The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-10-14
WORKED SIX YEARS.
BUT GENERAL WALLACE WILL GET
WELL PAID FOR HIS NEW NOVEL.
ROYALTIES For Some Famous Novols-Marls
Twain Is n Great Money MaIer-Archie
Gunter's stories Sell well--HoweIls Not
Widely Read.


Especial correspondence
NEW YORK. July 25-General Lew Wal |
lace. the author Of "Ben-Hur," has re- |
Gently been spending some days in New !
York, being called thither by the sugges-
tion of his publishers, who nre about ready
to issue his new novel. It is likely that
nothing less important than this emer-
gency could have called General Wallace
to New York, since he is entirely unlike
Charles Lamb or Henry Watterson and
other distinguished men, who are the most
reioiced when they are able to spend their
days amid the pleasures, intellectual and
social, of great city. General Wallace
detests cities and as New York is the larg
est city he particularly detests that one,
not that he does not admire the maguit-
cent evidences Of enterprise nor appreciate
the advantages which await those who
live in a great city or dwell there temper
arily, but he feels choled, crowded, un-
comfortal re and restrained the more be-
cause for many years he has enjoyed the
peace, freedom and independence which he
has experienced in his country home in
Indiana
General Wallace's new novel has been
written with even more painful labor and
exacting care than was "Ben-Hur," and it
is a much longer story than that, so that
It will be published in two volumes. 1t is
more than dozen years since General Wal
lace conceived the idea of the story, for he
had it i'm mind vaguely soon after ben
Hur' was published, but in the actual work
of writing it he has been engaged a little
over six years.
This story is bound to be a success pecu-
niarily, whether it meets the popular favor
which "Ben-Hur' did or not. The pub
fishers already have evidences of that, for
they have received orders which will make
it necessary for them to publish an edition
| of 80, 600 copies, the largest first edition Of
| any story ever issued in America, and
with the exception of two of George Eliot's
| stories and one or two of Dickens the
! largest edition Of any English story ever
! issued.
There is one exception to this statement
! however, for Mr. A. @. Gunter, who is the
! publisher as well as the author of the sto
! ries which appear under his sname, frequent
ly issued editions of more than 50, 900 copies
General Wallace is, if the sales of his
works are considered and the profits there
from, the most successful of living authors
with the single exception of Harriet Beech
er Stowe One of the partners in his pub
fishing house said recently that the ac-
counts had been written up of the sales Of
and it was found that General Wallace had
earned in royalties from that single book
something over 100000. The book has sold
over 600, 600 copies, and no American novel
excepting Uncle Toms Cabin" has
equaled that sale
If Mrs. Stowe had received all that she
ought to have been paid in the way Of
royalties for "Uncle Toms Cabin" the
work would have netted her over 81, 900 900
But when the novel was published she moi
only had no idea that it had any dramatic
possibilities but as she was at that tim,
no great friend of the drama she probably
would have paid no attention to such sug
gestion had it been made to her. Therefore
the dramatic rights in the story were no
secured to her by copyright. Had thel
been, her royalties would have probabl,
t amounted to several hundred thousand dol
lars No play has ever made the none,
( that "Uncle Toms Cabin" has, and in SOM
parts of the country to this day it remain
] the favorite drama. Many persons go t,
see that who would not witness any othe
t dramatic production
Q Mark Twain probably stands next Il
t Mrs. Stowe and General Wallace in tn
= amount of royalties he has received iron
r his works. His Innocents Abroad" nette,
] nm SNhSlS'SloDiJ AiioiO uilt'i PLOv,oJO lItil
r however, was sold by subscription. Hi
story of 1.-THE Gilded Age brought in som
$4,000 and then the sale of it stopped a
S suddenly as though the plates of it ha
e been destroyed, but he received in royaltie
l. from the story as dramatized and playe
2 by the late John T. Raymond some $50, ,0OC
= Miss Alcott probably comes next to thes
e three in the amount of earnings she II
v ceived from her work. When Little Won
f en- was published, she was so poor as to b
= entirely dependent upon income from be
J. pen, which did not exceed $1,000 a yea
The royalties which she received from Lii
tie Women" and its successor, Little Men,