Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-07-21
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Interesting Developments EX-
pected Among Publishers.


Is n Rare bird.
New YORK, July Special. 1.-The
air is full of prophesyings as to startling
developments among the publishers and
has been ever since the announcement Of
an alliance between Harper & Brothers,
one Of the oldest periodical and book pub
fishing houses in the country. and Nc
Clure's, one of the youngest.
Some of the seers say that the combi-
nation is soon to be extended so as to in
clude The Century company, the Serb
ners and several other leading concerns,
at least as far as their periodicals 60, but
this story may be set down as highly inn
probable, to say the least.
A Coming Combination.
All the same, there is going to be more
consolidation, and, as matter OF fact,
consolidation has been going on among
the periodicals for many years, as every
one familiar with the history Of the pub
fishing business is very well aware. In
its early days st. Nicholas, The Century
company's juvenile magazine, swallowed
nearly every other juvenile Of any conse-
quence, including The Riverside Maya
zine, The Little Corporal, published in
Chicago, and that peerless monthly, Our
Young Folks, edited by Thomas Bailey
Aldrich. Munsey, one of the foremost
periodical publishers of these days, has
taken in two or three old time periodicals
like Peterson's and Godey's, and many
more instances might be cited.
Still, alliances between big publishing
concerns, each maintaining its own indi-
yiduality in n measure, are new thing
among publishers. Undoubtedly such a
combination can be so arranged as to re-
duce expenses, especially the "competi-
tive ones" the same as combinations in
other lines of business tend in that di-
rection, and this is an all important
point at the present time, when book
publishing, like newspaper publishing, is
so largely n matter Of manufacture and
trade Those who are in the know re-
garding the publishing trade say that
the next consolidation or combination to
startle those in that business will be The
Century and the Macmillan companies.
In giving this report currency the writer
by no means guarantees its accuracy, for
it may be only the veriest rumor and not
based upon facts at all. Both concerns
are extremely well known in the pub
fishing world and to the reading public,
and the success of The Century company
was the greatest achievement in the peri
odical publishing line for many years,
though relatively dimmed by the later
rise of the big four among 10 cent peri
odicals-McClure's Munsey's, The Cos.
mopolitan aud The Ladies' Home
Journal.
Monthly Magazines.
Whether the enormous circulation at
tanned by these periodicals has inter
fered appreciably with the circulation OF
the older, higher priced monthlies is
something that we who are on the out.
side cannot learn with certain accuracy
but several apparently candid statements
to the negative effect have been made
| 1t is not claimed that the present circula-
ton of The Century is as large as it was
| in that publications best days, but the
| falling of, they say, is attributed by its
editors and publishers TO other causes
than the competition of the 10 centers
| The Century's top notch was reached
while the celebrated war series was run
ming, and the stoppage of that series
resulted in big shrinkage inside of O
month or so. Since then there have beer
fluctuations from time to time, but the
|
been down to the old time lowest level.
Harper's Magazine was never so wide
| ly circulated as was The Century at it.
best. and Harper's, therefore, has never
been subject to such severe fuctuation,
| either way. Harper's had a big boon
while Du Mauriers "Trilby" was run
ming as a serial, as big boom, perhaps
as any high class American periodical
| IA on Of mn
LEGATION, and the editor thereof would
count himself exceedingly lucky il HI
could find another story that would in
terest the public as "Trilby" did. Serb
ner's Monthly, which sells for 10 cent
less than either Harper's or The Cen
fury, seems to have made its way mostl!
without special booms and because o
general sustained interest. 1t is sale
that Scribner's goes along more event.
than any of the other periodicals, with |
steady though by no means meteori
advance.
Everything considered, the chance
seem to be that the high priced period
Gals have not been hurt seriously b,
their younger low priced rivals, and i
this be so it is because the latter hav,
found a new field of circulation Target,
and because the devotees of the higl
priced periodicals do not drop them OF
taking up with the others. The Review
of Reviews, which occupies a field all b.
itself and is prospecting amazingly, Lip
pincott's, The Atlantic and The Nortl
American Review need hardly be consid
cred at all in this comparison.
Some New Periodicals.
There is a good deal of interesting tall
In publishing circles outside that engen
dered by the combination rumors. Flo
instance, although there are now man
more periodical candidates for public IA
vor than there were few years ago, ru
mors of new ones are noteworthy rife
and it may be set down as a certaint
that some of the rumors will be sui
stantiated by the event. The apparen
and probably real success of the newl
established Ainsley's Magazine and tn
still newer weekly, Success, has given
number of publishers an itching to ente
new fields.
Capital may be found in plenty for tn
establishment Of almost any number O
new periodicals If only the capitalist
can be convinced that the proper feel
has been found. This attitude is largel
mistaken one-more than a promisin
field and plenty of money is wanted.
The most important need of a neV
periodical, as a matter of course, is a
editor, and in spite of the vast amour
of really trainel editorial talent that
available the thoroughly competent eC
itor is the most difficult thing in tn
world to find. To be frank, you can