The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-06
NEWS NOTES AND AUHoRsNfW BOOKS RECEIVED
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English tongue celebrate this month the
two hundredth anniversary CT the birth of
John Wesley. whose natal day was June
Is. liCS Among the hundreds of strong and
able religious leaders who have belonged to
the different branches Of Methodsm not one
has reached his stature as a man of intel
lcctual and religious power ara the fact
testi,Ies forcibly to Wesley's greatness. The
anniversary gives snecal timeincss to Mr..
Quiller- Couchs novel, "fIettv Wesley"
which the Macmillan Company announces
for publication in the early autumn. This
Is described as practically life CT Wesley
nut into the form of fiction IT seems likely
to prove n human document of considerable
Importance. remarkable of It's kind.
Choosing titles for tho books that the
nuhHShers arc Issuing every dav IL 4 prob
lem of no mean proportion. T.. p Baum
was asked recently where no got the word
oZ. which he used in The Wizard of
o." We'll" he said. 7 have a little cab
met file on my desk that IS lust in front
of me. I was thinking and wondering
about title for the story. and had set
tied on wizard as part OF 1t. My gaze
was caught by the gilt letters on the three
drawers of the cabinet The first was A-G;
the next drawer was labeled HIN; and on
the last were the letters or. And ''Oz" It
at once became" A new edition of The
VI
Merrill Company. who are the publishers
of all Mr.. Baum's books
I. H. Caliga. noted New England por-
trait painter. was secured to provide the
colored illustrations for Helen Milecete's
novel. "A Detached Pirate" which Little
Erown q Co publish. and his conception Of
Gay Nandeeur IS a noteworthy example
Of book illustration in four colors.
Mr. II T. Wilson'S ,e,- ,ra ,.,-,- ,.-.,n
novel. THE Lions of the Lord" will be
published by the Lothrop Publishing Com
pany about June 10. This is Mr.. Wilson's
second novel, his first story. THE Spend
ers." published year ago, being in its
fifty-fourth thousand and selling better
than ever.
In this new story. which IS described rs
tale of the old West. with its center of
action and interest In Salt Lake City, he
makes an entire departure from his earlier
BOOK and presents a graphic picture of the
humor and tragedy of Mormon life Adj
vance orders for the book are heavy.
1t is seldom that authors make good BUSH
ness men. yet sometimes they are obliged to
leave the primrose path for the steady rou-
tine of looking after the dollars and cents
The author Of ''Urder the Rose" Frederic
5. Isham, perforce abandons, betimes, the
bywayS of Bohemianism for the highways
or commerce and trade. He is n director
OF wholesale hardware corporation, of a
gold vanning machine company, with Off
ces in London. New York, Frisco and Aus
tralia, of mining company in the Rainy
River district, etc. Between pennine the
pages of romanceS. he listens to the tales
of promoters and their kind whose inasin-
alton frequently surpasses his own best
fights of fancy in the field of fiction. When
In Detroit-his home-his writin: is done
at his downtown office entirely
The career of Henri de Tont!, the hero Of
"A Rose of Normandy little Brown &.
Coz. VIM. r. A. Wilson's popular novel.
was filled with many strange and curious
>acts. His life history, If known In its en-
tirety. would probably be more Interesting
than any romance. In the novel above men.
TONED he Is left In command of the French
FORT st. Louis. on the Illinois River, erected
on what was later known as Starved
ROCK. His ultimate end Is unknown ex-
cept that his later years were spent near
the mouth of the Mississippi. His left hand
was lost early In his military career He
wore an iron continuance in the place of the
lost member. so that he was widely known
as the Man with the Iron Hand" Some
years ago a grave was unearthed near
Biloxi, Miss. which contained the skeleton
or European who had evidently been
buried in the early part of the Eighteenth
century. The curious part of the discovery
lay IN the fact that the bones of the left
nand were missing and a rudely shaped
hand of iron, deeply rusted, was found in
their place. These were undoubtedly the
remains of this heoric French explorer.
According to the current issue of The
Bookman. the best-selling book during the
eight years 1sso-1sO2 was "Quo Vadis.'' fol-
lowed by David Harum.'' THE Crisis"
and When Knighthood was In Flower"
Little. Brown & Co., the authorized publish
ers of SienkiewicZ's works. state that nearly
10000 copies of Quo Vadis'' have been sold.
Henry Harland's new novel begins serially
in the June McClure's. The title. MY Friend
Prospero" is most alluring, and certainly
the publishers could have made no more
suspicious choice of the writer for a sum-
mer serial than the author of 1.-THE Cardi-
nafs Snuff Box" and MY Lady Para
mount"
George Harvey, president of Harper &
Brothers. has just returned from London,
where. as stated in a cable dispatch, he
acquired practically al! the literary prod
ucts of England that an American publisher
would consider worth having" He has Sc
cured for Harper & Brothers. for their
periodicals and for books, the entire and
exclusive future work of Maurice Hewlett,
author of The Forest Lovers: Sir Gilbert
Parker. author of 1.-The Right of Way:
Mrs. Humphry Ward author Of Lady
'Typhoon''; A. E. W. Mason. author of
THE Four Feathers: Anthony Hope. au-
thor of THE Intrusions of Peggy: ]. J.
Bell. author of Wee Macgreegor." and E.
F. Benson. author of "Dodo.' with the ex-
ception of books which had already been
contracted for by two of these authors.