New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-04
GDe Neau'alork gribmalss
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER t, 1898.

One of the very interesting points brought
ont in the series of interviews Win publishers
which was recently printed in The Irlpule
must possess peculiar interest Tor all ti'ouSH'
ful observers of the development OF AilelIoa"
taste 1t was generally conceded thaI "A'i'
good fiction had lost none of its vogue Iiie Signs
of q reaction against excessive mover Ie'uih7
,,.oro in sight. and that miscellaneous volumes
of q serious character could count upon "luci
circulation than they have enjoyed In some
wears This conclusion, based upon recent siucS
f hooks and advance orders for publications
scheduled to appear during the forthcoming
SooSon couId not but be especially gratifying
"A us as il proyideS substantial ratlflcauoh
of what has all along been maintained in these
columns Again and again we have hau 10
deDlore the conspicuity of the Second-rate nov
cliSt but we have ever insisted that thlS sig
nified not so much 4 permanent corruptioh vi
the public taste a surrender on the part Vi
scores of socalled critics to laZineSs and unln-
toIIicence These gentry have so filled the air
with their clamOr about the last big selIer'
they have been so asSiduouS in lauInS out
trcackly pap about mediocrites whom they
have taken for writers of genius, that they have
actually succeeded in deceivlng many people
into buying worthless books.
Mr. Stanhope Sprigg who seems to know all
about it. has been writing in The Daily Man
about what he calls "a great literary myth-
The myth if seems is that harmless necessary
individual known as 1.-The publishers reader.
Having exposed the abSurdity of the Ideas
about him held among laymen and among 4
good many authors, Mr. SpriSS proceeds 10
state a few facts in regard to this mythlcal
rersonage. He has known of n manuscript by
"a celebrated lady novelist being handed on
hy the publishers to whom it was submitted to
a boy of eighteen fresh from school. In an
other case he can tell of reader whose chief
business in life was that of a ticket seller at
suburban theatre. He quotes "a lady's COM
panion,' who had somehow managed to get on
the reading staffS of two or three firms. as
navely saying: al can always tell what is in
manuscript by its appearance When it is dirty
or dOE-eared | know it has been seen before,
and it's no good. And when it's brand new l
say to myself at once, 'Ah, amateur" All of
this is no doubt terribly distressing. Mr..
SpriCg is candid enough to see that the pub
Usher is not altogether to blame. Suppose he
receives only forty works each day, and sup
pose he only pays his staff Of readers Il guinea
for each manuscript which they send him n
written report upon . There at once is
a weekly expenditure Of 80 guineas-and not
penny profit, or. perhaps chance of profit, to
show for it" 1t is not surprising therefore,
that many publisher feels that he must give
Ills readers fixed salaries and send each one of
them great many manuScriptS-wth the re-
suit That the Jaded attache sometimes makes q
hlunder But we believe that in spite of all
me drawbacks of the situation no serious harm
IS done to authors or to the public.