The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-05

published, "The Gentleman From
Indiana" vas the most successful.
though "Besucaire'' promises to last
longer. and Mr. Harrington is anxious
to duplicate his first success. At the
same time his new book will probably
possess much the same quality as
"Beaucaire," for the author is both
author and dramatist. In that fact
lies TO a large extent the charm of his
Nriting-he sees the play going on be-
fcre him as he writes, and the reader.
because of the clear style and dra-
matte force of his story, sees the mat
ter in the same way.
The ruthless piracy of the modern
sunday paper which runs to yellow
ness in methods and chromatic horror
IN appearance, is proverbial. One of
the New York editors of this class was
outwitetd recently in a manner to give
JOY to his former victims The afore-
said editor conceived the plan of print
ing lot of Christmas shore stories
from wen known authors. and his list
included Balzac, Kipling, Stevenson,
Dumas, George Eliot, etc With most
or these, there was no trouble A
man was detailed ITO fix up the sto-
RES so that they might has a Yuletide
significance. Two or three were Sc
lected from Stevenson, and a reporter
called upon the authorized publishers
III regard 10 rfle matter.
Certainly, they replied to the re.
quest, If You will send a check to Mrs.
stevenson for 5000, you may use the
stories.
The Sunday editor agreed and the
check was sent. Then two days later
the editor discovered that the stories
which his man had chosen were
among the uncopyrighted portions of
Stevenson's work, and his rage was
to ~
mind 1t was a crime to pay for the
use OF anything which he might as well
have stolen.
I CHANGED to be passing Trinity
Church the other day when, above the
rattle of trucks and the Changing of
street car bells, l heard the cry:
Balzac, fifteen complete volumes,
for ten cents, former price ST.
AT the curb stood a wagon on which
were piled high several cases. Two
men, typical hucksters, were calling
out that, in order to advertise this
edition of Balzac, they were Offering
f1fteen complete volumes for 10 cents
not 10 cents each, but 10. cents for
the set. The crowd about the wagon
bought eagerly each purchaser re-
ceiving pasteboard box about an inch
wide, in which were contained twelve
or fifteen pamphlets of a. few pages
each, the whole being worth about
8 cents.
1t is unfortunate that the publisher
of THE Book Booster" by Bert L.
Taylor, has not seen fit to put out this
delightful booklet in a more attractive
form. Without doubt it is the clever
est satire on modern publishing and
advertising book methods that has ap>
peared in recent years. Mr.. Taylor
measures editions by weight, and ranks
the child author highest on his roll
of fame. His motto, knock and the
world knocks with you; boost and you
boost alone" serves as a text for his
humored attacks on books and
authors of the day. Recently he re-
ceived letter from Elbert Hubbard,
whose "Philistine," Mr.. Taylor has so
cleverly satirized in the "Blioustine."
each copy tied with a string by hand"
in which Fra Elbertus writes:
II have just looked over a copy Of
your last work. 1t is rot" etc Yet
there are many who will hope that Mr.
Taylor will continue publishing "The
Bilioustine," not only when he needs
the money, but also whenever he can
find the time.
Herbert Brewster.