so true it is, and so complete in its details. Was it conscience or was it revenge which forced this experienced person to reveal the secrets?

"We have taken your new MS. on the old terms,” said a certain small publisher recently. "Of course, however, you will not join the Society of Authors. In fact, we put a black mark against the name of every member of that Society." The writer of that work is a member. If this remark has been made to anybody else, let me hasten to point out that if this publisher were to put all the black marks he has got against all the names of all the authors, no harm whatever would be done because in such a case we should immediately find other publishers who would do the work of production and distribution quite as well, and in this case perhaps much better. Fortunately the public cares nothing who publishes a book; it is concerned solely with the contents. Plenty of men-hundreds and thousands of menare willing and anxious to step into any trade by which they can make money. But to the marker in black-the black marker-we would point out very seriously that the Society itself can do a great deal more harm to a publisher than he can do to any individual member. We are now, he should understand, by no means a small, harmless, or a feeble body.

One does not like even the appearance of boastfulness, but the following little fact illustrates something approaching to power. There is a certain firm in this city of which it is sufficient to say that all the worst things ever alleged against the publishing trade may be brought together, and, with the greatest truth, alleged against this particular firm. We have for a long time kept work out of their hands, and we intend to go on doing so until they mend their ways. It was reckoned the other day, by one who has had the chief conduct of this business, that in the space of eighteen months or two years over £2,000 worth of work has been kept from these people, and that without reckoning on the chance of a big success among the authors kept from them. Now as writers learn more and more to distrust their own ignorance and to seek advice of those who know as to whom they should trust, this branch of our business will naturally increase and multiply.

—who are called novelists by the world, and make over a thousand a year by writing, though the whole income may be sometimes derived from other kinds of literary work. I know the facts partly from experience acquired in the offices of the Society, partly from information. A note in the St. James's Gazette asks whether these works are worth the money. This question denotes some confusion of ideas. For what is the actual worth of a book? You cannot measure it at all by money. A successful novelist is one who holds the attention, commands interest, awakens emotions, amuses or terrifies, calls up tears or laughter, and brings brightness into millions of dull lives. This great power is not to be valued by money at all. If the St. James's critic asks whether the books really produce by their sale all this money, that is a very different question. They really do and a very great deal more.

A

Here is an interesting little proposal. "Graduate of Oxford," modestly hiding his philanthropic name, has conceived a theory that there are many poets, as yet unrecognized, who would like their "best" verses-only their best, mind-to be published. He invites them, therefore, to send him two or three short poems not exceeding in all 120 lines. With their best verses is to be forwarded a guinea. In return the contributor will receive two copies of a handsome volume in which-oh! Joy and Glory!-his own best verses will appear. It will be like bringing out the best china, or wearing the best clothes, or sleeping in the best bed room, all these things being among the innocent pleasures of our ancestors. "These," will say the glorified bard, (C are my best verses; others I have, second best, for home consumption, and even third best, for washing day, but these are my best."

If the poet is to be made happy, what shall be said of the benevolent Graduate? His handsome volume contains, we will suppose, 20 sheets, or 320 pages, with, at the rate of three pages apiece, 107 contributors. He must print 214 copies at least. The cost of the volume will be about £35. Grateful to their Graduate, the poets will contribute £107. Net profit to the Graduate (besides. gratitude, warmth of heart, and glow of virtue) £72. Who will say that he is overpaid?

The Society does not, as a rule, work for people who are not members, but there are occasions on which it is necessary to break this rule. One such occurred the other day when a young writer sent up a grievous case. He had been writing steadily for a certain firm, until their obligations amounted to a considerable sum. He therefore

He

wrote for a cheque. He received no answer. wrote again--and again. There was still no answer. He wrote therefore to the Society. The firm were informed that if they preferred legal proceedings to paying their just debts, they could have them. They preferred, however, paying the author in full, with the statement that they had not received more than one letter of application. Now the firm will probably never take any more work from the young man. But this is the very best thing that could possibly happen to him. He will now try to get employed by some firm which does pay.

I give, after these notes, a brief resumé of a pamphlet addressed to the Publication Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. I have received other instances of their treatment of authors, even more flagrant than those quoted in the pamphlet. No answer has been vouchsafed to this pamphlet either by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the President of the Society, or by the Publication Committee. As this worthy body will not meet till October, further action in the matter is deferred until then, when I hope to parade a few more facts to delight the world with the "Christian" methods of dealing with other people's property.

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Among the "warnings" which we publish every month in The Author, and every year in the "Annual Report," is one which cautions writers against signing any agreement, in which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, without consulting the Society. A little circumstance which happened a year or two ago, and was related to me the other day by a very well known man of letters, illustrates the necessity for this warning. It is what mathematicians call an extreme casethat is to say, we have never at the Society come across one quite so extreme." Here it is-A person had produced a MS. on a certain subject. which she—it was a lady-wished to publish. She accordingly took it to a man whom she believed honest, and asked him if he would produce it. He agreed to do so if she would pay the whole cost of production. He sent an estimate of this. It amounted, according to his showing, to £120 for so many copies. She showed the estimate to a friend, who submitted the MS. to a printer. He offered to print and bind as many copies for the sum of £16-of course it was a very short manuscript. This was done and the work published. We have often seen the "cost of production" set down at double. But to multiply the actual cost by seven and a half shows an amount of enterprise which we could not previously expect.

WALTER BESANT.

"THE LITERARY HANDMAID OF THE CHURCH."

Τ'

HIS pamphlet appeared in the third week of June. A copy has been sent to the President and all the Vice-Presidents of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The following is an abridgment of its contents :

"The Publication Committee of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, in their Report for last year, announce that they will gladly receive any suggestion' which may enable them to make the venerable Society the most efficient literary handmaid of the Church of England throughout the world.'

"A Publication Committee has to do with Literary Property. It is therefore desirable first of all to lay down certain preliminary observations on the nature of Literary Property.

"(1.) First of all, it is very real property; it has its fluctuations, like corn, wine, and any other property; but it is a species of property which enables a few hundreds to live in great comfort, plenty, and luxury, and a great many thousands to live simply and carefully.

"(2.) Literary property is subject to the laws which protect all property. The simplest and the most comprehensive of all these laws is the Eighth Commandment, Thou shalt not steal.'

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Applied to literature and addressed to Publishers, Publishing Societies, and Publication Committees, this Commandment is thus to be interpreted: "Thou shalt not cheat the author while buying his work from him; thou shalt not pay the workmen a price which will reserve for thyself the principal profit; thou shalt remember that the work is his-his the design of it, his the invention, the fancy, the imagination, the learning, the brain, and the hand of it. It is not thine If it becomes thine it must be by an equitable agreement, which shall give thee only a fair reward for labour done, and leave to him all the rest.' In no other way can this Commandment be read and interpreted by a conscien tious Publication Committee.

at all.

"(3.) What is the value of a book? Clearly it is the price which it will fetch in the market. That is say, it depends upon the number of copies which the public will buy. An author, therefore, can claim his reward solely with reference to that number, and a publisher, can, equitably, make his offer of remuneration only with reference to that number.

"(4.) The publisher is an agent; he must be paid for his agency in managing, distributing, and collecting, out of the proceeds of the book. For his trouble he is entitled to a reasonable percentage on the proceeds.

"For example, if a publisher gives an author £30 for a book out of which he makes a nett profit of £100, knowing, or reasonably expecting, that he is going to make that, or some similar amount, he may be a successful trader, but he must be classed as a sweater and a robber in the eyes of honourable men, and especially of a Society which exists for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. For if Christian Knowledge be not promoted on Christian principles, then were it better not to be promoted at all. The author may never know that he has been robbed. But the fact remains. The Eighth Commandment still hangs upon the wall."

The pamphlet then goes on to speak of the four kinds of publishers.

"First, the upright, or perfect publisher. He, sensitive and tender of conscience, will not take from an author one penny more than is his own just due. He has settled with his conscience what he should be paid for what he has done, and

he will take no more. If he pays an author a sum of money down, it is considered by this person only as an advance on what may become due to him afterwards if his work succeeds. He will not publish bad work, or work that will not succeed. To have that publisher's name at the foot of a title-page is a hallmark of excellence. To be in his hands is to rest easy in the assurance that he will do the best for the book and be honest, that is, just, with the author.

"Where is that publisher to be found? Surely, we should look for him first in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It is a Society whose President is the Primate of all England; whose Vice-Presidents are all the Archbishops and Bishops; whose General Literature Committee contains nine clergymen out of twelve members; and whose three Secretaries are also Clergymen.

“There, if anywhere, should we expect to find the upright publisher.

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The second kind of publisher is he who belongs to a house well established and desirous to be considered as honourable. The distinction, let us remember, between the 'honourable' houses and those which are not honourable is well known and perfectly understood by all who have studied the business of publishing. Now when we divide publishing houses into those which are honourable and those which are dishonourable, there cannot, surely, be a doubt or a question on which side we ought to place the Literature Department of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge-the 'Literary Handmaid of the Church.' The gentlemen who form the Publication Committee shall themselves, if they please, when they have inquired into the conduct of their own business, answer that question, each in turn, after the manner of the House of Lords, every man his hand on his heart— Upon my Honour.'

"The third class is that of the knavish publisher. These gentry, of whom there are many, are those who rob and cheat the ignorant author in every account that they produce, who cheat and lie in their statements of the cost of production, of the sums spent in advertising, in the moneys they have received, and, in fact, in every way that can suggest itself to the ingenuity of man.

"The fourth class is that of the sweating publisher. "The Select Committee of the House of Lords, on the sweating system, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury, President of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, was a member, reports that the first evil of the sweating system is A rate of wages inadequate to the necessities of the workers or disproportionate to the work done.' Let us accept this definition, and apply it to this class of publishers.

"The sweating publisher, then, is one who grinds down the faces of his unfortunate authors, who offers a miserable sum for work which is going to bring him in a hundredfold profit-who scruples not to toss an author a ten-pound note for his labour, and without a pang of shame or remorse makes £50 or £100 or £500 profit for himself; who knows no law but the cruel law of supply and demand, and recognises no other right in an unfortunate author but his right to receive meekly the highest sum that he can

obtain.

"There are many of these people abroad. They deal largely with the productions of women. The sweater, it is well known, works more comfortably by means of women. They are helpless, they are ignorant of business, they are yielding; if they cannot be frightened they can be cajoled. And literary women, again, are timid about their own work, not knowing what amount of stability they have achieved or what is the extent of their popularity. Therefore the sweater can do what he pleases with them. If they venture gently to remonstrate, he bullies them; if they weep and entreat, he threatens. He enjoys making them feel that he is their master; he is never so happy as when he has them

at his feet, humiliated and submissive. The sweater is always a bully as well as a sweater.

"He has got all kinds of excuses for his sweating. His first excuse-in fact, the words are seldom out of his mouth-is that there is perfect freedom of contract between himself and his authors. 'It is take it or leave it. Here is a sum of money, there is the MS.' That is all. There is no other consideration.

"Freedom of contract! It is freedom of contract when the wretched seamstress toils all day long-a day of sixteen hours for 11d.-or less. She is free to take it or to leave it. It is freedom of contract when the poor woman who writes for her bread submits a manuscript which has cost her weeks and months of labour; yes, and that of a kind which requires, before it can be produced, a pure heart, a lofty soul, a brain rich with knowledge and a-glow with ideas, fancies, and a imaginings, and a trained hand. Such a woman is a most precious gift and blessing to the generation in which she lives and works. She may be a most potent force in the advancement of humanity. But she is also a most sensitive, and delicate instrument. And she has to deal with a sweater! She goes to him trembling, because she knows what to expect. He will toss her £10, £20, £30, £50, whatever it may be. And out of her book he will make to himself a profit of ten, twenty, fiftyfold.

"Freedom of contract! No greater mockery, no greater cruelty than to speak of such a woman driven to such necessities, as free to choose-free to accept or to reject. She is not free, she is the slave of the sweater."

After these preliminary considerations, the pamphlet quotes three several cases and describes the treatment received by the author in each, and the sums received.

In the first of these cases the Society bought, outright, the copyright of a small biographical work for the stupendous sum of £12! There was also a promise, as affirmed by the author, of future payment should the book prove "a success." What constitutes a success? The book is now in its seventh thousand-perhaps by this time in its eighth or ninth. The Secretary, while denying the promise, owns in his letters to a profit of about six times that of the author! This he states without a word of shame. Just as if it was a right and proper thing, a thing in accordance with the highest Christian ethics, that the Society should make this enormous proportion of profit! In a second case, the author, a lady, wrote ten books for the Society. She received, on an average, £50 a-piece for them. They were historical books and works of fiction. Taking one of the books as an example, it is shown that if 6,000 copies have been sold this just and generous Society has made a profit of about £330 to the author's £50, i.e., £33 55.; so that taking the whole ten books the profits of this Christian Society seem to stand at the figures of £2,739 to £415-the actual sumgiven to the author.

Who are the authors who write for this Society? "I turn next to the list of authors. Setting aside the clergymen who have written religious books and still keeping to the department of belles lettres and fiction, I find among the writers hardly one single name of those who at present

stand in the first rank, of those in the second rank half a dozen. The rest are wholly unknown and obscure. Why is this? Why does not this venerable Society, with its enormous prestige, its immense clientéle, its unparalleled power of selling books, command the services of the best writers? Have all the authors of Great Britain and Ireland abandoned the Faith of their Fathers? No bruit or rumour of so deplorable an apostacy has reached my ears. How, then, can we account for their absence?

"Is not the reason proclaimed-shouted aloud-by the facts quoted above? Does the needlewoman continue in her bondage when she has found a door of escape? Does she return to her old employer unless she is compelled by famine? "Let us, however, consider another imaginary scene. I see before me a Society which has a department devoted to the publication of books of all kinds; it defends, in the first instance, the tenets and doctrines of the Christian religion, and in the second place those of the Church of England. Besides these books it publishes, on terms and methods prepared with the most scrupulous attention to justice and righteous dealing, a vast mass of general literature. It is an honour to write for the Society; it is a voucher of the value of the work, only to have the name of the Society on the title page; no books have so wide a circulation. Hither come the historians, the scholars, the poets, the essayists, the novelists, the writers on science, art, music, everything. All the best men come to this Society. Its corpus of literature contains all that is best and noblest of the work of each generation. Those who are authors by profession long to get into the lists of the Society. If a clergyman of the Church writes such a book as Farrar's 'Life of Christ,' it is to the Society that he goes with it quite naturally, and as if it was the only thing to do. If another writes such a book as Green's History of the People,' it is to the Society that he offers it. If a novelist has a finished work, it is to the Society that he takes it. This Society leads all other publishers, and is an example for them; fair and honourable dealing is rendered necessary to all by the bright and shining example of the 'Literary Handmaid of the Church.' Nor is the money received the only thing. This Society, while it continues to defend the Church, regards literature from a broad and comprehensive point of view. The Church is better served by those who write for men, than by those who write for girls.

This "Reply" to the invitation of the Publication Committee of the S.P.C.K. has created a certain amount of interest, as was to be expected from the nature of the subject and the position of the venerable Society concerned. The principles laid down in the pamphlet as to the Ethics of Publishing are simple, and will probably command general acceptance by all but persons interested in keeping up the old fictions.

Among other letters received upon the subject is one from a Bishop which so remarkably and so fully (though in small space) illustrates a common attitude of mind that I venture to quote from it. His Lordship writes as follows:

(1) "I do not find any reason to suppose that the publishing department of the S.P.C.K. act otherwise than other publishers." One is sorry, indeed, that the Bishop thinks so badly of other publishers. The pamphlet shows some of the prices given by the S.P.C.K. and some of the profits made out of the unfortunate authors. Now, the good Bishop would boil

with indignation were he to read or hear of sweaters in other trades. Yet he can find no tear, no sympathy, for the sufferings of the man or woman who writes and is sweated.

(2) "Nor am I convinced that there is any injustice in a publisher who has purchased an author's copyright making a larger profit on the particular work than he seems to have paid for. All publishers risk losses by books that do not pay, and take their chance of profit or loss. The author will not share the loss. He has made his own bargain and receives the money. I do not see that he is entitled to claim a share in the gain unless indeed that is part of the bargain."

The Bishop has here confused two or more points of importance which should have been kept separate. Let us divide the word.

a. No risk need ever be incurred by the S.P.C.K. Let us repeat this over and over again, because of all the Bogies, Spectres, and Ghosts ever raised by interested persons this is the hardest to lay. No RISK. NO RISK AT ALL NEED BE INCURRED BY THE S.P.C.K. In the old days, in fact down to very recent times, the business of publishing was speculative and risky. It is so no longer. That is to say, the area of the reading public is so vast; the book trade is so enormous; the demand is so varied; the knowledge of markets and the demand is so much increased, that no publisher who knows his business need ever undertake a risk. In other words, having regard (i) to the literary worth of a MS. (ii) to the subject; (iii) to the name of the author; (iv) to his own machinery-the publisher who knows his business knows very well before he consents to publish a book that he can "plant" such a minimum number of copies as will repay the cost of production, including a certain profit for himself.

B. In the case of the S.P.C.K. their machinery for the disposal of books is unrivalled. They have shops and agents all over the country; they have an immense number of subscribers; and they have the invaluable reputation of publishing only books that are doctrinally "sound." Another reason why the S.P.C.K. need never actually publish a book which results in a loss. "The author will not share the loss."

ช.

First, there is, as I have said above, no loss except such as is caused by an error of judgment.

Next, apply this principle to other branches of production. A man makes a beautiful desk. He takes it to a shopkeeper who sells desks. The shopkeeper says, "My friend, this is an admirable desk. It should be worth three pounds to you. But as I was a fool yesterday, and bought a desk which is too bad for me to sell again, I can only give you thirty shillings. You must share in the loss."

The Lord Bishop's ears shall not be shocked by hearing the reply of that cabinet-maker.

. The principles laid down by this Society are few and simple. For our part we contend that they are based upon a commandment which is read in the Churches every Sunday once and sometimes in the week.

It is contended by the defenders of the Society that they give away their books largely. Perhaps they do but perhaps their gifts are not so very large. In one of the cases quoted the Secretary did not claim to have given any away: he only owned that the profits made by the Society amounted to something like six times the sum paid to the author. Now to repeat the Archbishop's own definition, "The first evil of the sweating system is a rate of wages inadequate to the necessities of the workers or disproportionate to the work done." Six times the author's profit! Six times! My Lord Archbishop, late of the Committee on the Sweating System, will you produce that sweating cabinet-maker, that sweating shoemaker, that sweating shirt-maker who sweats his workmen to the tune of a profit six times the men's wage? And there are other cases behind even worse than those quoted in the pamphlet which shall be produced in good time.

It remains to be said that as yet no reply at all to this pamphlet has been issued by the Publication Committee, nor has any answer been received by the author from the President of the Society.

(b.) To support them in case of need and in old age, as well as to provide for those they may leave behind.

The constitution of the Society under the Presidency of Herr Robert Schweichel in Berlin, is similar to that of the English Society of Authors, but it is at the same time sub-divided into branch societies at Berlin, Breslau, Hamburg, Leipsic, Frankfort-on-Maine, Munich, Stuttgart, Vienna, Prague, and Gratz.

Rather important factors in the working order of the General Society are:

(a.) The "literary bureau," a kind of agency established with a view to placing literary work of the members, to providing situations (in editorial offices, &c.), and to find out pirated reprints.

(b.) The "Syndikat," under a lawyer, to give advice gratis on all questions regarding their literary interests.

(c.) Courts of Arbitration, settling any disputes between the members who, it must be remembered, consist of editors as well as contributors, and even as regards publishers, I should think he would be a rash man who would not readily submit to it.

The official organ of the Society is the "Deutsche Presse," which comes out weekly.

All this may look satisfactory enough, but I am afraid I must add that all is not yet in such perfect working order as it might be, and I feel sure, one day-will be.

As a special feature of our Society, however, I should like to mention also the facilities for social intercourse afforded thereby, and which by drawing kindred-or may be sometimes even the reverse— spirits of the same calling together, constitute perhaps the greatest advantages of all. There are not only frequent meetings all through the year of the members of the different branch societies-some having even special "Vergnügungs" Committees for arranging entertainments, excursions, &c.-but once a year a particular place is chosen, to which a goodly number of the members always flock from all sides for several days' fête, and of course for the transaction of some important business of the Society. The place chosen for this summer is Breslau, and if you, or any of your members, should like to have any further information on the "Schriftsteller Tag" of this summer, I should be happy to give it as soon as the programme is out. If any of the members of your Society should be anywhere near Breslau at the time and care to be present at the gathering, I feel sure they would be heartily welcomed by my friends in Germany.

WILHELM F. BRAND.