The age-herald., 1898-07-24

1 instance, when 1t is announced that MT. Davis Soldiers of Fortune is in it's fifty fifth edition we may rest pretty satisfac- torily upon the assumption that 55 900 cop ies of that fascinating book have been sold. Among recent announcements have been 'The Gadtly" in its eleventh; 'The Prison CT of Zenda," whose many jumps into edi- tions have been as hard to keep track of
 as that of "Trilby' and other novels which gain immediate and wide popularity is in
 press and out again with great rapidty.
 The same may be said of Hall Gaines nov els. Gilbert Parker's Seats of the Mighty" and Kipling's "rhe Seven Seas" However, one learns by the number of new editions that "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane, and MT. Harirs' Uncle Remus" have reached that they are far better sellers than anything Hall Caine has ever written. Notwithstanding the fact
 that it is claimed that Hall Caine received the largest cash price for 'The Christian ever paid for a piece of fiction.
 It must be gratifying both to English men as well as Americans to find that rela- tions between the two countries are grow
 ing kinder, more sympathetic and stronger every day. Nothing has contributed to the
 closer uniting of these bonds more than our common language and literature It Is with peculiar pleasure that we learn of the real appreciation shown American authors of recent years as they visit England. Ev- cry attention and courtesy is extended
  evnced which proves a familiarity before the advent of the author among them. George w. Cable Is now making a tour of England and Scotland and is welcom- ed everywhere a distinguished repre- sentative of American literature. When Barrie was in this country he sought out Cable, and Cable had Barrie for his host and friend in London. In Edinburgh re- gently MT. Cable was introduced to his au- | dienee by Prof. Mason, who paid a glow | mo In tha American autbOr | responding MT. Cable said that one word he must ring to was Barrie" and another which filled him with emotion was Scot | land" MT. Cable then read from his own works and gave illustrations of the folk l songs and lore of the Creoles of Louisiana, | and afterward favored the company with a long recital from one of his own books "Bonaventure"-The audience were charm ed by the beauty of the story and by the accomplished dramatic expression of the author.
 The great circulating library known as 'Mudies" is undoubtedly the first library of that character in the world. both from it's magnitude and from the fact that it was the pioneer venture in its particular
 field. All readers of English novels have
 long been familiar with the ex-
 pression, having just had box
 down from Mudie's' or something to that effect. However, it means
 
 | culating library, although its fame in this particular has somewhat obscured it's i'm portance as a great booksellng house. However immense as this business ven- | ture now is-quite without a rival any l where-it had a small and humble begin | ming. In the early part of the century in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, long before Car | lyle had made that locality famous, there was to be found a little newspaper shop where few books, chiefly novels, might be obtained on loan at a penny a volume | This little shop was kept by MT. Mudie, whose son Charles assisted him in manag- ing it's business. It occurred to Mir. Mudie 1 that if he were to provide for readers the l best books not in fiction only, but in all branches of literature, as soon as possible after publication, many people would be glad to avail themselves of these advan- tages. He was not mistaken in his suppo- sition and the outcome of the venture was that in twenty years after the opening of the shop the business was valued at ,009 Since MT. Nudes death and that of his eldest son Charles, the enterprise has been carried on by the surviving son, Arthur Mudie and by nephew, MT Kingsford Pawling. It is interesting to know that there are between 100000 and 4O0O 900 vol
 umes in circulation. The staff required for carrying on the work of the various de- partments is nearly 300 people. The ease with which books can be obtained at such a trifing cost, has made the English peo- pie a book-borrowing instead of book buying class It this appalling fact which made the perpatetic Andrew Lang recently exclaim against circulating H. braries at the booksellers dinner in Lon don, for said he, it prevents an author from getting on in the world.