known authors to newspapers and magazines.

(3) The copyrights of twelve romances.

We should like to say a few words about each. (1) The money value of the copyrights of the J.E.M. guide-books has been estimated by a person of experience, and we are bound to presume that he had before him all the necessary data, but we do not find that a statement made in the prospectus is borne out either by the literary agent's estimate or our own personal experience as to the value of different forms of literary property. It is said in the prospectus that guide-books pay almost better than any other class of books. On this we have to remark first, that in some cases the receipts obtained from the sale of guide-books are large, these are the cases where the expense to be incurred to make the production accurate and up to date, will be proportionately large; and secondly, that the number of guide-books which achieve substantial success is very small in comparison with the numbers issued. For each of which reasons we demur at the statement that they form a valuable class of books. If anyone has private information concerning the sale of the J.E.M. guide-books, such a person can act on his judgment, but to the ordinary public this would. not be a safe guide on this subject.

(2) There are large profits to be made by the syndicating of the works of certain authors, but not by the syndicating of the works of the writer in general. Now Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited, has, we gather from the prospectus, arisen from the ashes of "The Authors' Co-operative Publishing Company, Limited," and this latter Company published a list of certain of their clients whose work was available for syndicating purposes. In the absence from Tarstow, Denver and Company's prospectus of all mention of the well-known names upon whom it is proposed to rely, it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the authors whose works are to be syndicated are those mentioned in the Authors' Co-operative Publishing Company, Limited's list. Now this list did not consist of well-known authors. There were in it one or two good names and one or two more or less familiar names, but, as a whole, the gentlemen and ladies who were ready to supply work in serial form through the agency of the Authors' Co-operative Publishing Company, Limited, were not wellknown authors. If it is to these authors that the prospectus of Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited, refers, then, having recollection of the great practical difficulty in finding a serial market. for any but the work of the very best known people, we respectfully submit that the chances of large profits to the shareholders are very poor.

(3) The Company are to acquire the copyrights of twelve romances by a certain author. Here we are face to face with a difficulty. Romances are a valuable property, and do not require either the accurate attention or the careful revision, editing, and bringing up to date which must be so annoying to the author of a guide-book; but it is with romances as it is with guide-books-if they are not good the public won't have them, and if they are not by a well-known name the public won't look at them.

To which class do these twelve romances belong to either? to neither? to both? :

We do not speak in the least bit other than most courteously, but if the author writes under the name given in the circular he has not a well-known name; and to the best of our belief has not under that name given to the public as yet a good book. If, however, he writes under a nom-de-plume it is a different case entirely, and he may be the popular author of admirable romances; but then how does he come to have twelve on hand? We make bold to say that Miss Braddon and Mrs. Oliphant never yet got so far ahead of their market and their printer. The directors ought to take the investor more into their confidence, but in the absence of information on the subject we must examine this matter for ourselves. Either this author has tried to dispose of these romances in book form, and has not met with encouragement from the purblind publisher, and in that case we make bold to say that these copyrights are not worth buying or he has purposely kept his work back from a large and eager public, so that its value might be enhanced by the delay. In this latter case it would seem that he might be disposing of his copyrights cheaply, and that his best method of repaying himself for his work would be to take his payment in shares. If he has not wanted the publishers' money why should he want the money of Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited?

But, after all, these matters would become clear if we knew the names of the twelve romances and the places where they could be read in serial form. The investor is left too much in the dark. The Society of Authors would only too gladly recognize with cordiality the success of any scheme of any sort whereby authors, their agents, their employers, and their public could be brought to look upon literary work as property to be dealt with according to the usual rules prevalent in the disposal of other forms of property, but it cannot be conceded that Tarstow, Denver and Company Limited, hold forth-on examination of their prospectus-much chance of pecuniary benefit to the investor.

Τ

AN ENGLISH ACADEMY.

HE pressure on our space does not allow of a long letter from Mr. J. McGrigor Allan being printed in full. He quotes Bulwer Lytton on the Royal Society; but the Royal Society of 1891 is a very different institution from that of 1827. Also the same authority on the French Academy and on the Royal Academy. He concludes:-" Human nature and English character have not changed since Bulwer wrote. We know exactly what to expect, if an Academy of Letters should be established. It would be powerfully influenced-if not leavened, and actually governed by Royalty, Aristocracy, and the Clergy. The Republic of Letters would be heavily handicapped. A British Forty of Bishops, Historians, Poets, Essayists, Moral Philosophers, Philologists, and Scientists might not deign to recognise even a firstrate novelist as a man, or woman of letters. To many such, a popular novelist would hardly be known by report. Horace Walpole relates that Bishop Warburton recommended 'Tristram Shandy' to the Bench of Bishops, saying that the author was the English Rabelais. They had never heard of such a writer! An Oxford Professor thought Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' a religious work! In a Literary Academy, Clerical influence would be against novelists. Novels are denounced from the pulpit. Yet wise preachers recommended Richardson's novels. The most philosophical of French novelists, Balzac, was not a member of the Academy. If I am correct in thinking that an English Literary Academy (while welcoming princes and dukes) would hardly admit a Walter Scott, Literature would lose far more than it would gain, by establishing an English Academy of Letters."

I

THE EXCHANGE OF BOOKS.

N the Author for June of last year, a suggestion was made that we might organize a kind of Book Exchange. It was there pointed out that some men are constantly obliged to buy books for some special purpose which they do not want any more, and would be glad to exchange. Others there are who are always wanting to complete their sets, improve their collections, get first editions, all kinds of things.

Why, it was asked, cannot the Author give us space to advertise these wants and wares? Why not? If the idea seems practical, and one which might be taken up with advantage, let it be carried

A

IN GRUB STREET.

UTHORS may be interested to know that the movement set on foot at Mr. Henry Blackburn's Art School in Victoria Street, to give information as to the best way to draw for reproduction in the press, is now thoroughly established. A considerable number of students have qualified themselves according to their ability, for drawing for the press, and more than one author of note has mastered the technique of book illustration. But Mr. Henry Blackburn's greatest prize in his school is a real life "art-critic." "At last," he says, "there will be one reviewer capable of speaking of the modern 'processes' from personal knowledge."

The firm of Field and Tuer is dissolved, Mr. Field retiring. Mr. Andrew W. Tuer will continue the publishing and printing businesses, &c., under the style of the Leadenhall Press.

Messrs. Bentley have just issued a novel by Mr. Egerton Castle, under the title of "Consequences." Mr. Castle is well-known as a skilful swordsman and also as a writer on swordsmanship. His "Masters of Fence" is highly thought of by the comparatively small circle of readers competent to express an opinion; such a work and his bibliography of fencing appended to Mr. W. H. Pollock and Mr. Grove's "Fencing" volume of the Badminton Library showed that a master of fence may be at the same time an antiquarian and a scholar. scholar. Readers who had the good fortune to light on a short story which Mr. Castle contributed some time ago to the Cornhill will not be surprised if he wins laurels on a larger field.

Mr. Lockwood, speaking the other day on literature at the Graphic dinner, expressed himself profoundly sensible of the truth of the proverb, that "the pen is mightier than the sword." His experience of the sword, however, he went on to confess, was limited. It seems he had to wear one once at a Mansion House Dinner.

It would be invidious to inquire as regards the obituary of the year 1890, [whether the year has given us as much as it has taken away. Half-adozen future geniuses may have been born, and it would be premature to prophesy immortality or oblivion for this or that work. Many may have been overestimated, many great books may have been passed over. Even allowing for this, however, it cannot be said to have been an annus mirabilis. Of course everyone has been occupied with more important subjects than literature. Cannibalism, libel actions, divorce suits, ecclesiastical persecution, and a thousand other burning topics have taken up everyone's time. Curiously enough poetry has come out the best. Setting aside the work of those already famous, there has been some excellent verses from recent hands this last year. Much of it should find a place in some future England's

Helicon.

To find the annus mirabilis of English literature one must go back to the fifties. Take 1855. In that excellent catalogue of Mr. Henry Morley's, "A Sketch of English Literature," he gives, among others, the following as all issued in this remarkable year: Robert Browning, "Men and Women"; Alfred Tennyson, "Maud"; Dickens, "Little Dorrit "; Thackeray, "The Rose and the Ring"; Charles Kingsley, "Westward Ho!"; George "Westward Ho!"; George Meredith, "Shaving of Shagpat "; Leigh Hunt, "Old Court Suburb"; Anthony Trollope, "The Warden"; Matthew Arnold, "Poems "; and the Saturday Review was established. '58, 59, 62, '64, were also extraordinary for the number and excellence of great works. The Saturday Review was a contribution to literature no less than journalism. As a Radical remarked the other day, the Times and the Saturday Review are the two best papers in the world.

The public have a right, perhaps, to expect something ever new and delightful from the author of "A Daughter of Heth"; yet the most sanguine may well be enthusiastic over Mr. Black's latest novel, "Stand Fast, Craig Royston." Though published at the end of the year, it is rather the book of the New Year. It will be admitted that even

Mr. Black has never achieved such a masterly piece of characterisation as that of old George Bethune. One of the great merits of the book is its modernity. You feel you have met the sort of people Mr. Black describes; they are not stuffed dolls dressed in nineteenth century clothes, with conversation culled from primæval Ollendorf.

Mr.

Harris, the millionaire socialist, is highly humorous, but of minor characters the best is Mr. Courtney

Fox, London Correspondent of the Edinburgh Chronicle, whose sentiments about the northern capital I must confess to sharing.

Messrs. Macmillan have just issued a pocket volume of the complete works of Lord Tennyson. Of course the double column was a necessity, but why should the exterior be made to resemble a prayer book? Surely it was not an intentional resemblance to defy detection when the Idylls of the King are preferable to a dull sermon. I suppose there are people who carry favourite books about in their pockets wherever they go, but one only hears of them in romance. Except on a railway journey it is the last place I should put a book. For the prevailing passion of compressing great authors into the smallest space I have very little sympathy, unless it is to take them to church. Mr. Walter Scott, by the way, is to be congratulated on having erased the hideous red border on the pages of his Canterbury Poets, which disfigured the early volumes; it gave a very Common Prayer Book air to a number of not very religious bards.

The new edition of the "Earthly Paradise" in one volume has long been among the traditional felt wants. Mr. William Morris is certainly the third among the sons of light now living. His many admirers cannot but regret his desertion of the Muses for very ephemeral socialistic literature, whose chief object is to promote an earthly other place. Once I was talking to a follower and admirer of Mr. William Morris, who was deeply read in the master's works; but he objected to the 'Earthly Paradise" for two reasons. One was

66

Cory, and fortunate possessors of these have always recognised in him one of the most original of modern poets, as indeed he was the most rare. At the sale of the late Provost of King's Library a copy went for as much as three guineas. In the anthology of "Living English Poets," the author was represented by "Mimnermus in Church," but until Mr. George Allen's republication there has been no second edition. The wonderful rendering of the lines of Callimachus from the Greek Anthology has long been in verbal circulation, but I do not think it has ever been reprinted. There are many poems that are new in this volume, but this will not detract from the first edition, so that bibliophils need not despair. I believe a first edition only becomes precious when a second has been issued. There was more of fulfilment than promise in "Ionica," and the new poems show no sign of falling off.

Some American, I hear, is buying up all the édition de luxe of the Henry Irving Shakespeare; as a speculation, I suppose. It has not gone very well so far, but this should make it valuable, and would please political economists if no one else.

Among many other reprints is the "Hypnotomachia Poliphili," which comes out under the auspices of Mr. Andrew Lang, in the "Tudor Library," and therefore everyone who is able will purchase; those who are unable will sell all they have to do so.

Does the study of Greek, even of the most superficial nature, benefit a man? Those schools with modern and classic sides surely will meet the views of the cheap science and Stratford-atteBowe-French advocates. John Bright is always held up as a master of English, as one who knew no Greek, who preferred Thucydides in translation to the original (with which he was unacquainted). But it is not by selecting individual exceptions that the case is proved. Everyone cannot know Greek, but if it becomes a speciality it will not have the influence it has had hitherto. As Mr. Oscar Wilde said, Bohn's cribs would be a much better instance than John Bright against the retention of Greek as a compulsory subject. It might be a case for an academy to decide.

A new novel by John Strange Winter will be commenced in Lloyd's weekly newspaper, on February 1st. It is a tale of the Divorce Court.

VOL. I.

A new novel by Bertram Mitford, author of "The Fire Trumpet," is announced by Messrs. Sutton and Drowley, under the terrific title of "The Weird of Murderer's Hollow."

"L

CASES.

I.

AST January a certain artistic journal was taken over by a well-known London publisher, re-named, and re-issued with a flourish of trumpets in the shape of a list of contributors, containing some of our best known writers and artists. Thinking this a sufficient guarantee, I sent a MS. with ten or twelve tone drawings (I had already contributed to the journal under its old name). Some time in the early days of 1890 I heard unpleasant rumours, and to make sure I wrote to the editor, and stating my price, asked for its return, if unavailable. In May he replied that the sum was too high, that he did not wish 'to beat me down' if I could place it elsewhere, but that if you care to let me have it, I shall be glad to hear your lowest price, and perhaps we may come to terms.' My price being at the usual rate, I replied that as I could not take less, I should be glad to have the MS. back. Summer came; I went abroad, and only in October did I hear that the review had collapsed. I thereupon wrote to the publisher for my MS. (a friend had received hers), and he replied that my letter had been sent on to the late editor. Hearing nothing, I wrote again with the same results. What is to be done? Is the publisher liable? MSS. may get mislaid, but drawings do not easily, and they make pretty scrap books."

Another case.

II.

"MS. accepted and price stated by letter. Review ceases to exist. Editor wishes to return them because they are no longer of any use (one was waiting eighteen months before the crash came, for its turn). Is this just? Supposing I order coals in June, and in December I take to gas stoves, am I honest in refusing to pay for the coals, and will the merchant come and fetch them if I say I have no longer any use for them? Probably I should be marched to the County Court under such conditions. Why then should not editors and publishers be made to pay for goods they have distinctly bought at a specified

U

price? In the discussion which took place in the Times touching publishers and authors, we were told that as the former bore the losses, they were entitled to the profits. But here are cases in which the publishers and proprietors take the profits, and the authors bear the loss, pecuniary and otherwise, as well as of their absolute property. It is not the author's fault if an editor accepts more MSS. than he can use before the smash comes; and they seem to me to be the only sort of dry goods which a purchaser can send back after eighteen months' possession. In the discussion referred to, one of the writers spoke of its being "charity" to give an author more money than he agreed to take, supposing his work prove a success; but he omitted to state whether he considered it to be mean, to say the least, to refuse to pay what had been arranged, because the periodical comes to an end. It is no question of extra payment under certain conditions, but of the sum promised months ago. We hear a great deal of abuse of American procedure; I can only say, that in my limited experience, I have always been treated justly, and in a gentlemanly manner, by Americans. The cases I have cited are purely British."

III.

X. Y. Z.

We have at different times received numerous complaints from our members, and from authors outside our ranks, that the behaviour of the proprietors or editors of certain magazines is not only wanting in courtesy-which may be nothing in business, but in honesty-which is a great deal.

We have before us information as to the payments usually made by all sorts of serials, daily, weekly, and monthly, high-class, middle and low, to their contributors, and the result has been that we know which are the just and courteous, which are the grave offenders, and which are the merely unmannerly and unbusinesslike. If anybody is anxious to know what his or her chance may be of getting paid for contributions to any particular paper, and how long they may have to wait for the money, the information can in most cases be obtained from our Secretary, whose communications will in all necessary cases be of a strictly libellous character.