Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-07-07
|OKS AND AUTHORS.
& Fame Of Some Books
N UnaccOuntable.
NOUS BOOKS OF THEPAST
Unknown Except to the fry-
4 ing BibliOmaniac.
wi SOME BOOKS ACQUIRE FAME
q Proposed Tint There should be
)rxn nixed n "society for Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Books.r


F<n the big publishing houses Of New
1I& and Boston there is an output of
NJ books that is astonishing in its
I4Enitude--books of all kinds and
trncters.
When it is considered that It costs
veral hundred dollars to put In type
3D. print work of three hundred
Res, 1t is puzzlIng proposition how
OF these works pay for themselves.
b they? Surely, II they did not pay,
10 publishers could not bring them
1t, one after another, with bewllder-
ID Regularly. And these publishers
Ecupy splendid buildings in the most
shionable quarters OF the big cities.
lt IL often heard asserted that one
cceesful book pays for many fall
res If this is really the case. there
ust be immense profits for the firm
lat Is able to accurately Judge the
lhlic taste and thus make few mis-
kes. But what becomes Of the fall
rcn? Nobody hears of bonfires made
these books that fail The second
Ind dealers will not purchase books
lat nobody will buy. The big depart
eat stores get some of these; but no
reat quantities of them, for they
knlle only cheap editions of popular
orks. The paper manufacturers say
hey can make paper out or the raw
afarial cheaper than they can boil
rerv the printed sheets. The store
buses, which, by the way. are not open
Visitors, must be interesting fields
|r speculation.
targe sums have been paid TO popu-
r anthors for manuscripts in the old
hyR. but II is not the rule only IN
II Ia
Ore often the arrangement than other
Use that the author pays the eX-
ense of bringing out a work, sharing
he profit. IL there should happily be
ny, with the publisher. l am told
lat large percentage Of the books
ibIIshed are now brought out under
It's arra ngement. Hence 1t is that the
Dor author has a poor chance OF get
hE before the public. The magazines,
course, pay so much page for
anuscripts and If a novel meets
18th public favor 1t is then brought
ktfnbook form. But to break Into the
hees of one OF the big magazines
hese days is a most difficult achieve
lent The magazine editors want only
transcripts from the pens of popular
ritefs-the unknown writer has small
howlof getting hearing.
Apropos of this subject, n paragraph
"Good Words" on the "Catacombs'
Mindless library is of interest; Here
10 thousands and tons of thousands
Volumes whose aggregate weight.
belt that they are light literature.
lust amount to many tons. Nearly
we see in these "catacombs' are
bvels, the majority of which have had
heir dav. Some of them made sem
kfIon in their time. The great libra
IAN had to purchase thousands of
hem to meet the eager demand OF his
aders. but nobody asks for them now,
nd. worse still. nobody will buy them.
ere Is one. We must not give its
tie. The public was olamorous for 1t
nen 1t appeared. Nude subscribed
II $500 copies at 22s. Cd. each. Now
is dead stock. Piles upon piles,
Ielf above shelf, case after case. You
ay have as many copies as you
,onse for half crown each. but even
lis offer does not tempt buyers.
fHere the books of the once idollzed
ithor must lie, immured in these cata-
bfnhs. unless some grand cremation
1oulh reduce them to ashes, or there
bould be reserved for them a resurrec-
ON 10 new life through the gates Of
pnper mill. Such is fame, and such
ne Some of the losses that have TO be
unted in the management of this
Feat business, The instance IL only
ne nut of many. and n visit to these
kkncombs would be a salutary dis
pline to many n living author, should
Hcccss have endangered his humility.
ioWing him how the public IL already
E2lnning to pass him by, II not to for
x his name"
The mad chase after the successes
nons the new books goes on just as
did hundred years ago. only now IL
= more difficult matter to keep up
tn the procession than 1t was when
phnson and Goldsmith were the
rightest stars OF the literary firma-
lent. And what \ fruitless task Is II,
lis attempt to keep up with current
Eerature? book which Is popular
day Is utterly forgotten tomorrow
cast aside as very valueless" and
rgotten. Just why a man will over
on the good old books of the past
sdattempt to seek out those of value
foday, Is hard to understand; es-
.cially since work Of no real value
hateyer, so often meets with an un-
coorntable vogue. The immense
'pularity OF some books is unaccount-
pie, and recalls saying OF Lord Lyt-
N, that some men write good books,
hers write bad ones, yet have the
kcuity of getting favorable reviews.
lbcit, favorable reviews, while they
Jay boost a work into financial sue
sss will not make a classic OF II.
It1was only short while ago that
rhe Quick or the Dead" was the most
lksd Of book; yesterday. It was Rob
h Elsmere" today 'Trllby." WIN
3w. find a place alongside "The Vicar
Wakefield" 'Tvanhoe," 'Esmond''
hd 'Copperfield? guess not, Yet, 1
3ine that many youth has been
red away from the old tones by the
>pularity OF the Amelia Rives' mas
ruiece," and the othersl
Tho history OF literature teaches that
>bddy makes more absurd errors OF
lafment than those writer's whose
orks are now admired by posterlty.
HOE declared that the 'thres great
English poets were Spencer Shakes
bare and Cowley." And Cowley, too,
~ the darling OF Dryden BE-
ffeh 1856 and 1881. seven folio edl-
on1 Of his works were published.
ne first edition OF Shakespeare had
<fn brought out thlrty-three years be-
.rtt Cowley's FIRST, but his fourth not
Y <pur years after Cowleys seventh
uviey, In short. was more popular
ris age than the immortal Shakes
carr, cowley's works were even
lore popular than Milton'si In twenty
ne years only four editions Of par
dsee Lost were requlredi Milton was
- ppplauded even by his contempora-
Is Than was Waller. cowley had been
end sixty years when Pope asked:
'Who now reads Cowley2" Such Is
1mql II II not unlikely that In less
me the critics will be asking:
"Who now reads 'Trilby'g"
IN 1880 Sir Thomas Blount published
Bprk In which he had collected the
lI<inents pasaed by learned men on
nnOna tvV1Y.t.o ~ ~.