Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-10-11

ness, 1t may be that the pubic is
something of an ass, and it is easy to
be the dupe of reputation. Mr.. Swim
burne may have a weak poem on one
mage of a magazine and Gifted Hop
kins Smoot may have a much better
one on another; but Swinburne's will
excite interest and Shoots has good
chance of instant burial. An injustice,
but the world is so made. The men
and women whose books have sold
well are and ought to be favorites with
the publishers. The latter are and
have to be merchants, and not patrons
of struggling authors. The unknown
writer must write much better than
the well-known writer. The latter has
a vogue, deserved or not, which will
last until he wears it out. Grant that
ne is mere shoveller of fiubdub. Your
beginner must do vastly better.
Copyright on books published both
in this country and in England is op-
tainable only when the books are set
up and plates made in this country. A
New York firm recently got into trouble
with book they were importing In
sheets. through the carelessness OF the
English printer, who put on one or the
front pages, Copyright in America
by so and so. The first the firm heard
of it was by a message from the Gus
tom House calling upon them to snow
cause why the whole edition should
not be cOnfiscated and destroyed on
account of the offending line of type.
Could the page containing it be torn OFF
and the sheets admitted thus? Ger
tainIy not; the law is explicit, and no
such miserable subterfuge could
possibly be permitted. The firm sue
&c eded by application in Washington in
securing a reprieve of the sentence of
destruction upon their bOokS-a re-
prieve which enabled arrangements to
be made to ship the cOntraband sheets
back again to England. There the
scissors will be applied and the page
containing the false copyright state
ment cut off The book will then be
blameless in the sight of the American
Custom House. the publishers hope,
and will be re-exported to New York.
A discussion of how the average
bookseller supplies his stock was re-
Gently going on in a publishers office,
in which il appeared that most book
sellers bought pigs ina poke when
they sent their orders in. Drummers
| usually take dummies" or blank
pages. with a few of the first pages Of
the book bound up to show the size and
| binding of the volume. Where they
do carry complete copies, booksellers
in general are not supposed to have
| time to read what they are going to in
corporate with their stock; and it was
| even suggested that comparatively few
| booksellers nowadays would be much
wiser or much more competent to form
| a Judgment of a book and its value
| after they had read it. They usually
DeS or the name of the publisher or the
| author when the latter has done any
, of estimatiT & his selling power" On
the other hand, it is rare that a name,
however popular, would induce any
conservative publishing house to ac-
ceot book without an opportunity for
reading it and passing on its actual
merits first. Novels are, to be sure,
sometimes ordered Of men who are well
TO their credit. and not infrequently
the purchaser is disguised with his
bargain before he has gone long
way with it, But an author must have
very substantial qualities that make
for success to induce any publisher to
take his work without an inspection
Of it.