The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-03-29

urday Review of Books.
TITO LOOK backward to the very beginning OF
| peclniary reward for the American author
! / worth considering, the success in that re.
| spec gained by Washington Irving will
naturally be suggested first. The initial part of
the sketch Book" published in the United
States in 1919, edition of 1900 copies at -
| cents copy. Irving. one of his brothers, as
stmed the publishers risk; and it is presumed
| that he received eventually about $500 the ven.
| ture. With the exception of $50 he had been
| paid for the work OF transllting volume from
| the French and some slight profits from the hu-
morous 'Knickerbockcr'' in ls0s, the returns on
the sale of the Sketch Book" were Irving's .irst
| earnings in his own country. lie was at thar
| time thirty-siX years old
| Twoscore years later the tabulation of the
| money his works yielded him presents the total
| of S205,3S3.34. or that amount $l22,3 II was
derived from sales and the leasing of copyrights
in the United States, average OF S3,059jO year
ly during fifty years. The largest returns were
netted from the life of Columbus, =" of which
there was an abridged edition for in schools.
The two forms of the book brought together
$1,000 Next in pecuniary profit is tabuated ''rhc
Conquest OF Granada, $i150; then "Astoria,'
which Astor paid Irving $1,000 to write; and al
Ter that guaranteed work, the "Alhambra' 3d.,
600, "3onneville'S Adventures y 5000; "A Tour
on the Prairie,' s2,iOO; ''Crayon Miscellany"
S2,1OO. and Legends OF the Conquest OF Spain,"
Sl,AOO. The lease of the copyrights of the sketch
Book" "knickerbocker," "Bracebrdgc Hail."
and Tales of Traveller from ls2S to 1888,
brought $4,000 From 1912 to 1913 Irvine's works
were out OF print in this country and notice
able fact is that. of the entire amount they
earned for him in the United States, $SS. .1i30S
came to him during the last eleven years of his
life after there revival of his reputation
and his works We're offered in uniform edition.
Cooper always took pains to conceal his earn
ings. Professor I.ounsbmy states. in his biog-
raphy OF Cooper, that there appears to be no way
OF discovering what amounts he received. His
earnings by his pen began with the publication
OF "The Spy in 1921, and continued for thirty
years Divide. however, the total amount re-
ceived by either. and especially Irvings earnings.
which are known, by the number of years, or The
number OF works, the amount represents and the
result may assume less dazzling appearance.
Until the period arrived OF unprecedented sales
for popular books and the quick acquiring OF
wealth by their authors, Irving the one
author alone who could be offered as an exam
pie OF what prolific writer might nope to gain
ii he captured great popularity on both sides of
the Atlantic and retained it forty years
1t was Willis who took the lead in pccuniury
among those authors that were next in
succession after Irving and Cooper Hawthorne, |
Longfellow, Lowell, Poe, and Willis were all
about the game age, and they began authorship
contempolaneously. Both Hawthorne and Willis |
were leading contributors to the Token, an |
nual published by 5. G. Goodrich. To the for |
mer Goodrich wrote in 1880 regarding four
ske'ene, The Gehlie Boy toger Malvin's
Burial" ''rhc Wives of the Dead" and ''My |
lncle Noi'neauN'' that' US Il practical evidence |
OF 'he uncommon merit OF Inc tales. ne would
ohef nm sd' ior lhe privilege ol using Inc hrSt.
Most oi 'Ihe lwlce,lold Iales' were published
III lhe annual m'htohed at that prlee. Later
hawthorne was ol'reh ny 'i'e same publisher H'oJ
TO write book OF 600 pages on the manners Gus
tons' ana cNlhtl'S OF all countries IL remains
TO DC related though mat ""odrlch's otler dlS-
eo''iS, Nllih' WAS unlhs hluch heller lhAh me
rc''uHe ~ Saieh'' ne ploke away lIoh New Eng
hhd carly ana llaslehed 10 New YORK. Iherc ne
became partner WIN HeorSe T.. MOTIFS lni
Theodore Fay IN publishing the Mirror. One day
in lsd3, willie the three laid their heads together
in Sandy WelSh's oyster saloon, so runs the tale,
II was agreed to SEND NilliS abroad to write
weekly letters. For THIS undertaking Morris and
Fay Scrlped together $500, and 1t was agreed that
Wills should receive SO letter That was the
AMOUNT which ioated Willis while he was making
he acquaintance OF English society and produt'
ing the first OF his 'Peneillings by the Way
The book brought him repute and 5000, ''all
used for expenses and accumulated debts And
thirty years later, when he died something sim
lar might have been reported
During this period in American literary his
tory under notice, that is while Willis was the
most popular and the hest paid, Edgar Allan Poe
appears TO have been the onr writer OF real rep
ltation who got the least remuneration. His FIRST
'amng was the prize money, slOJ, he received
n Baltimore for "Thc Ms. Found in a Bottle"