The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-20
HOW LITERARY WORKS Paw.
The Enormous Prices Paid for a Few
Works.
(From the New York Sun,

VI IOAA ULO ANoW AOlA CuD.
The Century Company paid $50, 600 for
"Life of Lincoln" 1t Is no disnarage-
ment to the authors of the Century's lite
of Lincoln to say that theirs was a freak
price. The au thors had Information for
sale that no one else possessed. They
had corner on facts about Abraha m
Lincoln, and the public demand for these
foots was 80 great that a high price
would have been paid for them even if
told much less gracefully than the au-
thors told them. The motive of Che
Century Company in giving $50, 600 for
this beat was precisely that of any en-
terprising newspaper in buying exclusive
news. 1t is not by any means an I'M
heard-o occurrence that the managing
editor of newspaper should pay 500
for ten words of Information and then
spend as much more in sending reporters
to verify the facts and "get all there is
of it. " OF course, there is nothing in
eli Their the $50, 600 check or the $500 in
cash to indicate the market value of
literature. and yet O certain club Of liter
AIRY men in this town has framed and
hung up the check which the Grants re-
ceived for the life Of Gen. Grant, as If
the amount paid was in some way the
full limit of prices for literary product.
Scott got $40, 600 for Woodstock"
while Moore got 5000 guineas for "Lalla
Rookh." Anthony Trollope received in
all $3.50, 900 for his various works. Dryden
got 1900 pounds for "Virgil "Toln Moore
got 10. 600 for his Irish melodies. George
Elliot did not get less than S., 600 tor any
Of her novels. and one brought $4,000,
it is said. Robert Bonner, of the Ledger
paid Charles Dickens $1,000 for Hunted
Down." story of 1000 words. 1t is
currently reported that Charles Scrib-
ner''s Sons paid $25. 900 for "Sentimen-
tai Tommy" which is now running
through their magazine. Arthur Scrib-
ner, when asked about this rumor and q
further rumor that bargain at $50, 600
had been made for the next story by the
same author, declined either to affirm or
deny. The great success Of Sentiment
tai Tommy" probably originated an ex-
aggerated rumor.
1t ia the common rule of publishers
and it Is rule that Is particularly rasp-
ing to the writer with any intinct Of
an artist in him-to pay by the yard; at
least by the Thousand words. It was
with this rule in view that the fact of
Charles Dickens receiving S., 600 for 1000
words was mentioned. Anthony Hope
refused, not long ago, an offer of $3.50
for short story. II ere is another gauge
of market rates. for "a short story"
means from 5000 to 1000 words. 1t is
fair to Mr.. Hope to say that he was
priced at $500 Thousand words.
That gives us the first intimation that
the market is rising, for something less
than three years ago October, 1890
Mr.. Howells wrote that three American
men were commonly paid at the rate of
500 thousand words for their contra-
buttons to the magazines, while one
woman received $3.50. Nationality has
no thing tortio with prices, of course, SO
the inference is that the market for
strictly first GLASS writers of magazine
stories has hardened to the extent of at
least 80 1-3 DER cent.