New-York tribune., 1884-02-25
NOTES ON BOOKS.
WITH SOME REFERENCE TO ENGLISH
PUBLISHERS PECULIARIrIES.

t" ~ LoNDoN, February ..
The British reader, though patient SOUL aoes a'
times venture on remonstrance Win INC oiS,"
pian beings who from their inaccessible hesh's 81 uo
clare 10 him what he shall and shall not Ie"o' Inv
Olympian beings, whom you VIII reSu,iy ie0Vs
nize as British publishers. have decialeu 'n"V Nv
shall. among other things, read advertisements
10 make sure oftheir ordinance being obeyed, they
,nterpolate these advertisements between the pages
of other reading matter of which the current maya
zines are composed page of Mr. Herbert Spen-
Ger is followed by a page of euogy upon particu-
lar soar and when the virtues of tho soap nave
been sufficiently dwelt on Mr.. Herbert Spencer is
allowed TO resume his discourse. This would not
seem 10 conduce TO clearness OF IDEAS Ut
serenity of mind in the reader oot
on the publishing Olympus that Is not
thought important One or two of these much en-
during readers have lately Published IN 'he
daily press their protests against this custom
which is an increasing custom Something is saiu,
also against the practice of printing the table vi
contents of the magazine on the back OIL an auNei-
tising sheet.
The way in which these complaints are met by
the publishers is instructive to the
mind. An answer which may be taken as oirciai
appears in an organ of the trade These aoNeiu,o-
ments paw" and the more odious they are tn0
more intrusive and impudently out OF place Ihey
ore the hotter they paw The advertisement con-
,roctor remarks the organ, would probably explain
,bot nore ON the back of the contents " 1etcheS
an extra price $50 that in effect the whote question
is reduced TO purely commercial cohSiueI"tion''
The frankness is refreshing-no hypocritlcal holn-
age from vice to virtue, in this case. Inc coih-
plaint Is that literature is degraded and the reader
insulted The publishers response is that ne
makes profit by degrading literature ana lhSultihe
the reader, and no complaint can be llsteheo to'
The "whole" question Is purely commercial iio
might make higher profit by printing the aoNei-
yertisement not between two pages, but between
two paragraphs on the same page. III the question:
is purely commercial one, why should he not
He might advertise brothel7 Why, again, should
he not, since the pay would be high and the whole
ouestion purely commercialf When the publisher
has once put decency and morality on one side and
announced the principle that he will do anything
for money. where will lie stOpf The only way to
make him stop is to make him see that he would
lose more than he would gain. This is perhaps
point at which even such minor considerations as
morality and decency night begin to have COM
mercal value.
The publishing mind offers, in the same periodical,
other interesting and illustrative remarks apropOsoi
that Company of Authors" which has lately been
set going in England The object of this company
publishers; and this it proposes to do by advising
authors of their rights, and warning them against
signing one-sided contracts. The publisher re-
sponds that there is absolutely no necessity for
such intervention. From his own point of view
there certainly is not. "a good understanding"
he cries, does already exist between the two
classes in the great majority of cases and does not
therefore need TO be created" This is what the
Shareholders used to say when the moral argument
against slavery was urged. Slaves kindly treated,
cruelty the exception, aud so on. L must beg
the publisher to pardon me If my comparison
seem to him offensive. 1t is not meant to be oiens-
ive but the cases analogous.
The publisher it cannot be too often repeated, is
a man of business; the author, as rule, is not.
The publisher has set up certain customs in his busi-
ness which are not to the authors advantage, and
of which he does not always think it necessary to
apprise the author. Let us suppose, for example,
that it is his custom to render accounts to the
author half-yearly, and to pay the account should
there by chance be balance to the authors credit,
the next half-year The author is kept out of his
money six months at least, often longer. Books
sold in January are accounted for in July and the
authors royalty paid i'll the January following.
Contracts are drawn, a rule, by the publisher, or
by his solicitors not by the author. We saw III
the case of Mr.. Clark Russell that Messrs.
right to obtain his signature 10 an instrument
by which he supposed himself to be selling one thing
and they understood themselves to be buying
another and more valuable thug. What publisher
again, or how many publishers, render to the
author accounts in such form that the facts about
his book can be ascertained from itf How many
authors look at the stock edgers of the publshersY
How many have any real knowledge whether the
number returned sold is the real numbor7 This
last is a strong question neither say nor suggest
that publishers a rule render false accounts Of
the actual sales. But in arrangement for pub
fishing on what is called the half profits system,
does the publisher does he not tell the whole truth,
ard give his author the benefit for example of dis
couutsl Does he pay price for printing and
paper, and charge another price to the
auihorl Does he pay one price for advertisements,
aud charge the author higher price Does he
exact, whether openly or secretly an undue pro-
portion of the profits Is the yOu inexperien ced
author able TO deal even terms with the expert
enced publisheri
If any Of these questions can be answered in a
sense unfavorabe to the authors interests is there
not good reason why authors should form a com
pany to protect their interests? The majority of
publishers may be honorable men, but the exist
ence of few black sheep is enough to Justify
in the authors behalf
One of the three current English editions of EN-
erson's works Nlacmian's, vols, crown svo) |
is now completed by the publication of the first |
volume containing the "Mscellanies," and the |
promised preface by Mr.. John Morley The loyalty |
Of BostOn-perhaps the moro feryent because it |
came late-which revOlted from the critical estl-
mate of Emerson by Mr. Matthew Arnold, will not |
accept Mr.. Morleys as an adequate account of En-
erson's position and influence. Yet he concludes by
declaring that when all deductions have been
made and amply allowed for, Emerson remains
among the most persuasive and inspiring of those
who by word and example rebuke our dependency
purify our sight, awaken us from the deadening