The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-09-12
A Bohemian Romance
How Eusebius Smith Came to a
Decision as TO a Publisher
Of His Novel.

Decision as TO a Publisher
of His Novel.
&%~-~~0~~o~~
The publishing firm of Lansing &
Lane was exceedingly anxious to OBJ
tain book manuscript from the popu-
lar young author, Eusebius Smith.
Young Smith had gone up like rock.
ct, so to speak, and was now scintillat-
ing broadcast in the armament. with
no apparent exhaustion of pyrotech-
MICS nor intention of returning darkly
to earth, after the manner of the
proyerbial stick He had sprung into
immediate and gratifying populari-
ty" according to the reviewers, upon
the publication Of his first volume,
"The Wings of Salt" and was. there
fore, typical modern man of letters,
worshiped by all femininity with a
kind of Hobsonian hysteria and sur
reptitiously envied by every man jack
of his own sex and particularly of his
own profession
To announce new volume of Fuse
bus smith, Lansing & Lane perceived,
would be the browning achievement Of
the year for any American publisher.
1t would be the talk Of the book world.
heralded and advertised far and near.
The sales would Immediately advance
by overlapping thousands toward the
phenomenal, and all the literary and
trade journals would be describing the
clangor, by day and by night, of multi
Piled lightning presses upon the tons
of white paper flowing into Eusebius
Smiths new book That Mr.. Smith
already had book manuscript on the
eve Of completion all the literary COS
sips averred The interesting question
was, What publisher would get it?
Presumably the Chapwells, said ev-
erybody. The Chapwells had publish
ed Mr.. Smiths two former volumes
and pushed them, or at least steered
them, to enormous sales. But popular
men Of letters are freaky. You can't
depend on them, especially if they are
young. Variety is the spice of life,
even in the matter of publishers, and,
though an author has been well served,
he is never quite sure that he may not
be served better by another agent. So,
while the Chapwells were rubbing
their hands with mingled expectation
and nervousness, the other publishers
were guardedly putting their best foot
forward, in the customary approaches
to the literary lion of the day.
Mr.. Eusebius Smith complacently al
lowed himself to be wined and dined,
went to ride with the ladies of rich
publishers families, tried the shooting
on various choice preserves, and, in
fact, accepted all the delicate courte-
sizes extended him in manner as affa-
bly, unconscious as that which marked
the proffer of them.
But in the meanwhile he was debat-
ing. The Messrs. ChapwelIs had treat
ed him fairly enough in the matter of
royalties on his first two volumes and
had made him handsome cash offer
for the third-but there were others.
Richards had made him better cash
offer by $500. Orchards! BahD Ian
sing Lane produced much better look
ing books than the Chapwells, real
works of art, externally, whereas the
Chapwells' books were mere blocks of
paper and pasteboard-clay paper at
that But Lansing & Lane were chary
of advertising and Indifferent about
pushing book Furthermore, they
had fallen out of touch with the book
sellers, having refused to allow the
latter the customary underselling priv
ilege. Lansing & Lane provided choice,
select books for the select few-books
of literary favor. without literary sub
stance, the cream puffs of literature.
Their books were VIGOROUSLY unsal-
able and were commonly printed
from the type in editions Of $50, half
of which found their way to parlor
tables and the luxurious dens Of liter
airy men of leisure and the other half
to the omnivorous junk bag. No; it
would be suicidal to give the new man.
uscript to Lansing & Lane. Even his
own popularity, modestly reflected Mr..
Smith, would scarcely float book aft
er having their imprint.
Still there was an undeniable fasci-
nation in looking over the new issues
of this firm, each one unique model
of dainty book designing. 1t was gen.
orally admitted that no house could
compete with Lansing & Lane in re-
spect to artistic bookmaking.
Eusebius Smith had to drop in at
their offices every few hours, in spite
of himself to see what new delight for
| the eye and the touch was on the point
of coming out. This tendency on his
part was, of course warmly encour-
aged by both Mr.. Lansing and Mr.
Lane and the leather upholstered easy
chair, looking westward through the
vista of small rooms occupied by the
firm, was always waiting for him, with
the latest publications arranged on a
stand near by.
Lansing & Lane were distinctively
English in their tastes and surround
ings. Their offices consisted Of a suit
of small, low rooms, up stairs, opening
directly into each other from east to
west and furnished den fashion,"
which, as the reader well knows, i'm
plies rugs, touches, heavy hangings,
bric-a-brac, and the like, bathed in
rich, winelike glow of intercepted sun
light.
AS one sat in the big leather covered
chair of the 'den," looking westward
through the several rooms, there was
one window, at the end of all. left I'M
curtained, and on bright afternoons
| the sun ALWAYS DOured through This
west window in flood of glory. Fuse
bus Smith, lounging in the big chair,
could not help seeing, day after day, a
certain patch of brighter gold in the
midst of the sunlight. 1t was a wom-
ans shining head, always with the
face turned away from him, bending
over some absorbing work, behind
sort of counter that concealed all of
the fair toiler but her head and neck.
At first the young author was aware
of this patch Of gold merely In a sort
OF subconscious fashion-pleasing but
not mentally notable. Then one day
he discovered it as a material for a
passing thought it as a
girls head, crowned with remarkably
fine, abundant, shining hair. coiled like
a coronal.
The next time he dropped in and saw
it he wondered who this girl might be,
what she might be doing, always bend
ing so absorbedly over her hidden task.
Then later on strange curiosity seized
! him to get glimpse Of her profile to