Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-26
PERMANENT POPULARITY.
Writers Ct Fiction whose Works Are AlWay,
IN Great Demand.

nave IGlu (lOWu VIC pSu AoiCNSAs ~AS 49,
wrote for this generation or that which
just preceded il, seem to have been able to
secure something which most the writers
Of the present day have not gained, and
that is permane ut popularity. Anumber of
books have BEEN written in the past 10
years which gained n momentary notoriefy,
sold very largely for season and now are
forgotten except by dealers in old JUNK.
The novel which attained the largest sale
in recent years of any story written either
by an English or American author suggests
in its later experience how quickly popI-
larity can disappear; for one. New York
dealer and one New York publisher sold to
the manufacturers of paper many Thousand
copies of this story, since the public had
absolutely ceased buying it, That was Mrs.
Wards story entitled Robert Elsmere."
A recent investigation has been made by
persons who desire to reach some statistics
at the proposed congress of authors at the
Worlds fair, which reveals that the pres
ent demand for fiction is very largely tor
the authors WHO have now passed away or
whose life work is practically over. 1t was
found in New England. for instance, and in
some of the western states that in the IL
braries the greatest demand for any woak
not becauseof that interest which attached
to the story in the days Of the slavery aSi-
tation. but because of the story itself as a
narration of emotions, passions and an a.
tistic combiestion of humor and pathos
which seems even at this day, although the
political events which inspired the story
have passed away, to appeal to a very large
class of readers. So great is this demand
Il In, frltt 10 n "
pire one of the greatest firms of publishers
proposes to issue an enormous edition OF
the book in paper covers and at popular
price.
Then, too, In many parts of the United
States greet and increasing demand for a
book which was extraordinarily popular 10
years ago is noticed. That is the story
written by Miss Cummings, Boston
schoolteacher, who did not realize how well
she had buitled when she offered the maa-
uscript to hsr publishers. It is 1.-The Lamp
lighter" ard publishers. I think, are agreed
that next to the Bible, Webster's spelling
book and. Uncle Toms Cabin" it has bad
the largest sale of any work written at
least by au American. No living author
has produced a novel whose sales or per-
manent popularity compare with that
which THE Lam plighter' has and is ea-
joying.
Nearly L generation ago two sisters Ey-
ing in Il re tired place by the banks of the
Hudson iver wrote q story which becalae
enormously popular The critics regarded
it as hardly worth serious criticism. but
the plain people everywhere read it with
delight, and the demand at the libraries
and in the book stores for this work is now
almost az glcat rs during the early months
of it's publication. That is 1.-The Wide,
Wide World" written by the Warner sis-
tiers. They lived the lives of almost nunlil.e
retirement. Very few persons ever saw
them. They nttained none Of that personal
reputc wticls authors of the present day
far less successful secure through newsps-
per paragraphs, but they gained perhaps a
higher reward, since their novel seems nov
to be es Established permanently, and the
critic; tell III it is that quality which makes
a classic.
Great demand is also noticed for the
stories Of Miss Evans, whose popularity,
especially in the south, was probably great
er when she was writing her novels than
that gained by any other southern writer
of fiction.
/ There il today allnoat as great demand
for the storias of Miss Alcott as was the
case when with Little Women" she cap
tured the younger reading public OF the
United States and a great many of mature
years That book still stands first in pop
ularity, and many editions of it are sold
every year, while there is constant call for
it at the libraries. Not one of the authors
still living whose names are well known to
American readers has scored any such sac
cess as has been tie lot Of these writer's
General Wallace, with "Bcn-Hur," mp
proaches mere nearly to it, and Mrs. Bur.
netts "LittleI4ofd Fauntleroy,' publishers
think, will be lead long after her other
tales are forgotten. The realistic school, IL
library demands are any indication, has had
its day, and it il believed that if it were not
for serial publication of his stories even
Mr. Howells would he compelled to allan
don fiction, at least if he proposed to rely
upon his pen Tor support.
The stories Of Marion Crawford are in
fairdemand Those Of Henry James, whom
many critics regarded as a Coming writer
OF fiction in America, are scarcely ever
called for. And it seems to librarians and
Others who have been studying this matter
that. after all, the great public, which reads
stories that it may be entertained, will
have no more of what Is called realism, but
delights in those tales which, however i'm
probable, nevertheless stir tho emotions
and sympathics.
This is equally true OF the English writ
ers. Dickens, Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte,
Wilkie Collins and Charles Reade maintain
their prestige in spite of the young and in
some respects admirable school of writers
that has been developed in Great Britain
lately, AMI at the libraries, without excep-
ton, they say that the demand for Dickens
Is as great as it ever WAS; that Vanity
Fair isas popular as when first published,
and that Charles Reade is more widely read
today THAI any of the living English nov,
elists. There would seem to be in these
facts suggestions Of considerable impor-
lance for the congress Of authors to.hced.