New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-05-19

y v
Of few leading PHbiishers in our City, shsun
inquire into the state and prospects Of our Al.
thors, The Times, as attorney for the publish;,v
Tor rather, the repnblishing) interest, volunteers
the following:
CVs The Tribune IL badly posted. "Our AusAo.w
have been for the last two three years building she
selves substantial edihces 81 very encoursse rsas
Bancroft. besides buying "freestone" house IL -
City, bas built fine country sess at Newport Headley
has built Q splendid mansion u Eewburgh. MelvIis
has bought farm Stockbrdge Irving and Pssldips
have splendid seats the Hudson Prescott ~ -
books. Morse has been paid moro than go 900 -.
the sale bis books Albert Barnes has received fro -
Commentaries over $4,000 Prof Anthon has msls
over e600Oo-stephens over $40 ooo-'he A'oots Over
$4,000 &C. &C. &c TX Marvel has received not h.
than $4,000 profits his books, although IL 10 only
few years since he began to write: Hesdleys PROF.
must have already exceeded 100000 Prof Davies h.
received than $4,000 ~ the proceeds Of the sa
of his books The Tribune lately mentioned that Mn
Harriet Beecher Stowe had refused $4,000 for he
Copyright of single novel And the liss might be H.
"Our Authors are the last persons in the world q
whoee behalf plea Of poverty soouid be made. Eng
fish authors draw still larger profits from the sss q
their books Macsulsy viii clear at least $50 900 iron
bis History Dickens win make more than bali mech
from single novel And Bulwer, James and othen
pocket from five 10 Thousand dollars each Of he
many books they write The fact IT, that authors gcns
rslly who desere succese meet with abundant 70
ward for their labor Those who fail owe their failure
mainly the fact that their books are mos such a. As
public wants There are exceptions OF course there
are in every branch Of business; but - ruie this b
true"
Remarks By The Tri6nne-The above cata-
logue reminds us strikingly Of the list Of 'splcn-
did prizes which the vendors of Lottery-tckets
were wont to display in their show-windows To-
the delectation of needy passers and the nvigora-
ton of their trade. a prize of $4,000 sold yes
terday at the ever-lucky officeI'-' Another s0,-
600 sold this week by Fortunes favorltc. Here's
the place where the countryman invested IS IN
the morning and had prize of $4,000 before
night y sc. &c. We have seen nothing so clearly
n the all-lucky' vein for years before.
- That some Authors make profits from their
writings under the present system is undoubted-
so they would if no copyright at all were recogni
zcd by our laws. Dickens or Macaulay could OBJ
tain at least 900 for the privilege of first print
ing new work from his pen, although every ono
were at liberty to reprint it for sale the moment
it appeared. How easy it would be to satisfy
large class that this $4,000 would be good pay
for writing 4 new history or NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.,
there ought to be no Legal Copyright
We believe neither Bancroft nor Paulding has
made the bulk of his property by his writings. and
ws should have little difficulty in convincing
scholars that SEINE of the authors instanced By
The Times would have written better books d
the absence of International Copyright had not
virtually constrained them to pandsr to local tastes
and prejudices in order to win popularity which
would insure them success and fame. Uncle
Toms Cabin for example, is capital book; bat
it owes its immense success in good part to the
fact that its materials arc such as no European
author possesses or can advantageously use, and
to it's having been widely advertised through it,
serial publication in popular journal. 30 Head
ley is a most graphic DISORDERS but We can't help
thinking he would have written better books, and
won more enduring reputation, had our laws and
those Of Europe treated Intellectual products a.
property, as truly and universally as any other.
"Are eur laws just 10 American Authors ~
this is the vital question. Is it fit wise that
they should cay to Bryant, or X. ii. Dana, or
70 Lowell, "Write poems, if you will but you
can only sell them in open competition with those
of Browning, Tennyson, or Barry Cornwall, which
any publisher may print and sell, paying the au-
thor nothings" Is that the fair and just protes-
ton which the Law should render to mertorious
and fruitful effort
as yet unknown to fame-one who could write a.
well Tennyson has done, by giving adequate
time and thought theretO-and this poet were
medtating the devotion of his hours and his facul.
ties to Song Would not the Editor of The Tines,
if friend, advise him to do something else for .
livelihood l-because, in order to win audience and
fame, he must first be heard of, and this an Amer
lean Poet can hardly hope for. His maiden vol
ume must compete for the publishers favor with
like volumes of British writers on which no copy
right is to be paid which are already in fair, plain
print and can thus be more easily printed than
one in manuscript, and which are already bounti-
fully advertised through the general diffusion of
British Reviews and Magazines among us. If the
publisher can have the American work givon him,
it is still his interest to prefer the British, il Of
equal merit. And thus we see in our day Ameri-
can Monthlies, original and Of decide merit, losing
ground steadily, while fIarper's Magazine, got up
at small expense for intellectual labor but well
filed with unpaid-for gleanings from contemporary
British Literature, boasts its circulation of One
Hundred Thousand copies.
We are not satisfied with this, and we think no
true and elear-seeing American ought to be. We
believe it tends directly to reduce our Country in
tsllectually to the condition of province of an
empire whereof London is the capital. We b.
lieve it tends to stimulate the multiplication
among US of trashy books to the exclusion of bet
ter. We know that shrewd, experienced publish
ers have declined to reprint British works Of great
value and utility, saying, The cost of properly
advertising and introducing that work woudbs
thousands Of dollars and, when that expense
shall have been incurred and the book rendered
popular, any one who sees ft may reprint It and
glut the market Mt a lower nrice than be who has