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deputation if any useful purpose could be served thereby; but he fears that there is some misapprehension as to the power of the First Lord of the Treasury in regard to the Fund.

The administration is governed strictly by Act of Parliament, and the intervention of the First Lord is limited to that discretion which must in such cases finally rest with some one responsible minister; his decisions, although not subject to the review of Parliament, are by Act yearly brought under the cognisance of both Houses and of the public, by the annual return of all pensions granted within the year.

To make such changes as the memorial suggests would necessitate a new Act of Parliament, and Mr. Smith does not think that there has been any such expression of dissatisfaction either in the House or outside of it as would justify the proposal, while on the other hand, he fears that Parliament would be very unlikely to agree to an increase of the sum annually set apart for the Pension List.

Mr. Smith must also point out that the figures in the memorial, accepting them as fairly correct, show that the practical administration of the Fund is almost identical with the distribution proposed by the Societies, namely, one-third to the services rendered to the Sovereign and under the Crown, and two-thirds to the representatives of Science, Literature, and Art.

With this explanation, and looking also to the extreme pressure of engagements on his time,

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It is pleasant to find that one's efforts are appreciated by all the persons concerned. I am therefore glad to report that The Author has received a cordial welcome from the Publisher's Circular. It has also received the kind of criticism which somewhat cools the cordiality. Let us repeat, therefore, one point on which we have always insisted and which those who profess to write in the trade interest always try to evade or else boldly deny, viz., that there is very little speculation or risk in modern publishing. However, since the Publisher's Circular declares that the Society has their "most hearty sympathy" in asking for "just and honest treatment, fair and open agreements, and honourable observance of those agreements,' we will not find fault with these criticisms, and we shall look for the practical co-operation of the Publisher's Circular, especially in our determination to show authors what, in their agreements, they concede to publishers and what they keep to themselves.

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that authors must work to live, and that if men are not forced to work they will for the most part produce nothing. The history of Literature in the eighteenth century is very closely bound up with the two houses of Longman and Rivington. If it were written, which never has been done, we should learn how the literary public-the people who read and look for new books, and buy them-gradually increased during this century, until by its close publishing was no longer a speculative and uncertain business conducted in ignorance by persons who had small means of judging the state of the market, who bought MSS. for so many guineas apiece, losing largely by one work, and doing pretty well by another. By the end of the eighteenth century the reign of the Book Clubs had already well set in; these were literary centres in provincial towns, such as Norwich and Birmingham; the clergy were scholars and students; a publisher knew where he could "place" a certain number of every good book; and a great change had come over the whole art and mystery of publishing books. Practically, "Risk," that good old Bogey whose demise. is still so persistently denied, had already vanished.

There appeared lately in the New York Tribune a communication signed by the well-known letters, G. W. S., which, beginning with the relations of bookseller to publisher, passed on to the questions in which we ourselves are mainly interested. It is this portion of the letter which we reproduce, suppressing the name referred to, as it has nothing to do with the argument.

"It is A. B. who, among others, makes himself responsible for the statement that it is rapidly becoming impossible for a bookseller, pure and simple, dealing in current literature, to make a living profit from his business. No doubt A. B. is right, if the publisher's view of what constitutes a 'living profit' is to prevail. A. B. is a partner in a very eminent publishing house, and anything he says on the publishing or selling of books deserves attention. He has written a long letter about

bookselling to a trade organ, and expresses some sympathy with the booksellers in their present difficulties. Before we proceed with that, might

I suggest to A. B. that some of his sympathies might be bestowed on another person concerned in the book business, the author? If the figures I have given above are correct, the seller of books, even in his present wretched estate, makes a profit of 30 per cent. Will A. B. be so kind as to tell us in what proportion the profits on a successful book are distributed between author and publisher? Does the author make a 'living profit' on what is commonly the only capital he possesses, his

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