Evening star., 1901-12-14

Ing Its close. The rush or new DOCKS is
over for the time. The market is as we'll
supplied as 1t Is possible for the presses to
insure and little is left to be done between
now and Christmas but for the publishers
TO cast up accounts and to rely upon the
retailers to distribute their wares accord
ing to the demand. 1t has been an excep
tional season. with probably more indi-
vidual volumes sold to readers than ever
before. The figures are not at hand to
show the total output during the calendar
year, but undoubtedly several million cop
ies OF books have been circulated. With
half dozen novels running into the hum
dreds of thousands each, the total is GER
tain to be stupendous. OF course, there
must be a strong following of books reach
ing the $1,000 mark to make an aggregate
of million in themselves. But it is to be
remembered that the years output of new
titles has in itself been remarkable. One
statistician has learned that no less than
500 volumes of fiction were published in
America since the year began of which
$50 were regularly published" that is,
produced by publishers as ventures and
pressed upon the market. The others were
the privately printed works, for which
there is virtually no demand outside of the
personal circle surrounding the author.
These books are disregarded in the calcu-
lations as to the professional output of
fiction.
OF the 536 volumes of fiction thus "regu-
larly published" 272 were novels of the
society, domestic, village and problem
style, about AZ per cent of them being by
women. One hundred and seven of the
fiction books were historical romances. q
OF them being by women. The other
classes range thus: Collected stories, IS;
outdoor and nature stories, %; detective
and fantastic is; humorous, 6, and juve-
nile, ~ 1t is interesting to note that the
bS6 books were written by 467 authors. of
" Sfh 10 for vol,
or an average for these Of g little more
than two books during the year. One
result of the analysis of the statistics is
that the foreign men writers were the
chief repeaters.
Continuing this instructive analysis a bit
further, II Is found that of the 212 novels
so called dealing, as suggested already,
with society, village and domestic life and
problems, were political, dealt with,
labor questions, II with psychological
questions, with the questions of heredity
in race mixtures, with drink and opium
II with incompatible marriages and the
like. Is with village life, 81 with society at
various metropolitan centers and 144 with
domestic and village love affairs.
Thus 1t appears that the largest percent
age OF the fiction books Of the year were
OF the class generally opposed in the read
erS mind to the romantic novel or his
torfcaI fiction, such as Richard Carvel''
The question which remains to be answered
NCllAAilSlS bS I0S output OF the coming wear
Is whether this means that the day of the
historical romance IS waning One COM
mentator on the years product argues that
fnasmuch as the period necessary for the
production of a novel of the first class
such as gets into the best-selling lists
averages eighteen months, this years
showing seems to Indicate that the tide
mas turned, and that the majority Of the
historical romances issued this wear were
the result OF an effort on the part of the
writers to get into the market created by
the enormous demand for the popular sue
cesses OF two years ago, such as when
knlghthood Was in Flower" If this the
ory Is valid 1t serves to prove that the out
put Of 107 historical romances this year
was the resultant of the demand of other
seasons, and does not necessarily Indicate
that the people are still in the humor for
that style Of fiction.
From England comes word that the n,,h-
fishing season has brought It's perplexIties
TO the book-producers, who seek a clue to
the public tastes. There is no demand for
the problem" novel. with its questionable
morals and its frank bid for prurient curl
osity. Nor has the historical romance
found the same vogue there that 1t has in
thls country. The field seems to be occu-
pied mainly by average novels, of the $50
ciety sort, the love story dominant q
touch here and there of adventure and
mystery, but with the marriage question
In Its more wholesome aspects most con-
splcuous In the range of subjects The
continuation Of the Boer war has pres11u
ably led to demand for sheer entertain-
ment. The public evidently wants to be di-
Verted and not harassed by yexatious lit
erary conundrums, or books which reflect
the militant spirit. The reading public had
SHE'D at Khaki until the war book Is an
anomlnation IN the eyes of most readers
one curious result of the war, 1t Is pointed
out, is that comparatively few Englishmen
notorious globe-trotters in times of peace
are venturing into strange lands. and SO
are accommodating little, II any material
a yrH fNh
hish large share Of the years output,
As the year draws to an end the hest
selling lists show signs Of tense competi-
ton between the publishers for first piaca
Inc Crisis has easily held this position
Tor many months, but The Right of Wav'
mas now appeared at the front and is likely
10 hold its own against the older book
with The Cavalier" working its way up-
ward through the list, and "Dri and T.
4oldlng high place in the top range. THE
EternaI CITY Is well in front, and kim
may soon reach second place The lapse of
time since book was published does not
necessarily tell against 1t in this competi-
ton, up TO a margin of twelve or fifteen
nonths. Sometimes a brand new novel
VIII leap inside OF few weeks to first
place, displacing a substantial favorIte.
while II may in turn be displaced by book
OF siow-growing popularity working up by
conservative degrees. One of this kind is
Lazarre, which IS making headway
steadily, as far as the returns show. and
iAOlAA4SSS u DSCOHle one or the
years leaders.
The readers OF the London Academy.
After contest Just closed voted first place
among the twelve best" to Kim. The
only American books mentioned In the
dozen which proved to be the net result of
ihe contest were THE Crisis" and "The
octopus" 1t is rather odd that these two
books; which deal exclusively with Ameri-
can themes, one historical and the other
sociological, should have found greater
favor with English readers than Others
which have handled broader topics Is this
because English readers are curious to
know more about this country? 1t is a
striking fact that the Academy itself, con-
sidered by some as a guide to one section
OF English literary thought, declares "The
octopus to be the best American novel
OF the year up to the time OF the close of
the contest" There may be a significant
relationship between this preferences and
the recent development of Intense interest
IN England in the international trade and
commerce problems which beset the for
eign business world.
Jacob Riis' Making Of an American" ts
hkely to get into the front rank as a book.
without regard he Sac tbot q, -