New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-08

SUNDAY, MAY 3 I9OI
An article by Mr.. George Seibel, in the cur
rent number Of THE Critic" which is very
much worth reading opens with these pointed
lines:
Where are the books OF yester year
The big successes piled high
In drygoods windows. tier on tier,
Reviewers lauded TO the sky7
Can authors booms collapse and die
Like all the sun doth shine upon?
Do advertisements ever lie?
Those masterpieces all are gonei
Mr.. Seibel cannot tell US just what has be-
come of the big seller" of a little while ago.
but he leaves US in doubt as to its having
disappeared, presenting facts and figures in
support Of his argument We all remember
how ITrilby" sold Now, says Mr. Seibel IL
the heroine Of that novel "came back to earth
she couldn't sell enough of her books to buy
herself shoes" The most wildly popular OF the
novels of the day relegated to comparative
obscurity, if not TO the grave itself, with eI-
traordinary rapidity. Mr.. Seibel shows that
the average novel, If it has real merit and
tickles the public palate, If interest in II Is
revived by dramatiZation and the sales stimu-
lated by cheap editions, may live six years or
more" but his Investigations have served to
convince him that most of the big sellers do
not live that long" The reason for all this,
VIC are NOiur ID l4ldl lue DcSl VI DOOhS u df
most sure TO be crushed to death by the new
books piled on top of it" and Mr. Seibel main
tains that speculative publishing is at the bot
tom of the situation, though he alludes also to
the heavy influence OF our American habit OF
conidantly craving something new.
contributor to 1.-The London Speaker" has
made the interesting discovery that guldebooks
are preserved by their owners long after new
fields have been printed He has noticed that
the tons OF material at the shops OF the second
hand booksellers he knows include few guide
books, in some cases not one. The preserve
ton of these volumes is often to be ascribed
10 the fact that every man who has travelled
feels sure that he will travel again. and saves
his guidebooks for future use, never realizing
that he Will buy new ones, when the time
comes, as matter of course. But like to
believe that guidebooks are cherished simply
because there are readers in this world who
know what good company they make. A guide
book would have 10 be very badly made IN
order 10 be grouped with Lambs Gi6IiG G-biblio.
The compiler may be all compact OF CONNER
cialism and vulgarity OF SOUL he may be den
sity itself where the apprehension Of fine
things is concerned, but he has to set down
the fine things in his book il only because his
predecessors have set pace which he cannot
afford TO ignore, and to read even the baldest
description Of almost any corner of Europe is
TO experience certain delightful emotion AS
for BIdeker, that ubiquitous great man. If his
works are not to be classified as literature
they are, at any rate, as interesting in their
way as literature itself. After ALL what could
be more inspiring than a full and accurate
guide to famous city, guide that is prac-
tically a catalogue of all that it contains ac-
cOmpanied by perfect maps? This much is GER
tain that among our modern writer's of travel
sketches there are few who even begin to equal
B1deker in living interest
Ever since the death OF Lord Acton com
mentatOrs on his career have been expressing
amazement at the small amount OF printed
matter he put TO his credit and there have not
been wanting individuals ready to declare that
if he did not publish much it was because he
did not loiow how TO write Mr.. John Pollock
in 1.-The Independent Review" laughs this
notion to scOrn. Lord Acton, he says, twas a
master OF language, rich. eloquent, and point
cd" and adds:
In dramstc power OF constructing sentences
he was not surpassed by many. He knew how
To choose the exact word which would most
f 70 a ind lie sIrr