New-York tribune., 1907-08-03
LITERARY BODY SNATCH1NG.
andrew Lang on the Ways of the Snatcher
and the Pirate.
From The Illustrated London News,


4 great gulf divides that which is lawful
rrCT, that which Is "expedient, in the phrase
o< the apostle. There is 4 wider gun pcI 80
the trades uaulike" and the "sportsinai!I4htt
rms the practice OF body snatching the
practice OF publishers who hurry out ed4upIlS %
an authors books as soon as INC piTau I -
locally limited copyright deserts theIn-ls
..tradGsruaulle." That II IS "sportsihahIlhe
few win maintain , A.. ,..,,., {.
Even in fiction a great authors first edition IS
occasionally not that which he desired 10 IetI ~.
10 The world IL the first edition OF hsnloho
4. book partly written. partly dictated IN CIR
,umsrauces Of hurry and distTactloH) ueie a.
Inconsistencies which Thlckeray later lot tle
most part corrected. But your body snatcheE
would not scruple to bring out an uiicoileS'e-
r.I,rnduction Of the first edition.
The mischief is more serious IN the cases %
scientific works. like Mr. DarWlns Orislh ~
>:r,aciae' and OF historical works Mr. Darwin
r,JYt,aflv made many alterations in ms famous
hook but the body snatcher, If true to himself
viii snatch at his chance Oh repiiH"'s ''0
As 10 historians, they are not like scientific
men They. in we'll known cases never cor cor
rected in the days Of their lives. the errors
which were faithfully pointed out 70 them.
James of Scotland continues to be the mrs. mrs.
Of the Stewart Kings in the pages OF famous
11jetnrz, though human nature shrieked against
ihe creed" James was the third Of the Stewart
Kings. o., his
torical books which have not been properly cor
rccted in later editions. .ro
Somebody has lent me a pamphlet on tle
rights and wrongs Of snatching early editions OF
Huslin's early books, He became Tnuch dissat-
;eiad with some Of his work lie Hlade largo
changes, and it is certain that were ne living
1. 5.o11d us, his considerable powers OF lnNec-
tive against any and ali who snatched. ne
would declare Il to be shameful to corrupt the
human mind by the ''rabid protestant1sIn IN
which his green. unknowing youth dehBhteu'
and so on with other matters
The rerlv is that any Ruskin is preferred 10
exnrnsive Ruskin by the public. That he might
have returned TO his rabies. for all that we
know. had he lived; that the public has right
70 auvthfng which 1t chooses to want; thht IL
I'll. RuSkiDi3D religion was, as IIi6 sage
tbought 'In a manner ridiculous, there Is a
demand for humorous literature. and so on ana
80 ~, What can one say? The law will not
holm authors who never demonstrate IN thelr
millions We can only ask the hurried repro
ducers if they deem their conduct worthy OF men
Of delicacy. They may answer 'Delicacy be
hanged!' ~
4 firn Of American publishers lately request
ed me to inform them to any Of my sermons
LET rs saw or opere.tas Gt does not matter what
the stuff really was) which had not been pub
lshed in America In return they fi1sn: re
ward me by "a small fee! Here is decacy
How in the name OF photography can tell what
+rihee of my own nave not been pirated IN
America? The citizens have taken, without con-
s,,1t,pp me whatever they thought that they
rould sell Some have tried, dare say success
f,1II1 70 sell their pirated goods in England as
,vaIi as in the States. English papers advertise
tho cataI IoelIe of the wares of a notoriously I'M
rudent nitrate. One Is quite helpless. But when
American publishers ask man to discover what
things of his have not been pirated. on the
cba1ce of getting "a small fee' which he may
rrcei,a the extreme Of indelicacy has been
roached 7 do not write with an eye on the
American family circle" to which any small
merits that my things may possess must be IN
apparent, for. indeed. genial and cathoilc
I,i,Ioanity is not exactly my forte. Messrs.
IunItar E Niblick may do the photographed
racaarcI1 for themselves.