Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-12-22


 ness it is to know what the reading public wants, mistake. It would probably be found, if very complete investigation could be made, that the book which is the greatest favorite with all classes is not "Copperfield, = but The Count of Monte Cristo"
 \ visit to some of the dealers in second hand books in New York resulted in get ting from them the opinion that, next to the Bible and Webster's spelling book, there has been printed in English transla- tion and sold more copies of %Monte Cristo" than of any other book delivered from Eng fish or American presses. The number of cheap editions of Monte Cristo" is quite large, and some of them have sold more than 250,000 copies One publisher esti- mates that there have been sold in the United States, since Monte Cristo' was first published in English, more than 2,000,- 600 copies Of course nearly all of these were cheap, paper covered books, yet Dick ems, Thackeray, Cooper and Charles Reade have also been published in paper cover and offered at the same price as Monte Cristo." but with nothing like the sale that superb romance met with.
 It is interesting to know that notwith- standing the attempts of Mir Howells and others to create a new and realistic school the American reading public still prefers Dumas, Dickens and Reade So greatly has Dumas popularity grown that a Boston publisher is now preparing to issue com plete set of his romances, including eight that have never before been translated into English, and it was professor of Column bia college who said when he heard of their proposed publication, What will Howells say when he learns that 30 years after Du- mas death an American publisher brings out his entire works because the American public wants them'"
 Dumas Three GuarClsmen" has a pop ulartty almost as great as that which Monte Cristo' has gained. Not so many copies have been sold, although it is prob able that with the exception of Uncle Toms Cabin" there Is no romance written by an English or American writer which has had a sale comparable with that of "The Three Guardsmen."
 This popularity is not confined to the class that is not distinctively literary. Two years ago an extraordinary edition of some of Dumas ronlances was published in New York. The number of copies was limited to 1000. The books were illustrated by the Rblest French artists and the edition sold for $50 set, the whole edition bring ing Sl5o,0oo. It sold readily, though of course entirely by subscription. None but persons of wealth and scholarly habit could afford to buy it, so that ir may be said of Dumas that more copies of n cheap edition of one of his works and more expensive copies of another edition of several of his works were sold than has been the experi- ence of any other writer of fiction It shows that there are no classes with whom that great French writer is popular, but that his works are beloved of all
 There are no extraordinary popular Amer ican writers of fiction now, if we may be- lieve the publishers. Mrs. Stowe has laid aside the pen forever. Mrs. Burnetts in spiration of late seems to have left her, and her latest story, The One I Knew Best of All, has had but moderate success Gen eral Lew Wallace's Prince of India" had a large advance sale, but that was due to the phenomenal success of Ben Hur" It now seems unlikely that the Prince of In dia'' will match Ben Hur' in popularity Mark Twain's later stories have not main tained for him the popularity that he gained with his first books, and one of them was a flat failure in this country, although com manding some popularity in Great Britain Miss Wilkins is read with pleasure by n great many persons, although her popular ity is not general, and there are many who wonder why her tales should have caused such a stir.
 Notwithstanding Mr. Howells' fulsome praise of MT. Fuller's novel, "The CliR Dwcllers, " it has had no genuine success, and while Mir. Howclls commands the high est price paid by the managers of the peri odicals to any American writer, yet his books do not command q very large sale, and there are many who think that pro l fessed admiration for his works is largely due to the fact that Mir. Howells has ex- quisitc command of English when he is careful, and that he is the fashion. The most popular of recent American publications is, strangely enough, an old story recently issued in q 9 cent edition, 'The Scarlet Letter." of Nathaniel Flaw | thorne The sale has been very large Robert Louis Stevenson says that the American who will tell good old fash toned story ia the good old way, thinking less of art and more of tho tale, will find that the American reading public will well come him. E. J. EDWARDS.