New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-01-07
WRITER'S AND BOOKS.

MIR. GLADSTONE ON LARGE PAPER-GUY
DE MAUPASsANT AND HIS PRESENT
POSITION IN THE BooK-woRLD-
TIL: COLLECTED STEVENSON
ME- WILLIAM MORRIs's PER
FCHA!ANC!1S AS PRINTER
TIE CYCLOpAEDIA
OF NAMES
London December y.
II there hs any doubt whether Mr.. Gladstone
keeps his hold on the affection OF his followers.
his publisher does not share IT, Mr. Murray an
Aounces that the large-paper edition OF Mr. Glad
stones "Translations from Horace will consist
or 500 copies Originally It thought that 100
copies would satisfy the market. II may be pre-
suued that this number was exhausted by the
carly subscriptions and that then the enterprising
publisher decided 10 multiply 1t by five. and to fix
the price at s. copy. which. as things CO. Is
moderate enough. No doubt, also. the American
market is taken into account, and Mr. Gladstone
American admirers alone might take larger
issue than this. Or. the American being by ma
ture a rational person. he might be content 10 en-
press his liking for the distinguished translator
nv acquiring copies on ordinary paper. or ne
might even leave the book unbought altogether.
Mr. Gladstones experiments on Horace are not
Of kind 70 add much to his reputation. Pub
Iished under Jess illustrous name. their success
could not have been great They are Interesting
because they are his Blu; even as his. the criti-
cal and competent estimate Of them has not been
, very favorable one. Nor does the volume as
yr-li
Knowles printed in The Nineteenth Century
carly in the year.
There appears. however. to be a doubt whether
the actual number Of copies issued by Mr.. Muir
raw on large paper is 500 or loo. The announce
-,ents differ. and 1t does not seem clear which is
IN error II the number be 100 1t is still excessive
II It be 500 il is enormous. There might be an
Act of Parliament to limit the competitive ex-
trayagancas Of the over-zealOus publisher. W ny
not since there now Acts of Parliament OF
not less grandmotherly kind: acts 10 prevent
grown men from agreeing with other grown men
10 work as much both wish? The young col
lcctor is quite as much in need Of statutory pro-
lection as the adult artisan And the puohsher
would probably get little sympathy except from
other publishers on whom also the hand OF 'he
law would fall.
IN an American paper In which expect 10
find good literary news find also statement
tnat Maupassant is already forgotten III faIlS
and that his books are scarcely asked Tor IN 'he
Paris booksellers shops. There IS some eV'-
dence to the contrary in the last two Catalogues
cen, me by the two pest booksellers in Paris
In these there are ten Maupassant titles Inc
prices affixed to them do not look as II Maupas-
SAINT were altogether forgotten. TWO singie-Voi-
ume novels are as low as So each; one at 90 one
al s1l, one at s12. one at Sl4. Then we take
t,,mn N $50 which is the modest price asked for
lie Roster de Madame Husson' by one dealer
the other demanding $40 for the same book
bound: both being japanese paper From
that we proceed to $3.50 for an unbound copy OF
the "(,ontes Chosis" published in ten parts. FOR
The Socitte des Bibl!ophiles Contemporaries by
the Societaires de rAcademc dcs Beaux L'Vres'
illustrated: each part complete in i'sell' Win
separate paging. different style OF printing ana
different illustrations. Or YOU may have the
ten parts bound IN one octave volume mar.
hrun Mats en- CUR de boeuf cisele double de
mar. bieu fonce. orn symboiques en- mos. 81
or. portrait de Maupassant en- email incruste
,intereur du plat recto. II. DOR for the SUI
more modest sum Of $3.50
This s. l admit. but financial apotheosis for
Naupassan;, but 1t seems inconsistent with the
theory that he has no longer a paying public
think mas any author within so few years after
his death been more highly honored in biblio-
graphical way. The very titles Of the societies
have quoted inspire respect What is there in
England 10 compare with the French Society or
Contemporary Booklovers, or the Academy OF
Beautiful Books with its Fellows, for whom ana
q, whose cost this edition Of Maupassant was
privately printed: Nothing. In America you
have the Groier Club. the very name OF which
INSPIRES respect. ! do not know much more oil
if than the name though have once or twice
r.en weli-printed volumes issued by the club on
he counter Of London bookseller
The young writer would dc well to ask him-
Golf why it is that to Maupassan; is awarded the
nArmanent place in French literature which the
hos. critics Of the time allow him. One answer
Is that he toed at writing as trade; served
long apprenticeship 20 it; learned the structure
oe sentences and the secret OF style as patiently
and infinitely as the bootrnaker learns to make
,a,r of boots Great natural gifts he had, or
course and also the capacity Of taking inhhlle
Mains 70 make the most Of them. Neither the
Gifts nor the pains would have availed WITHOUT
tho other On the score OF morals there IS much
IN he said against him. as there Is against o'hef
writer's in whom nevertheless. immortality ana
Immortality go together. But he Is not Inc man
10 be snuffed out by newspaper paragraph.
The new collected edition Of Mr.. Robert LOUIS
Steverson's writings has two merits IL 10 q
labor q, love and an exceedingly good example
of nrinting and Of the art CT bookmaking. MI.
S.eyenson's friends are the authors Of 1t. not Mr..
c..venson and among these friends Mr.. Sidney
Calvin first OF all who is the editor. Mr.. Gown
"a known TO YOU as Keeper Of Prints in the
British Museum and as / writer on art ana on
literature; a very scholarly and accomplished
nerson with a cult for Mr. Stevenson. whom he
has long befriended in ways honorable to bo'h
He. think. conceived the idea OF the present ed'-
zion. The copyrights and publishing rights OF