New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-10-07

nlv to pleaec the book lover The stimulus
given to trade by elaborate and prOdigious
book deals reflects benefit upon the smal
publisher His range Of selection IS Drodd-
or. His facilities for presentation tecome
augmented. And his chances. while simply
having in view the tastes Of the book IoVer'
pure and simple. Of securing and distribut-
ing the book Of the season." are greater
than they ever were before. once book
shows signs Of becoming popular, and the
publisher. however little known, at once
discovers that he has a public duty TO per-
form. He has started a ball rolling, ana ne
must do a little whipping to keep IT IN mo-
ton In a word the publishing business Is
just as much of q lottery as 1t ever was,
but IT is open to all. To-day judgment ana
experience are quite as likely TO win prize
as capital is with unrestrained enthusiasm
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.-Mr. George
f. Brett President Of The Macmillan COM
pany said. THE book trade. both as TO
present volume Of business and future pros
poets, is in much better condition than last
year. and perhaps than ever before. The
great growth in population. and particularly
the enormous spread of higher and better
educational facilities throughout the ialn,
leads naturally to a taste Tor readlhs' an"
for reading of a better class OF books IMAM
has perhaps hitherto prevailed. ms Is
shown by the enormous demand for some
Of the better works Of fiction books IKE
Richard Carvel and The Choir lnvisl-
bic to take two recent examples, the COM
bincd circulation Of which IS probably up
ward Of 10000 copies. The general pros
perity Of the country and the excellent con
ditions Of general business are also reflected
in the increased demand for school books
and works OF reference. although / am
inclined to believe that general conditions
do not affect the book trade TO any con-
siderable extent. except. perhaps. so far as
what are known as strictly holiday publica-
tions are concerned. Many Of these latter
have had in the past little or no raison
d'ttrc. except for purposes OF presentation
having taken the place OF Christmas carus
and other ike remcmbrances at the holiday
season. In the last few years. however,
this class Of books has very much increased
I'm literary value until. at the present time
many works of a standard sort are given
a holiday dress or superior binding. ana
are largely used for presentation purposes.
Mr. Crawford's Ava Roma lmmortahs IS
q case in point: as many probably as wv"
copies. or thereabout. have found pur-
chasers in the last holiday season. no
prey Gus season has. | think found pup
fishers and printers 50 busy ana Win ~
many books Of value and interest TO "iler
thrnueh the booksellers for the selection OF
the public as the approaching holiday sea-
son The book trade has also. in my opln-
ion. been greatly benefited by the interna-
tional copyright legislation Of few years
ago. and the benefit has extended. think.
beyond the publshet and bookseller 10 the
authors. and particularly 70 American au-
thors. who have since the passage OF me
law found not only a greatly Increased de-
mand and competition among the publishers
for their now works but have been removed
fr,r, th. disadvantage If competition with
the writings of foreign authors, whose works
would under the older state Of things be
published in this country without payment
"A system which was calculated to bear
with particular hardship on the younger and
less known American writer's