The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-17

1pup Nn. After a tltlt CnIllt " w 49,
10 he found In any clifton OF the poet VOTE.
iut Tor the purposes Of this article the letter
was OF more Importance than the poems. usaid
tuunted from memory;
drei dollars Tor czech NJ these. please send them
bnck, for can get that nearer hqtns; vbt,,t.r
was nn Interesting man in a variety, Of VARS,
Hut 1t Ia by no means improbhble MAJ VT,
Kiping would receive Sg2 2o, iS /, b, SMeu tenndenHcy
in the market more. clearly thnn tnat ssnIs;
mcnt However, the toy op pr,eS pV gave nj NJ. Ten.
nyson ,ns he was then $1,000 for two short
pI nr, course ~ no orc viii overlook the fact that
what may he called the personal equation enters
largely into The price pail To- Wtiaer; ,c cn" ths
urIr" more than the Intrinsic worth OF the arii-
Gle purcia, ed. Thus, e Hunted Down. already
mentioned. was by no means among the Oetter
rprcentiy Offered Sir. Gladstone u dollar a word
Tor an article, but no one familiar. Tor instance,
With what Mr. Gladstone wrote for the North
iruicdn Rrrtctr. would say, that his WRITINGS
Tn. Unrpcrs have not told anybody what they
viii pay Du Maurlcr for his next story; II IS for
this reason. probably. that tho rninor is current
thai $50, OOOis the sum. Runors are astonishing
IL common In the book trade astonishing, con-
sid"r,ng the reputation 81 the craft ior colservn,
tho Mncmillnns had been making n hummer Oh
izcd to speak for them shd they had not bought
anything outright. and That twenty per cent.
E MAS. the he b HIM Man % nr, ,Tc T., WAS" Wns Said i by S n in a p6si.
ton 10 know tha. hc ia, received so far about
ssiiG0po,, odo for 'SiTr;,5y." THIS includes theatrical
ROYALTIES ns well rs sums received Tor
SERIAL rights and royalties on books sold.
But the bald state'ncnt of this sum is the le&st
IInrper. Hftcr reading "Trilhy" made him u
royalty offer for the hook along with another
pictures. Du Mauricr wanted instead 2 lump
sum. and named his price $4,000 It is said.
much. but they did it. Later when it was found
that the book had made, a hit when lo9nnuo
prrs, although under neither legal nor moral
obligation to do 50, figured up. the sum whlch
cept"i their original royalty offer. ana found
that he would have been $4,000 bette on 80
they sent him n check Tor $4,000. IL rs s"E,
ge-tcd that this check of Nil Others ever nssu IN
literature is the one hest worth framing Tor II
wall ornament in II club OF artists in Istters.
In view of the prices recently patd Tor cui-
that Robert Louis stevenson received bur
syndicate. THIS il not n reflection on the syndi-
cate-tt is said to emphnsize the fact that III
trinsiC merit does not make the price.
The most satisfactory indication. of the state
Of the market. however, is found in the quota
tions for the work Of the unknown wriier: Her,
has often been said. but 1t ought to be repeated
p eager eager Tor f'D' a good unknown own 1t Is worth
w wsaI Inr,os an "s,io0 old viii nfws l%4ry mot dtngeaa
Door story" We have ample proof that the u"-
known Is waited in the price nov paid AS com,
when Mr.. HoweiIs wrote thai they pay from
five to. six dollars IL thousand words for the
Usher, Of magazines TO whom the reporter
talked said that no matter vas rated at less
low SIS. Instances in which wholly, nnknown
writer's have recei,e ed from Sl25, TO SlI5 for
enough. and it is safe to say that Il any reader
OF The SrN has n classic OF that length tale
that can III the reader out Of his chair. ne Gag
get even $50 for i. 1t ourh' not TO w9rry
the author Of tho classic TO think that kiplins
difference MS an adver,iseme nt to the periodical:
Bestdes, any, writer VINO ras ,hs wr,l'nE %.
writers o! Greek classics OF whom ,ie9rge la
ven Putnam MaYm says in " .,iEp,!v t a"d c B11sma tx ds
their work without any thought of material
compensation. The only reward for which they
could look was fame with their own generation"
Passing from literature to what MIR. Branaer
Matthews calls the journalistic features of mag.
azipes, it is found that the price runs from $40
TO s50a thousand words Tie Century, rarely.
If ever. pays less than $40: Scrihner's not long
ago maid $50 a thousand for a travel sketch OF
coral reefs md submarine volcanoes in n way TO
enchain a reasonable mind more ,effectually
than any living author Of novels can do.
very likely receives from two to three times that
sum. And when SAY a thousand years from now
the general run Of magazine readers shall learn
that it is better to turn for rest or recreation 70
the wonders OF nature thnn to the dolnIs OF
lures of Sir George Tre-sady," Mr.. Shaler's
great-rreat-great-Grandson will, receive a com
pensatiOn commensurate with the merit OF his
work. unless. indeed. the world shall, have
grown wise enough. mcaatime; to have thrown
away both yardsticks and dollars as measures
! for the outcome of the brain.
When inquiry was, made for the reasons gov
of the men and women of letters the reply was
precisely what might have been expected. but
1t was in several cases emphasized in a way that
must amuse the average newspaper publisher
intensely. The magazine cssayist has for many
Ee Mns D Ssry' 'e Hery s inf hie to priRt tR sp pews Of t csr.
tain events. even though the public demanded
the news, II was not only utterly selfish to con-
prize light; It was also utterly debasing. But
now GENES the publisher OF the magazine to say
that it is the public demand for this or thai
Howells, referred almost pathetically to the
through the nckieness o. public taste. Some
times it may be years before he can satisfy him
ing for Jones: even then he cannot know iiow
long their mood will last. = = smith. who
has been boring his readers To death for a year.
may write t9-morrow a thing that Will please
Even the foul thing who edits his sheet ith
a stable FORK may wire his grimy paw on his
trousers and. holding 1t out; sa,y shake, pard.
ton with a new Paradise Lost was to appear he
would receive from n cent TO a cent and q halfa
Y gS Sa cIsist tEe ps sBfiIskil Is n Gs Y hnMiiS Sst M fnr shs
WORK Of the umknown, writer, and all editors
must-there Is no eveding this must-consi1sr
nee Sqiy!' Of business. This is by no means to
apolosize for the editor who uses the stable
w NJ iaN'iS WV 'o7N ~ N'iAo ~
Some prefer readers who find pleasure In libra
rles. Others prefer readers who find pleasure in "A
dime museums chamber OF horrors.
1t Is n curious feature tcurious from Il COM
mrrcial point of view that supply has nothing
10 do with prices in this market. There is Of
course a too limited supply of classics-of liter
allure that has long life in it. There is not even
enough Of really good literature to keep the
space devoted to 1t in magazines full. One has
only to try to remember what the stories or the
poems in the magazines of the month before last
were to be convinced OF this. still, that tact
does not tend very much to put up the price.
ON tho other hand. tho offerings Of stories,
poems. and contemporaries from unknown
writer's are so great az to he positively ns-
tonishing. A hundred manuscripts u day
is the average of NIL the New York magazines
that have II hrst-clRss standing. Not a half Of
one per cent. can lie accepted for sheer lack Of
space, OF course. The ed TO the best Of his
ability, picks out the best. 1t IL almost un-
necessary 10 say that many stories as good rs
the ordinary ones that appear are necessarily
rejected. And, that II to say, the supply OF good
stun from the unknown writer very greatly tx.
ceeds the demand. Nevertheless the price has
been rising steadily,
The rise In urice OF this mental product is