New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-19


the little firms. of more or less private nature
III over the country. are fiocking 10 the asso-
station This is due largely to the pressure Of
the booksellers, who, when they find that firm
IF publishers is not a member. express their un-
,-ir1inrness TO order their books or have any
.bfnp 10 do with houses that do not protect the
nrioes Of their books
Another pre-empted title that the author last
in the field must avoid! This time it is The
t2rildirr of Character which selected by
Booker T. Washington for his forthcoming
hook; wherefore he has changed it to Char
acter Building.
A nublisher in New-York. who expressed him
self as interested in recent paragraph in this
co1urnr7 as to the cost Of making books, en-
,,atically corroborated the opinion therein quot
cd of one who could no reason why the price
of hook should be fixed and Interchangeable 1t
WAS apropos Of the complaint of the librarians
that they now had TO pay more for books than
they did for similar publications some years
ago. Said he:
The actual cost to the publishers OF each
book marketed to-day is quite different from
what il was formerly. The elements making up
this cost are: First, the actual manufacture;
second the cost of selling; third the royalties
It is safe to say that in many parts Of its man
ufacture the cost is largely increased That
mart of the cost Of selling which consists IN
sending travellers with samples all over the
country means a debit to the expense account
Of a very considerable amount In the old days
the country was much smaller, and it was much
o4tener the custom of the buyers to make peri
n6ir9l visits TO the buying centres. Now a rep
-esentative of every publisher has TO make ire
ouent visits to his customers, If he expects 10
hold any business relations with them.
That part of the cost of marketing a book
which consists of advertising. is very Tar IN ex-
cess of what was customary even compare
tiyelv few years back. Apropos of this, quote
the following bits of gossip: One house that
did some rather special advertising last fall for
several books of moderate price is quoted as
saving: After ALL We only spent $4,000 more
than We have been in the habit of spending in
similar groups of books
THE representative Of another house is quoted
as SAYING that they had sold twenty thousand
COPIES Of a new book that had been largely ad-
vertised. but that the net result on the transac-
ton was 1904 profit. Good for the author. but
not attractive to the publisher!
THE member Of another house, who spent a
good deal in advertising a few new books that
had very fair sale, is quoted as saying that
each COPY sold Cthe retail price being 81 oO)
represented total cost of more than Sc"
The nar volume of poems by Alfred Austin,
poet laureate of England, is entitled "A Tale of
True Love and Other Poems" and is publlshed
In this country by Harper & Bros The American
edition is dedicated TO President Roosevelt in
these words: ITO one even more distinguished
for his personal qualities than for his political po-
sition lofty though it be, President Roosevelt.
inscribe this volume with deep admlrauon and
respect There is also a special preface for
oh Mr
takes occasion to correct any prepossessions the
American public may have against the office of
poet laureate as "a mere court appointment,
and the holder Of it as expected on stated
occasions to publish courtly sentiments In verse
Would Scott Wordsworth or Tennyson have ac-
cepted it had any faint Of courtly servility at
tached to it? He goes on:
When the present writer had the honor. how
ever undeserved. Of being nominated as Kenny,
sons successor it was in writing communicated
TO him, with that spontaneous graclousnesS OF
language which one of the distinctive elits
OF our late and beloved Queen, that she was
quite sure he would know when best. and how
best. TO give expression to national sentiment
Onoto watanna, the young Americo-Japanese
woman who wrote "A japanese Nightingale
was born at Nagasaki, and is one of fourteen
brothers and sisters When a mere girl she was
a clever parliamentary reporter at Jamaica IN
The West Indies. AftsrWard she CAME " liiC
United States and did newspaper work, publish
ing her first Oriental story in Western news
paper Her mother was Japanese, educated
in England, ard her father an Engiishman she
is ar work on a new novel, which viii be pup
lshed by the Harpers next fall.
a noteworthy thing in the list or fiction an
nounced by Houghton Miffiin e. Co this spring
is the geographical range Of the books Two
continents three countries and a dozen States
are covered by the authors. The scene of Mary
Johpstons Audrey is laid in Old Virginia
IN The Diary Of Goose Girl" Kate Douglas
Wiggin takes for her demesne bit Of Sussex. in
Old England. Maude Egerton Kings idyl
Bread and Wine" has its scene in Switzerland,
and Abbie Farwell Browns I'm the Days OF
Giants" belongs to Scandinavia William Sage's
The Claybornes' is Virginia product; Charles
Egbert Craddocks Champion is a Tennesseean
OF course; Arlo Bates's DIARY of Saint be-
longs. naturally to New-England. as does also
Jeanette Lees "Son Of q Fiddler" Georgia
WOOD Pangborn's Roman Biznet," in spite OF
It's foreign sound. is a story of upper New-fork
State. But the West has been especially at
tractive field TO the authors of this ew-England
house. -Four of them write of the country be-
yond the Missouri Bret Harte's heroes could
6ot be ether than Californians. Mary Hallock