New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-09


the works Of travel or history or biography or
purc literature which make each their little
sct.,ion OH appearing get themselves re-
viewed with unaAiniouS laudatlon in all the
literary Journals and then drop utterly out of
sight It is one of the most curious of modern
rl,"no.ncua, suggesting pquant train of
thouci,t That all these books are mentioned
with more or less cordaty in the books on the
SANE, subjects published five or ten years later
is true enough. ana this hints At one cXpana-
ton If their practical disappearance. We are,
~ The social commentators say passing
thrnu,h A period Of transition. and perhaps
IN, noIcru author is simply accommodating data
far The genius of the next century to put into
masterpieces Bat it is difficult to believe that
All the capable authors are exercising this
modest function. They certainly would not
admit il themselves Yet can they tell why
their works are so soon forgotten: We wish
they would Naturally. an outsider might say
thai the merely good book is only makeshift-
that a truly great work would enter at once
into the movement Of human thought But
outsiders are VIGOROUSLY ignorant in these
matters. ...t-
We are glad that Hougton Mitliin x co.
have Begun among American publishers the
PRACTICE not long since introduced by their col
leagues across the sea. The Macnlillans we
l..l,eye were the first to decide that no matter
how many patches Of 4 book they printed they
would not regard any one Of them as new
'ciitioa' until something had been done to the
tcyt 10 warrant such A dcsi suat ton. They uSed
the word IMPRESSION instead and brought
inv 10 The hearts Of photographers in particu-
lar md hook lovers IN general. Now that the
fJnurbtans have adopted this eXpcdient, 1t IS
In ne hoped that publishers throughout the
country will take il up. It's business Is CD
vious The latest dictionaries indicate the MS
tnciion between the edition that Is SIMPLY
rcprint aud the edition that embodIes modfi-
catious. additions and 80 on. but usage must
eventually establish this distinction even more
cmpha ti0aiiy. 1t is absurd to read that OF new
hoax nv, "A, popular author the first and second
editions were sold before publication, ana
that the third edition VIII soon hr in the hands
of the booksellers. At this rate publisher
would only have to divide an edition into lois
of five hundred, and before the book had been
out;.a week he would have put ten or hlteen
.cditions" to the credit of the author and him
self ...
We have often had occasion TO point out the
value rs records of ARTICLES in the magazines,
hut The latest enterprise OF The Century to
which auSion il made in another column,
throws into the shade nearly everything that
has been done in the past. The naval battles
in The Spanish American War are 10 be de-
Scribed by some OF those who took part In
them Sampson. Schlcy. Evans. Taylor. VAIN
wright SigSbec and HobSon are the principal
contributors TO the series. As an historical
collection these papers ought 10 be invaluable
Each writer will necessarily be more concerned
with th. doings of his own ship than with
those Of any other vessel in the fleet, but we
do not sec that this will lessen the Importance
of h., evidence If the experience Of each
ship is correctly reported that is all that the
historian will ask. He will then have at his
disposal iic best possible material out OF which
TO evolve Il pauJraml Of the naval side OF the
war rs 4 whole There have been mountains
of such material accumulated by naval and
military commanders ever since classic times,
and a great deal Of il has been invalidated in
one way or another: but conditions to-day are
more favorable 10 accuracy in such matters
than they have ever been before. The naval
office has every facility for graspng his exact
reference 10 a battle; hardly anything is done
on The great fighting machine under his con-
troll which is not almost immediately put on
ofici1l record: his training in regard to weap-
ou, ammunition aud the defensive portions
of fha modern battlc-shp enables him clearly
~ perceive "details which were utterly beyond
thr ken Of hS ancestors and. to crown all he
Knows that his scientific observations will be
l.,