The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-27
SYNTHETIC BOOKS.
Uscs Found for h1steRial Once Sent to
tho IAtsRasy Scrap Heap.

UDtV FNtMA3 uSh SaDD Va "
tho IAteRasy Scrap Heap.
Unsxpectei methods are sometimes
employed In the production Of books
A striking case in point IN the dark,
mysterious past OF certain paper covered
detective romauces sold on trains and
news stands for is GENTS. Each volums
contains three dime novels combined into
one connected narrative. ~
These curious combinations are issued
by a Arm which gets out detective stories
In pamphlets ~ we'll az in book form. II
occurred to the publishers that thsy
might utilize some Of their fiction a second
time. After a little experimenting II was
discovered that three dime novels ehnils.
In plot could Bio combined into q fatrt,
readable book II tho individual storiu
were connected by o few ingenious
paragraph and had some OF their chapters
rewritten.
Another instance Of fiction worked ove
lately occurred when q firm ~resurrected
some boys stories popular ton yesrs
ago and out them down from 5000
words to about so.06o, In order 10 Oh q
certain number Of pages In o series Of
complete stories appearing weekly.
stll another novel literary operation
Ia that which was recently performed on
a hundred unoopyrighte1 English love
stories Of the type recording the affairs
Of an impossible heroine who finally
marrios the mill ownor's son after going
through viclssitudes unheard Of In real
life. The pages arc touched up for
Americans by converting the Strand into
Broadway and moving the Lancaster cot
ton mill to Lowell, Mass So
Sometimes standard novels are ISSUED
in cheap reprints which reach the pubic
with some of their parts left out Ia
order to compass them into volumes
| which have q uniform number Of pags
the work is prunod OF many DESCRIPTIVE
passages and minor incid ents not likely
10 interfere with the main story,
q change sometimes made necessary n
q page OF text when q book reaches De
e~lectrotype stage. The reyiser keeps
In mind tho exact number Of words u
he writ es In the new matter. taking
pains TO have just 30 many eyllabl6s Oh
lhe last line 81 the plate. It becomes
q little morn dif1cuft'h the last line ID
part Of q. sentence at the top OF the next
This kind Of work was made necessary
last year when q publisher decided 70
| reprint some cheap novels from plates
| he had used FIVE years before and In put
ting them on the market q. second time
| thought 1t advisable to make changes
in the text where the local referenoes
| seemed out of date. -
The last example has to do with poetry,
VERGE at the bottom Of pages In some
magazines Is oftener q matter Of meas.
urement. The appearances Of just one
stanya does not msa that hard htck
| overlook the poet at the end Of the fourth
line and starved his muse into silence,
Not iMprobebfy other stanxas were part
Of the poem, but unfortunately for the
poet the ~exikencies OF a small blank
space at that time made It Impossible
to consider the respect due the wholt
One poet who has studied marks,
conditions, turns this method Of 20
lectirg verse 70 good account. A httis
before publication day he calls up on III
phone the various magazine Offices NFhes
he Is known personslly and, aske II the,
nee1 any "fllers,' or could .they, use I
sonnet or a stanza on this or that tirneh
subject? This sounds Hike N easy. way
to dispose OF poetry and II N, bit onJ
for the man who invented the method.