Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-06-30
BOOKS AND WRITERS,
a Review Of the Modern Tendencies
in Book Buying.
Holmes and Lowell Conirasted-Notes oil
Literary Interest.


Inc great reaction. according to the
statements Of publishers. whereby the
popular fancy was turned TO works of
the romantic and dramatic type in
preference To those Of the psychological
sort, still continues. Mr.. Howclls may
beWail the reception given to the in
correct reports OF human nature and
only hope that when the time comes
Tor more human kind of fiction. the
embodiment of it may sell to the mine
hundred and ninety-ninth thousand -
like its predecessor; but meanwhile the
sale Of them goes right on. SAYS the
New York Post.
one notable check on the tendency
to turn to highly dramatic literature is
copyright. To put masterpieces Of the old
school on sale chcaply. Hawthorne :
Scarlet Letter has received plentiful
treatment Of this kind. 1t may be bough hi
cloth cover for thirteen and eighteen
cents. and bound in leather. as 4 part of
4 set OF hawthorne, for eighty-ninc cents
a volume. 1t must he remembered, also
that the better Of these editions are
cheap only in the sense Of price, ana
readily satisfy the fastidious buyer.
Handsome sets of books by by-gone
writer's. like Irving ANA Cooper, Dickens,
Trollope, and Thackcray. with not too
great claim 10 elegance. hut every claim
to suitability ana convenience, are still
bought IN Iarg" quantities. OF Cooper,
the report Of Il buokman in q large de-
partmcnt store showed for one year: OF
tcn-cent copies of the Misunderstanding
Tales, 1000; of twenty-five cent cloth
copies $50; and of tweive-volume sets of
4 cloth-bound octave edition at ST. IS.
The same influence tends to make his
torical and biographical works more
widely read. as there is no difficulty in
finding works of this sort unprotected by
copyright. Custodians of libraries say
that the public taste is turning decidedly
in that direction. In the department;
stores, evidence of it is seen in "The
AtAIf ions If
bought in flower sprinklcd covers for Is
cents; in BoswelrS johnson" appearing
perennially in all guises; and in the enor-
nous quantities of cheap war histories
which 50 out weekly from one press and
another.
Science is occupying the minds Of the
book buying public in Il degree common
Surate with the advance il has seen in
The last few years. 1t is explained by a
publisher of popular scientific works that
the quality of such books is much better
today. because they are written by true
scientists who adopt 4 popular style
rather than by popular writers who gain
a SmattcrinG of science. Nature ana nat
ural history are monOpoliZing the field.
ana here at last is branch of book
making in which modern methods Of il
lustration have proved the fortune Of the
book.
The books now issued on birds. butter
flies, ferns and flowers have become mar
VClOus with photographs. frequently col
orcd by the thrve-plttc process. \ book
recently published, To- aCaualnt readers
with the nests ana eggs Of birds. con-
tainS pictures taken directly from nature.
of birds upon ana about their nests,
which could have been secured ana re-
produced only through infinite labor and
care These volumes. by reason Of their
acceptance, are also sold at prices not
usually exceeding s., and even sup
posedly specialized" volume. like that
on butterflies, quickly reaches its third
and fourth thousands.
In the Atlantic Monthly W. ]. stilman
draws this comparison between Lowell
Holmes ana Lowell We're the antith-
escs of the New England intellect and
this more in the personality than in their
writing. Ii Lowell could have acquired
Holmes respect 4or his own work, he
would have left a larger image in the
American Walhalla; but he never gave
care to the perfection of what he wrote,
for his mind 50 tccmed with material
that the time to polish ana review never
came.
Holmes. ike true artist loved the
limae labor; he was satisfied. ii seemed
to me. to do the work Of one lifetime,
ana then rest, while Lowell looked for
ward to q succession of lifetimcS, all
full Of work. and one can hardly con-
ceive him ever resting or caring to
stop work.
Lowclrs was generous. widely sym
pathizing nature, from which radiated
most catholic hrlpfuneSs for every one
who asked for his help with a special
fund for his friends; Holmes drew line
around him. within which ne shone like
a winter sun, ana outside ut which his
care did not extend.
Hall Cainc has returned to his castle
on the Isle of Man from Rome. where he
spent the winter, ana it is rumored that
he is at work on novel dealing with
political and ecclesiastical Rome.
I Me
pires August j.. and doubtless France
will have delugc Of cheap editions
Balzac's widow received $1,000 for his 80
odd novels Is years after his death, AMI
Balzac's himself made large sums from
them. though ne lived in poverty most
of the time on account IF his romantic
extravaganza. one day he invited a
Russian prince To dinner. ana finding
that he had no plate he bought 500
worth for the entertainment. When he
visited Prince Mettcrnich at Vienna he
bought for the journey carriage cost
ing $1,000, and on his return 10 Paris was
arrested for the debt.
Deaf as a post is an actually as
regards MIR. Swincburne. Conversation
with him is almost impossible and he
lives in world Of his own. He owns
something like Il gold mine in the shape
OF a large collection Of pictures by
Dante Gabriel Rossctti.
Maior-Gcncral Baden-Powells new mil
itIrV prestige has naturally stimulated
the demand for his books in England.
He began to publish about ten years ago,
when M was past thirty years of age,
and he has already brought out a nall
dozen books dealing chiefly with outdoor
life and campaigning. Cheap editions are
now appearing in England Of The
Downfall of Prempeh ana "Ine Matd-
helr Campaign" According to his biog-
raphers. he is a man q many interests
and talents. an all-round sportsman. with
4 fondnpss for painting, etching ana am
dteur acting.
When the Bocr war broke ont the pub
fishing trade in England receiveda decld-
ed setback Since that time, however, IL
hls plainly recovered Itself. Even the
interest in fiction is reported I" be as
~rpat as il was in less exciting tunes,
when the newspapers contained no daily
records of adventure. during our war
Vim Snain the sale Of fiction fell very
nntirnahIy. Readers found the newspa-
nnrs far more interesting than novels.
Mr. Beerbohm Trees production OF
Pin Van Wrinkle seems to have created
rpvivaI of interest in England in the
| works Of Washington Irving. And YET
Ia MAY has been scored by the Engilsn
critics. The London firm q GreenlhS ~
~ mas brought ont volume. edlted u!
Mr. 5. j. Adair titz-Gerald, c"ntaiiiihS
Rim Van Wrinkle. The Legend %
cic,!nv Hollow" ana the German tale OF
..nirar LIIus the Goathcrd which IS
.nnnnsad to have suggested Rip ana ms
,Jyantures to Irving. as well as a COM
-. 49,, narrative of the history of RIP anu
~ -; ,r,rSfareucp to ana career on tHc