The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-01-26
MARK TWAIN.
Exchange !

Exchange.
 A New York letter says: A man who emerged from enc of our restaurants of high prices and fashionable approval wherein more good meals would be seryed # all the guests knew now to order and to cal, had the unnistakahle air of con tent and prosperity. He was not so tal as ne looked, for ne was nor thick. and a grenadier sort of fur cap was liable to be counted m as pau of the stature. He had brown hair. close cropped, and a full mans size ot mousiache. His age would have been estimated al 10. The fur on his overcoat was less stylish than com fortaole, and yet II did no; give him ;hat negro-nlnsuel appearance which such trimmings usually lnpart. His face vas grave to hasty observer. but quizzical expression could be seen by looking twice. Altogether. he was no; different from what anybody might have an,ici- pated Tn the person of Samuel l.. Clern- ems, known to readers of American hu- nor as Mark Twain. He had come ,o the metropolis from his Hartford home. to go to the opera and To some ct the ,heaiers.
 And on business, too :. was sus- ges,ed
 Ne he replied ali n.y business Is n Hartford.
 Mark Twain ; use oi h.s pen Is protes- slauai. Il course. but his making of booas ls qu,te lneie .atsle. lie = one of he SerY ic" auinci5 no do not GIvide W.th publishers the pfon,s aenva5Ie rom ;hei tfAins. Circams;aa es have favored ms independence oi ordinary methods ot publication aud yet al ,ha, he has done. ctheI successful writers might do Being the tlrst oi his peculiar kind of icn- makers; and possessed of naturally droll delivery, he made d small fortune early Tn his career as a lecturer and then he married larger one Having thus become considerable of capitalist. he was saved from the necessity of turn ing his manuscript into daily bread. He could afford to devote three years to the travelling and writing for lnnocenrs Abroad, and when the manuscript was ready he was not hurried by the stress of finances to turn 1t over to a publisher of the ordinary monopolis,ic sort.
 Mark Twain ahounds in self-conceit quite as characteristieally as he does in humor, and he never doubts the merit or reception of his matter. With unshak- able faith in the success of that inst book he saw no reason for desiring the na ne of a wei-known publishing tirm On the tile page. And, above all. he mad nc intention of accepting the usual eondl- uons. which are that the author shaii assume ail the risk of loss and take only about To per cent. of the receipts His book was therefore printed Tn Hartford, under i1ls o~n supervision and sold through peddlers. The plan worked ad- mlrably, and he has followed i, in nearly all oi his subsequent ventures. The con sequence Is that, instead of getting lo cents out of every dollar which people pay for his volumes. he receives nearl, 50. He looks after the details of manu- facture and sale he nights his own bat ties of copyright: he has profitable side business Tn sorap-book of his own in- ventlon: he IS af example for all authors who discontentedly see publishers grow nch. while to themselves come only tair livings al best Above all. he has hi, upon t way 10 protect his wares in Eng land. It Is perfectly feasible and simple. Our laws do not permit other than cl;i- zens 10 copyright their books here: bur England. more just in that respect. eN- tends copyright 10 foreigners. with the soie proylso that the work shall first be published in her country. Mark Twain. therefore, publishes hIs books in London I day before they are issued at home. and so protects himself in both markets. ], Canada bothered him al first. bu, he has siraighsened out the r.d tape up there. and IS now the only author who controls his writings throughout the English speaking world. The same device, sub stantially. is used by Dion Boucicaul, to protect his plays. He has them acted somewhere in England. usually by ana teurs before handful of audience, prior to their production in America Of course you can write book tha, will sell ,o the extent et 100 600 or so, and now that have told you how to save all of the profits 10 yourself, you may as wei st; about Il.