New-York tribune., 1901-03-10
Gbe aetu'alork gribnne.
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY, MARCH IL, 1901.

The effort Of the Publishers Association to
EnIee the present system Of booksclling of some
II its anomalies is meeting with cordial sup
port in divers quarters. 1t IS said that not only
the smaller book shops. but the department
stores themselves, which have counted so
heavily in the book market Of late years, are
pleased at the idea of maintaining uniformity
in the matter of prices. Although fiction is
exempted in the new rules framed 10y the Pub
fishers Association, it seems not unlikely that
it will in the long run be voluntarily regarded
as within their scope by everybody concerned
Harper X Brothers, who have all along been
active in the new movement, have set 4 yau-
able precedent by issuing n nrT novel. John
Eytal," ut 4 net price which they ask all book
sellers to maintain. If the latter are willing. it
is tc be hoped that The public will also show its
approval of the scheme and pay the price
After all, the purchaser should not be an indif-
ferent Spectator of this experiment, languidly
approving it in words, but insisting upon the
Old discounts in practice. The final effect of
the proposed change promises To be equitable
and satisfactory, and toward the attainment of
1T readers, as well as publishers and booksellers
should willingly contribute
\ number of poctcal small fry having been
discussed in The Academy with a viyacity
well indicated in the title of the article-"Why
DO They Do It:"-scveral defenders OF the craft
write reprOaChful letters II the editor. One of
them especially chides him for treating the
work of a deceased poet with some severity in
face of IA preface by his mother, stating that
she published the poems not us the finished
work of 4 literary artist, but in order TO place
them in the hands OF those who knew and loved
IarS To ouI-. Of tba
question cited above naturally rctorts that no
book ought to be sent to a r.ublic journal unless
criticism is freely challenged" 1t is strange
that this is not more generally recognized
among authors. The fond editor of volume
OF posthumous fragments is not the only ndi
vidual who seems to think that the book which
he has prepared should be garlandcd with
hOneyed words. Many a living writer is not
only shocked, but absolutely bcwildcrcd. when
he finds that his work is not taken so seriously
10y the critics he takes il himself. What"
he asks in panied voice. are critics for
This isn't criticism. This is a. stupid personal
attack upon me, thinly veiled by prctencc
TO test my work by the great standards of lii
erature. Everybody knows that | yield to none
in loyalty TO those stau,iardS' The nauscous
mush Of laudation which passes for criticism in
some quarters does something to explain this
nature does even more Nevertheless, the in
ability of some writer's To grasp the meaning Of
the word "criticsIn' remains very queer and
puzzlins.
Every author is credited, by virtue of an
ancient tradition, with the conceament of Il
tragedy. or some other uncharlcteriStic pro
huctOn, III his desk, it being priced memorial
of his youthful days. Nevertheless, that manu-
script sometimes gives one curious SENSATION
wnen it leaps at last to light TO this day il
is hard for many readers, we fancy, TO accept
as natural and proper the fact that Froude
wrote novel-and published it, There lie
those who maintain that he wrote history like
q ronauccr, yet even they, like the rest of us,
are abaShed by The Two Chiefs of DunbOy
Now II similar surprise is offered by very
different sort of writer, Mr. Fergus Hume no
less He has been known deft composer
of exciting trifles since he published THE
Mystery of a Hanson Cab" in 1883. Behold.
he has written Il play iii blank verse, on
classical subject, and Sir Henry Irving has ac-
ceptcd it, Could anything be more delightfully."-