The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-11-16
GOSSIP FROM
LONDON WORLD
OF LETTERS

OF the trade transacted during the last
month by far the greater portion has con-
sisted of 6-shilling novels.
saw 1T mentioned in one daily paper
that as many as ninety new novels mad
been issued in one day. That was SEN
satfonal figure and, though the issue has
not reached quite so many. still the out
put has been very large, and some sixty
new volumes have appeared in the fiction
line during the month Of October
A fair percentage Of these have been by
authors of repute Many of them, there
fore, commanded a ready sale.
1t looks as if Rudyard Kipling's KIM
had sold most freely. nearly the whole CT
the first edition of $4,000 copies being dis
posed of. while it's popularity has caused
an increased demand for the other works
of this author.
1.-THE Benefactress" by the author OF
elizabeth and Her German Garden has
been very much in request. as also nave
1.-THE Right of Way by Gilbert Parker;
the New Canterbury Tales, by Maurice
Hewlett: 1.-THE Purple Cloud" by M. P.
Shiel; 1.-THE Flower and Thorn" by Miss
Beatrice Whitney, and 1.-The Giants
Gate" by Max Pemberton.
1.-THE Eternal City, 1.-THE Herb OF
Grace" 1.-THE History of Sir Richard Cai-
nady'' and 1.-THE Luck of the Walls have
also continued in steady request.
Light Freights," by w. w Jacobs,
proved no exception to the customary
success Of that authors humorous pro-
auctions, as it has been in constant de-
mand.
Prize gift books are pouring in from
various publishing houses and works from
the pens Of those prolific writers for
youthful minds such as g. "A. Henty, G.
Manville Fem, DIR. Gordon Stables and
others have already begun to be sought
after.
It is said that Graham Balfour's Life
of Robert Louis Stevenson is already in
its seventh thousand. In this connection
il is perhaps worthy of note that the
Christmas number of the Pail Mall Maya
zine will contain a character sketch OF
Stevenson from the pen of w. p. Henley,
who perhaps knew him better and under
stood him better than any OF his contem-
poraries.
Now that the woman publisher has
come on the scene, there Is a possibility
that the book trade may have to be dis
cussed before long from the woman's
point Of view. Women booksellers, OF
course, have long existed in London, but
mostly as dealers in second hand books.
There are two we'll known women book
sellers in KensingtOn. however, who open
ed a regular shop as an experiment about
eighteen months ago, and who have made
a great success of it. Bookselling, they
declare, is a delightful business for a
woman, and one in which she has every
opportunity Of excelling.
Miss Florence White. the new publisher.
begins appropriately with the home series
which she edited for Grant Richards and
which she has taken over from him. Her
imprint may also be seen on new hand
book on smallpox.
The death Of that great Chinaman Ii
Hung Chang gives point to a book which
Mr. Murray is just about to publish. It
is series of anecdotes Of John China
man." illustrating his character and Gus
toms, and is derived from the authors
own personal experiences in China He IS
E. H. Parwer, who is now professor Of
Chinese at Owens College, Manchester.
and for years was in the British consular
service in China. He has both a knowl-
edge of the people and an appreciation OF
them. He thinks with Sir Robert Hart
that any attempt to crush the Chinese
spirit is a mistake which will have to be
paid for in the future.