The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-06
LITERARY NOTES.

Henry James has become the London cor
respondent of Harper's Weekly.
Mr. w. d. Howells, who has not been we'll
this. winter, is shortly to go to Carlsbad for
his health.
Mr. Michael Mulhalrs Dictionary of Sta
tisties," which was published in $780, has
been so successful that q new edition is to
TINS edition the compiler will not only care
fully revise all the existing portion of the
work but viii add one hundred pages.
Herbert Spencer is keeping five secretaries
busy at his hired home in Brighton, trying
to. bring his biology up to date. 1t is a
great task. especially as he himself can
only give about an hours work day, even
when he feels his best, and much of the
time he can't do that.
Mr. A. e. Keet who became editor of the
Forum about two years ago, has resigned
his position and has been succeeded by DIR.
j. M. Rice the well-known writer on edu-
catIOnal topics whose articles on our pub-
lie schools which appeared originally in the
Forum a few years ago created a sensation
among educators.
Maurus Jokai has had to submit to the i'm
evitabe interview of the distinguished nov
elst upon other novelists and the art of fic-
ton. His idea is that it is the business of
the novelist to ''endeavor to idealze life, SO
that man may look upon some of its
sweetness, even if he never taste it," Asked
elsts he unguardedly said that he dsliked
the whole lot"
The second international meeting of pub
fishers has been called for the end of June,
at Brussels. The first one was held in
Paris last year. In all probability the pub
fishers will have their third gathering in
London. Another interesting conference is
European countries and of America. 1t is
to take place in London next month, and a
large attendance is expected.
Note from the New York Evening Post:
The Bookman declares war on the split in
finitive." 1t says: IF an archangel were to
send us a communication containing a split
infinitive, we should unsplit it with great
promptitude." Accordingly, when we find
on page 339 Of the same issue, lone must be
genuinely serious to fully, enjoy we Won
der how high in the celestial hierarchy the
contributor must have been so to brighten
the editor into leaving the split intinitive
unSplit.
An American lady has been endeavoring
to procure the literary good offices of Mr..
Andrew Lang. She addressed him the fol-
lowing note, which he gave to the papers as
his surest defense against future beguile-
ments of the sort: Mr. Andrew Lang, Lon
don. Sir: 1t is thought that you would like
this story, and would be able possibly to
place it in some English magazine. If so,
for your interest in the matter, please take
One-half its value, sending the other half to
Miss -, L. street, c., U. S. A. If
not available please return MS. to this same
address,
Mr.. Robert Grant, who is known as Judge
Grant in Boston, has achieved eminence
and prosperity in two distinct avocations-
literature and the law. He is a legal light
on Beacon Hill, a bookman and magazine
star to the outside Englsh-speaking world.
There is q long catalogue of clever work
between The Confessions of a Frivolous
Girl'-his first hit with the reading public
and his latest social satire. Judge Grant is
a son of the late Patrick Grant, and be-
longs to the exclusive set of Boston, being
CONNECTED by marriage with some of the
Oldest families in that city. His aunt was
Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis and he is cousin
of the late Allen Thorndyke Rice. He is
married to a daughter of Sir Henry Gault,
of Canada, lives in Marlborough street, and
has an interesting family.
A New York letter in the Boston Literary
World says: Several publishers were dis
cussing the condition of the book trade the
other day, and they agreed that the present
season was one of the worst known in sew
eral years. When this fact had been estab-
lished, they tried to discover the causes that
created the popularity of book. Mere
chance, said one; Genuine merit, said an
other, whose remark was greeted with
jeers; Extensive Advertising said a third,
and good press notices. NO. said the old
est in the group, after years of experience
l have come to the conclusion that the most
effective cause of the sale of a book is
abuse. More than dozen years ago pub
liShed a book which, | felt sure, would
make a success. 1t was praised by the
critics all over the country, but it did not
sell. Then, to my astonishment, most
abusive review of it appeared in one of the
leading Sunday papers here in New York.
The sales picked up at once, and l soon dis
covered that that review had made people
talk about it. The talk spread, and in a
month the fortune of the book was made
When we published the next book, by the
paper and asked that it might be Reviews ot vng
by the same critic F"