New-York tribune., 1902-03-30
Gbe Neln'llork gribnore.
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY, MARCH 50, 1902.

The news that English publishers are holullS
back many new works until after the corona
ton need not disturb American readers. An
immense amount of our current literature
comes to us from across the water, it is true;
but whether the stream is TO continue in I'm
diminished force or not this spring, the lists
of the American houses are vOluminOus enough
to satisfy anybody. The season is now well
launched and every week brings gOodly Sheaf
of new books, with announcements of others
soon To follow. Fiction, as ever, is III the fore
ground; but the proportion of more serious
literature is larger than it has been at the same
time for a number of years. There is appar-
entity no end to biographical publications, for
example They arrive necessarily, and there
are surprisingly few of them that are not worth
reading. We may note, also, an increase i'll
religious publications, and an improvement III
their character. Many of these books have
literary quality which has been only too rare
in this field of letters. and, by the way. they
are published in much more attractive form
than was once the rule. Sermons and theO-
logical studies are frequently brought out now
with an attractivcness of paper, press work and
binding that have been more accustomed
10 finding among purely secular volumes. In
one department there is diminutiOn of actiY-
ity to be recorded as many readers will doubt
less be quite content to hear. Books on the
South African war no longer appear daily, and
books about the troubles in China are also
steadily decreasing in number.
In of those real conversations which |
Dir. William Archer has been enjoying and has !
been putting into print, we find him and Mr..
William Hcinemann discussing the art and |
mystery OF publishing. about which of the |
takers ut any rate, ought to know something. |
Mr.. Heinemann is amusing and suggestive in |
some of his remarks, and is especially illum- |
mating in his views on the proper education of |
booksellers, BookScns. he thinks, "ought 10 |
be a skilled. and highly skilled employment" |
= point on which most people will agree with |
him. But sorry to find n man so in |
telligent falling into the new cant about book |
reviews. The function of the literary weekly" |
he says, "or the literary page of the daily |
paper, is largely to give people Il superficial |
acquaintance with current literature while |
saving them the expense Of book buying, and
the tine involved in book reading" The flaw
in this amable pronouncemcnt lies in the speak
crS bland assumption that there are no readers /
who care for criticism. readers who really
want To know about current literature on
serious grounds. 1t is the familiar cry against
popular taste and supcrfciality. without the
saving clause. Popular taste is no doubt 10 a
very great extent unuttcraby bad as the vast
circulation of inferior books clearly proves
But as Mr. John Albee was saying in the letter
reprinted in The Tribune the other dav. the
good books are never neglected; there are to
day thousands of people who read them and
want competent criticism Of them. Such criti-
CiSm. despite the activities of hundreds of anna
teurS and log rollers, IS being supplied by many
Of the very publications. to which Mr. Ucinc-
mann refers, ana his snccr is as false as it is
gratuit0uS.
The editor OF THE Academy and Literature"
has evidently been much impressed by two u
recent contributions to periodical literature ''It
may be predicted with some confidence" he
says, that both these papers will call forth
replies" Will they? One Of them is hy MIR
Francis Grlcrson. 1t is called "Thc BIundcrS
of Matthew Arnold and il contains. among
other gems the following: I'VE feel Obliged 10
maintain o. that Arnold was not a man If the
world, (2l hat he was no psychologist ca that
ne never knew the meaning of passion a. that
he could not reason from cause to effect" In
the second Of these papers Mr. Wa%r Frcwcn
Lord diScOurSeS on ThaCkpraV rs the ADostIa