The morning times., 1896-07-12
CHAT OF LITERARY THINGS
S.,asOn of -Pr0ductiveness
Is Now Upon Us.
POOR SEASON FOR CRITICS
"Blind Leaders of the Blind" Is D.
vert.rg New VOlume-"VenuS and
Cupid" Makes Its Debut.

HE season of non-productiveness may
in the mid July days be said to have
reached its maximum, which is by The
simple process OF inversion the min
inum of productiveness. July and
August are generally considered vacation
months, and as the publishers are, in large
nieasure, dependent upon the caprices Of
the ST studiously inclined, naturally they have
small reason TO sound their herald trumpet
In deaf ears. The quietus on the book
trade is as subdued as the unbroken calm
in the leaves of the urstirred trees. Only
oCca siOnally a new book comes fresh from
the presses to remind the trade that the pub
fishers have not reiinquished, and to break
the green on the critics ink well. A book
coming out in July has a poor chance with
the readers, or rather the buyers, but the
critics seize upon ii for better or worse,
pity IL il II is 1or worse; the book is made
II for better.
I..> IN,.> ..er'S space weekly StareS him
in the face; if there are a cozen clamoring
new uncuts they arc brushed aside with
blase dsdain, but if a single ST roller hap
pens like stray pilgrim to finds its way
into the atelier-iU 4, IA temptation To say
abha;o!r-then the desire is keen and the
pen ready. Fortunate the writer whose
fate casts his worthy tome on such a desk.
But the reviewer is apt to see only with
the radical temperament of the Miss in the
very, very good: if it is Lad, then Eorrid.
1t is a pct resort OF the disgruntled crit
iclZed 10 seek defense in or underneath or
behind or at least some where in the neisl
borhood Of the reviewers digestion, or in
digestion. That sa trite dodge nd il hasn't
stability. Digestion hasn't got thing to
do with it, except the mental Digestion
which finds impossible nouthfuls in the
pages that must be read, willy nilly.
Only the other l3y an lnQuiSlly0 Asked
"Wny is ii that SIbtii's anu JvIits books
were let down SO easily. and Jones' was
scOrcbed? You must have read Jones
after dinner Oh, il is very tedious and
such ba dhumOr. As a matter of fact, do you
know the parable of the even payment To
the winters who had worked uneven hours?
There was justice even to the last. SO
with Smith, Jones and Brown. Sometimes
with a half score of buoks to read am
digest. in charity the sins of the first few
are passed in silence, and the lifeless trash
is passed over with unconscious resort to
tine proverb. "Nul nisi boGum." But the
worm Will turn. The mental digestive Or
Eaus revolt and conscience prickS and re-
minds one that charity is not justice, and all
the accumulation of pent-up chnler comes
forth a the pens end and dreadful. unpieas-
ant truths are told, for the critic is long
suffering. but lie was created one part of
justice and one part OF frail humanity for
every one of tempered charity.
To return. The new books are few.
Most OF them come in the airy nothingneSs
Of a paper cover. Note the book stalls,
these days. The vellum and silks and
brilliant cloths and stiff boards are not
In evidence. There is, instead, an array
of paper covers with staring black tiths
that are meant TO pique the curiosity
and the Iockcthonk. This is the hey-day
of the paper book. The familiars are
the terra Gotta Town and Country of
the Appletons, the sea-green and brown
OF the Putnams' Hudson Series, the gray
and red of Lippincott. which stands more
as volume OF fiction than Il magazine.
The good old days of the Munroe, the Sea-
side. the Franklin Square, and the Lowell
are no more. A summer output from a
score and half of houses fills the breach.
Withal, the presses are not idle. The rat
tie is never hvelicr. The sumner idIenesS
is prophesied i'll slow days in spring. Now
the autumn bouiS are fcing made ready
The output will be astonishingly large this
fall, for the publishers have held back many
"a June promised book. It's Commonplace
10 say II, tut IL S All on account OF the III
cycle. Truly, that is it. 1t is riding into
the book trade. A large percentage who
spent their vacation on the piazza i'll the
hammock, III boats stern, but always
reading, are now astride the rubber shoG
steed and the handiehars are in the hands
that held the books. II has frightened The
booknakcrs and postponed many a vol
une till the first frost BY that same token
the coming autumn Will be lively and i'm
portant hevond precedent. 1t will be q
doubling of two seasons in one.