The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-03-22

until after he had been several years upon
the lecture platform. For that work OF
his which the critics have always said was
his most artistic performance and as fine
art as appeared in any English work Of fic-
ton, Henry Esmond " he received scarcely
enough TO pay him a fair wage, so he said.
for the work of writing IT, and when An
thony Trollope met him one day and spoke
with words OF high praise Of "Esmond"
Thackeray replied, YES, but the people
don't buy it,"
Notwithstanding these great earnings of
Mrs. Ward. George Eliot and one or two
other English writers, il is probable that
the largest sums Of money realized by the
sale Of single book have come to American
authors and publishers, and within a very
few days there has been a new illustration
Of the lasting success Of what is probably
the most popular, certainly pecuniarily the
most successful, work ever published in the
English language-the memoirs Of General
Grant.
General Grants son, Colonel Fred Grant.
lately United States minister. TO Austria,
completed in February work upon which
he has been occupied since his return from
his diplomatic mission-the editing OF new
edition of his fathers memoirs. This work
of editing did not entail any revision Of the
text. With the exception of a single word,
the new edition is exactly as General Grant
wrote the manuscript Of his memoirs.
Advance orders have already been re
ceived for this edition for some sc, 900 copies.
and the indications are, the publishers say,
that within the next 10 months an edition
of 200, 600 copies will be sold. Nothing like
the success which such a sale would illus
trate has been known in the history of any
book. II was supposed that within two or
three years after the first publication Of
these memoirs the sale would practically
be ended. Yet, instead OF that being so, the
demand for the work has been constant
and has every year yielded TO Mrs Grant a
very handsome income.
Up TO this time Mrs. Grant has received
in the way Of royalties little over 500. 600
for this book, and the publishers and Colo
mel Grant, now looking back, realize that il
they had had the experience when the book
was published that they now possess the
sales would have been so much larger that
Mrs. Grants profits would probably have
been 100000 To these profits must be add
ed those Of the publishers as well as the
enormous aggregate commissions paid 10
the agents in order "a get an idea Of the
gross profits obtained by the sale % this
work. IL has been upon the market less
than 10 year,, aud yet IL Is a fair estimate
of its profit making capacity 10 say that il
has earned over the cost of production con-
siderably more than sl 10000.
No single work published IN the English
language can show such figures as those
for the same length of time Mr. Blaine's
Twenty Years OF Congress brought him
not far from a quarter OF million dollars.
and that was regarded as So phenomenal
sale that h hns passed into tradition. There
have been SOME series of works. like ency-
clopodia@ or Bible histories. which have
earned more money than that. but no short
work. such us those memoirs were.
General sherman was supposed 20 have
received for his memoirs about $4,000, but
he was asked 10y New York friend not
long before his death II those figures were
correct, and be replied that they were more
than 90 per cent uut of the way lie did not
make even SO.unO Sheridau's memoirs
brought even less money Ia the way Of
profits. while Jen Davis Melted only an in
con siderable sum To his widow.
T. j. EDWARDS.