creates scarcity in order to create property. To limit that which is in its nature unlimited, and thereby to confer an exchangeable value on that which, without such interference, would be the gratuitous possession of mankind, is to create an artificial monopoly which has no warrant in the nature of things, which serves to produce scarcity where there ought to be abundance, and to confine to the few gifts which were intended for all. It is within this latter class that copyright in published works must be included. Copies of such works may be multiplied indefinitely, subject to the cost of paper and of printing, which alone, but for copy- right, would limit the supply, and any demand, however great, would be attended not only by no conceivable injury to society, but on the contrary, in the case of useful works, by the greatest possible advantage. .. . The policy, then, of copyright laws must be sought in another order of ideas, and be made to rest on some ground other than that which is the foundation of rights of property in whatever is the subject to a natural limitation of supply.” Mr. Farrer, now Lord Farrer, secretary to the Board of Trade at the time of the Copyright Commission, in a paper prepared by him_ for the members of the Commission, said: ‘“‘ Pro- fessor Huxley, and I think Mr. Spencer and Professor Tyndall agree with him, states in the strongest and clearest terms his view that the foundation of copyright law is the absolute right of the author once and for ever to the form in which he has uttered his thoughts, and he ingeniously suggests that this law is merely a convenient substitute for a sale by the author of each copy, with a condition attached that the purchaser shall not copy. It is needless to say that this suggestion is as fictitious as it is ingenious. A chattel going about the world with an implied covenant by every one, who with or with- out consideration gets possession of it, that he will not imitate it, would certainly be a legal novelty. The real history and fact of copyright law are very different. As to the absolute and perpetual right, not only has it never been recog- nised as a matter of fact, but analogies are against it. Words, thoughts, and actions, when uttered or done, pass, as a general rule, into the common domain, and it is thus that human life is carried on. In those productions of the human mind which are most essentially original, and which are at the same time the most useful to mankind ; in such things as the moral doctrine of the Sermon on the Mount, the intellectual theory of gravitation, of evolution, or of the conservation of energy, there is and can be no exclusive right. Nor, again, is there, as a matter of practice, any exclusive right in more ephemeral matters, ¢.g., in the news, information, or articles of a newspaper, or in a political speech. It is only when put into the particular form of a book, or a lecture, or a picture, that an exclusive right over the productions of the human mind has been recognised, and that with certain limitations and for a certain specified purpose.” It has since been decided that for copyright purposes the author of the report of a speech is the “ author” of the speech within the meaning of the Act. The existing period of protection according to the Act of 1842, passed ‘‘to afford greater encouragement to the production of literary works of lasting benefit to the world,” is forty-two years from the date of publication, or life and seven years, whichever term may be the longer. As to the adequacy or otherwise of this term we might very well refer to the report of the Copyright Commis- sion. The particular paragraphs read as follows : ‘““ We have already stated that we consider some kind of protection in the nature of copyright desirable ; and it appears to us that the existing terms are not more than sufficient, if indeed they are sufficient, to secure that adequate encourage- ment and protection to authors which the interests of literature, and therefore of the public, alike — demand from the State. We proceed, therefore, to call attention to the three objections to the present duration of copyright : “ First, the period is said not to belong enough. The chief reasons for this assertion are that many works, and particularly those of permanent value, are frequently but little known or appreciated for many years after they are published, and that they do not command a sale sufficient to remunerate the authors until a considerable part of the term  THE AUTHOR. of copyright has expired. Some works, as, for instance, novels by popular authors, command an extensive sale and bring to the authors a large remuneration at once, but the case is altogether different with others, such as works of history, books of a philosophical or classical character, and volumes of poems. In some instances works of these kinds have been known to produce scarcely any remuneration until the authors have died and the copyrights have nearly expired. It is also urged that in the case of many authors who make their living by their pens, their families are left without provision shortly after their deaths, unless their works become profitable very soon after they are written. “These arguments and others of a like kind, which will be found not only in the evidence we have taken, but in the debates in Parliament, are in our opinion of great weight, but on the other hand, we do not lose sight of the public interest which, it has been urged upon us, would be prejudiced by prolongation of copyright. Greater freedom of trade and competition are said to be desirable that books may be more abundant and cheaper in price. ‘The second objection to the present duration of copyright is, that copyrights belonging to the same author generally expire at different dates. That it -is well founded is manifest, for if an author writes several works, or one work in several volumes which are published at different times, as is frequently the case, the copyrights will expire forty-two years from the respective dates of pub- lication, unless the author happens to live so long that the period of seven years after his death is beyond forty-two years from the publication of his latest work or volume. “ Under the present system, moreover, copyright in an earlier edition expires before copyright in the amendments in a later edition of the same work. We have had evidence that in one case the first and uncorrected edition of an important work was republished before the expiration of the copy- tight in the later and improved editions. But if the alteration in the existing term of copyright, which we suggest hereafter, were adopted, namely, that it should be for the life of the author and a fixed number of years after his death, all the copyrights of the same author would expire at the same date, and it would then be open to any pub- lisher to put out a complete edition of all the author’s works, with all the improvements and emendations which have appeared in the last edition, in a uniform shape and at a uniform price. “The third objection to the present duration of copyright is that it is frequently difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain its termination, owing to the fact that the expiration of the period depends 205 upon the time of publication. It is in most cases easy to ascertain the date of a man’s death, but frequently impossible to fix with any certainty the date of the publication of a book. Under the present law it is uncertain what constitutes pub- lication; but whatever may be a publication sufficient in law to set the period of copyright running, it generally takes place in such a manner that the precise date is not noted even if known. It is sometimes said that the date printed in the title page of a book should be considered the date of publication, but books are frequently post- dated, and in many cases bear no date at all. This objection is one which, in our opinion, should be removed.” The above, I think, is a fair presentment of the points considered by the Royal Copyright Com- mission. Many years have elapsed and we still find that little has been done to co-ordinate the various Copyright Acts which were considered by the Royal Commissioners to be in a chaotic con- dition, and frequently unintelligible. In the Bill drafted by Lord Thring, based on the recommendations of the Copyright Commission, it was proposed that “the copyright in a book shall begin with the publication thereof, and shall subsist for the term of the author's life and thirty years after the end of the year in which the author dies, and no longer.” The effect of such an Act would obviously be that, although the copyrights of authors’ works would expire simultaneously, immature efforts would enjoy a longer term than works of greater value, though, of course, it does not thereby follow that the sales of the former would be the greater. Some time ago, the writer approached several of the leading publishers for their opinions as to the duration of the period of protection. Mr. John Murray considers that a new Copy- right Act is urgently needed in this country. He thinks the period of protection ought to be life and fifty years. Perpetual copyright, though it would be equitable, is impossible, he considers. Messrs. Macmillan think that the present period of protection is insufficient ; life and thirty years would be more satisfactory. They see no reason to dissent from the view taken by Mr. Alexander Macmillan, a former head of the firm, in his evi- dence before the Royal Commission in favour of perpetual copyright. Mr. William Heinemann, while favouring the fullest protection possible for literary property, thinks it would be a matter of serious national loss, if literary productions were not, after some time, made popularly accessible. Mr. E. Marston considers perpetual copyright an impossible idea. He thinks that life and thirty years would prove a satisfactory term. 208 Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co, remark that un- doubtedly the limitation of copyright tends to the general diffusion of good literature, though they think it hard that a man of outstanding genius, having produced property of value calculated to survive his own life, should not have the privilege of leaving the interest in the property to his descendants. Messrs. George Bell & Sons certainly think the present period of protection insufficient. They favour the proposed extension to thirty years from the author's death. They are also inclined to think favourably of a suggestion that has been made, that direct descendants of an author should, on certain conditions, have the privilege of obtain- ing further extensions for successive terms of years so that a valuable copyright might be kept alive for an indefinite time. Mr. A. Nutt can see no reason why literary property should be placed in a different category trom other property. In any case, copyright, he thinks, should have a clear hundred years’ run from the death of the author. Another publisher, who has issued a large number of charming reprints, thinks that the present period of protection is long enough, except in exceptional cases ; he does not think that anyone can argue that the time presses hardly upon any relatives of a man’s family if, after forty-two years and seven years, the copyright is given to the public. In all patented works, it is acknowledged that the public have rights, and in books, it seems to him that so long as a man has been comfortably paid for his labour, the books belong to the public more than even matters of invention. Thus we have a variety of opinions upon an interesting and somewhat complicated subject. We can assume that the life of the average book is not forty-two years. Novels which have an immense sale at the time of first publication have their day and practically cease to be, in many instances. How many of them will be in demand thirty years after the decease of the authors or in some cases the manufacturers of them ? Text books, of course, get out-of-date. Similarly with works of reference. Comparatively few books are absolutely original in every respect. In the majority of cases, the authors are dependent to a more or less degree upon the labours of their pre- decessors. And literary matter would be of com- paratively little commercial value in the absence of any method whereby 1t could be rapidly repro- duced in quantity. ‘he peculiar nature of literary property is obvious. In the course of the life of the author, plus thirty years, it ought to be possible to find a sufficient demand to make most worthy books remunerative to author and publisher, if the field is properly worked, But in special cases, THE AUTHOR. such as in regard to books which have involved special labour and expense to produce, and which have not proved sufficiently remunerative during the period of protection, it ought to be possible for the publisher, or author, to obtain an extension. If it were practicable the period of protection should depend on the degree of originality of the matter. This would obviously be a difficult question to decide. J. A, Ret. ee THE PUBLISHERS’ ASSOCIATION. Oo ¢ The Annual Meeting. HE screeds Association has held its annual general meeting, under the presidenc of Mr. C. J. Longman, and has batted its report to its members. The Authors’ Society has already had note of the steps that were taken last year with a view to dealing with the question of copyright. It is unnecessary, therefore, to repeat the extent to which the Association also rendered its valuable assistance in endeavouring to push forward legis- lation. : The President, in his speech, dealt with one or two interesting points, and, in addition to the questions connected with the report, mentioned the contract for serial rights. He stated as follows :— “Of course a good many matters come up at the Council meetings which it is not desirable to trouble you with or to put into the report, but here and there one comes up which may be of interest. Now there was a subject mentioned not long ago— a small affair if you will, and only of interest to a certain section of the members who are novel publishers. Buta case came up in regard to the question of serial rights. It has been not infre- quently the practice, particularly with literary agents, to sell not only what are known as serial rights, but what are known as second serial rights. Unless there is some limit in time put as to when these second serial rights are to run out, it may be an intolerable nuisance, and I know cases in my own business where it has become a nuisance. There are certain syndicates who buy serials for circulation in the Press. They buy absolute serial rights, which is understood to mean that so long as the term of copyright exists they go on cireu- lating the novel, or any other work, in the columns of newspapers, magazines, and so on. A publisher buys the copyright, but this spectre is never laid. You never know where it may turn up, and the thing gets out of control. Sometimes, as in the case which I have in my mind, the work gets  THE AUTHOR. published under another title, or is abridged. The only reason I have in mentioning it is that I think it very desirable, in the interests of publishers, that they should decline to buy a novel in which the serial rights are sold without limit of time-— that is to say, the serial rights should cease when the book is published. If there is any question of the book being circulated again, which may possibly be done occasionally, that should be a matter decided by the copyright owner, who may be the publisher or author, or both, but I think it very undesirable either to buy or publish a novel with these indefinite rights hanging over it. That is not, perhaps, a very important point, and it only refers to one section of our members.” This question may be a small question to pub- lishers, and only touch a certain section of them, but to authors, to those who write fiction, is of great import. Firstly, we have always insisted, and now insist again, that it is absolutely essential that contracts with regard to the sale of serial rights should be clear and limited, and should not be general or indefinite ; that when serial rights are sold they should be sold either to one paper or to a limited circle of papers for one issue only, or for a limited time. Secondly, that under no circumstances should fiction writers sell the copyright of their works to the publisher for a sum down or otherwise; and, thirdly, if, contrary to all advice, they do sell the copyright, they are bound to disclose to the pur- chaser a contract of this kind for the sale of serial rights. If this is the case, then the publisher buys with full knowledge, and has no cause for complaint. From Mr. Longman’s statement it would appear that either the publisher has not taken the trouble to enquire into the point, or that the author has, unwittingly maybe, refrained from giving full information. Another important question was dealt with by the publishers. The matter was brought forward by Mr. Frederick Macmillan, of the firm of Macmillan & Co. It refers to the supply of educational books to the educational authorities. This matter is of no little consequence to the providers of educational books, and it is hoped that the cutting of prices which at present rules will not be allowed to con- tinue, and that the publishers will refuse to supply the educational centres direct, but will supply only through booksellers and retail agents. The question is one that affects the educational author very closely, as the following example may serve to show :— A certain member of the Society made his living out of the writing of educational books, and was 207 paid a fixed royalty by the publisher under a hard and fast agreement. Large orders were gent in to the publisher for the purchase of his books, and a demand was made that as the order was large special terms should be stated. ‘The publisher wrote to the author and asked him to accept half the royalty that he was being paid under the agreement, or otherwise it would be impossible for him to supply the orders mentioned, and a large sale would thereby be lost to the author. If the author’s profits had been reduced pro- portionately to the publisher’s profits it ig possible that the publisher's request might have been willingly acceded to, but the figures showed that this was not the case, and it lay with the author to decide whether he would yield to this extraordinary pressure of the publisher or whether he would lose the sale. In this special instance, the royalty on these books was, unfortunately, the bread and butter of the author, and he was obliged to give way. Thus the publisher procured a large sale at a reduced but not inadequate profit, while the author received starvation wages. The other alternative was for the author to refuse to yield, and Insist on the publisher keeping to his contract ; 0 that case the publisher would have refused to supply the market, and the author would have had no remedy. It is hoped, therefore, if this question is satisfac- torily solved as far as authors are concerned, that it will be impossible for such a case to occur again or for undue pressure to be brought to bear upon an author to yield up even the small returns that some of the publishers are willing to pay him for his work. After some discussion it appears from the report of the general meeting of the Publishers’ Associa- tion, that the original question put forward was somewhat modified, and that the following amend- ment was passed :— “That a special committee be appointed to deal with questions affecting educational publishers, and that its first business be to consider the situation created by the Education Act, 1902.” We must congratulate Mr. C. J. Longman on his re-election to the Presidency of the Association —which now represents all the important houses of England. G. oy T. pn *—~>—_+ : SOME FREE LANCE EXPERIENCES. —+—>+— OME little time ago I set forth in these pages S certain experiences that had fallen to me while pursuing the calling of a free lance journalist. Since then a good deal of water has  208 flowed under Westminster Bridge, and, as during this period I have continued on my career, further experiences have naturally come my way. number of these, it seems to me, are worth jotting down on the present occasion, for they are not altogether uninstructive, while a proportion of them have the additional virtue of breaking comparatively new ground. Those coming within this latter category have been gathered mainly in America. The United States, indeed, forms a virgin field for the English free lance. I know that there is a deeply-rooted impression to the effect that the Press on the other side of the Atlantic is a close preserve to all but those over whom the Eagle spreads its protecting wings, but I am convinced that, this isa fallacy. Speaking generally, every paper is open to every- body, and to a wide-awake editor (such as those in New York) the nationality of a potential con- tributor is, like his opinion on conscientious objections, the superiority of the American boot, or the educational value of musical comedy, a matter of complete indifference. Were it not for this fact, the path of the unattached free lance would be a good deal thornier than it is at present. My connection with American papers originated in rather curious fashion. About a year ago I wrote a short article dealing with a theatrical subject in which I was interested. This [ for- warded, together with a number of photographs, to a magazine which had just been started in London with rather a flourish of trumpets for the express purpose of “ministering to the best interests of the Drama.” My effort, however, to promote this high intention was evidently an ill- conceived one. At any rate, the article was returned, with a a curt note to the effect that it failed to reach the standard of “ literary excellence” insisted upon by, let us say, the Footlights Maga- zine. The intimation was also accompanied by an ingenuous suggestion that I should forthwith enrol myself as an annual subscriber to this some- what exigeant periodical, “ and thereby familiarise myself with the editorial requirements.” On receiving back my MS. (in a condition, by the way, that pointed strongly to its having been used as a doormat during the interval), I decided that the English market’ was too limited for it. A voyage across the Atlantic would, I thought, do the article good. I accordingly looked through an American newspaper directory, and, with the airy confidence that is part of the equipment of all free lances, despatched it to the most widely circulated magazine in the United States, and sat down to await the result. This came in three weeks’ time and took the form of a polite letter of acceptance, accompanied by a cheque for seventy-five dollars. altogether. THE AUTHOR. The discriminating periodical in question was Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly. Another American magazine which I have approached with even more success is Munsey’s. Within the past few months the editor has purchased five articles from me, paying in each instance at a rate that is at least equal to that obtaining among the leading periodicals of the same nature in this country. As my work has appeared in the Pall Mall, Strand, Windsor, and Cassell’s, I may claim to know something on this most important of points. The Cosmo- politan, too, of New York, has proved itself enterprising enough to print work of mine. In respect of weekly journals of Transatlantic origin, my most satisfactory dealings have been with Collier’s Weekly. This, which is also published in New York, has given hospitality to at least half- a-dozen contributions from me in recent numbers. The daily papers, however, have as a rule shown themselves disinclined to permit me to illumine their columns at space rates. They appear to prefer to insert bodily articles of mine which take their fancy when they make their début in English publications. As in doing so such journals seldom go through the formality of either acknowledging their origin or remunerating me for the same, the practice only meets with my qualified approval. Occasionally, I have expressed my views of the matter: so far, however, the result has not been satisfactory. One editor, indeed, relying appa- rently on the fact that the broad Atlantic rolled between us, replied on a type-written postcard as follows: ‘Sir, if you don’t like it, lump it!” Speaking generally, however, I am firmly of opinion that American editors transact their work in a manner that tends to promote the pleasantest possible relations between themselves and their contributors. To this end they are courteous, prompt, reliable, and business-like in their dealings. Whenever I have made a_ proposal for an article, or submitted a manuscript for consideration, the matter has been attended to without delay. Non-acceptances have been notified in so charming a fashion that the pangs of rejection have been in great measure removed As often as not such communications are almost apologetic in tone, and might reasonably give the novice the impression that his work is returned merely because its publication would set too high a standard of excellence. Of course, it merely amounts to the curt “declined with thanks” in vogue in this country; at the same time, however, it has decided points in its favour. The cordiality of the average American editor towards his unknown contributors is quite remark- able. The atmosphere of aloofness which is generally observed on this side of the Atlantic  THE AUTHOR. 209 seems to have no existence in the United States. ““My dear Sir,” is apparently the most formal opening ever employed in inaugurating a corre- spondence, while before two letters have passed this probably becomes “My very dear Sir.” It is the same thing with the terminations. When you are not assured that the editor is « Sincerely yours,” you are begged to regard him as “ Yours most cordially.” One of those to whom I once had occasion to write on a strictly business matter subscribed himself mine “ In all sincerity in every- thing calculated to foster what is best and brightest in contemporary literature.” This somewhat effusive individual conducted a society journal in Chicago. An American editor frequently uses terms that strike English ears a little strangely. I remember, for example, on an occasion when I had written to point out that payment for a certain contribution was overdue, receiving a “ check ” accompanied by a hope that “we should not run up against such snags in future.” A second editor, to whom I applied for a proof before publication, excused him- self on the grounds that I might “rely with confidence on his lynx-eyed compositors.” Another expressed his opinion of my capabilities in this fashion : “ Dear Sir, I like your stuff. It is real spry! Send me some more blocks of it as soon as you please. You are a live news-getter.”’ Occa- sionally, however, a wholesome corrective is administered. One such, sent in answer to a request for a decision respecting an article submitted several weeks earlier, ran as follows : “Dear Sir, your work doesn’t suit us. Our office-boy could write better copy blind-fold.” On the subject of returning unsuitable manu- scripts forwarded them from this country, American editors have a good deal to learn, They appear, for example, to be under the impression that all that is necessary is to put the article into an envelope and affix a one-cent stamp to it. Of course, it then travels as letter-post and is sub- jected to a considerable surcharge on delivery. Even when I have taken the precaution to send a properly stamped uewspaper-wrapper when sub- mitting a contribution, it is very seldom that any notice has been taken of it.. Once or twice I have ventured on a mild expostulation, but the only reply that this has elicited is that “the editor cf the prefers to use envelopes.” He also seems to prefer that their recipients should pay double postage on the same. It must not be thought from the preceding observations that I have permitted the English Press to languish for want of attention on my part during the last few months. So far from this being the case, I have conducted my campaign in this country contemporaneously with my American one, and with equal vigour. The periodicals in which work of mine has seen the light within this interval range from the « serious” monthlies to the more frivolous dailies, from magazine articles and stories in Cassell’s and the Windsor, to “Celebrities at Home” in the World, and para- graph matter in Punch. [ wrote columns of Coronation matter in June and August, and did my best to keep alive public interest in the Boer War long after the declaration of peace. I also furnished for some weeks—in the absence of the regular correspondent—a “ London Letter” for a well-known Indian paper. After the second of these contributions appeared the editor was removed from office by his proprietors. I should be sorry to think that my connection with the paper had anything to do with this, but candour compels me to admit that I was not invited to continue my contributions. The greater portion of my output of late has been published in the different periodicals which owe their existence to the enterprise of Messrs. Pearson and Newnes. The host of “ Bits” journals which emanate from the offices of these Liptous of Litera- ture are a veritable gold-mine to the unattached free lance. They have an insatiable appetite for informative articles on the private lives of dis- tinguished personages, and give a ready welcome to anyone who can write thereon with an appearance of authority. At the same time, I must place it on record that Queer Bits, while expressing itself as pleased to consider a proposed series on “ Duchesses I have Dined with,” uncompromisingly rejected a second on “ Countesses I have Kissed.” The rate of payment obtaining among periodicals of this description is usually the fixed one of a guinea per column of about 750 words. As the standard of literary excellence insisted upon therein is not lofty, the scale is quite a fair one. Indeed, it is superior to that in force in many decidedly more ambitious journals. To one of these, for example (which grandiloquently describes itself as reflecting politics, literature, science, and art—and, no doubt, many other matters as well), I once sub- mitted an article on a military subject. A couple of months afterwards (no proof for revision, or notification of acceptance having been forwarded in the meantime) the contribution appeared. It was set up, however, in the form of a “ Letter to the Editor.” This struck me as a little frigid. Yet worse was to follow, for when—at the end of five weeks—I mildly pointed out that the cheque due to me had not yet reached me, I received a dignified intimation to the effect that “it was not the practice of the to pay for correspondence.” To this I naturally replied that it was not my prac- tice to write articles for publication as “corre- spondence.” I mentioned, however, that I would 210 be prepared to relax my rule in this partieular instance in so far that I would write a letter embodying my views on the conduct of periodicals which filled their columns without expense by the simple expedient of treating articles as “ Letters to the Editor” without the sanction of their authors. The offer still remains open. I have frequently heard it contended that when ladies conduct periodicals they do so in an un- pusinesslike fashion. For myself, I am disinclined to take this view, for I have always found that they are quite businesslike enough in their methods to get as much as they can for nothing. For instance, the editress of a monthly magazine called —let us say, the Perfect Lady—once stipulated that she could only accept an article of mine on the condition that I should induce the people referred to therein to bear the expense of having their photographs reproduced. The offer did not appeal to me. It was the same lady, by the way, who on the second occasion that I submitted -a contribution, offered me two guineas for three thousand words and nine photographs, the copy- right to belong to her. When I sent a district messenger boy to the office to say that I was not in the business for my health, she replied on a postcard, “ There is no oceasion to be rude.” This question of payment is a delicate one. Not even the most brazen of free lances likes to haggle over the matter, but when he receives an experi- ence such as the one just recounted he would scarcely be human if he did not venture on a protest. For myself, I have two working rules. One of them is to take all I can get, and the other is to cash a cheque first and draw attention to its inadequacy afterwards. I applied this latter on one occasion when a certain weekly journal, called, let me say, Our Girls, commissioned me to write a three-thousand word article (entailing the interview- ing of six different people, and the supplying of eight photographs), and then sent me four guineas for the same. On receipt of my letter of polite expostula- tion, the proprietors curtly informed me that if I was dissatisfied I might return the cheque and they would return the article. I explained that my system prevented me sending back the original cheque; I accordingly forwarded one of my own instead. Notwithstanding these little rebuffs I recently approached a third journal, the editorial direction of which was also in the hands of a lady. The paper was a weekly one, and had only just been started. It was, in fact, from reading its initial number that I conceived the idea that it contained an opening for some one who had a slight acquaint- ance with practical journalism. In “Number One,” for example, a prominent feature was made of “Answers to Correspondents,” although no THE AUTHOR. explanation was given as to how “ Constant Reader,” ‘Subscriber from the First,” and the other seekers after enlightenment had written their letters of inquiry before the. paper had even appeared. Several other points in the general make-up and management of Cackle—as I will call the bantling—also struck me as betraying the hand of the amateur. To the office of Cackle, therefore, I went, armed with a selection of articles and an assortment of ideas to be submitted diplomatically if occasion offered, and taking with me a letter of introduction provided by an acquaintance of the editor. At the top of avery long flight of stairs was a door marked “QackLE, Lrp. Srricrty Private.” Having negotiated a hundred and twenty steps, a little matter like this was not going to stand in my way. Accordingly, I rapped on the door and was bidden by a feminine chorus to enter. On doing so, I found myself in a small room occupied by five ladies, sitting round a table littered with manu- scripts and making a light luncheon off; a bag of mixed biscuits and a box of chocolates. I tendered one of them my card together with the letter of introduction, requesting her to convey it to the editor, and then sat down on the only unoccupied chair. While the messenger was absent her colleagues continued an animated discussion which my arrival seemed to have interrupted. From fragments that caught my ear it seemed evident that press-day was at hand. “ What is a stick, Gertie ?”” inquired one peroxide of hydrogen-tinted young woman of another. “Why do you want to know, Maudie?” “Oh, the horrid printer says that he is a stick short,” was the reply, “and I’m sure I don’t know what he means. Yesterday he sent to ask if I wanted galleys or page proofs? Why on earth can’t printers talk English ? " At the end of ten minutes or so the messenger returned. I rose expectantly. “ The editor says she can’t see you,” was the rather disconcerting announcement that met me. “That is sufficiently obvious,” I remarked, blandly, “unless she is looking through the keyhole.” “The editor of Cackle only interviews visitors by appointment,” explained a member of the staff, in the tone that would be adopted when referring to the Times. “ Perhaps you will call again.” There was no mistaking the hint con- veyed in the last observation. I took it without delay. Since then, ladies’ papers as a class have not received any great amount of attention from me. Iam unable to think, however, that this has had that adverse effect upon their circulation that it ought to. H. W.  amt THE AUTHOR, 211 GENERAL MEMORANDA. 1 ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained, But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement), In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements, (3.) Not to allow a special charge for ‘office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author, (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! III. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “Cost of Production.” IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :-— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. ————_—_+—~»@—,______ WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. IES: EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the \ Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :—_ (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory, An author who enters ito such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills, (0.) SALE oF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS oF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (¢.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES Ge, fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (4.) apply also in this case, 4, PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time. This is most important, 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform, The legal distinction is of great importance, 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘Yhey should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative : that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY _ HO? HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. —+~— 1. VERY member has a right toask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member.  212 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not seruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. ‘The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers: —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 7. No confract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. —_—_—_———__+—__+—__—_ THE READING BRANCH. —_—— EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach, The term MSS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. —_—_———__+——_o—__———_ NOTICES. — HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. —_——_—_—\§|o—< > __—— COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE Eprror on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. — a Tur SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. —-——s—_ N the case of Judge Parry against Mr. Israel Gollancz, which dealt with the publication of “ Dorothy Osborne’s Love Letters,” a general injunction was granted to the plaintiff. Various views of the questions involved have been put forward in the papers during the past month In a letter to the Zimes, dated April 238, 1908, the plaintiff's solicitors state that the proceedings are not concluded. We must therefore defer any comment both on this ground and also because the matter has not yet come before our Committee. Mr. Loneman in his “ Notes on Books” (an interesting trade circular published by his firm) gives the following definitions :— DEFINITION OF THE TERMS “IMPRESSION,” “ EDITION,” “ RE-ISSUE.” ImprReEssron.—A number of copies printed at any one time. When a book is reprinted without change it should be called a new “impression,” to distinguish it from an “ edition,” as defined below. EpDrrron.—An impression in which the matter has under- gone some change, or for which the type has been reset. ReE-IssuE.—A re-publication at a different price, or ina different form, of part of an impression which has already been placed on the market.—From Longman’s “ Notes on Books.” We believe these definitions have been approved by the Publishers’ Association. There is one point, however, which has not been settled. It appears to us to be the most important point of all. We ask Mr. Longman if it is not possible to  Cees & THE AUTHOR. 213 settle the unit of an edition or impression? In every other trade involving weights, measures, and numbers units have been settled long ago. It is only necessary for the Association to come to some conclusion and bind its members to recognise some definite system. A thousand copies seem to be a reasonable number to fix. Thus, if a limited issue of five hundred copies was produced, the publisher could state that he was about t6 produce half an edition, or that the issue would be limited to half an edition. Again, instead of seeing the advertise- ments of the large sales quoted in numbers, it would be sufficient merely to say twenty, thirty, or forty editions or impressions. We draw attention to this special point, as in one case that came before the Secretary of the Society the author com- plained that although his publisher was advertising his book as in its third edition, only twenty-five copies had been sold. This was naturally very annoying to the author, but he had no legal position, and could not claim damage, as the sole control of the issue of the book was left, by the agreement, in the hands of the publisher. Again, there is the guarantee agreement not in- frequently before the Secretary of the Society from another publishing house that states : “* This edition shall be the property of the publisher,” or that “The author shall receive 10 per cent. royalty after the sale of the first edition.” In neither case is the amount of the edition mentioned. It is important, therefore, to all those who trade in books that some settlement of the unit of an edition should be obtained, and when that unit is settled the Publishers’ Association should enforce observance of it on its members. It is well known that some of the editions of the daily papers are little more than formal issues, but it would be unfair to publishers and authors to put the publication of books on the same level as the issue of journalistic editions. Members of the Society will no doubt recall to mind that a discussion occurred not long ago in the Literary Supplement to the Zimes, on the subject of the payment for articles by a cheque with a copyright receipt printed on the back. The discussion arose out of the fact that a banker, acting on the instructions of his client, had refused payment in those cases where the receipt form was altered. It would be interesting to have a list, complete as far as possible, of those magazines and those firms which issue this form of cheque. We should be obliged if those members of the Society who have received such cheques within the last six months will forward to the Secretary the name of the magazine or publisher. In the early days of printing, when literary property began to have a bre definite aan value, there were two forces acting to obtain the profits of the author’s labour—(1) the power of the Crown, which was inclined to adopt printing as a monopoly for its own benefit; and (2) the power of the trade, which was inclined to think that the labour of authors should be for its private advantage, Accordingly, by degrees, legislation was evolved, primarily, for the protection of the Crown monopoly and the printing trade. : As printing developed and literature expanded, the public gradually came to view the matter in a different light, and to consider, after all, that the author might have some right in his own property. Legislation was then introduced, not on behalf of the trade, but to protect the author. In all the civilised countries of Europe modern legislation has tended to give a wider basis and firmer security to the author. Surely to this he is entitled. He is as much the owner of his property —perhaps more so—as the man who buys a piece of land is the owner of that land. In another column of The Author we have much pleasure in printing an article headed “ An American Point of View.” We see with some amuse- ment, not unmixed with sadness, that the American printing trades are still inclined to consider that legislation dealing with literary property should not be passed with a view to the protection of the author, but rather with a view to fostering the: trade. They have headed the article “ Of Interest to Authors, etc.” There is irony in this remark, no doubt suitable to the American humour. 1 THE LATE LIEUT.-COLONEL G. F. R. HENDERSON, C.B. ——~ + N the March number of Zhe Author we I expressed regret that the name of this officer had been inadvertently included among those: members who had died in 1902. We were un- happily only premature in the announcement, for he died on the 5th March, at Assouan, Upper Egypt,. where he had gone for the benefit of his health,. which had for some time been precarious. This was largely owing to his unremitting work. He never allowed himself proper rest from his literary labours, and so anxious was he to push on with the: official history of the Boer War, which had been entrusted to his able pen, that he insisted on taking.  214 his work with him, and had nearly completed the first volume, when he died, in his forty-ninth year. This much lamented officer was the eldest son of the Dean of Carlisle. He was educated at Oxford and entered the Service in 1878. He was appointed an Instructor at the Royal Military College in 1890, and in 1892 had become so well known by his studies and writings on Military History and Tactics that he was given the Professorship of Military History and Art at the Staff College in succession to Colonel F. Maurice. He obtained a brevet majority for his services in the Egyptian War of 1882. He distin- guished himself by his admirable tactical studies, “The Campaign of Fredericksburg,” “ The Battle of Spicheren,” and “ The Battle of Worth,” which were characterised by insight and power of analysis and a knowledge of men, as well as by a literary style to which such works seldom aspire. But his best known work is “Stonewall Jackson and the American War,” which was speedily translated into many European languages, and will ever remain as a model of military biography. Its publication stamped Colonel Henderson as one of the most important military writers since Sir William Napier, and had he lived he would un- doubtedly have had his name inscribed very high up on the roll of fame. He worked indefatigably in South Africa as Director of Intelligence, and was of the greatest assistance to Lord Roberts ; but his health, which had been undermined by over- work, broke down after Paardeberg, and he was invalided home. After an all too brief rest he began the History of the War, and travelled over to South Africa again to revisit the scenes of the battles he was describing as was his con- stant practice. This, though fatiguing, was of benefit to him as giving some little respite from work ; but when he resumed his writing and heavy brain work, it was seen that the strain was too great, and a winter in Egypt was prescribed. His splendid example of constant devotion to his profession, and his high character, exercised a lasting influence upon the officers of the present generation ; and his literary work, though pic- turesque and classical in style, was thoroughly practical in its aims. His descriptions were vivid, and he never ceased to search out the why and the wherefore of events. One of his latest efforts was the admirable and characteristic preface he wrote to Count Sternberg’s “ My Experiences of the Boer War” (Berlin: Reimer, 1901), which was trans- lated into English (Longmans), and which, though in the main a lively and amusing account of adventures as a war correspondent, contains many reflections upon modern war that are at least worth consideration. In every way—as an officer, as a strenuous and clear-minded instructor, and as a THE AUTHOR. writer—Colonel Henderson, who was of a most unassuming and amiable character, will be long regretted in the British Army, and, as a well- known writer of descriptions of foreign armies and their characteristics in his excellent letters written to the Zimes while attending foreign manceuvres, his loss will be much felt by the general public. —___+—>__+____ OF COLLABORATION. + I WONDER if it is a confession of weakness to acknowledge that I find something agreeable in a state of indecision—not with regard to matters of prime importance, be it understood, but with regard to those smaller matters of which the friendly discussion gives point to the conversation of cultivated men. To be poised between two friendly disputants, inclining now this way and now that as one or the other drops fresh crystals of reason into the scale, and finally to attain a state of rest midway between the two, thus testifying to all the world that once more much may be said upon both sides, and that where there is six of the one there is again half a dozen of the other, is a condition in which I like to be, a function I am ever happy to perform. Yet, the function dis- charged, I like to draw the disputants aside and with deference submit to their consideration such points about the matter of debate as I think they may have ignored or failed to see. It has been my invariable experience that I thus acquire some reputation of being an intelligent fellow, one with brains in his pate, sir, open to reason, and not too proud to learn. If I may thus achieve renown as being a clever man, I am well satisfied to let my ears do all the work, and give my tongue a rest. Others may dogmatise: I am content to suggest ; and if, when all is over, captious critics say it has been much ado about nothing. I can quote Shakespeare too, and say ‘“‘all’s well that ends well.” It was thus with me the other day, when the conversation turned upon collaboration in fiction. I found that most of those present had in their early days collaborated with some friend, being induced to do so by the old argument that two heads are better than one, or by their observation of the fact that babies frequently teach themselves to walk by holding on to chairs. I was interested, however, to find that the general vote was adverse to collaboration. Isolated instances of good novels written in collaboration were, of course, known and cited, but it was suggested that there was something in our national temper, or temperament, unfavourable to the method, and the suggestion was supported by the assertion that, with the  THE AUTHOR. exception of Besant and Rice, there was no instance of British authors working together continuously and producing such happy results as did MM. Erckmann-Chatrian and Paul and Victor Mar- gueritte. With this view Besant himself agreed. “If I were asked for my opinion as to collaboration in fiction,” he says, “it would be decidedly against it, Isay this without the least desire to depreciate the literary ability of my friend and collaborateur. ‘The arrangement lasted for ten years, and resulted in as many successful novels. I only mean that, after all, an artist must necessarily stand alone. - +. There will come atime when both men fret under the condition; when each desires, but is not able, to enjoy the reputation of his own good work ; and feels, with the jealousy natural to an artist, irritated by the loss of half of himself, and ready to accept the responsibility of failure in order to make sure of the meed of success... . The collaboration would have broken down, I believe, amicably. It would have been far better if it had broken down five years before the death of Rice, so that he might have achieved what has been granted to myself—an independent literary position.” The modesty and sincerity of Sir Walter Besant were such that it is absurd to try to read between these lines and discover any little-mindedness in roserve. That “jealousy natural to an artist ” is the quality which he discovers in the British temperament unfavourable to the method of joint production, and, so far as collaboration in fiction is concerned, there cannot be much dispute that his point is well taken. Sir Walter always declined to offer any explana- tion or give any account of the method on which he collaborated with Rice, although this was a matter with regard to which he was pestered for information. Why people should be so anxious to find out how collaboration is conducted is a form of curiosity that always inspires me with amused wonder. It seems to me that it should bea reason- ably easy matter, provided proper provision is made at the outset for the ‘personal equation.” For those, however, who desire light upon the subject, and have not had the passage brought before their notice, I may, perhaps, quote a couple of paragraphs from a recent issue of the Daily Mail having reference to Mr. and Mrs. Egerton Castle. “The collaboration of husband and wife is rare and interesting. Mr. and Mrs. Castle plan out their work together, talk it over thoroughly, and finally write it in unison, so that it is almost impossible in the end to decide with whom any particular idea originally started. The authors never write of places or people they do not know familiarly. Mr. Castle states that he never begins to write out a romance until it has been complete 215 in his mind (as discussed and elaborated with his wife) for a very long time. It is only when both character and incident and the reciprocal influence of one on the other have become familiar that the story is begun. “After that the writing goes fast enough at an average rate of 2,000 words a day—writing in the morning and revising at odd moments of the day. Thus a long novel will be written in three months ; but, of course, the period from its conception is much longer—generally a year or more.” The obviousness of that explanation detracts not a whit from its interest, and any difficulty which other people may experience in applying the principle to practical use themselves will be found due to their own personality and that of the writer with whom they work. The old simile of cog- wheels applies to collaborators as well as to friends ; while it is essential that each party to the partner- ship should supply the other’s deficiencies, the wheels must be oiled if they are to run smoothly, and the kind of oil most suitable to the par- ticular machinery will be ascertained without difficulty. This sort of partnership between husband and wife is not, however, so rare as might be supposed. I know of several instances among writers of serial stories for the cheap newspapers. The editor of one of these told me he found the system worked admirably in practice, the wife generally supplying the battle, murder, and sudden death, while the husband supplied the tender passion and what one of Mr. Morley Roberts’s characters describes as “ideal poppycock.” The information struck me as being very illuminating. Upon the question of collaboration in fiction I thus remain in a state of, to me, agreeable inde- cision. With regard to collaboration in the other forms of literary work, I am, perhaps, less vague. In the writing of plays the association of two minds seems very often desirable—one to supply that brilliant superficial cleverness which modern playgoers seem to require at the hands of drama- tists, the other to construct the play on the practical lines necessary to make it effective from the front of the house and practicable from behind. One very well known novelist, and part author of several very successful plays, told me he could never get his people on the stage, If they were put there for him he could make them dazzling in their wit. “You put them in the right place,” he said, “at the right time, and I'll put the right things in their mouths. It’ll be terrific!” Un- fortunately my peculiar genius also runs in the direction of “cackle,” while I am as ignorant of “osses”” as the Jubilee Plunger, so that play is still unwritten. I did, however, write a play once in collaboration with a man whose forte was 216 construction. We had an agreement drawn up and engrossed and stamped; I almost decided to have my copy of it framed. My friend was to supply the bones and see that they were all properly articulated, and I was to put the meat upon them and clothe the finished article in the latest mode. The work was done, upon the whole, without excessive loss of blood, and in due course the play began its round of the managers. Writing a play, by the way, is the easiest part of the business ; the dramatist’s trouble does not begin until that is done. The first manager wrote very civilly to say he had read it with interest; and, whilst it was admirably constructed, it was written in so dull and illiterate a fashion that he was afraid he could do nothing with it. My friend explained that he was only responsible for the construction, and produced the agreement to prove his words and attest his competence to construct another play for the manager to be written by some one else than me. The second manager also wrote very civilly. He found the dialogue amazing in its brilliance ; the wit was pungent, the satire refined, and the whole writing in perfect taste. The construction, how- ever, was so amateurish, and showed such ignorance of stage technique, that he, too, was afraid he could do nothing with it. My friend explained that the writing was his, the construction mine ; and if the manager would supply him with a scenario, upon whatsoever subject, he would be happy to write it up. His explanation on this occasion was uncorroborated by documentary evidence. The third manager wrote more civilly still. Construction and dialogue were both superlatively good—far above the average. The story, how- ever, did not appeal tohim. He thought so highly of the work that he would like to consider the ques- tion of commissioning a play by the same authors. Would my friend explain the terms of the collabo- ration, and give him some information as to my position as a writer for the stage? My friend wrote by return of post to explain that the play was entirely his; he dictated it to me, and my name appeared as part author because, in the then state of his finances, it was inconvenient for him to pay me a weekly salary as secretary, and I agreed to be paid by a percentage of his royalties provided he would allow my name to be published on all pro- grammes and bills of the play. I do not think there is any moral in this anecdote. I tell it because it relates to my only experience of joint authorship, and is, therefore, not mal apropos in an article upon collaboration. V. E. M. THE AUTHOR. AUTHORS AND MODERN THRIFT. es By Bass BLAKE. I. The Best Provision for Age. HATEVER the advantages may be of the career of a successful writer, a uniform income is not one of them. The merit of his work may show uo falling off ; but all the same, his profits are materially affected by changes in the public taste, and the various moods and maladies peculiar to readers. A commercial man, once his position is assured, in many cases produces his income by repetition of those faculties to which he owed its commencement; but with a writer, each year brings with it the necessity for origi- nality, and for the initiation and working out of fresh ideas. A prudent business man will each year set aside a sum for the depreciation of his machinery, with a view in a certain number of years to replace it by a new plant. It is upon far more delicate machinery that the bulk and quality of a writer’s work depends, and it is machinery which can never be replaced ; yet it is common to find that no provision is made for its depreciation. In most cases the writer lacks that foresight which teaches the commercial man to conserve a certain proportion of his income against bad times. The author frequently lives at the top of his income, disburses his capital as it arrives, and whilst being peculiarly at the mercy of changes and depressions, makes little or no preparation for them. A common reason for this omission is that the author’s circumstances and habit of mind do not bring him into touch with those means of thrift with which the man of business ig more or less familiar. That well without water which is termed “the City” is but a name to him, and his financial experiences are often confined to some chance scheme which falls in his way, or to disastrous incursions into the Stock Exchange. He may possess some vague notion that in insurance, pro- viding as it does co-operative protection for the individual, there are some elements of attraction ; but the number of policies are so many, and in their nature so complicated, that he is repelled from the subject. He has small experience of finance, and in the multitude of schemes, each purporting to be the best in the market, he sees only confusion. Modern life insurance nevertheless offers to the author perhaps the only means of providing his family with means at his death, or himself with a provision in age. The popular idea of the question is, that if a man happens to die young it is a good bargain for himself and a bad one for the company, but, should he happen to live, insurance becomes a very poor investment. A policy, however, suited to  THE AUTHOR. a man who is dependent wholly upon his own powers as a means of income, must be one which guarantees to him not only life insurance, but a capital sum when his powers of production may be expected to be on the wane, and is therefore strictly a life, and not a death policy, as in ordinary insurance. The form of policy which on the whole is most suited to authors is that known as endowment assurance. This provides capital to his family at his death, as in ordinary insurance, but it also guarantees to him a sum in cash a stated number of years hence, when, it may be expected, it will be very necessary to him. ‘This contract is simple. The assured pays to the company a yearly premium for a stated number of years, at the end of which the policy matures and his premiums cease. If in the meantime he should die, the sum assured (together with profits attaching to the policy) is paid to his estate. But should he survive to the age stated, the sum assured (with the total profits) is paid to him in cash. Endowment assurances are effected for any term of years—say ten, twenty, thirty, or forty—and, of course, the shorter the term the higher the premium percent. Twenty or thirty years is, however, a suitable term, as being sufficient time to allow the profits allotted to his policy time to accumulate at compound interest to a material sum. A man with any sum to fifty pounds per annum to set aside has very limited channels for invest- ment. In financial circles the advantages are all with the capitalists who pull the strings, and to the profits of whom the small investor cheerfully contributes from his small income. But the author cannot afford to run risks. With a good British company the security is equal to that of a State institution, and an endowment assurance therein offers the best secure investment which, so far as I am able to judge, it is possible to obtain. An instance is provided by a man of thirty who sets aside twenty pounds per annum as apremium. For this he obtains a profit-sharing endowment assurance for £600. At the age of sixty the policy matures and he will receive, with accruing bonuses according to last declara- tion, a total sum of £1,000 in cash. He will have paid in by this time a sum of £600, and he receives £1,000, besides a life insurance cover provided during the whole of the term during which the policy has been maturing. But as a fact, the policy has been even more advantageous to him, as the Government allows a rebate of income tax, alone among all investments, upon life insurance premiums. Reckoning the tax at one shilling in the pound, his £20 premium is reduced to £19, and the amount therefore he actually disburses in thirty years is £570 instead 217 of £600. The return of £1,000 is close upon 4 per cent. compound interest, with the addition of the cover provided of the sum assured, with profits to date, should he die in the interim. Compound interest is a result not achieved without some element of compulsion. There are few men with sufficient strength of mind to compel themselves faithfully to set aside each year in a bank such asum as £20 or £50, and allow it to accumulate at compound interest. Besides, such savings provide no life insurance in the event of early death. The form of a policy provides what may be termed obligatory thrift, inasmuch al- though, after a few years, there is a surrender value to the policy should it be discontinued, by far the best bargain is to be made by following out the policy to maturity. An author with a sense of his responsibilities must see in endowment assurance a matter of some importance. It provides for his family in the event of his death or for his own future in his age. But he is ill-advised to embark upon any scheme without some study and inquiry. Gener- ally, it may be said that a good British office of established reputation offers the best investment, but the results in some companies are decidedly better than in others, and care in selection will be amply repaid. I have shown above the result of an endowment payable at sixty with a premium of £20. The following table shows more completely the results of an endowment payable at fifty with a yearly premium of £50. Cox’s TABLE SHOWING THE WORKING OF AN ENDOW- MENT ASSURANCE. AGE AT ENTRY, 30. AMOUNT oF Poxicy, £1,000. Plan of policy : Twenty-year endowment assurance, viz., payable at age 50 or previous death. £ s. da. Annual premium for twenty years ... 50 8 4 Less income tax at ls, in the £ 210 4 . ninteainamneonnae poet Net cost ... £47 18 0 WORKING OF POLICY. C. At death of insured before age 50. | | In return for net | At end of year. | The company | premiums paid | Return for cost. | will pay— ORE | _ — 3 | £1,045 £143 | £902 5 1,095 239 | 856 io im ae 15 1,313 718 595 19 1,378 910 463  218 B. Inevent of surrender of policy before age 50 the company will grant— ) In return for premiums paid Or cash sur- lA paid-wp policy render value At end of year. She. | of— of— 3 | 8195 ( Ane eka 5 tb ee 139 | 229 9 | «on oo we fe 15 1,063 [ce 510 718 19 1,323 | ons 677 | 910 death. | ‘A. On survival to age 50. The company will pay (including bonuses) £1,438 In return for total premiums paid of... 958 Return over cost ee bo £480 The subject of modern insurance is one of some complexity, but the cardinal facts are straight- forward. There are other forms of endowment assurance, but the simple with-profit policy is found to be the most profitable to the assured. It provides life insurance, and, what is very material, the largest possible sum in cash when his policy matures. For the rest, if there is any point which, to an author interested in the subject, is not sufficiently clear, the writer of this article is at his service. The above figures are those of a first-class representative British office. Se THE LAW OF COPYRIGHT. — t-—~— 9 M* SCRUTTON has got tired of waiting, and no wonder. We welcome heartily the 4th Edition of his able work on Copyright. It has been needed for some time. Mr. Scrutton’s sound and careful deductions, the result of exhaustive and diligent labour, come as a “boon and a blessing” to those who have studied the intricacies and difficulties that surround all the questions of Copyright. ° No writer has presented the subject so clearly and distinctly, has gone so thoroughly to the heart of the question, and swept away all those side issues that might tend to obscure any given point. The work is so ably written that it would be possible for a layman, after perusal of its pages, to deceive himself with the idea that he was an authority on the subject. The chapters dealing with Literary Copyright treat this division of statute and case law from every aspect, and bring forward the very latest decisions. The chapters dealing with Artistic Copy- right are perhaps not quite so full, ‘There are one or two points on which we should have been pleased THE AUTHOR. if Mr. Scrutton had turned his discriminating powers with more freedom. Take as an example the difficult question of Artistic Copyright and Book I]lustration. : With regard to Canadian Copyright (an exceed- ingly involved and difficult matter) the author has not brought together the very latest information. He makes no reference to the last Act of the Canadian Legislature, or the refusal of the Canadian Government to collect the royalties under the Foreign Reprints Act. Although the author has not dealt in any of the former editions with the subject of Copyright in foreign countries, it is a pity that he did not take it up now. As Copyright under the Berne Convention is almost universal it is of great importance to all those who hold literary property to have an epito- mised statement of the limits that surround their property in those countries included in the Con- vention. Mr. Copinger, in his able book, under- took this work, but since the last edition was pro- duced there has been considerable alteration in the laws of the different countries. With Mr. Macgillwray’s book and with Mr. Scrutton’s 4th edition, and we hope—at no distant date—a supplement containing the further informa- tion, Copyright has been lucky in its exponents. Whilst touching on these minor faults of omission, we must pay Mr. Scrutton every compliment and thank him for his labours, which are so amply justified by the result. ———————E HOMES FOR WANDERING MSS. + HE second volume of the “ Writers’ Year Book” is before us. The price is 1s. 6d. net. Itis published from Granville House, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C. The great point in a book of this kind must necessarily be its accuracy, and on looking care- fully through the lists compiled they seem to be satisfactory, though, no doubt, in the publication of all lists there are bound to be a few mistakes. The book is for the assistance of those authors who desire to find the proper channel for their talented productions. It puts before them the names and addresses of five hundred papers that receive MSS., photographs or drawings, and at the same time explains as far as possible the conditions on which these commodities are accepted. The book opens with three articles: “‘ How to Write for the Press,” “Journalism for English and American Women,” and “ Writing for the Magazines.” It is not our desire to criticise these articles, but it is our opinion that in a book of this kind they USO PRRSOS IES  THE AUTHOR. are out of place. It should confine itself entirely to one object, and make its sole aim to be as practical and as perfect as possible on the points it undertakes to elucidate. Articles on the ‘‘ How To” in literature are in evidence in many other works. It is not necessary to multiply them. Ifthe editor had been ambitious to deal with the legal and technical questions surrounding the marketing of MSS., drawings and photographs, a book at least three times the size of the present handy volume would hardly have exhausted his ambition. The book, however, cannot fail to be of use to those literary and journalistic tyros who are anxious either to widen their market or increase their income. a se THE IRRITABILITY OF AUTHORS. es HE irritability of authors is proverbial. What is proverbial may be, in a rough way, assumed to be not very far from the truth. Why the author should be a_ peculiarly touchy and snappish animal does not so clearly appear. The phenomenon can hardly be ex- plained in the latest fashionable way of accounting for everything by the single word ‘heredity.’ Perhaps, however, in the secrets of Nature’s workshop there is some trick of warp and woof that, of necessity, occasions the peculiar com- plexion which constitutes irritability of nature to be a part of the composition of an author’s brain, just as it has been said that all nervous people are monarchists, and all melancholy people democrats ; which, after all, may not he true. Or, a more likely explanation may be sought in the fact that the exercise of an author’s profession, one which induces a nervous sensibility of a peculiarly com- plicated kind, possibly tends to nervous tension that causes the fibre of an author’s brain to jar under circumstances incapable of producing, in more slackly-strung natures, any vibration at all. Be all that as it may, this is indisputable, that only too many people, who have had a good deal to do with authors, are more than ready to bear witness to their being a very captious and touchy species, anything but delightful to their personal friends, and often trying in the extreme to the patience of those whom they ought to treat with forbearance and regard. All this is sufficiently unfortunate. Yet, perhaps, after all, no one is so bitterly punished by the author’s proclivity to snappishness as the author himself. For the only happy aspect of this sad failing of literary people is, that the culprit is not ignorant of his own excessive irritability. Only, seeing that literary people are fully con- scious of this weakness, why are not penmen of all 219 classes constantly on their guard against it ? Why do they not frequently ask themselves, in all serious- ness, ‘‘ What is the use of losing one’s temper ? ” It might have been supposed that a man, when meditating turning author, would recollect amongst other things, that one of the results of his enter- prise, whether successful or unsuccessful, must inevitably be a vast increase of whatever share of natural irritability Nature had put into him. But it is a well-known fact that men mostly become authors either without knowing it, or, at the best, without thinking at all definitely about what they are doing. And one of the consequences of this is, that when the hardships and difficulties of literary enterprises begin to appear, authors are enormously astonished, and not a little out of humour and out of heart. How people can suppose that any human enterprise can exist not beset with difficulties and disillusions is really inexplicable. Yet it is certain that no one thinks much beforehand of difficulties in authorship. The soldier and the sailor must run risks and encounter trials. The lives of solicitors, of medical men, of merchants, all imply many restrictions and much self-denial. Every calling in life has its draw- backs and its dangers. No one is ignorant of the fact. In making choice of a profession men reflect upon its hardships, and prepare themselves to face them. Seldom, however, in the case of literature. Qui nihil scripsit nullum putat esse laborem. Almost every man is persuaded that he could write a book well enough if he chose to take the trouble. After he has begun writing the difficulties appear, and then ensue the phenomena of the author’s peculiar irritability and proclivity to lose his temper. The first person with whom the author gets into a rage is himself. Little harm enough in that, it will be said—a just retribution! Only it is no jesting matter to the man conscious of possessing all the abilities and powers requisite for success—saviny the knack of keeping his temper. The story will not shape itself. The characters will not come out well defined. The scenario is a tangle. The pen will not obey the behests of imagination. So the author gets into a passion with them all. He smashes the pen, curses his dramatis persone, and pitches his manuscripts into the fire. And then, what is his work the for- warder for that ? No difficulties are surmounted by getting into a rage with them, but by taking time and pains patiently to effect what has to be done. The persons with whom the author next gets into a passion are invariably editors and publishers. After many holocausts, some manuscript is at last completed, often more by good luck than by good management. The editor or publisher, to whom 220 it is offered, then refuses it. In nineteen cases out of twenty the author is absolutely ignorant why it is refused—whether because it has been sent to the wrong place, or because it is really worthless, or because the publisher has just accepted a similar work, or for which of fifty other reasons. That does not prevent his form- ing hypotheses. “There is a clique.’ © Ebe publisher’s readers never look at manuscripts, unless they are written by their own friends.” “Nothing but bosh is ever accepted now.” And so forth. The author himself scarcely believes all these things that he says. But—suppose they were true. Then they would be facts about literary work with which he must reckon ; just as the market gardener must reckon with the fact that a single frost may ruin his peach crop for the year. Getting into rages will not alter the case. Why not think of the difficulties with which men contend in other professions? Why not have patience, learn wisdom from failure, and try to offer saleable work in the markets where it is wanted ? Later on the author is in a rage with the critics. Why ? Because they tell him disagreeable truths ? If they do, he is a lucky man. And seeing how difficult a thing it is, under any circumstances, to accept adverse criticism wisely, of what use is it for the author to complicate matters by losing his temper ? But the critics tell him nothing. They are asses! Be it so. And is not a man himself an ass who loses his temper with asses ? Still there remains the public—who have no discrimination ; and “ that great beast the general reader ’—whose Philistine tastes are ruining literature; and “the young person” whose mamma is the occasion of mawkishness marching triumphant through the land ; and the “ idiots ”— who persist in preferring some other man’s books ; and the general “‘ cussedness ” of everything. With all these the author is unceasingly getting into passions of different kinds. And of what use to him are his rages? Do they alter anything ? He says that he cannot help getting into a rage. But he ought to learn to be able to help it. And this is certain, if he would learn, he would have an enormous advantage over the other authors who will not. —_—____—_e—>_+___—_—__- SHAKESPEARE AND LONDON. ——— + HE regret for the loss of Sir Walter Besant, which was touchingly expressed by Lord Rosebery at the last meeting of the London Topographical Society, might well apply to a recent project for the celebration of Shakespearein London. THE AUTHOR. This movement has no fortuitous origin, it is the unfolding of a silent growth, and there has been no writer of equal influence and power so well fitted to be its exponent as Sir Walter Besant. His knowledge of history and of historical criti- cism would have enabled him to perceive that the recognition, in a special sense, of Shakespeare in London is the inevitable result of a process of development. A few words of explanation on this point will be, I think, the best means by which to recommend the matter to the attention of the Soviety of Authors and the readers of this journal. That Shakespeare spent his working life as poet and dramatist in London, and that his plays were published to the world in London theatres and printed at a London press are facts which have not penetrated the public cognisance. Why is this ? After the death of Shakespeare his vogue as a dramatist in London increased rather than dimi- nished under James and Charles; we can trace in the records of the Restoration period that the influence of Shakespeare was competing vigorously with new modes and a different dramatic con- vention; in the literary age of Queen Anne, Shakespeare was promoted from the theatre to his status as a literary classic, and his first biographer, Rowe, turned the attention of readers from the playhouse to the birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon. Ina later generation we find Dr. Johnson, who might almost be considered an embodiment and living-type of London, continuing the editorial labours of Pope and Theobald without a thought for the London associations of the plays in their origin and theatrical history. This example was improved upon by his great theatrical con- temporary, Garrick, who, inheriting the traditions of Davenant and Betterton, in a direct line from the time of Shakespeare himself, showed his unconsciousness of ‘history by becoming the most active promoter of that celebration at Stratford- on-Avon which served only too effectually to divert the minds of the dramatic world away from London, and ultimately, during the last century, to establish the Birth-place as the Mecca of the vast public of Shakespeare’s admirers. The recoil from this position has been slow and sure : its stages may be marked by a succession of literary investigators, from Malone at the beginning of the nineteenth century until the present time. The History of the Stage, which we owe to him; the investigations of Francis Douce ; the History of Shakespeare, and his Times by Drake ; the labours of John Payne Collier and the publications of the Shakespeare Society ; the works of Wright and of Halliwell ; the more popular expositions of Charles Knight and Walter Thornbury; the work and the influence of F. J. Furnival and the publications of  THE AUTHOR. the New Shakspere Society ; the History of the Stage by F. G. Fleay; the recent biography by Sidney Lee; and, perhaps I may add, my own con- tributions to the snbject. These may serve to outline a progressive study of conditions and environment, by which Shakespeare has become visualised as a working playwright, in a London not too remote for realisation from historical evidence. With this brief introduction the prospectus of the London Shakespeare League may be read with a due perception of its significance. The first five paragraphs are as follows :— For long years past there has been an enthusiastic feeling among many Englishmen that the 23rd of April, the day of England’s Patron Saint, should be revived as an annual Festival in honour of the ever-living memory of England’s greatest son and noblest pride—William Shakespeare. “Certainly it was St. George for merry England,” wrote Dr. George Macdonald in 1864, “ when Shakespeare was born. But had St. George been the best saint in the calendar—which we have little enough ground for supposing he was—it would better suit our subject to say that the Highest was thinking of His England when He sent Shakespeare into it, to be a strength, a wonder, and a gladness to the nations of His earth.’’ The 23rd of April was the death-day, and, traditionally, also the birthday of the poet. At the birthplace an annual festival is held, and the “Shakespeare Week” is worthily celebrated ; but few can avail themselves of the celebration there, and many Londoners haye expressed the hope that an organised effort might be made, duly to observe in London by various festivals the greatest day in our calendar, so that the example of the capital might eventually be followed by the Empire generally, and “‘ Shakespeare Day’ become anational and Imperial celebration, helping to re-vivify the sentiments associated with the day in bygone times. The movement which has culminated in the formation of “The London Shakespeare League” took shape during “Shakespeare Week’ last year, and, as the outcome of careful consideration, the League places in the fore-front of its aims an annual celebration to be held in London ; but the celebration is to be merely one manifestation of the work it proposes to carry through for advancing the true knowledge and appreciation of the poet’s works. It is hoped in course of time to secure a permanent habitation for the League available for its many purposes. The accompanying programme is a first attempt at a London celebration, and indicates the manner in which the various learned and dramatic societies may rally round the League and observe the day. An even more effective celebration will, it is hoped, result if the managers of the London theatres, and ultimately theatrical managers throughout the Empire, may be pre- vailed upon to regard as their duty the performance of Shakespearian plays on or about the 23rd of April. Simi- larly, organisers of concerts may be induced to devote the day to Shakespearian music. The League commends its aims to the attention of Shakespeare societies and reading unions,* When this notice appears in 7e Author the celebration will have been held, and whether success or failure attends this first attempt, I * The Annual Subseription to the League is, at present, 5/-. Application for Membership should be made to the Hon. Secretary, Dr. W. Martin, 2, Garden Court, Temple. 221 venture to think the objects of the London Shake- speare League are worthy of the active support of all literary craftsmen. Next year I hope the Society of Authors and the Authors’ Club. will associate themselves with the London Shakespeare Commemoration. The leadership of Sir Walter Besant need not be absent if his patriotism, his devotion, his love for London, his reverential attachment to the memory of Shakespeare, his desire to assist any movement having for its object and effect the awakening of the public mind to the treasures of its intellectual heritage, if his example, in a word, yet lives in the memory of his associates and contemporaries to inspire a resolute belief in the power of an idea. T. FarrmMan OrDISH. > + THE WORLD BEYOND! E HO over that gulf a bridge can throw, Which fearfully yawns between The world of Sense that we think we know And the other that is unseen ? Are there some nerve-cells in the brain, Seemingly fashioned all in vain, Where the sole path may lie ? A lesion slight in the matter grey! Those cells arranged in another way, And solved is the mystery ! Il. Then—only then, will a flash of light Spring forth from the brain to span, Like a bridge of glory, that realm of night, Which shrouds ‘‘ the beyond ” from man ! Yes, then the real world shall we see With eyes unsealed, and ‘iis dream shall flee, And we shall know at last That the things of Sense are but shadows all, Veiling the Spirit-land like a pall— But, we should stand aghast ! III. Yea, happy for us that few will dare To span for us that profound, For nameless terrors may wait us there, Where horrors unguessed abound ! Satyrs and Fauns of ancient Rome In that pale realm may have their home, And things never named by man ! In opened eyes would a wonder strange Amoment dawn ! then to dread would change— We should see the Great God Pan ! F. B. Doveton. Norre.—Suggested by Mr. Machen’s “The Great God Pan,” \  2:22, SOME NOTES ON METHODS OF REJEC- TION AND REVIEW. i WO years ago I sent an article to a well- known monthly magazine. It was returned, with an unusual variant of the customary enclosing letter. I was told that the MS. was in- teresting, but that the editor was already supplied with material enough to last for six months. At the end of six months I again submitted the MS. Again it was praised, but 1 was informed that for several months to come there would be no vacancy for anything. I then dealt with the MS. in other ways, and at the end of a year from the date of the second rejection I submitted another article to the same periodical. On this occasion a similar but intenser form of reply was adopted. ‘ With sin- cere regret the Editor returns the enclosed, not because he fails to appreciate its interest and value, but because, for a few months at any rate, he can accept nothing whatever.” Naturally, it is not my intention to wait until this river goes by. But the system of laudatory indefinite postponement is not frank. No writer ought to complain of rejection after submitting a MS. to an editor who considers it, for an editor, if not always a good literary judge, is presumably the best authority as to the requirements of his periodical. If, however, an editor has a staff upon whom he exclusively relies, he should state plainly that he does not want outside help. I have no reason to complain of the staff system, since for many years a gentleman who controls a certain paper of somewhat humble and restricted scope, has habitually printed and paid for everything I have sent him, thus, indeed, obliging me in honour to edit my own contributions, and prepare them with exceptional care. But in this case outside work is freely admitted when it is suitable, and I suppose that in a world of competition the open door is the best policy. An editor who shuts the gates of consideration on mankind may discover that his readers, as well as his contributors, are a small group, and even the potent advertiser may in time adopt the principle of laudatory indefinite postponement. It may be that it is considered ‘‘neat”’ to reject with praise under colour of surfeit, or it may be that in some cases there is an “inner circle.” But I prefer an editor who will have the courage to say—‘ Not of the slightest use,” or “ Don’t want it. Please don’t send any more.” Rejections by publishers stand on another foot- ing. It is curious, however, that nowadays if you mention poetry to them they shudder as at pesti- lence. One is prepared for reluctance. The THE AUTHOR. commercial objections, based on wide and calami- tous experience, are well known. But what is happening to-day is that the hint of verse causes a fit. To such a miserable depth, of the fatuous and factitious, has this art been dragged by innumerable professors, that the publishing fraternity have generalised, and assume that the human race is no longer capable either of producing or of hearing language in its higher powers. It is assumed that your product will be, at best, of the well-known machine-made variety, to which even the greatest names in the last century not infrequently de- scended, and of which people are tired. Conse- quently, though for aught the publishers know to the contrary you may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, their ears are already filled with wax. Originality is supposed to have exhausted itself in Whitmanism, a product (by the way) of morbidity and American convention, differentiated from other alleged poetry mainly by chaotic manner. In the general Dunciad are included the raw amateur, the maker of dead mosaic, and the pos- sible genius who may be trying to utter some new, important truth, and whose work, designed to transcend all conventional types in matter and form, may bear the same relation to current poetry as the Marconi system of telegraphy bears to the penny post. 7 This is not a wail. The hypothetical genius, of course, confronted by such difficulties, would find a way of overcoming them. He might go to some place where there is a tub, and, mounting thereon, give forth his verse orally to the world at large, thus incidentally creating a public that no book- seller would ignore. It would save much trouble, however, and many fits, if the state of affairs I have indicated were clearly recognised. The perpetration, some years ago, of a small book of verse (amongst other printed writings) is admitted by the present writer, who hastens to disclaim for it any pretence of transcendent revela- tion. But with regard to criticism, one further complaint may be made. The general racket of criticism any man ought to be able to stand “ with- out turning a hair,” especially as the critics are so often mutually destructive. Nor do I much mind the half-educated critic, a common variety, of which a specimen (writing in a newspaper of patrician, professional and fashionable readers) took me to task on a point of grammar. I had used a word in its strict etymological sense, and in such a way as would have given no offence either toa highly-cultured reader or to an uncultured one of simple perception. My usage was denounced, in a superior way, as proof of rusticity. Happily the context was quoted, and I was content that many readers would perceive the true state of the case. In fact, I felt something of the quiet joy of  THE AUTHOR. 223 an angler who has landed a big trout—a trout that complacently generalised, and gobbled everything muscoid within view. * Different were the reviewers (unfair critics, I call them) who, after “faint praise,’ observed that, despite my efforts and certain similarities, I did not at all come up to the level of ‘‘ Mr. Henley” and “ Mr. Watson.” Curiously enough, I had never up to that time read a line of either Mr. Henley or Mr. Watson, but I proceeded to look into their work, and soon found that what they burned I adored and what they adored I burned. I could no more think of imitating those gentlemen in matter or style than (I am sure) they would think of imitating me. Beyond a possible genial sense of human fellowship consistent with a determination to continue gaily on our respective paths, there could be nothing in common between us—certainly the suggested straining and rivalry was absurd. And there is no likeness in the styles. I and my distinguished contemporaries certainly do not write in the language of the critical Press, but that does not constitute a mutual resemblance. Now, my indictment of these reviewers is this, that with the fullest range of good and bad adjectives at their com- mand—they might have pelted me to their hearts’ content either with flints or with flowers—they chose to mislead their readers, and my possible readers, by a foolish comparison. It was much the same as telling the author of an astronomical treatise that he was not Chaucer, and was fairly outclassed by Horace. When will critics learn their trade ? Ruo. CORRESPONDENCE. ——~+— THE ABSURDITY OF MODERN REVIEWING. Sir,—May I call attention to the inconsistency of the modern reviewer, who seems to do his level best to “boom” any book that strikes him as worthless. In a certain daily paper last week a criticism appeared of a certain book that has roused the ire of critics. It began by calling this book “ stupid, vulgar and offensive”; it ended with a recom- mendation that the volume should be thrown in the dustbin, “‘whence we can only hope that the female servants may not by any unlucky chance rescue it for unwholesome consumption at the kitchen supper table.” In the middle of this was a good half column about the book, which was freely quoted in large chunks for the whole world, “female servants” included, to read and digest ! Could inconsistency and absurdity go further? If the book in question is only fit for the dustbin, is it fit to be quoted at length in a family newspaper with a large circulation ? : Other critics have spluttered in the same way, but nearly all have written columns about the book, showing their intense interest in it. Why can they not be candid and say, ‘“ This is the sort of stuff T like, and anyone who wants to be amused should read it”? instead of turning up their eyes to heaven over its iniquity, and, at the same time, advertising it for all they are worth. It is imbe- cility and it is humbug, this way of reviewing. If a book is “stupid, vulgar and offensive,” why hold it up as a lure for the public to run after; why spend hours of time and columns of print over it ? Let it die, or be honest enough to confess that it is vital and deserves to live. Mi Ee. ———>—+ —_ THE SOCIETY’S DINNER. A> Protest. Sir,—My annual shock in the form of an official intimation of the price at which is fixed the yearly dinner of the Society of Authors has just been experienced by me. I note that the amount on this occasion is to be half a sovereign, exclusive of any more exhilarating vintage than cold water, while the scene of the function is once more to be a leading hotel. Now, Sir, this is altogether wrong ; it is entirely opposed to the manner in which such a function should be organised. Would Shakespeare (or Bacon, if you prefer it) or Dr. Johnson have contemplated with equanimity the prospect of incurring this outlay for the mere privilege of eating a meal in the company of their fellow- writers at a big restaurant ? Assuredly no. They would have had souls above the gilded splendours of the Hotel Cecil and the ten shilling menus. Who are we, pray, that we cannot be equally moderate in our requirements? What, too, is gained by disbursing this sum? Nothing, I am convinced, that is at all commensurate therewith. I speak, Sir, from experience, for I have attended several of these annual orgies (each, I grieve to say, at an increased cost). On each occasion the poor but honest author has been conspicuous by his absence ; in his place have been serried ranks of uninteresting nonentities, whose sole claim to being present is that they have been able to pay for their seats. A ten-shilling dinner is for our Pierpoint Morgans, and; the number of these enrolled in the ranks of the Society is, I take it, limited. Then again, it is not as though the dinner were a good one ; on the contrary, it is a remarkably  224 bad one when the cost thereof is taken into con- sideration. On one memorable occasion, indeed, -the price was a guinea, while the meal served. would have been dear at eighteenpence. -It seems to me, Sir, that we are making a great“mistake in this matter. I am no advocate for the chaste simplicity of Lockhart’s or Lyons’, but I am certainly of opinion that the gorgeous saloons of a first-class hotel are not necessary for the proper application of a feast of reason—such as should mark the annual dinner of our Society. I object, too, to the practice of the Committee in inviting guests of their own selection. ‘* Who pays the piper calls the tune” is a sound com- mercial axiom. As the members of the Society meet the bill for the same they should have a voice in inviting those on whose account it is incurred. It is the more excellent way. For myself, I am so constituted that it affords me no particular joy to pay for the dinner of an individual IT do not know (or want to) from Adam. I fancy that Iam not alone in this view. For the Com- mittee to invite outside guests at all is, in my opinion, a mistake. It reduces the annual dinner of the Society of Authors to the level of that of a charitable organisation touting for money. Surely we have enough members among ourselves to secure a satisfactory attendance—in point of num- bers at any rate. Of course, if the Society were on a proper basis it would give its members an annual dinner as a bonus ; failing the realisation of this pleasant state of affairs it ought at least to organise a dinner which should not cost those attending more than five shillings at the outside. I am, yours faithfully, HoracE WYNDHAM. April, 1903. “WHETHER OR NOT.” Srr,—Surely it is disappointing that even such an authority as Prof. Skeat can only refer one to “usage,” though it be the usage of a Shakespeare. Why should not a Scotchman also plead usage when he says, “I will drown and no one shall save me” ? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. And the people who of late years have affected to be a “trifle” sorry, a “trifle” thoughtful—a erowing band, I fear—are fast making “usage” of a noun as the modifier of an adjective. If acknowledged as usage, one has nothing to say save that there is correct usage and incorrect usage. Your other correspondent, A. Armstrong, also quoting Shakespeare, at least suggests “whether THE AUTHOR. or no”’ might be a curtailed idiom, “ whether ay or no.” But when I say, “ Whether I go or not,” what is suppressed is not an imaginary “ ay,” bat the repetition of the verb. I suppose it is “usage” which makes nine out of ten, if not ninety-nine out of a hundred, of modern authors write “whether or not.” Why have we arrived at that usage ? And I doubt the English school examiner could be found who would pass “whether or no.” in a boy’s exercise book without at least telling him he had better say “or not.” Why so ? hat my inquiry of 7'he Author resulted in such answer (I had asked for good reason) only shows what weak legs our poor King’s English—beloved and beautiful withal—has to stand on! Our language, being so largely the spoil of other languages, is not securely founded in its own con- struction. All foreigners, at least every Frenchman and German learning English, know that. They have been well grounded in their grammar, and when they come to acquire our tongue, behold they find ‘usage ”—too often usage minus reason. Sorrowfully, Kine’s ENGLISH. TYPEWRITING. Sir,—If any of your readers want to know of a really good typewriter I shall be most happy to recommend one: she is a lady, very highly educated, with literary experience, and is thoroughly to be trusted with valuable MSS. Yours faithfully, OuIveE KATHARINE Parr. WANTED A REFERENCE. Srr,—In reply to Mr. J. M. Lely, the passage which he quotes— “ Qui cessat esse melior cessat esse bonus,” was stated in the Daily Telegraph of Thursday, May 29th, 1902 (p. 9, c. 1), to be the motto written by Oliver Cromwell in his pocket Bible, in the possession of the Earl of Chichester. I, too, have endeavoured to ascertain the source of this sentence, but, so far, unsuccessfully, and, therefore, incline to the belief that it was Cromwell’s own composition. Hupert Hass. 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. 13 Issue 08 (May 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 08 (May 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-05-01-The-Author-13-8 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/482/1903-04-01-The-Author-13-7.pdf 2d8e447432afc838de4219ff0b8b25ea PDF Text Text ������������������������������������ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-04-01 Volume 13 Issue 7 Pages Page range in volume 161–192 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030401 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Buthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. VoL: XTIT == No. 7. APRIL Ist, 1903. [PRICE SIXPENCE. THE TELEPHONE. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 3874 VICTORIA. +» + NOTICES. ——- : the opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. Tue Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. 1 List of Members. Tue List of Members of the Society of Authors can now be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. a The Pension Fund of the Society. THE investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou, XIII. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— Be viele rts: £1000 0 0 Ber POON 500 0 0 Victorian Government 3 + Consoli- dated Inscribed Stock ............... WAAR ie ieee Eocgisse 1,993 9 2 291 19 11 201° 9 3 Total SPECIAL APPEAL. Tur Appeal sent out by the Chairman of the Society at the request of the Pension Fund Com- mittee has been very successful. The total amount of subscriptions and donations up to Dec. 1st is:—Subscriptions, £46 8s. 6d.; donations, £116 14s. 6d. Further additions to either list are set out below. Subscriptions. Dec. 1, Finnemore, Mrs. . 50. 5 0 Dec. 3, Caulfield, Miss Sophia 010 0 Dec. 5, Hecht, Mrs. . : 010 6 » Hamilton, Mrs. G. W. 1 020 », Brinton, Selwyn 0 5 0 Dec. 9, Dill, Miss Bessie . ; ~ 0 50 Dec. 18, Sutherland, Her Grace the Duchess of 3 s » 272 6 Dec. 19, Toplis, Miss Grace . 0 5 0 Dec. 22, Anonymous ; 010 0 Dec. 29, Seton-Karr, H. W. 0 5 0 ‘ Pike Clement, E. 0 5 0 1908. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke 010 6 » Deane, Rey. A.C. . 010 0 Jan, 4, Anonymous O 50 » Heath, Miss Ida 0 5 0 » Russell, G. H. ; 1 12.0 Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline 0 5 0 », Bedford, Miss Jessie 0 5 0 Jan. 19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. 0 5. 0 Jan. 20, Cobbett, Miss Alice ; 7 0b 0 Jan. 30, Minniken, Miss Bertha M.M. 1 0 0 Jan. 31, Whishaw, Fred = 0.10.0 162 Feb. 3, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred Oo 0 Feb. 11, Lincoln, C. ; 0 5 0 Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert . 0 5 0 » Haggard, Major Arthur . 0 5 0 Feb. 23, Finnemore, John 0 5 0 Mar. 2, Moor, Mrs. 8t. C. . 1 0 0 Mar. 5, Dutton, Mrs. Carrie 015 6 Donations. Dec. 1, Sanderson, Sir J. Burdon 5 0 0 » Smith, G. C. Moore 1 0 0 Dec. 2, Trevor-Battye, Aubyn 1 1:0 » Marks, Mrs. . : 010 0O Dec. 9, Moore, Henry Charles 05 0 Dec. 11, Lutzow, Count 20 0 », “Leicester Romayne” 0 5 0 ;, Hellier, H. George. 1 10 Dec. 12, Croft, Miss Lily 6 5 0 » Panting, J. Harwood 010 0 » “attersall, Miss Louisa . 0 5 0 Dec. 19, Egbert, Henry 0 5 0 Dec. 23, Muirhead, James F. 010 0 Dec. 28, A. 5: . : : : Lo 0 , Bateman, Stringer . : - 010 0 Dec. 31, Cholmondeley, Miss Mary 10 0 0 1903. Jan. 8, Wheelright, Miss E. 0 10 », Middlemass, MissJean . 0 10 Jan. 6, Avebury, Hon. The Lord . : » Gribble, Francis. : Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston » Miller, Miss E. T. . Jan. 19, Kemp; Miss Geraldine Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs. : é Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rey. Silas Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. ;, Ord, Hubert H. Feb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor » Carlile, Rev. J. C.. Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. Feb. 26, Speakman, Mrs... Mar. 5, Parker, Mrs. Nella Mar. 16, Hallward, N. L. The Right EPoeecocoeoorecoocoooroce Ho Ocoeceooeoseoqooooaconoo oom Mar. 20, Henry, Miss Alice 0-5 Mar. 23, Ward, Mrs. Humphry _10 20 The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rey. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. Dowsett, C. F. THE AUTHOR. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. SPECIAL CONDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Mr. Hamilton Drummond, who is a member of our Society, has offered a subscription of £10 for five years, if nine other members of the Society will promise the same contribution. We sincerely hope that sufficient members of the Society will be found to come forward and meet Mr. Drummond’s generous offer, and that before the time expires we may be able to print in the columns of Ze Author the full list of ten subscribers of the required amount. Subscriptions. Hawkins, A. Hope £10 0 0 Barrie, J. M. . ; 5 : - 10 0 6 Drummond, Hamilton ; . - 10 0 86 Wynne, Charles Whitworth : - 10 0 8 Gilbert, W. 8S. . ‘ : : . 10 0 6 Sturgis, Julian . j : : - 10 0 6 Sea Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. THE amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £330 3 6 There are a few promised subscriptions still outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, about £4. The subscriptions received from July 1st to the date of issue are given below :— Patterson, A. . : : : coe Salwey, Reginald E. : Gidley, Miss E. C. Nixon, Prof. J. E. Dill, Miss Bessie Moore, Henry Charles Kemp, Miss Geraldine Clarke, Miss B. a taal AaonaIntoor oOo o OS Oo Om GS oo SO See FROM THE COMMITTEE. — MEETING of the Managing Committee of the Society was held on Monday, March 2nd, when twenty members and associates were elected, making the total number of elections for 1903 up to sixty-two. Mr. A. Hope Hawkins has been elected a member of the Pension Fund Committee, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Sir Michael Foster. Mr. Hawkins is the nominee of the Committee. ;  Mr. nominee of the Society at the General Meeting. We are sorry to state that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, while expressing his sympathy with the work of the Society, has been forced, owing to pressure of business, to retire from the Committee Morley Roberts was re-elected as the of Management. The Committee accepted his resignation with regret. Three cases came before the consideration. On the first case the Committee had already taken counsel’s opinion, but after perusal of it, regretted that they were unable to take the matter further on behalf of the member concerned. In one of the other two cases it was decided to commence action, as it was understood that the publisher had refused to produce vouchers of his accounts. The Committee have always held that the right to have accounts properly vouched is one of the foremost principles for which the Society contends. The second, a case of alleged infringement, the Committee for THE AUTHOR. 163 Sandlands, The Rev. J.P. Brigstock Thrapston. 36, Waterloo Bridge Road, 8. E. 52, Lower Sloane Street, S.W. The Grotto, Hanworth Road, Hampton-on- Thames. Vicarage, Stephenson, Cecil Stone, Miss J. M. Tayler, J. Lionel a The Annual Dinner, THE Annual Dinner of the Society has been fixed for April 30th. It will be held at the Hotel Cecil at 7 for 7.30. Mr. D. W. Freshfield will take the Chair. The Committee have decided that on this and future occasions the Chairman of the Managing Committee for the current year shall be Chairman of the Dinner. The following members have consented to act as Stewards :— Committee were unable to take further. ee March Elections. Blew, The Rev. John Brereton, Capt. Frederick Ss i Chellineton, Rupert ” Dougall, Miss Lily . Dutton, Mrs. Carrie (“ Tattler ”’) Edge, Miss Kathleen M. Hole, W. G. Kinder, Mrs. Harold (‘‘ Frances Aylward ”) King, W. J. Harding Knocker, Mrs. Mathieson, W. L. Pells, S. F. Peters, William Theodore Rainsford, W. H. . ; meeves, Mra. (“C. J. Hargreaves ”’) cL. &. ; ‘ Rowsell, Miss Mary O. Scatter Rectory, Lin- coln. 3, Queen’s Road, South- port. Melbourne, Derby- shire. Springhall, Sawbridge- worth. Waverley Court, Cam- berley, Surrey. The Castle House, Shrewsbury. Taunton, Coulsdon, Caterham, Surrey. Wallescote Hall, Stour- bridge. Millslade, — Brendon, Lynton, N. Devon. Clifton Lodge, Wardie, Edinburgh. 185, Church Road, Hove, 55, Cité des Fleurs, Paris. Patton, Bedfordshire. 20, Brook Lane, Orms- kirk, Lanes. 67, Buxton Road, Thornton Heath. Abbot, The Rev. Edwin A, D.D. Aflalo, F. G. Allingham, F.R.C.S. Archer, William. Arnold, Sir Edwin, K.C.I.E., C.8.1. Avebury, The Right Hon, The — luord, P.C., etc. Bateman, Robert. Beddard, F. E., F.RB.S. Bell, Mackenzie. Benson, A. CO. Benson, E. F. Bergne, Sir Henry, K.C.M.G., C.B. Bonney, The Rev. T. G., F.R.S. Browning, Oscar. Bryden, H. A. Bullen, F. T. Campbell, Lady Colin. Capes, Bernard. Carey, Miss R. N. Chambers, 8. Haddon. Cholmondeley, Miss Mary. Church, Prof. A. H., F.R.S. Clodd, Edward. Collier, The Hon. John. Cookson, Col. Fife. Courtney, W. L. William, Croker, Mrs. Davidson, John. Dobson, Austin. Doudney, Miss Sarah. Dougall, Miss Lily. Douglas, Sir George, Bart. Dowden, Prof. Edward. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. Foster, Sir Michael, K.C.B. Garnett, Richard, C.B. Gissing, George. Gollancz, Israel. Grand, Madame Sarah. Graves, Alfred P. Gribble, Francis. Haggard, H. Rider. Harraden, Miss Beatrice. Hart, Major-General Sir Reginald, V.C., &c. Hocking, The Rey. Silas K. Hornung, E. W. Humphreys, Mrs. C* Rita), Hunt, Miss Violet. Hyne, C. J. Cutcliffe. Jacobs, W. W. Jex-Blake, Dr. Sophia. Keary, ©. F. Keltie, J. Scott, LL.D. Kennard, Mrs. Edward. Lang, Andrew.  162 THE AUTHOR. Feb. 8, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred 0 5 0 There are in addition other subscribers who do Feb. 11, Lincoln, C. . : 0 5 O- not desire that either their names or the amount Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert. 0 5 O they are subscribing should be printed. » Haggard, Major Arthur . 0 5 O Feb. 23, Finnemore, John . 0 5 O SPECIAL CONDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Mar. 2, Moor, Mrs. St. C. . 1:9 9 Mr. Hamilton Drummond i aS : 5 : : , who is a member Mar. 5, Dutton, Mrs. Carrie 015 6 a See offered a subscription of £10 a : ve years, if nine other members of the Soci Donations. will promise the same contribution. ies Dec. 1, Sanderson, Sir J. Burdon 5 0 0 We sincerely hope that sufficient members of Smith, G. C. Moore 1 0 0. the Society will be found to come forward and Dec. 2, Trevor-Battye, Aubyn 1 1 0 meet Mr. Drummond’s generous offer, and that » Marks, Mrs. . : 0 10 0 before the time expires we may be able to print in Dec. 9, Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 0. the columns of The Author the full list of ten Dec. 11, Lutzow, Count 2 0 0 subscribers of the required amount. », “Leicester Romayne ” 0 5 O » Hellier, H. Gores 1 1.0 Subscriptions. Dec. 12, Croft, Miss Lily 0 5 O #awkins, A. 5, Panting, J. Harwood 010-0 pasie 7 ee : ‘ ‘ a ; » Tattersall, Miss Louisa . 0 5 0 Drummond, Mactan : ; 35 a Dec. 19, Egbert, Henry 0 5 0 Wynne, Charles Whitworth . . 10 0 0 Dec. 23, Muirhead, James F. 010 0 Gilbert, W. S. : : 10 6 @ Dee 28,4.5 . .. . . 1 1 0 Sturgis, Julian . 3 3 : - 10 0 6 » Bateman, Stringer . ; . 010 0 Dec. 31, Cholmondeley, Miss Mary 10 0 0 a 1903. : : Jan. 3, Wheelright, Miss E. 010 6 Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. » Middlemass, Miss Jean . -,0 10 0 THE amount standing to the credit Jan. 6, Avebury, The Right Hon. of this account in the Bank is......... £330 3 6 The Lord . bb 0 : a : » Gribble, Francis. : 610 06 There are a few promised subscriptions still Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . 010 6 Outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston 1 1 © about £4. The subscriptions received from July 1st , Miller, Miss E. T. . 0 5 0 to the date of issue are given below :— Jan. 19, Kemp; Miss Geraldine 010 6 ; Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French 0 5 0 fclvey, opined o “ u . Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt 010 0 Gidley, Mick C0 pie 8 Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs. : 040 6 Nison Prof 7. 076 Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rev. Silas 110 “pat ‘Migs Beasts ’ Ob a Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. 010 6 Moore, Henry Charles 0 8 a » Ord, Hubert H. 010 9 Kemp, Miss Geraldine 010 6 Feb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor 010 0 (Qlarke, Miss B O05 8 » Carlile, Rev. J. O.. 010 0 : : Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. D0 0 ee Feb. 26, Speakman, Mrs... 010 0 Mar. 5, Parker, Mrs. Nella 010 0 FROM THE COMMITTEE. Mar. 16, Hallward, N. Ll. . 1 20 aes Mar. 20, Henry, Miss Alice . : ee) ; ; Mar. 23, Ward, Mrs. Humphry . -10 0 6 MEETING of the Managing Committee of The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rey. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. Dowsett, C. F. the Society was held on Monday, March 2nd, when twenty members and associates were elected, making the total number of elections for 1903 up to sixty-two. Mr. A. Hope Hawkins has been elected a member of the Pension Fund Committee, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Sir Michael Foster. Mr. Hawkins is the nominee of the Committee. Ete Swat o ety yi ehh.  THE AUTHOR. Mr. Morley Roberts was re-elected as the nominee of the Society at the General Meeting. We are sorry to state that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, while expressing his sympathy with the work of the Society, has been forced, owing to pressure of business, to retire from the Committee of Management. The Committee accepted his resignation with regret. Three cases came before the Committee for consideration. On the first case the Committee had already taken counsel’s opinion, but after perusal of it, regretted that they were unable to take the matter further on behalf of the member concerned. In one of the other two cases it was decided to commence action, as it was understood that the publisher had refused to produce vouchers of his accounts. The Committee have always held that the right to have accounts properly vouched is one of the foremost principles for which the Society contends. The second, a case of alleged infringement, the Committee were unable to take further. ——_1—~<— + March Elections. Blew, The Rev. John Scatter Rectory, Lin- coln. Brereton, Capt. Frederick 3, Queen’s Road, South- S. port. **Chellington, Rupert ” Dougall, Miss Lily . Melbourne, Derby- shire. Dutton, Mrs. Carrie Springhall, Sawbridge- (“ Tattler ’’) worth. Edge, Miss Kathieen M. Waverley Court, Cam- berley, Surrey. Hole, W.G. . : . The Castle House, Shrewsbury. Kinder, Mrs. Harold Taunton, Coulsdon, (‘‘ Frances Aylward”) King, W. J. Harding Caterham, Surrey. Wallescote Hall, Stour- bridge. Millslade, | Brendon, Lynton, N. Devon. Clifton Lodge, Wardie, Knocker, Mrs. Mathieson, W. L. Edinburgh. Fells, S.F. . : -. 185, Church Road, Hove. Peters, William Theodore 55, Cité des Fleurs, Paris. Rainsford, W. H. . . Patton, Bedfordshire. Reeves, Mrs. (“C. J. 20, Brook Lane, Orms- Hargreaves ”’) kirk, Lancs. 0. L. RB. Rowsell, Miss Mary C.. 67, Buxton Road, Thornton Heath. Sandlands, The Rev. J. P. Brigstock Stephenson, Cecil Stone, Miss J. M. . Tayler, J. Lionel 163 Vicarage, Thrapston. 36, Waterloo Bridge Road, S.E. 52, Lower Sloane Street, S.W. The Grotto, Hanworth Road, Hampton-on- Thames. — The Annual Dinner. THe Annual Dinner of the Society has been fixed for April 30th. Cecil at 7 for 7.30. the Chair. It will be held at the Hotel Mr. D. W. Freshfield will take The Committee have decided that on this and future occasions the Chairman of the Managing Committee for the current year shall be Chairman of the Dinner. The following members have consented to act as Stewards :— Abbot, The Rey. Edwin A., D.D. Aflalo, F. G. Allingham, F.R.C.S. Archer, William. Arnold, Sir Edwin, K.C.I.E., 0.8.1. Avebury, The Hon. ‘The P.C., etc. Bateman, Robert. Beddard, F. E., F.R.S. Bell, Mackenzie. Benson, A. C. Benson, E. F. Bergne, Sir Henry, K.C.M.G., C.B. Bonney, The Rev. T. G., F.R.S. Browning, Oscar. Bryden, H. A. Bullen, F. T. Campbell, Lady Colin. Capes, Bernard. Carey, Miss R. N. Chambers, S. Haddon. Cholmondeley, Miss Mary. Church, Prof. A. H., F.R.S. Clodd, Edward. Collier, The Hon. John. Cookson, Col. Fife. Courtney, W. L. William, tight Lord, Croker, Mrs. Davidson, John. Dobson, Austin. Doudney, Miss Sarah. Dougall, Miss Lily. Douglas, Sir George, Bart. Dowden, Prof. Edward. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. Foster, Sir Michael, K.C.B. Garnett, Richard, C.B. Gissing, George. Gollancz, Israel. Grand, Madame Sarah. Graves, Alfred P. Gribble, Francis. Haggard, H. Rider. Harraden, Miss Beatrice. Hart, Major-General Sir Reginald, V.C., &e. Hocking, The Rev. Silas K. Hornung, E. W. Humphreys, Mrs. (* Rita’) Hunt, Miss Violet. Hyne, C. J. Cutcliffe. Jacobs, W. W. Jex-Blake, Dr. Sophia. Keary, C. F. Keltie, J. Scott, LL.D. Kennard, Mrs. Edward. Lang, Andrew. 164 Lankester, Prof. E. Ray. Lecky, The Right Hon. W. E.H., P.C. Leighton, Mrs. Connor. Lely, J. M. Lennox, Lady William. Lockyer, Sir Norman, K.C.B., F.RB.S. “‘Maarten Maartens.” Marsh, Richard. Mason, A. E. W. Maxwell, The Right Hon. Sir Herbert, Bart. Middlemas, Miss Jean. Morrison, Arthur. Norman, Henry, M.P. Parker, Sir Gilbert, M.P. Parker, Louis N. Pemberton, Max. Pinero, A. W. Plunkett, The Right Hon. Count, F.R.S. Pollock, Sir Frederick, Bart, LL.D. Praed, Mrs. Campbell. THE AUTHOR. Pryce, Richard. Reich, Prof. Emil. Roberts, Morley. Russell, Sir W. H., LL.D. Senior, William. Shaw, G. Bernard. Sidewick, Alfred. Spencer, Herbert. Spielmann, M. H. Sprigge, S. Squire. Stanford, Sir Charles Villiers, Mus. Doc. Steel, Mrs. Street, G. 8. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Tweedie, Mrs. Alec. Upward, Allen. Wain, Louis. Ward, Mrs. Humphry. Watts-Dunton, T. Wells, H. G. White, Percy. Whiteing, Richard. Wilkins, W. H. Zangwill, Israel. —_——————_+——_+__—_—_ LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. ee “Fiction for the Million.” J COLUMN article under the above heading A appeared in the Daily Chronicle on the 26th February last, in which certain state- ments were put forward, apparently with authority, by its author, for he described himself as reader or “taster” for one of the most successful fiction publishing firms in the world. The true inwardness of the article was revealed by its sub-title, “ How to Make an Income by Novel Writing,” and this income would appear to be anything but exiguous. Indeed, a positive declaration is made that by the production of serials there are “ many writers . who without much effort” earn from £2,000 to £3,500 a year regularly. ‘1 speak at first hand, and from personal knowledge,” adds the writer. In examining this astounding statement the question arises, What is meant here by serials ? The article referred to supplies the answer; they are such stories as are written by authors “ who have in many cases had no story at all or very few stories reproduced in volume form.” As a matter fact, every one knows exactly what these serials are ; they are described, and not inaccurately, as “rotters.” It is equally well known that there is a market for these serials—in the popular penny weeklies, in the halfpenny dailies, in the halfpenny evening papers, etc. According to the writer in the Daily Chronicle, this market is so large and so abundant in opportunity of money-making, that there are many who draw from it regular annual incomes of from £2,000 to £3,500. Now, it is no difficult matter to get at the prices paid in this market A very top price is £2 2s. per thousand words, and there have been cases when £3 35. has been paid, but between the top price, commanded by not more than six writers at the most, and the bottom price, at which a large proportion of serial work is turned out, there is a great gulf. This bottom price ranges from 2s. 6d. to 5s. per thousand words. The editor of a morning halfpenny daily told the present writer that he considered half a guinea a thousand a fair price for a serial, but that a guinea might be paid for “exceptionally strong work”; he scouted the notion that any serial could be worth more than a guinea a thousand,/ But suppose, for the sake of argument, a pound a thousand be taken as an average rate for serials, how many thousand words must the earners of from £2,000 to £3,500 a year turn out annually ? It is a simple sum in arithmetic. For £2,000 the serial writer must produce two million words ; for £3,500 three and a-half million words !!! Suppose the serial writer is able to work 300 days in the year—and this is a tremendous supposition—how many words per diem must he turn out to produce 2,000,000 words a year ? Answer—6,666 words. To produce 3,500,000 words ? Answer—11,000 words and over. Even the serial-writer who gets £2 2s, per thousand (and it may be repeated that at most there are not more than six of him or, rather, of her) must write a million words, or thereabouts, annually to earn £2,000 a year. These “cold” calculations are enough in themselves to show that the writer in the Daily Chronicle, though he affirms he speaks “‘at first hand and from personal knowledge,” is talking very wildly, to put the matter pleasantly. But there is another element or factor to be taken into account. It is possible to imagine that a serial-writer might for some time, some longer or shorter time, turn out 6,000 or even 11,000 words per diem; no doubt cases have occurred, so to speak, where something of the kind has been done. But it is a great mistake to suppose that facility and rapidity of production means always or even often a proportionately greater earning capacity. It may be the very contrary. Here is an in- stance, The editor of a paper “running ” serials offered £600 a year to a serial writer for writing all. the serials he wanted during the year. THE AUTHOR. On inquiry, the serial writer found that to earn his £600 a year (an annual income a long way removed from £2,000, to say nothing of £3,500) he would have to produce 5,000 words (two separate serials in instalments of 2,500 words each) each day for six days a week, and this without any provision for sickness or holidays. Worked out, the rate per thousand came to 8s. When the serial writer protested this princely remuneration was insufficient, he was assured that the work was “as easy as pie,” and if he didn’t care to undertake it another would. And this appears to be the case, for a serial writer has been found to go in for the job. The experiment will be watched with interest. The end can hardly be other than that when, through overstrain, the serial writer in question begins to flag, ‘.e., when he shows signs of being worked out, he will be promptly and remorselessly “ chucked.” With such facts as these before us, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the writer in the Daily Chronicle is guilty of gross exaggeration. What he might have said he does not say, and this is that there are some serial writers who employ “ vhosts,” and by their aid add materially to their incomes. But even with the assistance of these gentry, it is still quite absurd to maintain there are many who earn from £2,000 to £3,500, without much effort, a year. A SeRIAL WRITER. —1—— + II. ? Tue “literary taster” who has lately stated in an article in the Daily Chronicle that writers of serial fiction for the million can easily earn incomes of two thousand a year and upwards seems to have exaggerated a little, in the first shock of discovering that in these degenerate days of the novel there 1s actually a good and dependable living to be made out of the writing of serials for popular penny weekly journals. It is perfectly true that large incomes are occa- sionally made by serial writing; incomes large enough in some cases to make the two or three hundred pounds a year which is often all that can be earned by the ordinary novelist who sees his or her name on title-pages appear a mere pittance. And it is equally true that with the mass of the reading public great literary names are growing to have less and less value, the demand being more and more for good and strong work by whomsoever written. ‘There are many proprietors and editors of weekly journals for the people who simply would not accept and publish, much less pay for, the work of the men and women who are the brightest stars in the literary firmament of to-day. They have 165 learned by experience that the circulation of their journals is largely affected by—if not wholly dependent upon—serial stories, and they are wil ling to pay good prices only to those who have proved themselves to be masters of the difficult art of composing serial fiction that shall stir and grip the public for whom it is provided. 2 The whole matter, therefore, resolves itself into this simple fact—that more money is to be made by the writing of serials than by the writing of ordinary novels by those who excel in this very distinct branch of literary craftsmanship. The writer in the Daily Chronicle goes too far when he lays it down that two thousand a year, or thereabout, can be “easily” earned in this way. A large income can be no more easily gained in this branch of literary activity than in any other. Only the best workers win the rewards ; and these best workers are tried by the most difficult of all standards—the standard of results. The rich in- flow of money does not come to those who put together a story, sell it, and then trouble them- selves no more about its fortunes. The successful serial-writer must increase, or at least conspicuously maintain, the circulations of the journals in which his stories appear. He or she has a challenge cup to win; and when the serial-writer has won this challenge cup he cannot rest on his laurels, but must hold what he has won against all comers, or else his success and his income will fail and fall together, rapidly and irrevocably. By this it will be seen that the person who embarks upon the business of writing serial novels in order to gain a large income must have, besides a natural gift for writing, the gifts of almost tireless industry and energy, a quick and practically bottomless invention, dramatic force, and robust health to stand the strain of regular, unflagging hard work. Any man or woman who enters this particular literary arena lacking these initial advantages will soon find that for one serial-writer who earns an income anywhere approximating to two thousand a year, there are hundreds who can only hope to win the barest subsistence. The few—the very few—who succeed brilliantly from a financial point of view are trained specialists, who usually work regularly for one journal and who practically hold the market, and will hold it until others shall displace them by proving themselves their betters. Maris C. LEIGHTon. —_+——+—_ III. Tue article dealing with this subject which recently appeared in the Daily Chronicle under the heading of “Fiction for the Million,” gives an  166 initiated reader the impression that some one must have been “getting at” the gentleman who de- scribes himself as a “literary taster.” Can he be serious in asserting that there are many writers of popular serials earning from £2,000 to £3,500 a year without much effort ? Surely he has been misled by the statements of those writers who wish to convince him, in his capacity of “adviser to one of the most successful publish- ing firms in the world,” of the esteem in which their work is held by other successful publishing firms! For instance, there are writers not above calcu- lating their incomes on a current month of exceptional good fortune. Say that A., whose usual rate is 15s. per thousand words, is lucky enough to obtain a commission for a serial of 60,000 words at £1 5s. 0d., and that he can turn out 18,000 words a week. Thereupon he lightly informs B., who may be “literary taster” to the successful publishing firm he wishes to impress, that he is earning “at the rate of £1,100 or £1,200 a year,” whereas the fact is, that he is frequently without work at any price, and that necessary rest, illness, etc., is bound to interrupt his output during many weeks of the year. Hence the genesis of these calculations. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that a good income may be made by writers of facility who can be dramatic and sentimental to order, and have the knack, often unconscious, of interesting the bulk of the population; and undoubtedly there are several writers, comparatively unknown to the public, who are earning far more by serial work for the newspapers and popular weeklies than many novelists of note by their books. And their employment is secure, for the statement in the Daily Chronicle that “most publishers now have every line or at least a considerable part of the story in hand before they buy it,” and that “the syndicate reserves to itself the right of refusing any work submitted,” does not tally with the experience of the present writer. When a serial writer’s position is established, he need not put pen to paper without an agreement as binding upon the publisher or syndicate as upon himself. In other words, this class of fiction is a very good thing for those at the top; but that any serial writer is in receipt of a regular £2,000 a year is problematical, and £3,500 is a quite incredible figure, even if those authors are included whose serials subsequently attain a fair measure of success in book form, and who are occasionally able to sell their American, colonial, and foreign rights. As for the dramatic rights of these stories, they need not be counted seriously, the majority being available for nothing better than crude THE AUTHOR. melodrama in which the “pump” is of greater value than the plot. The figures in the Daily Chronicle are absurd for various reasons. Firstly, £2 2s. per thou- sand words is the usual top price of most newspapers. Occasionally £2 12s. 6d. is paid, and even £3 3s., but these prices cannot be used as a basis for calculation. Secondly, only a few writers can always command £2 2s. Od. Thirdly, how long would those writers maintain their supremacy if they turned out work at the rate of anything like a million to a million and a-half words a year ? And the same argument may dispose of the “ghost” theory, because the “ghost’s” stuff must be of inferior quality as he is unable to obtain remunerative employment for himself in a market where names have little value. Fourthly, it is only a limited number of rich newspapers which will pay £2 2s. per thousand to any- body. The provincial syndicates have to be reckoned with, certainly; but as an agreement with a syndicate usually contains a clause to the effect that the author is to publish no other work, during the period of the contract, through any other syndicate, the provincial market is more restricted than the London one. This being the case, where could “many writers” place their collective millions of words— this enormous mass of “copy ”—at top prices which is to provide these numerous incomes of from £2,000 to £3,500 a year? No, the British Press, though big, is not big enough for them. They dwindle, on the most cursory investigation, to the half-dozen elect, and Jane, the housemaid, need not be tempted to devote her pen-and-ink to “ literature.” When we take the second and third-rate writers, whose remuneration varies between £1 1s. Od. and 10s. per thousand, the statement becomes still more reckless. The half-dozen writers of the first rank are always in demand, and can usually take their choice of work offered, but the second- and third-rate writer is numerous and competition is severe, and where, in the name of common sense, could many of them place, say, from three and a half to seven million words a year, as they would have to do to earn an annual €3,500! The mere figures make one’s head swim. It is far more probable that £1,800 a year represents the limit touched by the few most successful writers of newspaper fiction. ANoTHER SERIAL WRITER.  THE AUTHOR. On Titles. THE question of the property in Titles is a very vexed question. Many authors come to the Secretary for advice on this subject, and sometimes are hurt because the Society cannot recommend them to take action. It has been thought well, therefore, to repeat in substance, with certain additions, an article that appeared in The Author in 1898. There is no copyright in a title. This is a sound foundation to start upon; but this state- ment cannot be taken as absolutely true, for in the case of Dick v. Yates, which went to the Court of Appeal, where the title ‘Splendid Misery” was under discussion, the Master of the Rolls spoke as follows :— “Now I do not say that there could not be copyright in a title, as for instance in a whole page of title or something of that kind requiring inven- _ tion. However, it is not necessary to decide that. But, assuming that there can be copyright in a title, what does copyright mean? It means the right to multiply copies of an original work. If you complain that a part of your work has been pirated you must show that that part is original, and if it is not original you have no copyright. How can the title ‘Splendid Misery’ be said to be original when the very same words for the very same purpose were used nearly eighty years ago ?” This case was fought out mainly on the basis, «Ts a title copyright?” and the question of trade mark law on which the right of property in a title rests, though dealt with, was dealt with as a secondary point. The reason for this course in this particular case is clear on the facts as reported. Those who desire the reason are referred to the report. _ Again, (1) speaking generally, it cannot be said there is copyright in a title. (2) If there is copyright, then the title must claim distinct originality. That, however, there is property in a title is quite clear, and the law bearing on the right of such property comes under, and is in some way analogous to, trade mark law, but titles cannot be registered like trade marks. The real question to consider is whether the infringement amounts to a common law fraud on the public. This is distinctly pointed out in the case—the *Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford v. Wilmore-Andrews Publishing Com- pany—which was tried in the United States courts. It is a case of great importance, and brings into prominence the solid principle on * The Author, August, 1900. 167 which this question rests. There the Chancellor of the University of Oxford obtained an injunction against the defendant for publishing a Bible termed the Oxford Bible, which was not the “Oxford Bible’ as known on the market and published by the Clarendon Press. The plaintiffs could not possibly have any copyright either in the Bible or title, and this is the point it is desired to make especially clear, but the defendant had no right to sell a book as the product of the plaintiffs, which product was a well-known market com- modity. In order to obtain this property, two points therefore are clear : (1) That the product must be actually selling on the market, and must have established a position on the market by continuous sale. (2) That products with similar names must be similar products. This latter statement would appear self-evident if confusion had not frequently arisen in cases placed before the Secretary. For instance, a book of poems could not be confused with a philosophical treatise, nor a work of fiction with a book of sermons, even though the names were the same. There are also one or two minor points which are very difficult of decision, and are too intricate to be dealt with in a short article. The case in the American court above referred to makes it clear that if the book is out of copy- right, it does not follow there is no trade mark in the title. But with whom the right of commencing an action would lie might need some ingenuity to determine. A further point arises for consideration. When a book has been produced and is out of print, and the author is deliberating, or states that he is deliberating, about the production of a second edition, how far would the author have the right of stopping the production of a similar book under a similar title ? Though each case must be decided on its separate facts and its separate peculiarities, the broad general rule would hold that as it was impossible to buy the first book in the open market, it was impossible that any of the public could be deceived, and therefore the production of book No. 2 could not possibly be a fraud. This is an important point, as cases have been known to occur where authors have practically abandoned their book, their title, and their rights, but have tried to revive all three on seeing another book produced with a similar name. It might be useful to quote again a case that was quoted in a former article, as it illustrates one or two of the most important points with regard to property in a title. Messrs. Hogg in 1863 registered an intended 168 new magazine to be called Belgravia. In 1866, such magazine not having appeared, Mr. Maxwell, in ignorance of what Messrs. Hogg had done, projected a magazine with the same name, and incurred considerable expense in preparing it and extensively advertising it in August and September as about to appear in October. Messrs. Hogg, knowing of this, made hasty preparations for bringing out their own magazine before that of Mr. Maxwell could appear, and in the meantime accepted an order from Mr. Maxwell for advertising his (Mr. Maxwell’s) magazine on the covers of their own publications ; and the first day on which they informed Mr. Maxwell that they objected to his publishing a magazine under that name was Sept. 25, on which day the first number of Messrs. Hoge’s magazine appeared. Mr. Maxwell’s maga- zine appeared in October. Under these circum- stances, on a bill filed by Mr. Maxwell, it was held that Mr. Maxwell’s advertisements and expenditure did not give him any exclusive right to the use of the name Belgravia, and that he could not restrain Messrs. Hogg from publishing a magazine under the same name (the first number appeared before Mr. Maxwell had published his) ; and on a bill filed by Messrs. Hogg, that the registration by them of the title of an intended publication could not confer upon them a copyright in that name, and that in the circumstances of the case they had not acquired any right to restrain Mr, Maxwell from using the name as being Mr. Hogg’s trade mark. This case was, contrary to Dick v. Yates, decided almost entirely on the aspect of the trade mark. Certainly papers register titles, and produce periodically dummy copies in the hope of obtaining some kind of property. Any one who has studied the question would at once know that this labour is wasted, and that this kind of property can only be claimed when a title has become associated with a certain commodity by a continued public circulation. How can a paper of which one copy only is published even every day claim to be such a public commodity ? The contention is absurd. From the most practical point of view, therefore, it is best for the author not to name the title of his book until his book is produced, if he considers that there is any particular power in the words he is using. Those who through personal experience have come across the question of title for the first time consider the matter as a difficulty but recently discovered, which needs immediate amendment : they may, however, rest assured that the question of legislating more fully on the point has been deeply and thoroughly discussed and considered THE AUTHOR. by all those who have attempted to legislate on copyright or who are interested in the affairs of authorship. It is not a simple or one-sided question. It is exceedingly complicated, and has many sides. At present no remedy has been devised suffi- ciently satisfactory to embody in any of the Copyright Bills, and the solution of each case is based upon the common law. On the whole, it may be considered that this is the most satisfactory way of leaving the question. It gives more scope and adaptability, and prevents the stiffening that is often produced when a matter is statute-bound. G; ae. —1—~—+—_. The “Encyclopedia Britannica” in Canada. A. & ©. Buack e¢ al. v. Tur ImprrtaL Boox CoMPANY AND JAMES Haurs. Tus action, begun in September, 1901, was tried before Street, J., at the Toronto Non-J ury Sittings on September 23rd, 1902, and argued on January 3rd, 1908. The judgment delivered on January 26, in the present year, contains many notabilia dicta worthy the attention of authors, especially of those who have vested interests in ‘‘ Canada. The material facts were, shortly, as follows :—A Canadian firm called “ Hales and Sparrow” had been importing into Canada a cheap American | te reprint of the ninth edition of the “ Encyclopedia ae Britannica,” its properly-authorised Canadian pub- lishers being the Clark Company of Toronto. : Just outside the statutory term—a year—within i which actions for infringements must be brought, Hales and Sparrow formed themselves into a com- pany, calling itself ‘‘ The Imperial Book Company, — . Limited.” The company had strange notions of q “See ‘imperial ” obligations, for it continued to import the reprint. Hence the present action. The chief arguments set up for the defence were well-worn ones; and the lucid and masterly judgment of Street, J., reviewing once again much of our familiar case law, makes the action and its result an object-lesson for the misguided, if enterprising, Colonial publisher, who hopes by a splendid variety of defences to evade his simple obligations as a citizen. It was first of all objected by the defendants that a certificate of registration at Stationers’ Hall did not, in the absence of other proof, estab lish proprietorship of copyright ; and that there- fore it was necessary for the plaintiffs, in addition to the certificate produced, to prove in fact that they were the proprietors. Street, J., held that in the absence of any evidence to the contrary on  Sn, “< uo THE AUTHOR. 169 either side, except the copy of the certificate, its production was jal] that was necessary to make out a prima facie Proprietorship of copyright in an encyclopedia under Sections 18 and 19 of the Act, or under Section 11 to make out a prima facie proprietorship of the copyright in a book. On this first point, therefore, the defence failed, The title to the copyright being therefore estab- lished, it was next contended that the effect of the agreement entered into between Messrs. A. & C. Black and their co-plaintiffs, the Clark Company, was to transfer the copyright to that company ; that Messrs. Black could not maintain this action because they had assigned the copyright to the Clark Company ; and that the Clark Company could not maintain it because they had not regis- tered the assignment at Stationers’ Hall. This was an extremely plausible contention, but Street, J., found on the facts no difficulty in dis- posing of it. As this part of his judgment will have great interest for all authors, we make no apology for quoting it in full :— “T have examined the agreement in question, and Iam of opinion that it is not to be treated as an assignment but merely as a licence. In this agreement Messrs. A. and C. Black are called the publishers, and the Clark Company are called the Company. By the agreement the publishers agree that until 31st December, 1912, the Company shall have the exclusive right to print and sell the ninth edition of the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica,’ and for the purpose of enabling them to print it the publishers agree to deliver to the Company the existing plates used in its publication, and not to publish or announce the publication of a tenth edition of the work until after the 31st December, 1912. The Company, on its part, agrees not to alter the text of the work, and that the style of paper, printing, and binding shall remain unaltered. That they will pay £40,000 to the publishers for the rights acquired under the agree- ment. That they will not sell any copy of the work under £15, either in Great Britain or America; and that they will as soon as possible after the 31st December, 1912, deliver to the publishers any unsold copies of the work and all the plates used in printing it then in their possession. The Company further agrees that they will not knowingly issue any advertisement of and concerning the work of a nature likely to do injury to the publishers either in their business or as the owners of the copyright of the work. Authority is also given to the Company to institute, in the names of the publishers, any proceedings they may deem proper in respect of any breach of copyright of the work. . . . They have expressly reserved the copyright to themselves, and this reservation is entirely consistent, it appears to me, with the full enjoyment by the Company of the rights given them. The agreement therefore must, in my opinion, be construed as a licence merely, and not as an assignment,” It is interesting to note that, after citing almost all the case law on the subject in support of his view, the learned Colonial judge was not above referring the litigants to our most recent treatise on the subject, “ MacGillivray on Copyright,” pp. 80,81 and 82. We congratulate Mr. MacGillivray on the unusual honour. He is the first of our writers on modern copyright to, give particular attention to the distinction between a licence and an assignment. The distinction for the practical purposes of authorship is only in the air as yet, but we believe things are shaping that way, and the day is not very distant when we shall be able to say definitely of every publishing agreement either that it is an assignment of copyright or only a licence to use. a The next point in the defence was that the plaintiffs did not correctly notify the Customs of their ownership of copyright as required by the Customs Act, 39 & 40 Vict., cap. 36. The learned judge had no doubt that if this Act was ever in force in Canada the defence would have been good, because the date given by the plaintiffs as to when their copyright expired was wrongly entered as 1924 instead of 1917. The question, therefore, remained: Was the Customs Consolidation Act ever in force in Canada? The Commissioners who prepared the “Table of Imperial Statutes appear- ing to be in force in Canada, ex proprio vigore, at the end of 1901,” included Section 152 of the Act, which lays down that proper notice must be given. But Section 151 especially excepts from the opera- tion of the Act “any British possessions which shall by local Act or ordinance have provided . . . for the regulation of the Customs of any such possession, or made in like manner express pro- vision in lieu or variation of any of the clauses of the said Act for the purposes of such possession.” Now Canada was brought clearly within this exception by the Statute of the Province 10 and 11 Vict., cap. 31, by which entire provision was made for the regulation of the Customs of the Province by the provincial Legislature. The defence, therefore, failed on this issue. As the learned judge said :— “T can find no reason in the context or subject-matter of Section 152 of the Customs Consolidation Act requiring me to say that it ought to be held to be in force in Canada notwithstanding Section 151, under the circumstances above set forth: and I am therefore obliged to conclude that it never was in force here, because Canada had, with the assent of Her Majesty, assumed entire control of its own Customs before the Customs Consolidation Act of 1876 was passed,”’ The defence at this point appeared to have been prepared with considerable ingenuity and fore- sight, for the next argument set up looked as if it had anticipated this ruling : it looked as if the defendants had said : “Oh, very well, if you hold that Section 152 of the Customs Consolidation Act is not in force in Canada, but that Canada has regulated her own Customs by Provincial Statute, —then you must also hold that the English Copy- right Act of 1842, is not im force there, since Canada has also copyright legislation of her own ; 170 ' and therefore the qHaintiffs are not entitled to recover under thp Ack of 1842 which they plead.” But the learned\judke was unable to entertain that view. Caner in his opinion, had no copy- right legislation which over-rode the Imperial Act of 1842. Besides, the point had already been determined adversely to the defendants’ objection in Routledge v. Low, Smiles v. Belford, and Morang y. Publishers’ Syndicate. Many hard things have been said from time to time in Canada, and in laces not so far away, about “ the Act of 1842” 3 and the activity of Canada in legislating for itselfin copyright matters has been the subject of eulogy. But until the new Copyright Bill comes into force, at least, both Canadians and Englishmen. will do well to remember one important fact about “Macaulay’s Act” before they ignore it: It is still in force in Canada! The next and last question with which the judg- ment dealt was whether there had been, in bringing this action, delay amounting to acquiescence or “laches.” Notwithstanding the protest of Mr. H. E. Hooper, the Managing Director of the Clark Company, that he did not know that the illegal reprint was being sold in Canada until just before the action was brought, the learned judge held that there had been some delay. But the degree of delay which might bar an action for an inter- locutory injunction would by no means necessarily be an answer to an action of this kind, and there was not sufficient delay here to prove acquiescence or “laches” on the part of the plaintiffs. The learned judge then summed up as follows :— “ ] think the plaintiffs have established their right to an injunction perpetually restraining the defendants, The Imperial Book Co., Limited, their servants and agents, from importing into Canada any copies of the ‘ Encyclo- pedia Britannica, ninth edition, or of any part thereof printed in any country outside the British dominions, which infringe the copyright of the plaintiffs, Adam and Charles Black ; and I order that the said defendants, the Imperial Book Co., Limited, do deliver up for cancellation all and any copies so printed in their possession. The plaintiffs are also entitled to an account of the profits realised by the defendants, the Imperial Book Co., Limited, from the sale of any such copies within one year before the commencement of this action.” As to Hales, who, it will be remembered, was a co-defendant with the Imperial Book Co.: he hed undoubtedly made large profits out of the sale of the unlawfully imported copies of the ‘ Ehcyclopaedia, but by pleading the statute, as we have seen, he escaped accounting for them. The action, therefore,.failed as against him. But he had to pay his own costs. CHARLES WEEKES. ‘ —_ + 6 THE AUTHOR. ; 1908. —— r THE ANNUAL “aa oe OF PPVHE Annual General Meeting of the Society was held in the Large Hall of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, at 20, Hanover Square, on March 5th. Mr. Douglas Freshfield took the Chair at 4 p.m., and, in opening the proceedings, paid a tribute to the great services rendered by his predecessor, Mr. A. Hope Hawkins, to the Society as Chairman of its Committee of Management during the past three years. Mr. Freshfield went on to suggest that the report of the Committee, which had already been in the hands of the Society’s members, might, as usual, be taken as read, and proceeded to make a ~ few explanatory remarks and comments upon its details. He dwelt upon the good work always being done by the Society in strengthening the desired friendly relations between authors and publishers by removing causes of difference between them, and criticised the conduct of those authors who entered the Society for the purpose of getting some difference adjusted between them and their publishers, leaving it after having obtained the desired benefit, to rejoin it only when once more in need of its assistance. He put forward as a principle to be adopted by the Committee that, in dealing with the affairs of members of this class, litigation should only be entered upon where a question was involved, the settling of which was likely to be useful to the Society at large. Mr. Freshfield also expressed regret at the slow progress that is being made with copyright legislation. With reference to the memorial to Sir Walter Besant, he informed the Society that the work of Mr. Frampton, R.A., with which considerable progress has been made, is, in the opinion of those who have seen it, likely to prove eminently satis- factory. The other topics which he touched upon included the work done for the Society by its legal advisers and the Secretary, the Pension Fund, the changes in the Committee and Council, and the dinner, fixed for the 30th of April, the tickets for which, the Society was informed, are to be 10s., while the dinner is to be followed by the usual conversazione. The report was adopted without further discussion, and the re-election of Mr. Morley Roberts to the committee for the manage- ment of the Pension Fund concluded the agenda of which notice had been given. Mr. Bernard Shaw then rose, and in a vigorous speech expressed his regret that neither the com- mittee nor any individual member should have question for its provided the meeting with any : and upon which discussion of interest to authors, authors might be glad to ventilate their possibly —  {! divergent opmions: In the absence of any such subject, Mr. Shaw made reference to a matter with regard to which the feeling of those present was too unanimously with him for it to form the subject of controversy. Calling attention to the fact that the Society of Authors is at times the subject of adverse criticism and uninformed or wilfully mis- taken obloquy in the Press, he asked whether no means existed for the punishment of the literary black-legs who might be responsible for defamatory statements such as those to which he referred, and he suggested that the best method for dealing with them might form a fit subject for the Society’s consideration upon such an occasion as its general meeting. Mr, Warwick Bond, Mr. Eyre Hussey, and other speakers continued the discussion, and addressed those present briefly upon the same subject, the Chairman suggesting, in conclusion, that the diffi- culty of detecting the offender might be responsible for the impossibility of disposing of him or of his statements otherwise than by contradiction and refutation. As no member had any other matter to bring forward, a vote of thanks to the Chairman was then proposed by Mr. E. A. Armstrong, who con- gratulated the Society on having obtained so able a successor as Mr. Douglas Freshfield to take the place of Mr. A. Hope Hawkins. The motion was seconded by Lieut.-Col. Manifold Craig, and unanimously carried. The attendance at the meeting was decidedly smaller than usual, and considerably less than it used to be before the Society had won the secure position which it now occupies. This may in part have been due to the inclement weather, and to the fact that there was no controversial topic among the agenda. It is, however, to be regretted that members of the Society should not be present in greater numbers upon the annual occasion which gives them the opportunity to raise questions of interest to themselves and authors in general, and to express their approval of the labours of their Committee and Secretary. Among those present were—Mr. E. A. Armstrong, Miss E. A. Barnett, Miss Clementina Black, Mr. R. Warwick Bond, Miss E. E. Charlton, Lieut.-Col. R. Manifold Craig, Mr. Arthur Dillon, Mr. Basil Field, Mr. Douglas Freshfield, Miss Beatrice Harraden, Miss Helena Heath, Miss BE. M. Hine, Mr. Eyre Hussey, Mr. H. T. Inman, Mr. Benjamin Kidd, Miss Arabella Kenealy, Mr. J. M. Lely, Mrs. Nella Parker, Miss Olive K. Parr, Dr. A. Rattray, Mr. Edward Rose, Mr. Bernard Shaw, Mr. F, Vicars, etc., etc. ee Gee cme eee THE AUTHOR. fi } 171 THE AUTHORS’ ASSOCIATION. 1) N the list of societies given in the Literary Year Book for the current year we find one, founded apparently early in 1902, under the name of the Authors’ Association. We have had brought before us two circulars, one setting out the “Rules and Constitution of the Association” and the other its objects :— ‘Any person who has, or is desirous of adopting a literary life either as a profession or a recreation is qualfied for membership. The subscription for the first year is one guinea, for following years half a guinea,” The control of the society is vested in a Council, to consist of not less than six or more than twelve members, including the Secretary and Officers, This Council, it is provided, “shall manage the business of the Association, consider what steps are necessary to forward the objects for which the Association is established, and take such measures to carry them out as they may deem advisable, including the disposal of the funds of the Associa. tion.” The Secretary has charge of all correspondence and accounts, and the Treasurer pays all debts of the Association at his direction. It is further enacted that “no general or Council meeting shall without special announcement be considered a public meeting, or be attended by reporters for the Press except by invitation of the General Secretary by order of the Council ; nor shall any report of or comments upon the proceed- ings of any meeting be supplied to any newspaper or periodical, or be printed and published in any form, except by order of the Council conveyed by the General Secretary.” The General Secretary is Mr. Galloway Kyle, F.R.S.L., who resides at Darlington. The Asso- ciation, however, has a temporary office at 62, Paternoster Row. In the circulars before us the Countess of Aber- deen is stated to be the President of the society. We have called Mr. Kyle’s attention to the fact that her ladyship withdrew from the office in November last, and that, notwithstanding her resignation, her name is retained as President in the Literary Year Book for 1903, and also in circulars issued by the Association up to the.end of January. In reply Mr Kyle, while disputing the right, of the Authors’ Society to call for any explanation, states in general terms that at the time of her withdrawal her ladyship was informed that in the Literary Year Book and certain circulars already prepared her ladyship’s name would appear, and further that ‘any advertisement or announcement made or arranged after a certain date does not contain her ladyship’s name.”  Mr. Kyle has @ecfined to give any more direct answer to the exp¥cit question whether he had Lady Aberdeen’s authority to continue the use of her name after her withdrawal. The following names are printed under the heading Council in the prospectus :— General Secretary and Editor, Mr. Galloway Kyle, F.R.S.L. ; Treasurer, Mr. J. Wilson ; Art Editor, Mr. T. Eyre Macklin, R.B.A.: Music Editor, Mr. T. Hutchinson, Mus. Doc. ; Solicitors, Messrs. Warburton & Robertson. The minimum number of six can, therefore, only be made up by including the Countess of Aberdeen, who has resigned, or counting the firm of solicitors as two councillors. The prospectus of the Association is a strangely inconsistent and self-contradictory document. For instance, it states emphatically in one paragraph that, “the Association is not a literary agency,” but on turning to page 2 we read :— “LITERARY AGENCY, “ A commission, varying with the position, experience of the author, and the character, length, and value of the work, will be charged on the price obtained for all MSS. published through the offices of the Association. Special arrangements may be made for the supply of topical articles, short stories, &c., by experienced members.” Inconsistency and obscurity of statement are not, however, confined to a single point. The circular alleges that the Association “is neither a trading nor a philanthropic institution.” Yet it is pro- posed not only to do the business of a literary agent, on’very vague terms, but also “to undertake typewriting and duplication of MSS. at the usual rates,” and to criticise MSS. for members on terms stated, or for non-members at double those terms. Every member, we must mention, has the right to have one MS. of 5,000 words criticised each year free of charge. Though in no way philan- thropic— “Tt is an attempt to offer reliable responsible authorita- tive advice and criticism to beginners in literature and journalism, to afford the inexperienced the assistance of experience ; to organise tentative efforts and direct mis- directed and wasted energy; to protect and develop professional interest and to be of general use to literary workers, especially to the isolated, the uninfluential, and the amateur, and to introduce some order, coherence, co- operation and uniformity in the chaotic and feebly indivi- dualistic state of the earlier stages of the literary profession.” Once more the circular states that among the Association’s objects are “to assist and advise the beginner in literature.” ‘To give legal advice on questions within the scope 6f the Association, and to afford members the protection and advantage of a powerful and responsible organisation in touch with the higher as well as with the lower branches of the profession of letters.”’ THE AUTHOR. And yet we read, “the scope of the Association is entirely outside that of the Authors’ Society, of which it can only be a feeder and not a rival.” We need hardly assure our readers—but we are glad to assure Mr. Kyle—that we should welcome most cordially any Association likely to be of sub- stantial assistance to authors, even though its field of action might in some directions overlap our own. Before, however, we can extend to him the hand of fellowship, he must produce some further proof than is contained in the circular before us that the Association which he represents is the “responsible and powerful organisation” he claims it to be. He must prove that it has an acting President and a working Council whose names will convey to the public an adequate assurance of its indepen- dence and capacity to administer the funds and dispose of the interests, literary and financial, that may be entrusted to it for the benefit of its clients. —_o——_e__- BOOK AND PLAY TALK. 1 IR GEORGE DOUGLAS will publish this month, through Messrs. Hodder and Stough- ton, “The Man of Letters,” a novel embodying a study of the literary temperament. We have already had from this author’s active pen an admirable “History of the Border Counties,” “Poems of a Country Gentleman,” “The Fireside Tragedy,” etc., etc. He is, besides, a steady con- tributor to The Bookman and Scotsman. Mr. John Murray is just bringing out the first series of lectures given in the Physiologicab Laboratory of the London University at South Kensington. It is intended that the series shall comprise two volumes a.year. The volume now in the press is by Dr. A. Waller, F.R.S. This is the first sign of life that the University of London is giving as a seat of learning. These lectures are especially to belong to what may be termed “ the growing surface of our knowledge,” on work that has been or is actually being carried out by the University lectures. The numerous readers of Mr. Richard Bagot’s “Donna Diana,” and “The Just and the Unjust,” will be interested to know that the author is making arrangements for their dramatisation. Mr. Bagot is at present in Italy, and is engaged on a new novel. ‘This is to appear as a serial during the coming summer, and is to be published in volume form afterwards. A letter of Mr. Bagot’s recently appeared in the Atheneum under the heading of “ Fiction and ih  Fact.” In it he'pfotested, and very rightly, against the growing practice of labelling characters in fiction with the names of individuals. Mr. Bagot sent to the Editor of the Atheneum cuttings from articles published in the Mew York Times, in which names of well-known members of Roman Society—personal friends of the author—were mentioned as being the originals of certain of his characters in ‘‘ Donna Diana.” As this matter touches authors very nearly we quote a portion of the protesting letter :— “That well-known individuals should be mentioned by name as the originals of an author’s characters appears to me an abuse of the privileges of the Press. In the present instance, the statements made are absolutely false and likely to cause pain, not only tothe individuals alluded to, but also to many others, while the novelist can scarcely be pleased at being regarded as a photographic machine. .. . The characters in ‘Donna Diana’ are types—no living members of Roman Society are the originals from whom these types have been selected.” We are to have two annuals from Louis Wain this year. One is to be a “Summer Book,” for children only ; there is to be also the “ Winter Annual,” which appeals to grown-ups as well. Mr. Wain has no intention whatever of throwing up his cats for a literary career. He is bound hard and fast to the cat, for he is convinced this despised little animal is going to do great things in the cause of humanity. Mr. Wain tells us that when he started on his career as an artist by drawing for the illustrated papers at dog, cat, and agricultural shows, he soon found that the primary cause of success was to please other people and not his own art instincts. If he drew an animal as others imagined it he at once made a hit ; but did he follow his own fancy he “got it hot on the spot.” Every development he has since made in his art or hobbies has been the direct outcome of contact with men who are past-masters in their own particular work. He has looked through their spectacles, as it were, and he has endeavoured to grasp the essentials of all the arts. He says further :— “In a small way I have started by building up my annual... . That we shall race forward and arrive at a more masterful cult in all the arts and sciences directly the flood of fortune touches the starved-out literati, quickens the active instincts of the artists, and calls to life the finer sense of feeling of the musician, I believe to be a truism; but the organisation to bring it about will be built up of the united judgment of many master- minds,” Mr. Felix Moscheles, whose very interesting “Fragments of an Autobiography” we all know, has no long book in hand at present, but he is busy in other directions. He is a regular contributor to Concord, the monthly organ of the Inter- national Arbitration and Peace Association, of | THE AUTHOR. | 173 i which he is chairman. The sbjects treated are naturally in close connection wh the aims of the society, and the articles are mainly intended to popularise and strengthen the Hague Conventions, and the International Tribunal established in that city. Mr. Moscheles has also lately written on Esperanto, the International language invented by Dr. Zamen- hof, of Warsaw. An Esperanto Club has been formed, and Mr. Moscheles is its president. Dr. Andrew Balfour, who went out last December to the Gordon College at Khartoum, as director of the Research Laboratories, presented to the Govern- ment by Mr. H. S. Wellcome, of Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., Limited, fears he will have no time for fiction in this new position, as there is any amount of hard work to be done, and that in a climate which can scarcely be called stimulating. Perhaps it is not generally known that Dr. Balfour wrote, with Dr. C. J. Lewis, of Edinburgh, a large text-book entitled “Public Health and Preventive Medicine.” He took to scribbling, by way of relaxation, shortly after graduating at Edin- burgh, in’94. His first story, ‘‘ Gentleman Jerry,” was accepted by Chambers’ Journal, much to his surprise and delight. He then wrote “ By Stroke of Sword,” which was published by Messrs. Methuen, and quickly ran into a fourth edition. The same firm issued his “lo Arms” and “ Vengeance is Mine.” “To Arms” is now in its second edition. Like many another, Dr. Balfour served his year as a civil surgeon in South Africa: the result has been the output of two books—‘ Cashiered,” a volume of short stories (Nisbet), and “ The Golden Kingdom” (Hutchinson). Dr. Balfour belongs to the same clan as that which claims R. L. Balfour Stevenson, viz., “ the auld hoose o’ Pilrig,” and he is very proud of the fact. The Rey. Silas K. Hocking is finishing his new novel, “A Bonnie Saxon,” and will publish it at an early date through Messrs. F. Warne & Co. He is also engaged on a new serial story for the Sunday Companion, the title of which will be “The Tempter’s Power.” Miss Constance Hill is now at work upon a book dealing with an eighteenth century subject. Mr. John Lane will publish it. A second edition of “Jane Austin: Her Homes and Her Friends,” is in preparation. Our readers will remember that this really admirable and, we venture to think, definitive book about the famous authoress was illustrated by Miss Hllen S. Hill, and that it was published last Christmas year by Mr. John Lane. Miss Constance Hill began to write in 1888, when she edited and added matter to a series of books for children written to a large extent by her 174° i mother before her marriage. These volumes were called “ The Parents’ Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction.” This series ran through many editions, and elicited letters of warm appreciation from Maria Edgeworth. In 1894 Miss Hill edited, with large additions, her father’s life. It was entitled, “Frederic Hill: an Autobiography of Fifty Years in Times of Reform” (Bentley). Then, in 1899, Mr. Heinemann published her “ Story of the Princess des Ursins in Spain.” This has just been translated into German and published by Carl Winter. (Heidelberg University Press.) A third edition of Rita’s new novel, “Souls a (Hutchinson & Co.), is already in preparation. The first edition was sold out in a week, and the second is practically disposed of. A new book on astronomy by Mr. J. EH. Gore, F.R.A.S., entitled “The Stellar Heavens: An Introduction to the Study of the Stars and Nebule,” is in the press, and will shortly be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. Mr. Wilkinson Sherren, whose ‘“ Wessex of Romance” was published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall last year, is revising for press a volume of tales, chiefly rustic in character. A picturesque cover vignette has been drawn by Mr. William Pye, whose Dorset pictures and etchings are becoming increasingly popular. The title of this volume will be “A Rustic Dreamer.” This month Mr. H. J. Drane will publish a tragedy called “ Messalina,” by Mr. F. T. Winbolt, author of “Frithof the Bold,” ete. The drama deals with the schemes of the Empress, and con- cludes with her overthrow and assassination. The last scene depicts Claudius at a banquet listening to the pleadings of Domitia, the mother of Messa- lina, for the life of her daughter, whom he has ordered to be slain. Moved by the words of Domitia, Claudius pardons Messalina, but as he does so, the news arrives that his orders have been carried out, and that the Empress is dead. The Sunday School Union has just brought out a fine edition of Miss Wood’s Picture Map of Palestine, which gives all the physical features of the country, and is most useful for teaching pur- poses. It is six feet long, and the names are very clearly printed. The map is on an entirely new principle, and is very graphic. A little volume, “Recollections of a Royal Parish,” by Mrs. Patricia Lindsay, recently pub- lished by Mr. John Murray, gives an interesting account of the parish of Crathie, in which are situated Balmoral and Abergeldie Castles. The book contains several hitherto unpublished letters from Queen Victoria to the writer’s father and herself. These throw some interesting sidelights upon the character of the late Queen, and on life THE AUTHOR. in the Highlands. The oa illustrated by some excellent views and portraits. Mr. E. H. Lacon Watson, author of “ Chris- topher Deane,” ‘ Benedictine,” and several other volumes, has recently published a new novel through Mr. Edward Arnold. Its name is ‘The Templars,” but intending readers are warned that the story has no concern with life at the Bar or with the Knights Templars of the Middle Ages. The title, in fact, is taken from the name of the family whose fortunes are chronicled in the book. It is quite modern. Miss C. Gascoigne Hartley’s “Early British Heroes,” stories founded upon Geoffrey of Mon- mouth’s Chronicles, has been favourably noticed by reviewers. Messrs. Dent and Co. are the pub- lishers. The book is illustrated by Mr. Patten Wilson. A notable book just out is “ The Rubaiyat of Umar Khaiyam,” done into English from the French of J. B. Nicholas, by Frederick Baron Corvo, together with a reprint of the French text. There is an interesting introduction by Nathan Haskell Dole (John Lane). It seems that the translation was undertaken at the solicitation of Mr. Henry Harland and Mr. Kenneth Grahame. We give a triplet of the far-famed quatrains in this new and striking form :— ‘“ When I am drinking Wine, its Foes appear on every Hand to induce me to abstain, alleging Wine to be the Enemy of Religion. For this exquisite Reason, now, I dub myself Faith’s Champion, and with God’s Aid I will drink Wine ; knowing that to drink the Blood of His Enemy is a meritorious Deed.” (93) “When low lieth mine Head at the Feet of Death, when Haides shall have plucked me like a Fowl, make nothing save a Flagon from my Dust; for the odour of the Wine therein, perchance, for an instant, will revive me.” (290) “OQ limpid Wine, Wine of richest Tincture! Fool that I be, I will in such excess to drink thee, that whoever shall perceive me from afar, may mistake me for thee, and say, © Master Wine, pray tell me whence thou comest.” (439) The Russian Choir at present singing in “ Resur- rection” at His Majesty’s Theatre has received several invitations to sing in other places. An extensive programme is being prepared of the most characteristic Russian Church chants, operatic choruses, and arias, folk-lore and wedding songs, etc., embracing those of Great Russia, Little Russia, White Russia, Lethuania, Poland, and the s0- called Gipsy Cycle. The choir will wear costumes characteristic of the historical epoch and locality represented. The undertaking will be under the direction of M. Jaakoff-Prelooker, who will accom- pany the performances with brief explanatory remarks in English. The most important songs will be printed in full English translations. A second edition of Mr. Arthur Lovell’s “ Con- centration ” (post free, 2s. 3d.), is now ready, It THE AUTHOR. is enlarged by the addition of a new entitled, “ Matter and Force.” Mr. Bernard Cape’s new novel, “A Castle in Spain” (Smith-Elder), has gone into a second edition, At the annual general meeting of the Royal Literary Fund Mr. W. E. H. Lecky was elected president for the ensuing year. Among those present were Mr. Edmund Gosse, Mr. Julian Sturgis, Mr. Owen Seaman, Mr. M. H. Spiel- mann, and Sir Theodore Martin. Mr. Julian Sturgis presented the reports of the Fund. He announced that their income last year amounted to £2,986, while the sum expended in grants was £2,870. The total invested sum was £56,410, which produced an income of £1,741. They were in want of strong cases, said Mr. Sturgis, and would be glad to hear of any bond fide literary people who were in trouble, or of anybody who was engaged in literary research. An_ original light comedy in three acts by Mr. Henry Arthur Jones entitled, “ Whitewashing Julia,” was produced at the Garrick Theatre on Monday evening, March 2nd. Mr. Arthur Bourchier was successful in the part of Mr. William Stillingfleet, and Miss Violet Vanbrugh made the most of Julia. Miss Ethelwyn Arthur chapter Jones made a decided hit as the Bishop’s out- spoken niece, Trixie Blenkinsop. Mr. Sam Sothern and Mr. Kenneth Douglas were exceedingly good as the Hon. Edwin and the Hon. Bevis Pinkney respectively, “The Two Mr. Wetherbys,” a “middle-class comedy ” by St. John Hankin, was successfully pro- duced at the Imperial Theatre on March’ 15th before members of the Stage Society. A public performance was given at the same theatre on the following afternoon. Mr. Hankin may be remembered as the author of the series of “ Dramatic Sequels,” which, after appearing in the pages of Mr. Punch, were republished in book form by Messrs. Bradbury & Agnew about a year ago. ————__+—~@—. PARIS NOTES. —_+-—>—+—__ HE book of the month here : 4 “L’Inde,” by Pierre Loti. It has been advertised in many of the papers as “L’Inde, sans les Anglais,” and this title gives an admirable idea of the book. We have had many volumes on India, and magazine articles without number, but in most of these the British element is in the foreground, and in a country like India, from a poetic and artistic 1s, undoubtedly, 175 point of view, the British element is so prosaic that it completely spoils the picture. In that wonderful book on Burma, “The Soul of a People,” the author shows us clearly how prosaic and un poeti- cal we are. Pierre Loti goes still farther, he leaves us out altogether, and his book, from an artistic point of view, gains immensely by the omission. Prince Henri @Orléans, in his last book, “ L’Ame du Voyageur,” speaks of the éfat d’ame of the explorer. He Says: “Le voyageur ne recueille pas uniquement le bénéfice d’un travail conscient ; il éprouve des sensations connues de lui seul, sensations profondes, nettes, qui lui laisseront & jamais une impression aussi vive qu’au premier Jour. Sentant qu’il est prés d’elle et qu'il est a elle, la nature le prend pour confident et lui ouvre tout grands ses mystéres. I] n’a pas lieu de s’enorgueillir, il nest guére plus savant que d’autres ; mais il a vu de pres, sans voiles; il est Partiste qui se repait pleinement, sainement de la beauté, Dans ces moments de révélation le voyageur qui crayonne sur son carnet ne se sent pas écrire; sa main semble courir toute seule, poussée par une force inconnue, et l’état de son ame se refléte en ces pages comme en un miroir.” This is surely the way in which Pierre Loti was inspired to write the poem in prose which he has entitled “L’Inde.” The volume is divided into five parts : “ En Route vers Inde,” “A Ceylon ;” “Chez le Maharajah du Travancore 57 = Danes VInde des Grandes Palmes 3° ° Dang inde Affamée ;” and ‘“ Vers Bénarés.” “ L’Oblat,” the new book by M. J. K. Huysmans, is extremely interesting, treating as it does one of the burning questions of the day in France, that of the Associations Law and the recent expulsion of many of the religious congregations. The oblatis a kind of lay brother who is admitted as a boarder into a monastery, and as M. Huysmans tried this experiment himself, and remained in his monastery until the exodus of the monks and their departure for the land of exile, the author of this book speaks feelingly when, as Durtal, he gives us his opinion on recent events. There are some very fine pages in “ L’Oblat,” and, as a French critic says, “ It is a continuation of M. Huysmans’ ‘ Encyclopzedia of Catholicism, ’” Durtal is living in a monastery in the neigh- bourhood of Dijon as an oblat, when the Pope’s letter with regard to the Associations Law causes a stir in the French Catholic world. The monks believe that the Government will not dare to touch the religious orders, but Durtal has not this faith, and, in the passages where he attacks the Govern. ment, treating Loubet “as a veritable Pilate,” we recognise not only the lay brother, but Huysmans, an author of the realistic school.  176 He describes the indignation of the worthy monks who object to ask the authorization of the Government, and who object, still more strongly, to give an inventory of all they possess. Through all the tribulations of the monks, the lay brother, Durtal, appears to see clearly the causes which have brought about this state of things. “Les fideles,” he says, “ont aidé A faire du catholicisme ce quelque chose d’émascule, d’hybride, de mol, cette espéce de courtage de priéres et de mercu- riale @oraisons, cette sorte de Sainte-Tombola ou Yon brocante des graces en insérant des papiers et des sous dans des troncs, scellés sous des statues de saints !” Finally, Durtal is convinced that if God allows His Church to be persecuted it is in order that certain reforms shall be made, and that the Church shall be more in accordance with the requirements of the times. Among other ideas Durtal proposes that artists shall help to restore the monastic idea. He dreams of a huge settlement composed of houses and studios, where men of various professions shall live, each house offering hospitality to a monk, but all living together and having a common oratory. In conclusion, Durtal says: ‘“ L’Eglise pourrait faire plus mal que prier Dieu de lui envoyer des artistes. leurs ceuvres opéreraient plus de con- versions et lui améneraient plus de partisans que les vaines rengaines que ses prétres, juchés dans des coquetiers, versent sur la téte resignée des fideles.”” On closing the book one is struck with the idea that the society of M. Huysmans must have been a great addition to the monks in the monastery where he resided for some time. “Au milieu des massacres” is the title of the book just published by Madame Maurice Carlier, the heroic woman who was recently decorated by the French Government with the Order of the Legion of Honour. Her husband was the French Consul who distinguished himself by his courage during the events of Sivas, in 1895. The “Correspondance de Chateaubriand avec La Marquise de V.—”’ has just been published as “Un Dernier Amour de René.” The story of this correspondence is quite a romance. The Marquise de V. was a great admirer of Chateaubriand’s works, and for years had “worshipped” in silence. When she was about forty-eight she ventured to write to the celebrated author, because she had seen from the newspaper that he was ill. Chateaubriand replied in the most cordial terms, and the Marquise then wrote a longer letter, in which she expressed her admiration for his works, and owned that he had for many years been her “ étoile.” The correspondence continued during the next THE AUTHOR. two years, and it is very evident from the letters of the Marquise that her admiration developed into love, and that she suffered tortures between her longing to see the man whom she idolised and her dread lest their meeting should prove to be the end of their romance. Chateaubriand persisted in believing that she was quite young, and she had not the courage to undeceive him. Before the end of the first year of this exchange of letters, Chateaubriand writes: “J’aime celle qui ne m’est plus inconnue que de visage.” A few months later he calls on the Marquise, and then after a few more letters the correspondence ceases. As the preface to the book explains ‘ Chateau- briand avait toujours vite fait de cesser d’aimer et nombreuses sont les femmes qui en ont souffert.” The Marquise de V. was probably one of these women. The letters are well worth reading, and one understands from those of Chateaubriand some- thing of the fascination he exercised. The death of M. Gaston Paris is a great loss to the French literary world. He was a member of the Academy, a great savant and a philologist of the first order. He lectured at the College of France on the French language and literature of the Middle Ages. Among his numerous works the following are perhaps the best known :—“ Histoire poetique de Charlemagne,” “Les plus anciens monuments de la langue francaise,” “ Les Contes orientaux de la littérature francaise du Moyen-Age.” The French Academy has lost its Doyen, M. Ernest Legouvé. He became a member of the Academy in 1855, and has, during his long career, seen all his thirty-nine colleagues replaced by new members. Hewas born in 1807. His best known works are: “Adrienne Lecouvreur,” and the “ Bataille de Dames,” et “Contes de la Reine de Navarre,” in collaboration with Scribe. The late M. Zola’s books have been sold, and among them a Latin manuscript, a breviary of the fifteenth century, executed by the Abbé de Moissac. The miniatures and illuminations were very beautiful. Tt seems that the breviary had a history. Zola picked it up ata sale, and it appears that it inspired him for his book “ Le Réve.” The exact description of this manuscript is to be found in the book. An exquisite little volame has just been pub- lished entitled, “‘Pensées d’une Solitaire.” The authoress of these “ Pensées,” Madame Ackermann, died in 1890. She had published an edition in 1883, but it was very soon out of print, and this reprint is preceded by a chapter entitled “ Madame Louise Ackermann intime,” written by Mlle. Louise Read. In this chapter many hitherto unpublished fragments of poetry and prose are given, and also  THE AUTHOR. 177 a brief sketch of the life of the authoress whose works won the admiration of such men as Tolstoy, Sully Prudhomme, Coppée and Barbey @’ Aurevilly, The latter, who was often horrified at Madame Ackermann’s tone of revolt in certain of her writings, spoke of her as “ tout 4 la fois un monstre et un prodige: un prodige pur le talent et un monstre par la pens¢e.” Whereupon Mme. Ackermann sent her critic a volume of her poems dedicated to him by “ Un monstre reconnaissant.”’ Mile. Read sums up admirably the great merit of both the Pensées and the poems. “Ceux qui avaient déja souffert aussi,’ she says: “savent combien son influence était fortifiante et reposante et quel courage ils puisaient prés d’elle, non qu’elle s’efforcat de leur donner de vagues consgolations, mais sondant avec eux les abimes de la souffrance méme, la généralisant, l’ennoblissant. La est sa supréme puissance.” The new review published here (The Weekly Critical) has made rapid strides, both as regards quality and popularity. The French are quick to recognise literary merit, and the Editor, M. Arthur Bles, has already been nominated Offcier a’ Académie. The tenth number of the review contains some excellent articles, among others, “An English View of Nathaniel Hawthorne,” by John F, Runciman; “The Decay of Craftmanship in England,” by Arthur Symons ; “ Joseph Conrad,” by Ernest Newman; and a criticism of the Schumann Lieder, by Hugues Imbert. Some of the first writers in France are contributing to this review, and weekly articles are also to appear by Arthur Symons, John F. Runciman, and Ernest Newman. The International Theatre, too, seems likely to be a success. This magazine is published on the 20th of each month, and the March num- ber is most interesting. The theatrical news of the world is summed up in sixty pages, and as every article is given in two languages, French and English, it seems as though the whole world should be able to read it. Dramatic authors will no doubt enjoy following their plays to the various countries and seeing the photos of their interpreters of all nationalities. Besides the “ news,” there are some excellent articles in this number on subjects connected with the theatre. Mr. Louis N. Parker writes on “ Authors and their Adapters.” He says that in the course of his work he has been struck by the “callous indifference of authors towards their own plays. The majority of them do not seem to care by whom their plays are translated or interpreted, and they display a reckless ignorance of theatrical matters outside their own immediate surroundings which is perfectly amazing. ... Subsequently they are pained and surprised if, owing to the grotesque incompetence of the transla- tion, or the laughable inappropriateness of the performance, their play is a fiasco.” Perhaps the International Theatre will change all this. It will be more easy from henceforth for dramatic authors to know what is going on outside their own country. Another of the articles in this number is “ The American Syndicate since its Foundation,” by Norman Hapgood. The author explains very clearly the origin of the “ Theatrical Trust.” In Paris, the city par excellence for all things connected with dramatic art, the new venture has been welcomed cordially, and, as the name of Simpkin and Marshall appears on the cover of this month’s issue, it is evident that London, too, has discovered it. At the theatres there is great activity. ‘ Werther,” by M. Decourcelles, still holds the bill alternatively with “La Dame aux Camélias” at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre. ‘Le Beau, Jeune Homme,” by M. Capus, at the Renaissance, has not had the success of “ La Chate- laine,” At the Odeon “ Le Message” and “ Les Appe- lears ” have been put on in the place of “ Résur- rection.” M. Antoine has had great success with “ Le Colonel Chabert,” a piece cleverly adapted by M. Louis Forest from a novel by Balzac. The new play, which is now being rehearsed by Madame Réjane, is awaited with great interest. It is in five acts and entitled “La Meilleure Part,” by Pierre de Coulevain, written in collaboration with Pierre Decourcelles. Pierre de Coulevain’s last novel, “Eve Victo- rieuse,” had great success in Paris, and, as in the play an American woman is one of the prominent characters, great curiosity is felt, not only with regard to the play itself, but also as to the inter- pretation by a French artiste of an American girl who becomes the wife of a French aristocrat. Madame Réjane has an extremely difficult ré/e, that of one of the most complex of complex women. She will no doubt rise to the occasion, and it is more than probable that ‘‘ La Meilleure Part” will be her greatest triumph. Atys HaLtaRp ——_$_-—~<—_ —______ THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. es Some American Conditions. HE Authors’ Society might do worse than issue a Special Commission to inquire into and report upon the present state of the business of book-making and (so far as “ authors” are concerned) of periodical-making in the United States of America, Foreign markets are of ever- 176 He describes the indignation of the worthy monks who object to ask the authorization of the Government, and who object, still more strongly, to give an inventory of all they possess. Through all the tribulations of the monks, the lay brother, Durtal, appears to see clearly the causes which have brought about this state of things. “ Les fidéles,” he says, “ ont aidé & faire du catholicisme ce quelque chose d’émascule, d’hybride, de mol, cette espéce de courtage de pricres et de mercu- riale d’oraisons, cette sorte de Sainte-Tombola ou Yon brocante des graces en insérant des papiers et des sous dans des troncs, scellés sous des statues de saints ! ” Finally, Durtal is convinced that if God allows His Church to be persecuted it is in order that certain reforms shall be made, and that the Church shall be more in accordance with the requirements of the times. Among other ideas Durtal proposes that artists shall help to restore the monastic idea. He dreams of a huge settlement composed of houses and studios, where men of various professions shall live, each house offering hospitality to a monk, but all living together and having a common oratory. In conclusion, Durtal says: ‘‘ L’Eglise pourrait faire plus mal que prier Dieu de lui envoyer des artistes. Leurs ceuvres opéreraient plus de con- versions et lui améneraient plus de partisans que les vaines rengaines que ses prétres, juchés dans des coquetiers, versent sur la téte résignée des fideles.”’ On closing the book one is struck with the idea that the society of M. Huysmans must have been a great addition to the monks in the monastery where he resided for some time. “Au milieu des massacres” is the title of the book just published by Madame Maurice Carlier, the heroic woman who was recently decorated by the French Government with the Order of the Legion of Honour. Her husband was the French Consul who distinguished himself by his courage during the events of Sivas, in 1895. The “Correspondance de Chateaubriand avec La Marquise de V.—” has just been published as “Un Dernier Amour de René.” The story of this correspondence is quite a romance. The Marquise de V. was a great admirer of Chateaubriand’s works, and for years had “worshipped” in silence. When she was about forty-eight she ventured to write to the celebrated author, because she had seen from the newspaper that he was ill. Chateaubriand replied in the most cordial terms, and the Marquise then wrote a longer letter, in which she expressed her admiration for his works, and owned that he had for many years been her “ étoile.” The correspondence continued during the next THE AUTHOR. two years, and it is very evident from the letters of the Marquise that her admiration developed into love, and that she suffered tortures between her longing to see the man whom she idolised and her dread lest their meeting should prove to be the end of their romance. Chateaubriand persisted in believing that she was quite young, and she had not the courage to undeceive him. Before the end of the first year of this exchange of letters, Chateaubriand writes: “J’aime celle qui ne m’est plus inconnue que de visage.” A few months later he calls on the Marquise, and then after a few more letters the correspondence ceases. As the preface to the book explains “ Chateau- briand avait toujours vite fait de cesser d’aimer et nombreuses sont les femmes qui en ont souffert.” The Marquise de V. was probably one of these women. The letters are well worth reading, and one understands from those of Chateaubriand some- thing of the fascination he exercised. The death of M. Gaston Paris is a great loss to the French literary world. He was a member of the Academy, a great savant and a philologist of the first order. He lectured at the College of France on the French language and literature of the Middle Ages. Among his numerous works the following are perhaps the best known :—“ Histoire poetique de Charlemagne,” “ Les plus anciens monuments de la langue francaise,” “ Les Contes orientaux de la littérature francaise du Moyen-Age.” The French Academy has lost its Doyen, M. Ernest Legouvé. He became a member of the Academy in 1855, and has, during his long career, seen all his thirty-nine colleagues replaced by new members. He was born in 1807. His best known works are: “Adrienne Lecouvreur,” and the “Bataille de Dames,” et “Contes de la Reine de Navarre,” in collaboration with Scribe. The late M. Zola’s books have been sold, and among them a Latin manuscript, a breviary of the fifteenth century, executed by the Abbé de Moissac. The miniatures and illuminations were very beautiful. Tt seems that the breviary had a history. Zola picked it up ata sale, and it appears that it inspired him for his book “ Le Réve.” The exact description of this manuscript is to be found in the book. An exquisite little volume has just been pub- lished entitled, ‘“ Pensées d’une Solitaire.” The authoress of these “ Pensées,” Madame Ackermann, died in 1890. She had published an edition in 1883, but it was very soon out of print, and this reprint is preceded by a chapter entitled “ Madame Louise Ackermann intime,” written by Mlle. Louise Read. In this chapter many hitherto unpublished fragments of poetry and prose are given, and also & BER  THE AUTHOR. a brief sketch of the life of the authoress whose works won the admiration of such men as Tolstoy, Sully Prudhomme, Coppée and Barbey d’ Aurevilly. The latter, who was often horrified at Madame Ackermann’s tone of revolt in certain of her writings, spoke of her as “ tout a la fois un monstre et un prodige: un prodige pur le talent et un monstre par la pensée.” Whereupon Mme. Ackermann sent her critic a volume of her poems dedicated to him by “Un monstre reconnaissant.”’ Mlle. Read sums up admirably the great merit of both the Pensées and the poems. “ Ceux qui avaient déja souffert aussi,” she says: “savent combien son influence était fortifiante et reposante et quel courage ils puisaient prés d’elle, non qu'elle s’ettorgat de leur donner de vagues consolations, mais sondant avec eux les abimes de la souffrance méme, la généralisant, l’ennoblissant. La est sa supréme puissance.” The new review published here (The Weekly Critical) has made rapid strides, both as regards quality and popularity. The French are quick to recognise literary merit, and the Editor, M. Arthur Bles, has already been nominated Officier i’ Académie. The tenth number of the review contains some excellent articles, among others, “An English View of Nathaniel Hawthorne,” by John F. Runciman; “The Decay of Craftmanship in England,” by Arthur Symons ; « Joseph Conrad,” by Ernest Newman; and a criticism of the Schumann Lieder, by Hugues Imbert. Some of the first writers in France are contributing to this review, and weekly articles are also to appear by Arthur Symons, John F. Runciman, and Ernest Newman. The International Theatre, too, seems likely to be a success. This magazine is published on the 20th of each month, and the March num- ber is most interesting. The theatrical news of the world is summed up in sixty pages, and as every article is given in two languages, French and English, it seems as though the whole world should be able to read it. Dramatic authors will no doubt enjoy following their plays to the various countries and seeing the photos of their interpreters of all nationalities. Besides the “news,” there are some excellent articles in this number on subjects connected with the theatre. Mr. Louis N. Parker writes on “ Authors and their Adapters.” He says that in the course of his work he has been struck by the “callous indifference of authors towards their own plays. The majority of them do not seem to care by whom their plays are translated or interpreted, and they display a reckless ignorance of theatrical matters outside their own immediate surroundings which is perfectly amazing. ... Subsequently they are pained and surprised if, 177 owing to the grotesque incompetence of the transla- tion, or the laughable inappropriateness of the performance, their play is a fiasco.” Perhaps the International Theatre will change all this. It will be more easy from henceforth for dramatic authors to know what is going on outside their own country. Another of the articles in this number is “ The American Syndicate since its Foundation,” by Norman Hapgood. The author explains very clearly the origin of the “ Theatrical Trust.” In Paris, the city par excellence for all things connected with dramatic art, the new venture has been welcomed cordially, and, as the name of Simpkin and Marshall appears on the cover of this month’s issue, it is evident that London, too, has discovered it. At the theatres there is great activity. “ Werther,” by M. Decourcelles, still holds the bill alternatively with “La Dame aux Camélias” at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre. “Le Beau, Jeune Homme,” by M. Capus, at the Renaissance, has not had the success of “ La Chate- laine.” At the Odeon “ Le Message” and “Les Appe- lears”” have been put on in the place of “ Résur- rection.” M. Antoine has had great success with “ Le Colonel Chabert,” a piece cleverly adapted by M. Louis Forest from a novel by Balzac. The new play, which is now being rehearsed by Madame Réjane, is awaited with great interest. It is in five acts and entitled “La Meilleure Part,” by Pierre de Coulevain, written in collaboration with Pierre Decourcelles. Pierre de Coulevain’s last novel, “Eve Victo- rieuse,” had great success in Paris, and, as in the play an American woman is one of the prominent characters, great curiosity is felt, not only with regard to the play itself, but also as to the inter- pretation by a French artiste of an American girl who becomes the wife of a French aristocrat. Madame Réjane has an extremely difficult ré/e, that of one of the most complex of complex women. She will no doubt rise to the occasion, and it is more than probable that ‘‘ La Meilleure Part” will be her greatest triumph. Atys HaALuarp $+ —____ THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. —_— Some American Conditions. HE Authors’ Society might do worse than issue a Special Commission to inquire into and report upon the present state of the business of book-making and (so far as “ authors” are concerned) of periodical-making in the United Foreign markets are of ever- States of America.  178 increasing importance to the competent British writer, and the American is by far the most valuable of them all. We stand to gain, too, not only by the greater frequency of these over-sea transactions and the “invasion” of this country by American firms, but also by the example of vigour and intelligence which they often afford to the more conservative British publishers, editors, and retailers. Unfortunately, the only trustworthy information at present available is necessarily coloured by personal experience, and those who know most are least inclined to indulge in rash generalisation. I am very glad to respond to the editor’s request for some personal impressions ; but I am not at all inclined to help to encourage the young writer in the notion that there is, out there in the sunset, a new El Dorado yearning to acknowledge and reward his budding genius. In this, as in other departments of industry, the Republic is beginning to expect to balance exports against imports. It is now capable of supplying all the trash it can consume (which, indeed, is saying a good deal) ; the only conquests that remain are for special talent, or something still rarer, backed by skilled advice and vigilant organisation. Let me take the periodical Press first. I am much struck by the courtesy and still more by the open-mindedness of the American editor, as com- pared with his English fellow. He is infinitely more receptive, and, on the financial side, generally more venturesome. There is no air of pontifical inspiration or Thibetan impenetrability about the American editorial office. Thanks to our world- wide traffic we still have a greater range of oppor- tunity in politics and the more weighty public subjects ; in the kaleidoscopic representation of social life we are sadly behindhand. In publica- tions devoted to bookish affairs America leads the whole world, with the Critic, the Bookman, Current Literature, the Reader, the Lamp, the New York Times’ Saturday Review, the Dial (Chicago), and the Literary World (Boston), the last two serving to remind us of the advantage of having more than one centre of literary production. When we recall that, in addition, it is no infrequent thing to find four or six pages of book reviews in a single issue of any of the twenty leading news- papers, it becomes evident that the American publisher has to cater for an appetite which, already Jarger than ours, is still growing, and growing under fairly good guidance. Criticism has not the air of preciosity to which we are accustomed, and perhaps it sometimes fails of the expertness on remote subjects which gives certain British journals their sole value. Ina word, letters are the posses- sion not of a small cult but of a great democracy ; a people marked by the limitations, but also the glorious vigour and sympathies of youth. THE AUTHOR. It may be positively said that the American editor has finished with average British fiction, short or long. The reasons are obvious ; but it is only after having received many hard knocks in the last few years that some accepted English writers have bowed to the inevitable. Brother Jonathan is rapidly learning to discriminate. He is also a very positive person, and, general polite- ness notwithstanding, very impatient of incompe- tence. The editor is a man of ideas, not an amiable Mr. Mantalini. Great names, great deeds, new ideas, unfailingly appeal to him. He simply doesn’t want of us what his own public school children can do, as he would say, ‘‘in their sleep.” I am inclined to think that he runs to greater extremes of price in both directions, though it is difficult to know how our own lower scales can be outdone ; but the high prices are nearly all re- served as prizes for a few men and women of special gifts and achievements. For the rest, the national tastes and distastes—for instance, the absorbing interest in material accomplishment, and the prevalent puritanism—must be carefully re- garded. For very few authors can the United States be looked upon as more than a supplemen- tary field; and then it can only be effectively attacked through a trustworthy agent. That, indeed, may be said of all ‘ foreign rights.” Conditions of book publication still differ con- siderably on the opposite sides of the Atlantic, though no doubt they tend to become more homo- geneous with the growth of literary intercourse. The work of the Authors’ Society has still to be done over there. Only a few men have been tempted into the new and difficult sphere of literary agency (one of the chief English syndicates has lately withdrawn its American representative), and they exist in the main by and for foreign business. Cost of production has never, so far as I know, come under public discussion ; and it is even more difficult there than here to get books satisfactorily produced on commission. Even the beginnings of a corporate feeling among craftsmen of the pen are hardly yet discernible. In a nation with the heritage of the Old World behind and immeasurable material tasks before, it is not sur- prising that native literature has hitherto been a mere by-product. Now that a thousand more or less intelligent young men and women have been tempted to try their hands upon the romance topographical or historical, we may expect some esprit de corps to appear. But the terrible indi- vidualism of the American character is an obstacle ; the existence of three or four great national centres is another ; while the greatest of all will be found in the peculiar character of American publishing enterprise in its present stage. If it be possible, the man of art is more completely than  THE AUTHOR. 179 we are in the hands of the man of business ; though he may more often console himself with the reflection that his publisher really is a man of business, and not merely a dilettante or a potterer, Agreements oftener take an arbitrary form ; and, even with the best firms, accustomed to the more rigid British methods, it is often necessary, for the sake of a greater advantage, to pass minor provisions which are now hardly ever met with at home. Extraordinary arrangements with authors are also—if the bull may be permitted—more frequent, these being generally the outcome of, or closely connected with, the American advertising system, and the quest of the “boomster.” The English publisher rarely gives a substantial advance on royalties unless previous sale records justify it. The American of good standing can apparently draw to a much larger extent upon the support of the retail trade, and so is enabled to mortgage the royalties on a larger first edition if he scents a “big seller.” Thus, a quite uew author may be offered a very large sum in advance of what turns out to be—until sales have reached twenty or thirty thousand—a very small royalty, the inducement being not only the large advance payment, but the prospect of an expenditure on advertisements so heavy that it would be, as the publisher probably justly contends, impossible under the normal British system. It will be better for everyone, I think, when this “boomster ” business is played out ; and one notes with satis- faction that some of the best of the newer houses are following the best of the old ones, by abandon- ing the plan of an exceedingly reduced list of meretricious works, designed solely for sensational advertisement. One wonders how some English houses meet their newspaper bills; and it is not surprising to learn that the American publisher, whose expenditure in this direction has sometimes reached fabulous proportions, is beginning to learn that it is a mistake. He may spend much less and yet set us a needed example of effective display. The Author has been saying some very severe things of late about the British bookseller ; and, without endorsing all of them, I quite agree that our retailers have much to learn, and that upon the improvement of their position the improvement of the outlook for authors and publishers largely depends. If Transatlantic examples are to be quoted, however, it must be subject to some under- standing of the differences of the two cases. In England, apart from a few central shops in the large cities, bookselling is a sadly impoverished business, subsisting largely upon the respectability that attaches to the skirts of culture in an ancient society. The fall of incomes of the landowners and the poverty of the country clergy—classes which would sacrifice books before other luxuries —the extension of the Mudie and Smith libraries, the increasing habit of buying in London, and the growth of the discount system have played havoc with bookshops in the provinces. In America the circumstances are widely different. The book- man is respected no more, probably less, than the engineer ; indeed, no one calling is much more respectable than another. But solid profit is the measure of success in all callings ; and the book- seller expects to get, and does get, solid profits. Trade discounts run to at least 40 per cent. off “subject” books, and 25 per cent. on net books, but the net system now practically covers all but novels. New York is very far from absorbing all the wealth and enterprise and interest of the land ; in every town the readers are much more dependent than we are upon the local stores, Partly because of the comparative newness of the trade, and partly from the American faculty for concentration, these are fewer and larger than in this country. McClure’s, for instance, is almost the only con- siderable bookshop in Chicago, and it is, I believe, the largest in the world, dealing with every kind of book from the “Caxton” and the “First Folio Shakespeare ” to the latest ten-cent reprint. | th does an immense intermediary trade; and alto- gether—to say nothing of the publishing depart- ment—no such organisation exists in this country. Burrows’s, of Cleveland, is another big concern holding the strings of the retail trade of a wide and wealthy region. The recent sale by the pub- lishing house of Henry T. Coates & Co., in Phila- delphia, of their retail department marks the progress of specialisation in this business. Such a firm as Elder and Shepard’s, in San Francisco, includes extremes of trade which are divided here by all that lies between, say, Hatchard and Stoneham ; and their little periodical, Zmpressions, shows with how much skill they appeal to what is best in their vigorous and prosperous community. In Boston, where the trade is older and competition is keener, where the community is more critical and better supplied with libraries, and offers less oppor- tunity for the merely mechanical adjustment of supply to demand, than in the West, there is a greater approximation to English conditions. But everywhere in the New World—and this is the supreme fact—there is a more numerous, more instructed, and more highly-vitalised public to appeal to ; and a wider diffusion of wealth makes effective the universal regard for knowledge as the only title to honour and authority. Ask any intelligent American what is the matter with poor old England, groaning amid her feudal remains, and he will tell you that Culture, also, if we are to get the most out of it, must be based upon Democracy. G. H. Perris. GENERAL MEMORANDA. Sg ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! III. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in he Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the * Cost of Production.” IV. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. —_—_—_—_—___o__ WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. — + EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager, THE AUTHOR. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory, An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills, (0.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (c.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (i.¢., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (@.) apply also in this case. 4, PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5, Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘'hey should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative : that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY —————— HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. i, VERY member has a right toask for and to receive K advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. I  THE AUTHOR. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. ‘Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. ‘The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination, 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6, The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. ‘The Society now offers: —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) I'o enforce payments due according to agreements. 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members, 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. ———_—__—_§_o-——____ THE READING BRANCH. —1+~ + EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. heir MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach, ‘The term MSS. includes NoT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientitic works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea, ———_ +> —____ = NOTICES. ee HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. subscription for the year. 181 Communications for Lhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish, TT Oo COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED RY THE EDITOR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever, very effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. —+~< + THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bunk of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. ——+-~ + V E have read with much pleasure the Report of the Canadian Authors’ Society for 1902. The Society has done good work on copyright, and is evidently still anxious to keep the right view of the Imperial Copyright question before the Canadian authorities. he officers of the society for 1902 are as follows :— Hon. President: Prof. Goldwin Smith, D.C.L. President: Hon. G. W. Ross, U.L.D. Vice-Presidents: Dr. Bryce (Winnipeg), Dr. Drummond (Montreal), Dr. Frechette, C.M.G. (Montreal), Hon. J. W. Longley (Halifax), D. C. Scott, F.R.C.S. (Ottawa). Secretary: Prot. Pelham Edgar, Ph.D. Treasurer: John A. Cooper, B.A., LL.D. Executive: Messrs. James Bain, jun., Castell Hopkins, O. A. Howland, Bernard McEvoy, Mac- donald Oxley, J. 8. Willison, B. E. Walker, and Professors Davidson, Lefroy and Mayor. The society numbers over 100 members, and although there are still, as in the case of every society of this kind, some well-known authors out- standing, the list shows that the society is well supported. The main objects of the society are the same as our own. From such a satisfactory beginning great things may be expected when the literature of Canada is us large as its territory. One of His Majesty’s Consuls residing in a distant part of the Continent has forwarded a  182 letter to the office complaining of the extraordinary advertisement by postcard of a book published by the firm of Messrs. R. A. Everett & Co. The question has been dealt with by letters in The Times at the beginning of last month. We have only taken notice of it because the Secretary received the correspondence from a man— personally unknown to him and not a member of the Society ; one, however, who appeared to be well aware of the interest the Society takes in matters relating to books and book advertise- ments. The Consul also reports that other members of the consular service have received similar post- cards. This tends to show the terrible extent to which this peculiar form of advertising has been carried by the author’s unknown friend, or enemy. We read with pleasure in the letter that appeared in The Times signed by the publishers, that both the author and the publishers deny any responsibility for this method of advertisement. Tt still remains a mystery, therefore, who the enemy may be who has done this serious injury to the author. Has a careful study of the postcards been made } As many members of the Society require advice on the more difficult subjects connected with copy- right and the management of their property, articles have from time to time been printed in The Author declaring the law and advising on these special points. In pursuance of these principles, Agreements from certain houses have also been exhaustively criticised. It has been necessary occasionally to republish these articles, because former numbers of The Author have either been sold out or distributed, and members still require assistance. This is rendered more easily by a printed article than a lengthy letter. Among the many points of law there is one which is frequently a cause of disagreement in the Publishing and Literary world, namely, the law with reference to titles of books. In the September, 1900, issue of The Author an article was printed dealing with this subject. As in other cases so in the present, that number of The Author is entirely out of print. It has been thought advisable to republish the article. M. Jules Lermina, perpetual Secretary of the “Association Littéraire et Artistique Inter- national,” writes to inform us that the address of the Association has been transferred to “22, THE AUTHOR. Rue Chaiteaudun, Paris (9e).” Correspondence should be addressed to the Secretary at “85, Boulevard de Portroyal, Paris.” The twenty-fifth Congress of the Association will take place on the 3rd of October next, at Weimar, under the patronage of the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar. The report of the Naples Congress of 1902 is in the press, and will be shortly distributed. ——_+—_>_+-__ AMERICAN NOTES. t+ HE year 1902, was as I anticipated in my last notes, a record one for its output of books. It was also remarkable in another way. The statistics of the best selling novels show that, in this department at least, there is a growing taste for home products. Domestic fiction claims twenty-three out of the twenty-eight most-read novels of 1902, as compared with nineteen out of twenty-nine in the preceding year, “ The History of Sir Richard Calmady,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “The Right of Way” (which last some are inclined to claim as itself half-American), were the only serious foreign com- petitors of the champion “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,” “The Mississippi Bubble,” “ The Virginian,” “Dorothy Vernon,’ Mr. Connor's “The Man from Glengarry,” and the long-lived “Crisis.” Mr. Whiteing has announced his opinion that American fiction is being increasingly influenced by French novels ; but for my part I should say that there were some indications that native genius would in time find itself strong enough to stand alone. There is certainly nothing French about “ Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,” which is now, I believe, being much read in England. It is prob- ably the most successful work that the Century Company have yet issued. Yet the publishers are quite refreshingly reticent about its sale, declaring that the book is “ too delicate in its motive to be handled in that way ”’—that is, as a “big seller.” At the end of January, however, they did not object to an announcement that the sales had con- siderably exceeded two hundred thousand—it was first issued so long ago as October, 1901—and were still “going*merrily on.” I note that it follows Mr. Norris’s posthumous story in the last lists, still holding second place. Surely it is rather new for a publishing company to have a sentiment against “ working” the public in the interest of one of their works. A cynic might suggest ulterior motives; but far be it from the present writer to make any such base insinuation, Meanwhile, I have to congratulate Miss Hegan  THE AUTHOR. upon having, like “ Mr. Dooley,” joined the ranks of those prepared to give hostages to fortune. She is now the wife of Mr. Cale Young Price, the Kentucky poet. Her new book, “Lovey Mary,” is, I gather, in the nature of a sequel to “ Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.” I infer from the title of a recent announcement of the Boston Mutual Book Company—“ Mrs. McPiggs of the Very Old Scratch” — that the last-named has attained the distinction of being parodied. Undoubtedly, the most remarkable book that has appeared since my last notes were written is the literary legacy of Mr. Frank Norris. “The Pit” was the second part of the wheat trilogy, planned by the American Zola. “The Octopus ” had dealt with the growers of the grain ; “The Pit” is a study of the speculators in it. The scene is Chicago, where the novelist lived as a boy. It is probably an improvement even upon “The Octopus,” and is generally thought to contain the author’s best female character. It is sad to reflect that “The Wolf,” which was to have concluded the trilogy, will never exist but in name. A book which has been exciting much curiosity in the literary world on this side, is “The Journal of Arthur Stirling ; or, The Valley of the Shadow,” published by Appleton. Obituary notices of the supposed diarist, who was said to have com- mitted suicide after the rejection of his blank verse drama by eight publishers, appeared in prominent papers ; but the work is now supposed to have been a concoction, and has been attributed to Mr. Upton St. Clair. If this be true, it is to be hoped that the veritable author will enjoy the exceedingly outspoken utterances which some of its critics have allowed themselves. One re- viewer, whose name appears at the foot of his article, roundly declares the “ Journal ” to be “ the most vulgar and impudent humbug that has been perpetrated for years,” adding to his censure the contemptuous remark :—‘‘ But it won’t work.’ From what I have seen of it, I should judge that his strictures were not without justification. The new story by the author of “J. Devlin Boss” is a romance of the Civil War, and the titular hero, “ The Captain,” is General Ulysses S. Grant. That industrious romancer, Dr. Cyrus Townsend Brady, has also written a new novel, “Woven with the Ship,” treating of the same period, which seems to yield inexhaustible material. Raymond L. Bridgman’s “ Loyal Traitors” con- tains dramatic scenes from the late struggle in the Philippines, and is written in a vein of strong sympathy for the Filipinos. Its admirers would fain have it classed with “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Another notable novel which has appeared 183 recently is Hamlin Garland’s « Captain of the Grey Horse Troop,” which tells how a friend of the redmen not only succeeded in protecting them in the reservation where he lived as agent but also won over to his views the lady of his love who had shared her father’s hostility to the Indians. I do not think I mentioned in my last notes Ralph Corner’s story of school life ‘in Canada, which should be read by all those who enjoy boys’ books as well as those who are attracted by “ best sellers.” “The Henchman,” by Mark Lee Luther, is a cleverly written story of political life in New York state—distinctly a good specimen of the genre to which it belongs. I have an impression that amidst the crowd of books from which I had to make selections for comment in my Christmas notes I passed over a work which is so much out of the common as “The Letters of a Self-made Merchant to his Son.” As, however, Mr. Lorimer’s book is probably by this time as well known in England as America, it seems hardly necessary for me to repair the omission now. The flood of fiction is scarcely yet at the full, and I must pass on to a few weightier, if not so widely circulated, books. Despite the great mass of publications that have already come forth—a bibliography issued by authority last year specifies about 450 separate works—writers are still busy with the Trust problem. The latest contributions of importance to the discussion are Mr. George L. Bolen’s “ Plain Facts as to Trusts and the Tariff,’ and a volume somewhat quaintly termed “The Trust: Its Book,” edited by James H. Bridge. The latter is written by a syndicate in defence of the Trust, the several departments of the subject being treated of by specialists. Mr. Bolen, on the other hand, takes up the position of a judge rather than that of an advocate, suggests remedies and recommends tariff reform. Another subject of great concern to Americans is discussed by Professor Fernow, who, in his “ Kconomics of Forestry,” pleads for a scientific treatment of the question. A good popular work about trees, which has been lately written by Miss Julia Ellen Rogers, ‘“ Among Green Trees,” may, perhaps, be mentioned in this connection, since it is not only descriptive, but both scientific and practical. Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. propose to celebrate the centenary of Emerson’s birth, which occurs next May, by the issue of an edition of his works, which is to include some hitherto unpub- lished manuscripts. Of what these will consist we have as yet been told nothing, but it is announced 184 that the Riverside Press will issue a limited edition, subscribers to which will be presented with original sheets (not fac-similes) of Emerson’s own hand- writing. This “Autograph Centenary Edition z will be a real treasure to the admirers of the philosopher poet. Dr. Van Tyne’s edition of Daniel Webster's Letters will also include unpublished matter of some interest. The editor, it may be noted, has recently published an interesting little monograph upon the “ Loyalists of the American Revolution.” With the appearance of its fourth volume, Dr McCrady’s “ History of South Carolina in the Revolution” has reached its conclusion. It is a monument of research, but many people will think that the subject has been treated at somewhat disproportionate length, and that General Greene has been rather unnecessarily disparaged. Some extracts, and a fac-simile of entries, from Washington’s private Account Book for 1790-1, which was rescued from a fire some fifteen years ago, have been printed in “ The Bookman,” while the Crific of the same month may be said to have gone one better historically with an illustrated “Columbus Codex.” Mr. Herbert Putnam, who is responsible for the latter article, traces the history of the manuscript, and adduces reasons in support of its authenticity. It purports to be one of the three parchment copies which Columbus had prepared at the time of his disgrace, in 1500, of the various grants that had been made to him by the sovereigns of Castile and Aragon, of the Bull accorded him by Pope Alexander VI., and of various other documents. The Codex, which has lately been acquired hy Congress, was bought by the late Edward Everett at Florence in 1818, mentioned in print in 1824 in connection with the printing of another of the transcripts in the pre- ceding year, and again in Justin Winsor’s “ Lite of Columbus ” some seventy years later, but not actually seen by anyone but its possessor until 1898, when Dr. William Everett lighted upon it by chance. It was submitted by the latter to experts in England, and by great good fortune was rescued intact from a fire which broke out in Dr. Everett’s house two years ago. The seller is said to have let this precious document go to the National Library at a practically nominal price. Who wrote “Mary had a Little Lamb”? It appeared that Miss Anne Hollingsworth Wharton had triumphantly demonstrated that the honour belonged to Sara Josepha Hale ; when, lo and behold! there comes a friend of the latter who declares of her own knowledge that the said Mrs. Sara Josepha did not pen the first three—the immortal—stanzas! This is a conclusion too affecting for words. There is now at last to be a first-rate American THE AUTHOR. art magazine. The aim of the American Connois- seur, which will be edited by Mr. Charles de Kay (director of the National Sculpture Society, art editor of the New York Times, and much else) is stated to be “ to reflect the various manifestations of art in America with due reference to the work of foreign countries, and to contribute to the tastes of American connoisseurs ”—a commend- able programme. I return for a moment to literature in order to make mention of a work which deserves com- mendation as being rather apart from the beaten track struck out by the national genius. This is Richard Thayer Holbrook’s “ Dante, and the Animal Kingdom.” Dr. Holbrook’s work will appeal not only to the Dante student, but also to the man of science, and even the general reader may find it not without interest to him. In “ Twenty-six Historic Ships” Mr. Frederic Stanhope Hill, formerly of the United States Navy, may also claim to have overstepped con- ventional limits, even if he has not created a new subdivision of belles lettres, which is neither exactly history, science, or biography. In the last-named department I have little at present to chronicle—in fact, Gaillard Hunt’s “Life of James Madison” is the only book that occurs to me. But I must add to historical publi- cations a volume in Appleton’s “Story of the West” series, A. ©. Lant’s “The Story of the Trapper,” and the opening volume of the “ Corre- spondences of the Colonial Governors of Rhode Island between 1723 and 1775,” edited by Gertrude Selwyn Kimball. My obituary list contains only two names, those of Mrs. Catherwood and Mrs. Frémont. Mary Hartwell Catherwood was the pioneer of the present deluge of historical romance. Under the inspira- tion of Parkman she first wrote stories of the early days of the Middle West, but in “The Lady of the Fort St. John” transferred the scene further north. Her best and most successful work was “ Lazarre,” the story of Hleazar Williams, one of the numerous faux Dauphins, or supposed sons of Louis XVI. But she also excelled in the short story and in tales for children. Jessie Benton Frémont, besides helping General Frémont by her masterly inactivity at a critical moment to conquer California, wrote several successful volumes of reminiscences, and is said to have completed at her death biographical studies of her father and husband. —_ > ——_—_  THE AUTHOR. A CAPE LETTER. ++ VALUABLE contribution to South African literature has been supplied by Mr. Gardner F. Williams, M.A., General Manager of De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited, in ‘“ The Diamond’ Mines of South Africa—Some Account of their Rise and Development,” published by Macmillan in New York and London. The scope of this bulky volume is much wider than might be expected from its title, and the style in which it is written is flowery and most readable. After opening with a chapter on “The Ancient Adamas,” which recounts the adventurous careers of many famous gems, the author passes to an historical account of the various treasure-seeking expeditions which have exploited South Africa, introducing the subject with some mention of the Pheenicians and of the first navigators of the “Cape of Storms.” This leads up to the history of the Diamond Mines, which is followed by a detailed description of the industry in all its branches and aspects, together with a chapter on “The Formation of the Diamond.” One of several appendices is devoted to the Defence of Kimberley, in which the De Beers Company took so pro- minent a part. There are seven maps, 29 full-page plates (a few of them coloured), and 420 other illustrations ; these covering a large variety of subjects. “The Art of Life—An Essay,” by Rev. F. C. Kolbe, D.D. (Cape Town, J. C. Juta & Co.; Dublin, The Catholic Truth Society of Ireland), is described in a prospectus as “an analysis and development of the principle that life is an art, and is therefore subject to all the rules of art.” In his first chapter, Dr. Kolbe analyses the various fine arts, as thus: “A sculptor (1) by the power of his hand, (2) working under the guidance of his mental grasp of bodily form, does (3) with hammer and chisel (4) shape (5) a block of marble (6) into a permanent type of beauty ;” and in the same manner he describes life as “The art wherein man (1) by the power of grace (2) working through the Moral Sense illuminated by Faith, does (3) with the instrumentality chiefly ot Prayer (4) transform (5) the nature of the Soul (6) into the Divine beauty of Justice.” Another little volume published for a Cape author by a British firm is “The Children’s Shakespeare (J/erchant of Venice, Midsummer Nights Dream, and As You Like It),’ by Miss Ada Baynes Stidolph, with a preface by the Very Rev. C. W. Barnett-Clark, M.A., Dean of Cape Town (London, Allman & Son, Limited). The stories chosen are takingly told in short prose chapters, and the book is graced with several 185 excellent photogravure plates, including a repro- duction of Faed’s beautiful conception of ‘ Shake- speare in his study.” The volume is dedicated by permission to the little daughter of the Governor of this Colony. A remarkably interesting and entertaining story is contained in the Rev. Wm. Dower’s unpretentious book entitled ‘Early Annals of Kokstad and Griqualand Kast” (printed at Port Elizabeth, C. C.). The author describes himself as the only one left “of those who took part in the founding of the town (Kokstad) thirty years ago,” and as having occupied the position of a sort of “ Pontifex maximus’ in the little native State. He traces the development of the Griqua tribe, and the rise of its “civilisation ’—due partly to an admixture of half-caste slave blood—and describes its migra- tions, the cruel wrongs it suffered from both Boer and Briton, and its unflinching loyalty to the British flag. The account of the methods of government is most diverting. There were a Aaptyn (captain or chief, who was elected), Privy Council, Volksraad, Magistrates, etc. Dutch was the official language. ‘‘ Decisions of the Volksraad were sent up to the Privy Council, and were often discussed in a free and easy style on the stoep of the chief’s house,” with the accompaniment of coffee and tobacco. The delegates were always the guests of the Government, and the length of the session depended on the food supply: “No beef no business, was the unwritten but standing rule of this assembly!” The country was annexed to Cape Colony in 1874. A number of good illustra- tive plates supplement the narrative. Messrs. J. C. Juta & Co. continue to repair the ravages of the fire mentioned in a previous letter, a number of second editions of South African legal works have appeared within the last few months. Among publications of less importance are “St. Andrew’s College Register,” and the “Report of the Good Hope Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War (South African War, 1899—1902),” both illustrated, and the usual batch of Christmas Numbers; the most notable of these being that of the Cape Times entitled “ Through the Transvaal with Pen and Camera.” The Central News Agency has in projection a large paper publication entitled, “ With Chamberlain in South Africa,” which will be contributed to by many correspondents of English papers, as well as local Pressmen. It is being compiled by Mr. G. H. Kingswell, editor of Zhe Owl, and will be fully illustrated. After an existence of little more than half a year, Zhe Examiner, an ambitious review published fortnightly at Beaufort West, has disappeared. It is doubtful whether anything like it has ever before been attempted here, and the  186 venture was the more daring in that the paper was domiciled in a sleepy little country town. Among its contributors were many eminent English writers, and its decease is much to be deplored. All local magazines, save those devoted to very temporary matters, have an uphill struggle against the teeming produce of the Mother Country. Of new monthlies just out or shortly to appear, Zhe Camera and the South African Freemason are sufliciently introduced by their names, but the same can scarcely be said of the Plagiarist, a sporting journal, which has surely hit upon an original title, even if the paper’s main purpose is not therein indicated. Zhe Tribune is a new weekly, describing itself as a labour paper. Two or three new dailies are also announced. The South African Jewish Chronicle now makes a weekly instead of a fortnightly appearance. Mr. Jas. Strang, poet, novelist, and journalist, who has come to this country for health, has been appointed editor to the Cradock Observer. General De Wets’ “‘ Three Year’s War” has had a phenomenal sale in South Africa, and there has been a large demand for ex-President. Kruger’s ‘“‘Memoirs,”’ General Viljoen’s ‘ Reminiscences,” and Sir A. Conan Doyle’s “Great Boer War” ; all of these appearing in our book shops, both in English and in Dutch. A South African society of artists was a few months ago formed in Cape Town, having for its object the fostering of the study and practice of art in this part of the world. At the imaugural meeting, Mr. J. S. Morland was elected president, Mr. G. Crosland Robinson, treasurer, and Miss Glossop, secretary ; the lady last named has since been succeeded by Mr. E. C. Mace. In conjunction with the South African Drawing Club, the society held its first exhibition of pictures in December, the results being most satisfactory and encouraging. Yet another dispute has occurred between our rival theatrical managers, Mr. Geo. Edwardes, through his representatives, Messrs. B. & F. Wheeler, applying to the Supreme Court for an interdict to prevent Messrs. Mouillot and De Jong from producing the comic opera, “ La Poupée,” in Cape Town. The evidence not being conclusive on either side, the Court refused the interdict, but ordered that respondents should keep an account of receipts, and that costs should be included in an action for damages. The dispute centres round the question as to whether a certain South African right sold by Edwardes was temporary or per- petual. Apropos of this squabble, one of our weeklies, Zhe Owl, published a cartoon reproducing a well-known poster which shows an elderly gentieman acting as a barrier between “La Poupée” and a young admirer, but substituting Messrs. De Jong and Frank Wheeler respectively, THE AUTHOR. for the two male figures. The case of Sass vy. Wheeler, concerning the right to play “ Magda” in South Africa, which was noticed in The Author a few months ago, is still awaiting settlement, but it has not again been brought into court. In the subsequent cases of Hdwardes v. De Jong, in which “A Gaiety Girl” was the cause of quarrel, negotiations resulted in costs being paid by plaintiff. A certain Dutch attorney, having successfully sued the Cape Argus, Cape T'imes, and Scotsman, in connection with asseverations regarding the loyalty of his conduct at the time of the siege of Kimberley, not long ago proceeded to take action against Dr. E. Oliver Ashe, of Kimberley, for defamation of character contained in that gentleman’s book, “Besieged by the Boers” (London, 1900). In this instance the plaintiff assessed his damages at £1,000, refused an offer of £100, and was awarded £5 with costs to date of tender only. Defendant’s counsel remarked that the libelled one seemed to have created a lucrative business by such restitution of his character, and was evidently making the most of it ; but the present transaction has proved unprofitable! Sipney YoRKE Forp. Cape Town, January 31st, 1903. a a “THE LITERARY YEAR BOOK.” —— 1 HE editor of a book has no doubt a large power to influence the opinions of his readers. If competition is the life and soul of business, so no doubt criticism is the life and soul of literature. We owe thanks, therefore, to the former editor of the ‘‘ Literary Year Book”’ for dealing in this, the seventh issue, kindly and sympathetically with the aims and objects of the Authors’ Society. Though he may not have grasped its highest ideals he yet realises that its work is useful and beneficial, and flatters its Committee by praising the more recent lines of the Society’s developments. In last month’s Author there was a review of the book as a whole. It is our duty to look to those parts which bear on the legal and business aspect of the literary life. We have not had time to compare the articles on Agreements and Copyright with those in last year’s issue, but feel—perhaps a more kindly mood is with us—that the only objection to be raised at the present is one inherent in the subject, namely, that it is impossible to deal adequately with these two difficult questions in the allotted space. A small volume would not exhaust the former, nor a large volume do justice to the latter, As in last  THE AUTHOR. year’s annual so in the present issue, the most difficult part is allotted to Mr. Weekes, and courageously he grapples with his subject. On page 72, dealing with the Royalty Agree- ment, he states, ‘‘a date before which the book should be issued is sometimes insisted on by the author,’ and passes the matter by as one of little consequence, although in his comments on ‘“ The Author Commissioned,” he insists that “time is naturally of great importance to the publisher ina contract of this kind.” In truth, time is of no less importance to the author in a Royalty Agreement. The author may have other books coming out, and the dates of publication must not clash. He may have secured a contract for the United States market, and time is therefore essential. A certain well-known publisher, whose publica- tions at one time were more notorious than illustrious, must have failed to secure during the past year the future writings of many meritorious authors, owing to neglect in the past of this very point, and the consequent inconvenience to those whose works he was handling. If time had been made the essence of the con- tract the publisher would have been forced into salutary business habits or would have had to bear the penalty. There are no doubt publishers not a few who would feel it a point of honour not to inconvenience an author by unwarrantable delay, but there are others whose unwritten word is like an eggshell ripe for the breaking. The date of publication then is most important, and the fact should have been emphasised. On page 73, again, the right of making abridg- ments should not be left with a publisher. The author may contract under certain circumstances not to abridge, but should not leave the control in the publisher’s hands. On page 78 Mr. Weekes deals with the profit- sharing agreement, but in a manner hardly satis- factory. As this method is most dangerous, the author ought to have been given a fuller explana- tion of the snares and pitfalls that surround it. The mention of its great dangers recalls an epi- gram that appeared in a recent number of this magazine :— PUBLISHER: The agreement’s signed; the profits we divide— A half to each; applaud a just decision. AUTHOR: Peace and good-will to all this Christmas tide. Clearly ’twixt you and me there’s no division ! Under the same heading in the cost of pro- duction is included, “ catalogueing, warehousing, prospectuses, and general office expenses.” These are items not of the cost of production, but of the cost of publication. To cover these items the 187 publisher is receiving half profits. Otherwise the publisher is obtaining 50 per cent. of the profits as a reward for sitting still ; or—looking at the matter from another point of view—if the publisher has a right to these charges in settling the account, then the author must also bring into account many items altogether omitted connected with his work and labour. There is no doubt that for an author to be able to obtain sufficient protection, this agreement and its practical issues should have been dealt with at greater length with fuller detail. Lastly, why only in the agreement entitled, “ The Publisher Commissioned,” should the author insist upon “ the right to examine vouchers” ? Thisisa Common Law right, and it is best not only in this but in all contracts to let it remain so. Ifa clause is inserted, instead of helping the author, it may curtail his powers. There are clauses, drafted by publishers in their agreements, not unknown at the Society’s office, which, while they appear to the uninitiated to give all that is desired, bind the author to certain definite forms of proof, and restrain him from free action. On the whole, therefore, it is best to rely on the Common Law, which is not unfrequently a synonym for common sense. The faults culled from this article on agreements are faults of commission rather than omission. It has been our aim to fix on one or two salient points and insist on their importance. On the whole, we bestow unstinted praise on the care and diligence shown by the writer. The same comment may well be applied to the article on copyright. Here again the fault, if any, lies in the method. A limit in space must produce many omissions, and the author who relies on an epitomised state- ment of one of the most intricate of laws may find himself surrounded by snares wholly unsuspected. But still there are some phrases and deduc- tions concerning which, perhaps, the writer of the article may be able to offer some more lucid explanation. “There is no copyright at Common Law after the expiration of the statutory period.” Here is a merry confusion of terms: Copyright is a creature of statute. That which is a creature of statute is not of the Common Law, and where in all the statutes or elsewhere is it stated that the right at Common Law to restrain the publication or multiplication of unpublished works does not continue beyond the expiration of the statutory period ? Such a doctrine is surely wholly untenable, otherwise the privacy of the individual would cease to be possible seven years after his death. In the paragraph about “ Books,’ Mr. Weekes states: “The word copyright means the sole and 188 exclusive liberty of printing or otherwise multiply- ing copies of a book.” This undoubtedly is part of the meaning of the word “copyright,” but case and statute law has defined it to cover a wider and more comprehensive range. It is impossible, therefore, to argue “ contrari- wise,” that an assignment of the sole and exclusive liberty of printing a book without limitation is practically an assignment of copyright. It is no such thing, it is still only “a licence.” To take one point of difference, a licence is a personal contract, even though it be for the whole term of copyright. A sale of copyright is not. It is a conveyance of a piece of property. Again, a licensee could not make alterations in an MS., but an assignee of the copyright could alter within non-libellous limits ; and the opinion of an author as to what is libellous may differ considerably from that of a judge and jury. If we turn to the paragraph on “ Magazines and Periodicals,” we find the explanation of section 18 is not very clear, but, recognising the difficulty, forbear from further comment. The paragraph that follows on the drama is unsatisfactory. The author, in his effort to be terse, has sacrificed his lucidity, and the same fault is evident when he talks of paintings, drawings and photographs ; but the artistic copyright affords some excuse for incoherence. It is more complicated than section 18 of the Act of 1842. Let us pass by the rest with a feeling of relief that our task has been to criticise and not to compile. Mr. Weekes has made a conscientious effort, and the result, if not perfect, shows study, knowledge, and judgment. The lists compiled for this book, like all lists in every annual, are not without faults. Some, which might easily have been avoided, were pointed out in last month’s review. The editor’s note before the Tables of Royalties is hardly con- vincing. If the deficiency of the English coinage forbids giving the exact Royalties, for example, on a sixpenny book at the rate of 24 per cent., 5 per cent., 74 per cent. and 10 per cent., it surely would have been better to have settled the matter in decimals or omitted to state the result. To give figures which are absolutely wrong and inaccurate is an impossible solution of the difficulty. The sole value of these tables must depend on their accuracy. And the majority of authors have some knowledge of the decimal system. We hasten to pay a final compliment to the editor and compilers, and to thank them for the care and pains bestowed on the production. G, i. a. THE AUTHOR. “OF THE FASCINATION OF THE LIFE OF LETTERS.” 1 [eee about their craft must always have a peculiar interest for bookmen, and to light upon one of which the charm is not marred by any awakening of an entagonistic critical spirit is a pleasure worth recording. Guide books to Parnassus, author’s wade-mecums—what is the plural of vade-mecum?—and most compilations of hints and suggestions have an irritating effect upon such of us as may be said to have secured a foothold upon the ladder that leads to success in literature ; but books of the Highways and Bye- ways class, written by men who know the country, may generally be relied upon to provide gentle entertainment and food for quiet thought. ~ Two such books have lately been published, “ Literature and Life,” by W. D. Howells (Harper and Brothers), and “‘ The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft,” by George Gissing (Archibald Constable & Co.). The pleasure afforded by these two books is of an identical kind, although emanating from two very different minds. Howells is cheerily optimistic, Gissing tenderly compassionate, although, relatively to himself, optimistic too; the former accepts things as they are with a good-humoured toler- auce ; he is of the world, and has found it a genial place upon the whole; the latter looks back upon his life “with man’s infinitely pathetic power of resignation, sees the thing on its better side, for- gets all the worst of it, makes out a case for the resolute optimist ” ; he has been in the world, but, partly from temperament, partly from force of circumstance, has never been of it. The optimism of the one is congenital, of the other acquired, and its expression in the one case is transparently ingenuous, whereas in the other it savours of special pleading. It follows that the advice given incidentally to their fellow-craftsmen by these two writers is conveyed in widely differing manners, while on essential truths they approximate to identity of opinion. Both books are full of what someone has well described as seed thoughts, and the arm-chair philosopher may water and tend them with advantage to himself. There are authors who write because they can, and others who write because they must, impelled thereto by the irresistible force of genius. It is only with the latter that posterity will have to deal ; but the former are a mighty host, and it is with pity for them that Gissing overflows. “ Innumerable,”’ he says, ‘ are the men and women now writing for bread, who have not the least chance of finding in such work a permanent livelihood. They took to writing because they knew not what else to do, or because the literary calling tempted them by its independence and its  THE AUTHOR. dazzling prizes. They will hang on to the squalid pro- fession, their earnings eked out by begging and borrowing, until it is too late for them to do anything else—and then ? With a lifetime of dread experience behind me, I say that he who encourages any young man or woman to look for his living to literature commits no less than a crime.’ The fact, of course, is that while the world wags young men and women will continue to look there without encouragement, and the old speculation arises in the mind as to wherein the fascination of the life of letters exists. ‘The love of books: the desire of a quiet life: the imaginary freedom from the ordinary cares ; the joy of composition: the desire to achieve the love and respect of the world: their own respect and love for great authors —these,” wrote Sir Walter Besant, ‘‘ are the chief among the many determining forces which may make a young man or a young woman ardently desire to embrace the profession of letters.” That is the summary given by one whom experience had taught, and if not wholly convincing, it will serve ; and having embraced it, what did he foresee? A little further on in the same book he wrote : “ The Literary Life may be, I am firmly convinced, in spite of many dangers and drawbacks, by far the happiest life that the Lord has permitted mortal man to enjoy. ... But I admit that without a reasonable measure of success it must be a dis- appointed and a miserable life. 'That reasonable measure of success is an essential.” It may not come, and there’s the rub. Henry Ryecroft, or George Gissing—even if we preserve the fiction, it matters not which—gets nearer to the truth. “It has occurred to me,” he says, “that one might define Art as: an expres- sion, satisfying and abiding, of the zest of life.” And in a thoughtful passage he justifies his defini- tion. There, probably, is the answer to the question. * All men are poets if they might but tell” what stirs within them ; the fascination of the life of letters is that thereby, albeit with prayer and fasting, the dumb are taught to speak and the inarticulate‘learn to give expression to something of the passion with which their souls are trembling. Even if the artist, from a modesty too rare or from whatsoever cause, forebears to communicate to others the ideas to which he has given expression, he will, nevertheless, have experienced for himself something of the fascination of that life; the charm of literature for the literary man lies in the fact that it is an art as distinct from a profession, and brings its own reward apart altogether from fees. Here crops up that everlasting rock—the ques- tion of financial remuneration for literary work, and Howells deals with it in no uncertain fashion. Every man ought to work for his living without exception, and when he has once avouched his 189 willingness to work, society should provide him with work and warrant him’a living. “I do not think,” he says, “any man ought to live by an art. A man’s art should be his privilege, when he has proven his fitness to exercise it, and has otherwise earned his daily bread ; and its results should be free to all.” ... “The work which cannot be truly priced in money, cannot be truly paid in money.” There is no affectation of superiority in his attitude, no blinking of facts as they are ; he is perfectly aware that the artist is, and must be, only too glad if there is a market for his wares, without which he must perish or turn to something more saleable. ‘All the same, the sin and the shame remain, and the averted eye sees them still, with its inward vision. Many will make believe otherwise, but I would rather not make believe otherwise ; and in trying to write of Literature as Business, J am tempted to begin by saying that Business is the opprobrium of Literature.” Especially is this true of literature, which “ is at once the most intimate and the most articulate of the arts.” The whole article in Mr. Howells’ book is worthy of serious consideration, but enough has been quoted to support the contention that quite apart from pecuniary reward, the charm of the literary life lies in the fact that literature is an art as distinct from a profession, and that art is an expression, satisfying and abiding, of the zest of life.’ It is that satisfaction for which men strive. If the gods endow you with temporal prosperity so much the better for you, but if that “reasonable measure of success” be not vouchsafed, it may be human, but it is not logical to complain. Henry Ryecroft, or George Gissing—again, it matters not which——anticipates the objection : * And why should any man who writes, even if he write things immortal, nurse anger at the world’s neglect? Who asked him to publish? Who promised him a hearing? Who has broken faith with him? If my shoemaker turn me out an excellent pair of boots, and I, in some mood of cantankerous unreason, throw them back upon his hands, the man has just cause of complaint. But your poem, your novel—who bargained with you for it? If it is honest journeywork, yet lacks purchasers, at most you may call yourself a hapless tradesman, If it comes from on high, with that decency do you fret and fume because it is not paid for in heavy cash? For the work of man’s mind there is but one test, and one alone—the judgment of generations yet unborn, If you have written a great book, the world to come will know of it. But you don’t care for post- humous glory. You want to enjoy fame in a comfortable armchair. Ah, that is quite another thing. Have the courage of your desire, Admit yourself a merchant, and protest to gods and men that the merchandise you offer is of better quality than much which sells for a high price. You may be right, and indeed it is hard upon you that Fashion does not turn to your stall.” Reiteration of a truth subtracts nothing from its essence ; rather does each fresh presentation 190 add something to its force. ditto to Henry Ryecroft : “Art is not produced for artists, or even for connoisseurs; it is produced for the general, whocan never view it otherwise than morally, personally, partially,from their associations and preconceptions. Whether the effect with the general is what the artist works for or not, he does not succeed with- out it. Their brute liking or misliking is the final test ; it is universal suffrage that elects, after all. Only,’in some cases of this sort the polls do not close at four o’clock on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, but remain open for ever, and the voting goes on. Still, even the first day’s canvass is important, or at least significant.” Even if in the event the artist be not elected, he will, if Gissing’s definition be sound, have found satisfaction in expression. And in his search after success, what guide shall he follow, at whom shall he aim his winged words? With Mr. Howells’ reply this article may fitly conclude: “There is only one whom he can safely try to please, and that is himself. If he does this he will very probably please other people ; but if he does not please himself, he may be sure that he will not please them ; the book which he has not enjoyed writing no one will enjoy reading.” Mr. Howells says V. HE. M. MORE REFLECTIONS FOR A REJECTED MS.—AND OTHERS. a T’S no use crying over spilt ink. I Too many books spoil the market. A roving MS. gathers no dross. Spare the style and spoil the paper. Put a minor poet on Pegasus—he’ll write like the devil ! Fine ‘“ puffs” do not make fine books. Take care of the agreements;—the publishers will take care of themselves. It’s an ill critique which blows no author any good. Ce n’est que le premier ‘“‘ par” qui cotite (?). (For the Magazine Editor.) Bread I win,—Tales you lose. (For Sir Conan.) A botched plot,—never Doyle’s ! ARTHUR LAYARD. THE AUTHOR. MR. J. H. SHORTHOUSE. E record with regret the death of Mr. Joseph Henry Shorthouse, which took place on the night of Wednesday, March 4th. Mr. Shorthouse was born in 1834, and was consequently nearly fifty years of age when “ John Inglesant,” upon which work his literary reputation deservedly rests, was published. Mr. Shorthouse’s early sur- roundings were of a commercial nature. He had not a public school or university education, and among the circumstances which combined to make him a student, an impediment in his speech, rendering social intercourse irksome, is said to have played a part. On the other hand, his birth and education in a Quaker family had some effect in guiding his studies in the direction of questions his mastery of which drew universal attention to his first book. The story of the publication of “John Inglesant”’ in 1881 is one of considerable interest. The result of long labour, it was for some years denied acceptance. Published privately in 1880 in an edition of 100 copies, it came into the hands of Mrs. Humphry Ward, then living at Oxford, whose appreciation secured its production by Messrs. Macmillan ; after which its success was largely accelerated by the interest evinced in it by Mr. Gladstone.. Mr. Shorthouse’s other writings include ,“« The Little Schoolmaster Mark” (1883), “ Sir Percival” (1886), ‘Countess Eve” (1888), “The Teacher of the Violin, and other Tales”’(1888), and various literary essays, among which were articles on Wordsworth and on George Herbert. His residence was at Lansdowne, Edgbaston, Birmingham. Oe THE VERY REY. DEAN FARRAR, F.R.S. E have to chronicle with regret the death of Dean Farrar. He had been a member of the Society since its foundation in 1884, and had always shown himself in sympathy wilh its aims and objects. His literary activity was incessant, and to an extent overshadowed his great and powerful claims to recognition as a Churchman and a public man. His “ Life of Christ ” has had, and no doubt will continue to have, an enormous sale, although some have found fault because its passages are too florid. Apart from his theological writings, he will doubtless be remembered as the author of “ Eric, or Little by Little,” and other books of a similar type. These books have also had a large sale, but  THE AUTHOR. it is certain that they did not appeal to the class of boy for whom they were written. Possibly the public school boy has changed, but we hardly think this contention is probable. The fault of the book, as far as it is a representation of school life, lies with the author rather than the subject. Dean Farrar’s influence has been one of great power and endurance, and will no doubé last for many years in the English church. + —_____ CORRESPONDENCE. Se “WHETHER OR NO.” Str,—The question does not seem to me to be quite fairly put. Grammar has nothing to do with logic, but depends upon usage and idiom. If a phrase has been widely used, it is “correct” for practical purposes. But if a writer chooses to say “whether or not” because he thinks that others do so, I, for one, shall not object ; and if his case is strong enough, it will prevail. When we come to the true test, that of usage, it can be shown that “ whether or no” has, at any rate, a long record, and it must be familiar to all who have read any other English than that of the present day. Here are a few examples, got together in a few minutes :— “ Whether thou be’st he or no.”— emp. v. 1, 111. “Whether one Nym . . . had the chain or no.” Merry Wives, iv. 5, 33. “‘ Whether the three worthies shall come in or no.” L. L. L., y. 2, 486. dwell with him or no.” Merch. Ven. ii. 2, 48. “Whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no.” fd. iii. 1, 45. “Whether those peals of praise be his or no.” Id, iii, 2, 146. “Whether one Lancelot .. . At least five more examples occur in Shakespeare alone. “ Whethyr will ye come or nay ?” The Life of Ipomydon, ed, Weber, 1. 1844. “ Now whether have I a siker hand or noon?” Chaucer, C.T., D. 2069. ‘Is hit alyfed . . . the na?” (i.e. “Is it lawful :.. or no ?”)—Matt, xxii. 17, Anglo-Saxon version [ A.V. “or not.’] An idiom which has been in use for a thousand years requires no apology. Watrer W. SKEAT. 191 I. Str,—Does your correspondent, “ King’s Eng- lish,” whose letter appeared in The Author for March (p. 160), mean seriously to contend that it is not correct to say or write “whether or no,” or that “ whether or not” is to be preferred? I am not enough of a scholar to discuss the origin of the phrase, but am inclined to suggest that the ‘or no” in modern English, and for that matter in fairly old English, is superfluous, and that “or no” may be all that remains of a phrase “whether, ay or no,” etc. There is tolerably old and good authority for “whether,” without any alternative expressed after it. Let us, however, consider the authorities for “‘whether or no,” and leave anyone who suggests that it is worse English than “ whether or not” to produce his authorities for the latter. I can tell him of one which is cited in the Century Dictionary :— “This obscure thorn-eater of malice and detraction, as well as of quodlibets and sophisms, knowes not whether it were illegall or not.”— Milton, “Apology.” But the same work also quotes :— ‘Whether they had their charges borne by the Church or no, it need not be recorded.” —-Milton, * Touching Hire- lings.” “King’s English” refers to the Authorised Version; I will submit another passage :— “Ts it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no ?”— Luke xx, 22. Will it be suggested that the word “no” is bad English here because “not” would be equally intelligible ? To return, however, to the authorities for the use of “whether or no.” Here are a few from Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, or rather from Latham’s Todd’s Johnson (1870), and from the Century Dictionary. “ King’s English” can verify them if he likes :-— “ As they, so we have likewise a publick form, how to serve God both morning and evening, whether sermons may be had or no,” —Hooker’s “Ecclesiastical Polity.” “Resolve whether you will or no.” — Shakespear e Richard IIT,, Act iv. se. 2. “This assistance is only offered to men, and not forced upon them whether they will or no.”—Archbishop Tennison. “To that frere wyll I go And bring him to you, Whether he wyl or no,” —“ Robin Hood,” Child's Ballads, v. 421. “Whether one Nym... had the chain or no.” — Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iv. se. 5. In conclusion, if Shakespeare and Milton are : ; : : pie. not of sufficient weight to satisfy “ King’s English,  192 let me remind him of the opening lines of the English classic which tells how the long dead, but none the less immortal batrachian voluptuary— “ Would a wooing go, Whether his mother would let him or no.” I am, etc., ARcHIE ARMSTRONG. THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. S1r,—Though I have read many articles in The Author on the trade of bookselling, I do not recollect having seen any allusion to the economic principle which seems specially applicable to the subject. The principle was laid down many years ago by Babbage in his interesting book, “ The Economy of Manufactures,” and is essentially as follows :— Whenever competition is effective there is generally but little profit to be obtained from retailing articles of such a nature that the pur- chaser can easily verify for himself that the article is indeed that which the salesman professes it to be. The sale of ordinary books comes under these conditions. Any intending purchaser can tell at a glance whether the volumes which the salesman calls, let us say, the “ Encyclopedia Britannica ” do really form that work. As, therefore, the reputation of the salesman is immaterial, the pur- chaser may quite safely buy the work from any cheap dealer in a back street, and therefore will not willingly pay a higher price to the honoured owner of an expensive shop. On the other hand, how difficult it is to ascertain whether a horse does possess the qualities which he who would sell it declares it to possess. The prudent buyer of a horse must generally shun the dealer of unknown character. He gives his custom to dealers of high repute only, and has, very properly, to pay a high price for doing so. No doubt the bookseller who deals in rare editions or choice bindings may still find ample rate of profit on his turnover, for then Babbage’s principle does not apply. Thus the ordinary bookseller’s difficulty seems to be the consequence of an economic law, and if this be so it is irremediable by net prices or any similar device. Yours truly, A Constant READER. —— THE AUTHOR. II. Sir,—Seeing that this question is stated in The Author of March to be ‘the most important of all accessory literary problems,” perhaps you will allow me to return to my suggestion in the January number. That the sale of books of all kinds would be universally increased if the public had real facilities for inspection, is obvious. The writer of the article in your March number says, correctly, “ There is probably not a book in the world which some one would not purchase on the spot if it were placed before him.” This may be equally true of most commodities, but the book trade differs from all others, in giving the public practically no chance of ascertaining what it is they are asked to buy. ‘To obviate this, books must be treated like other goods, and offered to the public for inspec- tion. A shop might be opened where books could be inspected for a fee (in case a purchase was not made). Books would also be sent by post, and brought to customers’ houses in carts. The tariff might be 5 per cent. on the value of the books inspected, unless 10 per cent. of their value was bought. What a difference it would make if books were brought to the door! There is a very large public to be exploited, people who, though well able to afford it, scarcely ever buy a book, being kept out of the market by the difficulty of ascertaining what books are for sale, what the contents of these books are, and how they are to be obtained. Make these things easy instead of difficult, and it is quite certain that the sale of books would be greatly increased. Make book-buying easy and satis- factory, and the public will eagerly pay. Why not imitate the butcher and the baker, who bring their wares to the door ? Yours, etc., Norwoop Youne. WANTED A REFERENCE. Srr,—Could any reader of Zhe Author be 80 kind as to inform me through its columns the source of the following quotation ?— Qui cessat esse melior, cessat esse bonus. I have searched every quotation book and list of mottoes in vain. I have seen somewhere, but forget where, that it was Oliver Cromwell’s motto. Yours obediently, J. M. Lary. 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. 13 Issue 07 (April 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 07 (April 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-04-01-The-Author-13-7 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/481/1903-03-01-The-Author-13-6.pdf 0d6196311e83a623dfb65fd97a954a2d PDF Text Text ���������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-03-01 Volume 13 Issue 6 Pages Page range in volume 133–160 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030301 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Muthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. FOUNDED BY SIR Monthly.) WALTER BESANT. Vou. XITI.—No. 6. Marcu 1st, 1903. [PRrIcE SIXPENCE. THE TELEPHONE. t The Telephone connection has now been estab- lei lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. Se NOTICES. — 1+ c OR the opinions expressed in papers that are 4 signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- epgraphs must be taken as expressing the opinion tof the Committee unless such is especially stated ' 0 to be the case. THE Editor begs to inform members of the u# Authors’ Society and other readers of 7he Author ‘that the cases which are from time to time quoted fin The Author are cases that have come before the ‘oi notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the ‘902 Society, and that those members of the Society djwho desire to have the names of the publishers 19: concerned can obtain them on application. a List of Members. Tue List of Members of the Society of Authors ‘can now be obtained at the offices of the Society, ~ at the price of 6d. net. _ It will be sold to the members of the Society ing py —_+-—~<— + The Pension Fund of the Society. _ THE investments of the Pension Fund at eee present standing in the names of the Trustees are 2 as follows. _ This is a statement of the actual stock ; ¢ Vou, XIII. the money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— MES BD ois beni iecrtnees an ctaes £816 5 6 docs: sodns:... 404 10 0 Victorian Government 3 % Con- solidated Inscribed Stock............ 291 19 11 War loan 3. ee. 201. 9 3 otal ee. £1,714 4 § SPECIAL APPEAL. Tur Appeal sent out by the Chairman of the Society at the request of the Pension Fund Com- mittee has been very successful. The total amount of subscriptions and donations up to Dec. 1st is:—Subscriptions, £46 8s. 6d.; donations, £116 14s. 6d. Further additions to either list are set out below. Subscriplions. Dec. 1, Finnemore, Mrs. . 50 0. 0 Dec. 3, Caulfield, Miss Sophia 010 0 Dec. 5, Hecht, Mrs. . 010 6 re Hamilton, Mrs. G. W. 0 6 » Brinton, Selwyn OF a) 0 Dec. 9, Dill, Miss Bessie : 7 0 5 0 Dec. 18, Sutherland, Her Grace the Duchess of : 2.2 0 Dec. 19, Toplis, Miss Grace . 0 5 0 Dec. 22, Anonymous 010 0 Dec. 29, Seton-Karr, H. W. 0 5:0 a Pike Clement, E. 0 5 0 1903. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke 010 6 » Deane, Rev. A.C. . 010 0 Jan. 4, Anonymous 0 5 0 » Heath, Miss Ida 0 5 0 » Russell, G. H. : 1 ft 6 Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline 0 5b 0 ,, Bedford, Miss Jessie 0 5 0 Jan. 19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. 0 5 0 Jan. 20, Cobbett, Miss Alice : 0 5 0 Jan. 30, Minniken, Miss Bertha M. M. 10 0 Jan. 31, Whishaw, Fred : . 010 0 134 Feb. 8, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred 720 5 0 Feb. 11, Lincoln, C. . : ; +0. 5 0 Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert . 0 5 0 » Haggard, Major Arthur . 0 5 0 Feb. 23, Finnemore, John . 0 5 0 Donations. Dec. 1, Sanderson, Sir J. Burdon 5 0 0 », Smith, G. C. Moore 1.0 0 Dec. 2, ‘'revor-Battye, Aubyn Lt 0 » Marks, Mrs. . : 010 0 Dec. 9, Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 0 Dec. 11, Lutzow, Count 2 0 0 » “Leicester Romayne ” 0 5 0 » Hellier, H. George. 11.0 Dec. 12, Croft, Miss Lily 05 0 », Panting, J. Harwood. 010 O » Tattersall, Miss Louisa . 0 5 0 Dec. 19, Egbert, Henry 0 5 0 Dec. 23, Muirhead, James F. - 010 0 Dec. 28, A.S. . : : 751 12 0 » Bateman Stringer . : - 010 O Dec. 31, Cholmondely, Miss Mary -10 0 0 1903. Jan. 38, Wheelright, Miss EH. : » Middlemass, Miss Jean . : Jan. 6, Avebury, The Right Hon. The Lord . ; : : » Gribble, Francis. : Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston . » Miller, Miss E. T. . Jan. 19, Kemp, Miss Geraldine Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs. . : Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rev. Silas Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. . |; Ord, Hubert H. . Feb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor » Carlile, Rev. J. C.. Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rev. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. SPECIAL CONDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Mr. Hamilton Drummond, who is a member of our Society, has offered a subscription of £10 for THE AUTHOR. qaocoorcooocorcon oo or SOceaco Sa Coon oOo S So on five years, if nine other members of the Society will promise the same contribution before 31gt — March, 1903. We sincerely hope that sufficient members of the Society will be found to come forward and meet Mr. Drummond’s generous offer, and that before the time expires we may be able to print in the columns of Zhe Author the full list of ten subscribers of the required amount. ecooeceo Subscriptions. Hawkins, A. Hope £10 0 Barrie, J. M. . : ; : - 10 0 Drummond, Hamilton : : ; 10 0 Wynne, Charles Whitworth : - 10 90 Gilbert, W.8. . . : : - 10-0 Sturges, Julian . ; : ; « 10 90 ee Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. THE amount standing to the credit - of this account in the Bank is......... £330 3 6 There are a few promised subscriptions still — outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, about £4. The subscriptions received from July 1st — to the date of issue are given below :— Patterson, A. . i . ‘ . £1 19 Salwey, Reginald EH. 010 0 Gidley, Miss E. C. 010 0 Nixon, Prof. J. E. 0 7.6 Dill, Miss Bessie 0. 5 @ Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 0 Kemp, Miss Geraldine 010 6 Clarke, Miss B. 0 5 0 —_—_——— 2 —_____— FROM THE COMMITTEE. ——~>— 2+ HE second Committee Meeting of the year was held on Monday, the 2nd day of February, at 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate. Mr. Douglas Freshfield was unanimously elected Chairman for 1903. ‘There is no need to recall to. the members of the Society Mr. Freshfield’s literary — attainments. He was elected a member of the Committee and a member of the Council of the Society in January, 1897. He has been a constant attendant at the meetings from the date of his election, and has — been a strong supporter of the Pension Fund and other objects of the Society. At the present time he acts as one of the Pension Fund Trustees. A warm vote of thanks to the retiring Chairman  THE AUTHOR. - ey — was proposed by Mr. Sydney Grundy and seconded yi by Mr. Lely. Mr. Grundy, in a few words, thanked i) Mr. Hawkins for his constant and untiring labours on behalf of the Society, and for the zeal and patience which he had shown in conducting the many difficult cases and negotiations. The vote was passed with enthusiasm and unanimity. The members of the Society, we are sure, will cordially endorse the oe action of the Committee. The General Meeting of the Society was fixed oe! for Thursday the 5th of March. Members of the o0@ Society will already have received the formal vom notice. He Eleven members were elected, making the elections for the current year 42. There were three cases before the Committee in «ty which members’ interests were involved. On the first case—a dispute with regard to a dj theatrical agreement—the Committee decided to si take counsel’s opinion on behalf of the member. The second case was one in which the publisher sd had refused to carry out his contract. With the 09 consent of the member it was decided to commence 98 action in the matter. ‘ The third case the Committee adjourned to a sisl later meeting, in order that they might have fuller 1178 evidence before them. if There was also a dispute between two members io of the Society. The Committee hope that the )19 Chairman, acting as an unofficial arbitrator, may ‘sod be able to arrange the matter amicably. — + Record of Cases. lg Stnce the beginning of the year the Secretary ced has dealt with twenty-five cases. Of these sixteen # have come to a termination. : Six of the latter were for the return of MSS. In i five cases the MSS. were duly returned to the us authors concerned. In the sixth the author had @ no evidence that the MS. had ever reached the ‘0 office, and the editor, although willing to give every assistance in his power, could find no 2%) trace of its arrival. _ Two cases were for the settlement and arrange- _ ment of difficulties under contracts. These were negotiated successfully. There were four cases of _ accounts, and on demand they were promptly rendered. One involved a rather complicated issue, as the author had been in the habit of supplying “copy” to a paper, and the amount of copy supplied was in dispute. In this case also the matter was satisfactorily settled. The remaining four cases were money demands. In three of these cheques have been sent, and the fourth is in the hands of the Society’s solicitors. There are nine cases as yet unsettled. In twoof 135 these for money due cash has been promised. If it is not paid no doubt a summons will have to be issued to enforce the members’ just rights, or the name of the paper will have to be exposed. It is hoped that the other matters will be satisfactorily closed before the next issue of 7’he Author. ———+—__ Elections, February, 1908. Addison, A. C. 13, Skirbeck Road, Bos- ton, Lincs. Blyth, James Gidley, A. J. C. (Jean Courtenay) Davies, Nathaniel Owen 1, St. Mark’s Hill, Sur- biton, Surrey. 73, Alford Street, Roath, Cardiff. 13, Dennington Park Road, Hampstead, N.W. Fletcher, Miss Ciceley . Hudson, Herbert. Kennedy, Mrs. William E. (Aubrey Lee) Sharam Rectory, Manor Cunningham, R.8.0., co. Donegal. 12, Embankment Gar- dens, Chelsea, S.W. Goring-on-Thames. Westfield Old Hall, East Dereham. Maud, Miss C. E.. Pitt, PW. . : Savory, Miss Isabe Vaughan, The Right Archbishop’s House, Rey. Monsignor John Westminster, 8.W. S > —___—_ LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. —— + — Obituary Notices. HOSE who engage in journalistic work know that every newspaper office has a series of obituary notices ready to hand, written sometimes many years before the deaths of the illustrious individuals to whom they refer. When at last death comes, no matter how suddenly, the editor is prepared. The notices are brought up to date and published. From the author’s or journalist’s point of view one interesting fact should be noted. The editors of one or two papers—those by no means the least in the land—have endeavoured to establish a system of not paying for these biographies until the person about whom they are written pays the debt due to Nature. Should it chance to occur, therefore, that a journalist has undertaken to write the life of a person plagued with the curse of longevity, it may not infrequently happen that the writer dies before his study, and his personal 136 representatives, if they chance to be aware of the matter, are the only ones to benefit by his labour. It is evident that such a position is untenable from a strictly business point of view, unless packed by a contract in black and white, made and signed by the author prior to writing the article. In such circumstances the author is not an° object for pity, but for derision ; but the written contract on most occasions is wanting. Then, as often happens when the terms of a contract are wanting or indefinite, the editor endeavours to interpret the arrangement from his own point of view, and not from the point of view of equity or of the author. On one or two occasions authors have appealed to the Society to enforce their evident rights. The result has been in every way satis- factory. On one or two occasions authors them- selves, by taking a firm stand, have succeeded in obtaining the just reward for their labours when the work has been done ; but there are still many who lie quiet under this form of injustice, and prefer to bear the burden of their misery rather than to make an outcry. Sometimes because they are regularly employed by the editor of the paper, and do not wish to run the risk of losing their salary in order to obtain a few more pounds ; sometimes because the obituary notice may be unexpected work from a big paper, and they do not want to lose even the prospect of further work. Or, again, because they do not care whether they obtain the money or not. Whatever may be the reason that prompts the action, the editor’s point of view is, at any rate, impossible. Legally, the work must be paid for on delivery, if it is up to standard and satisfactory to the editor; unless an arrangement has been made with the author before he commences the work, that he is not to receive payment until the death of the subject. If any authors or journalists—it is common knowledge that there are such—have not been able to obtain their money under the above circumstances, and yet desire to do so, their best plan will be to put the matter before the Committee of the Society of Authors. — oe A Question of Title. Suit or “Le THeATRE,’ OF Paris, AGAINST “Tur THEATRE,’ oF New York, LOST BY Foreign PuBLIcATION. The Paris tribunal has just rendered judgment in the suit brought by the publishers of the French magazine Le Theatre against The Theatre, of New York. The result is a victory for the American publication, its French contemporary having failed THE AUTHOR. to obtain satisfaction in any single one of the charges contained in the complaint. The suit was brought some time ago by the Paris firm of Manzi, Joyant & Co., publishers of the French periodical known as Le Thédtre. It was charged by the complainants, among other things, that Zhe Theatre was a wilful imitation of the French periodical, and that its publication injured the sale of the French periodical, since many persons purchased Zhe T'heatre, mistaking it for the French magazine. Messrs. Meyer Brothers & Co., in their answer, denied that The Theatre had ever been misrepresented by them as being an American edition of Le Thédtre. They pointed out that The Theatre is printed in the English language, and deals almost exclusively with the American stage, whereas Le Thédire is printed in the French language, and deals almost exclusively with the French stage. ——»——_ The Retail Price of Books. Justice LEVENTRITT has declined to grant the application made to him on behalf of the plaintiff in the suit of Straus against the American Pub- lishers’ Association, for a temporary injunction restraining the defendant from interfering with the book-selling business of Macy & Co. The American Publishers’ Association is an organisation of publishers who have banded themselves together to maintain for one year the retail prices of copyright books, and within certain limits to govern the maximum discount to be allowed on certain other books.’ The association’s members bind themselves not to sell to any book dealer known to cut prices, or to any wholesaler who will sell to such a cut-price dealer. Plaintiff alleges that this agreement of the publishers is a combination in restraint of trade, and as such is in violation of the statutes of the State and of the Federal laws, and he asks for $100,000 damages, as well as for a permanent injunction forbidding the defendants from pur- suing the terms of their agreement against Macy & Co. The temporary injunction just denied was asked for in connection with this suit, which now take its place for trial in the regular order. The American Booksellers’ Association, an organisation of retailers reaching throughout the country in connection with the American Pub- lishers’ Association, is made a co-defendant in the suit. The plaintiff sets forth that bookselling is a part of the regular business of Macy & Co., who have developed it profitably by selling at a small per- centage of profit for cash only and not at all on credit, and alleges that publishers have habitually  THE AUTHOR. fixed a list price for books which as a matter of fact only the uninitiated purchasers have been com- pelled to pay; and the statement is made that the defendant associations have interfered with the plaintiff’s business by discriminating against the plaintiff and forcing plaintiff to resort to secret and cumbrous methods to procure the books whose prices it is desired to protect. The defendants deny that their organisation is in restraint of trade or is in any sense in control of the fixing of prices. On the contrary they assert that there is the keenest competition among the various publishers in the association; that each publisher fixes for himself the retail price at which his copyright books shall be sold; that the association does not even attempt to fix the price which may be made at wholesale ; and that the association is merely the expression of the joint effort of the publishers to assist each other in establishing the retail prices at which their own books shall be sold. This right of protection has been upheld in the Appellate Division in a suit brought by a drug firm against the Wholesale Druggists’ Associa- tion, and Justice Leventritt, in denying the appli- cation for a temporary injunction, says that his own views of the legality of the defendants’ acts, as they find support in the very persuasive opinion of the Supreme Court of Georgia in the case of Brown against the Jacobs Pharmacy Company, must yield to the controlling law of this Depart- ment as expressed in the suit of J. D. Park & Sons against the National Wholesale Druggists’ Association. He adds that there is no substantial distinction in principle between that case and dé this. The contest between the Publishers’ Association, which extends throughout the United States in its : operations, and Macy & Co. has gone on during the two years of the Association’s existence, and now : awaits the determination of the present suit. It is said on behalf of the Association that the pub- lishers are convinced that the Messrs. Straus are contending for a principle ; the rejoinder is made that so are the publishers. —+—~—+ —— A Hard Case. Atjthe February Sessions at the Old Bailey an author and journalist was put upon his trial upon the charge of having robbed his agents, or rather, a firm who seem to have described themselves as “The Clarke and Hyde Press Agency,” by obtain- ing from them certain payments under false pretences. We hasten to say that the gentleman In question was acquitted without his counsel, Mr. H. C. Biron, being called upon to address the 137 jury, and that there was no evidence that he had Gas otherwise than as a perfectly honourable The facts of the case exhibit a phase of literary agency that will be new to many of our readers, and will serve as a warning to them as to the dangers that may follow if they embark upon financial engagements without caution. The de- fendant is a contributor to magazines and popular publications upon general and popular subjects. He entered into an agreement with the prosecutors Charles John Lavington Clarke and Bernard John Hyde, under which he placed his own work, while it was agreed that whenever he had an article of his authorship accepted he should be paid by Clarke and Hyde at once the price that he had agreed to receive for the article upon its appearance in print, less a commission of 20 percent. He also agreed to hand over the full price upon receiving it from the editor or publisher, while he bound himself to take all possible steps to recover it, and further agreed to allow sums not recovered and paid over to Clarke and Hyde to be deducted from future payments due from them to him. In these circumstances it might have been thought that the firm of “agents” were sufficiently protected in their dealings, for the author bound himself to adhere to this agree- ment for all his work. It so happened, however, that after the agreement had been carried out without any hitch for some time the anthor drew payment from them in respect of literary matter which, though accepted in advance, had not been yet written, and in respect of an article with regard to which some misunderstanding apparently took place between the editor and himself—a misunder- standing easily explained. With regard to an article agreed for beforehand, there was some delay owing to a collaborator being ill, and with regard to other matters some difficulty or delay arose in the obtaining of photographs for illustrative pur- poses. In these circumstances the firm with whom he had agreed for advances of his payments, and who had made him advances on the strength of his statements that the articles were accepted, appear to have conceived the idea that he had robbed them and obtained the money under false’ pre- tences. Some statement by an editor or a pub- lisher may have been misunderstood by them ; we are not in a position to criticise their conduct fully. They did, however, in fact, instead of resorting to their obvious civil remedy or repaying themselves under their agreement, adopt criminal proceedings. The author was prosecuted criminally, he was actually indicted and tried at the Old Bailey, and was acquitted, as we have stated, without any blame for his conduct resting upon him. It is a strange story, a terribly sad one to those who appreciate the shock, the anxiety, the 138 sorrow and the loss, to the gentleman who through no fault of his own was involved in it, and to all personally connected with him. Those who read of it will see that at the bottom of the whole matter lies the practice of editors or proprietors of perio- dical literature to accept articles, to keep them for indefinite periods of time, and to pay for them only upon publication. The author may be a poor man wholly dependent upon his pen. If he be, he may be lured into entering upon such an agreement as we have described with persons who will treat him as the prosecutors treated the defendant. Their agreement was one sufficiently profitable to themselves for them to have lost nothing by forbearance, if in fact they considered themselves in any way wronged. Many articles accepted are published and paid for within three months, and the author in this instance agreed to abide by the prescribed terms for all his work. T'wenty per cent. in such cases of payment within three months would show a profit at the rate of not less than eighty per cent. per annum. In the same way articles paid for within six months would mean forty per cent. ; and even when work was only paid for after a delay of four years, the money-lenders (for a transaction such as this, in fact, is one of money lending) would realise five per cent. per annum interest, which most people are glad to be able to obtain with moderate security. It is the old story of the weak and the strong, the weak being the author in need of money, and without enough fame to constitute strength, and the strong the persons able to meet his pecuniary requirements. It will be seen that the weak for- feited twenty per cent. of his income as the penalty of his weakness. It must not be supposed that we condemn in all cases the withholding of money from contributors until the article has been sub- mitted to the public. To pay altogether unknown contributors in advance might open the door to frauds upon editors more widely than it is open already, for editors cannot be omniscient, and may -at any time be offered matter already published by some idle thief who has stolen it from an old magazine or newspaper. ‘The article, however, should be submitted to the public within a reason- able time from the date of acceptance, and not retained for one, two, or three yeurs, as is not unfrequently the case. With authors known to the editor there is no reason why the transaction should not be completed at once by payment. In existing circumstances, it is, ay a rule, advis- able that an author should make a definite contract that the money should be paid by a fixed date or on publication, whichever event may first occur. Many editors do their business on these lines already. be eg een og: See THE AUTHOR. BOOK AND PLAY TALK. —1—>—+—_ N the important and very widely read interview with our President, Mr. George Meredith, published in a recent issue of the Manchester Guardian, he made a most interesting personal statement. ‘I suppose,’ he said, “I should regard myself as getting old—I am seventy-four. But I do not feel to be growing old either in heart or mind. [I still look on life with a young man’s eye. I have always hoped I should not grow old as some do—with a palsied intellect, living back- wards, regarding other people as anachronisms because they themselves have lived on into othe times and left their sympathies behind them with their years.” With regard to Imperial politics, Mr. Meredith asks, “ Do our people know what Imperial prin ciples are?” He considers that we have yet to be instructed in them. He goes on to say :— “We call ourselves Imperial, and we believe that we are allied to the Australians and Canadians, but apparently there is no parliamentary notion, or even any publi recognition of what forces and principles animate an move these colonial democracies. They are moying ahead of us in certain directions, and can we, if we are to main tain a close relation with them, remain as we are? I Australia, for instance, they have given the suffrage to women. Are we going to do the same here? I cannot see how we are to keep united in a great Imperial system unless there is a very close agreement between our separat political systems.” Mr. H. Rider Haggard’s “Rural England Being an account of Agricultural and Socia. Researches carried out in the Years 1901 and ~ 1902,” has been very widely reviewed. It i certainly a book to buy for one’s library. A writer in the Contemporary Review truly says 0 jt: “ As a faithful and, within its limits, complet picture of rural England at the close of the nine teenth century, I think it will live for man generations to come.” Rural England is in two” volumes (36s. nett), and contains twenty-three agricultural maps and seventy-five illustrations — from photographs. Professor Edward Dowden is the able editor o the “ Cymbeline” in Messrs. Methuen’s edition o the “ Arden” Shakespeare, which is being issued — under the general editorship of Mr. W. J. Craig. “ Cymbeline” is nearly ready for publication. Lieut.-Colonel Newnham Davis has in hand book to be called “The Gourmet’s Guide to- Europe.” Mr. Algernon Bastard is collaborating — with him in this. It is to be published next month by Mr. Grant Richards, and it deals wit the cuisine of all the countries of Europe and th chief restaurants of the capitals, sea-ports, an “ show ” towns, where there is anything interestin from a gourmet’s point of view to be found.  f _ This unique book is to be free from any suspicion xt te of the trail of the advertiser, as no advertisement uote of any kind will be allowed in it. There will be sods about 260 pages in the volume, and its price will 2 8@ be either 3s. 6d. or 5s. ve —sMrrs. Hinkson (‘ Katharine Tynan”) has just ‘oyee} issued through Mr. Eveleigh Nash a novel entitled 1 A* “ A Red Red Rose.” In the autumn of this year evel! Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. will publish another feyon novel of hers, “The Honourable Nollys.” Besides eyed: these Mrs. Hinkson has just completed another soyo8 novel, and is now busy finishing a book for girls. ~~ Messrs. Blackie are publishing volume by ~\lo9 volume the ‘‘Cabinet of Irish Literature,” the new ibe edition of which Mrs. Hinkson edited for them. ei She has been finishing the proofs of the fourth uploy volume. _ Mrs. Marie Connor-Leighton is at present writing * ow) two long serial stories which are appearing con- “ide currently in Answers. She is also writing a serial ‘a0 for the London Magazine, which started in last 08 month’s number, and is called “ Was She Worth iit?” and there will appear very shortly (Grant ci91 Richards) a story entitled, “In God’s Good ‘afi Time,” by this prolific authoress. wf _ All work announced as by the author or authors »* Tof “Convict 99” and “Michael Dred” is now “di wholly Mrs. Connor-Leighton’s own. Indeed, all sd that she has written during the past five years, “mf amounting on an average to close upon nine “me hundred thousand words a year, is entirely her we Own. ‘| ‘Mrs. Fred Reynolds’ latest novel, “The Man i with the Wooden Face,” will be published very 9 soon by Messrs. Hutchinson & Co. The scene is 18 laid in North Wales. The interest centres round * ai the figure of a music teacher, who passes her ' “#8 first holiday, after many years’ drudgery, amongst » ie other paying guests, in a romantic country house in the beautiful valley of Llanartro. About iy si one of the guests, “The man with the wooden face,” there is a certain amount of mystery ; and, @) as is usually the case in idle holidays spent amongst ~ mountains, woods, and babbling streams, the little % god Cupid plays a busy part. | Mrs. Albanesi’s novel, “ Love and Louisa,” is F running well through a second edition. It has ! 8 been published by Lippincott & Co., in America, ‘{ \m@ and is selling very well over there. _ Rita’s new novel, “ Souls,” will be published “shortly by Messrs. Hutchinson & Co. It is a 408 stinging satire on certain follies and vices of one ’ 4% of the many sets of present-day society. We have been asked to mention the fact that he article entitled “Ink Drunkards,” in our last THE AUTHOR. 139 issue, was written by Mr. L. Harlingford North. We have much pleasure in doing so, as the article has created some stir. There was a full leader devoted to it in the Morning Post. Mr. Richard Marsh’s new long novel, “The Magnetic Girl,” is to be issued immediately by Mr. John Long. The novel is an amusing one, and very readable. Mr. Bloundelle-Burton’s new story of to-day, “ \ Branded Name,” has finished its serial course, and will be published in volume form by Methuen & Co. on the 19th inst. -The mystery of the novel, although told in the form of fiction, has a solid foundation in fact, and will, to many persons in London society, recall some incidents in the lives of two well-known beautiful women which were much discussed some few years ago without becoming matter of public gossip. Miss Evelyn Sharp is to produce a series of readers for children. Of these there are to be three. The first, now ready, has no words longer than two syllables, and the stories and verses about children are all very short. In the second the words and the stories grow a little longer, and so in the third. Most of the stories are illustrated by pictures taken from photographs of real children. Messrs. Macmillan publish the series. “Little Entertainments,” by Barry Pain (1s., Fisher Unwin), contains 134 pages of amusing reading. ‘The Collector” makes a special appeal to us. We quote the opening, and refer our readers to the little volume for the rest of it :— “The critics speak “Tt may be so,’ said the stranger. sut he is very highly of his Academy pictures this year. not an artist. The point is beyond doubt.” “Why ?” “ Because I know for a fact that he understands—really understands—rates and taxes.” We are sorry to say we have room for only one quotation from “John Bull’s Year Book” for 1908 (1s., John Bull Press, 5, Henrietta Street, W.C.) :-— “Toe ART OF WRITING BOOKS. “ One could not advise the aspiring author to do what a certain publisher is reported to have done, namely, to secure a coyer and write a book to fit it. But it would certainly save trouble if one secured a really good title first and then wrote a book around it. “Two more observations in conclusion, which will not be believed by the worshipper before the shrine of the implacable Geddess of Letters, but which must be made nevertheless. The verses of unknown poets are never accepted for book publication, And there is such a limited market for books of short stories that the publisher will not issue them unless they are the products of genius. Young writers, therefore, should never commence with poems or short stories in approaching the book publisher. The better, nobler, and more satisfactory way is to refrain from writing altogether.”  140 Dr. Emil Reich’s “New Students’ Atlas of English History” is designed to aid the student in comprehending the leading historical facts and movements. It is specially intended as comple- mentary to Green’s “ History of the English People.” In each map only strictly relevant details are admitted. When the maps illustrate the progress of events, or campaigns, a brief chronological summary is given on the page facing the map. There are fifty-five maps in all. The first shows, by arrow-headed lines, the migrations of the German and Celtic peoples into and in Great Britain and Ireland ; while the last show British Africa (three maps), the British Empire as it is to-day ; and finally, by a geographical arrangement of statistics, the distribution of British genius for the various counties in the three kingdoms. The Rev. Charles Voysey has just issued through Messrs. Longmans a book called “ Religion for all Mankind: Based on Facts which are Never in Dispute.” The author tells us in his short preface that “ ‘The following pages are written for the help and comfort of all my fellow-men, and chiefly for those who have doubted and discarded the Christian religion, and in consequence have become Agnostics and Pessimists.” Mr. Voysey offers his book at a price (2s. 6d. nett) which will barely cover the expense of production, that it may be within reach of all, and at the same time give proof that the work has not been done with mercenary aims. Among the illustrated editions which Messrs. Macmillan are including in their Prize Library is Sir Walter Besant’s “ Life of Captain Cook.” We have received a little book entitled “ Arriére Pensées,” by Mr. W. P. Peters (Clark & Co., Paris). It is full of epigrammatic sayings and mottoes, some of which have a touch of humour in addition to the sting. We quote one or two examples :— “Many gather nuts, but few crack them.” “ Every dog has his day, and every cat her night.” “We may take the world as we find it, but we never leave it so.” Geraldine Kemp, the author of “ Ingram,” and an industrious writer of short stories, has contri- buted to a recent number of the “ British Realm” a lever de rideau which she calls “A Comedietta.” It is a bright, crisp piece of writing. Graham Hope’s new novel, “The Triumph of Count Ostermann,” is to be published by Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. on the 9thinst. Peter the Great is one of the chief characters of the story, which begins in 1724. Among recently published novels written by members of the Society “The Little White Bird,” by Mr. J. M. Barrie; “Paul Kelver,” by Mr. Jerome K. Jerome; “The Four Feathers,” by THE AUTHOR. Mr. A. E. W. Mason ; and ‘‘ Fuel of Fire,” by Mi E. T. Fowler, are doing remarkably well, Mr Edward Kennard’s ‘‘ The Motor Maniac ” is sellin well also. Mr. George Cecil has just accepted the editor ship of the Piano Journal, a monthly paper which has been known to the musical public fo many years. It is an excellent little periodica chiefly intended for makers and dealers, and published by William Rider & Son, 164, Aldersga Street, H.C. Mr. W. 8. Walker (“Coo-ee”?) has published through Mr. John Long two interesting stories, They are entitled “ Zealandia’s Guerdon”’ and “ In the Blood.” The latter has sixteen illustrations by John Williamson. Both tales are very read- able; ‘Coo-ee” so evidently writes from & thorough personal knowledge of Australian char- acter and Bush life ; he shows, too, in ‘ Zealandia’s Guerdon” that New Zealand is familiar to him, Mr. W. Somerset Maugham’s new play “ A Man of Honour” is issued as a literary supplement to the March number of the Fortnightly Review. It was one of the two plays produced by the Stage Society at the opening of its fourth season. Sir A. Conan Doyle, Mr. W. Gillette, and Mr, Charles Frohman have now had the interim ~ injunction made perpetual against Mr. H. S| Dacre restraining him from using the title “Sherlock Holmes” without printing after tha title “ Not the Lyceum Version.” We understand that Mr, Henry Arthur Jones — new three-act comedy of modern life will b produced at the Garrick on March 2nd. Mr. ‘Arthur Bourchier, Miss Violet Vanbrugh, Mr, Sau Sothern, and Miss E. Arthur Jones will be amon those appearing in the caste. Mrs. Hodgson Burnett’s play ‘“ The Littl Princess” has made quite a hit at its matinee performances in New York. “Resurrection,” a dramatised version of Tolstoy great novel, by Henry Bataille and Michael Mortol was produced at His Majesty’s Theatre on the evening of February 13th. The play is admirably staged. There are some fifty dramatis person. The plot of the drama does not, of covrse, kee close in every detail to that of the nov.!. Mr. Tree takes the part of Prince Dimitry Ne aludoff,, and Miss Lena Ashwell is a charming and at th game time life-like Katusha. She hada deservedly enthusiastic reception. Mr. Oscar Ashe was able Simonson. Mr. Lionel Brough played admu ably the part of the merciful merchant in #l jury scene.  THE AUTHOR. r= “The Marriage of Kitty” reached its 200th seq performance on the evening of February 16th. - «90 Our readers will remember that this popular play esy was produced at the Duke of York’s Theatre on joo8 August 19th, 1902, and was transferred some » sa" weeks later to Wyndham’s Theatre to make room / for Mr. J. M. Barrie’s “ The Admirable Crichton.” of We understand that Miss Hilda Spong is to play «9d the réle of the Duchess of Quinton in “The Bishop’s 9volf Move ” when it is produced in New York. r The Feuilleton of the Narodni Listz, one of the joie chief journals of Prague in the Czech language, eey was lately devoted to the work of Mr. James Baker, ‘ ody who has made the Bohemian folk, their land and | ei) its history essentially, his own subject amongst ‘og English writers. The article that is by A. L, salel Jelen is headed “ Our English Friend.” It gives ‘la 8 a sketch of the books and articles Mr. Baker has ‘ivy written dealing with Bohemia and Bohemian life ' bas and history. His two historical novels, ‘The ibis Cardinal’s Page” and “The Gleaming Dawn,” oe adj the scenes of which alternate between England and s.fo@ Bohemia in the fifteenth century, and “ Mark Jif Tillotson,” a modern novel, are about to appear “3 gi in the Bohemian tongue.” +> PARIS NOTES. —+-—<>— + NE of the great events of the month of February in the French literary world was the publication of Zola’s posthumous novel “ Verité.” “f -'This book is the third volume of the series » entitled “ Quatre Evangiles.” The first two were > “Fécondité” and “Travail,” and the last volume ~ of the series, “ Justice,” was not even commenced at the time of the author’s death. It requires a certain amount of courage to com- © mence this book, which is nearly seven hundred - and fifty pages long and very closely written. Had ) the author been spared, he would undoubtedly have - eut it down considerably, as the descriptions are 6! long, there is a certain amount of repetition, and i the story itself is greatly hampered by the excess © of detail. Of course it is evident from the first chapter #) that the author in planning this book was thinking + of the Dreyfus case. The plot is quite different, © bnt the victim, the man who is wrongfully accused, is a Jew. When the sentence is pronounced, we have the description of the state of mind of the friend who has taken up the cause of the unfortu- nate man. It seems as though Zola must have noted down his own impressions during the Dreyfus trial and his desire for the truth. 141 He touches on the attitude of members of various classes of society. We have the bourgeois, the working-man, the wealthy Jewish banker, and the ruined aristocrat who has married the banker’s daughter, There are also priests, bigoted women, Government officials, and, indeed, representatives of most of the prominent types of modern French society. The chief idea of the book seems to be to prove how difficult it is for truth to come out victorious, fettered as it is by the ignorance and prejudices found in every rank of life. Zola attempts to prove that it is only by the education of the masses that any true progress can be made. At the close of the book we have the key-note. “Non! le bonheur n’avait jamais été dans l’ignor- ance il était dans la connaissance, qui allait changer l’affreux champ de la misére matérielle et morale en une vaste terre féconde, dont la culture, d’année en année, décuplerait les richesses. . . . Et, apres la Famille enfantée, aprés la Cité fondée, la Nation se trouvait constituce, du jour ou, par instruction intégrale de tous les citoyens, elle était devenue capable de vérité et de justice.” A most interesting book by Henri D’Alméras, entitled ‘Avant la Gloire,’ was published quite recently. It is the story of the literary career of many of the French modern writers in the days before they were known to the public, and the perusal of the two volumes might be encouraging to many literary aspirants. Among the authors mentioned are: Dumas fils, Goncourt, Daudet, Maupassant, Verlaine, Coppée, Sardou, Halévy, Anatole France, Bourget, Loti, Ohnet, Jules Verne, Margueritte, Charles Foley, and Brulat. Among historical works lately published is the fifth volume of M. Albert Sorel’s ‘‘ L’Europe et la Révolution.” ‘This volume is entitled ‘‘ Bonaparte et le Directoire.” Another historical work is by M. le Comte Fleury, “Les Fantémes et Silhouettes.” In this volume we have studies of the two Princesses de Condé, Lauzun and Madame de Stainville, du Barry, Marie Antoinette, Despreaux, the husband of La Guimard and Madame de Custine. “Le Paradis de Homme,” by Mare Andiol, is a most curious book. It is supposed to be a romance of the future, and the opening chapter is dated 2003 and written from the New-Eden. Several books have already been published anticipating the time when the progress of science and socialism shall have worked wonders for mankind. M. Andiol, however, proves that even in this New-Eden the inhabitants do not find perfect happiness. And a wise old peasant woman declares: “It’s no use expecting from this earth what it does not give.”  142 As regards magazines and reviews, there have been several fresh ventures recently here in the way of Anglo-French publications. it is now about a year ago since Miss Nina Estabrook started an illustrated paper called Paris- World. It is a monthly review containing short articles and sketches on Parisian topics. The early numbers would appeal, perhaps, more to ‘Americans than to an English public on account of the illustrated interviews and the “ writing up” of people whose fame is merely social. The last numbers of this paper are greatly improved, some of the illustrations are excellent, and if only certain pages could be replaced by a few literary articles the little magazine would do great credit to its editor. It has hitherto been chiefly cir- culated in Paris and America, but the idea now is to make it an organ of Parisian news for London and for the American and English colonies in all the European capitals. Another periodical which has appeared here within the last few weeks is The Weekly Critical Review, a sixpenny journal devoted to literature, music, and the fine arts. It is edited by M. Arthur Bles, and among its long list of contributors are names such as MM. Jules Claretie, Francois Coppée, Gustave Larroumet, Paul Bourget, Auguste Rodin, Jules Verne, Coquelin cadet, Huysmans, etc. It contains articles in English and French, and, judging by the way in which it is being taken up, it appears to have supplied a need. There are numbers of people who read French and English with equal facility, and for them it is most interesting to find a paper publishing the thoughts and ideas of literary men, artists and musicians either in English or French, as the case may be. There is no vulgarity whatever about this new review, and in these days this certainly is refreshing. There is a portrait of some celebrity given away with each number, but there are no other illus- trations. Still another periodical has commenced here in two languages, English and French, but in this case the articles are all translated and given in both languages. The International Theatre is the title of this new venture, and the only wonder is that dramatic authors and theatrical people generally should have existed so long without such a magazine. It is published monthly, and contains an account of theatrical events in all parts of the world. A monthly report in French and English is given of the plays produced in Paris, Vienna, London, Berlin, Rome, St. Petersburg, New York, etc. Through the medium of this paper authors can follow the career of their plays round the world. There seems no doubt whatever but that this review will have immense success, There are THE AUTHOR. excellent photos of artistes and dramatic authors of every country, and some most interesting articles written specially for the paper by celebrities in the theatrical world. The February number contains an interview with M. Sardou on the subject of the play ‘ Dante,” which he has written with M. Moreau for Sir Henry Irving. There is also an article on the “Dickens Theatre,” by John Hollingshead. The editor of the International Theatre is M. Gaston Mayer, son of the well-known impressario who has, for the last thirty years, managed the French plays in London. M. de Beer acts as manager of the new magazine, which is published in Paris. There seems to be great enterprise this year with regard to English publications in Paris. The new edition of English books brought out by Mr. Fisher Unwin for Continental circulation is a great boon to the English-speaking colony in European countries. Hitherto we have had to put up with the Tauchnitz edition, which is so badly bound in its paper cover that it comes to pieces in the hand. If only other English publishers would supply @ similar edition to the “Unwin Library,” the Tauchnitz firm would have to improve their edition or retire. Mr. Calmann Levy supplies the “ Unwin Library” in Paris. There is to be a great treat for art-lovers at the beginning of April. The two hundred and forty-five original draw- ings by Maurice Leloir, for Alexandre Dumas’ “ Dame de Monsoreau,” are to be sold, and there is to be a private exhibition of them in the Galerie des Artistes Modernes on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of April. There is an illustrated catalogue of the draw- ings, some of which are most quaint. ‘At the theatres one of the excitements has been Madame Sarah Bernhardt’s new interpretation of Hermione in Racine’s “‘ Andromaque.” M. Saint- Saens wrote some music for it to give foree to the most exciting passages. The International Theatre has just given us a German play, “ Jeunesse,” by Max Halbe, trans- lated into French by Myriam Harry. M. Bour was excellent as the German student, and M. Bauer very fine as the idiot. There are two priests in the play, and this is probably why there was so much excitement about it when it was played in Germany. The fine acting carried it through well in Paris. « Bloradora” has been adapted from the English, and is now being played at the Bouffes Parisiens. Auys HALLARD. —_—_——_+-—>—+>—__—_ THE AUTHOR. PUBLISHERS’ PROFITS AND AUTHORS’ RETURNS. —+—> + A Comparison. N the January Author certain facts and figures, intimately connected with nett books and publisher's profits, were put forward for con- sideration. It is more than probable that an endeavour will be made to deny the figures, and to prove the deductions arrived at to be false. Mathematics have never been an exact science in the opinion of an adversary, and a syllogism never anything but a useless figure of speech. Another evident criticism of the article would state that the prices were based on the whole of the edition selling, and that only one book in thirty pays its way, or, as a music publisher asserts, 2 per cent. of the published songs succeed. But there is no need why the author should suffer in order that the publisher may be allowed to gamble. Or in other words, each book should stand by itself, and from the author’s point of view must always do so. To those who do not remember the figures set forth it is as well to repeat them. The cost of production of 1,050 copies of a book of 640 pages, with a fair amount included for advertising, costs £170. The book sells at 12s. 6d. nett. W = the amount per copy of the cost of pro- duction. X = the royalty per copy paid to the author. Y = theamountof the publisher’s profit percopy, Z the amount of bookseller’s profit per copy. W+X+Y+2Z= 12s. 6d. = 150d. In the former article, which contained the detailed particulars of figures and calculations, the equation worked out as follows— 42°94 + 15 + 50°06 + 42 = 150. Or 3s. 6°94d. + 1s. 8d. + 4s. 2-06d. + 3. 6d. = 12s. 6d. Take these figures! Consider them! Turn them about! Look at them under changing lights! They will afford food for thought. The publisher takes the lion’s share. It must be remembered that throughout the calculations care has been taken to state his profits at a low figure, the only advantage that has been given him—let us be quite fair—that the full edition of 950 copies (not 1,050) has sold. The bookseller, who does little beyond purchasing the book at one price and selling it at another, Teceives not +’; of a penny less than the printer, the binder, etc. {who have done all the mechanical work, The author, whose expenditure of time, to say nothing of anything else, hag been the greatest, comes in nowhere. 143 The proportion of profits may be made more clear by stating them in percentages. Thug :— 28°63 + 10 + 33°37 + 28 = 100. So that if 950 copies are sold, and the author Tecelves 10 per cent. royalty, the publisher obtains : 1. The return of the amount he invested. 2. Sufficient to pay the author’s royalty. 3. Almost a cent. per cent. profit. If the sales take place within one year the result is eminently satisfactory. If within two years, he has made about 50 per cent. If within four years, 25 per cent. The publisher, anxious to join in the debate, at once leaps to his feet, and with much waving of arms, bursts into reply Firstly, that the figures of the cost of production are wrong. Secondly, that the whole edition has sold out— a fact almost unparalleled in the annals of publishing. Thirdly, that the author’s royalty is absurdly understated, as it is well known that authors now- a-days, etc., ete. In answer to the first joinder of issue, let the publisher produce his own figures. If he can show them to be reasonable market prices for printing, paper, and binding, there is nothing to fear. In answer to the second, let us consider the figures alittle further. How many copies must the publisher sell at 9s. to be able to pay for the cost of production and to leave 30d. profit on each copy, so that he may have an equal profit with the author, that is 15d. for himself and 15d. for the author—15d. being 10 per cent. on the published price of the book. 12s. 6d. = 150d. The sum is a very simple one :— 30d. = 5 sixpences. 9s. = 18 sixpences, £170 = 6,800 sixpences. Let X = the number of copies that must be sold. 18 X = 68004+5 X. 13 X = 6800. X= 523°07. The publisher, therefore, who sells 524 copies— surely not an unreasonable sale—receives a fraction over the amount received by the author. But it is of the utmost importance to remember that 10 per cent. on the published price has nothing to do with the percentage on the capital invested. The capital invested is £170. The sum which the publisher receives on each copy is 9s. From this he deducts 1s. 3d. for the author’s royalty, and 3s. 6°94d. represents the capital which he has invested. : The sum, therefore, which he receives for 524 copies is, after deduction of the author’s royalty— 524 x 7s. 9d. = 4,061s. = £208 1s. ; : or, after deducting £170, the cost of production, £33 1s.; and this is the publisher’s profit.  144 In order to express the amount as a percentage, the following statement must be considered : 33°05 170 : 100 2: 33°05: Se 1941. é The publisher’s profit, therefore, exceeds 19 per cent. of his invested capital when only 524 copies are sold in twelve months. Sometimes as many as 524 copies would sell on subscription — that is, when the book is being placed before the trade at the date of, or just prior to, publication. Then with, say, six months’ credit, the publisher would make 38 per cent. Take the darker side: 524 copies only sell in two years, even then the publisher makes 93 per cent.—a not unreasonable investment for his money. If the whole edition—that is, 950 copies—are sold within the twelve months, by a similar process of reasoning—it is unnecessary to work out the figures—the publisher gains £198 2s. 6d. That is, the publisher’s profit on his investment of £170, to express the same in the form of a percentage : 170 : 100 +; 198125 ; 100 x TAS 729 — 316-55; or the publisher makes more than 1164 per cent. per annum on the capital he invests, supposing he sells the edition within the year. If the edition sells in two years, he makes 58% per cent. ; if in three years, over 38 per cent. Tn answer to the last statement, the author’s royalties are what a process of bargaining will make them ; for the well-known writers of fiction 10 per cent. is absurdly low. The book is pub- lished at 6s., and all the figures have been placed before Members on many occasions. But when a book is published at 12s. 6d., it is not infrequently a volume of memoirs, a bio- graphy, or a book of travel, and is the property of the too confiding one-book man. He knows not the price of literary wares. He is ignorant of publishers’ methods ; or, perhaps, as the book is written in leisure moments, he is only too glad to get anything for it, and proceeds all unwittingly to undersell his brethren of the pen. The one-book man is the natural prey of the publisher, who reaps a golden harvest at the rate of 10 per cent. on all copies sold, or at even lower figures, such as 10 per cent. after the sale of 100, 200, or even as high as 500 free of royalty. However, let us give the publisher the benefit of his third and last objection. The sum to be considered is that divided between the author and publisher : 15 + 50°06= 65°06. The publisher receives for the book a sum of money which enables him to pay (1) the cost of THE AUTHOR. production, (2) the author’s royalty, (3) a profit to himself as a percentage on his capital. Now the following table will show that even if the publisher’s objection is sustained, and the whole edition sells within a year at the rate of 30 per cent. to the author on the published price, he reaps 46°71 per cent. on his capital. Publisher’s inte- Author’s Author Publisher rest on capital in- royalty receives receives vested per cent. per cent. per copy. per copy. per annum, 74d. 4s. 9°81d. 134°39 10 1s, 3d. 4s. 2°06d. ... 116°55 12 1s. 6d. ... Ss. 11:U6d. 1.) 10571 15 1s. 10$d.... 38. 6°81d. 99°69 20 25. 6d. ..,, 28. 11060... 81°64 25 38: lad. ... 28. 3°81d. 64°76 30 3s. 9d. ... 18. 8°06d. 46°71 35 4s. 4¢d. ... 1s. 081d. 29°80 40 5s. Od. Os. 506d. 11°78 It is possible that a further objection may be raised. ‘Che publisher will say, “ You have taken the sale of limited numbers of the edition when the author receives 10 per cent.; and, again, you have taken various royalties to the author when the whole edition is sold. But what of the pub- lisher’s profit when the author’s royalty is high and the whole edition does not sell ?” Supposing, then, the author’s royalty is 15 per cent., 20 per cent., 25 per cent., how many copies must the publisher sell to make his profit on each copy equal to that of the author, and what interest per cent. does this in each case represent upon his investment of £170, if the copies are sold within the twelve months ? The problem is how many copies must the pub- lisher sell at 9s. to be able to get back his capital, £170, expended on the cost of production, and to have for himself a sum equal to that which he pays the author. The cost of production is always £170 = 3,400s. = 40,800d. The sum which the publisher receives for each copy is always 9s. = 108d. Let X in each case represent the number of copies which must be sold. Then, in the first case, the author receives & royalty of 15 per cent. =x a. = 22°6d. The publisher must have, to divide equally between himself and author 2 x 225d. = 45d. upon each copy sold. 108 X = 40,800 +45 X. 63 X = 40,800. T= 6176 The publisher must sell 648 copies. To find his THE AUTHOR. profit per cent. upon his invested capital of £170 = 40,800d., we must write, 100 x 22°5 x 648 . 28 ODA . es As 40,800 : 100 3: 22°5 x 648: oh 22:5 x 648 408 Secondly, when the author’s royalty is 20 per cent., z.e. 30d. The publisher must have, to divide equally between himself and the author, 60d. = 5s. on each copy sold. And the calculation can be made in shillings. 9 X = 3,400 + 5X. 4X = 3,400. X= 650. The publisher must sell 850 copies. To find his profit per cent. upon his invested capital of £170 = 3,400s., he must write, As 3,400: 100 ::2°5 x 850: 34 It is deserving of remark that the publisher’s gain per cent. creases (in consequence of the larger sale and the larger consequent profit on each copy), although he is giving a larger royalty to the author. But a point exists at which he is no longer able to share equally. Thus: in the third case, when the author’s royalty is 25 per cent., 7.e. 37°5d. per copy. The publisher must have to divide equally between himself and the author 75d. on each copy sold. 108 X = 40,800 + 75 X. 33 X = 40,800. X= 1,236°6. The publisher must sell 1,237 copies. This he cannot do, having only 950 copies for sale. That is to say he cannot give the author a royalty of 25 per cent., and himself reap an equal profit per copy. And this appears also in the table given above, where it is shown that at a royalty of 25 per cent. the publisher’s profit per copy becomes less than the author’s, even if the whole edition is sold, but yet his profit on his capital when paying the author 25 per cent. is substantial. It is 64°76. All possible objections have now been met. It is clear that with a limited sale, and with royalty that to some may appear large, the publisher’s profit is still substantial. If it does not quite = 85°7. 100 x 2°5 x 850 _ 3,400 equal that of the author in some cases, it is no small percentage on the capital invested. Workers in other lines of business would be pleased if they could reckon on such a profit. 145 If publishers grumble about their losses it can only be accounted for by the fact that that vice which is gradually pervading and destroying all legitimate trade has caught them also. They are eng with books, as others with stocks and shares, _ THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. +4 The Bookseller. HE question of “The Distribution of Books” having been taken up by 7he Author, it is to be hoped that the whole subject may be thoroughly threshed out. Mr. MacLehose has, at the beginning of his interesting article, modestly pleaded that the question deserves more attention than is usually given it. That is putting the point temperately. Any one who contended that the distribution of books is at the present moment the most important of all accessory literary problems would be probably ‘not far from the truth. The facts require to be dragged into day- light, and the whole situation to be made plain. And that any one who can assist in any way to. this end will be doing good service must be the present writer’s excuse for a few remarks upon one aspect of the subject from one who can make no pretence to be either fully acquainted with all its bearings or by any. means so well informed as Mr. Mac- Lehose» The general obscurity and uncertainty at présent existing respecting the methods and complications of the distribution of books exactly resemble those which obtained concerning the cost of production before Sir Walter Besant, in the early years of the Society of Authors, brought the previously carefully concealed facts to light. The cost of production has long ceased to be a secret. And there is no reason why the methods by which books are distributed should remain one, if the interested parties (and they are many) choose to have the facts made plain. If the Society of Authors can assist to this desirable end, a service will be rendered, not to authors only, but also to the reading public, and to the publishers. That sales should increase is as much to be desired by these last as by any one else. That the distributing machinery is unsatisfactory and out of gear is undeniable. Wherever we find simultaneously existing a producer who cannot sell the commodity which he produces and a purchaser desirous of obtaining the same commodity unable to procure it, the method by which the commodity is distributed is evidently faulty. This is at present the case in the book trade. Authors cannot command really popular sales;  146 publishers cannot secure remunerative ones. And at the same time the larger part of the reading public—a public which would be larger than it is if its tastes were not systematically thwarted— cannot procure the books it desires. The outcry of the impossibility of getting books is universal. Every one has heard it in all forms, ranging from the complaint of the subscriber of the circulating library who reads only for amuse- ment (the most laudable, excellent, and improving of all amusements), andsdeclares “ One can never get what one wants,” to the protest of the scholar who knows how small are the number of shops at which he has any chance of procuring the works necessary for his studies—if he can procure them at all. In the suburbs and in the country the people who will have books send to town for them, in some cases take railway journeys to procure them ; the scholar makes laborious extracts at the public libraries of the matter which he requires, because to get the actual works is impossible. But the ordinary reader or purchaser will not, of course, take all this trouble. He simply goes without what is difficult to procure, declines to purchase what he cannot see, and deserts a market .at which his custom is discouraged. -~ On the other side the cry is that the unproduc- tive stock of books, whether new or old, remains on the hands of the publisher and bookseller. To dispose of it is impossible. Yet there is probably not a book in the world which some one would not purchase on the spot if it were placed before him. Mr. MacLehose appears to assign the larger part of the responsibility for this unsatisfactory state of things to the publisher. The present writer has no wish to dispute the conclusions of a man better informed than himself; but he believes that it is nearly impossible to exaggerate the lethargy and incapacity of the ordinary retail bookseller. ‘These retail booksellers are the final link between the author and the public. They are the distributing agents on whose capacity the publishers’ profits largely depend. They are the salesmen whose place it is to encourage the larger outlay of money upon books by the general public. There are, no doubt, booksellers and booksellers. There are booksellers (how few ! ) who if, reversing the discount system, they were to add twenty-five per cent. to the price of the books which they sell, might justly claim that their wares were cheap at the enhanced price. The scholar who has to take up some difficult subject, and is in doubt from which works the new knowledge which he requires can be most rapidly and most surely obtained, if he has a bookseller capable of affording him the information which he wants, able to mention up- to-date books not to be found in encyclopedias and THE AUTHOR. bibliographies, able to state which work stands highest in the estimation of experts, and prompt to furnish information respecting the appearance of new works on a special subject, would gladly pay 25s. instead of 20s. for the advantage of being immediately provided with the very works he wanted. ‘The man whose time is money, in need of some uncommon work, would find it an economy to pay the enhanced price to have a work, of which he stood in immediate need, instantly handed to him across the counter. But the booksellers able to render such services are extremely rare ; and they do not put twenty-five per cent, on to the price of their books. But the vast majority can be called booksellers only on the principle of dwcus a non lucendo. If asked why they do not stock books, they simply reply that they cannot sell them. And in many cases the reason why they cannot sell them is simply that they do not know how to do so. In a recent number of 7he Author figures were given which showed that in the case of the nett book the bookseller’s profit is less only by an insig- nificant fraction than the whole sum paid for pro- duction, the earnings of the paper-maker, com- positor, printer, and binder—in fact, the price of the whole of the mechanical labour. And all that the bookseller does is to procure the book, perhaps paying a trifle for carriage, and to hand it across the counter. Yet he cannot make these severe labours remunerative | That appears at first sight strange. But it is not so very strange if the capacities of the ordinary bookseller are taken into account. As an instance of what these can be, may the writer mention a recent experience ? Happening to require a cheap copy of the poems of Milton for marking, and not being in a hurry for it, he ordered a “Chandos Classics’? Milton from a suburban bookseller. It was never delivered. But at the end of a fortnight the bookseller found energy enough to send a messenger to say that the book could not be procured. When asked for the same afternoon at the shop of one of the cash booksellers in the Strand, it was of course produced at once Whether idleness, ignorance, mere forgetfulness, & disinclination to supply the book, or 4 combination — of all these, led the suburban bookseller to say that the work could not be procured, the Powers above — know. He asserts that bookselling does not pay — —in his case, naturally. Curiosity prompted a different experiment upon the tobacconist who has a shop nearly opposite the able bibliopole, and, like many of his trade, at the same time plies the business of a newsvendor. This time the work was a learned one on Egyptology. “If I give you the title and the publisher's address can you procure it?” ‘JI can procure it at once if  you will give me only the title,” was the immediate reply. And the book arrived the same evening, That a bookseller could, if he chose, procure a book as easily as a tobacconist could is evident. If booksellers of this kind are losing their custom, so much the better. The country would be benefited by the bankruptcy of the whole lot and the transference of their trade to more competent hands. All over the country the case is more or less the same as in the suburbs—rather more than less. In the provinces it is generally known that only the address of an enterprising London cash book- seller is necessary to make the purchase of the books sent by post from town easier, cheaper, more expeditious, and much more likely to result in what is wanted arriving than any dealings with the local bookseller. Often the local bookseller will give only 2d. in the shilling discount, whilst the London house gives 3d. The London house io charges the carriage. But if the book is of any 5 considerable price the difference of the discount more than covers carriage. So the local trader arranges that the purchaser shall not be left with- out a single reason for sending to London. * __ Afterwards he discovers that bookselling does not *{ +=pay—naturally. So far, however, we are dealing with a small part only of the whole question, the supply of books ordered for cash. Here everything that has to be done is so simple that the purchaser can do it for himself as well as or even better than the local bookseller—when the purchaser knows anything about books, what he wants, and how to write for them. But these people are not really numerous. Unfortunately, the local bookseller is, generally speaking, equally useless to all the rest. First of all, tothe considerable number of people who know little about books, but who will read if they can get what they enjoy reading, but go without books because of the hindrances put in the way of buying them. These people require, in the case of the most ordinary books, the same kind of assistance that a student requires in the pur- chase of technical works. Very frequently they are simply in search of something to read, without having any particular work in view. But they want to see what they are going to purchase. But outside these remain a still larger number who have no intention of purchasing, but will purchase if something that attracts them is placed before them. To all these the ordinary bookseller has nothing to show, because he does not stock. He asserts that it does not pay him to stock, But would it ever pay any one to stock, who knew nothing about what he was stocking, and THE AUTHOR. 147 nothing about the tastes of his customers to whom the stock was to be sold ? The ordinary local bookseller’s acquaintance with the tastes of his customers is aptly illustrated by a characteristic declaration from the lips of a watering-place belle, speaking for herself and her sisters: “Oh, we never read now. They have changed the girls that used to serve at — s library. The girls they had there béfore spent all their Sundays in reading the novels. In con- sequence they could always tell us what we should like. The new girls don’t read novels ; and Mr. — knows nothing about the books, So we found that we never got anything that amused us, and have dropped our subscriptions.” This was clementary ; still, evidence that to have an idea of the tastes of the customer is worth something, This, on the other hand, is what a country bookseller has actually said on the subject of stocking, no doubt under the impression that he was being witty: “He only stocks books by established authors. He cannot be expected to see genius in the cover of a book.” Then why does he not look inside? Is he equally unable “to see genius” there also? He has not the time? But it is well known that any habitual reader can turn over a pile of twenty books in ten minutes, and be sure of detecting by a few hasty glances the two that will afford him the greatest assistance or entertainment. In the case of fiction he may examine fifty in the same time. Why cannot the bookseller equally easily detect the books which he can sell ? And the publishers’ travellers assert that it is by the cover that the country bookseller selects his stock. Evidently stocking cannot pay so long as the salesman is incompetent to choose his stock. Equally evidently his custom will not increase so long as he does all in his power to drive away his customers. Imagine the hosier whose reply to any demand for gloves was, “We do not stock them. But if you will give us the size, quality, and maker’s name, we can get them for you—in about ten days.” On those terms hosiery would not pay. The nett book is a novelty distinctly advantageous to the retailer; and other steps— those for example mentioned in Mr. MacLehose’s article—may be taken to ameliorate his position. But everything will be in vain unless the retail _bookseller chooses to help himself, and to do something to woo back the custom which he has lost, and is still discouraging. If he is incompetent to do that, the sooner the function of book distributing is transferred to more competent agents the better. The most serious aspect of the present situation  148 is, not that the publisher can command no widely distributed competent sellers—though this is serious for the publisher; nor that the author cannot get at the public—which is serious for the author ; but that simultaneously with a wide, if not particularly intelligent, promotion of education, the reading habit is being all over the country discouraged by the inefficiency of the vast majority of booksellers. ——\_o——_+—____—- THE SHORTHAND SUBSTITUTE. > HAVE no pen in my hand ; there is no short- hand writer in the room worrying me to repeat what I said, and asking the way to spell this or that word ; there is no typewriter in front of me with its odious click, click; and yet this article is being evolved rapidly and without effort. Now and again I press a key, but that is all. When I have dictated to the extent of 800 words, I push aside a little lever, place a wax cylinder in a box, label it No. 1, and have no more care or trouble about the matter until the afternoon, when my amanuensis brings me a neatly-typed article for revision. Thanks to an excellent voice recording and reproducing machine, I have done most of my literary work and correspondence after this fashion for some years. The only serious fault I have to find with the system is that in course of time the phonograph comes to be regarded as almost indis- pensable, and that when away from home without my mechanical assistant, literary work of any kind becomes a grievous toil. Undoubtedly there are writers who could not use the phonograph with advantage. Some cannot dictate. In other cases the voice possesses a somewhat muffled quality, which makes the record of it too indistinct for the amanuensis to understand when phonographically reproduced, and [ may say here that women make by far the clearest record. There are, again, authors who are incapable of understanding and managing the most simple piece of machinery, though they somehow seem to learn to use a pen, which is an infinitely more difficult instrument to manage than a phonograph, and takes much longer in the learning. But there are large numbers of authors and journalists by whom the phonograph would be found as useful as I have found it, and for whose advantage I venture to offer some account of my experiences. I have only heard of two authors who use the phonograph—Mr. Guy Boothby and Mr. Houghton Townley—and the output of these is considerable. A few business men use them in their offices instead of shorthand THE AUTHOR. clerks. One whom I know—Mr. Upcott Gill publisher—has used a phonograph for many years for his correspondence. The first question which an author will naturally ask himself is, “Can I do as good work if I dictate as if I write?” This is very largely a personal matter, depending on the idiosyncrasy of the individual. The author who thinks and writes slowly, and whose literary output rarely exceeds 500 words in a day, should, I think, confine himself to the pen, but those who compose about 2,000 words a day or more are likely to keep up a better average quality of work if they dictate than if they write. The reason I express this opinion is that after about 1,000 words have been written with the pen there is acertain amount of bodily fatigue which affects the mind to a certain extent, and towards the end of the day’s work, the quality of the literary matter is inclined to suffer in consequence of the writer’s bodily weariness. As a general rule the literary man should, during and just before his hours of work, avoid anything which tends either to distract or weary him. The phonograph itself is undoubtedly when first possessed something in the nature of a distraction ; but this feeling passes off, and very soon one’s hand does the slight manipulation which ~ is required without conscious reference to the mind, just as the hands of the piano player work mechanically while the eyes and mind of the player are fixed on the page of music. : This question was one which I considered very anxiously in connection with my own work, and the conclusion I came to was that dictated work was, on the whole, as good as work with pen and ink. I was able in this connection, to compare two novels. The first, “Lady Val’s_ Elope- ment,” was written by me in pencil, and as the revised draft was almost illegible, I dictated it to a shorthand writer, making further alterations as I went. After the shorthand notes had been transcribed, I revised the story for the third time and sent it to press. With this I can compare “ Her Wild Oats,” a novel which was dictated in a very few weeks, though the arrangement and scheme of it required many months of work. I can get no indication of which was the better book from the reviews; but it appears to me (if an author is able to judge his own work) that the wholly-dictated book was the better, and from the publisher’s point of view it was by far the most successful. It is shorter and generally less verbose than the written novel, and the dialogue is more crisp. The bocks are long out of print, so I do not hesitate to mention them by name, in order that others may decide whether my judgment is correct or not on this point which is one of considerable importance.  THE AUTHOR, 149 It is a good many years now since the first phonographs were introduced. A serious mistake was then made by the owners of the patent. It was supposed that pretty well everyone would require a phonograph, and that the invention would come into general use for correspondence, business purposes, etc. Instead of manufacturing the machines at a moderate price and selling them, the company merely hired them out on rather high terms, making an arrangement for the lessees to be visited by an inspector from time to time, who would look over their instruments and keep them in order. This system was an absolute failure. The phonographs were little used, but within the last few years they have come into popular favour in the shape of what I may term musical toys. Talking and music reproducing machines ‘of various kinds are now sold at a low price by quite a number of makers, and at the present day the practical and useful side of the phono- graph seems in danger of being lost sight of. The entertainment phonograph is not suitable for literary work, and an unguided author is likely to get a machine which for his particular purpose is of little use. It is well, perhaps, to explain that the phono- graph consists first of a kind of lathe. On the mandrel is placed a wax cylinder. Set your lathe in motion and the cylinder revolves, A turner would cut any circular design he wanted on the wax while in motion by holding a tool of some kind against it. In the phonograph what has to be cut is a fine thread like that on a screw. The tool which cuts this is a fine sapphire point held in position by an arm which travels slowly down the cylinder during its revolutions. In the enter- tainment phonograph a hundred threads are cut on every inch of cylinder. In the machine used for business purposes and by literary men—where it is important to get as many words on a cylinder as possible—the arm travels at half the speed, the sapphire point is finer, and two hundred threads are cut to every inch. The result is a slight loss of sound, but the recording instrument has been so much improved recently that this loss is more than regained, and an ordinary and fairly clear voice is admirably reproduced. The next question is what connection is there between the reproduction of sound and the threads cut in the wax cylinder ? It will suffice now if I say that the sapphire point which cuts the threads is attached to the centre of a round piece of very thin glass. The trumpet into which one speaks conveys the sound waves to this piece of glass, which vibrates according to the sounds striking it. The vibration is necessarily communicated to the sapphire point, which as it cuts the grooves digs into the wax more or less deeply, and at varying intervals according to the nature of the sound thus making what is termed the “ record,” To reproduce the sounds the sharp point is replaced by a round smooth point. This, as the cylinder revolves, goes over the grooves which have been cut by the sharp point, and the indentations in the grooves or threads cause the smooth point to shake, giving exactly the same vibration to the glass plate above it as the plate attached to the sharp point received when the speaking into the trumpet took place. The yibrations or sound Waves now come out of the trumpet instead of into it, and the recorded sounds are reproduced. I do not give this as a scientific description of the phonograph, but it is a description which I think will assist the proposing owner of one of these marvellous instruments, J] particularly wish to emphasize the point that for an author’s use the phonograph should cut two hundred threads to the inch. Each thread, roughly speaking, represents a word. ‘The cylinder is four inches long,* so that if we get two hundred threads to the inch, we can dictate two hundred words to the inch, or eight hundred words on the four-inch cylinder. If on the other hand the author has one of the ordinary machines in common use, with one hundred words to the inch, he is only able to get four hundred words on to a cylinder, and as cylinders have to be shaved after use, this involves double the amount of shaving, and many more cylinders have to be used, which is another consideration, though a very small one. I only know of one firm which makes these two hundred thread machines—the Edison-Bell Phonograph Company, of Charing Cross Road. I bought one of their ordinary standard machines, costing five guineas, and by altering the gear- ing of the lathe, had it turned into a two hundred thread machine without difficulty and without extra charge. This machine I keep for my type- writer’s use for reproducing the records which I make on a much more expensive machine, It will however, make a very excellent record of its own, and would be quite suitable for all purposes if fitted with a better arrangement for lifting the sapphire point off the wax when dictation ceases for a moment or two, and if it could shave cylinders more satisfactorily. The motive power of the little lathe is a spring, which after being wound up, will run for about two cylinders, but in the course of years the spring naturally gets weak, and will not do its work satisfactorily for more than one cylinder. This can of course be remedied by having a new spring. * The Columbia Phonograph Company, of Oxford Street, make a machine for business and literary men, with a six-inch cylinder. They have also shaving machines which are somewhat costly. I have not experimented with these instruments.—J, B. 150 For my own use—for making the records and shaving them—I had to purchase a machine which now costs £15. It has powerful springs which will run four or five cylinders without atten- tion. On this machine there are two little keys ; one marked “ Off? the other “ On.” If I press down the “Off” key, the point is lifted off the wax; on pressing the “On” key the point drops on to the wax again in its former position. In the cheaper machine there is a little difficulty in getting the sapphire point into exactly the same place after lifting it, but this could be easily remedied, andit is possible the company would make the altera- tion for any person requiring a machine of that class. It is of course necessary for the typewriter to stop the sound of the voice at the end of each sentence or two. This is not done by stopping the revolution of the cylinder but by lifting the sapphire point off it. It is obviously important that the point should be lowered into the groove from which it was raised, otherwise time is wasted. For some reasons, an electric motor is very much better than a spring motor forthe phonograph, and I should recommend it where electricity is available without much trouble. In houses fitted with electric light, it is of course available, the 100 volt system being the best. The 200 volt system is too powerful, and the apparatus involved lends to much waste of electricity. A question which will perplex the purchaser is: whether to have a combined recorder and repro- ducer, or two separate instruments.t I do not find that the combined recorder and reproducer possesses any particular advantage. It is not often during the day that the author wishes to reproduce what he has said, and when this does occur, to change the recorder for the reproducer is a matter of a few seconds only. Before buying a phonograph I made arrangements with the company to have from them various types of phonograph with the option of pur- chase, and it was after a somewhat prolonged trial I found the machines I have mentioned to be the best. The larger one is the most highly finished production of the Edison-Bell Phonograph Com- pany, but as I have already said, the cheaper one would answer every purpose if fitted with an arrangement for lifting the sapphire from the wax and for shaving records satisfactorily. The running expenses of these machines after purchase are comparatively slight, for each cylinder can be shaved at least twenty times (the company say fifty times in their price list), As a cylinder costs a shilling, and contains about 800 words, at least + The recorder consists of a round metal frame about 18 in. in diameter, which holds the glass diaphragm and sharp sapphire point. The reproducer is similar but bears the smooth reproducing point. The two can be combined in one instrument. THE AUTHOR. 16,000 words can be dictated at a cost of one shilling for material. When the cylinders get thin a musical or other interesting or amusing record can be made on them. The shaving of cylinders was at the commence- ment, my greatest difficulty. It is a matter of considerable delicacy with any of the cheaper machines—and requires an extremely well-made machine to do it satisfactorily. I may explain that the shaving is done by what is called a knife, but is in reality a flat piece of sapphire with a sharp, slightly convex edge which can be placed in contact with the cylinder, and travels along it while the machine is put at its highest speed. On the cheaper spring motors, such as that in the five guinea machine, I found that one could not get the necessary speed, and the arm holding the knife did not travel with sufficient accuracy to put a smooth surface on the cylinder. On my large machine I could shave the cylinders very well by using the spring motor, but it was a somewhat tedious operation, and of course shortened the life of thespring. Finally I solved the difficulty by having a handwheel (7% in. diameter) apparatus made by a bicycle maker for my large machine. It is placed on the machine in a couple of minutes by means of two thumbscrews. A piece of round solid rubber, with a hook and eye at the end of it to join it, is placed round the shaft of the lathe and over the wheel, and on the wheel being turned, the lathe works at such a high speed that I can now shave a cylinder in less than forty-five seconds and get a perfect surface. People who use phonographs for music and amusement more often buy records ready made than make them, and even after making a record they rarely want to shave the cylinder. When they do they can send the cylinder to the company and get it shaved for them at the cost ofa few pence. But an author who is using four, five and even more cylinders aday could notconveniently send them to the company. The cost of carriage, loss by breakage, and the trouble involved would be too great. For authors and for business pur- poses there is certainly very great need for the five guinea machines and others of moderate price, to be so constructed that they will shave properly, or for a special shaving apparatus to be sold at a reasonable cost. I should add that when the best quality machines are driven by electricity they can be run at such a speed as to render no handwheels necessary, but I would as soon use a handwheel when shaving on a £15 machine as on one electrically driven. It will be seen that as matters at present stand, one is obliged to buy a very expensive machine, or else send the cylinders to the company to be shaved. It may be that the profit on shaving cylinders is so considerable that the Edison-Bell  1 a | THE AUTHOR. and other companies are not disposed to encourage shaving by their customers, but I am sure the policy is a bad one, for many an author would give five guineas for a machine which would record, reproduce, and shave a cylinder well, who would not be disposed or perhaps be able to give fifteen guineas or so for a machine which was not materially better except that it would shave cylinders. I find it a good plan to have a number of cylinders in use and to shave not less than half- a-dozen at a time, a matter of ten minutes or so. As the five guinea machine weighs 17lb., while the £15 machine weighs 541b., the former is by far the more convenient, particularly when travelling, for the phonograph must never be given up to a railway porter. I find that phonographs have several advantages beyond those which are obvious. In the first place the author and his amanuensis can both be working at the same time, which doubles the time the amanuensis can give to transcription. Secondly the author can work at any time it pleases him. Shorthand writers who have to come up to the .study at eleven o’clock at night will not often be found in a very amiable frame of mind. The author who has a phonograph into which he can dictate at night, can please himself as to his hours. Thirdly, the machine is, I need hardly say, an endless source of amusement to one’s friends, for even those made specially for literary and business purposes will reproduce music, songs, etc., with more or less accuracy, and the friend who is not interested in literary matters is sometimes very much interested in the phonograph. And lastly, where members of an author’s family are anxious to assist him in his labours, they can always do so by shaving the cylinders and by writing out for him anything he may dictate into the phonograph, for obviously no knowledge of shorthand is necessary. One of my delights in my leisure moments is to place my phonograph at the back of the piano, ramble about over the keys, and imagine I am composing. The phonograph makes a record of the resulting sounds and enables me to study them and hear what poor stuff Ihave evolved. The instrument may be therefore recommended as a moderator of vanity. The most pleasant way to hear music, or indeed any sounds, reproduced by the phonograph is through thin, hardrubber tubes, the ends of which are connected with the ears like the modern stethoscope. These fine tubes have the curious property of soften- ing away the grating or hissing noise, which is really the reproduction of the noise of the sapphire cutting into the wax, while at the same time increasing and rendering more faithfully than the trumpet the sounds one desires to hear. When a trumpet is~used objectionable sounds are em- 151 phasised, and there is a good deal of metallic vibration as well. I should explain I am referring to the literary phonograph and not those specially constructed for concert use. When dictating it is best to speak into the metal trumpet provided with the machine. It is perhaps interesting to mention that the foregoing remarks are recorded on exactly three cylinders and a half, and therefore in all probability consist of about 3,600 words. JoHN BICKERDYKE. i) CHARLES DICKENS. eS 2 is with much pleasure that we have to record another celebration in honour of Dickens. In last month’s Author we narrated how the Dickens Fellowship took its first practical step by giving a dinner to the poor children of the East End of London, and now the great writer’s memory is being preserved in the City of Bath by the unveiling of a tablet affixed to the house, at 35, St. James’ Square, where Dickens lived during his residence in that city. Some ten years ago it was the fashion to say that Dickens was not read and in another ten years would be forgotten, but with the progress. of time this great artist’s works have sunk more and more into the hearts of readers, and in the last few years we have seen a great Dickens revival, which, no doubt, will continue. ————__+—_>—_+____—- REFLECTIONS OF A REJECTED MANUSCRIPT. 1 MS. in the publisher’s hand is worth two in the author’s. An editor is known by the MSS. he keeps. —and the stamps. Desperate authors require desperate remedies. A poet and his poem are soon parted. In submitting a MS. he who hesitates is a wonder. All is not gold that glitters . . . on book covers. Faint purse never won fair publisher. A true friend is one who laughs at our jokes. It is a wise author who knows his own MS. after . . . it has been blue pencilled. An author’s royalties are often far from royal. No satirist is hero to his own epigram. “Many Happy Returns of the Day ” applies to. the unsuccessful writer all the year round. Water PULITZER.  GENERAL MEMORANDA. ——1—+— ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if @ proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. IJ. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to: 1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duetion forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Ill. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Lhe Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the 4‘ Cost of Production.” IV. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. ‘The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong tothe author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. —___+—<—_e+____—_——_ WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. ———+— EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. {t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. THE AUTHOR. 8. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gress receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (c.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (4¢., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply also in this case. 4, PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and © time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform, The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9, Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative : that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of this contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic cou- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY. —_+——_—__—_ HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. — 2. VERY member has a right toask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion, All this without any cost to the member. THE AUTHOR. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinarysolicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note, The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers: —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. This The 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. must be done within fourteen days of first execution. Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. o> THE READING BRANCH. —1—>— + — EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. ‘The term MSS. includes NoT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. 6 ae ge NOTICES. a HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 58. 6d. subscription for the year. 153 Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NoT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. i) COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EDITOoR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever, Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. 1+ THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. HE New Danish Copyright Law has now passed the Upper House, and was signed by the King on the 19th of December, 1902. It will come into operation on the Ist of July, 1903, after which there will be no further difficulty in Danes entering the Berne Convention. We have to express our regret that the name of Lieut.-Colonel G. F. R. Henderson, C.B., was by an error included in the Report among the list of members who had died in the past year. We have watched with great interest the forma- tion of the Artistic Copyright Society for the protection of all original workers in the Arts. If parts of the Literary Copyright Act are unintelligible the Artistic Copyright Acts are abso- lutely chaotic. In many cases the artistic and literary copyright is very closely connected where books are illustrated. For many years now the holders of literary copyright have been striving to obtain a reasonable law. ‘Two years ago consideration of the question was promised in the King’s Speech, but there is, so far, no fulfilment of this promise. Any combination which may aid in bringing about the desired result, and force the woes of the unprotected authors and artists prominently before the Government and the country is of advantage to those who own copyright property. The names of those interested in the new Copyright Association are sufficient guarantee that  154 the matter will be pushed forward with vigour and influence. : We cut the following paragraph, bearing on the Musical Copyright Act, from the issue of The Author, of October, 1902 :— The Musical (Summary Proceedings) Copyright Act is essentially a publishers’ Act. To a certain extent, however, the Act must benefit all owners of musical copyright, whether composers or publishers. A careful perusal of its scope tends to show that the Act, hurriedly conceived, and as hurriedly pushed through the House, scarcely covers the most important difficulties con- nected with this musical piracy. It is unsatisfactory, and only fills a small space in a wide gap. What are the penalties to be enforced? There is no mention of penalty. Are the cheap piratical printers, the arch offenders, to escape the court of summary jurisdiction? It would appear to be the case. The various proceedings that have come before the magistrates from time to time since the Act came into force, seem clearly to demonstrate that our prophecy has been fulfilled. The Act, drafted for the benefit of the music publishers, and carried hurriedly through, does not deal with the difficulties of the question in an adequate manner. Instead of forcing this piece- meal legislation, it would have been much better if the subject had been viewed from a larger standpoint, and the whole question of musical copyright, as well as that of other branches of literary property, exhaustively dealt with. We desire once more to call the attention of the members to the “Conditional Subscriptions ” towards the Pension Fund of the Society, set forth on page 134 of this number. As every day passes the time for fulfilling the conditions grows shorter. Six subscriptions of £10 a year for five years, in accordance with the list set down, have been promised. Another four are wanted. It is earnestly hoped that some of the wealthier members of the Society will come forward to complete the list. The editor of the American Bookman, who is suffering from the over persistence of a contributor, writes as follows :—“ The correspondent who wrote some time ago, asking for our opinion of ‘ Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ from a moral point of view, has now sent us a personal letter about this matter. He says that he ‘ insists’ upon receiving an opinion from us. He encloses an envelope stamped and addressed, and also a blank sheet of paper, so that we shall have no excuse of declining on the ground of expense. This is a very persistent gentleman, THE AUTHOR. but we are pretty persistent ourselves. We said in a former number of this magazine that if he tells us what he thinks about Tess, we will tell him whether we think that what he thinks is correct. This is the best we can do, and’ we stand by it. Meanwhile we have used his postage stamp and sheet of paper for other purposes.” —>—_ ¢ —_— THE NOBEL PRIZE COMPETITION. —1.— + —_ N Wednesday, the 14th day of January, the Nobel Prize Committee met, under the chairmanship of Lord Avebury, in order to make arrangements for the despatch of the voting papers which had been duly collected. Mr. G. Herbert Thring, the secretary, was in- structed to forward them to the Nobel Prize Committee of the Swedish Academy, Stockholm. The letter was duly posted on January 26th, and notification has been received that the votes have arrived safely. It has been deemed advisable to strengthen and enlarge the Committee, and the following gentlemen, on the suggestion of the chairman, have been asked and have consented to jom—Sir William Anson, Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, Mr. George Meredith, Sir Leslie Stephen, and Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace. —————_t—< FROM AN EDITOR’S STANDPOINT. oe IKE the late lamented Archbishop of Canter- bury, I ama beast. Unlike him, I am an unjust beast. I treat my correspondents with a gross and a studied discourtesy. I have a morbid craving for postage stamps, which, dis- honestly retained, form the greater part of my income. If ever I return an MS, before sending it back I crumple it up and play football with it for a week or two. This, or something like it, is the portrait of myself which I discern on holding up before me, as a mirror, the correspondence columns of your entertaining journal. For, alas 1 have reached the lowest depth of moral degradation. Would that I had been content with the criminal notoriety of a burglar in a large way of business, a murderer, or even a War Office official! Beneath the level even of the last I have sunk—I have become an editor ; and uniting a brazen shame- lessness to my other vices, I have the hardihood to defend myself, and to hint that perfect courtesy and reasonableness are not found invariably even in a would-be contributor to the periodical Press. Well, I will invite the casual contributor behind  THE AUTHOR. the scenes. Here is the morning’s post-bag, con- taining, at the least, forty or fifty letters and manuscripts. Three of the latter, I see, are in- sufficiently stamped, and surplus postage has had to be paid on them. MHalf-a-dozen are bursting from their covers, having been done up in the flimsiest of envelopes; the result is they are crumpled and soiled, for which J shall get the credit when those MSS. are returned to their senders. Quite a dozen have come in the form of little cylinders ; it will take me ten minutes to undo these without tearing the pages, and to read them is almost impossible—you release your grip of the page for a moment, and in a flash the thing springs back again into a tight roll. But before dealing with the MSS., I study the letters which accompany them, and others which have come separately. Here are a few samples from this morning’s post-bag. From one of four closely-written pages— * DEAR SiR,—In my opinion, there is no magazine worth comparing for a moment with your brilliant and admirable periodical, while, of all its various features, by far the — is the magnificent editorial article which you your- se sractae At this point I make a rule of skipping promptly to the last paragraph. Ah, here it is—as usual— «|, . no blemish at all, beyond this remarkable lack of a series of, articles on ‘ Antarctic Crustaceans’; and such a series I myself am willing to supply. The price (payable in advance) which I would ask is,” ete., ete. ‘* I shall con- fidently await your prompt and favourable reply.” Well, my friend, you are likely to await it for some time. If you wish to offer a series of articles I shall not be the more disposed to accept it because you introduce your proposal with three pages of rancid compliment. Here is another letter— ‘* Str,—In the last instalment of the serial story (by that popular, but grossly over-rated novelist, X. Y.), now appearing in your magazine, my attention was caught by the statement (p. 345) that the heroine ‘ skimmed the grass like a swallow. Such a sentence could have been penned only by one ludicrously ignorant of the actual velocity of the hirundo's flight. Such blunders are inexcusable in a journal of your standing. Unknown to fame as I am, I have written a romance which, at least, is free from such glaring absurdities, I cannot too strongly advise you to drop your present serial, and to substitute my tale, the MS. of which I will forward to-day. To help you out of your difficulty, I shall be content to accept whatever rate of payment you are allowing your present serialist.” Comment, as the older novelists used to say, is needless. Next come two letters in one handwriting— “ StR,—No less than four days ago I sent you a powerful Biblical romance of 15,000 words, entitled ‘The Jilting of Jezebel,’ It is inexcusable of you to keep me waiting so long for a reply. Kindly notify acceptance by return, and oblige,” 155 et SIR,—Since writing to you this morning, I have received back the MS. of ‘ The Jilting of Jezebel,’ I only sent it to you four days ago, and it is ridiculous to pretend that you can have given it really careful consideration in so brief a period. I am, therefore, posting it again to you to-night. P.S.—In order that you may have ample choice I send also ‘The Isolation of Isaac’ and ‘ Rebekah’s Repentance.’ ” The next letter seems familiar. In fact, every day of the week I get one or more closely resem- bling it— “ StR,—The literary merit of the enclosed tale may not be very great, although a dear friend of mine—who is a minor canon, and an extremely good judge—considers it a beautiful story. But I wish to inform you that the walls of our lovely parish church are in a pitiable state. My husband, who is rector here, frequently catches cold owing to the piercing draughts which enter through the cracks. For £5,000, we are told, the building could be put in thorough repair; and it is to this purpose that I shall devote the cheque which, I feel swre,:you will send me for my little effort.” The next correspondent is quite indignant— “*Srr,-~I should be glad if you would explain your invincible prejudice against my writings. In rejecting my former MSS, you told me that ‘they were not in keeping with the character of the magazine.’ Determined that you should have this excuse no longer, I looked at your January number. In this I noticed a paper on ‘The Delhi Durbar. Accordingly, having taken the trouble to ascertain that this subject was congenial to you, I posted, on February 14th, a far better article on ‘The Durbar at Delhi.’ And then you have the effrontery—I can use no other term—to. reject it |” Yet another sample— “ Str,—-The bundle of verse enclosed is not intended for use in your magazine. None of these poems, I know, is in the least suitable for your pages. But I should be grateful if you would send me a full criticism of them, substituting other lines for any which may strike you as faulty. Perhaps also you would not mind giving me a letter of introduction to the editor of another periodical, of rather better class than yours, where they would be likely to gain acceptance.” Has the reader had enough? Would he like to see the letters urging the acceptance of impossible MSS. on the plea that the author has an elderly aunt to support, or that she has contributed to. Chippy Chirps, The Weekly Piffler, and the Christmas Number of Giggles? Or—of these I have had several—on the ground that the writer is “A Member of the Incorporated Society of Authors ” ? Or for the singular reason that she was invited once to a garden-party at Buckingham Palace ? Does he wish to realise to the full the vanity, the imbecility, the petty spitefulness of which literary human nature is capable? If so, the editorial post-bag will gratify his morbid taste. “ Yes,” the reader may remonstrate, “ but then these letters you have pretended to quote are not genuine—they are mere burlesques of your real correspondence.” Would that they were, my friend! Fictitious, in one sense, these extracts.  156 are ; even an editor may have some slight remnant of decency about him, and be loth to transcribe private letters for the public eye. But I can put my hand on my heart and declare that letters no less inane, foolish, and unreasonable than the imaginary ones here cited are dropped into letter-box day by day. Authors have their grievances too, I know ; and for some of them there is a very sufficient basis. Not ignorant of ill I speak ; I, who myself for many years was a casual contributor. ‘There are editors who treat their correspondents with dis- courtesy, there are editors who disfigure MSS., there are editors who are unconscionably slow in acceptance or rejection. To this last failing I can give no pardon. Personally, I think I have never kept an MS. for more than a week unless it was accepted, though I receive sometimes forty or fifty MSS. in a day. Hardly ever does it happen that a rejected MS. is not despatched upon its return journey within two or three days of its receipt. I make no boast of this ; I do it partly out of justice to my correspondents, but partly in my own interests. If I fell into arrears with my work I should be overwhelmed utterly by MSS. Yet if this rule is possible for me, who have many other things to do besides editing a magazine, I maintain that it is more than possible for most of my confreres, who can give the greater part of their working hours to their editorial duties. Occa- sionally one wants to keep a contribution in hand for a while, on the chance of being able to make use of it. In this case a note to the writer, ex- plaining the wish, and offering, should he prefer it, to return the MS. at once, seems not more than what, in common courtesy, is his due. However, to find fault with editors in your columns would be indeed a work of supererogation! The truth which I ask your readers to believe is that they are a sorely-tried race ; that the habits of hundreds of their correspondents are enough to induce a bitter cynicism, and that their grievances are quite as real as those of the contributors who abuse them— though, as a rule, unlike the contributors, they prefer to suffer in grim silence. But, despite the “thorns in the cushion,” the editor has his rewards, which outweigh the troubles and annoyances of the work. One is able some- times to give encouragement, to help a beginner along the right path, to make unseen friends in all parts of the wrld. Letters of kindliness and gratitude come as well as the others—letters, to receive one of which makes the abuse and the spite seem less than nothing. And thus the editor, despite the correspondence columns of The Author, can dream at times that he has laboured not quite in vain. ANTHONY DEANE. THE AUTHOR. THE ACADEMIE GONCOURT. — URING the past three or four months there has been considerable discussion one way or another about Academies. - The British Academy has come into existence. The pages of The Author have been full of letters with regard to the Literary Academy, and lastly the Académie Goncourt has become legalised in France. Owing to the kindness of Mr. Edmund Gosse, we are able to cull some interesting facts from an article of his that appeared in the Daily Chronicle. As it is possible that many members of the Society have not seen the article, and are interested in the subject, the following statement may prove instructive. Monsieur Goncourt left a considerable fortune for the formation of an Academy limited and confined by the strict boundaries set forth in the will. The Council of State has decided that this pro- posed Literary Society is of public utility, and may accept the important legacy of M. Goncourt. Thus, after six years’ struggle, during the course of which no doubt a good deal of the academic capital has been squandered, it comes into active life. Mr. Gosse tells us that M. Goncourt was no lover of the French Academy, so his academy is forbidden to engage in the discussion of grammar, to make any sort of dictionary, to lay down laws of public taste, or to give prizes for the encouragement of virtue. He did not enjoy poetry, and he hated criticism —accordingly there were to be no poets and no critics in the academy. This appears to be the negative side. The positive side is as follows. It is to be composed of ten men—all novelists— each to receive an annual income of 4250, and they were all to combine in offering a prize of £200 every year on a book which shall be a work of real literary merit. Goncourt’s Academy would have been a most distinguished little body if it could have been carried out on the lines which he originally sketched. But Flaubert, the obvious first president, died early, and was followed by Maupassant, while Alphonse Daudet scarcely outlived the founder. Zola apostatised, and went cap in hand to the other academy ; him Edmond de Goncourt angrily struck off the list. He grew discouraged at last, and failed to fill up lacwne ; so that when the academicians held their first solemn meeting (on April 7th, 1900), only seven of them were left. These were MM. Gustave Geoffrey, Leon Hennique, J. K. Huys- mans, Paul Margueritte, Octave Mirbeau, and the brothers Justin Boex and Joseph Henri Boex (who called themselves Rosny). M.. Huysmans, THE AUTHOR. ertainly the best known among these names, was elected president, and M. Paul Margueritte secre- tary. They completed their number by the election of M. Elémir Bourges, M. Lucien Descaves and M. Leon Daudet ; then they were swallowed up again by that litigation from which they are now happily and finally released. With the exception of M. Leon Daudet, these gentlemen are not very young. Few of them will see fifty again, although none have yet seen sixty. We thank Mr. Gosse for his interesting facts. It remains to be seen, as in the case of the British Academy, what vitality there is in this formation. It has been created for no practical purpose, and seems to have no large ideal. It will be interesting to watch its future. Perhaps the fact that it stands without an ideal may be its safe- guard. Academies with large ideals, in that they are human, have in many cases fallen far below the standard they set for themselves. An academy, however, started on the Goncourt basis may rise to a standard far beyond its own imagination. One point is quite clear, and that is the £250 per annum. (a eee A GUIDE TO GRUB STREET. —_— st s HE Literary Year Book ’’* improves by slow degrees, and the volume for 1903 (which, by the way, is the seventh that has been issued) is an advance upon its predecessors. It is still, however, capable of being altered in many respects before it can be regarded as a really necessary addition to the numerous works of refer- ence catering to the requirements of the author or journalist. Much of the information, for example, contained within its pages is to be found in the Postal Directory ; and as to the remainder, much of it is ont of place in a volume that should be practical and nothing else. Included in this latter category are the articles on ‘‘'The Crown and the Author,” “Some Questions of Criticism,” and “Authors and their Societies.” These, although interesting, are polemical. As an instance of the distinctly controversial nature of the compiler’s remarks, the following extract from his account of the Royal Society of Literature is instructive :— “The Royal Society of Literature, as has been pointed out before in this place and elsewhere, is past praying for. Itis an institution which literally blocks the way of the proper representation and encouragement of literature in this country.” * “The Literary Year Book,” edited by Henry Gilbert. London: George Allen, 1903. 157 Very likely it is, but this is not where the question ought to be discussed. As in the last volume, a feature is again made of the Directory of Authors. No doubt this is a difficult section to edit, for it is the one that calls most loudly for improvement. It wants purging of a good deal of the tag-rag and bobtail who therein dub themselves “authors.” The wisdom of setting out at length the various third-rate periodicals in which their effusions have appeared is also open to question. No one, for example (excepting possibly Miss Snooks herself), cares two- pence—much less four shillings and sixpence, the price of this volume—to learn that Miss Snooks has contributed to Cackle and Silly Bits, or that Mr. Somebody Else edited Coronation Chuckles. To be of use, the hospitality of the list should be confined strictly to writers of distinction, and mention should only be made of the books they have published during the year. The practical portion of the volume includes lists of periodicals and their editors (with some explanatory remarks thereon), tables of royalties, and the names and addresses of the best known agents and publishers. With respect to the first of these features, several errors are to be noted. As, however, the life of a magazine is so precarious in these days of fierce competition, this is only to be expected. Among the slips are the mentioning of several defunct journals as though they were alive, and the giving of wrong addresses. Thus, the Candid Friend, Imperial and Colonial, Naval and Military, and Universal magazines are no more, although they are described as being still in exist- ence, while the offices of two or three others are described erroneously. The “ Contributors’ Guide,” describing the policy of the different papers alluded to in the second list, is of distinct value when (as so often happens) the names of the periodicals themselves offer no clue to this. It should at any rate induce budding geniuses in the country to refrain from bombarding the Pilot with articles on shipping. The tables of royalties scarcely seem so helpful as they might, and should, be. Even the most rapacious of publishers would scarcely offer (except by telephone) a royalty of 24 per cent. on a sixteen- shilling volume. Yet the editor of the “ Literary Year Book” apparently thinks that he would, for the necessary calculations on this basis are given here. Then, again, the highest royalty which he takes into account is one of 20 per cent., when it ought to be one of 834 per cent. These, however, are matters which are being dealt with at length in another issue of this journal. H. W. a EDNA LYALL, 1— 1 — E record with deep regret the death of Miss Ada Ellen Bayly, which took place at the house of her sister, Mrs. Jameson, at East- bourne, on Sunday, February 8th. Well known to a large section of the reading public as Edna Lyall, an anagram composed of some of the letters of her real name, Miss Bayly had been a member of the Incorporated Society of Authors since 1887, so that she was one of its oldest members. She did not, however, join it until she had had experience of literary work and to a large extent had made her mark. In her childhood Miss Bayly evinced a taste for writing, and had composed stories before she left the schoolroom, as, indeed, many girls do who afterwards make no attempt to win fame as authors. Beginning early to write with the serious intention of seeing her work published, Miss Bayly had for a time to endure those disappointments which many have to face who begin the literary life better equipped than she. She was, however, persevering as well as industrious. It has been told of her that once she entered St. Paul’s Cathedral dispirited by a fruitless journey to the land of editors and publishers, and took courage at the sight of the monument of one of her kinsmen who had been killed in battle. She resolved to fight on even if she died fighting as he died, but ghe lived to win success and the affectionate esteem of a large circle of readers. These felt themselves personally attached to an author who seemed in ‘a marked manner to infuse her own personality and feelings into her works. ‘‘ Won by Waiting,” her first book, written for girls and published in 1879, had at the time no particular measure of ‘success, financial or otherwise, and if we cannot without giving up confidential information relating to a member of the Society name the precise figure, we are revealing no secret if we state that the copyright in “Donovan,” her second book, pub- lished in 1882, was acquired by a publisher for a um which represented but a small fraction of its ultimate pecuniary value. The success which Donovan enjoyed did not come at first, but rather after “We Two” had attracted many readers among those who like to study religious questions in the form of fiction, and had gained the attention of a wider public still. Miss Bayly’s work was deeply imbued with religious feeling ; but her books, written as they were from a Christian standpoint, were filled with a thoughtful magnanimity not always found in those of men and women as earnestly religious as herself. “We Two” was no doubt inspired by a feeling of sympathy with the difficulties encountered by the late Mr. Bradlaugh, or at all THE AUTHOR. events the struggles in which his views upon religious matters involved the late Member for Northampton suggested possibilities which were embodied in the story. “We Two” was followed by “In the Golden Days,” (1885), a romance of a different type, and the author’s position became well established, so that many who had not read her former works when they were first published did so now. Toa high literary or philosophic standard Edna Lyall did not perhaps attain, but her warmest admirers were among those not keenly critical in such matters. She won sympathy for her characters, and had the power to a very considerable degree of rousing interest in them and in the intellectual and physical difficulties and dangers that beset them. Of her minor works, “The Autobiography of a Slander,” published in 1887, had many readers. Her recent production, “ The Hinderers,” 1902, took a side that was too unpopular at the time to allow its advocates a sympathetic hearing. Miss Bayly was the daughter of the late Mr. Robert Bayly, a barrister of the Inner Temple, and a granddaughter of Mr. Robert Bayly, formerly a bencher, and at one time treasurer of Gray's Inn. Her principal writings include, besides those already named, ‘‘Their Happiest Christmas,” 1886 ; “Knight Errant,” 1887 ; ‘A Hardy Norseman,” 1889 ; Derrick Vaughan, Novelist,” 1889; “ To Right the Wrong,” 1892 ; “ Doreen, The Story of a Singer,” 1894; ‘‘How the Children Raised the Wind,” 1895; “The Autobiograghy of a Truth,” 1896; “ Wayfaring Men,” 1897; “ Hope the Hermit,” 1898 ; “In Spite of All,” 1901. —_————\_1——_ SIR. GAVAN DUFFY. + ITH the death of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy a fine type of fighting Irishman has passed away. His political career— revolutionary and startling—has been fully set forth in the papers. There is no need to repeat facts known to everybody. He was a member of the Society from 1890 till 1899, when he retired owing to increasing age. His literary works were not numerous, but one of his most interesting was, perhaps, his work entitled “Young Ireland.” He assigned the right of publication of this to a Dublin publisher for a given period of years, and to his amazement, some years after the date mentioned in the agreement, found the book was still selling on the market. As he thought it improbable that ‘these copies had been printed in accordance with the terms of the agreement, his suspicions and at the same  THE AUTHOR. time his fighting spirit were roused. He deter- mined to test the matter in the courts. We have before us a copy of the agreed judgment in the action in which he was plaintiff; as the judgment was in his favour his suspicions proved amply justified : a considerable edition had been printed and published after the agreement had expired. In all his political actions in Ireland, in England, and the Colonies, he stood forth a sound example of the Irishman of a past generation, whose high Irish spirit and Irish vigour carried him to an honoured old age. ee ee ee THE AGE OF REASON.* 1 F self-satisfaction, and a placid acquiescence in the order of the universe, and a somewhat lofty contempt for all previous ages, may be considered to constitute happiness, the mid- eighteenth century, as it is rather curiously termed, will be regarded as a period not unworthy of the return of Astrea. That “their lot had been cast in an era of unparalleled enlightenment, that theirs was the last word in the progressive series of human thought and knowledge,” was the fine and futile belief of the Encyclopeedists, the Econo- mists, and of Voltaire himself. For Voltaire, as Mr. Millar has shown us, was not a pessimist. A pessimist is a man who knows no better ; he is an unsuccessful thinker. If Voltaire showed pessi- mism in his attitude towards the theories of others, with regard to his own point of view his optimism was steadfast. He did not dance on his rose-coloured spectacles. Like all true cynics, he reserved them for the contemplation of everything that was the antithesis of what he attacked. Johnson, and the novelists, both French and English, approved of their period for a tamer reason, simply because it was inevitable. Le Sage and Fielding acquiesced in the order of things, not through devotion, not through complacent content, but because their sense of humour, their wide, sane view of life, forbade useless lamentation or rhapsody. But the general “song of pure concent” was not wholly undisturbed. There are always certain thin-lipped persons who console themselves for their own stupidity, or ugliness, or bad manners, by sneering at the wise, the beautiful, and the gracious. These silly people are, as a rule, of even Jess importance in literature than in life ; their denunciations of luxury, which they call effeminacy, * “Periods of European Literature: IX, The Mid- Eighteenth Century,” by J. H. Millar (Blackwood, 1902), 159 and their attitude to art, which reminds one irre- sistibly of a policeman in a museum, are rarely worth notice. Still, on occasions, they acquire, like many quite intolerable things, the merit of usefulness. They are usually indiscriminate in their invectives against the existing order of things —they would attack the age of Pericles, if they lived in it, as cheerfully as they would attack that of Charles I., and so it is just a chance whether their influence is beneficial or not. In a great period they are a nuisance ; in a petty period they are an unpleasant but useful cathartic. They are always with us. They existed in the mid-cighteenth century, but no one took them seriously, until from their ranks arose, portentous, insidious, the form of Jean Jacques Rousseau. He was an Ovid disguised in the mantle of a Bernardin St. Pierre; he was the corrupt champion of a not ignoble revolt. No revolt is ignoble. It is Nature’s protest against inactivity, and dull oppression, and _ intellectual death. But most people who revolt are quite revolting. The craving for realism, which was one of the chief characteristics of the period, found its satis- faction in one form of literature, the novel. It affected the drama, too, but only slightly ; poetry continued its serene, sluggish course of “ classi- cism,” to be lost at last—the weariest river !—in the bright waves of the Romantic revival. A point that Mr. Millar seemed to omit to notice was that Realism actually formed a step from hide-bound, mincing “classicism” to Romanticism. Between the study of man as a piece of intellectual clockwork and the study of the lurid depth and grey mystery of his passions must lie the con- templation of man as a real being, ovre kaxirros ov're mpatos tows, dudAdds d€ tis. . . But probably Mr. Millar was fearful of encroaching on the outskirts of the claim belonging to his neighbour, Professor Vaughan. Mr. Millar’s book has escaped most of the dis- advantages that beset a treatise whose aim is primarily educational. It is well written, with pleasant flashes of humour, and some of the criti- cisms are really very illuminating. But his defence of the period at the end of the volume is an appeal based on the glass-house theory, and I feel certain that after he had written it he rushed from his desk and read Theocritus, or Catullus, or Theo- phile Gautier, or someone else remarkable for grace and delicacy. He has avoided the old, obvious clichés in dealing with the great men; he has given a succinct account of the philosophy of the period which all people who have not read any philosophy could appreciate, and which even a philosopher might sometimes understand. His information is derived from first-hand knowledge. As one thinks 160 of “ Butler’s Analogy,” one experiences all the sweet sensations of sympathy. But at all events, it has not hurt Mr. Millav’s prose style. Mr. Millar regards the drama as extinct. It ended, he says, with “The Critic.” ‘‘ Tragedies have been produced by poets great and small, but they are unplayable, and ought to have remained unplayed.” Did Mr. Millar, I wonder, see “Herod” ? ‘ Melodramas and comedies have run for thousands of nights, yet in print prove obsti- nately unreadable.”’ Has Mr. Millar ever attempted to read any of Oscar Wilde’s plays ? They are not so obstinate. Mr. Millar’s book is too readable, his quotations from Vauvenargues too typical of the man who loves a good phrase, to make me believe that he could fail to understand the ‘‘ Importance of Being Earnest.” He will, perhaps, some day delete with tears the last page of his chapter on the drama. St. Joun Lucas. ee CORRESPONDENCE. St To the Editor of Ton AUTHOR. Srr,—I should much like to know whether or not some folk have any good ground for saying whether or no? Most of us say ‘‘ whether or not,” and surely correctly. I had almost persuaded a certain friend to give up his “no,” when trium- phantly he produced the Authorized Version, John ix., 25! But surely even there “ not” would be grammar, since it means whether he be a sinner or (whether he be) not (a sinner). In fact it is the German nicht and nein. Can The Author settle the point ? Kine’s ENGLIsa. P.S.—I note that the Revisers have discreetly dropped the contested point! Still I keep saying, “‘ Whether it be usage, or not” ; my friend declaring “‘ Whether you think it wrong, or no.” Will The Author arbitrate ? doing so by showing reason, else my friend will never be convinced ! —— 1 — REYIEWS AND REYIEWERS. To the Editor of Tun AUTHOR. Dear Srr,—With reference to the playful ways of reviewers, the enclosed specimen may amuse the author and publisher, who are kind enough to send copies of their works to provincial newspapers. No one really attends to the remarks of the THE AUTHOR. reviewer ; they have long ceased to pretend to any value, other than the price of a few lines of print ; but the question now arises, Is it better to have a string of ignorant or impertinent observations, or a review of a quarter of a column (of which half is quotation from a work other than that under notice) which barely mentions the book at all ? Personally, I prefer the last, judging by the specimen I enclose. I had never seen the verses quoted ; so that I’ve learnt something. T am, etc., L. Corr CORNFORD. Mr. L. Cope Cornford—whose interesting monograph on Stevenson was so successful in catching the very trick of that author’s style—announces a new novel under the romantic title of “The Last Buccaneer.” ‘The title, of course, is not quite original—few titles are, and luckily there is no copyright in them. It was used before by a poet whose work we should like to quote, for it is very little known, although the author’s name is a household word among us. Perhaps those who are in need of a mild amusement might offer their friends a dozen guesses at the author’s name—to be discovered from internal evidence. This is the poem : “The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling, The sky was black and drear, When the crew, with eyes of flame, brought the ship without a name Alongside the last Buccaneer. “¢ Whence flies your sloop full sail, before so fierce a gale, When all others drive bare on the seas ? Say, come ye from the shore of the holy Salvador, Or the gulf of the rich Carribees ?’ “¢From a shore no search hath found, from a gulf no line can sound, Without rudder or needle we steer ; Above, below our bark, dies the sea fowl and the shark, As we fly by the last Buccaneer. ‘“««To-night there shall be heard on the rocks of Cape de Verde A loud crash, and a louder roar ; And to-morrow shall the deep, with a heavy moaning, sweep The corpses and wreck to the shore,’ “The stately ship of Clyde securely now may ride In the breath of the citron shades ; And Severn’s towering mast securely now flies fast Through the sea of the balmy Trades. “From St. Jago’s wealthy port, from Havana’s royal fort The seaman goes forth, without fear ; For since that stormy night not a mortal hath had sight Of the flag of the last Buccaneer.” The modern reader will trace in this poem something of the style of Poe and something of that of Mr. Kipling, though its date makes it highly probable that its author was influenced by neither of these high authorities on buccaneers. 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. 13 Issue 06 (March 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 06 (March 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-03-01-The-Author-13-6 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/480/1903-02-01-The-Author-13-5.pdf 1e5aa645c52403b048a7a72e72f53418 PDF Text Text �������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-02-01 Volume 13 Issue 5 Pages Page range in volume 109–132 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. Vou. XIII.—No. 5d. FEBRUARY {Price SIXPENCE. THE TELEPHONE. —+—»—+ The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. —____¢—_<@—__e— NOTICES. eg ee geee T,\OR the opinions expressed in papers that are # signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. Tur Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. ++ — List of Members. Tu List of Members of the Society of Authors can now be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. 1+ The Pension Fund of the Society. THe investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou, XIII. Ist, 1903. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— Se £816 5 6 ocaloans 6 104 10 0 Victorian Government 3 % Con- solidated Inscribed Stock............ 291 19 11 OWeayi LOAN eh ee 201. 9 3 Motel ese. £1,714> 4.8 SpeciaAL APPEAL. Tur Appeal sent out by the Chairman of the Society at the request of the Pension Fund Com- mittee has been very successful. The list of subscriptions and donations promised and given is set forth below. Further subscrip- tions and donations will be acknowledged as they come in. Subscriptions. Nov. 14, Tuckett, F. F. £1.00 » Cox, Miss Roalfe 0.5 0 » Loynbee, William . 010 6 ,, Anonymous . ‘ : t.07.0 ,, Todd, Miss Margaret, M.D. Le 0 x Pearson, Mrs. Conney 2 2 0 » Seaman, Owen : ; sel 10 ,. Abbot, Rev. Hdwin A., D.D.. 1 0 98 » . Witherby, Rev. C. . : 0 9 0 » Salwey, Reginald E. 010. 0 », Vacher, Francis 1 tO Nov. 15, Parr, Mrs... : Tt 10 » Davy, Mra. EE. : - 010556 , Allingham, William, F.R.CS. 1 1 0 , Armstrong, Miss Frances i. 5 0 Holmes, Arthur H. (condi- tional) ; : Rattray, Alex. : ; : ,, Brodrick, The Honble. Mrs. . Nov. 17, Nisbet, Hume : : : Keene, H. G., C.S.I. : 0 Bayly, Miss A. E. (Edna Lyall) 1 5 Forbes, E. ; : : » Spiers, Victor. : . 7 0 Hon oo ” & ” So ee) ok mba OOF oe oS co o  110 Nov. 17, Kroeker, Mrs. Freiligrath Burrowes, Miss Elsa » Cooke-Taylor, R. W. Noy. 18, Voysey, Rev. Charles : Jones, W. Braunston Anonymous . Salmond, Mrs. Walter . Anonymous . Clough, Miss B. . - Stanton, Miss H. M. s “ Tucas Malet ” Noy. 20, E.G. . Jenkins, Miss "Hadow Morrah, H. A. : Hatton-Ellis, Mrs. . Bertouch, The Baroness de Anonymous Nov. 21, Parr, Miss Olive Nov. 22, Forbes, Lady Helen a Twycross, Miss M. Nov. 24, Smythe, Alfred . Haggard, Mrs. John ” ” oe) ” 2. 9 > Anonymous 5, Dale, Miss Nellie . 5 “ Tresham Quaines” ‘ Nov. 25, Young; W. Wellington . Nov. 26, Young, Capt. Charles Dec. 1, Finnemore, Mrs. . Dec. 3, Caulfield, Miss Sophia Dec. 5, Hecht, Mrs. . 5 Hamilton, Mrs. G. W. », Brinton, Selwyn Dec. 9, Dill, Miss Bessie Dec. 18, Sutherland, Her Grace the Duchess of : Dec. 19, Toplis, Miss Grace . Dec. 22, Anonymous Dec. 29, Seton-Karr, H. Ww. 5 Pike Clement, E. 1903. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke » Deane, Rey. A.C. . Jan. 4, Anonymous » Heath, Miss Ida » Russell, G. H. : Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline ,, Bedford, Miss Jessie Jan. 19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. Donations. Noy. 13, Bullen, F. T.. : : < . Roberts, Morley (an annual subscriber). Nov. 14, Rossetti, W.M. . : » Marshall, Capt. Robert . » Hoyer, Miss . : 3 EHO 8. cooroococoe ooocow ee ee ee OR OF © or e wpoanoournrnrnooH hn ee ee MOANA OMNS CLOUD OO CLOW Ot OL OU OU e COS Orbo pe oe OMNoOo oocouoeo oO oococoo ScooocoocoescooooSoSOASCSOaASoSoSCSOascSooSseseseseoe cooooooo oocoocoe So THE AUTHOR. Nov. 14, Lefroy, Mrs. » Sinclair, Miss May (an annual subscriber) . : » McBride, Capt. E. E. Garnier, Russell Nov. 15, Burchell, Sidney H. » ESpero 2 ; 3 Ceol Medlicott ” » Harker, Mrs. Allen. ,, Banks, Mrs. M. M. ,. Spielmann, M. H. . 5 Garnier, Col. J. », Benecke, Miss Ida . ,» Atton, Henry : Nov. 17, Panter, Rev. C. R.. » Keene, H. G., C.8.1. . », Spielmann, Mrs. M. H. . es Begbie, Harold » Stevenson, J.J. . , Minniken, Miss Bertha M. Nov. 18, From sale of autograph . » Wintle, H. R. ; 5, Brickdale-Corbett, H. M. » Defries, Miss Violet : Nov. 19, Stanton, Miss Hannah M. Warren, Major-General Charles, K.0.M.G. » ‘Lucas Malet” . Nov. 20, Wynne, Charles Whitworth Nov. 22, Skeat, The Rev. Prof. W. W. . Nov. 25, Jacobs, W. W. : : : Young, W. Wellington . Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite . Nov. "26, Cook, OC. H. . . Noy. 27, Gleig, Charles » Harraden, Miss Beatrice Frankland, F. W. , @Auvergne, Mrs. Nov. 28, Sutcliffe, Halliwell Nov. 29, Weyman, Stanley J. 2? Sir Dec. 1, Sanderson, Sir J. Burdon Dec. 2, Trevor- -Battye, Aubyn » Marks, Mrs. . Dec. 9, Moore, Henry Charles Dec. 11, Lutzow, Count , “Leicester Romayne ” Dec. 12, Croft, Miss Lily . Panting, J. Harwood Tattersall, Miss Louisa . Dec. ‘19, Egbert, Henry Dec. 28, Muirhead, James F. Dec. 28, A. 8. ; » Bateman Stringer . : Dec. 31, Cholmondely, Miss Mary 1903. Jan. 3, Wheelright, Miss E. : » Middlemass, MissJean . Jan. 6, Avebury, Lord co ace eocorocoooonwoorn ao wSoooNOrre HPOCOrFRCOMrFOCOOHF Oe OH HOH OCOORANWOH or — WOO WHOUNTHIHOWOMONOrOM Hee eoo°o AIR OoOMMNS a a HOON OUMNUNONOHCORFRMNOCOrF OHS _ e bs oO  oo To LE pial add ITE sd add cone wi BH ral We fD T a sl > THE AUTHOR. 11 Jan. 6, Gribble, Francis. : 010 O FROM THE COMMITTEE. Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . 010 6 (eee Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston lot 0 » Miller, Miss BE. T. . Oo 5 40 a first committee meeting of the year was Jan. 19, Kemp, Miss Geraldine 0-10 6 held at the offices of the Society on January The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rey. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. SPECIAL CONDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Mr. Hamilton Drummond, who is a member of our Society, has offered a subscription of £10 for five years, if nine other members of the Society will promise the same contribution before 31st March, 1903. We sincerely hope that sufficient members of the Society will be found to come forward and meet Mr. Drummond’s generous offer, and that before the time expires we may be able to print in the columns of Zhe Author the full list of ten subscribers of the required amount. Subscriptions. Hawkins, A. Hope. : : -£10 0 0 Barrie, J. M.. : : : - 102:0:.0 Drummond, Hamilton ; : ~ 10. 0.0 Wynne, Charles Whitworth : = 10.0 0 Gilbert, W.S. . ‘ : : - £02 0 0 —_+—+— Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. THE amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £330 38 6 There are a few promised subscriptions still outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, about £4. Thesubscriptions received from July 1st to the date of issue are given below :— Patterson, A. . : : : Sl 1 20 Salwey, Reginald E. ; : j 010 0 Gidley, Miss E. C. 010 0 Nixon, Prof. J. E. 0 7 6 Dill, Miss Bessie 0 5.0 Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 0 Kemp, Miss Geraldine 010 6 Clarke, Miss B. 0 5 0 12th. The Committee had the pleasure of electing thirty-one members. They consider this a very satisfactory and encouraging sign of the continuance of the Society’s prosperity. The names are set out on another page, except in cases where a member expresses any special reason to the contrary. Mr. Edward Rose and Mr. A. W. A Beckett have been re-elected to the Committee, and Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G., C.B., has been elected to fill the place made vacant by the resignation of Mr. Henry Norman. Mr. Norman resigned from the Committee owing to pressure of work, and his inability to give his constant attention to the weighty affairs of the Society. He has, however, consented to give whatever aid he can in his position as a member of Parliament, and still retains his position on the Council. If the Copy- right Law should again come before the House of Commons, the Committee will be glad to avail themselves of his valuable assistance. Sir Henry Bergne, as all members of the Society know, was the representative of England at the Berne Convention, and again at the Paris Con- vention of 1896. He is one of the chief authorities on copyright in England. It is impossible to over-estimate the help he will be able to render to the Committee. It was decided, at the suggestion of Mr. Frampton and the architects of St. Paul’s Cathedral, that the Besant medallion should be set up in bronze, and not in marble as at first suggested. Three cases were under discussion at the meeting. After going carefully through the papers and with the advice of the solicitors of the Society, it was decided to take up one, on behalf of the member, should the matter come to an issue. The Committee regretted that they could not give their support to the other two. —_1+—<— —_ Elections, January 12th, 1903. The following members and associates were elected on January 12th, 1903. Bedford, Miss Jessie Red House, South- bourne, Hants. Silkstone Vicarage, Barnsley. Maynard Lodge, Upper- ton Road, Hast- bourne. Bellamy, Rev. R. L. Blunt, Norman 112 Browne, Tom. Bulkeley-Johnson, (*« Adoc ’’) “ Carlton Carlisle”? . Chartres, Anita Vivanti . Cobbett, Miss Alice M. Dealtry, Mrs.B. (‘‘ Clarice Danvers ””) Dewhurst, R.B.A. Fleet, J. Faithful . Gaye, Wilfrid. Geere, H. Valentine Hailett, Col. W. Hughes («W. H. H.”) Howatson, Miss Nettie . Hutchins, Miss L. Jesse, W. Kingsley, Miss Lucas, St. John W. L. Mackenzie, H. Milecete, Helen (Mrs.) Montgomery, K. L. Perrin, A. Roe, Mrs. (“ George Wemyss ”) Sherrington, Charles 8. “ Stephen Langton ”’ Tonier, Theodore White, Caroline (Mrs.) . Miss Wynford, Richard THE AUTHOR. “ Wollatton,’ Hardy Road, Blackheath, S.E. 1, St. George’s Ter- race, Brighton. c/o T. Cook and Sons, Ludgate Circus. Hansler House, Lewes, Sussex. 56, Bedford Court Mansions, W. Chelmscott, Leighton Buzzard. 79, Eaton Rise, EHal- ing, W. 122, Hill Lane, South- ampton. 2, St. Leonards Road, Ealing, W. The Cottage, Fala, Carnwath, Lanark- shire. 48, Holland Street, Kensington, W. La Martiniére College, Lucknow, India. Keys, Eversley, Winch- field. 25, Langham Mansions, Earls Court Square, S.W. 1, Henrietta Place, Dalkey, Co. Dublin. 5, Hereford Square, S.W. Crane House, Twicken- ham. 16, Grove Park, Liver- pool. 65, May Square, Kew, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Bedford Lodge, Whyte- leafe, Surrey. One member alone does not desire publication. $$ —_—_ BOOK AND PLAY TALK. —— R. OSCAR BROWNING has written im- pressions of the visit he paid to Lord Curzon in India, in the form of “ Letters from India,” which are now appearing in King and Country. Mr. Browning is also engaged on a history of the youth of Napoleon I., from his birth to the siege of Toulon, a very interesting and little known period of his life. Mr. Arthur W. Marchmont’s next book, “ By Snare of Love,” is to be serialised in the Hnglish Tilustrated Magazine, and is to start in the April number. Arrangements are in course for its serial appearance in the United States simultaneously. It will be published in volume form on this side by Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co. when the serial has run its course, and in America by a firm who have issued several of Mr. Marchmont’s previous works there. “ By Snare of Love” is a novel of adventure, the scene being laid in Turkey. Mr. Thomas Cobb’s new 6s. novel, “The Intri- guer,” is to be published this month by Mr. Eveleigh Nash. Another novel of his, “The Composite Lady,” will be issued sometime in July by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. Besides placing eight or ten short stories with various magazines, Mr. Cobb has just finished a story for Methuen’s Children’s Series. It is called “The Lost Ball.” Messrs. Methuen have brought out a fresh Indian story by Mrs. F. Penny, called “ A Mixed Marriage.” It deals with the love affairs of a Mohammedan noble and an English lady ; showing that tragedies as well as comedies take place behind the jealously guarded purdah of the harém, and that the course of true love does not run any smoother in the East than in the West. “The Little Colonel,” by Mina Doyle (Mrs. C. W. Young), authoress of “ On Parole,” etc., is just out. The characters in “The Little Colonel” are interesting, and most of them are lovable. For many readers the chief interest of the story will probably centre in the picture of Rottingdean— called Cliffdean in the book. Messrs. Macmillan have recently issued a trans- lation from the French of M. Ostrogorski’s work, “Democracy and the Organisation of Political Parties.” ‘To the translation by Mr. Frederick Clarke a preface is prefixed by the Right Hon. James Bryce, which emphasises the importance and unique character of this study of the modern party system—the organisation of political forces which exists apart from recognised political institutions. Mr. John Davidson’s new comedy, “ The Knight of the Maypole,” consists of four acts in prose and  THE AUTHOR. 113 in verse. Ina prefatory note Mr. Davidson says : “This play was written in 1900, and after various adventures is now published—twenty-five years having come and gone since in ‘An Unhistorical Pastoral’ I first wrote of the Maypole.” We quote the following verses from Mr. Rowland Hill’s “Songs in Solitude and Photographs in Verse,” recently issued by Messrs. Simpkin Marshall :— THE LIBRARIAN. “The volumes ranged about his room Retain the mighty thoughts of man Compressed as in a little tomb : He clasps a life-work in his span. “One wall holds many nations’ brains : The poets grouped fill up a shelf : A folio Shakespeare’s soul contains : The Bible takes an inch itself. ‘He gropes among illustrious minds On great deeds brooding of the dead : Then lonely lifts aside the blinds, And views the vast stars overhead.” In the Hampstead Annual just published (2s. 6d. nett), there is a delightful, personal, and critical paper by Mr. Sidney Colvin on “ Robert Louis Stevenson at Hampstead.” In June, 1874, Steven- son and Mr. Colvin occupied jointly for awhile a set of lodgings in Abernethy House at the corner of Mount Vernon and Holly Place. “Stevenson,” Mr. Colvin tells us, ‘was then in his twenty-fourth year, in the full glow—a glow that mounted some- times near fever heat—of his brilliant and unquiet youth.” It was at this time R. L. S. was elected to the Savile Club. Mr. Colvin’s time and strength are almost wholly taken up with official work ; but we are glad to know, that sooner or later, he means to give us the book on Stevenson—critical and personal-—-which he has had in his mind, and partly on the stocks, for a long time. Certainly it will be an illuminating book. We learn that it is proposed to publish further translations of the works of Friedrich Nietzsche as soon as possible. An edition in eleven volumes—exclusive of the posthumous works— was projected in 1895 by Messrs. Henry in England in connection with the Macmillan Company in America, and arrangements were made for the translation of the volumes under the editorship of A. Tille, Ph.D. Only three volumes were issued however, and the MSS. of five unpublished volumes—now very carefully revised—are in the translator’s hands. Of Nietzsche’s works still to be published (Fisher Unwin), Miss Helen Zimmern is the able translator of two, viz.:; “ Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future ;’ and “Human all too Human: A Book for Free Spirits,” Vol. I. Those who order copies before- hand will receive them when published at two- thirds of the nett price, which is 8s. 6d. for the larger volumes and 7s. for the smaller ones. Such previous orders should be sent to (1) Miss Helen Zimmern, Palazzo Acciajuoli, Lung Arno, Florence; or to (2) William A. Haussmann, Ph.D., 3,712, Sydenham Street, Philadelphia; or to (3) Thomas Common, 112, George Street, Edinburgh. There was a painfully interesting article in the Daily Chronicle of January 17th trom the expert pen of Mr. Arthur Morrison, entitled “ Winter and Want: East London in the North-East Wind.” It was at the office of the Rev. Peter Thompson (242a, Cable Street, E.), who is administering the Hast-End Relief Fund, that Mr. Morrison began his walk, through regions intimately known to him of old: regions he has so convincingly described in his “ Tales of Mean Streets ” :— “ Those dull little rows of decent houses, every window making its best show to the world, with its mended curtain, its poor little wool mat, its barren flower-pot in faded pink paper. I have watched the tragedy—the slow tragedy, the tragedy of no stirring action—played out, and now playing out, behind many of those quiet little windows—played sometimes to an end too bitter for printed words... . A general impression is best of multitudes of desperate little homes, bared of their moveables, and cold in the grate ; each with a thin-clad father and mother—or perhaps only one of them—striving to the last to fend away the hour when nothing shall be left for the mouths of sick and hungry children; and meanwhile to keep themselves ‘independent.’ ” Mr. E. A. Reynolds-Ball, F.R.G.S., has recently published a capital little book (E. Marlborough & Co.), called “ Practical Hints for Travellers in the Near East.” This companion to the Guide Books contains just the sort of information the average traveller needs to know. The Medical Hints section has been read and approved by a London medical man of high standing. Mr. Ball’s, “ Cairo of To-day,” is in a third edition. This, and his “ Jerusalem,” are issued by A. and C. Black, at 2s. 6d. The annual annotated edition of the “Statutes of Practical Utility,” which is brought out by Mr. J. M. Lely in continuation of “ Chitty’s Statutes ” (Sweet and Maxwell, Limited ; Stevens & Sons, Limited), will appear this year early this month, containing, amongst other important statutes, the Education Act, the Licensing Act, and the Cre- mation Act. There is an “ Additional Note” on the Education Act, and that Act and the Licens- ing Act are followed by Board of Education and Home Office Circulars and Forms respectively.  112 Browne, Tom. Bulkeley-Johnson, (*« Adoc ’’) “ Carlton Carlisle”. Chartres, Anita Vivanti . Cobbett, Miss Alice M. Dealtry, Mrs.B. (‘ Clarice Danvers ’’) Dewhurst, R.B.A. Fleet, J. Faithful . Gaye, Wilfrid . Geere, H. Valentine Hallett, Col. W. Hughes (°W. 1. BH.) Howatson, Miss Nettie Hutchins, Miss L. . Jesse, W. Kingsley, Miss Lucas, St. John W. L. Mackenzie, H. Milecete, Helen (Mrs.) Montgomery, K. L. Perrin, A. Roe, Mrs. (“ George Wemyss ”) Sherrington, Charles 8. “ Stephen Langton ”’ Tonier, Theodore White, Caroline (Mrs.) . Miss Wynford, Richard THE AUTHOR. “ Wollatton,” Hardy Road, Blackheath, S.E. 1, St. George’s Ter- race, Brighton. c/o T. Cook and Sons, Ludgate Circus. Hansler House, Lewes, Sussex. 56, Bedford Mansions, W. Chelmscott, Leighton Buzzard. 79, Eaton Rise, EHal- ing, W. Court 122, Hill Lane, South- ampton. 2, St. Leonards Road, Ealing, W. The Cottage, Fala, Carnwath, Lanark- shire. 48, Holland Street, Kensington, W. La Martiniére College, Lucknow, India. Keys, Eversley, Winch- field. 25, Langham Mansions, Earls Court Square, S.W. 1, Henrietta Place, Dalkey, Co. Dublin. 5, Hereford Square, S.W. Crane House, Twicken- ham. 16, Grove Park, Liver- pool. 65, May Square, Kew, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Bedford Lodge, Whyte- leafe, Surrey. One member alone does not desire publication. ——— eS BOOK AND PLAY TALK. —1—<>—+ R. OSCAR BROWNING has written im- pressions of the visit he paid to Lord Curzon in India, in the form of “ Letters from India,” which are now appearing in King and Country. Mr. Browning is also engaged on a history of the youth of Napoleon I., from his — birth to the siege of Toulon, a very interesting and little known period of his life. Mr. Arthur W. Marchmont’s next book, “By — Snare of Love,” is to be serialised in the Hnglish Illustrated Magazine, and is to start in the April number. Arrangements are in course for its serial appearance in the United States simultaneously. It will be published in volume form on this side by Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co. when the serial has run its course, and in America by a firm who have issued several of Mr. Marchmont’s previous works there. ‘“ By Snare of Love” is a novel of adventure, the scene being laid in Turkey. Mr. Thomas Cobb’s new 6s. novel, “The Intri- guer,” is to be published this month by Mr. Eveleigh Nash. Another novel of his, “The Composite Lady,” will be issued sometime in July by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. Besides placing eight or ten short stories with various magazines, — Mr. Cobb has just finished a story for Methuen’s Children’s Series. It is called ‘The Lost Ball.” Messrs. Methuen have brought out a fresh Indian story by Mrs. F. Penny, called “ A Mixed Marriage.” It deals with the love affairs of a Mohammedan noble and an English lady ; showing that tragedies as well as comedies take place behind the jealously guarded purdah of the harém, and that the course of true love does not run any smoother in the East than in the West. “The Little Colonel,’ by Mina Doyle (Mrs. C. W. Young), authoress of “ On Parole,” etc., is just out. The characters in “The Little Colonel” are interesting, and most of them are lovable. For many readers the chief interest of the story will probably centre in the picture of Rottingdean— — called Cliffdean in the book. Messrs. Macmillan have recently issued a trans- lation from the French of M. Ostrogorski’s work, “Democracy and the Organisation of Political Parties.” To the translation by Mr. Frederick Clarke a preface is prefixed by the Right Hon. James Bryce, which emphasises the importance and unique character of this study of the modern party system—the organisation of political forees which exists apart from recognised political institutions. Mr. John Davidson’s new comedy, ‘‘ The Knight — of the Maypole,” consists of four acts in prose and  THE AUTHOR. 113 in verse. In a prefatory note Mr. Davidson says : “This play was written in 1900, and after various adventures is now published—twenty-five years having come and gone since in ‘An Unhistorical Pastoral ’ I first wrote of the Maypole.” We quote the following verses from Mr. Rowland Hill’s “Songs in Solitude and Photographs in Verse,” recently issued by Messrs. Simpkin Marshall :— THE LIBRARIAN. “The volumes ranged about his room Retain the mighty thoughts of man Compressed as in a little tomb : He clasps a life-work in his span. “ One wall holds many nations’ brains : The poets grouped fill up a shelf : A folio Shakespeare’s soul contains : The Bible takes an inch itself. “He gropes among illustrious minds On great deeds brooding of the dead : Then lonely lifts aside the blinds, And views the vast stars overhead.” In the Hampstead Annual just published (2s. 6d. nett), there is a delightful, personal, and critical paper by Mr. Sidney Colvin on “ Robert Louis Stevenson at Hampstead.” In June, 1874, Steven- son and Mr. Colvin occupied jointly for awhile a set of lodgings in Abernethy House at the corner of Mount Vernon and Holly Place. ‘“ Stevenson,” Mr. Colvin tells us, *‘ was then in his twenty-fourth year, in the full glow—a glow that mounted some- times near fever heat—of his brilliant and unquiet youth.” It was at this time R. L. 8. was elected to the Savile Club. Mr. Colvin’s time and strength are almost wholly taken up with official work ; but we are glad to know, that sooner or later, he means to give us the book on Stevenson—critical and personal—_which he has had in his mind, and partly on the stocks, for a long time. Certainly it will be an illuminating book. We learn that it is proposed to publish further translations of the works of Friedrich Nietzsche as soon as possible. An edition in eleven volumes—exclusive of the posthumous works— was projected in 1895 by Messrs. Henry in England in connection with the Macmillan Company in America, and arrangements were made for the translation of the volumes under the editorship of A. Tille, Ph.D. Only three volumes were issued however, and the MSS. of five unpublished volumes—now very carefully revised—are in the translator’s hands. Of Nietzsche’s works still to be published (Fisher Unwin), Miss Helen Zimmern is the able translator of two, viz.: “ Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future ;’ and “Human all too Human: A Book for Free Spirits,” Vol. I. Those who order copies before- hand will receive them when published at two- thirds of the nett price, which is 8s. 6d. for the larger volumes and 7s. for the smaller ones. Such previous orders should be sent to (1) Miss Helen Zimmern, Palazzo Acciajuoli, Lung Arno, Florence; or to (2) William A. Haussmann, Ph.D., 3,712, Sydenham Street, Philadelphia; or to (3) Thomas Common, 112, George Street, Edinburgh. There was a painfully interesting article in the Daily Chronicle of January 17th trom the expert pen of Mr. Arthur Morrison, entitled “ Winter and Want: Hast London in the North-East Wind.” It was at the office of the Rev. Peter Thompson (242a, Cable Street, E.), who is administering the East-End Relief Fund, that Mr. Morrison began his walk, through regions intimately known to him of old: regions he has so convincingly described in his “ Tales of Mean Streets ” :— “Those dull little rows of decent houses, every window making its best show to the world, with its mended curtain, its poor little wool mat, its barren flower-pot in faded pink paper. I have watched the tragedy—the slow tragedy, the tragedy of no stirring action—played out, and now playing out, behind many of those quiet little windows—played sometimes to an end too bitter for printed words... .. A general impression is best of multitudes of desperate little homes, bared of their moveables, and cold in the grate ; each with a thin-clad father and mother—or perhaps only one of them—striving to the last to fend away the hour when nothing shall be left for the mouths of sick and hungry children; and meanwhile to keep themselves ‘independent.’ ” Mr. E. A. Reynolds-Ball, F.R.G.S., has recently published a capital little book (E. Marlborough & Co.), called “ Practical Hints for Travellers in the Near East.” This companion to the Guide Books contains just the sort of information the average traveller needs to know. The Medical Hints section has been read and approved by a London medical man of high standing. Mr. Ball’s, “ Cairo of To-day,” is in a third edition. This, and his “ Jerusalem,” are issued by A. and C. Black, at 2s. 6d. The annual annotated edition of the “ Statutes of Practical Utility,’ which is brought out by Mr. J. M. Lely in continuation of “ Chitty’s Statutes ” (Sweet and Maxwell, Limited ; Stevens & Sons, Limited), will appear this year early this month, containing, amongst other important statutes, the Education Act, the Licensing Act, and the Cre- mation Act. There is an “ Additional Note” on the Education Act, and that Act and the Licens- ing Act are followed by Board of Education and Home Office Circulars and Forms respectively.  114 Mr. Cecil Clarke, author of “An Artist’s Fate,” “Tove’s Loyalty,” etc. etc, has commenced another novel on somewhat romantic lines, but in consequence of other claims upon his time, it cannot be finished yet awhile. Mr. Clarke is a regular contributor to The Philanthropist, and reprints of his contributions are frequently ordered. “ Alsatian Tales,” by Madame Jean Delaire, illustrated by Alfred Touchemolin (Sands & Co.), is a volume of short stories or sketches. There are four of them: “Mademoiselle Beaux Yeux,” a schoolroom tragedy; “The Deserter,” a frontier incident; “ Pro Patria,” an episode ; and “Vive la France,” a reminiscence. They are strongly French in sympathy, breathing a fervid patriotism. “A Romance of the Nursery,” by Mrs. L. Allen Harker, is a charming story about children. here are some good illustrations by Katherine M. Roberts. It is published by Mr. John Lane. Though, unfortunately, rather late in the day, we are glad to acknowledge a South African Christmas Annual called “Silver Leaves” (1s.), edited by Mr. W. H. Stokes, a member of this Society. The illustrations are very good indeed, the complete panorama of Cape Town being especially interesting. “Silver Leaves” is a small volume of South African views well worth buying. We wish Mr. Stokes’ Annual a long and hardy life. John Oliver Hobbes’ “School for Saints” has just been issued in a cheap sixpenny edition by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin. We understand that Sir Charles Wyndham hopes to open his new theatre in St. Martin’s Laneaboutthe middle of this month. “ Rosemary” is the play chosen for the first performance, and the receipts are to be devoted to charity. A new operatic and dramatic society, to be called “The Londoners,” is being formed. It is to produce comic operas and musical comedies from time to time at some London theatre for quite short periods. The proceeds will go to charities, It seems that “Iris” has been doing very well financially in America. If Mrs. Patrick Campbell can secure a New York theatre she will probably produce a series of Shakespearian and Sardou plays under her own management. THE AUTHOR. PARIS NOTES. — 1 2 1 Profonde” is the title of M. Paul Bourget’s new novel. In the first chapter the author explains his title, and with his usual analytic method proceeds to discuss the meaning of the proverb “Still waters run deep,” as rendered by the English, the French and the Italians, and, strangely enough, it is the English version which the French author adopts for the title of his book. “ Chez les Anglais,” we are told, “l’esprit réaliste saccompagne de la plus solitaire, de la plus méditative réverie—l’Anglo-Saxon est durement brutal quand il est brutal, étrangement songeur quand il est songeur.” After this introduction one might expect some further reference to the English in the novel, but nothing could be more absolutely un-English than the whole story from beginning toend. The eternal theme once more, of which even Parisians are at last getting weary! There is nothing very original even in the plot itself, with its inevitable accom- paniments in the way of clandestine rendezvous, anonymous letters, and the discovery by one of the principal characters of the fact that he is not the son of the man he has been taught to call father. In all this there is nothing very new, so that the charm of the book is due simply to the skill of the analyst. “a Princesse Errante,” by Léon de Tinseau, is a very readable novel. The subject as it happens is quite apropos, for it is the romantic history of a Crown Prince and the tribulations of his daughter, the wandering princess. The book is full of incident, and the description of life in the various countries mentioned is most curious and interesting. The second volume of Barbey d’Aurevilly’s literary criticisms, ‘‘ Le Roman Contemporain,” has just been published, and will no doubt be read by all who appreciate the great novelist’s own works of fiction. As a critic Barbey d’Aurevilly was by no means merciful. His ideals were high, and the modern realistic and materialistic schools did not appeal to him. His judgment of Zola’s work is scathing. “ Zola,” he says, “n’a point d’idéal dans la téte et, comme son siécle, il aime les choses basses eb ne peut s’empécher d’aller a elles. Tout ce qui répugne le fascine. . . . “ Quand de pareilles choses se lisent et ont du succes, il n’y a plus de critique a faire. Il y a une page de moeurs et d’histoire a écrire sur la société qui les lit.” Later on he says: “Ily a toujours dans tout grand artiste une hauteur originelle et une pureté de génie qui dédaigne de toucher a ces = THE AUTHOR. 115 choses honteuses dans lesquelles l’auteur de ]’Assom- moir ne craint pas de plonger sa main. . . . Ces réalistes qui s’accroupissent ou se trainent sur le ventre pour ramasser les moindres poussiéres, trou- vent Dieu et lime des réalités trop menues pour daigner les voir et s’en occuper ; et ils ne se doutent pas que l’absence de Dieu et de l'ime dans une ceuvre humaine fait un vide par lequel, quand on en aurait, s’en va le génie,— et méme le talent!” Among the other authors whose works are criti- cised in this volume are Octave Feuillet, Flaubert, Daudet, Fabre, Richepin, Catulle Mendés, Huys- mans and the de Goncourts. Very far-seeing was d’Aurevilly, for after criti- cising Huysmans’ “ A Rebours,” he says that he is tempted to say to the author, as he did to Baudelaire: « Aprés ce livre il ne vous reste plus, logiquement, que la bouche du pistolet ou les pieds de la croix.” Both Baudelaire and Huysmans chose the latter. Then, too, d’Aurevilly saw more clearly than the author of “ Renée Mauperin” that this novel, which the de Goncourts intended to be strictly realistic, was “un livre d’imagination exquis.” Renée herself says d’Aurevilly was ‘‘an absolutely imaginary creation,” although in the preface the author says he has endeavoured to “peindre la jeune fille moderne avec le moins d’imagination possible.” The first part of Paul Friedmann’s book, “ Anne Boleyn,” bas just been translated into French, and most interesting it is, not only as a character study of Henry VIII., Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, but also on account of the picture which the historian gives us of London in the first half of the sixteenth century. The population of the capital of Great Britain at that time was 90,000, whilst Paris had 400,000 inhabitants. The houses in London were no higher than two storeys, and were surrounded with gardens. The commerce was almost entirely monopolised by foreigners. The King’s revenue was a sixth of that of the King of France, and a tenth of the Sultan’s. The hypocrisy and the untruths of Henry VIII. in his dealings with the Pope and the clergy are specially dwelt on by the historian, who declares that Macchiavelli himself would have been disgusted with such a liar and impostor. He speaks, too, of the courage of the nation in refusing to acknowledge Anne Boleyn as Queen, and we are told that when in Church prayers were offered up for her as the new sovereign, the congregation left the building in a tumult. The ‘‘ Journal du Dr. Prosper Meniére” should be read by all authors, for never has there been a more enthusiastic and sincere admirer of literary men and their work than this doctor of the Second Empire. Prosper Meniére was born in 1799, and during the year of the famous July Revolution he must have alleviated the sufferings of hundreds of his wounded countrymen. Later on he was appointed medical attendant to the Duchess of Berry, when she was in the fortress of Blaye under the guard of General Bugeaud. He knew personally a great many of the celebri- ties of his times, and he tells us in his memoirs of the Chancelier Pasquier, who had seen eleven changes of government. He was born during the reign of Louis XV., and had then seen Louis XVI., the Convention, the Directoire, Napoleon L., Louis XVIII., Charles X., Louis Philippe, the Republic of *48, the Presidence, and then the Empire. Nine out of the eleven changes of govern- ment had been brought about by a revolution. Dr. Meniére might have told us many interesting details about the political celebrities he knew, but with a few rare exceptions, he preferred jotting down notes about his acquaintances in the literary world. Jules Janin, Lamartine, Gautier, Jules Sandeau, Scribe, de Girardin, M. 'Thiers, and a host of others he mentions, and in many cases tells us some anecdote or speech of theirs which had interested him. Very amusing is his account of Alexandre Dumas describing the Battle of Waterloo before certain generals who happened to have been on the field themselves, and who ventured to correct some of the statements the novelist was making. “What you say is quite new to us,” they declared, “and we were present at Waterloo.” ‘Oh, you could not have seen this, then,” said Dumas, con- tinuing his description so graphically, that at the end the generals began to think he must be right after all. For all who delight in legends, “Le Folk Lore de la Beauce et du Perche,” by M. Félix Chapiteau, will be found most captivating. Among recent illustrated editions are two series of books which are marvels of art. The one is entitled ‘ Les Grands Artistes,” and is published under the direction of M. Roger Marx, Inspecteur au Ministere des Beaux Arts. Hach number con- tains 128 pages and 24 engravings. The volumes already published are Raphaél, Albert Diirer, Wat- teau, and Léonard di Vinci. ‘The other series is entitled “ Les Villes d’Art Célébres,” and of these Venise, Paris, Bruges et Ypres, Gand et Tournai, have appeared. There are 100 to 140 engravings in each volume. The text is by men who are considered authorities on the subject they undertake, and the idea of the latter series is ‘to connect the present life of each city with its historic past, and give us the opportunity of knowing its artistic riches.” A very fine édition de luxe of “La Dame de Monsoreau,” by Alexandre Dumas, has just been brought out. There are 250 wood-cuts by J. Huyot and  116 Maurice Leloir. The price of the two volumes is £2, and with a special binding, £3. Comte Robert de Montesquiou has arrived in America, and was entertained almost immediately by Miss Elisabeth Marbury, who has done so much for French literature in the United States. It is as a missionary of literature that M. de Montes- quiou has undertaken this voyage, and he is to give some eight or ten lectures during his tour. Among the authors of whom he will speak are Marceline Desbordes Valmore, Barbey d’Aurevilly, Leconte de Lisle, Verlaine, and Ernest Hello. The Académie founded by the Goncourt brothers has held its first assembly. Its members are MM. Huysmans, Mirbeau, Rosny, Hennique, Paul Mar- gueritte, G. Geoffroy, all of whom were chosen by M; de Goncourt. The members elected since his death are MM. Léon Daudet, Elemir Bourges, and Lueien Descaves. The journal Gil Blas has made a fresh start with M. Périvier (formerly of the Figaro), and M. Ollendorff, the well-known publisher, as directors. The quantity of new pieces this winter is alarm- ing, and the critics have been occupied with first nights. “Théroigne de Méricourt” is certainly a success. The mise en scéne is excellent, as every detail is exact. The first act takes place in Vienna in 1791. Théroigne has been arrested for revolutionary proceedings, and is released by the emperor. The second act is at the Tuileries, and Louis XVI. appears. It is only a few hours before he leaves the palace with his family. The next two acts are also at the Tuileries. The king is a prisoner, and Théroigne incites the crowd to the murder of Francois Suleau. The Swiss guards are massacred and the palace invaded, when Captain Bonaparte appears. In the last act, Théroigne is imprisoned in a cage at the Salpétriere. Sieyés comes with two of the court ladies to visit the establishment, and Théroigne is brought out of her cage. In an eloquent monologue she evokes the grand days of the Revolution. She is supposed to have lost her reason, but she is quite lucid in her bitter re- proaches as she points to the spectres of the victims who have perished for their ideas. So gruesome is the scene that the Abbé Sieyes rushes away in terror as the curtain falls, Sarah Bernhardt is very fine in this ré/e, which suits her,admirably. The play itself is a fine piece of literature, but, as in most historical subjects, a certain liberty has been taken with facts. M. Pierre Decourcelle is one of the most prolific of writers. A long serial of his has not long ago finished in one of the daily papers, and another, ‘* Les Deux Frangines,” has just commenced. His play, “Le Chien du Régiment,” is now having THE AUTHOR. great success at the Gaité. “La Meilleure Part,’ in which he collaborated with Pierre de Coulevain, is soon to be put on at the Vaudeville by Madame Réjane, and now he is writing “ Werther” for Madame Sarah Bernhardt. “ Le Secret de Polichinelle”’ has taken very well at the Gymnase, but “ La Chatelaine,” by M.Capus, is certainly the piece that seems likely to have the longest run this winter. Auys HaLLARD. a LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. ee I, Publishers and Copyright. CORRESPONDENCE took place recently in the literary supplement of the 7imes, which illustrated well the attitude of unscrupulous publishers and proprietors of periodicals towards their occasional contributors, while it called attention to a particular variety of their methods. The method in question was thus described in the original letter, signed “ Author.” “Qn the backs of cheques certain publishers print a receipt form which the author is requested to sign, whereby he acknowledges the receipt of so much money in respect of ‘copyright’ sold to the publisher. On the face of the cheque is usually the announcement that the cheque will not be cashed unless the receipt at the back is signed.” On a subsequent date Mr. Herman Cohen, a barrister, discussed the purely legal questions involved, being of opinion that the document described not being an unconditional order to pay is not a cheque and need not be honoured by the banker, while he further considered that a cheque not being legal tender need not in any case be accepted as payment by the author. The secretary of the Society of Authors followed with some suggestions as to the practical aspects of the case, and pointed out that the way of dealing de- scribed is resorted to in the publication of books where an agreement has only been made for their production in consideration of a royalty, as well as in the more frequently occurring instances where a short story or article has been accepted by the editor of a newspaper or magazine. The law of the case in so far as it relates to the authors and their customers has been dealt with by Mr. Cohen. It is technical, not easy for laymen to follow, and not entirely free from doubt to lawyers. There can be no doubt, however, that the law will not compel an author to accept a pay- ment given conditionally on his entering into a  Ae. Se et OW Sw Se DO. Ge re Bln oe ee Sy a ce OO OS ee | Gf a THE AUTHOR. fresh contract, differing from one which he has already made, and in respect of which money is already due to him. He would act unwisely, as Mr. Cohen points out, in deleting the obnoxious receipt, and trying to cash the cheque without it, but it is to his advantage that a cheque in some form should have been sent tohim. It is evidence that a sum is due to him, although not perhaps evidence that the sum on the cheque is owing, because the publisher will say (in a case where no sum has been agreed upon) “I made the cheque out according to my usuai rate when I buy the copyright,” and if he sends another cheque for the serial rights only, will send a smaller one. It is submitted, therefore, that the author, dis- satisfied with a cheque in the form described, can do little else than send it back with a request for another not so added to, saying courteously, but clearly, that he has not agreed to sell, and does not desire to sell, the copyright of his article. Inany correspondence which may follow he will be able to take up a strong position and to point out that ata hearing of the case, should legal proceedings arise, he will call for the production of the returned cheque as evidence. This will, however, probably mean a quarrel with that particular publisher or magazine proprietor, and the future exclusion of the author’s work by him; in other words, the narrowing of the author’s market. In this the strength of the buyer of the author’s wares lies. The supply is large enough for his purpose ; he, the buyer, has the money, and the author usually wants to sell. Mr. Thring, in the letter referred to, urged that the publisher or editor should, in making an offer, state whether he desires to purchase the copyright or not. No doubt he should, and this whether the subject has been mentioned already or not. But, on the other hand, it may be suggested that the author makes the first move as a rule by sub- mitting his work unsolicited, and that the person opening the negotiations is the party on whom it is incumbent to state what it is he desires. It is for authors and editors of experience to say whether the insertion of a printed slip or letter- heading with every manuscript sent in the manner indicated would be useful in obtaining a clear understanding, or would be liable to diminish the likelihood of acceptance. Such a heading might run as follows: “The article herewith is offered for publication in the magazine only, with- out transfer of copyright.” As a rule minor authors make no attempt such as this to protect themselves. In his ordinary dealings the author, not being one of established position, forwards to the editor of a magazine or newspaper, a manu- script of a short article or story with a covering letter which does not define the right that he 117 offers. The editor often accepts only by having the contribution printed, sometimes, but not always, forwarding a proof before publishing it. When payment is sent, if it is sent at all without being asked for, the condition of sale of copyright appears for the first time. It is submitted that in such a deal the transaction only amounts in fact to the offer and acceptance of the article for publi- cation in the ordinary way in the periodical to which it has been sent. In the case of more Important works a different course of dealing is followed, and the negotiations ought to raise the question of the disposal of copyright at an early stage, and usually doso. It is in the smaller trans- actions that the point discussed in the literary supplement of the Times arises, and they are often transactions so small that they hardly seem, at the time at all events, worth fighting over. In these the attitude of the author must depend on his inclination and power to fight for his rights. The publisher and editor are not likely to mend their ways for the asking, and the banker may with Justice say, that as far as he is concerned at all, his interests coincide with those of the man whose doubtless substantial account is entrusted to him. Cases of the kind indicated involve, to a large extent, questions of fact rather than of law, but perhaps some day a good typical instance involving the practices alluded to above may be taken up and fought by the Society of Authors. Such a case might help to define the law on the subject, and also to indicate the kind of view likely to be adopted by juries as to the questions of fact. The conclusions arrived at, both as to law and fact, could hardly fail to be useful to authors. HE. A. A. ee IL. American Publishers and the Nett System. [From Zhe American Author. ] a E give below a complete list of the members of the American Publishers’ Association. This list includes all publishers whose names are generally known to the book trade and to the reading public. It is now more than two years since the American Publishers’ Association was organised. During that time it has practically reorganised the general trade of publishing and selling books. Under the nett-price system new copyrighted books are no longer used to advertise bargain counters for dry goods stores. It was found by experience that the great majority of new copyrighted books were 118 being killed by this means before they were fairly on the market, and before they had an opportunity to test public favour. In this manner the property of both authors and publishers was being de- stroyed in order to build up the business of dry goods stores. All authors have ample reason for congratulation that this beneficent measure has been put into operation and is being rigidly enforced. The essential principles upon which the reform of the American book trade is established are practically the same as those adopted in Germany in 1887, which have restored the German book trade to a basis satisfactory to all concerned. The same principles have been adopted by the book trade in Austria, Belgium, England, France and Switzerland with excellent results. What has been described as the major premise upon which the reform of the American book trade is founded, isan agreement upon the part of all of the leading booksellers of the country, not to buy, not to put in stock, nor to offer for sale, the books of any publisher who declines to co-operate in the reform movement by joining the American Publishers’ Association; and, on the other hand, the publishers agree not to sell their books to any dealer who fails to maintain the established nett prices. It is understood that since October 1st all mem- bers of the American Booksellers’ Association, com- prising all of the leading booksellers of the country, have discontinued handling the books of all pub- lishers still remaining outside of the American Publishers’ Association. This fact should not be lost sight of by authors seeking to arrange for the publication of their manuscripts, if they desire to give their books any possibility of success. List or MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS’ ASSOCIATION. Henry AltemusCo., Philadelphia, Pa. ; American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. ; American News Co., New York, N. Y. ; D. Apple- ton and Co., New York, N. Y.; A. C. Armstrong, New York, N. Y.; Arnold and Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Baker and Taylor Co., New York, N.Y.; A. S. Barnes and Co., New York, N. Y.; Drexel Biddle, Philadelphia, Pa. ; The Bowen-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, Ind. ; Albert Brandt, Trenton, N. J.; Brentano’s, New York, N. Y.; John S. Brooks and Co., Boston, Mass.; The A. L. Burt Co., New York, N. Y. ; The Century Co., New York, N. Y.; C. M. Clark Publishing Co., Boston, Mass. ; The Robert Clarke Co., Cincinnati, O.; H. T. Coates and Co., Philadelphia, Pa. ; Thomas Y. Crowell and Co., New York, N. Y.; G. W. Dillingham Co., New York, N. Y.; Dodd, Mead and Oo., New York, N. Y.; Doubleday, Page and Co., New York, N. Y.; E. P. Dutton and Co., New York, N. Y. ; THE AUTHOR. Dana Estes and Co., Boston, Mass. ; The Federal Book Co. New York, N. Y.; Funk and Wagnalls Co., New York, N. Y.; Charles E. Goodspeed, Boston, Mass. ; Harper and Brothers, New York, N. Y.; Herbert Publishing Co., Washington, D.C. ; A. J. Holman and Co., Philadelphia, Pa. ; Henry Holt and Co., New York, N. Y.; Home Publishing Co., New York, N. Y.; Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston, Mass. ; Geo. W. Jacobs and Oo., Philadelphia, Pa.; Jamieson-Higgins Co., Chicago, Ill. ; John Lane, New York, N. Y.; Lee and Shepard, Boston, Mass. ; J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Little, Brown and Co., Boston, Mass.; Longmans, Green and Co., New York, N. Y.; The Lothrop Publishing Co., Boston, Mass.; McClure, Phillips and Co., New York, N. Y.; A. CO. McClurg, Chicago, Ill.; The Mac- millan Co., New York, N. Y. ; National Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa. ; Thos. Nelson and Son, New York, N. Y.; New Amsterdam Book Co., New York, N. Y.; Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.; Outlook Co., New York, N. ¥.; Oxford University Press, New York, N. Y.; L. C. Page and Co., Boston, Mass. ; Penn Publish- ing Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; James Pott and Co., New York, N.Y.; Presbyterian Board of Publica- tion and Sabbath School Work, Philadelphia, Pa. ; G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, N. Y.; Fleming H. Revell Co., Chicago, New York and Toronto ; R. H. Russell, New York, N. Y.; Charles Scrib- ner’s Sons, New York, N. Y.; Small, Maynard and Co., Boston, Mass. ; Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York, N. Y.; H. 8. Stone and Co., Chicago, Il. ; J. F. Taylor and Co., New York, N. Y.: HOB: Turner and Co., Boston, Mass. ; United Brethren, Publishing House, Dayton, 0. ; D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, N. Y. ; Vir Publishing Co., Phila- delphia, Pa. ; Frederick Warne and Oo., New York, N. Y.; A. Wessels Co., New York, N. Y.; Thomas Whittaker, New York. N. Y.; W. A. Wilde Co., Boston, Mass.; John Wiley and Sons, New York, N. Y. ; John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; E. and J. B. Young and Co., New York, N. Y.; Clinton S. Zimmerman, New York, N. Y. —_—_—_—_——_+—>—_+___—_ RESUME OF BOOKS PUBLISHED IN THE PAST YEAR. t+ — (Reprinted from Zhe Publishers’ Circular, by kind permission of the Editor.) PY HE total number of books recorded in 1902 T is slightly above that of 1900, nearly two hundred below 1899 and 1898, more than five hundred below 1897, just eight hundred above 1896, and a thousand above 1901 ; but about five  THE AUTHOR. hundred of that one thousand were “ Miscellaneous” —chiefly pamphlets at a few pence each—and about two hundred and fifty were sixpenny fiction. If up in number, the books of 1902 are down in value compared with those of 1901. The number under “ Miscellaneous” is almost the same as in 1898. In Fiction the number is almost the same as in 1898, slightly above 1900 and 1896, but below 1897 and 1899. In six other subjects the increase is not large ; in the case of Theology it is partly due to the issue of pious pamphlets and of sermons, and in that of Politics and Trade to publication of political skits and economical tracts. In History and Biography the numbers were almost 119 the same in 1901 and 1902—five hundred and thirty-one, five hundred and thirty-seven ; in Medicine precisely the same, two hundred and thirty-seven, which is lower than in 1900. Law books and Educational publications in 1902 show a falling off, the number being lower than in either of the previous six years. In Travel it is almost the same as in 1896, 1897, 1899, 1901, forty-four lower than in 1900. Belles-Lettres show almost the same number as in 1897, much less than in 1900 and 1901. The number of Year Books is almost the same as in 1897 and 1900. In the Drama and Poetry the number is higher than in 1901, lower than in the five previous years. | | | | | | loge 8 a : B po iS So-a° Subjects. BS e 5 | 43 | a x 2 = lees. 3 2 ee : 3 Ze g | 3 5 & |238.38 Se eee Ee Pe ee Ee ees ee se (| a 44 Psp 39 | ve 59 28 26 31 30 | ee 19 68 | 567 1. Theology, Sermons, Biblical ... a7 9 6 q Bo 7 | 1 10 10 Si | 648 2, Educational. Classical, and \| @ 56 OB e471 33 lo 38 |< 304) 82) 41 29 | 50 | 50 | 6b | 504 Philological... ... -- J) 211 7 8 1 6 5 31. 4 7 > 6 5 | 68 | 572 8, Juvenile Works and Tales, )| q 52 | 105 | 96 | 134 | 142 | 65} 58 | 126 | 132 | 807 | 301 | 225 1743 ies) Tales, and other j HG} G0 | be | 6b | 84 | bf] by | bl | 41 | 91 | 91 | 46 | 72% iction ie. oe ive 2470 a 6 12 9 17 9 3 3 5 4 2 9 88 4. Law, Jurisprudence, Xc. $ { b 3 3 8 5 4 4 2 3 ge 1 6 71 46 — 134 Sei and Social Econoiny,) 2 26) 42) 88) 44} 65) 28 | 95) 30) 88 30 | 44} 49 | £63 a 8 | | | ye, — 5 6. Arts, Science, and Illustrated )| 4% 31 22| 36| 43| 45 | 38] 25} 28| 27/ 33 | 40| 52 | 420 Works ee ac vey ee 2 2 3 a 3 2 4 3 8 1 T | 44 464 7, Voyages, Travels, and Geo- )| @ 8) 11; 10 8} 27] 13) 22 14 9 7 | 13} 20 162 graphical Research ... oo 2 1 3 3 3 t 9 3 3 2 1 8s 200 : : a 30 41 41 35 56 38 29 17 31 33 55 74 | 480 8. History, Biography, &c. i i bd: 3 q 9 3 7 3 6 2 1 4 4 8 | 57 537 (| @ 25 14 24 22 16 17 15 16 14 39 28 42 | 272 9. Poetry and the Drama “116 6 6 Sie 1s 7 4 5 5 5 i 9 6 | 76 —— 348 10, Year-Books and Serials in }| ¢ 66 | 21 7 7 B18, 2) 20) 2h) 53 | 96 | 75) wee Vv ae Cee el me oe lee | ee ee olumes ) 408 . Joe 7) og] 22) 2] Tee} 1 | 6) 14} 20 | 168 11. Medicine, Surgery, &c. oe 1b 5 q Q| 13 8 A: 4 3} 10 9 8 | 1) 84 —— 237 12, Belles-Lettres, Essays, Mono- || @ 19 7} 19 81) M ? Bite Bhs ee _ oe gape he ca ae de? 2 4 4 2 : ae I 2 ‘ O71 13. Miscellaneous, includin 426) 301 28 | 24) 81 24) 30] 27 32 35 | 389 31 352 Pamphlets, not Sermons = } bi) 14) 26) 10) Ba | 4) MY AB arp dy 18 | Ae poses — - 499 492 | 516 | 543 | 606 | 702 | 445 | 439 | 467 | 491 | 876 | 910 | 894 an a New Books; b New Editions. THE AUTHOR. The Analytical Table is divided into 13 Classes; also New Books and New Editions. Divisions. Theology, Sermons, Biblical, &c. Educational, Classical, and Philological Novels, Tales, and Juvenile Works Law, Jurisprudence, &c. Se — eae <n Political and Social Economy, Trade and Commerce Arts, Sciences, and Illustrated Works ‘ Voyages, Travels, and Geographical Research History, Biography, &c. 3 a Poetry and the Drama ... ru, ee Year-Books and Serials in Volumes ... Medicine, Surgery, &e. ... ers ne Belles-Lettres, Essays, Monographs, &c. Bae noe Miscellaneous, including Pamphlets, not Sermons ... 1901. | 1902. New Books. New Editions. New Books. New Editions, ee eee | 441 78 | 567 81 541 qT. 504 68 1,513 479 1,743 127 109 37 88 46 351 104 463 130 310 28 420 44 174 | 30 162 38 438 98 480 57 202 60 | 272 76 844 408 _ 169 68 153 84 293 32 227 : 44 70 8 352 147 4,955 1,089 5,839 1,542 4,955 5,839 6,044 | 7,381 THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. ee HE question of the Distribution of Books 1 is one that deserves much more attention than is usually given to it. It is compara- tively easy for a publisher to produce a book ; it is very much more difficult to secure its distribution. For the former a certain amount of taste and experience of printing, paper, and boarding is necessary ; for the latter much more is needed. Sir Walter Besant frequently insisted that a book is not really published till it finds its way to the bookseller’s counter, and this truth cannot be too often repeated. ‘The problem that faces every publisher is how to get his books brought before the direct notice of the public. The usual method adopted by publishers for giving publicity to their books is the following :— An edition of a given quantity of copies is printed. This may vary from a few hundreds in the case of an edition de luxe, or expensive art or technical book, or an historical work, to many thousands in the case of a popular novel. Of this first edition a certain number of copies are boarded. In the case of a popular novel the whole edition may be boarded at once; in the case of a work on history, of which say one thousand copies are printed, perhaps 400 copies may be boarded to begin with. When the book is boarded copies are sent to news- papers for review ; and the book is “ subscribed,” 2.e., it is shown to all the booksellers in London who buy such quantities as they think they can use. In the “ provinces,” 7.¢., in all places outside London, books can rarely be shown to the book- sellers on the day of publication, as the commercial travellers who take them round visit the various towns only twice a year as a rule. Sometimes, especially in the case of popular novels, books are ordered in advance of publication. The public and the booksellers in the “ provinces” have to trust for their information about new books to the publisher’s advertisements. Where and how much to advertise is the problem of publication. In many cases many hundreds of pounds are spent in advertising an individual book, and it is impossible to tell how far this expense is profitable. Such is the method adopted almost universally for bringing books before the notice of the public. Reviews and advertisements, and, in some cases, circulars, are all that the public can depend on for information as to books. The booksellers buy or do not buy according as they think there is likely to be or not to be a demand for the books shown to them by the publishers, and the publishers in almost all cases rest satisfied that with advertise- ments and copies sent for review their responsibility to the public ceases. In the case of novels by popular writers they are probably quiteright. Thepublicwanttoread these, and they are content to order them without seeing them. But it is quite different with books which can- not have more than a limited sale. The bookseller often cannot risk the purchase of these. The public will not buy them withoutseeing them. Ifthe books do not therefore reach the booksellers’ counters they do not get a fair chance. It is with regard to these books that a modified form of “sale or return” might, I think, be adopted with great advantage, alike to publisher, bookseller, and the public. The plan of sending out books “on sale or return” has so far not been popular in this country with either publishers or booksellers. But times and conditions are changing. Before the introduction of the “ nett ” system the bookseller made little or no profit off those books which had only a limited sale, as he was expected to give off them the same discount as he gave off popular novels which he bought in quantities on much better terms. The adoption of the system of “sale or return,” so frequently advocated in The Author, had therefore  THE AUTHOR. no attraction for him. But the introduction and rapid development of the “nett” system has placed ‘sale or return” on quite a different footing. On “nett ’’ books the bookseller can make a profit on in- dividual copies, and it may in many cases be of great value to him to have books sent “ on sale or return.” Before going further it is necessary to point out that it would be impracticable to make this plan compulsory on either publisher or bookseller. The reasons for such restriction are obvious. On the side of the publisher if he were to be compelled to send books “on sale or return” to any bookseller who asked for them, he might be forced to print and board far more copies of a book than was advisable; while if the book- seller were to be compelled to receive “on sale or return” all the books that the publisher wished to send him, his shelves would very soon overflow. But with the reservation that publishers and book- sellers would, therefore, both have to be allowed to refuse to send or to accept books “onsale or return,” the system might, I think, well be allowed a fair trial. Let us now look at its advantages and disadvan- tages from the points of view of (1) the publisher, (2) the bookseller, (3) the public. (1) The disadvantages to the publisher are three- fold: (a) He does not know at once what number of copies he sells outright ; (b) the system would involve a slightly more elaborate bookkeeping ; (c) he might receive back some copies with the boards soiled. But the advantages would greatly outweigh the disadvantages. The publisher would be entitled to charge a slightly higher price for books sent “on sale or return” than for those a bookseller bought outright, and this would probably recoup him for the cost of his extra bookkeeping. The risk of copies coming back damaged need not be considered seriously. For if a publisher boarded, say, 400 copies of a book, and sold 200 outright —and this is no uncommon experience—it is a matter of little moment whether the other 200 are damaged or not if they have eventually to go into his stores. On the other hand, if these 200 copies are shown on booksellers’ counters, the chances are that a considerable proportion of them will be sold. All booksellers know how often the sale of a book is lost because it is not at hand or cannot be seen. Moreover, the publisher would be saved much expense in advertising. He advertises and inserts extracts from reviews in his advertisements to let the public know of the books and their contents. Much of this advertising would be unnecessary if the public knew that in every large town one book- seller at least would be sure to have in stock, or could get on sight, all really good books. The judicious use of “sale or return,” by which book- sellers would become agents for the publishers, should be to the publishers of very great value. 121 (2) That this system would be of great advan- tage to the bookseller is obvious. He would be saved much bad stock—which is as bad for the publisher as for the bookseller—as the latter is cautious with the books of those publishers whose books become bad stock, and he would frequently be able to oblige his customers by letting them see books in which they are interested. (8) Lastly, the system would be of great value to the public. At present the public may fairly complain that in many cases they cannot see a book before purchasing it. The booksellers cannot be blamed for this. It is unreasonable to ask them to buy a particular book on the chance of an individual customer wishing, after seeing it, to purchase. But surely it would be wise for the publisher in such cases to be willing to submit his publication for inspection through the book- sellers. The bookseller or his customer would pay the carriage, and in the event of the book not being kept, it would be returned free of cost. Of course, the publisher might have to refuse if his stock of copies of the book in question were small, but if he had plenty of copies he would be consulting his own interest in meeting the convenience of the public. The “nett” system has done much to improve the conditions of bookselling. I believe the adop- tion of the system of “sale or return” in some such way as I have indicated would improve those conditions still more. It would be no small thing for the spread of literature if in every town there was a bookseller’s shop where practically all good books might be seen. The cry of the “decay of bookselling” would cease to be heard in the land. Rosert MacLeHoss. —_———__1+—}— A DICKENS’ FELLOWSHIP DINNER. [Printed with the kind permission of The Sunday Times. | Se T is probable that when he wrote “The | Christmas Carol” Dickens did not dream of the practical spirit in which his precepts would be carried out by the Fellowship which has identified itself with his name. Indeed, when the novelist penned the moving story of the miserly spirit turned philanthropist, the idea of a Fellow- ship had not yet taken shape in any man’s mind. It was only last October that the Fellowship came into concrete existence, and to-day it has members wherever the English language is spoken and English literature is read. This is a proof, if proof there need be, that the humanitarian spirit which moved one of the greatest masters of fiction of recent times still animates his fellow-countrymen in whatever part of the globe they may find  122 themselves. The day of the Dinner was a red-letter one in the history of the Fellowship. It was a day of merry-making, of feasting, and of song, upon which the spirit of Dickens’ work cast a benign and happy influence. For in the practical spirit of the world-famous Carol, the Dickens’ Fellowship entertained a thousand of London's poor children to dinner and an entertainment at the Alexandra Trust, City Road. Funds had come in from members of the Fellowship and their friends sufficient in amount to entertain 3,000 little ones ; and as it was impossible, owing to the exigenciesof building space, to entertain them all at the same time in the same place, the other 2,000 will take their turn later. The invitations to the feast were distributed with a catholicity of spirit as broad as that which pervades Dickens’ every volume. It was enough that the little guest was a child of poor parents, no matter what their party or creed, to enable it to be bidden to a festive board laden with Christmas fare and distri- buted by an army of willing workers without stint. In their anxiety to seat themselves at the tables the little ones fell over each other in climbing the stairs, in some instances sadly disarranging the best attire. But they quickly picked themselves up and passed in a continuous stream into the rooms on the first and second floors marshalled by many willing helpers. When all had found seats, a ménu was served, in which the principal items were roast beef and roast mutton, with two vegetables, and plum pudding ; and then, when the small guests had eaten to satiety, they were handed each a bag of sweets and an orange, and finally a bon-bon, the gift of Mr. Hall Caine. Then came the second half of the entertainment, for which the first half had prepared them. The children screamed with laughter, and were moved to tears by many of the readings, recitations, and songs contributed by a number of ladies and gentlemen, who gave their services gratuitously. The I.D.K. Minstrels presented a programme with more than a dozen good things in it, and as the shadows gathered, and evening grew into night, the little guests were dismissed to their homes in the neighbourhood, smiling and happy, to experi- ence anew in their childish dreams the incidents of a day which they will not soon forget. ———_ ++ CORRESPONDENCE, <1 — NETT OR NET? To the Editor of THE AUTHOR. S1r,—It is pleasant to note how The Author con- sistently upholds in its columns the first-named mode of spelling this word. Why are publishers, THE AUTHOR. for the most part, equally persistent in their adherence to the latter method ? I have had more than one friendly bout with them upon the subject, and still travel along sanguine lines in the hope of a conversion to my way of thinking. For it cer- tainly does seem to me, as it may to other writers, that uniformity is very desirable over so important an indicator. I plump, as does this organ of ours, for the employment of “nett” as opposed to the less distinctive “net,” and am inclined to believe that the adoption would meet with fuller accept- ance from the literary world in general. There is much value in a ‘‘t,” say I, Oup Birp. Authors’ Club, 8.W. —<>—+ — To the Editor of THe AUTHOR. Sin,—Publishers complain of the absence of first-class authors, and they admit, as far as my acquaintance with them goes, that a large amount of the books published have no permanent value. But is not some of all this dearth caused by the publishers themselves ? I know a gentleman, a good writer, but not very well known, who devoted ten years to writing a really clever book, and well spoken of. The publisher he came in contact with (a London publisher) would publish the book on commission— cost about £90; but mark, the profit to author would be £17. Is such an agreement and profit likely to induce people of ability to write? I think not. Publisher said there would be some extra profit for advance proof copies sold in America. Yours, “ SENEX.”” oe To the Editor of THe AUTHOR. Srr,—I lately published a volume of poems which called forth some twenty notices, from which I give some extracts :— “The title of this volume indicates accurately enough ” —Scotsman. “Thought predominates over fancy.”—Sceotsman. “Has the power of clearly expressing his views.”— Yorkshire Herald, “ Well worth reading,” re- ferring to the book as a whole.—ZJrish Times. “The title gives no clue to the contents.”—Church of England Pulpit. “The author is the servant of hisrhymes and metres.” —Sheffield Telegraph. “Never succeeds in pro- ducing clear impressions.” —Daily News. “ Regretfully we lay aside” the volume with dis- appointment.— Birming- ham Post. “ Every white will have its black, And every sweet its sour.” But of what use are the critics to the public or to Yours faithfully, , LANK ?  GENERAL MEMORANDA. —_ -—~<—+ — ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an q agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— : I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. i Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of 198 agreement). [ In this case the following rules should be attended to: (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- 5 duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- a ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” it unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental ol rights. ) (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. A As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or sob doctor ! III. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the | proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible 101 for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly sf} thetruth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “ Cost of Production.” IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. <) (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book, wh General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four ig above mentioned. : Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. : Never sign any agreement without competent advice from i! the Secretary of the Society. ey Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. i Avoid agreements by letter if possible. 7 The main points which the Society has always demanded “from the outset are :— ya C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement s ‘means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld, —~<++ WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. 2 ge EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. {t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. THE AUTHOR. 123 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gvoss receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (c.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (%.¢., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply also in this case. 4, PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative : that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. pS 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTIIORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY. << HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. — + — Li VERY member has a right toask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member,  124 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers: —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) Io enforce payments due according to agreements, 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. ————__ ~~ + THE READING BRANCH. t+ EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term MSS, includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. 1 NOTICES. — \HE Editor of Zhe Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s, 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, 8.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish, eh 9 COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EDITOR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. > THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. — ()* the 29th November, 1902, the Danish Lower House passed, by a unanimous vote of the sixty members present (fifty members were absent), the new law for the codification of the Danish Law of Copyright, as a preliminary step towards the entrance of Denmark into the Berne Union. This action of the Danish Parlia- ment is highly significative. In 1894 a contrary decision was carried by a vote of forty-seven against forty ; and in 1897 a majority of seven votes (forty- eight against forty-one) resolved upon a course of restrictive measures certain to render entrance into the Berne Convention impossible. et A Hungarian author has done us the honour of calling at the office. Amongst other questions that came under dis- cussion he pointed out that a great many of the Hungarian newspapers and magazines pirate the works of English authors in translated form ; and he promised, on his return to his native land, to forward a list of stories with the names of the authors and the papers that were pirating them. He asked the secretary if it would be possible to do anything to stop these cases of infringement, and frankly confessed that he did not desire this so much for the benefit that might accrue to the English author, as for the benefit to the young Hungarian. Any action taken would give to native authors a chance of some adequate reward  it il HW | Q > cdl > peng? poten, a) + J ) THE AUTHOR. in return for their labour, and to Hungarian literature a chance of expansion. Not many months ago a deputation of Hungarians waited on the authorities and urged on the Govern- ment the necessity of joining the Berne Convention. One important reason was put forward. Thepiracy of French and English authors fostered in the Hungarian youth the sentiments and feelings of foreigners and failed to inspire them with a patriotic feeling and a love of their country. The whole of this movement points to the fact often reiterated in these pages, that the wider the protection given to authors of any individual country for their works throughout the world, under the Berne Convention or separate treaty, the wider and fuller will be the literature of that country. It may be as well to remark once more that any deviation on the part of an English colony from this standpoint, in order to obtain some supposed benefit to its own authors, or to foster its own literature, must meet with failure. The mere fact that publication throughout the British Empire carries with it, not only copyright throughout the British Empire, but copyright under the Berne Convention in all the civilised countries of Europe, and, with certain limitations, in the United States of America also, is a sure guarantee that the best assistance that it is possible to grant to authors is being given to the colony that adheres to the Imperial copyright Acts. We quote the following from the S/. James’ Gazette :— “The next is to be a Habitual Writers Act. It is de- signed for the prevention of bad and hurried books. Any author against whom three publications can be proved in one year will be placed on the black list, and for a period of three years publishers will be forbidden to serve him. Any author who attempts to write a novel while in charge of babies or young children will, on conviction, be made todo so. So we are incredibly informed.” Ink Drunkards! According to some—we print a short essay on the subject—this is already a reality. It may be, therefore, that one day the jester of the St. James’ will find his prophecy realised. One question, however, may arise under the Licensing Act affecting copyright. We under- stand that the police intend to send a series of photographs of habitual drunkards to the owners of public-houses and others. The danger of giving away the copyright in a photograph is constantly recurring, and has been alluded to in the pages of The Author. It is not impossible that the following events might happen :— A man writes a book entitled “The Confessions 125 ofa Habitual Drunkard.” The book has a successful sale. Immediately one or two of the editors of reviews are seized with a desire to publish the photograph of the author, yet owing to the modesty of the writer fail to obtain one. All they have got to do is to enter the nearest public-house. Here no doubt they could procure a copy for nothing. To whom would the copyright in the likeness taken for the purpose of the Act belong? Would it belong to the police authorities, or would it be public property ? If to the police authorities, could they restrain publication ? Is it possible that the author could claim damages ? The probability of such a complicated question arising seems to be remote. The point is academic. _ The following brief extract from a long parody in the “Outlook,” puts forward in no indistinct. manner the opinion of some modern critic. He writeth best who writeth least Of trumped-up loathsomeness ; Who trusteth man is more than beast, And doth this faith confess. He writeth best who writeth most Of high and wholesome things, Not making man’s clay feet a boast, But his soaring, heavenly wings. It is the custom of many authors to carry note- books with them, in which to jot down their own ideas and,—rumour reports,—the ideas of other people. We trust that no member of the society has ever met with the following experience :— “+A lady went into a stationer’s shop and inquired of the obsequious assistant for a notebook. ‘ 1 want something I can carry in my pocket to jot down ideas.’ The assistant, with extraordinary lack of judgment, replied, ‘Oh! you want something very small.” Unfortunately he did not explain whether his remark applied to the size of the lady’s pocket or of her brain.” —__—_—__—_—_+——_e__. A LITERARY ACADEMY. —+ + I. OBSERVE that the project of Mr. Herbert Trench which began “Academy,” with all the implications of that title, is now changing its nature to a “Guild.” This is more hopeful. It is to be a self-constituted guild, electing the academy—which is really quite a new thing in academies altogether. I sympathise deeply with all the noble prelusions of Mr. Herbert Trench ; I feel, perhaps even more deeply than he does, the:  126 need of a common chamber of literature in which men of all professions may meet ; but I think it will only be by toil and extraordinary good fortune that this guild of his can be made any better than the abandoned idea of an Academy by Royal Charter. Suppose, in order to get to something definite, we take his assertions about the con- temporary prospects of letters as true, and ask him to go on from his “ brave beginning ” of Messrs. Shorthouse, Bury, Housman, and so forth, to give us a really definite scheme for his guild. There are some enormous difficulties. How will he pre- vent the impostor swamping his guild from the outset if he leaves the door wide open? If he does not, what will it be but a clique—Mr. Trench and party? I submit it is these practical diffi- culties that trouble me. The enormous good the guild might do if only it could be invented I do not for one moment dispute. But Mr. Trench has not by any means invented it yet. His waving rhetoric, his generous bunting, must not hide from us that elementary defect. If I might offer a suggestion, it would be that Mr. Trench should give us a list, or conspire with a few others to give us a list, of his possible guild. He might write to this authoritative person or that for the suggestion of a name or so. Suppose he were to begin with two hundred or three hun- dred names, appending by way of justification the name of at least one diploma work to each name (for example, I will confess I did not know what Professor Bury had written until I consulted a work of reference). That list could be printed close in small type in a page or so of The Author. Then we could criticise omissions and inclusions, mote the excessive representation of any type or school, and get a clearer conception—and help Mr. Trench perhaps to a clearer conception—of his desirable, but I fear quite impracticable, project. H. G. WELLS. — Il. Ir an Academy of Letters did no more than ‘publish an official magazine, uninfluenced by ad- vertisement, in which only books of a certain -standard were reviewed, it would justify its exist- ence. I suppose Londoners can have no conception. of the darkness in which provincial lovers of literature dwell. We never see a good book either in our public libraries or bookshops, and we have no guide in which to place confidence. In my country town there are three or four libraries, and from these into my home every week come at least six or seven novels of a general badness unspeakable. Half of them go back unread even by the devourer of light fiction, for whom they are brought. I don’t believe any one on earth could read them. THE AUTHOR. But there is little else to be had ; and although [ hear the continual plaint, “I can’t get anything fit _ to read” from all sorts and conditions of men, yet the stream flows on, giving no satisfaction to any- body. Iam convinced that if a stamp were put upon works of merit, the average man and woman of no great literary taste, but of sterling common sense, would be thankful for such a chance of deliverance from the time-wasting toils of the twaddlemonger. As things are, they have to swallow the mess that is put before them and make the best of it. : The shocking muddle we are now in—our libraries choked with rubbish, our publisherg’ shelves groaning with books that no bookseller will show—calls for a radical change. Of the thousands of books printed, only a comparative few ever sell, and it is a wonder any publisher can be induced to issue one by an unknown author, in face of the fact that no bookseller will stock it, How can he? No shop is large enough to ho even a tenth of the spring and autumn output in novels alone. Poor bookseller! He is bewildered with advertisements and reviews. Poor publisher ! He never knows what the public will ery after or reject. Poor author! There is one chance in @ thousand that his book will reach the public at all. Something must be done. Can an Academy of Letters do it ? We nurse a fainting belief that the best will survive, and that if we try strenuously to produce works of art, our aspirations and our efforts wil be recognised sooner or later. At present recog nition certainly seems to come by accident rathe than by any inevitable law, but this is because 0 the muddle we are in. An Academy of Letters might sift the grain from the chaff; and if i could not make artistic merit popular, which is perhaps, too much to expect, it could keep aliv the flame that is fed by sympathy and apprecia tion, for the lack of which many a soul-starved genius has been driven to desperate deeds 0 mediocrity. To lose the faith is to let ideals sink and how shall a man continue to believe in art when all his world flouts it ? Mary L. PENDERED. —-— 4 —— Til. WHEN so many celebrities are writing in you pages on the subject of a proposed Academ, Letters, perhaps it may amuse your readers to hear what an absolute nonentity has to say about it. My impression, on reading the various letters from the great and published, appearing from time to time in Zhe Author, has been, and is, that it. all, to quote a type of author, “ very beautiful.  og ? d ig oh od Se otf de a9 Ue p ak HOLE dg But its beauty on a close inspection strikes one as a trifle disingenuous in some cases. With all the talk, and there is much, about benefiting us honest strivers, hardly a word of honours to be conferred, of knighthoods—perchance peerages—for presidents, of social advantages to be reaped by every member. It is almost too beautiful to be true, Mr. Trench indeed recognises the possibility of such blessings, for he writes : “It behoves greatly, therefore, that for the State’s own sake, some honest endeavour is made to distinguish and reward those who practise this art (literature) with signal excellence.” Now, when, in the name of goodness, was distinction and reward from the highly-placed, aught but tortoise dropped on the head of genius ? Hardy talent may withstand the blow, but delicate genius is inevitably cracked thereby. In the same way competition, which an organ- ised system of rewards and distinctions would inevitably beget, is death to genius, though it is the breath of life to mediocrity. By the way, what is genius? Thus much | know of it: that there is nothing more individual under the sun; nothing that so objects to restrictions of any kind. Now, who is going to assure us that this, perhaps, forthcoming Academy will not set up a standard of its own? Genius would assuredly shy at any hard and fast desider- atum of style, say, anything at all resembling a chalked blackboard ; and, unless I misunderstand Mr. Trench, it is principally for genius that his Academy is designed. Think of the Newdigate and Seatonian prize compositions, and wonder whether productions as ungainly may not some day be crowned by an English Academy of Letters. In order that the rarest order of genius may have a chance of _ growth, I believe that the Bohemian character of our brotherhood should be preserved, rather than abandoned for an organisation, however august, however much patronised and decorated by Royalty. And are women to be taken into glory if they deserve it? Mr. Trench has not, that | can find, committed himself on this point, perchance for fear of alienating so large a section of our society. But he has hazarded a statement calculated to rouse another, and, I think, a large section. His suggestion of a “ Guild of Literature” is nice and soothing after that awe-inspiring vision of a Royal Academy full of immortals, like an omnibus on a rainy day, until we get to the end. And then— i and then: “ Recruited from the intellectual refuse of Europe”! How polite to the numerous clerical members of the Society of Authors. What exquisite good taste! But better follows. THE AUTHOR. 127 Of the churches, he says: ‘‘The brains are out, the man must die.” A haunting metaphor, and an ominous. A man whose brains are out is very near dead. Poor churches ! And “this new Society of the Spirit—this new Guild of Literature” is, he as good as tells us, going to supersede all the churches that ever were. He declares his hostility to Christianity, an unwise step at the very outset, if he really wishes to found a representative Academy of Letters in a Christian land. “We must look to art and science (!) to bear on the torches relinquished by religion.” Truly Mr. Trench is laying about him with a vengeance, smoky torch in hand, And all this about an unformed Academy, which we nonenti- ties, being far removed from the chance of entering it and reaping any of the benefits there to be con- ferred, should regard as a very doubtful blessing indeed—possibly a nuisance. That, in place of Religion (the capital is Mr. Trench’s). What a comfort for us sinners on our deathbeds! MARMADUKE PICKTHALL. —_——_+—_<>__—___—_-_ THE NEW BRITISH ACADEMY. ——1—<—+ ——- HE British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical, and Philological Studies has at length come into being. The story of its evolution, and the practical reason for its existence may be stated shortly as follows. At a meeting of the chief European and American Academies held at Wiesbaden in October, 1899, a scheme was drawn up for the organisation of an International Association of the principal scientific and literary academies in the world. This association was to be divided into two sec- tions:—Natural Science, and Literary Science, the term “literary”? being used to indicate sciences of language, history, philosophy, and antiquities, and other subjects, the study of which was based on scientific principles. The Royal Society was, of course, a fitting repre- sentative of Natural science ; but certain of those who were present considering that no existing institution was competent to stand for the section dealing with historical,philosophical, and philological studies, deemed it a matter of vital importance that the United Kingdom should be effectively and honourably represented at any future International Congress. This view the delegates of other nations strongly supported. ‘The United Kingdom they said should take immediate steps to secure corporate representation. Accordingly, measures were adopted to procure a charter of incorporation for a British  ie Academy to promote the study of the subjects set out above. The draft charter which was submitted to His Majesty states succinctly the purposes for which the Academy has been called into existence, and the powersthattheydemand. The Academy isto consist of a President, Council, and Fellows ; the President and Council being elected by the Fellows from among their own number. The government of the Academy is to rest in the Council and in the Fellows assembled in general meeting, the Academy having power to elect honorary members should it deem fit to do so, and to hold land in perpetual succession, not exceeding in the whole the annual value of £2,000. As there was noserious opposition, His Majesty granted the charter. The list will be of interest to members, as they will see among the names a great many of those who belong to the Society. This, then, is the beginning of the Academy. Its future lies in the womb of time. Will it bea practical Academy, aiding and stimulating study by honouring those who adorn the ranks of his- torians and philosophers, by encouraging those who are at the beginning of their career, or will it be merely ornamental, crowning a life of hard and strenuous work with anempty honour? It remains to be seen whether, to use a terribly trite phrase, it “fills a want.” At present, we understand, the executive are engaged in settling bye-laws and other details. A few days ago the French Academy of Political and Modern Sciences gave formal welcome to this the youngest member of the academic family. Lord Reay, as president, responded in an appropriate speech. President—The Right Hon. The Lord Reay. Council. Sir W. R. Anson, Bart. Sir R. C. Jebb. The Right Hon. James The Rev. Prof. Mayor. Bryce. Dr. J. A. H. Murray, Prof. I. Bywater. Prof. H. F. Pelham. Prof. T. W. Rhys The Rev. Prof. W. W. Davids. Skeat. The Rev. Prof. 8S. R. Sir E. Maunde Thomp- Driver. son. The Rev. Principal Dr. A. W. Ward. Fairbairn. Prof. James Ward. Sir C. P. Ibert. List of Fellows. Sir W. R. Anson, Bart. The Right Hon. James M.P. Bryce, M.P. The Right. Hon. A. J. Prof. J. B. Bury. Balfour, M.P. Prof. S. H. Butcher. THE AUTHOR. Prof. Ingram Bywater. Dr. Edward Caird. Prof. E. B. Cowell. The Rev. William Cun- ningham, D.D. Prof. T.W. Rhys Davids. Prof. A. V. Dicey, K.C. The Right Hon. Vis- count Dillon. The Rev. Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D. Prof. Robinson Ellis. Dr. A. J. Evans. The Rev. Principal A. M. Fairbairn, D.D. The Rev. Prof. Robert Flint, D.D. Dr. J. G. Frazer. Mr. Israel Gollancz. Dr. Thomas Hodgkin. Mr. 8. H. Hodgson. Prof.T.E. Holland, K.C. Sir C. P. Ibert, K.C.S.1. Sir R. C. Jebb, M.P. The Right. Hon. W. BE. H. Lecky, M.P. Prof. F. W. Maitland. Prof. Alfred Marshall. Sir H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, K.C.B. The Rev. Prof. J. E. B. Mayor. Dr. D. B. Monro. Secretary—Mr. Israel Gollancz. ——_——___—_- OF BOOKBINDING. San Aine ane a recent disturbance in the bookbinding trade has, among other things, aroused some mild discussion as to the importance The Right Hon. John Morley, M.P. 2 Dr. J. A. H. Murray. Prof. H. F. Pelham. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart. Prof. W. M. Ramsay. The Right Hon. The Lord Reay, G.C.S.1., G.C.L.E. Prof. John Rhys. The Right Hon. The Earl of Rosebery, K.G., K.T. The Rev. Prof. George Salmon, D.D. The Rev. Prof. William Sanday, D.D. The Rey. Prof. W. W. Skeat. Sir Leslie Stephen, K.C.B. Dr. Whitbey Stokes, C.S.1., C.1.E. The Rev. Prof. H. B. Swete, D.D. Sir E. Maunde Thomp- son, K.C.B. The Rey. H. F. Tozer. Prof. R. ¥. Tyrrell. Dr. A. W. Ward. Prof. James Ward. of the cover in the scheme of things that go to the making of abook. At one time it seemed possible that the autumn of 1902 might be memorable as the one in which books appeared wrapped in sere and yellow leaves; and the possibility of a pheno- menon go rare in this country could not fail to provoke debate as to its effect upon the trade. It should be premised that these notes are directed to case-work—to the binding of ordinary editions, and not to extra or library binding, which involves different and more elaborate treatment, and which may be brought into the domain of art by the caprice of individual taste, and the resources of a deep purse. It was only the ordinary editions  ant THE AUTHOR. 129 of which publication was lately jeopardised, and it is with the outside eovering of such books only that these random remarks are concerned. For my own part, I am willing to admit that to me the outside of a book is a matter of relatively small concern. Binding is to a book what dress is to a man, and I agree with Lord Chesterfield in thinking that dress is one of the various ingredients that contribute to the art of pleasing, and, there- fore, an object of some attention; for we cannot help forming some opinion of a man’s sense and character from his dress. I would, consequently, clothe my books as I would clothe my children, sensibly, but artistically withal ; but were I a millionaire, I would do no more. Their garments should be sufficiently distinctive to contribute something to the formation of that first impression upon which so much depends. They should be accurately clean for their own sakes; they should be of good workmanship, and able to withstand ordinary use at the hands of a man who loves his books and recognises his obligation to them ; and generally they should be unobtrusive, and an unnoticeable part of the book’s own entity. I have never been able to accustom myself to regard the cover in which a book leaves the pub- lisher as a merely temporary vestment. From this it follows that the yellow paper wrapper of the ordinary French book is an abomination in my eyes, although its frankly ephemeral nature is, perhaps, more honest than the ill-adjusted boards of many of our home products. The few French books which I possess cannot stand erect upon their shelves, but droop against the sides of the bookcase as if conscious that their moral character could not bear investigation, although they are in reality as innocent of evil as the sturdy Hcclesi- astical Polity which presents broad shoulders from the shelf above. They accumulate dirt, get dog- eared, split down the back, and fall to pieces at the first reading. If they hold together sufficiently long to reach the binder round the corner, it is well. The cheapest boards are preferable to the paper wrapper, and I almost think I would rather possess no books than paper-covered ones. Still, the French publisher makes no protesta- tions. My grievance with English publishers i; that, while professing to regard case- work as merely temporary, and consequently tolerating bad work from the binders whom they employ, they are, in fact, aware that the profession they make is not quite ingenuous. The public look for decent workmanship in the binding of the average novel, and, in England, they do not get it. It would be invidious to give specific instances, but the general assertion put forward by Mr. Putnam, for one, in his suggestive manual of suggestions, ‘‘ Authors and Publishers,” is well founded. ‘That assertion is that in America “it is the intention to produce case-work so strongly and effectively put together that the books may open well, and at the same time be so firmly bound as to stand all proper usage, and to remain as permanent coverings to the volumes ; whereas, abroad, it has never been considered necessary to treat edition work as any- thing more than a temporary covering for the book. Hence, abroad, the cloth-bound books are lacking in substantial sewing and in general strength of structure.” As regards that indict- ment, I think a true bill must be found ; and if the verdict be adverse, it is surely a matter for self-reproach. If a book is worth producing at all, it is worth producing well; and there must be something wrong somewhere for the difference in merit to be so marked as it is in this matter of binding between English and American books. A novel of my own was lately issued in both countries at approxi- mately the same published price. In England I was permitted to have a voice in the selection of the cover, and chose an ordinary cloth, plainly lettered, which, I thought, would be serviceable and unostentatious, and in every way appropriate. In America the matter was left entirely to the publisher’s discretion. I duly received presenta- tion copies from both houses, both, be it remarked, well-known and old-established firms of repute. The English volume would fall to pieces at the sniff of the first reviewer. The book is badly sewn, the sheets gape, the edges are unevenly trimmed, and all the mechanical details have been carried out in a slovenly fashion. The American volume opens freely, is perfectly folded and cased in, the cover is embellished with a peculiarly appropriate design of minute proportions, the lettering is plain and unmistakeable, and the volume will last longer than I shall. I can find no good reason for this difference between the two editions of a book, which I have singled out as an instance only because it happens to be my own. There seems to be a curious uncertainty of opinion among publishers as to the effect of the binding of a book upon its sales. I have known fifteen guineas to be paid for the design for the cover of a novel, published at three shillings and sixpence, and the design comprised nothing but some lettering, not particularly original in form. The novel was really literary, and its sale was counted by tens. I know another novel, not literary at all, of which the sale, counted by thousands, is attributed by the publishers entirely to the picture on the cover, the design for which cost a guinea. I am at a loss to understand the motive which prompted the publisher to spend fifteen guineas in the one case and one guinea In the other, and I am at a loss to understand why he 130 attributes the sale in the one case to the binding, and does not attribute the failure to sell in the other case to the same cause. : In this matter of florid decoration our English novels are also inferior to the American, and the fact can only be due to an idea that picture designs excite curiosity and promote sales. There is certainly no other justification for many of them. And yet such ornamentation may have a contrary effect ; one case has certainly occurred lately where the bookstall sale of a book was prohibited because the proprietors objected to the design upon its cover as meretricious, or in some way “im- proper,” and refused to stock the work ; yet this particular design was good art. — From these considerations arises a question of some importance to authors. Ifa publisher insists for commercial reasons upon having a picture cover, should not the author have some defined right to yeto any design to which he may take exception as being, say, in bad taste, or as conveying a false impression of the tone and scope of the book? It is not enough to suggest that this is a matter which may be left to mutual amicable arrangement, nor to reply that anything may be made a condition of the contract. A very usual and proper clause in agreements provides that all details of production and publication of a work shall be left to the publisher’s sole discretion, and even when the agreement is a royalty one it is possible that the author might have a legitimate grievance against the publisher in this connection. In the case ofa sale of copyright, whether for a term of years or absolutely, the author would, of course, have even less locus standi, the publisher being entitled to do what he pleases to sell his own property, even to the extent of printing it in white letters on purple paper, if he thinks such a line would appeal to a large public. Ifa modest and refined gentlewoman sold the copyright of her novel entitled, say, “ My Uncle,” would she, or would she not have cause for complaint if the publisher issued it with a cover emblazoned with the golden Balls of Lombardy. And the question opens up the still wider one of illustrations generally. ‘To say that the author shall have a legal right to dictate to the artist would be to drive the already worried publisher to distraction ; but on the other hand it would be manifestly hard upon a sensitive delicate-minded woman if her novels were issued by a comimercial- minded publisher adorned with pictures intended to appeal to the coarse imagination of peuple of the baser sort. Is it necessary to provide against such a contingency in all agreements, and, if so, how is to be done ? That the difficulty may arise, and even become acute, I do from my own experience know. V. E. M. THE AUTHOR. LONDON IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.* te HERE is a passage in Montaigne’s “ Essays ” fe which comes almost instinctively to mind as one opens this handsome, and alas ! posthumous, quarto. “ Nous sommes nayz pour ayir,” says he in the Nineteenth Chapter of his First Book. “Je veux qu’on agisse, et quon alonge les offices de la vie, tant qu'on peult; et que la mort me treuve plantant mes choulx, mais nonchalant Welle, et encores plus de mon tardin imparfaict.” No one had learned that lofty lesson of doing more thoroughly than the author of “London in the Eighteenth Century.” It was more than thirty years ago that he first began to make notes for a vast “Survey,” which was to accomplish for the metropolis in the nineteenth century what John Stow had accomplished for it in the sixteenth, and tell its story from period to period. The task would have been a life work for an idle man ; it was a labour of Hercules for one whose sleepless energy and warm human sympathies, dissipated in many ways, left him barely breathing space; and it is no wonder, perhaps, that the “garden ” remains “ imperfect.” But, fortunately, there are different forms of imperfection. ‘There is the imperfection which is frankly truncated or fragmentary; and there is the imperfection which consists merely in the absence of other parts of the plan, each part being complete in itself. This is the case with the book which Sir Walter Besant has left behind him. It is an isolated portion of his contemplated ‘‘ Survey,” but inasmuch as it. comprises and includes a full and detailed account. of “ London in the Eighteenth Century,” it can afford to stand alone. “It represents,’ says Lady Besant in her Preface, “the continuous labour of over five years, and the active research of half a life-time. He [Sir Walter] was wont to: refer to it as his magnum opus, and it was the work by which he himself most desired to be remembered by posterity.” That his desire will be realised, there can be: little doubt. Other histories of London in the Eighteenth Century there may be, but it is not probable that any other historian is likely to approach the task with the same combination of qualities, the same faculty for extracting local colouring from obscure sources, the same feeling for the picturesque and graphic, the same passion for minute investigation, and the same enthusiasm: for the Past. To give an adequate idea of such a book would be difficult ; to turn its pages is to- tread the Eighteenth Century once more. In one picture you shall see the mouth of the old Fleet river; in another, Covent Garden, with its piazzas ; * By Sir Walter Besant (Adam and Charles Black, 1902).  THE AUTHOR. ai in another, the Foundling Hospital, with its wide so) forecourt; in another, St. Bartholomew’s. With the aid of Gay’s “ Trivia,”, one of the chapters makes the tour of the ill-paved, cobbled streets ; another is devoted to that curious and rare pamphlet on “ Low Life” which suggested Sala’s “Twice Round the Clock.” There is an excel- lent dissertation on Dissenters ; there is another as good upon Superstitions, not omitting the Cock Lane Ghost. But those portions over which the » reader will probably linger longest are the sections headed “Manners and Customs,” and ‘‘ Society and Amusements,” the importance of which is admitted by Lady Besant when she says, in her Preface, that the “book may be regarded as a social picture of London in the Highteenth Century, rather than as a detailed history.” Certainly, it is these sections that most markedly exhibit the curious recondite reading which has gone to fill the full-packed pages. Shops and Coffee-houses, Costume and Diet, Wigs and Barbers, Clubs and Night-cellars, Gazebos and Country-boxes (among which we are delighted to find that typical one from the ‘ Connoisseur ”’) Crafts, Weddings, Funerals, Servants, have all their due chronicle and illustration, while a specially careful chapter is given to the “ Position of Women.” The section on “ Society and Amuse- ments” is not less interesting. Drums and Assemblies, the Parks, the Wells, the Spas, Ranelagh and Vauxhall, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, the Cock Pit, the Prize-ring, the Gambling- hells, and the Fairs have each full and adequate treatment. But, to make an end of mere enumera- tion, we shall take leave to transcribe, as a specimen of the more vivid passages, the following, which almost reads like an expansion of Hogarth’s clever little print, copied at page 524, of “ A Country-Inn Yard” : “Upon one who considers the tavern of the time there presently falls a reminiscence of the past when we were all living in the eighteenth century. We are standing in a courtyard of a tavern in Leadenhall ; our carriage—for we drove into town this morning from the country—is drawn up in the open court, where are also the waggons, now un- loaded, which rumbled in from Edinburgh this morning. Three girls, come up from service all the way from York, which is ten days’ journey, are waiting for their new masters to call for them ; an old lady, whose smile is meant to be benevolent, is whispering to one of the girls—the prettiest one—that she can offer her a place of much higher wages and much less work ; there is a great yoho- ing and whistling from the stable which one can see—and smell—through the gate on the other side of the court ; messengers and porters are bringing parcels for another waggon now receiving its load ; at intervals the housemaids running about the galleries above lean over the rails and exchange a little light satire with the grooms below ; gentlemen graye of aspect walk into the tavern and call for a bottle and a privateroom. You can see them through the open window ; they exchange papers, they talk in low tones, they make notes, they drink but without merri- 131 ment. There are twenty or thirty of these rooms; they are all occupied by merchants who are more private here than on ’Change. At four o’clock;a company of gentlemen, headed by a rosy-cheeked divine, all of them sleek and some of them even obese, enter the inn with a kind of pro- cession. They are met by the landlord, who bows obse- quiously. * Gentlemen,” he says, ‘“‘ youare welcome. John, show his Reverence and the Vestry to the Anchor. Gentle- men, you shall be served immediately.” Itisa parish feast. People from the country arrive, some in postchaises, some by stage-coach. There is a bride with her bridegroom and her bridesmaid, blushing sweetly. Shesees London for the first time : it will be the last time, yet it will remain the dream of her life. Outside there is the bawling of the street-criers, the grinding and the rumbling of the carts. Here, in the tavern yard, there is the atmosphere of comfort and of rest. One perceives, after a hundred years, the fragrance of the kitchen ; one hears the drawing of corks ; one listens to the gobbling of the select vestry ; one hears the laughter of the country visitors. The servants run about; the landlord gives his orders; when the night falls, the passengers for the eight o’clock stage arrive, and the great coach, piled high with luggage, rumbles out through the archway into the street.” It would require a paragraph of equal length to indicate the sources from which this little picture has been so patiently built up, and there are many others as effective in their happy ming- ling of erudition and imagination. It should be added that the book is excellently illustrated by facsimiles of old views, old prints, and old carica- tures. Hogarth is naturally very prominent in Sir Walter’s pages, but many of the plates are drawn from sources which are rarer and less familiar. It may be safely affirmed—and here we close our brief and _ all-too-perfunctory notice—that there is no existing English book on the Eighteenth Century, social and topographical, which can in any way compete with Sir Walter Besant’s “ magnum opus.” Austin Dosson. ———————EE INK DRUNKARDS. R. F. MARION CRAWFORD, in his novel, ‘“ The Three Fates,” deals graphic- ally with those unfortunate individuals “who have looked upon the ink when it was black and cannot be warned from it, and whose nostrils have smelled the printer’s sacrifice.” Just as there are men and women shattered bodily and mentally by an eternal craving for alcohol and the ceaseless effort to appease it ; just as there are self-immolating victims to narcotics, such as opium, chloral or morphine ; 80 there are beings who are rendered objects of pity to their friends and of despair to themselves by an in- satiable desire to write. “For one man who succeeds in literature,”  132 affirms Mr. Crawford, “a thousand fail.” He is one of the fortunate competitors who has been suc- cessful. Nevertheless, his knowledge of the ter- rible difficulties obstructing the path of a literary beginner appears to be deep and well-founded. Publishers do not greedily accept the work of un- known writers; being business men and not philanthropists, their desire is to deal with authors already established favourites with the reading public, whose books are consequently sure to be well received. Speculative risk attends upon the productions of a tyro without regard to their merit. It is not astonishing, therefore, that writers who have not made a name for themselves are accorded but a cold welcome by the trade. There isa rumour that Thackeray’s Vanity Fair was rejected by no fewer than thirty-eight publish- ers! Charlotte Bronté and her less famous sisters, Robert Louis Stevenson, and a host of very important witnesses, have testified, again and again, to the conservative predilections of Pater- noster Row. A renowned American author, whose writings had always been eagerly accepted, once made the experiment of offering a manu- script, anonymously, to several leading publishers. Each of them declined it with thanks ! Yet in spite of disappointment after disappoint- ment, in the face of perpetual rebuffs, there are men and women powerless to resist the intoxica- tion imparted by ink-soaking. Write, write write! Until eyes are heavy, the brain is weary, and the head swims; until worn- out nature strikes by refusing to endure the strain imposed upon it—such is the curse of ink- drunkards. Though there is little or no pecuniary profit in their slavery, these luckless creatures will still pur- sue it. Though health is lost, and hope almost abandoned, ink-drunkards will yet, like Sisyphus, attempt the impossible. “We all hear of the miserable end of the poor wretch who has subsisted for years upon stimu- lants or narcotics, and whose death is held up as a warning to youth ; but who ever knows or speaks of the countless deaths due solely to the over-use of pen, ink and paper?” Mr. Crawford is right in asking this question. Why do we pretend ignorance of a disease which is, as he says, more fatal than dipsomania ? That such a disease exists can be readily proved by an investigation into some of the ‘secluded haunts of Fleet Street. “Who counts the suicides brought about by failure, the cases of men starving because they would rather write bad English than do good work of any other sort ?” asks Mr. Crawford. Further than this, there are men who have been University scholars unable to earn their bread by THE AUTHOR. their pens. It will be remembered that in hi early days Dr. Johnson, on occasion, walked the streets of London all night because he could nof afford a bed. Coleridge, even at a time when he had attained celebrity as a scholar, a poet, and an essayist, was in the saddest state of destitution For all the recognition his brilliant genius re ceived during his brief lifetime, Keats might well have deemed his name “ writ in water.” Literature, like marriage, is something of g lottery, and its prizes do not always fall to those most worthy to wear them ; but for such ag are intellectually unfitted to participate in the draw ing, it isan Inferno. When we hear of successfy authors who have reached positions of comfort and even of affluence, we are apt to forget the thousands of hack writers whose lives are one continued struggle for the bare means of subsist ence. Sir Walter Besant, the zealous founder of the Society of Authors, has earned a measure of gratitude from all who claim brotherhood with efforts to protect and encourage the profession of Letters can be described as universal predominant. The blind, the maimed, and the halt, who, figuratively speaking, encumber the out- skirts of the literary country, could hardly be re- lieved bythe exertions of a benevolent Hercules. Mr. Crawford has done a service, therefore, by calling attention to a class which he realistically dubs “ink-drunkards.” Poverty, despair, heartsickness, and a spirit of restlessness ever present with the poor victim, are such rewards as fall to the lot of a large proportion of these possessed toilers.. “‘ Let a writer work until his brain reels and his fingers can no longer hold the pen, he will never- theless find it impossible to rest without imagining he is being idle. He cannot escape from the devil that drives him, because he is him- self the driver and the driven, the fiend and his victim, the torturer and the tortured.” Authors who have passed through what is called “the mill” can corroborate Mr. Crawford’s remarks, even though determination, strength of constitution, and perhaps good fortune, may eventually have combined to pull them safely through the Slough of Despond, and to have in some degree toned down the remembrance of it; but it is to the less robust, physically and mentally, that Mr. Crawford more particularly addresses him- self, to the weaker ones whose qualifications may be summed up in three letters—nil ! Like opium to an opium-eater, drink to a drunkard, gold to a miser, is the pen to an ink drunkard ; yet there is nothing tangible in th fascination to which he falls an abject slave! 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. 13 Issue 05 (February 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 05 (February 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-02-01-The-Author-13-5 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/479/1903-01-01-The-Author-13-4.pdf ba1e6b87d5d8b789be4427edeff8736f PDF Text Text ���������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1903-01-01 Volume 13 Issue 4 Pages Page range in volume 81–108 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin The Huthor. { Tg i 6 of (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. FOUNDED BY SIR Monthly.) WALTER BESANT. Vou. XIIT.—No. 4. JANUARY Ist, 1903. THE TELEPHONE. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. eg NOTICES. pe ee OR the opinions expressed in papers that are K signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. Tue Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of 7he Author _ that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. ++ — List of Members. Tur List of Members of the Society of Authors can now be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. —+->-+—_ The Pension Fund of the Society. Tur investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the ‘Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou, XIII, [Prick SIXPENCE. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— ee £816 5 6 Wocal Goans =) a 404 10 0 Victorian Government 8 % Con- solidated Inscribed Stock............ 291 19 11 WearciGal 2. QOL 9.23 Total 33.5. £1,714 4 8 SPECIAL APPEAL. Tur Appeal sent out by the Chairman of the Society at the request of the Pension Fund Com- mittee has been very successful. Up to and including the 19th of December, the list of subscriptions and donations promised and given is set forch below. Further subscriptions and donations will be acknowledged as they come in. Subscriptions. Nov. 14, Tuckett, F. F. ' ; .£1 0 0 S Cox, Miss Roalfe 0 5 0 , Loynbee, William . 010 6 , Anonymous . : : L070 » odd, Miss Margaret, M.D. tt 0 » Pearson, Mrs. Conney 2 2 0 5 Seaman, Owen : ; - tt 8 , Abbot, Rey. Edwin A, D.D.. 1 0 0 . . Witherby, Rey. C. . 0 5.0 » Salwey, Reginald E. 0 10 0 Vacher, Francis 110 Nov. 15, Parr, Mrs... ; 1 fr 0 4 Davy, Man EO. : . 010 6 . Allingham, Wiliam, FRCS. 1 1 9 ,» Armstrong, Miss Frances 0 5 0 Holmes, Arthur H. (condi- tional) ; : : Rattray, Alex. : ‘ : ,, Brodrick, ‘The Honble. Mrs. . Noy. 17, Nisbet, Hume : ; : Keene, H. G., C.5.1. : : Bayly, Miss A. E. (Edna Lyall) 3 Forbes, E. . : : . ss Spiers, Victor. ” a? owe oor cre — en bo Re OO Rt Ot eceocoooocosoo  82 Noy. 17, Kroeker, Mrs. Freiligrath » Burrowes, Miss Elsa » Cooke-Taylor, R. W. Noy. 18, Voysey, Rev. Charles , vones, W. Braunston » Anonymous . 5 Salmond, Mrs. Walter » Amonymous . » Clough, Miss B. AL » Stanton, Miss H. M. » “Lucas Malet” Nov. 20, E. G. ao enkins, Miss Hadow Morrah, H. A. A Hatton-Ellis, Mrs. . Bertouch, The Baroness de ,» Anonymous Nov. 21, Parr, Miss Olive Nov. 22, Forbes, Lady Helen » Twycross, Miss M. Nov. 24, Smythe, Alfred » Haggard, Mrs. John ,, Anonymous ‘ », Dale, Miss Nellie . oe Tresham Quaines” . Noy. 25, Young, W. Wellington . Nov. 26, Young, Capt. Charles Dec. 1, Finnemore, Mrs. . Dec. 3, Caulfield, Miss Sophia Dec. 5, Hecht, Mrs. : 5» Hamilton, Mrs. G. W. Brinton, Selwyn Dec. 9, Dill, Miss Bessie Dec. 18, Sutherland, Her Grace the Duchess of Dec. 19, Toplis, Miss Grace . ” ” Donations. Noy. 13, Bullen, EF. A is Roberts, Morley (an annual subscriber). : Nov. 14, Rossetti, W.M. . : es Marshall, Capt. Robert . »» Hoyer, Miss ‘ : . EM 8B. “ Lefroy, Mrs. . » Sinclair, Miss May (an annual subscriber) . : ‘ » McBride, Capt. E. E. » Garnier, Russell . Noy. 15, Burchell, Sidney H. » Spero” : 5 “ Cecil Medlicott v », Harker, Mrs. Allen » Banks, Mrs. M. M. », Spielmann, M. H. » Garnier, Col. J. . », Benecke, Miss Ida . Oe or So by oor Of © KSPR wWOoOOCCNOFRFS connnacd oro a illo e e aooccunce o orn HONS OO COLON OH HOA OLOTS OLD OH OHMS WN i He Howonmonworcneu THE AUTHOR. oacocoococoo => oo cCooaoocooeoeoo soso S OS Soo RSS So ecocoocoacaoceo eoocooocoo Nov. 15, Atton, Henry ; 05 0 Nov. 17, Panter, Rev. C. R.. 0 5 0 » Keene, H.G,CSi . 0 5 0 », Spielmann, Mrs. M. H. . 1 i4@ » Begbie, Harold ; . 8 3 0 », Stevenson, J.J. . -10 0 0 , Minniken, Miss Bertha M. 0 5 0 Noy. 18, From sale of autograph . 124 » Wintle, H. R. 010 0 » Brickdale-Corbett, H. M. 010 0 » Defries, Miss Violet : 010 6 Nov. 19, Stanton, Miss Hannah M. 1 0 ¥ » Warren, Major-General Sir Charles, K.C.M.G. 1 0.98 » “lucas Malet”. 5 5 0 Nov. 20, Wynne, Charles Whitworth 5 & Nov. 22, Skeat, The Rev. Prof. W. W.. 5 0 0 Nov. 25, Jacobs, W.W. ; : 1 194 ; Young, W. Wellington . 0 5 0 » Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite . 010 0 Nov. 26, Cook, C. H. . 1.1 ¢@ Noy. 27, Gleig, Charles 010 0 » Harraden, Miss Beatrice 1 1@ . Frankland, F. W. 1 0 0 ,» d Auvergne, Mrs. 0 5 0 Nov. 28, Sutcliffe, Halliwell 1 2 8 Nov. 29, Weyman, Stanley J. 5 0 0 Dec. 1, Sanderson, Sir J. Burdon 5 0 0 Dec. 2, Trevor- Batty e, Aubyn 1 14 » Marks, Mrs. . ; 010 0 Dec. 9, Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 0 Dec. 11, Lutzow, Count 2 0 0 « Leicester Romayne ” 0 5 0 Dee. ‘12, Croft, Miss Lily 0 5 0 a Panting, J. Harwood 010 0 . Tattersall, Miss Louisa . 0 5 0 Dec. 19, Egbert, Henry 0 5 0 The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir — Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rev. H Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, Cc. B. ‘There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. The total amount of cash actually received is £190 3s. 6d. SPECIAL CONDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Mr. Hamilton Drummond, who is a member of our Society, has offered a subscription of £10 for five years, if nine other members of the Society will promise the same contribution before 31st March, 1903. We sincerely hope that sufficient members of  THE AUTHOR. - ef the Society will be found to come forward and ose meet Mr. Drummond’s generous offer, and that . dee ‘before the time expires we may be able to print in », of the columns of Zhe Author the full list of ten » dae subscribers of the required amount. Subscriptions. ive Hawkins, A. Hope . : _£10° 0 0 erisa@ Barrie, J. M. . : : ‘ ~ 10-0 0 jaca Drummond, Hamilton : ; 10-02-60 veg Wynne, Charles Whitworth . 2 19 0-9 es Tue Pension FunD COMMITTEE. a In order to give members of the Society, should ed: they desire to appoint a fresh member to the ,-a89 Pension Fund Committee, full time to act, it has -98e been thought advisable to place in Zhe Author a _ (I full statement of the method of election under the foe Scheme for administration of the Pension Fund. >a Under that Scheme the Committee is composed of ad three members elected by the Committee of the ~- 908 Society, three members elected by the Society at si the General Meeting, and the Chairman of the 908 Society for the time being, ex officio. The three ‘9m members elected at the General Meeting when the os Fund was started, were Mr. Morley Roberts, Mr. ' Wf M. H. Spielmann, and Mrs. Alec Tweedie. Last 98) year, Mrs. Alec Tweedie resigned in due course, Sf and submitting her name for re-election was l/:Gh unanimously re-elected. This year, Mr. Morley 1 99 Roberts in turn, under the Rules of the Scheme, 09) tenders his resignation and submits his name for \/-@ re-election. The members have power to put for- ‘ey ward other names under Clause 9 which runs as wolle follows :— ae! * Any candidate for election to the Pension Fund Com- if mittee by the members of the Society (not being a retiring s@ member of such Committee) shall be nominated in writing © to the Secretary, at least three weeks prior to the General ~ Meeting at which such candidate is to be proposed, and the ‘6 nomination of each such candidate shall be subscribed by, 4; at least, three members of the Society. A list of the names + of the candidates so nominated shall be sent to the members ? of the Society with the annual report of the Managing _ Committee, and those candidates obtaining the most votes + at the General Meeting shall be elected to serve on the *) Pension Fund Committee.” Tn case any member should desire to refer to the “| List of Members, a copy complete, with the excep- tion of those members referred to in the note at | the beginning, can be obtained at the Society’s | Office. It would be as well, therefore, should any of the members desire to put forward candidates, to take the matter within their immediate consideration. The General Meeting of the Society has usually been held towards the end of February or the 83 beginning of March. It is essential that all nominations should be in the hands of the Secretary before the 31st of January. —_——1—_—- Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. THE amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £330 8 6 There are a few promised subscriptions still outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, about £4, The subscriptions received from July 1st to the date of issue are given below :— Patterson, A. . : ‘ : fl 1 0 Salwey, Reginald E. : : : 010 0 Gidley, Miss E. C. : : 010 0 Nixon, Prof. J. E. 0% 6 Dill, Miss Bessie 0. 5.0 Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 6 ———————_1——______ FROM THE COMMITTEE. tt HE Committee held the last meeting in 1902 on Monday, the 1st of December. They proceeded to the election of members. The list of those elected is set forth below. The post- age of magazines was one of the questions discussed. The Chamber of Commerce is dealing with the matter and the Committee are supporting its action. Two disputes were up for discussion. In the one negotiations are being carried forward, and in the other it was decided, if it was possible to obtain the support of the member concerned, to take the matter into Court. As the point under discussion is one of principle, and concerns a very common clause in authors’ agreements, it is hoped that the matter may be tried in Court in order that a test case may be put forward. During the past month one case has been tried in the County Court. The debt and costs were paid. The Secretary has forwarded four claims against American magazines for money due to the Society’s American agent. The Committee hope that they will terminate satisfactorily. With the sanction of the Chairman asmall County Court case was taken in hand. It was placed with the solicitors of the Society, but before the summons was issued the debt was paid. The Secretary during the past month has dealt with ten cases. Five refer to the rendering of accounts, three to claims for money due, and two deal with the return of MSS. Five of the cases have been satisfactorily concluded, two for money 84 due and three for accounts. The County Court case referred to must be reckoned as one of the five. There is every hope that the balance will terminate to the advantage of the authors without calling in the aid of the law. pee Election, December, 1902. The following members and associates were elected on December Ist, 1902. Burke, Arthur M. . 2, Carlyle Gardens, Cheyne Row, S.W. Carlile, Rey. John C. Davidson, Miss Lillias Graemsdyke, Cranes- Campbell water Park, Southsea. Foster, Arnold R. 38, Yew Tree Road, Withington, Lancs. Hextable, Swanley, Kent. Calle de Buenos Aires, Las Palmas, Canary Islands. Stanhope, The Hon. and Byford Rectory, Here- Rey. Berkeley ford. Nye, George . Meyer, Charles a BOOK AND PLAY TALK. ——$+—<—¢— IR ROBERT BALL is at present engaged on a treatise on “Spherical Astronomy.” His latest work, ‘‘ The Earth’s Beginning,” was practically an account of a recent course of lectures given by him at the Royal Institution. It has been published here by Messrs. Cassell. There is also an American edition ; and quite recently Sir Robert Ball received a copy of a Dutch translation, with the title “ Het Onstaan der Aarde,” trans- lated by Dr. B. C. Goudsmit. Edna Lyall’s new book, “The Burgess Letters,” just published by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. at 2s. 6d., is a record of child-life in the sixties. It is not fiction, but is a genuine record of this popular authoress’s own childhood. This interest- ing record has a coloured frontispiece, and eight full-page illustrations by Walter S. Stacey. Edna Lyall is just beginning to write a novel, the scene of which is laid partly in Italy and partly in England. It will be remembered that in the spring of 1902 this writer published through Messrs. Longmans a short story called “The Hinderers,” which upholds the Quaker view as to the unlawfulness of war. We must not expect anything from Miss Annabel Gray at present, as she is recovering from a most dangerous illness. THE AUTHOR. Lord Avebury’s “The Use of Life” has bee translated into Gujerathi and Urdu, and, like “The Pleasures of Life,” into Mahratti. The translation into Mahratti has an interesting preface by the translator, who states that his principal object was. to show that Englishmen had a cheerful view of life, while his countrymen’s view of life was just the reverse. Mr. Mackenzie Bell’s religious lyric, “ Lord Teach us to Pray,” which is set to music as am anthem by Herr Georg Liebling, has been trans- lated into German verse by the Rev. Professor Carl Glebe, of Westphalia, for use throughout Germany. The second edition of the anthem, just published in London by Dr. Charles Vincent, has both the English and the German words. Mr. Harold Begbie’s latest book, “ Bundy in the Greenwood” (Isbister, 5s.), is illustrated by Gordon Browne. It is Mr. Begbie’s first venture into the nursery, and it was only published after he had amended the MS. according to the criticism of his eldest daughter, rising six. This writer has just begun a series of ‘‘ Master Workers” in the Pall Mall Magazine. The first article dealt with the Bishop of London; the second with Sir William Crookes ; and the next two will deal with psychic research and the mys- tery of the subliminal consciousness. The object of the series is to convince the ordinary man that there is a vast amount of work proceeding in the modern world of which he knows very little. Austin Clare’s new north-country novel, “The Tideway,” will be published immediately by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. ‘“‘The Cardinal’s Dawn,” the serial finishing in the January issue of Macmillan’s Magazine, is by & new writer, H. L. Montgomery. The novel is placed in Italy in the imquecento, and is based on the intrigues for and against Bianca Capelli. Mr. Austin Dobson has undertaken to write @ life of ‘‘ Fanny Burney ” for Messrs. Macmillan’s “English Men of Letters,” and Mr. Edmund Gosse is at work on a life of “Jeremy Taylor” for the same series. Mr. Dobson’s “Side-walk Studies,” recently issued by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, is an enter- taining book. ‘There is an informing chapter on “Mrs. Woffington”; another on “The Vicar of Wakefield and its Illustrators ” ; there is “‘ A Walk from Fulham to Chiswick” ; and perhaps the most fascinating of all, “Dr. Johnson’s Haunts and ~ Habitations.” From Mr. Dobson’s “Samuel Richardson’ (Macmillan’s “English Men of Letters” Series) we should like to quote at length, but space permits only an extract or two. Referring to the recently-  THE AUTHOR. «ie raised question of Richardson’s indebtedness to self Marivaux’s “ Vie de Marianne,” he says :— Es “That there are superficial affinities between Richardson _ (@ and Marivanx may at once be conceded. Both hit upon s4) the novel of analysis, and in this connection, no doubt, -js;1f Marivaux precedes Richardson. Their manners of writing +o» -were also similar in some respects ; and when Crébillon the voy younger, describing Marivaux, affirms that his characters jon not only say everything that they have done, and every- ogid) thing that they have thought, but everything that they ».uo® would have liked to think but did not—he almost seems | 91 to be describing Richardson as well. .. . ie “There is not, as far as we are aware, a particle of evidence «/) that Richardson ever saw the earlier volumes of this version jo) (of ‘Vie de Marianne’). In fact, the only discoverable 455 aeference he makes to Marivaux is contained in the post- (8. script to ‘ Clarissa,’ and that occurs in a quotation from a «4 French critic (translated) taken from the Gentleman's voll Magazine for August, 1749. That he knew no French is -. “ef demonstrable, and he could not therefore have studied sl Marivaux in the original, Moreover, he was not in any sass sense a novel reader ; and in‘ Pamela.’ the idea of which bad had been in his mind twenty years before he wrote it, he vif aimed at a moral work rather than a story. “ Richardson has given so circumstantial and reasonable ean account of the independent origin and development of 04 ed) the book, that it seems superfluous to go outside it in order 6) to establish his obligation to a French author, however fis gifted, of whom, when he first sat down to write the ias% * Familiar Letters’ to which ‘ Pamela’ owed its birth, he «; bee had probably never even heard the name.” 1 In the last chapter, entitled ‘Last Years and oo) General Estimate,” there is an admirable bit of summing-up :— * His popularity is certain with the few—with those who, | like Horace Walpole, either read what nobody else does, or, | like Edward Fitzgerald and Dr. Jowett, read only what } takes theirfancy. He must always find readers, too, with ‘the students of literature. He was the pioneer of a new ‘movement ; the first certificated practitioner of sentiment ; 4 the English Columbus of the analytical novel of ordinary i life. Before him, no one had essayed in this field to describe the birth and growth of a new impression, to show the ebb and flow of emotion in a mind distraught, to follow the progress of a passion, to dive so deeply into the human ieee heart, as to leave—in Scott’s expressive words—‘ neither : noe head, bay, nor inlet behind him until he had traced its ‘92 soundings, and laid it downin his chart, with all its minute 00a sinuosities, its depths and shallows.’ ” “ The Splendid Idle Forties,” by Gertrude Ather- ton (Macmillan & Co.), is a revised and enlarged © edition of her former book, “ Before the Gringos #2 Came.” The tales give a vivid and striking | picture of old Californian life before and during | the American conquest, of the beauty, grace, and passion of the Spanish women, and their fierce resentment against their country’s invaders. Mr. Stephen Gwynne has an interesting article ‘on “Celtic Sagas” in the December number of Macmillan’s Magazine. He seeks to illustrate, by the method of resemblance and difference, the ancient poetry of Ireland, as represented by Lady Charlotte Guest’s famous version of ‘The Mabinogion.” Miss Henriette Corkran’s “‘ Celebrities aud I,” published a short while ago by Messrs. Hutchinson 85 & Co., is a handsome volume brim full of enter- taining gossip and amusing anecdotes. Miss Corkran, who is a painter by profession, gives us her crisply-written impressions of the many celebrities she has known and met. Of Thackeray, kind friend of her childhood, we hear a good deal. ‘Then there are interesting anecdotes about the Brownings, Tennyson, W. G. Wills, the dramatist, Sir Frederick Leighton, etc., etc. ; and last and latest, we are given an impres- sionist sketch of Mr. Richard Whiteing, the famous author of “ No. 5, John Street.”’ “ Celebrities and I” has been widely reviewed, and it ought to do very well. Mr. Andrew Lang’s “ The Disentanglers” is a series of stories, of more or less fantastic adven- ture, under one cover. (Longmans, 6s.) The interest which holds them together is supplied by the connection of some of the characters with an agency for the disentangling of matrimonial diffi- culties. We have, among others, “ Adventure of the Rich Uncle,” “Adventure of the Office Screen,” “ Adventure of the Exemplary Earl,” and “ Adven- ture of the Miserly Marquis.” It is an amusing book. Mr. Anthony Hope delivered a_ lecture last month in Edinburgh, before the Philosophical Society. He said (we quote from the Daily Chronicle) ‘‘the average man viewed his own sphere of life as normal ; he viewed as real what he saw existing among his neighbours, and regarded as real what was before him in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. The ninety-nine he called real, and the one case in the hundred he viewed as unreal. “The average man had little adventure; his time was marked down for him, and he saw little hope of becoming other than what he was. The lot of the labouring classes was the most common, but the man who wrote about this class was marked down by the wealthy classes as a cynic. In a true and deep picture the novelist could not leave out the physical side of a man, for often his physical pleasure was his only pleasure, and in his pleasurable excesses often lay the man’s deepest temptation. “The notions of the man in the street were generally cousin once removed to truth. He had small sympathies with the parent who wrote to the newspapers that he liked to feel safe in handing a book to his girl to read. It did not do to have the truth told in all circumstances, but there was generally in a book a message for someone. The words romance and realism were too often the catchwords of criticism. Realism widened their views and broadened their sympathies.” We have received a dainty paper-covered booklet of selections from the works of John Greenleaf Whittier, entitled “ A Whittier Treasury.” The selections have been made by the Countess of Portsmouth. Mr. Percy White’s latest novel, “The New Christians,” has gone into a second edition. So has Mr. Morley Roberts’ “Immortal Youth.” Both these novels well deserve their undoubted SUCCESS. ?  86 Mrs. Edward Kennard’s “ The Motor Maniac” is a capital story somewhat on the lines of her successful ‘ The Golf Lunatic.” Lieut.-Colonel E. Gunter (late East Lanes. Regi- ment) has published, through Messrs. Wm. Clowes & Sons, Ltd., 23, Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, a sixth edition of his well-known “ Officer’s Field Note and Sketch Book and Reconnaissance Aide- Mémoire.” “Harvest Home”? is the title of the latter-day poems of Mr. Thomas Winter Wood (Vanguard), of Plymouth. “ Harvest Home” contains poems which must appeal to many minds, and we refer our readers to the volume that they may taste for themselves. Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall are the publishers; the price is 3s. 6d. net. A volume of poems has been published by Ernest Western through Thomas Burleigh, 376, Strand. It is called ‘“ Creeds, Crosses, and Cre- denda,” and may be commended to those who care for pleasant verse. Messrs. Kegan Paul have published a new poem by Mr. Ernest A. Tietkens, author of ‘The Heavenly Link,” entitled “The Loves of the Flowers: a Spiritual Dream.” It is 2s. 6d. net. Mrs. Harcourt Roe, who has paid a six months’ visit to New Brunswick, purposes writing some articles on New Brunswick and the very primitive condition of parts of the country there. Copies of those excellent and quite indispensable publications, ““Who’s Who” and ‘“ The English- woman’s Year Book for 1903” have been received at our office. a re PARIS NOTES. —+— FTER the Balzac statue comes the Balzac Orphanage. It seems that Madame Barbier, in whose house Balzac lived for some years, has founded a home for twenty orphan girls in memory of the great novelist. She is now seventy-five years of age, and she still owns the house in the Rue Raynouard ‘in which Balzac wrote so many of his books from 1840 to 1847, the year of his marriage. Until last year Madame Barbier lived in this house. She and her daughter have given up their entire fortune in order to found this orphanage, and in spite of all the sacrifices they have made they will be short of two thousand francs to make up this year the thirty-two thousand of their expenses. M. de Braisne, an influential member of the Société des Gens de Lettres, has written a most touching account of Madame Barbier’s efforts and sacrifices, hoping that any admirers of the author of the THE AUTHOR. “ Comédie Humaine” may come forward and offe their contributions to the Balzac Orphanage. The new novel by Anatole France, “ Histoir Comique,” commences with a tragedy. It is now appearing in serial form in the Revue de Paris, an will afterwards be published with illustrations ag an édition de luxe. It is a decidedly up-to-dai novel, and the story opens in the dressing-room 0 an actress. “La Statue ensevelie,”’ by Ivan Strannik, i well worth reading. It is a novel with remarkabl little plot, and the whole interest of the sti centres in the état d’dme of the heroine. She is” one of the unfortunate women with an artisti temperament, and an obtuse, egotistical husband She naturally, under these circumstances, finds marriage a failure, and so takes refuge in art an in the friendship of a devoted cousin. There is nothing particularly original in the story itself, but the heroine is Russian, and the intense prid sullenness, and passion of the Russian temperament make the novel an interesting psychological study. “Sur la Branche” is the title of the new novel by Pierre de Coulevain, the author of “ Eye Victorieuse.” In the latter book we had a study of the American society woman at home and abroad, her faults and her qualities being compared with those of the French woman in the same rank of life. In this new novel the author gives us his candid opinion about England and the English. The general verdict of the English critics after reading “Eve Victorieuse” was that Pierre deCoule- vain thoroughly understood Americans. It will be interesting to read the opinion of the same critics after the publication of “Sur la Branche.” The last chapters of this novel are not yet written, but it is probable that the volume will be published early in the year. “TL Argent del’Autre,” by M. Charles de Rouvre, is an excellent novel. It is the story of a man who has no fortune of his own, and who falls desperately in love with a wealthy young widow, whom he eventually marries. His torment begins soon after this event. The idea of owing every thing to his wife humiliates him, particularly as the wealth she now owns comes to her from he first husband. The story is cleverly worked out, so that the reader enters thoroughly into th sufferings of the husband, and realizes all th humiliation of his position in the home. M. Waldeck Rousseau has just published a book entitled “ L’Action républicaine et sociale,” treat- ing of all the reforms that have been accomplished from 1899 to 1902. The French Society of Dramatic Authors he been fortunate in discovering a most capable ma as successor to M. Roger, whose death occurred some two or three months ago. M. Robe  te: Gangnat, who has been elected Agent-Général_ of 2 of the Society, is an advocate by profession. He 2 -s% was secretary to M. Pichon, the present French iil/ Minister in Tunis, and attaché under M. Bourgeois, sail! Minister of the Interior and Minister of Foreign tit ® Affairs. al In 1898, M. Gangnat joined the staff of the Wl Matin as dramatic critic, and from 1891 to 1894 sy of he was President of the dramatic society known es, as “Les Escholiers,” a society which stages the «toy works of unknown but talented authors. M. ae} Gangnat is therefore well known in the theatrical » 109 world, whilst his legal knowledge and experience . {lis will be invaluable to the Society he now represents. ae Things theatrical seem to be of the greatest ja importance, judging from the amount of literature duc published this season on subjects concerning the _ ed: theatre in France and in other countries. *__ A volume by M. Jules Claretie entitled “ Profils of de Théatre’’ is interesting from the first line to ' 94 the last. M. Claretie, as director of the Théatre _voa9 Francais, has exceptional opportunities for writing ot aa book of this kind. He has the good fortune, * 90, too, to possess an excellent memory, so that the “fo volume, with its anecdotes of artistes living and ssi dead, is like an album of photographs. M. Claretie » (fs tells us of Dejazet refusing to act in “‘ La Dame “ui aux Camélias ” and of Frédéric Lemaitre’s pride in 1 sit his “ Robert Macaire.” He tells us, too, interesting ine! details about Got, Reichenberg and Monnet Sully. ‘As a kind of postscript to this book of M. sf Claretie’s comes a volume by M. Adrien Bern- igt heim, entitled “Trente Ans de Théatre.” The 19g) author gives us details about the working and the sigh statistics of the four state theatres of France. ve 9) He also, like M. Claretie, gives us the benefit of ei his souvenirs, and finishes the volume with an ©59; account of the Society called the “'Trente Ans de , $901 Théatre,” in which he is so deeply interested, and iy which was originally started as a kind of relief tie fund for artistes. -°4 Notcontent with giving us so much information «od, about the French stage, M. Georges Bourdon has $e been studying in England all things connected i dig with the English theatre, and as a result he has q published a volume entitled “Les Théatres Anglais.” M. Jusserand, too, has taken up the subject, and has just published a most interesting article on “The London Theatres in the time of Shakespeare.” It appears that the first permanent theatre was built in Paris in 1548, and that the first one in London dated from 1576. ay The two great successes of this season, so far, . 84 are undoubtedly the “ Resurrection” at the Odéon, and “La Chatelaine” at the Renaissance. “Le Joug,”’ which Madame Réjane has been playing since her return to Paris, has not been ‘enthusiastically received. It is no doubt a clever THE AUTHOR. 87 piece, and the dialogue is bright and witty, but the French public is getting tired of this kind of play. “Le Cadre” is another play of the same stamp. It was well received as it was admirably put on, but the public soon tired of this, too. Byron’s “ Manfred” was M. Lugne Poe’s latest venture, but it must be confessed that most people were disappointed with this play on the stage. At the Opéra Comique, “La Carmélite,” by M. Catulle Mendés, has been the great event of the season in the musical world. The theme of this opera has given rise to much discussion, as the more devoted Catholics strongly objected to the taking of the veil being employed as a stage effect. M. Paul Hervieu is the fortunate dramatic author who has produced a new play for Madame Sarah Bernhardt. M. Hervieu has had this piece on hand for about a year. The International Theatre is making great headway here. “Infedele,” by Roberto Bracco, and “Di Notte,” by Sabatino Lopez, are the two pieces now being given, and M. Bour has scored an immense success with both of them. The latter is a most curious play, and shows up the striking difference between the Italian and French theatres. The piece is full of surprises, unexpected incidents seem to be tacked on to the drama, and in one or two instances the tragedy borders on comedy. M. Bauer is excellent in his réle, and M. Bour’s acting is. as finished as in his famous “Alleluia.” “ Infedele”’ is a comedy in three acts, and is admirably put on. M. Bour, Mlle. Mylo d’Arcylle, and M. Bourny have the three chief parts. The play is an Italian variation on the “eternal theme,” so dear to French dramatic authors. The dialogue is witty, but most daring, and the piece demands extremely clever and finished acting. Attys HALLARD. ———__1——_e—___—_—_- LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. oe eS ie Kipling +, Putnam. UDYARD KIPLING’S suit for $25,000 damages against George Haven Putnam and Irving Putnam, constituting the pub- lishing firm of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, for infringe- ment of copyright and trademark, came up again for argument before the United States Circuit Court of Appeals on Kipling’s appeal from Judge Lacombe’s decision against him,  88 John L. Hill, in arguing for Mr. Kipling, said that at the time the critical sickness of the author in New York and the death of his little girl were exciting intense interest in him and his works, the defendants decided “ to shake the tree and get all the apples they could,” and that the Brushwood edition followed. He believed the intention was to forestall the sale of the “Outward Bound” edition, the authorized edition. ; Stephen H. Olin, for the Putnams, said the publishers had attempted no deceit whatever, and that only fifteen sets had borne the elephant’s head and autograph, which the plaintiff says were used to give the edition the colour of an authorised edition. The Court reserved decision. — + Literary Property and Copyright in the United States. Ix 1890 an American publisher entered into a contract with an English author, having in pre- paration a novel to be published serially in an English magazine, by which he agreed to pay £20 “in return for the sole and exclusive use of advance sheets of said novel in the United States and Dominion of Canada”; the price to be paid “on publication of the novel in America.” The author agreed to deliver to the publisher a complete copy of the work, either in advance sheets or manuscript, at least two months prior to the com- pletion of its serial publication in England. Prior to the publication of the work in America, in October, 1891, the greater portion of it had been published serially in England. Until July Ist, 1891, there was no statute in the United States under which a copyright could be secured on a work by a foreign author. Held that, construing the contract in the light of such facts, it conferred no rights of proprietorship in the manuscript of the work which entitled the American publisher to copyright the same in the United States, but only the right to the exclusive use of the advance sheets to enable him to publish the work in America coincidently with or in advance of its publication in England. The bill charges that Mr. Barrie, the author of “The Little Minister,” a novel to be issued serially in the year 1891 in the magazine Good Words, published in London, on May 8th, 1890, entered into a contract with John W. Lovell as follows : “This contract entered into and made this eighth day of May, 1890, between J. M. Barrie, of London, and John W. Lovell, of New York, witnesseth: (1) In consideration of the premises, the said J. M. Barrie hereby grants and assigns to THER AUTHOR. the said John W. Lovell the sule and exclusive right to publish from advance sheets in the United — States and Dominion of Canada,.a novel by him to be issued serially in a magazine, known as Good — Words, during the year 1891. And. the said — J. M. Barrie agrees to deliver to the said John W. Lovell a complete copy of such work, either in the form of advance sheets or MS., at least two calendar months prior to the serial completion of such work in England ; and in the event of his — failure to do so, this contract, at the option of the said John W. Lovell, shall become inoperative and — void. (2) The said John W. Lovell agrees in return for the sole and exclusive use of advance sheets of the said novel in the United States and the Dominion of Canada to pay the said J. M,. Barrie £20 on publication of the novel in America,” Lovell assigned this contract to the United States Book Company, which company, on June 19th, ~ 1891, deposited with the Librarian of Congress at. — Washington a printed copy of the title of the book, and on October 14th, 1891, deposited two copies of the book in that office. The publication of the novel was begun in the January, 1891, number of the monthly periodical Good Words, in London. and continued throughout that year. Thirty-eight. chapters had been thus published prior to the publication of the completed book by the United States Book Company in America, and prior to the deposit of the copies with the librarian; the remaining seven chapters of the book being — published in the London magazine subsequently, The book, as. published in the United States by the United States Book Company, contained the notice in form required by the law of copyright, and the bill charges full compliance: with the requirements of law with respect to copyrights, whereby, as it is claimed, the United States Book Company became the sole owner of the copyrigh of the book in the United States of America, On May 29th, 1900, the complainant became the owner of the rights of the United States Book Company under the contract between Barrie and Lovell, and of the copyright, if any, secured’ by that company. It is further charged that Mr, Barrie, in 1897, without the consent of Lovell o any of his successors in interest, dramatised the novel “The Little Minister,” and secured it production and performance upon the stage within the United States under contract with th defendant Frohman ; that such dramatisation is in four acts, of which acts 3 and 4 are founded in plot, incident and characters upon, and much 0 its language is contained in chapters 39 to 4 inclusive, of the novel, and such acts are importan: parts of the dramatisation ; that the defendants Yack and Hards are managers or actors in the theatrical company associated with Frohman, an  wen BD 3 op ox. 9 od Shs Fa! ES ca GR ee ee THE AUTHOR. 89 were about to produce the play and perform therein at certain places stated in the bill, within the jurisdiction of the court. The bill sought an Injunction restraining the performance of the drama. Yack and Hards demurred to the bill upon the grounds (1) that at the date of the contract the laws of the United States did not authorise a copyright in favour of the works of a foreign author; (2) that the story was first to be published in the English magazine, before any right of publication in the United States ; (3) that the right granted by the contract was merely a licence granting the exclusive right to publish the novel from advance sheets after publication thereof by the author ; (4) that the United States Book Company never became the proprietor of the book, and had no authority to procure a copyright ; (5) laches by the complainant in the assertion of his alleged right. On May Ist, 1901, the court sustained the demurrer and dismissed the amended bill for want of equity (105 Fed., 787), and on October 29th, 1901, an appeal was allowed to this ‘court. Millard R. Powers for appellant; George A. Dupuy for appellees. JENKINS, Circuit Judge (after stating the facts as above).—The office of all construction and interpretation of contracts is to ascertain the inten- tion of the parties, and the meaning of the words they have used—their real design as disclosed by the whole contract. For that purpose we may resort to surrounding circumstances and the condi- tion of the parties at the time, not to ascertain what they may have secretly intended, but to resolve doubtful expressions and to ascertain the true meaning of the agreement, And this is to be judged, not from any separate provision or dis- connected expression in the writing, but taking it in its entirety. It is insisted for the appellant that the right acquired by Lovell to the manuscript of “The Little Minister,” so far at least as concerns the United States of America and Canada, was that of proprietor, and that, therefore, he had under the Jaw the right of copyright. At the date of this contract, May 8th, 1890, copyright was not authorised in this country in favour of foreign authors (Rey. St., sect. 4952); nor, as it would ‘seem, could a foreign author assign or transfer to a citizen his manuscript or common law right of property therein, so that the latter could have copyright protection within the United States (Yuengling v. Schile, C. C., 12 Fed. Rep., 97, 102- 107). The international copyright law granting copyright to foreign authors was passed March 3rd, 1891, and went into effect July 1st, 1891 (26 stat., 1106-1110, chap. 565). It thus appears that the contract in question was entered into nearly ten months prior to the passage of this law. At its date Mr. Barrie had no right to acquire copyright within the United States, and could grant no such right. Nor could an assignee of his manuscript and common law right therein acquire such copy- right. It is, therefore, manifest that it was not, and could not have been, within the contemplation of the contracting parties to grant or to acquire a right to that which did not exist and was not the subject of a grant. Unless, therefore, by the agreement in question Lovell became the owner and the proprietor of the manuscript, to the exclusion of Mr, Barrie’s right therein, and could avail himself, with respect to that work, of the privilege conferred by subsequent legislation, he has no right to copyright of the work. The parties at the execution of the contract were thus circum- stanced: Mr. Barrie was engaged in writing a novel for serial publication in an English magazine, to be therein published monthly, com- mencing with the January number, 1891. By the agreement, Mr. Barrie granted and assigned to Mr. Lovell “the sole and exclusive right to publish from advance sheets, in the United States and Dominion of Canada,” the work to be published serially in the English magazine during the year 1891, and agreed to deliver to Lovell a complete copy of the work, either in the form of advance sheets or MS., at least two calendar months prior to the serial completion of such work in England.’ In consideration thereof, Lovell agreed to pay “for the sole and exclusive use of advance sheets of the said novel in the United States and the Dominion of Canada” £20 upon its publication in America. It may be doubted whether the contract contemplated the serial publication of the work in America, as it provides for the delivery of the advance sheets or manuscript at least two calendar months prior to the serial completion of the work in England; and we are not informed by the bill concerning the fact of serial publication here, so that we can judge of the practical construction placed upon the contract by the parties. If Mr. Barrie was not bound to furnish any advance sheets or any portion of the manuscript until two months prior to the com- pletion of the serial publication in England then it is clear that as to the parts published ia England before the filing of copies of the book with the Librarian of Congress, namely, the first thirty- eight chapters, there was no possible right of copyright under the international copyright law (Holmes v. Hurst, 174 U.S., 82, 19 Sup. Ct. 606, 43 L. Ed., 904 ; Same v. Donohue, C. C., 77 Fed., 179). The story contained forty-five chapters, and was completed in England in the December number of the magazine, and all but seven chapters were published in England prior to the deposit of  90 the book in the office of the Librarian of Congress. At the most, therefore, copyright could only com- prehend the last seven chapters of the work. Bearing in mind that upon publication in England of the work or parts of the work, there could be no copyright in the United States under the inter- national copyright law of the parts thus published, and that at the time of the contract there was no international copyright law, the meaning of the contract would seem tobe clear. Mr. Barrie could only secure any sum for publication of the work in America by granting the use of his manuscript in advance of its publication in England, for any American publisher could after such publication issue it here without liability to Mr. Barrie or to Mr. Lovell. It could be reproduced with impunity. An American publisher could only be first upon the market here by publishing it simultaneously with or in advance of its publication in England, and that could only be accomplished by obtaining advance sheets of the manuscript before the appearance of the story or any of its parts in the English magazine. It is clear to us that the purpose of the contract was to accomplish this simultaneous publication. Mr. Barrie did not sell his manuscript, or dispose of his common law right thereto. He merely agreed to furnish advance sheets, and gave to Lovell the exclusive right to publish them either simultaneously with, or within a short time before, the completion of the serial publication in England. Lovell agreed to pay £20, not for the work, not to become pro- prietor of the work, but “for the sole and exclusive use of the advance sheets” of the novel in the United States. ‘This is a mere licence to Lovell, giving him the advantage of the use of advance sheets. That use, it is true, was to be exclusive ; that is to say, Mr. Barrie agreed on his part that he would not furnish advance sheets to another. Lovell only acquired a qualified interest. He did not become the absolute owner. One of the qualities of absolute ownership in a work is that the author has the right to withhold it from publication if he so desire. Lovell could not do that. Under this contract he was bound to publish it, for the consideration expressed in the contract was not payable until publication. This construction of the instrument is fortified also by the amount of the consideration. As the author had no right of copyright, and as upon publication in England any one had right to publish it in America, the author could receive nothing for the work published here, except such as he might be able to obtain by allowing its publication here simultaneously with or in advance of its publica- tion in England. That accounts for the trifling consideration in the contract, and speaks the intent of the parties. It is inconceivable that a THE AUTHOR. distinguished author would have disposed of pro- prietorship in his manuscript for so inconsiderable. asum. We are of opinion that the contract con- ferred no rights of proprietorship in the manuscript but only the right of publication coincidently with or in advance of the publication of the work in England. The decree is affirmed. [Reprinted by kind permission of The Times.] Moul v. Boosey. THIS was an action for alleged libel. The defen- dant relied on the defence of fair comment on a matter of public interest. Mr. Lush, K.C., and Mr. 8. O. Henn Collins were for the plaintiff; Mr. Avory, K.C., and Mr, P. Rose-Innes for the defendant. It appeared that the plaintiff, Mr. Alfred Moul, was the chairman of the Alhambra, and had been a composer of musical works, and was the agent for the British Empire of the Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs, et Editeurs de Musique de France. The defendant, Mr. William Boosey, was now managing director of Chappell & Co. (Limited), music publishers. The plaintiff alleged that before the Copyright (Musical Compositions) Act, 1888, one Harry Wall had taken an active part in the institution of proceedings for penalties for the unauthorized performance of musical compositions, and that he had acted dishonourably and oppres- sively in the institution of these proceedings. The defendant, on March 18, 1902, had written a letter to the Daily Mail, saying that “ Mr. Alfred Moul, who protests in your columns against justice being done to English composers, publishers, and music- sellers, is the same gentleman who has for years been unsuccessfully attempting to persuade English music publishers to follow the example of French music publishers, and to demand from the public a performing fee for all the minor works in their catalogues. The piecemeal copyright legislation that Mr. Moul complains of is, no doubt, the Copy- right Act of 1882, which was a short Act passed as a matter of urgency by Parliament to assist the public in their dealings with a gentleman who was in Mr. Moul’s own line of business.”” The Act of 1882 required the proprietor of the copyright, if he desired to retain the right of performance, to notify the same on each copy. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant meant the Act of 1888, that it was passed in consequence of actions for penalties brought by Wall, and that these words meant that the plaintiff conducted his business as agent of the above-mentioned society oppressively and dis-  THE AUTHOR. 91 honourably. The defendant also wrote to the Referee a letter, which appeared on March 21, 1902, asking that paper to strain every nerve in their protest against a system of legalized highway robbery. This letter went on to say of the plain- tiff:—‘ He is neither composer, publisher, nor music-seller. He is not even a street pirate. He is merely the English representative of a society of French composers and publishers, who levy a tax upon the British public for the performance of waltzes, songs, and other small works in their catalogues. It is in the interest of these clients that Mr. Moul complains of our piecemeal legisla- tion—the said piecemeal legislation consisting of the Copyright Acts of 1882 and 1888, which, while admittedly very imperfect, at all events served their purpose to a certain extent.” The plaintiff alleged that this letter meant that he was dis- honestly representing himself to be acting in the interests of English composers, and that he carried on his business in a discreditable manner. The plaintiff stated that he had never brought an action for penalties, as distinguished from fees, for performance, and these fees his society divided with the publishers ; but the theory of many pub- lishers was that it would be better to do away with the right to fees for performance, as they thought they would sell more copies under such a system. Mr. W. M. Tilson stated that it was general knowledge that the Act of 1888 (which gave the Judge a discretion as to the amount of penalties for the performance of musical copyright works, instead of 40s. per performance, as under 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 15), was passed in consequence of Wall’s suing for penalties in a great many cases. Mr. John Hollingshead said that he took the last words in the letter to the Daily Mail to refer to Wall, who did not carry on an honourable busi- ness. Mr. Moul’s business was the perfectly honourable one of collecting fees for his French clients ; but Wall sued for penalties for the benefit of his own pocket after performances had been given by people who did not know that they were making themselves liable to penalties. Corrohorative evidence having been given for the plaintiff, letters were read for the defence wbiols had been written to the papers by Mr. Moul, calling the music publishers pirates, and complaining of the copyright legislation as being piecemeal and in the interests of the music publishers, and it was said that the alleged libels were fair comment on a matter of public interest, as giving reasons why the plaintiff was not a proper person to inter- fere in the discussion, as he was really doing in a modified form what Wall had been doing before. The defendant, Mr. William Boosey, a music publisher, of New Bond Street, said that when he wrote the letters complained of he knew that Wall had used his rights in an oppressive manner, and that the Acts of 1882 and 1888 had been passed to limit those rights. By “line of business” he meant the collection of fees in respect of minor pieces of music ; and his objection was that, as Mr. Moul could not publish a list, the public had either to subscribe to his society or to run the risk of being sued, There was no ground for suggest- ing that he was hostile to the plaintiff. He did not intend to suggest that the plaintiff carried on a dishonourable business. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for £150. Judgment accordingly. Photographic Copyright. A CASE of some interest has been tried during the last month before Mr. Justice Ridley and a common jury, entitled Boucas v. Cooke and Others. The defendant Cooke is known, we believe, as “The Boy Preacher.” He went to the plaintiff and asked him to execute the photograph for the purpose of advertising his meetings, and, it appears, promised to purchase the negative if he was satis- tied with the photograph. When the photograph was made, defendant took it to one of the other defendants who was a party to the action, and the second defendant had a number of copies printed off, which were distributed at the meetings. The plaintiff registered the copyright of the photograph and then claimed the right of reproduction. The second defendant registered the copyright of his print from the original photograph, and sub- sequent to the date of the plaintiff’s registration sold several thousand copies. The question was whether the employment of the photographer was such an employment as to come under the first section of the Copyright Act, 1862, the words of which run as follows :— “ Provided that when the negative of any photograph shall be made or executed for or on behalf of any other person for a good or valuable consideration,” &c. If the photograph had been made on these terms the right of reproduction would have belonged to the defendant. The judge, in summing up, came to the con- clusion that the copyright in the negative was the property of the plaintiff, and the jury assessed the damages at £20. a  92 PUBLISHERS’ PROFITS ON NETT BOOKS. ee HE question of the nett book has been a6 agitating the minds of the publishers and booksellers for some time. In the United States the system was begun tentatively, and has taken firm hold. At first applied only to certain kinds of books, at certain prices, its success was so assured that it is probable the nett book will become universal, or nearly so. Mr. Charles Scribner, the president of the Pub- lishers’ Association of the United States, explained the whole case in Zhe Author of April. A similar evolution is gradually taking place in the English book trade. Here also it seems not unlikely that the nett book system, as its advan- tages become evident, will by slow degrees cover the whole market. What is the reason of this? What are its charms ? Why was it started ? Originally books were sold at full price. Then some enterprising bookseller discovered that he could still make sufficient profit for himself and undersell his rival by giving his customers a discount. This process of underselling continued till the public received five-and-twenty per cent. discount, but the small bookseller was no longer able to make a living profit. Then his voice was raised in the land, and the reaction set in. Butas there are always either those who, owing to the power given into their hands by a large capital, or those who, having no capital, are unscrupulous on the point of extravagant trading, it became necessary that some combination of the trade should be formed sufficiently powerful to enforce an equitable plan upon all, the willing and the unwilling. Such a combination was at hand in the Publishers’ Association. It is not for the author to look upon these universal trading laws with indifference, nor to cover himself with the warm cloak of his artistic temperament, imagining that the temperature is mild and the sun is shining when the bitter cold of competition is over all the land. For other- wise he may be overcome with that sleep which will surely assist in bringing his career to a close. In plain words, it is most important for the author that he should carefully watch the methods of distribution of his wares ; that he should study with interest trade currents and trade evolution, and should give his help where and when he is able, to assist the trade for his own preferment. He should, at the same time, keep a watchful eye that the trade does not assist itself at his expense. Many will say that all this careful watching is mean and sordid. But this view of the case should - THE AUTHOR. still be kept in mind by the writer, that in his profession all this meanness and sordidness—if such it is—may be an incident, but is not the ultimate object, the ideal; whereas in trade it is ‘the be-all and the end-all.” Further, it is the highest interest not of the author alone but also of literature that the circumstances under which the general public can buy should be thoroughly understood. But enough. There need be no question of meanness or sordidness on either side. The Publishers’ Association set itself the task of enforcing certain terms on the bookselling trade, with the full consent of all the most responsible booksellers. ‘To the publishers, as to the authors, — it was just as important that the great distributing medium should not be wiped out. It may be candidly stated that, except so far as the improve- ment of the bookseller was an advantage to the publisher, there was not a sign that the great middleman at that time had any other aim before him. Was this, however, the case ? It is the object of this article to show that not only did the booksellers benefit, but the publishers also—the former certainly to a greater extent than the latter. The author and the printer gained no advantage, and the public—the ultimate arbiter in all cases of trade—had to pay for the advancement. So long as the public is prepared to pay, the other parties must fight the fight between them- selves. The author, then, has this matter for considera- tion. He was quite willing to acquiesce in the nett system in order to benefit the distributing agent, the man who really ought, if he traded successfully, to be the only person on whom he need rely for a public appreciation of his efforts. But is he willing to give a further profit to the publisher? Ought he not to demand some share of the increase obtained from the consumer ? Certainly he ought. The publisher has always been affirming that the nett book is for the benefit of the bookseller only. The following example will demonstrate that this is not the case, and will show the difference in the returns of the publisher and the bookseller in which the author ought to share. The 6s. book does not, at present, fall within the nett system, For convenience sake a book costing 12s. 6d. has been taken. Judging by the book lists it is a common price for books above 6s. Perhaps owing to the fact that it is exactly 150d. The figures and prices following are taken from an existing case—a sound and average example— and can be relied upon as correct. It would not be necessary to state this, if the figures in The Author had not so constantly been contradicted.  THE AUTHOR. It is not essential to go into the details for this article, but the figures may be verified by any member. Let it be supposed that an edition of 1,050 copies with binding and advertising costs £170, and that the author receives 10 per cent. on the published price. This is a low percentage, but so long as the figure is constant in both examples it will not interfere with the deduction — namely, the difference between the publisher’s and _book- seller’s profit. In the first instance the book is sold at 12s. 6d. nett. The whole 1,050 copies will in no case be sold. Under the Copyright Act six copies go to the public libraries, the author usually receives some presentation copies, and a considerable number are sent to the Press for review. If 100 copies are reckoned for these purposes the allowance will be liberal, for it must be remembered that the book is 12s. 6d. nett—an expensive book. The basis of calculation, therefore, must be the sale of 1,050 — 100 copies = 950 copies. As these copies alone bring in a return, the cost of pro- duction must be divided amongst them. The amount paid for a single copy of the book by the purchaser is the sum of four different amounts. 1. The amount per copy of the cost of production. 2. The royalty per copy paid to the author. 3. The amount of the publisher's profit on each copy. 4. The amount of the book- seller’s profit per copy. Let W = cost of production. X = the author’s royalty. Y = the publisher’s profit. Z = the bookseller’s profit. In each case on a single copy. Thus W +X%+Y+2Z = 12s. 6d. = 150d. Going back to the sale of 950 copies, the cost of production of a single copy must be ascertained. Thus— ‘ £170 _ 40,800d. ee ae = 42°94d, 950 We can now write 42°94 ++ X + Y¥ + Z = 150 X+Y+2Z = 107°06. That is to say, that the sum to be divided between the author, the publisher, and the book- seller is— 107:06d. = 8s. 11:06d. 93 Next the author’s royalty per copy must be ascertained. On a nett book the author usually receives his royalty on every copy sold. He is not compelled to count thirteen as twelve, a pernicious custom that has crept in for the publisher’s benefit, sanctioned, we regret to say, by authors’ agents, The royalty is always paid on the published price. 10 per cent upon 12s. 6d. or 150d. = 15d. The author receives ls. 3d. per copy. Then substituting 15d.— X + Y + Z = 107-06. 165+Y+2Z2=10706. Y+2Z = 92°06. It is necessary now to solve the question of Y + Z, the publisher’s and_ the bookseller’s profit. Here the problem is complicated, owing to the fact that the publishers sell the book to different booksellers at different prices. It is interesting to note the following point not in relation to the present subject, but in order to show the faultiness of publishers’ methods. In those agreements where the author’s remuneration depends wholly or in part on the nett amounts received from the trade by the publishers, the words, ‘‘the usual trade terms,” are taken to express the sale to the trade, and in the accounts the price is generally rendered as uniform, and that—it is perhaps unnecessary to remark—not the highest price received. This is a trade method. “— The paragraph is an obiter dictum. What are these prices? What is the truth ? 1. The bookseller who takes a single copy has it at 2d. in the shilling less than the nett price. If the book is expensive, a large number of sales. are made at this figure. 2. If the bookseller takes thirteen copies, he has. them at the price of twelve. 3. Certain houses and all export houses demand a further discount of 10 per cent. 4, One house pays only two-thirds of the nett. price, minus 10 per cent. If an average of these four prices is taken the result is as follows :— 1. The single copy . 10s. 5d. - 2. 13 as 12, per copy 9s. 7°38d. 3. Export, per copy . 8s. 785d. 4. Lowestterms, percopy 7s. 6d. 36s. 2°23d. 8, 2°23d. : Average = we i. = 9s. 0°557d, Thus the average exceeds 9s. 04d. by a small fraction, and is based on the assumption that the  94 publisher sells at_least one-quarter of the copies at the lowest price. By assuming the price to be 9s. 1d., a small advantage would be given to the publisher. But the publisher is always in dread lest, his profits should be over-stated, so to calm his mind, and in order to leave no door of escape open, 98. shall be the figure he receives from the trade. It follows, then, that the bookseller buying at 9s. and selling at 12s. 6d., makes 3s. 6d. on each copy. Repeating the formula :— W+x+Y+2Z=150 42°94 +15 + Y + 42 = 150 , Y = 50°06 All the four quantities are now ascertained. 42°94 +15 + 50:06 + 42 = 150 The proportions of profit will be made more clear by stating them in percentages. Thus— 28°63 + 10 + 33°37 + 28 = 100 The same process of reasoning must now be applied to the discount book. In this case the work is sold to the public at a discount of 25 per cent., or 3d. in the shilling. The purchaser pays 9s. 44d. or 112°5d. The cost of production is constant, and the number of copies available for sale is constant. Therefore again— Wi X35 Y 4751125, 42°94 4% +7947 = 1125, X+Y+2Z= 69°56. That is to say, the sum to be divided between the author, the publisher, and the bookseller is 5s. 9°56d. A trifle more than 5s. 94d. The author’s royalties are nominally the same, that is 10 per cent., but in the case of the discount book the author has to allow thirteen copies to reckon as twelve. This never used to be the case in old days, but the author’s agent weakened in the bargains of important authors who could demand the full amount, and the smaller fry had in consequence to yield also. The royalty per copy is therefore— 12 180 —— 5 — ——. 13% 15d. = 13 The equation now stands— X+Y+2Z= 69°56. 13°84 + Y + Z= 69°56. . Y + Z = 55°72. It only remains to discover how the publisher and booksellers divide the remainder. As with the Nett book, so with the Discount =13°84, “Sy, THE AUTHOR. book: the publishers sell to the bookseller at various prices. The following is a statement of the prices for a pook published at 12s. 6d. and sold subject to discoant :— For a subscribed book one-third less than the published price— 13 as 12 at 8s. 4d. and 5 count = 7s. 4d. Single copies at 8s. 4d. and 5 per cent. dis- count = 7s. 11d. After subscription— 13 as 12 at 9s. and 5 per cent. discount = 7s. 10d. Single copies at 9s. and 5 per cent. dis- count = 8s. 7d. If, then, the average is taken of these four prices —presuming by this that the publisher sells half the edition on subscription— per cent. dis- —— = 7s, 11d. = 95d. Then the bookseller buys at an average price of 7s. 11d., and sells at 9s. 4$d., therefore— '.L=1s. 54d. = 175d. Then Y + 175 = 55°72d. Y = 38:22a, All the four quantities are now ascertained— 42°94 + 13°84 + 38°22 + 17°5 = 1125. If expressed in percentages— 38°17 + 12°3 + 33°97 + 15°56 = 100. If these figures are correct, and on this point we are clear—although the fact is sure to be denied by the other side—this very instructive result is clear, that the publishers’ and booksellers’ profits stand out as follows— Publisher. Bookseller. Nett Book ...... 4s. 2°06d.......88. 6d. Discount Book... .3s. 2°22d....... 1s. 54d. The bookseller benefits to the extent of 2s. 04d., and the publisher to the extent of 11°84d., or almost a shilling. Speaking roughly, a ratio of two to one. The profit to the bookseller, we are told, must be left with him in order to enable him to live, but the publisher can already live and flourish. It might be rightly claimed, then, that the extra shilling should belong entirely to the author. At any rate, he ought to gain something. ‘Again, according to the publisher's statement the following ought to be the figures :— Publisher. Bookseller, Discount Book....3s. 2°22d....... ls, 54d. Nett Book ...... $5. O°22d.. 75... 4s. 8°84d. Either way the profit is not unreasonable, but it  _ i is less in comparison for the publisher, who, in bbe addition to office and other expenses, places his ye9 eapital out with the printers and binders. The bookseller risks nothing. ,/_ A close study of the figures and percentages has bel led to an interesting result. In another paper it o 1) is hoped to put forward some further matters for a9 consideration. 4 A MUSICAL AGREEMENT. — HE samples of perfect Agreements issued by the Publishers Association and approved, : so we must take it, by all those time honoured oe houses which the public have been accustomed to ‘0! look upon as the kindly protectors of the.profession, »7e— gave the members of the Society a powerful insight ia into the equitable mind of the trade. ‘Nothing could have been said if it had been *¢- openly avowed that they represented the extreme ‘ei¥ view of the publishers, but this was not the case. af As readers of The Author may remember, they fy were put forward as equitable between party and Ts. party. by We refrain from argument. They bring their own condemnation. Again, the worn-out formulas put forward to per- su. suade some authors to give their signature, firstly, sq that the agreement is reliable, ‘it has been approved ? v by King’s Counsel,” or, secondly, that “it isa form fl ib all my authors sign,” may deceive the one-book * man and secure to his publisher a temporary advantage, but can hardly affect those who care- fully peruse these pages. oe Yet in spite of all warning for barefaced com- ® 98 mercial impudence the following—a common form 209 among the still unrepentant musical publishers— will take the first prize against all comers, It has come before the Society from three different houses. In ordinary business the seller usually submits terms and gains the advantage, if any, but in publishing, the process is reversed. IN CONSIDERATION of a royalty of pence per copy, seven copies to count as six, the first two hundred to be free of said royalty—paid to me, the undersigned author, by the music publishers, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, I do hereby sell and assign absolutely to the said publishers all my copyright and interest of whatever kind for Great Britain, Ireland, the Colonies, “amd every other country, of and in the music and _ words of * And also the sole and exclusive right and liberty of representing or performing the same, and causing or per- mitting the same to be represented or performed, and also the copyright and theright of representation or performing, a THE AUTHOR. 95) or causing or permitting the same to be represented or performed, in every foreign state in which such copyright or other rights aforesaid, or any of them, now exist or may hereafter be obtained. And I do hereby agree that the said publishers shall be entitled to arrange, use, and publish the said work, musie and words or any portion thereof, in any other separate form free from any other consideration in respect of such use and publication. And I, the undersigned, warrant and declare to the said publishers, that I am solely and absolutely entitled to the premises expressed to be hereby assigned and that free from incumbrances. Further, only half the above royalty pay- able on copies sold in the United States of America, : Witness my hand, this day of , in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred Z Tt is not intended to put forward a useful Author’s Agreement, but merely to comment on the extraordinary form in which this document is drafted, and to explain some of the more extrava- gant points. On the same principle that it takes two to make a quarrel, it has always been looked upon as necessary to have two parties to an agreement. But the Musical Publisher is above such con- siderations. He is a law unto himself, and appa- rently to the composer also. It is pitiful to consider that for years uncounted, ever since music was a property, composers, without a murmur, without a sigh, have been willing to resign their rights with such a childlike trust. Even now there are leading members of the profession who do not think that there is any need for an organisation to withstand this wholesale abandonment of valuable property. After consideration of the parties, or rather party—for, as we have pointed out, there is only one party who signs this estimable agreement—it is necessary to consider what the composer is conveying. He conveys all his copyright and interest in the piece for all the world, and the sole and exclusive right and liberty of performing the same. He is paid, it will be noticed, a certain sum on the sale of every copy—it is needless to say that the sum is inadequate in comparison with the cost of produc- tion, that the copies are reckoned seven as six, and two hundred given away free for advertising purposes—but on the performing rights he is paid nothing. : The publisher may say that on performing rights in England no money is paid. ‘This is not absolutely true. Take for example, musical operas, songs sung in music halls, and the many other forms of musical composition the performing rights of which are valuable. At no distant date a com- bination may be formed which will enable the composer to demand a certain sum for every public performance. This right in France is very valuable, simply because French composers and those who  96 publish French compositions have banded them- selves together in order to obtain a fall reward for the property they create. To assign these per- forming rights, therefore, is altogether inadvisable. Quite apart from the monetary side of the question it may be justly argued that the composer, under certain circumstances, would object to perform- ances at certain times or in certain places. He could not, however, stop them under the present arrangement. In addition, as the publisher holds the right of performance in foreign countries, the work might be performed in France, where these rights are exceedingly valuable. In that case the publisher would obtain a substantial return, in which the composer would have no share whatever. So far it agreement. But worse is to follow. The publisher not only has all copyright and performing right, put he also receives the right to arrange, use, and publish the said work in any other separate form free from any other consideration 1n respect of such publication. So that if, as not infrequently happens, a song runs pleasantly in waltz time, it would be possible for the publisher to adapt the air to a waltz with a new setting, publish it, and sell thousands of copies. seems impossible to imagine a worse There are many other methods of re-arranging an air. With these the publisher has every right to deal according to his agreement, and on the sale of this new arrangement nothing will return to the composer. Take one further instance. How many quad- rilles, polkas, and other dance music are there that are merely variants of the popular airs of the day ? The composer receives half royalty on copies sold to America. There might be some slight reason for a small reduction, but why a reduction of fifty per cent.? We should be glad if the publishers would furnish figures. Lastly, a few remarks must be made before the question is closed, concerning the remuneration that composers receive for their labours. It is the custom to pay exceedingly small royalties on a song or other musical composition. The royalty in all cases must be finally determined by the amount of capital invested by the publisher, and the return the publisher obtains over and above the sum invested. Compare for one instant the cost of production of a book beside that of a song. Any book from the pen of a popular author, which is sold at 2s. nett will bear a royalty of 2d. in the 1s.; but the cost of production of a book excluding advertising is more than twice as large as the cost of production of a song excluding THE AUTHOR. advertising. It will cost perhaps 15/. to produce — 2,000 copies of a song which will sell at 2s. nett, the advertising, of course, coming outside this amount. Say 307. are spent on advertising, and 500 copies — of the song given away for all purposes, this leaves 1,500 copies to be sold at, say, 1s. 2d. per copy. The return is therefore 87/. 10s. If from this the cost. of production is deducted, 42/. 10s. is left to be divided between author and publisher. Fourpence per copy royalty will, therefore, give the publisher a handsome profit, and the author a reasonable return. If the sales exceed 1,500, then the reproduction is in every way cheaper and the return to the author larger. It should be remarked also that the cost of pro- duction and advertisement, and number of free copies is reckoned on a very liberal scale. In many cases 30/. is an outside price for the advertise- ment of one song and less than 500 copies are usedi as gratis copies. Musical composers position. should reconsider their THE R. D. BLACKMORE MEMORIAL. —-—— + — MEETING of the Blackmore Memorial Committee was held at Stationers’ Hall on ~ Wednesday, November 26th, Mr. James — Baker in the chair. Mr. R. B. Marston, the hon. © treasurer, announced that the subscriptions received amounted to over £200, the total promised to date — being £223 1és. Designs from the sculptor, Mr. — Harry Hems, were submitted showing a medallion portrait on marble slab. Various suggestions were made, and it was decided to close the subscription om December 9th, and at the next committee meeting — to make final arrangements for putting the work in hand. Amongst those present were Professor Raphael Meldola, Mr. Mackenzie Bell, Mr. Herbert A. Morrah, Mr. James Baker, Miss Pinto Leite, and Mr. G. E. N. Ryan. On December 10th a further meeting of the — committee was held. Mr. Hems, the sculptor, produced a fresh design, which was unanimously approved. Mr. Hems stated that the work would — be completed and ready for erection early in April next.  THE AUTHOR. 97 GENERAL MEMORANDA. Ae ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property —: I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to: C1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duciion forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for ‘ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. 5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! III. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the ** Cost of Production.” IVY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. eg ge ee WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. a EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager, 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (@.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (2.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (e.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (i.¢., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply also in this case. 4, PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in anyevent. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be excced- ingly valuable. ‘They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative : that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY, eg HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. — i VERY member has a right toask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion, All this without any cost to the member.  98 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers : —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. +-—<>—__ + —_____—- THE READING BRANCH. —_1-——+—_ EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term MSS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY _AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. +> NOTICES. Sa HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to: the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH, All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. —_+——_o__—_——_- COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EpITorR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. —— Tur SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. rVNVHE case of Aflalo & Cook v. Lawrence & Bullen, which has been supported by the Society throughout, was heard on Appeal before Lord Justice Vaughan Williams, Lord Justice Romer, and Lord Justice Stirling, on Thursday, the 18th of December. Readers of Zhe Author may remember that judgment in the first instance was given in the favour of the plaintiffs, with costs. Against this. judgment the defendants appealed. The Appeal has been dismissed with costs. Lord Justice Romer and Lord Justice Stirling decided against the appellants, Lord Justice Vaughan Williams dissenting. The case is one of considerable importance, as it. deals with the interpretation of the 18th section of the Copyright Act. It has already been pointed out in the pages of The Author that this section is perhaps one of the worst sections that has ever been drafted in an Act of Parliament, and is difficult of interpretation and complicated. Every case, therefore, that tends to make it more explicit must be of importance to those: interested in literary property. It is hoped that in the next number of 7'he Author it will be possible to give a full statement of the judgment. We understand that King Oscar, one of the few royal authors, has been contributing an article to the magazine of the Swedish Authors’ Union.  THE AUTHOR. 99 Though it is the privilege of every crowned head to be egotistical—the subject of the paper was his own writings in fiction and poetry—yet he dealt some very frank criticism on his work. He used, he said, to be very proud of his lyrical productions, but doesn’t consider them now to be first class. The poem he considers his best is ‘The Baltic.” He trusts that his readers’ opinions will coincide with his own. No sooner has King Oscar finished criticising his own works than another royal personage comes before the public as an author. “La Carriére d’un Navigateur” is the title of a work by Albert I., Prince of Monaco, and, like King Oscar, in his own line he proves himself an author of no mean capacity. The book is full of the love of the sea. It is imaginative and, in places, poetical. The work is published in Paris. Under “ Literary, Dramatic, and Musical Pro- perty,” we have, with the kind permission of the Editor of The Times, reprinted the case of Jfoul vy. Boosey, dealing with the performing rights of musical pieces. We desire again to bring this point before those composers who are members of the Society, and again to call their attention to the fact that owing to a strong combination of French composers the property in performing rights has become exceed- ingly valuable. In Germany and France, we believe that a royalty agreement on the sale of a song or musical composition is almost unknown, and the composers make their money from their performing rights. In England the reverse holds good. There is no reason, however, why both rights should not become a valuable property, and bring in a considerable income. The fact that a certain Mr. Wall in former years took advantage of the unsatisfactory state of the law to levy contributions from illegal per- formances, is no reason why the performing rights should therefore be allowed to run to waste. We trust that musical composers will give the matter their serious consideration. Various friends of the late Mr. J. T. Nettleship, the well-known animal painter, are desirous of placing a tablet to his memory in the fine old church of Kettering, his native town, to be supplemented, if practicable, by some small memorial in London. Besides being noteworthy as an artist, Mr. Nettleship was an accomplished writer, his ingenious essays, on the poetry of Robert Browning, first published as far back as the “sixties,” having done much to promote: a more general appreciation of the poet’s work. Mr. Alfred East, A.R.A., Mr. Alfred Parsons, A.R.A., Mr. T. C. Gotch and Mr. William Toynbee have undertaken to organise a fund in London, and subscriptions may be sent to Mr. Toynbee, Hon, Treasurer, at 4N, Portman Mansions, W. John Kendrick Bangs—so states the American Author—agrees with Jules Verne that the novel is passing, and that in a hundred years from now there will be no such form of literature, or, at least, not as we knew it. “If wireless telegraphy, why not bookless romances, typeless novels, page- less poems? We already have jokeless comic papers. These things are surely coming, and I foresee the day when without novels, poetry or drama the public will be surfeited with romances and tales of the most stirring character, poems of stately measure and uplifting concept; psycho- logical studies of the deepest dye; and dramas that will take the soul of man and twist it until it fairly shrieks for mercy—and all of these things. men and women will get while they sleep. a A LITERARY ACADEMY. —1+~< L. AM so little instructed in the theory of literary I academies that it is only after reading the clever letters published on the subject in The Author by such authorities as Messrs. Herbert Trench, H. G. Wells and Morley Roberts, and Lucas Malet, that I feel emboldened to form a hasty opinion, entirely on the reading of the aforesaid letters. My blood boils, as does that of us all, including Mr. Herbert Trench, at the prevalence amongst us of what I will call the “ tub-novelist.” But would the establishment of an Academy of Letters in this country exercise any control over this variety of literary caterer? Would he not adapt his chair to the same purpose as he did his tub, and wave his academic crown to the tune of so much per thow’ as before ? Mr. Zangwill’s blunt, or rather pointed, allusion to the ‘“ vulgarity of the epoch’ seems to sum up the case for me, only I would substitute for vulgarity the adjective ‘“non- critical.” Weare, as a nation, non-critical—thank goodness we are, as a nation, creative. The French are both, the latter perhaps in a lesser degree. But in France, though there is a  100 tremendous fertility in rubbish, as with us, Litera- ture proper completely ignores the out-put. The books one reads to soothe the toothache, or to ameliorate a railway journey, are not the books one criticises. : The three unmentionable “ Claudines” that have had such a vogue over there were read with ‘more or less amusement and cast aside—never considered seriously for one moment. But the English counterparts to ‘laudine—Heaven forbid that I should name them !—are on every decent table, and are gloated over by discreet K.C.’s and M.P.’s and discussed seriously in would-be literary salons. We do not distinguish. In France, the garcon de café, the demoiselle de comptoir read their Anatole France, their Huysmans, and are able to criticise and discuss him. ‘The French literary man varies from his ‘English prototype just as much as his audience does. The labour of a French author has an absurdly unnecessary concomitant. He takes pains __jmmense pains. He does not, as a rule, have the tendency which Lucas Malet deplores in some -of his English confréres. He does not regard letters as a means, but as an end. He does not -aspire to rise from author to “ minister,” and he never hopes to have time for society. M. Pierre D’Alheim, the author of “La Passion de Maitre Fran¢éis Villon,” spent fifteen years over the pro- duction of this masterly study of the Middle Ages. And it is one of a trilogy, of which the other two are still to be written! M. Huysmans lives the ‘life of a hermit—a genial one, par example ; he does not hate his fellow creatures, he simply has not time for them. It is my humble opinion that until we have a few more authors of this stamp in England, it is of no use arranging an Academy for them. The few truly earnest labourers in the literary field that we do possess would be obliged to double their parts and crown themselves. There are so few of them. And even then the enlightened critical public who should haste to acclaim the judgment ‘would be wanting ! VioteT Hunt. — II. On the subject of a Literary Academy Mrs. ‘Clifford writes as follows :— «J would gladly contribute to the discussion on an Academy of Letters, but I am too busy, too tired to think out even what I feel on the subject— though I feel a good deal.” She continues : ““My views so far are in entire agreement with those expressed by Mr. Herbert Trench. I think the only criticism I have to make upon his article touches the constitution of the committee, which -seems to me to be hardly far-reaching enough.” She THE AUTHOR. gives the names of a few gentlemen whom she would recommend as members, other than those mentioned by Mr. Trench. Under any circumstances; the selection of a committee of this kind would be difficult, and might lead to a considerable amount of heart- burning on the part of some and disgust on the part of others; but Mrs. Clifford proceeds: “A committee of this sort should be composed of the lovers of all kinds of literature, but above all, it should be composed of those who love it for its own sake, of those to whom it would be impossible to think of reward or advertisement, of pushing forward or holding back for personal reasons. In short, of men who have no axes to grind, except the one for which the Academy was instituted, that of immortalising good literature.” Surely it is not possible that any one can quarrel with Mrs. Clifford’s definition of the real Academician. oS II. I entirely agree with all that Mr. Arthur C. Benson says in his admirable article in favour of an Academy of Letters. Is it not the education of the masses which is in some way responsible for the down-hill road litera- ture is taking, and do not writers of the present day instinctively lower their standard of composition to a level which can be appreciated by the larger public ? If an Academy could influence this great _com- munity, and could inspire it with the desire to read only what is best, by holding before it high examples, its work would indeed gain a glorious crown, and we might hope before long to see the death of such debasing fiction as appears in our halfpenny newspapers. With things remaining as they are at present, with no powerful, saving hand held out to check this downward tendency in letters, the future state of affairs is not a happy one to contemplate. But we ought to strive to make it a happy one, and an Academy might be just the new force in the world of literature capable of doing it. To educate a great crowd of human beings is one thing ; this assists it in its active walk of life, but if we allow its leisure moments to be degraded by the perusal of the vitiating, worthless reading which pours forth from the press of cheap journals and elsewhere, the whole ideal of education is shattered. Let an Academy of Letters come to the rescue, and let it inspire both our authors and our public with the aim of crushing out of exist- ence all that is of bad quality in literature. | Then the author will produce the best that is in him, and the public will read it. F, I. W1nzott. i= we ele Eee  iy THE AUTHOR. IV. [With kind permission of the Editor of the Morning Leader. | One ought to have an opinion on the often- mooted proposal for establishing a British Academy of Literature; and by the time I have finished this article it is possible that an opinion may have taken root in my mind. Bat as yet I am unable to work up any conviction either for or against the proposal. Mr. Herbert Trench and the distinguished novelist who chooses to be known as “Lucas Malet” have written to The Author—the trade paper of the literary class —strongly recommending an Academy as a pos- sible, and even probable, remedy for the miserable decline into which English literature has fallen. “The present state of affairs,” says Mr. Trench, “jis nothing less than the merest tumultuous anarchy. . . . Every year our people, as a whole, like those of the United States, seem to be marching steadily, slumberously, into new and vaster Dark Ages; Dark Ages, not of mere ignorance, but of the wildest positive error. The weltering Anglo-Saxon peoples have no intel- lectual standards, no thought centre, no axis.” The flippant might be tempted to reply that the academician - saviours heralded by Mr. Trench would have too many axes—to grind. But flip- pancy is out of place in this grave debate. I repent the untimely levity, and pass on. ‘‘ Lucas Malet’s” view of the situation is not much more cheerful than Mr. Trench’s. ‘“ English literature,” she writes, ‘in its higher and more distinguished expression, is sick, almost sick unto death.” “ It is,” she continues, “over-prolific and under-vitalised. The right of private judgment has run mad, thanks to a grafting of so-called modern ideas upon the old Protestant stock.” Wherefore “‘some of us,” she says, “hail the idea of an English Academy of Letters, regarding it as a possible remedial agency.” Now, before we can hail the remedy with any ardour of conviction, it behoves us to be certain that we have rightly diagnosed the disease. Is English literature in such a desperate case as Mr. Trench and “Lucas Malet” would have us think ? I have touched on the question before in this column, and have pointed out how Macaulay, writing in the very heyday of that Victorian period to which we now look back as to an age of giants, adopted exactly the same tone of despondency. Still more aptly did Mr. Gosse remind us, in his speech at the “ Encyclopeedia Britannica” dinner, that Montaigne in France, and Ben Jonson in England, each believed himself to be living in an age of hopeless literary decadence. I admit, how- ever, that there isa great difference between assert- ing the probability, and proving the fact, of illusion. 101 A great deal may be said, no doubt, in favour of Mr. Trench’s view of the present situation. While every age has had its loudly-applauded and extra- vagantly advertised charlatans—its Robert Mont- gomerys and Martin Tuppers—it must be owned that the present age is particularly prolific of these gentlefolks, and that they are “boomed” with a hitherto unexampled impudence of puffery. But does not the very word I have employed suggest the explanation of the phenomenon ? The modern literary “boom” is more deafening than the similar manias of bygone generations because the half- educated reading public is now so much larger.. But in that there is no great harm ; the mischief would be if we found the manias of the half- educated public infecting the judgment of the educated public. Of this I confess I see no indication. When Thackeray was asked by an American, “ What do you, in England, think of: Tupper?” his reply was, “ We don’t think of Tupper.” With the same promptitude and con- viction all educated Englishmen of to-day might reply to a similar question, ‘We don’t think of What’s-his-name or Thingumbob.” There may be certain writers on the borderlands of literature whom some educated people discuss too seriously ;. but these are precisely the men who, one fears,. would worm themselves into an Academy. As for the tendency of mediocrity—as distinguished from. sheer blatant incompetence—to swamp command- ing talent, does not that arise from the fact that our mediocrity is really entitled to rank much. higher than the mediocrity of fifty years ago? If we have fewer writers of the very first rank (and. even that may be an illusion), have we not a great many more writers—not only absolutely, but in proportion—whose work attains a more than respectable standard of intellectual merit ? And if this be the case, can it be said that literature is altogether going to the dogs ? Let us assume, however, that our pessimists are: right in their diagnosis of the disease, and inquire a little into the further question, whether the: remedy they prescribe is likely to “ touch the spot ”” —if so unacademic an expression may be forgiven.. On this point ‘‘ Lucas Malet ” writes :— “ Ts it too much to hope that a recognised central autho- rity—-to which the elect among themselves may presently belong—an association of the most distinguished and enlightened minds of our day, might provoke in the rank and file a finer ambition and higher conception of the dignity of their calling, a sounder scholarship, a greater humanity and love of beauty, a greater self-forgetfulness in. work ?”’ ‘ Mr. Trench takes a somewhat less ideal view. He would have us look upon the Academy as a. sort of accredited advertising agency, which should, ‘in order to guide the public, confer titles of merit.  102. or excellence at the end of each year on works of worth.” In this way, he thinks, an Academy would have brought Fitzgerald’s “ Omar Khayyam” into its due prominence at once, instead of leaving +t to be “discovered” after the lapse of a genera- tion. ‘ What qualified person,” he asks, “believes that the poetry of Matthew Arnold—so pure, so salutary for our time—yet occupies its just place in the minds of the multitude, who still acclaim Tennyson as a demi-god ?” The example does not seem to be very happily chosen, for it is scarcely conceivable that any academic laurels could have made Matthew Arnold popular with “ the multi- tude.” Arnold seems to me to have been entirely successful in seeking out his elective affinities. An Academy could at best have hastened the process a little. I would rather say that perhaps such a poet as Coventry Patmore, or, in our days, Mr.. Robert Bridges or Mr. Francis Thompson, might be enabled, by academic recognition, to reach a larger public. Again, Mr. Trench thinks that the existence of “some such Society of the Spirit” would attract to literature “men of powerful talent, now absorbed by the Bar and commerce. Those men would be induced to speak who now stand aloof and silent, in overwhelming disgust.” This argument, I confess, appeals to me but little. I do not believe in the existence of the man who, having anything to say, and any power of saying it, is deterred by his despair of finding an audience worthy of his genius. I don’t doubt fora moment ‘that there are men who, in their own esteem, -oceupy this pinnacle of intellectual superiority ; but I think the chances are that the pinnacle would prove as barren after as before the establishment of an Academy. Let us remember, however, that a case may be a very good one, though the arguments brought forward in support of it are individually insufficient. ‘The worst of our national habits, to my thinking, is that of seizing on any plausible objection to a proposed reform and making it an excuse for sitting still and doing nothing. Mr. Trench very justly insists that “it is weak to plead that an Academy would be a prey to wire-pullers and intriguers. Any dignified human society that is worth framing must undergo, and can weather, such dangers.” Mr. H. G. Wells fears that the Academy will be swamped by “ well-bred influential amateurs ” such as Lord Rosebery and Mr. Balfour. This possibility has no terrors for me. I think a British Academy which excluded such a man as Lord Rosebery would be ridiculous. In sum, I am .-so far with the supporters of the proposal that I think its opponents have wholly failed to show that it could do any harm ; and since many people think it would do good, why not try it ? Winiuram ARCHER. THE AUTHOR. Vv. A few words more are asked for on the subject of an Academy of Letters. It must be difficult for any distinguished. man of letters to advance and say, “ Come let us form a society to save literature from the public dis- esteem into which it has fallen.” Yet I believe that were Tennyson, Browning, and Arnold living, they would have been willing to come forward. The natural inertia and shamefacedness of the Englishman would not have overcome them. The might well have made, and we should all have responded to, such an appeal. Tt seems to me that a public institution is required which shall image, symbolize, and stand for excel- lence in literature. For this reason I am gratefal to famous novelists like Lucas Malet, and to such admirable writers as Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson, Mrs. W. K. Clifford, Mr. Benjamin Swift, and Mr. William Archer, who have in these pages openly expressed sympathy not only with the aims in view, but with the means proposed. It is idle to say that such a society would wield no influence. Well could it safeguard its own dignity. ‘True; writers like Mr. Meredith would probably find no leisure for criticism, but, as Mr, Benson has suggested, the society could devolve its judgments and awards to a carefully-chosen critical committee. Andin what respect could an Academy do harm? The recurrent elections of its members, the merits of their work, might conceivably indeed elbow from the topics of the dinner tables some turf scandal or fashionable divorce. Intellectual and beautiful achievement would in fact stand some chance of their proportionate share of public attention. Directly or indirectly the Academy would become the main organ of English criticism, an elucidator of our chaos, a simplifier, an orderer, a guide to judgment. Why is this neglected field so important? Be- cause, surely, art, and in chief the art of literature, live by the sympathy, and increase the sympathetic intelligence, of all classes. Art tends to unify society and makes for solidarity. The novel, play, poem, are the village greens of the nation. In art the out-wearied master-printer, with brain exhausted by the technicalities and intense com- petitions of his trade, who now at his day’s end relapses faute de mieux on the mushroom romances of the boudoir, may learn to share interests with his foreman (chief reader of the. future), who, attending all day to the intricate, steady spinning of some comprehensive machine, returns home at night less fatigued than his master, and soon will be less easily satisfied. Art in letters is the reve- lation of themselves to the young, the invisible trysting-place of the sexes, the common ground of  THE AUTHOR. 103. the specialists, who, with theramifying of knowledge, tend to become ever remoter and mutually more unintelligible. Art is the only speech preserved in our Tower of Babel. It behoves greatly, therefore, that we guard this sympathetic art of literature ; see that it falls not into emptiness and dishonour, and that for the State’s own sake some honest endeavour is made to distinguish and reward those who practise this art with signal excellence. But let us take account of objectors. An “ Academy” must be “academic,” says Mr. Morley Roberts, foisting on us, with a smile, a play upon words. “The appeal of literature is individual, is personal. A bedy of men is a lower organism,” says Mr. Roberts. But it is from the rabble, from the chance of crowds, and the tender mercies of journalistic judgment, that I would save writers above the average. Let us give them a revising body, an enduring Court of Appeal, less tardy than that of Time, a court where the deciduous sentences of the daily papers are replaced by words of steadier attention. Nothing in Nature is more sure than that works of genius die and perish utterly unknown. Genius bears no sovereign amulet against mischance, and the majestic stupidity of numbers. Common sense alone can by organiza- tion set human barriers and safeguards for our great men against ill destiny and oblivion. ‘ Conven- tion,” “monotony,” “aridity,” “conservatism,” - sighs Mr. Morley Roberts apprehensively. ‘Masters of literature, if once publicly recognized, become fossils,” gently implies Mr. Max Beerbohm. But, “Tam compelled to ask, “Is there anything more conventional than the range of ideas in the Old Kent Road?” Intellectual civilization is free. It is the savage societies, and the clichés forced now on us in the guise of novels, that are, above all, arid and monotonous. We have no men, says (I think) Mr. Zangwill. What! We have still Mr. Swinburne, Mr. John Morley, Mr. Robert Bridges, Mr. Meredith, Mr. Pinero, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Yeats, Mr. Joseph Conrad, Mr. Shorthouse, Mr. Bury, Mr. Bryce, Mr. A. E. Housman. Are not these a brave beginning ? The truth is that, as Lucas Malet forcibly puts it, a central standard of taste is increasingly required in the double combat to be waged against the taste of the mob, and the influence of the millionaire (whom we have always with us). We must not look for help from the “ upper classes.” The French courtiers of the seventeenth century salons, the eighteenth century groups of English country gentlemen round Pope and Addison, round Johnson and Burke, were recruited from educated aristocracies. It was these gentlemen who formed noble libraries, and paid for splendid editions. They had gone on the “grand tour” to France, Italy, and Greece, to the older and wiser civilizations, and so had improved a naturally good eye for the taste- ful and the humane. But the modern grand tour is to the United States for a rich wife. Or our young aristocrat, if more wholesomely disposed, returns with the imperfect tastes of frontier peoples. Our young barbarian becomes accom- plished in Rhodesia or the Klondyke. He returns, perhaps, no worse a man than were the sons of Halifax, Temple, Fox, Walpole or Chesterfield. But as a judge of letters he is probably less complete. In our quandary no help is to be expected of him. No help, either, from our mob-deity the millionaire, who may found libraries till every Sheffield has its British Museum, yet cannot provide a living for literature. No! The writers of England, if they are to restore the dignity of their craft, must do it themselves. Their task, owing to the vast augmen- tation of the reading populace, and the all-perva- siveness of vulgar wealth, is harder far than it was for any French king or English aristocracy. But, on the other hand, is not that task tenfold better worth the doing? Its result may be the gradual ennoblement, not of clique in a capital, but of an entire nation. No idea of his function can be pitched too high for the weal of the artist. Priest of the mind and heart, he is the chief truth-teller left to humanity. “Treasure words,” said Gogol; “they are the noblest gift of God.” And the object I have in writing these lines is boldly to ask those who have the honour of English letters at heart to form themselves into a “ Guild of Literature,” as did the craftsmen painters of Flanders and Italy—a guild open to any fairly-accredited writer to join. From this guild should be elected, chiefly (1 think) by writers themselves, a number of leaders—Masters of the Craft—to protect it, to represent it, and do it honour. Such a public association of the distinguished and enlightened would act, as Lucas Malet says, as an immense encouragement to the rank and file of writers, especially those of the younger genera- tion. It would stimulate to steady work—concen- trate attention on noble ambition and pure reward. It would help year-long labour like “ that slow and scientific ” labour of Titian. It would secure for living writers praise and recognition far earlier than now is possible. Why, when we light upona splendid short tale by a living master, like the newly-pub- lished “Youth” of Mr. Joseph Conrad, should the knowledge of its beauty and perfection be confined to the chances of a few Press notices in London? Why should Mr. Conrad not improbably have to wait till he is old before he can enjoy the success he deserves? Why must Mr. George Meredith wait thirty-eight years after the publica- tion of “Richard Feverel” before his existence is acknowledged in the Quarterly Review 2 It must  104 be because England is all lawn or marsh. There is no broad culture among our people. There is no fit organ of letters to honour living artists and. maintain the magnificent tradition of the dead. ‘The English take all things seriously—religion, love-making, family, politics, and commerce—all things, that. is to say, except art and literature. ‘Her young writers, not regarding their craft as all- important, do not give it their best and yet we propose to reform national education—to multiply training colleges! It is in vain. You -cannot multiply wise teachers and simultaneously despise living literature. It is a kind of stupid ‘hypocrisy. Recruited from the intellectual refuse .of Europe, the Churches, nominal custodians of -education, are soulless and decaying. The brains are out, the man must die. From them we may -get chicane in Houses of Lords, but we shall not -get light in the minds of the people. We must look to Art and Science to bear on the Torches ‘relinquished by Religion. Let us therefore found this new Society of the Spirit—this new Guild of ‘Literature—to spur and inspirit workers, and to ‘strengthen them by fellowship. But the chief -yalue of such a Guild would be not so much its -substantive as its symbolic value. HERBERT TRENCH. Oi AMERICAN NOTES. —-—~>+ — LTHOUGH at the time we write our infor- mation is not so complete as to enable us to give definite figures, everything points to the conclusion that the output of books during ‘the fall of 1902 has been almost unprecedented. “The bulk of this was, of course, made up of new ‘fiction ; but other departments of literature, with the exception of verse, were not inadequately ‘represented. Greater attention than ever has been paid to the «make-up and illustration of new works. Whether ‘there has been a corresponding advance in the -quality of the contents may be more open to - question. One thing is noticeable as a sign of the times. It is this: that the success of a book by a popular author no longer helps the sale of his previously ‘stocked works to anything like the extent which it used to do. The American public will have everything brand-new nowadays. As the book of the day, Winston Churchill’s “Crisis” has been displaced by Owen Wister’s “The Virginian.” This breezy romance of the “West, which holds its own against all newcomers, THE AUTHOR. is especially remarkable for its description of the lynching of the cattle-thieves. The book would undoubtedly have won its way to popularity on its own merits; but the dedication to President Roosevelt, and the curiosity excited by the allusion to the page which his delicate humanity caused to be rewritten, probably helped it not a little. One of the most notable productions of the early autumn was “ New France and New England,” the last of the late John Fiske’s historical writings. Unfortunately the author only lived to give final form to the first two chapters, which deal with the early history of what is now Canada; the rest consists of his unrevised lectures worked up by another hand. The motif of the whole is to show the effect on the development of New England of the French conquests and losses on the North American continent. Mr. J. N. Larned, of the Buffalo Public Library, has, in his “Literature of American History,” made some attempt at the bibliography of an enormous subject. Although his biblio- graphical guide gives an annotated list of four thousand titles, and is brought down to the year 1900, one is not surprised to discover that it is by no means exhaustive. Meanwhile President Woodrow Wilson, of Princeton, has just finished for Harper and Brothers his “ History of the American People,” which is contained in five volumes, and comes down to the accession of Mr. Roosevelt. It is being offered on the monthly instalment system, the total sum to be paid amounting to twenty-five dollars. It is a great achievement. A work of still greater magnitude is “ The New International Encyclopedia,” published by Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co., and edited by Dr. Daniel Coit Gilman, Dr. Harry Thurston Peck, and Dr. Frank Moore Colby. An especial feature is the substitution for the signed article of most European encyclo- pedias of contributions supplied originally by experts, but modified by the criticism of others, and finally issued by the editors in a form which is judged to combine the virtues of original individual research and those of co-operative criticism. This is a highly-interesting departure, and can hardly fail to work well in its application to scientific matters, whatever may be its weak points when employed in departments where the personal equation has a more legitimate field of action. A great effort has also been made to get rid of the traditional encyclopedic style, and thus to present in the attractive manner of Larousse matter which has been prepared on lines suggested by a study of the best German methods. The same publishers have issued a kind of poetical epitome of the world’s history under the 3 THE AUTHOR. title of ‘Every Day in the Year.” This compilation, the work of James L. Ford and Mary K. Ford, contains some eight hundred English poems com- memorative of great historical events. Anyone who is desirous of studying the making of the American army officer should read Mr. Hu. Irving Hancock’s ‘“ Life at West Point,” which is the work of a thoroughly competent observer. Those whose interests lie in the direction of the religious world will find much that is worthy of notice in Dr. Cuyler’s “ Recollections of a Long Life.’ While far from strong on the literary side, the book contains records of the writer’s acquaint- ance, not ouly with preachers and divines such as Spurgeon, Dean Stanley, and Henry Ward Beecher, but also with poets of the rank of Wordsworth and Whittier, and statesmen like Lincoln. Another biographical work which should not be passed by is the “ Men and Memories ” of the late John Russell Young, editor of the New York Tribune, which his widow has seen through the press. In the course of a public life of nearly half a century, Young came into contact with such diverse celebrities as President Lincoln, Horace Greeley, Henry George, Charles Dickens, and Walt Whitman, so that his recollections can hardly fail to be worth glancing at. Mr. Charles E. Benton, in the personal experiences of the Civil War, which Messrs. Putnam have published under the title, “As Seen from the Ranks,” contests Stephen C rane’s views as to the state of mind produced by warfare on the mind of the combatants. He himself was a member of a regimental band, but was often under fire when called upon, in the usual course, to do hospital duty. The numerous lives of Edgar Allan Poe have now been followed by an elaborate edition in seventeen volumes of his complete works, edited by Professor James A. Harrison. Besides the inevitable fresh life, there are some new letters. First editions of the most imaginative of American wrilers have realised fabulous prices of late years. An unpublished essay of Thoreau has been unearthed by Mr. F. B. Sanborn and printed by Goodspeed, of Boston. It is entitled, “The Service.” An ardently enthusiastic biographical study, “ The Hermit of Walden,” has come from the pen of Annie Russell Marble. : Among recent biographies of other American classical writers there is Professor Woodberry’s “Hawthorne,” showing the author of “The Scarlet Letter” “ shaking the dust of his native place from his feet, and frankly taking upon himself the character of the unappreciated genius”; and Colonel Higginson’s “ Longfellow,” yielding some new light upon the poet’s early married life and his career as Harvard professor. 105: Before giving our readers a few jottings upon the latest luminaries In the sky of fiction, we would mention in passing one little volume that stands out from among the not too interesting mass of Christ- mas publications. It is “The Book of Joyous Children,” by James Whitcomb Riley. The veteran: verse writer 1s, we may add, well supported by his. illustrator, J. W. Vawter. There is plenty of fun and even a little poetry in the somewhat fancifully- named gift-book. ; Mr. Thomas Bailey Aldrich has brought out an appendix to his complete works in the form of a. volume of short stories entitled, “‘ A Sea Turn and Other Matters.” The latest work of that popular favourite,. Augusta Evans Wilson, “ ‘The Speckled Bird,”’ has been productive of a somewhat sensational literary incident. Nettled at some not over- kind, but so far as we can judge perfectly bond fide, criticism in The Bookman, the novelist sent the editor of the offending paper a reply in) the form of a fable. This the editor decided to print in parallel columns with the reprinted. review ; and we think that the impartial reader will decide that he was not ill-advised in doing s0,. for the errors of taste into which the injured vanity of the author has betrayed her far exceed any surplus captiousness with which the critic— she, too, a fair one—may be justly charged. The curious may be referred to the November number- of the periodical above-mentioned. Mr. Richard Harding Davis has probably added to his reputation by his new novel, “Cap-- tain Macklin”: and the same may be said of Sir Gilbert Parker’s “ Donovan Pasha.” George Barr McCutcheon’s second venture, “ Castle Craney- croft,” is thought by his admirers to be as full of” exciting incident as was “ Graustark,” his first- born. One of them has christened it “ Around the World in Eighty Chapters” ; but the castle itself was, we learn, situated in Luxembourg. One of the great hits of the season has been Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith’s “ Fortunes of Oliver: Horn,” a romance of the south and of artistic life in the New York of the fifties. George Horton’s “ The Long Straight Road ” is of the realistic school, a story of every day family life in Chicago. It is distinctly to be commended, . if only on account of its treatment of the child element. The short stories of Will Payne range round the same region ; but “On Fortune’s Road” is nothing if not humorous. The author of “ Uncle Remus” has written a. very readable complete story, which compares very favourably with the latest efforts of certain other: veterans. ‘Gabriel Tolliver” is the name of his southern reconstruction tale. Mr. Marion Crawford has added another item to his long list. The scene:  106. of his “ Cecilia” is modern Rome, and the treat- ment is such as we are accustomed to expect from this novelist. ' : Perhaps the best piece of fiction produced in America during the present season is Newton Booth Tarkington’s “The Two Vanrevels.” It is a tale of Indiana in the days of President Polk ; love and politics are the main themes. To say that the characterisation shows a distinct advance upon that of “Monsieur Beaucaire ” would be awarding it but faint praise in comparison with its merits. Mr. Tarkington has been much quizzed in some quarters for the modesty of his proposal that the Indiana Legislature should endeavour to pro- mote literature by an annual offer of 500 dollars in prizes. : In conclusion, we must not omit to mention the swansongs of Paul Leicester Ford (‘ Wanted, a Chaperon”) and Bret Harte. “The Condensed Novels ” of the latter master of parody are worthy to rank with Thackeray’s “Novels by Eminent Hands,” and will doubtless afford much enjoyment to their subjects. The chief names in our obituary list are those of Edward Eggleston and Frank Norris. The former will be remembered not less by his successful exertions in the cause of international copyright than by his Hoosier Stories and historical works. The latter was looked upon by many good judges as likely to become the best American novelist of his generation. His first work, “ M’Teague,” was striking, but unpleasant. For ‘‘ The Octopus,” no one had anything but high praise. It was the first of a projected trilogy of wheat, the second part of which will appear early next year as “ The Pit.” The concluding portion had not got beyond its title, “The Wolf,” when the young author died at San Francisco at the early age of thirty-two, a victim to appendicitis. Before “ commencing novelist” he had been to South Africa and China as special correspondent. To the names of Eggleston and Norris we have to add those of Major J. W. Powell, sometime president of the Washington Anthropological Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and at his death Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology and editor of more than one scientific journal; and of William Allen Butler, author of “Nothing to Wear” and “Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square,” poems that once had as much vogue as Bailey’s “ Festus,” and whose names are even now by no means forgotten. THE AUTHOR. THE NOBEL PRIZES. Oe CCORDING to a telegram from Stockholm, this year’s Nobel prizes have been awarded as follows. Literature, Professor Theodor Mommsen, of Berlin. Peace, Professor Friedrich Martens, Pro- fessor of International Law in St. Petersburg. Medicine, Major Ronald Ross, of the School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool. Chemistry, Professor Emil Fischer, of Berlin. Physics, divided between Professors Lorenz and Zeemann, of Holland. All the gentleman named are authors. They have all written books dealing with the subjects to which they have devoted their lives. In fact it is almost impossible nowadays that any man could spend his life on a matter of research for the benetit of all humanity without at one time or another committing himself to a book. Of all the awards, that to Professor Theodor Mommeen will interest members of the Society most. Many will remember his Roman History as the bugbear of their school and college days, and perhaps from the standpoint of the schoolboy or the undergraduate will be ready to join issue with the Swedish Academy on their award. Several candidates were mentioned as probable recipients of the prize. It is evident in the selection of Professor Mommsen that the members of the Academy are giving a wide and generous interpretation to the letter of the document that limits their choice. Professor Mommsen was born on the 30th of November, 1817. He is now, therefore, eighty-five years of age. He was educated in the Gymnasium at Altona, and graduated at the University of Kiel. It is curious that a man who has spent his life in the dry research incidental to the writing of history should have commenced authorship by publishing a book of poetry. This, however, is the case ; the work was issued under the authorship of himself and his brother, Tycho Mommsen, in 1839. In 1848 he obtained a grant from the Government of Denmark, which enabled him to make a journey into Italy, and this, no doubt, was the turning point in his career. From that moment he began his wonderful study of the History of Rome, and the many subjects connected with such a labour. It is on his work as a Roman Historian that his world-wide reputation is based. Between 1854 and 1856 he published three volumes of his history, and at once became famous. It was not so much the great learning and exhaus- tive study shown in the volumes which forced the attention of everyone to his work as the aS —a  if g a ie ¥ 5 ' [ eek - characters of those mighty men of old. THE AUTHOR. insight into the life and character of the nation about whom he wrote and his new reading of the All applauded his methods, though they did not neces- sarily approve his deductions. One remembers his panegyric Augustus. Again, Cicero, whom it is customary to look upon as one of the most important men of letters and the greatest advocate of his times, Mommsen wrote down as a mere journalist, and Pompey he despised as little more than a recruiting sergeant. After the production of the three volumes, he for many years spent his time in studying the old Roman inscriptions, and produced in 1861 the first issue of the “Corpus Inscriptionum,” which was afterwards followed by sixteen other volumes. No man living has ever had such an insight into Roman life, Roman learning, and Roman law. There is no one who can rival his knowledge on any of these subjects. Though he never actually completed his History (it brought him to the fall of the Republic), he has written so many papers and collected so much knowledge that he has provided others with the requisite material. Everyone who has made careful study of his work will agree that he is a worthy recipient of the honour that has been conferred upon him. of Cesar THE REY. JOSEPH PARKER, D.D. Y the death of Dr. Parker London has lost a great personality and a powerful orator. The Society has lost a member who since 1890 has been a constant supporter of its aims and objects. He was born on the 9th of April, 1830, at Hexham-on-Tyne, and privately educated at University College, London. He began his career as a Minister at Banbury, Oxford, in 1869. Over thirty years ago he came to the City Temple, London. He was not a great author, or an author of many works; but from those he wrote and ublished it was clear that he was a man of large mind and generous spirit. His work, the “Pulpit Bible,” has been of great use to all Christian preachers of whatever denomination, but it is not as an author that Dr. Parker will be remembered. It is as preacher and as auto- erat of the City Temple. ——_———_———__+——— —____——_- 107 CORRESPONDENCE. —— BOOK DISTRIBUTION. Srr,— Would it not be possible to extend more generally the privilege accorded to the large buyers of books, of inspection before purchase? There must be a large public who would increase their purchases if their opportunities of selection were enlarged. For example :—Acting upon the only evidence obtainable—the title, the name of author and publisher, the reviews that happen to come my way—l order a certain book. On its arrival I see at the first glance it is not what I expected, or what I want. I would willingly, there and then, accept a small fraction of the price of the book, to be rid of it. It isnot only the wasted money, but the space on the shelves filled by these undesirables, that makes book buying so unpopular. Again, if I want to inspect the recent books upon a given subject, or to choose the most attractive edition of a certain classic, I must conduct the search myself in the British Museum. Surely it would pay the book purveyor to assist the possible buyer, to help him to keep out of his house the undesired books, and to discover for him the desired books ; to encourage him in the forma- tion of a library of works selected and approved by himself. One of the chief factors in the success of the circulating library is the opening of a large book area to inspection ; only a few of the books received are selected for reading ; and there is no accumulation of printed matter in the house. It should be the aim of the publisher to convert the reader from a borrower to a purchaser, by giving him opportunities for inspection with a view to purchase. All recent books, and all older designated books, might be collected in a shop, a fee being charged for examination. Books might also be brought to the reader’s door, or sent him by post, either for an inspection fee, or for a fixed proportion of the price of each book returned. It is the present surprise-packet system, with its inevitable disappointments to the purchaser, that stops business. Norwoop Youne. — 11 —_ MODERN LITERATURE, Sir,—It cannot be denied that the opponents of Sir E. Clarke’s theory regarding the degeneracy of modern English literature have certain case to argue. It is true that in the beginning of the Victorian era, there was an inequality of workman- ship which would not have been possible at its close; and a somewhat indiscriminating public  108 judgment passed this by with too much indulgence. This will account for the success of Sam Warren and Harrison Ainsworth, for the temporary popu- larity of Tupper and the too high estimate of Edgar Allan Poe. On the other hand, these opponents may point to such writers as Hardy and Blackmore, Swinburne, Meredith, and Kipling, as instances of good taste on the part of the more recent public which has duly appreciated these writers. But it will be noticed that their work is more or less of the kind technically known as “light.” Their works are not so likely to endure as classics as those of the earlier writers who undertook to convey to mankind intimations of greater moment. Amongst those will be remem- bered not only the names of Carlyle, and Newman, and Ruskin, but also of Emerson and Lowell; these latter, though Americans, “‘ spoke their American with a strong British accent,” and have been fully welcomed as English writers. Such literary work is perhaps hardly to be expected in the present conditions of our race. Decadent Latin nations are undeveloped ; peoples in the more Eastern regions may produce great craftsmen in arts and letters; but the eutonic races are otherwise engaged. ‘Their invention is shown in adminis- trative problems or in labour-saving machinery ; their eloquence is reserved for diplomatic dis- patches and political harangues. ‘To races so occupied the Muses are compelled to descend from Parnassus and content themselves with the humbler office as instruments for man’s occasional recreation. H. G. KEENE. THE CRITIC. Srr,—In glancing through the columns of the Morning Post the other day (8th December, 1902, p. 6) I came across a brief notice of a new number of the Pilot, a periodical which I understand has recently died and come to life again, and the fol- lowing passages in the review in question attracted my attention. ‘Lovers of good English and sound sense will welcome the reappearance of the Pilot. ... In glancing through the pages, how- ever, we have found the word ‘ relation’ standing in one case at least, and, so far as we can see, in the second also, for ‘relative.’ There is no reason why we should meet with this mode of speech in a journal like the Pilot.” Now, I should have thought (I have no privilege to weight my humble opinions with an editorial “we ”) that there was no reason why the critic of the Morning Post should not have been a little more explicit in his fault-finding, so as to mete out instruction to the ignorant in general as well as THE AUTHOR. blame in particular to the illiterate contributor to the Pilot. The question which the casual reader of such a criticism as this has to ask himself is, “In what possible meaning, out of many which it- is entitled to bear, can ‘relation’ be made to stand, improperly, for ‘ relative’?”’ To read through the Pilot is a possible course open to me which would perhaps supply the information, but it is one to which, perhaps owing to inherent laziness, I decline- to resort. ‘I'o some extent, however, I object to doing so, on principle, as I contend that the critic who apparently makes a charge against another writer of using bad English should do so clearly, so that those who read may understand the precise accusation brought. The obvious common mean- ing of “relation” and “relative” is that of “kinsman.” Does the writer in the Jorning Post refer to this? I am an old-fashioned person myself, so that Dr. Johnson, and the authorities. which he cites, together with what I believe to be universal usage, are good enough for me. There may possibly be some new fad as to the usage of “relation” and “relative” as synonyms for “ kins- man,” which everybody who knows anything ought to know, but with which I am unfortunately not. acquainted. Does the editor of the Morning Post, as the word “we” would suggest, endorse the views of his critic; and, if so, does he forbid “ rela- tion” as a synonym for “relative” in all the columns under his august control? Of course, I may be making an altogether absurd suggestion in even hinting that this could be the meaning of the criticism of the Pilot’s English. In that case I can only repeat what I have said before, that the charge of using bad English should have been made in terms to be understood by the ordinary reader of the daily newspaper in question or else not made at all. An accused person and the jury who are to try him have the right to know exactly what the charge is that is brought against him. EL A. AC AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Dear Srr,—I beg to warn music critics against contributing to the Concert Goer, New York. That estimable organ, after duly appointing me its London correspondent, published articles written by a person whose opinions and methods of expressing’ himself are not the same as mine, signing them. with my name. A London correspondent is, I understand, again, required by the Concert Goer, of New York. GEORGE CECIL. November 18th. BREINER Se uk. 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. 13 Issue 04 (January 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 04 (January 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-01-01-The-Author-13-4 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/478/1902-12-01-The-Author-13-3.pdf 162105018631a4e6e20d9c50e7b2365e PDF Text Text �������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1902-12-01 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages Page range in volume 57–80 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19021201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin VOL, SITT_ No. 3. DECEMBER Ist, 1902. [PRICE SIXPENCE. CHANGE OF ADDRESS. a As mistakes still occur with regard to the Address of the Society, it has been thought expedient to continue this Notice, that the Office of the Society is situated at— 39, OLD QUEEN STREET, STOREY’S GATE, S.W. The Telephone connection has now been estab- . lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. —_—_____ —~>—_ NOTICES. + OR the opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. Tue Editor begs to inform Members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author . that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. + List of Members. TuE list of members of the Society of Authors can now be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. You, XIII. The Pension Fund of the Society. THe Investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— ORCS Fo ie £816 5 6 Wocal Woans 20.2.3... 404 10 0 Victorian Government 3 % Con- solidated Inscribed Stock............ 291 19 11 War dan 252 3 201 9 3 Moual 4. ae. Si7i4 4 8 There is, in addition, a balance of about £20 in the Bank to cover current expenses and the payment of pensions. This does not include the amount received from the special appeal sent out in November. The subscriptions and donations from June 24th are as follows. Further sums will be acknowledged from month to month as they come to hand. DONATIONS. July 17, Capes, Bernard E. ............ 50 bo: 9 Oct. 28, Evans, Miss May ............ 0.5 0 Noy. 11, Bisiker, Wo 0... 0 5 0 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. July 19, Warden, Miss Gertrude...... 20 8 8 Oct. 21, Thomson, Miss ©. L.......... 0 5 0 Oct. 23, Butter, . 1.7... QO 5. 0 e SpeciAL APPEAL. Tue Appeal sent out by the Chairman of the Society at the request of the Pension Fund Com- mittee has been, so far, very successful. Up to and including the 22nd of November, the list of subscriptions and donations promised and  58 given is set forth below. Further subscriptions and donations will be acknowledged in the January number. Subscriptions. Nov. 14, Tuckett, F. i : : .£1 0 0 » Cox, Miss Roalfe 0 5.0 » Loynbee, William . 010 6 , Anonymous . ’ : 1 0 0 » odd, Miss Margaret, M.D. 1 1 oO », Pearson, Mrs. Conney 2 2 0 » Seaman, Owen . ; i 0 » Abbot, Rev. Edwin A. D.D.. 1 0 9 » Witherby, Rev. C. . : 0 5 0 » _ salwey, Reginald E. 010 0 » Vacher, Francis 11.0 Noy. 15, Parr, Mrs. - : Taleo » Davy, Mrs. E. M. . : 010 6 » Allingham, William, F.R.C.S. 1 1 O » Armstrong, Miss Frances O b&b 0 » Holmes, Arthur H. (condi- tional) 1 A 0 » Rattray, Alex. : : 0 5 0 , Brodrick, The Honble. Mrs. . 1 1 0 Nov. 17, Nesbit, Hume ; 010 0 » Keene, H.G.,C081. . 520 07-0 » Bayly, Miss A. E. (Edna Lyall) 1 1 0 » Forbes, E. . : 2 2 0 : Spiers, Victor. : ; 0 5 0 » Kroeker, Mrs. Freiligrath 0 5 0 » Burrowes, Miss Elsa 1 1 0 » Cooke-Taylor, R. W. 1 0. 0 Noy. 18, Voysey, Rev. Charles 10 0 » Jones, W. Braunston 0220. 0 » Anonymous . : 0 5 0 », Salmond, Mrs. Walter 0 5 0 ,» Anonymous ; 1.0 0 ,, Clough, Miss B. A. 010 6 5 Stanton, Miss H. M. 0 5 0 » “Lucas Malet” 2.2 0 Nov. 20, E.G. . : : 010 0 » Jenkins, Miss Hadow O50 » Morrah, H. A. ‘ 010 6 » Hatton-Ellis, Mrs. . 11.0 . Bertouch, The Baroness de 0 5 0 Anonymous 0 2 6 Nov. 21, Parr, Miss Olive 0. 5 0 Nov. 22, Forbes, Lady Helen 1200 », Twycross, Miss M. 0 5 0 Donatwns. Noy. 13, Bullen, F. T.. : : so 0 0 » Roberts, Morley (an annual subscriber) . ; 010 0 Nov. 14, Rossetti, W.M. . -- 4 0 0 Marshall, Capt. Robert . 5 5 0 », Hoyer, Miss . ‘ 1.0 0 oc of MS, D0 0 » Lefroy, Mrs. . a) THE AUTHOR. Nov. 14, Sinclair, Miss May (an annual subscriber) . ; : £ , McBride, Capt. E. E. 5, Garnier, Russell . Noy. 15, Burchell, Sidney H. 5 “Spero” : : » Cecil Medlicott” . ss Harker, Mrs. Allen a Banks, Mrs. M. M. a Spielmann, M.H. . » Garnier, Col. J. . 5 Benecke, Miss Ida . , Atton, Henry : Nov. 17, Panter, Rev. C. B.. » Keene, H. G., C.8.I. a wore ay Soo or eococeoNecr aS Hee = SB DOW MO OH AUMAAHOSWONS oooeo ee », Spielmann, Mrs. M. 4H. . 1 » Begbie, Harold 73 4, Stevenson, J.J. . : 10 , Minniken, Miss Bertha M. 0 Noy. 18, From sale of autograph . 1 » Wintle, H. R. : : 0 ». Brickdale-Corbett, H.M. . 0 ». Defries, Miss Violet , 0 Nov. 19, Stanton, Miss Hannah M. 1 » Warren, Major-General Sir Charles, K.C.M.G. 1 0 ». “Lucas Malet”. : 5 5 Nov. 20, Wynne, Charles Whitworth 5b Nov. 22, Skeat, The Rev. Prof. W. We. 5 8 The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rev. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount’ they are subscribing should be printed. The total amount of cash actually received is. £147 18s. Mr. Hamilton Drummond, who is a member of our Society, has offered a subscription of £10 for five years, if nine other members of the Society will promise the same contribution before 31st March, 1903. We sincerely hope that sufficient members of the Society will be found to come forward and meet Mr. Drummond’s generous offer, and that before the time expires we may be able to print in the columns of Zhe Author the full list of ten subscribers of the required amount. Subscriptions. Hawkins, A. Hope . : : .£10 0 0 Barrie, J. M. . . : : 10 0 8 Drummond, Hamilton : . . 10 0 0  THE AUTHOR. Tue Pension Funpd COMMITTEE. In order to give members of the Society, should they desire to appoint a fresh member to the Pension Fund Committee, full time to act, it has been thought advisable to place in 7he Author a full statement of the method of election under the Scheme for administration of the Pension Fund. Under that Scheme the Committee is composed of three members elected by the Committee of the Society, three members elected by the Society at the General Meeting, and the Chairman of the Society for the time being, ex officio. The three members elected at the General Meeting when the Fund was started, were Mr. Morley Roberts, Mr. M. H. Spielmann, and Mrs. Alec Tweedie. Last year, Mrs. Alec Tweedie resigned in due course, and submitting her name for re-election was unanimously re-elected. This year, Mr. Morley Roberts in turn, under the Rules of the Scheme, tenders his resignation and submits his name for re-election. The members have power to put for- ward other names under Clause 9 which runs as follows :— “* Any candidate for election to the Pension Fund Com- mittee by the members of the Society (mot being a retiring member of such Committee) shall be nominated in writing to the Secretary, at least three weeks prior to the General Meeting at which such candidate is to be proposed, and the nomination of each such candidate shall be subscribed by, at least, three members of the Society. A list of the names of the candidates so nominated shall be sent to the members of the Society with the annual report of the Managing Committee, and those candidates obtaining the most votes at the General Meeting shall be elected to serve on the Pension Fund Committee.” Tn case any member should desire to refer to the List of Members, a copy complete, with the excep- tion of those members referred to in the note at the beginning, can be obtained at the Society’s -otfice. Tt would be as well, therefore, should any of the members desire to put forward candidates, to take the matter within their immediate consideration. ‘The General Meeting of the Society has usually been held towards the end of February or the beginning of March. This notice will be repeated in the January number of Vhe Author. It is essential that all nominations should be in the hands of the Secretary before the 31st of January, 1903. + Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. THE amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is.:....... £327 15 0 There are a few promised subscriptions stil outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, 59 about £4. The subscriptions received from March to the date of issue are given below :— Anonymous. : : : - £17670 Champneys, Basil . : I) “ Colonia,” Natal, 8. Africa 1. 0 Fife Cookson, Lt.-Col. F. C. Tet 6 Gunter, Lt.-Col. E. A. : 010 0 Harding, Capt. Claud, R.N. I.0 0 Hurry, A. ; : : : : 010 6 Keary, C. F. (amount not to be men- tioned) Kinns, The Rev. Samuel, D.D. . Millais; J.G. : : Quiller Couch, Miss M. Sterry, J. Ashby 3 : Temple, Lieut.-Col. Sir R. C. Underdown, Miss E. Lockyer, Sir T. Norman Beale, Miss Mary Bolam, Rey. ©. E. Egbert, Henry : Eccles, Miss O’Connor Darwin, Francis ; : Montgomery-Campbell, Miss Medlicott, Cecil Saxby, Miss. Caine, T. H. Hall Marris, Miss Murrell S. B. : : Bloomfield, J. H. . F. O. B. (Coventry) . Seton-Karr, H. W. Heriot, Cheyne : Charley, Sir W. T., K.C. “« Hsme Stuart ” ; Charlton, Miss Emily Kroeker, Mrs. Aflalo, F. G. Patterson, A. . ; Salwey, Reginald EH. Gidley, Miss E. C. Nixon, Prof. J. E. a —_ SCH OR COOH OHHH OO ONMWOHRFROHS — NOOR NW OOOH OO O19 OOS BS BY OF OTD OD OL HY OL OF —ROCCOePecocooeceacooqoorcoocoo Coco oCcoaoaocoooooo Oo SocrFNwocoH KH o> So — + os FROM THE COMMITTEE. oe T the Committee Meeting held on Monday, November 10th, the Chairman reported he had heard from Mr. Frampton, R.A., that the Sir Walter Besant Memorial Tablet was almost complete. Mr. A. Hope Hawkins and Mr. Austin Dobson were appointed as a Sub- committee to settle the inscription. There were one or two cases discussed; but it would be prejudicial to their settlement to report upon them.  60 The Secretary has dealt with seven cases only during the past month, two referring to accounts, two for the return of MSS., and three for payment of money. ‘They have all been satisfactorily settled with the exception of one claim for the payment of money, which is in the course of settlement. The matters that were open from the former month have all been settled with the exception of two small cases, in which the negotiations are rather complicated. They are, however, proceeding satisfactorily. It has not been necessary to place any further disputes in the hands of the Society’s solicitors for settlement in the courts. Neither have any of the cases already in their hands been concluded since the last issue of 7’he Author. —1—>+ November Elections. Bannon, Mrs. : . $87, Alexandra Court, Queen’s Gate, S.W. Brown, Alan Roderick Lancing College, Shore- Haig (&. A.). ham, Sussex. Cecil, George 16, Panton Street, Hay- market, S.W. Tournafulla, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick. Holly House, Gateshead- on-Tyne. 6, Lawn Crescent, Kew Gardens, 8. W. Macquoid, Mrs. Kathe- The Edge, Lucien Rd., rine 8. Tooting Common. Shorrock, Mrs. S. Hope 39, Kiangse Rd., Shan- : ghai, China. The Manse, Hambledon, Henley-on-Thames. Leez Priory, Hartford -End, Chelmsford. Williams, Dawson 2, Wyndham Place, W. Only one member of those elected does not desire publication of his name and address. Since the beginning of the year 173 members and associates have been elected. Lane, T. O’Neill . Lister, Walter H. . Mackay, Wallis Thomas, Rev. G. P. Turner-Turner, J. tee BOOK AND PLAY TALK. —1—>— + M* and Mrs, Sidney Webb are engaged on a long investigation into English Local Government, with a view to describing its structure and function during the whole of the nineteenth century. The first part of their work, extending down to 1835, and dealing with ‘The End of the Old Order,” may be expected to appear next spring. THE AUTHOR. Mr. Max Pemberton is writing a story of the last days of Venice for the Graphic, and is spend- ing the winter at Brighton, and afterwards at Venice to do it. He is also finishing an Old English comedy which he wrote last summer 3. he is now re-casting it. Mr. William Toynbee has been engaged on a. satire, dealing with certain aspects, political and social, of the present day. This satire, which is. in dramatic form, will be published almost imme- diately by Mr. Glaisher, of Wigmore Street, under the title of “‘ When the Devil Drives.” In addition to the series of papers, ‘ Mankind in the Making,” now appearing in the Fortnightly Review, and destined to make a companion volume to “ Anticipations,” Mr. H.G. Wells has two other books in preparation. One is the story ofa draper’s assistant who rises in the world. It was com- menced in 1898, when “ Love and Mr. Lewisham” was finished, and is not likely to be ready for publication before 1904. The other was begun last year ; itis the story of the most momentous discovery in the world, and it will probably be ready for serialization by 1904. Mr. William Le Queux is very busy. For nearly a year he has been at work on a new novel which is to appear as a serial in England and America next spring. It will run over here in Chambers’ Journal. Some of the action takes place in Galloway; and as this popular author is extremely particular about the accuracy of his local colour, he has been visiting Mr. Crockett’s country recently. Other scenes are laid at Crowland Abbey and in London. The title of Mr. Leonard Williams’ new work. on Spain which will shortly be published by Messrs. Cassell & Co., Limited, has been changed from “Madrid: Her Records and Romances” to- “Toledo and Madrid: ‘Their Records and Romances.” The scope of the text has been enlarged ; the plates will be fifty instead of the thirty that were originally projected ; and the- price in consequence has been raised from 10s. net to 12s. 6d. net. His many readers will be sorry to learn that there is no immediate prospect of any new poetical work from the pen of Sir Lewis Morris. The thirteenth edition of his ‘‘ Works” is, however, just published, and contains his last book, ‘ Harvest- tide.” It comprises everything he has written except the Coronation and Installation Odes of this year. Miss Nethersole has still the refusal of his. «“Gycia,” while his other play, “ The Life and Death of the Emperor Leo the Armenian,” is- under offer to Sir Henry Irving.  ie a peek td pk PD THE AUTHOR. 61 Professor Victor Spiers, of King’s College, London, has published this year with Messrs. Simpkins, Marshall & Co. two books, one for our children, the other for older students. The ‘“‘Second French Book” is adapted for the upper forms of preparatory schools, and for the junior forms of public schools, z.e., for boys and girls of twelve to fifteen years of age. It follows upon the lines of the “ First French Book,” embodying the best features of the newer aud successful methods in vogue on the Continent, and adapting these to British standpoints and ideals. It contains charming illustrations, anec- dotes, puns and songs of eminently French stamp, glimpses into French history and present French life, as well as a visit to Paris. The practical utility of learning how to write a letter in French is recog- nised, and free composition is practised in its three forms. Outlines of conversations and proverbs are given in each of the forty lessons. At the same time all the essentials of French grammar are given in French at the end of the book. The second book is the ‘‘ Senior French Reciter.”’ Professor Spiers believes in phonetic transcript, and has transcribed some of the finest pages of the authors of the Golden Age of French literature. The author, in his Preface, emphasises the fact that in every piece learned by heart from an ordinary text-book, the best pupils get into their heads a few mispronun- ciations hard to eradicate. With the phonetic transcript, he asserts from his experience, these mispronunciations are reduced to a minimum. It is a sequel to his “Junior French Reciter,” and the phonetic alphabet adopted is that of the M. P. (Maitre Phonétique), viz., of the International Phonetic Association. Sir Herbert Maxwell has in the press a History of British Fresh-Water Fish. It is a volume of Messrs. Hutchinson’s Woburn Library Series. It is illustrated from photographs. This indefatigable author will issue through Mr. John Murray a most interesting work, “The Creevey Papers,” compiled from the MSS. of Thomas Creevey, M.P. 1802-30—the counterpart, from the Whig and Radical Opposition, to the Croker papers ex parte the Tory Government. Mr. Creevey was in correspondence with all the leading men of the Whig and Radical parties; Was an intimate friend of the Prince Regent ; and was at Brussels in 1815, where he became intimate with the Duke of Wellington. His papers, which have been very carefully preserved, contain original letters from Sir John Moore, Lord Grey, S. Whit- breafl, Brougham, Sheridan, Romilly, Tierney, etc., and throw a vivid light upon the political, social and literary events of his day. Commander the Hon. Henry N. Shore, R.N. author of “ Smuggling Days and Smuggling Ways,” has commenced a series of articles in the Kentish Express dealing with the South Coast Gang, which operated between Rye and Walmer. There is, too, an authentic account of the celebrated Aldincton Gang. : Mr. Charles Gleig’s new short novel, entitled, ‘The Misfit Mantle ” (Treherne & Co.), is a light farcical story dealing with the curious experiences of an English peer in a fourth-rate boarding-house at the seaside, in which he had to hide himself. A long novel, which has occupied most of the author’s spare time (he writes short tales for the magazines and contributes to the naval and military weeklies) during the past eighteen months, is just completed. The hero is a naval officer, a physical coward. The book may be described as a plea for greater consideration for physical cowardice, on the ground that cowardice is, in effect, a disease. Mr. Gleig shows that it may be combined with considerable moral courage. Mr. Arthur Paterson has just published through Mr. Heinemann here and Messrs. Appleton in America an historical novel called “The King’s Agent.” The main incident of the story round which the plot is centred is strictly historical, and is known as “The Flower-pot Conspiracy.” In William IIT.’s reign Marlborough was accused of high treason, and thrown into the Tower, and was in danger of attainder and the block. He is the hero, the most prominent figure. The book is dedicated to Lord Wolseley (our latest biographer of Marlborough) from whom Mr. Paterson has received invaluable information concerning the details of the conspiracy and the persons engaged in it. A little volume called “ Letters from Ireland,” by “H. B.,” recently published by Seely, Bryers, and Walker of Dublin, is exciting much interest in the sister country. In it a patriotic Catholic Irish- man, returned from America, describes te a friend his impressions of his native land as seen after forty years of absence, by a man of education and experience who has travelled a great deal and can compare one country with another. ‘The sincerity of the writer is manifest, as is his profound love for Ireland, which bids him in some cases risk unpopularity in the hopes of removing obstacles to her betterment. Though “H. B.” writes with the utmost impar- tiality, his sympathies are evidently with the new Gallic movement for the revival of the Irish language and industries. He advocates a much needed system of higher education for the priests, and of industrial education for the people. 62 Mr. E. B. Kennedy’s “The Black Police in Queensland,” published by Mr. John Murray, is a most interesting account of things that happened while the author was an officer of the Native Mounted Police in the early days of the colony. Incidentally the book deals with other matters which are of enduring interest, not only to those who know Queensland, but also to all those who have at heart the interests of the Empire. In this regard special attention may be directed to what is said as to the capability possessed by black trackers for scouting services. This, how- ever, is but one point, briefly treated, in a volume which, although it deals strictly with matters of fact, is every whit as exciting and good reading as Mr. Kennedy’s previous book, “ Blacks and Bush- rangers,” a work of fiction. The book is capitally illustrated. Mr. Harry A. Spurr’s “Life and Writings of Alexandre Dumas” (J. M. Dent and Co.), is a readable volume full of anecdotes and quotations to the point. Mr. Spurr, who writes com amore, visited Paris last July and attended the centenary fétes at Villers-Cotteréts, and Dieppe, making the acquaintance of the Dumas family and receiving much valuable assistance from them and other authorities on the subject. In The Shrine of November there is an interesting narrative-article by Miss E. Baker. It is called “The True Story of Lady Anne Neville and Richard, Duke of Gloucester.” Miss Baker in the telling of it adheres strictly to contemporary authorities ; even in the imaginary conversations between Anne and Richard she keeps to the spirit of ascertained facts. Her chief point is that Richard was not that monster, that devil in body and soul, he has been represented by tradition and Shakespeare. “The House Building, and other Poems” is a volume of thoughtful verse by Marshall Bruce Williams, author of “The Strategy of Nature.” The poem which gives the volume its title is mainly a dialogue between a poet and a scientist, in which the poet has the last word. There are a number of sonnets, also some poems of which “The Other Side of the Shield—Olympus” is particularly good. Mr. R. Brimley Johnson is the publisher. “Bookeeping for Laundries,” by Mr. W. H. Smith (Simpkin Marshall, 2s. 6d. net), sets forth a safe and easy system of laundry account-keeping, dispensing with troublesome ledgers. It has been revised by Mr. H. Furnival Jones, A.S.A.A., Incorporated Accountant. It is a capital book, concise, lucid, and exhaustive. Mr. Arthur H. Holmes has just published a new novel through Mr. Thomas Burleigh, entitled, “The Voice of the World.” THE AUTHOR. We understand that Mr. H. VY. Esmond’s new comedy, “ Imprudence,” produced last month at the Empire Theatre, New York, has scored a decided success, and has been highly praised by the critics: into the bargain. Miss Fay Davis and Mr. William Faversham, who filled the leading réles, were en- thusiastically received. Though Miss Davis is an American, she has never before played in New York. Mr. Hall Caine’s “ The Eternal City ” was given at the Victoria Theatre on the same night, and was well received by a Jarge audience. In response to repeated calls, Mr. Hall Caine appeared before the curtain and made a short speech. ee ae PARIS NOTES. meee ITH the inauguration of Falguiére’s fine statue of Balzac all kinds of anecdotes have been told and retold about the author of the “ Comédie Humaine.”. It scarcely seems possible to us now, that a man with such talent should have been compelled to do all in his power to boom his own books. We are told tha this was the case with “Peau de Chagrin” and one or two others. A yery typical story is told of Balzac when asked by a publisher to write an article on th Rue Richelieu. The terms which the author fixe were so high that the publisher was amazed. “Tf I am to describe the Rue Richelieu in way worthy of the street and of myself, I mus know it thoroughly, and must not upon an account fail to investigate all that specially charac terizes it. I shall have to commence by lunchin at the Café Cardinal, then I must buy a gun and cravat pin at the two shops next door to eac other. After that I must go to the tailor’s at th corner of the Rue St. Mare : “Oh, don’t go any farther than that,” inter rupted the publisher in alarm. “ You would com to the Indian shop next, and things there are fabulous price.” M. Gaston Deschamps wrote quite a long articl recently on French literary women, who of lat years have certainly come very much to the from ‘As a rule they adopt masculine pseudonyms, bu their secret 1s very soon an open one. Marcelle Tinayre’s novel ‘La Maison du Péché is one of the most remarkable ones of this seaso: It is a strong, realistic novel, the story of whic. reminds one vaguely of the “Ordeal of Richa Feverel.” Augustin de Chanteprie is educated most carefully, a tutor who is a rigid Catholi comes from Syria for six or seven years, and th boy grows up with no idea of a world outside th narrow circle of his ancestral home. His widowe  THE AUTHOR. 63 mother spends most of her time in religious devotions and charitable works. When Augustin reaches the age of manhood he is almost as austere and fervent in his religious devotions as his mother. Unfortunately for his peace of mind a young widow comes to live in the neighbourhood. She is an artist, and the daughter of an artist, and from the date of her arrival commences a new phase in the existence of Augustin de Chanteprie. As a study in psychology, this book is a valuable addition to French literature, but it will not be appreciated by readers who are unacquainted with the subtle power and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a book in which all the characters live, and each one is drawn with scrupu- lous accuracy. Guy Chantepleure’s new book, “Ames Fémi- nines,” will probably be appreciated by English readers. It is what the French describe as a roman honnéte, and is a careful study of some types of the new French woman. ‘Petites Epouses,”’ by Myriam Harry, is the story of a French Government official, who, while in exile, married a Japanese wife. The authoress handles the subject with great skill and delicacy, so that, as a French critic says, the book is Quelque chose comme un Loti qui serait femme. “T/Aimant,” by Jacques Morian, is another variation on the usual theme of the modern French novel. The French author is greatly handicapped in his choice of a subject by the system of educa- tion of girls in France. He is obliged to com- mence where the English novelist leaves off for the simple reason that the Frenchwoman’s romance so frequently begins when she is married. ‘ L’Ai- mant”’ is rather an exception to this rule, as the most interesting character in the story is a girl who has her romance before her marriage. Brada’s new book tells us by its title what to expect. “Comme les autres ”’—it certainly is as far as the subject is concerned. Once more the eternal theme, but treated in a way which makes the book fascinating from the first page to the last. “ Deux Vies,” by Paul and Victor Margueritte, is a novel written to show up the injustice of certain laws. The Margueritte brothers have a mission, they have recently submitted to the Chamber a project for the facilitation of divorce, and this book of theirs is an eloquent appeal in favour of their project. The heroine of the novel has made a most un- , fortunate marriage, and after years of misery she jeaves her home, and with her little girl takes refuge with her mother, determined to apply for a divorce. The mother, who is a staunch Catholic, opposes her daughter’s idea. She, too, had suffered a martyrdom, but as her religion does not counte- nance divorce, she endeavours to persuade her daughter that the only happiness left for her is in resignation to her lot. Francine is not of this way of thinking, and she at once takes steps to obtain her divorce. Then follows an account of all the obstacles she encounters, of all the diffi- culties and the misery she endures until the day when the court refuses to grant her divorce, and she is compelled to return to her husband’s house. The dénouement is dramatic, for when she is crushed, humiliated, and desperate, Francine is persuaded to set aside the laws of Church and society, and, taking her child with her, to seek for happiness in another country. “* L’ Associée,” by Lucien Muhlfeld, is a book likely to please English readers. The “Associ¢e” is a woman whose one idea in life is to be her hus- band’s right hand. She helps him in every way possible, but so quietly, so discreetly, that he never realises how much he owes to her. He is a doctor, and he becomes a celebrity ; but the whole interest of the book centres in the struggles and disappointment of the wife and the perfect egotism of the man. For M. Bataille’s drama, taken from Tolstoi’s “ Resurrection,” the documents necessary for the scenery have been sent by Tolstoi’s friends and by the French consul in Moscow. Among other things in this drama are some Russian popular songs, Siberian chorals, and a song by Tchaikovsky. The play is an immense success, and arrangements have been made for its translation into several languages. M. Guitry’s venture with the Renaissance Theatre appears to be a success. He was fortunate in open- ing with “La Chatelaine,” by M. Capus, and in securing Jane Hading for the chief role. M. Deval is one of the happy actor-managers gifted with the “flair” in selecting his plays. “ Le Cadre,” by Pierre Wolff, was very well received, and the chief 7éles are admirably suited to M. Deval and Madame Valdey. M. Larroumet’s advice to dramatic authors when criticizing this and other plays was, that they should cease writing for stars, and not trouble in the least, when writing the piece, about the distri- bution of the ré/es. : M. Bour is persevering in his attempt to establish the International Theatre here. The plays are all given in French. Italian, Portuguese, and German pieces already figure in his repertoire. Sarah Bernhardt had a hearty welcome on her return to Paris after her tour abroad. A series of delightful afternoon lectures and readings have been given during the last month, with Mounet Sully to interpret the various authors. These lectures are very much in vogue in Paris, and one-act plays. are frequently given by way of variation. At alecture of this kind the other day  64 “Qharles V. et du Guesclin” was put on, and afterwards ‘ Bourrasque,” by M. Foley, the author of “ Heard at the Telephone.” Auys HALLARD, —_—_———+——_+_—_—_——_- THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PUBLISHERS. ——1—~<— + —— Report from the Permanent Officer at Berne. [Printed by kind permission from The Publishers’ Circular. ] PYVHE meeting of the Executive Committee of [ the International Congress of Publishers was held at Berne on October 9th and 10th. The President, M. A. Brockhaus, and Messrs. R. Fouret, E. Bruylant, and H. Morel were present. Messrs. F. Brunetiére and J. Murray, regretting their inability to be present, sent letters of apology. After presentation of the first Annual Report of the Bureau, and examination of the Statement of Accounts, which was found correct, the Committee decided to add the balance in hand to the guarantee fund organised by Mr. Fairholme, in London. The Statement of Accounts for the year begins July 1st, ending June 30th. The National Associations contributing to the expenses of the Permanent Office belong to the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States of North America. After settling different questions relating to the administration of the Bureau, the Committee have taken into consideration the resolutions passed at the four sessions of the Congress. The carrying out of the resolutions concerning the authors’ rights has been approved of. These resolutions relate to: (1) the adhesion of Austria, Hungary, Russia, and the Netherlands to the Berne Convention ; (2) the improvement of the international protection in the United States ; (3) the communication to the different Govern- ments of the resolutions passed by the Congress at its several sessions, in view of the improvement of the national and international protection of the authors’ and publishers’ rights. The Committee have also approved the proceed- ings of the Bureau with reference to the preparation and execution of other resolutions (duty on books, postal service, maintenance of the published price, new forms, music trade, relations to the press, metric system, overs in printing, substitution of parcels, solid packing, on the use of the word “edition ”’). Other resolutions passed at the different sessions THE AUTHOR. have also been discussed by the Committee (national bibliographies, catalogues of books, professional schools and classes, interchange of documents be- tween the different publishers’ associations, tech- nical libraries, interchange and loan of catalogues, etc.). The Committee, having approved the Statement of Accounts and Report, have proposed a vote of thanks to the Permanent (Office, which was carried. The Committee have considered the fifth session of the Congress, which is to take place at Milan. Mr. Toto Ricordi, President of the ‘‘ Associazione Tipograficolibraria Italiana,” has been good enough to be present at the session of October 10th, in order to converse on the subject with the Executive Com- mittee. It has been decided that the Committee would meet at the end of May or beginning of June, 1903, in order to organise the fifth session. Oe COPYRIGHT IN PHOTOGRAPHS. —— N the November number of The Author an article | appeared dealing with the question of photo- graphic copyright. This question is of great and growing impor- tance to all those members of the Society who contribute illustrated articles to illustrated maga- zines. In consequence several remarks have come to hand from different members. It is evident that many difficult and complicated issues may arise. One member has set out his difficulties in the following series of questions. As it is possible that others may have similar doubts, we will endeavour to answer them for the benefit of all. : 1. The word “copyright” is stamped across or printed upon some photographs. Is the absence of such indication to be regarded as evidence that the photograph has not been registered ? 2. Isthere any means of determining whether the copyright in a photograph has expired, and has the assignment of the copyright to be registered ? 3. Can we take it that all photographs taken before a certain date are public property. If so, what is the date ? 4. A man sits to a photographer, at the photo- grapher’s request, for a “series of celebrities,” and is presented with a certain number of copies. The word “copyright” does not appear in the correspondence. ‘The portrait is used without the sitter’s consent in a newspaper. Has the photo- grapher aright to make a charge. Supposing the photograph to be used without previous application to the photographer, can he claim damages, or can he merely send in a bill for half a guinea? Can the photographer in such a case authorise the  THE AUTHOR. 65 reproduction of a portrait in a paper in which, for whatever reasons, the sitter does not wish to appear ? 5. Supposing a firm, instead of an individual, to acquire copyright by taking a photograph, can the copyright expire while the firm continues to exist ? 6. It would also be useful to state in the article :— (a) What are the countries unprotected in England, because they stand outside the Berne Convention. (b) At what date did the different countries acquire protection by adhering to the Berne Convention. (¢) Have foreign photographs to be registered to acquire copyright? Is there any means of ascertaining in England whether any given foreign photograph has been registered or not, and whether the copyright in any given photograph has expired or not ? (d) Supposing that I buy a foreign photograph at Spooner’s and use it without referring to the photographer, what is liable to happen? Does it make any difference to one’s legal position if one acknowledges the source of a photograph? This is important as photographs are generally wanted in a hurry, and Spooner always says that he has no authority to treat. Is there no international Union of Photographers which has anticipated these difficulties and provided for them by undertaking always to accede to certain terms ? It is evident that these points are of considerable importance. The answers to them, as far as it is possible to answer them at the present time without further investigation, will be as follows :— (1) According to English law, it is not essential to stamp or print the word “copyright” on a photograph in order to obtain statutory protection. The absence of such note, therefore, cannot be taken as evidence either way. .(2) It is exceedingly difficult to determine whether the copyright in a photograph has expired or not. Registration at Stationers’ Hall demands merely, in the first instance, the name and place of abode of the author, (2) the name and place of abode of the proprietor, (3) their description, with nature and subject of the work, and if desired (4) sketch outline or photograph of the work. As the former article fully explained, the copy- right lasts from the date of the making of the work by the author, for the life of the author and seven years afterwards. If the photograph is not registered the writer, who is desirous to illustrate his article, need have no hesitation in using it, so far as the law is concerned. No damages can be obtained for any infringement that occurs prior to registration. If, however, the work is registered, then the would-be reproducer must find out whether the gentleman described as author is still alive ; and here lies the difficulty. S The latter part of the question is more complex. That an assignee must register before commencing action is Clear, bat whether such registration will cover cases of infringement before registration of the assignment is doubtful. The safest course in any event is to register the assignment at once. (3) The Act of 25 & 26 Vict. Ch. 68 came into force on 29th July, 1862. Any photograph made before that date, it would seem, carried with it no copyright. The copyright in photographs made since that date must depend upon the life of the author. (4) The sanction of the man, who sits at the request of the photographer, is not essential to the right of reproduction. The photographer (the author of the likeness) has a right to make a charge, and has a right to claim damage for infringement, supposing that the work is repro- duced without his sanction. If he commenced action it would be for damages for infringement of copyright. If he had already sent in a bill he would most probably be bound by the amount stated in that bill, as the limit of damages he could claim. If however the amount was exorbitant it would lie with the Judge or Jury to assess the amount. The sitter would not be entitled to stop the republication of his likeness unless the circum- stances were exceptional. The readers of Zhe Author are referred to an amusing story in the May number, in which the dangers of the sitter’s position are fully set forth. It will be as well to impress upon those desirous of having their photographs printed in public papers, that they should in all cases retain the copyright in the photograph, or limit the photo- grapher to reproduction in papers authorised by themselves. The answer to question (5) is clear from the state- ment of the former article which has already been referred to. It is impossible for a firm to be the original makers of the photograph, in the sense conceived in the Act, and the date of the copyright would run from the life of the maker of the photo- graph. ‘The principal countries unprotected in England because they stand outside the Berne Convention are Sweden, Holland, Russia, the United States of America, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, 8. American Republics, China. With the United States England has a Oopy- right Arrangement, and with Austria-Hungary a Copyright Treaty, very much on the lines of the Berne Convention. The names of the principal countries belonging to the Convention, and the dates of their joining are as follows :— ae Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Switzer- 66 land and Tunis. These signed the original Con- vention of 1886, and the additional Act of Paris, 1896. Norway joined on the 15th of April, 1896, signing the Convention of 1886, and Japan joined in July, 1899, signing both the Convention of 1886 and the subsequent Convention of 1896. The answer to the two subsequent paragraphs (c and d) requires deep study and a profound know- ledge not only of International law, but of the laws of each country. It would appear in most coun- tries that registration is necessary, and it may also be stated that in most countries, copyright in photographs is of very limited duration, and does not last anything like the length of time that it lasts in England and France. Mere acknowledg- ment of the reproduction of a photograph would make no difference to the legal position. It might however be evidence of the fact that there was no wilful intent to defraud. —_—____+——+ —___——__ LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. — to Royalty Agreement: A Warning. OT so long ago a publisher, in submitting his agreement to authors, stated that it had been approved by the Society, and thereby, no doubt, induced writers to sign a document which, under other circumstances, they might have hesitated to do. The Secretary of the Society remonstrated when this fact came to his notice. The publisher replied, that the transaction referred to had never taken place. Unfortunately, he had so far forgotten himself on one occasion as to commit himself in writing on this point, and the letter was in the Secretary’s hands. Accordingly, he was bound to apologise, and promised that it would not occur again. There is another method of inducing an author to sign, which is very commonly adopted in another publishing house. ‘The man of business affirms that the agreement submitted to the author, is similar in every respect to that signed by his other authors. Tf this statement was correct, there would be nothing to say on the subject, except that the other authors must have been extraordinarily lax in their methods of disposing of their property ; but unfortunately, the Secretary of the Society happens to know full well, that although no doubt the agreement, as drafted, is offered for signature to other authors, on occasions too numerous to specify, the authors have refused to sign without considerable alteration. The agreement is, in substance, with a few minor THE AUTHOR. alterations, the royalty agreement drafted on behalf of the Publishers’ Association, about which so much has been written from time to time in Zhe Author. Owing to the frequent recurrence of the circum- stances stated above it would, perhaps, be no dis- advantage to quote the form of agreement with some comments, in order to put authors on their guard. Some of the objections are vital, others are of minor importance, but should be insisted upon if the position of the author is strong enough to carry them. MEMoRANDUM OF AGREEMENT made this day of between (hereinafter termed the author) of the one part, and (hereinafter termed the publisher) of the other part, whereby it is mutually agreed between the parties hereto for themselves and their respective executors, administrators, and assigns (or succes- sors, as the case may be), as follows :— 1. The publisher shall at his own risk and expense, and with due diligence, produce and publish the work at present intituled by and use his best endeavours to sell the same. 2. The author guarantees to the publisher that the said work is in no way whatever a violation of any existing copyright, and that it contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and that he will indemnify the publisher from all suits, claims and proceedings, damages, and costs which may be made, taken, or incurred by or against him on the ground that the work is an infringement of copyright, or contains anything libellous or scandalous. 3. The Publisher shall during the legal term of copyright have the exclusive right of producing and publishing the work in England, the Colonies, and United States of America. The Publisher shall have the entire control of the publication and sale and terms of sale of the book, and the Author shall not during the continuance of this agreement (without the consent of the Publisher) publish any abridgment, translation, or dramatised version of the work. 4. The Publisher agrees to pay the Author the following royalties, that is to say :— (a) The first copies shall be free of royalty,  hae Nese pant phi hee 1%) 2 Ca ie if as i (Ook ee THE AUTHOR. 67 aroyalty of ten per cent. uponthe next — thousand copies sold, and fifteen per cent. upon the next thousand copies, and twenty per cent. upon all sub- sequent copies, thirteen being reckoned as twelve throughout. (0) Upon the American edition the first copies shall be free of royalty, ten per cent. upon the next thousand copies sold, fifteen per cent. upon the next thousand copies, and all sub- sequent copies sold. (c) In the event of the Publisher disposing of copies or editions at a reduced rate for sale in the Colonies or elsewhere, or as remainders, a royalty of ten per cent. of the amount received by such sale. (d) In the event of the Publisher realising profits from the sale, with the consent of the author, of serial or Continental rights, or from claims for infringement of copyright, a royalty of fifty per cent. of the net amount of such profits remaining after deducting all expenses relating thereto. (e) No royalties shall be paid on any copies given away for review or other purposes. (f) The Author shall be entitled to six gratuitous copies, and any further copies required at trade price. 5. The Author agrees to revise the first, and, if necessary, to edit and revise every subsequent edition of the work, and from time to time to supply any new matter that may be needful to keep the work up to date. 6. The Author agrees that all costs of corrections and alterations in the proof sheets exceeding twenty per cent. of the cost of composition, shall be deducted from the royalties payable to him. 7. In the event of the Author neglecting to revise an edition after due notice shall have been given to him, or in the event of the Author being unable to do so by reason of death or otherwise, the expense of revising and preparing each such future edition for press shall be borne by the Author, and shall be deducted from the royalties payable to him. 8. During the continuance of this agreement, the copyright of the work shall be vested in the Author, who may be registered as the proprietor thereof accordingly. 9. The Publisher shall make up the account annually to and deliver the same to the Author within months thereafter, and pay the balance due to the Author on same date. 10. If the Publisher shall at the end of three years from the date of publication, or at any time thereafter, give notice to the Author that in his opinion the demand for the work has ceased, or if the Publisher shall for six months after the work is out of print decline or, after due notice, neglect to publish a new edition, then and in either of such cases this Agreement shall terminate, and, on the determination of this Agreement in the above or any other manner, the right to print and pub-- lish the work shall revert to the Author, and the Author, if not then registered, shall be entitled to be registered as the proprietor thereof, and to pur- chase from the Publisher forthwith the plates or moulds and engravings (if any) produced specially for the work, at half cost of production, and what- ever copies the Publisher may have on hand at cost of production, and if the Author does not within three months purchase and pay for the said plates or moulds, engravings, and copies, the Pub- lisher may at any time thereafter dispose of such plates or moulds, engravings, and copies, or melt the plates, paying to the Author in lieu of royal- ties ten per cent. of the net proceeds of such sale, unless the Publisher can prove from his books that the publication has resulted in loss to him, in which case he shall be liable for no such payment. 11. If any difference shall arise between the Author and the Publisher touching the meaning of this Agreement, or the rights or liabilities of the parties thereunder, the same shall be referred to the arbitration of two persons (one to be named _by each party) or their umpire, in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration Act, 1889. 12. The term “ Publisher” throughout this Agreement shall be deemed to include the person or persons or company for the time being carrying on the business of the said under as well its present as any future style, and the benefit of this Agreement shall be transmissible accordingly. As witness the hands of the parties. COMMENTS ON THE AGREEMENT. Firstly, then, the parties to the agreement. “It is agreed for themselves, their respective adminis- trators, executors, and assigns, or successors, as the case may be.” It is the greatest mistake for an author to con- tract with the executors, administrators, and assigns or successors of a publisher. The contract is between principal and agent, and is a personal contract, and should be maintained as a personal contract. Supposing an author were dealing with one of the best publishing houses in England, and the partners of that publishing house, for some reason or other, desired to retire from the busi- ness ; to clear up matters they might put up the contracts for sale by auction or otherwise. Under those circumstances an author might find the right to publish his work purchased by some enterpris- ing tradesman, who would bring it out in a manner and form which would be utterly repulsive to the author, and he would have no means of stopping  68 him ; and the same thing might occur should a firm go bankrupt. Tt is, therefore, a most dan- gerous thing to allow the agent who is dealing with the property to have a right to assign his agency. In Clause 1 the publisher undertakes to produce the work with due diligence. These words, as far as they go, are satisfactory, but the clause is not nearly comprehensive enough. The following points are suggested for consideration : that a date ought to be fixed on or before which the book should be produced ; that the form in which the edition is to appear should also be stated, and the price at which it is to be sold to the public; and further, it is best to limit the publisher to the production of a certain number of copies or editions, with the option of renewal, or to assign the right to publish, subject to proper safeguards, for a limited number of years. Several authors adopt this course. Clause 2 may, on the whole, be passed, with the single exception of the words “incurred by.” It is fair as between the parties that the publisher should be protected from all suits against him, but there is no reason why the author should indemnify him from all expenses incurred by him, as he might incur unnecessary expenses without the sanction of the author. There ought, therefore, to be some words of limitation by which the author has a voice in any action taken by the publisher. This Clause is a distinct improvement on the Clause put forward by Mr. Absolute, and quoted in the October number. Clause 3.—It is difficult to deal with Clause 3 without, in fact, re-drafting the whole of the agreement, but it should be pointed ont that the rights which the author is expected to transfer by this agreement include the rights of production in the United States. Such rights are generally left in the hands of an agent, and much better so than in the hands of publishers, for this reason—that a publisher does not, as a general rule, undertake the work of the literary agent ; that his office is not to place literary work in other hands, but to produce literary work for the author ; that work of this kind left in the hands of publishers is not likely to receive anything like the same attention as it isif left in the hands of a literary agent ; that the publisher is the only person who gains by having control of this work, and that the author loses by leaving it in his hands. It should be further pointed out that the publisher does not anywhere in the agreement undertake to secure the United States copyright for the author, nor even to do his best to obtain it. It may pay an English publisher better to sell sheets or stereos and pay the author a royalty, as per Clause 4, but the result is hardly satisfactory to the author. It should be added that for this agency work, THE AUTHOR. while the literary agent charges 10 per cent., the publishers actually make 50 per cent. (see sect. (d) of clause. 4). Out of a large series of agreements from all sorts and conditions of publishers the lowest charge for this literary agency business has been 25 per cent., and this only in one case. The last part of the clause is extraordinary. It seems astounding that the author should not be allowed to deal with the translation.and dramati- sation of his own work without the consent of the publisher. An author must be of a curious Jrame of mind to part with his dramatic rights, perhaps more important than all the rest put together. With regard to the question of abridgment even, it is not fair that the author should be bound not to abridge the work unless the publisher is recipro- cally bound not to obtain an abridgment or to run any other work which is likely to conflict with the author’s. So far, this clause has been considered from the general point of view, but from the point of view of the writer of technical works, educa- tional, medical, theological, &c., &c., the clause is still more disastrous. Under no circumstances should a writer of technical books hand over to his publisher so large a right of publication. It should be limited especially as to the number of the edition, giving, if the author thinks fit, an equitable right to produce further editions. A technical writer must keep the command of his work, must be able if necessary, to alter, amend, amplify. He cannot do this with a free hand if he does not keep undivided control, The publishers’ answer will be: ‘“ But this is provided for by Clauses 5 and 7.” But it is submitted that it is one thing for the author to have unfettered judgment, and another thing to be forced to revise at request of his publisher or see his work arbitrarily revised by another. Whilst considering this question, it should be mentioned that one of the peculiarities of publishers’ contracts is, that in the case of technical works a clause is nearly always intro- duced conveying the copyright to the publisher. An agreement containing such a clause should never be signed by an author. Clause 4.—In Section (a) the royalty is to be paid thirteen copies as twelve. Royalties should never be calculated on this basis. All the royalty accounts put forward by the Authors’ Society have been (wrongly) reckoned on the basis that the royalty is paid on every copy sold, as it had been previously taken into account in the Cost of Pro- duction that the publisher had to sell thirteen for twelve to the booksellers. This they do not really do, except they sell in quantities, and a great many booksellers are unable to afford to buy in quan tities ; therefore, in taking the royalty to be paid  THE AUTHOR. 69. as in Section (a), the publisher is not only profiting by the liberal estimates of the Society with regard to royalties, but is also endeavouring to take in an extra 8 per cent., and the extra amount on those copies, of which there are many, sold in less numbers than twelve. The reader is referred to the October Awthor, where there is an article entitled ‘‘ Thirteen as Twelve.” The clause is also drafted that a certain number of copies should be free of royalty. This seems to imply that no book can afford to have a royalty paid on it from the beginning. Of course this is not the case, but when such an arrangement is placed before an author as an equitable agreement, these points of equity should be clearly explained. If the royalty is to be paid after the sale of a certain number (in this case such a number whose sale will amply cover the cost of production), then the author must take care (1) that a number beyond the number specified is printed ; (2) that he gets a proportionately higher royalty for fore- going it so long—e.g., he must then get 50 per cent. of the trade price, or over 25 per cent. of the published price. If a royalty agreement cannot bear a high royalty from the beginning, then a royalty increasing with the sale is certainly a fair arrangement as between author and publisher. The same remarks about the royalty refer to Section (2) and the American sales. It should be clearly understood whether or not the publisher intends to obtain United States copyright. He ought not to be allowed to have the option, as it is frequently the fact that it pays a publisher better to sell sheets or plates to the United States than to go to the trouble to negotiate for the copyright. If the publisher secures the copyright, it must be fully understood that it is secured in the name of the author. Section (c).—It is a common thing for a pub- lisher to pay a royalty on the net amount received from the sale of a remainder, but under no circum- stances should the author allow such a loose clause as the one put forward. If the publisher sells at a reduced rate to the Colonies, 10 per cent. is an exceedingly small amount to pay to the author. On the ordinary 6s. book sold to the Colonies in sheets, the author will get between 2d. and 4d. a copy; 10 per cent. is only a fraction over a penny. The words “ at a reduced rate” and “ or elsewhere ” are fatal. Who is to decide what is a reduced rate? There are many methods of selling books to the trade. Thus, one and all may be called “books at a reduced rate.’ Would it be fair, therefore, to pay the author merely a share of the amount realised? The royalty should always be paid on the published price, except in the case of remainders. The section, therefore, should be drafted so that a fixed price is paid on the sales to the Colonies, and a royalty on the net amount realised from Joné fide remainder sales. The rest should be deleted. The case of remainder sales should be distinguished with great care from the sale of books at a reduced price. The clause, as worded, cannot but tend to confuse the two issues. Section (d) is amusing. It is best to take these rights out of the hands of the publisher, and place them in the hands of the agent, if for no other reason than the fact that the agent would charge 10 per cent. where the publisher charges, as in this case, 50 per cent. It is absurd to think that the publisher, as stated above, should assert that all his authors signed this agency clause. Anyone acquainted with the marketing of literary property would confidently deny such a statement, or come to the conclusion that the publisher had nothing but veritable tyros to deal with. This is not the case with the publisher whose agreement is printed above. If the author is willing to allow the pub- lisher to have the marketing of these rights, he should pay him the usual 10 per cent. commission, and he might also be entitled to 10 per cent. com- mission if he was mainly instrumental in recover- ing money for infringement of copyright. Section (f) of Clause 4 is a little vague. Of course, no royalty ought to be paid to the author on copies given away or sent for review, but the words “other purposes’? might cover a good deal more than this, and are insufficiently precise. Clause 5.—The wording of the fifth clause is not very satisfactory. In the case of technical works, to which a clause like this specially refers, the publishers should in the first instance be only given a right to publish a limited number of copies, and the author might give him the option of producing further editions, subject to certain limitations. Under those circumstances the right to revise would lie within the author’s hands, as it should do with the creator of any work, who alone ought to have power to add or subtract from what he has already put before the world. This has all been explained when com- menting on Clause 8, but the principle is of such importance that it is worth while to repeat it. In the case of the publication of ordinary works of fiction or travel, etc., this clause should be deleted. It does not apply, and it is bad draftsmanship to retain it. Clause 6.—The author is not safeguarded here. Could it not be provided that periodically (say | weekly) during the printing the author be in- formed of the cost of corrections? He must in any case be informed what is the cost of composi- tion, and what is the connection between corrections and shillings. Clause 7 might, under certain circumstances—  70 that is if the publisher has purchased the copy- right—be inserted in an agreement, but in the present form of royalty agreement it should be struck out. There is no need for it. Its imprac- ticability with regard to technical writers during their lifetime, and its inapplicability to ordinary fiction at any time has been mentioned. It should be either altered or deleted. Clause 8.—There is no need either for the inser- tion of Clause 8. The copyright is the author’s, and must remain so. The clause is inserted evi- dently with the idea of the copyright being vested in the name of the publisher. This would be a mistake. Clause 9, the account clause, is so beautifully vague that it is hardly worth while to comment upon it, except to point out that it is a mistake to have accounts made up annually, and delivered and paid three months after they are made up, as it makes it possible for the publisher to retain the author’s money for nearly fifteen months. This is a common account clause among publishers, and no doubt they find it exceedingly useful to have the control of the author’s money for so long a period. But the inconvenience to the author, not to mention the danger of bankruptcy or similar contingencies to the firm, is very considerable. Clause 10.—The first part of Clause 10 is cer- tainly necessary for the protection of the author, as it would be very awkward supposing the pub- lisher refused to produce the book when the author had a certain market for it. If, however, as in the case of some educational works, the publisher desired still to maintain the control of the market, so as not to allow the author to republish a book in competition with one which the publisher had already before the public, it would be easy to evade the clause by having afew copies ready on hand. The latter part of the clause, however, could not possibly be equitable as between author and pub- lisher. It is quite possible that the moulds and engravings might be so worn that they would not be worth half the cost of production, and the copies of the book that the publisher had on hand might not be worth the whole cost of production, _ as it is quite possible that they might have been damaged or otherwise defaced. If, therefore, the author refused to purchase the books at the cost of production on account of some damage that they had received, it would be possible for the author in reproducing the work with some other publisher to be undersold. The author should have the option of taking over the stock and plates at a valuation. The danger, however, is not a very large one, as if the book was in such a condition that the author desired to bring out a new edition and the pub- lisher did not, it would most probably argue that the book had very nearly reached the end of its sale, THE AUTHOR. in which case there would most probably be only a few copies on hand. The danger, however, is one that should be guarded against. Clause 11 ought to be struck out, as, until a dispute arises, it is impossible to say whether it is a fit subject for arbitration ; besidés, arbitration is more expensive than an action at law, and a publisher thereby avoids that publicity which is essential for the interests of authors and the puri- fication of the trade, which no doubt all publishers desire. Clause 12 should on no account stand. It is most important, as explained when discussing the parties to this agreement, that the contract should be a personal contract, and this point should always be before authors when signing agreements. They should under no circumstances allow such a clause to pass. This is a fair comment on the royalty agreement as it stands. Many suggestions might be made as to the insertion of various clauses, and the protec- tion of the author on other points. But these are faults of omission, and the agreement has only been dealt with as regards the drafted clauses. It might be well to mention that some definite time should be fixed on, before which a publisher should not be allowed to make remainder sales. Finally, it must be repeated, do not be taken in by the apparently plausible statement that all a publisher’s authors sign the agreement submitted. As a rule, where such a suggestion is made, it may be taken that the statement is not strictly in accordance with fact. ee American. Copyright.—A Copyright Decision, Cuicaao, Ill., October 31.—An important copy- right decision was given to-day in the United States Court of Appeals, which established the principle that the owner of a copyrighted manu- script cannot be deprived of his exclusive rights of publication by the error of one who prints the article with his consent, but who carelessly omits the notice to the public provided for by law. “And After,” a story written by Julia Truitt Bishop, was in contention. It had been copy- righted by the Daily Story Publishing Company. One of the patrons of that firm is the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, which published “And After” without the copyright notice. The American Press Association appropriated the article and distributed it among its subscribers. The owners of the copyright threatened to sue the patrons of the Press Association for damages. The Press Association applied for a bill to restrain such suits. It was denied by Judge Kohlsaat, and his ruling was affirmed by Judges Jenkins and Baker.  a THE AUTHOR. 71 GENERAL MEMORANDA. — + ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property —: I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction. should be managed by a conipetent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement). : In this case the following rules should be attended to : C1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. : (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! III. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the ** Cost of Production.” IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :-— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld, ge WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. me EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gruss receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (¢.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (i.é., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (b.) apply also in this case. 4, PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can - be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words, 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY. —— HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. — > — 1. VERY member has a right toask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the adyice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member.  72 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers : —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. THE READING BRANCH. —-—~——9 — EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach, The term MSS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. ee NOTICES. — VHE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, §.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. te COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EDITOR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. — THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered létter only. AUTHORITIES. —1+—~>—+ — N this number we publish a report of the doings of the International Congress of Publishers. Such a combination may do useful work not only to their own trade, but for the better securing of the author’s property. There is also a possibility that such a combina- tion may at some future date be a very serious menace to author’s rights, backed as it is by large capital, Money, at all times, is a great power to enforce an opinion or to pass a law. Would it not be possible for those societies which represent the trade side of literature from the author’s point of view, to form an international combination, in order to counteract any ill effect which may be produced by the combination of the trade ? We must congratulate Mr. John Murray that his historic house in Albemarle Street has escaped the ravages of the Tube disease, which he has aptly termed Tube-Yerke-ulosis. The Nobel Prize Committee of the Society of Authors, of which Lord Avebury is the ‘chairman, met on the afternoon of November 19th, at 39, Old Queen Street. Inthe unavoidable absence of Lord Avebury, the chair was taken by Mr. Edmund Gosse. Mr. G. Herbert Thring acted as secretary. A letter was read addressed by the Director of the Swedish  THE AUTHOR. 73 Academy, the poet, ©. D. af Wirsen, to Lord Avebury as Chairman of the Committee, expressing the hope that the English Nobel Committee would not be discouraged if the prize of £8,250 should this year be awarded to a foreign poet or poets, since any imaginative writer, strongly supported by the authors of England, “‘has every prospect of gaining the Nobel Prize for Literature at some future time.” Dr. Garnett suggested that unanimity and persist- ence were of the greatest importance, and that the Committee should not be impatient if the prize were not immediately given to the English candi- date. At the suggestion of Mr. Austin Dobson, it was agreed that the Committee should take the same steps as were taken last year to collect the votes of the qualified British voters. We are glad to see that the literary activity of the Canadian is constantly on the increase. A Tennyson Club has just been started at Toronto, under the auspices of the Victoria University and the Canadian Society of Authors. The Honorary President is Professor William Clark, and the Active President, Professor Pelham Edgar. We hope to have further particulars, and to be able to follow the course of the club’s labour and work. The editor of La Revue has obtained the opinions of some leading French authors on the following subject: “ Would you regret to die? Why?” The French are proverbially a light-hearted nation, and it is no wonder therefore that the majority of the answers obtained show that the French author would have a decided objection to death, and would leave this world with consider- able regret. The reasons put forward are varied, some serious, some satirical, some amusing. The author who writes under the well-known pseudonym of “ Gyp” merely replies, “ Oh, pas du tout.” It would be interesting to know what opinions British authors would express in answer to the same question. One author living this side of the Channel has given his answer: That his only object in living was that he might contrast the pleasure of death. He did not therefore regret to die. It might be as well to remark that this author was not an Irishman. At a jovial gathering of members and guests of a certain club frequented by followers of the literary profession, an argument arose between two Oxford men as to whether, given a previous choice, the majority of men, knowing the life they would have to go throngh, would consent to be born into this world. The younger contestant argued strongly, that no one would have been born into the world under these circumstances. As the point obtained some show of interest among the company, it was finally decided to take the opinion of a dozen of those present. Each was allowed to choose his victims. The party was composed of men of mixed views, but among the number were one or two decadents, and others whose lives had not been what, on the whole, could be called cheerful. With careful choice the younger member thought that his vic- tory was assured, but what was his disappointment when he found that, after having chosen the most unfortunate men in the room, there was no one to support him. The question, though not similar to that put forward by the French editor, carries with it some analogy. The performing rights of a song have been again before the public. A case has just been tried in the High Courts where this point was in dispute. * We have from time to time impressed upon those composers who are members of the Society the importance of reserving to themselves the performing rights. Publishers generally answer, if a composer in his temerity makes the demand, that performing rights have no money in them in England. The composer’s answer to this is quite clear : “Then, there is no reason why they should be transferred to the publisher.” It is possible that under the present system there is no money in performing rights, but the case tried in the High Court tends to show the contrary. Even if there is no money, it is vastly important that the composer himself should have, if it seems good to him, the right of veto, so that a song, on which he may set great store, should not be pro- duced and sung in public at times and in places which might appear to him unfit. The publisher’s statement is by no means true. In the performing rights of certain kinds of songs produced in comic operas, at music halls and under other circumstances, there is a considerable amount of money. ‘These songs are often not written as part of the opera, but pitchforked into the opera, in order to make it more attractive, so that an individual song may obtain a great vogue. Of course, the composer obtains some kind of com- pensation from the advertisement, but there is something far beyond this. The French composer has already proved this. It is time that his English confrére should also stand firm.  74 An Epigram. Publisher : Th’ agreement’s signed; the profits we divide— A half to each; applaud a just decision. Author: Peace and good will to all at Christmastide— Clearly, *twixt you and me there’s no division. ———__1—>_+—___——_ A LITERARY ACADEMY. ee TI. A Quotation from Zola on Academies. HILE the subject of an Académy of Letters is once again, for a brief moment, before us in England, I should like to draw attention to the views of Zola—the earlier Zola— on Academies in general: partly because of their intrinsic interest, and partly because it is just now well worth while to point out to English readers that, before the unliterary moralist who wrote « Trayail ” and “ Fécondité ” made himself known, there existed a really powerful man of letters, author of the “ Conquéte de Plassans,” of “'Thérese Raquin,” and of more than one volume of vigorous criticism. In his “L’Argent dans la Littérature” (‘Le Roman Expérimental,” 1880), Zola traces the Academy of the present to the literary salons of the past, and shows what an article de luxe these, in their time, had made of literature. Speaking of what one may call the Augustan age of French writing, he says :— “Tt is now ” (say 1700) ‘ the salons which are at work upon the literary spirit and which determine its course. Books are dear and rare; the mob does not read, the bourgeoisie hardly reads ; we are far from that great current of literature which to-day sweeps along with it the whole of society, It is the exception to meet a passionate reader, who devours all that the publishers set before him. Thus the great public—what we call ‘ opinion,’ universal suffrage, so to speak, does not exist in literary matters : and the salons, a few groups of chosen people, have alone to pronounce a decisive judg- ment. These salons really reigned over literature. It was they who decided on language, the choice of subjects, and the manner of treating them. They sorted out words, adopting some, condemning others ; they established rules, set fashions, made their great men. Thence came the character of literature, as I have tried to indicate it above: a fleur desprit, an amiable pastime, a_high-class amusement for well-bred people. Picture to yourself one of these salons which laid down the laws of letters. A woman gathered round her a THE AUTHOR. set of writers whose sole care was to please her ; manuscripts were read in a select committee, there was much conversation, carried on with all the delicacy and all the conventions in the world. Genius, as we understand it nowadays, with its irregular power, would have found itself very ill at ease there; but mere talent flourished in the pleasant atmosphere of a hothouse. Even in the earliest days of French culture, when the salons had scarcely begun and great seigneurs contented themselves with keeping in their pay a poet as they kept a cook, the state of domestic servitude in which letters found themselves put them at the mercy of a privileged class, which they flattered and whose taste they had to consult. This gave them all kinds of pleasant qualities—tact, measure, a balanced pomp, an artificial construction and language; and, again, all the charms which are to be found in a society of well-bred women, subtleties and refinements of brain and of the heart, delicate conversations on delicate subjects, touching lightly on all without bearing heavily on anything—those fireside chats which are like musical airs, and which are confined to the melodies, gay or sad, 6f the human being. This was the literary spirit of the last two centuries. “Naturally, the salons led to academies ; and it was there that the literary spirit blossomed forth in a fine flourish of rhetoric. Disengaged from the society element, having no longer women to con- sider, it became above all things grammatical and rhetorical, buried in questions of tradition, of rules and recipes. You should hear Sainte Beuve, with his free spirit, still speaking of the Academy with all the importance and indignation of an industrious clerk who has gone to his office and has been shocked by the conduct and the work of his colleagues. Many men of letters loved these sittings devoted to disputes about words, these — gatherings at which one squabbled in the name of the oracles of antiquity. ‘There they hurled Greek and Latin at your head, they revelled in a com- munity of pedantry, in the midst of an extra- ordinary complication of hates and jealousies, of petty battles and petty triumphs. There is no porter’s lodge in which more blows have been exchanged than in the Academy. For two cen- turies, statesmen fallen from power, bilious poets boiling over with conceit, bookmen with their heads stuffed with folios, have gone there for relief, to enjoy the illusion that they were famous, bitterly discussing their own merits, without ever carrying the public with them.” In these words, and many more of the same kind, © Zola sets forth his opinions on the nature, and the — effect upon literature, of the Academy, to which at that time—presumably—he did not wish to belong. EpWARD Rose.  THE AUTHOR. iT. I am strongly in favour of the establishment of an Academy of Letters, because I believe that there is at the present time a practical piece of work that very much requires to be done in the domain of letters, and that nothing but an Academy can do it. I do not regard the project, as some regard it, as the establishment of a species of Order of Literary merit, because I should feel that the tendency now-a-days is rather to overdo the recognition of public services than the reverse. But I believe that literature in England just at present is rather in an unsatisfactory condition. There is a great demand for literature of a certain kind, and there is a strong tendency among writers to regard monetary rewards as the test of success. I imagine that there are a far larger number of people who make a living by writing than there were fifty years ago, and | suppose that the incomes made by successful writers reach a far higher average than ever before. Thisisa state of things which has its dangers ; for there is not, among the consumers of literature, at all a high instinctive standard of literary merit, or at all a cultivated appreciation of literary form. It is not for the sake of the Academicians them- selves that I should like to see an Academy estab- lished ; but there should be, I believe, a strong central body of eminent writers, whose duty it should be to be on the look-out for work of high jiterary merit, and to commend such work with all the authority which such a body would naturally command. There are, I suppose, a few writers of high in- stinctive vocation in each generation who would work independently of reward of any kind. But the tendency at present in belles lettres is for writers to write with the hope of a large circulation before their eyes, and gradually to desert those paths in literature which do not lead either to honour or to money. At present the only people who can afford to write with the sincere aim of producing litera- ture of a high order are the fortunate people who, either by the inheritance of wealth, or by the fact that they hold a professional position which makes them independent, and provides them with a cer- tain amount of leisure, are able to disregard the ultimate tangible results of their work. Such people receive a certain amount of recog- nition from reviews in journals of high standing ; but the number of literary journals is not very great, and the tendency of such writers is to grow discouraged, and to feel that after all they are not wanted, and that no one very much cares whether they speak or hold their peace. It is certainly a remarkable fact that the purely 15 literary element in magazines and journals has lately decidedly decreased. A pessimist would say that this was owing to the fact that the number of writers whose works were worth literary considera- tion had decreased; but if this is so, it is, I believe, because literary activity is turned into other chan- nels, not because our literary energy is in any way diminished. _An Academy would then perform the office of authoritative literary criticism. They would ap- “point, I imagine, a small literary committee, whose duty would be to examine current literature, and re- commend acertain number of books for commenda- tion. It would be impossible for the Academicians themselves to desert the work of composition which had placed them in the forefront of letters, in favour of the exhausting task of reading the litera- ture of the day and adjudicating on its merits, but they could nominate a small committee of critics, not necessarily Academicians, men of wide cultiva- tion and catholic taste, who would make it their aim to discern what was likely to be of permanent value, and to recommend the work of rising writers to the commendation of the central body. I believe that this would be of the highest prac- tical utility. here are authors who would gladly forego the tangible monetary rewards of writing, if they could be dignified by the honourable recognition of the best writers of the time. I believe that the literary energy existing in England now-is very great, and that the one thing that is required to turn this in the right direction is the creation of a high standard of literary value. Authors would be encouraged to write deliberately rather than hurriedly, to study form and construc- tion rather than superficial attractiveness ; and it might possibly create a school of literary artists of a kind which England just now, considering its literary output, conspicuously lacks. It is idle to point to bygone centuries and to say that works of high literary merit were then produced without the assistance of any central literary body. What formerly existed in England, and what has ceased to exist, was a high degree of respect, felt and expressed by notable persons, for great literary performance. That has nowadays been completely over-ridden by the popular verdict, and by the fact that so far more people consider themselves competent to express opinions on litera- ture. I should look upon an Academy rather as a fort established to try and uphold the higher standard of respect for literature that formerly existed, than a new departure, a morbid attempt to confer a dignity on literature which it had not earned, and which it did not deserve. Artuur OC. BENSON. 1  76 IIL. Srr,—The help offered by the Society of Authors is practical and possible ; what is looked for from an Academy of Letters is neither. Does anyone seriously believe that the rise, say of Scott, Dickens, or Macaulay, in public estimation, would have been in the smallest degree either hastened or enhanced by such an institution ; or that under its influence Keats would have been encouraged to live, or Robert Montgomery sooner and more effectually dethroned? Sir Walter Besant in “ The Fourth Generation” made one of the characters say, that through the sins of the father a descendant might, for instance, be prevented by poverty from taking the place in literature his talents fitted him for. What would or could an Academy do for such a case? It is the natural and inevitable tendency of all such bodies to settle down into coteries and to turn the republic of letters into an oligarchy. Mr. Herbert Trench says an English Academy would have to be made better than the one here. But how? Is England so especially the abode of academic rectitude ? An Academy of Letters would have condemned Shakespeare’s works on account of their irregularities. The surpassing merits of the greatest genius of our literature would have been ignored because of academical defects. Imagine “Hamlet” or “Macbeth” depending for success on the decision of the French Academy! If still publicly unknown, they would be even more contemptuously spurned by it to-day than in the days of Mazarin, its founder. When a master- spirit appears with new means to break new ground, it is an instinct of self-preservation in an Academy to frown upon him. It is only when he has been adopted by the multitude, and a new school has arisen, that the close corporation of Olympians condescends to recognize him. In Shakespeare’s time men ventured boldly in the new world of letters because there was no Academy to chill their ardour. The work that succeeds with an Academy is one that, while deferentially con- ciliating the predilections of one or two of its more active members, offends the susceptibilities of none of them—which means, something tamely correct. Lucas Malet says that “genius is sooner or later bound by right divine to conquer.” That is very pretty, but, alas, it is not true. There is abso- lutely no room for all the genius in the world to get a hearing. Like everything else in Nature, there is much more of it than mankind has need of. A new writer’s most legitimate, though not perhaps his commercially best, chance of succeed- ing with the public is in strong originality—by which, of course, I do not mean eccentricity, but originality governed by strong common-sense and by modest observance of universally accepted models. But strong originality is the very thing, THE AUTHOR. I submit, to which an Academy would, even from the nature of its constitution, be least likely to be favourable. Appoint six men as a beginning, with power to add, say, thirty-four to their number. They choose as far as possible only men of their own way of thinking. And being constituted, the forty affix the hall-mark of their approval only when neither the public needs it for guidance nor the author for encouragement. The Academies of Painting and Music cannot be cited as analogous cases. With regard to the first, it is practically a necessity for painters to have their works viewed in a public exhibition of repute, for which it is equally necessary that there should be some sort of selection by some sort of committee. Writers are not subject to these necessities. Again, Painting and Music must both be very exactly taught, and Academies of these arts are or, like universities, ought to be not merely examining but also teaching bodies. Now, I boldly assert that the writer’s art cannot be taught. It can be learnt, and must be, but chiefly by much reading and practice on the part of the learner. If the young author has “ got it in him,” he will know how to educate himself ; if he has not, uo education in the world will bring out what isn’t there. As to the alleged need of a standard of criticism founded on the judgment of experts, a book may show indisputable signs of care and exceptional knowledge, but if its author does not possess the gift of infusing the fire of interest into his work, it is not an Academy of Letters or the applause of a few specialists that can make the public read it or even buy it. Still, it is insisted that an Academy’s guidance is really required. But is it gravely assumed that an official approval now and then of a new book would have any appreciable effect in a young author’s self-education or on publictaste? The assumption seems to me out of all proportion. The reading public in France, as a mass, pays not the slightest heed to the occasional “crowning” of a book by the Academy. I do not believe with Mr. Herbert Trench that there is a thirst among teachers for guidance in matters of general literature. As to school and college books, they just use those which give pupils the best chance of passing this or that examination, not forgetting the examiner’s own productions, where such exist. Ce n’est pas plus malin que ca. As to charlatans, with capital to foist rubbish on the public, there are humbugs who block the way in every line of life ; it is not an Academy that would suppress them. But, it may be urged, even if an Academy did no good, it could not after all really do much harm. Well, that is not a very strong reason for calling it into existence. A. HEFFER. Paris.  S bot Ati * KI : if ig eet Pun THE AUTHOR. IV. Dear Srir,—A strange wind blew. Beneath it a mighty sea rose and raged, this way and that, in a most ‘‘ anarchic” fashion. On the beach was descried dimly the figure of a man_ groping. “ What,” Heaven asked him, in its own name, “are you doing?” “Looking for forty fossils” was his answer. ‘ And what,” Heaven asked him, in its own name, “are you going to do with them when you have found them?” ‘Calm the sea with them ”’ was his answer. The wind (need I add ?) is popular education. The sea is the book-reading public. The groping figure is that of Mr. Herbert ‘Trench. The forty fossils . . . but I, like Mr. Trench himself, prefer to devolve the task of naming ‘hem. Yours obediently, Max BEERBOHM. $< __—_ A HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE. * — > T is, perhaps, a platitude to assert that the chief snare in the path of the literary historian is the difficulty of properly subordinating detail to general development. In his admirable history of the great literature that extends from Ulfilas and the earliest Nibelungen sagas to Suder- mann and Nietzche, Mr. Robertson has avoided this pitfall with complete success. His work is one that should meet with nothing but praise, both for his complete comprehension of the growth and decline of all the various movements of Germanic thought and his lucid exposition of the elements common to all of them, and also for his admirable criticism in a space necessarily limited of the intellectual giants of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While he is careful to trace the influence and to estimate the importance of Kant, Fichte, and Hegel in a literature which has always been and always will be connected with philosophy by the firmest of bords, he is not forgetful of the form which, after all, is the eternal element in all art, and his lyrical selections are most happy. A literary historian who can sum up the “ Kritik der reinen Vernunft”’ and the “ Kritik der praktischen Vernunft” in two pages, and praise with enthusiasm Heine’s “Thalatta ! Thalatta ! Sei mir gegriisst, du ewiges Meer !” is indeed one in whom we may rejoice. The first period of German literature, as Mr. Robertson points out in his Introduction, falls * “A History of German Literature,” by John G. Robertson (Blackwood : MCMII.). 77 approximately between the period of Anglo-Saxon poetry in which Beowulf reached its final form, and the tiny golden age of the prose of Alfred and Ailfric. It was a monastic age, and Germany was slower than other nations in breaking loose from the ascetic trammels that have always proved so inimical to literature, if not to learning. The age of the Migrations (875—500, ca.) naturally failed to produce a written literature, although the struggles of Ostrogoth, Vandal, and Hun, and the characters of Ermanrich, Odoaker, and Dietrich, afforded material for the national epics which developed later. The second sound-shifting was fatal to alliterative verse, and Otfrid’s theological poems (ca. 830—850) followed the early Church hymns in the use of rhyme. The Middle High Germany poetry was late in setting in, but by the twelfth century the bonds of monasticism relaxed, and the secular themes of the wandering singers became popular. French influence began to appear ; the old sagas were remodelled, and the lyric fol- lowed the form set by the Provencal troubadours.. The courtly Middle High German poetry, however, declined with knighthood ; as the middle classes rose to power, literary art subsided. Not until Luther’s genius had placed his nation in the van of European progress, and Luther’s Bible had fixed the standard of modern German, did this period of decadence end, as all periods of decadence do, in regeneration. terman culture in the sixteenth century was entirely due to the Reformation, and was at first completely out of reach of the Latin renaissance. When, however, it might have benefited by the latter, the horror of the Thirty Years’ War over- whelmed it absolutely. Germany was the intel- lectual outcast of Europe until the end of the seventeenth century, until the appearance of the genius of Leibnitz. The first period of German literature in the eighteenth century was character- ised by imitation of English and French models, the second was a period of national originality. Klopstock, Wieland, Lessing, respectively laid the foundations of the modern German lyric, novel, and drama, so that by the middle of the century Germany had passed far beyond the former dark- ness, and at the beginning of the nineteenth century German classical literature had reached its zenith. ‘The Romantic movement, and the. “young German epoch” that followed, were’ really periods of decadence which produced a few men of genius and a vast number of fanatical mediocrities. Such is the scheme of development to which Mr. Robertson adheres. Through all its ramifications we may trace the element which is the dominant note of the Teutonic character—mysticism. It is apparent in the Old High German poetry of Otfrid  78 and the idea of retribution in the Nibelungen Lied ; ‘if it disappears in the “ Beast Epics and the didactic works which are characteristic of the decline of chivalry, in ‘Reinke de Vos” and Brant’s “Narren Schyff,” it is handed on by Luther and reappears widely in the seventeenth cen- tury ; if it is blotted out by the Thirty Years’ War, it is apparent in the great work of Leibnitz, and has been paramount in almost every branch of German literature since his day. The Teutonic temperament has always been romantic, 1n the true sense of the word ; the literature which enshrines its power is the literature of subjectivity and individualism. In surveying the growth of any branch of art, we cannot fail to notice how many works have survived on account of their historical value, although they are wxsthetically worthless. It is greatly to Mr. Robertson’s credit that he has never confused art and archeology, and that, on the other hand, he has recognised the real beauty of archaic “first beginnings, so dim and dewy,” as Browning rather unhappily called them. Modern criticism is far too apt to regard anything written in an obsolete dialect as the lawful prey of the philologist. Sr. Joun Lucas. —_—_—_—__-__ MR. G. A. HENTY. — ts HE death of Mr. G. A. Henty, war corre- spondent and author, has come rather suddenly. There is no doubt that he supplied a certain type of literature which may entirely disappear with his death. He combined adventure with instruction, and wrote on lines that no modern author seems to touch. He was a most prolific writer, and certainly found amongst the boys to whom he appealed a class as eager for his productions as he was prolific in his writings. All his books were healthy, strong, and vigorous, full of life and full of “ go,” and all his writings advocated the strenuous life which he himself lived. It is with much regret we chronicle the sad event. _ A LITERARY HISTORY OF PERSIA.* oe ‘bee Tranis (of whom the Persians and Medes were the leading tribes) and their language and literature afford us an example unique in the annals of nations. The language used by * “A Literary History of Persia” (Prof. E. G. Browne). T, Fisher Unwin. THE AUTHOR. the Achzemanian kings in the sixth century B.o, would be easily understood by an educated Persian of to-day, and yet there have been breaches in their history and literature so wide as would have drained the life-blood of most other races. The Achemanian (Hakhamanish), or Old Persian — period, extended from about 560 B.C. to the over- | throw of the Iranian Empire by Alexander of Macedon in 330 3.c. The only remains of that literature are the royal acts and proclamations engraven on stone, and they possess the sonorous dignity and simplicity to which we are accustomed in edicts, by members of the same dynasty, re- corded in the Bible. The national cult and literature was practically suspended for the five centuries extending to about 200 .c., only linger- ing in Magian temples or inaccessible fastnesses of some reputed descendant of Hakhaman. The national awakening gave rise to what is known as the Sassanian period, or Pahlevi literature, which cannot be disconnected from what some scholars have defined, artificially, as the Avestic literature. The Avesta, or sacred books of Zoroastrianism, of which only about one-fourth are known, have come down to us in the forms imparted to them between 200 and 350 a.c., but must necessarily include the oral traditions of the most ancient period, and, indeed, contains vestiges of practices and super- stitions from ante-Aryan times, common to all races. The Avestic literature is only interesting to him who quarries for the evolution of ideas in the childhood of the human race. The Pahlevi as applied to the national resurrection under the Sassanide dynasty, flourished from about 200— 650 A.c. ; the remains of this literature, although principally religious (Zoroastrian), contain some 40,000 words of historical romance, which with other remains, now only extant in Arabic transla- tions, supplied the subject-matter of that stupen- dous National Legend moulded by the genius of Firdusi during the Second Renaissance in about 1000 A.C. d The Sassanide dynasty fell in 650 a.c., when the Empire was overwhelmed by the Arabs, and Persia became an Arabian province for 300 years, when Arabic became the language of literature, and Persian men of genius devoted their talents and knowledge to the enrichment of Arabic literature and the glories of Islam. The Second Awakening dawned in about 850 A.c., but did not begin to shine until about 950, and then only in distant provinces of the Caliphate and, chiefly, under the patronage of Turkish adventurers, who nurtured the Persian cult and made themselves more Persian than the Persians for the purpose of strengthening them- selves against their suzerains, the Caliphs of Bag- dad. I must refer the reader to Prof. Browne’s  ood book for the many other causes which assisted the 40098 Second Birth. This period, which is undoubtedly » aff the Golden Age of Persian literature, flourished me and expanded until the Tartar flood burst and » 79 overwhelmed Asiatic civilisation at the beginning to of the fourteenth century. Prof. Browne, in the oy volume before me, stops at 1000 4.c. and promises -7 us another one on the “Golden Age,” which will a) include such well-known names as Nizami, Sadi, O Omar Khaydm, etc. He has already dealt with 4) the translation of Tabari’s great commentary into { Persian; Assadi, the teacher of Firdusi, and in- »y ventor of the “ Romance of the Joust”; Rudaki, * “piquant in expression and fluent in verse,” so f fluent that he is credited with the composition of one ' + millionthreehundredthousand verses! The greatest +8 figure is, of course, Firdusi, with his monumental »/@ Shah name (“Book of the Kings”); this stupendous 4 National Legend, comprising some 60,000 couplets, '@ embraces the traditional primeval legends, the ** Romance of Iamshid”’ (a sort of combination of * Solomon and King Arthur), the historical chronicles of the Sassanide dynasty and all that is romantic and tuneful down to his own day, coloured, of course, with Moslem pigment and showing the grain of Chaldean imagery which the older Pahlevi writers had assimilated. The third Great Trance extended from the Mongol conquest to about the beginning of the last century ; but this Third Renaissance has, so far, concerned itself with recovering the treasures of the past, translations of foreign books, and—poetry. Their poetical forms, the couplet and quatrain, are borrowed from the Arabic, and from the ninth to the present century are dirge-like. The philosopher is naturally sad, but the senti- mental Persian wails in his loves, his hates, and his adorations. When he can spare time from sobbing a divine hymn to some petty kingling and patron, he weeps a melancholy dirge about wine, music, and woman. His eyes are so dimmed with tears that his Trinity must be brilliantly coloured and sensuous ; the “ruby wine,” the “heart-exploding erash of music,” “the ruby lips,’ and so forth. When a kingling (generally of Turkish extraction) rhymes, he sighs for “ red-hot blood” and “ nostril attacking incarmined cuirass.” It may be noted en passant that poets made money in A.C. 1000, for we are told that Rudaki possessed 200 slaves (some, let us hope, with ‘ruby lips” and other strongly-coloured physical attractions) and 100 camel-loads of luggage. Prof. Browne holds a brief for Persia and devotes two-thirds of his book to Arabian literature, which he attempts to prove to be Persian, because many Persians, half-Persians, fractional-Persians and Arabs of “reputed” Persian descent wrote in Arabic. It would be just as easy to class the THE AUTHOR. 79 numerous works published in Latin throughou Europe during the last two centuries as “ Roman” literature. No! Arabian literature and Islam are no more Persian than the northern Sagas are the vapourings of a Baboo who has “failed B.A. Calcutta.” I shall look forward to Prof. Browne’s next volume dealing with the great Poet-Philosophers of the Golden Age, and should feel grateful if he would veil his profound erudition by massing his references in an appendix. M. M. ae CORRESPONDENCE. —— ———e— — “RUTHOR AND EDITOR.” Sir,—Mr. F. J. Winbolt is not complimentary ! First he calls me “ An unknown author,” when my nameis very well known. Every London editor of any note knows it, I should say, and I have been called by an eminent living critic “one of the sweetest singers in Devon now alive”; besides being one of Mr. H. D. Traill’s “ Poets in the (late) Nineteenth Century.” Then he implies that 1am “ an obscure poet,” which again is wide of the mark, as not only have I had hundreds of reviews in London and provincial papers, but my poems have been extensively copied into the Indian, African, San Franciscan, and Canadian papers. Besides, he will find my name in “ Who’s Who.” Mr. Winbolt misses the point—i.c., that several (10) of the poems were from the Westminster Gazette, and that the editor had reviewed all my inferior books! Besides, other London papers noticed it— Pall Mall Gazette, The Queen, Field, Pictorial World, and others. Yours truly, F. B. Dovueton. Kirsfield, Torquay. P.S.—Again! What did the editor mean by saying “He had given my Vol. due considera- tion ’—a future review or none ? F. B.D. So ee INCOMPETENT REVIEWERS OF BOOKS—A PROTEST. Srr,—There are two abuses which no author— not even a young one—is obliged to tolerate. — he first is having his English cavilled at by a reviewer who has no grammar; and the second is the misquoting or mutilating of his printed work with a view to holding hit up to ridicule. Case number one. Discussing “The Land of the Dons,” my recent work on Spain, the Daily  78 and the idea of retribution in the Nibelungen Lied ; ‘if it disappears in the “ Beast pies and the didactic works which are characteristic of the decline of chivalry, in “ Reinke de Vos” and Brant’s “Narren Schyff,” it is handed on by Luther and reappears widely in the seventeenth cen- tury ; if it is blotted out by the Thirty Years War, it is apparent in the great work of Leibnitz, and has been paramount in almost every branch of German literature since his day. The Teutonic temperament has always been romantic, 10 the true gense of the word ; the literature which enshrines its power is the literature of subjectivity and individualism, In surveying the growth of any branch of art, we cannot fail to notice how many works have survived on account of their historical value, although they are esthetically worthless. It is greatly to Mr. Robertson’s credit that he has never confused art and archeology, and that, on the other hand, he has recognised the real beauty of archaic “ first beginnings, so dim and dewy,” as Browning rather unhappily called them. Modern criticism is far too apt to regard anything written in an obsolete dialect as the lawful prey of the philologist. Sr. Joun Lucas. i MR. G. A. HENTY. a od HE death of Mr. G. A. Henty, war corre- spondent and author, has come rather suddenly. ‘There is no doubt that he supplied a certain type of literature which may entirely disappear with his death. He combined adventure with instruction, and wrote on lines that no modern author seems to touch. He was a most prolific writer, and certainly found amongst the boys to whom he appealed a class as eager for his productions as he was prolific in his writings. All his books were healthy, strong, and vigorous, full of life and full of “ go,” and all his writings advocated the strenuous life which he himself lived. It is with much regret we chronicle the sad event. ————_+-—<>—_e —___—__ A LITERARY HISTORY OF PERSIA.* aes | Tranis (of whom the Persians and Medes were the leading tribes) and their language and literature afford us an example unique in the annals of nations. The language used by * “A Literary History of Persia” (Prof. E. G. Browne). T. Fisher Unwin. THE AUTHOR. the Achzmanian kings in the sixth century B.c. would be easily understood by an educated Persian of to-day, and yet there have been breaches in their history and literature so wide as would have drained the life-blood of most other races. The Achemanian (Hakhamanish), or Old Persian period, extended from about 560 B.c. to the over- throw of the Iranian Empire by Alexander of Macedon in 330 3.c. The only remains of that literature are the royal acts aud proclamations engraven on stone, and they possess the sonorous dignity and simplicity to which we are accustomed in edicts, by members of the same dynasty, re- corded in the Bible. The national cult and literature was practically suspended for the five centuries extending to about 200 a.c., only linger- ing in Magian temples or inaccessible fastnesses of some reputed descendant of Hakhaman. The national awakening gave rise to what is known as the Sassanian period, or Pahlevi literature, which cannot be disconnected from what some scholars have defined, artificially, as the Avestic literature. The Avesta, or sacred books of Zoroastrianism, of which only about one-fourth are known, have come down to us in the forms imparted to them between 200 and 350 A.c., but must necessarily include the oral traditions of the most ancient period, and, indeed, contains vestiges of practices and super- stitions from ante-Aryan times, common to all races. The Avestic literature is only interesting to him who quarries for the evolution of ideas in the childhood of the human race. The Pahlevi as applied to the national resurrection under the Sassanide dynasty, flourished from about 200— 650 A.c. ; the remains of this literature, although principally religious (Zoroastrian), contain some 40,000 words of historical romance, which with other remains, now only extant in Arabic transla- tions, supplied the subject-matter of that stupen- dous National Legend moulded by the genius of Firdusi during the Second Renaissance in about 1000 A.C. The Sassanide dynasty fell in 650 A.c., when the ex: Empire was overwhelmed by the Arabs, and Persia 7 az became an Arabian province for 300 years, when Arabic became the language of literature, and Persian men of genius devoted their talents and knowledge to the enrichment of Arabic literature and the glories of Islam. The Second Awakening dawned in about 850 A.c., but did not begin to shine until about 950, and then only in distant provinces of the § Caliphate and, chiefly, under the patronage of § Turkish adventurers, who nurtured the Persian 3 cult and made themselves more Persian than the Persians for the purpose of strengthening them- selves against their suzerains, the Caliphs of Bag- dad. I must refer the reader to Prof. Browne’s  ee & ios ig. Cowes S THE AUTHOR. book for the many other causes which assisted the v0 ? Second Birth. This period, which is undoubtedly the Golden Age of Persian literature, flourished and expanded until the Tartar flood burst and overwhelmed Asiatic civilisation at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Prof. Browne, in the volume before me, stops at 1000 4.c. and promises us another one on the “ Golden Age,” which will include such well-known names as Nizami, Sadi, Omar Khaydm, etc. He has already dealt with the translation of Tabari’s great commentary into Persian ; Assadi, the teacher of Firdusi, and in- ventor of the “ Romance of the Joust” ; Rudaki, “piquant in expression and fluent in verse,” so fluent that he is credited with the composition of one million three hundred thousand verses! The greatest figure is, of course, Firdusi, with his monumental Shah name (“Book of the Kings”); this stupendous National Legend, comprising some 60,000 couplets, embraces the traditional primeval legends, the “ Romance of Iamshid”’ (a sort of combination of Solomon and King Arthur), the historical chronicles of the Sassanide dynasty and all that is romantic and tuneful down to his own day, coloured, of course, with Moslem pigment and showing the grain of Chaldean imagery which the older Pahlevi writers had assimilated. The third Great Trance extended from the Mongol conquest to about the beginning of the last century ; but this Third Renaissance has, so far, concerned itself with recovering the treasures of the past, translations of foreign books, and—poetry. Their poetical forms, the couplet and quatrain, are borrowed from the Arabic, and from the ninth to the present century are dirge-like. The philosopher is naturally sad, but the senti- mental Persian wails in his loves, his hates, and his adorations. When he can spare time from sobbing a divine hymn to some petty kingling and patron, he weeps a melancholy dirge about wine, music, and woman. His eyes are so dimmed with tears that his Trinity must be brilliantly coloured and sensuous ; the “ruby wine,” the “heart-exploding erash of music,” “the ruby lips,” and so forth. When a kingling (generally of Turkish extraction) rhymes, he sighs for “ red-hot blood ” and “ nostril attacking incarmined cuirass.” It may be noted en passant that poets made money in A.c. 1000, for we are told that Rudaki possessed 200 slaves (some, let us hope, with ‘ruby lips” and other strongly-coloured physical attractions) and 100 camel-loads of luggage. Prof. Browne holds a brief for Persia and devotes two-thirds of his book to Arabian literature, which he attempts to prove to be Persian, because many Persians, half-Persians, fractional-Persians and Arabs of “reputed” Persian descent wrote in Arabic. It would be just as easy to class the 79 numerous works published in Latin throughou Europe during the last two centuries as ‘‘ Roman” literature. No! Arabian literature and Islam are no more Persian than the northern Sagas are the vapourings of a Baboo who has “failed B.A. Calcutta.” I shall look forward to Prof. Browne’s next volume dealing with the great Poet-Philosophers of the Golden Age, and should feel grateful if he would veil his profound erudition by massing his references in an appendix. M. M. ———— CORRESPONDENCE. — “AUTHOR AND EDITOR.” Srr,—Mr. F. J. Winbolt is not complimentary ! First he calls me ‘An unknown author,” when my nameis very wellknown. Every London editor of any note knows it, I should say, and I have been called by an eminent living critic “one of the sweetest singers in Devon now alive ” ; besides being one of Mr. H. D. Traill’s “ Poets in the (late) Nineteenth Century.” Then he implies that lam “an obscure poet,” which again is wide of the mark, as not only have I had hundreds of reviews in London and provincial papers, but my poems have been extensively copied into the Indian, African, San Franciscan, and Canadian papers. Besides, he will find my name in “ Who’s Who.” Mr. Winbolt misses the point—i.c., that several (10) of the poems were from the estminster Gazette, and that the editor had reviewed all my inferior books! Besides, other London papers noticed it— Pall Mall Gazette, The Queen, Field, Pictorial World, and others. Yours truly, F. B. Doveton. Kirsfield, Torquay. P.S.—Again! What did the editor mean by saying “He had given my Vol. due considera- tion ”’—a future review or none? EF. B.D. Sg INCOMPETENT REVIEWERS OF BOOKS—A PROTEST. Srr,—There are two abuses which no author— not even a young one—is obliged to tolerate. The first is having his English cavilled at by a reviewer who has no grammar; and the second is the misquoting or mutilating of his printed work with a view to holding him up to ridicule. 7 Case number one. Discussing “The Land of the Dons,” my recent work on Spain, the Daily 80 Chronicle’s reviewer says, “It would not be fair to. make’ these strictures without giving specimens.” He then takes a sentence of sixteen words from my book, strikes out two commas, puts in a dash of his own, and, after completely changing the emphasis and the sense, prints his own travesty as my production. : ‘Case number two. Says Zruth’s reviewer, “<Tmperative to,’ suggests that Mr. Williams’ profuse and profound knowledge of Spanish has a little impaired his English.” Yet, a moment later, Truth’s reviewer produces a grammatical tit-bit of his own. He asks, “ What voice in literature has (sic) had the dim millions which in all ages and countries have lain out of sight like bees in the darkness of a hive from which we extract the honey ?” : Truth’s ingenious reviewer, therefore, while straining at the gnats of other people, seems to digest his own camels with singular complacency. Possibly, however, I am myself in error. It isa fact, as Truth is good enough to remind me, that I have long been absent from England ; but when I was there, a plural noun, unless my memory 1s very much at fault, was considered to demand a plural in its verb. \ I am quite aware that by far the greater number of our reviewers of books are intelligent and kindly ; but from time to time an exception crops up and cries aloud for the pillory. The reviewer who repunctuates my writings in order to cast derision on them, imposes upon his readers and calumniates me. And the “reviewer,” such as Truth’s, who commits a grammatical blunder for which a schoolboy of ten would be soundly whipped, is incompetent to pass judgment on any book, whether written by me or by anyone else. LEONARD WILLIAMS. Madrid. —1~>—+ — THE RUSKIN MEMORIAL SCHEME. Dear Sir,—I should be grateful if you will allow me on behalf of the Ruskin memorial com- mittee to place before your readers a brief state- ment respecting the scheme. The Ruskin Society of Birmingham has existed for some seven years to do honour to the great teacher whose name it bears. It has endeavoured Lo promote the study of his works and make them a real power in the land, and it has sought to draw together men of all parties and creeds, the bond of union being the common desire to share the spiritual impetus arising from the study of the works of one, who preached a true philosophy, and the recognition that his profound genius was wholly used for the benefit of mankind. THE AUTHOR. But since the death of Mr. Ruskin the Society : decided to be no longer content to exist as an — academic body only ; and they thought that the best memorial they could raise in Mr. Ruskin’s honour was to carry out a practical scheme on the lines and in the spirit of his teaching. It was not difficult to choose such a scheme, The master’s love for country life is known to his most casual reader, as also are his magnificent experiments to foster it ; and the advice which in his later years he gave to those who sought his guidance as to practical work was to found a village institute to promote the higher life of the community around it. The Society resolved to act on this advice, and they believed that in the district of Bournville, if they could secure the necessary facilities, they had a most suitable place for their experiment, for here some of those social reforms, notably the housin one, about which (to quote Mr. Frederic Haram Mr. Ruskin had written long years before the statutes, conferences and royal commissions of our own generation, had been carried out. They there- fore ventured to approach the trustees of the Bournville Village Trust and sought their co-opera- tion. With a generosity only comparable to that shown on many occasions by Mr. Ruskin himself, the trustees offered to present, for the purposes of the memorial, a site of upwards of two and a half acres. Here we are building the memorial, of which Lord Avebury laid the foundation stone of the first portion on the 21st inst. That portion will embrace a library, museum and lecture room, and rooms for classes in arts and crafts. The site is a central one, not only for residents here, but for a group of thickly populated villages ~ around. We seek to make the memorial building a centre of effort for the betterment of the con- — ditions of village life, and to bring to bear upon that life some of those influences which have now to be sought for in our large cities. We raise this memorial to Mr. Ruskin remember- — ing that he taught us that “There is no wealth but life—life including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration,” and that “That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings.” : For the completion of our present scheme we require a further sum of upwards of £3,000, and we most earnestly appeal to your readers for their assistance. We shall welcome all letters of enquiry, and shall be pleased to give any further informa- tion. Yours faithfully, J. H. WHITEHOUSE. Honorary Secretary. Bournville, Birmingham. 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. 13 Issue 03 (December 1902) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 03 (December 1902) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1902-12-01-The-Author-13-3 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/477/1902-11-01-The-Author-13-2.pdf c971210bb9c42f1a0b015f185fea0677 PDF Text Text ���������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1902-11-01 Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages Page range in volume 29–56 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19021101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Huthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. Vou. XIII.—No. 2. CHANGE OF ADDRESS. NovEMBER 1sT, 1902. [Price SIXPENCE. ROUM e £816 5 6 Wocal Woane: ae 404 10 0 ee Victorian Government 3 % Con- As mistakes still occur with regard to the solidated Inscribed Stock............ 291 19 11 Address of the Society, it has been thought War Loan 3 ee. 201-923 z expedient to continue this Notice, that the Office of the Society is situated at— 39, OLD QUEEN STREET, STOREY’S GATE, 8.W. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. Votel 2 £1714 4 8 There is, in addition, a balance of £30 to £40 in the Bank to cover current expenses and the payment of pensions. The subscriptions and donations from the beginning of the year are as follows. Further sums will be acknowledged from month to month as they come to hand. ae oe DonATIONS. Jan, 24, Church, Prof. R, A. H....... £2 2°90 ae Jan. 29, Toplis, Miss Grace ............ 0 4 0 ees Heb, 1, Perks; Miss lily............... 010 0 e OR the opinions expressed in papers that are eb. 12, Brown, Miss Prince ..... Leese 1 10 . K signed or initialled the Authors alone are Feb. 15, Wilkins, W.H. (2nd donation) 1 responsible. None of the papers or para- Feb. 15, 8: G. oe sees eeeees eee ees tes i 10 graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion Feb. 17, Hawkins, A. Hope..........-. 50 0 8 of the Committee unless such is especially stated Feb. 19, Burrowes, Miss E. ............ @ 10 0 to be the case. Mch. 16, Reynolds, Mrs. ............--. 0 5 0 April 28, Wheelright, Miss Ethel...... 1 0 0 April 29, Sheldon, Mrs. French, Tux Editor begs to inform Members of the WRG 8, 0 5 0 Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author May 5, A Beginner ...............-..+++ 1 10 that the cases which are from time to time quoted May 20, Nemo .........s...esee rere 2 0.9 in The Author are cases that have come before the May 20, Rattray, Dr. A. ..............- 0. 5.0 notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the July 17, Capes, Bernard E............. 0 5 0 Society, and that those members of the Society July 19, Warden, Miss Gertrude ... : 5 0 5 0 who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. oe Jan. 17, Prelooker, J. ..6:....-+-+.----- 0 5 : i : Jan. 20, Nicholls, F.C. ........-..--+- 0 3 eee Jan. 22, Carey, Miss R. Nouchette ... I i 0 Tur Investments of the Pension Fund at Feb., Gidley, Miss E. C. .............- 010 6 present standing in the names of the Trustees are Mch. 20, Beeching, Rev. H.C. .....- 0 5. 0 as follows. Moh. 25, Stroud, F..2..........-----+ 010 6 This is a statement of the actual stock; the May 1, Heatley, Richard F............. 0. 0 0 money value can be easily worked out at the current Oct. 21, Thomson, Miss C. L.......... 0 5 0 price of the market :— Oar, 08, Rabie, Bec. 0 5 0 Vou, XIII. Oct. 23, Evans, Miss May ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.  30 Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. THe amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £327 15 0 There are a few promised subscriptions still outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, about £4, The subscriptions received from March to the date of issue are given below :— Anonymous”. : : : ee Champneys, Basil. ; “ Colonia,” Natal, 8. Africa Fife Cookson, Lt.-Col. F.C. Gunter, Lt.-Col. E. A. : Harding, Capt. Claud, R.N. Hurry, A. . : : : : Keary, C. F. (amount not to be men- tioned) Kinns, The Rev. Samuel, D.D. . Millais, J.G. . : ; : Quiller Couch, Miss M. Sterry, J. Ashby ‘ Temple, Lieut.-Col. Sir R. C. Underdown, Miss E. Lockyer, Sir T. Norman Beale, Miss Mary Bolam, Rey. C. E. Egbert, Henry : Eccles, Miss O’Connor Darwin, Francis : : Montgomery-Campbell, Miss Medlecott, Cecil ; Saxby, Mrs... ; ; : : Caine, T: H. Hall . : ; Be Marris, Miss Murrell : 8. B. : ee Bloomfield, J. H. . F. 0. B. (Coventry) . Seton-Karr, H. W. . Heriot, Cheyne : Charley, Sir W. T., K.C. ‘¢ Hsme Stuart ” Charlton, Miss Emily Kroeker, Mrs. . Aflalo, F. G. : Patterson, A. . : Salwey, Reginald E. Gidley, Miss E. C. Nixon, Prof. J. E. CHOHRHH pal — SCOCHRHHEH cococeo HOOCNOHRROFS ro ee ern TUDO DO OL OVS Or BAOMNonnNore rt re NOOR NWO ON SBeocoec ooo ce oso oso oe sooo onooooescs COCHNWOCOCOHOHOROCOOCOHOFRF —_——_—_——_+——_+___——_ FROM THE COMMITTEE. T consequence of the fact that members are returning to work after the holidays, the business at the office of the Society shows a natural tendency to increase. At the October. meeting of the Committee forty- THE AUTHOR. eight new members and associates were elected, making the total for the year 161. A strong argu- ment in support of the sound work of the Society. A list of the elections is published below. It is intended, if it is found possible, to publish the list of members annually or bi-annually, and to incorporate these monthly returns when the next revised edition is issued. The compilation of the list has been carried out in accordance with the statement contained in the article in the July number of the Author. The Committee have decided to print 1,000 copies. Over six hundred answers were received to the circular. Of these between thirty and forty desired that neither their names nor their addresses should be published. The reasons put forward for this course differed, but one reason, constantly recurring, was the fact that the publication of the name and address might subject the member to a flood of circulars from advertisers and others. In the case of those members of the Society whose addresses can be easily obtained from books like “Who’s Who,” “The Red Book,” “The Literary Year Book,” and other Directories, this objection naturally would not stand. The price of the list will be 6d., nett, post free. Only members will be able to purchase copies. An order form is inserted in this month’s issue. Members desiring to obtain a copy of the list are asked to return it (duly signed) with the 6d. to the office. Members will be pleased to hear that Mr. Austin Dobson has been unanimously elected a member of the Committee of Management of the Society, and Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G., C.B., a member of the Copyright Sub-Committee. The Addenda to “ The Methods of Publishing,” since its original issue, has been selling gradually, and is now nearly out of print. Two hundred and fifty more copies have been printed by the desire of the Committee. At this, the first meeting of the Committee since the lamented death of Monsieur Zola, it was decided to send a letter from the Society of Authors to the Sovicté des Gens de Lettres, of which Monsieur Zola was President. The French Society has, on all occasions, extended a helping hand to its sister society, and has given to the Secretary valuable information from time to time on such questions as publishing in France, and legal matters con- nected with French copyright. Other questions discussed, referred to disputes and actions, which it would be indiscreet to make public for the present. i Eleven cases between publishers and authors, arising from the usual divergencies of opinion and method, have been in the hands of the Secretary during the past month. Of these, four deal with  THE AUTHOR. matters of account, three with disputed agreement, two with money due, and the remaining two with general matters, which do not come under the usual headings. Three of the eleven have been finally settled, two have been placed in the hands of the solicitors to carry through by action if necessary, and the balance are still in the course of negotiation. They need no special comment. Of those cases quoted in last month’s Author there are still four unsettled, but negotiations are being carried on between the publisher and the Secretary. One case, however, is hanging fire, owing to the fact that in spite of repeated letter- writing the Secretary can obtain no answer from the member whose work is involved. This position is a very serious one for the Society, and the Committee at all times have impressed upon the members how important it is that those who place their matters in the Secretary’s hands should carry them through with vigour. It has been mentioned that two cases have been placed in the hands of the solicitors of the Society. One other matter has been dealt with by them. A firm of publishers, whose name we do not at present mention, has called a meeting of its creditors. Our solicitors represent those of our members who have claims against the firm. At present it is impossible to state anything definite with regard to the issue of the meeting, but it is hoped that with careful diplomacy the authors’ claims will be paid in full, as a provision has been proposed under the deed of assignment that the trustee shall have power, if he thinks fit, to pay all authors in full. oe as Elections, October, 1902. Elections to the Society, July 14th to October 18th :— Abrahamson, Rev.-A. E. The Rectory, Skilgate, Wiveliscombe R.8.0O., Somerset. 85, Fitzjohns Avenue, Besant, Geoff ao Hampstead, N.W. Bisiken, Wm. : ; Bissett-Smith, George Tullock (George Bizet) Brunskill, The Rev. Francis R. Cayzer, C. W. Clark, Alfred Clive, Alfred 12-14, Long Acre, W.C. 55, Carlton Place, Aber- deen. 19, Raymont . Street, Thetford, Norfolk. Dunsdale, Frodsham, Cheshire. Forest Department, Cey- lon. Heydon Vale, Great Chishall, Near Roy- ston, Cambs. Cockran, Miss Henrietta Cotton, Capt. Frederick Crottie, Miss Julia M. Dallas, Miss H. A. Dollar, John A. W. Errington Cyril Evans, Miss May (A Welsh Spinster). Farmer, R. Geoffrey Fellows, Charles (Cas- situs). Gaskell, Lady Gouldsworthy, Henry C. Harrison, Miss Rose Hollander, Bernard, M.D. Hunt, Miss Violet Hurlock, Sydney . lliffe, Mrs. J. K. M. Ivrea, The Marquis Keyworth, Charles W. (Charles Aver) Lovell, Arthur (D.C. W.) MacDonagh, Michael Mackenzie, W.C. . Masson, Miss Flora Masson, Miss Rosaline . Medley, Miss H. P. Merritt, Mrs. Lea Molyneux, The Honble. Mrs. Oelsner, Herman . Petano, D. K. 31 45, Mecklenburg Square, W.C. Horsham Court, Mort- ley, Worcestershire. Glenbaba House, Near Peel, Isle of Man. 116, King Henry’s Road, N.W. a Bond Street, 91, Lavender Sweep, Clapham Junction, S.W. 10, Lansdowne Crescent, W. Barriew Street, Welsh- pool. Old Bank Chambers, Wolverhampton. The Abbey, Much Wen- lock, Salop. 2, Brompton Square, S.W. 101, Oakley Chelsea, 8. W. 62, Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, W. South Lodge, Campden Hill, S.W. College Grove Wakefield. 13, Warnborough Road, Oxford. c/o E. F. Turner & Son, Leadenhall House, E.C. Wesley House, Bisley, Stroud, Glos. 5, Portman Street, Port- man Square, W. 149, Abbeville Road, Clapham Park, 8.W. ‘“* Sutha,” Selborne Road, Sidcup, Kent. 2, Lockharton Gardens, Edinburgh. 2, Lockharton Gardens, Edinburgh. Marlborough Mansions, S.W. Hurstbourne ‘Tarrant, Near Andover. Willoughby, Saxe Wei- mer Road, Southsea. Savage Club, Adelphi Terrace, W.C. 23, Walton Well Road, Oxford. Street, Road,  32 96, Warwick Gardens, Kensington, W. 33, St. Luke’s Road, Notting Hill, W. c/o To-Day, 8 & 9, Essex Street, Strand Seagate House, Little- Pickthall, Rudolf . Reich, Emil . Rutter, Frank Smith, William Herbert hampton. Smith, Mrs. Michael 35, Ailsbury Road, Dublin. Thomson, Miss Clara 11, Talgarth Road, West Linklater. Kensington; or Tem- ple House, Temple Avenue. Lotus, Dorking. Spade House, Sandgate, Kent. 3, Park Terrace, Cross- hill, Glasgow. 54, Bloomsbury Street, W.C. 1, Rue Dain, Faubourg St. Honoré, Paris. Ward, Wilfrid Wells, H. G. Williams, Wynn Llewel- lyn. Yorke, Philip C. . Young, Miss Catherine M. Only one member of those elected does not desire publication. eS BOOK AND PLAY TALK. —->+— ISS R. N. Carey’s new 6s. novel, “The Highway of Fate” (Macmillan), has made an excellent start, and has at once taken its place as one of the twelve best selling books of the month. It was issued early in September, simultaneously in England and America; and arrangements have also been made with Baron Tauchnitz, who will shortly issue the work in his Continental series. Mrs. Alec Tweedie’s memoir of her father, “George Harley, F.R.S., or the Life of a London Physician,” can now he had in a cheaper edition (The Scientific Press). It gives many interesting stories of the Crimea, Napoleon III., and the coup Wétat. There are also stories of student life in Paris and Germany, and of the delightful people he met in London, where he practised as a physician for forty years. Mr. A. Ollivant’s new book “ Danny,” which has been running for some time in the Monthly Magazine here, and in Everybody's Magazine in America, will shortly be complete. It will then be published by Mr. John Murray on this side, and by Messrs. Doubleday, Page & Co. in America. Mr. Ollivant’s previous book, called here “ Owd Bob of Kenmure,” and in America “ Bob, Son of THE AUTHOR. Battle,” met with marked success, the sales in the United States even exceeding those in England. “here is every probability of “ Danny” being equally successful. The author’s power and origin- ality are both quite as strongly exhibited in “Danny” as in his earlier work; and Mr. Ollivant exhibits an advance in the dexterity with which he treats the technique and subsidiary elements of romantic fiction. Miss Rosaline Masson has a new novel in the press. It is called “ Leslie Farquhar,” and Mr. John Murray will publish it. Miss Masson. is favourably known as_ the authoress of “The Pransgressors”” and “ In Our Town,” both novels descriptive of the Edinburgh of to-day (Hodder & Stoughton). Miss Masson, besides publishing a couple of ‘Ag volumes of short stories, wrote the “Lives of Pollock and Aytoun” inthe Famous Scots’ Series. Aytoun, author of the popular “Lays of the Cavaliers,” was the predecessor of Miss Masson’s father in the chair of English Literature in . Edinburgh University. Mr. Herbert Compton has been very busy. Messrs. A. Treherne & Co. are bringing out for him a series of sketches strung together under the title of “ Facts and Phantasies of a Folio Grub,” while Messrs. Everett & Co. will issue his “‘ A Scourge of the Sea,” a story of South Sea adventure. Mr. J. Bloundelle-Burton’s new story, « The Intriguers,” commences in this month’s Leisure Hour. It deals with a Jacobite plot to assassinate George I. before he could reach England from Germany, at the time of his accession in the year 1714. “The Intriguers” will be a stirring story. Allen Raine is engaged upon a new novel which will be entitled “On the Wings of the Wind.” It will be ready for publication in the spring. Mrs. B. M. Croker is busy on a long novel dealing with life in India. She is going out to India to finish it, and will spend the winter there. This popular authoress means to see the Durbar at Delhi. « Johanna,” Mrs. Croker’s story of Trish peasant life now running in Crampton’s Magazine, is to be published in the spring by Messrs. Methuen & Co. Mr. Reginald E. Salwey’s new novel, “A Son of — Mischief,” is a strong sensational story. ‘There is firm character drawing in it, dramatic situations, and a capital plot. The Rossiter family is one worth knowing. Mr. G. 8. Streets’ recently published “ Book of Essays ” (Constable & Co.), demonstrates that the true art of essay-writing is not dead. His style is bright and pleasant. He gives food for thought  THE AUTHOR. 33 without overtaxing the labour-weary brain; and he takes you into his confidence in a way that makes the reader feel at home at once. He writes as to an old friend and rouses a reciprocity of friendship. A most interesting book entitled “Greek Votive Offerings” is just out. (University Press, Cam- bridge; E. J. Clay & Sons, London, 15s. net.) It is an essay on the history of Greek religion, by W. H. Denham Rouse, F.R.G.S., Sc., Headmaster of the Perse School. There are two plates and many illustrations in the text. The main purpose of this scholarly book is to coilect and classify those offerings which are not immediately perishable; and by examining the oceasion of their dedication and the statements made about it, to trace, if possible, the motives of the dedicator and the meaning which the act had for him. “The Problem of Fiorenzo of Perugia,” a work on Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, the reputed master of Perngino, is at present in the press, and will shortly be published. The authoress is Mrs. Jean Carlyle Graham, a Scottish lady, whose previous literary essays have been chiefly in verse. She has been resident in Perugia for some time, and com- pleted the letterpress of this critical study of an old master in 1901. It is the first serious publica- tion on the subject, in any language. : Under Mr. M.H.Spielmann’s able and complete control The Magazine of Art has started into new and vigorous life. Its price is reduced to 1s. net, while the number of its pages is increased ; a new cover will be used ; new paper is specially manu- factured for its pages, and a new fount of type has been obtained. A most important point is that many artists of eminence have undertaken, by means of articles, to address themselves to the public direct in the magazine. But the most novel feature will be the experi- ment of presenting, at least twice a year, a fine picture by a leading artist. The picture can be won by a subscriber to the magazine by means of a simple competition within the capacity of every- one. We heartily wish Mr. Spielmann, who is a prominent and active member of our Society, all the success he desires for his new series of 7he Magazine of Art. Miss Clementina Black’s “Frederick Walker” (Duckworth’s Popular Library of Art), is a well- written, sympathetic, and discriminating lifelet of this artist, who died all too young. We must make room for a quotation or two :— “To see in Walker nothing but the domestic idealist, is as if one should see in Tennyson only the author of the ‘May Queen’ ...I£ a mushroom could have a soul, Walker might be said to have painted its soul... The background of care, sedulously concealed behind an appear- ance of ease, seems to have been typical of Walker’s work on even the slightest of productions, and was, perhaps, a a matter not so much of deliberate intention, as of inborn character.” “He had in a marked degree that clear perception of the actual world around him without which the creative artist, either in words or in pictures, seldom succeeds in striking any widely and deeply human note ... To have lived intimately with Walker’s work is to dwell thenceforward in a universe, whose common sights of daily life are touched with a new light, and informed with a new beauty—a universe in which humanity seems to call for a deeper tenderness, a more tolerant smile, a gentler recognition.” A yaluable and interesting volume is Mr. Lawrence Binyon’s ‘“ Catalogue of Drawings by British artists, and artists of foreign origin work- ing in Great Britain, preserved in the British Museum.” (Henry Frowde, Amen Corner, E.C., 10s. net.) Here is a specimen of one of Mr. Binyon’s miniature biographies :— KEENE, CHARLES SAMUEL (b. 1823, d. 1871). Draughtsman, etcher and caricaturist ; born in London ; apprenticed as a wood engraver; worked in London for periodicals, and about 1851 began to be employed on Punch, for which the chief part of his life work was done, illustrating the daily life of the people for the latter half of the century with a long series of drawings, unsurpassed for character and humour; illustrated books by Charles Reade and others ; one of the greatest of English draughts- men, and a consummate master of black-and-white. Mr. Owen Seaman’s “ Borrowed Plumes” (Con- stable & Co.) is just out. It is dedicated “To the Authors, many of them my friends, whose methods I have here attempted to imitate ; and in particular to Pearl Mary Teresa Cragie.” Among the authors imitated are, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Mr. Henry James, Mr. Maurice Hewlett, Miss E. F. Fowler, Mr. Hall Caine and Mr. G. Bernard Shaw. ‘These imitations are more than amusing: they convey acute but kindly criticism in every page. We master the temptation to quote, and advise our readers to buy and taste for themselves. “Rabbi Shalem on the Shores of the Black Sea,” by Jaakoff Prelooker, just published by Simpkin Marshall (4s. net), is a romantic narrative dealing with the life of Russian Jews and Christian Dissenters, amongst whom the author laboured for a number of years with the object of bringing about their reconciliation, and possible union. Miss Olive Katharine Parr has written a Dart- moor story book for children. It is illustrated by Mr. E. Wheeler, and is to be published by Messrs. Routledge. . The title of this children’s story is “The Voice of the River.” The river is the beautiful Dart, and the scene is laid at Bray farm. The story 1s quite finished and is in the publisher's hands, but it will not be published for some time.  34 THE AUTHOR. “Pilgrims of Love” by Miss Bessie Hatton, isa over and over again in his book ; to will and to act book of original fairy tales following up her “The are what young men must be taught. Village of Youth,” a new and cheap edition of which M. Hanotaux thinks that at the age of fifteen, is promised by Messrs. Treherne. ‘Pilgrims of boys who are to take up commercial or agricultural Love” has a unique cover in Japanese vellum, careers, should put aside their books and commence daintily decorated by the authoress’ brother-in- work in earnest. law, Mr. W. H. Margeston. The seventh volume of “ Empire libéral,” by M. Miss Hatton is the younger of Mr. Joseph Emile Ollivier, is just published. The chief sub- seett ” ‘Mr. Hatton’s first number jects contained in this volume are the Dismember- Huatton’s two daughters. Mr. Hatton s nis’ T ‘nent of Denmark, the Syllabus, Mexico, Bismark’s of his projected reprints of s ecial pages from his . : : ie meena as Caweie Papers” is pabiehed thismonth abed, “Ue with Napoleon Hit. at Biarritz." One of «Cigarette Paper the Boyioad of Sie Henry SPAN are OF rey A livre aooant . 7 or 9 . . devimg ; ith some notes fo) 3 Pipers of Napoleon III. throws much light on European Tn “Songs of Peace and War” by A. H. Rowland affairs during the years 1864 and 1865. there is a sonnet to Mr. Joseph Chamberlain ; one “ Aux pays d’Homére » ig the title of a new to Cecil John Rhodes (In Memoriam) and one to book by Baron de Mandat-Grancey, who has the Colonial Premiers. There are verses headed written some interesting works on “the United respectively, “ Magersfontein,” “ Bobs,” “Paar- States, England, and Africa. deberg,” ‘“Eland’s River,” etc. etc., as well as “Une Demi-Carriére ” by the Comte de Com- verses “To the Cuckoo,” “Lucerne,” “The minges, is a military novel which is particularly Rural Exodus ” and others. interesting at the present moment. The plot reminds us of the case of the Lieutenant who has recently been tried by court-martial for refusing to eject the nuns from their convent. “Treg veridique histoire d’une petite fille” by Hannah Lynch, is another translation from English. This story appeared as a serial in the Revue de Paris, and is now published in volume form. “Un séjour i ’ambassade de Constantinople,” by boats and gear destroyed. The loss among coasting Mme. la baronne Durand de Fontmagne, Is a most vessels was terrible. interesting account of life in Turkey, when there Mr. Hall Caine’s stage version of his novel “ The Wet? still some Turks, as the authoress says. She ternal City,” which ss roduced at His Majesty’s went outto Constantinople with Madame Thouvenel, TI a ; : eee: Lace wife of the French Ambassador, and the descriptions jeatre on the evening of October 3rd, is attracting . : ee large audiences. It is splendidly staged. Miss and episedes given are mos) Wea) eS Constance Collier lays Roma item tional “La Demoiselle de Puygarrou,” is the pis = piey 2 otional the novel Madame Henry Gréville had just finished “Buchan’s Birs” is an interesting narrative poem of forgotten heroism by Donal O’Ioci. The tale as it stands was written in Australia over ten years ago. It is a true story of an event which occurred towards the end of the devastating storm of November, 1857, which caused ‘such terrible destruction on the North-east Coast of Scotland. Forty-two fishermen perished, and their force, spontaneity and charm. haters her death In Baron Bonelli Mr. Tree has an effective part, M. André Theuriet’s new novel, “ Sceur de lait,” and he makes the most of it. Mr. Robert Taber is also on the theme 80 much in vogue just now. takes the part of Rossi, and Mr. Lionel Brough ‘The story turns on the conflict between the past, plays Bruno Rocco. Mr. Telbin and Mr. Harker with its traditions, and the present, with its modern the artists have never done -better work; the ideas. mounting is quite remarkable. M. Arthur Bucheron, better known by his Mr. RB. C. Carton will not produce any play pseudonym of Saint-Genest, has just died at the until next year. age of sixty-seven. Of late years very little has been heard of him, but formerly his articles in the ee Figaro were most popular, particularly the one addressed to the Marshal Mac-Mahon, which caused PARIS NOTES. the Government to suspend the Figaro for a fortnight. M. Edmond Haraucourt has just published a HE new book by M. Gabriel Hanotaux, ‘‘ Le volume of stories entitled ‘ Les Nanfragés.” Qhoix d’une Carriere,” comes ata very oppor- M. Haraucourt is better known as a poet and tune moment. The question of education dramatic author than asanovelist. His best known — is being discussed both in France and England. plays are “ Don Juan de Manara,” “Jean Bart,” — To know is not everything, the author: repeats and ‘La Passion.” The stories published in this —  THE AUTHOR. 35 new volume are all dramatic and powerful, but the subjects are, on the whole, gruesome. : “Amériques et Américains,” by M. Victor- Thomas, is interesting, and all the more so as it is not a lengthy volume. The author gives us his notes and impressions as briefly as possible. “La Comédie Francaise et la Revolution,” by A. Pougin, gives an interesting account of the history of the theatre during the Revolution. The author tells the whole story of the arrest of the actors, the tragic death of Mlle. Desgarcins and of Grammont, who died on the scaffold in 1794. ; “La Cité Future—Essai d’une Utopie Scien- tifique,” by Ernest Tarbouriech, is an attempt to trace the programme of the constitution of Collectivism. In a volume by Henri Brémond, “Ames Religieuses,’” we have, among other subjects, a sketch of John Keble, and another of Edouard Thring. An English book, entitled ‘Luke Delmege,” by P. A. Sheehan, has probably had a longer review in France than in England. Ten or eleven pages of the “ Revue des Deux Mondes”’ were taken up with the résumé of this Irish story. The play by M. Henry Bauer, ‘‘ Sa Maitresse,”’ at the Vaudeville, was awaited with great curiosity from the fact that the author has hitherto been a rather severe dramatic critic. In the first scenes there were such lengthy harangues, and so little action, that there seemed very little chance of success for the piece, but fortunately all this was redeemed before the end, and the play is certainly a very strong one. M. Deval has opened his season at the Athénée with “ Madame Flirt” by MM. Gavault and Berr. This play was the great success of last season, and had a run of about 260 performances. It was bought for America a few months ago. The chief réles in “ Paillasses,” by Léoncavallo, have been entrusted to MM. Jean de Reszké and Delmas, and Madame Aino Ackté. M. Bernstein has arranged with Mr. Frohman for the English rights of his play “ Détour.” Madame de Nuovina has had great success at Berlin with Massenet’s “Navarraise.” She was recalled time after time, and she appears to have had as great a triumph as Calvé, in the same role in Paris. Madame Réjane has returned from her long tour, and is now preparing her ré/e in the new play to be given at the Vaudeville. M. Bour, whose creations at the Theatre Antoine were so remarkable, has just scored a great success in the réle of Safi in “Triomphe,” M. Robert Bracco’s play. Auys HAuarp. EMILE ZOLA. poe HE tragic death of Zola has cast a gloom over the commencement of the winter season in Paris. Ever since the famous letter “J’ accuse,” many of Zola’s literary friends had held aloof from him, but at present political quarrels and differences of opinion are buried, and his literary work is being discussed and criticized from every point of view. Emile Zola was born in Paris in 1840. His father, who had been an officer in the army, was, at the time of his son’s birth, a civil engineer, and was engaged in making the canal at Aix. Emile finished his education at the Saint Louis College, and on leaving took a situation at the docks at asalary of about ten shillings a week. He soon left this, and his life for many years was a very hard one. He had an attic in the Latin Quarter, and was often without fire in the winter and almost without bread. He consoled himself by writing poetry and many of his “ Contes 4 Ninon.” In 1861, thanks to Dr. Boudet, he obtained a situation at Hachette’s publishing house, at a salary of about a pound a week, where at first he had the parcels to make, but as time went on he was sent into the office, and after writing his first comedy, “’Amoureuse,” M. Hachette engaged him as his secretary. In 1864 his “Contes a Ninon” were published, and in 1865 his ‘Confession de Claude.” He wrote at this time for several newspapers, and gave up his situation at M. Hachette’s for the post: offered him by M. Villemessant on the Avene- ment. His first article, which was a criticism of the Salon, made a great sensation. He had taken up the cudgels for the painter Manet, and he did not spare the jury. After his famous “ Thérése Raquin” in 1867, and “‘ Madeleine Férat ” in 1868, Zola’s work was seriously discussed. His theory was naturalism, and his views on literary matters were considered “revolutionary.” His most important work is the “ Rougon-Macquart ” series of nineteen volumes, containing the “histoire naturelle et sociale d’une famille sous le second Empire.” The author endeavours to show how a family would act in the midst of a given society. Individuals ap- pear at first absolutely dissimilar, but after analysis it is seen how closely they are in reality connected with each other, and by reading the stories of these different lives we have an idea of the atmosphere of the second Empire. This famous series was finished in 1893, and since then Zola has given us a study of other families in the volumes “ Lourdes,” “ Rome,” and “Paris,” and in the series, ‘‘ Quatre Evangiles : Fécondité, Travail,” and “ Vérité.” The last volume  36 which he had planned for this work, “ Justice,” was not even commenced at the time of his death. M. Huysmans tells us the origin of the volume, “ Soirées de Medan.” Before Zola wrote “ VAssommoir” he lived in a small house in the Rue Saint George. He had just published “ La Curée,” and M. Céard, who admired this work immensely, went to call on the author. Zola received him very cordially, and M. Huysmans accompanied M. Céard on his next visit. M. Hennique also went—and Zola already knew Guy de Maupassant and M. Alexis. This little group of literary men agreed to meet and to spend the evening, once a week, at Zola’s house. ‘They decided to publish a volume of stories together, and as by that time Zola had bought his country house at Médan, and the six friends used to go there on Sundays, the volume was entitled “Soirées de Médan,” and was pub- lished in 1880. Only three of the authors survive, Huysmans, Hennique, and Céard. Zola gave “lAttaque du Moulin,” a story he had written in three days for the Revue de Petersbourg ; Maupassant’s story was “‘ Boule-de- Suif” ; Huysmans gave “Sac au dos” ; Hennique, “PAssaut du Grand Six” ; Céard, “ La Saignée”’ ; and Paul Alexis, “ Aprés la Bataille.” They were all episodes of the war of ’70, and 10,000 copies of the volume were published. They were all men of such totally different temperaments that Zola often used to say “ It will be curious to see later on the way we each take in life.” In the Journal des Débats, M. Henry Bidou sums up in a few words the chief characteristics of Zola’s work. “Zola had that first, great quality— strength. He organized an immense work, and there is scarcely anything finer than the end of ‘Germinal.’ There is, however, @ misunderstand- ing in his genius. He was the chief of realists, and the poorest of romantiques. He wished to be a savant, and was an imaginatif, and not a thorough critic by any means. His terrible mistake was that, trusting to a science which he had acquired too hastily, he misunderstood humanity, and we are unfortunately compelled to believe that his convictions were the outcome of his disposition of mind. He sees nothing which is higher than a certain level, and would thus give the lie to Ovid’s lines on man.” M. Anatole France, who spoke at Zola’s grave in the name of his friends, had a difficult task to perform. Since the Dreyfus affair M. Anatole France has been a great admirer of Zola’s courage at that time, and his speech was most eulogistic. Years ago when criticising Zola’s works, M Anatole France said: “ His work is bad, and he is one of those unhappy beings about whom we can only say it would have been better if he had THE AUTHOR. never been born. Certainly I do not deny his detestable fame. . . . Never has any man so com- pletely failed to comprehend the ideal of mankind, ‘La Terre,’ for instance, is nob so much the work of an exact realist as of a perverted idealist. To see in peasants nothing but sensual beasts, is childish, false, and sickly. Peasants are not like this, in the first place, because they have not the time. Zola gives us peasants who get up at dawn, work like horses, and in spite of this, are given up to perpetual fornication. 'This is not so, and if the author invents he should invent something better.” The opinion of M. Barré is that Zola’s work is “a powerful monument which will remain,” but at _ same time he confesses that it does not interest im. M. Rosny considers that Zola’s role in the school of naturalism was only of the second order. He was not a creator, but just the man who made use of the elements of art with which Balzac, Flaubert, and Goncourt had furnished him. Léon Daudet, who from his earliest childhood had been accustomed to seeing Zola, and hearing him discuss literary questions with Edmond de Goncourt and Alphonse Daudet, tells us that the Zola of that time had scarcely changed at all. He had the same nervous, affable voice, the same peculiar intonation, and the same wide forehead wrinkled with thought and anxiety. “ He was in those days,” says Léon Daudet, **a pessimist as regards the present, all his optimism was in a vague future, in a social Utopia, and this stood to him in the place of all dreams, and of the hope in a life beyond. He often declared that work was a sacred thing in itself, and that it was the only means of forgetting life. He was a slave to each one of his books, setting himself each day his task of pages to write, and refusing to be influenced by fatigue, monotony, or disinclination. ‘This terrible persistency permitted. him to fill the number of pages he had determined to write, but effectually banished from his work all joy and serenity. Even when he speaks of the near dawn, and of to-morrow’s sunshine, he is painting black hori zons, and depicting such utter anguish of soul as admits of no hope whatever. The great faults of Zola are his want of selection, and his exaggeration and abuse of the grosser things he describes.” * Anys HALLARD. ee A CAPE LETTER. eee OREMOST among recent local publications K stand two historical works, both from the ens of well-known authorities—“ The Beginning of South African History,” by Dr. Geo. M‘Call Theal, Colonial Historiographer (simul-  THE AUTHOR. 37 s taneously published by Mr. Unwin in ‘London, and by Mr. T. M. Miller in Cape Town), and a new volume of “ Précis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope,” translated by the Rev. H. C. V. Leibbrandt, Keeper of the Archives. The preface to the first-named work describes its somewhat complicated evolution from an earlier but much smaller book, entitled “The Portuguese in South Africa,” which was designed to fill the deficiency in the author’s original “ History of South Africa” with regard to the “ beginning” of South African history, South Africa having since the issue of that work expanded so as to take in (Northern) territory whose history began at an earlier date. Dr. Theal states that, following on the publication of “ The Portuguese in South Africa,” he was com- missioned by the Cape Government to make deeper research on the subject, with the result that he has spent the greater part of the last five years in Europe, translating Portuguese MSS., etc. Most of these translations have already been published under the title of “ Recordsof South-east Africa,” the ninth volume being in preparation ; and the present book is an epitome of their contents. It forms a new Vol. I. to Dr. Theal’s great serial History, whose other volumes are gradually being issued in second editions. There is an introductory chapter on the earliest inhabitants of the country, and the book closes with a couple of added chapters relating to events in Portuguese South-east Africa in the nineteenth century. It contains several interesting old maps and drawings. Mr. Leibbrandt’s new volume of ‘Précis,” a smaller book, covers the years 1671—4 and 1676, and consists of a free translation of the official journals kept under the early Dutch governors of the Cape, with the omission of certain uninterest- ing details. There is no preface, nor are there any other addenda. The simple line “1675 missing” tells the story of the neglect which has allowed several of these valuable old documents to get lost. Like the rest of the series, the volume just issued is of great historical interest, being full of information as to the customs and daily happen- ings of the period. It is often amusing, consciously or unconsciously ; as when one of a marauding party of lions is said to have come “ too near the gun, and was so hit in the brain-pan that he died immediately on the spot,” or in the naive entry, ‘Nothing particular happened!” The matter of a Sunday sermon, the horrible details of a brutal punishment, or a description in unre- strained language of some delinquent’s character, all come within the scope of the record. Under instructions from the Government, Mr. Leibbrandt has edited all the papers connected with “The Rebellion of 1815, generally known as Slachters Nek.” These form a considerable volume, which is in course of publication (Cape Town, J. C. Juta & Co.; London, P. S. King & Co.), a Dutch edition of which will follow immediately. Mr. Leibbrandt has been fortunate in discovering a most complete record of the historic trial. To this he has added many other important documents bearing on the subject. The book (of which the present writer has been privileged to see an advance copy) is provided with a large map of the eastern portion of Cape Colony, showing all places mentioned. In addition to the work already described, Dr. Theal has contributed to the “ Nineteenth Century Series,” published in Toronto, a volume on “ The Progress of South Africa in the Century.” Messrs. J. C. Juta & Co. have republished a number of educational works, the stocks of which were destroyed by fire last year. Among minor publications of the last few months are a large quarter-volume of “Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society” (completing Vol. XI.) ; a Pocket Gazetteer of Cape Colony, and a large number of sectional maps of the Cape and other South African Colonies, issued for the Field Intelligence Department ; “ The City of Grahams- town” (illustrated), by A. Macmillan (J. Slater, Grahamstown) ; a second edition of an elementary phrase-book, etc., of the Secwana language, by A.J. Wookey (Townshend & Son, Vryburg) ; three or four volumes of Law Reports ; numerous leaflets on farming subjects, reprinted from the Agricul- tural Journal; and several Coronation poems in pamphlet form. Mr. T. M. Miller has taken over from Messts. Juta the publication of the Rev. A. Vine Hall’s charming illustrated poem on “Table Mountain,” of which he is shortly bringing out a new and improved edition. The whole stock of this booklet was also destroyed in the fire mentioned above. Two literary items are contained in the Estimates laid before Parliament this Session—viz., payments of £250 to Mr. T. R. Sim for a work on “ Forest Flora,” and of £200 to Mr. A. R. EH. Burton, F.R.G.8., for a handbook of the Colony. The latter volume, which replaces the late Mr. John Noble’s Handbook of 1898, will be published in the near future, but the date of appearance of Mr. Sim’s book is at present indefinite. Mr. Burton, who has for some time past been editor of the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Journal, has accepted a similar appointment under the Transvaal Government. His place on the local journal is taken by Mr. F. D. McDermott. The “ History of the War ” threatened by General Botha and his two comrades-in-arms should prove interesting if it contains many statements as start- ling as that of the Commander-in-Chief of the late Transvaal forces, to the effect that the British  36 for this work, “ Justice,” d at the time of his death. igin of the volume, which he had planned was not even commence M. Huysmans tells us the or « Soirées de Médan.” Before Zola wrote “ Y’Assommoir” he lived in a small house in the Rue Saint George. He had just published “ La Curée,” and M. Céard, who admired this work immensely, went to call on the Zola received him very cordially, and M. author. : Huysmans accompanied M. Céard on his next visit. M. Hennique also went—and Zola already knew Guy de Maupassant and M. Alexis. This little group of literary men agreed to meet and to spend the evening, once a week, at Zola’s house. ‘They decided to publish a volume of stories together, and as by that time Zola had bought his country house at Médan, and the six friends used to go there on Sundays, the volume was entitled “Soirées de Médan,” and was pub- lished in 1880. Only three of the authors survive, Huysmans, Hennique, and Céard. Zola gave “‘l Attaque du Moulin,” a story he had written in three days for the Revue de Potersbourg ; Maupassant’s story was ‘“ Boule-de- Suif” ; Huysmans gave “ Sac au dos” ; Hennique, “PAssaut du Grand Six” ; Céard, “ La Saignée” ; and Paul Alexis, “ Aprés la Bataille.” They were all episodes of the war of 70, and 10,000 copies of the volume were published. They were all men of such totally different temperaments that Zola often used to say “ It will be curious to see later on the way we each take in life.” In the Journal des Debats, M. Henry Bidou sums up in a few words the chief characteristics of Zola’s work. “Zola had that first, great quality— strength. He organized an immense work, and there is scarcely anything finer than the end of ‘Germinal.’ There is, however, @ misunderstand- ing in his genius. He was the chief of realists, and the poorest of romantiques. He wished to be a savant, and was an imaginatif, and. not a thorough critic by any means. His terrible mistake was that, trusting to a science which he had acquired too hastily, he misunderstood humanity, and we are unfortunately compelled to believe that his convictions were the outcome of his disposition of mind. He sees nothing which is higher than a certain level, and would thus give the lie to Ovid’s lines on man.” M. Anatole France, who spoke at Zola’s grave in the name of his friends, had a difficult task to perform. Since the Dreyfus affair M. Anatole France has been a great admirer of Zola’s courage at that time, and his speech was most eulogistic. Years ago when criticising Zola’s works, M Anatole France said: “ His work is bad, and he is one of those unhappy beings about whom we can only say it would have been better if he had THE AUTHOR. never been born. Certainly I do not deny his detestable fame. . . . Never has any man so com- pletely failed to comprehend the ideal of mankind. ‘La Terre,’ for instance, is nob so much the work of an exact realist as of a perverted idealist. To see in peasants nothing but sensual beasts, is childish, false, and sickly. Peasants are not like this, in the first place, because they have not the time. Zola gives us peasants who get up at dawn, work like horses, and in spite of this, are given up to perpetual fornication. 'This is not so, and if the author invents he should invent something better.” The opinion of M. Barré is that Zola’s work is “a powerful monument which will remain,” but at Le same time he confesses that it does not interest im. M. Rosny considers that Zola’s role in the school of naturalism was only of the second order. He was not a creator, but just the man who made use of the elements of art with which Balzac, Flaubert, and Goncourt had furnished him. Léon Daudet, who from his earliest childhood had been accustomed to seeing Zola, and hearing him discuss literary questions with Edmond de Goncourt and Alphonse Daudet, tells us that the Zola of that time had scarcely changed at all. He had the same nervous, affable voice, the same peculiar intonation, and the same wide forehead wrinkled with thought and anxiety. « He was in those days,” says Léon Daudet, “a pessimist as regards the present, all his optimism was in a vague future, in a social Utopia, and this stood to him in the place of all dreams, and of the hope in a life beyond. He often declared that work was a sacred thing in itself, and that it was the only means of forgetting life. He was a slave to each one of his books, setting himself each day his task of pages to write, and. refusing to be influenced by fatigue, monotony, or disinclination. This terrible persistency permitted him to fill the number of pages he had determined to write, but effectually banished from his work all joy and serenity. Even when he speaks of the near dawn, and of to-morrow’s sunshine, he is painting black hori zons, and depicting such utter anguish of soul as admits of no hope whatever. The great faults of Zola ave his want of selection, and his exaggeration and abuse of the grosser things he describes.” * ~~ Atys HALLARD. a A CAPE LETTER. a OREMOST among recent local publications | { stand two historical works, both from the ens of well-known authorities—“ The Beginning of South African History,” by Dr. Geo. M‘Call Theal, Colonial Historiographer (simul-  ao THE AUTHOR. 37 taneously published by Mr. Unwin in ‘London, and by Mr. T. M. Miller in Cape Town), and a new volume of “ Précis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope,” translated by the Rev. H. C. V. Leibbrandt, Keeper of the Archives. The preface to the first-named work describes its somewhat complicated evolution from an earlier but much smaller book, entitled ‘The Portuguese in South Africa,” which was designed to fill the deficiency in the author’s original ‘ History of South Africa ” with regard to the “ beginning” of South African history, South Africa having since the issue of that work expanded so as to take in (Northern) territory whose history began at an earlier date. Dr. Theal states that, following on the publication of “ The Portuguese in South Africa,” he was com- missioned by the Cape Government to make deeper research on the subject, with the result that he has spent the greater part of the last five years in Europe, translating Portuguese MSS., etc. Most of these translations have already been published under the title of “ Recordsof South-east Africa,” the ninth volume being in preparation ; and the present book is an epitome of their contents. It forms a new Vol. I. to Dr. Theal’s great serial History, whose other volumes are gradually being issued in second editions. There is an introductory chapter on the earliest inhabitants of the country, and the book closes with a couple of added chapters relating to events in Portuguese South-east Africa in the nineteenth century. It contains several interesting old maps and drawings. Mr. Leibbrandt’s new volume of “ Précis,” a smaller book, covers the years 1671—4 and 1676, and consists of a free translation of the official journals kept under the early Dutch governors of the Cape, with the omission of certain uninterest- ing details. There is no preface, nor are there any other addenda. The simple line “1675 missing” tells the story of the neglect which has allowed several of these valuable old documents to get lost. Like the rest of the series, the volume just issued is of great historical interest, being full of information as to the customs and daily happen- ings of the period. It is often amusing, consciously or unconsciously ; as when one of a marauding party of lions is said to have come “ too near the gun, and was so hit in the brain-pan that he died immediately on the spot,” or in the naive entry, “Nothing particular happened!” The matter of a Sunday sermon, the horrible details of a brutal punishment, or a description in unre- strained language of some delinquent’s character, all come within the scope of the record. Under instructions from the Government, Mr. Leibbrandt has edited all the papers connected with “The Rebellion of 1815, generally known as Slachters Nek.” These form a considerable volume, which is in course of publication (Cape Town, J. C. Juta & Co.; London, P. 8. King & Co.), a Dutch edition of which will follow immediately. Mr. Leibbrandt has been fortunate in discovering a most complete record of the historic trial. To this he has added many other important documents bearing on the subject. The book (of which the present writer has been privileged to see an advance copy) is provided with a large map of the eastern portion of Cape Colony, showing all places mentioned. In addition to the work already described, Dr. Theal has contributed to the “ Nineteenth Century Series,” published in Toronto, a volume on “The Progress of South Africa in the Century.” Messrs. J. ©. Juta & Co. have republished a number of educational works, the stocks of which were destroyed by fire last year. Among minor publications of the last few months are a large quarter-volume of “Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society” (completing Vol. XI.) ; a Pocket Gazetteer of Cape Colony, and a large number of sectional maps of the Cape and other South African Colonies, issued for the Field Intelligence Department ; “ The City of Grahams- town” (illustrated), by A. Macmillan (J. Slater, Grahamstown) ; a second edition of an elementary phrase-book, etc., of the Secwana language, by A. J. Wookey (Townshend & Son, Vryburg) ; three or four volumes of Law Reports ; numerous leaflets on farming subjects, reprinted from the Agrwui- tural Journal; and several Coronation poems in pamphlet form. Mr. T. M. Miller has taken over from Messrs. Juta the publication of the Rev. A. Vine Hall’s charming illustrated poem on “ Table Mountain,” of which he is shortly bringing out a new and improved edition. ‘The whole stock of this booklet was also destroyed in the fire mentioned above. Two literary items are contained in the Estimates laid before Parliament this Session—viz., payments of £250 to Mr. T. R. Sim for a work on “ Forest Flora,’ and of £200 to Mr. A. R. E. Burton, F.R.G.S., for a handbook of the Colony. The latter volume, which replaces the late Mr. John Noble’s Handbook of 18938, will be published in the near future, but the date of appearance of Mr. Sim’s book is at present indefinite. Mr. Burton, who has for some time past been editor of the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Journal, has accepted a similar appointment under the Transvaal Government. His place on the local journal is taken by Mr. F. D. McDermott. The “ History of the War ” threatened by General Botha and his two comrades-in-arms should prove interesting if it contains many statements as start- ling as that of the Commander-in-Chief of the late Transvaal forces, to the effect that the British  38 blockhouses never gave him any trouble to pass ! Ex-President Kruger’s promised “ defence-work ” is also looked forward to. Among other effects of the war, is the death of the “South African Illustrated Magazine,” a bright and old-established little monthly which we can ill afford to lose. On the other hand, “The Veld,” a high-class monthly illustrated paper, whose special object is the reproduction of Cape scenery, has resumed publication. Two other new magazines are ‘“ The Examiner,” fortnightly (Beaufort West Printing and Publishing Co.) ; and “ Mademoiselle,” a monthly journal for ladies ; whilst ‘The Boys of Africa,” weekly, is due to make its first appearance this month. All the newspapers which thought it prudent to suspend ublication during the more rigorous application of martial law are again being issued. Very long extracts from Mr. William Morris’s Coronation Ode appeared in the Cape Times, with the usual note to the effect that copyright restrained the paper from printing the whole. This style of cheap morality is over-common in the quarter named. Mr. Wilson Barrett’s visit has marked an epoch in our theatrical world. The Cape Town season —which was postponed for a week on account of Mr. Barrett’s very serious illness—included the author-actor’s own “Sign of the Cross ” and “Manxman” (after Hall Caine), the other plays rendered being “The Silver King,” “ Virginius,” “ Othello,” and “ Hamlet.” The last-named pro- duction occupied the boards on the last night of the season only, when each member of the audience was presented with a copy of Mr. Barrett’s essay on “Hamlet” (reprinted from “ Lippincott’s Magazine” of April, 1890). After the perform- ance the distinguished actor and author delivered a personalspeech. Owing to the bad blood existing between rival theatrical managers here, the Cape Town performances had to be given in a very inferior building ; a circumstance which is much deplored. Mr. Barrett's cable to the Zimes sug- gesting the renaming of South Africa raised a regrettable controversy in the local Press, the originator taking a vigorous part, but apparently failing to convert many South Africans to his way of thinking. A private letter from Rolf Boldrewood, the Australian author, dated Raby, Toorak, April 23rd, 1902, and containing the political creed of a “representative Australian,” appeared in the Cape Times a short while ago. Sypngy YorK Forp. Cape Town, September 10th, 1902. ee THE AUTHOR. LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. 1 HE celebrated Festus of the late Mr. P. J. Bailey was published in 1839, just three years before the passing of the Copyright Act, 1842. Had it been published after the passing of that Act the copyright would automatically have lasted for seven years after the death of the author—that is, until 1909. That Act, however, made a special provision in favour of the owners of copyright acquired before its passing, and still subsisting ab the time of its passing. The 4th section enacted that in such cases the copyright should be extended and endure for the full term provided by the then new Act (ie. for seven years after the author’s death or forty-two years, whichever should be the longer period), “provided that in all cases in which such copyright shall belong to a publisher or other person who shall have acquired it for other consideration than that of love and affection, such copyright shall not be extended by this Act, but shall endure for the term which shall subsist therein at the time of the passing of this Act, and no longer, unless the author of such book if he shall be living, or the personal representatives if he be dead, and the proprietor of such copyright shall, before the expiration of such term, consent and agree to accept the benefits of this Act in respect of such book.” The further provision was added that a minute of such consent, in a form scheduled to the Act, had to be registered at Stationers’ Hall. In cases where an author had sold his copyright and not entered into this agreement with the purchaser, the copyright endured only for the term fixed in 1814 by 54 Geo. 3. c. 56—i.e., for twenty- eight years certain after the date of publication and the residue of the life of the author ; so that all copyrights acquired before 1842 have probably expired, unless such agreement was made and registered.—Law Times. —— + Old Books for New. Durina the summer holidays several letters have appeared in the papers giving details respecting the republication by Mr. John Long of a book of Mr. Bernard Capes. ‘The cause of complaint from the author and sundry editors is the fact that although the story had appeared. several years ago in book form, no notification was given to the public. The papers have dealt with the matter from the point of view of the public, and have demonstrated with considerable vigour that such publication is likely to cause serious annoyance to the general reader.  THE AUTHOR. ; . From time to time cases of a similar character have been brought to the offices of the Society. Mr. Capes himself consulted the Society with a yiew to taking action if possible. The opinion of the legal advisers of the Society on this and former occasions has unfortunately been against the authors. Otherwise the committee would gladly no doubt have taken a case in hand, and supported the author in an action in the High Court. Sach a method of publication is not only unfair to the author, but it is also unfair to the public. The publisher is the only person who can hope in these circumstances to reap any benefit from placing the book on the market. It is possible, however, that he may lose in prestige what he gains in hard cash. The facts of the cases that have been investi- gated are generally as follows :— The author in the early days of his career produces a book, and—as a young writer—sells the copyright for a sum down, without knowing exactly the danger of the transaction, or the meaning of the contract that he signs. The book not infrequently has no extended sale, and after a short time ceases to interest the author, the pub- lisher, or the public. A subsequent production brings fame. Then the publisher suddenly re- members that he owns the copyright of an early work. He proceeds to market it again, and generally does so at a time most inconvenient to the author—when, for example, he is producing his latest work with one of the larger publishing houses. On one or two occasions the publisher has run very close to the wind, but has never actually rendered himself legally liable. The only method of dealing with these cases is the method employed by Mr. Bernard Capes—a method the Society has always advocated where the publisher persists in producing the work in spite of the author’s remonstrances. A plain statement of fact published in the newspapers will clear himself and help to protect the public. The nearest approach to committal was a case in which the publisher headed his advertisement “Mr. ’s new novels,” the blank containing the publisher’s name. The work in question cer- tainly was a new novel as far as the publishing house was concerned, but not a fresh novel from the author’s pen. Even in this case the legal advisers of the Society came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to obtain a judgment in the author’s fayour. The real moral of the case is that the author should know what he is selling when he makes his original contract, or should ask advice of some person who is well aware of the intricacies and technicalities involved in a literary agreement. Methods of Distribution. I. THE most important point to an author after the creation of his work is surely how to get his book into the hands of the public. In last month’s Author an article appeared on ‘‘ Methods of Distribution,” with some suggestions. A publisher writing on the subject puts forward some of the reasons why he thinks people do not buy books. He says that the two commonest excuses are that books take up too much room, and are so expensive. People prefer to. borrow from the library, and the libraries in their turn take care to manage with as few books as possible. Instead of trying to push their wares like the bookseller they make no effort to oblige, but merely state that the book is out. and suggest another as an alternative. The publisher also thinks that nett books are regarded by many folk as another put-up dodge on the part of the trade, but as a matter of fact it would be impossible for any man to make a living out of books sold subject to the usual 25 per cent. He ends up by stating that the death of the three- volume novel was the worst day’s work ever done from the point of view of the young and good novelist. These opinions, coming from the source they do, are of importance, and carry a great deal of weight. They should be carefully considered. It is to be hoped that the bookselling trade is not really at such a low ebb. At any rate, it is stated in a daily paper that the American Booklover’s Library has taken London premises. The American Booklover’s Library is run somewhat on the same lines as Messrs. Mudies’. For a fixed subscription it delivers parcels of books at the subscriber's house, and collects them when done with. This American business may perhaps stir up the sleepy traders in books and at the same time do something to break down the enormous critical powers of Messrs. Mudie and Messrs. Smith, which enable them to determine the literary pabulum to be presented to their readers. Although these two houses, by giving books an enormous distribution which could not be achieved by a series of small booksellers scattered all over the kingdom, are no doubt from some points of view highly beneficial to authors and publishers, yet competition is good in all business, but competition must not be allowed to become so acute as to necessitate the creation of a trust. It is to be hoped, however, that the advent of the American Booklover’s Library will not cause the trade to gravitate in this direction. A trust of the distributing agencies of Great Britain might be a worse evil than the present stagnation. a >  40 Il. Srr,—In the October number of The Author, the writer of the above-named article has hit the mark. We are not all geniuses—‘ talent does what it can”—and gets little help. The ordinary author of to-day, if I may so name the greater proportion of writers who write for profit and the benefit of the community, meets with a brick wall “between publication and purchase. Say his book is published on the royalty system, and well re- viewed. So far good; the publisher is hopeful, the author expectant. In many cases the hopes of both are speedily dashed. There is a limited demand, met by the big libraries, a spasmodic sale, and then—the brick wall. Every year a hundred books are in the same plight. Where reststhe blame ? Not with the publishers, not with the librarians, who cannot be expected to speculate, and in nine cases out of ten not with the book. The method of distribution is at fault. The book is blocked from the general public. There is no buyer because there is no seller. Now, the usual bookseller (?) cum-stationer, cum-newsagent, cum- printer, cum-purveyor of fancy goods, must not be asked to know something personally of the con- tents of the season’s hundred books written by the ordinary author. It is asking too much of a man whose interests are split up, who only rubs shoulders with literature en passant. In every town we want, what the writer of the article justly underlines—the book-seller ; a man who has time to think, who can distinguish, who will take works on commission from the publisher—fiction, bio- graphy, travel, religious, scholastic—classify his own printed list, and distribute such, monthly or quarterly, in his own vicinity, and to likely customers. Then the ordinary author will get his chance. The man who wants a book to read will not have to frequent the railway station. He has it, so to speak, under his nose ; and, under shelter and out of draughts, can turn over the pages of clean copies, digest unmutilated reviews, and make up his mind. I refer to the book of ordinary merit—a whole- some attempt to satisfy the cravings of the ordinary reader. The book of genius makes its way over every obstacle; this is ri ght, and inevit- able; but we cannot all eat peaches—we are content to munch many a pear, provided it is not woolly. So with readers and books. No, sir, the author is not content to see the children of his brain die premature deaths for want of a system; but he is deeply indebted to the writer of “The Methods of Distribution” for bringing this vexed question to the front. Let others speak. Your obedient servant, ‘Tus Orpinary AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR. Nett Books. Srvce the nett book system has been intro- duced, the attention of Authors has been drawn to some of the dangers which may possibly arise. Tt is as well to repeat these warnings, as the evils are constantly recurring, and the possible sufferers do not as yet appear to realise the changes taking place in the book trade. When Authors sign agreements they should be very careful to see that it is clearly stated whether their books are to be published subject to the usual discounts or at a nett price. If the published price is merely a nominal price, the Royalty as set out in the tables put forward im The Author, and in Sir Walter Besant’s work, “The Pen and the Book,” will as a rule hold good, but even then the “thirteen as twelve” must be taken into consideration. The reader is referred to the last number of The Author. But if the book is published as a nett book, them the Author must reconsider his position and must revise his royalty. It should be pointed out in addition, that the Royalty paid on nett books is usually paid on every copy sold, and not on “thirteen as twelve.” The price of a book published at 6s., subject to the usual discounts, is equivalent to 4s. 6d. nett. Ts it fair that the Author should sign an agree- ment on the tacit understanding that the book should be published under the ordinary methods | with the usual deductions, and then suddenly find | when the book is placed on the market that it is marked as a nett book? He receives thereby a smaller share of the profits, and the publisher receives a larger share. The case, however, is still worse when a publisher suddenly produces an edition of a book at a nett price which has already been selling for some years in accordance with the older system, #.¢., subject to the 25 per cent. discount to retail buyers. For example, he sells at 6s. nett instead of 6s, with: discount. The Author gets, say, 6d. a copy, and has been receiving that amount since the first publication of the book. But the publisher, who got, say, 10d. a copy on the discount book, will receive at least 1s. 10d. on the nett book. Secure in the terms of his agreement, he boldly repudiates any liability to the Author. The sales. of the book will no doubt be reduced by the rise in price, but they would have to be reduced more: than 50 per cent. to affect the publisher. The Author is the only one who suffers. Put aside the legal aspect. Is this fair trading? What would the Publishers’ Association think of this transaction ? The older and more responsible firms would surely indignantly repudiate these methods. Have they any power to make their opinions felt? It | } } Baa i ae THE AUTHOR. would be interesting to state a formal case for their consideration. It is faults like these that the Association would do well to correct. —_—_—_———_—_+—>—_+__—_— PHOTOGRAPHIC COPYRIGHT. + OW that the editors of illustrated papers and magazines raise so great a demand for the photographic reproduction of men and women, famous and infamous, illustrious and notorious, it may be useful to say a few words on the question of copyright in photographs, and the law bearing on the subject. Statutory copyright was given to paintings, drawings, and photographs by 25 & 26 Vict. c. 68, the first section of which, the most important, runs as follows :— « The author, being a British subject or resident within the dominions of the Crown, of every original painting, ‘drawing, and photograph which shall be or shall have been made either in the British Dominions, or elsewhere, and which shall not have been sold or disposed of before the commencement of this Act, and his assigns, shall have the sole and exclusive right of copying, engraving, reproducing, and multiplying such painting or drawing, and the design thereof, or such photograph and the negative thereof, by any means and of any size, for the term of the natural life of such author, and seven years after his death ; provided that when any painting or drawing, or the negative of any photograph, shall for the first time after the passing of this ‘Act be sold or disposed of, or shall be made or executed for ‘or on behalf of any other person for a good ora valuable ‘consideration, the person so selling or disposing of or making or executing the same shall not retain the copyright thereof, unless it be expressly reserved to him by agreement in writing, signed at or before the time of such sale or disposition, by the vendee or assignee of such painting or -drawing, or of such negative of a photograph, or by the person for or on whose behalf the same shall be so made or executed, but the copyright shall belong to the vendee or assignee of such painting or drawing, or of such negative -of a photograph, or to the person for or on whose behalf the same shall have been made or executed ; nor shall the vendee or assignee thereof be entitled to any such copy- tight, unless, at or before the time of such sale or disposition, an agreement in writing, signed by the person so selling or -disposing of the same, or by his agent duly authorised, shall have been made to that effect.” The Act, unlike the Literary Copyright Act, does not indulge in definitions. From some points of view this is an advantage ; from others, a disadvantage. A book is carefully defined in the Literary Copy- right Act. The lack of definition in the Artistic Copyright Act leaves the difficult proposition to be solved by the intelligence of the judge, with not infrequently a more satisfactory result than if it was left to the intelligence of the draughtsman. Copyright in paintings, drawings, and photo- graphs, it will be seen from the section, starts from the making of the work, and lasts for the life of the 41 author and seven years after his death. In the case of paintings and drawings the determination of the date gives rise to many difficulties, but with regard to photographs need not be further discussed. It is certainly a pity that the alternative of a fixed number of years has not been given, as is the case with books under the Literary Copyright Act, and that the term should run from the making instead of from the publication. The treatment of the subject, however, is in accordance with the treatment of all questions of copyright. Wherever it has been possible for the Legislature to confuse the copyright-holders it has succeeded in doing so, and diverse methods have been employed where the nature of the property demanded the closest analogy. The duration of copyright having been deter- mined, it will be evident that the two most important points are: (1) Who is the author of the work ? (2) Who is the employer? Upon the first depends the commencement of the copyright term, and upon the second in many cases depends the solution of who is the rightful owner of the property. With regard to No. 1— Who is the author ?”— one or two actions have been brought and the point has been raised ; but the judges, dealing in each special case with “ who was not the author,” by a negative process have shirked giving a positive definition. It may be as well, however, to quote the words of the Master of the Rolls in the case of Nottage v. Jackson, as it is the best dictum so far on the point :— “ The author of a painting is the man who paints it, the author of a drawing is the man who draws it, of a photo- graph the author is the person who effectively is as near as he can be the cause of the picture which is produced, that is, the person who has superintended the arrangement, who has actually formed the picture by putting the people into position, and arranging the place in which the people are to be—the man who is the effective cause of that. Although he may only have done it by standing in the room and giving orders about it, still it is his mind and act, as far as anybody’s mind and act are concerned, which is the effective cause of the picture such as it is when it is produced.” If this is correct the person who actually snaps the photograph or uncovers the camera need not in any sense be the author of the photograph. A point of this kind, however, does not interest: the subject so much as it would interest the photo- grapher. The latter, no doubt, takes good care to protect himself by agreement with his assistant or by some other method. Next comes the question, “ Who is the em- ployer ?” When a person goes to have his photograph taken and pays the ordinary fee asked by the photographer, the position is clear and indisputable. He is the  40 I. Smr,—In the October number of 7’he Author, the writer of the above-named article has hit the mark. We are not all geniuses—“ talent does what it can”—and gets little help. The ordinary author of to-day, if I may so name the greater proportion of writers who write for profit and the benefit of the community, meets with a brick wall “between publication and purchase. Say his book is published on the royalty system, and well re- viewed. So far good; the publisher is hopeful, the author expectant. In many cases the hopes of both are speedily dashed. There is a limited demand, met by the big libraries, a spasmodic sale, and then—the brick wall. Every year a hundred books are in the same plight. Where rests the blame ? Not with the publishers, not with the librarians, who cannot be expected to speculate, and in nine cases out of ten not with the book. The method of distribution is at fault. The book is blocked from the general public. There is no buyer because there is no seller. Now, the usual bookseller (?) cum-stationer, cum-newsagent, cum- printer, cum-purveyor of fancy goods, must not be asked to know something personally of the con- tents of the season’s hundred hooks written by the ordinary author. It is asking too much of a man whose interests are split up, who only rubs shoulders with literature en passant. In every town we want, what the writer of the article justly underlines—the book-seller ; a man who has time to think, who can distinguish, who will take works on commission from the publisher—fiction, bio- graphy, travel, religious, scholastic—classify his own printed list, and distribute such, monthly or quarterly, in his own vicinity, and to likely customers. Then the ordinary author will get his chance. The man who wants a book to read will not have to frequent the railway station. He has it, so to speak, under his nose ; and, under shelter and out of draughts, can turn over the pages of clean copies, digest unmutilated reviews, and make up his mind. I refer to the book of ordinary merit—a whole- some attempt to satisfy the cravings of the ordinary reader. The book of genius makes its way over every obstacle; this is right, and inevit- able; but we cannot all eat peaches—we are content to munch many a pear, provided it is not woolly. So with readers and books. No, sir, the author is not content to see the children of his brain die premature deaths for want of a system; but he is deeply indebted to the writer of ‘“‘ The Methods of Distribution” for bringing this vexed question to the front. Let others speak. Your obedient servant, THE ORDINARY AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR. Nett Books. Since the nett book system has been intro- duced, the attention of Authors has been drawn to some of the dangers which may possibly arise. It is as well to repeat these warnings, as the evils are constantly recurring, and the possible sufferers do not as yet appear to realise the changes taking place in the book trade. When Authors sign agreements they should be very careful to see that it is clearly stated whether their books are to be published subject to the usual discounts or at a nett price. If the published price is merely a nominal price, the Royalty as set out in the tables put forward in The Author, and in Sir Walter Besant’s work, “The Pen and the Book,” will as a rule hold good, but even then the “thirteen as twelve”? must be taken into consideration. The reader is referred to the last number of The Author. But if the book is published as a nett book, then the Author must reconsider his position and must revise his royalty. It should be pointed out in addition, that the Royalty paid on nett books is usually paid on every copy sold, and not on “thirteen as twelve.” The price of a book published at 6s., subject to the usual discounts, is equivalent to 4s. 6d. nett. Is it fair that the Author should sign an agree- ment on the tacit understanding that the book | should be published under the ordinary methods | with the usual deductions, and then suddenly find ; when the book is placed on the market that it is marked as a nett book? He receives thereby a smaller share of the profits, and the publisher receives a larger share. The case, however, is still worse when a publisher suddenly produces an edition of a book at a nett: price which has already been selling for some years. in accordance with the older system, ¢.e., subject to the 25 per cent. discount to retail buyers. For example, he sells at 6s. nett instead of 6s. with discount. The Author gets, say, 6d. a copy, and has been receiving that amount since the first publication of the book. But the publisher, who got, say, 10d. a copy on the discount book, will receive at least 1s. 10d. on the nett book. Secure in the terms of his agreement, he boldly: repudiates any liability to the Author. The sales of the book will no doubt be reduced by the rise in price, but they would have to be reduced more- than 50 per cent. to affect the publisher. The Author is the only one who suffers. Put aside the legal aspect. Is this fair trading > What would the Publishers’ Association think of this transaction ? The older and more responsible firms would surely indignantly repudiate these methods. Have they any power to make their opinions felt? It  THE AUTHOR. would be interesting to state a formal case for their consideration. It is faults like these that the Association would do well to correct. Oe PHOTOGRAPHIC COPYRIGHT. ——>+— OW that the editors of illustrated papers and magazines raise so great a demand for the photographic reproduction of men and women, famous and infamous, illustrious and notorious, it may be useful to say a few words on the question of copyright in photographs, and the law bearing on the subject. Statutory copyright was given to paintings, drawings, and photographs by 25 & 26 Vict. c. 68, the first section of which, the most important, runs as follows :— «“ The author, being a British subject or resident within the dominions of the Crown, of every original painting, drawing, and photograph which shall be or shall have been ' - made either in the British Dominions, or elsewhere, and which shall not have been sold or disposed of before the commencement of this Act, and his assigns, shall have the sole and exclusive right of copying, engraving, reproducing, and multiplying such painting or drawing, and the design thereof, or such photograph and the negative thereof, by any means and of any size, for the term of the natural life of such author, and seven years after his death ; provided that when any painting or drawing, or the negative of any photograph, shall for the first time after the passing of this Act be sold or disposed of, or shall be made or executed for or on behalf of any other person for a good or a valuable ‘consideration, the person so selling or disposing of or making or executing the same shall not retain the copyright thereof, unless it be expressly reserved to him by agreement in writing, signed at or before the time of such sale or ‘disposition, by the vendee or assignee of such painting or -drawing, or of such negative of a photograph, or by the person for or on whose behalf the same shall be so made or executed, but the copyright shall belong to the vendee or assignee of such painting or drawing, or of such negative -of a photograph, or to the person for or on whose behalf the same shall have been made or executed ; nor shall the vendee or assignee thereof be entitled to any such copy- right, unless, at or before the time of such saleor disposition, an agreement in writing, signed by the person so selling or disposing of the same, or by his agent duly authorised, shall have been made to that effect.” The Act, unlike the Literary Copyright Act, does not indulge in definitions. From some points of view this is an advantage ; from others, a disadvantage. A book is carefully defined in the Literary Copy- right Act. The lack of definition in the Artistic Copyright Act leaves the difficult proposition to be solved by the intelligence of the judge, with not infrequently a more satisfactory result than if it was left to the intelligence of the draughtsman. Copyright in paintings, drawings, and photo- graphs, it will be seen from the section, starts from the making of the work, and lasts for the life of the 41 author and seven years after his death. In the case of paintings and drawings the determination of the date gives rise to many difficulties, but with regard to photographs need not be further discussed. It is certainly a pity that the alternative of a fixed number of years has not been given, as is the case with books under the Literary Copyright Act, and that the term should run from the making instead of from the publication. The treatment of the subject, however, is in accordance with the treatment of all questions of copyright. Wherever it has been possible for the Legislature to confuse the copyright-holders it has succeeded in doing so, and diverse methods have been employed where the nature of the property demanded the closest analogy. The duration of copyright having been deter- mined, it will be evident that the two most important points are: (1) Who is the author of the work ? (2) Who is the employer? Upon the first depends the commencement of the copyright term, and upon the second in many cases depends the solution of who is the rightful owner of the property. With regard to No. 1—‘ Who is the author ?”— one or two actions have been brought and the point has been raised ; but the judges, dealing in each special case with “who was not the author,” by a negative process have shirked giving a positive definition. It may be as well, however, to quote the words of the Master of the Rolls in the case of Nottage v. Jackson, as it is the best dictum so far on the point :— “The author of a painting is the man who paints it, the author of a drawing is the man who draws it, of a photo- graph the author is the person who effectively is as near as he can be the cause of the picture which is produced, that is, the person who has superintended the arrangement, who has actually formed the picture by putting the people into position, and arranging the place in which the people are to be—the man who is the effective cause of that. Although he may only have done it by standing in the room and giving orders about it, still it is his mind and act, as far as anybody’s mind and act are concerned, which is the effective cause of the picture such as it is when it is produced.” If this is correct the person who actually snaps the photograph or uncovers the camera need not in any sense be the author of the photograph. A point of this kind, however, does not interest the subject so much as it would interest the photo- grapher. The latter, no doubt, takes good care to protect himself by agreement with his assistant or by some other method. Next comes the question, “ Who is the em- ployer ?” When a person goes to have his photograph taken and pays the ordinary fee asked by the photographer, the position is clear and indisputable. He is the  42 employer, and obtains copyright for the life of the author and seven years afterwards. In most cases, however, unless there is some special contract, the actual negative is the property of the photographer. Nowadays, such is the craze for notoriety, that it has become the custom of the photographer to ask subjects to give him a sitting. (Ja Mr. Macgilli- vray’s book on “The Law of Copyright,” just published, by Mr. John Murray, he states, in an ingenuous way, that the sitter in these cases is probably an actress or an athlete, so little does he appear to have realised the vanity of human beings.) The point then arises, “ What valuable con- sideration, if any, has been given 2” As a general rule, none to the photographer, who, on the con- trary, as often as not presents a few copies of the photograph to the sitter. If the sitter pays for these photographs the matter is more difficult, and it must be considered whether the amount the sitter pays would be merely for the reproductions he has obtained, or would raise the presumption of employment within the meaning of the Act. This must depend in each case upon the special facts. The valuable consideration that the photographer receives need not necessarily be a money one. It may be a licence to publish and sell subject to terms. Here, again, the final decision must depend upon the special facts. There are two further points of importance dealing with the same subject. One is the ques- tion of transfer, and the other the question of registration. On reference to the section of the Act quoted above, it will be seen that, unless the copyright is either specially reserved by the author when making an assignment or specially transferred to the vendee in writing, neither party will obtain it, but it will become public property ; such is the absurd arrangement, statute made, for the transfer of artistic property. This difficulty does not of course arise if there is direct employment for valuable consideration, With regard to the second point, registration is an essential. Here, again, stands out another divergence between the Literary and Artistic Acts. In the Literary Copyright Act registration is only necessary before action is taken, and such registra- tion refers back to the date of publication. In artistic copyright, however, it is impossible to bring an action for infringement of rights before registration. In consequence registration is an essential, and an important essential. Registration takes place at Stationers’ Hall. t is not necessary to discuss in detail the particulars required when filling up the forms. Full explanation of these will be given at the office. It should be noted that a photographer who has taken a photograph on the ordinary terms of THE AUTHOR. employment, and publishes that photograph without leave, can be sued by the employer for infringement of contract, even though the photograph was not registered. International copyright of photographs under the Berne Convention must be left over for another time. Photographs are included in the list of things protected by the International Copyright Act. What photographs are copyright and what are not copyright, the duration of copyright, and other details in foreign countries is a very large and difficult subject. TONNAGE OF BRITISH BOOK EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. — > [From the Publishers’ Circular, and reprinted by the kind. permission of Scott, Greenwood & Co.] . FFICIAL statistics of exports and imports of books for last year compared with four pre- vious years,from which some extracts are given, compel serious consideration. The particulars of exports of British-made goods show that there has been a steady increase since 1897 in the total value of books exported. Turning to the various markets, there has been a steady increase in the value of books exported to Japan, Atlantic ports of the United States, and to Denmark. . The imports show a slight increase in 1901 com- pared with 1900, but a decrease when comparing the former year with 1897 and 1898. The exports to America amount to more than half the total amount exported to foreign countries. Curiously enough, the imports of books from Hol- land almost equal in quantity and value those from the United States. his may be accounted for by the large numbers of English books printed in Holland, but it should not be forgotten that imports from that country often include goods from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc., shipped to Great Britain via the Hook of Holland or Flushing. In July, 1902 the value of exports from Great Britain shows an increase of £9,000 compared. with July, 1901, and £29,000 compared with 1900. The weight of these books was 22,806 cwts. in July, 1902, and 22,261 in July, 1901. This increase in the exports is an important sign. It would have been of further interest to know of what volumes these 505 cwts. were composed that. made an increase of £9,000 in value.  THE AUTHOR. 43 Exports to ForEIGN COUNTRIES. Quantities. Value. Ee , | See ae oe 1897 | 1898 1899 1900 1901 | 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 jt ae | Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. | Cwts. a £ £ £ £ | 67,655 | 66,864 | 70,665 | 81,258 | 75,107 499,723 506,262 | 537,486 578,779 587,219 | | Exports to British POSSESSIONS. | | | | | 139,697 | 144,911 | 157,015 | 157,522 | 172,591 831,270 | 830,287 | 906,949 890,037 965,558 Z oye el ee a | Total | 207,352 | 211,775 | 227,680 | 238,780 | 247,698 | 1,330,993 | 1,336,549 | 1,444,435 1,468,816 | 1,552,772 . Iuvorts FRomM ForREIGN COUNTRIES. 45,054 | 40,969 | 41,688 | 40,139 | 44,834 | 269,522 245,424 224,073 228,799 244,278 Imports FROM BririsH POSSESSIONS. | | | ' | | 1 | | | 1,430 | 1,879 | 1,810 | 765 1,143 || 7,872 | 9,251} 10,097 | 4,930 | 6,889 ee ee oes _| LE | Total | 46,484 | 45,977 | 277,394 254,675 045,170 | 233,709 | 251,167 } | | ae 43,448 | 40,904 | THE COMPLETE AUTHOR.* —-—— ay practical guide to authorship has yet to be written. Mr. Lacon Watson’s “ Hints to Young Authors ” is an attempt to remove this reproach, and, so far as it goes, it is a well carried out one. Unfortunately, it does not go far enough: nor is it remarkably practical. In- deed, the “ young author’”’—and the old one, too, for that matter—may rise from its perusal with his knowledge on the subject but very little increased thereby. The work of genius, however, is not to be made by instructional manuals, and great circu- : y : S * province of authorship proper. They deal instead lations will ever be achieved without resort to these adventitious aids. Mr. Lacon Watson’s name is familiar on the title-pages of several agreeable novels, while he has also been responsible for some excellent journalism in the better known among the evening papers. He is, accordingly, fully qualified to treat of the important subject of * “Vints to Young Authors,” by E. H. Lacon Watson. (London: Grant Richards.) authorship. The professional writer will probably be of opinion that he takes a rather more opti- mistic view of the craft than hard facts will warrant. He observes, for instance, that while a certain novelist of his acquaintance has no par- ticular difficulty in making from six to eight thousand pounds a year out of pen, paper, and brains, “the few at the apex of the pyramid do even better than this.” Such as these latter are remarkably few, and in all probability they are either dramatists, or, in addition to being novelists, they devote their superfluous energy to other forms of making money. A large proportion of the “hints” in this volume are rather outside the with such bye-ways of the calling as reviewing, cultivating editors, paragraph writing, and free-. lance journalism generally. A whole chapter, too, is devoted to describing a literary club, and the manner in which certain more or less distinguished members of the world of letters unbend when in its precincts. It is all entertainingly and interest- ingly done, however, even if it fails to show the seeker after big circulations how he may best attain his object.  GENERAL MEMORANDA. 1 ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property —: I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a pad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to: (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- _duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for ‘‘ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. 5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or -doctor ! Ill. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures -connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the -* Cost of Production.” IV. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four -above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from -the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded ‘from the outset are :-— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or -withheld. ——_—__—_- + WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. > EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2, {t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. THE AUTHOR. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on. the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the: play should be performed. (c.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (.2., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply also in this case. 4. PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time, This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights ina play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘they should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he rums a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that fora novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY. <_< ___— HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. ———— 1. VERY member has a right toask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel's opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel's opinion, All this without any cost to the member.  8 a it n | 2 4 a THE AUTHOR. 2, Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinarysolicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3..Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination, 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers : —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. This 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. The must be done within fourteen days of first execution. Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members, 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. 2 —_ ay ao THE READING BRANCH. EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term MSS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea, ——-_+—~_ 6 NOTICES. 1 HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. subscription for the year. 45 Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. ¢—<>— as COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EpITOoR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. SREY aca eae THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. —+ HE Musical Summary Proceedings Copyright Act has now been running for a month, Three points appear to be noticeable. Firstly, the agents who have acted on behalf of the Musical Copyright Association have taken the vendor of pirated copies before the magistrate, and then failed to produce evidence of title. In these circumstances the question has had to beadjourned. The magis- trates in some instances have made remarks about the time of the Court being wasted by such adjournment. In future the agents will no doubt be fully prepared. The second point is one due to the faultiness of the Act, and attention was drawn to it in the last number of Zhe Author. It is impossible to ascertain who are the printers of these pirated copies, as the vendors in every case refuse to give up the names. They know well that if they stick by the printers they will be able to obtain another supply when necessary. The third case is that of a vendor who kept his stock in a sack, or at the nearest publichouse. He held a few copies in his hand ; these the agent secured as they were exposed for sale, the stock was beyond his reach. ‘This, to the lay mind, may seem a curious interpretation of the Act, and may lead to further difficulties and complications, The following interesting story in the history of authorship is taken from the American Author. Can anyone quote an analogous tale, in which an  46 author has had a difficulty in establishing his own identity ? “The autumn announcements of Messrs. Lee and Shepard begin with the autograph edition of Mrs. Elizabeth ‘Akers’s “Sunset Song, and Other V erses,” a volume of poems hitherto unpublished, with a single exception, * Rock Me to Sleep, Mother,” which is printed at the end of the volume with a spirited note from the publisher, giving its history. The Saturday Evening Post originally printed the poem, paying the author five dollars. A firm of music publishers issued it with a setting by Ernest Leslie and paid nothing, but munificently offered the author five dollars apiece for any more songs as good as the first. As their profits during the first six months amounted to many thousands, they could then afford this extravagance, but when Mrs. Akers actually sent them a song they refused it, on the ground that they “could do nothing with it.” A few years after the first appearance of the song Mr. ‘Alexander T. W. Ball, of New Jersey, declared that it was his. Certain newspapers espoused his cause, and had he not published_ what Mr. Rossiter Johnson calls the most absurd pamphlet ever written the real author might have been deprived even of the credit of originating her pseudonym of “Florence Percy.” The pamphlet aroused some able defenders for her, and at last the late William Douglas O’Connor, writing in the New York Times, utterly crushed Mr. Ball’s pretensions to be “ Florence Percy,” or anything but an imitator. In her new volume Mrs. Akers includes a grateful eulogy of her defender.” The editor of a certain literary paper in the United States is in the habit of endeavouring to answer some of the literary conundrums of his readers. ‘A correspondent wrote to him on one occasion stating that after a lengthy debate about a well- known novel by a modern writer it was decided to take the editor’s opinion upon the moral tone of the book. The editor was fearful of a trap. His response was given with the wisdom of a Solomon: “ With regard to the book in question, if you will tell us the things you think about it, I will then tell you whether the things 1 think about it are the same as those things which you think about it.” We trust the contributor was satisfied. The Dumas Centenary has just gone by. To those who are interested in these anniversaries the following list may afford some useful information :— Bulwer Lytton (1903), Beaconsfield (1904), Haw- thorne (1904), Whittier (1907), Longfellow (1907), Tennyson (1909), Holmes (1909), Poe (J 909), Gautier (1911), Thackeray (1911), Dickens (1912), Harriet Beecher Stowe (1912), Henry Ward Beecher (1918). A correspondent sends us the enclosed : « Certain officials of the income tax department, the police court, not to mention census takers, and THE AUTHOR. the registrars of limited companies, demand a description of one’s trade or profession. For myself, I make a humble living from the making of novels, and have persistently written myself down ‘ novelist. This is almost invariably ignored, and for it is substituted ‘ gent.,’ which is vague, ‘ esq.," which is inaccurate, or ‘journalist,’ which J am not. “Can anyone suggest a better term? ‘ Littérateur’ I object to for patriotic reasons. “ Man of letters’ is clumsy and misleading—indeed, it is more suggestive of a compositor or a window-ticket stenciller. ‘Writer’ might be all very well in England, but amongst Scots it would lead to misapprehension. « | should be very much obliged for a suggestion, as I have bought a motor car recently, and am just now being officially asked for a description of my- self with much frequency.” YACHTSMAN. ——__—__——_+ <> KN ACADEMY OF LETTERS. ———-—+— 1 O judge by the autumn announcements of certain publishing houses, masterpieces— in one department of literature at least— are being just now showered upon us, thick as the falling leaves. This is inspiriting news ; or would be so, had one the happiness to belong to that con- siderable section of the British public which has kept its first innocence in regard to advertisement, still believing that things printed and things true are necessarily one and the same. Not belonging to that enviable section, one is constrained to admit a doubt of the entire reliability of these announcements, while the simile of the falling leaves takes on @ slightly sinister significance. For to one whose memory carries him back some twenty, thirty, or possibly more years, it too often appears that though the annual output of books has trebled, may be quadrupled, masterpieces have by no means multiplied in proportion during that period. And this is liable to make him reflective, since he is one of a generation which—without vanity—had, in its youth, more than a bowing acquaintance with masterpieces. He grows sad, for, as he reflects, it even occurs to him that English literature, in its higher and more dis- tinguished expression, is sick, almost sick unto death. Then he looks round anxiously, asking whether from any quarter may come some effective remedy, some wise physician capable of giving new life to this moribund creature. Hence it is that some of us hail the idea of an English Academy of Letters, regarding it as a possible remedial agency  SO ASD rregt RD Sees ) SELF THE AUTHOR. AT which, allowed time and patience, may eventually restore to our over-prolific and under-vitalised literature a measure of its earlier dignity, beauty, and strength. After all an Academy of Letters, that is a central authority having practical jurisdiction in technical literary questions, is no such innovation in the history of our literature as its opponents would have us believe. Until recently it has always existed, if not explicitly, yet implicitly ; and its judgments have been obeyed or defied—in either case to the wholesome stimulation of literary effort. Ard that such central authority, whether vested in a single individual—as Dr. Johnson—or a group of persons—such as Pope, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the wits surrounding them whose quarrels and reconciliations make such diverting reading—to mention but two examples among many—that this central authority did on the whole make for literary righteousness, main- tained a high standard of style and of taste, encouraged intelligence, damned not only dull- ness but vulgarity and folly, supported the dignity of letters, securing to them a solid standing and value in our national life, is, surely, incon- trovertible. That this central authority was in the past, and will most probably be in the future, subject to a few of the unamiable weak- nesses common to mankind, that it may have its moments of envy and jealousy, that it did not in the past, and may not in the future, always acclaim the advent of budding genius with unlimited enthu- siasm, is beside the mark. Genius, especially English genius, which is wont to be of a very sufficiently robust and self-confident sort, may safely be left to take care of itself. Should an Academy of Letters unwisely try to extinguish some twentieth-century Byron, it will fail just as absolutely as the “Scotch Reviewers” failed to extinguish those “English Bards” whom the nineteenth-century Byron so wittily defended. It may seriously be questioned whether genius, worth the name, has ever suffered permanent injury yet from the pressure of adverse criticism brought to bear upon it in its youth. Genius which has not the courage of its convictions, is not really genius at all. It is not, therefore, mainly in the interests of genius—which sooner or later is bound, by right divine, to conquer and control the intellectual and artistic life of its day—but in the interests of the rank and file of writers, who produce the great bulk of contemporary poetry, fiction, drama, criticism, elles lettres, that an English Academy is just now so urgently needed. For the majority of these, indeed, “wander ”—as_ the Psalmist has it—‘‘in the wilderness in a solitary way, and have no city to dwell in.” The right of private judgment has run mad, thanks to a graft- ing of so-called modern ideas upon the old Protestant stock. The result, as Mr. Herbert Trench has admirably pointed out, is anarchy ; and anarchy always has been, and always must be disastrous to art. One cannot but believe that a central authority, composed of the ripest and most gifted minds of our day, would in time evolve order out of thischaos; and, imposing its influence upon the conscience and imagination of the rank and file of writers, convince each literary aspirant that merely to do right in the sight of his own eyes, merely to follow his own immature and unstable opinions, is to court an oblivion even more speedy than is his natural inheritance. As Maxime du Camp has well said—* Les lettres consolent de tout, & la condition que lon y reste, que Von se donne « elles sans esprit de retour et que Von les respecte absolument.” And it is this, the dignity, the consoling efficacy, the high, national, as well as personal, worth of letters, that it is so eminently desirable a central authority should bring home to the writers of the younger generation. For unquestionably one of the main causes of the present poverty—in quality not alas! in quantity—of literary work in England, is the refusal of the younger writers to give them- selves loyally. Their tendency is to regard letters as a means, not as an end. They will have letters lead on, by way of notoriety or hard cash, to quite other forms of activity—to society, to politics, to philanthropy—of the more public sort. Letters have become a form of self-advertisement. Not the book, but he or she who writes it, is too often the main object to him or her self. It may be argued that thisis very human—pathetically, engag- ingly so. Granted. Only let it be remembered literature is a jealous mistress. No art—just as no god—endures a divided allegiance for long. These writers may leave letters for something they reckon more worthy of their attention; but not, in the majority of cases, before letters have rather conspicuously left them. It is easy for the poor to gird at riches. Yet one cannot but fancy that before the millionaire— Trans-Atlantic, Semitic, Colonial—invaded English society and materialised our ambitions and ideals, matters were different in this particular. We know, on the highest authority, it is not easy for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; and one ventures to suspect it is equally difficult for him to enter into the Kingdom of Art—except as a purchaser. We can hardly blame him if, confused by the evident power of wealth, he fails to understand that to own a work of art is not necessarily to possess it, and that to pay for a work of art is by no means the same as to produce it. Under this head he suffers strong  AG author has had a difficulty in establishing his own identity ? “The autumn announcements of Messrs. Lee and Shepard begin with the autograph edition of Mrs. Elizabeth Akers’s “Sunset Song, and Other Verses,’ @ volume of poems hitherto unpublished, with a single exception, “ Rock Me to Sleep, Mother,” which is printed at the end of the volume with a spirited note from the publisher, giving its history. The Saturday Evening Post originally printed the poem, paying the author five dollars. A firm of music publishers issued it with a setting by Ernest Leslie and paid nothing, but munificently offered the author five dollars apiece for any more songs as good as the first. AS their profits during the first six months amounted to many thousands, they could then afford this extravagance, but when Mrs. Akers actually sent them a song they refused it, on the ground that they “ could do nothing with it.” A few years after the first appearance of the song Mr. ‘Alexander T. W. Ball, of New Jersey, declared that it was his. Certain newspapers espoused his cause, and had he not published what Mr. Rossiter Johnson calls the most absurd pamphlet ever written the real author might have been deprived even of the credit of originating her pseudonym of ‘“ Florence Percy.” The pamphlet aroused some able defenders for her, and at last the late William Douglas O’Connor, writing in the New York Times, utterly crushed Mr. Ball’s pretensions to be “ Florence Perey,” or anything but an imitator. In her new volume Mrs. Akers includes a grateful eulogy of her defender.” The editor of a certain literary paper in the United States is in the habit of endeavouring to answer some of the literary conundrums of his readers. ‘A correspondent wrote to him on one occasion stating that after a lengthy debate about a well- known novel by a modern writer it was decided to take the editor’s opinion upon the moral tone of the book. The editor was fearful of a trap. His response was given with the wisdom of a Solomon: “ With regard to the book in question, if you will tell us the things you think about it, J will then tell you whether the things I think about it are the same as those things which you think about it.” We trust the contributor was satisfied. The Dumas Centenary has just gone by. To those who are interested in these anniversaries the following list may afford some useful information :— Bulwer Lytton (1903), Beaconsfield (1904), Haw- thorne (1904), Whittier (1907), Longfellow (1907), Tennyson (1909), Holmes (1909), Poe (1909), Gautier (1911), Thackeray (1911), Dickens (1912), Harriet Beecher Stowe (1912), Henry Ward Beecher (1918). A correspondent sends us the enclosed : “ Gertain officials of the income tax department, the police court, not to mention census takers, and THE AUTHOR. the registrars of limited companies, demand a description of one’s trade or profession. For myself, I make a humble living from the making of novels, and have persistently written myself down ‘ novelist. This is almost invariably ignored, and for it is substituted ‘ gent.,’ which is vague, ‘esq.,’ which is inaccurate, or ‘journalist,’ which I am not. “(an anyone suggest a better term? ‘ Littérateur’ I object to for patriotic reasons. ‘ Man of letters ’ is clumsy and misleading—indeed, it is more suggestive of a compositor or a window-ticket stenciller. ‘Writer’ might be all very well in England, but amongst Scots it would lead to misapprehension. «J should be very much obliged for a suggestion, as I have bought a motor car recently, and am just now being officially asked for a description of my- self with much frequency.” YACHTSMAN. —_—_———__1+—>—_ > AN ACADEMY OF LETTERS. ——-— + iT O judge by the autumn announcements of certain publishing houses, masterpleces— in one department of literature at least— are being just now showered upon us, thick as the falling leaves. This is inspiriting news ; or would be so, had one the happiness to belong to that con- siderable section of the British public which has kept its first innocence in regard to advertisement, still believing that things printed and things true are necessarily one and the same. Not belonging to that enviable section, one is constrained to admit a doubt of the entire reliability of these announcements, while the simile of the falling leaves takes on a slightly sinister significance. For to one whose memory carries him back some twenty, thirty, or possibly more years, it too often appears that though the annual output of books has trebled, may be quadrupled, masterpieces have by no means multiplied in proportion during that period. And this is liable to make him reflective, since he is one of a generation which —without vanity—had, in its youth, more than a bowing acquaintance with masterpieces. He grows sad, for, as he reflects, it even occurs to him that English literature, in its higher and more dis- tinguished expression, is sick, almost sick unto death. Then he looks round anxiously, asking whether from any quarter may come some effective remedy, some wise physician capable of giving new life to this moribund creature. Hence it is that some of us hail the idea of an English Academy of Letters, regarding it as a possible remedial agency  THE AUTHOR. AT which, allowed time and patience, may eventually restore to our over-prolific and under-vitalised literature a measure of its earlier dignity, beauty, and strength. After all an Academy of Letters, that is a central authority having practical jurisdiction in technical literary questions, is no such innovation in the history of our literature as its opponents would have us believe. Until recently it has always existed, if not explicitly, yet implicitly ; and its judgments have been obeyed or defied—in either case to the wholesome stimulation of literary effort. And that such central authority, whether vested in a single individual—as ))r. Johnson—or a group of persons—such as Pope, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the wits surrounding them whose quarrels and reconciliations make such diverting reading—to mention but two examples among many—that this central authority did on the whole make for literary righteousness, main- tained a high standard of style and of taste, encouraged intelligence, damned not only daull- ness but vulgarity and folly, supported the dignity of letters, securing to them a solid standing and value in our national life, is, surely, incon- trovertible. That this central authority was in the past, and will most probably be in the future, subject to a few of the unamiable weak- nesses common to mankind, that it may have its moments of envy and jealousy, that it did not in the past, and may not in the future, always acclaim the advent of budding genius with unlimited enthu- siasm, is beside the mark. Genius, especially English genius, which is wont to be of a very sufficiently robust and self-confident sort, may safely be left to take care of itself. Should an Academy of Letters unwisely try to extinguish some twentieth-century Byron, it will fail just as absolutely as the ‘Scotch Reviewers” failed to extinguish those “English Bards” whom the nineteenth-century Byron so wittily defended. It may seriously be questioned whether genius, worth the name, has ever suffered permanent injury yet from the pressure of adverse criticism brought to bear upon it in its youth. Genius which has not the courage of its convictions, is not really genius at all. It is not, therefore, mainly in the interests of genius—which sooner or later is bound, by right divine, to conquer and control the intellectual and artistic life of its day—but in the interests of the rank and file of writers, who produce the great bulk of contemporary poetry, fiction, drama, criticism, belles /ettres, that an English Academy is just now so urgently needed. For the majority of these, indeed, “ wander ”—as_ the Psalmist has it—‘in the wilderness in a solitary way, and have no city to dwell in.” The right of private judgment has run mad, thanks to a graft- ing of so-called modern ideas upon the old Protestant stock. The result, as Mr. Herbert Trench has admirably pointed out, is anarchy ; and anarchy always has been, and always must be disastrous to art. One cannot but believe that a central authority, composed of the ripest and most gifted minds of our day, would in time evolve order out of this chaos ; and, imposing its influence upon the conscience and imagination of the rank and file of writers, convince each literary aspirant that merely to do right in the sight of his own eyes, merely to follow his own immature and unstable opinions, is to court an oblivion even more speedy than is his natural inheritance. As Maxime du Camp has well said—* Les lettres consolent de tout, & la condition que Pon y reste, que Von se donne a elles sans esprit de retour et que Von les respecte absolument.” And it is this, the dignity, the consoling efficacy, the high, national, as well as personal, worth of letters, that it is so eminently desirable a central authority should bring home to the writers of the younger generation. For unquestionably one of the main causes of the present poverty—in quality not alas! in quantity—of literary work in England, is the refusal of the younger writers to give them- selves loyally. Their tendency is to regard letters as a means, not as an end. They will have letters lead on, by way of notoriety or hard cash, to quite other forms of activity—to society, to politics, to philanthropy—of the more public sort. Letters have become a form of self-advertisement. Not the book, but he or she who writes it, is too often the main object to him or her self. It may be argued that thisis very haman—pathetically, engag- ingly so. Granted. Only let it be remembered literature is a jealous mistress. No art—just as no god—endures a divided allegiance for long. These writers may leave letters for something they reckon more worthy of their attention; but not, in the majority of cases, before letters have rather conspicuously left them. It is easy for the poor to gird at riches. Yet one cannot but fancy that before the millionaire— Trans-Atlantic, Semitic, Colonial—invaded English society and materialised our ambitions and ideals, matters were different in this particular. We know, on the highest authority, it is not easy for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; and one ventures to suspect it is equally difficult for him to enter into the Kingdom of Art—except as a purchaser. We can hardly blame him if, confused by the evident power of wealth, he fails to understand that to own a work of art is not necessarily to possess it, and that to pay for a work of art is by no means the same as to produce it. Under this head he suffers strong  48 delusion, and, the worst of it is, a rich man’s delusions are rather violently infectious. Thanks mainly to him, money has become the measure of suecess in literature—the having made money enough to be practically free of literature, able to go away and play at something else—almost any- thing will serve—is the most triumphant success of all. And to make money in any consider- able quantity the modern author must conciliate the “popular shilling.” He must write down. to the understanding of the vast semi-educated public, English and American, which has next to no power of discrimination or sense of values— how should it have them ?—which demands that which is at once superficial and extravagant, that which at once flatters and emboldens its own cheap opinions and tastes. Thus, from above and from below alike, the best literature, in every department, is in risk of being strangled. Individually the inordinately rich—from the social atmosphere they create—collectively the compara- tively poor—from the necessity the writer is under to secure their suffrages—are alike its enemies. Time was when one feared to meet a renowned author lest his personality should prove less interesting than his books. Now it is all the other way. One fears to read the books lest they should fall short of the charm and ability of their author. To invert a famous saying, these gentlemen talk like angels while, too often, they write like poor Poll. For it seems incredible that such very well- equipped persons could not give us worthier books if they really tried. Then one begins to entertain an unpleasant suspicion that they are a little ungenerous, that they are saving themselves, only putting so much strength into their work as will just make it pay, while carefully husbanding the rest for something quite other than letters. Ts it too much to hope that a recognised central authority—to which the elect among themselves may presently belong—an association of the most distinguished and enlightened minds of our day, might provoke in the rank and file a finer ambition and higher conception of the dignity of their calling, a sounder scholarship, a greater humanity and love of beauty, a greater self-forgetfulness in work ? Only to do this, our Academy must itself be broadly based, be fearless and impartial, liberal in sympathy and in thought. It must have—if one dare say so—no conscience save the literary one. For the last thing we want just now is a multi- plied censorship, a Vigilance Committee, or Church Congress, or Conference of Head-Masters, or Prim- rose League, least of all a Social Bureau under another name. In England pedants too often render learning odious, and purists render art ridiculous, and little schools with their little shibboleths are a weariness to humour and to ‘speak—of all this. THE AUTHOR. common sense. We want no legalising—so to Our Academy is designed to combat prejudice, not to stereotype it. If it is to be truly efficacious it must not narrow, but widen the literary outlook. It must exist not for itself, but for others; not for the glorification of the past even, but for the redemption of the present and inspiration of the future. Its func- tion, to put it briefly, is not the laudation either of itself or of dead lions; but—far humbler one— the salvation of live dogs. Upon the practical organisation of an English Academy of Letters, the present writer is not qualified to speak. Still he would venture to add two names to those already suggested by Mr. Herbert Trench as members of a possible -central. committee— namely, that of Algernon Charles Swinburne, our greatest living poet, and that of Thomas Hardy, one of our two greatest living novelists. Lucas Maer. ——— II. I have no sympathy whatever for the proposal to form any such body as a British Academy of Letters, although I have every sympathy for the spirit in which Mr. Herbert Trench pro- poses it. And, as Mr. Trench argues in general principles, it may be permitted to condemn his scheme upon them. Viewed through the colour of his bright spirit no doubt the Academy shines like a temple on Olympus: without his glasses it would show in a generation as a clique in St. James’s. An academy is nothing if not academic : its republicanism degenerates into oligarchy : its principles become rigid: it ends in unimposing senility. However its members are chosen there must inevitably be a tail of medio- crities, and this tail by the mere efflux of time will wag the dog. The newer members will be choked by the fetid atmosphere which their elders breathe with placid enjoyment ; the whole body will be a corporation without a soul and nothing to kick. _No academy or academic body has ever encouraged originality ; and by the very nature of academies none ever will. But they have often crushed it, often swallowed it. Mr. Trench’s notions of criticism are in themselves conserva- tive: indeed, the very notion of a formal judg- ment is conservative, and the spirit of conservatism is the one thing which it is desirable to avoid in literature. For conservatism can always take care of itself: the traditions in a.writer’s mind, without any external reinforcement, are, as most men can recognise on analysis of their moods, the great enemy of their progress and originality. What makes Mr. Trench imagine that the  THE AUTHOR. 49 endorsement of Matthew Arnold by Messrs. Lecky and Bryce would help other spirits than those now in touch with that poet? At the best they might make him fashionable; at the worst they would make themselves ridiculous. It is ‘sufficient that Arnold and Tourgueniev should be on the way to immortality by the slow decay of their more futile rivals. An academy, inevitably destined by its nature to worship form, is more likely to renew Tennyson’s hold upon the bourgeois than to attach him to any greater poet. Mr. Trench is a poet : his notion of an academy is poetical: it is a dream. To translate such a vision into a body of men is as futile a task as to stage the Keltic imagination. The appeal of pure literature is by its very nature personal, and an academy is a crowd, a lower organism, a thing of averages, make-shifts, mutual concessions, mass prejudices. We are better without it. a Morey ROBERTS. —_+—+— III. I don’t think an Academy of Letters can possibly ‘be invented to do what those who advocate the estab- lishment of one desire. It would be admirable if we could have a body to “hall-mark,” as Mr. Trench puts it, what is really of fine quality so soon as it appears, but the nearest approach we can ever get to such a body is a large well-educated reading public, keenly interested in criticism; and even then there will be winds and currents of favour. The chief objection to Mr. Trench that occurs to me is the fact that a man may bea quite splendid figure in contemporary literature, and yet spend remarkably little time in the research after con- temporary merit, much less contemporary promise. Consider three names Mr. Trench has given. What good would Mr. George Meredith be in the capacity of a hall-marker if—as I have heard asserted—he confines his reading to the literature of France, or Mr. John Morley (who is engrossed — in politics), or Mr. Frazer, whose rich work in anthropology is no guarantee that he has the slightest qualification for what would be one of the most difficult and unavoidable tasks of this hall-marking Academy, the sifting of contemporary fiction? There are men to whom no one would deny the crowns and glories of literature, but it is another matter to ask them to control its des- tinies. Mr. Trench, like most Academy projectors, overlooks the fact that a new addition to literature is almost invariably a breach of the established boundaries, a variation of style, matter, treatment, a revelation of new aspects and new thoughts. I do not see that it is reasonable to expect the Old Men, resting gloriously amidst their accomplished work, to bother about the New Men, or to assimi- late the new views. They are far more likely to fill their gaps with the Scholarly Gentleman, the Able Imitator—quite apart from wire-pulling and intrigue and the natural desire of those who have arrived and are accepted to lead a pleasant life. Far more efficient to the end Mr. Trench desires would be an Academy of lively and contemporary critics —Messrs. Gosse, Edward Garnett, Waugh, Bennett, William Archer, Street, Chesterton, for example— but even then. . . . Probably they would never be sufficiently agreed to elect anybody. And before ever you come to the question of replacement you have to consider that you will never get a really literary Academy as things are at present. You will get a few indisputable literary figures, the conscience members one might call them, and the rest will be men who are really only well-bred, influential amateurs, men no one would dream of putting into an Academy if they had done just exactly what they have done now from the starting point of a lower class home. There are Mr. Balfour, for example, and Lord Rosebery. You will never be able to float an Academy without this element unless you have that educated public we need— and then your Academy, I submit, will be totally unnecessary. The Good Outsider, that Intrusive Bounder, who is the living soul of literature, will be left outside anything Mr. Trench and his fellow workers can possibly invent, and the Uninspired Respectability will be in—from the very beginning. It is inherent in the nature of Academies and unavoidable. You don’t get “hall-marked”’ till you are dead and a little obsolete. This is sad for the innumerable authors now palpitatingly con- scious of superlative merit, but it is one of the things you have to make your peace with in the literary life. H. G. WELLs. See gs IV. In The Author of October, p. 23, I read that a recent writer thinks “that an incorporated society might snuff out Wordsworths, Coleridges, Blakes, and Shelleys.” It seems worth while to note that Coleridge was not “snuffed out,” though he was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Litera- ture, to which a charter was granted by King George the Fourth, seventy-six years ago, accord- ing to Haydn’s Book of Dates. Lirr. 1. ee Vv. The Editor has received a letter from Mr. William Romaine Patterson (“Benjamin Swift”), in which he regrets that he is unable, through  50 pressure of business, to write an article for the columns of the Author, but states that he is in sympathy with Mr. Herbert Trench’s views. ' “ It seems to me,” so runs the letter, ‘high time that those for whom English literature is a great inheritance should unite against the vulgar mob of writers and readers who are at the present moment degrading its traditions. ———— — VI. Dear Srr,—The evils which Mr. Trench justly deplores are due, not to the absence of an Academy of Letters, but to the absence of men, and to the vulgarity of the epoch. It is a pity that this question was not agitated in the mid-Victorian era, when a galaxy of genius almost as bright as the Elizabethan would have given dignity to the first Academy. Now we are in the trough of reaction, and must wait till there exists a body of men sufficiently weighty to overbear all cavil. Yours faithfully, J. ZANGWILL. —_—_——_1—>—_+—___—_—__ THE DICKENS FELLOWSHIP. Sdn ane HE Dickens Fellowship had a splendid send- off at its first meeting at Anderton’s Hotel last Monday evening. The hall was crowded, and the meeting of the most enthusiastic kind. Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, an old friend of Charles Dickens, was in the chair, and among those present were Mr. and Mrs. Hall Caine, Mr. F. G. Kitton, Mr. Francesco Berger, Mr. Arthur Waugh, and Mr. Harry Furniss. Sympathetic messages were read from the veteran actor, Mr. J. L. Toole, Mr. M. H. Spielmann, and others. A very charming telegram was received from Sir Henry Irving just as the meeting commenced. It was as follows :— “Love and greetings to all. I wish I could be with you to-night. Hope I may at some future time.” Mr. Fitzgerald, in opening the proceedings, thanked the meeting for having invited him to occupy the chair, as it was always a delight to him to take a part in anything that was done to honour the memory of Charles Dickens. He was one of the few left who had known Dickens personally. He had walked with him, talked with him, and had travelled with him. He thought that outside Dickens’s own family there were only two men left who had been in close intimacy with him, and those were Mr. Marcus Stone and himself. They might congratulate themselves sincerely THE AUTHOR. upon the numerous attendance at the meeting, and! also upon the way in which the idea of the Fellow- ship had been taken up. Already there had been no less than 600 applications for membership, and there were proposals for the affiliation of the clubs in different parts of the country with the society. Then, again, only the other day two American ladies called upon the Secretary and said that it would give them great pleasure to act as mission- aries on behalf of the society in their own country. Then there was the telegram from Sir Henry Irving. Having spoken of the gentlemen whom it was pro- posed to elect as vice-presidents, a list of whom is given later on, Mr. Fitzgerald proceeded to say that it was proposed to have monthly meetings in connection with the society, on which occasions there would be papers read on some subjects connected with Dickens. . In this connection he would deprecate panegyric, and hoped that they would devote themselves more to a critical study of Dickens and what scholars called the exegesis of his works. A great deal of amusement was to be derived from the study of any author’s writings, because most authors were very fond of putting their own experiences into their books. It was well known that a great deal of Dickens’s biography was to be found in his writings, which were so sympathetic and so emotional. Mr. Fitzgerald proceeded, by reference to the “ Pickwick Papers” and to other writings of Dickens, to give instances of the author’s incorporation of his own experiences in his books. Speaking of “Pickwick,” he said it was a most marvellous book. It was written by a young man of twenty-three or twenty- four, and yet it contained the observations and experience which would guide a man through life. It was usually supposed that ‘‘ David Copperfield ” contained the real autobiography of Dickens, but he was almost inclined to think that “ Pickwick,” especially the earlier portion, contained a great deal more of his early history, and he would go so far as to say that it was entirely made up of reminiscences and recollections of what had occurred to himself. Mr. Fitzgerald proceeded to speak of the association of Dickens with Rochester, and how this locality figured in his books. His first book was about Rochester, and his last, when the pen fell from his hand, was about the same lace. : It was very commonly thought that Dickens was a town man, but the fact was that his writings showed an extraordinary knowledge of country life, and nothing was better than his descriptions of that life. Dickens enjoyed country walks, and from personal experience he (Mr. Fitzgerald) could say that he was a splendid walker. He thought nothing of a twenty miles’ daily walk. Mr. Fitz- gerald proceeded to explain how a number of  THE AUTHOR. localities which had been sketched in Dickens’s different works had been identified, and spoke in particular of how he had secured the material for the Eatanswill election from an electoral contest at Ipswich which he had reported for the Morning Chronicle. Mr. Hall Caine, who next addressed the meeting, said he was delighted to take his part in the establishment of the Fellowship. He had con- tributed in some degree to history, dictionaries, and biographies, and he had even written reviews of novels. None of these had exhausted all his faculties, but he could. honestly say that in the creation of the novel the author had to exert all his strength. He rejoiced in assisting in the establishment of a Dickens Fellowship, because he realised that Dickens was a leader of his craft. In his opinion Dickens was the greatest novelist of the Victorian or of any era, and he might ven- ture the further opinion that he was the greatest novelist of England or any other country. His influence was even now wider than that of any other. He rejoiced, too, because Dickens was in everything a man of principles. He loved truth, and he loved justice, and he was the exponent of the whole science of humanity. In an eminent ‘degree he was a friend of the poor, and he was ever ready to say the strong word on behalf of the down-trodden. Then Dickens stood for the love of morality. He never hesitated to present things in their nakedness, but the virtue in him was that vice was always given its true picture. Dickens loved humanity, and that was the reason that humanity loved Dickens. Then Dickens stood for the love of God. Therefore, by establishing a Dickens Fellowship, they were encouraging truth, justice, morality, and the love of humanity, and thus they would be breaking down the barriers between man and man, and between nation and nation. For these reasons he wished the Dickens Fellowship every possible success. Mr. Arthur Waugh said that it had been suggested to him by a very able critic and editor that there was no particular “use” for such a Fellowship as this. Well, if it came to that, in the words of that stern moralist, Mr. Albert ‘Chevalier, ‘‘ What’s the use of anythink? Why, nothink !” But if anything that appealed to the cause of intellectual progress was of “use” in the world, then there would be abundant use and value in this commemoration of the greatest novelist of his time, who taught men so much sympathy and humanity, and who was.as much alive now as ever when he was writing, and would continne to live long after his critics and detractors were forgotten. Mr. Harry Furniss, in a very humorous speech, 51 which provoked much laughter, spoke particularly of the illustrators of Dickens, and expressed the opinion that he had never yet been properly illustrated. His fat women were made thin, and some like fault could be found in many of the illustrations of his characters. The difficulty was that Dickens was so great an artist himself, that one could see the characters standing out in his pages better than any artist could drawthem. He was so fond of Dickens that he employed his spare time in illustrating him, but whether his work would ever see the light he did not know. He added that he had been brought up on Dickens since he was a small boy, and he was bringing up his children on Dickens too. Mr. Kitton and Mr. Francesco Berger briefly addressed the meeting. The election of officers then took place, Mr. Percy Fitzgerald being unanimously elected as President for the year, then Mr. Hall Caine, Mr. F. G. Kitton, Mr. Harry Furniss, Mr. Francesco Berger, Mr. W. Moy Thomas, Mr. M. H. Spiel- mann, Mr. Arthur Waugh, Mr. J. L. Toole, Mr. Hammond Hall, and Sir Henry Irving were elected as Vice-Presidents, and Mr. B. W. Matz as Hon. Secretary and Treasurer. “Household Words,” founded by Charles Dickens over 50 years ago, was declared the official organ of the Dickens Fellowship. At the conclusion of the meeting a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Percy Fitzgerald was moved by Mr. Harry Furniss, seconded by Mr. Hall Caine, and carried unanimously. —_—_——_1—<>—__+___—_—_- “THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.” October, 1802—October, 1902. HE centenary of The Edinburgh Review is an co historical event which cannot be passed over by any literary paper, and it is fitting that we should offer a special word of congratula- tion upon it to Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., who are in 1902, as they were in 1802, the publishers of what is still a leading enterprise in periodical literature. It is a very easy matter to criticise adversely the early numbers of the Review, and to express some tolerant surprise at the amazing popular success it immediately achieved ; but to do this is to miss part, if not indeed the major part, of its original purpose. That it was not primarily in- tended to deal with literary matters is evident from the fact that the words “and Critical Journal” form only its sub-title. Jeffrey himself wrote as follows to a friend who raised the point :— 52 “The Review has but two legs to stand on— Literature is one of them, but the right leg is Politics.” It would be more fair, therefore, for those who would seek to deprecate the worth of the Review, as originally issued, to devote their energies to riddling its political front instead of focussing their attention upon its critical articles. Yet, so far as we are aware, this has not been seriously attempted. Omitting, as outside our province, any discussion of the many political questions dealt with as they arose by the Edinburgh Reviewers, and of the treatment they received at their hands, it is yet proper to observe that the function of a great review is to anticipate the trend of thought upon subjects of the most diverse interest, to concen- trate the general attention within practicable Vimits, and to divert public opinion into that channel which it believes will lead to the happy issue. This 7he Edinburgh Review most certainly did. It stood for Whiggery first of all, and how- ever it may have blundered in its critical articles, it became a political force. Its politics may have been damnable, but its policy was soundly laid and has endured for a century. : It is possible that the explanation of its resisting power may be found in its consistency. Jeffrey’s instructions to Macvey Napier as to the responsi- bilities incidental to the editorial management of anonymous journalism have been preserved, and they have always ruled the conduct of the Review :— “There are three legitimate considerations,” he says, “by which you should be guided in your conduct as Editor generally ; and particularly as to the admission or rejection of articles of a political sort :—1. The effect of your decision on the other contributors upon whom you mainly rely ; 2. Its effect on the sale and circulation, and on the just authority of the work with the great body of its readers ; and 3. Your own deliberate opinion as to the safety or danger of the doctrines maintained in the article under consideration, and its tendency either to promote or retard the practical adoption of those liberal principles to which, and ¢heir prac- tical advancement, you must always consider the journal as devoted.” .. . The Edinburgh Review has at any rate been con- scientious and consistent, and it preserves vitality at the expiration of a hundred years. People who are interested in tracing the practical operation of principles in the trivial affairs of life may find some food for reflection in the fact. Sydney Smith and his friends not only correctly estimated the proper functions of their Review, but they seized the proper moment for its estab- lishment. By the mere fact of doing the right thing at the right time they justified their pre- THE AUTHOR. tensions to occupy the pulpit, and on the whole acquitted themselves remarkably well. Journalistic conditions are so different now from what they were then that it is impossible to realise the effect the Review had upon the intelligent community. The French Revolution had lately upset the mental equilibrium of the world, and thinking men were eager to keep abreast of the wave of intellectual activity that was sweeping over Europe. The founders of The Edinburgh Review perceived this. and leaped forward. They had enthusiasm. They were on the side of the angels, and were at pains to let everybody know it. If they sometimes used exaggerated language, they did so with the utmost purity of motive. They thought it better to cry “Havoc” when they scented battle, than to cry “Peace”? when there was no peace. And, humanly speaking, they were right. That the Review should be shorn of much of its political power in these later days is no reproach to it. History is made so rapidly that men cannot wait for quarterlies to shape their opinions on affairs. But The Edinburgh Review stands for Whiggery to-day as it stood a hundred years ago, and still enjoys the closest personal relations with the leaders of that great historical party. To make any adequate comment on its services. as a critica] journal in the space at our disposal is manifestly impossible. It established a precedent for criticism in the grand manner in periodical literature, and if it sometimes blundered, this was. the exception, not the rule. To look over the volumes of the Review is to peep into a vast mine of erudition, and its articles summarising the known facts of any given subject dealt with in books, or groups of books, remain models of what such literary essays should be. The art brought to such polished perfection by Macaulay, and first displayed to a delighted world through the medium of The Edinburgh Review, still has many able exponents. That the daily, or even the weekly, newspapers can cope with a tithe of the books poured upon the market is out of the question ; they must either ignore them or spare them space for a wholly inadequate “notice.” As the writer of the historical survey in the centenary number of The Edinburgh Review remarks: ‘ Books that. have taken able and learned men years to write deserve to be pondered, not merely to be read, by those who would give a really adequate account of them, and would criticise them in the old and true sense of the word. It is one advantage of the quarterlies that even in these days of electricity they have time to think.” It is probable, therefore, that it is as a critical journal rather than as a political review that The Edinburgh will continue its long and honourable career, and, as such, the twentieth century will  THE AUTHOR. 53 have use for it. That it will maintain its old tradition of anonymity is devoutly to be wished, for so long as it preserves its characteristics, only advantage can be derived from its articles carrying the full weight of the journal’s prestige, instead of the mere weight given them by the qualifications of the individual writers. These characteristics are erudition without dulness, scholarship without pedantry, and dignity with restraint. We need them sorely in this age of flamboyant politics, hysterical journalism, and superficial cleverness, and we are confident that we shall continue to find them in The Edinburgh Review. So shall the judge not be condemned, even though the guilty sometimes go scot free. —____—___e——__. AN AUTUMN SALE. + soap first crisp breath of autumn in the air felt pleasant after the heat and closeness of an unusually dry summer. I paused for a moment outside an A.B.C. shop, undecided whether to have a cup of tea there, or wait till I got home ; as I did so a bill fastened to the swing doors of the adjacent building attracted my attention. It was worded as follows :— Sate. THs Day. END OF SEASON. In order to make room for an entirely new stock of Sea-side novel plots, and Summer Number novelties, the following Lots of valuable material for the manu- facture of Christmas Stories will be sold by auction. Sale at 2.45 for 3 to the minute. Then followed a lengthy catalogue, which at first T could not understand. It being then a quarter past three, and having rather a weakness for attending sales, I opened the swing doors, and walked inside. A crowd of persons of both sexes filled the reom, the faces of some seeming to bear striking resemblance to portraits [ had seen in the illus- trated magazines. The auctioneer was at his desk, hammer in hand ; but I saw no signs of the property which was to be sold. The assistant, who on these occasions exhibits the lots by holding them up, or handing them round, sat, in his shirt-sleeves, at a side table, having before him a list, and a pile of envelopes, each of which was numbered. “Two shillings I’m bid,” the auctioneer was chanting. ‘Two shillings, two and three, two and six. Two and six for the haunted room, with wood fire, and four-post bed; two and six ; why the room itself is worth the money, nothing ever seen, but people die of fright, and are found with petrified look of horror on their faces in the morning. No advance on two and six? Come, we must get on. Going at two and siz—at two and six!” Rap. I did not see who had secured the bargain, but the price seemed ridiculously small for a haunted room, four-post bed, and wood fire ; and I expressed this opinion to a seedy, elderly-looking man who stood by my side. “Small! Pooh—nonsense,” he replied. “ Quite out of date now. I know that bed; slept in it myself a dozen times—at least my characters have. You wouldn’t get ten shillings a thousand for it now.” “Not ten shillings for a thousand bedsteads ?”’ I repeated, astonished. “No, words,’ he snapped. “ Don’t you under- stand this is an end-of-the-season clearance sale of material for Christmas stories.” “ But it still wants three months to Christmas.” ‘© Of course, but the Christmas stories have all been written long ago; most of them finished before Midsummer Day. Buyers are acquiring stuff now with an eye to publication in fifteen months’ time.” “Less talking, please,” cried the auctioneer. “We've got to the end of the Haunted Houses, and now we come to Lot 15. A ship’s captain and a plum-pudding. By the way, Sam, isn’t there a storm at sea goes with this lot ?” “It’s put along of the other storms,” answered Sam, referring to his list. “There y’are : Lot 43, a storm at sea; two snowstorms; and some wind, rain, and hinky darkness.” “It ought by rights to have gone with this lot,” said the Knight of the Hammer. “Still, we'd better keep to the catalogue. What shall we say for the sea captain and his plum-pudding?” Will someone start the bidding ?” “Old as the hills,’ grumbled my companion. “Done to death, both in letterpress and illustration.” An elderly lady with spectacles eventually bought the captain and pudding, though at a price which the auctioneer declared was “ giving the things away.” «Tot 16” was the next announcement. “ 7'wo starving children; one drunken father ; and an angel, slightly damaged. What's the matter with the angel, Sam?” “ Hold age, I suppose,” mumbled Sam. “The feathers is a-coming out of its wings.” ’ %  bd THE AUTHOR. “ Perhaps it’s moulting, sir,” suggested a wag in the crowd. “Jn that case we may hope the feathers will come again ; at all events there’s no doubt about the children and drunken father. Now, what shall we say for Lot 16?” The spectacled lady was again a bidder, but this time she was not going to have it all her own way, for the lot seemed to have taken the fancy of a rotund, benevolent-looking gentleman, dressed in clerical clothes. Neither, however, seemed. inclined to pay a long price, and the hammer fell on the lady’s bid. : «“ That’s Miss Selina Simmonds,” muttered my companion. “ She’s prepared to buy up any amount of cheap stuff. Writes Children’s Columns and that sort of thing.” ° “4 mad engine-driver; an armed commercial traveller ; a night express ; and a@ broken viaduct,” read out the auctioneer. “ That lot’s withdrawn,” remarked Sam. “ How’s that ?” “J dunno; it ain’t here. Better take the next.” “ Lot 18,” went on the auctioneer, brightening up. ‘“ Here’s something quite novel and up to date. Society lady, with smirched reputation ; and a double suicide. Just the thing for a Christmas number. Wait a moment; we'll take Lot 19 with it, and try them together. Lof 19, @ phial con- taining a narcotic drug.” To my surprise the bidding for this property was quite brisk, the best-dressed portion of the audience seeming to vie with each other for its possession. At length a fashionably-attired lady secured it with evident satisfaction. “Next we come to Lot 20,” proceeded the auctioneer. “An Assortment of Suggestive Titles. Read ’em out, Sam.” “ The Crack of Doom; Christmas with a Corpse ; By Midnight Mail; The Grave-Digger’s Story ; A Ghastly Secret,’ intoned the assistant. Once more the flagging interest of the assembly seemed quickened, and there was no lack of offers. “ Now, we’ve got a number of miscellaneous lots to deal with. Lot 21, five nine-gallon casks of blood. What am I offered for Lot 21?” There was no response. “Tt’s all ’uman blood,” prompted Sam from his table. “Come,” cried the salesman, “won’t anyone make a start? Nothing like plenty of blood in a Christmas story.” “Five casks is rather a large quantity for a single buyer,” suggested a gentleman. “Well, let’s divide the lot,” replied the auctioneer, making a pencil memo, on his catalogue. ‘ Lot 21a, three casks of blood; and Lot 210, the remaining two casks.” Under the new conditions the lot was soon disposed of ; everyone present seemed to have a use for blood, and bids were fired at the auctioneer from all quarters. The man by my side made an impatient movement. “I thought I’d wait and see how that went,” he remarked, pointing to a cross against one of the numbers on his catalogue. “ It’s sure to come in useful; but no, I shan’t stop any longer.” Lot 42, four unspeakable horrors. This was the line he indicated. We left the room, and passed through the swing doors together. “Christmas story writing must be rather a morbid and depressing sort of business,” I ventured to suggest. “Well, yes,” he answered, “if you keep abreast. of the times, and go in for good prices. Tt used not to be so,” he added, a trifle sadly, speaking as one who realises that his own day is past. «y remember the time when we used to go in for holly and good-cheer, warm firesides, and happy endings ; but bless you, that’s all altered now.” With a parting wave of his hand he turned abruptly, and went his way. The autumn chill, had strengthened in the air; I almost wished I had worn an overcoat. ee THE “YOUNG IDEA’S” VIEWS ON POETRY. — > [Reprinted by kind permission of the Editor from: the American Critic. ] A TEACHER in a public school in one of our larger cities thought to teach the Young Idea something about the beauty and meaning of poetry. Her class consisted of boys and girls from fourteen to eighteen years of age and of fair average intelligence. She read them Browning’s “ Meeting at Night,” and asked them to write out their opinions of the subject and its treatment.. This they did with the unhesitating confidence of youth. Here is the poem: 1, The grey sea and the long plack land ; And the yellow half-moon large and low ; ‘And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep, As I gain the cove with pushing prow, And quench its speed i the slushy sand.  wes Ie THE AUTHOR. 55. Il. Then a mile of sea-scented beach ; Three fields to cross till a farm appears ; A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match, And a voice less loud, through joys and fears, Then two hearts beating each to each ! Some of the more candid criticisms are here ae 7 as they were wrote,” spelling, punctuation, and all :— “J think it presents a fine moonlight picture. it tell how far he has to travel and the greeting when he arrives, at the farm house, I think it is a sailor coming home from a voyage. ‘I'he peace is wrote in Irvings style being compact and expresses a clear idea in a very few lines.” “ T do not like it because it is not closely enough connected. The description of the sea or land is not very good. It isa very hurried description.” “J think it is too dark because It would take longer that the time it took in the poetry and it show how scared a woman gets because when she heard him she could hardly talk between fear.” «This short piece of poetry in my opinion is a nice opening for a story because Brown illustrates it so finely as the moonlight on the lake.” “J think this little poetry is nice because it tells the nice route of the lover and would be much more beautiful if it was longer and contained many more interesting facts.” “Poor. Because it starts to quickly and because it tells nothing of where he was or how he came to be in the book and he skipped from the ocean to the moon & then back to the water.” “1 think It is a nice poem it explains about a man walking up the sea shore in dark he is just going home from work and as he reaches the house he tapps at the window to let his wife or friend know that it is no stranger or no body that will hurt her.” “TI think it is pretty good because it is taken from life and that when a man goes home he always kisses his wife.” “T don’t like it because it is not natural and I don’t think it is a piece of poetry.” “It is very pretty for the reason that is shows affection and because of the beautiful description of the road which the gentleman takes at sunset.” “The man came down the lake in a boat and was much excited and hurried to the land. The tide was coming in and he was obliged to walk along the beach and long distance and hurried across the fields and came to the farm house and rapped on the window and his lover lit a match and appeared at the window.” “Tts good. Because he has a good choice of words and has a good ending and describes the anxiety of the husband.” “Tt is no good. Because I think it is foolish.” “JT think it is good because it tells the hard time a man has in coming home sometimes.” “Tt is fairly good but I can see but little sence. It is well worded and the words are well connected.” “Good, because as a short passage it gives a good description from being to end of a Lovers course to his most Beloved.” “T think it is the description of a lover going to sce his sweetheart. But I believe it would be better if the sweetheart had had the light burning pre- vious to his arrival. The description of the waves as they beat against the boat is very good.” “TJ think it has very good descriptions, but I don’t fancy sentimental things, and that closes in that way.” “T think it is no good for a description of a lonely walk for there is not enough description of the walk to give you an idea of the beauty of the scenery. It isnot as good as the description of the moonlight on the snow in Snow Bound. The poem does not give enough time to the subject.”  56 «J think this is a very beautiful piece of poetry. For one reason I think it must have tickled the young girl to see her lover coming to see her and how happy she must have felt to be in his com- pany for the remainder of the evening. As I am not interested in love and no but very little about it I can give no further explanation in regard to it.” “Pretty Bum because its to wishy-washy and because 1 don’t think it likely also because I dont like rhythm.” — CORRESPONDENCE. Se “AUTHOR AND EDITOR.” Srr,—I think your correspondent is rather hard on the editor of the Westminster Gazette. These are bookmaking days, and it is quite impossible for editors to find space to review anything like every book published. Hence there must always be a good many minor works which only have the good fortune to be reviewed in papers of secondary importance. New volumes of verse, even by the most cele- brated writers, are not much read by the British public nowadays, and the editor is bound to use his valuable space for popular novels and standard works. But even so, books of real merit often get passed over. It is the custom, I believe, for the editor to hand the books sent to him for criticism to his reviewer. The latter makes a selection of the books he intends to notice, and puts the remainder aside. Thus an excellent work by an unknown author might only be rewarded by having its title-page read! How much chance, for instance, would “Paradise Lost” have of being widely reviewed, were Mr. John Milton an obscure poet of to-day ? Yours faithfully, F. J. WINBOLT. October 6th, 1902. 1 — STANDARD RULES FOR PRINTING. Srr,—If any improvement is to be effected in our spelling rules and customs, it must be by means of free discussion in the first place. So I gladly welcome the criticism of “W. W.S.” on my note, and equally gladly defer to him on any point which he can fairly establish against me. But let THE AUTHOR. me explain further about words in -able, full in composition, and the spelling of such words as connection and inflection. 1. The object of my note was to gain a hearing for the simplification of our recognised spelling rules, and to make them less difficult by minimising the useless exceptions. My critic would apparently keep a number of these trying exceptions, because of the manner in which the words have come inte our language. For instance, he would keep -iae because it is Greek and phonetic. The obvious reply is that -ise is equally phonetic. Ours has two sounds, and it is no use pretending that we cannot make z sounds with it—try “nose,” ‘‘eyes,” “flies,” etc.; or again, he would keep the # in “ connection ” and “inflection,” because it is etymological and phonetic. But to spell these words with a c¢ equally preserves the etymology and the sound, and so there is no need for the . 2. I considered myself under the necessity of brevity, as I do now; and it was under this dis- advantage that I only partially and awkwardly explained myself about Latin words in -<b/e. My idea was to make as many words as possible take the ending -able, and only to accept -2ble and -wble when absolutely necessary, on account of long use through direct derivation from Latin words in -ibilis. Possibly “W. W. 8.” and I together could draw up an acceptable list of such words. 3. For the sake of making some definite rule which will hold in all cases, I still consider my suggestion regarding the spelling of fu/? in com- position worthy of consideration. It is impractic- able to spell by stress, for pronunciation throughout England is largely a matter of taste, locality, and education. For a fixed standard there must be a fixed rule. 4. I shall be glad of criticisms on the other points, e.g., the adding of -ed, ~ing, -er, and other syllables; the spelling of “ attendance ” and “dependant,” etc. ; the use of a and an before the letter A. FUR: —— TYPEWRITING. To the Editor of THR AUTHOR. Srr,—Should any of your readers know of an intelligent type-writing lady, will they be so kind as to communicate to me her name and address. -GHORGE CECIL. Pall Mall Club, 12, St. James’s Square, 8.W. September 1st, 1902. Che Hutbhor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. FOUNDED BY SIR Monthly.) WALTER BESANT. 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. 13 Issue 02 (November 1902) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 02 (November 1902) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1902-11-01-The-Author-13-2 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/476/1902-10-01-The-Author-13-1.pdf 73c8c5fcbd64427031115a67a8f54693 PDF Text Text ���������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1902-10-01 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages Page range in volume 1–28 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19021001 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Mutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. Vou. XITI.—No. 1. OcroBER 1sT, 1902. [PRIcE SIXPENCE. CHANGE OF ADDRESS. —_— As mistakes still occur with regard to the Address of the Society, it has been thought expedient to continue this Notice, that the Office of the Society is situated at— 39, OLD QUEEN STREET, STOREY’S GATE, S.W. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. —___—__—_—_e —<>—_e___—_ NOTICES. — OR the opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. Tux Editor begs to inform Members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of 7he Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. — The Pension Fund of the Society. THE Investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the T'rustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou. XIII. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market. CON aOlE 25 goer eee ne Lolo 5 6 MigGal LGAs 2 ee 404 10 0 Victorian Government 3 % Con- solidated Inscribed Stock............ 991 19 11 War loan 201 9 8 otal 3. £1714 4 8 There is, in addition, a balance of £30 to £40 in the Bank to cover current expenses and the payment of pensions. The subscriptions and donations from the beginning of the year are as follows. Further sums will be acknowledged from month to month as they come to hand. DONATIONS. Jeu. 24, Cherch, Prof. B. Ai H.....-- £2.32 0 Jan. 29, Toplis, Miss Grace ............ ~ 0 4.6 Feb. 1, Perks, Miss Lily............... 010 0 Feb. 12, Brown, Miss Prince ......... t 1.0 Feb. 15, Wilkins, W. H. (2nd donation) 11. 0 Bebo 15.8. @. 2... 1 0 Feb. 17, Hawkins, A. Hope.........-.. 50 0 0 Feb. 19, Burrowes, Miss H. ............ 010 0 Mch. 16, Reynolds, Mrs. .............-. 0.5 0 April 28, Wheelright, Miss Ethel...... 100 April 29, Sheldon, Mrs. French, BRGS, ...3.....5..... 0 5 0 May 5, A Beginner ..........-...:...+. ti 0 May 20, Nemo <.........6--1.seeeee eee ee 2.700 May 20, Dr. A. Rattray ..........--... 0 5 0 July 17, Capes, Bernard E. ............ 5 0 July 19, Warden, Miss Gertrude ... 0 5 0 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Jan. 17, Prelooker, J. ........-:.-.-.... 0 5.0 dan. 20, Nacholls, B.C. 7.770.052... 0 5 0 Jan. 22, Carey, Miss R. Nouchette ... 11.0 Feb., Gidley, Miss B.C. ............... 010 6 Mch. 20, Beeching, Rev. H.C. ...... 0.5 0 Mich. 25, siroud, Eo 010 6 Apr. 9, Kitcat, Mrs. ..........--...-.05++ 11 0 May 1, Heatley, Richard F............. 0 5 0 THE AUTHOR. Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. Tue amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £327 15 0 There are a few promised subscriptions still outstanding. The total of these is, roughly, about £4. The subscriptions received from-March to the date of issue are given below :— Anonymous. : ; ; og Champneys, Basil “ Colonia,” Natal, 8. Africa Fife Cookson, Lt.-Col. F.C. Gunter, Lt.-Col. E. A. : Harding, Capt. Claud, R.N. Hurry, A. 3 : : . ‘ Keary, C. F. (amount not to be men- tioned) Kinns, The Rey. Samuel, D.D. . Millais, J.G. . : : ; Quiller Couch, Miss M. Sterry, J. Ashby. : Temple, Lieut.-Col. Sir R. C. Underdown, Miss E. Lockyer, Sir T. Norman Beale, Miss Mary Bolam, Rev. C. E. Egbert, Henry Eccles, Miss O’Connor Darwin, Francis ; : : Campbell-Montgomery, Miss F. F. Medlecott, Cecil : 3 Saxby, Mrs... Caine, T. H. Hall Marris, Miss Murrell S. B. : ; Bloomfield, J. H. . F. O. B. (Coventry) . Seton-Karr, H. W. . Heriot, Cheyne : Charley, Sir W. T., K.C. “« Esme Stuart ” : Charlton, Miss Emily Kroeker, Mrs. Aflalo, F. G. Patterson, A. : Salwey, Reginald E. Gidley, Miss E. C. = 8 ma or me or OT OST HE OT in pla oS put orc COFCO He Oo Tore Or Oro o1cr COorwse — ee a CcCOoOrRNWCSD eg FROM THE COMMITTEE. — T the meeting of the Committee held in July A 13 members and associates were elected. This raises the number of elections for the current year to 113. Thus the average of past years is well maintained. In 1901, 113 members exactly were elected up to July, and in 1900,118. The Society still continues to show a vigorous growth. At the same meeting, it was decided to place one case on behalf of a member into the solicitors’ hands, with a view to taking action if necessary, and on behalf of two other members of the Society to take counsel's opinion on a difficult point of law. Since the last issue of the Author, twenty-seven cases have been in the hands of the Secretary. They may be classified as follow :— Twelve for the payment of money; six dealing with accounts ; eight for the return of MSS.; and the remaining one dealing with a general settlement. Of the money cases, two embraced considerably more than one member’s claim, one was against a magazine in bankruptcy, and the other against the proprietor of a magazine that had ceased to exist. A dozen members at least were involved. It is satisfactory to relate that of the twenty- seven, nineteen have been closed advantageously to the authors, and the remainder are now in the course of settlement. Action has been commenced by the solicitors of the Society in four other cases. Two of these cases have been settled, one by a County Court trial, the other by payment into court; in the latter case the sum paid in was accepted by the plaintiff. The other actions are still awaiting trial. At the same meeting of the Committee, it was decided, at the suggestion of Sir Gilbert Parker, that representatives of the Society should meet Sir Wilfrid Laurier in order to give them an oppor- tunity of laying their views on the copyright question before the Prime Minister, and if, the meet- ing could be arranged, that representatives of the Copyright Association and the Publishers’ Associa- tion should at the request of the Society be also asked to attend. Accordingly, before Sir Wilfrid Laurier left for the Island of Jersey and the Continent with Sir Gilbert Parker in August, a private meeting was held at Sir Gilbert Parker's house. Mr. A. Hope Hawkins, Mr.G. H.Thring, on behalf of the Society, Mr. John Murray and Mr. Daldy, on behalf of the Copyright Association, and Mr. C. J. Longman and Mr. Frederick Macmillan, on behalf of the Publishers’ Association, and Sir Gilbert Parker, a member of the Committee and Council of the Authors’ Society, composed the deputation. It would not be right to give a report of what was said and done on that occasion, but all who are interested in copyright will be glad to know that Sir Wilfrid Laurier gave assurances upon the ques- tion of Imperial Copyright and its bearing upon the Canadian question which cannot but lead to  THE AUTHOR. 3 satisfactory results. It is more than probable that the Imperial Copyright Bill will be brought in next Session of Parliament by the Government. ene peepee pnenene Tur death of Mrs. Hector, who wrote under the name of Mrs. Alexander, occurred shortly after the publication of the July number of The Author. The Committee chronicle the event with deep regret. She had been a member of the Society since 1892, and had steadily maintained her position in literature. Her later works show no appreciable falling off from those which made her name— The Wooing O’t”’ and “ Barbara.” et eg ame, THE publication of the List of Members will take place during the month. The list is pub- lished for circulation among members of the Society only. The Committee trust that any member desirous of making an alteration or correction in his name or address will communicate with the Secretary. It is exceedingly difficult to edit a long list of names without a mistake in the first instance, but every effort has been made to keep the issue correct. a BOOK AND PLAY TALK. —_—+ UCAS MALET, who has been taking a well- earned rest for nearly twelve months, has just commenced a new book, but it will not be published until this time next year at the earliest. It is to be brought out in London by Messrs. Hutchinson & Co., and by Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co. in New York. The scheme of the story has been complete in the writer’s mind for some months. It is a novel very much of the present day, and the scene is laid in London and the suburbs. Mr. J. A. Hobson’s new work, “ Imperialism : A Study,” consists of two parts. The first part is an investigation of the economic origin and value of the new Imperialism, in which Great Britain has taken the lead since 1870. The second part is a study of the mission of civilisation in its effects upon lower or alien peoples, and its political reactions upon the Western nations. Mr. Hobson treats the subject from the standpoint of political pathology, but the outlines of a con- structive policy of internationalism are sketched in the concluding chapters. The American edition is published by Messrs. Pott, of New York. Messrs. James Nesbit & Co. are the publishers here. Mr. Hobson has sailed for America, where, for the next. nine or ten months, he will lecture and investigate social conditions. His economic works are largely used as text-books on the other side, so he is sure of a welcome from friends and followers. Sir Martin Conway’s “ Aconcagua and Tierra del Fuego” is just out (Cassell & Co.). It is a most interesting book of climbing, travel and exploration, and has twenty-seven illustrations and a map. After thirty years of climbing, which have left him fonder than ever of mountains—of their beauty, their problems and the activities of mind and body to which mountains give scope—the author tells us in his preface :— “ This book is the record of the last of my own mountain explorations that I shall write. . . . The world is wide and contains other things besides mountains, delightful to study. . It is life, after all, that is the greatest field of exploration.” Sir Martin, with his two guides, Maquignaz and Pellissier, started for the final climb which landed two of them on the summit of Aconcagua at 3.30 a.m. He says :-— “Tt is impossible to exaggerate the toil we underwent upon this slope ; once only did a small patch of snow give momentary relief. ... The higher we rose the more we were driven to the left and the looser the stones became. As they gave way beneath our feet we often fell violently to the ground and lay panting like wounded men, unable to rise ; our breathing became louder and louder. It was a relief now and again to empty the lungs with a groan, and refill them with a more than ordinary volume of thin air. Arms had to be kept well away from the sides to leave the lungs more free for expansion. The left hand was generally tucked into a waist belt, while the right grasped the head of the ice-axe and used it as a walking-stick. The desire to halt frequently was intense, but the ever- increasing cold as imperatively urged us to movement.” The entire descent, including all halts for food and packing, was accomplished in less than six hours. In that time they came down 10,000 feet. When, after six hours’ riding from the base camp they reached the Baths of Inca, Dr. Cotton was at the door and came forward to greet them in a sympathetic manner :— “JT am sorry to see you back so soon,” he said, “ but I suppose you concluded that the weather was broken?” “Not at all,’ I replied. ‘We have come back because we have accomplished the ascent.” “What!” he said. “Already? It seems incredible. You have only been away from this house five days and a half. J congratulate you with all my heart.” One more extract —it will have a special interest for our readers :— “ Near Lake Maravilla a young Englishman has success- fully started a sheep farm. I was anxious to ride up and visit him, but time did not allow. The trip would have inyolved five days’ hard riding. His house looks out upon a glacier that shoots icebergs into the lake. His nearest neighbour lives forty miles away. Before Christmas he had paid a visit to Sandy Point and had carried back in his saddle-bag a copy of Stevens’ book, ‘With Kitchener to Khartoum.’ The battle of Omdurman was fought on the 2nd of September, 1898, and before the 2nd of January, 1899, the full story of the campaign had been written in THE AUTHOR. the Soudan, printed, bound, and published in London, exported to Magellan Strait, and carried up to the remotest point in Patagonia.” Mr. Jerome K. Jerome’s novel, ‘ Paul Kelver” (Hutchinson & Co., 6s.), is autobiographical only as regards the mental life of the hero. ‘The incidents and surroundings are drawn from the author’s knowledge but are not his own personal experiences. In fact “ Paul Kelver” stands to his author as “David Copperfield” may have stood to Dickens—the story is suggested by, but not founded upon, the author’s own life. “Paul Kelver” is a long story—there are three hundred and ninety-eight pages—but it is not a page too long. Pathos, sentiment, humour are to be found in those pages. Paul himself is well worth knowing; there are besides, his parents, his aunt, the O’Kellys, Miss Rosina Sellars, who “can’t a-bear a flirty man”; Dan, who indulged in heavy cookery;. Urban Vane, the morally crooked, Paul’s tempter; and there is Norah, strong and sweet. Mr. R. 8. Crockett, who has been resting, and holiday-making, and travelling in little-known parts of Spain, has, however, written a considerable portion of his serial for next year’s ‘ Windsor Magazine.” he publishers of his ‘‘The Banner of Blue” are Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. Mr. Crockett’s “« The Scott Country” (Black, 6s.) has been doing very well. illustrated. Miss Nora Hopper (Mrs. Chesson) will shortly publish, through Mr. Grant Richards, a volume of poems and fantasies to be called “The Woman with Two Shadows.” Mrs. Campbell Praed has recently issued through Mr. Fisher Unwin an illustrated volume of Australian scenes and impressions called ‘‘ My Australian Girlhood.” It has also been published in America and the Colonies, and is about to be included in a set for continental circulation. Mrs. Praed is now at work on a short novel called “The Ghost,” meaning a literary ghost. It is to be published in shilling form early next year. This busy authoress is also just completing a story of modern London life, to be published in 1903, and is writing short stories for a Syndicate. Mr. Bernard Capes, whose ‘‘ Love Like a Gipsy” was published last year by Messrs. Constable & Co., ‘would have issued a new novel last month through Messrs. Smith Elder. He has, however, been obliged to postpone its publication until next spring owing to the action of a publisher. This publisher has foisted upon the public, as new, an old novel of Mr. Capes. The new story, which we must now wait for, is to be named “A Castle in Spain,” and it deals, It is profusely something more than incidentally, with a supposed resurrection of Louis XVII. Apropos of which, the novel was designed and three parts written when it was found that:the-motive had been fore- stalled elsewhere, in a book (from America) called ‘“‘ Lazarre.”’ But Mr. Capes feels that it would be quite unnecessarily heroic to sacrifice the close labour of months on that score, so ‘‘A Castle in Spain ” stands. Helen Mathers (Mrs. Henry Reeves) will publish a long book—some 100,000 words—through Messrs. Methuen next spring ; but she may possibly be represented by a volume of Essays this autumn. Her recently published novel, “ Honey,” is in a second edition ; while “ Becky,” in sixpenny form, has been reprinted. A new edition of “ Bam Wildfire ” has been called for, and is now ready. “« A Man of To-Day,” by this writer, is published at 6d. (John Long), and Messrs. Digby Long are bringing out a volume of short stories for her this autumn. Reprints of all Helen Mathers’ earlier works and noveletites are now available. Mr. R. O. Prowse, whose “ Voysey ”’ (Heinemann, 1901) was appreciated by those who know and care fer good work, will not have anything ready to put into the publisher’s hands for some time to come. Mr. Prowse has published three novels so far. His first, ‘ A Fatal Reservation,” was begun when he was at Oxford. After running as a serial in “The Cornhill”? for a year, it was published by Messrs. Smith Elder in 1895. In 1892 Messrs. Methuen issued his second novel, “‘ The Poison of Asps.” It is a clever study of a certain aspect of life in a little Suffolk county town: the author culls it Tattlebridge. Three historical tales of Miss Everett-Green’s will appear this autumn. (1) “A Hero of the Highlands” (Nelson), dealing with the °45. (2) “Fallen Fortunes” (Nelson), a story laid in the reign of Queen Anne. (3) “‘ My Lady Joanna”’ (Nisbet), a tale embodying the early history of that turbulent daughter of Edward the First, who, although his fayourite child, gave him more trouble than all the rest put together. Messrs. Hutchinson will issue a novel by this authoress entitled “ Where there’s a Will——.” It is a story of domestic life, and has done duty as a serial in the Church Family Newspaper. Mr. Richard Pryce is at work on a novel which he hepes to finish some time next year—probably it will be ready in the autumn. This book is perhaps more in the manner of “ Jezebel” than of the author’s earlier novels. A seventeenth edition (Sweet and Maxwell: Stevens and Sons) of perhaps the longest-lived of those technical works which Charles Lamb, with  THE AUTHOR. 5 amusing but, perhaps, not quite merited scorn, wrote of as “ B(Bdia 4BiBAa,” will shortly be pub- lished. It is just a hundred years ago that the late Mr. William Woodfall, of the Middle Temple —the son of “Memory Woodfall,” the famous Parliamentary reporter and journalist, and nephew of tle printer and publisher of J unius—first brought out his treatise on the law of landlord and tenant, which he dedicated to that fine old-crusted lawyer, Lord Eldon, in the first year of his chancellorship. Mr. Lely’s forthcoming edition of this venerable work will contain a reprint of Woodfall’s original preface, a notice of all decided cases up to Michael- mas Day last—including Mr. Justice Darling’s decision just before the Long Vacation on the vexed question of the liability to pay for Corona- tion Procession Seats—and some dozen editorial suggestions for further amendment of the law of the relationship of Landlord and Tenant, “a condi- tion from which” (wrote Mr. Woodfall in 1802) “a very small part of the community is exempt.” Miss Montgomery-Campbell’s book, of which the scene is laid in the Tyrol, has been delayed owing to her recent illness in Austria. But two new children’s story-books by her, entitled respectively “ A Christmas Surprise Packet,” and ‘Two Lov- able Troops,” will be issued by Messrs. Jarrold in the course of this month. Rita’s new serial, ‘The Jesters,” is at present running in The Queen. The scene of this story is laid at King Arthur’s Castle Hotel, Tintagel, where the authoress was staying last autumn. “ Alexandre Dumas: His Life and Works,” such is the title of an important book lately published through Constable & Co., by Mr. Arthur F. Davidson, M.A., formerly Scholar of Keble College, Oxford. In his admirable preface the author says :— After a fairly extensive study, during the last fifteen years, of Dumas and whatever has been written about him, it seemed to me that there was room for a co-ordination of facts which might represent, in justly balanced proportion, and with some pretence of accuracy, both the life of the man and the work of the author. . . . The various French works concerning Dumas have all confined themselves to some particular side of his talent or some particular period of his life; there does not exist in his own country any comprehensive and continuous work—biographical and literary—such as this is intended approximately to be.” In view of the ground to be covered, Mr. Davidson has divided the work into large sections or chapters, with commonplace _ titles, which roughly indicate the nature of their contents. The order followed is, as a rule, chronological. We have room for one quotation only from a book chock-full of interesting matter :— “That Dumas was an improvisateur goes without saying, In this quality he gloried as a rule, and took credit to himself for the speed at which he could turn off a play or anovel. But he is careful to point out that the improvisa- tion is not always so great as it seems. “ Paper (blue foolscap), pens, ink ; a table neither too high nor too low. Sit down—reflect for half-an-hour— write your title—then chapitre premier. Arrange fifty letters to each line, thirty-five lines to each page; write two hundred pages if you want a two-volume novel, four hundred if you want a four-volume ditto, and so on. After ten, twenty, or forty days, as the case may be—assuming you write twenty pages, 7.e., seven hundred lines, between morning and evening—the thing is done. What could be more simple? Such is my method, say my critics: only they forget one slight detail. Before any of this apparatus is put in motion I have often thought for six months, a year, perhaps even several years, about what I am going to write. Hence the clearness of my plot, the simplicity of my methods, the naturalness of my dénodments. Asa rule, I do not begin a book until it is finished.” Messrs. Longmans are publishing for M. E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell) in England and America, this month, another Dorset novel of hers, “The Manor Farm.” The same firm is serialising for her in ‘‘Longman’s Magazine” a musical romance, called “ Christian Thal,” the first chapters of which will appear in the January number. The scene is laid for the most part in Vienna, and the work deals with a certain well-known School of Music in that city. “The Country Life Library” of fiction was recently inaugurated by a volume from the pen of this popular authoress, entitled “ North, South, and Over the Sea,” being a collection of peasant stories, Lancashire, Dorset, and Irish. It is illustrated by Mr. H. M. Brock. Mr. H. A. Bryden has completed a “ History of South Africa,” which Messrs. Sands will shortly publish. A cheap edition of this author’s romance, “An Exiled Scot,” has been announced by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. Mr. Reynolds-Ball has an instructive and enter- taining article in the September number of “ Chambers’s Journal,’ on the Canadian Pacific Railway, entitled “‘ The Romance of the OPK It deals at some length with the picturesque episodes in the history of this colossal undertaking. Mr. Reynolds-Ball seems to make a speciality of colonial railway enterprises, as in the August number of “The New Liberal Review ” appeared a rather striking article by him on a railway pro- ject in futuro, under the title ‘London to Melbourne in Three Weeks.” Miss Elizabeth Derbishire and Mrs. Jean Carlyle Graham are at present preparing a documented and illustrated history of San Gimignano. Miss Marjory G. J. Kinlock had an interesting and well-informed article on “Scottish Corona- tions,” in the April issue of “The Dublin Review.” A second article by her, on the same subject, appeared in the July number of that quarterly. THE AUTHOR. His Majesty has accepted a copy of Mrs. Aylmer Gowing’s poem, “The King’s Desire,” which, appropriately enough, appeared in 7’he Queen. The first edition of John Bull, the new penny weekly, edited by Mr. Arthur W. A’Beckett, con- sisted of 100,000 copies. From the editor’s fore- words to this special imperial issue of John Bull we quote the following :— “He is cosmopolitan and yet patriotic, he has a feeling of goodwill to foreigners whatever may be their nationality, but has a particularly tender place in his heart for his kith and kin all the world over. “He appreciates the humour of his American cousin and can trace the Anglo-Norman vivacity in the gaiety of Paris, the Anglo-Saxon subtlety in the satire of Berlin. He is incapable of jealousy, as he does not admit a rival.” The Writer’s Year Book (1s. 6d. nett) is a very useful commercial! directory for professional writers, photographers and artists, giving address, time of payment, and conditions of contributorship of all magazines, papers, syndicates, and agencies pur- chasing MSS., photographs, or drawings. It is published by the Writer’s Year Book Co., Gran- ville House, Arundel Street, London. We have received a tiny volume ‘of loyal verse entitled “The Lily Sceptre,” by Bertha Pasmore. It is dedicated to Her Royal Highness the Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. It is published and printed by the Exeter Evening Post, Limited. “Albrecht Diirer,” by Lina E. Eckenstein, authoress of “Woman under Monasticism,” is a careful study of the great artist. This little volume with its thirty-seven illustrations is one of Messrs. Duckworth & OCo.’s excellent ‘“ Popular Library of Art” series. In Mr. Henry Arthur Jones’s new play, “Chance the Idol,” which was produced at Wyndham’s Theatre on the evening of September 9th, Miss Lena Ashwell has made another decided hit, while Mr. H. V. Esmond, who acts a cynic’s part in the same piece, has never played better. Mr. J. M. Barrie’s “Quality Street” was pro- duced at the Vaudeville Theatre on the evening of Wednesday, September 17th, and was very well received indeed. The story of this fantastic comedy is very simple. Miss Ellaline Terriss, Mr. Seymour Hicks, and Miss Marion Terry delighted an appreciative audience. Miss Terry received a special call at the fall of the curtain. Mr. Hall Caine’s “ Eternal City ” is to be pro- duced at His Majesty’s Theatre on the evening of October 2nd, and in America about the same date. Mr. Caine is to sail for New York on the 11th of October. Weunderstand that Mrs. Patrick Campbell began her second American tour at the Garden Theatre, New York, on September the 16th, with a marked success. Mrs. Campbell was enthusiastically applauded in the new and clever play specially written for her by Mr. E. F. Benson. “The Bishop’s Move” is doing exceedingly well at the Garrick Theatre. Mr. Arthur Bourchier as the Bishop excels himself; he is at his best. Miss. Violet Vanbrugh plays up to him admirably ; and the joint authors, John Oliver Hobbes and Mr. Carson, are to be warmly congratulated ; they have given us a charming and wholesome play. PARIS NOTES. ogee HILST waiting for the opening of the Vy autumn publishing season, we have been very well supplied with books of travel, memoirs, and biographies, but there has certainly been a dearth just recently of interesting and original novels. Paul Bourget’s “ L’Etape”’ has been very much discussed, and long letters have been exchanged between the author and the Comte d’Haussonville with regard to the theories contained in this. novel. Another book which has given rise to many newspaper articles is entitled “ Souvenirs du Lieu- tenant-Général Vicomte de Reiset.” M. de Reiset joined the army as a volunteer in 1792, at the age- of seventeen. His memoirs are valuable, as they give an idea of the life of the soldiers of the First Empire. The book is not so much a volume of history as a study of the times and of the habits and customs of the men with whom the Vicomte- de Reiset came into contact. The descriptions of the war with Spain are particularly interesting, and the pages devoted to the Duc de Berry once more roused the interest of the public with regard to the romantic story of the Duc’s English wife. Another volume of this kind is M. Victor du Bled’s “ Société francaise du XVI* siécle au XX° siecle.” M. du Bled is a well-known lecturer on French society of every epoch, and these lectures, which are afterwards published in volume form, are full of anecdotes and witty sayings. “Il y a,” says M. du Bled, “des mots qui valent mieux que des diplémes, des compliments et des sourires qui détruisent ou édifient des traités d’alliance.” M. Henry Lapauze has published a volume of “Lettres inédites de Mme. de Genlis,’” which show this famous woman under quite a new light. These letters were written to her adopted son, Casimir Becker (1802—1830), and are certainly most curious. “Tia Comtesse Agenor de Gasparin et sa famille,” by Madame Barbey-Boissier, is a most welcome book, as the name of the once famous  -a book well worth reading. -enthusiasm to his readers. THE AUTHOR. 7 Mme. de Gasparin is almost forgotten by the present generation, and her works are very little read nowadays. ‘‘ Les Horizons prochains,” by Mme. de Gasparin, had great success some fifty years ago. M.A. Filon has written an eloquent preface to this biography. A book to be read by politicians is “ Rome, Naples et le Directoire,” by M. Joseph du Theil. There are very few anecdotes in this volume, but -a fund of information. Another historical book on the ‘‘ Guerres d’Espagne sous Napoléon,” by M. Guillon, bears out much which is said by the Vicomte de Reiset in his “‘ Souvenirs.” “Dominique Larrey et les Campagnes de la Revolution et de l’Empire,” by M. Paul Triaire, is “Oe Dominique Larrey,” said Napoleon, “est le plus honnéte homme que j’aie connu ; si jamais l’armée éleve une colonne a la reconnaissance, elle doit l’eriger a Larrey.” No monument has been erected, and so Dr. Paul Triaire has published this volume in honour of the brave and loyal army surgeon. Every publishing season brings us new books of history or memoirs of the Revolution epoch, and one of the great difficulties of historians is to discover the documents they require for their work. The City of Paris is having an index compiled of printed works relating to the Revolution period, and another index of manuscripts. The compiler -of the latter, M. Tuetcy, has his index ready for publication. It is the result of twenty years of work, and gives the summary of all that exists in the French archives dating from the Revolution. «TAme du Voyageur,” the posthumous volume by Prince Henri d’Orléans, was published by the Duc de Chartres on the anniversary of the death ofhisson. It is a well-written book, full of thought and shrewd observation. In the preface M. Eugéne Dufeuille gives us a brief account of the life of the Prince, who was born at Ham Common in 1867, and who died at Saigon last “year. The first chapter, “ L’Ame du Voyageur,” gives its title to the volume, and is the keynote to the whole book. Prince Henri was no ordinary, care- less traveller. He had gone abroad to observe, to learn, and to discover, and he has the gift of imparting something of his own interest and The second part of the book consists of five chapters describing the journey, “ De Paris au Tonkin par Terre.” Then comes a chapter on “Les Missionnaires francais au Thibet,” and four more chapters on “Une Excursion en Indo-Chine.” ‘There are other chapters on ‘ Madagascar, Recherches _ Philologiques dans le Yunnan, La Province de Battambang, L’ Assam, L’Abyssinie et le Trans- vaal,” and on ‘L’Insurrection des Boxers et la Politique de la France en Chine.” M. Camille Flammarion has just published a book which has come at the right moment, “ Les Eruptions volcaniques et les Tremblements de terre.” The popular edition just issued of M. Albert Charmolu’s book, “ La Justice gratuite et rapide par l’arbitrage aimable,” will probably not appeal to a large public in England. A timely book has been published by M. Moreau on “Sir Wilfred Laurier.” “Te Monde invisible” is the title of the new volume by M. Jules Bois. Translations from all languages are still very much in favour in France, and several of the serials running through daily papers are by English authors. M. Harancourt wrote a long article on “ Kim,” comparing Rudyard Kipling as an “ ironiste” with Toussenel. Another translation which has recently appeared is “In Kedar’s Tents,” by H. Seton Merriman. George Gissing’s “ New Grub Street” has also just been published in volume form as “ La Rue des Meurt-de-faim,” and has been most favourably received. The theatres are announcing their new plays for the winter season. M. Antoine has a long list in store for us. Among his first ones are “ Les Demi-solde,” by MM. d’Esparbes et Coulangheon, and “ Sainte Héléne’”’ by Mme. Séverine. This is an episode in the life of Napoleon. There are other pieces by M. Veber, M. Brieux, M. Bergerat, and M. Trarieux. Among the new pieces with which Madame Réjane is to commence her season in Paris on her return from America are: “La Meilleure Part,” by Pierre de Coulevain and Pierre Decourcelle ; “La Troisitme Lune,’ by Mme. F. Gressac, and a new piece by M. Sardou. Auys HALLARD. oo —__——— LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. ———+ “Mr. Absolute” again. OME curious’ clauses appearing from time to time in publishers’ agreements have been freely criticised in The Author. The agreements drafted by the Publishers’ Association contained many examples of such clauses. It is necessary once again to criticise Mr. Absolute’s methods, as his agreement has been too much in 8 THE AUTHOR. evidence during the past year. The clause that needs special attention runs as follows :— “‘ This agreement is entered into by the publisher on the warranty by the author, that the said work does not infringe any copyright, and that the said work does not contain anything of a libellous nature. If the said work does contain anything constituting or alleged to constitute a breach of such warranty, and proceedings are threatened or brought for any alleged infringement of copyright, or for any alleged libel, and it is deemed advisable by the publisher in his absolute discretion not to contest the matter but to arrive at a settlement thereof; or, if the action is successfully contested, then in any and every case the author shall pay in advance to the publisher a sufficient sum to cover the estimated costs of the publisher in defend- ing such action, or settling such action or threatened pro- ceedings, and shall at the same time give to the publisher security satisfactory to him to indemnify him against any damages awarded in such action; and shall, on demand, repay to the publisher all costs (as between solicitor and client), damages, and expenses incurred by the publisher in respect of, or resulting from, or incidental to such action or threatened proceedings, or the settlement thereof; and shall also, if the said work is withdrawn from publication, repay to the publisher all costs and expenses of and inciden- tal to the publication, advertisement of, and other dealings with the said work, to the effect that the publisher shall have a full and complete indemnity from the author in respect of all out-of-pocket expenses in connection with the said work.” In this particular agreement the publisher pur- chased the copyright from the author. In such a case there is no reason why the anthor should sign any guarantee clause or clause of warranty. In these circumstances the motto, caveat emptor, should rule the decision. Yet there is no harm iu the author giving a guarantee, should he desire to oblige the publisher or to avoid dispute. It is not likely that any author would knowingly sell to a publisher a work which was not copyright or which was libellous. In cases, however, where the author is only giving to the publisher a licence to publish, where the publisher is not acting as principal, but is acting practically as the author’s agent under specific agreement, it is only fair the publisher should be guaranteed that the work he is producing is not an infringement of copyright, and does not contain anything of a libellous nature. But as the publisher is not acting as a mere agent on com- mission, but is himself reaping a large—sometimes the larger—share of the profits, there is no reason why he should be indemnified from all costs and charges. As it is the author’s property that is in dispute, he should have the chief voice in regard to the defence of any action, the commencement of any action, and the settlement of any action. Let us turn, however, to the clause quoted above. Firstly, under the agreement from which this clause is extracted the publisher purchases the copyright. Secondly, he obtains the larger proportion of the profits, Thirdly, the wording of this clause under any conditions is, from the author’s point of view, quite absurd, and no sensible author should think of signing an agreement in which it occurs, The clause should never have been inserted. If it is inserted merely to obtain power, then it must as candidly be stated that no man ought to give to his dearest friend such power or place himself so unreservedly in his hands. The author is putting too much trust in the bona fides of the publisher. It is possible that some scoundrel (this does not refer to the publisher) might for his own reasons commence action against the publisher, even when there was no foundation for a charge of libel or infringement of copyright. It would lie in the publisher’s power to settle on what terms he thought fit, and the author would be bound to pay the costs of the proceedings, even if the case from the publisher’s standpoint was successful. This deduction seems quite reasonable, for there is no statement contained in the clause that the author shall obtain the return of his money ; and even if the publisher obtained damages in an action, the author would have to pay any extra costs as between solicitor and client, yet would not obtain any portion of the amount received in damages. But worse is to follow. It is possible for the publisher to withdraw the book on terms of settlement with the opposing party, and the publisher might possibly be inclined to do so supposing that it would be difficult to determine exactly whether the book was an infringe- ment of copyright or not, or where the action was inclined to be long and involved. Further, the defendants might offer a sum for the withdrawal of the book, and the publisher might settle on terms highly advantageous to himself. Under these circumstances the author is not only bound to pay all the costs that have been incurred, but he is also bound to pay the publisher “all costs and expenses of and incidental to the publication, adver- tisement of, and other dealings with the said work, indemnifying him from all out-of-pocket expenses,” As already stated, it cannot for a moment be supposed that any publisher would force the inter- pretation of the clause to its logical and legitimate conclusion. Then why insert it? It is not right that any author should sign an agreement which should put such chances and such powers in the hands of the publisher. Nothing should be left to the generosity of the publisher in a case of difficulty. It is exactly from a position of this kind that disputes and bad feeling have arisen in past years. Only the other day a publisher objected to make some alterations on the excuse that there should be ‘“ mutual confidence.” Unfortunately, in the case of the “ confidence  trick,” the confidence is that given on the side of the victim. The other party takes good care not to be in the position of loser. Those publishers who insist and persist in placing agreements containing monstrous and impossible clauses before authors are bound in the end to sap the confidence of their employers, and lose business. That this is the case is evident to those who watch the literary output, and are aware of the publisher’s agreements. G.I. —— 4 Tauchnitz Editions. I AN article, signed by “G. H. T.,” appeared under the above title in the June number of The Author, but reached my hands too late to enable me to answer it in the next issue. Although I abstain in general, out of considera- tion for the authors represented in the Tauchnitz edition, from publishing any business details or figures, I hope that the columns of The Author will be opened to the following short explanation. From it will be seen that the calculations of «G@. H. T.” are deduced from false premises and based on a misunderstanding, while one grave error, due no doubt to mere inadvertence, will also be called attention to. Your correspondent finds that my average selling price to the trade is M. 0°95, and _he takes this figure as a basis for calculations which lead him to the conclusion that royalties of 3d., 4d., and 6d. a volume would be a fair remuneration to authors for editions of 3,000, 5,000, and 10,000 ‘copies respectively of their works. Permit me to call attention to some of his most obvious errors. (1) The average price at which my volumes are sold to the trade is not M. 0°95 but M. 0°83°225 (this figure is the result of the most careful and exact calculation). The prices quoted by “G. H. T.” (M. 1:20, M. 1-05, M. 0°95, M. 0°90, and M. 0°85) are correct only for a portion of the trade, and do not apply to another and much larger part for which quite different and lower terms are allowed. But even if the above prices had been applicable, it would yet be entirely incorrect to strike an average as “G. H. T.” has done, since the sale of volumes at the higher prices is in no proportion at all to that of works at M. 0°85. The general “‘publisher’s expenses” amount to 17 per cent. of the average sale price of M. 0°83, and not to 10 per cent.of the profit! This figure is exactly calculated, and reduces our M. 0°83 to M. 0°70, which must accordingly be taken as the basis of all calculations instead of the M. 0°95 of your correspondent. (2) The sale of volumes of the Tauchnitz THE AUTHOR. 9 edition is smaller than “G. H. T.” seems to take for granted. Three thousand copies represent a very fair sale, which is never reached by a con- siderable number of the works published ; a sale of 5,000 copies is only attained in the case ot works by exceptionally popular authors ; while a sale of 10,000 can only be recorded in the case of six books out of the 800 volumes published during the last ten years. (3) “G. H. T.” is wrong in taking £20 as the average honorarium paid for volumes of the Tauchnitz edition. The actual figure is very considerably higher, and is always conscientiously calculated according to the measure of the author’s popularity on the Continent. (4) The cost of production, though varying considerably in point of fact according to circum- stances, is fairly accurately given by “G. H. T.” for editions of 8,000 and 5,000 copies, but his estimate for 10,000 copies is too low. However, I am quite willing, for the purposes of argument, to accept the figures he gives. In this connection I may call attention to a curious mistake your correspondent makes. In the case of 3,000 and 5,000 copies he correctly finds the publisher’s profit by deducting from the sum the sale of the copies brings in, the cost of production of the edition ; while in the case of a sale of 10,000 copies he entirely forgets to deduct this very considerable item of M. 2,800 or £140 (although he expressly says he has done so), and so arrives at the astonishing conclusion that the profits of publisher and author are in the proportion of 8 to 1, and pro- poses that the latter shonld receive a royalty of 6d. per copy. If “G. H. T.” will now make his calculations anew on the corrected basis, and allow royalties of 3d., 4d., and 6d. as he proposes, he will arrive at the following results : In the case of an edition of 8,000 copies :— Profits of sale M. 2,100 Less cost of production 1,400 Total profit. M. 700 or £35 0 0 Less 3d. royalty (Author’s profit) far 10. 0 Nett loss to publisher £210 0 In the case of an edition of 5,000 copies :— Profits of sale M. 8,500 Less cost of production 1,800 Total profit. M. 1,700 or £85 0 0 Less 4d. royalty (Author’s profit) . 88.66 0 Nett profit to publisher 10 In the case of an edition of 10,000 copies :— M. 7,000 2,800 Profits of sale . : Less cost of production Total profit M. 4,200 or £210 0 Less 6d. royalty (Author’s profit) 250 0 0 £40 0 0 Nett loss to publisher The above figures speak for themselves, and I feel sure from the friendly tone of “ G. H. T.’s ” article that he will be the first to form a more favourable opinion of the transactions between myself and British authors. Faithfully yours, TAUCHNITZ. es Il, To the Editor of THe AvuTHoR. Srtr,—I beg to thank. you for allowing me an early perusal of Baron Tauchnitz’s letter. I mnst apologise to the Baron for omitting to deduct the cost of production in calculating the figures for the sale of 10,000 copies; but even if this cost is deducted it makes the ratio between publishers’ and authors’ profits about 54 to 1—a substantial difference. In answer to objection two, urged from the Leipzig house, I can only say that the prices at which the books are sajd to the booksellers were collected from Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France, and did not differ, save in the rate of exchange, in any of the countries. In answer to No. 3 I can but repeat that a long and intimate acquaintance with the current prices of literature and authors’ rights confirms me in my opinion that £20 is a fair price to have named. T am glad that the Baron admits that the cost of production is reasonable. Where, however, a publisher prints his own books the cost must be considerably cheaper than an estimate, such as mine, obtained in the open market. Yours truly, G. H. f. — 9 Matters of Account. THE manner in which certain publishers render accounts is frequently a cause for complaint by the author. To prevent friction between author and publisher should be the constant aim of both parties ; the latter should endeavour to meet the author wherever he can do so without difficulty to THE AUTHOR. himself, especially as he is constantly complain- ing of the lack of that friendly feeling which is supposed to have existed in the good old days. The method of rendering halt-profit accounts is not under discussion. Accounts of books published on the half-profit system are nearly always unsatisfactory to the author, and need considerable investigation. Where books are published on the royalty system the case is different. The simplest method of rendering accounts with a view of satisfying the author is that adopted by some of the best houses in London. A statement is made of the number of books printed—the printer’s voucher is enclosed with the account—and a statement is made of the number of books on hand. The difference between the two amounts is fully accounted for, and the royalty paid. This is satisfactory to the author, and even to the most unbusinesslike is simple and plain. He learns the number of the issue, and feels secure that there has been no double dealing, as the printer’s voucher is furnished with the statement. The following method of rendering accounts is unsatisfactory. It at once breeds suspicion in the author’s mind, especially when after a formal demand the publisher refuses to give the author further particulars, or refuses to allow an accountant to check the books. The method referred to is simply stating “so many copies sold, so much royalty.” It would be possible for the author, if he was a member of the Society, to compel the publishers to produce their books and vouchers, This course, however, is one of considerable expense to the Society, considerable trouble to the author, and does not as a rule return a benefit commensurate with the trouble and the expense. It is possible that the publisher may argue that the author has a statement, and a correct statement, of the number of copies sold, and is paid a royalty on the amount. This argument may to a certain extent be sound, but experience shows that the method is a bad one. It arouses suspicion in the mind of the author, withholds information that the author is entitled to, and in consequence tends to friction. It is so easy to render accounts giving full explanations that the publisher should when possible avoid causing annoyance, and in no case more so than where questions of the monetary return are concerned. There is another method of rendering accounts on the royalty system which is even more unsatis- factory to the author. This applies rather to American than to English publishers. Books are sent out on sale or return, but the fact is not notified in the accounts, and the royalty  if {LF SA. hh gee a eS = a is paid on these books. Some of the books are returned. ‘The publisher has two courses open. Both are unsatisfactory. The first is to deduct the royalty already paid and debit the account (it is a question whether the publishers could actually demand the return of the money); the second is to reduce the sales in the next account rendered by the amount returned, without notifying the fact in the account, thus to the author's astonishment bringing the sales to an extraordinarily low figure. If either of these courses is adopted, the author not unnaturally gives vent to some angry eXx- pressions. All these difficulties could have been avoided if in the first instance the publisher, when rendering his accounts, had stated that of the books sent out a certain number were sent out on sale or return and either (1) refused to pay the royalty until the returns were ascertained, or (2) paid the royalty subject to the books being returned. It cannot be too often repeated that the publisher who renders fullest accounts, who is always willing without any trouble or unnecessary delay to meet the author with full particulars, will, firstly, be much less likely to be troubled by the authors for whom he is acting in the matter of book investi- gation (they will feel assured that everything is open to them should they desire to make enquiry), and, secondly, will reap considerable benefit owing to his enhanced reputation. A. B. —+—~—+ Publisher and Author. Mr. Exuior Srock, publisher, 62, Paternoster Row, brought an action against Mr. Henry Har- rison, author, to recover the sum Of 91 10s. Id.. being the balance of charges for printing and publishing a book for him. Mr. Arnholz appeared for the plaintiff, the defendant conducting his own case. It seemed that the book was published in 1898. At the time the plaintiff advertised the work, and obtained reviews in various newspapers. The defendant complained that the plaintiff had been guilty of recklessness in inserting advertisements in London papers when the book dealt with Liverpool. The plain- tiff repudiated the suggestion of carelessness, and said that all Liverpool people and antiquarians generally were interested in the subject. It seemed that the plaintiff’s advertising clerk was on his holiday, and could not testify to some of the smaller details. A compromise was suggested ; and, in the end, judgment was given, by general approval, for the plaintiff for six guineas, without costs. The defendant had, before the date of the trial, offered the plaintiff 5/, 5s. in full settlement. THE AUTHOR. 11 Mechanical Reproduction and Musical Rights. Aw interesting case is being tried in the United States courts to determine whether the production of music by means of perforated rolls used in piano-organs and similar instruments is an infringement of copyright. From the judgments given up to the present time in the United States it would appear that such reproduction is not an infringement of copy- right. This point was decided in the English courts some time ago. But though such produc- tion is not an infringement of the copyright, it is undoubtedly an infringement of the performing right, and could be easily stopped by an injunction if musical composers took care to protect them- selves in their agreements in order to preserve these rights. The publishers, in the majority of instances, endeavour to obtain every conceivable right from the unfortunate musical composer, and seem to be quite indifferent to this form of infringement. It would be as well if, in addition to waging war against the street vendors of music, they took: steps against those who reproduce music by means of mechanical process. The point is one of growing importance now that pianolas and pianotists are sold in such large quantities. In former years Sir Walter Besant on several occasions endeavoured to get the musical composers to combine with the authors and band them- selves together to protect their own property. Some of the best known composers in England joined the society, but in spite of this endeavour they lacked the energy to adopt a virile and energetic policy. Is it a hopeless matter to ask them once more to “set in order their house” and fight for the maintenance of what is their own? It would be impossible to secure a better arrangement in the musical market immediately, but a gradual improvement would no doubt take place if the publishers saw that the main body of the musical composers were really-m earnest. SEE tiene a a True Tales. Unper the heading of “‘ Literary Property,” in the February, 1901, issue of The Author, some curious instances were quoted in which publishers, without a real breach of their agreement, had killed authors’ books. ‘The instances were all authentic, and should be carefully studied. We call the article to mind as a curious case on somewhat similar lines has come to our knowledge. A publisher produced a book on an agreement to pay a royalty which should rise after the sale of a certain number of copies. When the fixed number 12 of copies was reached he stated that it was impos- sible to re-issue the book, as he could not afford to pay the higher price, but he added that he was willing to cancel the contract. He made one or two statements with regard to expenses, with a view to cover his position; these, however, were not borne out by the facts of the case. The author was placed in the awkward position of being com- pelled to bring an action for damages (always unsatisfactory), or to go to the trouble and annoy- ance of endeavouring to place the book in the hands of another publisher, with the additional risk of its not being accepted. Would the Publishers’ Associa- tion consider such a case if it was placed before them, and issue a criticism on its moral aspects ? If so, we shall be glad to give full details. The end of the story is, however, satisfactory. The book was successfully transferred to another publisher. The author obtained the advanced royalty from the beginning, in spite of the fact that the book had again to be set up in type. Another strange story may point a moral to authors :— A certain well-known publishing body wrote to an author who was just coming into fame, and asked him to write a book. They made him an offer of a sum down in payment. The author refused, as he stated he could always get twice as much for anything he wrote, but he went to see the manager of the establishment in order to explain his position. The manager thereupon stated that he was astonished at the objection made, as Mr. (naming an author whose popu- larity is at the present day undoubted) had written for them at that price. This was a statement of fact, but the manager omitted to add that when Mr. had written for them at that price he was practically an unknown and struggling author, and the books had been written nearly twenty years before. The end of this story was also satisfactory. The young author was not deceived, but refused the contract. ep Denmark and the Berne Convention. Our valuable contemporary Le Droit d’ Auteur contains the highly interesting intelligence that a movement in Copenhagen in favour of the Berne Convention, with which the name of Mr. Bang is honourably associated, has led to satisfactory results. On the occasion of a reception of the deputation of the Association of Danish Authors by the Minister of Public Instruction, the latter informed them that he intended laying before the Parliament during the next session a law that would prepare the way for the entrance of Denmark into the International Union. THE AUTHOR. Italian Copyright Law. PRELIMINARY discussions of the reform of the present Italian law of copyright have been going on since the beginning of the year. ‘The questions raised respecting the duration of the copyright have led to interesting disclosures and resolutions, Italy stands alone in having a system by which, after the expiration of the criginal right (twenty- five years), a second period ensues of another twenty-five years during which a royalty is paid to the State. This has been regarded by the supporters of perpetual copyright as a step in the right direction, by which the community (not the publishers alone) benefit by the abiding value of works that continue to be popular. It appears, however, that the purely commercial instincts of the publishers mamage here also to get evil out of good. It is just those works which pay this royalty that the publishers prefer mot to reprint. In consequence, Italy will probably fall back upon a copyright of life and fifty years. That of life and forty years, preferred by the recent new law of Germany, has been happily rejected. It is a singular thing that the Latin races have distinctly more advanced and wider views about the duration of copyright than Englishmen and Germans. But this last instance of a capacity for breadth of vision is only one of many evidences of that fact. Oo CANADIAN COPYRIGHT—ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW. a Being a paper read before the Canadian Press Association at its Annual Mecting in February. Literature and its Handicaps. HERE is an intimate relationship between a literature and journalism. In the days when there was no journalism there was little literature, and what there was brought but small return to its producers. In this golden age of journalism—and it is a golden age—literature flourishes as the green-bay tree. The writer of poems, instead of hoarding up his verses until he has enough to fill a volume, gives them out one by one to the daily, weekly, or monthly Press, and receives an immediate hearing and some immediate return for the finished product of his art. The writer of short stories wins fame and a competence by helping to fill’the voracious columns of the daily or weekly paper. Through journalism he takes his first steps towards success, makes the first steps of his ability to supply the public with  interesting material. The writer of novels tests his material with the editors of magazines and daily papers; if he cannot win a hearing with them, it is not likely, though it sometimes occurs, that he will win the favour of a great book pub- lisher. Through journalism, the novelist widens the circle of his devotees and wins a quick mone- tary return. It is said that Sir Gilbert Parker received over $5,000 for the serial rights of each of his last two novels, while Mr. Kipling gets as high as a shilling a word for his compositions. It is just this intimate relationship between journalism and literature which accounts for much of the backwardness of Canadian literature. Jour- nalism in Canada has been fighting a stern battle, and has been able to give literature but little encouragement. Therefore, literature’s first handi- cap may be stated to be the weakness of the support given by journalism. If a Canadian poet could receive $5 or $10 for each poem sent to a daily paper, he would be stimulated to a greater produc- tion and to a higher grade of work. Ifa Canadian short-story writer could get $50 for each short story from a daily paper, or from a syndicate of daily papers, his work would be of a higher quality. If a Canadian novelist could get $200 to $1,000 for the serial rights of each long story produced, we would soon have a new school of novelists. If a dozen literary periodicals were competing for the work of poets, descriptive writers, and novelists, the production of material would be increased, and a higher grade of literature would be the result. But we have not yet reached that stage. A bright Canadian writer who recently went to London to live desired to supply a.weekly letter to Canadian dailies. I undertook to syndicate the work for her. I sent a glowing letter to about thirty of our leading dailies, and offered to give this weekly letter for exclusive publication in such dis- trict at $1 to $2 per week. I received only one acceptance. Let me give another example. I arranged to syndicate Canadian short stories and supply them to daily papers on the same conditions at $1 a week, but could get no support for my venture. Another handicap from which Canadian litera- ture is suffering is the lack of a Copyright Act. If this market were confined to Canadian publishers, the books of Canadian authors would be published by strong firms and well marketed. There will be little Canadian literature until a Canadian Copy- right Act prevents this country from being exploited as a slaughter market for the publications of foreign printers and publishers. Still another handicap is the freedom with which United States periodicals circulate in this country. Nearly three millions a year of these weeklies and monthlies find their way into this market, crowding THE AUTHOR. 13 Canadian publications to the wall. Unprinted paper is charged 25 per cent.; printed paper, con- taining the work of United States writers, artists, engravers, and printers, pays no duty. Not only is Canadian literature unprotected, but it is dis- criminated against to the extent of 25 per cent. The producer of milk cans and agricultural imple- ments is protected ; the producer of literature is not only unprotected, but is actually handicapped, The handicap on a publisher desiring to publish a 10-cent magazine in this country amounts on a 50,000 edition to $7,500 a year. This tax prevents publishers employing Canadian writers and artists. In a recent address Principal Grant stated that the journalists are weaving the organic filaments of a new and higher social state; that the only sovereigns in these days are the literary men. lf this be true, Canada is, in a great measure, allowing United States journalists and literary men to weave the organic filaments of this new nation. During the past few months a New York paper, by the name of Success, has been organising Success Clubs in connection with our Church societies. ‘There are several of these clubs in Toronto. Acqui- escence in this sort of thing may be excused in an unthinking public, but it cannot be excused in journalists and publicists. Upon the journalists of Canada rests, to some extent, the duty of seeing that Canadians are fed upon the proper kind of intellectual food. The fourth handicap is shared by both journalism and literature. The Imperial postage rate on newspapers and periodicals is eight cents a pound, and an Imperial circulation cannot be secured with such a handicap. If London publications sold more freely in Canada, they would require more of Canada’s literary products. The fifth handicap is the complacency of the public. No other country in the world buys foreign periodicals and books in such quantities as Canada. Great Britain does not, because she has as neighbours the French and Germans, whose languages erect a natural barrier, while the Atlantic separates her from the United States and prevents the competition between the two countries which would exist were they side by side. So the United States is protected by the Atlantic from the inroads of British periodicals, and by an astute Copyright Act from the competition of British book publishers. Canada is only one concession removed from the United States, and the language is the same. Only the loyalty of the Canadian- reading public could save this market for the Canadian journalist and Jdttérateur. This loyalty is evident in the support given to the publication with which I am connected, in the great sales of the works of Ralph Connor and Gilbert Parker and in other ways. But this loyalty must be 14 assisted and fostered by such legislation as will cive us bright literature at popular prices, Canadian literature in popular form. he loyalty of a small portion of our people must not be taxed by this unfair competition from another country. With all these handicaps it is small wonder that we have little native literature and few native writers of prominence. ‘The best writers who have been unfortunate enough to be born in this country have soon discovered the mistake and hastened to change their abode. Grant Allen, Robert Barr, Gilbert Parker, Sara Jeanette Duncan, Bliss Carman, Charles G. D. Roberts, and a dozen others have shaken the dust of Canadian soil from off their feet because it was unholy ground. They have gone to find fame, appreciation and wealth in other lands. ‘They have removed to countries that have a strong journalism, a stern Copyright Act, a protected home market, favourable postage rates, and a not indifferent public. This protest of mine may be a kick against the pricks. Ido not believe it is. I believe I shall live to see the day, if I have luck, when Canadian journalism shall be strong enough to afford sub- stantial encouragement to Canadian writers, when Canada shall give her writers the profits of a copy- righted market, when the evils of foreign com- petition shall be duly limited, when Canadian periodicals will circulate throughout the Empire under the sgis of penny postage, when a loyal public will give greater encouragement to the man who is putting the genius of the nation into song and story. The influencesare at work, the struggle for bread and butter is nearly past, the struggle for literary supremacy is at hand. When the new day arrives, Canadian literature and Canadian journalism will be found working together to give this people the food which makes for intellectual greatness. Joun A. CooPER, Editor, Canadian Magazine. — BOOKS AND THE PUBLIC. oo The Method of Distribution. ROM time to time The Author has published interesting articles bearing on the relation- ship between author and agent and the various methods of publishing, and I have expected to see another on “The Method of Distribution.” To my mind this is by far the most important, for however ably written, disposed of, and published, all will be in vain if the buying public are not induced to buy what the author, agent, and publisher have produced. THE AUTHOR. Now, as to the present method of distributions Are your readers satisfied with present arrange. ments ? If so, there is nothing more to be aid or- done. But if the greater number, leaving out the successful writers of fiction who can command sales of many thousands, do not feel satisfied that their books are well displayed and given a fair chance, there is ample reason for discussing the matter. To those unacquainted with the process it may be well to state that the usual course appears to be for the publisher, having previously para- graphed the work in hand for all he is worth, to show round a copy, or subscribe as it is called, to the London trade and libraries ; simultaneously he shows a copy, by means of his traveller, to the country bookseller. By “the trade” it must be understood that we mean not only retailers but also wholesale buyers, and those who are known as “exporters,” mostly agents for well-known Colonial or American booksellers. We will suppose that we have to deal with an ordinary book, fiction or otherwise, by a practically unknown author. The bookseller does indeed look at the cover, glance through a few pages, consider the size and weight of the volume with reference to its price, and then courteously or otherwise inform the anxiously waiting traveller that he “ will not subscribe, but wait until he is asked for it and get it from one Simpkins.” Naturally enough he can’t stock all books. He knows the names of a few well-known authors, and he prefers to buy enough of these to make a big heap, to which he knows his assistants will run while cuckooing the usual note, “ Here is the latest by So-and-so. We are selling hundreds.” But how fares our unlucky author ? If the wholesale buyers put it into their stock at all, they must have an additional discount to induce them to do so ; and rightly, for they do take some risk if they take but little trouble. They also will wait ‘till they are asked for it.” And the chances are that they will be asked for it, because a vast expenditure must be incurred by the publisher in advertising, to say nothing of the copies he sénds for review. But so far what has the trade done for the book ? Absolutely nothing. For the most part the booksellers have not stocked it, therefore they can- not show it. The book-buyer cannot see it. He must “ order” it, buying “a pig in a poke,” on the faith of what a reviewer has said, or caught by the showy advertisement that the clever pubiisher has concocted. But the bookseller having taken his order, and in due course ordered it from Simpkins, is content to pack up the book, send it to his customer, get the money when he can, and dis- contentedly grumble at his profit. He has done packers’ work and been paid at packers’  wages. As-a salesman he has done nothing, as a literary helper he has done less, and in all proba- bility he has never seen the book, having left all the seeing and distributing to his assistants. Yet pretty well half the published price of the book has disappeared in this process. Truly one- fourth is allowed as discount to the buyer, but there can be little doubt that the other fourth has been swallowed up by a very extravagant method of distribution. Sales there have not been—except so far as advertisements have produced them. In other words, the shopkeeper only supplies a demand created by other means—and he is no book-seller at all. Are there remedies? Yes. 1. The post- office “ cash on delivery ” system would be cheaper. 2. Let publishers refuse to give any trade allow- ances on single collected copies, but increase the allowance considerably when books are taken by men who intend to sell them by personally knowing something of their contents. Probably these suggestions will be considered no remedy, but amongst the many brilliant readers of The Author surely there is one who will show us how to get rid of the present inefficient shopkeeper and set up a well-paid and contented book-seller. +-—<—_+—_—__ COLONIAL ART COPYRIGHT. — Y a decision given in the Supreme Court of Appeal of Ontario, by four Judges, it has been held that a British copyright owner has no protection in the Dominion of Canada in the matter of artistic copyright. The case arose over a photogravure published by Messrs. Henry Graves and Co., Ltd., the copyright of which was duly registered in Stationers’ Hall. The photogravure was entitled “ What we _ have we'll hold,” and represented a bulldog, in defiant attitude, standing on the Union Jack. This had been pirated in Canada in divers ways—by copies made in oil, by reproductions in photogravure, by process work, by lithography, both plain and in colours, by being reproduced on envelopes, note- paper, post-cards, brooches, match-boxes, and in yarious other ways, and the piracies had even been exported to England. Messrs. Henry Graves and Co., Ltd., accordingly took action in Canada, and, as the matter was a vital one to all who have a direct or indirect interest in the subject of artistic copyright, an influential society of artists, fine art publishers, engravers, &., was formed, with Sir Edward Poynter, Bart., P.R.A., as Pre- sident, under the title of the Society for the Protection of British Fine Art Copyright in the Colonies, in order to protect the interests of the THE AUTHOR. 15 various professions, businesses, and industries affected. A deputation from the Association waited on Sir Wilfred Laurier, the Canadian Premier, who was asked to accord to Great Britain at least as much protection in Canada as was received by British copyright owners in various foreign countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, Japan, or even Hayti. It was pointed out that the position was most anomalous whilst these countries received from Great Britain just the same protection as was accorded to Canada, Canada gave Great Britain no protection whatever. Mr. J. F. E. Grundy (Secretary of the Association), Messrs. Walter Dowdeswell, J. B. Pratt, J. J. Elliott, and Adolf Tuck having spoken, a petition on the matter, headed by Sir Edward Poynter, and signed by most of the Royal Academicians and others interested in fine art copyright, was handed to Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The Canadian Premier, who gave the deputation a most courteous reception, whilst carefully guarding himself from any expres- sion of opinion likely to commit his Ministry, promised to give this important question his full and most sympathetic consideration on his return to Canada. Meanwhile, he promised in the interval to forward the petition to the responsible Minister in Canada. The deputation thanked Sir Wilfrid Laurier for his courtesy. ——_——_——__+—<>—_+—__—- THE ART OF INDEXING.* ——_-—+— N interesting monograph on indexes and A index-makers has been added to the Book- Lover’s Library, but the compiler addresses experts and the profession rather than authors. No one knows better what a good index should be than Mr. Wheatley ; but he makes so much of his subject that possibly his book will deter the busy author from attempting a task well within his compass, for this treatise is at once too diffuse and too advanced to be of real service as a guide to writers who wish to make an index to their own books, instead of having the work inadequately performed by costly hired assistants. It is an admirable exposé of the mind of the professional index-maker, therefore useful to all who have to consult indexes. There is much interesting padding about the growth of indexes ; the mistakes of indexers, their facetiousness and even malevolence, but not enough of practical instruction. ‘The anecdote of Wellington's breeches and the Bishop of London is not even remotely Oo * How to Make an Index,” Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A. Elliot Stock, London, 1902. 16 connected with indexing, and its whole point is that a writer must mind his n’s and u’s. The omissions are many ; there are points on which the opinion of an expert would be valuable ; amongst them—the use of abbreviations, and of technical contractions in the index; uniformity of practice as to abid., id., op. cit., etseq., ff., etc. Is or is ib not permissible in an index to disregard the special spellings with mixed founts—as of Indian and Old English words—and accented letters, as they appear in the text ? How far the typographical art can aid the consulter of the index in finding a particular item should have been shown by speci- men pages of indexes, in which, by differences of type, the entries are seen to refer respectively to original statements, quotations, descriptions with pictorial illustrations, chapter headings, proper names, and dates. It is true Rule XIII. says that the titles of all books quoted are to appear in the index, and the word “ quoted” added in italics ; but what would be the appearance of such an index to, say, Sir John Lubbock’s ‘“ Pleasures of Life” ? Then, if small capitals indicate chapter headings, why is each first reference under each letter so printed in indexes? Should not capital initials be reserved for proper names? What is the cost of indexing? The book gives no answer. When a subject runs on from page to page the reference is to be from the first page to the last. In this book the indexing of prefixes is dealt with in pages 141 to 144. There is no entry to prefixes in the index, but under “ Names ”’ is a sub-heading referring to “the rules for the arrangement of foreign and English respectively, 141, 142,” which surely should be 141-144; the two numbers when separated by a comma suggesting references to distinct items, not the continuation of a single reference. For making the index Mr. Wheatley recom- mends foolscap, upon which the entries are made seriatim. The foolscap sheets are then cut into slips full width of the paper; these slips must be arranged in proper alphabetical order, then pasted down in that order on wider sheets of paper, and so sent to press. For headings to which there are likely to be many references, the separate sheets are kept in a lettered folio. Altogether the method is old-fashioned and troublesome. The more expeditious and accurate way is to use sheets of post-card or small note size. Write one reference on each, and as soon as done throw it into a box; if there are many references for one heading do the same—it is less trouble to write on a new sheet than to find a particular one in a lettered folio. A contraction may be used ; “Edward VII.” by oft repetition becomes “Ed. 7,” and other abbreviations, being as natural, are never misunderstood when the time for sorting comes. THE AUTHOR. After sorting all references headed, say, “ Ed. 7,” can be copied on to one card, or two, in proper order. If later on a reference is found under, say, Q or W, which would be. preferable under an earlier heading, the position of the sheet can be altered at once; or if the sheets are already numbered seriatim for the printer, there is plenty of room on any slip for several entries, or if not, additional sheets can be inserted and numbered 6a, 6b, etc. The sheets all range perfectly, so are easy to handle, are not likely to be lost, and give com- paratively little trouble to indexer or compositor ; and really Mr. Wheatley would find it preferable to give his sorted slips to a typist to write out, than to paste down for the printer—a method almost obsolete save in Government offices. There is much in the book which makes it one every author and compiler of books should possess and study, and if these criticisms are mistaken for a lack of appreciation, it is because Mr. Wheatley’s dicta have provoked suggestions, which possibly may be of greater use than complimentary phrases, towards further perfecting a guide to the somewhat obscure art of indexing—an art to which more belongs than is comprised in Mr. Wheatley’s scholarly account of its practice. W. G. Oa THIRTEEN AS TWELVE. —_t-~ e ESSRS. B. to render a royalty statement \ i half-yearly, viz., June 30th and Decem- ber 31st ; and it is understood that in making up such royalty thirteen copies shall be reckoned as twelve.” During the past few years one of the unfortunate results of the agitation created by the Authors’ Society for better terms for its members, is to be seen in the fact that publishers have by all kinds of methods struggled to keep their profits up to the old standard. One instance may be quoted: the deplorable innovation of thirteen copies reckoning as twelve. In the old days none of the best publishing houses paid the royalty on thirteen as twelve, but on every copy sold; and on this understanding the calculation of royalties set out in “The Methods of Publishing” was based. The argument for paying the royalty on thirteen copies as twelve is generally that the publisher has to sell to the booksellers under this arrangement. ‘This is an excuse which will not hold good for two reasons. Firstly, as stated, the royalties in “The Methods of Publishing” have been reckoned as paid on every copy (in the cost of production of the work it had already been calculated that the publisher had sold to the  Bb} bookseller “thirteen as twelve” ; consequently, if the royalty is paid thirteen as twelve in addition, then the calculations in “The Methods of Pub- lishing” show a false return, and a reduction to the author). Secondly, the booksellers do not buy thirteen as twelve, except when purchasing large quantities. Tf, however, publishers insist upon inserting in the agreement that the royalty shall be paid on this basis, then the following little sum must be taken into consideration by all authors. The question is a matter of vital importance, as touching very nearly the author's income. By the aid of mathematics, the different results can be expressed with absolute precision. Thus, algebraically :—Let a be the price, in shillings, at which a book is sold, and } the royalty per cent. which the publisher agrees to pay the author. Then, author’s royalty on each copy = a shillings. And author's royalty on 100 copies = 4 b shilling. Thus, for example : If a book is sold at G6s., and the author’s royalty is 10 per cent., ab Author's royalty on each copy 0 of a shilling ; or 73d. Author’s royalty on 100 copies = 4 b = 60 shillings. In the above cases the author receives his royalty on every copy. If, however, the publisher inserts in his agreement a clause that royalties are to be paid “counting thirteen copies as twelve,” the author then receives royalties on twelve copies only out of every thirteen sold ; or, which is the same thing, loses his royalty on every thirteenth copy ; or, which is again the same thing, receives only +2 of what he would have received if the royalty had been paid upon every copy. Algebraically the result may be expressed thus : if, as before, a be the price, in shillings, at which the book is sold, and } the royalty per cent. (thirteen copies being counted as twelve), 12 a 0 Author’ It h = — uthor’s royalty on each copy aT shillings. Author’s royalty. on 100 copies = _ vo shillings. For example, taking again the above case of a book sold at 6s., and the author’s royalty at 10 per cent. (thirteen copies counted as twelve), 9, Author’s royalty on each copy = 7500 = 2, = 55384...of a shilling: a little more 12 x 6 x 10 THE AUTHOR. 17 than 64d. (Author’s exact loss on each copy is 7:2 — 6°64608... =°55392... of a penny, or a little more than a halfpenny. °) > Author’s royalties on 100 copies = ee a2 - vo = 220 — 5575040)... shillings ; a little more than 55s. 44d. The calculations for any price, royalty, or number of copies can be easily made, so that the subject need not be here pursued any further; but it is interesting to compare the actual results of the two systems, of royalty on every copy, or when thirteen are counted as twelve. Again, the case is taken of a book which is sold at 6s., with royalties of 5, 10, or 15 per cent. The author's royalties on 100 copies are : 5 per cent. 10 per cent. 15 per cent. Oe fs 0. £8 Has 12st 10; 0 3.0 0 4.10 0 ifen12: 1 7 St 215 44 4 38 = OF Authors loss. 0 2 32 © 4 7% 0 61144 A problem of some interest now naturally sug- gests itself. Ifthe publisher insists upon counting thirteen as twelve, what higher royalty ought the author to demand so as not to lose by the thirteenth copy ? Let a = the price, in shillings, at which the book is sold. b = the royalty proposed by the publisher; with which the author would be contented, if it were paid upon every copy. x = the royalty author must demand, so that when it is paid upon “ thirteen counted as twelve” he may receive as much as if 2 had been paid upon every copy- Then, from what has been said above, we have: 1300-100 a7 et 1 130 f— - 12 The author must demand a royalty increased in the proportion of 13 : 12; or, in other words, he must demand 1s. 1d. in the place of every 1s, of the royalty expressed by 0. So he will ask for 13 per cent. in the place of 12 per cent. ; or 64 per cent. in the place of 6 per cent. In conclusion, when ‘“ thirteen are counted as twelve,” the author loses 7°69..., or rather more than 7% per cent. THE AUTHOR. GENERAL MEMORANDA. 0 ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property —: I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, 7/ a proper price can be obtained, But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to: C1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (8.) Not to allow a special charge for ‘ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! III. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “Cost of Production.” IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— . C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. —_—————-—~<>—4 WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. ——+—<—+ EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. {t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (4.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (¢c.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (i.¢., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply also in this case. S 4. PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative : that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA- TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY. — eee HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. —_—— 1, VERY member has a right toask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society's solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member.  2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements, do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are udvancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers : —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. ———__+—___—______ THE READING BRANCH. ——+ EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term MSS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea, —_——__+—_-__¢—____—_— NOTICES. —_+—<+—_ HE Editor of Zhe Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s. 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. 19 Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. —_—__—_——_+——_-—___—_ COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EpIToR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. — THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. —+— N August the 8th the King granted a Royal Charter incorporating “the British Academy for the promotion of Historical, Philoso- phical, and Philological Studies.” We are printing an article this month on an Academy of Letters by Mr. Herbert Trench. The Committee consider that the subject is one eminently fitted for discussion in the pages of this periodical, but, whatever may be the opinion of individual members, desire to disassociate them- selves as a body from the views put forward. Another article in this number, the question of Canadian copyright, is dealt with by a Canadian. It is a pity he has not studied the universal evolu- tion of copyright in all countries. He would have discovered that the wider the market given to the authors of any country the greater would be the literature of that country. Under the Imperial Acts copyright is almost world-wide. We must congratulate the American Authors Society in having secured President Roosevelt as one of its members. Is it possible that so practical a President, the author of so strenuous a life, will turn his attention to the question of copyright ? The committee of the American Society should use its utmost influence in that direction. 20 The Master’s Report of and the Decree in the case of Samuel Eberly Gross, A. M. Palmer, Richard Mansfield, and Richard Mansfield Co. in the United States courts has been printed and circulated. In plain words, this is the decree given by consent of both parties with regard to M. Rostand’s famous play “ Cyrano de Bergerac.” It may be there has been a case of plagiarism, but the evidence put forward “pace the decree” would hardly lead us to that conclusion if we put aside the commonplace resemblances that are bound to exist in many plots and many characters, heroes and heroines. The two main points which take the case out of the commonplace are the duel scene and the balcony scene, but in these, however close the resemblance in the action, the dramatic power and the production of strong poetic and sympathetic effect lies wholly with M. Rostand. Mr. Gross’s duel is a mere hurling of vituperation by one duellist at the other, a fanciful burlesque, fit for a farce. It is the old story of the German duel but with- out the drinking. M. Rostand’s duel (it is needless to describe it) has a touch of genius that robs it of whatever plagiarism it may contain. The same remark may apply to the balcony scene. In Mr. Gross’s play one man woos for the other. Does this not occur in “Twelfth Night” ? In Mr. ‘Gross’s play the shadow is the secretary of the lover, and has no feeling of passion towards the heroine. In M. Rostand’s play the shadow is the friend of the lover, and is himself in love with the heroine. ‘So, too, in ‘Twelfth Night,” only substitute “hero” for “ heroine.” M. Rostand has grasped the idea, and turned a commonplace incident into a dramatic situation. He has made aplot of passions. He has controlled force by force. He has brought about that struggle -of the emotions which alone raises the interest of the spectators. Is it plagiarism ? It maybe. Then Shakespeare was also a plagiarist. The following episode may serve as a useful hint to writers of short stories :— A beginner in newspaper work, who occasion- ally “sent stuff” to one of the dailies, picked up last summer what seemed to him a “big story.” Hurrying to the telegraph office, he “ queried ” the telegraph editor, “Column story on So-and-so. ‘Shall I send it ?”’ The reply was brief and prompt, ‘but to the enthusiast unsatisfactory. ‘‘Send six hundred words,” was all it said. ‘Can’t be told in less than twelve hundred,” he wired back. Before long the reply came, ‘‘Story of creation of world told in six hundred. Try it.” THE AUTHOR. OF DISTANT AUTHORS. 1 EAR books! and each the living soul, Our hearts aver, of men unseen, Whose power to strengthen, charm, control, Surmounts all earth’s green miles between. For us at least the artists show Apart from fret of work-day jars : We know them but as friends may know, Or they are known beyond the stars. Their mirth ; their grief; their soul’s desire, When twilight murmuring of streams Or skies high touched by sunset fire “nchant them to pure worlds of dreams ; Their love of good ; their rage at wrong ; Their hours when struggling thought makes way; Their hours when fancy drifts to song Lightly and glad as bird-trills may ; All these are truths. And if as true More graceless scrutiny that reads, “These fruits amid strange husking grew ”— “These lilies blossomed amongst weeds ”— Here no despoiling doubts shall blow, No fret of feud, of work-day jars. We know them but as friends may know, Or they are known beyond the stars ! New Zealand. Mary CoLuBorNzE-VEEL. <9 —_____—_ THE AUTHOR OF “FESTUS.” — 1+ R. PHILIP JAMES BAILEY, whose death we regret to record, was perhaps the most striking example of a “one book man” He wrote N that our modern literature affords. “Festus” when he was little more than a boy, and he spent the rest of his long life in re-writing and expanding it. It is a striking poem, though its immense success was probably due less to its poetical merits than to what seemed sixty years ago the daring optimism of its theological specula- tions. The same reason may explain why its vogue did not prove to be enduring. Its theme, indeed, is one of eternal interest, but the progress of criticism has altered the general attitude towards the problems which it discusses, and much in it that seemed startlingly novel when it appeared is now either rejected altogether or accepted as a matter of course. As a treatise, therefore, it has passed out of date, while as a poem it lacked the rare gualities which make the very best poetry a possession to be treasured for all time. Its fame, however, though now no more than a memory, is one of the most interesting memories in the annals of early Victorian literature.  A FORM OF SELFISHNESS. to \ | ANY old prejudices have been pulled up by ao the roots and flung away as cumberers of the ground where modern thought and conduct desire free room to move. Some of these discarded prejudices were no doubt old- fashioned flowers without whose sweetness the world is by so much the less sweet and beautiful. Others again were weeds whose noxious influence killed much that might have been both useful and fair. Among the weeds of prejudice that survive at the present day, I would class the curious notion that it is below the dignity of an author to seek adequate return or payment for his work. Laying aside metaphor, let us ask ourselves, Is this view really as high-minded as it appears to be? And is it likely to bring about the best results? Because if so, let us stick to it by all manner of means. But when the matter is looked into, it would seem that the reverse is the fact. It is evident that only those who do not live by the pen, but enjoy an income apart from literary work, can write freely that which they honestly think and desire to write, unaffected by the chances of future sale and publication. Here at once is created a narrowing qualification, which would debar many splendid intellects from entering, as freedmen, into the profession of literature. Under the old condition of things a poor man entered as a slave of the market, held in bondage by a specially cruel law of supply and demand. Were these limitations likely to produce the best results ? After all the question returns to the same point, the high ideal fades into air, for it is plain that to give of his highest and best a writer living by his pen should have assured rights and the power (which can only come by combination) of enforcing those rights, so that he may be in a position to demand a fair return for his labour, and so become as far as possible an independent force. And this is precisely the point which the late Sir Walter Besant and his colleagues clearly per- ceived. It was in September, 1883, that the idea of founding a society for the protection of the rights of authors was first mooted. Soon after- wards it became an accomplished fact. But the commercial side of the matter was by no means the chief side in the eyes of those clear-sighted nen who unselfishly desired to help their weaker fellows. The Society of Authors was not founded solely to improve the financial position of authors. Tts aim was far higher. It was founded to improve the status of literature. And it has succeeded to a wonderful extent. For eighteen years the Society has been working THE AUTHOR. 21 in a sound and practical manner to advance the condition of literature. All writers have benefited by these efforts, and it is curious to find that some few of them do not appear to realise their indebted- ness, or, at any rate, do not show their appreciation of what is being done by joining the Society or in the smallest way helping on the movement. One has only to look back a score of years and recall the undignified and legally helpless condition of authors in those days, and the days which went before, to come to a full comprehension of the changes effected by the Society. Save at the houses of some notable firms there was small mercy, not to speak of justice, dealt out to the ordinary run of writers. The traditional taint of Grub Street yet hung about the name of an author. He was, besides, more than likely to be by tempera- ment an extraordinarily unbusinesslike individual, and he was made to suffer accordingly. We know gad stories of some of our greatest writers, whose work was cramped and often spoiled by the condi- tions which obtained, and the relations which existed between authors and publishers. Unless a man had private means he was bound to produce what his publisher ordered. The scale of payment was very low, and he was not infre- quently unfairly treated. He had no one at his back, and single-handed he was helpless to resist. It is plain that no man could work with freedom or give out the best that was in him under such circumstances, knowing that the bread and coffee of his breakfast, and perhaps that of his family, depended upon the whim of another. It is good for no man to live in a state of perennial depen- dence—to take his work to a patron instead of dealing on a legalised basis with an equal. There was a crying need for such a society as this, a fighting suciety, to get justice and recogni- tion for a class supposed from time immemorial to be peculiarly unfitted to secure any such rights for themselves. What a need there was can scarcely be understood to-day. If the old state of affairs could be rung back into the present, and writers experience the hardships and rebuffs of the past, the few individuals of whom I write would rush to place themselves under the flag of the Society of ‘Authors! The conditions under which the calling of literature in any of its forms may now be pursued has been so ameliorated by the exertions of the Society that the conditions obtaining in pre-Society days seem grotesque and impossible. Authors, save a few, a very few, did not in those days of anonymous contribations and copyright- purchasing live by their pens, or they lived as poorly as an agricultural labourer. The full industry of more than one author whose name has since passed into ahousehold word hardly kept the manin house-rent. Those were the days of fine sentiment. THE AUTHOR. Writing for money was degradation. Literature, the’ dictum went forth, and was trumpeted abroad by those who drew advantage fromit, must notbe self- supporting. ‘The idea has only to be carried to its logical conclusion to show itself the sham it is. “There is no need to labour this side of the ques- tion. But apart from the false sentiment that was then in the air, or rather as one result of it, the pursuit of literature was made difficult by the kind of agreements into: which authors were expected to enter. Anyone who reads the organ of this Society will recognise the sort of contract to which I refer. The light of publicity was carefully excluded from these hole-and-corner transactions, publishers accepted the work of British authors, and having brought it before the public, and made money out of it, deemed their side of the contract fulfilled. | The amount of return that fell to the author was | curiously small. Often it was nl. the power and all the business knowledge rested in the hands of the latter. brought the Society into being. It was met with a wide-spread opposition which proved beyond question how necessary was its existence. An author in doubt or in difficulty at length had someone to apply to, who could give advice, guidance and help on all practical points such as agreements and so forth, matters which take © special study. Few literary men have either the time or the opportunity for working up the com- mercial and legal sides of their calling, but the Society being expert in these subjects supplies the want. “From the outset the Society have made it their aim to consolidate and define the rights of all those who follow the calling of literature; they have given legal protection in numberless cases where writers, left to themselves, must have been helpless. By its action the Society, far from degrading the calling of literature, has raised it to a higher level, for the world is not altogether chivalrous, and the man who knows his rights and can enforce them is likely to hold an infinitely better place in public estimation than a man who may be defrauded with impunity. and defined and defended the rights, of his clags. And it seems pretty clear that each man owes it to himself to pay that debt as well as he can. Every author should become a member of the Society, and not only a member but a living force, working as opportunity offers for the general good of his fellows, a course which must react in good to himself. Though one occasionally hears jan author say, “ But I have excellent relations ;with my publisher, I do not see how they can be | improved.” Very possibly, but thanks more or ‘less to all that the Society has done in the past. | One great object in the work of the Society is to : x i promote friendly relations between the author and his publisher. The more defined the author’s rights are, the less likelihood is there of any quarrel interrupting pleasant connections. . It should be recollected that this Society is the ‘ only one for the protection of literature that At the best the relative positions of author and i publisher were far from satisfactory, because all | These were the facts that — exists in the Empire. Every British writer shares in the benefits it has already bestowed, and which it is daily bestowing, upon the calling to which he belongs. He cannot escape its good influence, and to the direct mind, it hardly seems possible _ that he would wish to escape by mere idleness or for some other selfish reason from the debt he could at any rate partially pay by becoming a “member of the Society himself, and by inducing _ others to join algo. __. There are many waverers in the world, ready to be _blown this way and that by every expressed opinion. _ It would be well to remind such that by not only oining, but also by working for an association of intelligent men and women, whose aims in life are Yet one sometimes (not often) hears an author \ say, “That is all very well, but the Society of | Authors has not done anything for me.” Perhaps | this may be true in so far that he has not directly received advice or assistance from the Society in © any dealings of his own; but it is impossible to publish a book or to contribute even a couple of articles to a magazine without sharing in the many benefits brought about by the efforts of the Society. Every literary an owes a debt to | the combination that has bettered the standing, | _indentical with his own, an author is more likely to forward his own interests than by a too close adherence to what he may consider momentarily conducive to his own immediate benefit. Heskero Prrowarp, _ ees AN ACADEMY OF LETTERS. —1—< + HE ancient question of a British Academy of Letters is one which will not be allowed to sink away into silence, I trust, before it has received renewed attention. Never, within the last three centuries, have we needed such a body more than now. A recent writer, in dealing with this question, as usual characterises British literature as a literature of power, in contrast with the Gallic literature of intellivence; and, for some reason unexpressed, fears lest a literature of power should, in receiving an organisation, lose originality and variety. He states that between the Gallicliterature cas 6 Ss Sas See see  a1, of “good sense” and the English literature of free force there is a great gulf fixed. He thinks that an incorporated society might snuff out Wordsworths, Coleridges, Blakes, and Shelleys. Now I venture to draw from the undoubted force and freedom of the English spivit in litera- ture the hope of precisely the opposite result. The French Academy, although it did not produce, certainly did not snuff out, the “ free force” of Rabelais, Montaigne, Diderot, Rousseau, Balzac, Hugo, De Musset, Verlaine. Freedom, originality, variety, daring, and all the signs of exuberant life, denote a strength that would be far more swiftly effective, far more dignified, far more temperate and clear-seeing than it is, if there co- existed with British freedom in British letters a public association of the best and strongest men, a public recognition of the rank of minds and imaginations. The truth is that we, having a literature of power, need an Academy far more than France, where a tradition of classic ood sense” (perhaps through the influence of French classic drama) prevails. The English, said an acute foreign critic the other day, have gained more liberty in things external than any other people ; but in the things internal—in the freedom of thinking, in liberality of mental atmosphere—they are far less free than certain Continental peoples. But how is it that we have gained liberty in externals ? By the habit of organisation. And from organisation what is to be feared? By organisation I mean the drawing together in the public sight of those various forceful and excel- lent masters who are recognised by their common concurrence to be masters. And what are the boons that such an organisation could confer on the people? To realise them requires insight as to the present state of affairs. That, I imagine, is nothing less than the merest tumultuous anarchy. Our ears are deafened, as in some market place, by hucksters each selling his own wares ; there are street-cries, chafferings, in uproar andmud. We have here and there a novelist on his inverted tub selling fictions by flaring gas-jets, his voice raucous with shouting. We see the common people, having no better guide, gaping at every charlatan for a genius. There is an immense waste going on; a waste of publishers’ money in competition for publicity. The lower forces of literary productiveness are amply organised. The higher are without repre- sentation. There is no Council at the head of literature to control or keep order, or by example to ~discountenance indecencies of advertisement. The luminaries of to-day flash on us with mechanical periodicity, like the pink and green articles of diet the signs of which ennoble Trafalgar Square. THE AUTHOR. 23 The “millions,” God rest them, are anodyned and idiotised by instructive publications of the “penny weekly” type. The “ thousands” have a similar, but more costly pabulum of magazines. But all these are written and published, in the first place, to make money. Our Society of Authors—admirable body that it is—exists only to protect literature as an article of commerce. ‘he last concern of that prominent Society is with literature as an art, and as more: than an art. Thus while men of science and medicine have their Royal Societies and general councils, men of the religious professions, learned men, stockbrokers, artists in the plastic arts, all have their societies, to influence, to keep order, to recognise rank and confer honour, pure literature «alone the most aristocratic calling, the most needing independence, the only mirror of life as a whole, has no organ im letters apart from and above pecuniary requirements, no society whose aim is to sustain the name, and publicly represent to foreigners and to the com- munity the power of English intelligence and imagination. If we believe that there is such a power and that it is beneticial, how can the organisa- tion of the power be objected to? It will readily be admitted that the people, that men in non- literary professions, that the hundreds of librarians of the new free public libraries, and above all, the eager and intelligent young, simply thirst for guidance in these matters. But there is no public and independent body to guide them, to indicate principles of criticism, or to indicate, however roughly and imperfectly, the values, proportion, status of living writers. And the conclusion is easily illustrated by the distress which exists in the minds of officials when some State occasion arises, such as the funeral of the late Laureate or the Royal procession of this summer. Who shall be asked to represent the higher literature at such a ceremonial? Nobody knows. The obvious knights, the most popular novelists, the com- posers of music-hall ditties, flash upon our fatigued retina; but an uneasy suspicion remains that these do not sum that world. Can it be possible that we have no literature? Nay; it is merely that we have no organ of discrimination. | Priests of the true and beautiful, where are ye? Buried far hence, may be, in some dingy suburb or quiet shire. But you it is that the men who know, your equals, could summon, far off, isolated, reluctant, to your true places of esteem. Again, to make peers or knights of men of letters is a mere dull ineptitude. But the republican and Academic body that I conceive should, in order to guide the public, confer titles of merit or excellence (such as the Prix Gobert) at the end of each year op works of worth. At present such books like Edward  24 Fitzgerald's “Omar Khayyam” frequently sink for along time out of sight, although a few experts are well aware of their excellence, simply because the experts may be too few and too ill-placed to impress the public. Such books as the Rev. Hastings Rashdall’s “ Universities in the Middle Ages,” Sir Henry Johnston’s “ British Equatorial Africa,” or Mr. F. H. Bradley’s “ Appearance and Reality,” have suffered in this manner by their own excellence. Experts are too few, and the reviewers are necessarily too hasty to judge them properly. The public is therefore unable, except after the lapse of many years, to distinguish these books from specious imitations of their kind. This is even more the case with poetry and novels. What qualified person believes that the poetry of Matthew Arnold—so pure, so salutary for our time—yet occupies its just place in the minds of the multitude which still acclaims Tennyson as a demi-god ? Who shall hall-mark the fine quality of most of the Garnett translations of Ivan Tourgeniev’s novels —novels which are, with Tolstoi’s, the chief novels of our time ? It is by no means to confer advantage on those men who would be nominated that I venture to urge the formation of an Academy of Letters. It is for the sake of the British people that it is desir- able. It is in order to give us more national dignity and self-respect. From what public quarter comes the recognition of the Beautiful in literature ? And the need of a Society of the Intellect and Spirit seems to me tenfold greater, in that every year sees us sinking into a grosser state of com- placent animalism. Every year our people, as a whole, like those of the United States, seem to be marching steadily, slumberously, into new and vaster Dark Ages ; Dark Ages not of mere igno- rance, but of the wildest positive error. The weltering Anglo-Saxon peoples have no intellectual standards, no thought-centre, no axis. One result of the existence of some such Society of the Spirit would be the attraction to literature of men of more powerful talent, now absorbed by the Bar and commerce. Those men would be induced to speak who now stand aloof and silent, in over- whelming disgust. Then, and not till then, would Enelish critics appear, whose work might compare in volume and quality with that of Sainte Beuve, Taine, Scherer, and Hennequin. The public and the daily Press—ready and even eager to recognise merit—are nevertheless unable _ to assign to merit its station and degree. Nor ‘can this task be done by the publishers’ monthly reviews or quarterlies, or by young journalists who undertake to summarise to the world a year’s literatnre in newspaper articles at Christmas. Jf, as advocates of laissez-faire urge, these matters are best left to time and chance, why ts any critical judg- THE AUTHOR. ment felt to be wanted al all? And if it 7s wanted, why is it wholly left to an anarchy of criticism ¢ In truth, it is a task which requires the mature and leisured judgment of equals ; and the masters them- selves are the only critics worth hearing. It is weak to plead that an Academy would be a prey to wire- pullers and intriguers. Any dignified human society that is worth framing must undergo, and can weather, such dangers. Our problem is simply to profit by the experience of the French Academy, and to construct a better one. Let us conclude with practical proposals. Let the House of Commons, through its leader, nominate a small committee of, say, six or eight men of letters who would indisputably be members of any Academy. The names, for instance, of Mr. George Meredith, Mr. Lecky, Mr. John Morley, Mr. J. G. Frazer, Mr. Bryce, Mr. Edward Dowden, and Mr. Bury will occur to most people as a fair committee. Let these themselves freely nominate the remainder of the body ; proceeding on the two principles that the work to be honoured must be in any case good literature ; that is, (1) It must be couched in language noble, admirable, and sincere. (2) It must be work faithful to the more serious truths of the imagination, emotions, and intelli- ence. Let this Academy of Letters meet periodically for discussion. Let them consider it their duty to protect the honour of the higher forms of British literature, without any regard to worldly respectability or success ; to become a Society of the Spirit, free from the blight of Royal patronage, and requiring not the smallest outward or social rank of any kind in its members. A society to promote and encourage talent, and to hasten recognition of it ; to confer distinguishing marks of merit on good work which has been previously published for at least two years: and to advise ministers (who are at present without proper advice) in the award of pensions. The issue of a brief annual Gazette would be a useful part of their functions ; and possibly also the occasional publi- cation of fine books, which could not be published for profit, by the poorer members. As regards endowment for this body, I conceive that, beyond the provision of rooms for meeting, there had better be little or none. But on that score certainly there need be no difficulty in this country. HERBERT TRENCH.  THE AUTHOR. 25 MUSICAL COPYRIGHT. —+-—~< + — An Act TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING ro MusiI- caL Copyricut (2 Epw. 7, On. 15.) 22nd JuLY, 1902. E it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and con- sent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assem- bled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : jy. A court of summary jurisdiction, upon the application of the owner of the copyright in any musical work, may act as follows : If satisfied by evidence that there is reasonable ground for believing that pirated copies of such musical work are being hawked, carried about, sold, or offered for sale, may, by order, authorise a constable to seize such copies without warrant and to bring them before the court, and the court, on proor that the copies are pirated, may order them to be destroyed or to be delivered up to the owner of the copyright if he makes application for that delivery. 2, If any person shall hawk, carry about, sell, or offer for sale any pirated copy of any musical work, every such pirated copy may be seized by any constable without warrant, on the request in writing of the apparent owner of the copyright in such work, or of his agent thereto authorised in writing, and at the risk of such owner. On seizure of any such copies, they shall be conveyed by such constable before a court of summary jurisdiction, and, on proof that they are infringements of copyright, shall be forfeited or destroyed, or otherwise dealt with as the court may think fit. 3. “Musical copyright” means the exclusive right of the owner of such copyright under the Copyright Acts in force for the time being to do or to authorise another person to do all or any of the following things in respect of a musical work : (1) To make copies by writing or otherwise of such musical work. (2) To abridge such musical work. (8). To make any new adaptation, arrangement, or setting of such musical work, or of the melody thereof, in any notation or system. “ Musical work” means any combination of melody and harmony, or either of them, printed, reduced to writing, or otherwise graphically pro- duced or reproduced. “Pirated musical work” means any musical work written, printed, or otherwise reproduced, without the consent lawfully given by the owner of the copyright in such musical work. 4, This Act may be cited as the Musical (Sum- mary Proceedings) Copyright Act, 1902, and shall come into operation on the first day of October one thousand nine hundred and two, and shall apply only to the United Kingdom. The Musical (Summary Proceedings) Copyright Act is essentially a publishers’ Act. ; To a certain extent, however, the Act must benefit all owners of musical copyright, whether composers or publishers. A careful perusal of its scope tends to show that the Act, hurriedly conceived, and as hurriedly pushed through the House, scarcely covers the most impor- tant difficulties connected with this musical piracy. It is unsatisfactory, and only fills a small space In a wide gap. What are the penalties to be enforced ? There is no mention of penalty. Are the cheap piratical printers, the arch offenders, to escape the court of summary jurisdiction ? It would appear to be the case. This omission is inexplicable; the unlicensed vendor has little to fear if he still retains the sympathy of the printer. He may even be an innocent holder, if, as is often the case, the printer stamps the copies as copyright. This Act, like all other copyright Acts, seems to suffer from a common complaint. Lack of interest gives rise to an inadequate knowledge of the subject, and inadequate knowledge is supplemented by poor draftsmanship. For instance, the power given in Clause 1 appears to be unnecessary, con- sidering the much wider scope of Clause 2, and the definitions of ‘‘ musical work ” and “ pirated musical work,” Clause 3, instead of containing the same terms, contain a variation that may give rise to legal difficulties. “ Otherwise graphically produced or reproduced” and “otherwise repro- duced’ raises an essential difference. How, again, will these definitions affect the present Acts, or bear upon such a case as Lover v. Davidson ? Sec- tion 3 is very all-embracing. The Act gives food for thought. It is to be hoped that its interpre- tation will not make confusion worse confounded. The musical publishers are, no doubt, jubilant. Will it work as an unmixed blessing to musical composers ? ——__—_ > ___ A BOOK ON COPYRIGHT.* —1.—<—+ — R. MACGILLIVRAY’S work is an exceed- M ingly valuable addition to the books ~~ dealing with copyright law, but THE BOOK on copyright has yet to be written. * “A Treatise upon the Law of Copyright,” by E. J. Macgillivray, LL.B. Publisher : John Murray, Albemarle Street.  26 Mr. Copinger’s important treatise is practically out of date, the last edition was published in 1893, and many things have taken place in the copy- right world since then. The second edition of Mr. Scrutton’s work was published in 1896, and another edition is seriously needed. It is possible that the author is waiting for the passing of that Copyright Law which for so long has hovered in its flight but never settled. We trust he will wait no longer; but neither Mr. Scrutton’s book nor Mr. Macgillivray’s can be said to be the final book on the subject. Mr. Scrutton, with a very clear insight into all the details of these complicated questions, comes to his opinions and conclusions, and declares them so positively that to the casual reader ignorant of actual texts and actual cases, the many points still in doubt appear to be finally settled. So far, how- ever, it is a satisfactory and clear guide for the general public, but not for the legal world. Mr. Macgillivray, on the other hand, by an elaborate statement of all the cases bearing on special issues, is inclined to emphasise the dis- crepancies, and to increase the difficulties of the casual reader by raising up from their grave, points upon which it is admitted the present position of the statute and case law is fairly clear. What, however, Mr. Macgillivray has stated in his Intro- duction that he has attempted to do, he has done exceedingly well. He has given an exhaustive text book of the case law, and on the case law no satisfactory work had as yet been produced. With one or two statements, however, we must find fault. Mr. Macgillivray doubts for reasons he sets forth whether a foreigner non-resident in England or the British Dominions is entitled to copyright. This conclusion is, as it would appear, against the weight of evidence, and against the established custom, since the American copyright arrangement has been in existence. He therefore raises a doubt as to the validity of the present position of English authors. Surely this is carrying the matter a little too far. A discussion of the question (if indeed it can be discussed) is of very little use to the general reader. Again, take the question of performing rights. Mr. Scrutton distinctly states ‘‘ Dramatic pieces in manuscript, neither printed nor represented, are the perpetual property of the author by common law.” Mr. Macgillivray denies this common law right, though he owns that the author may have a certain property ; but that the remedy would be on breach of implied contract. These are academic questions. The method, however, in which he deals with performing rights is full of confusion. Even fora careful reader, for one reading the book from the legal standpoint with a certain amount of technical THE AUTHOR. knowledge, it is impossible to find out exactly what the performing rights of the author are, in case he should happen to print and publish the book of his dramatic work before he performs it. Here, again, he seems to run counter to the opinion of that eminent lawyer, Mr. Scrutton, and obscures the issue in a cloud of dust. The chapter dealing with these questions should have been more clearly expressed. In its present state it does not merely obscure the point of law, but it raises confusion as to whether any law exists at all. The unfortunate dramatic author is not really in such a bad position. One of the most interesting chapters in the book deals with “ What is a piratical copy?” Disputes often arise as to infringement of copyright, and can only be settled on general lines, and according to the facts of each case. It was therefore most important that these facts should be arrayed so as to form a basis of comparison for every fresh case. Mr. Macgillivray has marshalled his in- formation in a thoroughly reliable and exhaustive manner. The other chapters in the book, although inter- esting and useful to the lawyer and the student, are not nearly so full as those dealing with literary copyright. Copyright in drawings, paintings, and photographs is surely entitled to more space. It is most complicated and involved, and is far more difficult of comprehension than the law of literary copyright. There is a very interesting chapter on the case law of the United States. Amongst other things, the author points out that, contrary to the law as it exists in England, to obtain copyright in the States it is necessary that the work must have some literary value. The decisions, however, on the subject seem to have been carried rather far. It is worth while to impress this point on English authors, for although no question has been tried that bears strictly upon some of the modern methods of registration, it is doubtful whether these methods would always be deemed satisfactory under the United States Copyright Act. The criticisms dealing with publishers’ agree- ments might well have been omitted. If this subject had been handled by the author, it required a fuller treatment, and should have been touched upon from other points of view than those of the publisher. The book, the play, the painting, or other artistic work is the property of the man whose genius brings it forth. In agreements for the sale and assignment of that property, the primary holder ought to meet with the greatest considera- tion, the originator of the work ought to receive the fullest protection. It is to be hoped that when finally the new copyright law is passed, such a book will be written  THE AUTHOR. 27 on the subject as will meet all the requirements of the general reader, the student of law, and the lawyer himself. Until that time comes the author of the present work must be thanked for his careful and in- dustrious labours, and for the information he has collected on the many difficult questions involved. —_—_—_———_\_e— > o—____—_ CIVIL LIST PENSIONS. —_+~<>+ — IST of those pensions in connection with literature granted during the year ending the 31st March, 1902. Date of | - Amount of Grant. | Name. Pension. 1901. | 8s. a. 17 July | Mr. Henry Austin Dobson . che 250.0) 0) In recognition of his distin- guished literary attainments, and of his eminence as a poet. a The Rev. Dr. John Hunt, D.D. .| 100 0 0 | In consideration of his theo- logical writings and of his straitened circumstances. s | Mrs. Emma Rose Mackenzie. 50 0 0 In consequence of the writings of her late husband, Mr. | Alexander Mackenzie, the | historian of the Highland Clans, and of her inadequate | | means of support. . | Mrs. Elizabeth Reid . : : 50. 0 0 In consideration of the literary merits of her late husband, | Captain Mayne Reid, the | Novelist,and of her straitened | circumstances. 9 Aug. | Mrs. Mary Crawford Fraser oi 100 02.0 In consideration of her literary merits and of the public ser- vices of her late husband, Mr. Hugh Fraser, as her late Britannic Majesty's Minister | | in Japan. | » . | Mr. William Henry Hudson et i500 0,0 | Inrecognition of the originality | of his writings on Natural | History. | 1902. | The Rev. Dr. Augustus Jessopp, | CNet OD SC 100 «0-20 In recognition of his services to | \ Archeology and Literature. | 3 | Mrs. Sarab Catherine Jones (i 0 0 | In recognition of the services | rendered by her late hus- | band,Principal John Viriamu Jones, to the cause of Higher Education in Wales. pe, TOTAL .| £875 0 0 | CORRESPONDENCE. ee pg os, “FOLLOW COPY.” Sir,—Permit a fellow sufferer to heartily condole with your correspondent “8.” Over and over again have I had to submit to similar vexatious treat- ment at the hands of some sapient (7) corrector bold enough to pit his own views of. spelling against the universe. Who shall indicate the loophole of escape from such galling experiences ’ Must the hapless author in future add a printing-press to his stock- in-trade, or shall he not rather find deliverance in the realization of that oft suggested proposal that the Society should add the business of publishers to its manifold duties for the exceeding comfort of writers ? Yours faithfully, Op Brrp. Authors’ Club, 8.W., 19th July, 1902. STANDARD RULES FOR PRINTING. Srr,—In a note on this subject by “ F. P.” in The Author (July, 1902, p. 245), there are some statements that seem to me to be misleading. Thus: “ Words of Latin origin, which take ¢ble instead of able; why allow accept, etc., to be an exception ?” But surely words of Latin origin take -ab/e and -uble just as well as -ble. Example: habitable, from Lat. habitabilis, because the infinitive is habitare. The derivatives in Lat. -abilis are extremely numerous. So numerous, indeed, that -able may be added even to an English root, as answer-able, know-able, etc. The reason why. we write acceptable is because such is the French form, from Late Lat. acceplabilis. The words in -ib/e are from the third conjugation in Latin, not from the first, and they are fewer in number. Voluble is from Lat. volubilis; and soluble from solubilis ; not volible or solible. I do not agree with the remarks on words in -ise. The suffix -7ze is both Greek and phonetic, and much to be preferred if we are to have uniformity. ‘The suffix -tse is French. (See the article on -iZe in the “ New English Dictionary.”’) The remarks upon full are also quite contrary to known etymological facts. So far from Jill being “ of greater importance,” it is a mere derivative of the older and more important full. We ought to go by the stress, not the part of speech. ‘Thus in ful-fill, fill (with two els) receives the stress, whilst ful does not. In skilful, the -ful is likewise unstressed. The spelling skilful shows the stress  28 sufficiently ; there is no absolute need to write skillful, though some do so. ‘As to connexion, inflexion, we adhere to these spellings because they are etymological and phonetic at the same time; the forms connection, inflection, arose from popular (ignorant) association with affection, direction, and the like, in which the spelling with cf is correct. That is why the “ New English Dictionary ” advocates the spellings connexion, inflexion, which appear both in Latin and French ; as will be seen if such dictionaries be ‘consulted. The rule for the division of the words is not «the rule of the root ” by any means, but the rule of the sound or pronunciation. It is much best to ignore the root and to go by the sound. Thus it is usual to make such divisions as are seen in impu-dence, solilo-quize, peru-sal, counte-nance, plea-sure, princi-pal; in perfect contempt of the root-forms, which are, respectively, pud-, loqu-, Us-, ten-, pluc-, cap-. We simply regard the utterance, writing pe-ruse at one moment, and pe-ru-sal at ancther. Nothing is gained by pretending to keep the root intact, when the spoken utterance does nothing of the kind. I ugree that it is best to consult the “ New English Dictionary” ; but this seems to be the very thing which our critic has neglected to do. W. W.S. —— 1 THE PLAYGOERS’ CLUB COMPETITION. Srr,—As it has been publicly stated that Mrs. Ashton-Jonson’s play, “The Hedonists,” was proxime accessit in the recent Playgoers’ Club Com- petition, will you allow me to say (as the paper in which the statement appeared refuses to do so in its columns) that I hold a letter from Mr. Hannaford Bennett (the club’s secretary) inform- ing’me that my play, “The Woman Pays,’ was one of the last three “in the running”; and that I also have “private information,” from a member of the Reading Committee, that the final choice lay between Miss Syrett’s play and mine ? Yours, etc., Harry A. SPURR. Sees AUTHOR AND EDITOR. Sm,—Can you or any of your readers kindly explain this to me? The editor in question, who has, up to this, been most courteous to me, declines to answer my query. I wrote to the editor of the Westminster Gazette to ask why he had not noticed my last volume of verse, “ Mirth and Music.” He replied that he had given the book due consideration, and that was all I could expect. Now, what does this mean—a future review or none? THE AUTHOR. He will not enlighten me. As this is by far my best volume of verse (out of thirty-five reviews, many in London papers, only three or four have been adverse ones), he could hardly mean that the volume was nol worth reviewing, especially as a dozen poems in it were reproduced from his own columns, and besides, he has noticed all my inferior books. But if not, what did he mean? I am puzzled. Very truly yours, Kirsfield, Torquay. F. B. Doveton. MUSICAL COMPOSERS AND MUSICAL PUBLISHERS. Srr,—As a virtually unknown story-writer I have had many shocking experiences of the per- fidy of editors and publishers, but they pale into insignificance beside the injuries suffered by the song-writer. A friend of mine who writes charm- ing songs tells a harrowing tale. She has had song after song accepted by certain publishers - (some of whose names are not without honour), and then returned on her hands after a year or 60, with some flabby excuse. When I urge that she has the letters of acceptance, offering terms in black and white, and can therefore make them good in the court of law, she replies: ‘To what purpose? If I forced Mr. So-and-so to publish my song, he would simply print it, lay the copies on a shelf and do nothing further. - I should thus lose my property and get no royalties. I have been served so before now.” And this is not her only grievance. Every year she sends out a number of songs to publishers and public singers, enclosing stamped envelopes and polite letters requesting that her MSS. may be returned. A very large proportion of these never come back, and no amount of imploring letters will recover them. As she cannot, like the story- teller, have copies typed, but has to re-write every one that goes out, and as her songs are musicianly, with good accompaniments, one can imagine what labour this entails. The song-writer who has not yet “caught on ” seems, indeed, in a parlous way, and the fact of having had several songs already taken by well-known publishers and sung by famous vocalists is, apparently, of no avail. Stamps are confiscated, MSS. lost or thrown aside, letters unheeded ; and even when a song is accepted, it may come back after a year or two, “returned with thanks.” Is there no redress? Are not songs in MS. property, and can they not be recovered by law ? Moreover, cannot a publisher be made to publish a song he has accepted—not merely print, but circulate it ? Yours, etc., M.P. 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. 13 Issue 01 (October 1902) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 01 (October 1902) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1902-10-01-The-Author-13-1 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/475/1900-The-Author-10-index.pdf e345e967d2a4cfaf71bb7f946521280f 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) 1900 Volume 10 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 Horace Cox 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 Index to The Author, Vol. 10 (1900) Subject The topic of the resource Index to <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 (1900) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Index Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1900-The-Author-10-index publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/474/1900-05-01-The-Author-10-12.pdf 805591184bc70db0f36fc4ae562c8d7a PDF Text Text �������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1900-05-01 Volume 10 Issue 12 Pages Page range in volume 253–276 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19000501 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin She Author. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 12.] MAY tf, 1900. [Prick SIXPENCE. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. One GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. ‘There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of ‘agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Til. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “ Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3-) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned, Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. oe WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. Ye Ne sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con-  THE 254 tract. for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (c.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (1.e., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (b.) apply also in this case. 4. PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one act plays should be preserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. 1. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. AUTHOR. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreoments do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upom them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce paymente due according to agreements. THE READING BRANCH. N “EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this. branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed te the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Hditor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest te publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Shea NAD NRA SS THE AUTHOR. 255 THE PENSION SCHEME. HERE seem to be some indications that the a. Pension Scheme has been misunderstood by our members. It is well, therefore, that the principles should be stated over again. 1. It is a scheme for making the followers of literature provide by their own efforts for the relief of those who break down through ill-health or old age. 2. It is not designed to furnish a pension for every member of tbe Society, as has been misrepresented. 3. It is proposed to make it self-supporting and efficient in the following manner : (a) To form a nucleus by donations. (6) To supplement this beginning by annual subscriptions. (c) To devote a certain proportion—say one- third—of the annual subscriptions to the grant of pensions, and the remainder —say two-thirds—to the permanent fund. 4. It is thought that when the advantages of the Pension Fund are clearly understood— that it will be a fund expressly reserved for, and devoted to, the life-long assistance of those who are old or broken—it will receive the cordial support of every member of the Society. 5. Since many members are not rich, it 1s pro- vided that either occasional donations or small annual subscriptions will be received. Members need be in no way discouraged from becoming annual subscribers for quite small amounts. The method of working may be thus illustrated. A nucleus of about £1000 has been formed. 1 over 1500 members between them provide us with an average of Ios. a year, or a total of £750, the Committee would be able to use £250 a year for pensions, and to transfer £500 to the principal. In twenty years the principal would become the very respectable sum of £11,000, yielding, say, £300 a year, and the Committee would have £550 a year to give in pensions. It is estimated that, considermg the present con- dition of literature as a profession, this amount would amply cover all legitimate demands that could be made upon the fund. It may be argued that the membership of the society will increase, and therefore the demands upon this fund. It is to be hoped that it will. But in that case the subscriptions to the Pension Fund will increase also. The Committee, therefore, very earnestly invite their members to consider how far they can support a scheme which is based on the inde- pendence of the author and the duty of those in the same profession to support others who are stricken down and unable to work. It may be urged that the Civil List and the Royal Literary Fund already provide for those in need. The answer is that the proportion of the Civil List that should be used for literature is only £400 a year, and that this slender provision is very largely, and very properly, used for the widows and daughters of literary men. As regards the Royal Literary Fund, it gives no pensions, but only grants in aid. It is also hoped that the pensions of the Society’s Pension Fund, being provided by the donations and subscriptions of authors, and being given in recognition of literary merit no less than in relief of necessitous cases, may be considered as an evidence of the appreciation of the literary profession, and as an honourable testimonial to the good work done by the recipients. Members paying subscriptions through their bank can pay pension subscriptions also in the same manner. _____——»e«e LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—Tue Copyrient Br. PNHE Literary Copyright Bill has gone into committee in the House of Lords. The committee appointed to consider it con- sists of the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Selborne, Viscount Knutsford, Lord Balfour, Lord Hatterton, Lord Monkswell, Lord Thring, Lord Farrer, Lord Welby, Lord Davy, Lord Avebury. On Tuesday, April ard, Mr. 8. L. Clemens (“Mark Twain ”) presented his views on the question, and brought forward strong argu- ments for copyright in perpetuity. It is hoped that some day this very desirable object may be obtained; but the committee did not appear to be in sympathy with Mr. Clemens on the point. The Draft Copyright Bill now before the House of Lords differs in some important points from the Draft Bill approved by the House of Lords committee at the end of last Session, the chief point being the abandonment of registration. Dramatic authors must make a strong stand against provisions in sects. 6 and 7, clause 5. This the Society of Authors, which is watching the Bill very carefully on their behalf, will do at the proper time. It is understood that the committee will not take any more evidence: the only opportunity of raising objections to the Bill will be as it passes through the House of Lords or the House of Commons.  256 Il.—Auvsrria-Hunegary AND THE BERNE ConvENTION. The Droit d’Auteur of March contains an important document issued by the Minister of Justice of Austria-Hungary respecting the inter- national copyright relations of the dual monarchy, together with detailed comments upon it. The general drift of the official document is opposed to the entrance of the dual monarchy into the Berne Union on the grounds of the differences existing between the copyright laws of Austria and Hungary, and the fact that the protection given to foreign authors by the Berne Convention would be under certain circumstances wider than that given to subjects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. e We, however, entirely agree with our valuable contemporary the Droit d’Au/feur in thinking that, notwithstanding certain divergencies, ‘‘ the Austrian legislation and the Convention of Berne might work together as satisfactorily as the Con- vention and the German Legislation have done for the last fourteen years.” Carl Junker. ‘“ Die Berner Convention zum Schutze der Werke der Literatur und Kunst und Oesterreich-Ungarn.” Wien: Holder. 1900. Mr. Carl Junker, who was last year com- missioned by the Austro-Hungarian Booksellers’ Union to make a full report upon the subject of the empire’s possible adhesion to the Berne Con- vention, has published in an amplified form, in a very interesting pamphlet, the results of his investigations, which originally appeared in the “ Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Buchhandler Corres- pondenz”; and his excellent brochure may be strongly recommended to the attention of all who are interested either in the wider extension of the Berne Convention or in questions of inter- national copyright. First of all sketching the history of the Berne Convention, Mr. Junker gives the text of the various official documents of the Convention, and after enumerating the countries which have already joined the Union, and alluding to the steps in the direction of adhesion taken by the Netherlands and Russia, reviews the present situation in the dual monarchy. Here a good deal of confusion exists in the copyright enact- ments, and some essential difference between the laws of Austria and Hungary. For example, the duration of copyright in the latter country is for life and fifty years; in the former for life and thirty years. On the whole, the Hungarian legis- lation is the more enlightened, but neither Hungary nor Austria protects the foreign author, except in cayes povided for by particular treaties. THE AUTHOR. Mr. Junker rightly points out that less trouble would be given by adhesion to the Berne Conven. tion than by a further multiplication of these treaties with individual countries. The question of translations (an important one in an Empire comprising so many different languages) is some- what fully discussed, and the opinion is stated that these form but an insignificant part of the whole literary production. It seems, however, impossible to avoid a suspicion that, though the number of translated works may be few in com- parison with the whole output, some of them must represent cases in which individual authors are mulcted of a considerable portion of their rights. This at least is certain, that translations of a considerable number of English and French novels appear in the Hungarian and Bohemian popular libraries; and it is evident that these libraries have a respectable sale. On the other hand, it is made clear that, amongst others, the publishers of the dual monarchy find exclusion from the Berne Convention detrimental to their interests ; and this to such an extent that impor- tant firms have migrated to Leipzig for the sake of securing the advantages accompanying publica- tion in a country belonging to the Union. Mr. Junker, whilst admitting that a reform of the Austrian and Hungarian copyright laws is desir- able, thinks that the present enactments in no way preclude an immediate accession to the Union, and urges that this step should certainly be taken on grounds of “ justice, economy, and morality.” TIL.—A Canapian CoMPLAINT. The following cutting has been forwarded to me from Canada: CopyrRicHT UNFAIRNESS. Here is an excellent illustration of the injustice of the present copyright law. A Canadian publisher came across a story published in a United States weekly paper. After waiting some time, he wrote to his agent in London to find if there was an edition of the book published in England. Answer—‘“ No book of that title published here.” The Canadian then ran it through his paper, and shortly after- wards was politely requested to pay a few hundred dollars and a heavy lawyer’s fee, as the book had been entered at Stationers’ Hall, London—but not printed in England. That would be all right, were it not for the fact that the Canadian publisher might pay five hundred dollars to a Canadian for a story to run through his paper, and yet if he did not print it also in the United States, any United States publisher could reprint the story without penalty. Where is the reciprocity in this ? Is it not one answer to the question, why does not the Canadian publisher help along the Canadian author P The arguments put forward are certainly amusing, but can be put aside with little com- ment. To begin with, the Canadian publisher’s agent must have been exceedingly ignorant of 4 | 2 4 _ THE AUTHOR. the manner of doing business in England if he did not search in Stationers’ Hall to see whether the book had been entered. Secondly, it should be remarked that the entry in Stationers’ Hall does not give copyright ; pub- lication of the book in England does. How far had this publication been made? There are no details on this point. These statements, however, have nothing to do with the real inwardness of the paragraph. The writer argues as follows: Because an American author is not bound to print in Canada, therefore the Canadian publisher should not help along the Canadian author. A wonder- ful deduction. An American author is not bound to print in England to secure copyright. To this extent there is a lack of reciprocity between England and America, and to the same extent there is a lack of reciprocity between Canada and America, but English publishers do not argue that this is any reason why they should not help on English authors. Logically, it seems impossible to deduce the one from the other. Perhaps the writer can explain his meaning. TV.—Marxk Twain on CopyrRiaut. A special meeting of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Copyright was held to take the evidence of Mr. Samuel Clemens (“ Mark Twain’). Lord Monkswell presided. Mr. Clemens, at the request of the chairman, read a written statement of his views on the law of copyright in England. He regarded the copy- right laws of England and America as nearly what they ought to be. They needed, however, one commercially trivial, but gigantic, amendment in order to become perfect. That was the removal of the forty-two-years limit, and returning to perpetual copyright. One advantage claimed for limited copyright was fallacious. It was that which made a distinction between authors’ pro- perty and real estate. A book was usually regarded as a combination of ideas, and that was just as much a property as any other. There was no property which was not due to some man’s mind, as well as his labour. A man who pur- chased an estate had to improve it by the exercise of his intellect, the intreduction of railways, and so on. His land was what the book was—the result of brain work—the combination and exploi- tation of ideas. Was it sound public policy, he asked, that con- ferred a benefit on the nation as against the author? Out of a hundred tons of books ninety- eight tons were light literature. ‘‘ My works are light,” said Mr. Clemens, witha sigh. ‘“ Many unthinking thinkers think they think,” he added. vou. x. 257 Cheap editions of deathless books would be insured by perpetual copyright. Only one book in the world, he believed, had been fairly treated since Queen Anne’s time, and that was the English Bible. It was the only book in possession of perpetual copyright. Had that deprived the public of cheap editions? It had not. How many books outlive the forty-two-years limit ? He placed those forty-two-years immortals at sixty-five. ‘The amount which would accrue to authors and their relatives from perpetual copy- right would not exceed £6500 per annum in all. There was not a professional man of repute in London who could not earn that in the year. This was the sum which was taken out of the pockets of illustrious men who had taken a share in building up British power and spreading wide the glory of Englishmen. Great Britain issued 5000 volumes a year.’ Only sixty-five reached the forty-two-years limit. Most of them would be dead and gone inside five years. It was safe to say that not more than 650 volumes out of 500,000 would outlive a century. In America, when the number of slaves subject to the lash equalled the population of London to-day, a woman wrote a book which aroused humanity, swept slavery out of existence, and purged the fair name of America from reproach. “The author,” con- cluded Mr. Clemens, “is now dead; the copy- right is dead; the children live and the book lives ; but the profits @ go to the publishers.” In the course of reply to questions, Mr. Clemens remarked incidentally that some of his manuscript was once taxed as “ gas works.” The Chairman thanked the witness for his evidence.— Daily News. V.—Vizereviy v. Mupie. In Vizetelly v. Mudie’s Select Library (Limited) the plaintiff obtained a verdict for £100 damages, on account of a libel contained in a book circulated and sold by the defendants in the ordinary course of their trade, though they had no knowledge of the libel and the book was published by a high-class British firm of pub- lishers. The verdict does not appear to us a satisfactory one. The rule of law applicable to the case is no doubt the one stated by the Court of Appeal in ELmmens v. Pottle (55 L. J. Rep. Q. B. 51). The decision there was that a vendor of a newspaper, though primd facie responsible for a libel contained in it, is not answerable if he can prove that he did not know that it contained a libel; that his ignorance was not due to negli- gence; and that he did not know, and had no ground for supposing, that the newspaper was ec  258 likely to contain libellous matter. If he proves these facts, he is not the publisher of the libel. Mr. Justice Grantham’s direction that the ques- tion for the jury was whether the defendants were negligent seems, therefore, indisputable. He, however, expressed the view that the defendants conducted their business in a negligent way, because they did not ascertain for themselves that the contents of all the 4000 new books which they circulate on an average in each year were not libellous. We fail to see why the proprietors of a circulating library should not in general be entitled to rely on the good reputation of the publishers from whom they receive books, at any rate when the publishers carry on their trade in the United Kingdom and can be reached by the arm of the law. The charge of negligence was also supported on the ground that the publishers of the book had put a notice in the Publishers’ Journal and the Atheneum requesting that all copies should be returned to them for cancellation of the libellous passages, and that the defendants took in both these newspapers and ought to have read the notice. If it be the general pvactice of the publishing trade to insert such notices in these newspapers, the omission to read them may justify a finding of negligence ; otherwise it is a strong thing to say that a man is expected to read the whole of a periodical to which he sub- scribes, even if it be a trade newspaper.—From the Law Journal (by permission). [On appeal the judgment has been maintained. The opinion of the Law Journal on the general principle is, however, instructive. | VI.—Srrcimens oF AGREEMENTS. Here are two agreements. The reader will be pleased to peruse documents which will so greatly raise the calling of publishers in his estimation. In what follows A. B. is the publisher. 1. A. B. to have exclusive right of publishing everywhere. 2. Corrections above 25 per cent. of the cost of type-setting to be borne by the author. 3. The first 500 copies to bear no royalty. 4. After the first 500 copies the royalty to be 12} per cent. on the published price ; 13 copies as 12, 7.e., on a 6s. book, 854d. 5. If the book is sold at or below half published. price, the royalty to be 123 per cent. on the net receipts. 6. A royalty of 10 per cent. on the net receipts to be paid for a colonial edition. 7. A. B. to have all rights, serial, dramatic, translation, and colonial, continental, American, &. And to pay the author one-half the profits on each. THE AUTHOR. 8. The author to revise future editions. g. The author shall not publish any abridg- ment. 10. The author to pay £50 to the publisher on going to press. Many agreements have been submitted to the Society, but this seems on the whole the most admirable, both in the brazen front of the pub- lisher and in his sublime reliance on the ignorance of the author. First, for the author. It is supposed that an edition of 1500 copies has been printed and sold. It is a six-shilling book, not a novel. The average price is 3s. 6d. to the trade. But after the first 1000 we suppose that the rest are sold at half- price, viz., 38. (see clause 5). The average cost of an average six-sbilling book for 1500 copies may be set down, with adver- tising, at about £110, all being bound. The author receives for the first 500... 9 O O ” : » second 500... 17 6 4 ” ] » bhird 500... 84 9 Tn all the author’s account stands thus : PD ae Paid to publisher............ 50 0 6 Received i... cececc cee 25 19 3 Loss 3.6 ed SD 50 0 6 On the other hand, consider the publisher. He, worthy creature, stands as follows: & s d. & 3 & Cost of production ......... 110, 6 0 Author in royalties......... Ze 19 8 Profit’ (0.28.1 Iba 0-6 ——————. 300 0:0 By sales : 1000 at 3s. Od..... 2. 275 OC. 2 SOO at 38. cece cece eee ane 75 O20 Received from author...... 56 0 — 300 0 0 Of course, it may be said that so large an edition might not be sold. The answer is that it might be, and that this is how it would work out. Here is another agreement. It was a little book of only 60,000 words, impudently offered to the public at 6s. The royalty was to be 1s. 6d. a copy unless the book was sold at or under half- price, when it was to be 25 per cent. on the net receipts. The author was to pay down £40. There was an edition of 1500, of which 500 copies were bound, and 400 sold, 200 at 3s. 6d. and 200 at 2s. 113d. Ona colonial edition the author was to have 34d. a copy. ps Cost of printing and paper THE The author’s account, therefore, stood as follows : Ss a Paid to publisher......... i 40 O O Received : Royalty of 1s, 6d. on 200 copies sold at 3s. 6d. .... 15 0 O Royalty of 25 per cent. on net receipts of 200 sold at 2S. £140. 0. ss... Colonial edition at 33d. 14 11 40.60 0 How does the publisher stand ? oe 8. bs. a, about : 3 50.0 0 Minding 500 ............ fay 8 10 O Advertising ............ Say 10 0 0 PROVSNICS 2 ogee 26.19. 7 PerOUt 3 ee ee A 2 . 154 11-3 Paid by author 2... 40° OO 200 copies at 35. 6d. ...... 25. 0. 0 200 copies at 1s. 113d. ... 29 11 8 Colonial edition .......... 50-0 OC ¥54 if 8 There must be something wrong here, because the poor man lamented the loss of more than £20 on the transaction, and, as is well known among his friends, he cannot swerve from the truth. VIL.—“ Our FavovurABLE CONSIDERATION.” We have often warned our readers against the publisher who gives a MS. a consideration so pro- tracted and careful that he answers by return post, and so favourable that he offers the “following advantageous” terms. But the game goes on merrily. It has of late extended its list of players. There were, until recently, two sportsmen only who practised in this field: thenathird appeared: and now there is at least one more. In fact, the game of deluding the ignorant aspirant by dangling hopes of “future and following ” editions before him with promises of two-thirds, three-fifths— any proportion you please—of the profits, seems to be attracting and tempting publishers hitherto considered above such practices. But with pub- lishers as with the rest of humanity—they can withstand anything but temptation. Here are two cases which have recently been brought before the Secretary. The first is an example of the old trickery. Dear Srr,—We have given your MS. our consideration and have decided to make yon the following offer for its pro- duction and publication in one volume. voL. X. AUTHOR. 259 That in consideration of our printing 750 copies in the best style, publishing at the popular price of 3s. 6d., binding ‘in handsome cloth, gold lettered) as trade demands warrant, advertising at our expense to the amount of £10 (full details of which would be duly sent you), and giving you two- thirds of the proceeds of sales, you agree to pay to us the sum of £69, £39 on signing the agreement, and £30 when you see the last proofs. The expenses of all future editions to be borne entirely by us, you then receiving a royalty of 1s. per copy. The above amount to constitute your sole outlay, the copyright remaining your property. We should publish the book during the spring season.— Faithfully yours, Rook What does this mean to the luckless author ? First, there will be a bill for corrections—there always is. ‘Then, after a brief interval, there will be a strong recommendation to spend another £7—they are always very exact—in advertising. Then there will follow a statement of sales. Review Copies ...........5++ 50 GLUOR 3 es 25 GIGS oes eerste a 2 In stock 672 to be sold as waste paper. The author pays £69. He then pays the bill for corrections—say £6, and sends up the addi- tional £7 for advertisements. In all he pays £82. What does he get back? Asa rule, nothing. On the most favourable terms, the sale of the whole edition, he can get back about £40. In other words, he must lose £40, and he stands to lose £80, and yet he accepts ! As for the publisher, he prints the book; he binds only what are wanted ; and as for the advertisements, only he himself knows where they go and what they cost. On the usual estimate he stands to win about £25. Here, however, is another case. The terms are somewhat varied. The publisher says: ‘“ The book will cost £ for print, paper, and binding. T shall advertise to the extent of £ I shall take a commission of 20 per cent. on the proceeds. You must send me a cheque for £ in advance. There will also be incidental expenses.” This looks like a bond fide commission business, only with a high percentage. In the case before us the author was lured on by the prospect of a safe and very profitable investment. The result was a dead loss of every- thing paid in advance, and a demand for more. The book has proved a failure: the publisher if he had been straightforward would have foretold the failure and warned the author. And, as in the preceding case, the publisher has made a certain profit in advance. He pledged himself, in his estimate, to bind the whole: it is not certain that he has done so. He also pledged himself to spend a certain sum in advertising: it remains to be proved how much he has spent. ee2  260 And, as in the preceding case, the author stood to lose so much certainly, and so much more possibly. In such cases as this it is always the “ possible” event which happens. VIIl.—Tue Property or AUTHORS. The following are extracts from a paper read by Mr. Charles Dudley Warner before the recently organised National Institute of Arts and Letters in New York. The paper is printed in evtenso in the Writer (Boston, U.S.A.) for February :— Consider first the author, and I mean the author, and not the mere craftsman who manufactures books for a recog- nised market, His sole capital is his talent. His brain may be likened to a mine, gold, silver, copper, iron, or tin, which looks like silver when new. Whatever it is, the vein of valuable ore is limited, in most cases it is slight. When it is worked out the man is at the end of his resources. Has he expended or produced capital? I say he has pro- duced it, and contributed to the wealth of the world, and that he is as truly entitled to the usufruct of it as the miner who takes gold or silver out of the earth. For how long? I will speak of that later on. The copyright of a book is not analogous to the patent right of an invention, which may become of universal necessity to the world. Nor should the greater share of this usufruct be absorbed by the manufacturer and publisher of the book. The publisher has a clear right to guard himself against risks, as he has the right of refusal to assume them. But there is an injustice somewhere, when for many a book, valued and even profitable to somebody, the author does not receive the price of a labourer’s day wages for the time spent on it—to say nothing of the long years of its gestation, The relation between author and publisher ought to be neither complicated nor peculiar. The author may sell his product outright, or he may sell himself by an agreement similar to that which an employee in a manufacturing establishment makes with his master to give to the estab- lishment all his inventions. Either of these methods is fair and business-like, though it may not be wise. A method that prevailed in the early years of this century was both fair and wise. The author agreed that the publisher should have the exclusive right to publish his book for s certain term or to make and sell a certain number of copies. When those conditions were fulfilled, the control of the property reverted to the author. The continuance of these relations between the two depended, as it should depend, upon mutual advantage and mutual goodwill. WoRrRKING FoR A MARKET. By the present common method the author makes over - the use of his property to the will of the publisher. It is true that he parts with the use only of the property, and not with the property itself, and the publisher in law acquires no other title, nor does he acquire any sort of interest in the future products of the author’s brain. But the author loses all control of his property, and its profit to him may depend upon his continuing to make over his books to the same publisher. In this continuance he is liable to the temptation to work for a market, instead of following the free impulses of his own genius. As to any special book, the publisher is the sole judge whether to push it or to let it sink into the stagnation of unadvertised goods. The situation is full of complications. Theoretically it is the interest of both parties to sell as many books as possible; but the author has an interest in one book, the publisher in a hundred, and it is natural and reasonable THE AUTHOR. that the man who risks his money should be the judge of the policy best for his own establishment. I cannot but think that this situation would be on a juster footing all round if the author returned to the old practice of limiting the use of his property by the publisher. I say this in full recognition of the fact that the publishers might be unwilling to make temporary investments, or to take risks. What then? Fewer books might be published. Less vanity might be gratified. Less money might be risked in experiments upon the public, and more might be made by distributing good literature. Would the public be injured ? It is an idea already discredited that the world owes a living. to everybody who thinks he can write, and it is a supersti- tion already fading that capital which exploits literature as a trade acquires any special privileges. ‘ ABSURDITY” OF THE CopYRIGHT LAw. The property of an author in the product of his mental labour ought to be as absolute and unlimited as his pro- perty in the product of his physical labour. It seems to me idle to say that the two kinds of labour products are so dissimilar that the ownership cannot be protected by like laws. In this age of enlightenment such a proposition is absurd. The history of copyright law seems to show that the treatment of property in brain product has been based on this erroneous idea. To steal the paper on which an author has put his brain work into visible, tangible form is in all lands a crime, larceny, but to steal the brain work is not a crime. The utmost extent to which our enlightened American legislators, at almost the end of the nineteenth century, have gone in protecting products of the brain has been to give the author power to sue in civil courts, at large expense, the offender who has taken and sold his property. And what gross absurdity is the copyright law which limits even this poor defence of authors’ property to a brief term of years, after the expiration of which he or his children and heirs have no defence, no recognised property whatever in his products. And for some inexplicable reason this term of years in which he may be said to own his property is divided into two terms, so that at the end of the first he is compelled to reassert his ownership by renewing his copyright, or he must lose all ownership at the end of the short term. Duty oF THE GOVERNMENT. Tt is manifest to all honest minds that if an author is entitled to own his work for a term of years, it is equally the duty of his Government to make that ownership per- petual. He can own and protect and leave to his children and his children’s children by will the manuscript paper on which he has written, and he should have equal right to leave to them that mental product which constitutes the true money value of his labour. It is unnecessary to say that the mental product is always as easy to be identified as the physical product. Its identification is absolutely certain to the intelligence of judges and juries. And it is apparent that the interests of assignees, who are commonly pub- lishers, are equal with those of authors, in making absolute and perpetual this property in which both are dealers. Another consideration follows here. Why should the ownership of a bushel of wheat, a piece of silk goods, a watch or a handkerchief in the possession of an ‘American carried or sent to England or brought thence to this country be absolute and unlimited, while the ownership of his own products as an author or as & purchaser from an author is made dependent on his nationality ? Why should the property of the manufacturer of cloths, carpets, satins, and any and every description of goods be able to send his products all over the world, subject only to the tariff laws  THE AUTHOR. eof various countries, while the author (alone of all known producers) is forbidden to do so? The existing law of our country says to the foreign author : “ You can have property in your book only if you manufacture it into saleable form in this country.” What would be said of the wisdom or ‘wild folly of a law which sought to protect other American industries by forbidding the importation of all foreign manufactures ? Wart tae Carrranist Has Dons. One aspect of the publishing business which has become increasingly prominent during the last fifteen years cannot be overlooked, for it is certain to affect seriously the pro- duction of literature as to quality and its distribution. Capital has discovered that literature is a product out of which money can be made, in the same way that itcan be made in cotton, wheat, oriron. Never before in history has so much money been invested in publishing, with the single purpose of creating and supplying the market with manu- factured goods. Never before has there been such an appeal to the reading public, or such a study of its tastes, or supposed tastes, wants, likes, and dislikes, coupled also with the same shrewd anxiety to ascertain a future demand that governs the purveyors of spring and fall styles in millinery and dressmaking. Not only the contents of the books and periodicals, but the covers must be made to catch the fleeting fancy. Will the public next season wear its hose dotted or striped ? The consolidation of capital in great publishing establish- ments has its advantages and its disadvantages. It increases vastly the yearly output of books. The presses must be kept running; printers, paper-makers, and machinists are interested in this. The maw of the press must be fed. The capital must earn its money. One advantage of this is that when new and usable material is not forthcoming, the “ standards” and the best literature must be reproduced in countless editions, and the best literature is broadcast over the world at prices to suit all purses,even the leanest. The disadvantage is that products, in the eagerness of competi- “tion for a market, are accepted which are of a character to harm and not help the development of the contemporary mind in moral and intellectual strength. The public expresses its fear of this in the phrase it has invented— “the spawn of the press.” The author who writes simply to supply this press and in constant view of a market, is certain to deteriorate in his quality; may, more, as a beginner he is satisfied if he can produce something that will sell without regard to its quality. It would not be easy to fix the limit in this vast country to the circulation of a good book if it were properly kept before the public. Day by day, year by year, new readers are coming forward with curiosity and intellectual wants. The generation that now is should not be deprived of the best in the last generation. Nay, more, one publication in any form reaches only a comparatively small portion of the public that would be interested init. A novel, for instance, may have a large circuJation in a magazine, it may then appear in a book, it may reach other readers serially again in the columns of a newspaper, it may be offered again in call the by-ways by subscription, and yet not nearly exhaust its legitimate running power. This is not a sup- _position, but a fact proved by trial. Nor is it to be wondered at when we consider that we have an unequalled “homogeneous population with a similar common school ‘education. In looking over publishers’ lists I am constantly -eoming across good books out of print, which are practi- cally unknown to this generation, and yet are more profit- -able, truer to life and character, more entertaining and “amusing, than most of those fresh from the press month by month. 261 PARIS NOTES. 5, rue Chomel, Paris. FY XHE stupendous event has come off! The Great Exhibition has been formally declared open to the public, despite its unfinished condition. Royalty was conspicuous by its absence on this occasion, and so was the upper-class Britisher. This is hardly surprising ; though the malevolent, anti-English attitude of the journalists has been greatly modified during the past month. Two new foreign papers have just been established here. Both are edited by warm friends of France. The first, entitled ZZ Risveglo Italiano, appears once a week, and is the official organ of the Italian colony in Paris. The second is a Russian daily, entitled Paryskaia Gazeta, which is reported to have secured the collaboration of the best-known Russian writers, in addition to having correspondents all over the world. Our American cousins are likewise pre- paring an innovation in the newspaper depart- ment. The New York Times announces its intention of initiating the public into some of the mysteries of publication by daily issuing during the Exhibition a special edition, printed under the public eye, in one of the American off-shoots in the Champ-de-Mars. Mentioning the exhibi- tion reminds me that a new propaganda to obtain daily subscriptions for the Boers has just been started. Its first and very successful public appeal was issued the week previous to the opening of the big French show. This appeal, which was the work of a group of young French- men, was reproduced in most of the leading dailies. It began as follows : “We are not inveterate enemies of the British nation. We detest no one; but we hate injustice and hold in horror the covetous financiers, the men of prey, who have coldly plotted this criminal war. They have committed with premeditation the greatest of crimes—the crime of ‘lése- humanité,’ &e.” But what about the crime of “ lése-patrie” perpetrated by the Britisher in visiting an exhibi- tion a portion of whose profits will be devoted to prolonging a murderous warfare which imperils the safety of his own countrymen? It will be a bad thing for all pecuniarily interested in the Exhibition if the French persist in thrusting this reflection home to the conscience of the British nation. Tue Lapres’ Drernat. The attempt to introduce a feminine member in the committee of the Société des Gens de Lettres has failed. The masculine element was propitious, upwards of 248 votes having been registered by  THE 262 the small group of feminine candidates who pre- sented themselves to the suffrages of the electors. The wise resolve of preventing all splitting of votes by nominating a single candidate not having been adhered to, the ladies have only themselves to blame for their non-success. Mme. Daniel Lesueur headed the poll of the vanquished party with ninety-six votes, followed by Mme. Henry Gréville, who boasted sixty-two adherents. Despite their defeat, it is evident that feminism has made enormous progress since Mme. Anais Ségalas presented herself, ten years ago, as a candidate for a seat on the committee, and registered four votes! Mesdames “Gyp” and Séverine are reported to have both declined the honour of becoming candidates in the present election. A few months ago the Simple Revue instituted a plebiscite to decide the awarding of the title of Princess of French Literature. Mme. Séverime came off victor in the contest, closely followed by “Gyp” (Comtesse de Martel). These two ladies have warmly supported the candidature of Mme. Daniel Lesueur, grand-niece of O’Connel, and author of twenty volumes of verse and fiction dealing with the prominent social and philosophical questions of the day. In Mme. Séverine’s writings we find this high-flown descrip- tion of the defeated candidate :— “ Perspicacity, and a prompt and just concep- tion of life, are in her limpid blue eyes : The Lyonnais origin of her father is shown in her low, obstinate forehead, in her firm chin; while her Parisian birth is revealed by her small, delicate nose, whose nostrils quiver above the crimson mouth like a butterfly over a balsa- mine.” MM. Victorien Sardou, Sully Prudhomme, Henri de Bornier, Camille Flammarion, Edmond Haraucourt, and Georges Ohnet, were among Mme. Lesueur’s supporters. M. Hervisev anp THE ACADEMIES. Encouraged by the above result, the lady students of divers nationalities of the Latin Quarter are mooting the formation of a feminine association similar to the existing General Asso- ciation of Male Students. The authorities are decidedly favourable to the proposition; while M. Paul Hervieu, the newly-elected president of the Société des Gens de Lettres, is rumoured to be . as warm an advocate of ladies’ rights as was M. Marcel Prévost, his predecessor. The flattering unanimity of his election by acclamation, and his numerous contributions to literature as essayist, novelist, and dramatist, render him an important auxiliary tothe feminine cause. His official recep- tion at the French Academy is announced to place towards the end of June. M. take AUTHOR. Brunetitre is the member appointed to receive him. A propos of the Académie des Sciences, the late Professor Hughes, of London, inventor of the telegraphic apparatus which bears his name, has confided to its committee a legacy of 100,000 francs, whose interest is to be devoted annually to- rewarding the autbor of the most useful inven- tion in the department of physics, electricity, or - magnetism. Among minor events may be mentioned the protest entered by a learned member of the Biological Society against the bicycle on the ground that this method of locomotion seriously increases the annual ratio of madness and crime. Mgr. Maillet, Bishop of St. Claude, is evidently of the same opinion ; the Semaine religieuse of the diocese has recently published his interdiction of its usage to his clergy “ under penalty of mortal sin.” This is the severest con- demnation that the bicycle has yet received in Catholic quarters. “T/INCONNU ET LES PROBLEMES PSYCHIQUES.” Such is the title of M. Camille Flammarion’s new book. Its advent has occasioned a profound sensation. In his present work the learned author of “ Astronomie populaire ” cites no fewer than 438 authenticated instances of psychical phenomena, telepathic communications from @ distance, mental suggestions, futurity revealed by dreams, apparitions of dying friends, &c. The question whether these psychological problems can be resolved within the limits of scientific analysis is pertinently discussed by the writer. “. . Is such an attempt rational?” he inquires; “is it logical ? Can it lead to any definite results ? Of this I am ignorant. Nevertheless, it is interesting. And if it leads us to a fuller knowledge of the nature of the human soul it will enable humanity to make a progress superior to that made up to the present time by the gradual evolution of all the other sciences united.” M. Flammarion’s final conclu- sions are that Thought is not a function of the brain; that the Soul actually exists as a real being independent of the body; that it is gifted with faculties still unknown to science; and that it can act and perceive the future (determined beforehand by natural causes) without the intermediate agency of the senses. The numerous well-known names attached to many of the examples quoted in support of the above theories amply guarantee the veracity of the narrator. M. Ernest Flammarion is the pub- lisher of this weird and curious work, and also of a French translation of the “Résurrection” of Count Tolstoi.  THE AUTHOR. 263 “Borry YEARS OF THE THEATRE.” The first volume of the “Quarante Ans de Théitre” series of M. Francisque Sarcey, edited by M. Adolphe Brisson (Bibliothéque des Annales), has just appeared. It contains “ the good Uncle’s” most important articles on the Comédie Francaise. “Those who wish to make acquaintance with the French theatre of the nineteenth century will find in Sarcey’s writings all that is necessary to be known of its plays, authors, and actors,” said M. Mézitres, president of the Parisian Associa- tion of Journalists, at a recent meeting of the society. “They will find, above all, an accent of admirable sincerity. No exterior influence, no consideration of friendship or expe- diency, ever biassed his judgment. i. Never to have sought, never to have wished to say anything but the truth during forty years of journalism, is not this the highest praise that could be given to any of our members ?” M. Méziéres spoke truly. Francisque Sarcey united the rare qualities of a disinterested, com- petent, and benevolent critic. The curs of the Press yelped over his grave and endeavoured to blacken his fair renown. They failed signally. The proofs of his sterling honesty and the upright- ness of his long public career formed an impene- trable egis to protect his memory. The spirit in which he worked may be seen from the appended rough translation of a simile taken from the chapter entitled “ Rights and Duties of a Critic ” in the newly issued volume of the “ Quarante Ans de Théatre ” series. “A tiler climbs up a steep, sloping roof, ninety feet above the ground. He tranquilly arranges his tiles on it, regardless that he risks breaking his neck a hundred times a day. He perceives no bravery in that—it is his trade to risk his life ; he risks it, and sees no reason for being proud of the act. The trade of the critic has likewise its drawbacks. In speaking the truth, he risks making almost as many enemies as there are persons mentioned in his articles. But that is our trade. We are paid for doing it; and in accomplishing it we believe we are only doing the simple duty of an honest man.” A Mortuary PaRraGRaPH. The inauguration of Alphonse Daudet’s statue, at his natal town of Nimes, furnished abundant copy to the journalist. In order to avoid creating a precedent and adding to their already weighty funereal duties, the French Academy decided ,not to send an official representative to the ceremony. We may mention in passing that the unfinished statue was merely lent by the sculptor for the occasion. He has since repossessed himself of his work, in order to modify the somewhat heavy contour of the features and pose of the unfinished figure. The death of M. Valentin Simond, founder of the Echo de Paris, the Marseillaise, the Réverl, and the Mot d’Ordre, was sincerely lamented by his contributors and staff, owing to the courteous respect he invariably showed towards their individual opinions. M. Louis Enault, a prolific contributor of fiction to the railway libraries, has likewise joined the ranks of the great majority ; closely followed by M. Joseph Bertrand, the celebrated occupant of the chair of mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne, member of the French Academy, and permanent secretary of the Academy of Science, commander of the Légion d’honneur, &c., and author of “ Traité Walgtbre,’ “Traité du calcul différential et intégral,” “ Caleul des probabilities,” “ Thermo- dynamique,” ‘“L’Histoire de VAcadémie des Sciences,” &e., and a host of erudite articles on physics, mathematics, astronomy, acoustics, the laws of capillary attraction. The Ecole poly- technique, recognising the extraordinary mathe- matical aptitude of this modern Pascal, admitted him as a pupil at the early age of eleven years. By the death of Count Benedetti France loses an agreeable writer and well-known diplomatist to whom she latterly made honourable, though tacit, amends for the unjust suspicion with which she had long regarded a certain incident in his diplomatic career. Guy pr Maupassant. The second volume of the hitherto unedited tales of Guy de Maupassant has recently been published by the Maison Ollendorf under the title of “Le Colporteur.” Each of these short compositions 1s a model of elegant, nervous writing. De Maupassant possessed the advan- tage of an excellent master in literary style at the commencement of his career. The renowned Gustave Flaubert—than whom no greater purist existed—appointed himself the critic of the youthful writer’s productions, sternly forbidding him to publish the immature overflowings of his fertile imagination. “ Wait a little, young fool,” was his vigorous exhortation on one occasion ; “‘ advance as I order you, and carry out my prescriptions. ‘To-morrow morning you will walk along the street until you see a concitrge sweeping out her doorway. At this juncture you will stop; you will contemplate this spectacle until you have absorbed it; and then you will faithfully narrate the various impressions it has suggested to you. Quick, to work!” When the prescribed literary exercise was sub- mitted for approval: “You must prune these 264 epithets, my son. And this verb? What is this verb doing here?” was the only encouragement vouchsafed. For six years this hard discipline continued unrelaxed; at the end of that period de Maupas- sant was a finished stylist. To Flaubert’s train- ing he undoubtedly owes the classical reputation he to-day enjoys, the unfortunate cloud which latterly obscured his brilliant intellect being in no wise apparent in his earlier works. New Boos. Among recent publications, we find “ La Petite Bohéme,”’ by M. Armand Charpentier, one of the most promising writers of the Zola school. His best known novel is “ L’Initiateur,’’ to which M. Alphonse Daudet furnished a moral letter-preface —‘the only moral in the book,” according toa witty confrére. ‘‘ La Constitution du monde,” a scientific work by Mme. Clémence Royer, evolves some remarkable theories; “Le Roman de Ambition,” by M. Marcel Barriére, is the second volume of the “Nouveau Don Juan” trilogy, begun by “L’Education d’un Contemporain” ; and “Le Caractére et la Main” is an interesting treatise on chiromancy by M. J. Leclercq, con- taining reproductions of the hands of Zola, Coppée, Rodin, Clemenceau, Réjane, “ Gyp,”’ Loie Fuller, and a score of other celebrities. ‘ Figures du temps passé,” by M. Lucien Perey; the third yolume of ‘ Napoléon et sa famille,” by M. Frédéric Masson; “ Fiancée d’Avril,” by M. Guy Chantepleure; ‘En flanant,’ by M. André Hallays; and “ L’Art du Chant,’ by M. Marie Sasse of the Opéra, are also among the interesting publications of the month. Darracorre Scorr. Dec NOTES AND NEWS. PUBLISHER'S proposal as to the exten- A sion of copyright is that after the legal term has expired the heirs of the author may, by paying a small fine or fee, take out a renewal. He adds, “ or representatives,” probably meaning that the trade will do their level best to make the privilege their own in the initial agree- ment. This would no doubt be attempted, and as the chance of a book being worth renewal after the term of copyright is small, it would in most cases be granted. This, however, must not be permitted. A law of copyright which enables a publisher to keep a monopoly of a book for ever would be far worse than the existing law. Perhaps the following amendments are worth considering : 1. The sale of copyright to be legal for the existing term only, THE AUTHOR. 2. At the expiration of the existing term the author’s heirs to recover possession of the copy- right. 3. The original publisher not to sell a single copy, even for waste-paper, after the expiration of the term. 4. The author’s heirs to be at liberty to make arrangements for another term of years, and again at the expiration of the second and every following term. Consider the position of the heirs of Charles Dickens or of Scott were such provision legal. They would have left a huge property enduring one knows not how long, for it is ve certain that our own great grandchildren will read Scott, and, I believe, Dickens as well, with as much delight as we ourselves of the present day. I refer to the observations of Mr. Charles Dudley Warner on the subject (see p. 260) in another column. The following proposal advanced by the Man- chester Guardian is worth considering :— “ There is a crusade on foot just now to extend the term during which an author’s heirs or pub- lishers may preserve copyright in his books. . . . But it does not seem to have occurred to anyone that the book-buyer has an interest in the matter. By all means let the author’s heirs get as much as they can from his works; but there seems to be no reason why one publisher should be able to keep others, who would perhaps employ better editors or printers, out of the field. If the term of copyright is extended, we hope that some pro- vision will be made for the right of any publisher who chooses to pay for it to issue an edition of a popular author. At present, indeed, the chief objection to the extension of copyright is that it gives a monopoly toa publisher who may be neither intelligent nor enterprising. Surely it would be possible to throw openall popular books to “the trade” after their author’s death, on the understanding that the author’s representatives were to receive the same royalty from any pub- lisher who chose to issue them. This plan would combine the interests of the book-buyer, who deserves some consideration, with those of the author’s family, and it ought not to prove unwork- able in practice.” The objection to this proposal is precisely the same as that advanced above, that it leaves an author, or his heirs, the power of selling all future interest in a work. Now, if literary property is to be protected, in the interest of authors it must be saleable for a term of years only, and then for another term. In this way only can the work be protected against forced sales, sales  THE AUTHOR. 265 through ignorance or carelessness, and sales for the exigencies of the moment. — What is the objection to the admission of women into the learned societies? Science is not in the least concerned with the sex of those who follow and work in the field of research. It may be that women will never succged so well as men in science: it may be that in some fields they will do better. Surely the broad rule of good work as the one condition of admittance is all that is wanted: that—and a strict obedience to that rule. Membership of a scientific society ought to be a distinction, or at least a recognition, To admit women would mean, in most cases, to raise the standard of membership. It is notorious that there are many learned societies which will admit anybody without asking for proof of qualification. How many geographers are there in the Geographical Society ? How many antiquaries in Burlington House? How many astronomers in the Royal Astronomical Society ? Once admit women, however, and the rule of qualification, the condition of good work, will be applied with rigour. The societies will become poorer, but poverty will have the com- pensation of distinction and honour. The archxologists and antiquaries among our readers will be interested in hearing that further examination of the catacombs of Rome is to be undertaken. The Commission — “ Commissione di Archeologia Sacra’”’—appeals to all those, of every nation, interested in the subject for assist- ance. Information can be had by writing to Monsignor P. Crostarosa, Secretary to the Com- mission, 24, Via del Quirinale, Rome. These catacombs, in which so much has been found, in which so much more certainly remains to be found, after being closed from the ninth century, have only been opened in this, the nineteenth: and as yet have been most imperfectly examined. Out of forty-five cemeteries five only are accessible to the visitor. It is interesting to see ina cutting from the Toronto Globe that the Canadian Society of Authors is going ahead. It has given a dinner, presided over by the Hon. G. W. Ross, Premier of Ontario and chairman of the Society, to the French-Canadian writer, Dr. Frechette, whose writings have been so widely read in Canada, and whose book written in English, bearing on the characteristics of the French. Canadian of the province of Quebec, was published last year. The dinner appears to have been a great success, as, indeed, it deserved to be. The Society has elected a considerable number of new members, amongst whom appear Mr. Gilbert Parker of our Committee, and Mr. Thring, the Secretary of the Society. Some friends of the late Mrs. Lynn Linton are anxious that her memory should be perpetuated at Keswick—her native place—and wish to pre-. sent her portrait (done in oils by the Hon. John Collier) to the museum there. And as it is felt that many others may wish to join in such a memorial, Mr. G. S. Layard, of Lorraine Cottage, Great Malvern, who is at present engaged in writing Mrs. Linton’s life, has kindly consented to receive and acknowledge subscriptions towards the fund. Subscriptions may also be sent to Mr. William Toynbee, 1, York-street, Portman-square, London. Water Besant. Pes ERNEST DOWSON. T is in the cruel irony of things that I should I be writing of my dead friend, Ernest Dowson, in this town of St. Germain-en- Laye. For not very long before he died— although at a time when he had no foresight of what was so soon to befall him—he had coun- selled me, one-night when we were talking of our future lives, to betake myself, my pens and paper and wayward fancies here and to work, where there was an old castle, full of inspira- tion, to contemplate a church in which an unhappy English king lies buried (in which to seek higher things), and a forest, full in spring of the flowers and birds and butterflies that one “loved long since,” where one could walk away all the melancholy of a hard life laid in hard ways. And so, having bidden an eternal farewell to Ernest Dowson, as he lies under fifteen feet of Kentish loam in the cemetery of Brockley, near Lewisham, I betook myself here, as it were in execution of a dying request, and here it is that I write of him. I think that all in all he was the MOST UNHAPPY MAN OF LETTERS who ever lived. I say it advisedly and after having thought over in the solitude of long forest walks what I know of him, what I know of his life. I say it in spite of the fact that for two days and two nights I had his face in its last sleep open to my tearful eyes and that one never saw peace more reposeful on features more ravaged. I say it in spite of the echoes that the winged choristers of the French forest have at all times been ringing in my ears of that outburst of twittering song which broke from many English birds at the very moment when the poet’s soul  266 passed into eternity. It was such a_ gentle death, a trespass so peaceful, that thinking of that alone one might be inclined to say that no one who so left life—whatever his life might have been—could be written down as altogether unhappy, the Miserrimus before whose tombstone posterity stops and sighs. Here there was not the devil-haunted garret of Brooke-street, Hol- born, in which, amidst a litter of destroyed master- pieces, Chatterton writhed his last in arsenic- agonies. Here was not the muddy gutter where, prone on his face in alcoholic apoplexy, Edgar Allan Poe breathed away in shameful hiccoughs his lyric soul. Nor here that fateful iron grating in Old Lanthorn-street from which, one grey morning, men of police cut down the stark body of Gerard de Nerval, hapless lover of the Queen of Sheba. For he just turned over on his side and left me. There was no struggle—there was no agony ; and the only sign that was given to me that the unex- pected end had indeed come, and that one more dear one had left me—still more lonely—for ever, was the beautiful calm that settled down, like a brooding dove, upon his tired face. I have all these things well before my mind, and yet, advisedly, I say that I do not know in the mournful history of unhappy men of letters a page more sad than that which tells of Ernest Dowson’s short career. Nor do I here make reference to certain shameful speculations, of which he was the victim in his last days, of tradings on his weakness, rags, and hunger. I look at his life as a whole, and I do not find any- where outside of certain lines in Edgar Allan Poe any description of the unhappiness of his life. Yet one admits that he was one of those who were born to be unhappy, for no other reason than that their natures and temperament are such that they are not of this world, and, being alien to it, must perforce succumb from first to weary last. Chat- terton had some glory and a little love; Poe had much love and a little glory; de Nerval staggered through life in a dream of renown with a blazing, if unrequited, passion at heart. But Ernest Dowson—who in the opinion of many of critical faculties had genius as great as any of these— never received, outside a small circle, any recog- nition; and though he had a beautiful face and the largest heart, was not, I think, once called into that revivifying sunshine which is a woman’s love to a poet’s soul. I procured a copy of Balzac’s ‘La Cousine Bette” on the first day on which I came here, and in re-reading that masterpiece I fancied I had come to one explanation of his want of success. Do you remember those fine pages in which Balzac, himself the most conscientious of workers, THE AUTHOR. describes the reason of the failure of Wenscelas Steinbock, the artist whom Cousine Bette had saved from suicide, setting it forth as the result of his neglect of constant industry, for, as Balzae writes: “Le travail constant est la loi de l’Art, comme celle de la vie, car Vart c'est la création idéaliste” 2 To see Ernest Dowson ever wander- ing, unsettled, for long periods inactive, and OFTEN IN QUEST OF EXCITEMENT, one might have fancied him unconscientious, a semi-artist, whereas I do not think it would be possible to find amongst the poets of the last decade of this century a worker more devoted, an artist more religious, a conscience more profound. He never had the care of money; he had most deeply the cultus of his art. He wrote in collaboration with Mr. Moore two novels, “A Comedy of Masks,” which was published by Heinemann, and “Adrian Rome,” which was published by Methuen. On both of these books the two collaborators expended a sum of industry that would have saved Dumas pére from occasional visits to Clichy, and exerted an energy of polishing which would have worn MHorace’s grindstone down to its axle. He worked on both books as few men of letters—and I have Alphonse Daudet in my mind when I say this, as well as Henryk Sienkiewicz—have ever worked. He was so entirely an artist that he could never leave a phrase alone. He had the preciousness of George Moore or of Maupassant, without their fortune. He affords altogether the most discouraging example of the inutility of conscientiousness in modern English literature that one can find. He WORKED WELL AND WITH GENIUS for ten years, and I do not think that during the whole of that time—even including a quantity of Grub-street productions to which he was con- strained—he ever earned a wage equivalent to that of the husband of the bricklayer’s wife who per- formed in my cottage on his dead body the last offices which our poor bodies exact. He wrote short stories which are masterpieces—you should read “Dilemmas”; he was an exquisite poet. Mr. Smithers, his publisher, will tell you that certain admirers of his—alas, too few—took his volumes by the half quire, and as a translator from the French into limpid English he had no rival. And it was all in vain, in the sense that honest work should procure some happiness, & little sunshine, a few of those things which tend to reconcile one with all the tears and stress of this life. He knew it; he felt it, and I shall not. presently forget the grey Kentish evening on which he said to me: “ Literature has failed for’  THE me. I shall look somewhere else in the future.” I said nothing, although now I recognise that I had a presentiment that there were perhaps on the knees of the gods better things for Hrnest Dowson, than that eternal straining of eyes towards a promised land into which there is and never can be any entering. At the time I did not know how good was God to be to him. He was born at Lee, near Lewisham, thirty- two years ago, and he now lies in Kent from which he sprang. Kentish people will be proud of him now that it is too late, and that all the appreciation of all the world cannot wipe out one sad line from his classical mouth or put one little glint of contentment into his spiritual eyes. I do not wish to be critical about his works. Chacun a son métier. There are many critics who will be busy about the very sweet English poet that he was. My métier is here that of a friend and to some extent of a moralist, who is very unhappy, and who sees in this life and in this death another reason to deplore the fatal impulse which drives those insufficiently equipped with tenacity, and pru- dence, and, above all, combative strength, into the arduous profession of letters. But I will say this about certain lines in Ernest Dowson’s prose and about certain verses of the poetry that Ernest Dowson wrote, that, stiffen I my back never so bravely, that soliloquise I never so comfortably “Let the dead bury the dead,” I have at the loss of this artist—I say nothing now about the friend—a grief which lies far deeper than human tears, deeper far than the tears which I shed at his going away, when the bricklayer’s wife, to whom I have alluded above, asked me with English expletives, “What was the use of that blubbering now that the gentleman was gone?” I do not know where I met Ernest Dowson first. I know where I met him last—that is to say, day for day, six weeks before his death. It was in a place in Bedford-street, A PLACE WHERE THEY SELL SPIRITS and where the “M’as-tu-vus” of London con- gregate. I was downstairs, writing some futile paragraphs on public paper. He touched me on the shoulder, and I turned round. It was as if Death had— being in a kindly mood — beckoned me away from that unrest which the men in Bedford-street miscall delight. I questioned him, and he told me that he was in sore stress and had crawled out to procure from a publisher a little money. I did not know then that his landlord—in a vague garret, somewhere on the outskirts of Somers Town—had that afternoon delivered to him an ultimatum whereby he would AUTHOR. 267 have been homeless on the morrow, failing the publisher (who had failed him) ; but what I did know—for I saw it—was that here was a man in a very great weakness, a man to whom I was indebted for kindness and artistic sympathy more than I am to most men; and so I asked him to come away with me, and to leave his Somers Town landlord to clamour for the present, and just to take a rest. And so he came home withme. Andif he had never written a line to exhilarate my heart, I could never be sufficiently grateful to him for those six weeks when I sat with him all day, and lay in his room at night. For I think that in the last days of an artist’s life all the treasures that are in an artist’s mind are scattered in largesse on those nigh to him. This, I know, was not the case with Baudelaire. It was certainly so with Ernest Dowson. What a beautiful soul revealed itself at every moment of the day, and how one grew to love a man so distressed !—yet so good and so patient that when I think of those SIX weeks I can vaguely discriminate the comforts of Calvary. We were very cheerful all the time, and we talked of literature from morning till night. He wanted Landor’s “ Imaginary Conversations,” but, though I ordered it from a local librarian, the book did not come until it was too late. But he glutted himself on Dickens, and I had also an “ Esmond,” by Thackeray, to put into his gaunt hands. He had “Esmond” in his bed, by the way, when he died. But as to Dickens, here was a perfect stylist and most laborious artist who delighted himself for the last precious days of a short life in the hasty writings, but perfect humanity, of our English Balzac. And I shall never take up an “ Oliver Twist” again without remembering these circumstances: Five hours before Ernest Dowson died I was lying on a couch in a room adjoining his, keeping myself awake at six o’clock in the morning with the adventures of that most smug of prigs, So as to keep converse with my friend, who could not get to sleep and who had begged me to talk to him. I happened to say to him, to show that I was vigilant: ‘“ How absurdly melodramatic this is, about the murder of Nancy. Do you think that, for anything Fagin could tell him, Sikes, who knew Fagin to be the worst liar on earth, would have killed his missus? ” “ No,” said Dowson ; ‘he would have gone for Claypole.” And that was the last thing on litera- ture that he ever said. For when he woke four hours later it was to ask for a doctor—till then he had always strenuously refused to see one. Too late, for the rest. Too late by many months. For the doctors and the coroner’s people, who did  268 THE come after the end, said that the death was caused by tuberculosis. I would add “accele- rated by privation,” for I afterwards learned at his lodgings that repeatedly, during the months which preceded my meeting with him, HR HAD PASSED WHOLE DAYS and even couples of days without leaving his room or procuring food. He had the delicacy and pride of all elect artistic temperaments, and rather than communicate with his relations —kindest and most generous of people — he preferred to suffer. And he held that a man working at a trade should live by it. I think that his example is one on which young authors should meditate. Not in discouragement from a fine and noble profession, but to derive caution and prudence. I think his sad life and early death should warn all but the strongest against taking to literature, pure and simple, as a sole means of livelihood. And I am sorry to add that I think they teach the lesson that in literature also some spirit of commerciality is essential. He suffered so pitiably at the thought that he had failed, after doiny his best, and I cannot help thinking that this morbid self- reproach did much towards breaking him down. If he had been a little more ‘practical in his dealings with the publishers, a little more provi- dent, and especially if he had sacrificed a little of his artistic prejudice to the public demand, his life might have been different. And yet I don’t know. I cannot conceive Ernest Dowson otherwise than supremely un- happy. He was not of this world orforit. A symbol of his life was given to me in the first days of my visit here. I was walking in the forest, and in the bright sunshine saw a yellow butterfly disporting itself under the leafless trees. It was trying to be happy and fancied the spring was come. And that evening there was a terrible snowstorm, and I could not but think of the icy shower battering down the fragile and gaudy wings. I could not but think that such natures as was Ernest Dowson’s have as much chance of lasting happiness in this world as had that yellow papillon in the treacherous sunshine. Above the leafless trees the crushing storm lies gathering. There was no power of resistance here. It is cruel, doubtless, and heartrending, but it is the nature of things. We can but steel our hearts and, for- getting the snowstorm, think of the sunshine and the brave flutter that for a little while the yellow ' wings made—a thing of beauty, a passing joy. Rozert H. SHERARD. pe AUTHOR. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND LETTERS (NEW YORK), HE address of Mr. Charles Dudley, Warner, , of which a portion will be found in another column, may be taken as an indication that the National Institute of Arts and Letters is to be a serious and permanent association. Its aim, in general terms, is the advancement of Art and Literature. Its membership is to be restricted in numbers, and is to demand as a condition of admission some notable achievement in Art and Literature. It will endeavour to promote “healthful and hopeful criticism” ; it will keep alive the traditions of good litera- ture; it will advocate an equitable law of copyright; it will try to establish the rela- tion of publisher and author on a basis of equity. The institute, it will be seen, is to become, if it succeeds, a national academy of literature. The programme, it will be observed, is much larger than our own. We are concerned only with literary property, the law of copyright, the relation of publisher and author, and the maintenance of literary property in the interests of the creator. It is greatly to the credit of the American good sense that this maintenance of literary property is perceived to be one of the principal factors in the advancement of litera- ture, and one of the objects in a national academy of literature. In this country there would be heard still, though more faintly than of old, the bleating about commercialism and the sordid connection of literature with money ; as if litera- ture, alone among the callings in which men work, is degraded by that connection which does not degrade art, or science, or law, or medicine, or any other of the occupations by which the curse of labour is turned into a blessing. But the creation of literary property is an accidental consequence due to the conditions of the time rather than an essential. For it is quite easy to conceive of the finest poem, the finest work of art, the most startling discovery, failing to become a property at all. It may be that we shall ourselves learn from our American friends how we may enlarge our own field. It may be that the establishment and success of a National Academy of Letters in the States may lead to the creation of a Royal Academy of Letters in this country. We might perhaps consent to be amalgamated in a more comprehensive association—provided that there is ample security that our special work will be carreed on. It may be that the interests of literature— the interests of the author—will be administered a ins al aa a THE more efficiently by a limited number of Acade- micians than by a society unlimited in number and demanding no condition of literary distinc- tion for membership. These things are in the lap of time. We wait and look on. Certainly in one respect our own need of watchful jealousy over criticism is as pressing as that of the States. We shall perhaps learn, also, how to advance litera- ture by some new methods, if there are any, other than ‘by classical education and by confining criticism to scholars. The following notes on the foundation of the institute are taken from the Writer (Boston, U.S.A., Feb. 1900). The National Institute of Arts and Letters is likely to be an important factor in the development of American litera- ture. The original members were selected by an invitation from the American Social Science Association, which acted under the power of its charter from the Congress of the United States. The members thus selected, who joined the Social Science Association, were given the alternative of organising as an independent institute or as a branch of the association. At the annual meeting of the Social Science Association on Sept. 4, 1899, at Saratoga Springs, the members of the institute voted to organise indepen- dently. They formally adopted the revised constitution, which had been agreed upon at the first meeting in New York in the preceding January, and duly elected officers The object is declared to be the advancement of art and literature, and the qualification shall be notable achieve- ment in art or letters. The number of active members will probably be ultimately fixed at 100. The society may elect honorary and associate members without limit. By the terms of agreement between the American Social Science Association and the National Institute, the members of each are ipso facto associate members of the other. As Mr. Warner says: “In no other way as well as by associa- tion of this sort can be created the feeling of solidarity in our literature and the recognition of its power. It is not expected to raise any standard of perfection, or in any way to hamper individual development, but a body of con- centrated opinion may raise the standard by promoting healthful and helpful criticism, by discouraging mediocrity and meretricious smartness, by keeping alive the traditions of good literature, while it is as hospitable to all discoverers of new worlds. A safe motto for any such society would be Tradition and Freedom—Traditio et Libertas.” spec “PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.” N adaptation of “Pericles” by Mr. John Coleman was produced at the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, in commemo- ration of the 336th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday. In some interesting “forewords” put into the hands. of the audience, Mr. Coleman described the genesis of the play, Shakespeare’s part in it, and its stage history : Entirely derived from the “ Apollonius of Tyre”’ Saga, ‘+ Pericles” is the most singular example in Elizabethan literature of a consistent copying of AUTHOR. 269 a venerable and far-travelled story. Although one of the best abused plays of the period, there is abundant evidence to prove that “ Pericles” never relaxed its hold upon the public till the time of the Civil Wars, when all the theatres were closed. Immediately after the Restoration (1660) the Poet Laureate, Sir William Davenant (popularly believed to have been Shakespeare’s son), revived the play at his own playhouse, on the site where the 7'%mes office now stands. After maintaining its attraction unabated for upwards of sixty-three years, with the death of the great actor Betterton the play disappeared from the acting drama. Sixty-five years later (1735) George Lillo produced at Covent Garden Theatre an adaptation of the play called ‘“ Marina,” a small and puerile thing which failed utterly. After an elapse of more than a hundred years, Phelps revived the play at Sadler’s Wells with a success which (he assured Mr. Coleman) was the most memorable of all the many triumphs of that memorable Shakespearean management. Since that time “ Pericles” has never been acted on the English stage; but on Oct. 20, 1882, a version by Herr Ernest Possart was acted with the most brilliant success at the Court Theatre, Munich, where it continued to attract large and appreciative audi- ences during a period of upwards of twelve months. The repeated recommendations of his friend, the distinguished tragedian, Mr. Phelps, induced Mr. Coleman to turn his attention to the subject—the result being the present adaptation, which upon three occasions has been within measurable distance of production at Drury-lane, twice under the régime of his friend the late Sir Augustus Harris, and once during his own recent management of the National Theatre, but in every instance some insuperable obstacle barred the way. Fortified by the many eminent autho- rities who subscribe to his opinion as to Shake- speare’s actual share in the authorship of this play, Mr. Coleman did not hesitate to expunge the first act, to eradicate the banality of the second, to omit the irrelevant Gower chorus, and . to eliminate the obscenity of the fourth act. eee A FEW IDEAS. \ LL mind is above measure and all spirit over proof. As there is no inert matter, so there is no inept mind. Civilisation is an ideal—to be realised in Para- dise. Conceit is always honest, but never just. Democracy as yet exists only in theory. 270 Equality differs from equity as monotony from melody. Free speech thrives only in solitude. Government by the best has yet to come. Humour is a loyal servant of love. Like other sovereigns, women never learn the total truth. Most of us still are—what all of us once were —children. Perfectly sane minds would be infallible. Salvation means perfect sanity. Spring-time gives pessimism the lie—politely. Temperance is the twin sister of tolerance. The chivalrous will not presume upon their sex —whichever it is. The rights of majorities are those of the un- wisest—or the youngest. There is only one autocrat—the Creator. Untruth is wedded to vanity—for life. Vanity wishes the whole world to witness its various weaknesses. Virtue means manliness—or womauliness. What is not fair is not love—what is not just is not war. With an efficient minority, Society is always fairly sane. Youth is the most curable, or least durable, of our qualities. All buds are new—“ under the sun.” All souls are—more or less—lonely. An Age of Gold may lie in the Past—the Age of Love must live in the Perfect. Death is only an eclipse of life. Even death cannot change the truth. Love is always on the right way to perfection. Man is not old enough for Truth—nor Time long enough for Understanding. Poetry need never reason, so long as it can sing. Prayer never fails while it inspires. The father of wisdom may be reason — the mother must be love. The greatest genius is not yet married—he is still unborn. The most pardonable of weaknesses is youth. Fintay GLENELG. Soe CORRESPONDENCE. I—Lirzerary CoMPETITION. E your criticism of the Academy’s methods, would it not be a useful move if the Society of Authors took up this matter of literary competitions ? A judicious monthly competition, open to members of the Society only, would, I think, prove an attraction. In addition to the THE AUTHOR. prize, an honour list might be published in numerical order of merit. This would let the young author know where he was. The innova- tion, I think, would prove useful and attractive. M. E. C. [Would the innovation be permitted by the Society’s Articles of Association ?—Ep. | Il.—Tue War. I think, whatever our political convictions may be, we cannot refrain from admiring the magnifi- cent loyalty and devotion of our brothers of Greater Britain. As a trifling mark of one Englishwoman’s appreciation I should like to give, as far as I am able, a copy of my book, “ The Guests of Mine Host,” to any colonial home for wounded or invalided colonial soldiers. The gift is nothing in itself, but, as a poor means of marking the feeling that is sweeping over the nother country, I venture to ask you to insert this letter. In so doing I hope it may meet the eye of those concerned in the management of these hospitals and homes, and if they will let me know I shall feel honoured by being asked to forward a copy. I may say that ‘‘ The Guests of Mine Host” is being published in a colonial edition, which may lessen the difficulties. Marian Bower. Stradishall Place, near Newmarket. IT..—“ Commercianists”—An ExpLaNnaTIoNn, In the last number of The Author the editor asks, with reference to my letter: ‘ Does not the writer make the common mistake of supposing that if a literary work has a commercial value the writer is therefore a commercialist?” I hasten to reply that I did not think for a moment of suggesting such a thing. I meant no offence. There are several kinds of writers, e.g., (1) those who do bad work for pay and get it; (2) those who do good work without thinking of the pay, and yet get paid; (3) those who do good work without thinking of pay and without receiving it. Market value may mean much or little. The land at Kimberley had no market value until some years ago. x Y, IV.—A Few Smart GRuMBLES. I have been much disappointed lately in not being able to find out the true history of the “Three Tailors in Tooley-street.” It is stated in Dr. Brewer’s excellent “Reader's Handbook” that they were three worthies who petitioned the House of Commons when Canning was Prime Minister, the petition beginning, ‘“ We, the people of England.”  THE AUTHOR. 271 Is this really so? What were their names ? What was the petition about? Were they the only signatories? I have often thought that the whole story may have been an invention of Canning in some speech ridiculing some real but much more numerously signed petition of his day. The phrase is so often quoted that it may be worth while to get at the bottom of it. Another thing that troubles me is the frequency with which the mark of interrogation is dropped in modern printing. Another, that the issue of books with uncut edges (as advocated by the late Mr. Darwin) is not nearly so frequent as it ought to be; and that even magazines and newspapers are fre- quently issued with uncut edges. [N.B.—The Spectator has recently improved in this respect. | Another, that a table of contents is not so frequently placed as it ought to be on the out- side page of magazines and newspapers. Another, that the price of books when reviewed is in the majority of cases not stated in the review. Another, that such expressions as “joining the majority,’ “passing away,” “ thereof,” “the same,” and “ galore” are used far too often. Another, that illustrations are too many in quantity and too often bad in quality. J. M. Ley. V.—Youne Ficrion Wrirers anp THE WAR Funp. Most of the leading writers of fiction will doubtless contribute to the volume which Mr. C. J. Cuteliffe Hyne is arranging, and which is to be sold in aid of the war fund. Why could not a similar volume be produced by us young writers ? By the term “ young” I mean all those who have issued their first (not necessarily successful) book ; those who have had one or more stories published in any magazine. The volume would no doubt have a large sale, and we, like the leading novelists, should have done some- thing for a great object. I feel sure that our editor—the friend and champion of the young writer—would be willing to help us with advice, and perhaps he could be persuaded to write a preface to the book? I should be happy to hear from any “ youag” writers who would be willing to contribute to such a volume. Should there be sufficient reasons to justify the idea being proceeded with, an editor could be appointed, and the volume brought out with all possible despatch. James BagnaLi-StuBss. Vi.—tTue Frerionist’s Art. Beginners in Fiction, like my humble self, are oftentimes sadly perplexed by the varying advice given by leading practitioners of the art. For instance, in “ The Pen and the Book,” Sir Walter Besant says that the short story “should turn on one incident.” With this “Lanoe Falconer” agrees, for she says (in “The Art of Writing Fiction”) that “the design of the short story must itself be short and simple. A single, not too complicated, incident is best.” Mr. Frederick Wedmore goes still further and says that “plot or story proper is no essential part of” a short story, “though in work like Conan Doyle’s or Rudyard Kipling’s it may be a very delightful part.” Then “An Editor” says (in “How to Write for the Press”) that short tales of about 2000 words “should have only one striking incident’; and he affirms that amidst the many kinds of stories there are “ some in which incident is of no importance whatever.” On the other hand, I have known of cases where stories (2500 to 5000 words) have been condemned by experts because the stories each contained only one dramatic incident. It would seem to be really true that There are nine-and-sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, And—every—single—one —of—them—is—right. Or, as Miss Jane Barlow puts it, “There are ways of many a sort of constructing stories short, and every single one of them is wrong, except for its owner.” Perry Barr. —— VII. EncovuRAGEMENT FOR YOUNG AUTHORS. “Magazine Scribbler” seems sorely exercised over my statements and that of others, which she (or he) calls “ bewildering disagreement of doctors.” (See The Author for December last.) T confess I do not see any disagreement between my assertion that one can make possibly £500 a year by “ hack-work,” and Sir Walter Besant’s advice “ Do not at first try to live by writing for the magazines.” T ask ‘ Magazine Scribbler,’ Does an apprentice expect to live on the unpaid, incomplete work he has to do while learning his trade ? The apprentice, of course, is provided with board and lodging until he can work well. Just so with the scribbler, who must work for a long time before he gains place among paid writers, and can be assured of an income through his pen. “ Magazine Scribbler ” wishes me to say in what class of periodicals £400 or £500 a year may be earned. She (or he) also wishes to know sf the work should be entirely fiction’ One author’s experience may not be that of others. I cannot advise on this point. I wrote on all 272 THE ‘lines ’—religious essays, political articles, folk- lore, poetry, children’s stories, adventures, novels, short tales. I found that fiction paid best. I sent my scribblings at a venture to any magazine or newspaper I fancied they might suit. I often had “copy” rejected by second-rate magazines, yet accepted by high-class ones. I took what- ever money was offered. When asked for “copy ”’ T always said ‘“ Yes,” though often the remunera- tion was trifling, but I believe in a bird in the hand being of more value than two in the bush. I never kept an editor waiting for what he wanted. I worked eight or ten, aye, sometimes sixteen, hours a day. When a tale got a good grip of my imagination I could put it on paper at the rate of 5000 words a day. It is not for me to say whether such rapid work is good work. All I know is that my children needed the price of my work, and that the editors took it, asked for it, and paid for it. After besieging the editorial doors for years some of those good gentlemen became my friends and employed me regularly, but if my work was not quite suitable it came back from those friends just as it might from strangers. “Ottawa” gives some excellent advice in the letter preceding that of ‘‘ Magazine Scribbler,” who I hope has read it with benefit. It is certainly true that persistent advertising, log-rolling, a pat on the back from a “ big name,” shoves a young author on, and sells his work for atime. Only for a time! The reading-thinking public is no fool. If true literary genius is not in one’s work it must die eventually. If one is writing to make money (and God knows I have required to consider that point first and foremost, so that I do not “ lichtlie ” such an object), one is apt to overlook the guality of one’s work, and rather ask one’s self, “ Will it sell” If “it” owns some temporary attraction, it may sell; but we must not blame the public if “it” loses the charm of novelty very soon and ceases to be “in demand.” I am afraid a great portion—a very great portion—of writers have mistaken their vocation. They have no original talent for literature, or lack the perseverance which is the necessary adjunct of all successful talent. The wailings of this disappointed throng are painful to hear. One feels sympathetic with them, but it is desirable that they should not blame a noble profession for their failure to win first place in it. J. M. H.S. AUTHOR. BOOK AND PLAY TALK, M* RUDYARD KIPLING is writing a new series of animal tales, Mr. Winston Churchill’s first book on the war will be ready shortly, under the title “London to Ladysmith, wa Pretoria.” After the war is over he will write a history of the whole campaign. Mr. Alexander Innes Shand has written a memoir of General John Jacob, of Jacobabad. Friend of Outram and Bartle Frere, and distin- guished alike as soldier and administrator, Jacob: was an indefatigable writer, and a great mass of his letters and manuscripts has been placed at Mr, Shand’s disposal. The book will be pub- lished by Messrs. Seeley and Co. Principal Rhys and Mr. Brynmor Jones, Q.C.,. M.P., have completed “ The History of the Welsh People,” which will be published shortly by Mr. Fisher Unwin. The work is founded upon the: report of the Welsh Land Commission. A second series of “ Essays in Liberalism,” by a group of Oxford men who represent “the: advanced, though not the collectivist, wing of the party,” will be published by Mr. Brimley John- son—a new publisher. One of the subjects treated is the “ Liberal tradition in Literature ” and the book as a whole will offer “a statement of the principles by which Liberals of all times have been inspired, and will apply them to the political crises and party transactions of to-day.” Mr. Edward Carpenter is engaged upon a prose: version of the ‘Eros and Psyche ” of Apuleius, and a verse translation of the first book of “ Wiad,” Mr. Bloundelle-Burton’s new story, ‘The Seafarers,” will be published shortly by Messrs. Pearson. A volume of African sketches and stories by Mr. A. J. Dawson will be published by Mr. Heinemann under the title “African Nights’ Entertainments.” Mr. Ranald Macdonald, son of Dr. George Macdonald, has written his first novel, ‘“‘The Sword of the King,’ a romance of the time of William, Prince of Orange. It will appear in a month or two. Mr. Herbert Spencer attained his eightieth birthday on Friday last (April 27). A biogra- phical and critical study of the distinguished writer and his works is just being published from the pen of Mr. Hector Macpherson, editor of the Edinburgh Evening News. a Kt Wk TC —~ xe @&* 4 Ww oe et Ba pa a ae ada  THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF AUTHORS PENSION FUND. <n I hereby enclose £ as (1) A Single Donation towards Tur Pension Funp. (2) A Donation of £. per annum, over a period of (3) An Annual Subscription to the Fund. Name Address   THE AUTHOR. During the hearing, in New York, im_ the matter of the application by Messrs. Harper and Brothers for a voluntary dissolution of their busi- ness, Mr. Ralph E. Prime, of Yonkers, appeared for a number of authors and asked what would become of royalty and other contracts between authors and the Harper concern. Mr. George L. Rives, attorney for the Harper Corporation, assured Mr. Prime that he need not worry about putting inany claims. ‘As you probably know,” he said, “ the publishing business is to be carried on under the supervision of Alexander E. Orr, Colonel Harvey, and J. Pierpont Morgan. The re-organisation committee is going to pay all debts to authors in full.” “Some Heresies Dealt With” is the title of a new volume of essays, chiefly scientific, by Dr. Alexander Japp. Under a pseudonym the same author is issuing another work, called “ Offering and Sacrifice.” This is an essay in comparative customs and religious development. Both books will be published by Mr. Thomas Burleigh. Mr. Thomas Mackay is to write an authorita- tive biography of the late Sir John Fowler, the engineer. It will be published in the autumn by Mr. Murray. A collection of short stories and essays by Mark Twain will be published in September by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, under the title (taken from the opening tale) “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg.” Professor Muirhead, of Mason College, Bir- mingham, has aimed in his forthcoming work, entitled “‘ Chapters from Aristotle’s ‘ Ethics,’ ” at applying the principles of the famous treatise to modern thought. The book will be published by Mr. Murray. The prizes this year under Mrs. Crawshay’s Memorial Endowment will be:—For Byron’s “Manfred,” “Heaven and Earth,” “Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte,’ “ Ode on Waterloo,” and ‘“Napoleon’s Farewell’? ; for Shelley’s “Revolt of Islam” and “ Hellas”; and for Keats’s “Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.” Essays are to be sent before June 1, 1900, to Mrs. Crawshay, care of 12, Warwick-road, Paddington, W., London. Mr. Frank Murray, of Derby, has in the press an exhaustive bibliography of Mr. Austin Dobson. Dean Farrar’s new book, “The Life of Lives,” a@ companion and supplementary work to his “ Life of Christ,’ will be published shortly by Messrs. Cassell. A sixpenny edition is about to appear of Mrs. Craigie’s “ The School of Saints.” a79 Miss Olive Garnett has a volume of short stories being published by Mr. Heinemann. Mr. Tree’s revival of “ Rip Van Winkle” at Her Majesty’s will take place early this month. The parts of Gretchen and Derrick are to be made more of than has been the case formerly, and the play will be in three acts instead of four. The Royal General Theatrical Fund has now come into possession of the Lacy bequest (£2600). The legal proceedings, however, have cost £1700. At the annual meeting of the fund on the 12th ult., Mr. Edward Terry, who presided, in con- gratulating the meeting on the prosperous condi- tion of “this, which they might call the only, theatrical provident fund,” said there were other funds which he thought might well be amalgamated into two groups, provident and benevolent, and one of them was _ particularly anxious to merge its small capital in the Royal Fund. Mr. George Alexander will preside at the fourth annual general meeting of the Actors’ Orphanage Fund on May 17, at midday, in the Haymarket Theatre. “David Harum” was successfully produced in Rochester, N.Y., on April 9, by Mr. William H. Crane. The directors of the Paris Théatre du Gymnase have invited Mr. F. R. Benson to take his Shakes- pearean company there for two months, beginning July 1. Since the destruction of the Théatre Francais the Gymnase has enjoyed a State sub- vention. Messrs. Greet and Engelbach will take pos- session of the Globe Theatre on Sept. 1, having secured a long lease of it from Lord Kilmorey. “Quo Vadis” will be produced at the Adelphi on May 3, with Mr. Robert Taber as Vinicius, Mr. J. H. Barnesas Petronius, the Roman soldier, Mr. G. W. Anson as Nero, Miss Wallis (Mrs. Lancaster-Wallis) as Poppcea, and Miss Lena Ashwell as Lygia, the Christian hostage. In New York, by the way, two productions of the dramatised version of this novel were presented the other week within eight blocks of each other. One was by Miss Jeannette Gilder, the other (announced as ‘‘ the only authorised version ”) by Mr. Stanislaus Stange. The ‘Agamemnon ” of Alschylus will be per- formed at Bradfield College, Berks, in the open air, on June 19, 21, 23, 25,and 26. The theatre is carved out of a chalk pit, and constructed on the ancient Greek model. On the authority of the Chicago Tribune, “ the decadent drama is a failure from the box-office  274 standpoint. During the season now closing all of the great successes have been plays free from the taint of nastiness, while a large amount of money has been lost by managers who have attempted to force into popularity indecent farces, decadent society comedies, and sensational ‘emotional’ dramas.” A matinée in aid of the Officers’ Families Fund will be given at the St. James’s Theatre on the roth inst. ‘The programme, in which many of the best-known actors and actresses will take part, includes two new plays, one by Mr. Sydney Grundy and one by Miss Florence Warden. Mr. Bernard Shaw’s “ You Never Can Tell” will be produced at the Strand Theatre by Mr. Yorke Stephens and Mr. James Welch at a matinée on May 2. Mr, J. H. Leigh will recite Mr. Arthur Dillon’s poem, “The Wayfarers,” at a concert to be given at St. James’s Hall on the evening of the 26th June. The chief part of the concert will consist of the lyrics and choruses to Mr. Dillon’s play, “ The Maid of Artemis,” set by Mr. Charles E. Baughan. Miss Esther Palliser and Miss Ada Crossley will be the vocalists. Mr. G. F. Savage-Armstrong has a new volume of poems in the press, which will be entitled “Ballads of Down,” and will be a companion volume to “ Stories of Wicklow.” “The Mystic Number 7,” by Annabel Gray, is now published by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall and Co., price 3s. 6d. In the last number of The Author, Mr. J. H. Skrine’s new book, “ The Queen’s Highway,” was by an absurd error called “ The Queen’s Highway- man.” We owe an apology to Mr. Skrine for careless reading of proofs. Miss Marian Bower, author of “ The Guests of Mine Host,’ has kindly offered to give 3s. on every copy sold of her book at the Army and Navy Stores up to one hundred to the Patriotic Fund, the amount to be equally divided between Lady Lansdowne’s Fund and the Daily Telegraph Fund. “We Three and Troddles,’ a successful humorous hook by R. Andom, with illustrations by A. C. Gould, which first appeared some six years ago, is being published in sixpenny form next month by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons, who also have in hand a sequel containing further adventures and exploits of Troddles and his com- panions. “ Joey and Louie; or, The Fairy Gift,” by Miss Edith Gibbs, published by S. W. Partridge and THE AUTHOR. Co., of 8, Paternoster-row. This is a pretty story for children. The book also contains a short tale, entitled ‘“ Pickles.” ——— BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) Tue Narat Campaian, by Bennett Burleigh (Chapman, 6s.), “ will probably arouse interest,” says Literature, “ by reason of its criticisms.’’ Mr. Burleigh ‘“ knows things and has standards of comparison; and heis not afraid of speak- ing out. He had the wit to clear ont of Ladysmith before the circle of investment was complete, so that he is able to throw light upon a somewhat neglected period of the war— the period when Estcourt was isolated, and General Buller had not yet arrived.” In the volume we first get a sketch of{the state of affairs before the ultimatum—of the feeling of the two Republics. ‘Mr. Burleigh’s description of Spion Kop,” says the Guardian, “is specially interesting.” Ina review dated March 27, the Daily Chronicle says that this account of the Natal Campaign “is the most important and, on its special subject, the most complete of the war histories that have so far appeared.” Towarps PREroriaA, by Julian Ralph (Pearson, 6s.), succeeds, says Literature, “in giving the impression of a real man describing a real thing that he has seen.” “ Of the operations of Lord Methnen’s column, which he accom- panied, there has appeared no more vivid and acceptable account.” ‘Mr. Ralph’s is distinctly one of the war books to be read.” On tHe Eve or THE War, by Evelyn Cecil, M.P. (Murray, 3s. 6d.), bears directly on the questions of the hour. It is, says the Daily Chronicle, “but a snapshot view of things as they were in South Africa on the eve of the war. The author saw the Cape Premier and the Prezident of the Afrikander Bond, President Kruger at Pretoria and President Steyn at Bloemfontein. He was in Ladysmith on the very day when the war broke out, and he was in Natal for three weeks after the colony had been invaded. The public will find in the book, says the Daily Telegraph, “ much to support the view that the struggle we have engaged in is an essentially just one, and-was forced upon us by unavoidable circumstances.” ‘Tae Borr Srarss, by A. H. Keane (Methuen, 6s.), “will be welcome to many people,” says the Times, “ who are less anxious to form political opinions than to have some information about the general conditions of South Africa.” Mr. Keane, who was lately vice-president of the Anthro- pological Institute, approaches his subject from the scientific point of view. ‘‘ Not overburdened with detail,” says the Daily Chronicle, “the work is yet informative enough on the features of the countries and on the issues that have led up to the war.” ‘“Admirably clear and concise, and strictly impartial in tone,” says the Daily Telegraph. ‘Mr. Keane shows, for example, that the great majority of the earliest settlers at the Cape were drawn from the lower grades of Dutch society and the riff-raff of Western Europe.” 2 A History or SourH Arrica, by W. Basil Worsfold (Dent, 1s. net), “so far as it goes,” says Literature, ‘is. admirable.’ “The tone is calm, judicious, and even little professional.’’ The greatness of the cost of conquer- ing the Republics is, says Mr. Worsfold, “the penalty we  THE AUTHOR. pay for fifty years of official ineptitude, for fifty years of national neglect.” PINK AND SCARLET ; or Hunting as a School for Soldier- ing, by Lieutenant-Colonel E. A. H. Alderson (Heinemann, 7s. 6d. net), is recommended by the Guardian as “a book that should be on every young officer’s table.” “ Any subaltern who reads it carefully, and acts upon the hints that are there given to him, will be able to dress himself properly, to sit in a well-fitting saddle ona horse that is in good condition, to ride to hounds like a gentleman and sportsman, and to have a thorough knowledge of the hunting-field’s etiquette.” The Daily Chronicle praises the book “ for its light and entertaining style, for its profound knowledge both of hunting and of war, and for the cunning skill with which these two subjects are intertwined.” Tae Love oF AN UNCROWNED QUEEN, by W. H. Wilkins (Hutchinson, 36s.),is the story of the Consort of George I—‘‘ two bulky octavo volumes,’ says the Daily Chronicle, “out of which at least twenty romances could be made; volumes that elaborate the tragic love story of which Thackeray-in his ‘Four Georges’ gives the essential features.” A large part of the volumes consists of corre- spondence attributed to the pair—Sophia Dorothea and Count Koenigsmarck. ‘“ These letters have been rejected,” says the Daily Telegraph, “by good authorities as spurious. Mr. Wilkins, we think, advances better reasons why they should be accepted as authentic.” “On the whole,’ says the Times, “the volomes are interesting enough, although they do not belong to a very high order of historical literature.” Literature refers to the work as being “‘ as exciting as an historical novel by Dumas, and to the judicious reader a good deal more interesting.” WiTHOoUT THE LimELicHT, by G. R. Sims (Chatto, 2s. 6d.), consists of ‘‘instructive papers,’ says the Daily Telegraph, which tell many true stories of the ups and downs of theatrical life. ‘‘ With respect to the vicissitudes of life upon the stage Mr. Sims may confidently be accepted as a skilled expert and trustworthy authority.” ‘Ifa parent or guardian wishes to disenchant a stage-struck lad or girl, here,” says the Spectator, ‘is a potent remedy.” “Mr. Sims tells his stories in a simple and effective fashion, with no unnecessary horrors or extravagant pathos.” ‘‘ One cannot lay down the book,” says the Daily Chronicle, *‘ without concluding that the acting profession is a very slippery one for the climbers.” In THE WAKE oF THE War,” by A. St. John Adcock (Hodder and Stoughton, 2s. 6d.), is a collection of aptly- named stories, says the Spectator, ‘in which the homely tragedies that mark the progress of a campaign like the present are unfolded with unfailing sympathy and skill.” Tun Farrinepons, by Hilen T. Fowler (Hutchinson, 6s.), appears to Literature to “ mark a real artistic advance in the writer.” ‘Elizabeth Farringdon is certainly Miss Fowler’s chef d’euvre. We know few characters in recent fiction so consistent and so human.” ‘“ At its best,” says the Spectator, the work “affords ample food for mirth.” The Daily Telegraph finds its “ great merit” to be the cleverness of the conversations. The Daily Chronicle says “it is bright, it is interesting ; it preaches, so far as it can be said to preach at all, a wide and fashionable theology,” a the dénowement is just what we all would wish it to e.”” Tue Green Fuaa, by A. Conan Doyle (Smith, Elder, 63.), is a collection of short stories dealing with war and sport. ‘There is no subtlety about them,” says Literature, “but they are generally interesting.’ Among them are “a striking story of the Franco-Prussian War,’ and “a most ingenious tale of the Peace of Amiens.” ‘‘ The Striped 275 -Chest,” says the Daily Telegraph, “is as blood-curdling as the wildest of Poe’s romances,” and “ altogether the volume is admirable.” On the whole, the Daily Chronicle does “not think anyone has a right to ask for a more varied, interesting, or better lot of stories than are to be found in this volume.” : SopuHra, by Stanley Weyman (Longmans, 6s.), proves to the Spectator “that a sound instinct has led him to the England of the eighteenth century as the true field for the exercise of his talents as a narrator and interpreter.” The Daily News refers to “his unique gifts of thrilling uarrative and lifelike, yet unobtrusive and entirely unforced, descrip- tion of the times.’”” Mr. Weyman’s heroine, a young heiress who at eighteen has lost her heart to a plausible Irish adventurer, “is own cousin to the charmer of Tom Jones,” says the Daily Telegraph. “The eighteenth century with all its delights from the romantic point of view passes before our vision like a living picture in these fascinating pages.” Tur PLUNDERERS, by Morley Roberts (Methuen, 6s.), althought it “must surely,” says the Daily News, “be regarded as an elaborate burlesque and satire, is vivid, sparkling, and clever ’—“‘a stirring political parable.” “A story of unscrupulous and unjustifiable adventure,’’ says the Daily Telegraph, told with “verve and verisimilitude.” “ The book is the story of a private expedition on the model of the Jameson Raid, a story,” says the Daily Chronicle, ‘told with any amount of zest and go.” ArpEN MasstTeR, by William Barry (Unwin, 6s.) is the story of a young man who reminds the Spectator “ not @ little of the Bulwer or Disraelian type of hero.” “ A more exciting or vivid picture of the inferno of modern Italian politics and society it would be difficult to imagine.” “ The canvas is crowded with striking and sinister characters, amongst whom the saint-like dévote, Donna Costanza, shines conspicuous by her unearthly purity.” “ Altogether itis a novel of engrossing interest, in which exceptional powers of expression are employed with unfailing skill in the delineation of an intensely dramatic phase of modern life.” The Daily Telegraph refers to it as “ undoubtedly one of the books of the year”; and it has filled Literature with admiration, and become a permanent addition to the books we cherish.” Tur COLLAPSE OF THE PENITENT, by Frederick Wedmore (Hutchinson, 3s. 6d.), is described by the Daily Telegraph as “ delicateas well as clever,” and “assuredly a book worth reading.” Hnarts Importunate, by Evelyn Dickinson (Heine- mann, 6s.), is described by the Daily Telegraph as “ vigo- rous, forcible, convincing, portraying with some power the absorbing strife and struggle of two hearts importunate and noble.” The Spectator speaks of the author’s “ excellent style,” and says “she is familiar with life in the bush and in Sydney; she has faithfully studied various types of Colonials.” Tym TRIALS OF THE BANTocKs, by G. S. Street (Lane, 3s. 6d.), is described by the Spectator as “ an artistic rather than an agreeable study of snobbishness ” —“a collection of what might be called tales of mean souls. Mr. Bantock is a very wealthy and painfully respectable banker, with a wife and children to match, and the aim of the narrator is to show how each member of the family has a fly in the ointment of his or her ‘unctaoas rectitude.” “ Mr. Street has a light and delicate touch,” and in this small book, says the Daily Chronicle, “ he lays bare the ambitions and failures of a family of wealthy snobs from the point of view of a poor one.” Matay Maatc, by Walter William Skeat (Macmillan, gis. net), “is practically a treatise on the whole life of  276 the Malays.” They do nothing without magical cere» monies. ‘Like all books of the kind,” continues the Times, “it leaves us with a strong sense of the community ‘of human nature and human beliefs. The work is of high value.” Literature also says this is ‘a very valuable con- tribution to the science of folk-lore, the more welcome because such things are fast perishing off the face of the -earth.” ‘Mr. Skeat, moreover,” says the Guardian, “writes in an easy and flowing style, which makes him 2 pleasant guide, and provides very useful and well-executed illustrations to make his matter more intelligible. He has an additional merit, not always found in collectors of folk- lore, in that he has a proper sense of logical division, and keeps his subjects from jostling one another overmuch.” A439; OR, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A Prano, by ‘Twenty-five Musical Scribes, edited by Algernon Rose (Sands and Co., 6s.). Daily News says: “The book is a jeu esprit following out in literature an idea which has frequently been adopted in composition by many musicians from Schumann to Sullivan. The result is surprisingly good.” “All lovers of music,” says the Queen, ‘‘ will be interested, edified, and even instructed by it.’ The Irish Times (Dublin): ‘A439’ is an up-to-date and remarkable production of musical thought, and as such deserves the attention of a very wide circle of readers.” Truth says: “<The surprise of the book comes at the end, where Dr. Ebenezer Prout, Professor of Music at Dublin University, comes forward as a first-class humourist and the writer of three pages of doggerel of the most excruciating character.” The Scotsman: “As a whole, in spite of the variety of styles—or is it in virtue of them ?—the story of the piano’s chequered career makes capital reading for anyone who is musically informed and musically inclined.” Peas OBITUARY. TYNHE late Mr. Andrew Tuer, author as well as | publisher (whose death was briefly announced in our March issue), was a member of the Society of Authors almost from its beginning, and at all times a friend of the Society and a personal friend of many of its members. The books which bore his name were such as appealed generally more to’ the anti- quarian or to the collector than to the general public. Among them, however, were several topographical books of great interest and impor- tance, especially the very beautiful volume by the Rey. W.J. Loftie called “ Kensington.” His loss makes a gap in this direction which it will be difficult to fill. The death-roll of the past month began with Dr. Sr. Grorcr Mrvart, F.R.S,, philosopher and metaphysician, whe died on April 1 at his resi- dence near Hyde Park. Bornin 1827, Dr. Mivart (he was M.D.) was a man of wide attainments. A barrister-at-law nearly fifty years ago, for a time he was lecturer on zoology at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, and professor of the philosophy of biology at the University of Louvain. THE AUTHOR. Among his many works are of Species” (non-Darwinian), “Nature and Thought,” and “On Truth.” During the past year his name had been prominent in connection with the controversy between himself, as a Catholic layman, and Cardinal Vaughan. Dr. Mivart was to have been entertained at dinner by the Authors’ Club on April 2, and when com- piling his speech for that occasion on the morning of the previous day he had expressed his belief that he would die at the board of his hosts. His one essay in fiction, “Castle and Manor,” was published only last month, but it was a revised version of a novel he published anonymously under another title many years ago. Mr. Roserr A. M. Stevenson, the art critic of the Pall Mall Gazette,and author of “The Art of Velasquez,” the letterpress of “The Devils of Notre Dame” (illustrations by Mr. Pennell), and many esssays, died on April 18. Mr. Stevenson was born in 1847, and was cousin to the late Robert Louis Stevenson. Mr. Frepericx O. Crump, Q.C., who died at Hertford suddenly on April 15 from cardiac syncope, was editor of the Law Times for the last thirty years. Another Queen’s Counsel, Mr. CHaruzs Isaac Enron, author of “Origins of English History,’ and similar works, besides several manuals on land tenure, died on the 23rd ult., at the age of sixty. Mr. Arcuipatp Fores, the Daily News war correspondent, whose letters from the Franco- German and Russo-Turkish wars won for him almost a world-wide distinction, died on March 30 in his sixty-second year. He was the author of many books, chiefly on military campaigning, including “Glimpses through the Cannon Smoke,” a history of the Black Watch Regiment, and a life of Napoleon IIT. 66 : THE AUTHOR.” SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page ese = wee ses aan Ses uae war ee Other Pages $ Half of a Page ... ‘ es ote eee Sak kai eck Quarter of a Page ae see oe son Nes ace tee 0 0 “The Genesis Eighth of a Page aay cee Single Column Advertisements Bills for Insertion... oon SCanase cseacoococ Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, London, W.C. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 12 (May 1900) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 12 (May 1900) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1900-05-01-The-Author-10-12 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/473/1900-04-02-The-Author-10-11.pdf 70ba4c1750fb179d0361aa362d603b58 PDF Text Text ������������������������ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1900-04-02 Volume 10 Issue 11 Pages Page range in volume 229–252 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19000402 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Muthbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 11.] APRIL 2, 1900. [Prick SIXPENCE. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. Pes Se Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. tetas GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. ‘There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I, THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the ‘Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. ‘All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. eo WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. i EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :— (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 yer cent. An author should obtain a  percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (c.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (1.€., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (b.) apply also in this case. 4. PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one act plays should be preserved. 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in * English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. <——<—— —_—_—_ HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The THE AUTHOR. Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thng obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you — are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen. dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce paymenta due according to agreements. THE READING BRANCH. EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this N branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. ‘The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 2ist of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE. stated that the announcement in “The Literary Year Book,” mentioned in Mr. Thring’s letter in The Author for March, was wholly unauthorised. A correct announcement appeared in “ The Literary Year Book ” for — 1897. r \HE Authors’ Syndicate desires it to be |  THE AUTHOR. LITERARY PROPERTY. I—Tue New Copyricut. (By G. HerBeRT THRING, Secretary of the Society of Authors.) By kind permission of the Editor of the Daily Chronicle. N the piping times of peace it is with the greatest difficulty that the politician is persuaded to turn his thoughts to legislation concerned with literary property. Is it possible that when the trumpet of war is sounding the author and copyright owner will receive any attention? Perhaps not. Yet there will come shortly before Parliament a Bill which cannot fail to be full of interest to many of the literary readers of the Chronicle, namely, Lord Monks- well’s Copyright Bill, as approved by the Select Committee of the House of Lords. In 1897 that militant body, the Incorporated Society of Authors, thought, no doubt, that the question of copyright law reform had been slumbering too long, and drafted a short amending Bill, which dealt with the following subjects :— 1. Translations; 2. Magazine Copyright; 3. Copyright in Lectures; 4. Abridgments; 5. Dramatisation of Novels, &c.; 6. Summary Remedy for Infringement of Dramatic Copyright. All of which points were, under the existing law, in serious need of amendment. This Bill was put under the charge of Lord Monkswell. The Copyright Association, not to be outdone by the younger and more active society, went one better and produced a full con- solidating and amending Bill, embracing both artistic and literary copyright. In its first draft the Bill was impossible, but it finally was knocked into presentable shape and put under the charge of Lord Herschell. During 1898 these two bills yan side by side. A Select Committee of the House of Lords was appointed to consider them, anda large amount of evidence was taken. Lord Hlerschell’s sudden and unexpected decease at this time was lamentable, and much to be regretted, as his support of the cause made the copyright owner’s chance of success exceedingly good. Lord Thring, however, the well-known Parliamentary draftsman, who was sitting on the Select Com- mittee, volunteered to take the matter up and to draft a Bill to submit to their lordships. This was about the beginning of 1899. As soon as it was known that the question was going to receive the serious attention of so excellent a lawyer and draftsman, the Incorporated Society of Authors and the Copyright Association agreed to with- draw their Bills and allow the matter to proceed under such trustworthy guidance. The first step taken was to separate literary copyright from artistic copyright, as the property 231 was distinct in character, and must be legislated for on distinct lines. This was a good sign. It showed that the question was to be treated methodically, and gave assurance of some satis- factory order being evolved out of the chaos of existing laws. It was decided to deal with a Bill relating to literary property first. The alterations made in the existing law were based mainly on the report of the Copyright Commission which, appointed in 1875, reported in May, 1878. It is not proposed to discuss the various drafts, but that draft only which, approved by the Select Committee, was ordered to be printed on July 24, 1899. Literary copyright was divided into three parts, as stated in the memorandum accompanying the Bill: 1. Copyright properly so-called, or the right of multiplying copies of books ; 2. Performing right, or the right of publicly performing dramatic works or musical works. 3. Lecturing right, or the right of orally deliver- ing lectures. Here, again, it is evident that the method to be adopted is not only free from confusion, but shows a sound grasp of the complicated and difficult questions that surround the subject. Taking first of all copyright property properly so-called, the Bill proceeds in clause 3 to show what such copyright embraces. As these provisions are exceedingly important to the author, it is worth while to quote them in full. It embraces the exclusive right :— 1. To make copies by writing or otherwise of a book ; 2. To abridge such book ; 3. To translate such book ; 4. In the case of a dramatic work, to convert it into a non-dramatic work ; 5. Im the case of a non-dramatic work to con- vert it into a dramatic work. 6. In the case of a musical work to make any new adaptation, arrangement, or setting of such work or of the melody thereof in any notation or system. It will be perceived by those who have any, the smallest, knowledge of the existing law that the author, dramatist, and composer are allowed a much larger scope of dealing with their property, the outcome of their own brain, than at present. It is needless to discuss the ethics as to whether they should be allowed the possession of their own or not; but, taking the principle as a sound one, every increase of the facilities accorded is satisfactory, so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of the public. The existing law allows certain forms of abridgment, but disallows others. It does not seem in any way fair that the results of one man’s brain should be altered by the  232 arbitrary power of another. Section 2, referring to abridgments, is therefore sound. Translations appear under the existing law to be considered infringements. Section 3 is therefore declaratory of the existing law. Sections 4 and 5 are addi- tions to the author’s present rights, and are based on that sound rule that a substantial. appropria- tion of the ideas or work of another is an in- fringement of copyright, and ought to be so treated. In section 6 the same rule is carried into effect with regard to musical compositions. Clause 4 deals with the conditions and duration of copyright. The term under the present law is the life of the author and seven years afterwards, or forty-two years, whichever is the longer. This Bill adopts the recommendation of the Copy- right Commission—life and thirty years. This alteration will, no doubt, in most cases give a considerable extension, although in some it may cut down the period to less than under the pre- sent Acts. Two great advantages are, however, gained. Firstly, the date of termination is fixed and easily ascertained by the public at large; and, secondly, the persons who benefit under the will of the deceased are certain of holding some property, even though the period during which it is held is not of exceeding long duration. It seems impossible, in the present state of public opinion, that copyright should be perpetual, but it is a matter of great doubt whether it would not have been better to extend the term to life and fifty years, in order to bring it more in accord either with the present laws of the great nations of the Continent, or with the drafts of laws that will shortly be before them. The nearer the English law can be brought to agree with that of foreign Powers, the nearer is the ideal of one universal copyright law likely to be. Clause 5 deals with the property of dramatic and musical authors. It does away with the exist- ing confusion, brushes aside all barriers that have been raised by the succession of isolated Acts that now govern this property, and brings the whole into harmony in a simple, straightforward manner. Yet dramatic authors should raise strong objec- tions to sections 6 and 7, which seem to have been inserted with a view to carrying out the regula- tions of the Musical Compositions Acts, 1882 and 1888. These Acts may have been exceedingly necessary to protect the property of musical com- posers, but would be disastrous to dramatists. Clause 6 deals with lecturing, and proposes a simple method of securing these rights, and upsets the complicated absurdity at present existing. By clauses 5 and 6, the duration of performing rights and lecturing rights is made to coincide with that of copyright—namely, life and thirty years. The clauses following, 7 to 12, are of special impor- THE AUTHOKL. tance to authors, and therefore must be carefully considered by all those for whom this article ig penned. They deal with :— 1. Books published anonymously or pseudo. nymously, or posthumous works, giving duration of copyright in such works for thirty years. 2. Joint authorship, giving duration of copy- right until thirty years after the death of the survivor. 3. Plurality of authors, giving separate copy- right to each individual. 4. Magazine or serial copyright, giving dura- tion of copyright in any article appearing in an encyclopedia, review, magazine, &c., for life and thirty years, and in such article as a separate work after the term of two years from the date of publication in such review, magazine, &e, (encyclopedia omitted), to the author for life and thirty years. Thus, two concurrent copyrights in the same article are created, one owned by the proprietor, allowing him to reproduce his review, magazine, &c., containing the article, the other owned by the author, giving him a right to produce the article in a separate form after two years from the date of publication. This arrangement is a distinct advance, and yet it appears faulty on two points: (a) The term copyright should not have been applied to the right held by the pro- prietor of the review, magazine, &c., who should only hold a licence to reproduce: (6) the author should be permitted to reproduce, not at a fixed date from publication, but at a fixed date—say two years—from definite acceptance, or two years. from first publication, whichever event should first happen. This arrangement would seem fairer so long as magazine proprietors are human, otherwise an author’s work once accepted by a magazine might never be produced, greatly to the pecuniary loss of the author. The newspaper copyright clause, giving pro- tection under certain circumstances to news for eighteen hours, is responsible for the most far- reaching change in the whole Bill, and though it is a short clause must therefore meet with the most careful consideration. Is such protection necessary? Is it justifiable? To both these questions the answer must be in the affirmative. The ruling principle must be that where an individual has expended large sums to acquire certain property, that property should be pro- tected if such protection does not infringe public rights. Many of the big newspapers expend enormous sums to obtain reliable information ; such a clause as the present would enable them to obtain a fair return for their expenditure im time, trouble, and money, as it appears that the result would be that the smaller papers which now —  THE AUTHOR. 33 exist by cuttings would have to pay some small sum for the use of the news. Would not twenty- four hours be a more desirable limit than eighteen? The big papers should consider this. The clause is sure to create much discussion, but if not obscured by side issues it ought to obtain the support of all fair-minded people. There is another reason why the fight will rage round clause 12. It deals with the rights of newspapers. Newspapers can influence the voters, and accord- ingly politicians who also have inclinations and bias, even in an educated country, must look after their own interests. Clauses 13 and 14 deal with the assignment of literary rights. It is sincerely to be hoped that clause 14 will never be allowed to pass, as it deals with registration—a most unsatisfactory method of obtaining copyright. From this point the real interest in the Bill ceases, so far as the public point of view is concerned. The other clauses, dealing with infringement of literary rights, summary remedies, delivery of books to libraries, British Possessions, international copy- right, are not only necessary but of vital impor- tance, and it is possible that the success of the whole Bill may hang on the clauses dealing with British Possessions. Yet the interest they arouse is technical, and, though the student may recog- nise the almost insuperable difficulties that sur- round them, they do not influence the main points, or apparently increase or diminish an author’s property. The only other clause of real interest is clause 41 (Definitions). This is in the main declaratory of the present law, and satis- factory. The Bill is retrospective. Sufficient has now been said to show that this new effort deserves the support of all interested directly or indirectly in copyright property. It increases that property to its owner, it gives larger powers of dealing with it, and puts into one comprehensive Bill what is at present con- tained in disjointed and isolated Acts—Acts that in many poimts won’t read with one another, whose drafting is often incomprehensible, whose language is involved. All the existing difficulties are here cleared away, and though perhaps the Bill does not go far enough, yet as far as it goes it deals with the subject with method, clear- ness, and regularity. It has the support of the Incorporated Society of Authors and of the pub- lishers. It only remains for it to obtain that of the House of Commons. II.—Gerrman anp AUSTRIAN TREATY. We recently gave details of a copyright treaty between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary. We learn from our contemporary, Das Recht der VOL. x. 23 Feder, that a similar treaty is now under con- sideration between Austria-Hungary and the German Empire. a IlI.—Proposep New Copyricut in GERMANY. We have received from the Association Litté. raire et Artistique Interaationale a detailed pro- gramme and report of the recent Congress of Heidelburg, and an interesting report upon the projected German Copyright Law, from the pen of Dr. Albert Osterrieth. We have several times since this project of the new German law was published had occasion to point out that the proposed enactment by no means corresponds either with the legitimate desires of authors, or with modern ideas of what a copyright enactment should be ; and we have much pleasure in quoting Dr. Osterrieth’s concluding paragraph as an able summing-up of the case against the new law. “Tt must be recognised that the authors of the project have produced a very conscientious piece of work, and have exerted themselves to meet the demands of authors, publishers, and the public. But the excess of their zeal to take into considera- tion the interests of these different groups has led to some neglect of the principles affecting the rights of authors. I do not ask that the project should develop a definite theory respecting the nature of authors’ rights; but the law ought to be based upon some uniform system, which should have had the attention of the authors of the project. They have given themselves little pains to reduce their labours to a system, and hence have resulted the contradictions and incoherencies which I have attempted to indicate in my report.” LV.—CopyrigHt CONVENTION BETWEEN GREAT Britain AND AUSTRIA. On examining the file of Zhe <Au*hor it has been found that no mention has been made of the tact that a Convention exists between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary for the establish- ment of international copyright. The ratifications of the convention were exchanged on April 14, 1894. Its most important provisions are the following: Authors of literary and artistic works published in either country have in the other the same rights as if their works had been published there, and the same legal remedies against infringement. Right of translation lapses if not taken up within ten years. Authorised translations are protected as original works. The Convention applies to the whole British Empire, excepting the Dominion of Canada, the Cape, New South Wales, and Tasmania. The Con- vention is to remain in force for ten years. AA 234 V.—Proposep New Copyricnt Law For Russia. Russia has followed the example of Germany and has published for preliminary criticism a pro- ject of a new copyright law. <A full French translation of the Russian text will be found in our valuable contemporary Le Droit @ Auteur of Jan. 15, 1900, from which we quote the following articles, which seem to be those most interesting to authors. Russian authors who publish abroad have the same rights as if they had published in Russia. Duration of copyright of original works is author’s life and fifty years afterwards ; that of works produced by collaboration extends to fifty ears after the death of the last survivor ; that of collections of folk-lore, &c., life of editor and thirty years afterwards. Periodical publications, encyclopedias, &c., composed of the works of many authors, enjoy copyright for fifty years from publication ; and academies and learned societies have the same. The authors retain their inde- pendent copyright, but cannot, without editors’ consent, republish before expiration of two years. Anonymous works have thirty years’ copyright, beginning from date of publication. The copy- right of a work published in successive parts or volumes is calculated from the date of the publication of the last part, if the interval between the appearance of the successive portions is less than two years; if the interval is greater, the duration of the copyright of each part is calculated separately. Authors of works pub- lished in Russia and Russian authors whose works are published abroad have sole right of translation for ten years, provided that this right is retained by an announcement on title or in preface and that the translation appears within five years after the publication of the original work. Works published simultaneously in several languages are considered as original works in all those languages. A translator's copyright has a duration of thirty years. This right does not prevent the publication of other independent translations. Copyright exists not alone in works fixed by writing, but also in speeches, lectures, conferences, and sermons, with a few limitations in the case of judicial and political pronounce- ments. Private letters cannot be published with- out consent of both writer and receiver ; nor, after their death, without consent of heirs, for fifty years. The reproduction in Russia of the work of a foreign author without his consent is forbidden, but translations may be published in Russian or in other languages. A publisher must produce work within five years of signature of agreement. Without special agreement a single edition may not exceed 1200 copies. THE AUTHOR. Modifications cannot be made without author's consent. Right of translation does not accom- pany right to publish. An unpublished work cannot be seized by creditors. Piracy is punish- able with destruction of the whole edition and of all plates, &c., used to produce it. Action must be taken within five years. VI.—MousicaL CopyRicHr. ie (Before Mr. Justice Phillimore.) Société des Auteurs, &c., de Musique and Others v. Chappell and Co. Limited —In this case the Socicté des Auteurs, Compositeurs, et Editeurs de Musique de Paris, M. Harry Frogson: and M. Adolph Stanilas sued Messrs. Chappell and Co. to obtain a declaration that the plaintiffs were entitled to the performing rights in the United Kingdom of the music of a waltz song entitled “ Les Blondes,” of which MM. Frogson and Stanilas were the composers or of any adap- tation or arrangement of it. They also claimed an injunction restraining the defendants from representing that they were the owners of the performing right, and that the music could be performed without the licence of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs based their claim upon the Berne Convention and the English Copyright Acts. The words of the song were written by Lucien Delormel, since deceased, and it was first per- formed in France. ‘The song was declared in writing to the Société, who collect the authors and composers’ fees throughout France, and dis- tributed the proceeds in March, 1896, and they claimed under their statutes to be entitled to the performing rights both in France and in this country. Their claim was, in the first instance, the only one made, with a view of testing the question, and the composers were afterwards added as parties to the action. The defendants denied the plaintiffs’ assertions, and claimed to be entitled to the performing rights under an assign- ment from Delormel. A number of eminent French avocats were in attendance to give evidence as to the law, and they, at the invitation of the learned judge, seated themselves within the Bar. Mr. Scrutton appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr. Dickens, Q.C., and Mr. Bustace Smith for the defendants. While M. Stanilas, who, at the suggestion of the learned judge, was cross-examined in French, was giving evidence, it appeared that Delormel had not the consent of the composers to assign to Mr. Chappell. - Mr. Dickens thereupon said he could not carry the case or the assignment further, and  THE AUTHOR. Judgment was entered for the plaintiffs Frogson and Stanilas, with costs, and the impor- tant point raised as to the rights of the Société was not gone into.—The Standard. II. At Scarborough, Mr, H. E. Jackson, of 2, Sher- wood-street, appeared in answer to summonses, one of which alleged that he, not being the pro- prietor of the copyright of a certain copyright book first published in France—namely, the music composed by Charles Gounod, of a certain opera called “ Faust,” did sell a copy of the book between Nov. 22 and Dec. 3 last. The other summonses were for having the book in his pos- session for sale or hire, and for importing the book into the United Kingdom for sale. Mr. Ernest Wilkinson (Messrs. Wilkinson, Howlet, and Wilkinson, of London) prosecuted, and Mr. Tasker Hart defended. The evidence showed that Mr. A. A. Edwards, one of Messrs. Chappell’s managers, had his atten- tion drawn to a circular issued by the defendant relating to the book in question. He wrote to Mr. Jackson. (inclosing tos.) for a copy, which was forwarded in due course. It was then found that defendant had obtained the copy from Holland, and that he had advertised the sale of the book by circular, announcing therein that it was copyright. It was shown that Messrs. Chap- pell and Co. were the proprietors of the copy- right. Mr. Hart’s main point in defence was that the magistrates had no jurisdiction, this being vested in the magistrates of the district where the book was delivered—viz., Ealing. He expressed sur- prise that a respectable firm like Messrs. Chappell and Co. should lay what he claimed was a trap to catch the defendant. The magistrates convicted on two of the sum- monses, and imposed a fine of ros. on each, together with £4 costs, £5 in all.—Daily Chronicle, March 1. VII.—Apvertisements Nor Parp For, Readers will please take notice that an author who recently received in an account a charge for advertisements in the publisher’s own organ, called the attention of the firm to the matter, and the charge was immediately taken out. There is very little doubt that in every case where such a charge is attempted it will be withdrawn rather than face the decision of a court. VOL. X. 235 THE GENERAL MEETING. HE annual general meeting of the Incor- porated Society of Authors was held at 20, Hanover-square, on Thursday, Feb. 27. Mr. A. Hope Hawkins took the chair at 4.30 and was supported by about sixty members. He opened the meeting by commenting on the report in detail and explaining the aims and objects of the Society as exemplified by its work. He poimted out the satisfactory increase in membership, 216 having been elected in the past year, and an increase of £240 in subscriptions. He made special reference to the accession of dramatic authors. The intentions of the Committee in establishing a pension scheme were laid before the members in considerable detail, and the Chairman stated that about £1100 had been subscribed in donations and about £100 in yearly subscriptions. He hoped next year to start at least one pension. The subject of the Society’s action in the matter of the Copyright Bill was reviewed, and the im- portance of using all possible influence to get it passed was impressed on the meeting. The Chairman then turned to what he considered the really important daily work of the Society, its legal and advisory work. He stated that on this work the real strength of the Society rested, and he was glad to say that it was going forward satisfactorily. He closed his remarks by saying that the Committee had decided to issue cheap tickets for the dinner this year in crder to give all members a chance of coming, as it was the only social function of the Society. Discussion OF THE PENSION SCHEME. Mr. Zangwill then rose to oppose the pension scheme, both on what he stated to be selfish and unselfish grounds. He crystallised his opinion into the following sentence—that great authors should be supported by the public at large, and little authors not at all. Mr. Bernard Hamilton then made a few remarks, and Mr. Bernard Shaw made some useful suggestions, especially that the Committee of the Society should officially support applicants for Civil List Pensions. Mr. E. Rose, Mr. A. W. a Beckett, and others also spoke, strongly supporting the pension scheme, In fact it was really the only point in the report which was discussed. Mr. Hawkins summed up in a few words, explaining away the difficulties and objec- tions that had been raised, and thanking the members for the general support the scheme had received. AA 2  236 Tar BooxsTaLL GRIEVANCE. Mr. Mullett Ellis then proposed the following resolutions :— i. That the exercise of a literary censorship of books by the large trading monopoly, whose business is that of mere distributors and newsvendors, is not advantageous to Letters. 2. That the system of monopoly which dominates the railway bookstalls throughout the Kingdom, gives to one firm a power over the output and distribution of popular literature, and of political journals, which is damaging to the interests of authors, and of the public. 3. That a copy of the foregoing resolution be sent to the chairman and directors of the various railway companies, with a respectful request that on the next available occasion, the licenses of the railway bookstalls be given to more than one firm of booksellers, and that the principle of competition in the supply of literature be thus substituted for the existing monopoly. (a) Because it would be of financial advantage to the shareholders of the railway companies. (b) Because the dominance of one firm over the sale of newspapers and popular literature, is a political danger which may even threaten the national liberties, and is damaging to literature. (c) Because the existing system of the monopoly of one trading firm has, during many years past, been exercised in censorship of authors. (d) Because the sale of books at railway bookstalls has become so enormous that an alteration in the existing system has become a necessity, many valuable works not being now obtainable at the bookstalls, so that if the abuse be not dealt with by the railway companies, it will be necessary to seek the intervention of Parliament. Mr. Ellis read a series of letters he had received from various authors on the subject, expressing various opinions, and then proceeded to state his reasons in support of his motion. This he did by reading lengthy extracts of a letter from Messrs. Smith and Son, a copy of which had been printed in The Author. As Mme. Sarah Grand was unable to be present and second the resolutions, they were seconded by Mr. J. Louis, who explained that Messrs. Smith and Son had dealt unfairly with a paper in which he was interested, entitled Our Sisters ; as, though Messrs. Smith had taken a large number of the issue, and had promised to put them on the stalls, he (Mr. Louis) had been unable to find out that they had m any way fulfilled their promise. Mr. Bernard Shaw moved, as an amendment to the original resolution, that all the words after “railway companies” in resolution 3 should be omitted. He thought it would be a good thing to make a formal protest, but he also stated that he considered Messrs. Smith and Son’s institution a very desirable and advantageous distributing agency for authors. Mr. Zangwill seconded the amendment, on the grounds that no commercial body had any right to constitute itself a censor of literature. THE AUTHOR. Mr. Gribble opposed the whole thing as likely to make the Society ridiculous. He stated that if the Society was going to make a stir it ought to have a better case on which to go to the public than the present, and apart from this, he explained that if Messrs. Smith and Son were done away with authors would lose a great deal ; that as a general rule their methods were sound commercially. Mr. Bernard Hamilton then made a few remarks in favour of the resolutions. Mr. Hawkins, the Chairman, thereupon rose and stated at full length the action the Committee had adopted with regard to Mr. Mullett Ellis’s com- plaint during the past year, and the opinion that the Committee had formed, as he thought the members ought to be cognisant of this. The Com- mittee, he said, had made private inquiries and had been informed that Mr. Ellis’s book had been rejected primarily on financial grounds, but that Messrs. Smith and Son had not boycotted the book, as they were willing to order it when asked for. The Committee had considered the question carefully from all points of view, and had come to the conclusion not only that any action on the lines suggested would be inexpedient, but that if it had been expedient it would be unsatisfactory. The Committee did not intend to vote. Mr. Henry Norman then moved “ the previous question.” He stated that newspapers and the Press had often seriously considered the question of Messrs. Smith and Son, and that it had been found impossible, even with the great influence possessed by the Press, to effect any change, even if such change were at all likely to be desirable. The motion was put and carried by twenty-five to five, and the proceedings then terminated. PARIS NOTES. : 5, Rue Chomel. < QQ" juss on ne secourt pas les faibles, fussent-ils admirables et heroiques, il est a la fois pueril et imprudent de harceler les forts, et surtout de les outrager.” Such was the advice tendered by M. Paul Deschanel to his electors, on the occasion of a banquet given in his honour to celebrate his reception at the Academy and his re-election to the office of president of the French Chamber. Never was a similar warning more timely or necessary. During the last few months the output of scurrilous publications and obscene caricatures, ridiculing everything most dear and sacred to English hearts, has been simply revolting. Ninety per cent. of the coarse  THE AUTHOR. abuse formerly lavished on the long-suffering Israelite has lately been devoted to vilifying our race. ‘The degradation of England is the advan- tage of France” was the lame excuse profferred by a member of the French Press in support of the outrageous language adopted by his confréres. This fallacious phrase caught the popular fancy and sank deep into the national mind, bearing down and obliterating the old traditions of French courtesy and generosity. The effect has been pain- fully apparent (especially during Carnival week) to the Anglo-Parisian frequenter of les grands boulevards. Gaudily-coloured, revolting carica- tures of the personage most revered among all European potentates; vulgar, obscene prints headed “ Prix aux cochons,” with the names of our bravest generals appended, in order to leave no doubt as to the personages aimed at; anda score of equally offensive productions of the same genre have affronted the beholder’s eyes at every turn. The authorities can scarcely be held responsible for a state of affairs which they are, unfortunately, unable to remedy, the inefficiency of the police re the populace having been palpably manifested during the Fort Chabrol affair. Of the 74,212 candidates who officially presented themselves for employment at the beginning of the year, only 1557 were accepted; and when the opening of the Great Exhibition joins to this large army of probably already disaffected unem- ployed the thousands of workmen now occupied within its walls, lively scenes may be anticipated. «Aprés moi le déluge,” quoth Louis XV. And the masses verified his prediction. A New Acapemy. The First Chamber of the Court of Appeal has decided in favour of the establishment of the Académie Goncourt. M. Léon Daudet (who has succeeded his father as legal executor of Edmond de Goncourt’s last will and testament) will, in all probability, be nominated president of the new association. Edmond de Goncourt was a man of high, original talent, and he was also “a rebel by nature.” He detested the existing French Academy, and frequently fulminated against it when enjoying the society of his intimate friends. His idea was to found an institution which should prove an agreeable haven of refuge to those writers whom he considered unjustly excluded from ascending the dais of the immortals. Never- theless, he expressly stipulates that until the sum of 65,000 francs per annum be accumulated, the Académie Goncourt shall only exist as a provi- ‘sional society. He likewise states that, though no other prize than the Goncourt prize can be founded by the young Academy, the latter recom- pense may be augmented from five to ten thousand re francs ; but that, when once this figure is attained, the additional capital shall be employed in augmenting the salary of the ten members, three of whom still remain to be elected. A provi- sional prize of 1200 francs for the best work of imagination in prose which shall appear during the year is also provided for, together with 1400 francs per annum to be expended in a weekly dinner (at twenty francs per head) which the aforesaid members are required to partake in company during the months of November, December, January, February, March, April, and May. In short, despite the disdainful attitude of the elder Academy and the “talon rouge” dis- played by one of its most illustrious associates, the members of the new Academy are in no wise to be pitied. “Prace aux Dames.” The present generation of French authoresses are not disposed to hide their light under a bushel. They are now meditating another step in advance, to wit, the nomination of a feminine candidate to sit on the committee of the Société des Gens de Lettres. This project was mooted last year; but so many agitating subjects were then brought forward that the ladies magnani- mously permitted their project to be set aside, being unwilling to add fuel to the flames of dis- sension already rending the society. M. Marcel Prévost, whose term of presidency is rapidly drawing to its close, is in sympathy with the movement, which can scarcely be considered as an innovation, since George Sand was formally invested with this honour, though she never attended a single meeting. The ladies have deter- mined to nominate only one candidate, in order to avoid any splitting of votes, which would assuredly result in their defeat. Mlle. Maugeret, editress of the Mminisme Chrétien, will probably be the candidate chosen. The writings of Mme. Jean Bertheroy, “ that dark-eyed, red-lipped, living incarnation of Carmen,” enjoy, in most instances, a well-merited popularity. This is, unfortunately, not the case as regards her latest novel, entitled ‘“ Lucie Guérin, marquise de Ponts.” The tale is simply the apotheosis of adultery, the glorification of criminal passion ¢o the detriment of honour, duty, gratitude, and all nobler sentiments. It is to be hoped that Mme. Bertheroy’s next venture may have as wide a popularity, and a higher moral tone than her present contribution to French literature. Press AMENITIES. Duels between members of the Press and susceptible individuals whom their nimble pens have offended are greatly in vogue. In these  238 THE discourteous days, the dexterous manipulation of sword and pistol forms a necessary part of the education of every self-respecting, life-loving, political French writer. Few journalists, how- ever, are called out by antagonists so plucky and unskilful as the councillor-general of the Charente, who recently parried his adversary’s attack by wildly plunging his sword into the thigh of the unoffending assistant-surgeon who served as one of the witnesses in the affair. The vexed ques- tion as to whether a son can, in certain cases, substitute himself bis father’s champion is still undecided. An incident in the career of Dumas fils shows that the notorious pamphleteer, Hugéne de Mirecourt, was averse to this filial substitution, which would have considerably augmented the dangers of his already perilous career. De Mirecourt had just issued a terrible pamph- let, entitled ‘Dumas et Cie,” whose implacable logic sheared away the greater part of the glory of the illustrious author of “ Les Trois Mousque- taires,’ when one fine morning his domestic pre- sented him with the card of Alexandre Dumas fils. Immediately after a stalwart young man entered the editorial sanctum, and brusquely announced—‘ You have insulted my father, and Tam come to demand satisfaction for the insult.” “Your conduct is dictated by too honourable a sentiment to allow of my refusing your request,” blandly responded De Mirecourt. ‘‘ Permit me to ask you asingle question. Is your father in good health?” Receiving a gruff response in the affirmative, he politely added, “Then everything can be easily arranged.” He forthwith rang, and ordered the domestic in attendance to inform M. Edgar he was wanted. Two minutes later the domestic reappeared, leading by the hand a pretty little fellow of some eight or ten years of age. De Mirecourt rose and, with an urbanity worthy the great Turveydrop himself, ceremoniously enunciated : “My son—M. Dumas fils. Be kind enough, sir,” he continued, turning to his visitor, “to settle with my son the little matter which brought you here.” Dumas fils had too keen a sense of humour not to be amused by the incident. He smiled at the child, bowed to De Mirecourt, and withdrew. Nothing further was heard of the affair. Joris Kari HuysMans. Among notable books of the month may be mentioned “Pages Catholiques,” by Joris Karl Huysmans, in which the author, under the pseudonym of “ Durtal,” narrates the history of his own conversion. In the preface, written by Abbé Mugnier to commend this re-edition of the AUTHOR. most eloquent pages of the celebrated “ En Route” to the perusal of the faithful, we find the following vigorous refutation of the insinu- ations of insincerity levelled against the famous convert: “Que certaines irrévérences et bizar- reries de langage alent pu surprendre ou égarer le jugement de plusieurs, il n’y a rien d’étonnant. oe On ne joue pas 4 ce point le repentir! On ne fait pas jaillir artificiellement de telles larmes! Décrire, avec cette précision, les effets de certains. sacrements, c’est les avoir ressentis, 4 deux genoux,. comme un croyant. Et il faut étre encore prati- quant pour se plaire aux mystiques pour glorifier ’Eglise avec des accents qui n’appar- tiennent qu’a ses fils . . .” From which it may be gathered that the Romish Church is disposed to be lenient to the eccentricities of its renowned convert. Close to my present abode runs the pious Rue de Stvres, where the famous author of “La-Bas” lived for so many years in reputed familiar association with the Evil One. It was impossible to see him unless he himself desired the interview, for he had constructed a species of observatory — commonly called a judas” —from which he could observe his visitors unseen; and unless their physiognomy chanced to be to his taste, he remained obsti- nately deaf to all entreaties or demands for admit- tance. He is reported to have already commenced an analytical dissection of his present feelings, which will be published under the title of “T’Oblat.” “QO cHeR Roopyar!” The above phrase, repeated some months ago with parrot-like persistency in various literary salons, completely mystified me for a time. At first, I laboured under the delusion that ‘‘ce cher Roodyar” was an amiable member of an ex- tremely numerous French family; later on, I presumed him to be either a modern Admirable Crichton of hig-lif fame, or else an aristo- cratic young dandy on whom had devolved the sceptre of fashion formerly swayed by the late Prince de Sagan; and it was some weeks before it dawned on my bewildered mind that “ce cher Roodyar” of Parisian fame was no less a per- sonage than our own _ illustrious Rudyard Kipling. The attitude he has adopted in regard to the Transvaal War has caused a temporary eclipse of his popularity ; but the cloud is already lifting. Translations of his latest “ Jungle Book”’ series are again being eagerly read, or, at least, placed well in evidence in the leading booksellers’ shops, and on the étagéres of those gilded youths who are reputed to possess cosmopolitan literary tastes. The subjoined description of his personality gives a good example of the extreme fineness of observa-  THE tion and keen eye for detail which characterise the majority of word portraits limned by French writers: “ Crane vaste et fuyant de dolicho-céphale, front dégarni déja (il n’a pas trente-quatre ans) comme pour mieux montrer l’ossature de silex, la fine et forte construction de la téte: yeux noy¢s dombre sous l’arcade séche et creusée, las, dirait- on, davoir regardé trop, paisibles derriére les lunettes studieuses ; michoire effilée comme une lame; mince menton saillant et volontaire; un profil réduit A l’essential, aigu, obstiné comme une pince d’acier qui ne lachera jamais sa prise, et pourtant détendu dans du réve et de la contempla- tion, &c.” Space forbids our citing the conclusion of M. André Chevrillon’s graphic description (vide M. Emile Berr.) New PusiicaTions. Among books of the month will be found— « Au Pays des nuits blanches,” by M. Emile Berr ; “Des Histoies,’ by M. Michel Corday (chez Ollendorf) ; ‘ Draco,” by M. Paul Gaulot (chez Plon) ; ‘“ La Double Maitresse,” by M. Henri de Régnier (Société du Mercure de France) ; “ La Fin du théAtre romantique et Francois Ponsard,” by M. Latreille (chez Hachette) ; “ Musiciens et philosophes,” by M. Kufferath (chez Alcan) ; and «“ Silhouettes contemporaines, les hommes de mon temps,” by M. Paul Vibert (chez Berger-Lev- rault). Darracorre Scort. pe BOOKS FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN HOSPITALS. N consequence of the large number of edu- cated men who have gone to the front, it is of great importance to provide high-class literature for the hospitals. Miss Edith Rhodes, 22, South Audley-street, W., who has gone to the front to a base hospital near De Aar, would gladly receive contributions of books from the readers of The Aufhor, which will be forwarded by her agents to South Africa without expense to the senders, and carefully distributed to the hospitals from her depdt at Wynberg. Magazines are unfortunately too bulky and cost too much to send up country. Miss Rhodes’s depot will remain open till Easter. AUTHOR. 239 AMERICAN NOTES. N interesting plan has been devised by the St. Louis Library in dealing with novels which happen to be in great demand at theinstitution. Although fiction constitutes only 25 per cent. of the annual book product in the United States, 75 per cent. of the circulation of public libraries consists of novels. The librarian finds himself between two fires—that of the taxpayers and that of the card-holders, who are wroth because the books they want are always “ out.” How the St. Louis people have solved the problem is told by Mr. Frederick M. Crunden in a recent number of the English magazine, the Library (second series, No. 1, Kegan Paul). The library has established what it calls a “ collection of duplicates,” which consists of all the temporarily popular novels that happen to be the fad of the hour, This collection is paid for by charging five cents (24d.) a week to each regu'ar card-holder who draws one of these duplicate volumes. For example, when the regular library copy happens to be out, the seeker of “ Ben Hur,” or “ Trilby,” or “ David Harum” can be satisfied by paying a trifling fee, while otherwise he might have to wait many weeks or months without being able to draw the book. With the money thus received, the librarian or trustees can keep on buying extra copies as long as the demand exceeds the supply. In this way the St. Louis Library ultimately bought fifty copies of “ Ben Hur” before the demand slackened, but the whole lot cost the library nothing. In like manner it bought stx regular and ninety-four duplicate copies of “Trilby,” and for eight or ten weeks none of these copies was ever idle on the shelf. The ninety-four “ duplicates” paid for the whole hundred. The same has been done since with other novels for which there is an abnormal demand; and popular magazines, books, and other fiction are supplied at the same rate when the demand runs beyond the ordinary. An important decision has been given by the Supreme Court of Tllinois, in the case of the Daily Inter-Ocean of Chicago against the Asso- ciated Press. The Associated Press covers the various parts of the United States, where its agents gather news, which is wired to it, and through it such news is received by the various newspapers of the country, one of whom was the Inter-Ocean. It had deprived the Inter-Ocean of news on the ground that the latter had disre- garded a bye-law forbidding any newspaper to receive news from any person, firm, or corporation that had been declared “ antagonistic” by the Associated Press. The Jnter-Ocean violated this rule by obtaining news from the New York Sun,  240 and by authority of another bye-law the Asso- ciated Press suspended the recalcitrant Chicago newspaper. The Illinois Supreme Court has over- ruled the judgment of the lower court, and declared that the Press association cannot prevent its members from obtaining news from any sources it may choose. One of the most interesting passages in the court’s decision is that in which the obligation of the Press association to serve the public is insisted upon: “ Its obliga- tion to serve the public is not one resting on contract, but grows out of the fact that it is in the discharge of a public duty, or a private duty which has been so conducted that a public interest has attached thereto.” A rebuke is administered to American news- papers by the Chicago Dial on a small but inte- resting point. No one who has read American papers attentively can have failed to observe that in referring to persons by name they dis- regard the prefix of “Mr.” It is a little sur- prising, however, to find a correspondent of the Dial, who writes from the University of Wis- consin, Madison, protesting against that journal’s description of the Norwegian dramatist as Dr. Ibsen, and pleading the superior dignity of simple “Ibsen.” The editor’s reply is very much to the point. He says: We believe it to be a matter of the merest good manners to speak of people in print as we should speak to them in private conversation. If we were addressing Dr. Ibsen personally, we certainly should not call him “Ibsen,” and are unwilling to offer him that discourtesy when writing about him. If we did not call him “Dr.” we should be obliged to call him “ Herr,” which our critic would probably think equally pedantic. Thus the cases of Shakespeare and Byron, who are not among the living, have no bearing upon the question. Our practice in this matter illustrates one of those “little touches’”—to use Professor Peck’s phrase—that means so much to persons of refined taste. The habit which Germans and Scandinavians have of denying in print to their living fellow-countrymen the titles whereby gentlemen designate one another is a thing which —as far as it goes—indicates an imperfect civilisation, and it is one of the minor depravities of the American newspaper that itso encourages this form of. rudeness that we should now be taken to task for observing the ordinary amenities of social intercourse. Commenting on the proposed Pension Fund of the Society of Authors, the Chicago Tribune says the best feature of the scheme is that it is contributed to by writers, and will be supported solely by them. ‘The day when the author is willing to be dependent upon the bounty of a Mecenas is past, or should be.” THE AUTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. HE Morning Post noticed in a leading article—it was on Feb. 8th but the cutting only reached me the other day—the letter in The Author concerning Australian literature. The writer argues that our Australian corres- pondent wants multiplication of writers rather than quality of work. I do not find that desire, but this part may be left for the moment. The leading article goes on to say: “This would be amusing if it were not so hope- lessly, so pathetically wrong. There lies at the root of it the base, absurd notion which has in these latter days been accidentally taught by men who ought to have known better, that literature is a profession, like the law and the church, or what not : . To take to literature as one might take to the Bar is not the way to produce anything that is worth calling literary; and the more the commercial side of literature is encouraged and maintained the less likely are the books produced to be literary in quality.” I should very much like to know who are the men referred to. Certainly they are not con- nected with the Society of Authors. We have steadfastly and strenuously pointed out the dangers of taking up literature as a profession: — the humiliations, the dependence, to which those who do so and fail are reduced. Week after week, day after day, the old con- fusion asserts itself, the confusion between literary work and commercial value. Over and over again, a thousand times, it must be repeated that the one has no necessary connection with the other. Literary work produced to sell is like everything else produced to sell—presumably shoddy and worthless. Our contention is simply this: The literary workman produces his best. While he is at work he cannot possibly regard the commercial side of his work; else, how could it be his best? The commercial value begins when it is finished. He can then do what he pleases with his work: he can give it to his publishers, as Lord Lyttelton gave his “ Henry the Second” ; or he can consent to be “ bested,” as will probably happen to him unless he takes care; or he may look after his own property. In any case how does the “ commercial side of literature” spoken of by our leader-writer come in? And bow is it encouraged ? Meantime, though we do not advocate—but quite the contrary—the attempt to live by litera- ture in any form or branch, the fact remains that there are many hundreds—even thousands—who Pt) a £ & % i THE AUTHOR. do live by literature. They write leading articles for the Morning Post and other papers: they write plays: they write novels: they write essays for magazines: they do all kinds of literary work : they write educational, scientific, and technical books. It is the custom in The Author to speak of those who live by letters as following the pro- fession of letters ; also, of those who live by acting as following the profession of the actor; while those who live by the law follow the profession of barrister. If a man cannot act, if a man has not the legal mind, he cannot live by either pro- fession. So, ifa man has not the literary gift he cannot follow the profession of literature. After all, the name signifies nothing. Let it be called a trade—or anything else; the leader-writer may class himself with the retail dealer, or the novelist with the costermonger if it pleases him. The fact remains. Here is a calling, or a trade, or an industry, by which a vast multitude earn a livelihood, and a few make very considerable prizes. Are we to encourage them to throw away their property or to defend it? Certainly not the former because we are told that this is “ encourag- ing the commercial view.” Let me quote here a warning of my own which has been in other forms often presented in The Author :— “T hope that these words and the chapters which follow will not induce any young man hastily to abandon his present employment in order to embark upon the profession of letters. The old miseries are gone, it is true, but there are many broken hearts, many cruel disappointments, many bitter disillusions, even in the present day. The literary life without a reasonable measure of success must be a disappointed and a miserable life. That reasonable measure of success is an essential. Therefore, I repeat, I should be very sorry indeed if, by any words of mine, any young man should be persuaded to exchange his certain work, whatever it is, for an uncertain plunge into literature. “ To those few, however, who think they possess the necessary qualifications: to those who feel really impelled to join the ranks of literature, I would say, ‘ Come Don’t think of making money—there are a thousand chances to one against it. pe The discussion on the pension scheme at the annual meeting showed, to begin with, that the project is imperfectly understood. One speaker seemed to object altogether to the grant- ing of pensions to literary folk. The same objec- tion would apply to the grants of the Royal 241 Literary Fund and to the pensions of the Civil List. He also seemed anxious to divide literary people into great authors and small authors. But who is to make that division? How is it to be made? - Are we to call an author great because his works circulate by the hundred thousand ? In that case, not to speak of English writers, Mr. Charles Sheldon is the greatest of living authors : also, for three-fourths of his life, Robert Browning was the smallest of his contem- poraries. Or are we to give this important divi- sion into the hands of reviewers ? But they will not agree. Or into the hands of authors themselves ? Then every poet will place himself in the front rank. Itis not, in fact, a question as to literary position, which is a very doubtful thing in most cases. The question is simply this: Every other profession has its own fund for the help of those who break down through age or sickness—why not the literary profession? We do not propose to give a pension to anyone simply because he has been a member of the profession: we only offer to those of our members who are followers of the literary craft in any of its branches assistance in the case of a permanent breakdown. But, it is ignorantly objected, there is the Royal Literary Fund. That society gives grants in aid, not 5 d Dre 5 z, es pensions. It cannot give pensions without a change in its charter. Or there is the Civil List of £1200 a year. The share of literature in this list is £400 a year. The First Lord of the Treasury can do what he likes with the grant: he may give the half of it, or three-fourths of it, to one man: as a rule, he gives nearly the whole of it to widows and daughters of the literary prefession, and in so doing probably does the best he can with the money. To return to the Society’s pensions. Nobody enters the profession of law, medicine, acting, or any other, because there are associations which befriend the wrecks. In the same way no one will enter upon the literary profession because we have founded a Pension Fund for the unfortunate. We have only to place ourselves on the same footing as any other profession, in order to understand exactly how the Pension Fund will be administered, and what will be its effect upon the literary profession generally. It was suggested at the meeting that the Society should bring its influence to bear upon the Government and its administration of the Civil List. The Society has already done so. It has published an exposure of the management of the grant: it has caused several awkward questions to be asked in the House: and the result has been a great deal more care in its administration of late years. What can the Society do more? Can it recommend persons wortby of a pension ?  THE 242 Gan it make the First Lord more careful so to divide his pensions as to include as many as possible ? Can it enlarge the grant? It seems, on the other hand, a better policy to keep a watch upon the nominees, and to encourage the better plan of bestowing the pensions more ,upon the widows and daughters, than upon the writers themselves. Would it not be well to drop altogether the word “small” author? We do not find actors talking of “small” actors, medical men talking of “small” doctors, barristers talking of “small” lawyers, or ecclesiastics talking of “small” clergymen. This reticence does not exclude respect for the more distinguished in any of these professions. All we want is the reeogni- tion of a professional status by members of the profession. A correspondent in a recent number of The Author met very cleverly the common objection that since any one from the outside may come in and begin to write, literature cannot be considered as a profession. Why, he said, in effect, any outsider may go on the stage, anyone with a box of paints may paint a picture; yet no one pretends that acting is not a profession, and no one maintains that painting is not a profession. As regards the “small” author, George Eliot once wrote a paper on the subject: the fact does not justify her or anyone else in contempt for writers who have not yet stepped to the front. Let us recognise the possibilities of every follower of literature. Another subject of discussion was a resolution proposed by Mr. Mullett Ellis, on the subject of Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son’s bookstalls. The resolution was defeated by twenty-six to five. The defeat was a foregone conclusion. For, first of all, it is absurd to pass resolutions which can produce no possible effect. In this case, we have a large and most complicated machinery, the result of many years’ experience, which distributes all over the kingdom an immense mass of news- papers, journals, and magazines ; which makes every railway station the office of a circulating library, and opens a bookstall at which every book published can be bought, if it is not offered for exhibition on the shelves. This organi- zation, it cannot be denied, works well: the public are satisfied with it; there would be the greatest inconvenience if any dislocation were attempted ; the railway companies are satisfied with it. What earthly good would it be for any society, however powerful, to protest against it? Secondly, the protest, if any were made, should not come from a person who had a private grie- Mr. Mullett Ellis, rightly or wrongly, vance. AUTHOR. thinks that his novel was withheld from the stalls on account of its title. This fact deprives his protest of importance. Now, as a general rule, the bookstall is made to hold as many books as can be crammed into it. In the second place, every bookseller possesses, and exercises, the right to buy and offer for sale whatever he chooses. This right is prevented from becoming an arbi- trary despotism because the public will have- their favourites, and they have many favourites. Should we be better off if, in place of an immense firm with boundless resources, we were dependent upon a local bookseller for every railway station ? Those who complain of the bookstall should compare it with the local bookseller’s shop. They should also take a tape, and measure the space accorded by the railway company to the bookstall, and calculate for themselves how many books the stall will hold. They may next fill as much of that space as is wanted for books which the public demand. They may then proceed to ascertain how much is left for those books which the public do not ask for, but would, perhaps, buy if they were- offered. And when they have carried out these simple experiments, they will, perhaps, ask them- selves how the existing system may be improved, and if Mr. Mullett Bllis has offered any plan which would be better for the public convenience, the railway companies, the authors, and the- publishers. The following note is from the London corre- spondent of the New York Times Saturday Review. His opinion is the same as my own, that a bookseller must possess, and must exercise, the right to accept or to refuse any books he pleases, and without assigning any reason. If Messrs. Smith and Son were dispossessed to- morrow, and their place taken bya hundred book— sellers, there would be a hundred exercising this. right instead of one. How far this would be an advantage is not easy to understand : The Authors’ Society is solemnly to discuss the question whether it is right that the Smiths should have a monopoly of the bookstands. The answer seoms obvious. If the Smiths conduct their business well, their monopoly is on the whole a benefit to the public. Many complaints have been made of the way in which the Smiths condact their business. Especially has their habit of exercising a censorship, and declaring from time to time that certain books are too: immoral to be sold, been condemned; but, after all, it is. difficult to deny to the bookseller the right to refuse to sell books of which he disapproves. ————$ I invite attention to the letter on p. 248, in which the writer speaks of a little invention for the conveyance of MSS. The inventor has sent me one of her “carriers.” It is not of the right size for my own paper, but the size can easily  e £ : THE AUTHOR. altered. Meantime, it seems to me a most useful little invention—a great deal better than any envelope. Anyone can have a specimen for 6d. At all events, the “carrier” will convey MSS. flat and keep them clean, and, which is important to some, will bring them back again in safety. I think that it needs no advocacy to call the attention of readers to the invitation contained in another column to send books to South Africa for the use of the wounded. The address to which books may be sent is Miss Edith Rhodes, 22, South Audley-street, W. I would suggest that the gifts should take the form of the more popular literature of the day, not novels alone, but essays, travels, biographies, history. Will readers please note that the boxes will be sent off at Haster ? Watrer BEsant. THE ACADEMY’S PRIZES. N February the Academy put forward a series of competitions, the list of which was as follows :— Tue “ AcapEMyY’s”’ SPECIAL COMPETITIONS. WE offer the sum of Thirty Guineas, to be divided into six portions of Five Guineas each, which we shall award to the successful competitors in the following literary exercises. Anybody is eligible to compete, but competing MSS. must not have been printed before, either for public or private circulation. List of Competitions. L—Five Guryeas for the best original short poem. Not to exceed twenty-four lines. Il.—Five Gurneas for the best original short story. Not fewer than 1500 words, and not more that 2000 words. Ill.— Five Guingas for the best original essay on a non- literary, light, every-day subject. Not to exceed 2000 words in length. IV.—Five Guryzas for the best original ‘“ Things Seen,” in the manner of those published in the Academy during the past year. Not to exceed 350 words. V.—Five Guineas for the best original paper ona British or foreign city, town, or village. It should take the form of a personal, impressionistic description, and must not exceed 2000 words in length. VI.—Five Guinnas for the best original set of epigram- matic cr.ticiams of six Britich or American living novelists. No single criticism must exceed 100 words in length. Conditions. The MSS. must be typewritten. They must reach the Academy office on or before March 31, 1900. The title of the particular class of competition must be written on the outside of the envelope containing the MS. Thus :— I.—* Poetry Competition.” II.—* Story Competition.” Il.—* Essay Competition.” IV.—“ Things Seen Competition.” V.— Foreign Town Competition.” VI.—“ Novelist Competition.” 243 A pseudonym, chosen by the competitor, must be written on the left-hand top corner of the first page of his or her MS., and each MS. must be accompanied by a small closed envelope containing the competitor's name and address, with the pseudonym written on the outside of such small closed envelope. Anybody is eligible to compete; but competing MSS. must not have been printed before, either for public or private circulation. A competitor may compete for as many cf the competi- tions as he or she chooses. As MSS. are received they will be acknowledged under the competitor's pseudonym in the next issue of the Academy. The prize MSS. will be printed in the Academy ; and the editor reserves the right to print any of the other MSS. sent in. Jo MS. will be returned unless it be accompanied by stamps to cover the postage. Competitors who do not comply with the above conditions will be disqualified. In paragraph 2 it appears that the sum of five guineas has been offered for a story not exceeding 2000 words. That is a fair price for a story of that length from the hand of a fairly well-known author. The same amount has been offered in paragraph 3 for an essay of similar length, and in paragraph 5 for a descriptive paper. Under the conditions of this competition, it appears that the prize MS. will be printed in the Academy, and the editor reserves the right to print any of the MSS. sent in. One of the members of the Society thinking, naturally enough, that other MSS. so printed would be paid for at ordinary rates, and that there had been a small oversight in the condi- tions, wrote to the editor on the point, but received no reply. He thereupon wrote to the Secretary of the Society, who also wrote to the Editor of the Academy in the following terms :— [copy ] Feb. 27th, 1900. The Editor of Academy. Dear Sir,—I trust you will excuse my writing to you with regard t> your competition fully set out in the number dated 17th February. You state the editor reserves the right to print any of the MSS. sent in. Would it not have been clearer if jou had stated that the MSS. so printed would be paid-for at a fixed rate (naming the rate) ? Ishould be glad to hear from you that this is an oversight on your part. (Sigued) G. Herpert THRING. P.S.—I write as I have had inquiries at this office as to whether the MSS. printed will be paid for. To this letter the Editor replied as follows :— [copy. ] March 2nd, 1900. Dear Sir,—I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 26th, referring to our Prize Competition. I would suggest that if any of your clients wish for information wich is not con- tained in our announcements, they should take the usual course of applying to this office. Yours truly, Tz Eprror (per W. W.).  244 And the Secretary again wrote in answer :— [cory.] March 3rd, 1900. The Editor of Academy. Dear Sir,—I beg to thank you for your letter. The course you suggested has been taken by one of the members of our Society, but he received no answer. I should be ex- ceedingly glad if you would let me have the information I asked for, as it would save us both no doubt a considerable amount of trouble. I am asking for the information in no carping spirit. Yours truly (signed) G. HerBERT THRING. The March number of The Author contained a note on the subject, and in the number of the Academy the 10th of the same month the editor placed the following paragraph :— The Author is in meddlesome travail over the clause of our Special Competitions announcement, which says: “ The editor reserves the right of printing any of the MSS. sent in.” This simple and usual condition was made in order that we might be free to print, for the encouragement of the writers, a few of the unsuccessful attempts. How does The Author interpret our words. Why, thus :— “As it stands, which, of course, cannot be meant, this clause gives the editor all the MSS. sent in; he may do what he pleases with them—1.e., he may, if he pleases, sell them to other papers without giving the authors anything.” “Which, of course, cannot be meant.’’? Then why suggest it, and why elaborate this idea—as The Author does at considerable length? We do not believe that our inten- tions are misunderstood, still less suspected, by a single one cof our readers or competitors—the only people concerned. The suggestion that our clause might enable us to set up a MS. shop is surely the wildest ever made by The Author, and that is saying a good deal. The editor does not in the least deny the posi- tion which The Author has taken up, but he says that the condition is a simple and usual condition. Is this remark founded on fact? Sometimes when a prize is a high one, the condition is stated, but it is not a simple or a usual condi- tion of competitions of this class issuing from the office of a responsible review. The editor does not now state if he is going to pay for the MSS., all of which he reserves the right to print. There are only two courses open: either he is going to pay for them, or he is not going to pay for them. If he is going to pay for them, why not state the matter clearly in his condi- tions, so that there will be no possibility of con- fusion? He states: ‘‘ We do not believe that our intentions are misunderstood, still less suspected, by a single one of our readers or competitors, the only people concerned.” It has been shown that this is not the case, and it would have been much better, when so many competitions are being placed before gullable authors, that the Academy should have left no room for doubt. If he is not going to pay for them the position taken by The Author is quite sound, and the Academy will probably obtain essays, short THE AUTHOR. stories, and descriptive articles worth, perhaps, hundreds by the expenditure of thirty guineas. If the Academy desires to adopt this well-known method of procuring “copy” cheap, then let it be done in such a way that there is no possibility of doubt as to the editor’s meaning. The present method is hardly fair to the author, but the editor may even now, at the eleventh hour, say : “T have never stated that I will not pay for the copy printed.” All we ask, therefore, is that he should make a direct statement whether he is trying to obtain “copy” cheap or whether he intends to pay for contributions printed. G. H. T. 2 OTHER THOUGHTS. , ie is the expression of the CREATOR. Beauty is an impression of a creature. Death comes between Origin and Perfec- tion. Every religion has part of the truth, but only art. : Faith generally lies betwixt fact and figment. Hope is a better physician than prophet. Love alone is always right. Martyrdom is more a sign of faith than a success of truth. Mysticism is a mean between genius and mad- ness. Obstinacy is a persistency of the opposite party. Our opponents seem somehow to shun the truth. There are at least as many sects as souls. Without the infection of intelligence, progress might never be weaned. Beautiful disease can always command popular support. Centuries never die—they merely change their tense. Consciences are oftener veracious than wise. Contempt is less angelic than doubt —a daughter of modesty. Disease may mimic genius, justice, love, or other phase of the truth. Genius is less an individual gift than a social growth. ; Good promotes—what evil retards—the growth of sanity. Immaturity is always in a hopeful majority. Most of us are superior to others—in number. Real genius, like ideal love, is both humble and infallible. The Past always excelsthe Present—in age and in size. . Unconventionality, sometimes a true virtue, is oftener a mere vanity. THE AUTHOR. * Virtue is not estimable by space or by time, but by use. Weak heads sometimes mistake themselves for warm hearts. Art is never what it seems. Bad manners often pose as good morals. Criticism, an ancient art, is an infant science. Critics are excellent autobiographers—most of them unconsciously. Cynicism is a burlesque of intelligence. Humour, when humane, is exceptionally sane— and proportionally Divine. Materialism is a caricature of science. Pessimism is a libel on wisdom. Poetry isa melody of words. Satire is good sauce but bad sustenance. Tact is the “ better half ””—the feminine half— of social tactics. The saner the soul, the wiser the will. We never see a perfectly sane person—even in a looking-glass. Finnay GLENELG. JOURNALISTS AND THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS. FYE following letter appeared in the “ Pro- ceedings” of the Institute of Journalists, by authority of the Committee of Adminis- tration, Jan. 12, 1900 :— Srz,—I ask your permission to offer in your columns a gentle remonstrance with some of our members concerning their attitude towards a society whose aims and working they appear to misunderstand. T have been made aware, for several years, of a marked hostility towards this Society on the part of certain journalists—a hostility which, coming from such a quarter, is as surprising as it is wholly unmerited, and can only be accounted for —journalists not being usually in_the service of publishers—on the supposition of ignorance and misdirection. I find that the observations on the Society sent to me in Press cuttings are based upon one or other of half a dozen assumptions, all of which are utterly erroneous. Thus, it used to be said that the Society con- sisted of one man—myself. This was too much honour. I do not think, however, that our Council, our Committees, and our Chairman and Secretary are any longer likely to be ignored. I enclose the list. {t has been stated publicly that the “cases” published in the papers of the Society were ficti- tious. One cannot stoop even to answer such a charge. It is not distantly possible that such a 245 body of gentlemen as compose our Committee would sanction the invention of “ cases.” The third—a very common charge, or assump- tion—is generally personal—to the effect that I assert the publishers take no risk. On the other hand, we have ascertained, and have published, the true nature of the risk run in the production of books. As a matter of fact there are hundreds of writers in the various branches of literature whose books carry no kind of risk with them. As regards those which do, it is naturally the practice of the publishers to make the author, if he can, take the risk. And this risk itself, so far from being the whole cost of production, as has been impudently pretended, is the diffrence between the first subscription and the cost of production. Another charge is also personal. It is that I wish to abolish criticism. ‘To this charge I have, on more than one occasion, given the Lie Direct. I recognise the function of criticism to the full. I am only concerned that there is so little of it. I advocate the true place of criticism as a necessary and invaluable branch of literature. I desire to see the critic trained for his work by a scientific study of literature. I do not desire to see the reviewing of books entrusted to any casual person who has written a novel, or to the office boy when no one is looking. Another common charge is against the Society. It is that the figures representing the cost of pro- duction, and those of the various parts of the publishers’ trade, are fictitious. They are, on the contrary, figures obtained from printers, from real estimates, and from real accounts. The sixth charge is that literature is degraded by attention to the business side. So what does not degrade the clergyman, the painter, the sculptor, the architect, the physician, the lawyer, the actor, does degrade the author. In the words of Dr. Johnson, “ What skimble skamble stuff is this!” It rests upon a confusion of ideas between commercial value and literary value. The two are distinct—they are separate, they are incom- mensurable. We cannot estimate the literary value of a work by any standard of money; we cannot estimate the commercial value of a work by any literary standard. We ought to be able to do both: a perfected humanity will be able to do both—at present we cannot. Some worthless books circulate largely; some excellent books hardly circulate at all. What does the Society of Authors undertake ? Briefly: The defence and maintenance of literary property in the interests of authors. No one knows who has not investigated the subject how great and how increasing a property this is. No one knows, who has not investigated  246 the question, the extent to which the creators of this property have been robbed of their own. What has been, briefly, the work of the Society ? It has made known, for the first time, what the publication of books really means. It has traced the book from the MS. to the bookseller’s counter ; it has shown the meaning of every clause in every known form of agreement; it has especially exposed the true meaning of royalties ; it has dragged to light a hundred tricks previously practised with impunity, and practised every day; it has kept, and still keeps, its members out of houses which exploit authors hitherto without fear of detection. It enforces payment of just debts by legal proceedings ; it provides legal opinions for its members for nothing; it collects information of all kinds which may be useful to members; it acts as a police, in a word, to guard that great mass of literary property, the very existence of which is unknown to the general public. What has all this to do with journalists? Everything. By far the greater part of our writers during the last sixty years have been journalists. Out of the ranks of young journalists will come the writers of the future. Let us set down a few names of the dead and of the living as they occur—Dickens, Thackeray, Charles Reade, Wilkie Collins, Douglas Jerrold, Shirley Brooks, 4 Beckett, Sala, William Black, James Payn, Edmund Yates, Moy Thomas, Dutton Cook, John Hollingshead, Joseph Hatton, John Whiteley, John Morley, Rudyard Kipling, J. M. Barrie, Louis Stevenson—where are we to stop? Does not this intimate connection of journalism with authorship show that in protecting the latter we are also protecting the former ? I would, therefore, Sir, submit to the members of the Institute that a society with these aims, which is honestly and fearlessly, against every kind of misrepresentation, trying to carry out these aims, whose members include nearly all the living leaders in literature, is at least worthy of that kind of attention which consists in read- ing its reports and papers. Above all things, I would urge the consideration of the fact that, in spite of the fierce and continuous attacks made upon it, the Society has steadily increased and is ‘steadily increasing in strength and in numbers, cand in influence. As I said at the outset, I cannot believe that the things sent to me out of country papers and others would have been written were the truth known; and I cannot but hope that the members of the Institute will understand that we are fighting for their future as well as for our own present. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, Watter BEsant. THE AUTHOR. BOOK AND PLAY TALK. HE newspapers of March 23 announced the failure of Messrs. D. Appleton and Co., the well-known publishers. The New York correspondent of the Standard stated that the failure of Messrs. Harper Brothers recently was indirectly a contributing factor in Messrs. Appleton’s failure, and that, “as in the case of Harper’s, no reproach attaches to the firm.” “The assets and liabilities balance at £720,805, with book surplus of £400,000 locked up in plant and instalments.” The Rev. J. H. Skrine has published a new volume of verse entitled ‘‘ The Queen’s Highway- man, and other Lyrics of the War.’ Those who have read the Warden of Glenalmond’s other works will find his latest one of equal interest. Professor Skeat has nearly completed a small handbook on “ The Chaucer Canon,” in which it is shown how to distinguish the poet’s genuine works from others with which his name has been connected. Of the cighty-three pieces which are here discussed, at least fifty are not by Chaucer ; whilst the number of authors which these pieces represent is more than twenty. Mr. Thomas Burleigh has published a pamphlet entitled “A Few Short Poems,” written by Mr. Percy Hall, of Exeter College, Oxford. It con- tains some sixteen short pieces. “Mirry-Ann,” which Methuen and Co. in London, and Appleton in New York, published on Feb. 16th, is by Miss Norma Lorimer, author of “A Sweet Disorder” and “Josiah’s Wife,” the latter published by Methuen two years ago. The heroine of “ Mirry-Ann” is a Manx fisher-girl preacher. Miss Lorimer lived fifteen years in a fishing village in the Isle of Man, so the book is the result of personal observation of the Methodist fishing population of the island. “ Among Horses in South Africa,” by Captain M. H. Hayes, F.R.C.V.S., price 5s., published by Messrs. R. A. Everett and Co., will be read at the present time with much interest by all those who are lovers of horses. The fact of its being an account of Captain Hayes’s experiences in South Africa lends a double interest to the book. Sir Benjamin Kennedy’s_ book, announced under the title “ Wheres,” should be “ Whims.” Messrs. Methuen have just published a new story by Miss Esmé Stuart, entitled “ Christalla : An’ Unknown Quantity,” which describes the invasion of the quiet home of two old gentle- men by a young child. The book deals with the evolution of a child’s character from the point of view of the child lover.  ibis eemawane ieee THE The Rev. F. R. Smith is engagel upon a new novel illustrative of modern Methodist life, which will be published in the autumn by Messrs. Horace Marshall. The patriotic lyric ‘‘ True Sons of Britain,” by Mr. Mackenzie Bell, inspired by the Colonial aid in the war, has been set to music by Mr. Charles Mulls, and will at once be published by Messrs. Hart, and sung in London and elsewhere by Mr. Henry Piercy, the well-known tenor. It is dedicated to Sir F. Young, K.C.M.G., founder and vice-president of the Colonial Institute. Mr. J.J. Nesbitt has edited with a preface, for Mr. Thomas Burleigh, a reciter entitled “The Taking of the Flag, and other Recitations,’ made up from the poems of Mr. Mackenzie Bell. As one of its contributors of a popular literary feature Mr. Joseph Hatton has long been associated with the People. He has now been appointed to the editorial chair, succeeding, during the People’s career, Dr. Sebastian Evans, M.A., Captain Carlisle, and Mr. Harry B. Vogel, son of the late Sir Julius Vogel, formerly Premier of New Zealand. Mr. Hatton has just finished a serial novel, long since commissioned by the People, which will be commenced in its columns in the first week of May. Following up the success of the sixpenny edition of Mr. Hatton’s “ By Order of the Czar,” Messrs. Hutchinson are issuing in a similar edition “The Princess Mazaroff,” which is an English story with a Russian heroine. It is mentioned in the gossip of the day that the Russians recently confiscated in Finland a Swedish edition of “By Order of the Czar,” a novel which, the author says, has had the phenomenal sale of over half a million, the major portion in America, for which he did not receive a cent, the book being published just before the international copyright arrange- ment. Mr. Osmund King is engaged on a work on Charles II., for the splendid Goupil series of monographs. Mr. Hilaire Belloc is writing a one-volume history of Paris from the earliest times. Mr. Sutherland Edwards is publishing with Messrs. Cassell a volume of “ Personal Recollec- tions.” Mr. Herbert Spencer is to be the recipient of an address from readers in Australia on his birth- day, April 27, when he will complete his eightieth year. Mr. W. L. Courtney has written a monograph on Mr. Hardy for the series of Great English Writers published by Messrs. Greening and Co. The book will appear in the summer. AUTHOR. 247 Dr. J. F. Payne is writing a monograph on Thomas Sydenham, the seventeenth - century physician and friend of Locke, for the Masters of Medicine series, published by Mr. Fisher Unwin. The late Mr. Grant Allen left a story entitled “His Last Chance,” says the Sphere, which is one of the most striking he ever wrote. It is to be published later in the year in a small volume. Mr. Kipling’s new novel, the scene of which is laid in India, will be published serially im MeClure’s Magazine. While speaking of Mr. Kipling, we place on record here the extraordinary distinction he received during the past month in having his poem, “ The Absent-minded Beggar,” issued to the troops in Ladysmith among the regim-ntal orders of the day shortly after the relief of the town. The poem was loudly cheered by the soldiers. Another American periodical has arranged to publish not only Mr. Hall Caine’s new story, “ The Roman,” but also a new series of ‘Dolly Dia- logues,” by Mr. Anthony Hope. The periodical in question is the New Magazine, a monthly which is being edited and published by Mr. Robert H. Russell, the well-known New York publisher. The first number is expected on June tI. Sir George*Trevelyan, Lord Kelvin, and Mr. Bentley have been elected to the Council of the Royal Literary Fund. Three new members of the Committee are Professor Ray Lankester, Dr. A. W. Ward, and Mr. Richard Holmes, librarian at Windsor Castle. The total sum now invested is £56,269, producing an income of £1724. At the annual meeting of the Fund the other day it was announced that grants had been made to twenty-seven men and sixteen women. Madame Sarah Grand’s new novel, which is to be published by Messrs. Hutchinson, will be called “Babs the Impossible.” It is nearly finished. Mrs. Gertrude Atherton is at present in Cuba, and gathering material for a new book. The forthcoming story by Sir Walter Besant, entitled “The Alabaster Box,” is a sketch of settlement life in London, showing the kind of work and the aims of the workers in a settlement, and the effect of their work upon the members themselves, Mr. Henry Arthur Jones is writing a comedy for production in the early autumn at the Duke of York’s. Mr. George Alexander is just producing at the St. James’s (March 28) Mr. Walter Frith’s play, «“ A Man of Forty,” which has not been seen in London before. 248 Mrs. Craigie’s new sentimental comedy, “ The Wisdom of the Wise,” will be produced at the St. James’s. The life of Benvenuto Cellini is supplying Mr. Beerbohm Tree with the subject for a new play. The production is expected early next season, and for the present the author desires that his name should not be disclosed. “Cyrano de Bergerac” was produced by Mr. Wyndham at Blackpool and at Dublin during the past month. The latter place was chosen for what may be called the “ official” representation of M. Rostand’s play, and the performance was in aid of the Irish Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Help Society. After the play a crowd greeted Mr. Wyndham at the doors, and sang popular patriotic songs. Mr. H. A. Kennedy’s version of “Tess” is shortly being removed by Mrs. Waller from the Coronet Theatre to the Comedy. Mr. Fred Terry will probably play the part of Alec D’Urberville. We announced a few months ago that Miss Cholmondeley’s novel “ Red Pottage ” was being dramatised. It is now stated that this is being done by Mr. Kinsey Peile. Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co. will in future publish The Road, and its affiliated publications, The Road Coaching Album, The Road Coach Guide, and The Road Coaching Programme. The monthly periodical, The Road, will shortly enter upon its tenth year of existence, and the occasion will be celebrated by still further adding to its attractiveness and utility. The number and quality of the illustrations will be greatly increased, coaching, riding, and driving subjects, of course, as heretofore, forming the main feature. “Fortinbras” (Mr. Percy F. Marks), who projected the journal in 1891, remains the editor-in-chief, while the majority of the contributors who have helped to popularise The Road are retained. The editorial, advertise- ment, and publishing offices will in future be at Warwick House, Salisbury-square, London, E.C. The song of “ The Gallant Fusileer,” words by Russell Gray, music by M. A. C. Salmond (published by Rossini and Co., 281, Regent- street, London, W.), is presented by author and composer to the widows of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, whatever may be its circulation and the proceeds. THE AUTHOR. CORRESPONDENCE. I.—“ EnveLoprs WANTED.” AVING experienced in common with “B. B. T.” the impossibility of getting envelopes to take ordinary foolscap, I have discarded it in favour of “sermon or essay paper,” 8 inches by 6} inches, a much more convenient size to write upon, read, and transport, at least for ordinary magazine work. Suitable envelopes for this paper are easily obtainable from a good firm. I am now using excellent ones from Messrs. Bemrose, Derby, 10 inches by 7 inches, substantial enough to carry, in addition to MSS., sketches on thick cardboard ; and plentifully supplied with “ gum.” EK. Hopess. I notice in the March Author that one of your correspondents finds a lack of suitable envelopes for the transmission of MSS. For years I ex- perienced the same difficulty, as well as the annoy- ance of having articles returned to me grimy and ill-folded, involving expense and trouble in re- typing and general tidying up. Last year I designed and patented a light cardboard case, which fastens as easily as an envelope and avoids all risk of crushing and creasing. To members, like myself, of the melancholy majority of writers, whose doves are wont to take various flights before finding a resting place, my carrier can be re-posted at will by the aid of a fresh label and string. So far I have only had my cases made by hand for my own use, but even so the cost is very slight, and if produced in quantities this might be greatly reduced. If any readers of The Author would care to have a specimen I will forward one post-free for sixpence, in the hope that some more business-hke person may make a practical suggestion as to bringing it before the public. Hevena Hearts. Hucclecote Vicarage, Gloucester. Will you allow me to tell your correspondent “RR, B.T.” that envelopes of the size he desires are sold by Messrs. A. Mansford and Sons, 95, Finsbury-pavement, E.C., at 35. 6d. a hundred. I wish the Post-office could be persuaded to sell a registered envelope of the same size. CLEMENTINA Buack. II.— TYPEWRITERS. In connection with the above, the following may be of interest. Some years ago I required to have many sheets of MSS. typed every week. I  THE AUTHOR. tried no less than eight “private typists,’ if I may so term them, and paid from Iod. to Is. a thousand words, inclusive of postage. They one and all proved incompetent. A. would leave out all punctuation marks and misspell half the words ; B. would begin fresh paragraphs on her own initia- tive; C. would alter the meaning of many of the sentences, and so forth. I then sent all my copy to a large typewriting association. The work was well done there, but I was charged 2d. a folio— 2.€,, about 2s. 4d. a thousand words, exclusive of postage. One day a friend urged me to send some MSS. to a private typist whom he said he employed regularly. I reluctantly consented to do so, but I have sent my MSS. to her ever since. Her name—lI have no need to conceal it—is Miss McGuinness; her address, Jasmine, Hambalt-road, Clapham Common. She works neatly and rapidly, never misspells a word, and never omits even a punctuation mark; and the price she charges is 1od. a thousand words, inclusive of postage. There must be hundreds—there are probably thousands—of girls who typewrite as carefully as the lady I have named, but the difficulty lies in discovering them. I have come across typists who would work for 7d., some of them even for 6d., a thousand words, but I maintain that the individual willing to pay such rates wantonly encourages one of the worst forms of oppression. Basin Tozer. Boodle’s Club, March 13. May I protest against the theories expressed in the current number of The Author on type- writers ? Tam a typist of seven and a half years stand- ing; I acquired a knowledge of my work by five months spent at Pitman’s school followed by five months in a typewriting office, and eventually set up for myself at home. I have had experience of many kinds of typing and have taught pupils, and I entirely deny that 9d. per 1000 words is ‘good and sufficient pay.” The supply of work is extremely fluctuating, and while for six months in the year a typist may have more than she can do, for the other six she probably has difficulty in finding work. A good typist ought to be able to make 5s. to 6s. a day at gd. per 1000, even allow- ing time for reading and correcting the work. This gives her an income of 27s. 6d. to 33s. per week, but—and here’s the rub—she may not obtain perpetual work. Now everyone knows that home work is usually precarious, and for this reason the pay must be calculated on a scale which will allow for the lean months. How is “an educated gentlewoman” to live comfortably on 33s. a week or less for only part of the year ? 249 Moreover, the writer of the letter referred to in your article mentions that a “well educated gentlewoman ’”’ became “ proficient” at the end of ten lessons. I fancy her standard of proficiency must be very low. Was the lady capable, for instance, of writing legal documents with speed and accuracy at the dictation of hasty strangers ? Was she capable of telling a client, after glancing through the copy, how many pages his work would run to, and what it would cost him? Your correspondent affirms the lady “had a thorough knowledge of Latin and French” and was pro- ficient in typewriting into the bargain. Would she therefore have no difficulty in correctly and swiftly copying a’medical MS. full of quotations from one of the great French doctors, with an impatient client calling every half hour to know if the work were not yet ready ? These instances are of every day occurrence to one who works at home, and it is absurd to say that ten lessons can possibly make a typist pro- ficient in her work. It is far more likely that, being ignorant and unskilful herself, she will lower the average of good work and pull the wages scale still further down for her unfortunate fellow workers. If a woman chooses to work at home she has a perfect right to do so, provided she does not take advantage of her own position to lower the wages scale for others less fortunate. Whether compe- tition be a healthy mainspring or a great Moloch is an open question, but our social conditions being what they are, there is no question that a home worker shows an undisciplined spirit when she cuts down the wages of others by undersel- ling them. In her last paragraph your correspondent affirms that the work of typing or stenography can be done by “the delicate, the cripple.” Certainly they can work intermittently, but they cannot possibly keep up, year in, year out, the perpetual grind at typing necessary to earn a steady income at gd. per 1000, even if they had the work. As for shorthand, the smallest experi- ence is enough to show that it keeps the workers up late at night, is extremely trying to the eyes, and is totally unfit for a delicate or crippled person. In this letter I have endeavoured to keep strictly to your correspondent’s letter, and not to attack side issues. I inclose a prospectus as a guarantee of the genuineness of my work, and apologising for this long letter, remain, Yours truly, D. M. Ransom.  250 THE AUTHOR. TIl.— Tue Same Oip Srory—Ever New.” The letter in your January issue, signed “ EH. L. Williams,” in which the writer speaks of the long snterval between acceptance and publication which is the fate of many manuscripts at the hands of certain editors, prompts me to relate my own experience in this respect. In one instance, I forwarded a MS. to the editor of a certain excel- lent review. After a very long interval, during which I wrote one or two letters inquiring its fate, I learned that it had been accepted for pub- lication. Three years passed, and the article had not appeared. On writing to the editor pointing out the unreasonableness of keeping me so long without a cheque, he, with some -onsideration, sent a remittance. Eighteen months after, 1 wrote to him again saying that I should be glad to see my article in print. After the delay gene- rally associated with busy editors, he replied that im all his experience he had never met any author who was quite so anxious about his MS. as I was! I had received my cheque, and was not that suffi- cient? Since the receipt of that communication I have been mute. I had been vain enough to look for some small advertisement from the pub- lication of my article in the columns of so distin- guished a periodical. Three and a half years have passed since its acceptance, but still I live with hope. Yet another instance. I wrote a series of five articles for a high-class sixpenny weekly. All were taken, and one was printed a few months after acceptance. Two years later, as the second of the series had not appeared, I wrote to learn the reason. The editor answered that he could not say when he should be able to use the remainder of my contributions, therefore he was sending them back! I declined to take them in, and ventured to remind him of the accepting con- tract of two years ago. Then he published the second article; and I am hoping that the last day of 1905 will see the series completed in print. But, sir, I should like to know if the editors that helped our popular authors to success were such as these ? ArrHuR BECKETT. IV.—AurTHorRs AND THE War FonpD. In reference to the suggestion made in this month’s Author for the publication of a book the proceeds of which should go to the War Fund, may I make another suggestion of a _supple- mental kind and in no way intended to interfere with that one? Would it not be a more repre- sentative gift of the Society if, instead of hold- ing the annual dinner this year, members who would otherwise have attended it should forward their guinea to the fund? It might be replaced by a soirée with the lowest amount of expenditure possible, and ticket for which would be issued to members and their friends at a correspondingly low charge. This would enable a number of authors to contribute who would be debarred from any part in a volume which from necessity must be limited to a very few, and those the best known among us. Norury CHEster. V.—In re “ Paris Nores.” “Une Tache d’encre,” par René Bazin, may be amongst the “interesting publications of the month,” but “A Blot of Ink,” translated from the French of René Bazin by Q. and Francke was issued by Cassells as far back as 1892. T beg to suggest that a selected list of American books, like the one that has been dropped by the Publishers’ Circular, would be of interest to many readers. English lists we see everywhere, but a really good foreign list would be as interesting as the first few copies of the Review of Reviews. C. E. VI.—JameEs’ AND JAMES’S. Pending the settlement of more serious differ- ences, could we not come to an understanding with our good friends the printers on the forma- tion of the possessive case in words ending in “ a In spite of every prayer and protest, they cling obstinately to “ James’,” let us say. Authors who have not yet given up the struggle write “ James’s.” But all in vain. The printers con- tinue to teach and exasperate. It seems a little thing to ask, but it is growing apparent that nothing less than the whole weight of the Society will dislodge them from their position. Trusting that my suggestion will not be regarded as another piece of wanton aggression, I am, Sir, JULIAN CORBETT. ViII.—Der Prorunpis. Permit me to add a word to my previous letter, and to refer especially to the “Cry from the Depths,” and to the sad cases of fruitless literary struggle, sometimes ending in suicide, which have recently been discussed in your columns. I am one of those who can speak not without authority on this matter, for in my life I have fully experienced every sort of privation such as often falls to the lot of unemployed mechanics — and labourers. Years ago I escaped from all this by getting common work that gives me the plain necessaries of life. My spare time I give to books. But by going through perilous  THE AUTHOR. and yet useful experiences I have perhaps established my title to speak a word of help to others. What I say is this: Entering upon the business of authorship is similar to volunteering for South Africa. The soldier who is committed to his task does not despair because his khaki is in rags, or because he starves under a hot sun and sleeps in rain. He expects all that. He is pre- pared even for defeat and death. But he has no business to commit suicide. In most cases the call to authorship is not a true one, but in the few cases in which it is a true one, and clearly discernible as such, it must be accepted, and the whole business fought through without useless complaint. From the outset a man (or woman) who chooses to enter the career must be prepared for all manner of hardship and failure, and even for total failure after the production of work that eminently deserves to succeed. The writers who are the commercialists of literature, when they are expert, can always succeed by persistence. As for those who are something better than com- mercialists, well they must accept the risks and the honours of their calling. It is almost certain that if a standard work were produced to-day, say something more or less remotely analogous— though on modern lines—with the Book of Job, or the Paradise Lost, the publishers would refuse it. It would be so different from the safe “lines” to which they are accustomed. Now, if an author thinks that he has written a classic, or that he has a message for the world, he must not forget that he is in a totally different category from that of the commercialist. It is extremely likely that his self-estimate is wrong, and hence the wisdom of the Society in dissuading authors from publishing their own books. But if he is committed to the dangerous task, then the mark of true election will probably be a genial sense of humour that overrides all discouragement, laughs at suicide, provides by any humble extra- neous toil the daily bread, but is absolutely relentless year after year in producing the great work, and in seeking to fling it by some means or other at the devoted heads of the public. The absurdity of committing suicide with a pistol is manifest, because the pistol would sell for five shillings, and that would provide food for a week of improvisation. The shadow of despair makes a writer spoil his work by a painful formal accuracy. But the public are an unsounded receptivity, and what they want, and what even the publishers want, is free extempore work. x ¥. a5! {Does not the writer make the common mistake of supposing that if a literary work has a com- mercial value, the writer is therefore a ‘‘com- mercialist’’? We are coustantly insisting on the great fact that a writer who gives himself— his best—to the work in hand cannot possibly think of the commercial value. When his work is finished it is like a picture, it is for sale: the commercial value comes in. But the artist is not a commercialist. Simple as is the position, it seems as if it is impossible for those writers to grasp it whose work has no commercial value.— Ep. | BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) Memories AND Impressions, by the Hon. George C. Brodrick (Nisbet, 16s.) is a volume that will be taken up by the reader, says the Daily News, “with an anticipation of information and entertainment which will not be disap- pointed.” The Warden of Merton has viewed the world with open eyes and an open mind, and at the ripe age of seventy sits down to recall what matters have left impressions on his memory. He has been brought into personal relations with not a few distinguished men and women in his time; and, says Literature, “he has always something to say worth listening to.” It is ‘‘ most enter- taining reading,” says the Daily Chronicle, and is written in an “ easy, finished style.” PAssaAGEs IN A WANDESING LirE, by Thomas Arnold (Arnold, 12s. 6d.), “is a volume which is sure to be widely read,” says the Daily News. “In the course of a long life Mr. Arnold has met many people worth remembering.” Literature speaks of the recollections of Wordsworth, Newman, Matthew Arnold (the author’s brother) and others, and adds that “ Mr. Arnold’s reminiscences show us @ man of fine qualities, both of heart and head.” ‘ Altogether Mr. Arnold’s book is interesting reading,” says the Daily Chronicle, which heads its review, “From Rugby to Rome.” “It is lifted above the commonplace and the unreasonable,” says the Spectator, ‘‘ by the attitude of the writer, which is simple, unworldly, and full of a dignified humility.” Sr. Perer iN Romm, AND HIS TOMB ON THE VATICAN Hitz, by Arthur Stapylton Barnes (Sonnenschein, 21s.). The Spectator says that “the author is a master of Roman archeology, and a master with original views of his own on many points. He has not only set before his readers the Catholic tradition as to St. Peter’s connection with Rome, but he kas given us the best account in English of that wonderful building, or group of buildings, old St. Peter’s, which stood beneath the site of the mighty basilica of Bramante and Michael Angelo.” The Guardian says that ‘the contents may be divided into two parts, the first of which is an account of St. Peter’s life and movements after his departure from Palestine up to his martyrdom, while the second gives the history of his relics and their tomb, and incidentally, of the great church which has been erected above them. The latter part is much more valuable than the former.”  THE From Sza To Sua, by Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan, 28), contains the bulk of the special correspondence and occa- sional articles written by the author for the Civil and Military Gazette and the Pioneer between 1887-89. They were the outcome of a year’s holiday trip and are, says the Spectator, “‘ of far more than ephemeral interest.” ‘They are rich,” says the Daily Telegraph, “ in brilliant imagery.” Everyone, says Literature, “will be glad to read these earlier journalistic efforts of Mr. Kipling”; “ vivacious sketches which reveal so masterly an insight into the actual life of many diverse peoples.” Scruries, by Thomas Cobb (Richards, 3s. 6d.), is con- cerned with the amorous cross purposes of three attractive young women—a sympathetic widow and two sisters—and three more or less eligible young men. The Spectator describes the book as “a lively and gracefully-written romance, in which sentiment is always rescued from degenerating into effusion by the antiseptic of persiflage.” With “plenty of highly-wrought emotion as well as of elegant satirical humour” (Daily Telegraph) it is “very amusing comedy,” says the Daily News, and the author is congratulated “on his charming lightness of touch.” THER SILVER WEDDING JouRNEY, by W. D. Howells (Harper, 6s.), is said by the Spectator to be “a delightful counterpart ” to the author’s earlier work, “ Their Wedding Journey.” ‘We have been especially struck at the skill which Mr. Howells has shown in treating of the minutie of modern travel, as they would affect a culti- vated but stay-at-home couple, without fatiguing the reader or interfering with the progress of the sentimental interest.” 252 By ORDER OF THE Company, by Mary Johnston (Con- stable, 6s.), is recommended by the Spectator as being ‘quite as good reading” as “The Old Dominion.” ‘The picture of the very earliest days of Virginia is excellently painted, and the personages of the story are sympathetic and interesting.” Mr. THomas ArxKins, by E. J. Hardy (Unwin, 6s), who has spent many years in the position of a military chaplain and has seen the British soldier from almost every point of view, is “ominently readable,” says Literature, and “is brought well up to date by frequent references to events that have lately occurred in South Africa.” The Daily Chronicle refers to it as an interesting book, “full of good stories.” RESURRECTION, by Count Tolstoy (F. R. Henderson, 6s. net), translated by Mrs. Louise Maude, referred to by the Daily Chronicle as “a tract of genius,” is described by the Daily Telegraph as the most harrowing of all this writer’s novels. ‘The ‘strong meats’ are too coarse in texture and too ‘high’ in flavour to suit delicate literary taste, or even to recommend themselves to general consumption.” “It is primarily,” says the Daily News, ‘‘an exposition of the evils of the Russian criminal system. This exposition is written round a cruel, even a heartrending story.” OnoraA, by Rosa Mulholland (Lady Gilbert) (Richards, 3s. 6d.), is an “interesting and pathetic story dealing with the life of the Irish peasant.” Opening with the eviction of Onora and her family on a cold November morning, the story, says the Daily Chronicle “is an eloquent appeal on behalf of the down-trodden Irish peasantry,” and is told with “ pathetic humour, refinement, and charm.” Tun TRANSVAAL IN WaR AND Pracz, by Neville Edwards (H. Virtue, 7s. 6d. net), ‘‘ does not pretend to give an account of the Transvaal troubles, their causes and their AUTHOR. remedies, from the point of view of the philosopher or the statesman, but it is full of facts, facts about persons and places, of the past and the present. And there is an abundance of illustration.” ‘‘ Wherever we are,” adds the Spectator, “we find something interesting to read, and more that is interesting to look at.” From Carz Town To LapysmitH, by G. W. Steevens (Blackwood, 3s. 6d.), was written, as Literatwre says, “hurriedly and under difficulties, and the author had died in a beleaguered outpost of the Empire before he could revise it.’ The book shows the lust of slaughter and the glory of victory; but also its horrors and its pathos. The Daily Telegraph says “the book is full of those characteristics which earned for Steevens for the outset of his career as a correspondent the unique reputation he enjoyed.” Tum Maxine oF A Frontier, by Colonel Algernon Durand, C.B., C.L.E. (Murray, 16s.), is, says Literature, “a well-told and exciting narrative of military and political service in a frontier region which has been the scene of an exciting contest, and which may again attract the attention of practical politicians when the next move is made in the long but intermittent struggle for Empire in Asia.” Colonel Durand was British Agent at Gilgit 1889-1894, and Military Secretary to the Viceroy 1894-1899; and “to those who can read between the lines, some, at any rate, of the dubious points in our policy will be apparent.” The Daily Chronicle says the book “will appeal to all interested in the consolidation and stability of our Indian Empire.” The Spectator finds it “impossible to express in short compass” its evjoyment of the book, which is “ filled with admirable illustrations, and is altogether the most delightful specimen of its class we have met with for many years.” . InnermMost AsrA (Heinemann, 21s.), is by Captain Cobbold, who passed through a considerable stretch of country never before visited by an Englishman. The Daily Chronicle describes it as a “ remarkably well-written narrative of a plucky and adventurous journey, in which both natural and artificial difficulties were met in abun- dance,” and adds that the criticism of Russia is much the most important part of the work. Captain Cobbold writes, says Literature, “‘ with a vigour and a humour to which sportsmen seldom attain, and makes some remarks on sub- jects connected with trade and politics which are worthy of consideration in high quarters.” “THE AUTHOR.” SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page oon aa ane see ase sek ey «£4 0 Other Pages ow Ot Half of a Page ... . 110 eeacoeooso Quarter of a Page uae a . . O16 Eighth of a Page ey 3. ase ks na se Oe Single Column Advertisements perinch 0 6 Bills for Insertion per 2000 3 0 Reductions made for a Series of Sia or Twelve Inserteons. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, London, W.C. : Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 11 (April 1900) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 11 (April 1900) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1900-04-02-The-Author-10-11 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/472/1900-03-01-The-Author-10-10.pdf 78076b37e9f54d94174c14922b0a89da PDF Text Text �������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1900-03-01 Volume 10 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 209–228 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19000301 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che #uthor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. ro.] MARCH 1, 1900. [PRIcE SIXPENCE. for the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. eos HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. eae GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). : In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be eareful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. Sea WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. 1: EVER sign an agreement without submitting it tc £ the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :— (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. This method can only be entered into when a fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc- tion. It is not a common method.  210 (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary between 5 and rs per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of rofalties. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. 4. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 6. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is protected by a preliminary performance in the United Kingdom. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of writing the play has begun or after it is finished. ro. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. 1. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. The information thus THE AUTHOR. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. THE READING BRANCH. EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this i branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. NOTICES. Ts Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 2ist of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c, FROM THE COMMITTEE. ~ I—*Tue AvuTHoR.” : T is desired to invite the attention of members | to the items in the revenue account pub- lished in the Annual Report on the expenses and proceeds of publications. These amount to a charge of £355. The largest part of this expense is, of course, due to The Author. It is not expected that this paper will pay expenses + the editing and the contributions are not paid for: there is a small charge for sub-editing: it is submitted that the paper is of the greatest use to our members. The Committee invite their  THE AUTHOR. assistance by suggestions, and by contributions bearing on the main raison d’étre of the paper. The Committee also wish to point out that, if all would bear in mind the annual subscription (which is left voluntary), the paper, with its small external circulation and its advertisements, would be a source of profit to the Society. And the Society wants money in order to be able to take up and to fight for the author, at no expense to himself, every case that should be taken up. Il.—* Tse Lirzrary Year Book” aNnD THE AutHors’ SYNDICATE. The following letter has been sent to the daily papers by the Secretary of the Society :— 23/2/1900. S1r,—In “The Literary Year Book,” which has just been published, I see the following statement is made :-— “ Authors’ Syndicate (Director, Mr. W. Morris Colles), 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C. This syndicate is managed by the Society of Authors, and full particulars of its operations may be gained by applying to the address given above.” As Secretary of the Society of Authors, I beg to inform the public through your columns that the Authors’ Syndicate is entirely apart from, and independent of, the Society, and that the Society, while ready to advise its members as to the standing of any agent, maintains a position of impartiality, and does not favour any one competent and trustworthy agent above another. I trust, as the matter is one of importance to the Society of Authors, that you will see your way to publish this letter in your columns. Yours truly, G. Herpert THRING. _ LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—Tue Avruor anp THE Epiror. EXT in importance to the relations between author and publisher stand those between author and editor, especially the editor of the magazine. It is from every point of view to be desired by the author that the magazine, especially that of the higher kind, should be supported: that it should continue to attract writers of the first rank in every subject: that it should offer an opening to those who have as yet their literary name to make: and that its columns should continue to be regarded as the best means of communication between the specialist and the 211 public. Above all things, it is essential that if any magazine is to be regarded with respect it must attract the best writers. These conditions, it is believed, do obtain in some of our better magazines, while in the more popular magazines, those which depend on fiction rather than more solid fare, the relations between the editor and his contributors appear all that can be desired. At the same time, the publication, month after month, of letters complaining of editorial dis- courtesy, delay, refusal to answer letters, refusal to forward cheques, sending mean and miserable cheques, losing MSS., defacing MSS., altering MSS., and other points, show that there are editors and magazines whose treatment of contri- butors deserves to be exposed. It is strongly felt that enough has been written and published, in the form of anonymous letters concerning anonymous editors, to show that a case can be made out to be drawn up by the Secretary and formally laid before the Committee with a view to their consideration. To go on, month after month, with no attempt made at action is simply beating the air. Mr. Thring, therefore, requests members who have already written to The Author on this subject, those who intend to do so, and those whose experience would be useful, to send him confidentially the full particulars of each case. These should include :-— 1. The name of the writer. 2. The name of the magazine, and, if it is known, that of the editor. 3. The date of the occurrence. 4. The history of the occurrence concisely. 5. Letters, agreements, &c., or copies, in proof of the case. 6. The exact nature of the complaint. He will then be in a position to draw up a memorandum on the whole subject, showing the reality of the grievances and the extent of the practices complained of. This memorandum will be laid before the Committee. It must be understood that the communica- tions will be of the most confidential kind, and that no names will be published without permis- sion of the writer. II.—Corrrieut rn Mvsic, A meeting of music publishers was held at Hanover-square on Jan. 16 “to confer with representative composers (who were specially invited to attend) as to the position of copyright owners in view of the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Boosey v. Whight, and as to what combined action should be taken thereon.” Communications regretting inability to attend were read from Sir Hubert Parry, Mr.  212 Stephen Adams, Sir A. C. Mackenzie, Professor C. V. Stanford, Mr. Edward German, and Mr. Edward Elgar. The writers were mostly in favour of combined action being taken by pub- lishers and composers in view of the decision, the effect of which it was pointed out was to allow the reproduction on the solian and other mechanical instruments of copyright musical works without the permission of or payment to the lawful owners of the same. After a discussion it was decided to address a letter to the House of Lords Committee on copy- right, with the object of giving effect to the views of copyright owners in respect of unautho- rised reproductions of their works on mechanical instruments. Further, it was decided that the composers and publishers generally should be invited to sign the letter in question. The meeting considered certain important points in Lord Monkswell’s Copyright Bill, as amended by the committee of the House of Lords in the session of 1899, affecting copyright in musical compositions, and appointed a sub- committee consisting of Mr. William Boosey, Mr. H. R. Clayton, Mr. A. Boosey, Mr. D. Day, and Mr. Ashdown, jun., who were to draw up a report to the section with a view to action in the next session of Parliament.— The Piano, Organ, and Music Trades Journal for February. IiIl.—Tur Report ror 1899. The Report of the Committee for the year ending on Dec. 31, 1899, is now in the hands of the members. It cannot but be regarded as satisfactory. We have lost 110 members by non- payment, death, or resignation, and we have elected 216; our income from subscriptions was £1290, which means 1230 paying members. To these must be added the life members, who run up the list to something over 1400. And of the 110 losses a good percentage will certainly come back. It is, however, one of the dangers of the position that there are some members who think that, after their cases have been settled for them, the Society has done or will do nothing more for them, and that they may as well go—forgetting that if they have in any way benefitted by the Society’s action it is their duty to continue, in order that others may also be helped in the same way. It seems also unreasonable that some of those very people who derive benefit with every trans- action from the Society’s action, keep aloof from it, and even misrepresent and abuse its work. Their improved royalties, their improved accounts, the hesitation with which the hitherto unscru- pulous publisher advances the old iniquities in his THE AUTHOR. agreements and his letters: these things are entirely due to the Society, and should be recog- nised by all authors of whatever standing. It need not be a question of personal profit—there are certain writers who need not consider that side of the question. It is one of right against wrong: of light against darkness: of independence against dependence: of relf respect against humiliation. The scheme of the Pension Fund is now well before the members. It is a most im- portant departure. The Press has generally mistaken its aims. It is not to give a pension to every member as a right: it is to secure the power of giving a pension to any case in which age or sickness falls upon cne who has given good work to the world and found himself unable to make provision for the future. The report calls attention to the fact — the very important fact—that the Publishers’ Asso- ciation has not thought proper to withdraw or to disavow the monstrous “Forms of Agree- ment.” More than this, some publishers have begun to introduce the worst clauses into their agreements. It is to be hoped that the Committee may see their way to meet this attempt by warnings in the public papers. The Copyright Bill has been the subject of much consideration by the sub-committee appointed for that purpose. Mr. Thring went to Canada in the autumn as delegate to repre- sent the views of the Society. It is hoped that his mission may prove useful. The cases taken up by the Society during the year were 110 in number. Over 800 members took counsel with the Secretary during the year. One case of great importance was fought in the courts, and carried up to the Court of Appeal with success. The case establishes a very valuable precedent. Out of the rro cases, sixty-three have been successful; twenty-eight are still incomplete; nineteen were unsuccessful, generally because the author would not consent to do his part in carrying through the case. A successful year. It is hoped that the report for 1900 will show a still larger accession of members and a more general recognition of the valuable work already done by the Society. IV.—Tue “Acapemy” ComPETITION. The Academy offers prizes, six in number, of five guineas each, for the following: 1. A poem not to exceed twenty-four lines. 2. A short story of 1500 to 2000 words. 3. An essay not to exceed 2000 words.  THE AUTHOR. 4. “ Things seen,” not to exceed 350 words. 5. A paper on some city, town, or village, not to exceed 2000 words. 6. An original set of epigrammatic criticisms. The conditions of the competition are set forth in the Academy of Feb. 17 last. The prize pro- ductions will be printed in the Academy. Such a competition is interesting and should be stimulating. There is, however, some anxiety felt about the wording of one clause: “ The editor reserves the right of printing any of the other MSS. sent in.” As it stands, which of course cannot be meant, this clause gives the editor all the MSS. sent in: he may do what he pleases with them: i.e., he may, if he pleases, sell them to other papers without giving the authors anything. Tn order to make the situation clearer, as the clause stands, the editor might find himself the possessor of a large number of valuable MSS., all of which, by this clause, are his own, to do with them what he pleases. Suppose among them were 100 short stories and as many e says, all worthy of production in other journals and magazines, and representing a considerable pro- perty. The right, it will be observed, might then become very seriously a wrong. The attention of the editor has been called to the subject by Mr. Thring, and it will, no doubt, be set right without delay by a simple clause to the effect that MSS. which do not gain a prize will be destroyed unless accompanied by an addressed and stamped envelope or cover, for their return. Deas THE PENSION FUND. I. : R. W. L. ALDEN, in his “ London Literary Letter’ for the New York Times Satur- day Review, mentions the Society’s pension fund without much belief in it. Perhaps this is because he has not quite grasped the posi- tion. Why, heasks, should a man receive a pension because he has written stories? The question why a pension should, or should not, be due to avy man is a very wide one. If we all had our deserts, perhaps we should all have pensions: or perhaps no one would. What is it, however, that the Society is undertaking? Not by any means the grant of a pension to every man and every woman who has followed the literary life, but— Mr. Alden will admit that this is a very important distinction—the grant of a pension in such cases where a laborious life of conscientious work in literature has left the worker stranded in old age. There is work of many kinds which is most useful VOL. x 213 and yet cannot be made profitable: there are authors on philosophy and on science who write for a very few who buy and can understand. The popular author, it is true, ought to be able to provide for old age: he is far better off than ever he was before ; the publisher has not yet succeeded in going back to the old conditions. But there are many cases in which it has been impossible to make provision. Out of gratitude for those who have worked for our de'ight—in respect for the literary craft—let us do our best to provide such cases with an alleviation of their poverty. Mr. Alden proposes that we should insure our members as the Foresters do. This would be perhaps possible, but it is not what we intended. Nor could we offer our members better conditions than they would get outside. Then he thinks that the sum to be provided will have to be a very large one, and asks where it is to come from. First, we do not ask assistance from the public, though if assistance were offered the com- mittee would probably take it. We begin with donations amounting to about £1200 and with annual subscriptions amounting to some £60 more. Itis proposed to transfer two-thirds of the annual subscriptions to the capital fund. For £60 a year we shall read before long, I hope, 300. it we transfer £200 to the capital sum we have £100 a year for pensions added to the interest of the capital. Now—how much will be wanted ? Last year out of the whole field of literature the Royal Literary Fund found only twenty-two cases worthy of relief: and its council is by no means a “ difficult’? body to satisfy. How many cases among our members will present themselves to our committee as worthy of a pension? I believe, very few. The fund will always be growing: every year will add to the capital. Under such circumstances, and with the addition of occasional donations and bequests, such a fund speedily assumes considerable proportions. A fund, say, of £10,000 ought to go far to satisfy every deserving case. What constitutes a deserving case? A recog- nised writer on subjects which are useful but not popular: a poet or imaginative writer of distinc- tion who has not found it possible to provide for old age: a laborious and useful writer who has done good but not great-work—these are some of the cases. For instance, there died, two years ago, at the age of eighty-two, one John Saunders. He worked at literature for fifty years: he wrote novels, one or two of which are still in publishers’ lists, and contributed to literature a great deal that was sound, good work and most useful. In 1843, for example, Charles Knight produced a work containing 150 papers on “ London.” Of these papers no fewer than seventy-five were x  214 written by John Saunders. It was nearly fifty years ago, yet it isnot too much to say that after so much has been transcribed from the City records, and so many discoveries have beep made in City history, no one who takes up the subject of London can afford to neglect the work of John Saunders. His case, to my mind, is pre-eminently one which illustrates the necessity for this action on the part of the pension fund of the Society of Authors. W. B. II. It may seem premature to indicate how the pepsions accruing from the Socicty’s fund shall be awarded, nevertheless it is advisable that the point which Mrs. Alec Tweedie indicated last month be recognised. Such grants or pensions as are now available involve an application some- what in formd pauperis, and the feeling against the inevitable publicity thus entailed is so strong that I have heard a distinguished writer who, unfortunately, is not in affluent circumstances, say she would much prefer to accept the bounty which the poor law accords to the destitute. If the new pension, when available, was bestowed unsolicited on writers over sixty years of age whose work evinces certain literary qualities that the Society could recognise as such, the grant could be made to assume the aspe t of honour to a veteran which would remain such even if the pecunia accompanying it were a matter of primary or of secondary importance. It is inevitable that artists are sensitive, probably the finer the art the keener the susceptibilities of its producer. Whoso gives acceptably gives tenfold. A Wiiiine ConTRIBUTOR, PARIS NOTES. 5, Rue Chomel, Paris. « C\ALAIRES et mistres de femmes” is the S title of the latest social study published by the Comte d’Haussonville (chez Calmann Levy). It contains much interesting and valuable information concerning the work- women of France; and its title conveys an adequate idea of the subjects treated in this woik. Other authors have written at length on the same topic, picturesquely detailing the terrible temptations and dangers which daily be-et the “ petite ouvritére””’ hastening to and fro from her comfortless attic to the dreary prison- house where her youth and beauty are pitilessly consumed in the fierce effort to gratify the fantastic caprices of her richer, idler sisters— ‘the mondaines of Paris; but M. d’Haussonville THE AUTHOR. appears the only writer of eminence who views the situation froin a practical point of view, and endeavours to ameliorate the existing evil by the introduction of several beneficial and necessary amendments in the present Civil Code. ‘“ There is, on one point,’ he writes, “a contradiction between the Civil and Penal Code. The Civil Code does not permit a young girl to marry before she is fifteen years of age; whereas the Penal Code permits her to prostitute herself on attaining her eleventh year”; and even while bearing high testimony to the merits of the Parisian work-girl as a class, he ably pleads her cause, and points out the necessity of aiding and protecting her by the powerful intervention of the law. Srx New Cuauses. To attain this end, M. d’Haussonville proposes the addition of six new clauses to the existing Code in order to ensure :—(1) The legal protec- tion of every work-girl until she reaches her fifteenth year; (2) The punishment of all those persons who illegally favour her prostitution ; (3) The seeking out (under sundry restrictions) the paternity of the infant, in order to render the father pecuniarily liable in a certain degree; (4) The facilitation of marriage by the suppression of sundry useless formalities, &c. The fifth and sixth amendments proposed by the eminent Academician are conceived in a still more sur- prisingly liberal spirit, and read as follows, viz. : (5) De modifier les articles 1399 4 1496 du Code civil en créant, comme droit commun de la France, un régime plus respectueux des droits et des intéréts de la femme que celui de la com- munauté pure et simple, tel que l’a constitué le Code. (6.) De constituer au profit de la femme un droit sérieux sur les produits de son travail, en obtenant du Sénat le vote de la loi du 18 février, 1897, modifi¢e par la suppression du paragraphe final de l’article premier.” In spite of his disinterested advocacy of the workwoman’s rights, M. d’Haussonville is no favourer of the fashionable Feminist movement, and the reasons he gives for his non-adhesion certainly appear to justify his attitude in the matter. It remains to be seen whether his latest work will have any greater effect on the rich, laughter-loving Parisians than had of yore the plaintive murmur of Lazarus at the gate of Dives. The fact that a large number of the “ petites ouvriéres,” deftly threading their way each successive night and morning through the luxurious boulevards of the most brilliant capital in the world, actually exist on a scanty pittance of 375 francs per annum (less than a shilling a day), barbs the pathetic revelation unconsciously  THE AUTHOR. given by a young work-girl of eighteen in response to a question addressed her on the subject :— “ Dame! monsieur, bien stir qwon ne mange pas & son apaisement.” Nos Prerinrres pu SIfcLe. Highly interesting also, though in a totally different fashion, is “ Nos Peintres du Sitcle,” by M. Jules Breton. In graphic portraiture—either with pen or brush—M. Breton has few equals: witness his vivid word-limning of Delacroix, Ingrés, Rousseau, Corot, and Francais. He is especially excellent in his appreciations of those landscape masters of whom he was, at once, the devoted friend and rival. Of Corot he speaks in the following terms: “He gives to every- thing its exact significance, he puts everything in its right place — aye, he is an Athenian, softened by a touch of modern nerrosité. He was a happy creator. He himself once said, when unrolling his sketches, on his return to his studio :— “Tn front of Nature, I am a little boy ; but here I am—le bon Dieu!” “He was infallible and happy,” adds M. Breton. After a minute description of Rousseau’s per- sonality, we find this characteristic anecdote :— Théodore Rousseau was, during one period of his career, in extremely straitened circumstances. It was probably at this epoch that he was surprised by Troyon, “that other great painter,” in putting the finishing touches to one of his most exquisite productions, Le Givre. “You have painted a marvel there, my little Théodore,” exclaimed the visitor. “ Ah, well!” returned the other, “if you know any amateur who will pay down eight hundred francs for it, I wi!l pass him off this canvas.” “ You are jesting!”’ “T require that sum, you see,” explained the painter, quietly. Troyon said nothing; but, on his return home, he took from a drawer eight hundred franc notes, put them in an envelope, and despatched a messenger with the packet to his comrade. Rousseau’s response was to place the famous Givre on the messenger’s back, charging him to take it to M. Troyon. The latter vainly endea- voured to excuse himself ; he was forced to keep the canvas. “Grands artistes, grands ccurs! O belle époque toute frémissante d’enthousiasme et de générosité!” writes M. Breton, in concluding this narrative. In short, the whole book teems with similar characteristic anecdotes, souvenirs, and appreciations, sufficient to furnish ample stock- in-trade for half a dozen articles on the subject. 215 M. Kistemacckers v. Mme. BERNHARDT. That the French author will not permit his literary rights to be seriously compromised by the injudicious conduct of a contracting party is seen by the spirited action of M. Henry Kiste- maeckers (a rising young dramatist, member of the Société des auteurs et compositeurs drama- tiques) & propos of no less a personage than Madame Sarah Bernhardt. The cause of dispute was as follows: In November 1898, the celebrated actress accepted a play by M. Kistemaeckers, entitled “ Marthe,” and the rehearsals commenced on the fifteenth of the same month. For sundry valid reasons the representation of the play was twice or thrice deferred; whereupon M. Kistemaeckers—in virtue of the third article registered in the contract existing between the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques and the directors of the théitre des Nations, which gives every author the right of withdraw- ing a play whose rehearsals have been suspended during a period of two months — repossessed himself of his play in favour of the Nouveau- ThéAtre, and boldly sued Madame Beruhardt for damages, being upheld in his action by the special committee appointed by the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques to judge the affair. After hearing both sides of the question, the First Civil Chamber confirmed the decision of the committee, condemning Wadame Sarah Bernhardt to pay an indemnity of 6000 francs, with costs. The verdict was undoubtedly just ; nevertheless, when the length of time that has elapsed between the first lodging of the complaint and the finding of the final judgment is taken into consideration, it must be admitted that the French are, occa- sionally, a patient nation. Reception or M. Paut DEscHANEL. The official reception of M. Paul Deschanel at the French Academy took place in due form. That the oration he delivered on this occasion was a monument of elegant language, elevated ideas, and flowing periods goes without saying; yet, when the first feeling of involuntary admi- ration had subsided, his irreproachable precision and faultily-faultless diction became almost oppressive. The general impression made on the hearers seemed somewhat analogous to the effect that Macaulay confessed the consecutive reading of Gibbons’ famous History invariably produced on his own mind. M. Deschanel began his speech by associating his father’s name with the thanks he addressed to the illustrious assembly who had admitted him to their body. “It seems to me,” he continued, “that it is my father, in good justice, who should be here now”; and after paying fervent tribute to the high moral  216 qualities and laborious public career of M. Emile Deschanel, he acknowleged himself a little con- soled for the neglect shown the latter by the thought that “if I would have been more happy to see him in this place, he is more happy at seeing his son there ; fur, together, we form only a single soul and a single heart!” M. Sully Prudhomme flattered the filial senti- ment thus expressed by including both father and son in his respoase. He adroitly supple- mented the eulogistic, though rather vague, portraiture given of Edouard Hervé by his successor, prefacing his remarks on the subject by the declaration that M. Deschanel had already “fully honoured the memory of this noble adversary.” He also recalled Hervé’s dignified response to Napoleon the Third’s overtures: ‘On entering the Emperor’s presence, I should be someone; on leaving it, I should no longer be anything.” “To be someone,” M. Prudhomme explained, “meant with him to conform his life to his faith, to walk uprightly ; to be no longer anything was to deviate from the straight path, were it only by a step.” M. Sarnt-Sains as AUTHOR. “Ts Saul among the prophets?” queried the bewildered Ancients; and “Is Saint-Saéns among the authors?” ask the perplexed Moderns on seeing the name of the well-known musician figuring beneath the advertisement of musical “Portraits et Souvenirs.” The book itself has not yet been offered the public; but if the whole work is on a par with the samples given of its contents, M. Saint-Saéns has produced a volume of high merit and one which justifies the addition of littérateur to his other titles. The pages devoted to discussing Antoine Rubenstein are remarkably well written, the contrast between the author and his friend being admirably defined. The first—pale, frail, and inclined to consump- tion; the second—athletic, indefatigable, colossal in stature as in talent; the pair forming together a renewal of the Liszt and Chopin legend. M. Saint-Saéns asserts that he himself merely resembles Chopin in his bodily weakness and precarious health, disclaiming any pretension of being the successor of that marvellous genius who revolutionised art and opened the way to all modern music. He humorously adds that, even in consumption, he still remains the inferior, since Chopin died of phthisis, while he has foolishly got the better of that malady. But in this compressed réswné of his ideas the charm and personality of the writer are necessarily effaced. Hence, we give the analogy existing between Liszt and Rubenstein in his own words ; THE AUTHOR. “Fin revanche, Rubenstein pouvait hardiment affronter le souvenir de Liszt, avec sa charme irrésistible et son exécution surhumaine; tres différent de lui, d’ailleurs: Liszt tenait de Vaigle et Rubenstein du lion; ceux qui ont vu cette patte de velours du fauve abbattant sur le clavier sa puissante caresse n’en perdront jamais le souvenir! Les deux grands artistes n’avaient de commun que la supériorité. Ni l’un ni lautre nétaient jamais, 4 aucun moment, le pianiste ; méme en exécutant trés simplement les plus petites pieces, ils restaient g-ands, sans le faire expres, par grandeur de nature incoercible : incarna ‘ions vivantes de l'art, ils imposaient une sorte de terreur sacrée en dehors de |’admiration ordi- naire; aussi faisaient ils des miracles.” Dramatic CENSORS. Judging from an article in the Figaro, the office of these gentlemen is no sinecure. They are expected to read in manuscript all the plays, pantomimes, and songs presented by theatrical directors or café-concert managers, in addition to daily examining and reading the programmes of the café concert-halls of Paris and its suburbs. They are also expected to be present at all general rehearsals, in order to judge of the scenic effect of the works represented, from a moral and political point of view. Even when a play is duly authorised their task is not ended. They have to be present at its first public per- formance, to ascertain that the modifications or alterations suggested by them have been carried into effect. In the year 1898, 883 dramatic plays and performances were thus examined and licensed, this number being surpassed during the first ten months of 1899. The same year the “inspecteurs des théitres ”” were likewise reported to have been present at 538 general rehearsals, or first nights; while the number of new songs examined by them is estimated at a minimum of 8000 per annum. The signing of the café- concert programmes alone represents no incon- siderable amount of work, for Paris boasts no fewer than 761 concert halls (of which 120 give daily performances), in addition to seventy-six suburban establishments of the same class; and this quite apart from the thirty-seven theatres proper over which these gentlemen exercise a vigilant supervision. Their recompense is by no means proportionate to such Herculean achieve- ments, the first and second censor receiving a salary of 6000 francs apiece, the third 3500 francs, and the fourth 2400 francs—making, in all, a total of 17,900 frai.cs. Torics or THE MontTH. : Among events of the month connected with literary and dramatic personages may be men-  THE AUTHOR. tioned :—The presentation of a golden medal to M. Emile Zola on the second anniversary of his famous letter, “J’accuse/”’ and the rehabilita- tion of the memory of M. Francois Zola by the same courageous writer ; the election of the well- known actor,4M. Constant Coquelin, to the pre- sidency of the Association de secowrs mutuels des artistes dramatiques; the conversion and admission into the outer order of Benedictines of the celebrated writer Joris-Karl Huysmans ; and the judicial disbanding and suppression of the Order of Assomptionnists in France, the said Order having printed and distributed over 630,000,000 publications per annum, mainly or political ends. DarRacorte Scort, > exe NOTES AND NEWS. HE unfortunate death of Mr. H. D. Traill not only robs the Society of one of its Council, but of a member who, occupying a very important and influential position in the literary world—that of editor of Literature — always gave the Society the one kind of help which could have been asked of him,-viz., a fair hearing. It is now more than a year since the publication of my book, “The Pen and the Book,” in which appeared certain figures and facts connected with the business of publishing which had previously been scattered about in the pages of The Author. Of course, this was the signal for a fierce outcry. The assailants came on gallantly, but anonymously. Their language was kept in some restraint by the editor, who invited me to reply, and accorded me the whole of the space I asked for. In this reply, assisted and supported by Mr. Thring, I was enabled to point out that the whole attack rested on wilful and deliberate misrepresentations: many of them too gross to be answered were it not for the general ignorance on the subject, and the in- capacity of people to believe that the trade of publishing can tolerate such practices as have been exposed by the Society. The result, as is always the case after such attack and reply, was an increase in our membership. For my own part I have never been able to understand why there is not more jealousy on the part of publishers in association for the honour of their trade. We expose certain facts: we have declared over and over again that these practices have nothing to do with honourable houses. Yet, when publishers meet in congress, the first thing that the president does is to state ublicly that VoL. X. 217 the Society treats all publishers as dishonest. And when their committee put out draft agree- ments in which they try on their little game of Grab in a manner both guileless and childlike, they make no reference whatever to the possi- bilities and the practice of fraud. The adver- tisement that costs nothing : the secret percentage: the cooked account: the agreement that gives everything to the publisher—of these, if you please, not one word. Nor has the committee of the Publishers’ Association ever stepped forward to repudiate the falsities by which their trade is defended and the Society is attacked. Con- sidering these things, it is perhaps as well to keep silence for a while as to “honourable” houses. As soon as a reasonable jealousy for the honour of the trade is exhibited—that kind of jealousy which would express reprobation of un- worthy tricks—even if it allowed the Universal Grab, we may return to the respect due 10 “honourable” houses. — Two months ago I ventured to point out certain views of my own on the subject of criticism, for which I have been rewarded by learning (1) that I advocate the abolition of criticism: (2) that I desire criticism to b “all praise”: (3) that I desire criticism to be placed in the hands of “ illiterates”: (4) that I refuse the right of expressing an opinion: (5) that my own novels have been sometimes praised —so that because a man’s book is spoken of well it is a shame for him to point out the glaring vices of general criticism! My position is this: The true critic must be a scho ar, other- wise there will be always something lacking ; the critical faculty is apart from the imaginative faculty : the former may, or it may not, co-exist with the latter—this has been twisted into the assertion that I would not receive Goethe’s critical work. The critic neither calls names, nor is abusive in other ways, nor gibes, nor sneers, nor misrepresents, nor again, which is very impor- ‘tant, does he simulate indignation : he is a judge, and his judgment, I said, should be “ without mercy and without bias.” Above all, a critic reveals himself by his praise. Any incompetent person can pick holes and find fault without reading a book: but, if he attempts to praise, his incompetence betrayeth him at once. Finally, I ask for the same courtesy in criticism as is expected in other professions. We do_ not find one lawyer calling another a Hooligan: Lam quite sure that no editor would permit it. But we do find the editor of the Contemporary not only permitting this abuse, but allowing the writer who stooped to this abuse to repeat him- self, and even to improve upon hiniself—in a Y  218 second article. It is now twelve months since the writer whom Mr. Buchanan calls a Hooligan, lay apparently at the point of death. From all parts of the world there flashed telegrams of inquiry— thousands of telegrams: they were proofs of the affection and the anxiety of the English-speaking race. How is Mr. Buchanan allowed, in the Contemporary, to speak of that time? Listen. It is in the February number of that most influential organ : “Sir Walter Besant avers that I have no right to speak of these things ”—I averred nothing of the kind: I said, in so many words, “Mr. Buchanan has his views and has stated them; I have mine, and I propose to state them.” My objection is not as to his statement of opinion, but as to the manner of statement, which is quite another thing. To repeat: “he avers that I have no right to speak of these things because they concern the prestige and the pocket of one who, with a publisher on each side of him, cried aloud for, and obtained, the sympathy of two continents.” So the anxiety of Kipling’s millions of friends was “ cried aloud for” by the man on the bed of sickness, through the assist- ance of two publishers! — A letter has been sent to me cut out of the Speaker, a paper which used to be associated with periodical ferocity against the Society of Authors. I really think that we ought to have been more grateful than we were to the Speaker under the old management for giving us so repeatedly the opportunity of stating our case. However, this letter is written by one who has suffered many things at the hands of reviewers, and is at length goaded into speech. He com- plains of praise and he complains of abuse: he has penned certain admirable parodies of the reviewer who abuses him and the reviewer who praises him—both, of course, without any pre- liminary reading of the book. This is the remedy proposed by the writer: When you find a reviewer who evidently knows some- thing about you and has a grudge against you, do not be goaded into writing to his newspaper or mentioning him in the preface of your next work, but rather buy up such paper of his as may be floating around London, and telephone to him to the effect that you hold it. I have known this rhethod to produce in one of our most important and most venal journals a column and a half of weighty, learned, and favourable criticism. Your publisher will, if necessary, advance you the money. Very good: but suppose one does not know, beforehand, who is going to review the book: and suppose the reviewer has no “ paper floating around London ”—what then? Besides, “paper” demands cyedit and confidence. I doubt whether the young: gentlemen who do the reviews—by THE AUTHOR. inches—have any credit or can confidence or can float any paper. command any The writer, if he sees these remarks, is invited to consider one point which, to my mind, lies at the root of the whole bad business. It is the kind of pay given by some papers. The poor man, in order to pay his way, must make so much a week, His review work goes, probably, a long way towards finding this mimimum. Now, if he is allowed three inches or even six for each book, and if he receives, say, three half-crowns for his notice of each book, it is evident that in order to make £3 a week, below which life can offer few luxuries, he must notice eight books a week. But he will probably get a longer article in addition. This more important paper will take a certain amount of work: perhaps he will give two days to it: there remain five. How many books can he read and review, even only at three or four inches each, in five days? On the other hand, by the simple process of not reading the books he can review as many as are senttohim. I knewa man once who added a guinea to his weekly income by writing a column of “reviews” of novels: there were from eight to twelve on his list and his editor liked something “smart.” We must not be too hard on the unfortunate reviewer : his paper can only pay by the l ngth of the contribu- tion; if it wants to notice all the books that are published it can only do so by giving to each the briefest possible space. The reviewer, in fact— and this is, as I said above, the keynote of the whole situation—cannot afford to read the books. A note on the Society from the Manchester Guardian (see p. 219) is pleasant reading. The writer alludes to the common charge of “ commer- cialism” brought against the Society. I would remind our members that the answer is simply this. Literary property is a very real kind of property. It belongs to those who create it. They may give it to publishers for nothing if they like—no one will object except perhaps their wives and children. They may also sit down contentedly to be “bested” by agreements which they do not understand. They may even consent to sign the Forms of Agreement which the Publishers’ Committee have prepared with so much thought- fulness and with such admirable jealousy as to the equity of the case—nothing so truly beautiful as pure equity. No one can possibly object to an author behaving in the grand style. As for those authors who have no private income and cannot afford to surrender, or to be “ bested” out of, their own property which, valuable or not,  THE represents their life work, we do our best for them. It has been pointed out over and over again that this defence of property is no more commercial in Literature than in Art, in Medi- cine, in Law, in mines, in houses—in anything. It is simply an act of common prudence. Further, it cannot be too often repeated that the literary value of a work, whatever it may be, has no necessary connection with its commercial value. The greatest book ever written, the most far- reaching in its influences, the most epoch-making, may be worth less, commercially, than a girl’s story or a Sunday-school prize. A book of the higher mathematics appeals to an audience of a few score; a book of the highest scientific importance, which may revolutionise the life of a whole people, may appeal only to a few hundreds. It seems necessary to state this simple fact over and over again. Perhaps some time or other it will be accepted for the commonplace truism that it is. We shall then hear the last about the “commercialism ” of the Society. I refer the reader to a communication on p. 224 concerning the “Method of the Future.” It is quite true that an estimate for a single book by an individual author might be much higher than that which would be furnished for a publisher who could send a large amount of work. The printer would probably try it on. But our correspondent forgets the fact that we have collected and -published a whole body of information on the subject of the Cost of Pro- duction—which was intended as a guide to the author and a protection against fraud rather by the publisher than the printer. I embodied all the latest information on the subject in “The Pen and the Book,” and anyone who wants to know what an estimate should be may go to the nearest free library and refer to the book. This book was not designed as a work bringing a money profit, and I have already, with the hope of rendering it more generally useful, pre- sented some hundreds of copies to free libraries. I am still ready to give more copies to these libraries; and if any of the members will kindly inform me of libraries in which it is not already placed, I shall be very willing to send them copies. With some such guide and a little ordinary care I do not think there is much danger of the author getting into mischief. He might refer his estimate to the Secretary, for instance. He must, of course, be very careful over his corrections, and the length of his MS. : and he must not bind more than are wanted at the outset: and he must be extremely careful over the advertisements, AUTHOR. 219 An evening paper informs us that a certain author, whose name need not be reproduced, on finding himself for the moment without resources, boldly faced the situation and asked to be admitted to the workhouse and to go on working there on the completion of a book which already approaches completion. It was perhaps as good a thing as he could do, provided he did not mind the companionship and was prepared to face the memory of it, and wanted a quiet place for work. Meantime, as he is a writer of some repute and has held appointments of various kinds, all requiring special ability, was it not possible to send in an application to the Royal Literary Fund? Watter BESANT. Pec ON THE SOCIETY. HE Manchester Guardian of Feb. 17 speaks of the Society in the following terms : “The annual report of the Society of Authors for the past year, which has just been issued to its members, shows a flourishing state of affairs on which the Society may justly congratulate itself, Its success is, for that matter, a boon— although often an ignored one—to all who write for their livelihood. The Society is an eminently practical institution, and the reproach of being solely concerned with the commercial side of literature, which one hears at times brought against it, simply shows that those who bring it have never troubled to inquire what the position and aims of the Society really are. The numerous cases of injustice to authors which the Society has taken up during the past year—in one case going as far as the House of Lords in order to get a definite ruling on a point of importance in the relation of authors and publishers—show how useful a work it is doing, in spite of all the attacks that are made upon it by people who ought to know better. The razson détre of the Society of Authors is to be a kind of trade union for writers, through whose existence they may assert their rights in the case of dishonest or sweating publishers. It is clear that it has met a want. ee “Tt ig not surprising that a body which thus acts as a safeguard to the author should have over 1200 members. The wonder is that so many authors should still stay out of it and lose no opportunity of jeering at it because its motives are frankly businesslike and its canons of litera ture incline to commercialism. Sometimes the temptation, we confess, is hard to resist; but we are ashamed of having yielded to it when we THE 220 consider how excellent the work of the Society, as set forth in this report, really is. The Com- mittee are quite right in pointing out ‘to those members of the profession who are not members of the Society that they are reaping indirectly the benefits resulting from the work and labours of the Society, and to the more successful writers who are not members that they are gaining substantial benefits from the moneys expended. by other and sometimes poorer members of their craft The pension scheme, on which we have already commented, is the chief novelty in the report. We have little doubt that it also will have a stimulating effect on the membership.” — ON TYPEWRITERS. T is now some months since a letter was sent to The Author about the position of Type- writers. For various reasons this letter has been held over. The writer advocated the employ- ment of the individual typist who works at home, instead of sending the work to an office. She claimed for this plan the very decided advantage of cheapness. She asserted that 9d. a thousand words was good and sufficient pay, provided there was no middleman and no office. She further pointed out that the chief reason why girls do not get on at such work is want of education. That is the preliminary equipment which is absolutely necessary, and cannot be crammed. Shorthand may be learned very cheaply. ‘Of three typists, one taught herself shorthand, and had five shillings’ worth of teach- ing on the typewriter when she bought it; one paid £5 for instruction in shorthand ; and one was taught at very small cost by aclerk employed during the day.” She gives the evidence of one who works at home. “A friend of mine, well educated, finding teaching in schools decidedly paid at ‘ starvation wages,’ though she spoke French and German fluently, took a course of shorthand and type- writing lessons at Pitman’s, paying, I think, £10, till proficient. In less than five months she obtained a good appointment—3os. a week, hours g till 6, and on Saturdays till 2. “As to private work, I know of the case of a well-educated gentlewoman who eighteen months ago found herself suddenly under the necessity of earning money. She paid a small sum for twelve lessons from a private typist, was proficient at the end of ten, bought a typewriter, spent £5 in advertising, and has never lacked for work. She bas a thorough knowledge of Latin, French, and some German, and earns enough by copying AUTHOR. authors’ MSS. at od. a thousand to live com- fortably. Iam quite sure, from the experience of others as well as my own, that 9d. a thousand need never mean ‘starvation wages,” _whatever the proprietors of expensive offices may say. I myself have to refuse nearly as much as I take, though I constantly employ an assistant.” And the letter concludes as follows, omitting those parts which refer to previous discussions : “ Tf, for any reason of her own, a woman chooses to do her work at home instead of being an employee in an office, for many an obvious advantage, and finds it profitable to copy our MSS. at 9d. a 1000, it certainly seems to make for the greatest good of the greatest number that she should have the od. rather than that we should pay ts. or 1s. 3d. to a smart office that (as I know to be the case) she should receive at the most 7d. and pay travelling expenses, and lose her freedom and privacy while the office scores the margin, for what profits neither the worker nor ourselves. “Moreover, she has a personal pride and stake in her work, and, so far as my experience gors, does it infinitely better than the experimenting beginner or the indifferent employee. « Typewriting and stenography are likely to be always with us. It may bring happiness and relief from anxiety into many a harrassed life, if authors will combine to send work into the workers’ homes, instead of (to save themselves a little trouble) despatching it to the much advertised office. It is work that can be done by the elderly, the delicate, the cripple, those incapable of going out in all weathers or at all hours; and those whose conscience obliges them to pay more than the ‘starvation 9d.’ will probably be allowed to indulge the desire. I can confidently recommend two of the typists who advertise (at 9d. a 1000) in The Author.” rec A NOTE ON RUSKIN. (From the Chicago Dial, Feb. 1, 1900. I [ IS work done in the field of art. criticism has called forth an enormous amount of discussion, in the form of both approval and dissent. At first, his opinions exci ed'violent antagonism ; then, for a period, the force of his - eloquence seemed to carry everything before it; then, again, a marked reaction set in, and a deliberate effort was made to belittle his achieve- ments and minimise his influence. We do not think that the two parties to this controversy  have ever joined issue fairly and squarely. We may allow the justice of much that has been said by his hostile critics—by Mr. Stillman, for example, and Dr. Waldstein—yet admit almost to the full what has been claimed for him by the most earnest of his champions. Both parties are right, in some sense. For the attack, we may say that his specific judgments were often wrong, that his bestowal of praise was exaggerated beyond all reason, that his advice to painters was frequently impracticable, and that his influence upon contemporary artists was slight. But for the defence we must also say something. We must say, for example, that he made the general English public think more seriously about art than it had ever done before. We must say that his writings opened eyes by the thousands that had hitherto been blind, and, if those eyes did not see just what he would have had them see, they were at least opened to some kind of truth that would not have been revealed to them at all except for his influence. We must say, also, that he gave to the pursuit and study of art a dignity that it had never known before, by virtue of his constant insistence upon the relation of art to morality, his unalterable deter- mination to judge of artistic work from other standpoints than the narrow one of technique, and the prophetic fervour with which he pro- claimed the gospel, not of art for art’s sake, but of art for the sake of man’s temporal delight and eternal salvation. . . . : In a word, the balance of Mr. Ruskin’s teach- ings, whatever specific vagaries they may embody, will rest upon the side of progress, of ethical inspiration, of worthy human activity, of all that is desirable for the uplifting of the race. In this belief, we would earnestly recommend the most extreme of his books, even “ Unto this Last” and the many volumes of the “ Fors Clavigera,” not indeed as the best food for untrained minds, but as a helpful influence to the cultivated intelli- gence, as a needed corrective for all that is unspiritual and materialistic in the thought of the age. Their essential teaching is at one with that of the great leaders of men’s ethical and religious thought, and their perversity of utterance no more than an accident powerless to work last- ing injury. The gift of communion with such a spirit is one of the most precious that literature can offer, and a deep sense of gratitude, of reverent affection, is what remains to us unshaken, after all possible exceptions have been taken, after all needful allowances have been made, when we think of the great work and the noble life that have ended in the closing yeir of the century to which they have lent so imperishable a lustie. THE AUTHOR. 221 SOME THOUGHTS UTTERED. Coe is not always a vice, for itis often only a weakness. Hate of others: often poses as love of truth. The best kind of truth and the rarest is the kindest. Oritics are of two main kinds—helpers or hinderers. The only perfect critic is Tue CrEaTor. New truths fare ill in old temples. Religion, even when not quite on the right side, is yet on the heart side. Duty is only another name for Divinity. Oveurt is more God-like than Must. Truth can no more be justly measured by proof than by taste or by wish. Taste changes less than temptation—the father of fashion. Truth is almost as invisible to vanity as to vice. Art is a common cross between Man and Nature. What science labe!s, art often only libels. Art expresses far more than it ever explains. To appeal best to our race, scence must marry sentiment. Some women, in trying to outdo all men, only undo themselves. Human law is a common mean between justice and nonsense. It is generally easier to end laws than to mend men. Were progress nursed only by popular vote, it would never be reared. The sanest will give and take only the best advice, but they are not yet born. While wondering why wisdom wanes, most of us forget ourselves. When the best seems past, we have begun to die. Chivalry is no more peculiar to males than to Mankind. Mothers form a sex by themselves —lik2 the angels. Courage, an essential of all life, in love. In ideal love there is no imperfect tense. Life is a positive, growth a comparative, and love a superlative revelation. Marriag+ may die with bodies, but love must live with souls. Justice is the true husband of love. Finuay GLENELG. is best found Pees  222 THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR AT THE AUTHORS’ CLUB. N | R. CHOATE, the American Ambassador, was last evening the guest at a dinner of the Authors’ Club, held at the Club, Whitehall-court, London. Mr. Gilbert Parker presided over a very large gathering, which included in addition to the American Ambassador, Mr. James Bryce, MP., Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, Mr. Frankfort Moore, Mr. W. UL. Courtney, Mr. E. T. Cook, and Sir Martin Conway. Mr. Choate, in reply to the toast of his health, said he came there partly as a reader and partly as a representative of one of the greatest reading communities that had ever existed. He knew of no relation of any other body of people so important to authors as that of readers, and it was the fact that they on the other side of the Atlantic were entitled to rank very high in this relation of readers to authors. In the first place the people of the United States constituted the vast majority of the English-speaking peoples of the globe, and they all knew very well, they asserted it every day, that the majority must rule, at least they must be assigned a paramountcy as between authors and readers and as to everything else that related to the English tongue. There were 351 towns in the State of Massa- chusetts. In those, with the exception of seven, the public had the use of public libraries pro- vided at the public expense. In those libraries there were three and three-quarter millions of volumes—about a volume and a-half for each inhabitant of the State—and the circulation in twelve months amounted to seven and two- third millions, or three volumes for each inhabi- tant—men, women and children, and babies in arms. Could they point to any other country under the sun in which that state of things could be said to exist? And was there not a reflex action of the readers upon authors as well as of the authors upon the readers? Might it not be owing to some such relation as that that in these last sixty years there had been authors of such eminence in America? Massachusetts, to which he had been referring in connection with this free libraries’ movement, had, however, only led the way, for the last report of the National Bureau of Hducation to which he had had access showed that there were 4000 free libraries in America, containing more than 33,000,000 of volumes. He alluded to the “teachableness” of the people who spoke the Hnglish tongue, as was THE AUTHOR. shown by the work of Captain Mahan, an American, and Mr. Bryce in England. Captain Mahan told Great Britain of her wonderful sea power and discovered some of its elements of weakness. Mr. Bryce went to America and studied their institutions, and produced a work descriptive of them which was without an equal in our whole history on the other side of the water. He gave them praise where they were entitled to praise and blamed them where they were subject to blame, and they were very ready to follow his suggestions and to go to work to supply a remedy. It was this “teachableness” of all people who spoke the English tongue that constituted their great power in the present and their great prospect for the future. This English tongue had done an immense thing for them on both sides of the water. It had welded them into one homogeneous and united people, speaking with one voice and acting with one will to work out their destiny, and it had done the same thing for the widely-spreading members of the British Empire—as they had an example in this very year—(cheers)—making them one people, united for the common liberties of all. (Renewed cheers.) And what had it not done—this same English language—for all who spoke it? It had given them their highest aims and their highest ideals. It had taught them to love liberty and to be devoted to law.—Daily Chronicle, Feb. 20. CORRESPONDENCE. IL—Tuer STanparp oF ENGLISH ORITICISM. AY I be allowed to endorse “ Retired’s ” statements regarding English reviews in your last number. I have not been writing for many years, but have been fortunate enough to win for myself a certain position as specialist on some important literary questions. When I publish a book I am secure of a fair number of notices, both English and conti- nental. But, as a rule, the English notices are not worth the paper they are printed on. With very few exceptions they are written by critics who do not possess even an elementary knowledge of the subjects concerned. I could name without difficulty half-a-dozen men, not unknown to literature, who would be perfectly competent to review my work, and whose criticism would be of real value to me, but I only know two journals (one with a restricted circula- tion) which will send my books to such expert critics. On the other hand, in France and Germany alike I am certain of receiving such ’  THE AUTHOR. criticism: I have had a book, dismissed in a few absolutely foolish lines in a leading London literary paper, reviewed at pages’ length in competent foreign reviews, and that not once alone. “ Retired” is perfectly correct in saying that the standard of foreign criticism is far higher and more conscientious than English. There are many of us who would infinitely rather receive competent, even if unfavourable, criticism than ignorant praise. ScHOLAR. Il.—Tue Proression or LireERATURE. For my part, although one of the most unfor- tunate of writers, I find it very hard to under- stand the strange a'titude of Annabel Gray and some others (“‘ X.,” for instance, on page 70 of the August issue) towards their profession. Whilst making a living out of it (a thing which many hundreds of doctors and lawyers have great difficulty in getting out of their professions), they never cease to rail bitterly at the profession as beggarly and contemptible. ‘“ X.,” indeed, even goes the length of denying that it is a profession at all. Note the reasoning! Because any outsider with the requisite ability can come into the profession of literature, therefore it is no profession! Well, “every waiting barrister, every idle doctor, every half-pay captain ’—in short, “every outsider with a” brush and palette can “cut into the work” ofa painter: ergo, there is no profession of painting! Also, “ every outsider with ” eight fingers and two thumbs can “cut into the work’’ of the pianist and organist, the violinist, &c.: ergo, there is no profession of music, and Paderewski is only a mountebank, not a member of a reputable profession! Once more: “every outsider with” legs and arms can “cut into the work” of the actor: ergo, there is no profession of acting! Might I be permitted t» point out that early in his controversy with the Editor of The Author “X.” gave his own case away completely? The gist of the Editor’s contention is given in this sentence from page 15 of the June issue: “I maintain that Literature, as a profession, is no more precarious than any other.” And what did “X.” say in reply? Why, on page 21 of the same issue, he declared: “The editor is always saying that the man of letters can do as well as the doctor or barrister, and seems to think this means something.” I should imagine it did mean something—viz., the point at issue. ‘‘ Sooth to say,” he proceeds, “it means nothing, for the poor barrister and poor doctor are miserably poor indeed.” Here “ X.” clearly admits that the man of letters can do as well as the barrister 223 or doctor. away. Annabel Gray tragically asserts that “the dark powers that thwart and destroy are always merci- less to the poor and gifted . . . Mr.Croskey’s own experiences and confession area case in point.” Now, Mr. Croskey has himself told us that he is not rich, and there is no doubt whatever that he is gifted: yet the ‘dark powers,’ yea! those self-same hideous “dark powers” have not been “merciless” to him, for they have permitted him to “place work with four good publishers and three good magazines.” I have myself seen excellent work of his in the English Illustrated Magazine and in Chambers’s Journal. And JI have not a shadow of a doubt that so soon as Mr. Croskey can produce enough work equally good, he will succeed as an author. If he does not eventually succeed I for one shall be very much surprised. And in so doing he gives his case Perry Barr. IIl.—Wrirtine ror THE MAGAZINES. I have to tender my sincere thanks to “An Editor” for his kindness in answering my query. Is he not, however, just a little bit ruthless in saying that the article “On Writing for the Magazines’? in the December issue represents wasted time? To methatarticle was interesting and eminently useful. And I earnestly hope that we shall have the promised article dealing in a similar manner with the lighter magazines. It is perhaps almost needless to say that after this I shall not continue to be purely a MaGazinE STRUGGLER. 1V.—EnveLorpes WANTED. I have no grievance to bring forward, but only a suggestion to make. I send off (and receive back again) a fair lot of MSS. in a year, and my soul is grieved because of envelopes. What I desire to do is to keep my MS. flat. Now, like most people, as I imagine, who write, I use common foolscap, 13in. by 8in. To send this off quite comfortably what [ need is a bag-shaped envelope of smooth paper, reasonably strong, with lots of gum, and half an inch or even an inch of room to spare all round, say 133in. by 8{in. or gin. {should not mind paying 5s. a hundred for them, if I could only get them right, but I don’t see them in the Stores’ list, and the nearest thing Ican find in Oxford is 12in. by ropin., te., at once too short and too wide. Will not some int lligent stationer get out an article to supply the want and call it “Author's size”? Tl warrant him it would sell. R. B. T, —  854 V.—Tur Mernhop or THE Furure. As one who has had some experience of print- ing his own books—I mean of getting them printed at his own expense—I feel most strongly that an author has almost as much painful experi- ence to acquire in this matter as in connection with what must be considered ordinary publish- ing. Tt is an unfortunate fact that the ethics of trade are not at all those generally recognised by honourable men who are not engaged in com- mercial transactions. Speaking to a pripter recently I remarked that it appeared to be con- sidered quite honest to charge exorbitantly where the person paying had no knowledge of trade prices or where the work done was not easily controlled, and he, with perfect frankness, admitted this was the case, adding ‘“ Some things we have to take in competition at very low prices, and we make it up on others.” At my own actual cost I have learnt that com- posing, corrections, machining (including the question of sheets of sixteen, thirty-two, and sixty-four pages), paper and binding, each and all furnish opportunities for fraud upon the unsus- pecting author who ventures to embark upon the production of his own work. In some cases where the name of the firm would apparently ensure honourable treatment I have come to the conclusion that there is no greater security than with an unknown house, and this because the real control of the business, including the levying of charges, rests not with those whose well-known and perhaps highly respected names attract, but with managers whose first object it must be to show profits. I will add nothing on the “small difficulties that keep arising whilst the book is printing,” referred to by “X.” in The Author of Feb. 1, beyond a reminder that such difficulties are to be expected. But to what end do these remarks lead? To this, viz.: That if ever the “Method of the Future” is to realise its full advantages it will be necessary that authors should not merely pay directly for their own printing, but the printing should be done at their own works. With any considerable adoption of the “Method of the Future ” by members of the Society, it would be perfectly easy to form a small limited liability com- pany and set up a printing establishment under a capable manager, to which members of the Society might with perfect safety commit their work without fear of being victimised and without that waste of valuable time which has now to be expended by anyone of business habits who would protect himself, however feebly, from, I will say, the danger of fraud, Vik AUTHOR. Perhaps we may sdhie day reach this end! { am in a position to bring a respectable amount of regular annual printing ! The Society of Authors has been wrongly accused of saying that all publishers are rogues. Lest to this there should be added that I now initiate a statement that all printers are also rogues, I hasten to disclaim anything of the kind. There are probably as many honest printers as there are honest members of other trades—honest, I mean, not merely in the eyes of the law, but in reality, Tf, however, the ethics of trade are really as I have suggested, then, quite apart from personal experiences, it cannot be expected that authors will, exceptionally and invariably, find them- selves associated with printers of unusual virtue. A. B. [But see p. 219.—Ep. | VI.—A ScriBBLER’s SUGGESTION. Think not, dear sir, that I desire our all-wise Parliament to pass a measure imposing a heavy import-duty on all Australian and American stories. Perish the thought! I am no protec- tionist, but an honest freetrader ; and if the home product cannot hold its own, let it (say I) go to the wall. But why, oh why, will not editors send it to the wall more promptly ? Why should they perform the unhappy despatch with such long- drawn enjoyment of the agony inflicted ? As I have said, I desire no protectionist legisla- tion. But what say you, sir, to an Authors’ Compensation Bill (to be brought in by the present Government) compelling editors to pay for all contributions kept over one calendar month? Do you not think that this would be but a reasonable and modest compensation for injuries inflicted >—that the Act would, in fact, be merely complementary to the Workmen’s Com- pensation Act? In the event of editors objecting to such an Act, what have they to say to the proposition that we authors should send out at the same time about half-a-dozen typed copies of a MS.? By thus dealing with tardy editors by the half-dozen, we might succeed in testing the majority of likely markets inside of twelve months. True, there’s the possibility of two editors accepting the same contribution; but that would only be a very slight inconvenience to set against the inconveni-- ence at present endured. .  THE AUTHOR. BOOK AND PLAY TALK. R. STANLEY LANE-POOLE has finished his “ History of Egypt in the Middle "~ Ages under Mohammedan Rule,” which will be published by Messrs. Methuen as the sixth volume in the series edited by Professor Flinders Petrie. “The Devil’s Kitchen,” a new novel by A. B. Louis will shortly appear through Messrs. Sands and Co. The scene of part of the story is laidin Wales, and one of the leading charaters is a pub- lisher. Miss Montgomery Campbell’s new story entitled “ Uncle Ben’s Where’s, or Friends all round the Wrekin,” published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, has attracted much attention and been warmly welcomed by those seeking for books suitable for parochial libraries and girls’ and women’s clubs. It isa story dealing with rural life, the scene, as the sub-title denotes, being laid in the picturesque county of Salop. Mr. D.C. Lathbury’s new paper, hitherto known as the Tribune, has had to change its name, and will now be called the Pilot, a weekly review of ecclesiastical and general politics, literature, and learning. The first number will be published on Saturday, March 3, price 6d. Mr. Richard Pryce’s new novel “J ezebel,”’ now running through the pages of the Gentlewoman, will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. A new novel by Annabel Gray, entitled “ The Mystic Number 7,” is now in the press and will shortly appear. The title depends upon the occult nature of the plot, and the tragic end por- trays the wages of sin. “ Boadicea, and Other Poems,” by Mrs. Aylmer Gowing, has recently been published by Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. The volume contains an heroic drama constructed on classical lines of one motive and action, simplicity and directness; a series of poems for recitation, and several sonnets. A series of little encyclopedic primers is about to be published by Messrs. Dent, beginning with a volume entitled “ Introduction to Science,” by Dr. Alexander Hill, Master of Downing College, Cambridge. Dr. Sweet will write a volume on “The History of Language,’ Dean Spence one on “The History of the Church of England,” Professor Jenks “The History of Politics,’ Mr. E. G. Gardner “ A Dante Primer,’ and Mr. Basil Worsfold “ A History of South Africa.” “A Divine Venture, and Other Stories,” by Fiona Macleod, is about to be published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. 225 A new book of stories by Dr. Conan Doyle (who is leaving England for ambulance duty with the troops in South Africa) will be published shortly under the title of “ The Green Flag.” A Milton Library is being formed in Milton Cottage, Chalfont St. Giles. Mr. Charles Gerring, secretary of the Notting- ham Sette of Odde Volumes, has now completed the work on noted booksellers and printers which he has been engaged upon for some time. Students of modern English history will be inte- rested to hear that the selections from the private journal of the Right Hon. John Evelyn Denison, Speaker of the House of Commons for twenty-five years, and afterwards Lord Ossington, has now been published by Mr. Murray. The volume was issued for private circulation last September. It is improbable that the biography of Professor Huxley will appear before the autumn. “Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor!” is the title of the forthcoming work by Admiral Sir William Kennedy (Blackwood), who has served in the Navy for fifty years. “Allen Raine” is issuing, through Messrs. Hutchinson, a new Welsh story called “ Garth- owen.” Mr. Stanley Weyman’s “ Sophia’ this month. A Yorkshire story by Miss Emma Brooke, entitled “The Engrafted Rose,’ has just been published by Messrs. Hutchinson. An interesting plagiarism is reported from New York, Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons having been deceived by a young man who represented himself to be an unpublished author in sore straits. The following notice issued by the firm speaks for itself : G. P. Putnam’s Sons regret to have occasion to announce to the reading public that the story recently published by them under the title of ‘‘ Aboard the American Duchess,” a story purporting to be the work of an American author who writes under the name of George L. Myers, is a plagiarism of a story published some years back by Mr. Headon Hill, of London, entitled, ‘The Queen of Night.” Mr. Hill’s material has been appropriated by the American writer, such appropriation constituting a wrong against the English author and his publishers, and also, of course, the American publishers, who accepted as an original work the story ‘The American Duchess.” The publishers are making this announcement in order to cantion American readers against the purchase under a wrong impression of the story issued under the title of “ Aboard the American Duchess.” “Mr. Myers” had, of course, changed the scene of action of the story from London to New York. Messrs. Putnam, in view of the blunder, have sent an honorarium to Mr. Hill, notwith- standing that his novel was not copyrighted in the United States. ’ will be out  226 Histories of South Africa are, of course, the order of the day just now. Another one will be published immediately by Messrs. Methuen. It deals with “The Boer States,’ and the author is Mr, A. H. Keane, whose point of view in the work is stated to be that of an onlooker. The very important housing question in London is the subject of a book by Mr. Alfred Smith, of the County Council. It will be published by Messrs. Sonnenschein. Miss Nora Hopper’s new volume of verse, “Songs of the Morning,’ and Mr. Thomas Cobb’s new novel, “ Scruples,” will both be published on March 6 by Mr. Grant Richards. A volume of sketches of theatrical life by Mr. George R. Sims will be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, under the title, “ Without the Limelight.” Mrs. Patrick Campbell has revived ‘‘ Magda” at the Royalty. She will afterwards produce a version of M. Edmond Rostand’s “ Les Romanes- ques,” by George Fleming. It will be called “The Fantasticks.” There is only one female character in the play. Mrs. Lewis Waller opened her spring tour at the Coronet, Notting Hill, on Feb. 19, with a new play in four acts adapted by Mr. H. A. Kennedy from Mr. Hardy’s romance, “Tess of the D’Urbevilles.’ Mr. Hardy has written to the Times stating that he has authorised no such , dramatisation. “Bonnie Dundee,” Mr. Laurence Irving's five- act drama, will be produced by Mr. Robert Taber at the Adelphi on the 1oth inst., with Mr. Mackintosh as King James. A copyright performance was given at the Court a few weeks ago of “The Queen of tie Roses,” by Mr. Alfred C. Calmour. This is the three-act comedy which Mr. Daniel Frohman is about to produce in New York. Mr. Martin Harvey is preparing to give at the Prince of Wales’s Theatre M. Maeterlinck’s one- act play “ Aglavaine and Selysette.” Mr. Wyndham will produce the English version of “Cyrano de Bergerac” at Blackpool on March 5, with Miss Mary Moore and Mr. Alfred Kendrick as chief supporters. After visiting other provincial cities, the play will be presented at Mr. Wyndham’s new theatre about the middle of April. “The Likeness of the Night,” a four-act play by Mrs. W. K. Clifford, has been performed for purposes of copyright at the Avenue, Mr. Charles Hawtrey and Miss Lily Hanbury taking the prin- cipal parts. THE AUTHOR. Mr. W. L. Courtney and Mr. Joseph Comyns Carr are writing for Sir Henry Irving a drama on the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The produe- tion of the play is expected about May. Mr. F. R. Benson opened his Shakespearian season at the Lyceum before a numerous audience on Feb. 15 with “Henry V.” At the close of the play Mr. Benson spoke of the kindness shown to Mrs. Benson and himself since they both acted under Sir Henry Irving on these boards long ago. The new comedy by Mr. Haddon Chambers, which will be produced at the Criterion, is called “The Faithless.” The Globe will be re-opened on the 17th by Mr. Richard Lambart, when “ A Broken Halo,” by Mr. Charles Thursby, and ‘‘ Nurse,” a comedy by Miss Clo Graves, will be produced. At the Shaftesbury an American company under Mr. George Lederer will open on April 2. = e<e OBITUARY. R. H. D. TRAILL died suddenly in Mi London on Feb. 21, only a week after the revised and enlarged edition of his dialogues of the dead, “The New Lucian,” had been published. Mr. Traill’s career in journalism and authorship was a very full one. He con- tributed to the Pall Mall Gazette and to the S¢. James’s Gazette when Mr. Greenwood edited these journals; and subsequently wrote for the Saturday Review, the Daily Telegraph (of whose staff he became a member), and the Observer, which he edited for a time. When Literature was founded in Oct. 1897, Mr. Traill was. appointed editor, and the best of his energies have since been devoted to establishing that journal in the high position it now enjoys. Both to the English Citizen and the English Men of Letters series Mr. Traill was a contributor, his: monograph on Sterne being especially noteworthy.. Among other works, he wrote “ Re-captured Rhymes,” “ Saturday Songs,” biographies of Sir John Franklin and Lord Cromer, and edited the important “ Social England” series published by Messrs. Cassell. Mr. Traill was in his fifty- eighth year. Sir Wittram Hounrer, the distinguished autho- rity and writer on India, died on Feb. 7, in his: sixtieth year. Before he was thirty Sir William Hunter became Director-General of Statistics, and was entrusted with the task of directing @ statistical survey of the whole Indian Empire. In the production of the “Imperial Gazetteer of India” and of the detailed accounts of the sepa-  THE rate provinces he spent twelve years. His “ Brief History of the Indian Peoples” has been trans- lated into five vernacular languages. Only last year was published the first volume of his “History of British India,” which he intended to complete in several volumes. The obituary of the past month also includes Mr. JoserpH Cowen, the famous proprietor- journalist of the Newcastle Chronicle and ex- M.P.; Sir William Duguid Geddes, author of “The Problem of the Homeric Poems,” and other works, Professor of Greek in the Uni- versity of Aberdeen from 1855 to 1885, and afterwards Principal; Miss Harriet Parr (“ Holme Lee’) a writer of stories chiefly for the young, who died at the age of seventy-two; Mr. Ernest Dowson, the poet, whose new volume of verses had been announced for early publication ; Mr. Andrew White Tuer, F.S.A., of the Leadenhall Press, author of “ Bartolozzi and His Works,” “Old London Street Cries and Cries of To-Day,” &c., who died on Feb. 24, at the age of sixty- one; and Mr. Francis Harvey, the well-known bookseller of St. James’s-street. eS BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) Ture War in Soutu Arrica, by J. A. Hobson (Nisbet, 7s. 6d. net), deals with the origin and consequences of the war, and its chief value, says the Daily Chronicle, “is to be found in the fact that the writer was an eye-witness to much that happened at a critical moment, and at the very centre of political disturbance.” Certain parts of the yolume “ savour strongly of the political pamphlet. Others _are so fair in statement and record that they seem almost to undermine some of Mr. Hobson’s own conclusions.” Other journals discuss the controversial aspects of the question dealt with in the volume. EIGHTEEN YEARS IN THE KuHysBuR, 1879-1898, by Colonel Sir Robert Warburton, K.C.I.E., &c. (Murray, 16s.). “The very virtues of the man,” says the Times, “ will probably militate to some extent against the popular success of his biography,’ but “ what these pages lack in literary form they gain in evident sincerity of purpose.” ‘ All through this interesting volume,” remarks the Daily Tele- graph, “ we have a spectacle of constant devotion to duty, not always, perhaps, rewarded to the measure of its deserts.” Tue ImpmRIaAL RusstsNn Navy, by Fred T. Jane (Thacker, 30s.), is an analysis of the Russian policy by sea. The first half of the book, says the Spectator, is “an interesting history of the growth of the Russian Navy from the time when Queen Elizabeth lent a boat to Ivan the Terrible.’ Inthe second part the author deals with more general questions. ‘“ On the Chinese question, and, indeed, on the whole matter of our relations to Russia, he talks much admirable common-sense.” The volume “fills a distinct. gap in our naval literature,’ says the Daily AUTHOR. 227 Chronicle. ‘Mr. Jane’s views, based on personal inquiry in Russia, are those of one competent to judge,” and “ they are worthy of close and earnest attention.” Tur FrRANco-GerMAN WAR, 1870-71, by officers who took part in the campaign, translated and edited by Major- General Maurice and others (Sonnenschein, 21s.), presents, says Literature, “a consecutive history of the war, intelli- gently and graphically described.” It ‘is well worth reading, and the lessons which it teaches are still of value, chief amongst them the lesson that no bravery can avert defeat if the officers are careless in times of peace, or if the bonds of discipline are relaxed in deference to popular clamour.” America To-pay, by William Archer (Heinemann, 6s), is accorded “the highest praise” by the Daily Chronicle as being “the best plea for the true Anglo-American under- standing that has been given us by any English man of letters.” Mr. Archer’s travellers’ gossip ‘“‘ has the merit of being thoroughly sane and wholesome,” and “his sympathy is always active and his criticism is always temperate.’ ‘The work is the result of the author’s recent visit to the United States, and consists of ten “observations” and four “reflections.” Mr. Archer's impressions of America, says Literatwre, “are chiefly notable for their determined optimism.” ‘The literary reader will be chiefly interested in the essays on American literature and the American language with which the pleasant little volume concludes.” Nigerra, by Charles Henry Robinson, M.A. (Horace Marshall and Son, 5s.), is ‘‘ an attractive little book,” says the Daily News, ‘‘ by a traveller and a scholar,” containing a general sketch of the events that have led to the founda- tion of Nigeria, of some results of the company’s rule, the existing situation and the problems of the future. The Spectator refers to it as ‘‘a very informing and a very entertaining book,” and adds that Canon Robinson’s account of the Hausas is the most important part of the volume. Ix vue VALLEY oF THE RHONE, by Charles Wood (Macmillan, 10s.) is a “ delightfully illustrated antiquarian and archeological book of travel.” “‘ Mr. Wood is also an artist in manners and customs,” and one is uncertain, says the Spectator, * whether to admire the descriptions of archi- tecture and scenery, or the iuimitable dialogues, more; on the whole, the latter being the rarer gift, we must value it more.” ' Apvancep AvusrraLia, by William Johnson Galloway, M.P. (Methuen, 33. 6d.), treats, says the Guardian, ‘‘ only of the most modern and least romantic aspects of tke southern colonies. Perhaps its most interesting chapters are those which describe the scheme of old-age pensions now actually in force in New Zealand”; while the author’s account of the federation movement is “ lucid and instruc- tive.’ The Daily Chronicle calls it a “well-balanced and informing review ” of political questions. TeNNYSON AS A RELIGIOUS THACHER, by C. F. G Masterman (Methuen, 6s.) “‘ may be added to the rapidly filling shelf of Tennysonian literature,” says the Daily Chronicle, “ with the certainty that it will be consulted again.’ ‘“ Packed with thought,” it represents only one side of Tennyson’s genius, “but it represents that side thoroughly,” Mr. Masterman’s treatment of the Tennysonian philosophy being “not only intelligent, it is even searching and illuminating.” Literature speaks of the book as con- taining ‘‘ much food for thought on those great subjects the echoes of which so often mingle and harmonise with the name of Tennyson.” Lawextn’s Rematns, by H. B. (Vincent, Oxford, 2s. 6d.), induces Literature to say that ‘‘ perhaps, since the days of 228 the Ozford Spectator, nothing more amusing has come from “Oxford, at any rate in prose,” than this book, It “is more -easily read than described, but it may be said to be a satirical biography of an imaginary Fellow of an imaginary College.” The Times says it is ‘a delightful effort of sus- tained irony. Its object is to make fun both of the folly, which is so rampant, of writing unnecessary lives of unimportant people, and also of the less engaging qualities -of the latter-day don.” Tur UNPUBLISHED LEGENDS OF VIRGIL, collected by Charles Godfrey Leland (Stock, 3s. 6d.),‘‘ embodies much -ancient Italian tradition,” says the Literary World, although “¢ we never know what is tradition, and what is Leland.” “The work is consistently entertaining’”—‘‘ an excellent volume, full of interest and full of fun.” The Daily Chronicle says “ these popular traditions may be regarded .as a pleasant sequel” to Comparetti’s volume on “ Virgil in the Middle Ages.” Tur Hesrew TRAGEDY, by Colonel C. R. Conder (Bla :k- “wood, 38.), begins with Abraham crossing the Euphrates and ends with the Christianity of the early ages. The history of the Hebrews assumes in Colonel Conder’s hand, says the Spectator, ‘a reality which it often lacks. At the same time we never lose the sense of the separation between it and all other national histories.” Lucran, THE SyRIAN Satirist, by Lieutenant-Colonel H. W. L. Hime (Longmans, 5s.), is spoken of by the Daily ‘Chronicle as a “ most scholarly and interesting mono- -graph.” SavroLa, by Winston Spencer Churchill (Longmans, 6s.) is described by the Spectator as a “clever and interesting book, which is, above all else, the revela- tion of a masterful and audacious personality.” It gives a picture of Court life in an imaginary European State of to-day. The scene is laid in the capital of Laurania an imaginary republic with a seaboard on the Mediterranean, where the autocratic government of the President ‘‘ has only ‘Jed toa recrudescence of the discontent stamped out at the close of the Civil War five years previously.” Mr. Churchill “‘ wields a vigorous pen, he displays a genuine rhetorical gift of expression, his characters are boldly outlined and his incidents well planned.” ‘Its abundant cleverness is manifest throughout,” says the Daily Telegraph ; the Daily Chronicle regards the book as a very promising work ; and Literature says the story is “ well and briskly told, and not without some clever touches of character.” Foituy’s Corner, by Mrs. H. E. Dadeney (Heinemann, 6s.) is—up to Feb. 5—the best novel the Daily Chronicle has read since Christmas. ‘And we shall be pleasantly surprised if we read a better this side of Haster.’ The main motive is “the first passion of a woman for an ‘anworthy man outlasting, and not depleted by, the proof of unworthiness ; and always showing itself stronger than the most obvious self-interest.” Literature describes it as “a delightful novel; a comedy in fiction, with the tragic note, certainly, but with the proper comedy ‘curtain’ on the ‘happiness of the hero and the heroine.” SHAMELESS WAYNE, by Halliwell Sutcliffe (Unwin, 6s.), ‘is described by the Spectator as “ a very fascinating book.” A blood feud is the principal theme ; and “ as for the super- matural element, the phantom dog hardly strikes the reader as supernatural at all, so well does it blend with the wild narrative.’ The Daily Telegraph recommends the book to “‘all lovers of an exciting and well-told story,” adding that it will “undoubtedly be one of the books of the year.” This “vivid and luring romance of the York- -shire moors” is written, says the Daily News, “ with a vigour that never flags, and that carries the reader along ewith it.” THE AUTHOR. A Secret or THE NortH Sx, by Algernon Gissing (Chatto and Windas, 6s.), finds its principal note, says the Daily News, in “the wild rough life of the Northumbrian sea-coast, combined with a family feud of Corsican intensity.” “The book, powerful as it is, is one that everyone will not appreciate, but, per contra, the appreciation of those who do like it will be very marked.” ‘‘The very winds of the North Sea coast,” says Literature, “seem to blow over the rival farms,” in these pages; and the spirttuelle Kittiwake is recommended to the reader “as a first-rate little heroine.” Tue Lost ConTINENT, by Cutcliffe Hyne (Hutchinson, 6s.), “is fertile of thrilling situations,” says the Daily Chronicle. “The events that happened in this story happened a very long time ago, as long ago, in fact, as the days when Atlantis was a flourishing continent and its cultured inhabitants talked airily about the European savage.” Phorenice (as Empress of Atlantis) is “ very well done. She is a real woman beneath her trappings, and we are not at all sorry to have made her acquaintance.” QuzER-SrpE Srorius, by James F. Sullivan (Downey, 6s.), is a volume in the humorous vein, than which, the Spectator says, “no more effectual antidote to the prevalent depression has been given to the world in a literary form this winter.” The sketches are “extremely amusing,’ and “ presuppose no familiarity with the course of recent thistory or the technicalities of public life.” In Lonpon’s Hart, by George R. Sims (Chatto and Windus, 3s. 6d.), has been “read right through” by the Spectator, ‘and most of those who take it up will do the same.” ‘Asa substitute for witnessing one of Mr. Sims’s melodramas on the Adelphi boards, we can cordially recommend the perusal of ‘ In London’s Heart.” Tre Heart or THE Dancer, by Percy White (Hutchin- son, 6s.), a tale of “new men and old acres,” in which a decadent poet and a brilliantly-distinguished soldier are rival suitors for the hand of a fascinating actress, is, says the Spectator, “a great deal better written and more inte- resting than most modern society novels.” “It may be noted that in attributing to his heroine supreme excellence alike as sioger and dancer, Mr. White has no precedent in the annals of modern music. Bat the violation of proba- bility will be readily overlooked in a clever and entertaining book.” Tue Sky Priot, by Ralph Connor (Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.) is no way, says the Guardian, belonging to the class of what are distinctively called “ religious novels,” but it is “one of that rare order of books which are. not only very good to read, but which the reader instinctively feels the better for haviug read.” In the district known as the Foothills, lying immediately beyond the great prairies and in the shadow of the Rockies, ‘the author has been fortu- nate in finding a scene which has the delight of novelty.” Donna TERESA, by Frances M. Peard (Macmillan, 6s.), “has very decided charm,” says Literature, and “is well worth reading for the characters of the two sisters and its admirable pictures of life in Italy.” Another figure is Wilbraham, the lover of both sisters. ‘‘ There is, a8 perhaps there should be,” says the Guardian, “the dagger of an Italian socialist to end it all tragically, and it is noticeable that Teresa only forgives, and never loves, Wilbraham.” Fro, by Max Pemberton (Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.), is a romance turning on a projected mésalliance between Austrian prince and opera singer, which it is the object of the princely family and their myrmidons to prevent at all hazards. “The reader,” says the Daily News, “is kept in a state of perpetual excitement and suspense from begin- ning to end”; while the Daily Telegraph calls it “a very readable story, pleasantly told.” 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. 10 Issue 10 (March 1900) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 10 (March 1900) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1900-03-01-The-Author-10-10 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/471/1900-02-01-The-Author-10-9.pdf 600300d21f9892f15fb7399e5f125deb PDF Text Text ������������������������ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1900-02-01 Volume 10 Issue 9 Pages Page range in volume 185–208 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19000201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin The Huthbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 9.] For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or pard- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. eS HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. pe GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). : In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. .(2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. ; (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. a Seg bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or octor ! ARY 1, 1900. [Prick SIXPENCE. Til. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “ Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. ect WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. Lt EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :— (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece bya certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. This method can only be entered into when a fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc- tion. It is not a common method. 186 (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of royalties. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. 4. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 6. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is protected by a preliminary performance in the United Kingdom. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of writing the play has begun or after it is finished. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note, The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. THE AUTHOR. s. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. 2 et THE READING BRANCH. EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this i branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea, : NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 2ist of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. FROM THE COMMITTEE. R. A. HOPE HAWKINS has been elected Chairman of the Society for the year 1900. Mr. Edward Rose has been elected on to the Committee, and it is hoped that Mr. Conan Doyle will join on his return from South Africa, — Mr. Mullett Ellis has informed the Secretary that the following resolutions will be proposed by him at the general meeting of the Society. Notice of such general meeting will be circulated  THE AUTHOR. in due course. The proposer requests that all members desirous of supporting the resolutions will communicate with him direct, at the follow- ing address: T. Munuerr Exuis, Esq., Creek House, Shepperton. (1.) That the exercise of a literary censorship of books by the large trading monopoly, whose main business is that of mere distributors and newsyendors, is not advantageous to letters. (2.) That the system of monopoly which dominates the railway bookstalls throughout the kingdom gives to one firm the power over the output and distribution of popular literature and of political journals, which is damaging to the interests of authors and of the public, (3-) That a copy of the foregoing resolution be sent to the chairman and directors of the various railway companies with a respectful request that on the next available occasion the licences of the railway bookstalls be granted to more than one firm of booksellers, and that the principle of competition in the supply of litera- ture be thus substituted for the existing mono- poly. (a) Because it would be of financial advantage o the shareholders of the railway companies. (6) Because the dominance of one firm over the sale of newspapers and popular literature is a political danger which may even threaten the national liberties, and is damaging to literature. (c) Because the existing system of the monopoly of one trading firm has during many years past been exercised in censorship of authors. (d) Because the sale of books at railway book- stalls has become so enormous that an alteration in the existing system has become a necessity, many valuable works not being now obtainable at the bookstalls, so that if the abuse be not dealt with by the railway companies it will be necessary to seek the intervention of Parliament. G, HT. LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—CounsEL’s OPINION. HE Managing Committee of the Society of Authors have experienced great difficulty in gaining a clear idea of the legal position of members whose books are involved in cases where a receiver for debenture-holders has entered into possession, where a company has gone into liquidation, and where private firms have gone into bankruptcy. As the trouble and annoyance to members is very great, the Society, through its Secretary, usually instructs its solicitor to take the matter up on behalf of its members. 187 In carrying through a matter of this kind the process of the courts necessarily takes many months, and to the authors involved the progress no doubt seems exceedingly slow, and the waiting exceedingly wearisome. To the ordinary creditor, who is not bound by contract, this is not of so much consequence, as he simply brings in his claim and awaits the result. The result is often disappointing—but beyond this he has no further bother. The case of the author, however, who is bound to a company or firm which has come to grief in any of the three ways described above, is totally ditferent. In one case his book may have been produced and royalties have become due to him under his agreement. In another case his book may be in the height of its sale, but owing to the failure of the pub- lishers may be suddenly withdrawn from the market. This, in a great many cases, means the absolute loss of property to the author. Many books are short-lived, and if in the early stages there is a check in the supply, the public will take some other book instead. Experience shows that under such circum- stances it is almost impossible to give renewed life to the work. It is a mistake to think that this applies only to works of fiction; it is equally true of other current literature, like works of travel, biographies, memoirs, &e. Even if the life of a book is not destroyed, as it has been shown may occur, the profits accruing to the author may be stopped for some time. Another case may arise of an author, who is under contract for publication of his book, and his book has not yet been put on the market. Again, there may be the case of an author who has contracted to write a book but has not yet completed the MS. These are some of the difficulties in which authors are placed which are beyond the difficulties of ordinary creditors. The cases of bankruptcy, liquidation, or the appointment of a. receiver for the debenture- ho'ders are, unfortunately for authors, of not infrequent occurrence. As, therefore, the same difficulties are likely to arise in the future, and as the expense of fighting each point in the courts would be more than the Society could afford with- out considerable assistance, the Committee decided to take the best opinion that could be obtained from Counsel on the various questions involved. In answer to two of the questions asked from Counsel, which were as follows :— 1. “ What are the rights of authors in respect of royalties (a4) due or (6) to become due as  188 THE AUTHOR. against (i.) a receiver for debenture-holders ; (ii.) a liquidator or trustee in bankruptcy ; and (iii.) an assign for value?” and 2. “ Whether authors under royalty agreements —who have not assigned their copyrights—can claim that the contracts are determined by a receivership or liquidation, or a cesser of the pub- lisher’s business, so that they can contract with a new publisher,” Counsel makes the following statement :— “The appointment of a receiver for the deben- ture-holders has not in my opinion affected the obligations in any way. The company or its assignees (whether the assignee by way of secu- rity has taken possession by way of receiver or not) stand in no different position as regards performance of the contract. “Tt remains to be considered what would be the result if the company went into liquidation. Tn that case the liquidator would be entitled to a contract of which, if he performs it, he can have the benefit, and which he may if he pleases assign with consent. To perform it means to pay the royalties, not to pay a dividend on the royalties. Tf the author is not minded to come in in the winding-up and prove for future royalties he is not bound to do so, and the liquidator can only have the benefit of the contract if he performs the obligations of the contract. If the liquidator does not pay the royalties at their due dates, the author is, I think, entitled to give him notice that unless he pays within a reasonable time he will treat that as a refusal to perform the contract, and, if the liquidator does not pay, the author may, I think, determine the contract and agree with another publisher. One may test this in this way : Suppose under such circumstances the liquidator brought an action for an injunction to restrain the author from publishing elsewhere, he could not have such an order except upon the terms of complying with the conditions of the contract, that is, paying the royalties in full. “Tf” the publishers mentioned in the case for Counsel’s opinion —“ were a firm and not a cor- poration, the position would be the same, except that in bankruptcy the trustee would have power to disclaim the contract—a power which a liqui- dator does not possess.” From this statement it would appear that Counsel considers that royalty agreements as above are not put an end to by a receivership or liquidation of the publishers, but that a receiver, liquidator, or trustee is bound to pay the royalties in full as well as those due at the date of the failure as any becoming due subsequently if he intends to have the benefit of the contract with the author. Members of the Society must, however, remember that these positions may be varied by express agreement, and they must not too readil deduce that their case comes in line with the opinion. The above remarks refer to those books which have been published, and on which royalties are due. With regard to the question of a contract existing for publication when the book has not yet been published, Counsel states that the fact that the receiver for the debenture-holders has been appointed does not affect the right of the publisher to publish in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and again, in the case where the author is under contract, but has not completed his manuscript, although the publisher cannot compel the author to complete, Counsel thinks that the author would be liable in damages if he refuses to complete. The above points are printed for the serious consideration of the members of the Society; they must, however, always keep in mind the advisability of consulting the Secretary on their agreements (especially with limited companies) before they sign them, and of laying before him a full statement of their cases before they take any action as regards insolvent publishers. G. H. T. II.—Tuer Riext to Correct. Here is a case in which the right to correct and alter a signed article has not only been claimed but exercised; not, it is true, by the editor of a magazine published in London. It is noticed in this place because the editor’s exercise of his so-called right was that test of a theory which in mathematics is called an extreme case. What he did was this :— The article was invited by the editor: it was written to order; it was also written to the length required ; it was signed ; it was accepted ; and it was paid for. editor found himself cramped for room. He therefore boldly cut off the first half of the article and began it in the middle, retaining the writer's — 4 name at the end, in this way making ridiculous nonsense of the whole paper; damaging his own — magazine by inserting nonsense; and inflicting the most cruel injury to the reputation of the — writer. On a mild expostulation, the editor replied that he held the right to make any correc- : tions he pleased and to give or withhold the name — of the contributor. In such a case there is only one thing to be done: viz., to bring an action and to procure an” injunction restraining the sale of the magazine — ‘with the mutilated article. When it was to be inserted the  THE AUTHOR. It cannot be too strongly maintained that when ‘papers are signed the editor has no power to alter a word. He may invite alterations: he may refuse insertion unless alterations are made: he ‘must not make the author say, over his own name, ‘one werd that he does not choose to say. As regards unsigned articles, of course the editor is himself responsible, and will alter and ut them up just as he pleases. The author cannot question that right or complain when it is exercised. There are editors, even in London, who claim the right of correcting and altering signed articles. It is greatly to be desired that a single case should be tried in court, when the alleged right to make an author say what he does not think, and, over his own name, utter opinions which he does not hold, would be finally disallowed, and its monstrous nature exposed. 4 & III—A New AreumMent ¥F Copyright Our valuable German conte vler Feder, in commentin Hungarian Pesti Hirlap, Gag Hungarian critic which put @He 4 national copyright in an entre@ new light. The modern national movement in Hungary has been from -its commencement closely connected with the resuscitation of Magyar asa literary lan- g guage, and one of the results of this cultivation tio of the language is that contemporary Hungarian INTERNATIONAL ‘ excellence. This literature has a distinctively _ Meanwhile, as Austria-Hungary lies outside the 198 Berne Union, the country is flooded with German God books, and pirated translations of German books ; —naturally exercising a definite Germanising ai influence, that fatal denationalising influence ¥ which evoked the revolution of 1848, and has een ever since combated with relentless deter- mination. ‘“ But we have,” says Mr. Téth Bela in the Pesti Hirlap, “this great evil, that German books are much sought after. I am called a ‘Germanophobe.’ I am so respecting certain authors. Not respecting Goethe, Kleist, and Heine. . But there are thousands of people of deplorable taste who admit miserably useless and inferior b-oks into their houses. Why? Because their brains are not Magyar enough to be critical and to say, If these books please the Germans, let them have them, so long as they are kept out of our way,’ and because there are in Germany numerous paper- mills and printing presses for which employment must be found. The juvenile literature VOL. x. ET Oat ASE - literature has rapidly risen to a high standard of . + Hungarian tone, and is splendidly patriotic. | 189 of Germany is weak. And even its best produc- tions are injurious tf they train our young people into foreign ways of feeling and thinking. In how many Hungarian houses have I seen German patriotic works!” To all this our contemporary, Das Recht der Feder, replies with excellent reason: “If Mr. Téth Bela desires to sce the national literature better supported, let him do what he can to per- suade Hungary to cease to be one of the pirate States and to come into the Berne Union.” But the point raised appears to us to be one of even wider and more profound significance. We have here a new argument for international pro- tection. The community which steals its litera- ture from abroad is surrendering its national character to foreign influences. H. C. IV.—Hoitianp anp THE BERNE CONVENTION. The Dutch “League in favour of the Berne Convention ” has presented a petition to the Queen of Holland, urging: “That for a long period the rights of foreigners have been, among all civilised nations, placed on an equality with those of citizens, whilst among ourselves the rights of foreigners can be violated with impunity—with the consequence that Dutch authors have no rights outside their own country ; 4 that the intellectual development of the inhabitants of the Netherlands is prejudiced by the quantity of foreign literature of inferior value with which the country is flooded; and that a legal sanction of International copyright would be advantageous to the national works of an artistic and scientific character, and assist the development of a higher national taste.” V.—PuorocrapH CopyrigHt IN AMERICA. A circuit court judge has decided that photo- graphs of actresses and actors, not being fine art, cannot be copyrighted. The decision, which establishes a precedent that pleases the news- papers and publishers, threatens to damage many flourishing photographic businesses. The Copy- right League bitterly fought the point. The actresses are now preparing a memorial to Wash- ington denouncing Judge Wallace’s assertion that their photographs are too inartistic to copyright, —New York telegram in the Morning Leader, Jan. 15, VI—AgeEnts. With reference to the letter signed “R. K.” which appeared in the January number of The Author, I think that it may be beneficial to the members of the Society to point out some of the T 190 difficulties that arise by employing an agent, and putting absolute and unquestioned trust in his settlement of literary matters, both on the legal and financial sides. In the March number of The Author, 1899, a long and somewhat exhaustive article appeared on this subject. Members of the Society are par- ticularly referred to this article as bearing on the question. It may be as well to point out further that an author’s interest and an agent’s are not, as they should be, always identical. An author will naturally say this cannot be the case, as the larger the price an agent gets for an author’s work, the larger amount will he be paid. Take, however, the following instance as a probable example : An agent has an overwhelming number of MSS. in his hands that he wants to place with certain publishers. This is not unfrequently the case, and from an agent’s business point of view five contracts of £20 each may be better and less difficult transactions than one of £100. Again, he knows that he can place one book in one week and one in the next week which will each bring, say £100 return to the authors— £200 in all; the other terms of the contract being decidedly disadvantageous to the authors concerned. Supposing he took the two weeks to obtain better terms for one author to the neglect of the other, he might only increase that author’s financial returns by £30 or £40. He would thus lose his agency charges on about £60 or £70, as he has spent two weeks in placing the book of one author in a thoroughly satis- factory manner for the author, whereas he might have placed two books in that time unsatis- factorily to the two authors, but satisfactorily as regards himself. This example is put forward, as certain agree- ments have been before the Society of Authors recently—agreements which have been recom- mended by the agent, who had only tried one publisher with the book—agreements which were wholly disadvantageous to the author in that they assigned to the publisher, as stated in the letter of the January issue referred to, a great many of those rights which it is the agent’s duty to place, ‘and in that they also offered to the author a wretched 10 per cent. after the sale of 500 copies, with no increase however large the sales prove to be. It is, further, an open question how far an ordinary agent is capable of drafting an agree- ment full of legal difficulties and technicalities. .[The writer of the above neglects a very im- portant factor in the conduct of an agent’s busi- THE AUTHOR. ness. Itis this. There are many writers whose works hang about on the border line. That is to say, their chance of success, even of so moderate a success as the repayment of the cost, is doubtful, Their chance of proving a decided commercial successis more than doubtful. Every publisher's _, reader knows of such cases: it is his constantly recurring difficulty to form an opinion as to the \ chances of a MS. on this border line. An agent offers such a MS. to several pub- j lishers in succession. It is refused. He then 4 finds a publisher who says: “I doubt whether this book will prove a paying venture. If I do take it, I must have it on my own conditions, not those which you can impose in the case of a popular author.” A case has been brought before me in which such a MS., offered to, and refused by, three or four publishers in succession, was accepted by a publisher exactly on these terms. The agent communicated the offer to the author. He said: “These are the only terms on which your book can be produced. It is for you to accept or to decline.” Observe that had the author refused j these terms his book would not have been pub- lished at all. Now, publication is almost always — the first thing desired. If on fair terms, so much ~ the better: if not, then on any terms. This author at once closed with the terms. The cases quoted above seem to me suspiciously like the one which I have described. Is the writer quite sure that in these cases only one publisher was offered the MS.? If not, then, his 3 argument breaks down. If he is right on this point, his argument depends upon the assumption that an agent’s time is so fully engaged that he cannot spare more than a certain amount foreach book. I do not think that any agent has to : divide his time and to calculate the amount he ~ can afford for each book. For the work of a successful author an agreement is generally arrived at very quickly: the discussions and the disputes rather belong to the work of the less popular writer. But two business men who under- — stand their business do not waste time in trying to “best”? each other. On the other hand, a great part of the agent’s time is required for the acquisition and the maintenance of the condi- tions, varying from day to day, of the publishing trade. He must know, as well as any publishers, the details, such as the cost of production, illus- trations, and the rest; he must know the finan- cial position of every house ; he must know what houses are full and what are open for the pro- duction of more books; in the case of magazines and weeklies he must know when serials are wanted, when the paper is engaged and for how long. The agent, in fact, must acquire and Mga ae  THE AUTHOR. 191 maintain a knowledge of the whole trade such as no single publisher and no single writer can acquire.— ED. | VIl—“Tse Mernop or tHe Future.” I cannot help thinking that, if only one thoroughly successful book was produced on this method, it would soon be very generally adopted. As it is, the writers whose works sell at sight, and whose pockets are always comfortably lined, are indisposed to disturb existing arrangements which they have tested in favour of another to them as yet untried; whilst those who have yet to make their name have often not the means, however mederate the cost, for printing the work themselves, and so will sell their productions for any trifle that may be offered, or accept almost any terms that may be proposed, which do not involve outlay, in preference. Authors, generally, have a wholly illusory idea as to the influence a publisher has on the sale of a’ book. As Sir Walter Besant says, a book would sell just as well published on this system as on any other; and if a few writers of estab- lished position were only to make one experiment, “they would be amazed at the result.” Some time ago, I and two or three friends formed a small limited company on this basis, to work more especially for composers. We after- wards offered the same benefit to a considerable number of authors; yet although we are all, I think, good men and true, without any personal axes to grind, we had no response. It seems cnrious that, though men will subscribe readily to all sorts of wild-cat schemes which promise the most absurd and improbable returns, they will calmly ignore an honest attempt to promote a scheme which may materially benefit them at practically no risk at all. A Memper oF THE SOCIETY. VIII.—Possisixirigs. Here is a book published on the _half-profit system. The accounts, when rendered, were found to agree with some of the figures given in The Author and in “The Pen and the Book.” That is to say, the charges for composition, printing, and paper were those which certain anonymous publishers have declared to be impossible. The returns of sales were given under four distinct prices, averaging exactly what has been ascer- tained to be the average and has been quoted as such in the Society’s papers. The charge for advertising seemed to show that a reasonable amount of discretion had been bestowed upon this branch of expenditure. vou. X. oe The question is, what opening for fraud does such an account leave? Observe that none of the rapacious “ grabs” advocated by the committee of the Publishers’ Association were found in this account. It was a simple statement—“ so much money spent: so much money received: here is your share.” The general principle, universally recognised in all affairs of business, is that, if a body of men are left free to cheat with impunity, they will cheat. How bas this man cheated ? Very possibly not at all. Yet he could cheat in several ways. He might have taken discounts— any discount he could get—and omitted to credit the account of the book with them. He might have advertised in his own organ, and charged against the book advertisements which cost him nothing. Or he might have charged exchange advertisements which cost him nothing. And he might have made a false return of the number sold and of the price obtained. Again, he might overstate the numbers sent to the colonies, and understate thosé sold to the English trade. Or he might have had the book printed in Holland at a reduction of some 20 per cent. in English prices, and then charged what looked like a fair English price. The real point is that he might have done any or all of these things with impunity, relying on the fact that so very, very few authors have the moral courage to treat this kind of property as they treat all other kinds, viz., to have the account audited. IX.—Tue Question oF REvIEwS. The question of reviews is one of the most important connected with the healthy condition of contemporary literature which the student of it has to deal with, but one with regard to which the reviewer (I use the word as a collective) has, I fear, little conscience. I am an old author and have published a little of everything, stories, studies, political essays, history, and technical books, their production running over a period of nearly thirty years, and my connection with journalism and reviewing more than forty, my first appearance in print having occurred fifty odd years ago. Needless to say, I have attained to little of that distinction which is the lot of the successful specialist, but I am content with my harvest, and am independent of the publisher and the public, having attained in a tranquil old age to a modest competence, a tolerable callousness to public opinion, and an absolute serenity before the critic. And yet he has always dealt with me kindly, so kindly, indeed, that itis ungrateful for me to carp at his doings. Some of my books rT 2  192 THE AUTHOR. have been very widely noticed, and rarely ill- naturedly, but of fifty notices one has called out, I am disposed to say that by far the largest number showed that the critic had only skimmed the book, or had not read it at all, but taken the notice of one of the leading journals for the basis of his own opinion, and very few indeed showed that the writers were read up in the subject of the book. I have also done a good deal of reviewing and in two or three subjects have qualified myself to criticise a book, so that I am able to judge . whether a given notice is competent or not. It has, therefore been within my experience to have read in leading literary organs criticisms which proved that the critic was absolutely disqualified to say whether the book was accurate in its state- ments or not. Imagine a critic reviewing a history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth of England, and not knowing whether certain battles in the Netherlands had been victories or defeats, or who commanded in them! Yet I have seen in an authoritative journal a review of a book the subject of which I was thoroughly versed in, which review passed unnoticed errors as important as would be the ascribing victory where the event in a certain conflict had been defeat. It was evident that the critic had never read a standard work on the subject treated in the book and had criticised it as he would have criticised a novel, as agreeable reading. French criticism rarely makes such a blunder, while it is very common in England. I know only two journals published in London which seem to me to make a regular practice of assigning their criticism to writers who are specialists in the subject treated by the book. And with a few brilliant exceptions, how superior to the body of English criticism is either the French or the German! Superior too in precisely this respect, that the critic is competent to detect the errors of statement which the book falls into. The subject that “Querist” raises in the January Author is another in which English criticism errs frankly, and it may be confidently anticipated what will be said by certain journals (and the majority of them) of books by certain authors, their “ tried favourites,” and often their personal friends. If our judges were to dismiss their cases as carelessly (to say the least) as our critics do, there would be a large disbenching in England. All this involves not merely the highest interests of our current literature but the exercise of common honesty. Retrrep. THE PENSION FUND. MONG other communications concerning the Pension Fund is one from an associate who seems in difficulties about his own position. It is very simple. Membership has but one condition, that of having written a book. The pensions will be granted to members only, and, I suppose, chiefly to members who have led the life of letters professionally. This correspondent asks whether a certain production of a volume containing stories written by himself, with the addition of a chapter or short story written by another hand, makes him eligible for membership. I should be of opinion that it does. His concluding words are eminently satisfactory. “T hope that the enclosed cheque for a guinea will be an annual donation to the fund, and whether I am right or wrong in my surmise that associates are not eligible, I cannot but sympathise with this splendid scheme.” W. B. A suggestion has been made by Mrs. Tweedie — in forwarding a donation to the Fund, that “ the offer of a pension to any author should be con- sidered an honour, a valued recognition from other writers, and in no wise a charity. The bread of charity is bitter, while that of success is ’ i sweet.” Iam very glad to see the Pension Scheme has — made a good start in securing the support ofa dozen prominent and representative names, for ‘the ‘most part drawn from those whom happy -fate has put beyond need of help. Judging from what one knows of big incomes enjoyed by other — prominent writers, there should, if these have — any feeling of esprit de corps, be substantial additions to the donations which are essential as solid bases of the fund. For the fundamental thing is to create a Capital Account (aided by such proportion of subserip- tions as can be spared from time to time) since subscribers are often fickle, and, in all cases, mortal. The scheme seems well drawn, but perhaps clauses 8 and 10 might be made more stringent in excluding cases where an author already has a Civil List pension, or has by reckless living made “ducks and drakes” of large earnings through many years. Savile Club, Jan. 19. Epwarp CLopD. We have to thank Literature for giving to the public a fair and a truthful presentation of the case for a Pension Fund as an auxiliary to this  THE AUTHOR. 193 Society. Other papers have mentioned the scheme, some in the careless and casual manner of the modern writer of paragraphs who has no time to read what he criticises, some with the downright and deliberate misrepresentation of facts which certain writers for the press always practice with regard to this Society. So long as they can be answered these misrepresentations have proved of the greatest advantage to the Society, which has never asked for more than a dispassionate statement of its aims and work. Sometimes, however, the papers in which these attacks appear escape notice. The Pension Scheme in one paper was represented as intended for the whole of the literary craft, of whom more than half certainly do not, as yet, belong to the Society. They stand apart while they reap the substantial benefits of its work. The Fund will be used for members only. This is an example of the journalist too hurried to read. In another paper the scheme is represented as the work of certain literary men whose whole desire is to advertise themselves! And yet we ask why the Profession of Letters is still, by many, held in contempt. To advertise themselves! It is a costly advertisement. But what a courteous and well-bred criticism! and how profoundly true! Literature calls attention to the “Guild of Literature and of Art,” started by Charles Dickens and Lord Lytton in 1851, and quotes from a letter written by the former to the latter :— I do devontly believe that this plan carried will entirely change the status of the literary man in England, and make a revolution in his position, which no Government, no power on earth but his own, could effect. I have implicit confidence in the scheme—so splendidly begun—if we carry it out with a steadfast energy. I have a strong conviction that we hold in our hands the peace and honour of men of letters for centuries to come, and that you are destined to be their best and most enduring benefactor. The Guild proved a complete failure. The sum of about £1500 was raised, in addition to a similar amount spent in building two or three houses at Stevenage. Now, nobody wanted to live at Stevenage. The new scheme differs entirely from the old. It does not include the whole of literature; it is simply a scheme for the benefit of our own members; it will not offer almshouses, or anything of the kind; it will be supported by members of the Society, all of whom are actual members of the literary craft; and it will not appeal to the public for assistance. ee PARIS NOTES. 5, rue Chomel. HE happy initiative given by the successful inauguration of the “Université popu- laire’”’ (mentioned in “ Paris Notes” for December) has already borne fruit. On the heights of the nineteenth arrondissement, a some- what similar institution termed ‘“ Fondation universitaire de Belleville” has recently been established. Its premises are a long, low bungalow situated at the end of a wide court-yard bordered with trees, and its aim is to educate and elevate the working man, and to organise a systematic contact and union between workman and student. At the present moment upwards of eighty-five workmen, 101 students, and sixty honorary members are inscribed on the “ Fonda- ’s” registers; but though the last-named tion’s adherents include several opulent and well-known Parisians, honorary members are rigorously excluded from the working committee, which is entirely composed of young men. Sub-com- mittees, in which the workmen are earnestly invited to participate, have also been formed. to aid the head administration in expending or economising the revenues of the new foundation —to wit, 3500 francs per year. The students who are members of the association voluntarily offer themselves in turn as residents on the foundation. This devotion to “le devoir social” is admirable, since it practically amounts to a gratuitous exile of one, two, or three months from all accustomed haunts and recreations. The appeal issued to the workmen of Belleville by these generally-reputed fiery young Hotspurs is worthy of being quoted. Roughly translated, it runs as follows :— «- ° | here are in our association neither masters, chiefs, nor patrons. We do not come to justify a hierarchy, inculcate ideas, impose dogmas. Our property is collective; we are voluntarily equals. “ We are not sectarians. We admit all sincere and thoughtful opinions. We only exclude those who pretend to have the monopoly of truth and admit no contradiction. “We come to propose to you to work recipro- cally at our common education At the same time that we mutually develop our intelli- gence we shall learn to know and love each other. « . , Let us establish a new and fertile alliance. In uniting our efforts thus, in working to develop our minds and enlarge our hearts, we shall efface little by little the artificial separation of classes; we shall diminish their passing hostility ; we shall prepare a more peaceful, a more fraternal, a better epoch--whose dawn we shall soon see illuminating the horizon!” 194 We regret that space will not permit the inser- tion of the entire article. Suffice it to state that this loyal appeal has been warmly responded to ; and that, not only at Belleville, but also in several other thickly-populated districts of Paris—notably at Grenelle, the Ternes, and in the Latin Quarter —similar institutions are now in process of forma- tion—a good omen for the commencement of the new century and the inauguration of the Great Exhibition ! Tur CHaucHarp Prize. M. Marcel Prévost, president of the Socicté des Gens de Lettres, has presented to M. Chauchard, on behalf of the committee of the society he represents, a golden ‘plaquette” exquisitely wrought by Daniel Dupuis, bearing the inscrip- tion: “A.M. Chauchard, du Comité de la Sucicté -des Gens de Lettres, 1900.’ By this gift the committee endeavoured to express their gratitude for the munificent literary prizes and donations placed at their disposal by the well-known philan- thropist. This year M. Paul Alexis has won the signal distinction of being unanimously elected by the judges as the recipient of the Grand Prix Chauchard of 3000 frances. M. Alexis has been described as an excellent type of ‘une bonne téte grisonnante de bicheur myope.” His name was first brought before the public in 1879 by a curious little one-act play, entitled “Celles qu’on n’épouse pas,” which was personally recommended by Dumas ji/s to the manager of the Gymnase Theatre. ‘La Fin de Lucie Pellegrin,” followed by “Le Besoin d’Aimer,” “ L’Education amour- euse,” ‘Ta Comtesse,” &c., established his talent as a novelist; while “Monsieur Betsy,” “‘La Provinciale,’ and two plays taken from the Goncourts’ works, respectively entitled ‘“ Les Fréres Zemganno” and “Charles Demailly,” consolidated his reputation as a dramatist. He will shortly read ‘“‘Chantenac””—a new play in four acts — to the committee of the Comédie Frangaise; while a five-act study of political ambition, entitled ‘‘ Vallobra,” has already been accepted and placed on the programme of the Antoine theatre. While awaiting its representa- tion, the author is engaged in writing a novel drawn from the last-named drama, thus reversing the usual precedent. That he entertains no mis- givings respecting the success of the proceeding may be seen by the fact that he has announced his intention of dedicating this novel to M. Victorien Sardou, master of the dramatic craft. Its title is not yet known. M. Lavepan’s Reception. The brilliant oration in memory-of-his prede- cessor pronounced by M. Henri Lavedan on the occasion of his public reception at the Académie THE AUTHOR. Francaise, was hardly appreciated by the old friends and comrades of Henri Meilhac. In par- ticular, the allusion to the talented author of “ Frou- frou”’ as a personage who would have been the “sous-Dumas des petites sous-baronnes d’ Ange” — contained that grain of truth which rendered such a parallel exceedingly wounding. ‘I wish that Lavedan may have (as late as possible) a suc- cessor as witty as himself, but more just towards the work of his life, and more respectful towards the dead,’ wrote M. Louis Ganderax, after hearing this so-called eulogy. The response of the Marquis Costa de Beauregard threw oil on the troubled waters; though it would be difficult to assert that its recipient was more content with the finely satirical appreciation given by the Marquis of his own work than had been the case with the friends of Henri Meilhac during the previous oration. ‘‘Give us a little human life, instead of manufacturing for us so much Parisian life,” said M. Costa de Beauregard, at one period of his discourse. “Since wit and intelligence have been given you without stint, you should have other things to recount of life than the amuse- ments of little, vicious creatures, or the rancid amours of dotards whose souls are rotten.” MM. Francois Coppée and Victorien Sardou were the official godfathers of M. Henri Lavedan, who has also been invested with the digrity of chan- cellor, owing to his having been the last Acade- mician received before the nomination of the new office-bearers for the first trimestre of the year 1900. The reception of M. Paul Deschanel by M. Sully Prudhomme, and the double election of the successors to the two vacant fauteuils (formerly occupied by Edouard Pailleron and Victor Cherbuliez) are expected to take place— the first, during the first week in February, and the second, towards the end of March. OFFICE-BEARERS FOR 1900. The five Academies which compose the Institut de France have appointed the following members as office-bearers during the year 1900: M. Alfred Normand, delegate of the Academy des beaux- arts, has been nominated President ; MM. Gaston Boissier, delegate of the Académie Frangaise ; de Barthélemy, delegate of the Académie des inscrip- tions et belles-lettres ; Maurice Lévy, delegate of the Académie des science; and Germain, delegate of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, have accepted the office of vice-presidents. M. Gustave Larroumet, permanent secretary of the Académie des beaux-arts, has added to his numerous duties by undertaking the office of secretary-general to the Institut; while MM. Rousse, Halévy, Gaston Boissier, Ravaisson- Mollien, Delisle, Wallon, Darboux, Bornet,  THE Bertrand, Berthelot, Jules Thomas, Daumet, Tarroumet, Levasseur, Aucoc, and Georges Picot, form the Central Administrative Committee charged with the administration of the common funds and properties of the five Academies com- posing the above-mentioned institution. The duc de La Trémiille has recently been elected a free member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, which ranks second to the Académie francaise. This nobleman is not only the heir of one of the most ancient and famous names in France, but is also the author of a series of learned tomes on the La Trémiille during five centuries. He has likewise edited the interesting “ Souvenirs de la Princesse de Tarente,” which is, perhaps, his most popular work. THREE MonvUMENTS. MM. Barrias, Saint Marceaux, and Bartholomé are to be congratulated on the success of their latest efforts, and on the highly artistic and appre- ciative manner in which they have respectively acquitted themselves of the task confided them. M. Barrias’ magnificent monument of Victor Hugo has been placed in the Galérie des Machines, previous to occupying a central position in the Great Exhibition. It represents the famous writer pensively reflecting on a wave-beaten rock, surrounded by four emblematical figures repre- senting the Muses of Epic, Dramatic, Lyric, and Satirical poetry. The statue of the central figure is in “bronze mat,” the rock is in granite, and the four emblematical figures are in “ bronze doré.” It is completely finished, minus the in- laying process, which will commence next week. M. Saint Marceaux’s work is not so far advanced, though its final effect can be easily judged from the completed cast, wrought by the great sculptor with conscientious care. It portrays Dumas ils as the confidant of Woman, surrounded by a group of feminine admirers, to whom he is repre- sented as in the act of listening. A shower of camellia blossoms—in remembrance of his cele- brated work—surrounds the name of the writer, engraven on the marble plinth. This monument —whose height is three and a half metres, and whose cube is not less than twelve metres—is being cut from a single block of marble. M. Bartholomé’s smaller and more unpretentious funeral monument has already been placed on the tomb of Henri Meilhac. It depicts a partially- veiled feminine figure, whose hand half conceals her mournful features, in the act of laying a wreath on the dead man’s tomb. On this wreath is engraven a single word—Amitié : the offering of the loyal friends and comrades who had known and loved the gifted, melancholy, warm-hearted Henri Meilhac. AUTHOR. 195 Unconscious PLAGIARISM. Unconscious plagiarism, like influenza, seems in the air just now. Five well-known dramatic authors, namely, MM. René Maizeroy, Romain Rolland, Georges Feydeau, Pierre Decourcelle, and M. Bisson, have made public their grievances on this score during the last two months. In a most courteously-worded open letter, M. Maizeroy declares himself heartbroken at discovering that M. Francis de Croisset has superseded his design of drawing a three-act play from a novel written by himself; to which M. de Croisset politely responds that he shall have much pleasure in applauding the projected play, since only a Breton cousinship exists between his own play and the personages introduced in M. Maizeroy’s novel. M. Rolland contents himself with acquainting the public of the analogy existing between his latest play (accepted two months ago by the Gymnase Theatre) and_ the historical drama entitled “‘L’Affaire des Poisons,’ on which M. Victorien Sardou is now engaged. M. Feydeau announces the fact that MM. Cottens and Char- vay’s recently-performed operetta is an almost exact reproduction of the plot and several inci- dents in the play he has had on hand for several months, as may be seen by referring to the columns of a back number of the Figaro ; while M. Decourcelle has solved a somewhat similar problem on his own account in a highly satisfac- tory and private manner. M. Bisson, the witty author of “Le Contréleur des Wagons-Lits,” responded to the charge of plagiarism by suing his accuser; which proceeding furnished much amusing copy, but led to no appreciable results save the judicial rehabilitation of the plaintiff. An INTERESTING CASE. The action for 3000 francs damages brought by M. Brunetitre (Revue des deux Mondes) against M. Yves Guyot (Le Siécle) was extremely interesting. The point at issue was the right of M. Guyot to publish the private letters addressed him by M. Brunetiére without the writer’s permission. In its previous judgment on the publication of the correspondence of Georges Sand, the First Civil Chamber had declared “the right of publishing letters manifestly rests in the hands of the writer himself.’ According to M. Brunetiére, the true question that the present tribunal was called on to decide was this: “Author of prose or verse, have I over my property as writer the absolute and imprescriptible right that the peasant possesses over the fruit of his labour, or the workman over his salary?” We are glad to state that judgment was given in M. Brunetiére’s favour; or at least. the defendant was ordered. to pay 500 francs damages to the plaintiff, in 196 addition to inserting the judgment in five news- papers, the choice of which was left to the plaintiff. The judges, however, declared themselves incom- petent to decide regarding the destruction of the confiscated pamphlets demanded by M. Brune- tigre. Among interesting publications of the month will be found the following: “La Demeure enchantée,” by M. Eugene Vernon; “ Union d’imes,” by M. Jean d’Hstray; ‘‘Une Tache d’encre,” by M. René Bazin; “Nos Peintres du siécle,” by M. Jules Breton ; ‘‘ Basile et Sophia,”’ by M. Paul Adam; “De Lesseps intime,’ by M. Th. Batbedat ; “Trois ans 4 la Cour de Perse,” by docteur Feuvruer, ancient physician to the Shah of Persia; ‘‘ Les Eléments d’une Renais- sance Francaise,” by M. Saint Georges de Bouhe- lier; “L’Image de la Femme,” by M. Armand Dayot, inspecteur des beaux-arts ; and ‘‘ Versailles et les deux Trianons,” by M. Marcel Lambert. DarracorTe Scort. P.S.—M. Armand Colin has written to inform me that the complete series of ‘‘ Portraits intimes ” can now be obtained at his publishing house, 5, rue de Mezieres, Paris. —D. S. LT AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE. OSSIBLY it was not until picked troops were sent from each of the Austral pro- vinces to South Africa that the European mind thoroughly realised what a substantial body of troops—some 100,000 in number—can be raised locally for the defence of Australia; and it is certain that until Australian writers send the best of their work to London their brothers over the water will fail to realise the development which is taking place in Australian literature. That literature, I take it, does not comprise merely such books as are written by native-born writers, but may be defined as the entire litera- ture for which Australia is in some way or other responsible. And in Australia I include Maori- land, that wonderland of the southern hemi- sphere, which may or may not become subse- quently a part of federated Australia. Upon the foundation laid by Lindsay Gordon, Marcus Clarke, and Henry Kendall—are not their acts, and all that they did, written in every encyclopedia of names ?—upon a foundation laid in penury and suicide there is arising a striking edifice. : From the time of these great prodromt, whose crying in the wilderness brought them for reward but Dead Sea apples, Francis Adams, with his “Songs of the Army of the Night”; Judge THE AUTHOR. Maning, with his “Old New Zealand”; and Brunton Stephens, Parkes, and Grey, tide us over to the present decade. It is with the writers of the last ten years that I wish to deal. SuccressruLt Poets. The nineties have been rich in Austral poets. Victor Daley and Roderick Quinn—and the greater of these is Daley—may be taken to repre- sent the subjective school, which stretches out after the infinite, and deals with the joys and sorrows of the universe. Let those who doubt Daley’s right to universality read his book, “ At Dawn and Dusk” (Sydney: Angus and Robert- son). They will be charmed, if I mistake not, with the land he wafts them to—the land of lovely dreams. Will H. Ogilvie, in “Fair Girls and Grey Horses”; Henry Lawson, in “ When the World was Wide”; “Banjo” Paterson, m “The Man from Snowy River”; Barcroft Boake, in “ Where the Dead Men Lie”—that’s where he lies, poor fellow; and Arthur Adams, in a book of Maori- land verses just published, are all objective in their intention—“ bush-bards,” every one of them, who have sung of the back-blocks and the Never- never country, and have crystallised the poetic atmosphere of our life. There is still one notable name to mention—that of E. J. Brady, who, in “The Ways of Many Waters,” has sung of the lovable, if sacrilegious, sailor-man, and has struck a universal note. Perhaps the strangest thing about this Austra- lian poetry is that it sells phenomenally. ‘ The Man from Snowy River” went through four editions before it was published in London, and upwards of 15,000 copies of the book have been sold; ‘When the World was Wide” has gone through at least seven editions; and Ogilvie’s “Fair Girls and Grey Horses,” which was pub- lished a few months ago, immediately went into a second edition. Novetists—Known and UNKNOWN. We now come to the novelists, who are many; and we will present the ladies first. Mary Gaunt has written “ Dave’s Sweetheart,” and thereby established a reputation; Louise Mack has pub- lished “Teens,” a book which was popular from the start; Ethel Turner’s ‘“ Seven Little Austra- lians,” like the celebrated baking-powder, should find a place in every English home. These novels, and others by the same writers, have sold by thousands. But, apparently, we entirely lack women poets; there are no sweet Sapphos of the Austral shore. a : English people know Louis Becke and his delightful book, “By Reef and Palm.” He THE AUTHOL. writes of the Pacific, but it was in Sydney that his work first appeared, in the pages of the Bulletin. We claim him for our own. Guy Boothby and Fergus Hume are also well known in England, as, too, are Marriott Watson, Rolf Boldrewood, and Farjeon — Australians all, I do most solemnly asseverate. Hornung and Warung you likewise know, but which of you has heard of Albert Dorrington, Ernest Favenc, Alexander Montgomery, or A. H. Davis? And yet I am wrong in my “prospect,” if this last batch of writers do not ‘pan out”—to use Australian phraseology at the risk of shocking you—more literary gold than have any four of those who have “ gone to London.” The only way to test this assertion is by reading Dorrington’s “Bush Tanquery,” and “Castro’s Last Sacra- ment ” collections; Favene’s “ Last of Six, and Other Stories”; Montgomery’s “Five Skull Island,” and “Sword of Sin”; and Davis’s remarkable book, “ On our Selection,’—if they are to be had in London. In drama we have not been conspicuous, but the work of Haddon Chambers is admittedly of a high order, whilst Fergus Hume has been known to produce two plays in one year. Resident in Australia is Bernard Espinasse, who has recently dramatised “The Three Musketeers” for Mr. George Rignold. The great authority on the Queensland blacks is Walter Roth, whose work is of the highest value, and Spence and Gillen have fairly exhausted the subject of the natives of Central Australia. White’s magnum opus on the Maori race will remain the standard authority for all time, and it isto be regretted that a prudish Government suppressed some volumes of the work. Henry Lawson’s ADVICE TO WRITERS. If an Australian of average intelligence were asked to name his country’s greatest writer, the chances are a hundred to one that he would promptly answer “Henry Lawson.” And yet the work of this persona grata is not big or pre- tentious—a book of tales, ‘‘ When the Billy Boils,” and a book of poems, ‘When the World was Wide,” comprise his output. But he has drawn so faithfully and so sympathetically the main features of our life; he possesses such a whim- sical humour, as well as the rare gift of touching the heart; he has voiced so exactly the poetic feeling which the back-blocks have created in the national mind, that every Australian is ready to do him homage. And yet mark what he says in telling his experiences of the last ten years whilst “pursuing literature in Australia.” “ My advice to any young Australian writer whose talents - have been admitted would be to go steerage, stow 197 away, swim, and seek London, Yankeeland, or Timbuctoo, rather than stay in Australia till his genius has turned to gall, or beer. Or failing this—and still in the interests of human nature and literature—let him study elementary anatomy, especially such as applies to the cranium, and then shoot himself carefully with the aid of a looking- glass.” Lindsay Gordon shot himself and Barcroft Boake took his own life. Therefore there would indeed seem to be something disastrous in the pursuit of literature in Australia ; that words such as I have quoted should come from our most notable author is a fact which substantiates this fear. Two Great DIFFICULTIES. Our difficulties are two-fold. First, there is no prospect of the aspiring writer being able to tide over the first lean years of apprenticeship by con- tributing as a free-lance journalist to the vast, but apparently impecunious, Austral Press. Not more than six or eight of our journals pay for contributions, the Austral proprietor feeling that he has done his duty if he has paid the members of his permanent staff. The second difficulty is in finding good publishers. To publish locally means application to one of three or four firms, none of which can do the best that is possible for the book. Toapply to London publishers, unless the fame of the writer has gone before him, is like casting bread upon the waters—it is sure to return after many, very many, days. And even if a writer has been heard of in London, to find there the publisher who wants his particular kind of work is like looking for the proverbial needle in a hayrick. The Sydney Bulletin, that unique journal which draws its contributions from the writers of a continent and the isles beyond —and_ pays for every line it prints — has done much for Australian literature by introducing to the world such men as Becke, Boake, Dorrington, Daley, Dyson, Favenc, Lawson, Montgomery, Ogilvie, Paterson, Quinn, Arthur Adams, Davis, and other writers too many to mention, and now it has entered upon a publishing scheme, whereby writers who have made their mark in its pages may gain a permanent footing in the Austral book-world. But the Bulletin Publishing Com- pany, though the books it publishes meet with a warm welcome, moves of necessity too slowly to keep pace with the output, and whilst it is considering MSS., authors are in jeopardy of dying through starvation and despair, or else are tempted to study anatomy in the way which Lawson directs. But there should be help in the Authors’ Society, though, so far as I am aware, none 198 of the writers I have referred to as living in Australia belong to the Society. If after making their mark here they were to use the advice of the Society’s Secretary and Committee, and were to employ agents recommended by the Society, there should be no necessity for them to dream of a Timbuctoo, or to contemplate suicide by means of a cheap Belgian pistol. Nelson, Maoriland. ALFRED GRACE. Specs NOVELISTS AND THE WAR FUND. \ {| AY I suggest that fiction writers as a body might do something towards the War Fund, in having some of their wares collected into a book and offered to the public for sale? Itake it that short stories would be most available, and of course all writers, however willing they might be, could not be represented. The contents of such a book would have to be arranged by an editor. But certainly it would have a large sale; and I make no doubt that any one of the three best publishers would bring it out free of charge, and so a considerable sum would be raised for a very desirable object. C. J. Curciirre Hyne. NOTES AND NEWS. INVITE our members to consider Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne’s suggestion published above, If the suggestion is carried out it will be necessary to appoint an editor, to arrange the length of the volume, its illustrations if it is to be illustrated : its price, the time of publication, and the selection of the writers. There are many other points for consideration. If the book is to consist of short stories what length is to be adopted? ‘Perhaps not more than twelve pages, say, of the Cornhill Magazine type and size, v.e., about 5000 or 6000 words. TI agree with Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne that it might command a very large sale. If it is to appear in June, which would seem the most promising to me, it should be undertaken at once. Who are “the three best” publishers? The distinction is delicate. I should, myself, begin in making such a selection by taking out as a preliminary all those names which were appended to the “ Draft Agreements.” Some time ago I received a letter from one who stated that he had been in the employ of a certain publisher for four years. He gave me a few THE AUTHOR. details as to the management of that firm’s business. I did not publish the letter because I could not vouch for the truth of his statements. It is enough to say that they were well nigh incredible. I give an extract, together with the advice which he offers. The latter, at any rate, is sound. He says: “ Lhad to make out authors’ accounts. Say that 2000 were printed. I accounted to the author for them just as I liked, to make the numbers fit, without a single. voucher, and no record whatever kept of the sales. Certainly I had the subscription sheet, but even this is, and can be, cooked. My accounts deducted 10 per cent. for the retail bookseller. No one, except the shipping houses, got more than 5 per cent. As for discounts allowed by paper-makers, binders, block-makers, printers, they ranged from 5 per cent. to 15 per cent. The author was not told of these discounts at all. As for advertisements, the less said the better. What authors must do is to examine and audit all these accounts: not for the past half year only, but where they have been running some time, especially those of books which have had a good sale. I should like to assist in the examination, and it would be an eye- opener.” I repeat that I cannot vouch for the truth of the statements. The thing, however, is quite possible in the absence of anaudit. It may be thought that the writer is vindictive: but his advice remains. There should be an audit of every account. Ina royalty account how do we know that a true return has been made? What is to prevent the suppression of hundreds—in the case of a very large circulation, thousands? Now, it is invi- dious for any one writer to take the lead in a new departure that will be welcomed with the fiercest resentment. Also, it would be expensive to go to a firm of accountants for every special case. Combined action is necessary. The only way is for a certain number of the more important writers to agree that their accounts shall always be audited without consideration of any firm or any private friendships or any amount of confidence, and to retain for the purpose some young accountant whose fees will be much iower than those of the established firms. A method to be followed in every case must be decided. Here is one point which shows the necessity of an audit. I have once, and only once, seen an account which set forth the number of “ overs.” The matter has been more than once mentioned in these columns, and there have been indignant letters in other papers—anonymous, of course —from publishers declaring that there never were  THE AUTHOR. any “overs” to speak of: or, if there were, that they were wanted to make up deficiencies. Very well. At the Publishers’ Congress, where a good many interesting things came out, it was publicly stated and not denied that “overs” added 2 per cent. to the number. So that in an edition of 3000 there would be sixty “overs.” By what right —by what law of common honesty—does a pub- lisher take over to himself those sixty “ overs” ? The main points to be secured in framing such a league for the audit of accounts are these :— t. The audit must be managed without giving any trouble to the author. 2. If the publisher remonstrates with the author or threatens a withdrawal of his counten- ance, the author must send the letter to the Secretary and decline personal correspondence in the matter. 3. If the publisher refuses to show his accounts the Society must take the matter into court with- out expense totheauthor. One case will be quite enough. 4. The expense of audit must be moderate. [have always assumed as a thing absolutely necessary to the trade of publishing that pub- lishers were always ready to read MSS. If they refuse even toread MSS. how can they conduct their business? Therefore the experience of a corre- spondent is amazing. He says that he offered to submit the MS. of a work since published to many firms reputed to be of good standing. Some of them would not even allow him to send it. They were “full up”: they were “too full now”: they could not look at it “at present” : “No, thanks.” That the work had already appeared in a serial form was a bar: “no use after serial form.” (This is, of course, rubbish: most of the successful novels appear first in serial form, and it has long been demonstrated that the first appearance, which is read by scraps and generally only in part, stimulates the demand for volume form). They could “take up nothing new just yet”: they did not “see their way to avail themselves of the offer’: they were not “ san- guine of being able to undertake”: “the supply of fiction was in excess of the demand.” Others, again, accepted the offer of the MS. and sent back a typewritten form of regret that “after careful consideration they were compelled to decline the work.” In some cases there was proof that the parcel had never been opened! One firm, a big firm, crowned all by stating that their “‘yeader’s report was not encouraging enough for them to, &c.” And this, although the MS. 199 had never been sent to them at all, but was only offered if the firm would consent to read it! One can understand the rejection of a MS. on the ground that it might not prove a commercial success: but the refusal even to read MSS. where out of a hundred offered one may prove a gold mine is unintelligible except on the ground that recent losses or partial failures put a stop to further enterprise. This in fact has now happened. Writers will do well to consider the situation. It is not a time for the mediocre artist: he must for the moment sit quiet and wait for a more favourable opportunity. Nor is it a favourable moment for those who write “ appreciations” or “ studies”’ or literary essays. Above all it is not a time when anyone should give up work that affords him a livelihood in order to live by his pen. For the leaders in the literary craft there will be little, if any, loss. But the demand for inferior work of all kinds will be for a long time very far below the supply. The death of the Rev. Dr. James Martineau removes one of the oldest friends of the Society. He became a member very soon after the Society was formed, and remained a member until a few years ago when his literary work was done. It was the countenance and the support of a few such men as Martineau, to whom must be added certain names which the reader will find for himself on our Council, which strengthened and encouraged our Committee in the early days when derision and contempt were attempted as lethal weapons. It was because the Society began and has ever since carried on a struggle for the independence of the author, and has set up safe- guards, especially in the shape of exposure, against rapacity and secret profits, that such men were found to support us. The “ Draft Agreements” issued by the committee of the Publishers’ Association first revealed to an astonished world the need of such a Society as our own, and the solid reasons for the many warnings, which had previously been found so hard to believe, against claims and practices which we knew to be so common. Great should be the gratitude of all our members for the support of such men as James Martineau. Another late member, R. D. Blackmore, has been taken from us in this most gloomy month. He withdrew from membership when he ceased to write about three years ago. It is greatly to be hoped that, in the interests of the literary- calling, the history of his novels ; the extent of 200 their circulation; the management of his pro- perty, which partly belongs to the days before the work of the Society—may be revealed to the world. There have been few novels indeed during the latter half of this century which have had so wide a popularity as “Lorna Doone.” He wrote in all sixteen novels and two or three volumes of verse. Water Besant. ee THE MORAL RIGHTS OF AUTHORS.* IGNOR FOA, the editor of our Italian con- temporary, J Diritti d’Autore, has republished in a convenient form his contributions to that periodical on the new and interesting question of the author's “ Moral Rights.” Attention was first directed to these rights by Jules Lermina, whose name is so familiar to all students of copyright law, at the Berne Congress in 1896. The nature and extent of these rights have been subsequently discussed, more or less fully, at the con- gresses of the “ Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale” at Monaco (1897), Turin (1898), and lastly, this autumn at Heidel- burg, where a special commission, appointed in 1898 to examine the subject, presented a report of their investigations. An exact and entirely satisfactory definition of these rights has hardly yet been propounded ; and in consequence of this it is at present impossible to formulate the conclusions that may be legitimately drawn from these rights. Signor Foa freely admits all this, and modestly offers his contribution to the discussion only as a step in the direction of a desideratum, with the just remark that, “if the path of knowledge is always a difficult one to pursue, it is at least an impor- tant point to have made a start in the right direction.” Unfortunately, it is impossible to agree with Signor Foa’s opinion that “in all civilised States the material-rights of an author are sufficienty protected.” These rights will not be sufficiently protected until they are protected universally and in perpetuity. At present by far the larger part— though not the more intellectual part—of Europe remains still outside the Berne Convention, whilst perpetual copyright seems to be regarded as a purely Utopian notion. Under these circum- stances the suggestion of legal recognition of the far less tangible moral rights (at which Signor Foa hints) is surely premature. * Ferruccio Foa. Il Diritto Morale dell’ Autore sulle Opere dell’ ingegno. Milano: Tipografia del Riformatorio Patronato. 1899. 4to. THE AUTHOR. On the other hand, striking evidence of the real existence of moral rights and of a general sense of their importance is produced. It is pointed out that they have been used, and are still used, as an argument for robbing authors of all other rights. The author is said (mostly by people who cannot sell their copy) to debase his literary productions by demanding a material price for them, because, forsooth, if they have any value at all, they have a value of a kind not to be expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. This clearly implies that the author has a right to something beyond material advantages. His right to material advantages—to some material advan- tages—is now in many countries a legally estab- lished fact. And that is in accordance with natural right. “Literary and artistic work,” says Signor Foa, “is a manifestation of human industry, and as such merits the protection of the law.” ‘But the admission of this first right does not destroy the other right to something beyond material advantages. And this further right is, in effect, the moral right of the author which has been recently the subject of so much discus- sion. In what does this moral right consist? The author gives the public something that emanates “from his brain, from his own soul, from his own personality; and he, at the same time, assumes responsibility to the public for it.” The pubhe has a right to look critically upon what is offered, and to accept it or not, to accept it as a part of spiritual patrimony of the nation. But the author also has a right to demand that the work for which he makes himself responsible shall be examined by the public “as he produced it in its integrity.” Hence Signor Foa cdneludes that the founda- tion of the author's moral rights is the intangi- bility of intellectual productions. That is pretty generally admitted by all who have studied the question; though the logical consequences of the principle (a far-reaching one, it must be confessed) have proved a Itttle alarming to some of its supporters. Attempts to give the idea legal expression, or to penetrate much more deeply into the subject, have not hitherto led to much result. Two consequences may, however, be mentioned. The author is supreme judge of what works of his shall be published (here it is impossible to forget that Virgil desired that the Alneid should not be published) ; and the unpublished works of an author cannot be seized by his creditors: “Le droit morale doit rester dans la domaine morale, et n’étre point sujet aux spéculations financitres.” In reply to the question which has been asked whether the author’s moral right is @  THE AUTHOR. “personal right” in the legal sense, Signor Foa points out that “personal right” has in law really more than one meaning. He is disposed to think that it is not a personal right. Indeed, intangibility appears to be all that can be said to be at present completely agreed upon. Evidently this intangibility should be also per- petual. But here ideals and realities prove incompatible. The intangibility of a scientific work, which is to continue to be of value, is inconceivable. And in consequence of differ- ences of taste and manner, the same rule applies, in a different way, to drama. Here considera- tions of mala fides and of “alteration merely for the sake of gain” will demand scrutiny. ‘“ Who is to be the guardian of the rights,’ and “ Who is to be guarantee for permissible alterations,” are further inevitable questions, which do not exhaust all the problems presented by intangi- bility. But Signor Foa insists with reason upon the injury done to public taste, and the insult offered public intelligence, in addition to the wrong done the author by such hideous travesties of great works as are only too common. He quotes as an examplea horrible and ear-torturing performance of “ Don Giovanni” in a theatre of marionettes; but similar abuses of artistic pro- ductions of all kinds are, unhappily, familiar to everyone. They prove also that the author's moral rights represent something that is, at least intellectually, very real. Only a few of the bear- ings of those rights have been hitherto explored ; but as a lucid summary of all that has been hitherto done, and a just appreciation of the ‘results, Signor Foa’s work may be recommended to all interested in the question. ee CORRESPONDENCE. I.—A DuiseraceruL TRICK. SENT the opening chapters of a novel to a publishing house which acts as agents for simultaneous publication of tales. I received a polite note with the returned MS. saying the novel was too local for their require- ments, but they would be glad to see short stories from my pen. I sent two, which were accepted at once. Some time later I had a note from them requesting me to submit others. I sent three, and had two returned as “ unsuitable.” The following year I again got a note asking for MS. I sent one tale and had it returned as unsuitable very soon. Again I got a request for MS., but did not send any. Six months later came another note to 20! the same effect, and I sent off four short tales. In a fortnight the four were returned as unsuitable. I then wrote expressing surprise, as the rejected tales were quite ‘on the lines” of those which had been approved, &c. I received no answer. I chanced to show one of these rejected tales to a friend, and she said, before reading two pages: ‘ You have published this.” “No,” I answered. But she affirmed she had read it, and to my surprise told me all the story. It was evolved in a somewhat uncommon way, and founded upon a personal experience, and I felt sure there could be no accidental resemblance. I find that other writers have had a like experi- ence. They have seen their tales in print, slightly altered and with different titles, yet these tales had come back to them as unsuitable. The run of chances is against the author ever finding this out; but when he does, what help is there for him ? And how is it done? Does the agent keep a staff of nimble typewriters who cook and copy MS. before it is returned to the author as “ unsuit- able” ? ALGOUS. [It is quite obvious that an editor who would stoop to a trick of this kind should be exposed. The thing cannot be common, Can the charge be proved? If so, will our correspondent be so good as to furnish the Secretary with the name of the paper referred to, and will he further persuade those “other writers”? who have had a similar experience to forward their names and the history of their experiences ?—Ep,] TI—Tue Haur-Crown Critic. The suggestion of “Budding Fictionist” that the readers of the Society of Authors shall, in certain cases, supply criticisms of stories of 5000 words for 2s. 6d., seems hard upon the Society’s readers. Whatsoever the length of the story may be the reader has to form a definite opinion concerning it, and to embody his opinion in a report. If the report is to be of any use to the author the reader will certainly have to expend upon it an amount of time and labour worth considerably more than 2s. 6d. The report at ‘“ Budding Fictionist’s” own price of “three halfpence a line” would be limited to twenty lines. But is the reader, whilst the new story is being written, to remember all the essential facts regarding the ten others previously sent him? If he does not do this, he may find some difficulty in justly estimating the relative values of the earlier and later productions. And if he does, well, such an effort of memory would be cheap at 2s. 6d. An Otp Member. 202 TIL—On Tryina Moret THan ONE EpIror. A recent correspondent says that if I “ had had a little editorial experience of the enormous quantity of articles some editors have to look at . . .. [I] would hardly expect a prompt answer, except in the case of the rejection of the article from sheer want of literary interest.” But the prodigious number of MSS. submitted, though it precludes the possibility of prompt answers to contributors, does not justify editors in retaining MSS. for two, three, or six months. My work consists of short stories, and it has been quite a usual thing for editors to retain my MSS. for the periods I have named before rejecting them. At the present moment I have a story out which has been in the hands of a magazine editor since July last. No answer has been vouchsafed to a letter of mine asking whether the MS. had any chance of acceptance, and that letter was written about three months ago. That is the only letter I have written to this editor, for I make it a rule never to write a letter when sending a MS. No one could possibly accuse me of exasperating editors by giving them unnecessary trouble. As I have very little hope that this particular piece of work will meet with acceptance in that quarter, I have sent out copies elsewhere. Surely no one would say that I have acted discourteously ? That there is no necessity for keeping MSS. so long is proved by the usage of the best magazines and the most courteous editors. In my case the decision of the Cornhill has been generally given inside of a month, and only once has been delayed so long as a month and four days. With Chambers’s Journal the outside limit I have found to be twenty days; with Zongman’s, ten days ; Cassell’s, twenty days; the Royal usually inside a month, once (only) a month and five days. And, be it noted, I’ve reason to believe that every- thing I’ve sent to these journals has been not merely “looked at,” but really read. The fact seems to be that some editors keep the work of unknown authors beside them as a stop-gap in case of the failure of contributors they usually depend upon. This is proved by what “An Editor” says in the National Review for Aug. 1896. ‘There are, he says, three reasons for the retention of MSS., and “the third is that articles are sometimes retained because, in holiday time, when good write1s are lazy, it may be neces- sary to use matter of slightly inferior quality.” T’ve no especial objection to my work being held over for six months in this way, provided it is recognised that I am at liberty to try and find another market for it in the meantime. I have recognised the possibility indicated by “M,C. A.” that a story sent to two magazines THE AUTHOR. may be accepted by the one which pays least. But then, ‘a bird in the hand’s worth two in the bush.” Moreover, many of the _ best-paying magazines are among those which deal most promptly with contributions. Perry Barr. 3 IV.—No Proor Sent. In Feb., 1893, an article of mine appeared in a certain magazine, the MS. having been sent some months previously, but no notice was taken of two letters of inquiry sent, nor was any intima- tion given that the article would appear at all. My first knowledge of the publication was from the railway bookstall, and the article was un- signed, which was opposed to my wishes had I been consulted at all. In this case there was no notification of any kind whatever, and so far as T was concerned, the MS. might have been in the waste-paper basket, but I was paid five guineas later on, at the rate of about half-a-guinea a page. G. R. V. V.—WRITING FOR THE MaGaziInus. My attention has been called to the letter in your December issue signed “ Magazine Struggler.” The writer asks what I think a “ fairly successful ” contributor to magazines alone could make in the course of a year. Well, no definite, or even approximate, estimate can be given; but I do not hesitate to say that from magazines alone a “fairly successful” writer might hope to make, say, from £150 to £200 ina year. But when I talk of magazines, I never include such heavy things as the Contemporary, the Nineteenth Century, the Fortnightly, the National, or the Westminster. These are reviews, and between a review and a magazine there is a great gulf fixed. No sane man would hope to make an income, or any appreciable portion of an income out of work for these publications, so that I think the elabo- rate analysis of their contents which appeared in last month’s Author was wasted time. Nor do I advise anyone to hope for much from the popular magazines ; it would be folly for a beginner to rely on magazines alone as a field of action. My advice, based on personal experience, is: Write for the general and scrappy Press to keep the pot boiling, and peg away with signed magazine articles for your credit’s sake. Yet I do not advise anyone to attempt the task of making a reputation through the magazines ; the speediest means to that end is a good book. Make a supreme effort with a book, and, even if that is only moderately successful, you will find the doors of the magazines and popular weeklies swing open to your touch. After all is said that may be on this subject, it must be admitted that  THE no two men’s experiences coincide; each must begin at the beginning, though the knowledge of another struggler’s experience may serve one to avert pitfalls. An Eprror (Author of “ How to Write for the Press”’). VL.—A New Move or FLEEctrne. I write to inform you of an apparently new way of mulcting authors for advertisements. In my last account from an eminent publishing firm there was a charge of two guineas for advertise- ments. I wrote asking for particulars and the names of the papers advertised in. The answer was that the advertisements were not in news- papers, but in “ our Catalogues and Lists,” and two catalogues, for June and Sept. 1899, were sent me with my work mentioned. I then asked if their charge was an annual or quarterly one, and also if this charge was customary in the trade and if they charged all the authors in their list similarly. To this I got no reply. If they do make such a charge they make a handsome income out of their catalogues. If these are issued quarterly as appears, and if a guinea a notice is charged for each quarter’s insertion, this realises from the 178 names on the list a very large sum for producing the publisher's own catalogue. In other words, the authors are asked to pay for the firm’s own advertisements. Is this practice at all customary? For, if not, and they have singled me out as a solitary victim, thinking I would quietly acquiesce in it, it seems an excessively mean thing for such an eminent firm to do. T inclose the name of the firm, as I should like to know if other authors dealing with the firm have been fleeced in the same way. GoLpEN FLEECE. [If other readers have been served with similar accounts, will they kindly forward their cases, with copies of the accounts and the names of the publishers? It is evident (1) that the publisher has no right to charge for advertisements in hisown organ any more than he has a right to charge for the use of his bookshelves ; and (2) that, if such a right was to exist, it would include the right to charge what he pleased : to advertise a book as often as he pleased and in the most expensive manner possible, without the least regard to the interests of the book—in other words, to make of the practice a means of sweeping everything into his own pocket. Observe that the “ Draft Agree- ments ”—Equitable—preserve a suggestive silence on the subject.—Eb. | — AUTHOR. 203 VIL—A Memper’s Exprriences. An account of my experiences as a writer may be useful to other writers aud to the Society of Authors. I think that even the Society does not always see the difficulties of authors. The advice which the Society gives is exellent, as a general rule; but it cannot, of course, meet all cases. In my case, before I became a member, I signed a publisher’s agreement which I now find is con- demned by the Society. And yet it was the best thing I could do. When I was a boy, I had to get my living at a rather early age. I gave most of my spare time to study, and taught myself Latin and Greek enough for matriculation. I have striven all my life to get the best English books I could. Need forced me into journalism, and here I found no difficulty. I began at the top. I found at once that, without introduction, the best London newspapers would print and pay for descrip- tive articles if only they were supplied with what they wanted. But journalism is cramping and bad, because the journals have their various political and other biases, whilst reporterism is no better than book-keeping, for the most part. I entered upon literature, and here my enormous difficulties began. ‘The fact is, I tried in all my writing as well as 1 could to tell the truth. My first book may be described as an attempt in a story to tell the truth absolutely about a certain aspect of social and political affairs. Nobody would publish it at first, but I deter- mined to get it out somehow. I then knew nothing of the Society’s advice. I got the story printed by a friend, who undertook to share risks and profits and te publish. Small diffi- culties kept arising while the book was printing, and I had to overcome all these, and indeed throughout I was always urging matters forward, so that although the book was carefully written, the trouble of writing it was as nothing to my trouble in getting it out. Business changes pre- vented a proper publication and reviewing. Three reviews indeed appeared, all highly favourable. One was lengthy, and in a leading London news- ' paper. But there was no proper publication or advertisement. By my own exertions I at last placed the printed book with a commission pub- lisher of standing, but by this time it had ceased to be topical. It happened that I lost no money over it, but much time and labour. All that if gained was encouragement—if I wanted that— from the critics. My next manuscripts went the regular round. I corresponded with many publishers and inter- viewed some. Often my work was on the verge of publication. Sometimes two or even three 204 THE AUTHOR. readers were consulted by the publishers over a single book of mine. I found an unbusinesslike tone prevailing in the trade—or perhaps it was only too businesslike. I fear this tone is fostered by the manner of other authors. The publishers seemed to assume that they were conferring a favour on a new author by “giving him a chance” if they should publish his book. In some cases I told them to regard the matter purely as one of business, and in one instance I felt bound to resent the prevalent tone by con- descension of manner on my own part. If MSS. were delayed I wrote shortly for their return. (It is curious that in journalism there is never this tone. If an editor of a newspaper wants a con- tribution he will take it promptly enough, and if not he will send it back, usually with equal promptness.) After infinite trouble I got my second book published on a royalty agreement, with a clause by which I allowed the publisher the refusal of my next two books. This also was before I joined the Society. But I had my eyes open. I never expected really to get any royalty, and as for the clause, it could be satisfied with much less trouble than it takes to get a book published. My object was merely to storm the kopjes of Literature at all costs. There was no other way. If Ihad had money to buy types I would have printed the book myself, and placed it with a commission publisher. As it was, I lost no money over it, and gained some reviews in the best journals. Some of the notices are brief and - contemptuous. Most of. them are fairly long, - and more favourable than I expected. If the . majority of the critics are right, then I have produced a good book. But I have no money by it, nor am I disappointed at not getting what I did not expect under present conditions. Well, now that I am in the Society I feel bound to take their advice in future. The point is that I felt obliged to storm the kopjes in the way I have described rather than accomplish nothing. I have earned hundreds of pounds by journalism, but not a penny by literature; and one cause of this seems to be (if it is not immodest to say so) the false atmosphere of the whole publishing business. The critics, gene- rally, are all right; and there is always a public for a man who has anything to say. The com- mission system ought to be the system of the future. VIIIL.—A Cry From THE DEPTHS, In reply to Mr. Julian Croskey’s remarks in The Author of December, addressed from Ottawa, I think it will be admitted that in order to sell a book or anything else in this world you must first create a demand for it, and this demand, as faras novels are concerned, is only secured with money, social interest, and influential friends on the Press. How is a demand to be created without advertisement of some kind ? With regard to young and talented authors who are poor, and consequently without these social advantages, or who are not in touch with powerful monopolists running commercial fiction in endless journals, it is evident that the struggle for fame, the desire for recognition, will ever befool them, even as they will ever pursue it. Behind all their efforts will be heard the laugh of Mephistopheles. Who can dispute the brutal logic of facts and figures? The dark powers that thwart and destroy are always merciless to the poor and gifted, especially if they add honesty to their other misfortunes. Mr. Croskey’s own experiences and confession are a case in point. Whether a book is good or bad, it must be “worked up” in some way in order to succeed. Everything lies in management and—paragraphs. Wealthy plagiarists who employ “ghosts” and translate freely from foreign sources can always command a certain market. England is the paradise of the charlatan. Then, what are the efforts worth of the young and talented struggler for bread and fame, pitted against obstructive trickery of all kinds and a glut of fiction exceeding the demand? What are his chances with an amiable, if indifferent, public nourished on cleverly conducted magazines, . each with its own staffi—a public ready to enjoy . the crude and characterless fiction—the hackneyed, if illustrated, commonplace offered for their mental pabulum, provided its purveyors thrust it carefully before them and are esteemed persons of wealth and respectability, actuated by the saintliest motives, the purest Christian aims. Is it not kind to warn the literary aspirant, should he be needy, of the often useless and cruel conflicts—the pathetic disillusion attending a career so often ending in broken health and even suicide, For the more imagination and insight, the keener the suffering. To starve in a garret on £50 a year—to elevate the soul and destroy the body to produce a masterpiece which few may read and still fewer understand, may be heroic, but hardly wise, considering the shortness of life and that time is our worst enemy. Are there not nobler and healthier outlets for a man’s energy? Mr. Croskey has proved that there are. ANNABEL GRAY.  THE BOOK AND PLAY TALK. HE new book by Sir William Charley, J3 Q.C., D.C.L., on the House of Lords was published on Jan. 27. It is called “‘Mend- ing’ and ‘ Ending’” (Simpkin, Marshall and Co., price 2s. 6d.), and is a “Reply to Mr. Andrew Reid’s ‘House of Lords Question.’” It deals with every possible suggestion for “ ending” or “mending” the Upper House. It is now nearly five years since Sir William published his “ His- torical Vindication of the House of Lords,” a book which has been much studied. Among the books in preparation at the Claren- don Press may be mentioned the following :— “Celtic Folklore; Welsh and Manx,” by John Rhys, M.A.; “A Translation into Modern English of King Alfred’s O. E. Version of Boethius,” by W. J. Ledgefield, M.A. ; «The Complete Works of John Gower,” edited from the MSS., with introductions, notes, and glos- saries, by G. C. Macaulay, M.A., vols. 2 and 3 (English works) ; “‘ The Canon of Chaucer,” by W. W. Skeat, Litt. D.; ‘“Dryden’s Critical Essays,” edited by W. P. Ker, M.A.; “ Plays and Poems of Robert Greene,’ edited by J. Churton Collins, M.A.; “The Works of Thomas Kyd,” edited by F. S. Boas, M.A.; “‘Milton’s Poetical Works,” edited by H. C. Beeching, M.A. (demy 8vo., with facsimiles ; and in miniature) ; “ Asser’s Life of Alfred,” edited by W. H. Stevenson, M.A.; “Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen,” edited by EH. J. Payne, M.A., series 2; “The Alfred Jewel,’ by John Earle, M.A. (small quarto, with illustrations). Messrs. Everitt and Co. have published a new book by Captain M. Horace Hayes, R.F.C.V.S., entitled “Among Horses in Russia,” price 10s. 6d. The book is beautifully illustrated with many striking photographs. A new novel, by “ Perrington Priman,”’ “The Girl at Riverfield Manor,” is being published this month by Messrs. F. V. White and Co. Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. have published a book entitled “She Stands Alone, the Story of Pilate’s Wife,” by Mark Ashton. The story is realistically written. Messrs. Mitchell and Hughes are about to issue, in demy quarto, “The Records of the Corrie Family,” in two parts, by Jessie E. Corrie, author of “ The Genealogical Table of the Houses of Gordon, Corrie, and Goldie” (published last year). Mr. M. H. Spielmann has prepared, from special knowledge and with the consent of Mr. Ruskin’s family, a work entitled “John Ruskin : a Sketch of his Life, his Work, and his Opinions, with Personal Reminiscences.” It will contain a AUTHOR. 205 paper by Mr. Ruskin called “The Black Arts,” which is not to be found in his collected works. The book will be published shortly by Messrs. Cassell. Mr. W. W. Skeat has written a minute study of the folk-lore, ceremonial observances, and magic of the Malay Peninsula, a country where Moham- medanism only superficially overlays a mass of aboriginal beliefs and customs. This will be published shortly by Messrs. Macmillan, under the title “Malay Religion.” A biography of Lord Monboddo, the famous Scotch judge, has been written by Professor Knight, of St. Andrews, in whose hands have been placed family manuscripts and letters which have never been published. The book will appear shortly from Mr. Murray. Mr. Archibald Colquhoun’s new volume of travel, “Overland to China,” will be published this month by Messrs. Harper. It describes Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, the Upper Yangtse, and southern and south-western China. Mr. Stanley Weyman’s novel, “ Sophia,” will be published shortly by Messrs. Longmans. A novel by Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., entitled “Castle and Manor,” will be published shortly by Messrs. Sands and Co. Mrs. Meynell’s volume on Ruskin in the Modern English Writers series, published by Messrs. Blackwood, will be ready shortly. Mr. F. G. Kitton has written a book on “ The Minor Writings of Charles Dickens,” which will be published shortly by Mr. Elliot Stock as a volume in the Book Lover’s Library. “The Morals of Suicide,’’ is the title of a book by the Rev. J. Gurnhill, which Messrs. Long- mans will publish. The author writes from the point of view of a Christian Socialist. Tf the war has been bad for books, the season is evidently deemed sufficiently propitious for periodicals. The demand for the illustrated weeklies containing pictures of the war operations has been enormous. And now three new Ssix- penny weeklies have appeared—the King, the Sphere, and the Spear, Another new journal which may be expected soon is the TZribune, whose editor will be Mr. Lathbury, who resigned the editorship of the Guardian a short time ago. “The Story of the Life of Dr. Pusey,” which is to appear shortly from Messrs. Longmans, is an independent work, written by the author of “ Gharles Lowder” at the request of Dr. Pusey’s daughter, in order to provide for readers who cannot possess the four-volume life. - Dr. Birkbeck Hill is engaged upon an edition of Gibbon’s “ Autobiography.” The biography of the late Coventry Patmore will be published, it is hoped, next month. 206 “ Commerce and Christianity,” by Mr. G. F. Millin, is a book in which the author analyses methods and principles and draws lessons from the result. It will be published shortly by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. Six books of last year have been “ crowned” by the Academy in recognition of their promise, sincerity, and thoroughness in literary art. Each author accordingly receives a present of twenty- five guineas. The following is the list :— Poetry: Mr. W. B. Years, for “The Wind Among the Reeds.” Fiction: “Zack” (Miss Gwendoline Keats), for “On Trial.” Biography: Mr. Hinarrz Bexxoc, for “Danton: a Study.” History: Mr. G. M. TREVELYAN, for “‘ England in the Age of Wycliffe.” Translation: Mrs. GARNETT for her translation of the novels of Turgenieff. Miscellaneous: Rev. H. G. Granam, for “The Social Life of Scotland in the Highteenth Century.” Mr. Bloundelle-Burton is bringing out through Messrs. Pearson a new novel called “The Sea- farers.” Dr. Nansen is issuing through Messrs. Long- mans, in five or six volumes, a full account of the scientific results of his Polar expedition of 1893- 1896. The work is to be published only in English, The first volume will appear shortly ; the second, which will contain the charts, soon afterwards ; and the whole work is expected to be complete in about two years. Admiral Sir Wilham Kennedy has written a new work entitled “A Life on the Ocean Wave,” which will be published shortly by Messrs. Blackwood. Mr. W. H.D. Rouse is issuing through Messrs. Dent a small volume of translations of Greek oems. The Irish Literary Society offers prizes of fifty and twenty guineas for essays on the Sieges of Derry and Limerick. A committee of the society will first select what they consider the best twenty essays sent in, and these will then be submitted to Mr. Lecky and Lord Russell of Killowen for final decision. Novels by Mr. Allen Upward (“The Accused Princess’’) and Mr. Clive Holland (‘ Marcelle of the Latin Quarter”) will be published by Messrs. Pearson. Miss Edna Lyall’s first play, ‘In Spite of All,” will be produced on Monday afternoon, Feb. 5, by Mr. Ben Greet, who has just begun a short season at the Comedy. It is a romantic piece, laid in the stirring times of the Royalists and Roundheads. The re-constructed St. James’s has been opened with Mr. Anthony Hope’s “ Rupert of Hentzau.” THE AUTHOR. _ Mr. Wyndham (who is to produce “ Cyrano de Bergerac” in a provincial theatre in a few days) will revive “ Dandy Dick” at the Criterion on the 8th inst. Mr. Martin Harvey has acquired the rights in the one-act play, “The White Lily,” by Alphonse Daudet, which, on its production in France, was called ‘“‘ The White Carnation.” Mr. Arthur Shirley and Mr. Sutton Vane have founded a play on the widely-circulated American book by Mr. Charles Sheldon, called “In His Steps; or, What Would Jesus Do?” The piece has been produced in the provinces, and it will be presented to a London audience at the Adelphi, on the 5th inst., under the title “ The Better Life.” The Adelphi will afterwards pass into the man- agement of Mr. Robert Taber, who will open it on March 10 with a new romantic play, entitled “Bonnie Dundee,” by Mr. Lawrence Irving and Mr. Tom Heslewood. Miss Lena Ashwell will be the leading lady. Mr. Barry Pain has finished a play. Sir Henry Irving is prolonging his tour in the United States by a few weeks, owing to the success he is meeting with. Mr. Hare leaves the Globe on Feb. 3 with “The Gay Lord Quex,” which he is taking to the provinces. He will then begin a tour in America with this play, and may not be in London again before June next year. Mr. Wilson Barrett will be seen in “ The Swashbuckler,” by Mr. Louis Parker, which is now being rehearsed for production. Miss Kate Rorke tak-s Mr. Pinero’s early play, “The Squire,” on tour, beginning at Kennington on the 26th inst. Mr. Ben Webster will play the character of the lover. “The Kendals,” an account of the career of the two well-known personalities, by Mr. Edgar Pemberton, is one of the forthcoming books on Messrs. Pearson’s list. OBITUARY. R. RUSKIN “faded away in a peaceful sleep” at Coniston on Jan. 20, and was buried there five days later. Dr. JAMES Marrrnzau died on Jan. 11 at the great age of ninety-five. Mr. R D. Buackmorg, the novelist, died on Jan. 20, aged 75. On Jan. 1 the death occurred of the Rev. WurrweLt Exwin (eighty- four), rector of Booton, Norfolk, who succeeded Lockhart as editor of the Quarterly Review, and held the post for sixteen years. We much regret also to have to record the death of Mz. WiL1aM  c Gq Ry See ety ce eee ee aa THE AUTHOR. Epwarps Trresuck, the well-known novelist, who died from pneumonia in his native city of Liverpool on the 22nd ult. In addition to this roll, the obituary of the past month includes Canon R. W. Drxon, who was a distinguished Oxford man, and wrote a history of the Church of England, which 1s a recognised authority ; the Rev. Henry Furneavx, sometime Fellow of Corpus Christi, Oxford, and editor of “ Tacitus ” and other classics; and Mr. G. W. SrEEVENS, the distinguished special correspondent of the Daily Mail, who died of enteric fever on the 15th ult. in Ladysmith, where he was represent- ing his journal with the beleaguered troops. BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) Tar Untrep Krnepom, by Goldwin Smith (Macmillan, 15s. net), is in two volumes, which, says Literature, with all their defects, “‘ are a trae history of England, no jumble of miscellaneous facts, but an edifice reared with skilful hand.” The Daily Chronicle says Mr. Goldwin Smith “ has not lost the pictureequeness of his style,” and that he is in these volumes historical and expository rather than contro- versial or speculative. The Daily News calls it “a work which Englishmen all the world over will read with enthu- siastic delight, with fresh admiration for the achievements of their ancestors, and with a confidence in the future never more essential than at this solemn time.” FINLAND AND THE Tsars, by Joseph R. Fisher (Arnold, 128. 6d.), is, says Literature, ‘ a clear and succinct historical sketch of the relations between Russia and her dependency during the last ninety years.” Mr. Fisher, says the Daily Chronicle, “has prepared what may be called the case of Finland with most scrupulous thoroughness; and whatever holes the Russian Pre:s may attempt to pick in his argu- ments, it is difficult for an Englishman to discover any flaw.” Henry Irvine, by Charles Hiatt (Bell, 5s. net), is a study of the famous actor, and contains between seventy and eighty illustrations. ‘‘ All who have been Sir Henry Irving’s admirers in the past,” says Literature, and “ all who look forward to his future successes, will wish to possess Mr. Hiatt?s excellent little work.” The book will be read, says the Daily Telegraph, “with universal interest.” : In Cap AnD Bexus, by Owen Seaman (Lane, 3s. 6d.) is “a sheaf of topical and satirical verse that can hardly fail to please,” says the Spectator. The verses were con- tributed particularly to Punch, to whose “table” Mr. Seaman “ has conferred fresh lustre and distinction.” The Daily News describes the book as “ uniformly entertaining,” the Daily Telegraph says it is as “ excellent and delight- ful in every respect as‘ The Battle of the Bays’”; and the Daily Chronicle calls Mr. Seaman “‘ more than a mere parodist or writer of comic jingles, however ingenious.” “He is what we may call a critic of mannerism, and a very keen critic to boot.” Sport anp Lire In WESTERN AMERICA AND BRITISH Conumsra, by W. A. Baillie-Grohman (Cox, 158.), contains, says the Daily Chronicle, “so complete a denunciation of 207 the reckless waste of big game, so scathing a criticism of the game laws of both the Union and Dominion,” “ that everyone interested and without bias must follow the author with sympathy, at any rate.” “Itis the work of a mau who knows what he is writing about,” says Literature. “Though the portion of the book which deals with the scientific aspect of sport is without doubt the most valuable, the general reader, who cares little about the measurement of antlers, will probably find the intimate and personal recollections of the writer more to his taste.” Mrs. Baillie- Grohman adds a chapter on the problems of Chinese and other domestic service in Western America. Nores oN Sport AND TRAVEL, by George Henry Kingsley, with a memoir by his daughter Mary H. Kingsley (Macmillan, Ss. 6d.), is described by the Daily Chronicle as containing “ genial papers of ‘The Doctor’s’” which it is “good to read,’ and which are “roaming in their subjects as the man himself”: sharks and chamois, gun- practice and flying-fish, Lisbon snipe and American oysters. &e. “In short, the book is delightful, sparkling with humour without a thought of malice.” “It can be said without flattery,” says the Daily News, “that a book of reminiscences by one of the Kingsley brothers, with a memoir of the author by his daughter of West African renown, cannot be otherwise than delightful.” From Kinc Orry To QueEN VicroriA, by Edward Callow (Elliot Stock), is a short history of the Isle of Man, the annals of which “are so full of battle, murder, and sudden death that,” says Literature, ‘it is marvellous they should have been used in fiction to so comparatively small an extent. It certainly is a highly exciting story which Mr. Callow has to tell,” and “the whole volume is so full of curiosities that it makes excellent reading, despite its defects of literary form.” How ENGLAND SAVED Evrop#, by W. H. Fitchett, is to be in six volumes, of which two have appeared (Smith, Elder, and Co., 6s. per volume), and is the story of the Great War (1793-1815.) The Daily Chronicle says, that while “Mr. Fitchett’s pages are not burdened with research and fresh results,” he “tells his stirring story in such a very picturesque manner as to impress his readers with a sense of the pleasure that is derived from absolute novelty.” “ Disearding absolutely the point of view of the analytical historian, Mr. Fitchett,” says the Daily Telegraph, “ pre- sents us witha series of vigorous and moving pictures of the Homeric conflicts which have made of those days, perhaps, the most exciting period in all history.” James Hacx Tuxs, by Sir Edward Fry (Macmillan, 7s. 6d.), is an “admirable biography” of one whose sole object in Ireland was toimprove the material and industrial condition of the country; and, “if the recent history of Ireland is of importance,” says Literature, “this is just one of the books that should be read in connection with it.” “We may say,’ says the Spectator, ‘ that the new social politics of Ireland, if it can be said to have had any distinct author, is due in a pre-eminent degree to the Quaker banker of Hitchin,” of whom this book, done “ with judgment and zkill,” gives a “very simple, quiet story.” Curonictes or Aunt Mrnervy ANN, by Joel Chandler Harris (Dent, 4s. 6d.), is laid in Georgia in the early days of emancipation jast after the war, and gives us, says Literature, ‘a gallery of character sketches, in black and white, that will bear comparison with the author’s best work.” Tue DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGuIsH Novet, by Wilbur L. Cross (Macmillan, 6s), is both a history anda criticism of English fiction. The Guardian concludes its notice by saying :—‘‘ As the whole of this very useful little book shows, novelists great and small are always feeling their way, and he who finds it is the one who has some- THE thing so important to say that (in his hands) the way becomes insignificant, and, being no longer much attended to, falls into decay, while new forgers of imitative fiction occupy themselves in devising new forms to mask their defect either of substance or originality.” SUNNINGWELL, by F. Warre Cornish (Constable, 6s.), is “ gordially recommended,” by the Daily Telegraph as an “extremely clever book.” It ‘‘isby no means astory, being quite inorganic and totally devoid of plot.” The whole interest centres in the Rev. Philip More, Canon of Sunning- well, who “may be aptly defined as a benevolent oppor- tunist, intensely introspective, but thoroughly open-minded.” “‘Itis a book for the ‘ mugwump,’” says the Spectator, “ to ase the term in its best sense.” Among the characters isa pretty young woman who has one unprosperous and one prosperous love affair.” The Daily News refers to the “ charming Canon,” and says this “is the kind of volume that—almost unconsciously—impresses the reader with a comfortable and soothing sense of leisure.” EXxpPLoraTIo EvaNGELica, by Percy Gardner (Black, 158.), is a “powerful book,” says Literature, whose real importance is “that it raises for Christian theology the question, What is the ‘sufficient foundation’ of Christian faith?” In some respects it is “the most noteworthy theological work that has appeared since the publication of ‘Lux Mundi.’” Parson Kur, by A. E. W. Mason and Andrew Lang (Longmans, 6s.),'a novel about the Jacobites, is, says the Daily Telegraph, “ a perfectly homogeneous work, throughout which the literary touch of either writer is indistinguishable from that of the other.” The period is 1719 and onwards for a few years; the central figure and evil genius of the plot is the unhistorical Lady Oxford. ‘‘ Mr. Andrew Lang knows all that is to be known about the Jacobites,” says the Daily Chronicle. “Mr. Mason tells a story delight- fully.” ‘Distinctly the book is a success.” “The two joint heroes, both Jacobite Irish outlaws hailing from the County Kildare, are excellent company,” says the Spectator, which pronounces “ Parson Kelly” to be “a book of more than common merit.” OnE QuEEN TRIUMPHANT, by Frank Mathew (Lane, 6s.), is “‘a very spirited and ingenious novel,” says the Spectator. It is a historical romance of Queen Elizabeth’s time, and ‘whether Mr. Mathew’s estimate of his characters be historically sound or not, the great point is that they are real to him, and his enthusiasm and interest in them can hardly fail to infect his readers.” The Guardian says the book will add to Mr. Mathew’s reputation. ‘‘The merit of his work is that his imagination permits him to see, and his skill makes his readers see with him, the great Queen and those around her as if with the eyes of the flesh.” Siz Parrick tHe Puppock, by L. B. Walford (Pearson, 6s.), ‘is another of the long list of pleasant and wholesome stories,” says the Daily Telegraph, “that we owe to Mrs. Walford’s pen. The scene is laid in Scotland. Sir Patrick is a simple-souled, plain-featured, middle-aged man with a heart of gold.” ‘Everybody of whom Mrs. Walford tells one,” says the Daily Chronicle, “is racy, outspoken, fearless; not afraid of being thought a little too racy, too outspoken, or too fearless either.”’ Tue Wuite Dove, by William J. Locke (Lane, 6s.), is a “clever and interesting novel,” says the Spectator, in which the réle of hero is entrusted to a distinguished bacteriologist. The plot is “exceedingly painful”; the heroine is “admirably drawn” ; the blameless bacteriologist “is rather an aggravating person”; “ but the charlatan is drawn from the quick—a brilliant, exuberant, histrionic rascal, just lacking the resolution and ruthlessness to be a successful knave.” 208 AUTHOR. HeERonFORD, by S. R. Keightley (Pearson, 6s.), ie, in the words of the Daily Telegraph, “ a plain-sailing, old-fashioned story of the type that was so current in novel-reading circles from seventy to eighty years ago.” By his power of creating a romantic atmosphere,” saysthe Daily Chronicle, “Mr. Keightley compels our interest in his very first pater ; his other literary qualities enable him to hold it to the end.” OvursipE THE Rapius, by W. Pett Ridge (Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.), contains short stories of the metropolitan suburbs, and is “singularly entertaining,” says the Daily Telegraph; “from its first page to its last it is delightful reading.” My Lapy Frivot, by Rosa N. Carey (Hutchinson, 6s.) is described by Literature as “a simple romance told without affectation,” and belonging “ to the class of romance which will always find grateful readers.” Tu PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER Psycuic STORIES, edited by A. Goodrich Freer (Hurst and Blackett, 6s.) contains tales which, says Literature, “are strange rather than horrible. They deal with second sight, telepathy, crystal gazing, and the projection of thoughts into visible appearances.” ‘‘ No one interested in psychical research should overlook this book; and it has a distinct general interest as a foretaste of the ghost story of the future.” The Daily News says the seven stories possess both “point” and style, “and are decidedly to be recommended.” Sue WaLKs In Buauty, by Katherine Tynan (Smith, Elder, and Co., 6s.), will be hailed with enthusiasm by the sentimental reader, says the Spectator, as “an artistic revival of the formula” used by the late authoress of ‘Molly Bawn.” “The clever reader will say, ‘ What a silly book!’ but will not lay it down until it is finished.” The Daily News calls it “ very charming and very picturesque,” and ‘‘a pretty, wholesome, and genial study of the best kind of Irish country life.” A Kiss For A Kinapom, by Bernard Hamilton (Hurst and Blackett, 6s.), is “throughout readable and often exciting,” says the Spectator. The author “introduces an innovation into the fashionable realm of mock royalty. An American millionaire, by name Julius Ceesar Jones, has a fancy for presenting his ‘best girl’ with a real, genuine crown, and this is the story of how, with the aid of a British baronet, he sets about seizing the government of a small republic in Italy.” There is bloodshed and “plenty of ingenuity,” says the Guardian; “the situations are good and exciting, and the book thoroughly entertaining.” Bearrick v’Estx, by Julia Cartwright (Dent, 15s), ‘* might perhaps,” says the Daily Chronicle, “ be styled with more aptness, ‘The Story of the Rise and Fall of Lodovico Sforza’ ” Miss Cartwright deals adequately “ with the art of Milan, with its literature and learning, as well as with its politics and social life.” This story of the Life of Beatrice d’Este and of her husband Lodovico Sforza’s rule over Milan, says the Daily Telegraph, “is distinguished by its charm and the vividness of its presentment.” “THE AUTHOR.” SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page eon eee wee an cae nea ga <n oe Other Pages... see ove ee eae ane one ae 8 Half of a Page ... aes ive axe aie aun i ere Quarter ofa Page .. ae aes aes eee ane ww OL Eighth of a Page ae ON 0 Single Column Advertisements ... ago 0 Bills for Insertion ... as ats ae one ; _ Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, London, W.0O, 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. 10 Issue 09 (February 1900) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 09 (February 1900) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1900-02-01-The-Author-10-9 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/470/1900-01-01-The-Author-10-8.pdf 4799282bb50e2d4e59fd54f63371b24f PDF Text Text �������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1900-01-01 Volume 10 Issue 8 Pages Page range in volume 165–184 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19000101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Fluthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 8.] JANUARY 1, Tgoo. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. Pees HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. eae GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). ; In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreemeat in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! VOL. X. * Til. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. oc WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. i. No sign an agreement without submitting it tc the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :— (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of bis name on the play-bills. (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. This method can only be entered into when a fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc- tion. It is not a common method. Q2 156 (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts. Sbonld obtain a sum in advance of royalties. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. 4. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 6. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is protected by a preliminary performance in the United Kingdom. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of writing the play has begun or after it is finished. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. t. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. THE AUTHOR. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. = THE READING BRANCH. N “EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this 26, branch of their work by informing young writers of Their MSS. can be read and treated The Readers are The fee is one its existence. az a composition is treated by a coach. writers of competence and experience. guinea. NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. : All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. FROM THE COMMITTEE. Tue IncorporateD Socrery or AUTHORS.— Pension Funp ScHEME. N view of the fact that the Royal Literary Fund is not in the habit of granting pensions, and that its donations are of a purely eleemosynary description, and that the amount available from the Civil List for literary pensions does not as a rule exceed £400 a year, it appears to the Committee that it would be in the interest of literature and of this Society to establish a pension fund for authors to be sup- ported by authors themselves, and not by appeals  THE AUTHOR. 167 to the public at large, and to be administered by a Committee chosen from the Society of Authors as hereinafter appointed. The Committee, therefore, put forward the following points as the basis on which the fund should be worked, and consider that the minor details of its constitution should be settled by Counsel when a sufficient sum of money is placed in the bank to show that the scheme will be fairly supported : 1. That the fund collested shall be utilised for the payment of pensions only, and not of dona- tions. 2. That the fund shall be held in the names of three trustees, any two of whom shall sign cheques for the payment of the pensions and of incidental expenses, such cheques being countersigned by the Secretary, or, in his absence, by a member of the pension Committee. 3. That a Committee consisting of six members and the Chairman of the Managing Committee of the Society for the time being shall be the sole arbiters as to the recipients of the pensions, and the trustees shall sign cheques on the autho- rity of the Committee only. That the Secretary of the Incorporated Society of Authors do act as the secretary of the Committee. 4. That the Committee of six members shall consist of three members of the Society elected by the Committee of the Society, and three members of the Society elected at the general meeting of the Society by the members of the Society. That the candidates elected by the members of the Society shall be nominated in writing to the Secretary at least three weeks prior to the General Meeting, and each candidate shall be supported by the names of at least five members. A list of the names of the candidates so nominated shall be sent to each member of the Society with the report of the Society, and those candidates obtaining the most votes at the General Meeting shall he elected to serve on the Committee, which shall be called the “ Committee of the Pension Fund of the Incorporated Society of Authors.” 5. That one member of those elected by the Managing Committee of the Society of Authors, and one member of those elected by the members of the Society at the General Meeting shall retire annually, but may be re-elected. 6. In default of the election of sufficient candi- dates by the members of the Society the Manag- ing Committee of the Society shall fill the vacan- cies by the election of members of the Society not being members of the Committee. 7. That the pensions given shall not be less than £30 nor more than £100 per annum. 8. That pensions shall not be given to anyone who has not attained the age of sixty years, pro- vided that in the absence of satisfactory candi- dates over sixty years of age, or in the case of total inability to work and during the continuance of such inability, the Committee of the Pension Fund may assign pensions to members of the Society of a less age. g. That no pensions shall be given to anyone who has not been a member of the Society of Authors for ten years at least, or a life member, but that membership to the Society gives no right to a pension. 10. Save as excepted in clause 8, That such pensions shall be tenable for life, but that the Committee of the Pension Fund may in their absolute discretion discontinue any pension for any one or more of the following reasons :— i. In the case of bankruptcy. ii. In the case of a pensioner’s conduct being such as would disqualify him from membership of the Society of Authors. iii. In the case of a pensioner subsequently receiving an independent income sufficient to provide for his support. 11. That the Committee of the Pension Fund in giving pensions to applicants shall consider not only the necessity of each case but also the merits of the writings of the applicant. 12. That ail applications laid before the Com- mittee of the Pension Fund shall be confidential, but the names of the recipients of the pensions and the amount given shall be stated in The Author. 13. That contributions may be made either by a single donation or by a donation spread over three, four, or five years, or by annual subscrip- tions. 14. Subject to the paym-nt of working expenses, not less than two-thirds of all such annual subscriptions shall be added to the capital of the Pension Fund; the other third may, in the discretion of the Committee of the Pension Fund, be devoted to the payments of pensions or in the purchase of anuuities to satisfy pensions granted. 15. That all selections of securities in which the capital may from time to time be invested be subject to the unanimous decision of the trustees, and, after the establishment of the Fund, to the agreement therewith of a majority of at least two-thirds of the Committee of the Pension Fund. 16. That with the consent of two-thirds of the trustees and the Pension Committee sitting together, this scheme may be varied from time to time as need arises, provided always that the Fund shall be administered by a Committee con- sisting of members of the Society of Authors, and  168 for the benefit of the members of such Society for the time being. The Committee hope to start the scheme early in 1900, and now invite sub-criptions from the members of the Society. Immediate contributions are desired to form a nucleus for the fund and to enable the Committee to meet working expenses. A form for subscribers is appended. Opinions, suggestions, and criticism will be cordially welcomed by th+ Committee, and care- fully considered previously to the scheme being submitted to Counsel for final settlement. The following subscriptions have been already promised :— Mr. George Meredith (President of the Society)... £100 Mr. J. M. Barrie (if nine others subscribe the SAMO BMOUDG) coo... 2 eco enters et vere ayeesew anes taerses 100 Mr. A. W. a Beckett (per annum) ..................... 5 Sir Walter Besant ........0..0..0...cccc eee 100 The Rev. T. G. Bonney (for present year, and con- tinue same a3 long as existing circumstances also GONGINUG) sce, ieee eae ce wate gen as 5 Mr. Austin Dobson (as much as possible per BNNUNT) oc a es a nave eee tenes ye namen = Dr. Conan Doyle (per annum, when the scheme assumes a practicai basis)................06..) cesses 10 Mr. Douglas Freshfield (if nine others subscribe the Same AMOUUE) 665.0 ioes sche een sees Gi uesennenes 100 Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins ........................ 200 Mr. Jerome K. Jerome (per annum, and perhaps MORO) 86 ie i ees 5 Mr. J. Scott Keltie (per an: um for five years)...... 5 Mr. Rudyard Kipling...................:::ceeeeeee tees 100 Mr: Gilbert Parker....... 2.6.0 100 Mrs. Humphry Ward (per annum) ................... 10 G. H. T ee LITERARY PROPERTY. J.—ExcHaNncEe AND THE Contra ACcouUNT. TTENTION has been frequently called in A these pages to the charging, in an account rendered to the author, of advertisements not paidfor. In our last number the case of Mr. Endean and Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. was reported. In this case the sum of £15 was charged, the greater part of which had not been spent. This case, however, was explained on the ground of an error on the part of a clerk. We have to do here with facts that are not errors. There are three ways of charging for advertise- ments which have cost nothing. (We need not consider a clerk’s error in setting down advertise- ments that have not even been inserted.) The first method is tu charge for advertisements which have appeared in the publisher's own organs. It is obvious that any publisher who claims this THE AUTHOR. right claims as well the right to take as much as he pleases of the proceeds, because he can adver- tise a book as often as he pleases, and in any way he pleases, and he can always pretend that the advertisement was for the good of the book. It is also obvious that in a profit-sharmg agreement he is legally bound to charge only money that is actually spent. Another way is to exchange advertisements with other publishers who have magazines, and to charge the author’s account with every such advertisement. A third way is to insert advertisements in other publishers’ magazines; to pay for them, perhaps getting discount; to receive other publishers’ advertisements, aud to send in a“ contra account,” having the receipt for the first payment to prove that payment has been actually made, if ques- tions are asked. In order to ascertain the extent to which publishers advertise in each other’s organs an examina'ion has been made of the principal magazines for the month of December. It will be remembered that in the “ Draft Agreements (Equitable) ” the publishers preserved a profound silence on this subject. Is it too much to infer that their silence, after all that has been urged and pointed out, and after the opinions of counsel had been taken twice, may be con- strued into a determination not to condemn the practice P The magazines have been divided into two groups. ‘The first consists of the older maga- zines and their publishers. Macmillan’s ) Temple Bar \- published by Macmillan and Co. The Century ¢ The Edinburgh Review Longman’s The Quarterly, published by Murrey. The Cornhill, published by Smith, Elder and Co. The Nineteenth Century, published by Samp- son Low and Co. The Contemporary, published by Isbister and Co. The Fortnightly, published by Chapman and Hall. Harper’s, published by Harper and Brothers. Blackwood’s, published by Blackwood. The Gentleman's, published by Chatto and Windus. The Pall Mall Magazine is omitted because it does not belong to a publisher. The table appended gives the names of the following firms and the magazines in which they advertised in the month of December :— ) published by Longman and Co.  AUTHOR. { | | | | | | | > | | | } > } | | } | e = | | | | (ei ais | >| 3 Sit S| | i ae > <= : y = eg tee | KS S Ae ‘ si eae QS a. & ee Se e . & eS ee ae: 4 Oo US | = | Ss 1s Ses | a! § s 3 Z, g Poo = 2 Ss SS) Ses | StS S| eS | Pos = 3 s Ss 3 : s S oS SN . Ree | ro 2 | 1 - | | ~ = | | | | is | ee i oo eee Poe a oe | | | r tela ee [es | is : (eee eo eal ae = Leo 10.1 E Spies as Ss S ) ee 3 = SISIElsisieielais 2|s eS toe S +~ | zg aS = ort os | oot bss Tw; Ss & 2 Pe sl oe ae eS Bel Se | Se | Ble a2 > |4 14 a See eS ls | Se ls Z, a [eia Simlieicibiciaelsi s 4 5 le lel e Si8i8isiSisisi#is2 | as Pet 5 e \ |e l8 Ce | 5 liso is n | | | | | | | Bice itis oe eee ae ee | | | Name oF ADVERTISER. | | | | | BeigckwOOd | 26.6 kiss eee . | a [S | . | | jee ees Chapman and Hall .................... | | & . » | | | eae | | | Chatto and Wimdus....................-| oe. | : | | | | | | | | | | | | | Harper he eee kasi ee ee 33] | x - o | | 95 | | a + | | | | | | peau | sone | - | | | | Sut aud Bier yr ed on 1 |» |» be a a ls Ls : | Posen: Rees fees eau A | | | | | | S Low and Co...........cennsese- 1+ o> ee ee | Pee ee | 8 | —_—— —— ——|—|—_ ||| | | | | VON GMAE 6 cers esc ; wes aa Pa le a a ee | | | | | Ke | Petar ea oe | Pa Ne ee | Da eee eee Ta cacoceceaaneeol Be eee ee ene 1 | ae M Pe | 8 MITA, ....-,-15- | ade | cae | os | a It will be observed by an examination of the table that there are thirteen magazines : advertise in five. , four. Murray Chapman and Hall 9 Macmillan and Co. advertise in twelve. Chatto and Windus > », three. Longmans. y ,, eleven. It will also be observed if we take one of Smith and Elder A ,, eleven. these publishers, the one which seems to adver- Sampson Low and Co. ,, » ten, tise the most in magazines — Macmillan and Harper Brothers n » seven. Co,—that Macmillan advertises in— Longman’s Edinburgh Review .... Harper’s Harper’s .......... Murray’s Quarterly ..... eas ; oe ee Chapman and Hall’s Mortnightly ............... ks And receives a page in an organ of his own from— Longman Murray Chapman and Hall Harper Sampson Low Sampson Low’s Nineteenth Century ieee Smith and Wlder's CormmAill, .. 0... .cce cesses civ cecsewsecues Chatto and Windus’s Gentleman’s ....cc ccc cesnen ccc cen erence ean eeeees Smith and Elder Chatto and Windus.  170 A second group of magazines was then taken. Jt included those published by Newnes, Pearson, Harmsworth, the Religious Tract Society, and many others. The circulation of these magazines ig enormous—ten and twenty times that of some of the older periodicals. Yet there are hardly any publishers’ advertisements in them. Why is this? Is it due to the absence of any arrange- ment about exchanges or “contra accounts ” ? Let us now see how a firm of publishers might work the “contra account” to the ruin of the author. A. B. sends a full-page advertisement of a certain book among others to a dozen maga- zines, paying for each and charging the author his share of the page according to the tariff. He may do this as often as he pleases and whenever he pleases. If the author’s share in each page is 10s., he has £6 charged against him for one month’s advertising in the magazines. If the publisher continues this mode of advertising for six months —all for the good of the book—the account of the book is loaded with £36 for advertising in the magazines. But the other twelve publishers send each a full page advertisement to A. B. and pay for every page. Therefore the “contra account” becomes the mere acknowledgment of an ex- change. The honest A. B. has spent not one farthing of the £36 charged, all of which goes into his own pocket. One would like to see any defence of this practice if it exists. Understand that it is not a question whether certain magazines offer a good medium for adver- tisers: perhaps they do. It is a question whether the author is to be charged where nothing has been paid. It is obviously necessary to guard against a practice in which the opinion of a judge and the verdict of a jury seem to be very much wanted. The methods of safeguarding are (1) to pro- hibit by the agreement any advertising in maga- zines except by the “ contra account” arrange- ment, which costs nothing; (2) to insist on all the details of the charge for advertise- ments; (3) to disallow all such charges, whether provided against by the agreement or not, and to bring the case before the Committee of the Society. These are plain facts: the publishers have a perfect right to make exchanges ; or, if they prefer, to pay for each advertisement, and to send in a “contra account.’ Nor is it suggested that any of these firms do charge their authors for such advertisements. We again refer to the recent case in which Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. explained that such a charge was the error of a clerk — an explanation which involves their THE AUTHOR. denial of the practice. These are facts which, if one month is taken as representing all, go far to prove the custom of exchanges between publishers who own magazines. To prove the custom beyond doubt would involve the analysis of the adver- tisements for a whole year. They do not prove, of course, that authors are charged for these exchanges, but a statement or expression of opinion on the subject from the Publishers’ Association would be welcome. IIl.—Somez Points FoR CONSIDERATION. IL—A PUBLISHING LICENCE. There are one or two points lately brought before the Secretary of the Society which have been commented on in previous numbers of The Author. As, however, the difficulties have arisen again and the dangers have not disappeared, itis worth while bringing them once more to the notice of the members of the Society. The case is as follows: An author goes to one of the most influential houses in England and, after the perusal of his manuscript, is told that the house will publish his book on a fixed royalty basis. The amount paid in royalties does not affect the matter. The publisher further states that he will forward to the author the agreement embodying these terms. In due course the author receives the printed form of agreement, in which the publisher under- takes to publish the work on the terms suggested and settled between them, but with this addition, that the copyright of the work, the translation rights, the dramatic rights, and all other rights that the author can at any future time possess shall be the publisher's. On one or two occasions the author, trusting to the assumed probity of the firm, has signed the agreement, thinking it in accordance with his previous verbal arrangement. On other occasions he has brought the agree- ment to the Society. If the publisher in the first instance had desired to purchase all the rights from the author, he should have then candidly stated to the author that he would produce the book on the royalty basis on the understanding that all these further rights were transferred to him. This he did not do. His arrangement with the author was practically as stated above, a pub- lishing licence subject to a payment of royalties to the author. On one occasion when it was pointed out that the printed agreement was not in accordance with the original arrangement made, the pub-  THE AUTHOR. lisher put forward the excuse that the agreement represented his usual printed form. The real difficulty of the case is apparent. The author, ignorant of his own rights, too often trusts to the publisher. The publisher, on the other hand, ought not to omit the most important items of the contract and afterwards to embody them without comment in his agreement. The agreement should differ from the verbal contract in its minor clauses only. The golden rule is never to part with the copy- right. II.—THE DEFERRED ROYALTY. Another point has come to the notice of the Secretary, to which it is necessary to draw the attention of authors. A large publishing firm whose half - profit agreements have become famous, has, it is believed, decided to issue agreements on the basis of the deferred royalty. The agreement on the basis of deferred royalty is only one point better than the half-profit agree- ment, but it is not even this point better when the royalty is deferred till the cost of production has been covered, as you not only get all the difficulties of accounts in which the cost of pro- duction, the advertising, and other items are included and tend to complicate matters, but the author gets a considerably less sum in payment of deferred royalty than he would have done by half profits. The deferred royalty agreement is one point better when the royalty is paid after a certain number of copies have been sold. It is better for this reason only, that the accounts are simpler and are more easily checked. The author will not, however, obtain a greater return from the royalty. In case any members of the Society receive offers of agreements on the deferred royalty basis it may be as well to point out the serious diffi- culties that have been known in the past to arise from this form of agreement. It is likely that an author will be offered the same amount of royalty after a certain number of copies are sold as he would have been offered if the royalty had been paid at the beginning. If the publisher has practically repaid the cost of the production owing to the deferred royalty (and this he generally takes care to do), then the author should receive at least 30 per cent. royalty on the published price. Another danger is that it is not to the interests of the publisher in many cases to push the sale of the book beyond the number on which no royalty is paid. VOL, x. 171 The publisher is not really looking to the benefit likely to accrue to the author, but only looking to obtaining a reasonable return on the money expended by himself. This difficulty should be guarded against by a clause inserted in the agreement, stating that the publisher undertakes, in the first instance, to print considerably more copies than the number on which he does not intend to pay royalty. There are other points in this form of agreement; for these the author is referred to the “Methods of Publishing,’ and “The Addenda.” Tt is an agreement full of pitfalls, and must not be entered into without careful advice. One of the worst points is the fact that the publisher’s and the author’s interests are opposed and not at one. G. Hy 7. TII.—Lirerary AGENTS. I have been hitherto under the impression that the literary agent made for the author all possible arrangements for publication, serial and im book form, in the British Empire and abroad, and secured the author better terms than he could get for himself. Last week, however, I was shown an agreement for a work which had been placed in an agent’s hands, containing the following clause: “The publishers shall arrange for the issue of an edition in America, and they shall pay the said [author's name| an amount that shall be equal to ro per cent. of the actual sum received by them for the said edition.” I wish to know—(1) Why, if the work is placed in an agent’s hands, the arrangements for the American edition are to be made by the pub- lisher? (2) Whether it is usual for agents to leave American editions to be arranged by the publisher? (3) Why the publisher is to take go per cent. and the author only to, seeing that an opposite arrangement would have been a fairer division, the publisher having done but very little? And finally (4) whether this is evidence that an author should be as careful in the choice of his agent as in the choice of his publisher ? Se mK IV.—Tur New German Copyrient Bri. The sketch of a new copyright law for the German Empire, officially published in the spring of 1899, continues to occupy much attention, and to evoke not a little criticism on the Continent in all circles devoted to the study of copyright. Our German contemporary, Das Recht der Feder, is by no means satisfied with many of the new provisions, and we may add that we entirely agree with the criticisms of the law which have appeared in its pages, and earnestly hope that R  172 THE AUTHOR. they may assist to bring about some important modifications of the suggested enactment. In its present shape the new law will be little better than a half-measure, by which all the interests of authors will be by no means properly safeguarded. V.—Mvsic ComposERS AND PUBLISHERS. The letter signed ‘“ Musical Publisher” in tha December issue of The Author surprises me and interests me as the Secretary of the Society of Authors. Ihave pointed out in The Author on several occasions that the position of musical composers when contracting with the largest and most responsible musical publishers in London is a very unfortunate one. The general form of contract issued by the big musical publishing houses takes, as a rule, every- thing, leaving the composers nothing, and the composers generally sign these contracts in igno- rance of the value and nature of the property they are handing over on the faith of the name of the house with which they are dealing. A typical contract was published in The Author for July, 1899, with explanations. I should like “‘ Musical Publisher” to refer to that number. If musical publishers, as a rule, accepted leases of the composer’s work for a limited time composers would have a_ better chance of reaping the rewards of their own work and labour. If “Musical Publisher” sees this letter I should be very glad if he would enter into com- munication with me. G. Herserr THrRina, Secretary of the Society. os THE METHOD OF THE FUTURE. NOTE will be found in the correspondence of the month on “The Method of the Future.” This method, which is simply the publishing on commission by means of a commission agent or commission publisher, who publishes in no other way and who takes his commission and nothing more, is a_ widely different thing from publishing by commission, as it is generally understood. A simple comparison between the two methods is shown by a reference to the publishers’ Draft Agreements (Kqutable). Thus the latter claim (1) a preliminary fee: (2) a blank commission on printing, paper, binding, advertising, and other disbursements, wiru the right to take dis- count on every item: (3) to be paid in advance, although the printer, &c., will not be paid for three months or more after publication : (4) to take a blank commission on sales: (5) to account | for the sales not at the actual price realised, but at “customary” trade prices, whatever he may choose to name: and (6) to render accounts annually, but not to pay for a period of blank months afterwards. The commission agent of the future charges a commission and nothing else—no discounts: no percentages : nothing For instance, a book may cost, say, £150 for production and may realise, say, £300. The commission agent will take 10 per cent.—say £30—and send the author, as the money comes in, the remainder, £270, out of which he pays £150 for production. ‘ Tf, on the other hand, the book is sent on commission to a general publisher, it will be obvious, by applying the claims set up as detailed above, that the Cost of Production may be very easily swollen to about £220, while the returns, by making a liberal use of the ‘‘ customary trade price ” clause and of the commission, may easily be reduced to about the same sum; so that the unhappy author would not only pay £70 more than the book cost, but would actually get nothing back of his outlay. This is no fanciful portion. It is actually made possible by the clauses in the Publishers’ Draft Agreements (Equitable). This method is strongly advocated (1)’in the case of successful authors of every kind. It may be that at the outset there might be a little friction with the machinery, but that would soon be eased because it would be entirely and com- pletely the interest of the commission publisher to act for the best advantage of the authors. Perhaps in a few cases, but very few, this general publisher would offer so large a royalty that it would seem to be the advantage of the author to remain with him. What assurance, however, would there be that a true return of the sales would be returned? A very high royalty might, in unscrupulous hands, be reduced by a reduction in the returns. In the second place, the method is strongly advocated in the case.of that large class of books —not novels—written by specialists and designed for a special purpose, addressed to a special audience, where publication would advance the author’s interests apart from any possibility of wide circulation. Surely in such cases this method offers the greatest possible advantages. It must never be forgotten that the committee of the Publishers’ Association have insisted on their right to every one of the additions to the cost and the deductions from the sales which are set forth iets  THE AUTHOR. above : every one, except that of charging adver- tisements not paid, and this is passed over with silence deliberate, which, after all that has been said and written on the subject, can only mean that they approve or allow of the practice. And it must be remembered that these monstrous claims have never been disavowed or withdrawn. The Method of the Future then is a Method of pure Self Defence. Nor must this method be confused with that of paying what is humorously called part of the Cost of Production. The old advice given by the Society over and over again still remains ‘Never pay for what publishers refuse to produce at their own expense.’ The reasons are illustrated by what precedes. The commission agent or publisher may also, on his side, refuse to produce, even upon commission, He simply says: “I publish on commission only, and in no other way. I do not want bad and unsaleable books. Good and saleable books I produce on terms which are better than any profit sharing agreement or royalty or ordinary commission by a general publisher can possibly offer. The business of distribution and collection is done by me, and for that I take a moderate commission and nothing else. All is above board—estimates—vouchers— discounts — everything.” exe PARIS NOTES. 5, rue Chomel, Paris. FYNHE scurrilous tone adopted by several low- class French publications in dealing with the Transvaal War has justly excited the indignation of the Anglo-American colony in Paris. But it is a mistake to imagine that the majority of the better - class French public approve the virulent, personal attacks directed against the noble Woman and aged Empress- Queen, who stands foremost—in virtue, as in age —among the contemporary European sovereigns of the twentieth century. As regards the pre- vailing sentiment respecting these attacks, I venture to quote the following phrases taken from a recent leading article in the Jvgaro, than which no French paper is conducted on higher lines, or offers a better mirror of the general feeling of the cultured upper classes: ‘ Nos facons de polémique,” writes Le Passant, ‘“ n’ont pas ¢té inventées 4 lusage des Anglais. Nous faisons pour eux comme pour nous, et ce ne sont méme que des obus perdus qui passent les frontiéres. Le gros de la canonnade est pour notre propre usage. Cela n’empéche pas que ces attaques inconsidérées ne soient tres regrettables. La reine d’Angleterre, 4 défaut de toute autre 173 considération, aurait du en étre préservée par son erand ige.” Nevertheless, a few lines later we are informed that, if Her Majesty reigned in France, ‘“‘ Les journaux -francais lui en diraient bien d’autres!” Under such circumstances, the lot of a French sovereign is scarcely more to be envied than that of its actual President. THe Osiris PRIZE. The commandant Marchand has received the “Prix Audiffred ” of 15,000 francs. This was a foreseen occurrence, and occasioned much satis- faction but little surprise, since the Audiffred Prize was expressly founded to recompense “ les plus beaux, les plus grands dévouements, de quelque genre quwils soient.” But the ‘“ Prix Audiffred”’ sinks into comparative insignificance beside the magnificent triennial prize of 100,000 francs, founded by M. Daniel Osiris to recom- pense the most remarkable discovery, or work, produced during a period of three years’ dura- tion, whether the said discovery, or work, come under the heading of science, art, letters, or the medical and industrial professions. In making the Institute of France the trustees of the Prix Osiris, the donor takes the opportunity to intimate his preference for surgical and patho- logical discoveries, on the ground that they are, generally speaking, the most efficacious in alleviating the suffering of humanity at large. On all ordinary occasions only Frenchmen will be allowed to compete for this prize; but when- ever an international exhibition coincides with the date of the adjudgment of the Prix Osiris, all nationalities are invited to enter the lists. Even if the exhibition takes place one or two years later, the awarding of the prize (which, in the latter instance, would amount to 166,000 francs) may be retarded during this period. Should the successful effort prove the combined outcome of several minds, the prize will be divided among the fortunate collaborators. If any would-be competitor desire further details on the subject, M. Georges Picot, Secrétaire Perpétuel de Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, will undoubtedly be glad to furnish any infor- mation that may be required. A SeLect CoLuecs. In 1881, M. Jules Claretie called attention to the fact that the Paris “de la rive gauche” enjoyed a monopoly of intellectual instruction to the detriment of the wealthy aristocrats of the Faubourg St. Germain, whose means permitted them to dwell in the more luxurious Paris “ de la rive droite.” He suggested the establishment of a national College on the right bank, in order that the élite of society might be kept in touch 174 with the march of modern intellect, without being forced to cross the bridges which separated them from the poorer inhabitants of the Latin Quarter. In 1899 M. Claretie may rejoice in seeing his suggestion become a realised fact. A little Sorbonne was opened on Dee. 5 at the Bodinitre ; it is rendered select by the fact that only paying members are admitted. This small “ Université mondaine” proposes to deal with the masterpieces of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French litera- ture; and among the names on its programme we find those of MM. Leo Claretie, Hugene Len- tilhac, Aug. Dorchain, René Doumic, Emile Faguet, and Mme. Jane Dieulafoy. Since the death of Mme. Rosa Bonheur, the latter is the only woman in France who is legally entitled to walk the streets of Paris in man’s attire—a per- mission of which she avails herself to the full, for she is never seen in feminine garb. As a lecturer she possesses a remarkable facility of language, devoid of the picturesque exaggeration so common to her sex. Mme. Dieulafoy is a great traveller. She and her husband have lived many years in Persia, enjoying the precarious favour of the tyrannical Nassr ed Din; and many of the wild scenes she has witnessed, and in which she has played a part, rival in interest the sensational “Mille et une Nuits” of Dr. C. Mardrus, of which the second volume has lately been given to the public. Arounp M. Bourcer. Despite his reputation for dandyism, M. Paul Bourget is one of the most fertile authors of his school. He has just returned to Paris, and is already publishing a new serial—an interesting study of a fin-de-siecle Parisian ménage—entitled “Te Luxe des Autres.’ He has recently averred that his mental attitude towards our race has undergone a complete transformation. The more he appreciates our good qualities, the more keenly is he aware of the invisible barrier, the “ divergences irréductibles” which alienate his sympathies from us. In brief, he no longer feels his former warm admiration for the English race. This change is not to be attributed to any petty “trimming” for popular favour. The ardent disciple of Hippolyte Taine; the enthusiastic hero-worshipper who revered Balzac before Balzac was a fashionable idol, and who carried his imitation of his hero to such an extreme that, for several years, he went to bed at eight o’clock every night and rose at three o'clock every morning, breakfasting on a bowl of black coffee prepared over-night—because, forsooth, Balzac had recorded that such was his own usual méthode; the successful writer and honoured member of the French Academy, who boldly defied current opinion by perseveringly register- THE AUTHOR. ing his vote (the solitary one) in favour of M. Emile Zola’s admission to the charmed circle— is not the man to be influenced by any baser considerations. Once, in speaking of the leader of the realistic school, M. Bourget remarked : “No one here suspects the reputation which Zola enjoys abroad. His books are read every- where—in the smallest American towns. He is considered the chief, the father, of the modern French novel. Nowhere has he met with such severe censors as those of his own country ; and,” added M. Bourget, emphatically, “Vraiment la jeune critique n’a pas assez de respect pour cette gloire!” Ture Brainnines or M. Mevrice. M. Paul Meurice is still busily engaged in superintending the rehearsals of his adaptation of “Les Miscrables” of Victor Hugo, at the Porte-Sainte-Martin Theatre. This play has been much talked of, and is expected to prove one of the greatest hits of the season. M. Meurice is no novice among dramatists, being the author of “ Struensée” and many other suc- cessful plays. He is almost an octogenarian, and to talk with him is to be transported into a bye- gone era. He made his dramatic début by the aid and with the collaboration of Dumas pére. It happened in this wise :— On one occasion the latter deigned to confide to the shy slender student his project of founding a theatre which should alternately mount his own works and those of foreign classics, Calderon, Lope de Vega, Shakespeare. . . . “ Ah!” sighed Dumas, reflectively, “if I had only the time to translate ‘Hamlet’! What a fine spectacle that would be for the opening night!” “T have a translation of ‘Hamlet’ all ready,” murmured the student, blushing at his own temerity. «A translation in verse ?”’ “ Certainly.” Meurice Was dispatched to fetch his work. Dumas read it and was satisfied. ‘Ma foi, mon enfant,” he said complacently, “je deviendrai ton collaborateur, si, du moins, cela te plait?” The offer was eagerly accepted; but Dumas was procrastinating, and a wearisome period inter- vened before “ Hamlet” was finally produced at the Saint-Germain-en-Laye Theatre. At this epoch the great man was living in princely state at Monte Cristo, submerged in debt, conde- scendingly offering champagne to the bailiffs who came to mouut guard over his furniture. All the critics were invited to be present at the first representation of ‘‘Hamlet.” Meurice shamefacedly hid himself in the side-scenes, while  THE Dumas sat enthroned in a “fauteuil de balcon,” his broad breast literally covered with glittering stars, decorations, and orders. He appeared totally to forget that the piece was his, or rather that he had read and signed it, since it was he who led the applause. But modesty was never the prominent characteristic of this great genius and wholesale plagiarist. ‘- Passions Silencieuses ” is the pathetic title of the novel which M. Henri Gaillard, editor of the Journal des Sourds Muets and secretary-general of the Fédération des Sociétés Frangaises de Sourds Muets, is about to publish. M. Gaillard is physically more highly gifted than the afflicted community over which he presides; for though he totally lost the sense of hearing at the early age of eight years, he has preserved almost intact the faculty of speech, and he will occupy a promi- nent position in the three-day international “Congres du Silence des Sourds Muets,” which will be held in Aug. 1900, in the stately white palace now being erected in the vicinity of the Pont de l Alma. And still further @ propos of the Great Exhibi- tion may be mentioned the exquisite bzbelot which M. Christian, director of the Imprimerie Nationale, is preparing to delight the virtuosos and lettrés of the year 1900. The volume in question bears the date MCM, and is a perfect “chef d’ceuvre’’ of the dual arts of engraving and typography, in addition to containing the history of printing in France during the 15th and 16th centuries. M. Christian has already been engaged two years in its compilation. In the preface he states that “en imprimant cet ouvrage notre ¢tablissement national a surtout pour but d’offrir aux bibliophiles les spécimens les plus curieux et les moins connus de Vart typographique essentiellement francais et @’établir la prééminence de nos artistes par influence qwils exerctrent sur les émules des nations vyoisines 4 |’époque de la Renaissance.” He has certainly succeeded admirably in his aim. Mapame Apam’s Successor. M. P. B. Gheusi, who claims kinship with Gambetta, in addition to being one of the most elegant writers of the present day, has succeeded Mme. Juliette Adam in the editorship of the Nouvelle Revue. Indeed, M. Gheusi is the modern French Crichton who has ‘“ touché a tout sans se spécialiser, méme a la diplomatie ’—since he has recently returned from a diplomatic mission in Asia Minor. Although only thirty years of age, he has already made his mark as an archeologist, poet, lecturer, administrator, novelist, and dramatic author. He isa Toulou- sian by birth, but offers the curious anomaly of AUTHOR. we an undemonstrative Toulousian who prefers reflec- tion to exuberance. He possesses a striking per- sonality, being tall, with intensely black hair, eyes, and beard, finely-cut features, and olive complexion. He has embraced the tenets of M. Constans, and it is reported that he intends to metamorphose the Nouvelle Revue. The latter magazine was founded by Mme. J uliette Adam, who is universally acknowledged to be one of the most brilliant and talented French authoresses of the nineteenth century. Tue Enp or PresipENT Favre. “Ta Fin d’une Présidence ” is the title of M. Witness’ new novel, a “roman a clef” reviving one of the popular legends current at the death of M. Felix Faure. The latter is easily recog- nisable under the pseudonym of “ Prosper Puis- sant,” as is also the case in regard to the fair actress denominated Mlle. Agnes, who was reported to be present at the President’s death, but who was, in reality, engaged elsewhere in the exercise of her profession at the moment when this sad event took place. Nevertheless, ‘ La Fin @’une Présidence” is being widely read, and many persons are firmly convinced of the truth of the fictitious narrative therein contained. In case any of our readers should desire to judge its contents for themselves, we would mention that it is published chez Chamuel. Among books of the month we find ‘le Rappel des Ombres,” by M. B. M. de Vogiié (chez Armand Colin et Cie.) ; ‘‘ L’Ennemie des Réves,” by M. Camille Mauclair (chez Ollen- dort); “4 lAube,” by M. Jean Reibrach ; “‘ Les Boers,” by M. Eugene Morel; “En Mémoire dun Enfant,’ by M. Emile Blémont; ‘ Shake- speare,’ by M. E. Legouis ; and “ Emancipées,” by M. Albert Cim. : DarRAcorre Scott. —___—_ecz NOTES AND NEWS. HAVE to invite very earnest attention to the I scheme for establishing a Pension Fund in connection with the Society. There is no pension for literary folk except their share cf the Civil List. This should give literature another £400 every year. Of late years the administra- tion of the fund has greatly improved, although it still leaves something to.be desired. Yet the grants of pensions are capricious and arbitrary : the pension offered is sometimes ridiculously small, at other times it is absurdly large, consider- ing the small sum at the donor’s disposal. Some- times a case, which would seem especially designed 176 when the annual grant was first proposed, is refused without rhyme or reason: sometimes a person receives a pension while in the full enjoy- ment of his working powers. The pension fund of the Society proposes to grant pensions 1o followers of literature being members of the Society when they grow old or are broken down. The method of raising the necessary income is explained in the paper furnished by the com- mittee. Certain members have led off with promises which, as will be seen,provide a nucleus : others offer a yearly subscription. In publishing the names of the donors it is believed that a great many of our members will follow their example. Besides the donations and the annual subscriptions given for this special purpose it will perhaps be possible, after the number of members has reached a certain figure, to devote a propor- tion of the annual subscriptions to the Pension Fund. Thus, if we begin with a capital sum of £1500 from donations and a promised annual subscrip- tion of £500 for this object: and if we are able to set aside every year, say, another £250 from the annual subscriptions, we should in five years, if we waited for that period before granting any pensions, have a sum of about £5600, producing an annual income of about £150 a year, increasing, if we add £750 a year to our principal, by £20 a year; so that in ten years there would be a sum of £250 a year available in pensions. If, on the other hand, we begin at once by using the interest of our capital for pension purposes, we ought to be able to give for the first year £40: for the second, £60: for the third, £80 a year: and so on. It is quite obvious that even a small pension of £30 a year would be in some cases regarded as avery great help. These figures, however, depend entirely upon the way in which the scheme is taken up. Members will observe that it is not intended to appeal for help—after the manner of the Royal Literary Fund—to the benevolent. The Literary Profession ought to be quite able—it is quite able, if its followers will only think so—to look after those who break down or can work no longer. At the same time I do not suppose that the Com- mittee would refuse to accept gifts from friends and well-wishers. There is another reason for creating a Pension Fund: that of adding stability to the Society. At present, if we admit 200 new members every year, there is sure to be a withdrawal of a certain number, perhaps a hundred or more. ‘These members withdraw because they think that the THE AUTHOR. Society is of no use to themselves personally, for- getting that if it is to be of use to any one there must be a great preponderance of guinea subserip- tions over the number of cases which are taken up, nearly all of which cost the Society a certain amount of law expenses. Now, with a Pension Fund growing every year, it is quite clear that a very strong inducement will be held out to members who might otherwise withdraw to continue. It is not a noble motive: one would far rather find them continuing in the hope of helping those who want help: but we must be thankful that we have our steady supporters— nearly 1500 strong—who do believe in standing by the weaker brethren. In the last number appeared a letter from Mr. Robert Maclehose,of Glasgow. It was prefaced by a few words on the general situation, and followed by a reprint of the report of our sub- committee on the subject. All three documents made quite clear the fact that the majority of booksellers are willing to try the experiment of coercion: we had already recognised that fact, and we proposed that booksellers should have their own way without opposition from our- selves for such a term as would make it possible to decide on the value of the scheme. At present it certainly looks as if the booksellers would get nothing out of it. But we shall see. Mr. Maclehose does not meet two very important points. (1) That the Authors’ Society was not con- sulted on the final adoption of the measure: and the Authors’ Society, representing the original creators and proprietors of the property, is not likely to allow their own interests to be used as a means of increasing the power and importance of the middle man. (2) It does not meet the awkward fact that the agreement binds the bookseller, but does not bind the publisher. Mr. Maclehose says that book- sellers were unwilling to “imply a doubt of the honour of the members of the Publishers’ Asso- ciation.” This is truly wonderful. Not to doubt the honour of the association? Has Mr. Macle- hose read a certain book called ‘“ Methods of Publishing” ? Or, to put it generally, are all men of business to be bound by contracts and conditions except publishers, who alone among mortals are to be held divine and above the reach of temptation? The simplicity of the statement is almost incredible were it not that it is obviously advanced in perfect good faith. We do not, as Mr. Murray was good enough to* say that we did, accuse all publishers of dis- honesty, but one thing may be stated as a law of humanity that, where any body of men have it in  THE AUTHOR. their power to rob, cheat, thieve, and le with ‘impunity, then there will be among them a certain proportion of those who will take advan- tage of this impunity. So that we end as we began: that the book- sellers will have no kind of interference from the Authors’ Society: after a certain time they will probably be asked what advantage they have gained. And meantime the depression of the book trade is growing steadily worse, and the impoverishment of the bookseller is increasing. The extension of the term of copyright con- tinues to be advocated. It is, of course, always advanced as a measure in the interests of the author and his heirs. Nothing could be more absurd. The extension of copyright, if the pre- sent methods are preserved, would be entirely in the interests of the publisher. Those who so confidently talk of the author’s interests are probably unaware that nearly every agreement between author and publisher assigns to the latter the exclusive right of publishing the book in this country, or the copyright, during the legal term. It is, of course, evident that any agreement which might be fair for a limited term might be very much the contrary in the case of a book so fortunate as to be still in demand for an extended term. The extension of the term of copyright would, in fact, affect very few books indeed ; but in the case of those which it did affect the ordinary royalty, or the price given for a sale outright, would be quite inadequate for a book so exceptional, The only way to meet the case is for the author to assign the right of publication, in this country at least, for a short term of years. Thus, if a five years’ term were adopted, the book at the end of that time would be dead and forgotten, or it would be still a property. In the former case, no publisher would want to produce it again ; in the latter case, the author would be able to make new terms for another short period. If sucha plan were adopted, the legal terms of copyright cannot be too much extended. Another advantage would be that it would keep the publisher in check. He would know very well in the case of a valuable book that if he failed in his duty towards the author he would lose that book at the end of the period agreed upon. Also it would make quite clear to his mind that the present view of some publishers, that literary property is theirs by right, to do what they like with, is based upon a strange confusion. ee The Manchester Guardian proposes that after an author’s death his books shall all be thrown 177 open to any publisher who pleases to produce them, subject to some royalty to the author’s heirs—it says the “same” royalty, meaning apparently the same which was paid in the author’s lifetime. But that might be a most unjust and unfair royalty. Moreover, in the case of very popular books, publishers would have the power of underselling each other—we have seen the cut-throat folly of the sixpenny edition—to the loss and detriment of the author's heirs. It is difficult to legislate for the protection of those wao own property or for those who ought to own it. I should rather suggest that the author’s heirs should have the power t) grant the right of publishing to any they please on any terms they please—but for a limited period only. In other words, they would not be allowed to part with the property out of the family. It would be like a landed estate which is not divided among all the heirs but goes as a solid possession to one. How many authors in one century would create a solid possession? In the nineteenth century Scott, Dickens, Marryatt, Thackeray, among novelists, and a few scattered novels besides ; among poets there would be a property large or small in the work of Wordsworth, Scott, Byron, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Swinburne. Legisla- tion would not be for a class, but for one or two here and there. Will my correspondent who signed a letter in the last number of this paper “ M. St. J.” kindly send me his name and address? I have mislaid both. Water Besant. = THE AUTUMN OUTPUT. ~N the November number of The Author were offered certain comments on the list of publi- cations announced for the autumn and classified by Literature. One would like the phrase “ promised by ” the publisher to be dropped. A pound of tea is not “ promised” by the grocer : and the publisher conducts his business strictly on the same principles. He “offers” the public, through a bookseller, a book which he has reason to believe will be acceptable to a certain circle of readers who will buy it. A “high class jam” is offered in the same spirit. Always we must distinguish between the commercial and the literary side of literature. Among the books—1500 in number—classified and enumerated were 353 novels. Naturally the world regarded this threatened cataract of novels with terror. Some there were, however, who 178 were doubtful. A list has now been made of all the novels actually published between the rst Oct. and the 15th Dec. As was expected by the doubter, the announcements were in a great many cases merely made for the purpose of swelling a list. Out of the whole number of 353 in the first list only 242 have appeared. Perhaps the depressed condition of the book market has had something to do with the Slaughter of the Innocents. This depression was severely felt early in the year—it has become steadily worse. It is now by some attributed to the war, which stimulates rather than depresses the reading public, though at first chiefly in the direction of subjects con- nected with South Africa. Chiefly it 1s due to the same causes which have been pointed out by the sub-committee of this Society—causes which continually aggravate the impoverishment of booksellers. No bookseller, however, if he had the wealth of Lombard-street at his back, could afford to risk his money in subscribing to the great mass of books now produced and offered to him. The fact, however, remains that a third of the novels announced have not appeared. The prudence of this withdrawal is to be commended. Tt is next necessary to consider by whom the new novels are written, and what is their chance of success. A closer examination of the list shows about sixty names which may be presumed to carry weight. That is to say, there are sixty out of all these novels which are tolerably certain to enjoy a remunerative circulation. In many cases the remuneration may be very small. Still, prac- tically there is no risk in producing them. There remain 182. Does this large nuimber represent the speculative spirit of the publishers —the sporting or gambling side? Not quite. We may divide them into three classes : (1.) Books written by new writers which have been strongly recommended by the reader, and are taken on their merits on the strength of that opinion. This class is very small. (2.) Books in which the authors pay part of the cost of production. This is a very consider- able class. Judging from the number of offers to publish on these terms it is a much larger class than would be generally believed. (3.) Books which the better publishers have unanimously refused, and which are published by the miserable shops where the author is misled, by promises of large profits and no “further risk,” to undertake the whole cost himself. As regards the first: class, all that is to be said is that there is hope for them. The opinions of an experienced reader are generally cautious. He does not recommend a risk unless he clearly per- THE AUTHOR. ceives that the chances of success are greater than the chances of failure. We may confidently expect that out of the autumn list one or two new names will emerge, to be added to the list of those which command a certain clientéle. It is, of course, impossible to say how many of the 182 belong to this class. It is, however, quite possible to point to a good many books which have no chance at all of success. Among these are the books issued—one cannot say published—by the worthy gentlemen whose reader is always so favourably impressed,—and so quickly—that by return post after the MS. has been received, they offer the “ following most advantageous terms,” viz., three-fourths, or two- thirds, or nine-tenths of the profits: an edition of 750 copies: no risk to the author beyond a little preliminary cheque of £75—or anything else— all future editions to be the care of the firm, and cheques every half-year. It is amazing to note how this bait catches the unwary and the credu- lous. There are never any profits; no bookseller will subscribe a copy; the Stoke Pogis Gazette is the only paper which notices the production. Another class of unfortunates is that of those who agree to guarantee a certain number of copies and omit to notice that nothing is said about advertising, and nothing about any share of profits if the book succeeds. It never does succeed. The profits are less than those made by Bob Sawyer in his general practice at Bristol. There is the class, again, of those who pay part of the vost, and are humorously informed that they are to share the profits. A perusal of the publishers’ “Draft Agreements” (Equitable) should enlighten these unhappy ones as to the nature of the share. “Half the risk and half the profits.” Admirable! Equitable indeed! Lastly, there is a small class of those who boldly undertake the publishing of their books by means of a commission publisher who charges no unpaid advertisements, no “ office expenses,” and takes his commission only. Let us encourage this class by any means in our power. =P OKs CORRESPONDENCE. L—<Tur Mernop or THE FUTURE.” ° HE method of the future” is with us— |" has been for, at least, mouths. Time will soon arrive to inquire if it is to justify its description. To the editor of this paper literature is largely indebted for its genesis ; to him all those who write owe it to see that the description he has given it shall be justified. It is of tremendous importance to  THE letters that it should be adequately supported. Yet it would not appear that any work of first- rate importance, appealing to the general public, and commanding a large sale, has been thus pub- lished. Is it not permissible to call the attention of the lords of the literary world to the position, and to ask if even one is willing to demonstrate his confidence in the system, and give it the powerful impetus which a work of assured success would command for it? Will Mr. Hall Caine, Mr. Anthony Hope, Mr. Zangwill, Mr. Gilbert Parker, Mrs. Humphry Ward, or another of the Upper Ten bring up one of their 4.7in. guns? Now is the time to strike for freedom. OBSERVER. Il.—On Weritine ror THE MAGAZINES. Your note about magazine writing seems to me a little misleading. You say that only four writers contribute as many as five articles in the course of a year to any single magazine or review. That must surely be only true with a reservation. Besides Mr. Lang in Longman’s there is the “Tooker On” in Blackwood, and the writer of “ Conferences ” in the Cornhill. Also you do not allow for the fact that the regular magazine writer sometimes, for one reason or another, does not sign. I have myself published unsigned articles in magazines three or four times in the last two years. Also your purview omits the quarterlies. But the essential point is that a writer in any demand can easily dispose of a dozen articles in the year among the different periodicals, 1.€., can add from £150 to £200 or more to his income. That is sufficiently proved by the fact that I, with no particular reputation to assist me, have had well over a score of articles published in what I should call the best periodicals between the years 1898 and 1899. The Author, I think, might very properly recog- nise the service done to literature, or at least to the literary men and women who wish to write other things than fiction, by those publishers who issue quarterlies and monthlies which either make a loss at the year’s end or a very small profit, but pay handsomely a large number of people for writing about subjects on which they speak with special knowledge or special compe- tence. It is in fact the magazines which enable the critic to exist and to write without hurry and with a reasonable space at his command. Ss. (‘The “ serials,’’ which include running “ Confer- ences,” were expressly excluded. As regards the service done to literature by the existence of magazines, that is undoubted—but it is not the point. As for the “loss or the very small AUTHOR. 179 profit,” if the magazines did not pay they would be soon dropped. But they pay in many ways, even though they may show some loss at the year’s end: they pay m getting the publishers’ name known and advertised ; in attracting good writers to a firm; and (see p. 168) perhaps by exchange and the contra account.—ED. | I1].—Tue Same Otp Srory—Ever New. The story is the same, ’tis only the case that is new. The invalid daughter of a literary man tries to support herself by literature and fails. Not because she has not the essential qualifica- tions for success, but because the editors who accept her MSS. defer payment for two years. Kt she ventures to remind them of the guineas over- due, back comes the MS. We know that this is no new thing in literary life, but Zhe Author, by creating a reasonable public opinion on the subject, will make such unbusiness-like ways an old evil memory. E. L. WriLiraMs. TV.—TuHe UnproressionaL JOURNALIST. I wish to indorse what has been repeatedly stated in The Author, that journalism, magazine and review writing, does not as a rule provide an income. I am one of the writers qaoted in your November number, who had one article in a big review in the course of one year. In lesser magazines I had two or three within the same period, besides weekly articles in sixpenny papers. L otten receive as little as half-a-guinea for a short article, and sums of a guinea or less for paragraphs, notes, and short reviews of books. However, I get the books and keep them, and these are to me valuable assets. I can’t say that I am very disappointed if IL find at the end of the year that I have only earned £100. This year I fancy that I shall exceed that sum by a good margin. I have now launched a novel at no risk to myself, and I am to have a royalty when it passes out of serial into book form. You will, of course, be shocked to learn that I have condescended to aceept as little as one guinea for each of my short stories. But my idea is that if my stories over a pseudonym win a little favour from the public, i shall thus have advertised my wares and shall be able perhaps to ask higher terms. But I have wasted space in your columns if in the end Ido not disclose my object in writing. This is to ask your readers if introductions to other writers could not be effected by means of the Society. For instance, if only I knew who are the authors who live in my locality and are 180 members of the Society, I could in the usual manner procure personal introductions through neighbours, without breach of etiquette or of the «“ convenances” of society. This at least would assist the interchange of experience, and authors of my calibre not too overburdened with work would find a pleasant and perhaps profitable connection with others able to advise and assist in literary matters. Di ett V.—Epiror1AL PROMPTNESS. Would you allow me to call attention to a general grievance amongst “ scientific’? writers, and at the same time as an example to refer to an error that has probably disappointed some of the public, and which appeared in an article in a certain magazine for October, entitled “ The Great Meteor Shower of 1899.” In thisitis stated “ that the culmination of the shower is expected in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 14. 3 There will be a thin crescent moon.” This descrip- tion of the age of the moon, however, must have been written for last year, as it did not correspond to its condition on that date for 1899. More- over, the very date was wrong; for reliable calcu- lations for this year made it the 15th-16th. The error is interesting, particularly to specialist writers on any subject whatever, as exhibiting what is probably due to a magazine editor’s usual want of promptness and his frequent in- difference to appropriateness. The probability in this case was that the article was written in 1898 and held over till 1899. This fault is common to most European magazines, and is frequently occasioned by changes in the editorial staff. The fact, however, remains that the moon this year on Nov. 14 was three days from being full moon, and that the Leonid shower, or what remained of it, ought to have been at its grandest about 6 a.m. on the 16th, twenty-eight hours only before full moon. I recall several provoking yet amusing instances of editorial (magazine) indifference to fact. A few years ago an article of mine appeared with a plan of an ancient house that I had carefully drawn to a scale of 1-200th; the plan, however, without my being consulted, was reduced in size without any alteration of the scale index, which must have been between 1-400th and 1-52oth, thus implying that the original house was less than half the size I indicated. A German friend of mine, a Government architect, sent an important archeological paper to an editor in his own country, who held it over for a year before pub- lishing it, thus giving someone else the chance to pose as the first exponent of the subject. This indifference does not affect the daily Press to such THE AUTHOR. a degree, but in Italy an amusing case occurred which was told me, as far as I remember, by my friend Signor G. Grahlovitz, the learned director of the two seismic observatories in Ischia. It seems that Professor Palmieri of the Vesuvian Observatory had been misquoted in a Neapolitan daily paper about some seismic matter, and that he wrote to the editor to protest; the only consolation which he received was a com- munication from the editor to the effect that “We have made you say it, and you must now stick to it!” As for the advantages to be gained by publish. ing an article in time, I suppose that the average busy office-bound magazine editor, unless a man | of the world, cannot see across the Channel so easily as the more free public and also those specialists who watch their subjects from a wider, European, or even more extended, area of view. Dec., 1899. H. P. FitzGreratp Marriorr, ViI.—Tue Question oF REVIEWS. Undoubtedly reviews advertise a book, and it is equally without doubt that there is not sufficient space in our papers for the adequate reviewing of all the books that appear. But can anyone tell me why so much space is always devoted to those authors who, having “arrived,” need no adver- tising save the announcement that a new work of theirs has come out; while the new-comers, the “ unarrived,”’ are hastily dismissed with a few lines, half a column at the most, of careless, indiscriminate, useless praise or blame ? Now I submit that if a practically unknown writer produce a work of any merit at all, there is no reason why he should be docked of a fairly exhaustive review in order that the refined gold of the popular author may have an extra gilding. For to the beginner, advertisement, encourage- ment, and criticism are of the utmost value: he may be able by their aid to take his proper place in the field of literature, to learn his strength — and his weakness; while the celebrity, who has probably half-a-dozen more books sketched out, or perhaps appearing in magazines, requires no such assistance. Of course critics and editors are naturally more interested in their tried favourites than in new men, but the question is—have they any right to consult personal taste at all? Is criticism to be a mere matter of what I like or you like ? [ feel sure most persons will agree with me that the columns, and even pages, of flattery 80 lavishly bestowed upon the successful—together — with the lengthy abuse often directed against bad work—take up at least two-thirds of the space allotted to the reviewing of books in our papers,  THE AUTHOR. and that there might well be reform in this direc- tion. If an author be already famous, why “boom” him? If a book be undeniably feeble, why not let it die in peace’ QUERIST. VII.—On Tryinc More tHan One Epiror. i T’m rather afraid that I could not have made my meaning very clear, for the editor misunder- stands me. It is quite certain that weeklies sometimes publish without sending the author a proof or an acceptance notice. For the editor himself tells us, in “ My First Book,” that this occurred with an article which he sent to Once a Week. “ The first notice that I received,” he says, “ that the paper was accepted was when I saw it in the magazine, bristling with printer's errors.” And the same thing has occurred within my own experience. Manifestly, therefore, the sending of copies of the same article to more than one weekly is a somewhat dangerous device; and I, for one, should never employ it with weeklies. But with monthlies there ought, one would think, to be no danger at all. Has any contributor ever had an article published in a monthly magazine without first receiving either a proof or a simple notification that the “copy”? had been sent to press ? Perry Barr. [Note.—The incident is true, but the cause of it was an accident. The paper had just changed hands; the new editor found my article in proof, but could not find the name of the author. He published it, and on my calling to expostulate explained the matter with apologies. Such a thing has never again happened to me in more than thirty years of writing for magazines.— Eprror. | II. The question revived by Perry Barr as to the expediency (for it is only one of expediency) of sending the same work to several editors is one on which I should say that the wiser course was not to do it. If I were the editor, and a writer asked me to send back an article sub- mitted to me, as it had been already accepted by another editor, I should certainly send back every article sent me by that writer without examina- tion. Asa writer of magazine articles of many years’ experience (I have contributed to the Atlantic from the month in which it was founded by James Russell Lowell, and to most of the older magazines, English and American), I have made it my rule never to send an article without first asking the editor if he would read it, and if I broke the rule, it would be with the expectation of having it sent back to me. I have rarely had 181 an article rejected, and I think that of those which on second reading I thought it worth while to keep in MS. there are not in my drawer more than two or three serious essays and two stories. Tf Mr. Barr had had a little editorial experience of the enormous quantity of articles some editors have to look at, for of reading all of them there can be no question, he would hardly expect a prompt answer except in the case of the rejection of the article from sheer want of literary interest. In such cases as that of the magazine instanced in the communication of “A member of the Society of Authors,” I think the publication of the name of the magazine in the pages of The Author would be a proper service to be rendered the body of writers, of whom only the weak members would be likely to trouble that editor thereafter. Personally I have always found the editors of those magazines to which I have had the privilege of contributing of unexceptionable politeness, and have in only one case met with discourtesy, even in the form of the refusal, from the editor of a magazine to which I had never before contributed, and to which I never offered another article. But if I offered my articles to two or three editors simultaneously, I should expect after a short experience to be treated very curtly. My experience with both English and American magazines is that the articles which, after the preliminary demand as to the desire for an article on the subject proposed, are accepted, are sent to me in proof as the sole intimation of acceptance. A writer who sends an article to an editor, not knowing if the subject is one on which the maga- zine is not already loaded with one or more on the same theme, risks very uselessly a rejection with- out any reference to the quality of his article. If my memory serves me rightly the Century has had 3000 essays sent in in the course of a year. T have had articles accepted by it and not pub- lished for years, which is easily understood when we know that it has had on hand in the form of articles accepted (and generally paid for on acceptance), with illustrations appertaining, to the value of £200,000. Of these many, accepted and paid for, have to go overboard. Inexperienced magazine writers have no conception of the amount of matter the leading magazine editors have to do with, and the least they can do is to ascertain if there is a market for the article they have to dispose of. W. J. STILLMAN. Ill. Tf one has sent copies of the same article to more than one magazine, two editors might publish it simultaneously, neither of them having communicated with the author, who in that case  182 will probably never approach either of them with success again. I may say that I have had an article published in a monthly (a new and struggling one, without having received any proofs, though not without previous communica- tion from the editor. Another point has occurred to me. Suppose an author has sent duplicates of an article to two monthlies, one of which pays better than the other, and that the editor of the one which pays at the lower rate accepts his article before the other editor has read it. He will then have to write and withdraw his article from the better paying magazine, and that, pos- sibly, just as the editor was about to send him a proof. This would be disastrous ; though, on the other hand, in the case of an article dealing with some topic of the moment, which must be pub- lished at once or not at all, it might be a less risk than the likelihood that the contribution will be kept until valueless by the first magazine to which it is sent, and then rejected M. C. A. > 0<——_____—_ BOOK AND PLAY TALK. \ | R. EDWARD CLODD is writing a memoir of the late Mr. Grant Allen, but according to present intentions it will not be a book by itself. It will, that is to say, be incorporated with some one of Grant Allen’s volumes of scientific essays. This is following the precedent Mr. Clodd set im the case of another personal friend, Henry Walter Bates, to whose “ Naturalist on the Amazons” he pre- fixed a memoir in 1892. Mr. Leslie Stephen is busily occupied upon his new work, “The English Utilitarians,” and it will probably appear in the spring. It is in three volumes, and deals especially with Bentham, and James and John Stuart Mill. Mr. Barrie’s story, “Tommy and Grizel,” begins in Scribner’s Magazine this month. It is a sequel to “ Sentimental Tommy,” who, of course, is said to have been sketched from R. L. Stevenson. Among other notable contributions to Seribner’s during the year will be a series of articles on present-day Russia by Mr. Henry Norman, who has recently made an extensive journey through that country. A new racing story by Mr. Edward H. Cooper, entitled ‘The Monk Wins,” will be published this month by Messrs. Duckworth. Stories by Mr. G. R. Sims (“In London’s Heart ”) and Mr. Algernon Gissing (“A Secret THE AUTHOR. of the North Sea”) will be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. “Folly Corner” is the title of a new story by Mrs. Henry Dudeney, which Mr. Hememann will publish in a week or two. Among the books of the spring season will be a volume of stories by Mr. Robert Barr, entitled «The Strong Arm,” and a volume of war stories by Mr. Stephen Crane. New volumes to appear in Messrs. Blackie’s “Victorian Era Series” include a monograph on Beaconsfield, by Mr. Harold Gorst ; an account of Ireland in the Queen’s reign, by Mr. J. A. BR. Marriott; and a volume on India since the Mutiny, by Mr. R. P. Karkaria. The Argosy will henceforth be published by Mr. George Allen instead of Messrs. Macmillan. Tts new editor is Mr. Herbert Morrah, who iutends to develop the magazine and mtroduce new features. Another change of the kind is that the Badminton Magazine, hitherto published by Messrs. Longmans, will now be published by Mr. Heinemann. Mr. Charles Lowe is the author of “ Our Greatest Living Soldiers,” which Messrs. Chatto and Windus are about tc publish. It consists of biographical sketches of Lord Wolseley, Lord Roberts, Sir Evelyn Wood, Lord Kitchener, Sir Donald Stewart, and other famous soldiers. Professor Skeat has just been made the re- cipient of his portrait, subscribed for by many friends and admirers. The presentation took place at the annual meeting of the Modern Lan- guages Association, of which the Professor was president this year. Another distinguished scholar who has been honoured is Professor Pasquale Villari. ‘To mark Professor Villari’s. completion of forty years as a teacher, his friends have established a ‘Fondazione Villari,’ for historical studies, in connection with the Instituto Superiore of Florence. “The Semitic Series ” is the latest collection of books to be announced. Its object is to present in popular scientific form an account of the Babylonians, Assyrians, and other ancient Semitic races. Professor Sayce is to edit the handbooks, each of which will be written by a specialist. The first is by himself — “ Baby- lonians and Assyrians.” Mr. John Nimmo is the publisher. Mr. T. F'. Dale is writing the life of the late Duke of Beaufort, which Messrs. Constable will publish. The recent vicissitudes in the affairs of Messrs. Harper and Brothers have culminated, says the Chicago Dial, in the formal transfer of the busi-  THE ness to a trustee, under the conditions of a mort- gage for a large sum held by Messrs. J. Pierpoint Morganand Co., bankers. The trustee has appointed as agent Mr. G. B. M. Harvey, proprietor of the North American Review, who has thus become the legal and actual manager of the Harper estab- lishment. It is stated that this step was taken by mutual agreement, and with the full approval of the Messrs. Harper, as being the best method of effecting a permauent readjustment of their affairs. Although the amount of their indebted- ness is given as over a million sterling, the assets are believed to exceed that sum considerably, and with the fresh assistance, financial and adminis- trative, which the house will receive, there will, adds the Dial, be no impairment of its credit or efficiency. The house of Harper and Brothers was founded nearly a century age. New stories by Mrs. Humphry Ward and Mr. Zangwill will appear in Harper's Magazine this year. “Managers are literally at their wits’ end to know where to get plays,” says a recent article in Literature. A performance of John Oliver Hobbes’s new play, ‘“‘Osbern and Ursyne,” has been given in New York by Mr. Charles Frohman. The author has two other plays in hand, one on behalf of Mr. George Alexander and the other with parts for Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Maude. Mr. Kinsey Peile is dramatising “ Red Pottage x in collaboration with the author of the novel, Miss Cholmondeley. Mr. Kyrle Bellew has secured a new play on the subject of modern life in London, by Mr. Louis Parker and Mr. Addison Bright, as well as the rights of Mr Henry Hamilton’s adaptation of Dumas’ “ Count of Monte Cristo.’’ The former will be produced first when Mr. Bellew fixes upon a theatre. Mr. Wyndham intends to revive “ Dandy Dick” about the end of January. After that, “ Cyrano.” Mr. Tree will produce “ A Midsummer Night's Dream” at Her Majesty’s on the roth inst. In the event of its not running until the end of the season, he will revive “ Rip Van Winkle,” but in a new version. A copyright performance of General Wallace’s “Ben Hur” has been given by Mr. Frohman’s company at the Duke of York’s. The play will shortly be produced in London. The Actors’ Association discussed on Dec. 15, under Mr. Tree’s presidency, and in his theatre, a scheme brought forward by the committee with a view to providing for the election, training, and AUTHOR. 183 registration of actors. The scheme proposed that teachers of acting and elocution with ten years’ experience of the stage should be entitled to apply for a diploma enabling them to select and train recruits for presentation to a Central Board for examination. Another clause provided that three years’ work and a diploma from the Central Board should entitle members to write F.A.A. (Fellow of the Actors’ Association) after their names. Mr. Tree said there was a widespread feeling that those who set out to be actors should be capable of acquiring a rudimentary knowledge of the practice of the art in its initial stages. Mr. Forbes Robertson and Mr. J. D. Beveridge moved, and Mr. Wilson Barrett and Mr. Acton Bond supported, the adoption of the scheme. Mr. Hare, Mr. Edward Terry, Mr. Henry Neville, and Mr. Cecil Raleigh were amongst the majority who opposed it, however, and on a show of hands being taken it was decided to refer the scheme back to the committee for further consideration. Mr. Hare spoke of the attempt of a few years ago to form an Academy of Acting, and said that he himself threw up the sponge in the face of evidence that the right men to do the teaching would not become teachers. Mr. John Hollingshead’s benefit performance will take place at the Empire on Tuesday after- noon, Jan. 30. Among those who will take part in the entertainment is Miss Nellie Farren, who will be seen with Kate Vaughan, Edward Royce, and Edward Terry in a “ Gaiety Quartette.” BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these colwmns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) PAoLo AND FRANCESCA, by Stephen Phillips (Lane, 4s. 6d. net), a poetic drama, presents ** the story of the tragedy of Malatesta in its simplest form, without the accessories which various commentators of the sixteenth century have added to the story as told by Dante.” The Times adds that it is “a very beautifnl and original rendering.” The Daily Telegraph says that no one who reads the book ‘“ can have any doubt that we possess in Mr. Stephen Phillips one who redeems our age from its comparative barrenness in the higher realms of poetry.” The Daily News says that Mr. Phillips “is indeed a capable and conscientious workman ” ; and the Spectator says that Mr. Phillips ‘‘ has touched the story with a master’s hand, and in the noblest spirit of tragedy.” TeNNYSON, RusKIN, MrILx, and Other Literary Estimates, by Frederic Harrison (Macmillan, 8s. 6d.), are studies, says the Daily Chronicle, “ for all to read who desire in historical literature some golden mean between partisan romance and minute erudition.” Besides the writers named above, the volume deals with Arnold, Symonds, Froude, Freeman, and also with Gibbon, Lamb, and Keats. In the opinion of the Chronicle, the most valuable portion of the book is that 184 devoted to Mr. Ruskin as “ Master of Prose” and as “ Prophet.” Srupy AND STaGcz, by William Archer (Richards, 5s.), and Framers oF Minp, by A. B. Walkley (Richards, 53.), are reviewed together in Literature and the Daily Chronicle. The books contain the views of the writers “on literature, the stage, and, implicitly, on life. Their methods entirely differ.’ Mr. Archer, says Literature, “ gives us the skirl of Highland music, the note of war. His criticism kills with cut and thrust,” and his book “‘is valuable both asa record and on account of its intrinsic interest.” Mr. Walkley’s taste is for the French manner of wounding; he does his business with equal effect to “the lascivious pleasing of a lute,” and his book is “ extremely welcome.” The Daily Chronicle also discusses the “two tempera- ments,” and describes both books as containing “ brilliant work.” On Books anv Arts, by Frederick Wedmore (Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.), “ is a little book of short and lively essays,” says Literature, ‘pleasant to look at and to look into.” The greater number deal with questions of art, “ but to see the writer at his best one should turn to his dramatic notes, such as that in which he compares Joe Jeffer- gon’s pathos with that of Elia, or to his discourse on the short story, or to where he runs on engagingly about his curios, deprecatingly labelled as ‘My Few Things.’ In all these we find examples of a well-cultivated taste in irony.” Tue Decay oF SENSIBILITY, by Stephen Gwynn (Lane, 6s.), consists of literary essays. The first, from which the book takes its name, “is a clever piece of criti- cism on Miss Austen,” and the Spectator adds of the book -as a whole that it ‘“ will be read with great pleasure, but the reader will lay it down with the slightly ruffled sense of having been a good deal contradicted.” Tur BACKWATER OF LiFE; or, Essays of a Literary Veteran, by James Payn (Smith, Elder and Co., 6s.), “is probably destined,” says the Daily News, “to close the long list of the productions of that prolific and delightful writer. ‘The twelve papers which are comprised within its covers are eminently characteristic of the author, above all in the subtle blend of humour and pathos—the vein of wise reflection, the cheerful views of life which have so often given pleasure to his readers.” Literature, in welcoming the volume, describes Mr. Leslie Stephen’s introduction to it as “warmly sympathetic, but, at the same time, finely critical.” The Daily Telegraph remarks that the book is “written with conspicuous charm and grace.” Pre-RAPHAELITE DraRizgs AND LuetTrTers, edited by William Michael Rossetti (Hurst and Blackett, 6s.) ‘‘is a book of odds and ends about Rossetti and his circle, very trivial and pointless sometimes, but containing many interesting things by the way; and full of humour.” That is the Daily News verdict. How Souprers Fiaut, by F. Norreys Connell (Bowden, 3s. 6d.), ‘‘ will do something,” says the Daily Chronicle, “to give the non-military reader an idea of what modern war is like.” The illustrations are ‘‘largely the work of well- known military artists, and they help the reader to realise what fighting looks like.” TEMPERATE CHILE; A PROGRESSIVE SPAIN, by W. Anderson Smith (Black, 10s. 6d.) is a book “‘ not only charm- ing and amusing to read,” says the Daily Chronicle, ‘* but of sterling value to the naturalist.” Mr. Smith is a member of the Scottish Fisheries Board, who was deputed by the Government to report upon the fish and sea-birds of “ this land of myriads of islands and creeks, with its marvellous vegetation, with its incredible wealth of fin and feather, and its rainfall of 160in. per annum.” THE AUTHOR. THe CHRISTOLOGY oF JESUS, by the Rev. James Stalker (Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.), consists of six lectures, treating of the various titles of our Lord. “ Dr. Stalker has handled the subject,” says the Spectator, “not only with learning, but (what is rarer) with judgment; steering his way with a fine critical and religious tact among the numberless ingenious theories that are so freely produced in Germany.” In CoNNECTION WITH THE Dr WILLOUGHBY CLAIM, by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Warne, 6s.), is a story of rural life in the Southern States, before and after the war, and, says the Spectator, “is excellent both in matter and manner. The plot may best be described as a variant on : the story of the Ugly Duckling.” Tom de Willoughby, — — although belonging to a “ first family,’ was a “ sport,” for : his figure was ungainly, his address awkward, and his intellectual outfit sadly to lack. It is with the expansion of his nature that the book deals. The Daily Chronicle says that the author’s pathos has never been truer, her humour : never more engaging, than in this new work. The Daily Teles ae graph calls it “one of the most moving novels of the : year.” Tus STtoRY OF THE TREASURE SEEKERS, by E. Nesbit (Unwin, 6s.), sets forth the adventures of a family of six motherless children living in a London suburb, and is “‘ one of those rare books,” says the Spectator, ‘‘ which enable a reviewer to earn the gratitude of the public by the simple f act of cordial recommendation.” “It will entertain and T touch any adult reader who is not destitute of natural affec- tions.” Some ExpERIENCES oF AN Ir1sH R.M., by E. Gi. Somer- ville and Martin Ross (Longmans, 6s.) leads the Spectator to remark that “if there were many women writers like iste Miss Martin and Miss Somerville, the discussion whether their sex is deficient in the sense of humour would be not merely otiose but impertinent.” “ But it must not be thought that these stories are mere pieces of caricature”: the various typical personages introduced are all drawn from the life of modern Galway and Cork. “THE AUTHOR.” SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page ave oe £4 0 0 Other Pages 8 ee Half of a Page ... - 110 0 Quarter of a Page . 015 0 Eighth of a Page eA oye aay wee OE Single Column Advertisements perinch 0 6 0 Bills for Insertion... aay per 2000 3 0 0 Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. & All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the fb ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, : London, W.O, Mr. J Eveleigh Nash, LITERARY AGENT, AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, W.C. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 08 (January 1900) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 08 (January 1900) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1900-01-01-The-Author-10-8 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/469/1899-12-01-The-Author-10-7.pdf 7c708c4e733844fe1f50c860a5b5bd6b PDF Text Text ���������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1899-12-01 Volume 10 Issue 7 Pages Page range in volume 137–164 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18991201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Huthbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 7.] [Prick SIXPENCE. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. eo | ae Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. Po GENERAL MEMORANDA. : ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). : In this case the following rules should be attended to: (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! VOL. X. Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “© Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. 1. N sign an agreement without submitting it to . the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :— (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. This method can only be entered into when a fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc- tion, It is not a common method. o 2 138 (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of royalties. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. 4. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 6. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is protected by a preliminary performance in the United Kingdom. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of writing the play has begun or after it is finished. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. i HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of [past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. -4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. THE AUTHOR. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. /4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. eae THE READING BRANCH. Ve will greatly assist the Society in this i branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, £c. => FROM THE COMMITTEE. URING the year (Jan, 1—Nov. 20) 200 new D members have been elected to the Society. The number in 1897 was 180 for the whole year, and in 1898 was 175. Every year there are some members who resign chiefly because they do not se2 that the Society does much for them personally. Every year, however, the feel- ing seems to grow that a society which does so much for those who do want assistance, especially in the way of advice upon azre2ments and the collection of money due, deserves support from alk who follow the life of letters.  THE At the meeting of the Committee of Manage- ment on the 20th Nov. the following resolution, proposed by the Art Sub-Committee, was formaliy confirmed by the committee : Resolution : “That the Art Sub-Committee of the Socicty of Authors views with regret the action of the council of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in withdrawing the privilege of taking photo- graphs in their Exhibition Gallery as heretofore enjoyed by authorised persons to whom the artists concerned had duly accorded their consent—in consequence of which freshly imposed impediment authors and editors are hampered in their pro- fessional duties, and artists who are desirous of bringing their works before the public are denied the benefit of and the advantage accruing from such publicity. “ And in the interests of its members the Sub- Committee expresses the hope that the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society may see its way to reconsider the regulation in question.” G. HT. ect LITERARY PROPERTY. I—CopyricHt 1n Reports. YEVERAL letters have been addressed to The Author on the subject of the important case of Walter vy. Lane. The question is as yet undecided, therefore it is best to reserve comment until the judgment of the Lords has been pronounced. Meantime it would be only courteous, where the proprietors of a paper have clearly expressed their opinion as to the copyright of reports, to respect that opinion, and not to reproduce any report without first seeking the permission of the paper in question. We have hitherto reproduced law reports from the Times with acknowledgment, but, as has been the custom, without leave sought or obtained. In future, whatcver the decision may be, such reports will only appear in these columns, whether from the Times or any other paper, by permis- sion or arrangement with the editor or proprietor. We have, for instance, to thank the editor of the Daily Chronicle for permission to reproduce the report of the appeal in Walter v. Lane, aud the editor of the Scotsman for permission to reproduce his report of Mr. Augustine Birrell’s lecture. For the note on Mr. Ticebuck’s lecture on Art we have to thank the author himself. Il.—Watter v. LAne. (From the Daily Chronicle, Nov. 10, 1899, by permission.) The Court of Appeal yesterday, composed of the Master of the Rolls, the President of the AUTHOR. 139 Probate Division, and Lord Justice Romer, delivered judgment in the appeal by the Times newspaper against the decision of Mr. Justice North on Aug. 10, in the action of Walter v. Lane, granting an injunction against Mr. John Lane restraining him from publishing a book of speeches by the Earl of Rosebery, delivered by his Lordship on various subjects, and copied by the defendant from reports of those speeches appearing in the Times. A great deal of interest has been taken in the subject, more because the court had really to decide what was meant by the word “author” inthe Copyright Act of 1842. The effect of Mr. Justice North’s decision was that the reporter of a speech was the author if the person who Celivered the speech had not pre- viously to the delivery taken the steps necessary to copyright the speech. Considering the import- ance of the issue there was very little public interest shown in the court itself. The rows reserved “for counsel only ” merely contained the “juniors ” engaged in Valter v. Lane and those in the cases which followed, together with the barristers who are the official reporters of the autho- rised Law Reports. The Queen’s Counsel, of course, took their seats within the bar. They were Mr. H. Terrell, Q.C. and Mr. A. Birrell, Q.C., M.P. The juniors of these two gentlemen were Mr. McSwinney and Mr. Scrutton, Mr. H. Terrell and Mr. McSwinney representing the Times, and Mr. Birrell and Mr. Serutton the defendant, Mr. Lane. Mr. Lane, who appealed, had been restrained by Mr. Justice North from further publishing until the trial of the action a book which he entitled “ Appreciations and Addresses Delivered by Lord Rosebery,” the plaintiff in the action, Mr. Walter, alleging that tive of the addresses in the book were copies of the Times reports of those speeches. The plaintitts claimed copyright in the reports, which copyright was assigned to them by the reporter. The appeal was argued on Oct. 30 and 31, and on the latter day the Master of the Rolls said at the conclusion of the argu- ments that, having regard to the great import- ance of the case, their Lordships would take time to consider their judgment. THE POINTS OF THE CASE. The Master of the Rolls, who delivered the judgment of the court, pointed out that Mr. Justice North had granted an injunction to restrain the defendant from publishing certain adéresses bound up in a book, and which he copied from the Z'mes newspaper. The action was brought on behalf of the Zvmes, and the articles copied were reports of speeches made by Lord Rosebery on various occasions, the reporter 140 being Mr. Brain, who said that he had been employed to make reports of these speeches, and that in the course of their duties the reporters had to exercise their judgment and skill so as to represent in a form fit for publication the features of a meeting and the material parts and substance of the speeches, a work which involved skill and labour. The case, said his Lordship, turned on the true construction of the Copyright Act of 1842, 5 and 6 Vict. c. 45. That Act defined “copyright” and “book,” and conferred copyright on every author of a book and his assigns. The Act contained no definition of “author,” but it conferred copyright on the authors of books first published in this country. There could be no copyright in what was not published in a book; but it did not follow that the first person who published a book acquired a copyright init. The meaning of the word “author” as used in the Copyright Act must be gathered from its own language and the decisions upon it. The word occurs constantly throughout the Act. It was plain that a person who was not the author of a work might nevertheless be the proprietor of the copyright in it. The wording of the Act, said the Master of the Rolls, justified the view that the owner of an un- published manuscript, although not the author of it, acquired copyright in it by first publishing it. The author of an unpublished manuscript had no copyright in it, but he had the right to acquire copyright in it, and this right he might implicitly transfer to anyone to whom he sold or gave the manuscript. Further, an author who sold or gave away an unpublished manuscript composition of his own might be fairly inferred to transfer his own right to publish it unless he expressly or im- plicitly prohibited the publication of the manu- script which he sold or gave. But this would not carry the plaintiffs far enough. The plaintiffs did not derive their title to the publication from Lord Rosebery. The word “compose” obviously meant composition in the sense of being the author of the matter published. This was made perfectly clear by the language of the provisoes, which prevented the publisher or proprietor of the newspaper, &c., from publishing the article in a separate form without the consent of the author, and which entitled the author to publish it himself in a separate form. WHAT I§ AN AUTHOR? The “author” (continued his Lordship) here was the person employed to compose the article. It was contended, and Mr. Justice North took the view, that although the reporter had no copyright in the speech he was entitled to copyright in his report of it. But the Court of Appeal could not THE AUTHOR. follow this. The report and the speech reported were no doubt different things; but the printer or publisher of the report was not the author of the speech reported, which was the only thing which gave any value or interest to the report. The printer or reporter of a speech was not the author of the reported speech in any intelligible sense of the word “author.” To hold that every reporter of a speech has copyright in his own report would be to stretch the Copyright Act to an extent which its language would not bear, and which the Legislature obviously never contem- plated. The Act was passed to protect authors, not reporters. Moreover, although it might be that reporters and their employers ought to be protected from the unauthorised appropriation of their labours by others, it by no means followed that Parliament would place reporters and their employers on the same footing as authors. It was only by treating reporters as authors of what they reported—which they clearly were not—that they could be brought within the existing Copy- right Act. Although the court had no sympathy with the defendant, they were unable to decide in favour of the plaintiffs. The arguments addressed to the court on their behalf were based on the untenable doctrine that for purposes of copyright reporters ‘were authors. The analogy of direc- tories, road-books, naps, &c., was wholly mislead- ing. There each man who himself made a direc- tory, &c., and published it was the author of what he published. The reporter of a speech was not. The distinction was all-important, but it was only by wholly ignoring it that the decisions on direc- tories, &c., could be invoked by the plaintiffs. If the reporter of a speech gave the substance of it in his own language; if, although the ideas were not his, his expression of them was his own and not the speaker’s with immaterial differences, the reported speech would be an original composition of which the reporter would be the author, and he would be entitled to copyright in his own pro- duction. This was the ground on which copy- right in law reports was based. They are by no means mere transcripts of judgments delivered in court; but the reporter had reproduced to the best of his ability not only the ideas expressed by the speaker, but the language in which the speaker expressed those ideas. An accurate report was not an original composition, nor was the reporter of a speech the author of what he reported. The appeal must be allowed, with costs here and below. IIT.—A Royvatty AgREEMENT. Memorandum of agreement entered into the day of , 18 , between , as agent for and on behalf of - , of ,» pub-  THE AUTHOR. lishers, hereinafter called “ the publishers,” which term when requisite is to include their successors and assigns, of the one part, and , here- inafter called “the author,’ which term when requisite is to include his executors, adminis- trators, or assigns, of the other part. The publishers agree to manufacture and publish at their own risk and expense, and in such style as they deem best suited to its sale, the work entitled , of which the said is the author, on the following conditions :— 1. The author guarantees that the said work is original, and in no way whatever an infringement of any copyright belonging to any other person, and that it contains nothing of a libellous or scandalous character, and the author shall and will hold harmless the publishers from all manner of claims and proceedings which may be made and taken against them on the ground that the work is such an infringement or contains any- thing scandalous or libellous, and the publishers shall be entitled to retain and reimburse them- selves out of the author’s royalty all costs and expenses incurred by the publishers in con- sequence of such claims and proceedings, or in protecting the copyright of the work. 2. The author agrees that the publishers shall have the exclusive right during the legal term of copyright to publish the work in any part of the world, and will not during such term employ any other publisher or publishers for the purpose, and hereby empowers the publishers to arrange for any translation or reprint of it in such manner as and wheresoever they shall from time to time think fit. The publishers shall pay to the Author of net proceeds of their sale of the rights of such foreign reprints or trans- lations. 3. The publishers agree to pay the author or his legal representatives a royalty of per cent. on retail price for all copies of said work sold by them in the usual course of trade. Provided, nevertheless, that no royalty whatever shall be paid on any copies given away for review. and other purposes. Pro- vided also that such royalty shall not become payable unless and until copies of the said work shall have been sold. In the event of an edition being sold to America or to the colonies at a reduced price the author is to be paid ro per cent. of the net proceeds of such sale received by them in lieu of the aforesaid royalty. If an English edition is called for at half-a-crown or less, the royalty to be paid on the usual] trade sales thereof, will be 10 per cent. on the pub- lished price. 4. If at the end of years from the date of publication the publishers shall give notice in 141 writing to the author that in their opinion the demand for the said work has ceased, the author shall have the right (to be exercised within three months from the date of such notice) to buy from the publishers the stereotype plates and engrav- ings (if any) of the said work at half cost, and whatever copies they may have on hand at cost ; and if the author does not within three months of the date of such notice elect to buy the plates, engravings, and copies of the said work, the pub- lishers shall have the right to dispose of the said plates, engravings, and copies in any way that they may think fit, and to melt up the said plates, paying to the author in lieu of the said royalty 10 per cent. of the net proceeds of such sale ; provided also that the author shall not be entitled to receive any of the proceeds of such sale unless copies of the work shall have been sold at the ordinary trade price. In either of these events this agreement shall terminate. 5. Accounts shall be made up to the close of each half year, and rendered in August and February, and the proceeds to which the author is entitled shall be payable on application at the end of six months after such rendering of the account. 6. The author agrees to pay personally all cost of corrections and alterations in the proof sheets exceeding 20 per cent. of cost of composition. As witness the hands of the parties :— Witness The agreement printed above is an excellent example of the kind of agreement that an author should never sign. Referring to the parties to the agreement, it must again be pointed out, as often before, that an author should never bind himself by agreement to the successors and assigns of the publisher. The publishing con- tract is a personal contract, and should always be kept as such. It is most dangerous for an author to make a contract as drafted above owing to the fact that should anything happen to the firm, should the partners desire to give up business, the author might find his work being published by a firm and in a method wholly distasteful to him. In the preliminary statement before clause 1 the agreement of the publishers is much too wide in its terms, and these terms are not sufficiently curtailed in the clauses of the agreement that follow. With regard to clause 1, the clause is reason- able except as far as the closing lines are con- cerned. The publishers should not be allowed to 142 reimburse themselves all expenses there referred to unless such expenses can be shown to have been reasonably incurred. It is easy for the author to insert words in the clause which will be fair to both parties. Clause 2 has been frequently commented on in these pages, but, as a clause of this kind seems to be constantly recurring it is necessary to repeat the warnings: Firstly, the author should not give such wide powers to the publisher, as the book might be published in a form and at a price distasteful to him. It is quite sufficient if the author assigns the right to publish in a par- ticular form at a particular price, and limited to a particular country. If necessary, the last limita- tion could be for Great Britain, its colonies, and dependencies. The final part of clause 2 refers practically to rights, which are much _ better placed in the hands of an agent than in the hands of a publisher. The blank in this clause was filled up in this particular case by 50 per cent., thus showing that the work for which an agent would charge generally 10 per cent. is in the hands of a publisher charged at the rate of 50 per cent. There is this additional disadvan- tage in assigning these rights to the pub- lisher, that a publisher's duty is not to act as a literary agent, ard that, therefore, he has less facilities for assigning these rights than those who undertake this work and nothing else. Clause 3 is the most extraordinary clause in the agreement. The percentage to be paid to the author was 10 per cent. and the royalty was not to become payable until 1500 copies of the book had been sold. Even, there- fore, if the book had been exceedingly successful, the author could only reap a ridiculously small return compared with the amount received by the publisher. If the book had sold to the extent of 10,000 copies the publisher would have received quite three times as much as the author. This, however, is not the worst feature in the clause, as it is possible for a publisher to only print 1500 copies and then break up the type. On the sale of, say, 1450 copies the author would receive nothing and the publisher would net about £100. It would not pay a publisher to allow the sales of the book to reach 2000 copies, as under those circum- stances he would only make a small amount com- pared with what he would have made had he sold only 1450, as the author’s royalty of 10 per cent. is payable from the beginning if the sales go beyond the agreed number. It is absolutely essential in all agreements which are likely to work satisfactorily that the interests of both parties should run together. Here, however, under this clause the interest of the publisher is opposed to that of the author. There are one or THE AUTHOR. two minor points in this clause which should be avoided, but they are of such small importance compared with the main issue that comment will be omitted. In clause 4 the author should have a right to purchase at a valuation. It has been often pointed out that many of the copies may not be in a fit state and the stereo plates may be worn out. It is a fair thing to both the publisher and the author that a valuer should be appointed. In the latter part of the clause the author is practically not entitled to any moneys on the sale of the remainder, as, firstly, the blank is filled up with the number 1500, as in clause 3; and, secondly, the additional words have been added “at the ordinary trade sale price.” The words, “the ordinary trade sale price ” have been inserted as if the trade sale price was well known and easily ascertainable. Here again it has frequently been pointed out that trade price varies enormously, and there are as many as ten to fifteen different ways of selling to retailers. It would be very easy to show, therefore, that the number of copies required had not been sold at the ordinary trade price. The result of this clause, with the rest of the financial part of the agreement, is that the author will receive nothing and the publisher will have the power of making £120 or £130 over and above the cost of production and advertisement without having to account to the author for any of the amounts received. The account clause (clause 5) is also an extra- ordinary clause, as it enables the publisher to retain the author’s money, if the author is lucky enough to get any, for at least nine months. If the book was published in March accounts will be rendered in August, and the publisher will only be bound to pay on a personal application by the author in the February following. This form of account clause is another way by which the pub- lisher is able to obtain a further profit from the sales of the book. In clause 6 the author is responsible for all corrections. Of course, the words “other than printers’ errors” should be inserted. Otherwise there might be no end to the claim of the printer. It is needless to state, after the above com- ments, that both from the financial and other points of view this agreement affords a startling example of what is unfair as between author and publisher. It is also needless to add that the author entered into it without proper advice. IV.—Tue Resurrection Man. The following letter was sent to the Hditor of this paper. He communicated it to Sir Martin jg a ew OS  THE AUTHOL. Conway. It was by him sent to the Z'imes, where it was published with comments : Cable Address Correspondents will please Pablishers’ ‘“ Writewell”’ give their full Post Office Editors’ New York. Address in each letter and Correspondents Authors’ in The Agency Canada, Paris Associated International Press and Vienna, Cair > and Exchange Capetown Literary Syndicate Calcutta New York and London Melbourne 114, Pifth-avenue, New York, Sept. 15, 1899. The Editor, the ——, Nassau-street, New York City. Attractive Kipling Material. Dear Sir,—We offer for use in your paper 81 articles by Rudyard Kipling, as enclcsed list. If you ran one of the pieces each day you would possess @ feature which would prove enormously popular, and in addition have 81 days’ service, with their exclusive use in New York State. By doing this you would secure the privileges of what, for newspaper purposes, would be of equal benefit of copy- right to you, as no one else possesses a complete set, and, owing to the fact that Kipling has not reproduced the pieces, they are (having been written before he was known) practi- cally new to the public. We question very much whether it is possible for any person to procure a complete collection under 15,000 to 20,000 dollars. The 81 pieces cover a period of 14 years, 1881-94. A special interest is attached to many of the earlier poems and articles, on account of the publication this autumn of “Stalky and Co.’ A large number were written during Kipling’s attendance (1879-82) at the United Services College in Devonshire, the ecene of the “ Stalky ”’ stories. All of the pieces are in English, notwithstanding the occasional Latin titles in the list. The pieces are from several sources, all of which have been authenticated. We may mention that one privately printed pamphlet (Lyrics 1881), the whole contents of which are included here, recently sold at auction in London for $675.00. Another, a magazine (United Services College Journal) containing contributions by Kipling (all of which are here included), sold for $505.00 at auction. Some of the other poems represent Kipling’s share in another privately printed booklet, issued in 1884 (Echoes), a copy of which recently changed hands at $500.00. We have to ask your immediate decision. Yours very truly, THe DIRECTORS. pe TABLES OF ROYALTIES. ABLES showing the meaning of royalties have been presented from time to time in The Author. They must be repeated from time to time because they are easily mislaid and always forgotten. An average 6s. book is taken, the cost of which, including advertising, is about £150 for an edition of 3000 copies. It may be a little less or a little more, but the figures rey resent an average cost. Now the following tables give the amounts VOL. X. 143 per volume due to author and publisher respec- tively—not taking thirteen as twelve :— Per cent. ...... | | | 5 | te | 15 | 20 a5 | 90 | 35 . d.\s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d. . a. oa Author........| 38] 74| rogir 281 6 h gz2 1f je ee Pablisher ...... 2 agi 103) 731 381 0 82 48 But should the book run through the second edition, the cost is reduced to about 8d. So far, the author has only begun to understand this difference, and the bookseller not at all. Now, we have the following table for the second edition : Per eee 1 to. | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 Author ...<:\.; 38| 7 103) 2%1 6 iI gfi2 1% Publisher ...... 2 682 Ae 4 |r og) 8% But some publishers try on the “ deferred. ” royalty, which is to begin a royalty after a certain number of copies have been sold. In this case the sale of 500 copies would about pay for the cost, supposing only so many were bound. Suppose, however, the whole were bound in the prospect of a large sale. And suppose the publisher asked for goo copies before beginning @ royalty. He begins, therefore, the royalty with 2100 copies which cost him nothing. He has, therefore, 3s. 6d. clear on every copy, out of which has to come the royalty. Per cent. ...... (= | to | 1S | 20.) 26 | 30 | 35 god: e d.|s. d.\s. d. is. d.|s. d. is. d. Author ......... | a 7s 103) 261 6 |r 82 1k oe —— =|— Publisher ...... |g 28/2 108/2 73\2 382 0 |r 8alr 48 So that if there is to be any equality, the royalty must begin with 30 per cent. on the pub- lished price of 6s. In such a deferred royalty the comparative shares of the author and the publisher are as follows, on a sale of 3000 copies:— The publisher takes— 1. The value of 900 copies, out of which he has to pay the cost of production. 2. The value of 2100 copies, less the royalty to the author, which is at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 per cent. respectively, £63: £94 I0s.: £126: £157 ros.: and £189. And the publisher would receive on a royalty of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 per cent. respectively, the sums of £304 10s.: £273: £241 148.: £214 108.: and £178 10s. P  144 These figures should be very carefully con- sidered. Of course, it may be said that the whole edition may not be sold. Thatis true. Take, for example, a case where only 600 copies were sold, with a royalty of 15 per cent. There would be no more copies bound than were wanted. The cost of an edition of 1000 copies, of which 600 only were bound, with a small sum of £10 spent on adver- tising, would be about £65. The author would receive £27: the publisher about £13. In these calculations the Press copies are not counted, because it was estimated at the Pub- lishers’ Congress, where a good many things “came out” that some would have wished con- cealed and that others had denied publicly, that the “ overs ” average 2 per cent., or on an edition of 3000, sixty—quite enough for Press and presenta- tion copies. In applying these figures authors must be careful to remember that the assumed edition is 3000: that the number of sheets is ten at thirty- two pages each, and that, roughly, each sheet, without counting, binding or advertising, costs about £7 10s. 6d.: that the binding may be done at 33d. a copy: and that advertising does not include advertising in the publisher’s own organs or “ exchanges,”’ which cost him nothing. Secs PARIS NOTES. 5, rue Chomel, Paris. READER of Zhe Author recently wrote me a propos of M. Adolphe Brisson and “Portraits Intimes.” Having unfortu- nately mislaid the letter containing my corre- spondent’s name and address, I take this oppor- tunity of supplying the information he desires, with apologies for the delay. M. Adolphe Brisson occupies a prominent posi- tion among the leading French critics and writers of the present day. He is the brother of M. Jules Brisson, editor of the Annales, and son-in-law of the late regretted Francisque Sarcey, at whose death it was truly said that “it was not merely a man but an epoch that had disappeared.” As a man, he can scarcely, perhaps, lay claim to the sterling moral worth which distinguished his father-in-law, but his writings are undoubtedly superior in elegance of finish and polish. Rapidly to seize and individualise detail is the pre- rogative of the French writer; and “ Portraits Intimes” appear to me to give the strongest evi- dence of M. Brisson’s superlative talent in this respect. In them he has elevated the profession of interviewing toa fineart, and the moral and physical THE AUTHOR. traits of the innumerable personages he interviews are conscientiously reproduced with masterly skill and inexorable fidelity to nature. This prince of literary “ kodaks” gives us no flat commonplaces, no meagre banalities; but a graphic delineation of the original. From which it will be seen that I have a genuine admiration for M. Adolphe Brisson—in print. The work in question was issued in a series of four separate volumes, of which the last appeared in the beginning of the present year. Its three predecessors are unfortunately out of print; but the fourth volume is still in circulation,and may be obtained from Messrs. Armand Colin et Cie, 5, rue de Méziéres. It deals with a score of contempo- rary celebrities, including MM. Henri Lavedan, Georges Courteline, Paul Deschanel, Ernest Legouvé, Yann Nibor, de Bargy, &e. My own impression is that a translation would prove interesting to the literary English public; but the Reading Branch of the Authors’ Society would be the best authorities on this subject. The fourth volume, which —like each of the series—is complete in itself, contains 372 pages, in eighteen jésus, and is divided into thirty-eight chapters. Its published price is 3 frs. 50. A Popuuar UNIVERSITY. It is always pleasant to record the successful inauguration of a good work, the realisation of the dream of a humble philanthropist. The “Université populaire,” newly established in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, owes its existence to a humble typographer, George Deherme by name —whose absorbing desire was to obtain for those of his own class the benefits of the higher educa- tion monopolised by the wealthy. Deherme possessed no means beyond his daily wage, no influence beyond that which a superior mind invariably exercises over its fellows. But, remembering, possibly, one of his own com- patriots’ adaptation of the famous phrase: “The written word is merely the breath of thought, yet, nevertheless, it is the thought made universal which stirs the universe,” he commenced opera- tions by founding a small monthly review (February, 1896) entitled La Coopération des Idées, which he composed, printed, and edited himself. His idea, thus made in some sort universal, was warmly supported by the poorer literary public and the people itself. In 1898 modest premises were hired in the rue Paul-Bert, and a series of evening lectures on literature, art, science, medicine, sociology, poetry, philosophy, &c., were inaugurated. Students, teachers, doctors, pastors and workmen flocked round the poor printer, and generously gave their services gratuitously whenever aid was required. Nor  THE AUTHOR. were these the only volunteers—for among the names of the first lecturers we find those of Jules Lernina, Max Nordau, and Paul Desjardins. The lack of space and suitable accommodation greatly impeded the progress of the new work, Finally, 12,000 francs were subscribed, by means of which the “ Société des Universités populaires ” founded its first university a few weeks ago in the back of an old house in the Faubourg Sainte- Antoine. Its premises consist of a small theatre adjoining a lecturing hall, a “ salle de jeux ” anda “musée du soir.”” Those who wish to participate in the benefits offered by the ‘‘ University popu- laire” must sign a “ bulletin d’adhésion ” and pay the small sum of fivepence monthly. This tiny fee, in addition to a free entrance to the nightly lectures, also entitles the member to admission to the “salle de jenx,’ and all dramatic entertain- ments. The programme of lecturers for the present month includes the names of several well- known literary men; and the “sujets de con- férence” are duly advertised in the morning papers. Dumas anp M. Bovurecer. The librairie Plon has just issued the first volume entitled “Essais de Psychologie Con- temporaine,” of its promised complete edition of the work of M. Paul Bourget. It comprises ten studies, respectively dealing with Baudelaire, Renan, Flaubert, Taine, Stendhal, Dumas Jils, Leconte de Lisle, les Goncourt, Tourgueneff, and Amiel. In the present edition the author has added an appendix to each essay. His “souvenirs personnels” of Alexandre Dumas /i/s are especially interesting. The latter steadily discouraged M. Bourget’s tendency to unduly develop his analytic talent—the “ manie d’analyse” as the offender himself phrases it. On one oceasion Dumas remarked: ‘“ You have the same effect upon me as a man of whom I ask the time, and who draws out his watch and breaks it before me in order to show me how the spring worked!” Plain speaking, assuredly, but a com- parison not lacking in salutary truth. On another occasion, alluding to the extraordi- narily conscientious and arduous method of com- position adopted by Flaubert, he observed: “Cdtait un géant. qui abattait une fortt pour fabriquer une boite” —then gravely added— “The box is perfect, but it has truly cost too dear.” The weary hopelessness which oppressed his later years is painfully evident in the following extract from a letter, written shortly before his death: “Je me suis remis a la ‘ Route de Thébes,’ mais je n’en vois pas la fin et je crains bien de ne li voir jamais. L/enthousiasme et l’emballement von. X. 145 n’y sont plus. Je sais bien ce que je veux dire, mais je me répete sans cesse: a quot bon dire quelque chose? La vérité est que j’en sais trop long sur la nature humaine !” “Tf,” says M. Paul Bourget, “ Dumas had been only an artiste, the definite triumph of his esthétique and works would have filled him with all the joys of a satisfied pride.” He was aware of the impression he had made on the literature of his native land; but unhappily ‘son ambition avait ¢t¢ plus haute.” Nature had framed him to be an actor “au premier plan” in the drama of life, but Fate intervened and made him merely a reporter in the side scenes. M. Zoua. The second volume of ‘‘Choses Vues,” by Victor Hugo, edited by M. Paul Meurice, and the “ Bécondité” of M. Emile Zola, rank high among the noteworthy publications of the month. The former was published simultaneously in Paris, London, and New York; and the latter has, I understand, been already fully noticed in the English papers. It is the first of a four-volume series entitled “Les Quatre Evangiles,” and is a kind of prose epithalamium in honour of the Divine command, “Be fruitful and multiply,” given to man at the creation of the world. Its raison détre is the steady depopulation of France, and the growing repugnance of the modern generation—the feminine portion, at least—to incur the cares and expense involved by the upbringing of a large family. Some of the scenes depicted are repulsive and harrowing : nevertheless, the book contains much fine writing. In short, it possesses the family traits, the chronic faults and virtues, which characterise almost all the works of that modern Quixote, Emile Zola— “ amant passioné et brutal de la vérité.” Current Frencn LITERATURE. M. Jules Soury has just published two enormous volumes, entitled “Le Systtme nerveux central.” According to the Figaro, this monumental achieve- is one of vast importance, since it is the most com- plete treatise on the functions of the human brain that has ever yet been produced. The twentieth volume of the Voyage en France series, by M. Ardouin Dumazet, has likewise appeared this month (chez Beger-Levrault), and has been warmly welcomed in geographical circles. It deals with the most curious and least known portion of ancient France—viz., the Noyonnais, Soisson- nais, Thi¢rachie, Porcien, Champagne de Reims et de Chalons, and Ardennes districts ; and is written throughout in an interesting and lucid style, being a successful attempt to popularise a knowledge of the topography and resources of their native 29 i" 146 THE country among the rising generation of French- men. Nor must we omit to mention the amusing “Humour et Humoristes,’ of M. Paul Acker (chez Simonis Empis), which deals with upwards of two dozen boulevard celebrities, to wit—MM. Georges Courteline, Jules Renard, Alphonse Allais, Alfred Capus, Georges Auriol, Pierre Veber, Tristan Bernard, &c.—the first-named of whom recently returned from Brussels to assist personally at the benefit given at the Odéon, in aid of the causes de secours of the Associations des journalistes républicains et des journalistes Parisiens—being an honoured member of both these societies. A BovnevarD CELEBRITY. Indeed, M. Courteline has no reason to complain of a lack of appreciation on the part of his con- temporaries. He is the enfant gdte of the Parisian Press, and the reports of his vagaries forin an inexhaustible theme of amusement to the general public. He has taken M. Brisson into his con- fidence respecting the difficulties he experienced in evading the “ palmes académiques ” that a too grateful director desired to impose on him. Not- withstanding this—and the remarkable adroitness with which he has succeeded during the last fifteen or twenty years in evading the official duties that interfered with his literary aspirations— a benevolent Ministry insisted on decorating this small, nineteenth-century Molicre, author of such inimitably comic masterpieces as “ Boubouroche,” “Ronds de Cuir,” “ Peur des Coups,” “ Gaietés de Vl’Escadron,”’ ‘“ Client Sérieux,’” ‘“ Théodore cherche des Allumettes,” &c. His physiognomy is droll; and, when mounted on the bicycle he adores, one of his colleagues has assured us that M. Georges Courteline presents ‘“ une silhouette qui vaut de lor!” Busy DRAMATISTS. The remainder of the fraternity of dramatic authors are all under arms. M. Bergerat is writing a new play entitled “Madame,” which will be placed, when finished, at Mme. Sarah Bernhardt’s disposal. M. de Porto-Riche is hard at work on a five-act play entitled ‘“ Manon’”’ ; MM. Feydeau and Bilhaud are putting the finish- ing touches to “ La Galerie,” written to inaugurate 1900 at the Vaudeville; M. Marcel Prévost gives us a four-act play entitled “ Unis”; M. Brieux, “Nos Juges”; M. Abel Hermant, “Le Fau- bourg’’: Mme. Berthe Menotes, ‘“‘ Les Rayons X”’ ; while MM. Donnay, de Curel, and Edmond “Rostand are each reported to have a new play on hand. M. Paul Meurice is busily engaged at the Porte-Sainte-Martin theatre in superintending the rehearsals of his adaptation of ‘‘ Les Misér- AUTHOR. ables” of Victor Hugo; while M. Porel, director of the Vaudeville, is about to perform a some- what similar office for the “Chandelier” of Musset. InterEstTine Hovsszs. Two dwellings, dear to all lovers of literature, are now advertised as awaiting tenants. The one is the small hotel in the rue de Douai, occupied by Francisque Sarcey for almost thirty years ; and the other is the suite of apartments, at 76 rue d’Assas, so long inhabited by the Michelets. The furniture left by the widow of the great historian will likewise shortly be sold, minus a few relics distributed by the family as souvenirs. The brother of Mme. Michelet has entrusted M. Gabriel Monod of the Institute with the task of arranging and classifying the Michelet papers ; hence the publication in the Grande Revue of the private journal of M. and Mme. Michelet. In accordance with the instructions of his deceased sister, M. Mialaret has presented the town of Montauban with about a hundred documents, pictures, objets dart, &c. The Musée Carnavalet has received the “ grand bureau de travail” of the historian in addition to two portraits—the one representing Michelet enfant, the other Mme. Michelet. “Figures Contemporaines,” is the title of M. Jules Delafosse’s latest work, a remarkably brilliant and able analysis of five modern historical personages, viz., Comte de Chambord, Napoleon IIL., Gambetta, Bismarck, and Léon XIII. Of the second he says: ‘“ Napoleon III. fut un idéaliste égaré sur le trone. so C’est du méme cceur qu'il s’intéressait a l’émanci- pation des peuples, futurs rivaux de la France, et i l’émancipation des travailleurs qui allaient bientOt renverser son tréne et bruler les Tuileries.’ This work has justly attracted attention. The much talked of Chanson de Jehanne Dare, of M. Clovis Hugues, has been received by the crities with a chorus of panegyric. Space will not allow us to give any quotations from this lengthy poem, or do more than cite the titles of the following works: ‘(La Dame du lac,” by M. Pierre Gauthiez (chez Ollendorf) ; “Les Roses de Kerné,” by M. A. Paban (librairie Maisonneuve) ; “Joachim Pecci,’ by Henry des Houx; “ La Graine Humaine,” by Emile Goudeau; “ Clio,” by Anatole France; and “Le Baiser,” by Nonce Casanova. Darracotte £corr. Oe  THE NOTES AND NEWS. BEG to call attention to the letter of Mr. Robert MacLehose in another part of this paper. The subject is of the greatest im- portance to everybody concerned. It is not to be supposed that in so vital a part of the administra- tion of their property authors are going to have no voice. But in the interests of the booksellers, most of whom do think that they see a way of salva- tion by coercion, the decision ot the Committee to let them make a fair trial of the plan seems the best thing to do. It also appears that some of the booksellers look forward to a considerable extension of the net system. To me it certainly seems as if certain things had better be left alone. To meddle with that extremely doubtful form of property, the 6s. book, now sold at 4s. 6d., would be a very unwise policy. It is the most profit- able book that publsihers have, whatever agree- ment is accepted by the author. For most of the books published at 6s. the price is too high. With a very little mismanagement and meddling the 6s. book will tumble headlong to the ground like its predecessor who went forth at a nominal 31s. 6d. The net system will have one result : the revision of all royalties. A table is given in this number showing the meaning of royalties. Another will be given in the next number showing how the net system affects the figures. LT wish that writers would study these figures and apply them more to their own case. One man cannot understand figures: another is in the hands of an agent: a third— this is very common—has “no fault to find with his publisher ”—and this without the least attempt to understand the nature of the agreement. I never hear these complaints about auy other kind of figures. No one acknowledges that he is too foolish to understand what rent he can afford to pay: what rent or dividend he receives from other property : what he can afford in this or that direction. Why, then, does he affect not to understand the very simple figures which apply to the management of his literary property ? Why do we not issue draft agreements— “Equitable,” of course —as a counterblast to those of our friends the publishers, to whom we are indebted for a new interpretation of the word “ Equitable,” an enrichment of the language? Henceforth let the word Equitable be illustrated in dictionaries by extracts from the “ Draft Agreements.” The chief reason for not being in any hurry about advancing our own draft agree- ments is the fact that there is always some new AUTHOR. 147 danger discovered: something previously unsus- pected to guard against. For instance, a corre- spondent (p. 157) calls attention to the fact that while an agreement generally assigns to a pub- lisher the right to publish during the legal term of copyright, it does not bind him to do what he ean to advance the book during that term, or any part of it, so that in most cases the publisher’s work for the book is over after a year or 80, and the book is taken off his list. Now, when this is done, it is certainly a confession that the pub- lisher does not consider that the book has any further chance. Therefore, the author ought to ‘nsert a clause allowing him to get back the plates at some part of their value whenever the annual sale of the book has fallen below a certain number. Another point is, that an agreement must be> considered a personal matter between author and’ publisher, in which the latter has no right of transfer. This should be made clear in the agreement. Some time ago I hoped to raise this question and to bring it before the courts. I learned that two books of my own were being transferred from one publisher to another with- out any permission asked or obtained from myself, I therefore wrote to the first publisher asking by: what right he proposed to execute this transfer : and I instructed my solicitors to write to the. second publisher stating that if they attempted. to sell my books an injunction would be asked for. There was no fight, however. The first publisher had no defence, and the second pub- lisher offered no resistance. I recovered my two books, one of which has now gone into another,. fourth, edition, while the other will be reprinted when I have time to revise it. I mention this. little episode because it shows the necessity of watchfulness, and affords a proof that an agree-~ ment that does not give the book to publishers assigns is a personal contract only. The lady who writes under the name of “ Ouida”’ is allowed, from time to time, to have a fling all round in things literary. In_ the November number of the Fortnightly she had such a fling. First she reviled the Society of Authors—“ an association for the multiplication and publication of inferior works” !! This poor Society—and it has never had anything whatever to do with pub- lication! Then she reviles the Literary Agent, to whom is “due, probably, in part the enormous increase in the issue of rubbish of all kinds.” Poor Literary Agent! Alas! He cannot get any rubbish published at all: his hands are tied: he can only succeed in placing MSS. by writers in demand. 148 Then “ Ouida” grows eloquent over the “ appal- ling” increase of the output. Of course she has no conception whatever—none of those who write so glibly of the enormous output have any con- ception—of the enormous literary market. They still think that the publishing of books means purveying to a little body of critical readers such as existed when the Edinburgh Review was first started. Now who is “appalled” by the thou- sands of volumes annually printed? Not the general reader, who is not in the least concerned, and goes on reading what he likes. Not the writer of reputation, who is not moved to change his style, nor does he lose his clientele, though the output is increased by thousands. Not the book- seller, who does not attempt to “stock” these thousands. Not the publisher, who, if the books did not pay, would not issue them. It seems to me that the only person who is likely to be appalled is the reviewer, and that only because by a bad tradition he tries to notice in half inches all the books that come out. The literary value of good books, the reputation of English litera- ture, is not in the slightest degree affected by the appearance of many thousands of books that are rubbish. The rubbish dies: the good books survive. “ Ouida” touches on many other subjects. One will suffice. She says that there is no protection against swindling in literature — she means plagiarising—or against libels. There are the courts of law. But, she says, there is the “odious publicity.” Precisely—justice must be public—it is essential that a court of justice must be public. If people are afraid to stand up in open ccurt and give evidence they must, of course, suffer from libels and all kinds of things. As regards an accusation of plagiarism which she brings against an unnamed writer there is this to be said. If “Ouida” had been a member of the Society of Authors she might have laid the case before the Committee: if the case was what she describes it, the committee would certainly have fought it as a test case at no expense or loss to her. But, unhappily, “Ouida” calls the Society “chiefly an association for the multiplica- tion and publication of inferior works.” WALTER Besant. ee THE AUTHOR. GOOD BOOK OR BAD? R. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, Q.C., de- livered the inaugural lecture at the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution on Nov. 7, on the question “ Is it possible to tell a good book from a bad one?” The following report of the address is reproduced here by per- mission, first of the lecturer himself and next of the editor of the Scotsman : A good book, he said, could be known from a bad one by the exercise of a discriminating faculty called Taste. If they asked the man in the street what Taste was, the only answer they were likely to get was that “tastes differ,” or “what is one man’s meat is another man’s poison,” or “all is grist that comes to my mill”—all most discourag- ing replies. Nor would it be wise to minimise the differences of taste ; they were most real. The truth was obvious. They all hated fustian and affectation, but were he to have such bad taste as to inquire whether that popular novelist Mr. A. B. ever wrote anything but fustian, and whether the style of Mr. C. D. had any savour of affectation, he should excite angry passions. In the realm of morals they might believe with the great Bishop Butler that there was in every man a superior principle of reflection or conscience which passed judgment upon himself, which, without being consulted, without being advised with, magis- terially exerted itself and approved or condemned accordingly. In the region of the exact sciences among a thousand different opinions which diffe- rent men might entertain of the same subject there was one, and but one, that was just and true. But who would dare to lay down the law about the life of a book, and 3 et who could doubt that in the realm of beauty there was a reign of law, a superior principle of reflection, magisterially asserting itself on every fit occasion, Speaking for himself, he cculd wish for nothing better apart from moral worth than to be the owner of a taste which should enable him to appreciate real excellence in literature and art, and to depre- ciate bad intentions and feeble execution wherever he saw them. To be for ever alive to merit in poem or in picture, in statue or in bust; to be able to distinguish between the grand, the gran- diose, and the merely bumptious ; to perceive the boundary between the simplicity which was divine and that which was ridiculous, between gorgeous rhetoric and vulgar ornamentation, between pure and manly English, meant to be spoken or read, and sugared phrases which seemed intended like lollipops for suction; to feel himself going out in joyful admiration for what was noble and perma- nent, and freezing inwardly against whatever was 150 These figures, which may be taken as fairly correct, are very striking, both as to the place which the high-class magazine occupies as a source of income; next, as to the general manage- ment of the magazines; and thirdly, as_ to certain conditions in the literature of special subjects. It is evident that under the most favourable circumstances, that of having contributed five papers in one year, nothing approaching an income can be derived from these magazines. Five-sixths of the whole number of contributors sent in one article each. The magazines, there- fore, are not supported by their contributors with a view to their personal profit and gain. If we ask who the contributors are, one can only reply with an analysis very incomplete, because most of the writers are personally unknown to me. The incomplete classification, however, in which there is some overlapping, is as follows :— I. Well-known men and women of letters II. Medical men and lawyers (but there are many lawyers in other sections) 8 HE Protessors..7,.0.0000.. 12 Ly. Journalists 28 Vo Poliigans. on Wie Divinés) ee, 26 Wil Peers 10 VIII. Writers on matters of Social Economics, Hinance, &. 0 a soe. The Berrios, XM Whe Colonies... 7 XT. Art, Archeology, and History (but many included in the first section)... 6 This accounts for 219 out of the 648. Without consulting books and people I am not able to classify the remaining 429. Probably the proportions would be about the same when all were accounted for. We have, therefore, an army of between six and seven hundred writers contributing every year to these magazines. They are paid for their work: but if they are literary people by profes- sion, the amount thus made is extremely small. Their real source of income is another question. Enough in this place to show that it is not the magazine. The next point is the light which this list and its analysis throw upon the management of the magazine. It is evident that the conductors are determined that their pages shall not become the happy hunting grounds of any writers : they will have variety, not only of subject but of writers. There are, indeed, plenty of warnings in the past —even in the present—of the fatal effects of allowing any one writer, or set of writers, to 47 THE AUTHOR. appear over and over again. That magazine which falls into this error speedily shows signs of decay. There is never any lack of subjects in these days of invention, research, discovery, and theory. The object of the editor is to find for every subject the one man most capable of writing upon it: to give him a free hand: and to put his name to the paper. The editor born to the work gets, somehow, to know all the men who have authority to speak on any subject. You may recognise the true editor by the selection of his men as well as his subjects. You may also recognise the true editor by the practical nature of his subjects. It is the practical subject which attracts the reader. If you want to kill your maga- zine, fill it with literary papers—‘ apprecia- tions” of dead writers, critical papers on bygone work—there are hundreds of pens ready to write as many of these papers as they can get accepted. That way lies destruction. At the same time such an occasional paper, by one of the very few masters in criticism, is acceptable and useful. To sum up, the conduct of two or three, at least;” of these magazines is remarkable for the practical ability displayed and the success which has attended the editor’s policy. And there are two or three whose decay is due to the absence of any policy except that of picking the best out of a bagful of casual articles. : One more point comes out with great clearness. The useful “ general” hand, the man-of-all-work in literature, is disappearing. knowledge and research there are men who can write while they work. To these men the papers on their own special work are confided. the literary man turned his hand to anything, and wrote on all subjects. This change may not only be observed in the magazines: it is also remarkable in the nzwspapers. Every great newspaper, like every great magazine, has already its specialists, men or women, who do not belong to the daily staff, but write when they are invited to do so, when the occasion seems to require their services. In every way this is great gain: even the man of letters, though he loses all this work, gains in being forced to become himself a specialist; and as regards the magazines, he no longer lives as he lived in the last century, by writing for them on all subjects, but when a subject on which he is an authority comes to the front he can write upon it for one of these magazines, which give him a not unwelcome cheque, and what is worth many In every branch of . Formerly _ cheques—the reputation of being an authority on : the subject. Writing for the magazines, therefore, which has been discussed by some of our correspondents, cannot be considered as a source of income as  THE AUTHOR. pretentious, wiredrawn, and temporary — this indeed was to taste of the fruit of the tree, once forbidden, of the knowledge of good and evil. But this was simply to extol what had not yet been proved to be attainable. He thought the best definition of good taste was Burke’s, given by him in the treatise on the “ Sublime and Beautiful.” He wrote: “I mean by the word taste no more than that faculty or those faculties of the mind which are affected with, or form a judgment of, the works of imagi- nation and the elegant arts. The cause of a wrong taste is a defect of judgment, and this may arise from a natural weakness of the under- standing, or, which is much more commonly the case, it may arise from a want of proper and well- directed exercise, which alone can make it strong and ready. It is known that the taste is improved exactly as we improve our judgment, by extending our knowledge, by a steady attention to our object, and by frequent exercise; they who have not taken these methods, if their taste decides quickly, it is always uncertainly, and their quick- ness is owing to their presumption and rashness, and not to any hidden irradiation that in a moment dispels all darkness from their minds.” To Burke’s statement that the cause of a wrong taste was defect of judgment he must add that nobody came into this world with a ripe judg- ment. They were as likely to be born with silk hats on their heads as with good taste implanted in their breasts. To go wrong was natural; to go right was discipline. If they would possess good taste they must take pains about it. They must study models, they must follow examples, they must com- pare methods, they must crucify the natural man. The best way of telling a good book from a bad one was to make themselves as well acquainted as they could with some of the great literary models. They must be possessed, too, of a7sound understanding if they were even to know a good book from a bad one. Without under- standing, without the happy mixture of strong sense and delicacy of sentiment, they would fail to discover amid the crowd and crush of authors the difference between the good and the bad. They would belong to the class who preferred Cleveland to Milton, Montgomery to Keats, Moore to Wordsworth, and Tupper to Tennyson. Understanding might be got. By taking thought they could add to their intellectual stature. Delicacy might be acquired. Good taste was worth striving after. To tell a good book from a bad one, then, was a troublesome job, demanding first a strong understanding, second, some know- ledge, the result of study and comparison, and third, a delicate sentiment. If they had some 149 measure of these gifts, which, though in part the gift of the gods, might also be acquired and could always be improved, and could avoid prejudice —political prejudice, social prejudice, religious prejudice, irreligious prejudice, the prejudices of the place where they could not help being born, the prejudices of the university whither chance sent them, all the prejudices that came to them by way of inheritance, and all the prejudices picked up on their own account—if they could give all these the slip and manage to live just a little above the clouds and mists of their own generation, why then, with luck, they might be right nine times out of ten in their judgment of a dead author, and ought not to be wrong more frequently than perhaps three times out of seven in the case of a living author, for it was indeed a very difficult thing to tell a good book from a bad one. Dec ON WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES. HERE has been some talk in these columns | on the subject of writing to the magazines, as a branch of the literary life and a source of income. Ihave felt some doubts as to how far the magazines of the better class offer any sub- stantial increase of income to their writers, and I have now caused an inquiry to be made into the __ subject.7 The result will be found, I think, interesting. I directed my inquiry to be made into the following magazines: the Contemporary, the Nineteenth Century, the Fortnightly, the National, the Westminster, the Cornhill, the Temple Bar, Longman’s, and Macmillan’s. By an oversight, which I regret, I did not include the Pall Mall Magazine. I deliberately excluded. the American magazines because most of their contributors are Americans. Nor did I include the lighter magazines, of which three in the list above may be taken as specimens. Blackwood 1 excluded because its articles are, I believe, mostly unsigned. Perhaps it would have been as well had I kept to the first five magazines only. However, I directed the preparation of a list giving the names of all the contributors to the above magazines for the twelve months—Dec. 1898 to Nov. 1899, both inclusive. Without counting the anonymous papers, there were 648 different contributors during that period. Out of this number, excluding the serials, four con- tributed five articles each to the various maga- zines; eight contributed four articles each ; twenty-four contributed three articles ;. ninety- eight contributed two articles—the rest, 514 im number, contributed one article each.  the vast unity of art. THE regards the high-class magazines. Those which appeal to a wider and a lower body of readers may be considered on another occasion. W. B. ec — MR. W. E. TIREBUCK ON BOOK CRITICISM. “ () the question of literary art serious need exists for caution, as the most conflicting confusion prevails amongst authors and critics,’ said Mr. W. E. Tirebuck, in a lecture before the Teachers’ Guild in Liverpool. In support of his contention Mr. Tirebuck quoted from a few of the classic writers, and also the views of many critics. Such consummate literary artists as Hazlitt, Russell Lowell, Fielding, Thackeray, George Sand, and Ruskin had _ ex- pressed conflicting opinions upon the two definite qualities in art—the subject and the treatment of that subject ; the thought, and the character of the expression that particular thought received. He was convinced that no single definition of any man, however great, could fully define art ; for all achievements iu art soared from the individual to the universal, from the finite to the infinite, from the material to the spiritual. All art seemed to have been viewed too much in segments instead of as a whole; as if one judged all forests by a single tree; all seas by one particular wave ; or the universe by their own planet, the earth. Viewed as a whole must art be, and as impartially as they would view a scientific fact of life. As it had its gradations as a whole, so each branch of art—poetry, music, painting—had also its grada- tions of growth; and every phase of art, however simple, had its own justification for existence in They had no more right to regard one particular phase of one particular section of art as the only legitimate expres- sion of the mind of man, than they had the right to regard one particular section of science as the only section of scientific truth ; or to regard one sectarian form of universal religion as the only legitimate expression of man’s belief in God. In regard to a book, he suggested that they should first judge themselves as to what particular grade of literature they had a right to speak of. Some had a preference for history, and therefore they could perhaps better judge that than the quality of some new phase of poetry or of fiction. Granting that they could judge a given book, how out of all the vagueness of impression could anything definite be derived ? Art anp LIFE. He would suggest keeping the judgment clear upon the simple line that art was nothing more AUTHOR. 131 than expression. But an expression of what? Was it an expression of itself or of something else? He thought that originally it was an expression of something within a man or of something outside of him, and that though art as art had since then been elaborated into special importance by the self-consciousness of the painter, the composer, and the writer, it had never really had an existence absolutely its own, wholly sepa- rated from the utility of life. One conclusion always seemed to him to be that art was an expres- sion—a language—of man. Another complicated question was the quality of the expression, One depended on dramatic situation, and another on the analysis of character and the psychology of life, and it could not be questioned which of the phases was more legitimate in art as a whole. An author’s conception of a given fact in life was one thing, a reader’s perception of the author's render- ing of that fact might be something different. Each organism saw phenomena through the modi- fying medium of its own conditions. ‘There were no two individual expressions precisely alike, although there was one broad basis of art. The same complexity occurred in other arts. There was no finality in art or in the expression of faith or belief, such being subject even to the momentary revelation of truth. Was there, then, no standard of excellence, no ideal of perfection F Shakespeare, for instance, was a standard of excellence, but not necessarily a final ideal of perfection. Nor were Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Macau- lay, Emerson, and Ruskin. But he was of opinion that some broad basis could be estab- lished upon which even the liberty of opinion could work with a consciousness of logic, upon definite points well in view, rather than with that semi-conscious confusion which confounded itself the more it spoke. Tur Conrusion oF CRITICS. When one critic condemned a book because of its themes, apart from the treatment, another condemned the same book for its treatment apart from its themes, while a third condemned both themes and treatment, together with another who pronounced the book a masterpiece, he was certain that it was a time that some clear basis should be formed to work upon, even though the basis be a good old-fashioned one. Any mind incapable of making this simple sepa- ration of subject and treatment, in painting, music, and literature, should frankly own that it had no right to sit in glib judgment upon subjects which made even the wisest modest, and the pro- foundest to hesitate and think. Moral purpose justified a very strong degree of realism. ‘The 52 THE AUTHOR. opinion of some was that art must not deal with questions of morals. That upward aspiration in the soul of man which more than anything had evolved art must not, forsooth, be expressed by art! This surely was the narrowest of versions of both life and art. Rather let them work upon the historical fact that as all life had affected all art, so all phases of art must in turn affect all phases of life for the continuous development of mankind. < THE BOOKSELLERS’ QUESTION. I.—Tue Brcinnine oF CoERCION. At a special general meeting of the Publishers’ Associa- tion, held at Stationers’ Hall on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 14, Mr. John Murray, the president, in the chair, it was decided that the new scheme for dealing with net books should come into force on Jan. 1, 1900. The president informed the meeting that out of 1270 booksellers in the United Kingdom who had been askei1 to tiga an undertaking not to sell net books to the public at a discount, no less than 1106 had signed, and that among those who for various reasons had not signed were many who have never undersold net books, and who have no intention of doing so. This paragraph is taken from the Publishers’ Circular of Nov. 18. In accordance with the veport of the sub-committee (see The Author, June 1899), the Committee of this Society will not in any way interfere with this arrangement so long as the booksellers think it will be for their advantage. But the Committee will watch it with interest. The working of the scheme seems to be as follows :— The 1106 booksellers pledge themselves to sell at net prices, without discount, whatever books they are ordered to do. If they do not agree, or if they break their agreement, the Publishers’ Association will one and all refuse to let them have any other net books. It will be observed (1) that all the publishers have not joined the association: nor all the book- sellers: (2) that to the booksellers is left the detective work: (3) books which are not pub- lished at net prices are still open to all book- sellers: (4) that net books are at present chiefly high priced books: (5) that evasion of the agree- ment has been proved by experience to be possible in twenty different ways: (6) that the public are used to discount, and will certainly do their best to get it, and will give their sympathies to the discount booksellers. “Let the plan, however, since so many book- sellers want it, have a trial. In six months or so let us ask the 1106 booksellers what they have gained by the arrangement, and those who have stood out what they have lost. It will then, perbaps, become possible for the authors and the booksellers to take counsel. II. [By Mr. Ropert MacLenosz. | I have read with much interest the letters and notes written by yourself in The Author and else- where in reference to the ‘“ Discount Question,” and I gather from them and from the report of the sub-committee of the Authors’ Society, printed in the June number of The Author, that you and your committee are anxious to support the book- sellers in their efforts to improve their position, Your repeated insistence that a book is not pro- perly published until it is shown on booksellers’ counters has, I know, had a great effect; and I should very much like to see the weight of your influence thrown on the side of the recent agree- ment arrived at between publishers and book- sellers. From certain statements made in the report above referred to, and from notes of yours in the September number of The Author and your letters to the Daily Chronicle, I can see that some points bearing on the present position of affairs have not been brought before your notice. I venture, therefore, to place before you the follow- ing facts which may, perhaps, throw a little additional light on the matter. About two years ago a proposal was made that all booksellers should be compelled to agree not to give any discount on net books and to limit the discount on non-net books to 2d. in the shilling. This proposal was approved of by many of the leading publishers and was warmly welcomed by the great mass of booksellers in the country. It was, however, objected to by the Committee of the Authors’ Society and was ultimately abandoned. One of the chief objections made to the scheme by your committee was that it was too hard and fast, and allowed no option to the author to have his book placed on the market without any conditions. The Publishers’ Association, when they in- timated to the Booksellers’ Association that the scheme was abandoned, stated at the same time that they were prepared to consider any alterna- tive scheme submitted to them. Thereupon a new scheme, which was a modification of the original proposal, was prepared and, before being sent to the Publishers’ Association, was submitted to the various branches of the Booksellers’ Asso- ciation and to the Authors’ Society. This was approved of by these branches and by your Society and was ultimately sent to the Publishers’ Association. After careful consideration of it, the Publishers’ Association reported that they found it too complicated, and submitted to the Book- sellers’ Association the present agreement as an alternative and simpler scheme. The agreement ee ee ee  THE AUTHOR. was then sent in draft to the various branches of the Booksellers’ Association to be brought before their members. In all cases it was heartily approved of by the branches asa step in the right direction, and in the case of the Scottish branch, which I know more intimately than the others, the meeting of booksellers convened to consider the matter was the largest ever held in Scotland and was most cordial and enthusiastic. The draft agreement, after having thus been accepted by the Booksellers’ Association, was returned to the Publishers’ Association. But before finally adjusting the agreement, delegates from all the branches of the Booksellers’ Association were invited to meet the publishers in conference in London. ‘That the representa- tives of the various branches were hearty in their support of the scheme is shown by the fact that every delegate invited was present, and that members came specially to London from all parts of England, and from Edinburgh and Glasgow. On the day of the conference there were three meetings of booksellers: (1) Of the delegates alone; (2) of the delegates with the publishers ; (3) of the members of the Booksellers’ Associa- tion, at which the delegates were present. At all these meetings the agreement was cordially approved of; and it was left to the Publishers’ Association to have it submitted to counsel. Before the end of June the agreement was printed and signed by most of the firms belong- ing to the Publishers’ Association, and was sent to the individual booksellers for their signatures by the local secretaries of the various branches, along with two printed letters: (1) that signed by the presidents of the Publishers’ and the Book- sellers’ Associations, and (2) that signed by the local secretary. I enclose you a copy of the first of these letters, and of the local letter issued to the Scottish branch, which may serve as a speci- men. The agreement has now been signed by over 1100 booksellers, and Mr. Murray and Mr. Keay, the presidents of the two associations, are trying by friendly representations to induce the very small number of booksellers who have not yet signed, to do so. My reason for going over this “history ” in such detail is to show you that the agreement, while nominally emanating from the publishers, is in reality a concession to the wishes of the booksellers by the publishers, who recognise that with the welfare of the booksellers the own welfare is bound up. - In no sense is it the case that it is an agreement forced by the publishers on an unwilling body of booksellers. It is most important that this should be recognised, as it would be a fatal objection to the agreement or, deed, to any arrangement if it could be shown ’ 153 that it was in the interest of any individual class. The interests of the three classes—authors, pub- lishers, and booksellers, are one, and if the Authors’ Society were to support the scheme which has been approved of by the Publishers’ and the Booksellers’ Associations, it would, I am convinced, have a great influence on the public. In paragraphs 4 and 5 of your sub-committee’s report, printed in the June number of The Author, it is said (paragraph 5) : «There ought to be preserved a margin of 25 per cent., that is to say, the profit to the book- sellers on the sale of a book should be at least 20 per cent. on the trade price of it.” With this the great majority of booksellers will, I have no doubt, heartily agree. But how is this to be reached? In paragraph 4 it is said: “They (the booksellers) can make terms for themselves, if they only agree among them- selves.” For years every effort has been made to bring about ‘such desirable mutual agreement. The Booksellers’ Association has established branches throughout the country, and by this means has aroused among the individual booksellers a fellow-feeling to an extent that never existed before. By the combined efforts of the Beok- sellers’ and the Publishers’ Associations the great majority of the booksellers of this country have signed the present agreement, and it is hoped that by friendly means the very small minority of objectors may be further reduced. But if these friendly means fail, there is no alternative left except some form of control. Strange as it may seem, it is a fact, that as things now stand, even if 99 per cent. of booksellers agree as to terms, such an agreement can be made of no avail jf one bookseller insists on under-selling his neighbours, and the question is, are we to allow the minority of one to control the majority of ninety-nine, or should the ninety-nine control the one? The Publishers’ and the Booksellers’ Associations believe in the latter alternative, and I hope you will agree that their decision is a wise one. By common consent it has been agreed that if the ‘principle of control be admitted, then the particular form of its application is a matter of minor concern. The present agreement, in which the principle of control is embodied, has been very carefully thought out, and the objections which have been suggested by different parties have been considered. The objection to the first scheme offered by the Authors’ Society, viz. that it gave to the author no option of having his book published without conditions, has been met. The present agreement only refers to net books, and if an author wished to have his book pub- 154 THE AUTHOR. lished without conditions, he can still have it so published as a non-net book. It will, thus, I think, be seen that the clause in the report of the Authors’ Society which says that “the committee of the Publishers’ Association have proclaimed that they will not allow, if they can prevent it, the creators and owners of literary property to have any voice in the administration of their affairs,” is scarcely accurate. Technically, it is true that the Authors’ Society have not been con- sulted about this agreement ; but practically they have been consulted in so far as their publicly expressed views have moulded the form of the agreement. Indeed, one of the recommendations made in the former report of your committee— viz., that a bookseller should be at liberty to take or not to take net books on net terms “ without interference with his liberty to do what he pleases with other books” (see report in June Author, par. 6) amounts to very much the same as the present agreement, which does not compel a book- seller to take net books at all, if he prefers to be without them, but only compels him, if he does take them, to sell them at net prices. The other chief objection to the present agree- ment is that it forbids the booksellers, but not the publishers, to sell net books at reduced rates to retail customers. This objection was considered by the delegates of the booksellers at their meeting in London prior to the conference with the publishers. It was then felt to be a delicate a question to bring up, as it seemed to imply a doubt of the honour of the members of the Publishers’ Association, which no one there present wished to impugn. It was, however, brought up at the conference, and it was left to the publishers to have the opinion of counsel taken on the matter. That opinion, as you know, was given in favour of leaving the agreement in its present form. Apart from any question as to the wisdom of this opinion, it is obvious that the signatures appended to the agreement bind those signing it to carry out the agreement, even though they might claim technical legal rights to break it in this respect; and at the conference the delegates were assured that the Publishers’ Asso- ciation would not tolerate that any of its members should underbid the bookseller in the sale of net books. There are other minor objections which have been brought against the scheme, with which I shall not take up your time. But if your Society can see its way to support the scheme in its main contentions, it will do much to remove any doubt as to the value of the agreement that may remain in the mind of the public. The scheme is only an experiment. If it proves a success, it will doubtless be carried further ; if it does not succeed, then at least we may feel that an earnest attempt has been made to arrest the decay of bookselling—a decay which you have often lamented as injurious to the spread of literature. Ihave thought it right to show this letter to Mr. Murray and Mr. Keay, the presidents of the Publishers’ and the Booksellers’ Associations. It has met with the approval of these gentlemen, and if you can see your way to insert it in The Author J shall feel greatly obliged. Glasgow, Oct., 1899. ——— II. It will be well to reprint the Report of the Sub-Committee on the Discount System adopted by the Committee of Management and published in the Author of June 1899 :— “ The circular dated March 1899, issued by the Publishers’ Association, contains a scheme for the “extension and the enforcement” of the net system. “The difference between the present scheme and that for 1897 is difficult to understand. By the former all books were to be sold at a net price; by the latter a more ‘general trial of the net system is advisable, especially in the case of books above 6s.’ It is not, however, stated that the trial is to be confined only to books above 6s. in price. Nothing is said in reply to the objec- tion to binding booksellers by restrictions un- recognised by law. The new scheme has been prepared by the com- mittee of the Publishers’ Association submitted to a general meeting of that body, adopted by that meeting, and referred to a meeting of pub- lishers and booksellers, without the least refer- ence to the creators and part owners of the property concerned. In other words, the committee of the Publishers’ Association have proclaimed that they will not allow, if they can prevent it, the creators and owners of literary property to have any voice in the administration of their own affairs. “TI. Your committee have been informed on good authority that the condition of many book- sellers at the present moment is so deplorable that they are ready to catch at any concession on any terms which may seem to offer relief. Under these circumstances your committee are not pre- pared to advise opposition to any scheme which the booksellers may think promising, even though the way proposed is beset with obvious objec- tions and dangers. “TIT. Your committee, therefore, while con- tinuing to protest against methods of coercion  Pele outa TILE which deprive a man of the right of doing what he pleases with his own, think it desirable to point out the true nature of the scheme and what its adoption will entail. “1. The booksellers will sign an obligation not to sell ‘books published by us ”’—certain pub- lishers—‘at net prices below the published price. Nothing is said here as to any limita- tion of net prices to high-priced books. The door is carefully left open for the inclusion of all books as net. Something was said in the publishers’ report, but this is not binding. Nothing binds except the exact words of the signed agreement. “ Nothing is said which forbids the publisher to sell at a reduced rate. He is thus free to under- bid the bookseller if he pleases, and to deprive him of the whole trade with local libraries, schools, and institutions. The bookseller, therefore, fetters himself while the publisher goes free. Is it to be believed that the publisher will not take alvan- tage of this liberty of action ? “ Nothing is said as to any time limitation. Does the bookseller bind himself for life ? “No improvement in the booksellers’ position is offered on books published at six shillings and under, i.e. on the bulk of his business ; that part on which he has to depend. “rt. If, however, high-priced books are only to be made net, what advantage will the bookseller gain in return for entering into this one-sided arrangement? Surely the advantages ought to be substantial. «Tet a book now published at 12s. be taken as an example : “By the present system the bookseller gets it at 8s. 1d. and sells it at 9s. “ By the new system he will get it at 7s. 11d. and sell it at 10s. «The advantage is therefore 1s. 2d.—a substan- tial gain on every copy. “On a 24s. book his advantage would be 2s. 4d. “Tf, therefore, a country bookseller should sell in the course of the year forty-eight copies of a 12s. book, he would gain £2 16s. ; twenty-four copies of a 248. book, he would gain £2 45.; twelve copies of a 36s. book, he would gain £2 2s. Yo that his increased profit on the year, after resigning the power of selling his own property in his own way, would only amount to £7 38. a year. Perhaps the demand for high-priced books ia the country is greater than these figures would show. They are submitted as tentative only. In any case it is certain that the sale of books at a high price is never very large, except in very excep- tional cases. It will be easy for any beokseller to go through his books and calculate for himself AUTHOR. 155 how much advantage he would gain in the year by this proposed change. “s11. The Publishers’ Association very wisely refuse to undertake the detective part of the scheme. That is left to brother booksellers. It will be an ungracious task. Let them ask themselves seriously how they will undertake it, and let them remember that without some method of supervision — same method which will create bitter animosities—the scheme cannot last. “yy, Evasion again is perfectly certain whenever the interests of the trade require it. Former experience shows that there area dozen ways of evasion, and that they will be practised. Restric- tions which ought not to be imposed, which are contrary to the liberty of the citizen, have always been evaded and always will—and that without reluctance so long as they are felt to be con- trary to the spirit of freedom. “«y, If, however, booksellers decide, in the face of these considerations, that the scheme can be worked, and that it will turn out to their advan- tage, your committee would not recommend that the Society should stand in their way. But they should agree to adopt the scheme fora limited period only ; they should boldly face the difficulty of providing the necessary supervision ; above all things they should insist on the publishers being bound not to undersell them; and they should make it clear that they sign only for books pub- lished at about 6s. “ At the end of the limited time the booksellers should be invited to confer with the authors as to the continuance, further development, or abolition of the scheme. “TV. Your committee would point out to the booksellers that, so far from being obliged to accept any terms that may be imposed upon them, they are in a perfectly independent position. They can make terms for themselves if they only agree among themselves. “VY. Your committee would point out, for the consideration of booksellers, that whatever arrangement be adopted, whether an extended net system for a term on the present arrange- ment, or any other, there ought to be preserved a margin of 25 per cent., that is to say, the profit to the booksellers on the sale of a book should be at least 20 per cent. on the trade price of it. “VI, Your committee would also repeat the recommendations made in their former report. These recommendations were adopted by the Committee of Management. They were also adopted by the Booksellers’ Association of Scot- land (see The Author, Aug. 1898, pp. 61 and 63). They were designed in order to give the net 156 system a fair trial without coercion. It was there proposed :— “(1.) That books at 6s. and under shall remain as before. “(2.) That, as at present, every net book shall be made the subject of a special contract, and that a bookseller shall be at liberty to take it on net terms or not, without interference with his liberty to do what he pleases with other books, his own property. “ (3.) That the system of. sale or return shalljbe more extensively adopted. This method, indeed, is absolutely necessary if books are to be really published for the world and not, as now happens with a great many, which are not taken by the booksellers, only printed. “ Your committee desire to see in every book- seller’s shop in the country a collection of all the new books worth buying offered for sale. ‘“©(4.) That the ‘odd’ copy shall be abolished as practically useless and even mischievous. 1V.—Wuat 1s WANTED. We are informed by the Publishers’ Circular that at length something is to be attempted towards the mending of the retail bookseller’s financial position. Whatever may be our opinion as to the adequacy of the proposed course, there can be no doubt that it is imperative there shall not be a moment’s delay in the alteration of trade terms in such a manner that men of intelligence shall be attracted to what should rank as a profession. What the public wishes is guidance and help from an educated, interested man. No guidance is found. There can be but one reason in these days of over-crowding and competition. There is no money in it. But why do I trouble you about this? Because it is clear that authors must suffer from the present defective method of reaching the public, as recently stated in your columns, by advertisements, by review, or by the bookseller. I venture to say that if you improve the quality, not the quantity, of the latter’s collection of books, the advertisements and review (aptly joined) may be done without. Ifthe author or the publisher pay him well, the bookseller, not the assistant bookseller, will be with his customer, and he will most effectively review and advertise not only the latest, but the best of the books upon his shelves. The little known writer may suffer most from the present system, but not he alone. All suffer, for surely the cost of advertisement comes from the popular author’s pocket in the form of a THE AUTHOR. lower rate of royalty than he would otherwise receive. The trader who supplies only the book he is asked for does light porter’s work and receives light wages. It would seem that the sale or return system advocated in your columns should bring into the trade some who dare not risk much capital in the purchase of books. But these, having selected their stock, must go one step further, they must be in a position to help book-buyers—who will be found much more ready to rely upon the judg- ment of the booksellers than to be guided by unsigned reviews. The author, too, will be liberated from his bogey. He will no longer fear that his book being ignored, or dismissed with a sneer by an anony- mous reviewer, has no other chance of a hearing. One INTERESTED. ec MR. ENDEAN AND MESSRS. SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, AND CO. LETTER appeared in the Times of Nov. 18 from Mr. J. Russell Endean telling an interesting story. It was to the effect that he arranged with a publisher for the expendi- ture of £15 im advertising a new edition of a certain work : that when the account was rendered, £15 was charged: that he asked for details and was informed that only £6 gs. 8d. had been spent —of this £1 6s. was disallowed as contrary to the agreement, so that only £5 3s. 8d. had been actually spent instead of £15; that the explanation offered by the publishers was that the charge was “ provisional”: that another account would have been rendered at the end of the next half-year when any part of the £15 not spent would be credited. A reply to this letter was sent to the Times two days afterwards in which Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Company admitted that they are the publishers referred to and offered the follow- ing explanation : Oor advertising clerk, when sending the account which Mr. Endean copied into your columns, admitted that by his oversight some advertisements which ought to have been inserted in certain papers had not been inserted. He admitted the error, said it should be put right, and it was put right as far as possible. The rectification, one supposes, was either the withdrawal of the first account and the substitu- tion of another: or else the immediate laying out ~ of the overcharged £9 16s. 4d. in advertising the book. It seems a pity that the firm did not think it necessary to state the nature of the rectification. The story is, in consequence, at  THE AUTHOR. 157 present only half complete. It seems also a pity that the letter was headed “ Authors and Pub- lishers,” because only one publisher was concerned and only one charge was brought. Meantime, with the view of making their staff more careful, and for the sake of the house, it would be well if every author receiving an account from Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. (Limited), would refer it back for details. The firm, one is quite sure, would gladly welcome this co-operation of the authors with themselves in ensuring the accuracy of their clerical staff. Do CORRESPONDENCE. {.—Orr THE List. HE more experience I have of publishing agreements the more difficult I find it to contrive one which shall entirely safeguard the interests of the author and properly protect his interests. So much so is the case that I would venture to suggest that the time has come when the Council of the Society should among them draft, not agreements, but special clauses which should be found in every agreement. Quite recently I heard of a somewhat difficult case in which the author suffered for want of a clause which, I believe, is never found in any agreement. The book was published on the half- profit system. The publishers bore the entire expense of publication, the author bore the entire expense of writing the book. The publisher undertook to publish the book, and the profits arising from the sales—or, I should say, what the publisher called profits—were to be equally divided between the parties “during the legal term of copyright.” The general management of the production, publication, and sale of the book was to be left to the “judgment and discretion Z of the publisher. The book had a sale of 700 or 800 copies, but there were, according to the accounts rendered, no profits to be divided. The author now ex- presses himself surprised to find the book omitted from the publisher’s catalogue. It is, in fact, not being offered to the public, though the “legal term of copyright” is far from having expired. Can the author do anything? It is a doubtful point. Clearly the publishers, as partners in the transaction, are bound to exercise that “ judg- ment and discretion” in a bond fide and proper manner. Are they doing so in cutting the book out of their lists. Their case, no doubt, would be that the book no longer sells, and that it is unwise to go to the expense of, say, 58., for printing the title of it in their catalogue. To make good this contention they would have to show that they omitted from their lists all other books which no longer sell, and this it is doubtful if they could do. Should not the Society take counsel’s opinion on the point, for the form of agreement is a very common one ? There is, however, a moral in all this, and it is, that in every publishing agreement the publisher shall be bound to keep the book in all his lists for a specified period, which in most cases should be the period of copyright. Another useful clause is that in any year in which less than a specified number of copies have been sold, the author shall have the right to rescind the agreement, taking over unsold stock, blocks, moulds, or plates at a valuation. Lastly, I would strongly support your frequent recommendation to authors never to sign an agreement by which the copyright of a book is passed to the publisher, except when the book is sold outright for a specified sum. There are, I may almost say, hundreds of reasons why authors should keep their copyright. If they do not, the publisher may cut out paris of their work, alter them, put objectionable inset advertisements in every other page, publish the book in some form which might discredit the author, even sell it to some soap firm for the purposes of adver- tisement. Where the copyright of the book is sold for a specified sum, there should be a clause in the agreement prohibiting abridgment or alteration of the text without the author’s consent. Nemo al. I. L. II.—RasuH CRriTIcIsM. In The Author of October last you have an article on Criticism in which (IX.) it is said: “Don’t try to prove every successful author a plagiarist.” As illustrating how easily a story may look like a plagiary, the following experience may interest. Some months ago I finished a story of the Pre-historie or Antediluvian age. While it was yet in the typing stage a similar story by a well- known novelist appeared in a popular magazine. T read the first five chapters and found it sub- stantially my own story, the difference beimg chiefly in localisation and style. I followed the events of my own story, and found even the details reproduced with slight variations, ey. : My antediluvians are ruled by a fiendish man, his by a fiendish woman; my king orders his guards to arrest a virtuous priest who interrupts a banquet, denouncing the wrath of Jehovah, and the guard who obeys is struck by lightning ; his queen does the same, but the priest denounces the wrath of the gods and the guard is struck  158 with leprosy! And so on, through five consecu- tive chapters—as far as I have read ! My MS. has never left me but once, and then it was in typists’ hands; moreover a well- known writer would certainly not plagiarise from one so unknown and inexperienced as myself. The events reproduced are fictiticus; hence one can only suppose that, by a pure coincidence, the same ideas occurred to us both. Had our posi- tions been reversed, I should certainly have considered the unknown writer a barefaced plagiarist. 1 think, therefore, your contributor does well to caution the critic. M. Sr. J. III.— Literary Yrar-Boox. The suggestion made in the last issue of 7’he Author that a Literary Year-book should be issued by the Society is, I think, well worth the consideration of the Society’s Committee. The book should be, above all else, for the information of writers. I have a copy before me of the last edition of “The Literary Ycar-Book,” which is by no means the useful guide one would expect. It is to be hoped, however, that the forthcoming edition will be more satisfactory ; otherwise the Committee should take the matter into considera- tion. GLENFRUIN. IV.—Tue Reaping Brancu. May I callattention to a very serious want in this connection? A young writer submits, we will say, ten short stories (about 50,000 words) to the Society’s reader, and pays the fee. In due course he gets the opinion and advice of the expert. Profiting thereby he writes another 5000 words story. Would it not now be a vast help to him if he could submit this one to be read for a small fee —say 2s. 6d.? Of course, he might wait until he had ten stories to submit; but if has not gone on the right tack after the first reading, look at the waste of labour and time! What he wants is to be able to submit each piece of work separately, as itis completed. Is it possible for the Society to arrange for this ? Half-a-crown is admittedly a very small fee. Yet when I was connected with a well-known daily, many a time have I reviewed in thirty or forty lines (at three halfpence per line) a 400-page Look dealing with some branch of economics with which I am tolerably familiar. Buppine Fictionist. V.—Tue Preriop oF Copyricut. Iam exceedingly glad to see that The Author is now on the track of “leases” by the author to’ the publisher. Allow me, after thirty years’ THE AUTHOK. dealings with musical composers, to say that merely to extend the period of co; yright would benefit not a small proportion, and would simply enrich the capitalist publisher. I have seen it stated that the United States plan of twenty- eight plus fourteen years was the old English plan, which has been retained from colonial days. If so, we have a precedent, and the period of lease could be extended. I have in several cases seen the beneficent effect of the United States law in bringing sums to widows and children after the composer’s death. The lawyers would, how- ever, have to make some provision to prevent the pawning of “ futures’’ by improvident authors. It is an unpleasant thing for a music publisher to have composers bring in really good stuff and offer it, even press it, for sale out and out ata price below its value in order that the composer may “meet a bill,” ‘save his furniture,” “pay his life insurance,’ &c. This kind of thing gives an opportunity to hard and grasping pub- lishers. It will, I suppose, always go on, but under the system of lease there would, if the work met with success, be a revaluation and re-sale after a certain number of years, which would do something to right matters. Let me say that out of all the thousands of things which I have recommended to my company not one is published on commission or on the half- profits system. The plans of lump payment or royalty are exclusively used, and the composer is always offered the option of a royalty as against alump sum. I mention these facts to show that I belong to the better class of publisher with which, as I know, the readers of The Aushor are in sympathy. A Music PusLisHER. = Vi.—LiveratvreE AS A PROFESSION. I will not, if you please, sign this letter, as I am sick of the sight of my own name; but I may say it has been mentioned once or twice by your correspondents, although I have not the honour to be acquainted with a single author in England. I should like to allude to some letters of your members who have made certain statements of mine pegs whereon to hang complaints against the literary profession, which, while I deeply sympa- thise with them, I do not entirely endorse. In your issue for September Annabel Gray very trenchantly declares that Press booms, advertising, beaiing the dium, favour with “rag- bag” proprietors, huge posters, or commendatory letters from high personages, are indispensable to “success.” “UL. 8.’ declaims against chance, poverty, and the “ jealousy ” of successful authors |  THE AUTHOL. who refuse to advise a struggler. “ NW. S complains that a novel by an unknown hand cannot secure even a nominal price. Now, I wish to say that I personally have never complained of any of the obstacles of Litera- ture, but simply of my failure to do good work ; it is true that I have attributed that in part to poverty ; but I do not blame Literature that I am poor. I am forced to agree that Annabel Gray has much reason. We must never complain of the successful ; if we emulate their particular form of success, we must imitate their methods, and if we despise their methods, we need not envy their success. The author with whom I am in sympathy is one who aspires to a solid reputation, with or without profit, rather than a noisy and short-lived notoriety, and the unseemly making of hay. His ambition must be such that he will not permit himself to hope for more than even post- humous fame or, at least, a quiet and retired reputation which earns a humble living but high honour from the highest men. If an author can do the work of George Eliot or Thackeray or Meredith it is probable that he will achieve suffi- cient for comfort for his latter years, and the chances are that he is bound to be “ discovered ”’ before his death. But he need not regret the lack of worldly push; real genius is almost invari- ably accompanied, by the most sensitive pride. The man who makes Literature a mere profession must undoubtedly obtain some of those aids recom- mended by Annabel Gray; but I regretfully confess that I have quite retired from that sort of competi- tion myself and therefore cannot advise. I depre- cate the abasement of touting for paragraphs and puffs; nor do I think it a sign of dignity to seek for commendatory letters from successful authors. Self-respect is really more valuable than a “boom.’? Do good work—do good work !—and then, if your own judgment is really satisfied and you cannot place it, get a few copies printed very cheaply to send to the Press, or set your teeth, lay it aside, and let your soul die and revive again. It is painful to reflect on failure and the vulgarity of life. ‘Personally, I support myself by this thought: Is there any known case of a poet or novelist of genius who has perished unheard ? And can you point to any high reputa- tion of ten years’ standing that is not amply justified by its work? Do not worry about those whose vein is different to yours: but in your own vein ? May I encroach a little further on your space ? In your issue for May 1899 appeared a letter from “ Waiting,” headed “ Against Difficulties.” It is rather unusual, but will you permit me to address “ Waiting” through you? I should 159 like to tell this gentleman that I wrote to him; responded to a sympathy which he appeared to extend to me, and which surprised and pleased me; but owing to an accident—I was far away from post offices at the time—the letter was lost I hope this will meet his eyes. « Waiting” said: “ Meanwhile Tam miserable. I have had sufficient success to warrant me in believing that in two years I could, by constant work and hard writing, earn a ‘ comfortable ‘neome. But I am chained to office work, and my evenings are as miserable as my mornings and afternoons, for what literary work can a man do who comes home tired out?” Tf I were a publisher or @ patron, I should take “ Waiting’s” brief statement to represent a character of grit. I can only say—work on Sundays and holidays. One of the most suc- cessful recent novels was written by a clerk who could only begin at 10 p.m. When I was a clerk, with the luxurious hours of 10 to 4, I thought it spoilt my writing, though I wrote from 6 to 7.30, and from g to 12. I threw up my job to get more time. I regret it now. I see that I did my best work then; the chafing of the day’s slavery stimulated concentration ; the annoyances of bondage made me determined to achieve my liberty. “ Waiting ” must not wait, but burn two ends of the candle. He is not compelled to fire off his work in haste to get a dinner, but he should be accumulating and polishing it. Give a year, instead of three months, to a novel or to half-a-dozen tales; then send out —they may bring you in £25, which is half way to liberty, or they may make your market. If you have had “sufficient success” to warrant anything, why not have more? You can do it, my dear fellow ; lock your door and say, I will! And, mem.—I£ you get home by six, take half- an-hour’s nap, then tea. Sleep is the most vital help to good work. Have you tried going to bed early, and putting in an hour in the morning ? Let no domestic annoyances disturb you; a man must sacrifice the lesser to the great, and be ruthless with the women-folk. Here is agood refutation to Annabel Gray’s remarks on log-rolling and influence, and a useful word of encouragement. During three years, virtually a stranger to London and without a single literary acquaintance, I placed work with four good publishers and three good magazines, although the work was exceptionally bad. Owing to the badness of the work, and nothing else, L failed; I achieved no sort of reputation. Since then, owing to some rather contemptible “ con- fessions”’ in a review, I have seen my name para- graphed, and to quite a flattering extent, in many of the best literary papers and dailies ; 160 almost sufficient to make Annabel’s “literary sensation,” if I wished, or knew how, to take advantage of puffs. And yet Lassure you I don’t know a single editor or critic, nor doany of them know me. What astonishes me, is the unwar- ranted luck authors have, to have so many generous journalists ready to advertise them for nothing. An inventor, a far more useful per- sonage, has no such luck, and he needs it. Ottawa, Oct. ’99. VIL—EnNcouRAGEMENT FOR Youna AvtrHors. “J. M. E.S.’s” letter in the October issue is undoubtedly very encouraging reading for strug- gling beginners. She says: “Had my health and other duties allowed continuous work, I could have realised from £400 to £500 a year by what I call ‘hack-work.’” Yet from others we have widely different testimony. In “The Pen and the Book” Sir Walter Besant seems to be almost feverishly anxious to dissuade any beginner from trying to make a living by writing for magazines and journals. ‘“ Above all things,” he says, “ do not at first try to live by writing for the magazines and journals if you value your reputa- tion, your independence, and your self-respect.” This is backed up by what an anonymous lady writer says in a National Review article on “The Sorrows of Scribblers” (March, 1898) :-— “There may be, perhaps, some twenty or thirty people in England who make £200 a year by magazine writing. Their names are well known to the public and area safe ‘draw’; while outside these is the large army of magazine contributors whose earnings average, say, from £20 to £50 a ear.” On the other hand, we have a widely-expe- rienced editor and contributor telling us in “ How to Write for the Press” (Horace Cox) that his experience by no means bears out what the National Review says. He declares that “ there must be some scores of men making much more than £200 a year by magazine writing.” What is a poor beginner to do amidst this bewildering disagreement of doctors? I think that a good deal of the disagreement arises from not properly distinguishing between earnings from daily papers, weekly papers, and monthly magazines. Will “J. M. E. 8.” be kind enough to say in what class of periodicals the £400 or £500 a year would have been earned—dailies, weeklies, monthlies, or all three combined, and would the work have been entirely fiction ? Tf “An Editor” (the author of “How “to Write for the Press”) should happen to see this, perhaps he may be good enough to tell us what a fairly suecessful writer who would have to THE AUTHOR. accept usual magazine pay (not a popular “star ”? like the late Mr. Grant Allen, Dr. Conan Doyle, Anthony Hope, or Mr. Rudyard Kipling) may hope to make from monthly magazines alone. I fancy “An Editor” has written very largely for the weekly popular Press; but, as he says, “ success therein brings you nothing but lucre, and. that, after all, is not everything.” Most beginners look to the monthly magazines which publish signatures, Macazine STRUGGLER. sect BOOK AND PLAY TALK. HE Editor of the “Literary Year Book” wishes it to be known that it is not the intention of the new Year Book to “slate” any writer in its critical articles, and that he hopes there will be found no suppressions of fact. We reserve, therefore, further observations until the appearance of the volume. In the November number the name of Jean Ingelow was printed instead of Jean Middlemass. An apology is due to the friends of the late Jean Ingelow, and to Miss Middlemass, and an expres- sion of regret that the very singular slip of the pen escaped the notice both of the contributor and the Editor. The Irish author, Mr. W. B. Lappin, whose novel “ Mad Mag” had recently such a successful serial run in an Ulster paper, is just now engaged on another one, the scenes of which are all princi- pally laid around a well-known castle amidst the hills of Iveagh. One of the characters is a fool named Nickey Saoi Glic or Nickey, the Cunning Sage, who gives a tone to the novel, both m humour and eccentricity. The dialect speech of the “ Black North,” too, may be looked for. “Forbidden Banns,’ by Annabel Gray, has been accepted by a well-known Italian editor. It will appear the end of this month as a feuilleton translated into Italian in a daily paper. All of Mr. Mackenzie Bell’s works that are now before the public will in future be published by Mr. Thomas Burleigh. The Shakespeare Press of New York city whose place of business is in Westfield, N.J., announce that they expect to publish during the coming winter a volume on the Shakespeare sonnets, being the first of two volumes of a work upon the “ Allusive Poesy of William Shake- speare,’ and which will take new ground as to Francis Bacon’s “authorship” therein. The text to be employed will be that of the original quarto:  THE The author of the work will be Mr. The of 1609. Frederick C. Hunt, of the Oklahoma Bar. volume will be about 500 pages uniform with the publications of the New York Society. Mr. Robert Freke Gould’s new book entitled “Military Lodges,” published by Gale and Polden, has just appeared. It contains an account of the Freemason lodges in regiments and ships of war, and also a statement of famous soldiers and sailors who have belonged to the body of Freemasons. The following books by Miss L. E. Tiddeman have just been published by Messrs. Blackie and Sons: “What Mother Said” (1s.), ‘“ Sahib’s Birthday” (6d.). Two juvenile books by the same author have been published by Messrs. Chambers entitled, “ Daddy’s Darling” and “ Molley’s Mother,” and another “ The Sea-Bird x by Messrs. Nister and Co. Lord Rosebery’s monograph on Chatham is in the hands of the printers. It will be a companion volume to his “ Life of Pitt.” Shakespeare During the past month Stevenson’s Letters to his family and friends have been published in two large volumes, which are edited by Mr. Sidney Colvin. Mr. Colvin, however, has resigned the task of writing the life of his friend in favour of Stevenson’s cousin, Mr. Graham Balfour. Mrs. Hodgson Burnett has completed the new novel which has engaged her for some time past, and it will be issued by Messrs. Warne under the title, “In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim.’ The “claim” referred to is for damages inflicted during the American Civil War, but that of itself is only a secondary matter in comparison with the love-interest of the story. Mr. Edward Carpenter has writtten a story of Indian life entitled “ Narayan,’ which is to appear first of all in the New Age. A volume for the tourist in Egypt, entitled “Pyramids and Progress,” has been prepared by Mr. John Ward, and will be published shortly by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode. It will contain an introduction from the pen of Professor Sayce. The volume of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s remi- niscences, by Mr. Arthur Lawrence, will be published soon by Mr. Bowden. Mr. F. W. Findon writes an appreciation of Sir Arthur Sullivan as composer, and a complete biblio- graphy has been compiled by Mr. Wilfrid Bendall. Sir Arthur Sullivan, by the way, con- ducted at the Alhambra the other day, in the AUTHOR. 160i cause of the charity of the moment, the first performance of his setting of Mr. Kipling’s poem, “The Absent-minded Beggar,” a work which has in every conceivable way been turned to account —by the author, the proprietors of the Daily Mail, and others—on behalf of the soldiers’ families. Professor Bury has written a popular “ History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Death of Alexander the Great,” which Messrs. Macmillan will publish. Mr. Frederic Harrison has collected a number of his essays for early publication by Messrs. Macmillan in a volume. The principal one, that on Tennyson, has not been published before. The volume will be called “ Tennyson, Ruskin, Mill; and other Literary Estimates.” Mrs. Roy Devereux has written “ Side-Lights on South Africa,” a book of travel, which Messrs. Sampson Low will publish immediately. The Duchess of Sutherland is engaged upon a new novel. John Oliver Hobbes’s new novel, “ Robert Orange,” is first to appear serially in the Ladies” Field. After several years spent in the Pacific, particu- larly in studying the Caroline Archipelago, Mr. F. W. Christian has written a book about the history, physical aspects, archeological remains, language, and religion of that part of the world. It will be published, entitled “The Caroline Islands,” by Messrs. Methuen. The second volume of Mr. Herbert Spencer’s revised and enlarged edition of ‘“ Principles of Biology ” has just been published by Messrs. Williams and Norgate. The December number of the Fortnightly Review contains an article by Mr. Spencer on Professor Ward’s “ Naturalism and Agnosticism.” Mr. Frank Mathew has written a historical romance, called “Our Queen Triumphant,” which Mr. Lane will publish. As a result of the territorial changes in Samoa, Stevenson’s grave is now on German soil. Some enthusiasts have already suggested that the coffin should be brought to Scotland and re-interred ; as to which the Globe remarks that ‘it will be time enough to move Stevenson’s dust when the Germans claim him for a German author.” As surely as Burns’s birthday anniversary comes round, some new point of discussion arises in connection with the rustic poet. Now it is the turn of a writer in the Library World, Mr. J. C. Ewing, who avers that among the 93° editions of 162 the poet which have been issued since 1786, not one is perfect. Besides protesting against edito- rial interference with Burns’s text, and the inclu- sion of pieces which Burns himself wished destroyed, Mr. Ewing states that many picc2s which Burns never wrote at all are printed in every edition of his works. Mr. Jerome’s comedy, ‘“ Miss Hobbs,” will be produced this month at the Duke of York’s by Mr. Charles Frohman, with Miss Evelyn Millard in the part which was filled in America by Miss Annie Russell. The opening performance at Mr. Wyndham’s rew theatre on Nov. 16 being for the benefit of the sufferers by the war, was the occasion of an extraordinary craze. Such was the eagerness manifested, and such the prices paid for seats (and standing room, too, for this alone in some parts easily fetched a guinea a time), that £4000 was realised in a house whose takings will range ordinarily from £260 to £300 when filled. The play was ‘“ David Garrick,” in which the audience had the gratification of witnessing once again both Mr. Wyndham and Miss Mary Moore. Altogether it was a brilliant scene. In the course of his speech at the close, Mr. Wyndham happily remarked that the play of “David Garrick” revolves round two ideas—duty and home. “The soldier nobly responds to the call of duty, and you, just as nobly, respond to the call of home— the homes of those gallant men who are fighting now for ours.’’ In many other ways and at many different places during the month the services of the theatrical, musical and literary professions have been exercised on behalf of the sufferers by the South African War. But the annual per- formance for the Royal General Theatrical Fund, which took place at Drury-lane, was rather poorly attended. Mr. Benson has arranged for a series of Shake- speare plays at the Lyceum, beginning on Feb. 15. “Hamlet” (March 1) will be produced for the second time in its entirety (the first occasion having been at Stratford-upon-Avon), the per- formance beginning at 3.30 and lasting till 10.45, except for an interval of an hour and a half for dinner. The other Shakespeare plays which Mr. Benson will produce are “ Henry the Fifth,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ “Richard the Second,’ “ Twelfth Night,” “ Antony and Cleopatra,” and “The Tempest.” During his eight weeks at the Lyceum he will elso revive Sheridan’s comedy, “The Rivals.” Nearly six hundred ladies and gentlemen lave formed themselves into a committce in order to pro- mote the success of Mr. Benson’s Shakespearian revivals. THE AUTHOR. Meanwhile, Mr. Tree has begun the rehearsals of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which is intended for production at Her Majesty’s early in January. Himself will play Bottom the Weaver; Mrs. Tree will play Titania; the part of Oberon will be taken by Miss Julia Neilson, and that of Hermia by Miss Sarah Brooke, who joins Mr. Tree’s company for the first time. “The Children of the Ghetto ” will be produzed at the Adelphi on Dec. 11, with Miss Rosabel Morrison in the part of Hannah Jacobs. Mr. George Alexander gave a copyright per- formance at Liverpool on Nov. 17 of Mr. Stephen Phillips’s poetic drama, ‘“‘ Paolo and Francesca.” A comedy of modern manners by Mr. Charles Brookfield, entitled “One Law for the Man,” founded on M. Paul Hervieu’s “Le Loi de ?Homme,” will be presented at the Criterion on the 7th inst. ty Mrs. Kettlewell (Miss Edith Woodworth), who takes the principal part. Among the company will be Miss Lottie Venne, Miss Keith Wakemann, Mr. Hermann Vezin, and Mr. Norman McKinnell. “The Little Library,” is the title of a new series promoted by Messrs. Methuen, which is to con- sist of many of the famous books in English and other literatures. Each volume is tu have a photogravure frontispiece, and will be supplied with critical introduction and notes, the first to appear being Lord Tennyson’s “ Princess,” edited by Miss Elizabeth Wordsworth. Her Majesty has graciously accepted from Blanche Eryl a copy of her song “ Peace,” the Angel’s Song, from the poem of “The Light of the World,” by Sir Edwin Arnold. The old Tottenham-street Theatre, which at one period of its existence was known as the Prince of Wales’s, is about to be re-opened. The third and concluding volume of the “Handbook to Christian and _ Keclesiastical Rome,” by M. A. R. Tuker and Hope Malleson, embracing part 3 (“ Monasticism in Rome”) and part 4 (‘ Ecclesiastical Rome’’) will be published shortly by Messrs. A. and C. Black, and by the Macmillan Company in New York. The book will be illustrated with coloured pictures. Lieutenant-Colonel E. Gunter’s “ Outlines of Modern Tactics,” has just gone into a thnd edition, which is published (7s. 6d.) by Messrs. William Clowes and Sons. The Literary Agency of London (manager, Mr. G. Radford) has removed from 2, Whitehall- gardens to 5, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, W.C. ee  THE BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) —— REcoLLECTIONS, 1832 to 1886, by Sir Algernon West, K.C.B. (Smith, Elder, and Co., 21s.)—one whose career has been crowded with interesting associations and who was for many years Mr. Gladstone’s right-hand man—is © both entertaining and interesting,” says the Daily News, “but the public must not expect any ‘ revelations,” civil servants in general being nothing if not discreet. The Daily Chronicle says that though the many cupboards in Downing- street and Somerset House, full of fascinating skeletons are not laid bare, the volumes “are full of good things, well worth preserving and well worth reading”; while the Daily Telegraph predicts that these two volumes “ will be widely read and highly appreciated.” Lorp Lytrron’s Inp1an ADMINISTRATION, 1876-1880, compiled from lettars and official papers, by Lady Betty Balfour (Longmans, 18s.), is avolume wherein, says the Times, the author has done a noble service to her father’s memory; and “no honest judgment can hereafter be formed on our relations with Central Asia without a careful study of the facts and documents presented in this book.” ‘It will be exceedingly useful,” says the Daily News, “to all those who desire to possess in convenient form the complete record of an eventfal viceregal reign.” Memoirs of A REVOLUTIONIST, by Prince Kropotkin (Smith, Elder, and Co., 21s.), is an intensely dramatic narrative, says the Daily Chronicle, which reviews the work of the Russian exile under the title of ‘ Prince and Anarchist.” ‘‘A more sincere, we might almost say naive, self-revelation was never given to the world.” ‘‘ There is no lack of adventures in these memoirs,” says the Daily Telegraph. Tue Hiauest ANDES, by E. A. FitzGerald (Methuen, 30s. net.), is “a book which is not only popular in the best sense of the word,’ says the Times, “but is a permanent and solid contribution to the literature of mountaineering, and to our knowledge of one of the most marvellous regions on the surface of the earth.” It isa record of the first ascent of Aconcagua and Tupungato in Argentina, and the exploration of the surrounding valleys. The Daily Chronicle remarks that “the story is simply told, and there is no straining after effect’; “‘ the photographs are admirably reproduced, and the book is got up with a care and finish worthy of so great @ subject”; while with regard to the part taken in Mr. FitzGerald’s expedition by Mr. S‘uart Vines, “there are few finer records in the history of climb- ing.” Toe Hirnerto UNIDENTIFIED CONTRIBUTIONS OF THACKERAY TO Punch, by M. H. Spielmann (Harpers, 78. 6d.), is based upon authentic and exclusive information. The Daily News describes it as “a great literary fund,” and adds that the book must be taken for what it is, namely, rather a descriptive bibliography than a collection of Thackeray’s pieces. “ Thackeray’s contributions to Punch were in reality much more extensive than has been commonly supposed,” says the Daily Chronicle. ‘The new items, great and small, which this volame contains number about 150,” and they are “not unworthy of Thackeray’s reputation.” “Naturally they reflect in many ways the home and foreizn politics of the time.” Tor Letters or Rosert Lovis STEVENSON TO HIS Faminy AND FRIENDS, edited by Sidney Colvin (Methuen, 25s, net) is praised by all the critics for ita interest and fascination. The Daily Telegraph, for example, says itis “‘ one AUTHOR. 163 of the two living and memorable books o% the year ’—the other being the Browning Love-Letters. Tur Lire AND Lerrers oF Sir JoHN EvERETT Mruxats, by John Guille Millais (Methuen, 32s.), has like- wise been received with general approval. The Daily Chronicle says ‘it is of unusual interest and charm,” and the Daily News that “ it is a gold mine of good things.”’ Some SourH AFRICAN REcoLLECTIONS, by Mrs. Lionel Phillips (Longmans, 7s. 6d.) is a connected summary of the chapter of South African history in which the writer’s husband (one of the five principal reformers of Johannes- burg who were sentensed to death) took so prominent a part. Mrs. Phillips, adds the Times, “ shows how, far from stirring up the movement, the so-called ‘ capitalists’ were for a long time strongly averse to it.” “ Many of the book’s details,” says the Daily Chronicle, “are new, the frankness of the writer is distinctly charming, and, not least important, the pictures add considerably to our knowledge of the Transvaal.” Some Account oF THE MILITARY, POLITICAL, AND SoctaL Lire oF THE RiaHT Hon. JosEerH MANNERS, Marquis of Granby, by Walter Evelyn Manners (Macmillan, 18s.), would haye been more acceptable to the Spectator “had it been less controversial.” ‘‘ However, Mr. Manners has been indefatigable in the collection of material, and at any rate he has given us all the facts upon which to form a judgment.” The Daily Ch ronicle verdict is very similar: “The work enables us to realise what fine qualities must have been possessed by the nobleman who became a popular idol and was glorified on so many sign-posts.” Tue River War, by Winston Spencer Churchill (Long- mans, 36s.), is said by the Daily Chronicle to be “ likely to take its place, among many competitors, as the standard history of the successful advance from Wady Halfa to Khartoum.” Mr. Winston Churchill was present at the Battle of Omdurman. ‘He has compiled two admirable volumes,” says the Daily Telegraph; ‘‘he is the master of a most fascinating style.” Interature, coupling its review of this book and Supan Camparan, 1896-1899, by An Officer (Chapman, tos. 6d.), says that ‘these volumes. cannot be neglected in any statement of Egyptian events for the last thirty years of this century.” A Hisrory oF THE British Army, by the Hon. J. W- Fortescue (Macmillan, 36s. net), consists of two volames— the first part of the work—which come down to the close of the Seven Years’ War. “It is sound, admirable workman- ship,” says the Daily News, “a book for which every reade of the nation’s history will heartily thank its author.” The Daily Chronicle (which makes special mention of the maps) says that the work “ fills a gap in our historical literature,” and “ judging by this first instalment it promises to fill it in a very satisfactory way.” First PRINCIPLES IN Potrrics, by W. S. Lilly (Murray, 14s.), considers the twin questions—are there any basic principles in politics, and is democracy at present satisfac- tory to those who desire to see polities governed by morality. The Spectator says that, ‘ike not a few physicians, Mr. Lilly is better at diagnosis than at therapeutics.” It is, however, “a very able and interesting work, and “the suggestive and usefal chapter on crime and punish- ment seems to us altogether admirable, especially in its exposure of the gushing sentimentalism which some well-- meaning but foolish persons reserve for some of the worst criminals.” Tue LAND oF Contrasts, by James Fallarton Muirhead (Lane, 6s. net.), described in the sub-title as ‘‘ a Briton’s view of his American kin,’’ “is one of the best of the lighter books on the United States that we have had for a long time,”  164 THE says the Daily News. ‘‘ No shrewder, no more sympathetic wielder of the pen has come our way for a long time,” says the Daily Chronicle. “Every page is a page full of interesting observations or reflections interestingly put.” Bouemian Paris or To-Day, by W. C. Morrow, with 106 illustrations by Edouard Cucuel (Chatto, 6s ) is described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘‘a fascinating combination of brightly written letterpress and admirably executed drawings, avowedly intended to instruct as well as entertain.” “Mr. Morrow would have us think,’ says Mr. Tighe Hopkins in the Daily Chronicle, and we are in no way fain to believe him, that the very dissipations of these students are an essential part of the training.” Literature says “ it is mainly devoted to a description of the recreations of the great mass of dissolute Parisians,” and though on the whole “suffi- ciently amusing, it leaves us with a very unpleasant impres- sion of French student life.” Lyra Frivona, by A. D. Godley (Methuen, 2s. 6d.), is praised by the Spectator, which says that “Mr. Godley has earned the gratitude of all university men and all lovers of belles lettres by collecting in this slim volume some thirty of the entertaining pieces that he has con- tributed in the last ten years to the Oxford Magazine and other journals.” Tue Log or A Sea Warr, by Frank T. Bullen (Smith, Elder, and Co., 8s. 6d. net), “is full of thrilling adventure admirably told,” says the Times, “but it also tells many a sad and sickening tale of the hardships that British seamen are quite unnecessarily made to endure in many cases.” The author says he has written nothing but the truth— recollections of the first four years of his sea life—as to which the Times says that “no one who reads his volume will hesitate to acknowledge that truth is oftentimes stranger than fiction.” Mr. Bullen “is a highly eitertaining shipmate,” says the Daily Chronicle, “ who spins his yarns of vivid colours and of good honest English staff.” Tusy THat Wak IN Darkness, by I. Zangwill (Heinemann, 6s.), is a republication, in a greatly enlarged form, of Mr. Zangwill’s “‘ Ghetto Tragedies,” which origi- nally saw the light in 1893. The Spectator observes that “no reader, who is not blinded by prejudice, will rise from the perusal of this engrossing volume without an enhanced sense of compassion for and admiration of” the Jewish race. The Daily Telegraph says these stories “bave dramatic power, unsparing realism, exquisite pity.” The Daily Chronicle is struck by Mr. Zangwill’s sincerity and simplicity. An ENGLIsHMAN, by Mary L. Pendered (Methuen, 6s.), is ‘a story of how a girl of the upper classes of London society marries a grocer, and will be ‘ happy ever after.’” The Guardian says it is “ decidedly noticeable,’ and the Daily Telegraph describes it as “an excellent novel, by no means lacking in sensational incident, and closely in touch with the more salient political and social questions of the age we live in.” Miss Pendered writes of the lower middle- class existence with great intelligence and understanding,” says the Daily Chronicle; “the result of her observations constitutes almost a document.” — THE Crown or Lirn, by George Gissing (Methuen, 6s.), is quite optimistic, the Daily News says, and “is rich in the interest so conspicuous in Mr. Gissing’s work, which springs from the impression it gives us that we are looking upon life itself, and that the representa- tion of it is unheightened by adventitious touches.’’ “The ‘Crown of Life’ is love, and the book may be described as a study of the various sorts of love that make for marriage.” AUTHOR. No Soun Apovn Monny, by Walter Raymond (Long- man, 63.), is “powerful and poignant in its well-nigh unrelieved tragedy,” says the Daily News. The story ig set in Somersetshire, and “deals with simple villagers, with the primitive and inexorable forces of human life.” The Spectator says the author has not belied the confidence which was inspired by the high level of excellence he reached in his last novel. The Literary World admits that in its intensity the book “may shock the feelings of some, but there is no doubt that in its way the story is perfect, that is to say, once begun, the consequent events and the ending were inevitable.” THE Surp or Srars, by A. T. Quiller-Couch (Cassell, 6s.), is “an admirably written and interesting story,” says the Spectator. The tale is that of the growth from boy- hood to early manhood of the son of a poor and studious clergyman in the West Country. The Literary World finds it “both an exhilarating and a depressing book, its cha- racters are thoroughly studied and well-drawn, and its pictures of West Country life vivid.” TALES OF SpAcE AND TIME, by H. G. Wells (Harpers, 6s.), is described by the Spectator as an “ extremely interesting, suggestive, but occasionally disquieting volume,” partaking to a great extent of the nature of a supplement to his last two volumes, “The War of the Worlds” and “When the Sleeper Wakes.” The Daily Chronicle says the tales ‘‘ are worth reading.” TRicKs AND TRIALS, by Christabel R. Coleridge (Hurst and Blackett, 6s.), is “an original and decidedly clever novel,” saysthe Guardian. “ Miss Coleridge has got hold - a new situation, and treats it with spirit and distinc. ion.” THe Eve or THE Rerormation, by F. A. Gasquet, D.D. (Nimmo, 12s. 6d. net), does good service, says the Guardian, “to the cause of historical truth by insisting that the Church in England on the eve of the Reformation was not so hopelessly corrupt as the fancy of the popular Protestant has painted it.” “THE AUTHOR.” SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page we . w= £4 0 0 Other Pages om 8 0 8 Half of a Page ... : ow L100 Quarter of a Page «. 015 0 Eighth of a Page ake aS we Oe Single Column Advertisements ... perinch 0 6 0 Bills for Insertion per 2000 3 0 0 Reductions made for a Series of Siz or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, London, W.C. Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash, LITERARY AGENT, AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, W.C. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 07 (December 1899) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 07 (December 1899) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-12-01-The-Author-10-7 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/468/1899-11-01-The-Author-10-6.pdf bac36f1e1ae037196f4ac395eae5d346 PDF Text Text �������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1899-11-01 Volume 10 Issue 6 Pages Page range in volume 117–136 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18991101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che Hutbor, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 6.] NOVEMBER 1, 189. [PRIcE SIXPENCE. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or tnitialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. Pes HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. eo GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Il. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to: _ (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. : G) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5-) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher. As — bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or VOL, X. Ill, THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2) Keep control of the advertisements. (3-) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. ees WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS, I. EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :— (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (2) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. This method can only be entered into when a fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc- tion. It is not a common method. mM 2 118 (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES (4.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of royalties. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. 4. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 6. Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is protected by a preliminary performance in the United Kingdom. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of writing the play has begun or after it is finished. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. ———— HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. 1. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles cf other writers, even if you are THE AUTHOR. reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen. dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. _—_— or THE READING BRANCH. %%MBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea, ee NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the gen interest to publish. The present soon Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Chari ossay Ad, he Secretary for information, rules of admission ERARY PROPERTY. I.—Tur Present Siruation. HE present situation is full of promise—for those who desire the emancipation of the author. It was necessary that he should be able to meet the publisher, in business matters, on equal terms. Since he cannot do so, as a rule, we have encouraged him to use the literary agent. For the first time in literary history literary property of all kinds has begun to be negotiated on the same footing, subject to the same compe- tition, as every other kind of property. The exposure by the Society of the true meaning of Cost of Production, of Risk, of Trade Prices, —  THE AUTHOR. of Royalties; the exposure of the many tricks by which authors have been ensnared to their undoing ; the union of so many men and women of letters for the defence of their own interests ; the newborn recognition of the fact that it is the absolute duty of every writer to join an associa- tion which has no other object than the defence of the common interests; the slow—very slow— recognition of the truth that commercial value is a thing quite apart from literary value, so that a man may be a very fine writer yet may never achieve popularity, and the converse; the corollary that there is nothing sordid or mean in looking after property of one kind more than any other kind ; that what is done blamelessly and laudably by artists, lawyers, physicians, architects, engineers, and every branch of intellectual endeavour, may be done as blamelessly and as laudably by writers —all these things working together have effected —say, perhaps, have commenced —a complete revolution in the prospects and position of litera- ture. It is not yet acknowledged. Some of the old forms are still kept up. But the revolution is upon us, and the question now before us is what we should do for the consolidation and the security of what has been already gained. Among many causes which have assisted in advancing this Revolution, I do not think that any one has been more potent than the production of the “equitable” Draft Agreements by the Publishers’ Association. It is very much to be desired that every literary man or woman should possess, and should study, this most important document, with its exposure by Mr. Thring. In its columns the Publishers stand self-confessed and self-condemned. They have never been accused by their enemies of anything quite so amazing as they here claim as their nght. For they simply claim the power of taking everything. They want to be publishers, and to be paid as such: to be also agents, and to be paid as such: to act on commission, and to be paid as printers: to agree for half profits, and to charge blank percentages on the printing, paper, and everything. In one word, no one is entitled to speak at all upon the relation of Publisher and Author unless he has first read this document, with the com- ments issued by our Committee. But their silence is even more damaging than their utterances. Thus :— 1. Their committee have steadily ignored every grievance, every claim, and every protest of the Society of Authors. 2. They have taken no steps to prevent the con- tinuation of secret profits. 3. They have not denounced the system of secret profits, even at a time when Lord Russell’s Bill 11g promises to make the practice as criminal in the eyes of the law as it has always been in the eyes of honest men. 4. They have not denounced the practice of charging advertisements that have not been paid for. This practice, which actually gives the publisher the power of sweeping into his own pocket the whole proceeds of a book, has not even been mentioned by the Association, so that they tacitly reserve this power. 5. They have observed a significant silence on the right of audit. 6. Although the most shameless attacks have been made on the Society’s figures concerning its published “cost of production ”’—which are real figures taken from estimates and printers’ accounts —and the meaning of royalties, the Publishers’ Association has preserved absolute silence on the subject. 7. Although similar shameless statements have been made on the meaning of “risk” as exposed in the Society’s papers, the Publishers’ Associa- tion has maintained absolute silence on the subject. These silences are studied and deliberate. The only conclusion that can be drawn is obvious. It is like a conclusion in Euclid. Against these silences place their claims— 1. Thus, they claim the exclusive right of publishing a work all over the world, with the rights of abridgement, translation, and dramatic version of the work. What they get at present from any important author is the English volume right alone; an agent manages the rest for a percentage. 2. They make no proviso whatever against dishonesty. 3. They demand a blank percentage on office expenses, allowing no office expenses for book- seller, and none for author. 4. In the case of commission books, a blank fee is to be paid in advance; they are to send in their own estimate of cost—not the printer’s estimate—their own ; a blank percentage is to be charged on every item, besides a blank commis- sion; they are also to take a discount on every item; the books are to be accounted for, not at the price they actually realised, but at ‘“ customary trade prices ”—7.e., at any price that the publisher chooses to call “customary.” For other claims see the “ Forms of Agreement” published by the Society. 5. At the Publishers’ Congress recently held, there was an opportunity for protesting against inflated estimates and secret profits; there was also an opportunity for acknowledging that if the claims of our Society were not recognised in other 120 forms of business, the whole of the commercial structure would fall to the ground. That opportunity was not taken. 6. The publisher, therefore, stands before the world, and says: ‘I, the middleman, mean to take all that I choose. That is equitable. So that there may be no mistake, read this paper. Here ure my intentions revealed in agreements which eminent counsel have approved. You see, I claim blank percentages. I offer no guarantee against dishonesty. I claim to charge just whatever I like. Iclaim that according to equity ; it is my right to take whatever I choose.”’ 7. A circular was last year sent round among | publishers calling attention to the admirable | system which prevails in Germany, where the | bookseller is the mere slave of the publisher, and | the author is not allowed to be concerned with the | matter of property at all. 8. At the Congress every speaker was allowed the tacit assumption that literary property belongs as of right to the publisher. If the author was spoken of, it was as to the ‘‘ remunera- tion”? offered to him; he was thus openly con- sidered and spoken of as the clerk or employé of the publisher. These were brave words. Could they be followed by action there would be swift and sudden ruin to the literary profession. The old dependence was mitigated by competition of the trade. Without competition there would be mere slavery. But they have not been followed by action. It is really a most remarkable situation. The committee which issues these forms contains repre- sentatives of the three largest publishing houses in the country. At least one would expect them to set an example to the rest of the fraternity and to stand by their guns. Not a single publisher, great or small, ventures to submit these terms to an author of the least zmportance. Here is a proof, which cannot be denied, that the whole situation lies in the hands of the authors themselves. Ihave seen agreements embodying these claims ; but they were tried on the less important writers. There is not a single writer, I repeat, of any importance, unless he is in the employment and pay of a publisher, who does not retain, when he enters upon a profit-sharing or a royalty agree- ment, his American rights, his continental rights, his dramatic rights, and his translation rights. What, then, becomes of the “equitable” forms of agreement ? They stand simply to show what our friends will do if we allow them. If we do not allow them they can do nothing. THE AUTHOR. Another point. We all remember when the publisher was not going to deal with the literary agent: the literary agent was called by one indignant innocent a “canker”: all sorts of things were threatened. The literary agent is now eagerly run after by publishers and entreated to give them something good. In other words, free competition has set in: the value of Literary Property is understood on both sides. Nothing could be better for our side. Meantime, the Society acts as a watch-dog and as a policeman. It constantly examines and revises agreements: it advises authors on all points: it makes the low-class editors—the word “low-class” is used advisedly, because the com- plaints are very few indeed concerning reputable journals and magazines—pay for the work they have taken: and it finds out traps, and dangers, and tricks, and exposes them continually and repeatedly. Another most useful service is rendered by the Society. The Secretary is asked by hundreds of members every year concerning publishers. There are certain houses to which he never directs an inquirer, for excellent reasons, which have unfor- tunately to remain secret because the other side does not wish publicity. Let the reader ask himself what the effect of this steady omission, year after year, of any given house is likely to be. In the Society we know what it is, and we know, besides, that every year brings us wider power and greater knowledge. It is said that we are now threatened with a Ring. We need not be greatly afraid that a Ring would succeed, but it might, and it must be guarded against. It could only succeed (1) by a combina- tion of all publishers—this has been attempted ; (2) by the complete reduction of booksellers to slavery—this also has been attempted; (3) by the acquisition of complete control of literary pro- perty—we have seen that this also has been attempted ; (4) by the continued ignoring of authors’ protests—which is maintained by the Association and by their congress; (5) by the abolition of the literary agent—this is ardently desired. ~ All the conditions necessary for the formation of a Ring have therefore been attempted and are still being attempted. Against these attempts we have the Society of Authors — that and nothing else—to protect us. W. B. II.— Pus isHine oN COMMISSION, AND THE Commission PUBLISHER. We have repeated over and over again the © advice never under any circumstances to pay for — the production of what the ordinary publisher  a THE AUTHOR. 121 refuses to take. It is a most sound rule. It is one which needs to be enforced in the strongest terms, at the present moment, when many pub- lishers are tempting authors to bear the whole or a part share in the cost of production. They are general publishers, and the reasons why this method is to be shunned are as follows: 1. If the book had in it the promise of com- mercial success the publisher would jump at it, and the only question would be as to his proposed terms. 2. Although he proposes to take a commission on the sales he means secretly to make a profit on every item connected with the book. (See the Publishers’ Draft Agreements in which this is claimed asa right.) Now consider the position of the commission publisher. He neither claims nor exercises any right to make any secret profit at all or any profit on the production. He says plainly, “T will sell your book for you if I can: and I will take 10 per cent. on the sales, and you shall have all the rest.” This, you observe, is a very great difference. In the first case the author pays the publisher not only the cost of production, but anything else he may choose to set down. He also pays what he is charge’l for advertisements costing nothing. He also has to pay percentages for office expenses before he gets the commission itself. Thus, if the true cost of production is £150, and the sales amount, say, to £350—by the first method the author’s returns would probably appear as about £70. By the second method they would appear as £165. The worthy geitlemen who make the liberal offers exposed below are those who desire to publish on commission. They are not commission publishers. The commission publisher is, as will be seen in a few years, the publisher of the future for those writers whose works command success. The com- mission publisher produces no books as his own yenture, but only on commission. TII.—Tuer Orp Trick. Once more there has been brought to the Society the old, old agreement by which the unfortunate author is first made to pay the whole cost of production “to cover his whole liability,” and is then dunned for more money, and finally finds that there has been no sales. In this case the agreement was briefly as follows : 1, Author to pay £69—viz., £39 in signing the agreement, and £30 on delivery of the final proofs. The edition to be 750 copies. 2. The author to be charged for corrections “in excess of the usual correction of printers’ errors.” The “usual correction” means nothing. 3. Half-yearly accounts. Two-thirds of the money received by the publisher to be paid to the author. The book to be issued at 6s. 4. If new editions should be called for the publisher would produce them at his own ex- pense, and give the author a royalty of 2s. a copy, or 332 per cent. Think of that!! 5. The publisher was to advertise the work to the amount of £15, but should the expenses of advertising exceed that sum, such additional advertising were to be a first charge on the sales. Now let us consider what the unfortunate author could make by the transaction, in the extreme case of the whole edition being sold, allowing eighty copies for Press and presentation. But there are the corrections. In this case a little bill for £6 or so was sent in. Also the publishers demanded £7 for “additional adver- tising.” By the agreement they can take that off the sales. So that we now stand thus: £ & 4d, Author pays ......ee 69 Sales .........05 117 45.0 Corrections ......-..+++++ 6 <Author’s share 78 3 4 Additional advertising 7 Author’s loss... 3°10 5 £82 How does the publisher stand by the trans- action ? Tf we take certain figures given in “ The Pen and the Book,” it will be easy to prove that, even without the sale of a single copy, the publisher is certain to make a fair profit. How is it that silly people can be caught by such simple and transparent dodges ? 1. To begin with, they are wholly ignorant of the meaning of publishing. 2. If you place in their hands the figures they are too stupid to understand them. 3. They are caught by two phrases contained in all their agreements. ‘The amount paid to constitute the whole of their liability.” And “Future editions to be brought out at the expense of the publisher giving the author a royalty of 2s. a copy.” 4. They do not understand that under the heading of corrections the publisher can send ina bill for anything that he pleases. 5. They do not see through the transparent trick which in the same clause limits the adver- tising to £15, yet gives the publisher the night of further charges to any extent he pleases “‘ out of sales.” 6. Lastly, there comes in the vanity of the author, which seems to vary in the inverse pro- portion to his own ability, so that the more feeble 122 is his performance the more swollen are his expectations. : And so they are caught. The Society publishes these exposures time after time, over and over again. Yet the angler baits his hook—* reader’s opinion most favourable”: “offer most excep- tional’’: ‘no further liability’: “ two-thirds of the sales returned”: for new editions, as if the “new editions with following editions” was certain, a royalty far above that offered by other houses. The fish bites: is played with: and is landed. When it is too late comes the appeal to the Society, neglected when it would have been useful, for help when no help is possible. So these fishers of men get on: they even issue alist. Itis another kind of bait: the list con- tains hundreds of names. Is there one—a single name — of an author distinguished or even known ? Can anything be done? Can we ever protect ignorance and vanity ? Will the readers of these columns do their best to make known the folly of producing books which responsible publishers refuse, with the certainty of a large initial invest- ment and the equal certainty that under the most favourable circumstances it is bound to result in a loss ? rec PARIS NOTES. 5, rue Chomel, Paris. HE wisdom of the twopence-halfpenny augmentation on the price of the 3fr. 50¢. volume has been widely discussed, both in book-buying and _ bookselling circles. The aforesaid work, invariably marked 3fr. 5oc., and as invariably sold for 2fr. 75c., is henceforward only obtainable at 3 francs net. The cause of this augmentation is the falling-off of book-buyers and the consequent loss to the bookseller, who is no longer content to accept from the publisher a new work which will only yield him a profit of two sous per volume. The French publishers, as a body, have held aloof from the movement, declaring it to be a matter out of their province, and one which must necessarily be settled by the parties principally concerned, viz., the booksellers and the public. The Maison Flammarion, one of the largest publishing and bookselling establish- ments here (and formerly one of the warmest advocates of a reduction in the existing prices) at first opposed the additional twopence half- penny per copy; but, after due reflection, with- drew its opposition, and registered its vote in support of the augmentation proposed by the Booksellers’ Syndicate. THE AUTHOR. Frencu BooxsELLeRS 'N DIFFICULTIES. M. Fasquelle, head of the well-known publish- ing firm of Charpentier, likewise avers that he regrets the increase on the price of the so-called 3fr. 50c. volume—though he has not been person- ally consulted on the matter, having only been informed of the booksellers’ decision through the agency of the newspapers. This is the more surprising since the Maison Charpentier heads, by a long way, the annual list of sales of the 3fr. 500. volume, having produced three of the great pecuniary successes of the year, viz., the “ Paris” of Zola, the “Cyrano de Bergerac” of Edmond Rostand, and the ‘Soutien de Famille” of Alphonse Daudet. Personally M. Fasquelle would have preferred another method of meeting the deficit in the bookseller’s account than that resorted to by the syndicate. Having recently become concessionnaire of the railway libraries of the stations “du réseau de l’Ouest,” where the 3fr. 50c. volume has always previously been sold at published price, he has announced his intention of adopting the new price fixed by the Book- sellers’ Syndicate all along the line, and of hence- forth selling the volume in question in the Seine and Seine-et-Oise departments at the reduced rate of 3 francs per copy. He humorously adds that this time the public is not likely to complain of the difference. BuaMine THE Bicycle. The remainder of the publishers have accepted the booksellers’ innovation with an tnsoucrance the publie is far from copying. The reason of the apathy displayed in publishing circles is obvious. The outlook in the bookselling trade, especially in the provinces, is undoubtedly gloomy. Publishers and booksellers are agreed that the bicycle is at the bottom of the mischief, since the development of a taste for outdoor physical exercise is not conducive to the development of the nervous, imaginative faculties fostered by fiction. But to discover the root of the evil is not to remedy it; and the fact that the booksellers could not continue to sell at the existing prices unless the publishers allowed them a larger commission was evident even to outsiders. The publishers themselves were ready to adopt any expedient which would preserve them from further outlay at the present moment. Nor can they be blamed on this account zf the figures furnished by them, and currently accepted by the public, are correct. The French literary market is absolutely glutted. The principal firms are reported to publish, on an average, fifteen volumes per day, of which a goodly pro- portion are destined to find a permanent resting- place in one of the huge warehouses in which the  THE AUTHOR. hag various publishing firms store up the unsold editions of the majority of their clients, in the rarely-realised hope that a future success by the same author will obtain a tardy market for his earlier productions. The Maison Flammarion alone has at present more than a million such yolumes stored up in its enormous warehouse at Montrouge. In the seventh century B.c., Omar, destroyer of the Alexandrine library, was held in execration by all civilised nations ; but we doubt if the publishers of the nineteenth century would regard him in the same light. THe Acrors’ ASSOCIATION. The committee of the Association générale des Artistes Dramatiques et Lyriques de Frauce has now definitely established its bureau at 17, rue de la Grange-Batelitre (Faubourg Mont- martre), under the presidency of M. Silvain, of the Comédie-Francaise, aided by two vice-presi- dents, viz., M. Armand Silvestre (inspecteur des beaux-arts) and M. Adolphe Milliaud (directeur de la Renaissance). M. Edouard Guillaumet, founder of the Association, has undertaken the office of General Administrator. The bureau of the Association is daily open from 9 a.m. to 5 p-m., and its official organ is the Bulletin des Artistes, which appears every Sunday morning, and keeps all members informed of the proceed- ings of the Association, in addition to supplying them with much interesting and valuable matter relative to their profession. The utility of this institution may be recognised from the fact that its list of members is daily increasing, and that a large number of engagements have already been ratified through its agency. In short, the thanks and congratulations of the whole artistic fraternity are due to M. Guillaumet for his praiseworthy and disinterested initiative on behalf of the French artiste. A Story or DuMaAs PERE. Speaking of theatrical matters reminds me of a charming anecdot2 recently narrated by M. Jules Claretie anent the revival of the superb “Dame de Montsoreau”’ of Alexandre Dumas pere and Auguste Maquet at the Porte-Saint- Martin Theatre. This “bon Dumas,” this intel- lectual giant who is credited with having taught French history to three-quarters of the French nation, and who boasted of having ‘toute Pantiquité & faire—ou plutot a refaire, car, jusqu’ 4 présent, on ne l’a guére que défaite ”— was, nevertheless, extremely tenacious of his. glory, and insisted on having a contract drawn up in which it was expressly stipulated that in all the mutual productions of Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet, the illustrious name of VOL. x. Alexandre Dumas should alone be given the public. On the evening of the first representa- tion of “ Les Trois Mousquetaires ’ Dumas pére proudly walked the planks of the Ambigu Theatre in high glee at the tremendous success his work was achieving, while Auguste’ Maquet stood aloof in one of the side scenes, pensively enawing the ends of his moustache. Presently Dumas approached his anonymous collaborator and inquired if the latter’s mother chanced to be present that night. Maquet sadly replied that she was in one of the second row of boxes. “Eh bien!” responded Dumas, “ tout 4 Pheure, ne perdez pas de vue cette seconde loge. Regardez- la, je vous prie!” On the conclusion of the play the spectators tumultuously demanded the name of the author. Mélingue, previously instructed by Dumas in a rapid aside, forthwith announced that the drama just represented was the work of M. Alexandre Dumas and—(a prolonged pause)—M. Auguste Maquet ! A double cry grested the latter name, out- stripping the rapturous applause of the crowd— the joyous cry of Mme. Maquet and the grateful ery of her son Auguste The latter threw him- self into the arms of his generous colleague, who, clapping him fraternally on the back, gaily responded :— “Eh bien! Etes-vous content? Ce sera comme ca pour les autres pi¢ces! Allons travailler!” The great man probably remembered the far- off days when he himself worked so assiduously and untiringly as a poor copying clerk in order to send a portion of his meagre pittance to his widowed mother. Tur New ACADEMICIANS. Passing rapidly along the Grands Boulevards yesterday, I encountered the keen cursory glance of “les beaux yeux bridés qui pétillent de malice et desprit” of M. Henri Lavedan, who recently quitted his charming retreat at Veules-les-Roses to assist at the hundred and tenth representation of “Le Vieux Marcheur” at Paris. According to the Figaro, this play has been given no less than 225 times in the brief space of six months. Of course, this estimate includes the representa- tions given by the touring company beyond the French frontier. M. Lavedan has employed his summer holiday in writing the necessary oration to celebrate his official reception to the French Academy. The manuscript is now in the hands of the Seerétaire Perpctuel of the Immortals, and is reported to contain a graphic sketch of French society under the Second Empire. M. Paul Deschanel has followed the example of his illustrious comrade. Headroitly contrived N 124 to throw the reporters off his track, and then slipped quietly away to a secluded retreat on the borders of a Swiss lake in order to compose his Academical oration undisturbed. Although his official reception does not take place until February, 1900, his arducus political duties leave him small leisure for literary undertakings. Hence the necessity of composing his Academical speech so long beforehand. A Untversat LANGUAGE. M. Léon Bollack is a remarkable man. He has endeavoured to re-establish the unanimity of language which prevailed on the earth previous to the erection of the Tower of Babel in 2233 B.c. by inventing a “Langue bleue,” which professes to teach all languages in one—and that one, needless to add, is the “ Langue bleue” invented by M. Léon Bollack. Yet, even though the new grammar and language composed by M. Bollack never become as universally adopted as their author confidently predicts, his method is sufficiently plausible and ingenious to awaken some interest in the quarter most nearly affected, viz., in the vast army of teachers and professors whom the success of his theory would inevitably deprive of the posts they at present occupy. A New Bioeraruy or GrorGEe SAND. But to my mind, the most vividly interesting publication of the month that has come under my notice is the two-volume Liography of “George Sand, sa vie et ses ceuvres,” (1804- 1876), by Madame Vladimir Karénine, a Russian lady. In no country, not even in her native land, have the works of the gifted French authoress been more highly appreciated than in Russian literary circles. “ Belicve me,” wrote Tourgueneff to Souvorine, ‘George Sand is one of your saints!” Fedor Dostoiewski speaks of her still more enthusiastically. “She was,’ he says, “one of the most sublime an‘ beautiful representatives of womanhood, a woman almost unique by the vigour of her mind and talent—a name henceforward become historical, destined never to fall into oblivion or disappear from the history of European humanity.” A little later he adds: ‘Sans s’en douter elle- méme, elle fut un des adeptes les plus complets du Christ” ; which judgment is difficult to recon- cile with the verdict of Henri Heine, who, in speaking of George Sand’s literary productions, opined that, even though they illuminated many dungeons where no other consolation could pene- trate, their pernicious flames would, at the same time, destroy the peaceful shrines of innocence.” Madame Karénine has compiled the most com- plete biography of this extraordinary and gifted THE AUTHOR. woman that has yet been produced. It is the outcome of ten years’ patient study and diligent research. We would also mention: “ L’Histoire de la Langue ct de la littérature frangajses” (1830- 1900), by M. Henri Chantavoine (chez Armand Colin) ; “Lettres Répondues,”’ by M. Ludaux (chez Lemerre); “Le Petre Milon,’ by Guy de Maupassant (uvres inédites series, chez Ollen- dorf) ; “ Prométhée, by M. Iwan Gilkin (Poétes francaise de I’étranger, chez Fischbacher) ; *“Drames baroques et mélancoliques,” by M. Frédéric Boutet (chez Chamuel) ; “ Les Soirdées de la Duchesse,” by Comte Camille de Renesse ; “Tes Mémoires de Mme. de la Ferronnays”; and “Le peintre Gabriel,” by M. de Poiseux. oa NOTES AND NEWS. HE following extract from the Canadian Bookseller, I have cut out of a New York paper : Does the recent combination of the Harper and Double- day-McClure houses foreshadow a new trust—a vast and universal consolidation of all the publishing interests of the country in one great publishing trust? The idea is cer- tainly a fascinating one, and it is so heartily in accord with the spirit of the age that any objection to it must be branded at once as old-fogeyism, as a mere repetition of arguments already answered a bundred times. If the pub- lishers should feebly pleai their right to live, the flat answer is that they have no more right to live than oil men, or sugar refiners, or steel makers, or other conductors of obsolete industries. If their employes protest against starvation, they may be reminded that they are a painful but necessary sacrifice to the march of improvement. As for the poor author, why should he object to taking his place with the other producers, and allowing his compensa- tion to be adjusted by the exigencies of the dividends ‘on the common and preferred stock of the combination? Why should the rights of the literary producer be any more sacred than those of any other industry * What reason hag the author for oxistance except to produce his literary wares ? ee In another column the Present Situation is dis- cussed. There seems to be little fear of a single Publishing Trust. Thereis, however, no doubt that the American publishers will come over here —some of them are over here alreagly—and that they will introduce new methods which will finish off the old-fashioned publisher. At first, the serious competition of the Americans will be beneficial to the literary profession, becausenothing is of more importance to the maker or creator of things which have a commercial value than the open competition of the market. It is difficult, moreover, to understand how open competition, which will certainly place the best work in the  THE AUTHOR. hands of the richest houses, can become a single {rust, But the reader is referred to the note on the Present Situation. ——<— + Is a writer justified in sending copies of his MSS. to more than one editor at the same time? The question is raised by a correspondent (see p- 133). The answer is surely quitesimple. The editor runs his paper on business lines : he endeavours to make his journal financially successful: the contributors have only to follow his example, and, on their side, conduct the com- mercial side of their work also on business principles. There can, therefore, be no reason why the contributor should not offer his work to two or more editors at the same time. It may be objected that. editors would refuse to consider work so offered. They might: they would be, of course, within their right if they did. As, how- ever, a good magazine must have good work, they would certainly have to give in when good and desirable work was offered. Those writers only would be injured whose work was doubtful. As to the other question, whether articles for monthlies are accepted by sending proofs without other notice, it needs no answer, because, if there were any doubt in the editor’s mind, he would not send the paper to the press without a note beforehand to the author. ——$> > Mr. Andrew Lang, in Longman’s, speaks about the hardship and injustice caused to authors by the running out of copyright. Itis a great hard- ship and a great injusuce. But it will prove most difficult to persuade people cf its injustice. I believe that in the new Copyright Bill some extension of the term is all that can be asked for. People have got firmly fixed in their heads the notion that if the term copyright is indefi- nitely extended certain books, now, as they are pleased to call it, the property of the nation— really the property of competing publishers—will be suppressed. “Suppose,” they say, «<The Pilgrim’s Progress’ were to fall into the hands of a Catholic 2”? The true answer would be, that the fact of this work being always in demand and that it was a property like a coal mine, would effec- tually prevent that property being ruined or destroyed. Another objection to the extension of copyright is the fact that publishers are always trying to get copyright in their own hands. The agreements submitted to authors always demand copyright or the exclusive right of publi- cation during the time of copyright; or if they buy a book outright of course copyright goes with it. Therefore an extension of copyright _ would only mean the continuance during such 125 extension of the agreement made with the author. And this, as the “ Draft Agreemen's ” (Equitable) show, would leave the author, as a rule, very little cause for congratulation as to the benefits of the extension. Now, people very rightly think that they would rather have the competing publisher than the publisher who is sole owner. It is not only property that has to be pro- tected, it is the author. Until recently literary property was wholly misunderstood. ‘The execu- tors of this kind of property throw it away. “The present law does not injuremany novelists,” Mr. Lang says. It injured Scott, Dickens, and Thackeray: it is about to injure the heirs of Charles Reade and George Eliot and Charles |Kingsley. It will certainly injure the heirs of Louis Stevenson. But there are writers like Keats and Coleridge who, Mr. Lang thinks, would have left their successors a competence. Perhaps; but how many editions of Keats and Coleridge have there been during the last forty or fifty years? How many thousand copies of either have been taken by the public? Ten thousand? There is not much of a competence to be got out of the author's share in 10,000 copies of a little volume of verse. I think that Literary Property being what it is —viz., uncertain as regards the future, though it is absurd to use the word “risk,” except for dishonest purposes, about the works of many hundreds of living writers—it is quite impossible to predict of any book by a living writer that it will be a living force in twenty years’ time. This uncertainty is the real “risk” as applied to writers of name. Such an uncertainty attaches to no other kind of property. The future possi- bilities of books are, in fact, so very uncertain that they are practically neglected. In dealings between author and publisher the future, after the first year or two, is not considered at all. Most writers would get as good terms for a five years’ agreement as for the whole of copyright. 1 think, therefore, that this kind of property should be treated as requiring special legislation. The term of copyright should be certainly extended— perhaps there should be no term at all —the State does not take away a man’s coal mine after forty years. And purchase of copyright should be limited to periods of five or six years. Most books suffer painless extinction after the first year ; a few last for three or four years ; very few, indeed, are in demand more than five years. For those books which have the good fortune of extended life, it is surely fair to the creator of the property that there should be a fresh deal. 126 THE AUTHOR. The death of Grant Allen removes a familiar figure from our midst. For twenty-five years this writer has been following the profession of literature, with what success we all know. As a popular exponent of science he wrote many books which gave him a name if not a fortune. And when he turned to fiction grudg- ingly and with some professed contempt for the work, he succeeded more rapidly and more surely than as a writer on science. I think that the world likes to have its science presented by the discoverers and the workers in the laboratory. Tt must be owned that Grant Allen was outside the laboratory: he loved science, and he followed the results of research, but I think that he pursued no research of his own. At the same time, his knowledge was considerable, and his love for Nature in every branch of observation was true and deep His early struggles, which were severe, embittered him against the profession of letters. He advised a young man rather to sweep a cross- ing than to live by literature. He resented the small returns of his scientific books. In fact, he made the common mistake of confusing com- mercial with literary worth, and, because he knew that he had written well, he was angry because people did not buy his books. Yet these early books made the calling of letters possible for him and introduced him to the men whom, above all, he most desired to know. His history, in consequence of this advice of his, has been often instance to show the pre- carious nature of the literary profession. On the contrary, it shows most clearly that he who can write what people want to read will get on in the sense of getting an income; while he who writes what the people do not want to buy will also, if his work is good, get on in reputation and distinction. Grant Allen’s later years were spent in such comfort as his commercial success bestowed upon him, and in such consideration as his learning and his reputation bestowed upon him. How many lawyers, medical men, clergymen, schoolmasters, architects, pass through years of ill-paid drudgery ? How many never win recogni- tion at all? How many at the age of fifty-three can look back, as Grant Allen could, to fifteen years at least of success and substantial comfort ? As a man of letters among others, he was large minded : he was entirely free from envy or jealousy: he was always ready to acknowledge good work in others: he neither gibed nor scoffed at other writers. So far he was what the Ameri- cans call whole-souled. There was, however, a strange tendency in him to take “the other side” in everything. It was not a kicking against convention: it was an inborn spirit of revolt against everything estab- lished. In religion, in politics, in social matter :, he was a kind of rebel. But a rebel with whom it was pleasing at all times to talk: a man swift to understand, to receive, to return with interest; a man full of ideas and brimming over with cleverness ; a man, in some points, as simple as a child. Water Besant, Saeas SLEIGHT OF HAND. M* SENNETT, the agent, looked up sharply from the letter which he had been reading, gazed towards the door of his private office, and said “Come in.” Mr. Palinode, his right-hand man, entered, carrying a manuscript. “ Wasn’t sure whether anybody knocked or not,” said Mr. Sennett. “You have the suaviter in modo in perfection, Palinode, even in the matter of tapping on a door. Well, what have you come up about ?” “This,” replied Mr. Palinode, as he seated himself opposite his principal. He put the manu- script on the writing-table, and pointed to it with his forefinger. “Well, you’ve had a look at it?” Mr. Sennett inquired. “Yes,” said Mr. Palinode, ‘and though I’ve got a sort of nausea of manuscript from con- stantly seeing it and handling it, and can’t usually relish any sort of fiction, I must say this strikes me as being positively great. It’s more than talent, you know-— there’s a touch of genius in it.” “So I thought,” said Mr. Sennett, meditatively, “though I only read scraps of it; and that was why I asked you to run through it. It ?s fine stuff. I should like to get it published.” Mr. Palinode shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in his chair. : “JT don’t know who would take it,” he observed. “Tt’s splendid stuff, but it’s too short and it’s gloomy. And, then, the author’s utterly unknown. They’d kick at it; it’s too much of a risk. I don’t believe you'd get anybody to take it.” “I must make somebody take it,” said Mr. Sennett. Mr. Palinode smiled. Half an hour later Mr. Guddle, the senior partner in the publishing firm of Guddle and Honey, was ushered into Mr. Sennett’s private room. He greeted the agent in a very friendly manner, and talked affably for some time about eS es  THE the weather and the news, and about minor matters of business which were pending between his firm and Mr. Sennett. Mr. Sennett waited patiently, and, when Mr. Guddle considered that he had successfully avoided any appearance of eagerness, he came to the reason of his visit. “Now, there’s Brumber’s book,” he began with a smile, “Yes,” Mr. Sennett replied, in a serious tone ‘what do you think of it ?” “We like it,” said Mr. Guddle. here to talk about it.” “T thought, perhaps, that was so,’ Mr. Sennett, and he smiled quietly. “Well, about terms, you know, Sennett,” resumed the publisher. Mr. Sennett frowned as if he were confronted with a puzzle. “It’s rather early to talk about terms,” he said, slowly. “I haven’t got a free hand. Brumber’s a queer chap. My instructions are to refer all offers. And there’s competition about this book; more than half-a-dozen firms have been putting pressure on me to let them see it.” Mr. Guddle’s face fell. “fs Brumber in England now ?” he asked. “No; he’s away yachting; coast of France somewhere. He'll be back in a fortnight.” “You know, he’s likely to follow your recom- mendation, Sennett,” said the publisher. He looked inquiringly at Mr. Sennett. “ Well,” said the agent, vaguely—‘ Oh, by the way, Guddle, I’ve something with a touch of most unusual talent in it. Palinode’s read it, and I’ve had a look at it, and we both enthuse.” “Fiction ? ” “T came up ’ remarked « Yos.”’ ““ Who’s the author ?”’ “Oh, a new writer. Calls herself Jacob Linden. There’s the copy.” He pointed to the manuscript, which Mr. Palinode had left upon the writing table. The publisher took up the manuscript and fingered it carelessly. “It’s very short,” he observed, in a tone of disapproval. Then he read the last three pages with an air of frowning abstraction. ‘The ending’s fearfully gloomy,” he said, when he had finished the perusal. “No, I don’t think we want it. When can you let us hear about Brumber’s book?” “Oh, I'll let you know as soon as T can,” Mr. Sennett replied coldly. The publisher looked uncomfortable. do the best you can for us, Sennett, won't your he asked. “ Weshouldn’t like Brumber to go to someone else.” “T haven’t a free hand,” Mr. Sennett repeated. “Tm sorry you don’t like that story you've just “ Youll ” AUTHOR. 127 looked at. I’m keen about getting it published; I think it’s well upto theright standard. But the difficulty there is about getting any of you men to oblige us! You want us to oblige you, you know.” : Mr, Guddle glanced up sharply at Mr. Sennett ; but the agent’s face was impassive. Mr. Guddle’s demeanour betrayed annoyance and hesitation. “Oh, the story’s very short,” he said after a pause, “and it seems dismal. Still it may be all right. Of course we'll have it read if you send it in to us.” “Thanks very much,” said Mr. Sennett, and he smiled amiably. ‘‘ Somehow one does like to be humoured.” Some more small matters of business were mentioned, and then Mr. Guddle took his leave. A fortnight later he called upon Mr. Sennett again. “Well; is Brumber back nowr ” he asked, as he seated himself in the chair which Mr. Sennett offered him. “Yes, he’s back,’ Mr. Sennett replied, indiffe- rently. ‘“ He’s comivg up to town to-night, and he’ll call here to-morrow.” “ Ah,” cried Mr. Guddle in gleeful expectation. “ There’s a lot of competition for that book,” said Mr. Sennett, severely. ‘“ Five more people have been up here about it.” Mr. Guddle looked serious. “ Ah, and about that yarn of J: acob Linden’s,”’ Mr. Sennett resumed, carelessly. ‘‘ Have you had a report about that yet? I hope you're going to fall in love with it.”’ Mr. Guddle fidgeted in his chair. “Oh, but we're not,” he observed. ‘ We've had a report. There’s some good stuff in it from the purely literary point of view, no doubt. But I don’t believe it would have a sale. It’s morbid; it’s horribly gloomy.” “ Gloomy as King Lear?” Mr. Sennett asked, siniling. “Oh, that’s different,’ Mr. Guddle answered. “You've got to consider the fiction public of the present day. It’s altogether different. I don’t say that a whole lot of gloomy novels haven’t done well; but still one has a feeling against them. And then there’s the length. Its too short. Readers want bulk for their money.” “You disappoint me,” said Mr. Sennett. “You really do. I thought you were going to oblige me about the book. However, I’ve no night to ask it. Yes, Brumber will be here to-morrow, and of course I shall report your offer with the others.” There was a pause in the conversation. “Oh, hang it all,” Mr. Guddle cried at length, “if your mind is really set on getting this woman 128 who writes as Jacob Linden a hearing, I suppose we may as well do it. It isn’t such bad stuff altogether. It may do—though it’s a risk. But we want to be obliging. I’1l write a letter to you and make an offer for the story. And now— you won't forget us, eh? What time will Brumber be here ?”’ “ Half-past eleven.” “Tl call round—oh, wait. Can you have lunch with me to-morrow? No? You're lunching Brumber? I see. Well, I'll call round at three. Ta-ta!”’ Mr. Sennett shook cordially. So Messrs. Guddle and Honey secured Mr. Brumber’s book on terms satisfactory to Mr. Brumber, and Jacob Linden secured the publi- cation of her novel on terms satisfactory to herself. The event falsified Mr. Guddle’s pre- diction ; for the story attracted much attention, and the sales were very encouraging. “Jacob Linden” thanked Mr. Sennett enthusiastically. Then she wrote another novel. And she thought that it would be an act of courtesy to call on Messrs. Guddle and Honey when she had com- pleted it. She was a nervous woman, whose health was delicate ; she knew nothing of commerce, and the the publisher’s hand prospect of a visit to a man of business frightened her. But she went. Mr. Guddle was affability incarnate. even solicitous. “Of course we shall be pleased to see your next book,” he said, with a beaming smile. “ We should be very disappointed if you took it to anybody else. We hope both to gain and keep your confidence, Mrs. Linden. There’s a great deal of talk about hostility between author and publisher, but we believe that the old pleasant relations are still possible, and I assure you we don’t always spare ourselves in the effort to maintain them.” “IT suppose I had better send the manuscript through Mr. Sennett?” the author inquired, confidingly. Mr. Guddle spread out his hands, and made as if he were about to whistle softly. “Oh! if you’re in any way tied to Mr. Sennett,”’ he began. “No, not at all,” said the author. “But I thought—I wouldn’t do anything at all which would appear like slighting Mr. Sennett. Of course, I am very grateful to him,” The publisher laughed as if in frank merri- ment, “ Sennett won’t mind,” he cried. “ He’s over- worked as it is. He’ll be only too glad to be saved the trouble,” He was THE AUTHOR. “Oh, I wouldn’t give him needless trouble for the world,” said the author, and her face flushed. “Well now, really, do you know,” Mr. Guddle resumed, ‘I think you had better deal with us direct. Mr. Sennett wouldn’t have sent your story to us if he thought that you couldn’t trust us.” “ OF course not.” “And the ro per cent. commission that he gets is nothing to him. Unless it’s a very big deal, he won’t thank anyone for troubling him. Well, of course it has to be deducted from your profits, if it’s to be paid at all.” The author nodded her head, but hastened to remark, “I shouldn’t mind that in the least.’ “T know, I know,” said Mr. Guddle. “But it’s merely a question of not bothering Sennett, and doing the business in a simpler and more direct way. I must say I think it’s pleasanter all round,” When Mr. Sennett and Mr. Palinode heard that “ Jacob Linden ” was dealing direct with Messrs. Guddle and Honey they sighed and shrugged their shoulders. “The way of the world,’ observed Mr. Pali- node. ‘She wants to save her 10 per cent. like everybody else.” Mr. Sennett said nothing. Jacob Linden’s second novel was very favour- ably reviewed. Some people told her that it was having a brisk sale. But it proved rather less lucrative than ber first book, when she received her accounts from Messrs. Guddle and Honey. Four years later a friend who was in Mr. Guddle’s confidence asked the publisher what he thought of Jacob Linden’s work. “My boy, she lays the most charming little golden eggs at regular intervals,” said Mr. Guddle. ‘“ We gei all her stuff, and we have all the American rights, and if we serialise one of the yarns we get all the money. She costs us about two hundred a year, and she’s quite happy. Doesn’t know the A B C of business. We explain it all to her at intervals.” Mr. Guddle winked. ‘ We tell her what terrible expenses we have about her stuff, and that she’s found ‘fit audience though few.’ We took her away from Sennett, you know. We had to. Just ask your- self, my boy, if she’d stayed with Sennett, what prices she’d be getting now? Why, she'd be taking three-quarters of the profits, if not more. That’s not publishing as I see it. I like the old pleasant, direct, personal relations between author and publisher.” Mr. Guddle winked again. MoLEcULE.  “LITERATURE” AND THE AUTUMN LIST. E are indebted to Literature for a complete list of the autumn books as furnished by the publishers. The paper, to which we refer the reader, has rendered signal service by the publication of this list, which ought to be in the hands of every literary man or woman. Tt is a document which enables the reader to ascertain by a little analysis and study the character of every publishing house of any standing: the kind of book which it publishes : the standing which it possesses: and the class of writers most attracted by each house. It does more. To one who understands anything about the present situation it indicates as clearly as if it were written down whether a publisher is going up or is coming down. It is not numbers alone which are useful in this respect: numbers go for something, but names go for more. If, for instance, we find that a publisher has ouly early works of well-known writers who with later works have gone elsewhere, the inference is obvious. There must be reasons for this desertion. If this oceurs with several names of mark, the inference to be drawn is like the conclusion of a proposition in Euclid—the man is to be avoided. Now, both in quantity and in quality some of ths older houses show this year, if not an actual then a relative falling off as compared with previous lists: on the other hand, certain of the younger houses which promised great things some years ago are evidently already in a state of decay, while others are flourishing mightily with lists both long and important and valuable. As regards these younger houses, there are two or three questions to be asked: (1.) Are they energetic and quick in seeing opportunities and in pushing books? (2.) If so, how do they stand as regards their agreements? (3.) Do they retain their good men ? There are seventy publishers on this list. The divisions adopted by Literature are as follows :— No. of Works. No. of Works, Archmology......... as Medical <........... 6 RE ce 34 Miscellaneous ......... 5! Biography .........-.: 103 Masia. 2.52 fcc: 4 Juvenile Books ...... 181 Natural History ...... 12 Claasical ............... 34 Naval and military... 24 Drama......... ocak 17 Oriental ..... 00.0666 12 Economics and Philosophy ............ 17 Soociology......... -- 20 Poetry 65.620 kas 35 Educational............ 49 Political ............... 15 Engineering ......... 11 Reprints ............++- 87 Figtion..........0.:6606 353 Science ......... ei 22 Folk-lore..............+ 12 Sport: oss eccc vie eteee 22 Geography ...........: q Theology ...........-++ 181 History ......ececceoes 78 Topography......... 1 20 BAM og ehcess 15 MraVel occ eiscc ee 42 Literary ...........5-+ qt — Mathematics ....... 2 Wotel nc. 1551 THE AUTHOR. 129 An analysis has also been made ot the number of books published by each house, but it would be misleading to quote this, because many of the lists are swollen by quite unimportant things, such as children’s books and the ventures of young poets. Other lists consist almost entirely of books which have been refused by responsible houses, and are published at the author's expense to gratify the author's vanity, and presently to change that vanity into disappointment. Setting aside these books, it is curious to observe how certain of the younger houses already spoken of surpass many of the older ones both in importance and in numbers: it is, indeed, astonishing to see the miserable promis? made by some of these older firms. One observes with great satisfaction that the Cambridge Univer- sity Press and the Clarendon are attracting scholars more and more. This is as it should be, These two houses ought to produce b.tween them all the best books in scholarship and learning. The departments of Education and Science seem imperfect, probably because they do not observe times and seasons. If we turn to Fiction we find 353 entries. From these may be deducted forty-eight as either translations or books known to be those spoken of above, the rejected by responsible publishers and printed—one cannot say published—on terms often exposed in these columns (see p. 121). There remain 305. Going carefully through the list and noting every name that is at all known, one finds a little over 100 novels which are safe to cover expenses—books, namely, which carry no risk, though in many cises there may be a very small profit. They may be looked upon as certain to reach 600 or 700 copies. As regards the remaining 200, a great many, but no one can tell how many, are paid for by the authors : the vast majority will not reach 500 copies : many of them will not sell 100: some of them are produced at the publisher’s risk on the recommendation of a reader and in the hope of a “ boom.” The amount risked is the difference between the first sul- scription and the actual cost of production. Asit is no use sending good money after bad, very little is wasted in advertising these productions : and as only those copies are bound which are taken by the libraries, the cost of production is really very small. There is another point suggested by this list. How are all these books to be presented to the public ¢ There are only three ways. (1) By the circulating libraries. (2) By the reviews. (3) By the booksellers. 130 There are over 1500 books on the list. The larger number do not belong to the circulating library at all. They will be all out before the end of November. How are the reviews to notice 1500 books by the end of the year, after which most of them will be dead and past recovery? Of course they cannot. They must make a selection—a double selection. First, selection of subjects. The general columns of review do not notice archeology, children’s books, classical, educatioval, scientific, geographical, topographical, legal, medical, or musical books: nor reprints nor theology nor philosophy nor Oriental subjects. That reduces the possible choice to about 850. The second choice has, therefore, to be made out of 850. There are two courses open to the reviewer. The one is to take the more important Looks, to recognise their importance, and to give them the space which they deserve. The other is to lump up all together, and to crama dozen “ reviews”’ (!) into one page. The former method, now out of fashion, preserves the dignity of literature and the reputation of the journal: the other destroys the dignity of literature, lowers standards, and deprives the journal of any weight. It further aceustoms readers to neglect altogether the review column and to be guided in the choice of books entirely by the opinion of their friends. There remain the booksellers. Of these it can only be said that not even the richest could afford to subscribe to a quarter of the books they may note as “possible,” while, as regards the “ doubtful” books, no one would be so foolish as to subscribe to any. Now, a book is not published unless it is offered to the reader. It is only printed. Therefore it is a melancholy conclusion that a very large number of the long autumn list will not be published at all. There is only one way out of it. The book- sellers must have the choice of books on sale or return. If it is alleged that those which are not sold come back soiled, the auswer is that at least they have had their chance of being sold. The public has been invited to look at them. These observations should be read in connec: tion with the paper (p. 118) on the Present Situation. Se ‘THE LITERARY YEAR-BOOK.” I. (comMUNICATED. ) HE “Literary Year-Book” for tgoo will be an entirely new compilation, appearing under the editorship of Mr. Herbert Morrah. The greater part of the book will be THE AUTHOR. devoted to facts, the only criticisms included being of a special character, and written by critics of eminence in their various departments. No “portraits and appreciations” of individual writers will appear in the new issue, which will contain a vast amount of information useful to all engaged in literature, and arranged in a most convenient form for purposes of reference. The editor desires to take this last opportunity of reminding authors who have not yet received a form for the direc‘ory that communications and suggestions will be welcomed by him. These should be addressed to the Editor of the “Literary Year-Book,” Ruskin House, Charing Cross-road, London, W.C., before the 1st of December next. IL. The prospectus of “ The Literary Year-Book ” has now been sent out. It will be, perhaps, remembered that the first issue of this annual was in some respects unfortunate, especially in its attempt to become an organ of criticism. Opinions may, of course, differ as to what a Literary Year-Book ought to be : perhaps criticism should be a part of it. For myself, I consider that what is wanted in such an annual is that it should be a handy book of reference to the numerous company of those who write and those who have to do with writers: that it should disregard altogether the outside public: and that it should include everything that a literary man now has to find out for himself. Now what the literary world does not want, what it will not go out of its way to read, is a collection of critical articles on its own works by those of the same craft. There are already plenty of critical organs —as many as there are daily or weekly papers: monthly magazines or quarterly reviews. When your literary man or woman has been “slated” by some and lauded by others: when the praise or blame at the year’s end can do neither his book nor his own reputation any good or harm, is it conceivable that he desires to read any more “reviews”? Other people may like to go on reading “critical reviews ”’ about books of the last year, for the most part dead and gone and forgotten already. But the literary man certainly does not. He neither desires to read criticisms of his own books nor of his friends’ books, nor even of his enemies’ books. Therefore, for my own part, I am sorry to observe that criticism of any kind is to take a part in the Year-Book, whose success I greatly desire, if that success makes it useful and neces- sary for the Literary Life. Otherwise, I do not see that we want it at all. If, however, it is thought that the prospects and present condition of Literature should be  THE AUTHOR. treated, at any time, with reference to the general character and average of the last few years, that is another question altogether. I am reminded of an excellent essay by Professor Saintsbury, in which, without naming a single author, he dis- cussed contemporary fiction dispassionately and judicially, so that everyone might, if he chose, take unto himself the critic’s lessons and warn- ings, and yet no one could be hurt or offended. Of course the same thing might be done with poetry, the drama, or any other branch. In fact, it should be done from time to time. But the pro- auctions of asingle year cannot allow of any such general treatment. I would, again, submit that the great and important branch of _ literary work which includes educational books should not be passed over. It is far too much the custom to assume that authorship means work of imagination only. A Year-Book which provides a dictionary of living writers in all branches: which abstains from individual criticism as outside its own pro- vince : which contains all such information as is likely to be useful to an aspirant or to an old hand, ought to command success. But criticism of last year’s books certainly is not wanted, and, in my opinion, if attempted can only be carried out very incompletely, and must interfere seriously with the usefulness and the circulation of the work. The following is the table of contents of Part II. Surely there is enough here to fill the 400 pp. promised ? Agents. Articles, i.e, a Literary Index for the Year 1899. Artists. With full particu- lars of Books Illustrated during the past year. Authors. A practically com- plete List of Writers of Books, with full Addresses, Names, Publishers, and prices, of Books published in 1899. Bookbinders. Book Printers. Booksellers. Clubs. Contributor’s Guide. Editors. Events of the Year 1899. Foreign Magazines, Reviews, Publishers, and Societies. Indexes. Lecturers Societies. Literary Searchers. Periodical Publications. Plays produced in 1899. Printers. Process-Block Makers. Pseudonyms. Poblishers : a new and much Extended Directory. Series. Societies: and their work in 1899. Typewriters. Trade and Technical Infor- mation. and Lecture For instance, under the head of “ Booksellers ” will there be any information as to the attempt made to bind this unfortunate class in chains and slavery? Will there be any reference to the reports of the Committee of the Society of Authors on this important subject? And will there be any advice offered as to improving the condition of the trade? Under the head of “Publishers,” will the famous “ Draft Agreements,” warranted “ equi- 131 table,” with the exposure of their meaning by the Society of Authors, receive any attention ? And under the head of “Trade and Technical” information, will the Year-Book keep its readers supplied with what they most desire—the average cost of production in all its branches, the trade price, &e.? In other words, the Literary Year-Book should be compiled for the furtherance of the interests of literary folk, and of none others. If informa- tion wanted by them is withheld because this class or that Class wishes to keep it secret and concealed, it cannot be accepted as a true and trustworthy guide. For my own part I can see no reason why the Society should not itself provide such a book, or at least furnish such information as is wanted for any publisher who would produce a book for literary workers only, without reference to any other interests what- ever. W. B. ——<res BOOK AND PLAY TALK. M~ GEORGE GISSING enters the field of romance with his forthcoming novel, “The Crown of Life.” It is a modern story, touching on many modern problems, and tells the love-story of a man who, battling with adverse circumstances, seeks and wins the love of his ideal woman. Mr. Churton Collins is engaged upon an edition of the works of Robert Greene, the sixteenth century poet and playwright. “ Passages in a Wandering Life” is the title under which Mr. Thomas Arnold, second son of Arnold of Rugby, is giving his reminiscences to the world. One of the books of this month will be Mr. Edward A. FitzGerald’s record of the moun- taineering expedition he conducted two years ago in the Andes of South America. The direct results of this expedition, which was one of the most completely equipped that ever left England, included the ascent for the first time of the very high peak of Aconcagua, 23,800ft. above the sea, and of its fellow Tupungato. Chief among Mr. FitzGerald’s companions in the hardships and achievements of the party was Mr. Stuart M. Vines, who contributes chapters to the book. Professor Bonney and other authorities determine the scientific results of the expedition, and the work contains many beautiful and interesting photographs of this unique performance in mountaineering, besides special maps. Messrs. 132 Methuen will publish the book in a week or two from now. The Standard newspaper is issuing a “ Library of Famous Literature,’ consisting of twenty volumes, and we quote from the extensive adver- tisements the following statistics of the new books produced yearly in this and other countries :— Germany...........6-.6-ee 24,000 France........ 13,000 Italy ........ 9500 Great Britain. 7300 United States .:......5..cc:0 cecepenecnereecs ees 5300 Netherlands <...0.6<c. . cegeser gs ers pent rere ec es 2500 In special departments of literature the coun- tries at the head in each case are as follows. In— Biotin oc eitesedtes oe Great Britain (2438) Education Germany (5442) Arts and Sciences ............ Germany (2938) Belles Lettres..........s00e0e0s Germany (2453) PE YOVOL cys ves ccepeswi sires se eces Germany (1139) Political Economy ............ Italy (2994) PEIBUORY ©.c2 3 sc0 ss cet pee sets France (1164). Atasale of Kelmscott Press books the other day, among others sold, the Chaucer realised as much as £58, “ The Story of Sigurd,” £20 1os.; Keats’s Poems, £23 10s.; “The Earthly Para- dise,” £21. The Dean of Winchester is editing and con- tributing to “A New History of the English Church,” which Messrs. Macmillan are to publish. Among other contributors to it will be Canon Capes, Canon Overton, and Mr. James Gairdner. Mr. Selwyn Brinton is preparing a volume on Correggio for Messrs. Bell’s series called ‘“ Great Masters in Painting and Sculpture.’ Earlier works in this series willbe by Mr. H. H. Strachey on Raphael and by Miss H. Guiness on Andrea del Sarto. Two new dailies are being prepared for produc- tion in London, one at $d. and the other a penny illustrated journal. Mr. Edgar Sanderson’s next essay in the realm of history consists of a book entitled “ Historic Parallels to Affaire Dreyfus.” Modern history supplies some trials in which, through the influence of religious bigotry or political hostility, or both, Mr. Sanderson seeks to show that gross injustice was done to innocent persons. The book will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson. A series of handbooks on Egypt and Chaldea are being edited by Dr. Wallis Budge and Mr. L. W. King. The volumes will be published by Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. Miss May Crommelin has written a short story on Dutch country life for the Leisure Hour, and several short stories of hers. are now running in country papers. THE AUTHOR. Miss Jean Ingelow is about to publish a new novel, called “The Yellow Badge,” through Messrs. Digby and Long. Professor E. B. Tylor’s two series of Gifford Lectures on “ The Natural History of Religion,” have been revised for publication by Mr. Murray this autumn. Mr. M. H. Spielmann has compiled a book of and about the hitherto unidentified contributions of Thackeray to Punch. This will be published soon by Messrs. Harper. The Stage Society is a new combination whose managing committee consists of Mr. Charles Charrington, Mr. Laurence Irving, Mr. William Sharp, Mr. James Welch, and Mr. Frederick Wheeler. The membership is limited to 300, the subscription is two guineas, and the society is to meet on one Sunday in each month for nine monthsin the year. Most interesting of all, it is laid down in the rules of the society that at least six performances shall be given during the year. Three plays have already been selected, namely, “ You Never Can Tell,” by George Bernard Shaw, which will be presented on Sunday, the rgth inst. ; “The League of Youth,” by Henrik Ibsen, Sun- day, Dec. 17; and “ Mrs. Maxwell’s Marriage,” by Sydney Olivier, which will be given on Sunday Jan. 21. Plays by M. Maeterlinck, Herr Suder- mann, and M. Hauptmann will be produced later. The proceedings will only be open to members, and the Grosvenor Galleries is the probable place of meeting. : “San Toy,” the new Chinese musical comedy by Mr. Edward Morton, was successfully pro- duced at Daly’s with Miss Marie Tempest and Mr. Hayden Coffin in the principal parts. The lyrics are by Mr. Adrian Ross and the late Mr. Harry Greenbank. The Haymarket is well provided for the future, three plays being practically ready for presenta- tion at any time they may be wanted. These are by Mrs. Craigie, Mr. J. M. Barrie, and Miss C. W Graves. That by Miss Graves is a comedy in verse founded on “ The Rape of the Lock.” The next new piece at the Adelphi will pro- bably be Mr. Zangwill’s version of his novel, “The Children of the Ghetto.” Before these lines are read two new plays will be in course in centra] London—Mr. Grundy’s adaptation of “ La Tulipe Noire,” produced at the Haymarket (Oct. 28) by a company which includes Miss Winifred Emery as Rosa and Mr. Frederick Harrison as William of Orange; and Mr. L. N. Parker’s new modern play “ Captain Birchell’s Luck,” which Mr. Scott Buist is putting at at Terry’s Theatre (Oct. 30).  THE AUTHOR. Although Mr. Wyndham will soon open his new theatre with “ David Garrick,” and follow on with the “Tyranny of Tears,” “Dandy Dick,” and ‘Cyrano de Bergerac,” it is no secret that Mr. Henry Arthur Jones is already well advanced with a new play for him. This will be a four-act comedy of modern life. Mr. Kinsey Peile, author of “ An Interrupted Honeymoon,” is writing a four-act comedy for Mr. Arthur Bourchier and Miss Violet Vanbrugh. Mr. Herman Merivale has written a drama in three acts for Mr. Charles Cartwright. It is laid at Dartmoor, about the middle of the century. The farewell benefit in honour of Mrs. John Billington will take place at the Lyceum Theatre on Tuesday afternoon, the 21st inst., and the benefit performance for Mr. John Hollingshead at the Empire Theatre on the afternoon of Jan. 30. The new play by Miss Constance Fletcher (George Fleming), entitled “The Canary,” is being rehearsed at the Prince of Wales’s, and will be presented on Nov. 11 by Mr. Forbes Robertson and Mrs. Patrick Campbell. OBITUARY. Mi R. GRANT ALLEN died at his resi- dence at Hindhead, Surrey, on Oct. 25, illness that after an involved much suffering. As we go to press news comes of the death of Florence Marryat (Mrs. Francis Lean), the well- known novelist. She was the author of about seventy books, chiefly in fiction and travel, the first of which was “Love’s Conflict,” which appeared in 1865. Many of these were very popular alike in the home country, America, and the colonies: and many of them were translated. In 1872 she published “Life and Letters of Captain Marryat ”—the famous author of “ Mid- shipman Easy ’—whose sixth daughter she was, and about the same time she became editor of London Society. Florence Marryat was also dramatist, actress, lecturer, and operatic singer. She was twice married, and the fact will not escape the curious that so much literary work was done amidst the domestic duties involved in bringing up eight children. Some of the best known of her books are “Tom Tiddler’s Ground,” “The Crown of Shame,” “A Fatal Silence,” “The Nobler Sex,” and “ Parson Jones.” FRE 133 CORRESPONDENCE. << > T—Own Tryinc More roan One Epitor. AS one the right to send work to two H or more editors simultaneously? “An Editor,” in his little book “How to Write for the Press” (Horace Cox), main- tains that one has. He says “In the case of monthlies I have found ‘duplicating’ very successful, and there is little or no danger of clashing. Send out two copies of your article at the same time, and immediately one is accepted write to the editor holding the other and ask him to return it or destroy it, as another magazine has accepted it. This suggests to the editor a certain amount of independence on the part of the contributor, and if the more dilatory editor is sorry that a more alert brother has snapped up, before his very nose, as it were, an interesting article, he will be more ready to give early attention to the next MS. submitted by the same writer. “By thus duplicating MSS. it is possible to place a magazine article in much less time than by relying on or submitting a single copy to one editor; and I must say that, speaking both as an editor and a contributor, I fail to see wherein the practice is to be condemned, so far as monthly publications are concerned; or in the case of weeklies, when a contributor meets with an editor who isin no hurry either to use or return his MSS.” Now I myself have some things out which have been out from six weeks to three months—and no indication of acceptance or rejection. And this with very well-known monthly magazines..-WhatI want to know is: Do any monthlies publish without first submitting a proof or sending a notification of acceptance? For, if not, then I should be perfectly safe in sending out at once three or four copies of the same piece of work; seeing that, immediately a notice of acceptance by one editor reached me, I could write withdrawing all the others. It seems to me that the question is of much importance, for if contributors can safely do this, then the retention-of-manuscripts diffi- culty will be practically solved. All that we require to be sure about is that editors of monthlies never publish without a preliminary notice of some sort to the contributor. Is this the case? Perhaps an editor and some contri- putors of wide experience will shed some light on the point. Perry Barr. =— IL.—No ANSWER. Having been connected with Cornwall for many years, I sent to the Cornish Magazine in  134 November last a paper on a subject which I thought could not fail to interest Cornish readers. : I sent also a polite note to the editor, and inclosed a stamped directed envelope for the return of the article if he could not use it. I waited a month or two, and, hearing nothing, wrote again, saying I should be much obliged by the return of the article if not suitable. To neither of these communications did I receive any reply. I waited a month or two longer, and then wrote again, inclosing another stamped envelope, and requesting the return of the article. This letter has also failed to elicit any reply. The editor appropriates my stamps and retains my paper, which seems to me neither courteous nor business-like. Have I no remedy? I should mention that I am not a novice. I have published several books, and have had articles in many leading magazines, including the Nineteenth Century, Temple Bar, and Mac- millan’s, but this is the first time I have met with editorial discourtesy. A Memser or tux Society or AUTHORS. III.—Userress Reviews. Incidentally “ W.” raises two issues—Should review copies be sent? Are reviews useful as an aid to the sale of a book ? The first, question can only be answered by the Publishers’ Association or the Society of Authors. If either of these bodies decides that its members ought not to send books for review, then those daily, weekly, and monthly journals, dependent for a considerable fraction of their circulation on their literary columns, must needs buy copies. Such a resolution would be an advantage for the pub- lishers and authors of the comparatively few important works that must be noticed, and a dis- advantage for the producers of the vast majority of books that can safely be ignored. With regard to the second question, when all is said, a review is an advertisement, and as such, even if it be purchased at the net cost of a copy of the book, it surely is as useful as a bare announcement, at so-and-so much per inch, on the pages that are passed over by at least go per cent. of readers. “W.,” however, is chiefly interested in a third question—the distribution of copies for review. He has stated his case; his publisher sends copies to the Slocum Gazette, the North Thule Advertiser, and to similar papers of no import- ance, for the columns of which the reviews are written by utterly incompetent critics. He is avowedly a young (or perhaps I should say a new) writer. But he has published two THE AUTHOR. books, and can speak with more authority than I, who have only just published one, can aspire to. But let me tell him the result of my venture, My publisher distributed some forty-odd copies for review, and in the list they sent me I do not see the name of any unimportant paper. I observe that copies were sent to eight important London morning papers and to four (penny) evening papers, to twelve weeklies (those which devote their pages entirely or in part to litera. ture), to two monthly journals, and to fourteen country papers (ten English, three Scotch, and one Irish publication). I have read all the reviews, and I cannot say—though in some cases it would be a sop to my vanity if I could—I believe any of them to have been written by the office-boy in intervals of boot-blacking ; but some may have been written by the daughters of editors, yet certainly not as a holiday task. If “W.” has not overstated his case for the sake of effect, I should advise him to change his publisher, and then, before finally selecting any firm, he might inquire if they send copies for review to the Slocum Gazette, &c. L. M. De BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) THE Mar or Lirz, by W. E. H. Lecky (Longmans, 10s. 6d.) might perhaps be called, says the Times, “a sort of impersonal and objective autobiography, a record of experience, reflection, and opinion, tinged with the mitis sapientia of advancing years, and inspired by the harmless belief that the writer has something of importance to com- municate to his generation.” The Daily Chronicle remarks that ‘‘Mr. Lecky’s style is always admirable, and is so wedded to his thought as to make it a perfect vehicle for expression.” The volume has “ much social and political interest,” says the Daily News, while Mr. W. L. Courtney in the Daily Telegraph interprets its real objectas “ to show how far compromise in ethics, politics and religion is neces- sary and advisable at the present stage of human evolu- tion.” A History or Iranian Unity, by Bolton King (Nisbet, 24s. net) is ‘not only of great value for English people, who have hitherto had no complete and impartial history of modern Italy, but-it is interesting throughout,’ says the Daily Chronicle. ‘Mr. Bolton King has many of the qualities of a great historian,” and ‘we think that his judgments will on the whole stand.” He has given us, says the Spectator, “what was long needed—a comprehensive, impartial, and thoroughly readable history of the Italian movement for unity and independence.” ‘The entire work is founded on original documents.” A PRISONER OF THE KHALERFA: Twelve Years’ Cap- tivity at Omdurman, by Charles Neufeld (Chapman, 128.), is described by Literature as a straightforward story, which throws a vivid light upon the history of the Soudan before its latest chapter was closed by Atbara and Omdurman. It includes a narrative of Gordon’s end taken down from the  THE lips of Gordon’s own orderly. “ On the whole,” says the Spectator, “we may say that this volume is more prolific and picturesque than Slatin’s book; but we do not feel so confident as to its historic value.” The Times remarks that ‘If there are people who still honestly believe that the Khaleefa deserves any sympathy, such a book as this should effectively undeceive them.” Tye TRANSVAAL FROM WITHIN: a Private Record of Public Affairs, by J. P. Fitzpatrick (Heinemann, 10s. net) is, says the Times, simply and unpretentiously what it professes to be—a sketch of the Transvaal as seen from within, Mr. Fitzpatrick writing frankly as an Uitlander putting forward the case of the Uitlanders. “ Few readers will lay down the volume without feeling that they know more than they have ever known before of the real issues on trial in South Africa.” The Spectator remarks that the anthor “ does not merely censure the Boers, but shows how and why the Out- landers have found it impossible to live under their rule.” Literature says it will be generally admitted that Mr. Fitz- patrick “ has marshalled his arguments logically, powerfully and picturesquely.” The Daily Telegraph describes the book as “ lucid and dispassionate.” Tur CoMMUNE oF LONDON, and Other Studies (Constable, 12s. net), prompts Literature to say that so long as the author, Mr. J. H. Round, “ continues to write on historical subjects there is no danger of history becoming as dry as an old almanac. Whenever he has appeared he has accus- tomed us to expect ‘wigs on the green’; and his latest volume does not disappoint our expectations.” The Guardian says that ‘‘ the book certainly contains many valuable essays, and cannot be overlooked by students of English history.” Sr. PAut tHe Masrer-BurtpER, by Walter Lock (Methuen, 3. 6d.), is commended by the Times as a sugges- tive little book. It is the outcome of an experiment on the part of the Bishop of St. Asaph to provide for the clergy of his diocese a brief course of instruction year by year. The book contains four lectures by the Warden of Keble College. The Daily Chronicle defines Dr. Lock’s object as being practically to present “a kind of report upon the conclu- sions that have been arrived at and adopted with a fairly general consensus of opinion by modern scholars engaged upon the study of the Epistles of St. Paul.” Tur Story oF THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGERS, by G. E. Boxall (Sonnenschein, 6s.) “‘ enables us to study one of the strangest episodes in the history of crime,” remarks the Spectator ; and the Daily Chronicle does not “ know of a more comprehensive record of bushranging and its chief personalities than this work.” A Farmer’s Yzar, by H. Rider Haggard (Longman’s, 7s. 6d. net) “is no technical discourse,” says Literature, “and no wearisome reiteration of trivialities about the weather and the crops, but agreeable small talk, not only about the price of wheat and the rate of wages, but also about the thousand and one other topics which invite the attention of the intelligent agriculturist.” The book is described by the Daily Telegraph as “an exceedingly practical and somewhat sombre-toned account of twelve months’ farming in an eastern county.” The author is “cheerful and discursive,” despite bad luck, but ‘“ he proves conclusively that the farmer’s balance sheet is apt to be melancholy reading, no matter how much care and forethought it represents. A Boox or THE WEST, being an Introduction to Devon and Cornwall, by S. Baring-Gould (Methuen, 12s), supplies, says the Daily Chronicle, “exactly the sort of information which Murray and Black and the rest of them can never be expected to afford.” ‘It makes no claim to be exhaus- tive,” says the Times, “but it does describe with good taste and ample knowledge the principal objects and sub- AUTHOR. 135 jects that are likely to interest an educated traveller.’’ “The tourist, as a rule,” says the Guardian, “ wants some- thing that is readable, and something that is definite in its teaching, and certainly he gets both in these two charming volumes.” : ALASKA AND THE KLoNDIKE, by Angelo Heilprin (Pearson, 7s. 6d.), is the best of the Klondike books that Literature has seen. ‘It is a narrative of a three months’ tour by a professor of geology, written in a pleasant, easy, cultivated style,” and is recommended “ both to those who want instruction and to those who only desire entertain- ment.” ‘ Here,” says the Daily Chronicle, ‘we have the testimony of a past president of the Geographical Society and Professor of Geology at the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia—of one who went to the Yukon with a full mental equipment and a complete absence of bias. Herein lies the special value of this volume, and happily Professor Heilprin is as entertaining as he ia reliable.” Tue Lire of FRANCIS WILLIAM CrossLEY, edited by J. Rendel Harris (Nisbet, 6s.), is described by the Spectator as a “concise but intensely interesting memoir of one of the noblest and most saintly men of the century.” The Daily Chronicle says it is a “ cheerful memoir,” and that it will be “helpful and attractive to those who wish to know what a good man can be among men.” SraLKy AND Co., by Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan, 6s.), is “wonderfully clever” (Daily News) and deemed by the Spectator to be “ entirely worthy of Mr. Kipling’s genius.” Though all boys will like it, it is by no means exclusively a boy’s book. ‘Not only the three boys,” says Interature, “but their schoolfellows, the masters, the Devonshire country people, and the different stray intruders are painted with the bold and vital touch which Mr. Kipling possesses.” The theme running through the book “ is the use and glory of the spirit of individual adventure.” “The most virile writer of his age, who has mastered the heart both of man and beast, has not failed to understand the heart of boy,” says the Daily Telegraph ; while the Daily Chronicle says that “none reading ‘Stalky and Co.’ may for a moment doubt that it is largely autobiographical.” MIRANDA OF THE Baxcony, by A. E. W. Mason (Macmillan, 6s.), is ‘a bright, engrossing book (Daily Telegraph), which derives its title from the scene in which hero and heroine first make acquaintance with each other.” Tt has, says the Spectator, “a complicated, ingenious, and highly original plot.” As a story of exciting incident it “ is excellent company, the effect being heightened by the author’s swift, straightforward, and nervous narrative style.” It is the “strongest” book Mr. Mason has given us, says Literature. “The plot is ingenious almost to excess, though its main outline is a simple one. Charnock, the hero, risks his life and his position on behalf of Miranda, the woman whom he loves, in discovering and rescuing her worthless husband. But the outline is elaborately filled in,” and the book “brings to extraordinary perfection the art of story-telling on its technical side.” “ From every point of view,” says the Daily Chronicle, “it is an excellent novel.” The verdict of the Daily News is that “the story holds the reader’s interest no less from the novelty of its plot than from the vividness and spirited manner of its telling.” Lirtie Novets or Irauy, by Maurice Hewlett (Chap- man, 6s.), “is a book to give warm thanks for,” says the Guardian, which adds that “short stories seem to suit Mr. Hewlett’s genius better than long ones.” He “ boldly takes his plots and situations from the rich but corrupt life of Renaissance Italy, without, however, allowing any strain after local and historic colour either to interfere with the 136 THE AUTHOR. spontaneity of his scenes and the universality of his charac- ters, or to obscure the honest English homeliness of his motives and ideals.” ‘The book strikes a new note and reveals a new world,” says Literature. “It pulls back the curtain of four long, sad, hundred years, and you step out into the gay, bright-coloured, noisy, turbulent, quite immoral, but very devout, life of the Lombard cities of the Quattuorcento.” “ These stories,” says the Daily Chronicle, “are all ablaze and a-glitter with the rich and varied hues of renascent Italy.” GiLIAN THE DREAMER, by Neil Munro (Isbister, 6s.), is “a Highland story set back into the early part of the century, when good wives are yet wearing their ‘ Waterloo blue silks’ and ‘ Waterloo tabinet gowns’ to remind them of the rejoicings for that great day of victory.” Itis the book of a mystic and a dreamer, continues the Daily News; “he who opens it will not readily put it down, and he will be right; for indeed it is one of the best books that have appeared this season.” ‘In point of style,’ the Spectator has-“‘ no hesitation in pronouncing Mr. Munro to have more individuality and distinction than any Scottish novelist now living, and to approach nearer than any of his compeers to the grace and audacity of Stevenson.” Literature says that “with the exception of the masterpieces (and the master- pieces only) of Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Barrie, it is the best Scottish novel that has been produced in the last quarter of a century.” On Triat, by Zack (Blackwood, 6s.), is a short novel, the scene of which is laid in Devonshire. The motive, says the Spectator, is unusual: Zack has chosen for her central figure a young soldier impelled at every crisis in his life by cowardice, physical as well as moral. ‘The quality of poignancy, which we noted in Zack’s earlier work, is present with redoubled force in this engrossing tragedy.” The Daily Telegraph compliments the author on falling into “that simple dignity of phrase which often characterises unlearned and ignorant folk under the stress of great emotion.” The Daily Chronicle says that ‘ On Trial” is the sort of book that many readers will call “ painful.” “The critic will not call it painful, because he knows that pain is not the right word for the emotion that such fine art as this evokes.” In the opinion of the Daily News the book shows that its author’s “sense of humour and power of character-study are no whit inferior to his—or her— dramatic ability.” Our Lapy or Darkness, by Bernard Capes (Black- wood, 6s.), is a “very clever novel,” says the Spectator. The Daily News states that the book opens on the eve of the French Revolution, and “ from the first we breathe the atmosphere of a time charged with volcanic forces.” The scene is largely set in rural France and in Paris. Itisa tragic tale, and “it holds us to the end by the sheer force of its presentation of a nation in the throes of hysteria or of evil possessions.” Tux Coxossus, by Morley Roberts (Arnold, 6s.), has the counterpart of Mr. Rhodes for hero, and the Spectator, after saying that the book “inaugurates a new school of portrait fiction,’ remarks that the author’s dexterous dove- tailing of fact and fiction, of photography and imagination, is undeniably clever.’ “ Mr. Roberts’s book,” says the Daily Telegraph, “is a piece of good careful work, and his delineation of his subject’s personality is masterly.” Mr. Rhodes is represented as Mr. Eustace Loder, * the biggest Real Estate Agent on Harth,” engaged in prosecuting a future railroad from Cairo to Capetown. The scene is laid at a Cairene hotel. The book is described by the Daily News as “a careful and transparent character study,” and by the Daily Chronicle as an “intensely interesting piece of portraiture.” Rep Porracs, by Mary Cholmondeley (Arnold, 6s.), is “full of dramatic incidents and picturesque situations,” says the Daily Telegraph, but “these are lost sight of in our contemplation of the characters which Miss Chol- mondeley puts before us, characters of real life, re-drawn for us with no slight knowledge and mastery. For com- pleteness and finish, for quiet excellence, her book must go right to the front of contemporary literature.” The Daily News says that “the book will doubtless make its mark, and interest the public in general.” ‘Though Miss Chol- mondeley’s dramatis persone are many, yet she entwines the threads of narrative so deftly that none appear superfiuous, and all blend naturally with the development of the plot.” A Name To ConsurE Witu, by John Strange Winter (White, 2s. 6d.), is described by Literature as “ a serious and even impressive study of the growth of the drink habit on a nature the reverse of weak or self-indulgent.” WINE ON THE Lexs, by J. A. Steuart (Hutchinson, 6s.), “might be described as dealing with the drink question,” says the Daily Telegraph, “ but Mr. Steuart preaches no sermon ; he does not even deduce a moral—he allows his characters to demonstrate their points of view, leaving something to the credit of both the reformer and the publican.” It is “a very good piece of work,” and “ con- tains much that can only be the result of serious thought on a question of vital import.” Itis ‘“ not a book to be neglected,” says the Daily Chronicle. ‘It has its own meaning and power, and on every open mind it will pro- duce its own effect.” Literature says Mr. Steuart “ pre- sents his realistic pictures of East-end life with truth and humour.” Tue Human InrErsEst, by Violet Hunt (Methuen, 6s.) is “a clever, capable sketch,” says the Daily Telegraph, “with a strong vein of cynicism and even a little bitterness brought to the making of it.’ ‘‘ Most people will read the book with zest.” The Spectator says that “Miss Hunt’s mordant humour enables her to carry off scenes and situa- tions which in other hands would be unpleasant or absurd.” po “THE AUTHOR.” SCALE FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Front Page one ase eee eee ase . oss £4 0:0 Other Pages... aes se ace eae = ove w 3 00 Half of a Page ... pen tee sa ane see ose «w. 110 0 Quarter of a Page ae uae ee oes oon ave «w. 015 0 Eighth of a Page a wee ae aa UT 8 Single Column Advertisements ‘ perinch 0 6 0 Bills for Insertion ... ts sue per 2000 3 0 0 Reductions made for a Series of Six or Twelve Insertions. All letters respecting Advertisements should be addressed to the ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, The Author Office, 4, Portugal-street, London, W.0, Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash, LITERARY AGENT, ~ AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET STRAND, W.C. S 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. 10 Issue 06 (November 1899) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 06 (November 1899) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-11-01-The-Author-10-6 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/467/1899-11-01-The-Author-10-6.pdf bac36f1e1ae037196f4ac395eae5d346 PDF Text Text �������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1899-10-02 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages Page range in volume 97–116 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18991002 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che #utbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) EONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. X.—No. 5.] OCTOBER 2, 1899. [Prick SIXPENCE. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the collective opinions of the Committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. Pons HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. os GENERAL MEMORANDA. ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. ‘There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— J. THAT OF SELLING IT OUTRIGHT. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. TI. A PROFIT-SHARING AGREEMENT (a bad form of agreement). In this case the following rules should be attended to : (1.) Not to sign any agreemeat in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs: or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “ office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher, As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! VOL. X. Ill. THE ROYALTY SYSTEM. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in The Author. Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the “Cost of Production.” IV. A COMMISSION AGREEMENT. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production. (2) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book. GENERAL. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld. ec EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. : 2c the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some competent legal authority. 2. Never negotiate for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager. 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract :— (1) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT. This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certain date and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (2) SAL OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. This method can only be entered into when a fixed sum is agreed per week for cost of produc- tion. It is not a common method. K 2 98 THE AUTHOR. (3) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES (i.e., royalties) on gross receipts. Royalties vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts. Should obtain a sum in advance of royalties. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. 4. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited by town, country, and time. This is most important. 5. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. 6. Authors should remember that performing rights ina play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 7. Never send a copy of the play to America unless it is protected by a preliminary performance in the United Kingdom. 8. Never forget that American rights may be exceedingly valuable. They should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. g. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. Never admit a collaborator when once the actual work of writing the play has begun or after it is finished. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, those authors desirous of further information are referred to the Secretary of the Society. HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. L VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solici- tor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher’s agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen- dence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con- fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :—(1) To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements. pos THE READING BRANCH. %MBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of their work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. NOTICES. HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Communications for The Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 4, Portugal-street, Lincoln’s-inn Fields, W.C., and should reach the Editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. The present location of the Authors’ Club is at 3, White- hall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. LITERARY PROPERTY. T.—Is Lirerature Precarious? HE correspondence still continues as to the precarious nature of the profession of Litera- ture. It will be observed, however, that all those who argue that it is precarious do so from their own experience alone and without the least reference to the well-known and notorious examples of success. One writer says that if he had taken to the Law the same ability which he brought to Literature he would have succeeded. Perhaps: but this assumes, first, that his belief in his own ability is well founded : next, that the same kind of ability is wanted for Literature and for Law :  EY mene THE AUTHOR. thirdly, that his abilities are such as command success in the Law; and, lastly, that ability always does command success in the Law. And so with other professions. Now those who can- not command a tolerable income by the pen may be divided into several classes. There are those who fail at the outset, because they have not even the elementary qualifications necessary for the literary life. They have no right to call Litera- ture precarious because they have never belonged to it. As well might a man call the Bar pre- carious who could not pass the preliminary examinations. There are some, however, who hang on to the fringe, so to speak, getting a paper accepted now and then, while a dozen are rejected. These may be thought entitled to speak of Litera- ture as precarious. There are many, a great many, in this position. Unfortunately, they are unable to understand that a single piece of good work would lift them out of that position, and they cannot understand that their own work is not as good as that of the more popular writers. Indeed, it is this class which is the most severe on the “cheap success”: on the tenth-rate poet : on the taste of the people. If a writer has nothing to say : if he has no song to sing: no story to tell: no doctrine to teach; or if he cannot deliver his message pleasantly and attractively, the fault of failure is with him, not with the profession. There is a third class of writers to whom Literature offers but small rewards of the pecu- niary kind: it is the class which provides books and papers for a very small audience. Those who write on the higher mathematics; or in certain branches of science and philosophy; cannot expect to address a large audience. A fine writer such as Walter Pater commands admiration and respect from the readers whom he addresses: but it is a small class. For him Literature would hardly offer a bare livelihood. Yet he would not be right in complaining that it is pre- carious, and he would certainly not be embittered by comparing his own modest returns with those of the successful dramatist. Nothing is gained by keeping. up the old sham about the precarious nature of Literature as a profession. It is no more precarious than art of any kind: or than the Bar; or than Medicine or anything which depends solely on a personal and individual ability. Now,as I have said over and over again, a thousand failures do not make it precarious, for the simple reason that they take place for the most part at the outset, and mean nothing more than incompetence and unfitness for any branch of literary work. For those who possess the natural aptitude, with other requisites, such as power of work, the profession is on a level with other professions as regards the average run of 99 successes, and possesses very large prizes for those who succeed greatly. J refer to my corre- spondent “ Yachtsman” (see p. 110) as an_illus- tration and confirmation of this point. W. B. Il.—PuBLisHING ON COMMISSION. In the September number of The Author, p. 81, it is stated that on the figures given the author would lose £130. This is incorrect. He would gain £78. If, however, he had taken a royalty of 15 per cent., he would have received £90. What, in that case, would have been the pub- lisher’s profit ? On the commission book it has been shown that he might make about £125. There would have been no percentages on the cost of production. He would have paid the exact cost, say, £150. He would have received £350. The account therefore, would stand : Cost of production £150 Sale of 2,000 £350 Author = ...62.2.5:. go Publishers .2...-c 110 £350 £350 It is therefore clear that the publisher would do better with a commission book than with one on this royalty. Suppose, however, that the sales, which is much more likely, do not rise beyond 400. The accounts might now stand: & s. d. Ss. a Sale of 400 copies at Cost of print- ingandpaper 96 16 o Binding ...... 56 50 °& ‘customary Advertising... 47 100 __ trade price” Corrections... 3 OO Say 35. 3d. 65 0.0 Publisher’sfee 5 00 Less 10 per Extraexpenses 5 OO cent....... 6 10 © 58 10 O Loss to author... 15S: 1 0 213 II O zis it Oo The publisher, ‘on the other hand, would make as before, mutatis mutandis : 0S, a. On printne ........, oe 16 16 6 On binding |. es 12102 0 On advertising...,....5... 025.5. 22 10. © On fs 555.60... 5.9 © By “customary trade clause” 5 © O On commission .........+606... G16 6 By use of £200forsixmonths 5 9 O 73.6 © Which seems a handsome profit. 100 TIl.—Reapers’ REMARKS. A correspondent makes the following complaint: —A short time ago he placed a MS. in the hands of a literary agent, who offered it to various publishers, and finally returned it as refused by these firms. He then resolved’ upon revising the MS. with the view of finding, if possible, the weak points in the work. “ On doing so I found, to my astonishment and annoyance, that some pub- lisher’s reader—possibly the first who read the MS.—had scribbled freely on its margin his own comments, freely using such words as ‘ rubbish,’ ‘nonsense,’ &c. Not content with this, he had in many places interpolated sentences into the body of the text, which transformed clearly written paragraphs into arrant silliness, which must have caused subsequent readers—who, no doubt, took these pencillings for my work—to think the writer an ignorant fool.” This is a very serious thing. Are readers to be allowed to annotate MSS. to the prejudice of the author with other readers ? Surely the remedy, if our correspondent can learn the firm by whose reader it was done, is to have the MS. newly typewritten, and to send in the bill to the firm in question. One does not suppose that any publishers would countenance such treatment if their attention was drawn to the fact; nor, on the other hand, can one suppose that the reader would wilfully dis- figure a MS. if he understood the injury and annoyance he was causing the author. The pre- sentation of the bill for typewriting, however, with publicity, seems the only practical remedy. ITV.—Dr. BRANDES AND A GERMAN PUBLISHER. We quote from Literature of Sept. 2 the following account by Dr. Georg Brandes, the distinguished Norwegian critic, of how for half a generation a certain Herr Barsdorff, of Leipzig, “has persecuted me with his editions, not- withstanding my many continually reiterated protests” :— He has printed my books in mutilated editions for years ; he has added to them, he has cut them into separate pieces, which he has provided with sensational titles and has sold as complete books and separate editions. He has, in general, not respected the contents of the book, but has arbitrarily undertaken to supply his own self-excogitated alterations. The gentlemen who allow themselves to be commissioned by Herr Barsdorff, contrary to the express wish of the author to prepare his own works in German, take every liberty that pleases them. My protests have hitherto remained without effect. When I protest, Herr Barsdorff usually answers that I have to thank him for being known in Germany. In reply to this assertion, I wrote in the Allgemeine Zeitung, some months ago, as follows: “May 14, 1899. I do not consider any answer necessary, but I cannot withhold the remark that nothing is more nauseous to me than to read the eulogies which are trumpeted forth everywhere from the mouth of this man, THE AUTHOR. while his life passes in doing me material and mental injury.” Attention is seriously called to the above extract. There can be no greater crime against an author than that of mangling or altering his words and works. Some years ago an action was commenced in the High Court of Justice on this very point, but was not carried through. It is very much to be desired that such a case should be tried, and, if necessary, carried up to the Lords, in order to make it clear that in any kind of agreement the publisher either buys or is intrusted with the administration of a property which depends on the preservation of the actual words of the author. Can we imagine a publisher, under any circumstances, daring to change the words of Swinburne? It is said that some editors claim the right of changing an author’s words, even when his paper is signed. This right ought to be resisted with the greatest vigour. It means that an editor may, if he pleases, make a writer say exactly the opposite of what he intended. With an unsigned article, of course, an editor has the: right to deal as he pleases. It is his own: it represents his policy, the policy of his paper. PARIS NOTES. 5, Rue Chomel. . N | ADAME AUBERNON DE NERVILLE is dead,” a chance acquaintance re-’ marked in my hearing last week. “And who was Madame Aubernon de Ner- ville?” I immediately inquired. “Why, don’t you know?” was the reply. “She was the only woman in Paris who under- stood the art of presiding over a literary salon in the style of the old régime; made it the busi- ness of her life to cultivate literary celebrities, and was quite an autocrat among them; encouraged general conversation, and used to ring a bell, like the Speaker, whenever her lions mounted their hobby-horses or roared -too loudly ; extraordinary temperament, but highly apprecia- tive ; patronised Ibsen, and his subsequent vogue among the Parisians was largely owing to her good. offices in the beginning; sat down to dinner every day for the last twenty-five years with twelve guests —mostly well-known writers—and kept them all in order. No small undertaking for a woman.” So much I learned on the spot. Later I gleaned the following particulars. Mme. Aubernon de Nerville was a celebrity among celebrities. Rich and well-born, she enjoyed the prestige of presiding over “le dernier salon ot l’on cause,” and greeted all comers with the penetrative  THE AUTHOK. bonhomie of a specialist receiving his patients. Ernest Renan, Taine, Eugene Labiche, Dumas fils, Agénor Bardoux, Henry Becque, and a score of other celebrities were among her intimate associates. But though she delighted in the society of great men, she permitted no infringement of what she considered the neces- sary courtesies of society. Once when Edouard Pailleron, the brilliant author of “Le Monde ou Yon s’ennuie,” ventured to interrupt by a subdued murmur one of Caro’s lengthy perorations at the dinner-table he was promptly quenched by their hostess. «By and by, Pailleron; you shall speak in your turn.” Caro’s discourse only finished when the dessert was on the table. At its conclusion, Mme. Aubernon turned encouragingly towards the interrupter. ‘Now it’s your turn, Pailleron. you wished to say ?”’ « T merely wished to ask for a second helping of peas,” was the unexpected rejoinder. Alexandre Dumas fils long held the envied position of first lion in the Aubernon salon. One day, however, being unjustly incensed against one of his confréres, he brutally assumed on bis privi- leges to pre-adopt the attitude recently assumed by General Mercier in addressing the Conseil de Guerre at Rennes. “Lui ou moi?” he said magisterially. Mme. Aubernon, to her honour be it said, stood firm; she refused to sacrifice the injured to the injurer, and Dumas accordingly quitted her house for ever. Ona similar occa- sion Agénor Bardoux, the historian, showed him- self more generous than the great novelist. When Henry Becque wrested from him the sceptre of priority in the Aubernon salon, he quietly withdrew; and later on, when Mme. Aubernon acknowledged her fault in tacitly per- mitting the aggression, the gallant historian accepted the apology and resumed the fauteuil he had vacated. But then Bardoux was in the right, and could afford to be generous. M. Guillaumet is heading the new movement in favour of a general co-operation of dramatic and lyric artistes in protection of their joint interests, which co-operation will be definitely consolidated. into an “ Association générale des artistes drama- tiques et lyriques” on the occasion of the great dramatic and lyrical union to take place at the Cirque Fernando on Sept. 20. The project has been warmly applauded and seconded, Govern- ment having promised an annual subsidy of 10,000 francs in its support. No less than two hundred artistes of both sexes were present at the second preparatory meeting, at which a pro- visory committee was elected and entrusted What was it 101 with the task of drawing up the statutes of the proposed association and submitting them to the approval of the general assemblage. The exorbi- tant charges of the existing theatrical bureaux de placement have induced M. Guillaumet to take active steps to circumvent this legalised form of blackmailing the artist, proverbially imprudent. One of the first reforms anticipated by the pro- posed association is the opening of a registry bureau on behalf of unemployed artistes, who will be put in communication with managers on pay- ment of a minimum fee. Nothing further, how- ever, can be definitely stated respecting the pro- posed association’s programme until after the decisive meeting on Sept. 20 has taken place. Literary celebrities seem at present to be enjoying the fickle favour of Parisian managers. The dramatised novel is extremely popular. Thus M. William Busnach is engaged in drama- tising for the Ambigu stage the graphic ‘ Béte humaine,” of M. Emile Zola ; while a play taken from M. Georges Ohnet’s latest novel, ‘ Au fond du Gouffre” will shortly be given at the Porte St. Martin theatre. A recaste of the “ Frou-frou S of MM. Meilhac and Halévy is about to be rehearsed at the Coméddie Francaise, whose august comité de lecture lately declined MM. Armand Silvestre and G. Bois’ translation of Shakespeare’s “Richard IIL.” The naughty “ Vieux Marcheur” of M. Henri Lavedan bids fair to compete in popu- larity with the far-famed “ Cyrano de Bergerac” of Edmond Rostand; while the “Plus que Reine” of M. Emile Bergerat has likewise scored a brilliant success both at home and abroad. But in the latter case (though the work of a literary man) the play has, I believe, preceded the novel. M. Paul Bourget is now travelling with his wife in the vorth of Italy, in order personally to gather material to enrich the pages of his new work on “ Italie Septentrionale.” This volume is intended to form a continuation to his “Sensa- tions d’Italie.” Its delicately psychological author belongs to the beau monde of social butterflies, whom no stern necessity compels either to toil or spin yarns in exchange for filthy lucre. Hence his whereabouts when travelling may usually be ascertainei! by referring to the social chronicle of any of the leading papers. The latest news of him obtained through this channel announces the arrival of M. and Mme. Paul Bourget at the Hotel d’Italie at Bergamo. We are further informed that M. Bourget professes himself astonished by the private collections of rare works of art he has been privileged to examine at Bergamo in company with M. Geanforte Sicardi. It is not improbable that his readers may find the souvenir of these hoarded treasures and heirlooms 102 embalmed in one of those subtle chapters which M. Bourget limns with such inimitable finesse and skill. The premature death of Christian Garnier, son of the celebrated architect of the Opéra, has been widely deplored. The unfortunate youth was extremely gifted, and would undoubtedly have reached, if not surpassed, his father’s high level, had not death arrested his career on the threshold of manhood. On learning that his disease was mortal, the youth summoned up all his energies to complete the work he had in hand. The title of this work, which has just been published by Ernest Leroux, fully reveals its purport, viz.: “Méthode de transcription rationnelle des noms géographiques s’appliquant a toutes les écritures usitées dans le monde.” Competent authorities have declared M. Garnier’s new method of tran- scription to be an exceedingly valuable one, well worthy consideration. This voluminous work is written throughout in a clear, masterly style, and abounds in evidence of profound scientific research on the part of its author. It has been honoured with the Volney prize, in addition to being crowned by the Institute of France; and the pathetic circumstances under which it was con- cluded have not lessened the interest its appear- ance has excited. The fashionable poet of the moment is no less a personage than Paul Musurus-Bey, member of the Sultan’s State Council, brother of the Princesse Bassaraba de Brancovan, son of Musurus-Bey, ex-Turkish ambassador in France, and grandson of Stephanaki-Bey, prince of Samas. The representative of all these dignities is a highly accomplished gentleman, thoroughly acquainted not only with the ancient and modern Greek, but also with the English and French literature. His personality is well-known in the best Parisian literary society, which he greatly affects, being the intimate friend of MM. Sully Prudhomme and José-Maria de Heredia. Several of his poems have recently appeared in the Revue des deux Mondes, and have created quite a fanfaronade of enthusiasm in the highest circles. He possesses the ready ear of the Oriental, and his versification is perfect. M. Ernest Daudet is publishing an interesting serial, entitled “La Princesse de Lerne,” in the Monde Mondain ; while the Mois Litteraire gives us a graphic account of the murder of the Russian Emperor, Paul I., from the pen of the same author. M. Jules Verne, who shows no sign of deterioration in his green old age, has added a new volume, entitled “Le Testament @un Excentrique” to his ‘“ Voyages Extraordi- naires” series, which latter was formerly crowned by the French Academy. It was on this occasion THE AUTHOR. that Dumas /i/s opined that the august Immortals would have done better to have admitted Verne into their body in lieu of crowning his works, M. Robert Flers—who at twenty-six years of age boasted the honour of a work crowned by the Academy —has just issued his third volume “ Entre Coeur et Chair”’ (a series of short tales) chez Flammarion, who is also the publisher of the continuation of the sensational reminiscences of M. Goron, ancien chef de Sireté. Referring to the last-named work, a well-known critic writes: ‘In it will be found more terrible things than our most fertile novelists in atrocity could invent.” After the “Jardin des Supplices” of M. Octave Mirbeau, this is rather a strong state- ment. In mentioning the prospective programme of the twenty-first congress of the International Literary and Artistic Association, to be held at Heidelberg, the /vgaro alludes to the indifference hitherto manifested by France on the subject of protecting her authors’ rights. After calling attention to the fact that, while almost all the other European States had registered a special law in their code to guarantee their authors’ rights against the possible frauds of publishers, France had remained stationary at the incidental law of 1865, it concludes: “Il faut espérer que la question sera de nouveau soulevée, et que la France comprendra enfin qu'il est de l’intérét de sa production littéraire, qui tient encore le premier rang, de se mettre au niveau des autres nations.” So much for the force of good example. The death of M. Gaston Tissandier, founder and editor of that popular little scientific periodical entitled Nature, robs science of one of its most devoted adherents. M. Tissandier was especially interested in solving the problem of aerial navigation; and though he did not succeed in attaining his end, he pushed his investigations farther than any of his predecessors had dared to do. He made over forty ascensions into space, and on April 15, 1875, he attained an altitude of 28,215 feet. His two companions were asphyxi- ated by the rarefaction of the air, but Gaston Tissandier returned—with his ear-drums broken and a sort of physical oppression from which he never completely recovered. He finally succumbed —almost a quarter of a century later —to the effects of a painful malady from which he had long suffered. It is well known that M. Jean Dupuy, Minister of Agriculture, has chosen the poet M. Henri Barbusse as his chef de cabinet; and, since the latter’s induction into office, the Minister of Agri- culture is credited with receiving all official | reports relating to his department served up in ingenious verse. Poetry in such a quarter  THE AUTHOR. appears, at first sight, as if the days of bucolic peace were returning; but a glance at current events speedily destroys such a supposition. Half-a-dozen papers are already officially notified as pursued for incendiary articles, while duels between polemists and members of the Press are of too frequent occurrence to be worthy detailed notice. Their opponents justly reproach the literati of France with having brought about the Revision—a noble work of which its authors may well be proud, for it will probably rank among their highest titles to the gratitude of posterity. A propos of interesting publications of the month may be mentioned “Les Morts qui Parlent,” by M. E. M. de Vogue; “ L’Enfer,” by M. Edouard Conte (Société Libre d’ Edition des gens de lettres); “Le Petit fils de dAr- tagnan”’ and “Le Drame du Palois Bouge,” by MM. A. Sirven and A. Siegel (chez Calmann Lévy); and “Le Corps et ’Ame de Enfant,” by M. Maurice de Fleury. Darracotre Scort. eas NOTES AND NEWS. TYNHE Atheneum has begun its Publishers’ Announcements. In the numbers for Sept. 9, 16, and 23 there are the lists of fourteen publishers. Taking out of consideration books of scholarship, philosophy, science and education, and taking only those which fall under the head of General Literature, the fourteen between them promise to produce as follows : EOC = 43 works. History and Biography 24 _,, Wravel 66 TAG Belles Lettres ............ 200. Fiction ......... 105. AQ 20 7 We shall be able to complete this rough analysis next month. Meantime, the first heading includes volumes by Owen Seaman and Stephen Phillips, with reprints from Tennyson and Matthew Arnold. Mr. Theodore Watts Dunton makes the welcome announcement of a new work, ‘‘ The Old Familiar Faces,” which is presumably a novel. Among other novels we meet with many old friends and many new names. The various “Series” are well to the front—the “ Cathedral Series”: the “Public School Series”: the ‘Social England Series”: the “Geographical Series”: the “Literatures of the World Series” among others. The large number of books on Art—some of them most important—is a remarkable feature in the year’s announcements. Memoirs, Letters, and Reminiscences include books on Coventry VOL. x. 103 Patmore: the third Farl of Shaftesbury: Mrs. Lynn Linton: Thackeray: Dickens: Sir Philip Francis: J. H. Frere: and others. So far there seems to be no announcement of more sixpenny books, but it will take time to repair the mischief of this experiment disastrous to booksellers. The completion of the list will show whether the experience of the last season will lessen the number of six-shilling novels. One hundred and five novels among fourteen publishers, of whom three at least are producing none this year! If this average is maintained, it will termfy book- sellers and circulating libraries, and will drive to despair the furnishers of railway bookstalls. Professor Brander Matthews considers the novelist as a great living force. He is not the greatest living force, because the actual facts of current events are the true leaders of men, and we must look for the facts to the Press. For instance, the ‘“ Affaire,’ as presented day by day in all its horror, has been the greatest possible force in influencing men’s minds as regards the country where it happened—perhaps the only country where it could have happened. The social force of the novelist is exercised by the expression which he gives to the current ideas of his time. A thousand little facts accumulate and are registered by the Press: they produce the effect upon the mind of the continual dropping of water. Then the novelist appears to give expression to the thought, and to present it in action with a group of living characters. If the novelist advocates reforms or ideas for which the popular mind is not ready, or to which it is opposed, he fails. The “ novel with a purpose” always fails when that purpose is a new pro- position or a view contrary to the general way of looking at the world. That novelist moves the world who is first moved by the world, and can tell them what they think. Is it necessary to remind readers that the famous “Draft Agreements” of the Publishers’ Associa- tion are neither disavowed nor withdrawn It is necessary to look at agreements with greater care than ever. Above all things let everyone be careful not to allow his publisher to become his agent at 50 per cent., while his own agent is con- tented with 10 or 15 percent. And next, let the author most carefully retain in his own hands the dramatic rights. Let him remember as well that where a valuable MS. is concerned the publisher, whatever be his imaginary station in the world of publishers, will give way on these points because he must. If he refuses others will consent. At present the committee of the Publishers’ Associa- i 104 tion are in the enviable and dignified position of having put forth agreements as equitable which they dare not even propose to authors of repute. So perverse is the authors’ sense of equity that they will not even consider those agreements. Is it not time to speak about the “ Private Prospectus” nuisance? A new “ Private Pros- pectus” is sent out once a month. I suppose it is sent out broadcast. It is the prospectus of a publication for “students only ” or for “‘ collectors and students.” It is “privately printed.” It is for subscribers only: there is a limited edition: and the work is costly. The address at which it is to be procured is in a respectable street. Of the work itself thus offered one can only say generally that it is of a kind which cannot be exposed for sale so long as Lord Campbell’s Act is in force. One would like to know how far a publisher is protected by calling his book “ priv- ately printed, for subscribers only, in a private press.” What does a “ private press”? mean ? I have read in several papers—indeed, it seems one of the many accepted truisms which are not truths—that I have encouraged, and do continu- ally encourage, young people to crowd into the ranks of those who would succeed by writing. In the same way the Society has been, and is still, continually misrepresented by two assertions —that it treats all publishers as dishonest (this stale old charge was last advanced publicly by Mr. John Murray), and that it says that pub- lishers incur no risk. As for the personal charge of encouraging the incompetent, the only founda- tion for the charge is the broad fact that I have done my best to set forth the exact truth con- nected with the commercial side of literature. If these facts do attract a large number of young persons who have none of the gifts necessary for success, it is because they present this side of the literary profession as it is, and as it may be, in a light never before attempted, namely, in the true light. Hitherto, persons interested in con- cealment have done their best to keep the truth as much hidden as possible. Let me also quote my own words, which, I think, are not unduly optimistic or encouraging : “To those few, however, who think they possess the necessary qualifications; to those who feel really impelled to join the ranks of literature, I would say, ‘Come. Venture if you will where so many have failed. There is always room for good work—come. I have shown how the followers of literature fare: some fare better and some fare worse than I have described. THE AUTHOR. ‘Come if you can; come if you dare. Don’t think of making money; there are a thousand chances to one against it. But if you gain that reasonable measure of success of which I have spoken you may confidently look forward to leading a happy and well-filled life; you may influence your generation for good: your mind will always be pleasantly occupied: you will find the company good: the talk extremely cheerful : and the work always iuteresting.’ ” Here is a short and easy road to notoriety which in journalistic enterprise often means success. It is not a new method, but it has been greatly developed of late years, and it. is high time that it was understood. A literary man whose name is known receives a type-written letter from a person of whom he knows nothing, with a heading to the letter of some organ or some bureau of which he knows nothing, asking him for his opinion on this or that subject —any subject will do—for publication. Sometimes he is informed that a “symposium”’ is organised for the purpose of obtaining opinions on this or that subject. Now, when a well-known paper of position asks for the opinions of various persons qualified to have an opinion on the subject, the collection of opinions and reasons may be useful and helpful to the public: in such a case the person invited should perhaps accede. But it is far different when the invitation comes from some wretched struggling journal or some obscure person who hopes by means of a dozen or twenty good names to pass off as a ; erson of importance. It would be well, at least, to wait before answering the invitation until something can be learned of the person who sent it. Water Besant. Specs ON CRITICISM. HE following observations, quotations, and 7 rules are taken from an excellent little book of essays called ‘‘ Americanisms and Briticisms,”’ by Professor Brander Matthews: ““¢ Doubtless criticism was originally benig- nant, pointing out the beauties of a work rather than its defects. The passions of man have made it malignant, as the bad heart of Procrustes turned the bed, the symbol of repose, into au instrument of torture.’—(Longfellow).” “ La critique sans bonté trouble le gout et empoisonne les saveurs, said Joubert ; unkindly criticism disturbs the taste and poisons the savour. No one of the great critics was un- kindly.”  THE AUTHOR. “They chose their subjects, for the most part, because they loved these, and were eager to praise them and to make plain to the world the reasons for their ardent affection. Whenever they might chance to see incompetence and pretension push- ing to the front, they shrugged their shoulders more often than not, and passed by on the other side silently :—and so best. Very rarely did they cross over to expose an impostor.” “Tn nine cases out of ten, or rather in ninety-nine out of a hundred, the attitude of the critic towards contemporary trash had best be one of absolute indifference, sure that Time will sift out what is good, and that Time winnows with unerring taste. «The first duty of the critic, therefore, is to help the reader to ‘ get the best ’—in the old phrase of the dictionary vendors—to choose it, to under- stand it, to enjoy it. Neglect is the proper portion of the worthless books of the hour, whatever may be their vogue for the week or the month.” “The second duty of the critic is like unto the first. It is to help the reader to understand the best. There is many a book which needs to be made plain to him who runs as he reads, and it is the running r. ader of these hurried years that the critic must needs address.” “The third duty of the critic, after aiding the reader to choose the best and to understand it, is to help him to enjoy it. This is possible only when the critic’s own enjoyment is acute enough to be contagious. However well informed a critic may be, and however keen he may be, if he be not capable of the cordial admiration which warms the heart, his criticism is wanting. “ Having done his duty to the reader, the critic has done his full duty to the author also. It is to the people at large that the critic is under obligations, not to any individual. As he cannot take cognisance of a work of art, literary or dramatic, plastic or pictorial, until after it is wholly complete, his opinion can be of little benefit to the author.” “Tf I were to attempt to draw up Twelve Good Rules for Reviewer-, I should begin with: “T. Form an honest opinion. “TI. Express it honestly. “TIT. Don’t review a book which you cannot take seriously. “TV. Don’t review a book with which you are out of sympathy, that is to say, put yourself in the author’s place, and try to see his work from his point of view, which is sure to be a coign of vantage. “V, Stick to the text. Review the book before you, and not the book some other author might have written ; obiter dicta me as valueless from 105 the critic as from the judge. Don’t go off ona tangent. And also don’t go round in a circle. Say what you have to say, and stop. Don’t go on writing about and about the subject, and merely weaving garlands of flowers of rhetoric. “VI. Beware of the Sham Sample, as Charles Reade called it. Make sure that the specimen bricks you select for quotation do not give a false impression of the farade, and not only of the elevation merely, but of the perspective also, and of the ground-plan. “VII. In reviewing a biography or a history, criticise the book before you, and don't write a parallel essay, for which the volume you have in hand serves only as a peg. “VIII. In reviewing a work of fiction, don’t give away the plot. In the eyes of the novelist this is the unpardonable sin. And, as it discounts the pleasure of the reader also, it is almost equally unkind to hin. “TX. Don’t try to prove every successful author a plagiarist. It may be that many a successful author has been a plagiarist, but no author ever succeeded because of his plagiary. “X, Don’t break a butterfly on a wheel. Ifa book is not worth much, it is not worth reviewing. “XT. Don’t review a book as an east wind would review an apple-tree—so it was once said Douglas Jerrold was wont to do, Of what profit to anyone is mere bitterness and vexation of spirit ? “XTI. Remember that the critic’s duty is to the reader mainly, and that it is to guide him not only to whatis good, but to what is best. Three- parts of what is contemporary must be temporary only.” Peas COUNTERFEIT ENGLISH. N the regrettable absence of an English Académie, we look to the Author as a guardian of our long-suffering language. So many neologisms are now creeping in that unless you can do something for us the good old tongue of Shakespeare and Macaulay will soon be no more. Some changes there must necessarily be. Apart from the demands of new arts and crafts, ideas and habits must alter, so as to demand new combina- tions and an enlarged vocabulary. We may never hope to cure our young people of saying “I biked over,” and the apotheosis of the piston-rod has reached its climax in certain of our most popular writings. But the changes here contemplated are of another sort, being capable of division into two 106 classes: (a) phrases that slip into use from mere indolence and want of knowledge; and (6) words misused out of affectation; both classes having this common evil, that they are quite unnecessary. In the (a) class must be placed prominently cases in which a noun substantive is gratuitously used as a verb. The labour-saving ingenuity of our transatlantic kinsfolk is primarily responsible for this; but we have often been ready to follow their quicker-witted lead. Such a verb as ‘to advocate,” if you think of it, can only be defended on the score of success. It has been generally adopted, but none the less is it a glaring instance of the barbarism under notice; in fact, it is worse, for it sweeps into one locution such varying shades of meaning as would otherwise be conveyed by “recommend ”’ or “ defend,” as the case might be. A word less misleading, but quite as uncalled for, is “to loan” in place of “to lend”; and many others will be readily called to mind. Then there are such solecisms as “to trouble” as a neuter verb: in good English always a transitive. I may trouble you, or myself; but to use the word absolutely is far more absurd than it would be to say, “ do not exert” or “behave.” By the (0) class are intended outrages on the good old vocabulary, such as inventing new words when all possible purpose can be served by those which exist already, but which are not considered elegant or sonorous. One of the worst of these is the bastard adjective of time, “erstwhile,” used where all that is intended could be clearly expressed by such a simple word as former. Erst, by itself, is doubtless an English word, though not often met with in the work of good authors, being a superlative arising out of the old Saxon word observable in the first syllable of early ; but for “erstwhile” there is no conceivable ety- mology or excuse that is not as foolish as the word itself. Another instance is the substitution of “monetary” for pecuniary. Here the word has undoubtedly both a pedigree and an office (from Moneta) meaning that which regards the Mint or coinage; but someone seems to have been caught by the similitude to money and to have thought its employment was a step towards the exclusion of Latin; whereas it is, of course, just_as much derived from tha’ tongue as the word pecuniary, which is otherwise correct. The use of “whom” where the sense requires the nominative is so bad that one would hardly care to mention it were it not becoming too common to be ignored, You shall hardly open a novel or a newspaper without meeting some such sentence as ‘‘ A man whom I knew wanted to see me,” the relative being really the subject of the verb see not the object of the verb knevw. THE AUTHOR. We have all experience and authority for the doctrine that use governs these things : Quem penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi. ‘When once a usage has been thoroughly fixed and established, reason argues in vain. As we may see, indeed, from so familiar a case as that of the verb ‘“ to advocate,’ noticed above. An advocate is advocatus, one called to the Bar; to turn him into a verb and use him not for himself but for the sort of work that he might do, is about as intelligent as if we talked of “ soldier- ing” a man when we only meant killing him. To be sure, we say to “ doctor,” but only when we are feeling very sarcastic. An advocate may plead a cause, as a soldier may take life; but the proportion of bloodless warriors is probably no greater than that of briefless counsel. CLAMANS. Pec AMERICAN RULES FOR WRITERS. HE New York Press has recently offered a few rules and warnings for American writers. Some of these may be recom- mended for consideration by our own countrymen. The following are taken from the longer list there published :-— Don’t. Dou’t begin a story with “‘ Yesterday,” ‘‘ Last night,” and the like. Don’t begin a story with ‘‘ The,” “An,” or “A” oftener than once a week. Don’t “ put in an appearance ” or “ make an appearance ” ; just appear. Don’t say ‘a dinner occurred,” and “an explosion took place.” Things occur by chance or accident; they take place by arrangement. Don’t MisusE “ Ability” for “ capacity.” ‘“ Allude ” for “ refer.” “ Amateur ” for “ novice.” “ Anticipate” for “ expect.” “ Apt” for “ likely.” “ Andience ” for ‘‘ spectators.” ‘“‘ Balance ” for ‘‘ remainder ”’ or “ rest.” “ Bountiful ” for “ plentiful.” “Bat” for “only.” When in doubt, use “only” for but.” “ Caption ” for “ heading.” “ Captivate ” for ‘ charm.” “ Conclude” for ‘ close.” process. “ Convened.”’ vened. “Crime,” a statutory wrong; “sin,” a violation of creed; ‘‘ vice,’ a moral wrong. (One may murder one’s father and not be vicious; also, one may cast one’s wife away and take two wives and not be sinful, according to some creeds.) “Depot” for “prssenger station,” or “station” for “freight depot.” “ Dock ” for “ pier” or “ wharf.” To conclude is a mental The delegates, not the convention, con-  THE “ During the night’ means “ During” for “ in.” thronghout the night. “ very” for ‘‘ all.” Don’t separate the parts of infinitives, or needlessly separate the parts of verbs; say “to begin again,” not “to again begin”; say “ probably will be,” not ‘ will probably be.” Don’t say “he was given a dinner ” when the dinner was given for him or in his honour. Don’t make titles; use “Smith, a car conductor ” ; not “Car Conductor Smith.” Don’t give ‘“ ovations ” to anybody. Don’t stab anyone “ in the fracas.” Don’t “ administer” blows or punishment. Don’t use “ he graduated”; say “he was graduated.” ‘ Eyent” for “incident,” “affair,” “ occurrence,” or “ happening.” “ Exemplary ” for “ excellent.” “* Exposition ” for “ exhibit.” “Tnangurate ” for “ begin.” “ Tpitial ” for “ first.” “ Jewellery ” for ‘‘ jewels.” “ Learn ” for “ teach.” “ Lurid” for “ brilliant.” or ghastly. “ Marry.” married to the man, and the clergyman or marries both. ‘* Murderous” for “ deadly ” or “ dangerous.” “ Notable ” for “ noteworthy,” “Observe ” (to heed) for “ say.” -—‘ People ” for ‘‘ persons.” “Posted ” for “ well informed.’ * Retire” for “ go to bed.” “ Remains ” for “ corpse” or “ body.” “ Reliable ” for “ trustworthy.” “ Spell” for “ period.” “Tender ” for “ give.” reception. “ Transpire” for “ occur.” “ Unwell’? for “‘ill.” “ Ventilate” for “ expose” or “ explain.” Don’t UsE “ Approve of” for “ approve.” “ Cablegram ” for “‘ cable message ” or *« dispatch.” “Claim” as an intransitive verb. You can claim your hat, but you cannot “claim” that your hat was stolen. “ Commence ” for “‘ begin.” “ Considerable.” “ Locate,” unless you locate a railroad, a canal, a claim, and the like. “ Matter ” oftener than once a week. “ Mrs. General” or “Mrs. Doctor,” unless the woman is a general or a doctor. “Notified.” Use “informed,” “ sent word,” or “ told.” Slang, stock expressions, or cheap phrases. This covers a multitude of sins. “The deceased,” “the unfortunate,” the “ accused,” and the like. “ Very” oftener than once a week. “Via,” “per diem,” and the like; say “By way of,” “a day,” and “a week.” “ Vicinity ” without “its” : HELP THE COMPOSITORS. Always leave a margin of at least an inch on the top of each sheet of copy. If youhave a particularly illegible piece of copy, don’t pass it over and send it downstairs in the hope that perhaps the “ intelligent compositor’ may be able to read it. “ Lurid ” means pale, gloomy, Don’t “ marr 7 @ wen 5 the woman is y. > zs magistrate “Tender” apayment; “give” a “Tts vicinity.” AUTHOR. 107 BOOK AND PLAY TALK. YHE Editor of the Literary Vear-Book will be glad to receive communications from authors for the next issue of that annual, which will be published by Mr. George Allen late in January next. All letters should be addressed to the Editor of the Literary Vear-Book, Ruskin House, 156, Charing Cross-road, W..C. The first welcome accorded to Dr. Gardiner’s life of Cromwell has hardly passed when the announcement comes of the same subject being treated by Mr. John Morley. The new work will appear in the pages of the Century Magazine, a fact that affords another example of the fondness of American readers for biography in monthly instalments. The literature of natural history is about to receive an addition from Mr. Richard Kearton, on the subject of “Our Rarer British Breeding Birds: Their Nests, Eggs, and Breeding Haunts.” The book, profusely illustrated by photographs taken direct from nature by Mr. Cherry Kearton, will be published by Messrs. Cassell, who state that in preparing it the brothers Kearton have travelled over ten thousand miles. Mr. Kipling’s new story, “ Stalky and Co.,” will be published by Messrs. Macmillan in a few days. Mr. Walter Pollock has written a volume on “Jane Austen: her Contemporaries and Herself,” which Messrs. Longman will publish shortly. A volume by Mr. Thomas Hardy, of short stories, which have appeared serially at various times, is to be published soon. Yorkshire and Normandy are the subjects of two new volumes about to appear in the “ High- ways and Byways” series published by Messrs. Macmillan. ©The former will be written by Mr. Arthur Norway, and illustrated by Mr. Joseph Pennell and Mr. Hugh Thomson. The author of the Normandy is the Rev. Perey Dearmer, and the illustrator Mr. Pennell. “The Daughter of Peter the Great,” Mr. R. Nisbet Bain’s new book which Messrs. Constable are to publish shortly, deals with the period 1741-1762, and treats the Seven Years’ War from the Russian standpoint. One of the features of the book will be the description of the splendid court of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Mr. Stanley Lane Poole has written a mono- graph on Babar. the first Moghul Emperor of Hindustan, for the Indian series published by Oxford University Press. This house will alse 108 publish shortly the final volume of Dr. Thomas Hodgkin’s “ Italy and Her Invaders.” Mr. Frederick Wedmore will be represented this autumn by a volume entitled “On Books and Art,” which Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton will publish. Mr. Clement Shorter has written a book on his own library, called “An Editor’s Bookshelves,” which Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Co. will publish shortly. Mr. Grant Allen is adding to his series of guide books a volume describing “The European Tour ” for the benefit of American and Colonial visitors. The William Black Memorial Fund now exceeds £500. Mr. Colin Hunter, A.R.A., an old friend of the novelist, has undertaken to design the memorial beacon light to be erected at Duart Point, Isle of Mull. Miss C. A. Hutton is the author of a mono- graph on Greek terra-cottas, which will be pub- lished this month by Messrs. Seeley and Co., with a preface by Dr. A. 8. Murray. Dr. Conan Doyle has written a new novel which is just beginning to appear in the Strand Magazine. A new edition of Mr. James Milne’s work on the late Sir George Grey, “The Romance of a Pro-Consul,” will be published shortly by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. Forthcoming works of fiction include a volume of short stories by Mr. Zanegwill, entitled « They that Walk in Darkness” | (Heinemann); Mr. Robert Hichens’s new novel, “The Slave” (Heinemann) ; “ The Bread of Tears,” by Mr. G. B. Burgin (Long); “An African Treasure,” by Mr. Maclaren Cobban (Long) ; “Twice Derelict, and Other Stories,” by Maxwell Gray (Heinemann). “Coventry Patmore: His Family and Corre- spondence,” by Mr. Basil Champneys, a friend of the family, will be published shortly by Messrs. George Bell and Sons. The principal book of scientific interest announced for this season is Mr. Leonard Huxley’s biography of his father, entitled “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley,” which will be published by Messrs. Macmillan, In France, too, it seems, bookselling is in a bad way. ‘The Booksellers’ Union of France have discovered,” says the Westminster Gazette, “that their net profits are absurdly small—about one halfpenny in the shilling, and from a penny to fourpence on a three-shilling hook (3fr. 50c.) THE AUTHOR. —and, failing to get better terms from the pub- lishers, have arranged, with the consent of the latter, to raise prices to the buyer. Sales should therefcre be brisk for the remainder of the month. On the whole, the ; ublisher seems most likely to benefit by the change. Buyers will certainly not care about paying 3fr. instead of 2fr. 75¢. for a 3fr. 50c. book, and booksellers will probably have to content themselves—for a time, at least— with a smaller turnover,” ./ An illustrated shilling series of “ Forgotten Children’s Books” is to be issued at once by the Leadenhall Press. The old type and quaint woodcuts, the grayish paper with its innumerable specks of embedded dirt, and the gaudily coloured Dutch papers used in the binding, are to follow faithfully the originals of a century ago. The publishers’ own title page and remarks are to be relegated to the end of the volumes. The three promised are Mrs. Turner's amusing cautionary stories entitled “The Daisy ” (1807) ; the second series of cautionary stories entitled “The Cowslip” (1811) and “A New Riddle Book by John the Giant Killer, Esquire ” (1778). Others are to follow. The Leadenhall Press will almost immediately issue Mr. Andrew Tuer’s new volume of “ Stories from Old-fashioned Children’s Books.” The woodcuts in the originals, of which there are several hundred, are closely followed, and no photographic half-tone blocks are used. Instead of being in the fragmentary manner of Mr. Tuer’s preceding volume “Forgotten Children’s Books,” whivh had a large sale, the stories will be complete in themselves. The two volumes are quite independent of each other. Mr. W. Edwards Tirebuck’s “ Miss Grace of All Souls” has been added to Mr. W. Heine- mann’s Eighteenpenny Red Series of Popular Novels. The author of the well-known Bohemian novels ‘The Gleaming Dawn,” “The Cardinal’s Page,” and the “ Pictures of Bohemia” that was illustrated by Mr. Walter Crane, has just received from the Countess of Wallenstein a most charm- ing and artistic recognition of his work on Bohemia in the shape of a water-colour sketch of the old Castle of Bosig, mounted as a note-book block and set round with Bohemian garnets that are famous for their rich ruby tint. In addition to these books, Mr. James Baker has written upon Bohemia in almost all the principal journals and magazines. Messrs. Kegan Paul, and Co. have in the press a volume of poems by Mrs. Aylmer Gowing, including a play on the subject of Boadicea  THE AUTHOR. treated under a new aspect in connection with early Christianity in Britain. Sir Richard Temple has placed with Mr. John Long for publication a new book entitled “ The House of Commons,” in which he describes life in Parliament, the House of Commons as a club, manners and customs of the House, and other features. With the announcement that the Royal Maga- zine is to be raised in price to 4d., the threepenny popular magazine disappears in this country, for the Harmsworth Magazine, it will be remem- bered, although originally 3d., was made 33d. _ before it had been long in the market. . Mr. Cosmo Hamilton, who, with Mr. Robert Barr, has just finished the dramatization of the latter gentleman’s successful romance, “The Countess Tekla,”’ has sold the acting rights of his play “Jerry and a Sunbeam,” produced at the Strand Theatre, to Mr. H. HE. Pizey. The management of the Court Theatre have secured the refusal of Mr. Hamilton’s new three-act comedy, “The Wisdom of Folly,” which, in book form, will be published in the autumn. Mr. Hamilton is now completing two new books, ** Love, amongst other Things,” and ‘‘ The Danger of Curiosity,” and is also engaged upon a three- act play for Mr. Herbert Sleath, entitled * Kiddie,” which is founded on his one-act play of the same name, in which Mr. Sleath appeared. On the goth Sept. a performance for copyright purposes was given at the Victoria Theatre, Walthamstow, of a new play entitled “The Greatest Puritan, or Cromwell’s Own,” a drama founded upon Mr. Arthur Paterson’s novel ““Cromwell’s Own.” Mr. Charles Cartwright’s company performed the piece, and it is said “that Mr. Cartwright contemplates producing it at an early date. The drama follows the story pretty closely, and three incidents—the taking of the Royal Standard at Edgehill, the collision between a troop of Ironsides and of Presbyterians, when the former save unarmed Royalists from massacre ; and lastly, the court-martial scene, when Crom- well reverses in characteristic manner the sentence of the court—will probably be reproduced as they stand. It will be the first time that Cromwell has ever been the chief personage in a drama. Heretofore he has appeared as a “villain,” more or less comic. “The Christian,” founded, of course, on Mr. Hall Caine’s novel of that name, will be produced under Mr. Charles Frohman’s management at the Duke of York’s on the 17th inst., but will previously be seen at the Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool, on the gth. 109 In laying the commemoration stone to mark | the completion of the Royal Duchess Theatre, Balham, Mr. Charles Wyndham referred to the growth of the number of theatres as a significant sign of the times—the modern spirit of decentrali- sation. “ Hach new theatre in a new district,” he said, “ brings a new body of men under the imperial sway of Art, enrols one more regiment of volunteers under the banner of the Humanities, constructs one more entrenched camp against prejudice and bigotry, builds one more road for invigorating thought to travel on.” The managers of central theatres in London were by this decen- tralisation losing the exclusive right to purvey dramatic nourishment which they had enjoyed from the days of Elizabeth to those of Queen Victoria, and it was difficult to believe they would ultimately gain far more than they could ever lose by the competition. The denizens of Greater London had achieved this result without appeal- ing to “that craze of the idealist—Government support.” Richmond also has added a theatre to its many other attractions during the past month. This is the Theatre Royal and Opera House, which has been constructed to hold over 1200 persons. Meanwhile, in the West-end there is some talk of a new theatre being erected near Oxford-circus, a site which will be more accessible when the Central Railway is finished. The new play by Mr. Wilson Barrett and Mr. Louis N. Parker, which is to succeed the present popular revival of ‘The Silver King” at the Lyceum, is called “ Man and His Makers.” Sir Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry are fulfillimg a provincial tour before leaving for their visit to America. Mr. and Mrs. Kendal have just arrive 1 in New York. At the Court Theatre, rehearsals are in progress of “A Royal Family,” a comedy by Captain Robert Marshall. The part of the heroine in the new piece will be taken by Miss Gertrude Elliott. A dramatic version of ‘Lorna Doone” has been secured by Mr. Frank Curzon, lessee of the Avenue Theatre. The hand to adapt Mr. Black- more’s famous story is that of an American, Mr. Algernon Tassin. Mr. Horace Newte, however, has secured all rights for his version of the story, with Mr. Blackmore’s consent. “Vanity Fair’? has been dramatised by Mr. Langdon Mitchell for New York, which received it with marks of favour. The title given to the play is “The Adventures of Becky Sharp,” and the leading part is in the hands of Mrs. Maddern Fiske. Bec ‘ky, however, marries Jos. Sedley. 110 THE Another recent successful reception in America was that accorded to Mr. Jerome K. Jerome’s new comedy “ Miss Hobbs,” which was pro- duced at the Lyceum, New York, by Mr. Charles Frohman, with Miss Annie Russell in the title part. Mr. Frohman has secured for America the latest Drury-lane success, “ Hearts are Trumps.” A new opera is being prepared for the Savoy by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Captain Basil Hood. At the Lyric a musical comedy entitled “ Flora- dora,” by Mr. James Davis and Mr. Stuart Leslie, will be presented on Nov. 8. “The Drama of Yesterday and T'o-Day”’ is the title of Mr. Clement Scott’s book of reminis- cences, which will be published shortly by Messrs. Macmillan. These memories go back to the “forties,” when the old Haymarket was still lighted by oil and candles, and when Mathews, Vestris, Mrs. Glover, the Keeleys, Buckstone, Macready, and Phelps were flourishing. Mr. Stephen Phillips’s “ Paolo and Francesca” will be published in book form by Mr. Lane before Mr. George Alexander presents it on the stage of the St. James’s Theatre. Mr. Harry Lindsay’s new volume, “ An Up-to- Date Parson,” is to be published immediately by Mr. James Bowden. Mr. Lindsay is at present engaged upon a long novel of Methodist life for Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son. It is expected that this latter work will be published in the spring of next year. Mr. Neil Wynn Williams, author of ‘The Bayonet that Came Home,” “ The Green Field,” &c., will publish shortly a 6s. volume of original “Greek Peasant Stories” (Digby and Long). Miss Francis Harriet Wood will produce early this month two new stories called respectively, * Tabitha’s Ward Vision” and “ Swallow Castle.” Her publishers are the S.P.C.K. Lieut.-Colonel E. Gunter will publish (W. Clowes and Sons) in October the new edition of his “ Outlines of Modern Tactics,”’ which has been brought up to date; he has added Hints on Hill Fighting and Savage Warfare from recent expe- rience, Outline Orders, &c. “A Bitter Heritage,’ Mr. John Bloundelle- Burton’s new novel, is the first modern story he has written for ten years, his last of this nature having been “ His Own Enemy ” ; but, with other romances, it is his twelfth story up to now. This novel, which is one containing a strong plot diffi- cult of unravelment until the end, is laid in British Honduras, the hero being a young naval officer who proceeds to that colony with a view to discovering what is the true secret. of his birth. AUTHOR. The following is the list of Prof. Victor Spiers’ works now in the hands of Messrs. Simpkin and Marshall: “Short French Historical Grammar and Etymological Lexicon,” pp. 250, crown 8vo., half bound, price 5s.; “ Practical French Primer for Schools and Colleges,” pp. 194, crown 8vo., half bound, price 2s.; “French Vocabularies for Repetition,” pp. 180, crown 8vo., half bound, price Is. 6d. The “Orange Girl,” by Walter Besant, went through the first large edition in less than a fortnight. The second edition is now ready. A sketch of life in a settlement, by the same author, will appear in the Leiswre Hour. Under the general title of “The New Century Library,” Messrs. Thomas Nelson and Sons are about to issue pocket editions of standard novels, printed on their “ Royal” India paper. The issue will begin with monthly volumes of Charles Dickens’ novels, and the works of Thackeray, Scott, &c., will foHow in due course. The books will be printed in long primer type, but will measure only 4} inches by 63 inches and will be only half an inch thick. A new story by Raymond Jacberus, author of “Common Chords,” “The Wrong Man,” &c., entitled “The Hobbledehoys” will be published shortly by Messrs Jarrold and Son. Raymond Jacberus will also contribute the serial story to Sunshine magazine in 1900. Mme. Elodie L. Mijatovich, wife of the Servian Minister, is the author of a series of Servian Folk- lore stories, which will be published in one volume this month by the Columbus Company. E. Livingston Prescott’s new military novel is to be produced on Oct. 3 by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. Its title is ‘Illusion: A Romance of Modern Egypt.” — ec CORRESPONDENCE. I.—FictTion-wRITINnG As A BUSINEsS. OES it occur to some of the failures who write to you that some men make a tolerable income out of fiction alone? Personally, I started as a journalist and proved myself eminently incompetent. At the present moment if I do write an article, I do it badly, and at the cost of prodigious labour. But fiction comes more easily to me, and in financial return has already brought me £4000 during this current year. I do not live in London, neither do I log-roll. I am not conscious of knowing a single human being who writes reviews. But I take note of what the  THE AUTHOR. public wants, and I supply it to the best of my ability. In one point I quite agree with your former correspondents. I never consider that I am adequately remunerated. I should much prefer £8000 or £16,000. In fact, I could enjoy £32,000. But in the meanwhile £4000 does not seem bad earning (for three-quarters of a year) for a man who much prefers (and employs) enjoyment to labour. YACHTSMAN. IL—EncouraGEMENT FoR Youne AUTHORS. One who has suffered many things in the up-hill struggle to earn bread by her pen must feel deep sympathy with Mr. Julian Croskey in his “blind hopes” of succeeding as an author. But is he not rather forgetting that blind hopes and vain dreams belong to all struggles of the sort, and that there is no open door or easy road into any remunerative labour field unless influence or the Lucky Spoon belongs to the aspirant F I venture to give a little of my own experience as encouragement for young authors. I began literary work without experience and vyithout influence. I had MS. rejected again and again; and but for “ bairns’ bread ” depending on my efforts I must have given up the unequal fight. My work I know was crude, and I am not blaming the editors for rejecting it—though I often proved they had not turned a leaf of the MS. submitted ! A secret conviction that I could originate “copy” equal to the usual magazine material kept my courage going, and eventually I have disposed of work at a very good rate. Had my health and other duties allowed continuous work I could have realised from £400 to £500 a year by what I call “ hack-work.” I have seldom been able to revise my work as I could wish, or give the best that was “in me,” for the simple reason that my stories had to be potboilers, written and sent off in dire haste. Yet T have not found it difficult to earn money by journalistic writing. Where I have met difficulty has been with publishers of books, not editors of magazines and newspapers, who, as a rule, [ find most courteous and obliging. I have never published a volume at my own risk. I hold that an author is not wise to “ risk” when a publisher refuses tv do so. I have had some thirty volumes issued by various publishers. The contents of these books were almost altogether reprints, and for copy- right of these I have never received over £40; m most cases about £20; in some cases £0! Some of these books are in the third edition, which II! perhaps proves that I would not have erred if I had “ risked” oa my own account. For serial tales I have received as much as £150 for first issue (copyright mine). I advise young authors without means to content themselves with hack-work till their genius disovers itself m some magnum opus which will bring the publishers to the author’s feet. I believe there is always a modest income in journalistic work for an intelligent and cultured person to whom the “ gift of the pen,” if not the ‘‘ divine afflatus,” belongs. What I say does not of course apply anyhow to the host of persons afilicted with a common disease known as “see-myself-in-print.” To those individuals must come at last the know- ledge that they are (as Mr. Julian Croskey puts it) “mentally competent for nothing but the lowest form of manual labour.” The despairing wails of such must not be mistaken for the “ agonising” of struggling genius. Is not three years a very short period to allow for experimenting in the trade of an author ? All skilled workmen have to pass through a long apprenticeship and do not always find employment at their command before they become adepts at their trade, secure of a good income. Please, Mr. Julian Croskey, like “ Oliver,” I “ ask for more’ time before giving up authorship in despair. JMS Ill.—* On Tue Srpe or Farivre.” “Self! Self! All for self, and let estimable virtue go hang,” says “ L. 8.” in the September number of The Author. Surely the pen that wrote those words must have been dipped in the gall of an unhappy personal experience. The present writer’s goosequill could tell a different story. Three, at least, of those whose names have become household words among chil- dren of the pen have bestowed upon it helpful advice, besides kindly encouraging words. For the scribblers in earnest the only road to success lies through drudgery and pertinacity, hardening the heart meanwhile against dis- appointment. For the mere dabblers who are spurred to write from vanity or desire for filthy lucre, advice is and must be useless. One thing is certain, namely, that estimable virtue need never go hang if it makes up its mind to live. SM. C.B. —o TV.—Tue Proression oF LETTERS. When a successful novelist—and we presume that Annabel Gray, the author of “Forbidden Banns,” &c., does not wish to be classed as a failure—asserts as a fact that the only way to I12 succeed is to pay for paragraphs, 7.e., puffs in papers, the inference seems obvious, but good feeling and fellowship prevent us from comment- ing too much on it, as she no doubt meant well, and wrote in the interests of those who are failures that they might not be too much out of conceit of themselves. For the encouragement of those who have not even perhaps obtained a footing on the first rung of the ladder, I will say that all the MSS. of mine that have been accepted have been so with- out either influence or interest by editors who are unknown to me. I do not say it to boast, for alas! the rejected outnumber the accepted to an appalling extent. Ihave heard many an un- welcome and disheartening thud in the letter-box, and expect to hear many more, but I do not let that discourage me, for I mean to keep on till I do succeed, and if life and health are granted me I know I shall in the end. I will say this, that all the work of mine that has been published has been paid for, for I have never allowed any of my MSS. to appear on other terms. Those who think to make headway by permitting their early writings to appear without remuneration, are, I consider, taking an unfair advantage of the ones who are dependent on their literary earnings, and I ques- tion whether they themselves benefit much by it. Marearita. V.—Is LireratuRE A PRecARIoUS PROFESSION ? In the majority of cases I should certainly reply, Yes—and I give my own experience as an example. Forty-one years ago I sold my first book, obtainmg £150 for it. The book was a success, and went through three editions. I was then written to by the editors of two magazines, asking me to write articles for them, and during several years I was a frequent contributor to such periodicals as Chambers’s Journal, the St. James’s Magazine, the Cornhill Magazine, Temple Bar, Beeton’s Boy’s Own Magazine, Routledge’s Every Boy’s Magazine, and others. During twenty years upwards of 250 of my articles were pub- lished and paid for. During the same period I wrote ten books, all of which I sold. My best year realised £250 and my worst £80. Then I was compelled to go to India, where writing was impossible, and was absent seven years. On my return to England, I found that some magazines to which I used to contribute had new editors, others had ceased to exist. I sent articles to various magazines, the editors of which had formerly asked me to contribute. After six or eight months these articles (on my inquiry) were returned, “with thanks”; when another article was sent the same results followed. THE AUTHOR. Two MS. books were sent to various publishers, but were returned with the remark that they had so many MS. on hand that they could not pay for mine. The climax was reached, however, when a literary agent informed me by a circular that he had exceptional means of disposing of authors’ MS.; his charge was one guinea, to accompany the MS., and a percentage on the sale price. I forwarded to him my MS. and one guinea. On the title page I gave the titles of four of my published works. After three months the agent returned my MS. with the remark that he regretted he could not get publishers to look at the first work of an author. It may be argued that my seven years’ absence from England had lost me my literary connection, but illness, and consequently inability to write, during even one-third of the time, might produce the same results, and we have here a lesson for would-be authors, who should not remain too long hidden from the public, and should keep in touch with editors and publishers. Had I been dependent on my pen, I should now be in the workhouse. The great drawback at present is over-produc- tion. There are hundreds of amateurs who, desirous of calling themselves authors, will pay publishers for publishing their books, hence a mass of rubbish floods the circulating libraries. The monthly magazine, too, is a formidable rival to the book, and few writers can command such high prices for magazine articles as to make literature a paying profession. To make money by one’s pen is certainly fasci- nating, but, except in a few successful cases, the disappointments are great: hence it is, in my opinion, that the life of the average author is not a happy one. C. [Illness or seven years’ absence would effectually destroy a clrentile in any other profession. The writer does not recognise the two main facts ; (1) that there are great prizes in literature; (2) that many hundreds or thousands live and thrive by the pen.—Ep. | VI.— Sate or Seconp-ciass Novets. In reply to M ’s criticism in the September number of The Author I would point out that obviously publishers do not take up work on which they anticipate a loss; it would not be necessary to pay a literary adviser to help them to do that. If ‘well-known authors” only com- manded a sale of 400 copies, their agents would never get them a substantial advance on account of royalties. But their agents do. There is no dead level of sales of “first books.” It is incon- venient to mention works in this connection, but:  THE AUTHOR. anyone who calls to mind a list of such books will see how the movement of them varies from sales that are practically null to brilliant success. Expenditure on advertisements will not make a public for a book; the question is, to what class or classes of readers will the work thoroughly appeal. This is a matter for a publisher’s judg- ment, and his reader’s report ought to help him. “Mr. Guddle” would trust to his judgment in cal- culating sales. I repeat that if he had anticipated a loss he would have declined the book for that reason. It is a matter of common experience that the rejection of a manuscript by four firms has nothing to do with the opinion which the fifth may form of it, or with the success of the book when published. Your correspondent wishes to know in effect how I came by the materials of the story. I can assure him that it is entirely founded on hard facts, but I think he will appreciate the reasons why I refrain from communicating details. I did not read the letter of “A Publisher” in Literature of Jan. 21, to which your correspon- dent refers. Mo.Lecvte. VIL.—LitERATURE AS A PROFESSION. The contribution under this heading signed “X.” in the last number of The Author, strongly supported as it was by Mr. Julian Croskey’s gloomy personal experience of Literature as a trade or profession, is certainly calculated to make young literary aspirants pause before embarking on this perilous sea. None but the few popular novelists, able always to secure “ serial rights,” will deny that Literature at the best is still, as in the days of Sir Walter Scott, a crutch rather than a support, and there are a vast horde of trained and educated men and women able and willing to write on any and every subject if only publishers will publish and the public will buy. And the tendency of things— mainly caused by free and compulsory education —is to increase what is undoubtedly a crying evil from the standpomt of the professional author. At the same time I cannot but think that “ X.” weakens his case by over-stating it. There is little sense in abusing Tennyson because he happens to be the one poet of our time who was fortunate enough to turn his rhymes into golden guineas. It does not detract from the genius of Dickens or Thackeray that they are popular and successful. It seems to me that the case of authorship as a profession may be stated thus: The vast majority of literary men and women barely make an existence by the pen, and certainly not by writing books ; a large and perhaps, as Sir 143 Walter Besant maintains, steadily increasing class of writers can earn fairly good wages; while now and again (outside of serial fictionists) a singu- larly fortunate man or woman, either with dis- tinct originality and literary genius, or with that peculiar and felicitous commonplaceness which exactly answers to the needs of vast half-educated crowds, may achieve both fame (or notoriety) and fortune. What I think “X” quite overlooks is the increasing evanescence of all literary works, so that a modern writer, like an actor, must in future make a “ hit”’ on his appearance, or stand a good chance of being utterly ignored. A book is now, as a rule, merely a bound uewspaper which is thrown aside and forgotten when it has been hastily read. A. Parcuerr Marru. VIII.—Usetess Reviews. I am anew writer, and have just published my second book, and I have read with great interest what the Society of Authors has published regarding the methods of publishing. There is, however, one point that seems to me obscure. With my first book, an expensive one, there was a debit of over fifty copies sent for review. With my later book, a six-shilling one, there will pro- bably be far more. What I do not understand is why so many copies are wasted. There are a certain number of weeklies whose reviews are carefully written, and whose notice, whether praise or blame, is worth noting. There are a smaller number of dailies, of which the same may be said, some in London,and some in the provinces. But with a great number of papers, especially country papers, it is clearly the fact that the reviews are written either by the daughter of the editor as a holiday task or by the office boy in intervals of boot blacking. It is quite impossible to believe that any readers of books can be influenced by notices in these papers, whether favourable or the reverse. It is indeed even less. flattering to be praised by them than to be blamed. Then why are the review copies sent ? A soap or a bicycle if good gets a sale without touting for gratuitous advertisements of such a nature. Why should authors or publishers so degrade themselves by touting, i.e., by sending free copies, when the gratuitous “ad.” is worth- less? To those papers which deal in literature, and whose word is worth having, it may be useful to send a copy, useful both for the writer and the paper. But the others? No one cares for what they say, then why send review copies? I suppose the publishers have some sort of an idea that it helps the sale of the book to get the suffrage of the Slocum Gazette. But does it? 1I4 It used to be said that an appreciative review in the Times would sell an edition; how many copies will the North Thule Advertiser sell, even if it declares the book “a superb revelation of innate soulfulness ” ? W. IX.—A Correction. As the writer of the second letter in last month’s correspondence, I must amiably protest against one’s experiences being dubbed “ illu- sions.” (By-the-bye, on p. 94, for lines read hints.) The writer is proud to be referred to as he, but that is an illusion, if you please, as also the supposition that the unresponsive popular author spoken of is a leading man of letters. No, no! Men and editors are the queerest things out, but I dare not lay to their charge the accusation of “petty jealousy.” Neither can I gracefully and humbly retire to a back seat fully convinced that my work must perforce be bad, because — well, because it occasionally gets returned by mistake ! L. 8. X.—An Experience or Epirors. Some years ago I published a number of short poems, under a nom de plume, in a high-class continental monthly magazine, now, owing to the death of the lady who owned and edited it, unfor- tunately defunct. A selection of these I sub- mitted to the editor of Hearth and Home, hoping he would present them to English readers. In due course I received from him three memo- randa of acceptation. Time, however, passed without bringing about the publication of the matter in question; so that, eventually, I decided to wait no longer, but to recover the verses with a view to their appear- ance under an editor less procrastinating. I despatched my reclaimed “copy” to the editor of the Young Man, Young Woman, &c., together with, as evidence of bona fides, the memoranda of acceptance from the editor of Hearth and Home. These I naturally asked him to return. Verses and memoranda were sent to the editor mentioned on Oct. 19, 1898. On Nov. 29, 1898, on Jan. 5 and 24, on Feb. 6 and 20, 1899, and lastly, early in July this year, I have requested to learn the fate of the verses, their return if unsuitable, and, in particular, the return of the memoranda from the editor of Hearth and Home. Each and all of my com- munications have been completely ignored. Herezert W. Smite. Derbyshire-road, Sale. [This letter has been submitted to the Secre- THE AUTHOR. tary. He points out that the writer has no proof that his MSS. ever reached the editor’s hand. It is not likely that he would remember receiving one out of many hundreds of MSS. coming daily to his office. A reply, however, would be courteous. Meanwhile, writers in general should understand that rejected verses are commonly consigned to the basket.—Eb.] XI.—Dopers 1n JoURNALISM. I addressed a letter to a well-known organ of the halfpenny Press upon what I considered an interesting topic. A day or so after, the identical words employed were served up as news. I con- tend that this is not fair treatment or a practice to be commended if the journalistic nest is to be kept clean, as all would desire. Such methods tend to disgust and alienate the friendly corre- spondent who is, after all, no mean factor when a newspaper’s circulation is considered. Oup Birp. XII.—Simvxttaneous PUBLICATION. Jf you think that the information I am about to ask of you with reference to U.S. copyright will be useful to many of your readers—as I fancy it will be—will you kindly answer this letter in the columns of The Author. I have published a few novels and short stories in London, and have, with mixed feelings, received the congratulations of friends upon the other side of the Atlantic, who have seen some of the short stories reproduced, without any profit to me, in American papers. Finding this compliment unsatisfactory, I have lately sent typed copies simultaneously to the U.S. (for a painstaking and enthusiastic relative to offer) and to Lon«ton editors. Result.—Two stories accepted in the U.S., one of which is already published in a London evening paper, the other (longer) not yet accepted by the London magazine to which I sent it, but, so far as I can judge by previous experiences, likely to be acceptable there or elsewhere. Also.—T wo other short stories accepted on this side, which have scarcely yet reached the other. It seems reasonable to suppose that one of these four stories may be accepted on both sides. Indeed (you see how confused I am getting), as I have already stated, one very short sketch is accepted in the United States and already pub- lished here. But in that case the United States people were told of the circumstance. One or all of the other three stories accepted by one side may be taken also on the other. If, on one side, story A. is taken by a monthly magazine, and on the other by a weekly paper, is  THE it necessary that both issue the story on the same date, week or month, to secure copyright ? If a weekly paper issue story A. in October, while an English magazine expresses an intention to use it in the Christmas number coming out about the end of November, what should I do? Would the rights of the English magazine be in any way infringed, practically if not legally ? Would its editor be morally or legally justified in considering his offer nullified ? In fact, in the case of any average or below-the- average author, will an interval of a few weeks between the two publications interest or hurt any- one ? Tf these questions prove of such general interest as to be worth publication and reply, perhaps you can add, in the most general terms, some sugges- tion as to the relative rates of payment on both sides. For example, rights of a short story here. on the other side ? I get fifteen guineas for serial What should I ask IGNORAMUS. BOOKS AND REVIEWS. (In these columns notes on books are given from reviews which carry weight, and are not, so far as can be learned, logrollers.) Letters of RicHARD WAGNER TO EMIL HECKEL and Letters oF RicHARD WAGNER TO WESENDOCK et. al., translated by William A. Ellis (5s. net each), ‘present to us,” says Literature, “little more than an external view of the great musician, of the man harassed by pecuniary troubles, by rehearsals and productions, by singers and by constant disappointments” ; yet the details enhance one’s admiration of Wagner. The letters range from 1852 to 1883, and “ deserve to be read,” says the Times, “by every lover of Wagner’s music.” “To English readers the most interesting part of the book will be the long letters dated from London in 1855, when Wagner was engaged as conductor of the Philharmonic concerts.” ‘ No one desirous of having a sympathetic understanding of Wagner as a man can afford to pass by these two small volumes,” says the Daily Chronicle. Tue Lire AND CAMPAIGNS OF ALEXANDER LESLIE, first Earl of Leven, by Charles Sanford Terry (Longmans, 16s.), is his story of a scion of an Aberdeenshire family who when scarcely out of his teens went to the Continent to make his fortune by the sword. Leaving Scotland in 1582, he came back in 1638 a rich man. “Mr. Terry’s careful and accurate narrative,” says the Daily News, “ will do much to rescue Leslie from the charges of greed, and even of cowardice which have been brought against him.” Tue ORANGE Gir, by Walter Besant (Chatto, 63.), is described by the Spectator as “an interesting romance of the King’s Bench Prison in the middle of the eighteenth century. The hero and narrator is the son of a wealthy merchant, Alderman, and ex-Lord Mayor, turned out of his father’s house for preferring music to commerce.” “ The story from first to last does not flag in picturesque spirit AUTHOR. 115 and interest,” says the Daily Chronicle. “ Since ‘ Dorothy Forster’ Sir Walter Besant has not written any novel surpassing this in the restoration of place, manners, and tone, nor has he drawn character more convincingly. The story is very clever and quite uncommon. In all the author’s writings there is no scene more powerful than the terrible one of the pillory; or picture more beautiful than Jenny Wilmot’s dealing with her fellow- prisoner, the woman who swore away her life.”— World. “Tike all Sir Walter’s books, this is delightful read- ing. . We are carried away by admiration for the vivid insight into this corner of English history here afforded us, and must congratulate the author on adding to our library one more success in a field peculiarly his own.” St. James’s Gazette. Tue Actor AND His ART, by Stanley Jones (Downey, gs. 6d.), is a book of essays which ‘are not likely to prove pleasant reading to actor-managers, or indeed to actors generally.” The author prophesies the downfall of the actor-manager, and believes that the drama will not advance until the actor again becomes the servant instead of the master. It is the opinion of the Daily Chronicle that the book “‘is worthy the attention of professional performers.” Tos Lire oF WintraAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, by Lewis Melville (Hutchinson, 32s.), isan “ extremely valuable work” (Daily Telegraph) which, says the Daily Chronicle, “ taken in conjunction with Mrs. Ritchie’s reminiscences of her father, may be said to exhaust the biographical matter about Thackeray.” The Daily News remarks that of course Mr. Melville has not had any assistance from Thackeray’s family, but itis, nevertheless, “ the fullest and most interest- ing account of Tr ackeray’s career, both public and private, that has yet been given to the world.” TRoopR 3809; A Private Soldier of the Third Republic, by Lionel Decle (Heinemann, 6s.), deals with the military system of France, as administered by its officers. ‘‘ Taken as a whole,” writes Mr. Horace Wyndham in Literature, “these pages form a grim and terrible picture, and present a record of things seen and suffered that, to one who is able to contrast these experiences with those that could possibly accrue to a private soldier of the English army during the same period, seems almost impossible to realise.” “Tt is a clear and careful work, moderate in tone,” says the Spectator. Tue RoMANCE or Lupwic Il. or Bavaria, by Frances Gerard (Hutchinson, 16s.), is pronounced by the Spectator to be “readable from end to end,” and by the Daily Tele- graph to be “ sympathetic, and for that reason interesting.’ “ This most interesting volume,” says the Daily Chronicle, “may be regarded as a sort of complement to the tragic life story of the late Empress of Austria,” published a month or two ago. Tue GOVERNMENT oF Municrpauities, by Dorman B, Baton (Macmillan, 17s. net) has for its object, says Litera- ture, “to stimulate and guide public opinion throughout the country in its growing demand for sound, stable, and reasonably uniform municipal institutions.” It is well- reasoned and temperate; and “it vividly describes the chaotic condition of American municipal life, and of American ideas on municipal matters, which has every where thrown the gates of the city wide open to the party spoils- man, and exposes the methods and policy by which he has hitherto maintained his post of advantage.” Wuern Roaurs Faun Ovr, by Joseph Hatton (Pearson, 6s.), has for hero the notorious Jack Sheppard. ‘The romance is spirited and dramatic,” says the Daily News, « with occasional incursions into a Victor Hugo-ish vein of 116 philosophy. It is a painstaking and picturesque present- ment of a most picturesque and lawless age—the early part of the 18th century.” Mammon AnD Co., by E. F. Benson (Heinemann, 6s.), is .on the whole, says Literature, a novel of mark. In it the author of “Dodo” “invites us to follow the fortunes of a little coterie of ‘smart’ people whose time is divided between intrigue and Stock Exchange speculation.” The Spectator calls the book “ clever and interesting,’ and says that Mr. Benson here “ranges himself unmistakably on the side of the angels.” ‘It is cleverish, it is smart, it has a background of morality,” says the Daily Chronicle, which predicts for it popularity. Tux Kine’s Mrrror, by Anthony Hope (Methuen, 6s.), says the Spectator, “in elegance, delicacy, and tact ranks with the best of the author’s previous novels, while there in the wide range of its portraiture and the subtlety of its analysis it surpasses all his earlier ventures.” ‘‘ One is compelled to admire the manner in which Mr. Hope has handled his subject,” says the Times. “ The autobiography is in its way a convincing tour de force, especially in the earlier chapters.” ‘‘A strong book, charged with close analysis and exquisite irony,’ is the Daily Chronicle verdict, while Literature, describing the work as “ a quiet and careful study of the private life of a king,” adds that Mr. Hope “has never spoken to us so directly from the point of view of the cynic and the philosopher” as in this book. “It is subtly done,” says the Daily News, “with a delicate inciseness of touch, felicity of dialogue, and distinction of treatment.” To Lonpon Town, by Arthur Morrison (Methuen, 6s.), the story of a widow and her two children who come to East London that the boy may learn a trade, is reviewed by Mr. W. L. Courtney in the Daily Telegraph under the heading ‘‘ Mr Morrison—the Idealist.” The writer says the book shows that the author has “the eye to observe how nature is justified of her children, and provides the com- pensating joys to all their heartrending hardships.” The Daily News also notes “a charm, a sunny optimism” in the book, and has “nothing but praise to give to Mr. Morrison for the literary excellence of his workmanship and his clearness of presentation.” The Daily Chronicle describes it as a work of interest, while the Spectator says “ itis not only a work of great intrinsic merit, but it effectually relieves the author from the imputation ” “ of conscious and incorrigible pessimism.” SrrEN City, by Benjamin Swift (Methuen, 6s.), is the story of the infatuation of the romantic daughter of a rich Puritanical English banker for a shady, impoverished scion of Neapolitan nobility, fast bound in the hands of usurers and Camarristas. Literature says that “not only in purity and simplicity of style, but in verisimilitude of plot and soundness of psychology” this book shows a remarkable advance on the author’s ‘‘Tormentor.” ‘On the whole,” says the Daily Telegraph, “the dénowement of this briliantly-written story is satisfactory, for it rewards virtue and punishes vice in the good old fictional fashion.” “There is in it so much beauty of description, chapters of so much tragic pathos,” says the Daily News, “that it stands out high above the run of ordinary novels.” Tur PATH or A Star, by Mrs. Everard Cotes (Sarah Jeannette Duncan) (Methuen, 6s.) is cheerful reading, says the Times. ‘“ The characters all talk brightly, and the pictures of ordinary Indian society are good.” The Chronicle welcomes a novel by this author as “a real joy and refreshment to the spirit,’ and very cordially recom- mends it. The scene is laid in Calcutta; the heroines are a Salvation Army lass and an actress, and the heroes a THE AUTHOR. rich business man and an austere clergyman. Mrs. Coteg has availed herself to the full of the picturesque oppor- tunities thus provided, says Literature. ‘“ Her sketches of Indian life are admirable, and in her description of a touring company in Calcutta and the Salvation Army and its methods there is no little humour.” CHRONICLES OF TEDDY’s VILLAGE, by Mrs. Murray Hickson (Ward and Lock, 3s. 6d.), provides the many sympathetic readers of “ Concerning Teddy” with a com- panion or complementary volume. ‘‘ We are glad to meet Teddy again,’ adds the Spectator. ‘“ Teddy and his brothers are always good companions,” says the Times. Tue Human Boy, by Eden Phillpotts (Methuen, 6s.), ‘is a wonderfully good collection of schoolboys’ stories (Guardian) told by themselves ; as full of humour as it can hold.” It is difficult to realise that the book was not really written by boys, says the Spectator, “so completely has the author entered into their spirit.” ‘‘ His boys are individuals as well as types,’ says the Daily Chronicle ; “there is no sloppy sentimentality about them, and they never appear to be straining desperately to say anything funny or pathetic.” THE VINE-DRESSER, and other Poems, by J. Sturge Moore (Unicorn Press, 6d.), ‘“‘ is something more than minor poetry,” in the opinion of Literature. ‘The verse has power and distinction, and the poet has something to say.” The reviewer quotes “ Judith,” and “ The Panther” as pieces which compel attention by their imaginative force. The Times says that ‘‘ Mr. Moore’s is an austere and rather a stiff-jointed muse, but she is of the true lineage.’ The Daily Chronicle says ‘‘ Mr. Moore has a small stiff gift, but it will support exaggerated praise.” PUNCHINELLO (Bowden, 6s.) ‘is a well-written romance of a tragical complexion,” says the Spectator. The narrator is a musical genius and a hunchback; the period, the eighteenth century. It is an interesting and clever study of a morbidly sensitive temperament, in presenting which the anonymous writer displays a gift of genuine eloquence, and at times real subtlety of imagination.” The Guardian remarks that “ the tragedy of the inner consciousness of the hunchback is dramatised with remarkable force, sincerity, and subtlety.” Tue Moprern Jew, by Arnold White (Heinemann, 7s. Od.), “goes over most of the perils raised by that enigmatic figure, the modern Jew, and gives many facts and suggestions” says Literature, “of some value in enabling the reader to come to a judgment.” The Daily Chronicle describes it as “a most interesting and sugges- tive book,” which is neither pleasant reading all through to Jew nor anti-Semite. CroquEtT, by Leonard B. Williams (Innes, §s.), is “valuable, very clear, and moderately—often uncon- sciously—humorous,” says the Guardian. “ It is agreeably written,” says the Spectator, “ and furnished with diagrams both of ground and tactics, and of the mechanical laws involved in the different strokes.” Mr. J. Eveleigh Nash, LITERARY AGENT, AMBERLEY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET STRAND, W.C. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 10 Issue 05 (October 1899) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 10 Issue 05 (October 1899) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1899-10-02-The-Author-10-5 publications The Author