Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-21
RARE BOOK MYSTERY SOLVED
Big Collections Suddenly Withdrawn
by Americans
QUEER CRAZE FOR N1ETzsCHE
leaders Who Like Chesterton Also
buy Gloomy Books of other
AuthOr-ReadinR Books
10 WOrkmen.

10 "OEAhths
LONDON, Nov. H.-(Special)-some big
private collections of books have been put
up at auction lately, and then have been
suddenly bought in again by the owners.
Several other collections which were known
to be ripening for the market have ikewise
dropped out of sight again in the same
mysterious manner. For instance, a fourth
edition Of Hamlet" for which the owner
had announced his willingness to take
$1,000, was withdrawn on the day of sale.
On speaking to one of the auctioneers
about this curious situation, an eXplana-
ton was furnished by the fact that the
agents of wealthy American book lovers
have been active recently in buying up
privately as many literary treasures as
they could put their hands on. J. p. Nor
gan has acquired a large percentage Of
these and he is said to be averse to having
works which he intends to purchase put
up at auction. He would rather pay con-
siderably more for a book by private treaty
than at a public sale.
Paradox in Taste.
A London bookseller, who makes a spe-
cialty of ~"new-thought" books tells. me
there is a queer run on books by the
morose, cranky Nietzsche, who ended his
days in madness, and on the other hand
on books by the robust and amiable Ches-
terton. Strange to say, the people who
NOSE enjoy the gloomy picture of life
portrayed by the German author are the
very ones who delight in G. X. Chesterton.
I asked Tor an explanation of this paradox
in taste.
IT can only account for IT," said the
bookseller, "by the fact hat the person
who has had a good dose of Nietzsche,
needs Chesterton or Mark Twain to take
the taste out OF his mouth. 1 must admit
that in the last five years there has been
almost a revolution in thought in England.
A few years ago. readers were more fond
of cheerful books than they are now. At
present, everybody is buying books which
contain problems of some kind, ranging
from marriage to psychology. The novel
with a purpose has come back with a
vengeance. an constantly asked the
question, What social problem does this
book deal with?' before a reader decides
to buy. 1t was for this reason that we re-
Gently set out some tables In our shop on
which were spread literary banquets.'
Present Attitude Not Healthy.
IT do no regard the present attitude"
continued the book seller, " as a healthy
one at all. OF course, novelists must study
the trend Of events, but it seems a pity
that literary production should depend so
largely as Is does now upon the use of
bizarre themes in order to make books go.
A few successful novelists still deal with
the old-fashioned 'humanities' ana love
stories of the domestic kind, but sales OF
such works are dropping Off"
A curious little story has just come TO
l-Ik r.. uNla-. ,A1 90 n
number of thrilling serials, and of the
much-advertised book when 1t Was
Dark and other tales. Shortly before
Thorne ''struck ile' in real authorship he
found it necessary to apply for a position
on one of the big London dailies, which we
might indicate by saying that it claims the
largest circulation of any halfpenny paper
published in England. The now successful
author was appointed an assistant editor
of this paper, and it seems that the editor
persisted in putting upon the young man
work of a more or less ignominious char
acter. One day the editor sent his assistant
out with the request, Just fetch me II
glass of water, please Thorne presently
returned with the water, but instead of
giving it to his chief, dashed It over him,
with a remark to the effect that hence
forth he could wait on himself. 1t is hardly
necessary to say that there was a vacancy
in Mr., Thorne's department from that time
on. This experience will account perhaps
for his hatred Of any sort of newspaper
work, and also for his bitter feeling to-
wards newspapers in general. despite the
fact that most of his success has come
from the publication of serials in a large
number of papers.
East End domination.
The East End of London has recently
achieved a literary reputation for itself.
In the first place. out of the East Enc
slums has come a Senior w~rangler' Of
oxford. II must be mentioned in passing
that it. is the "wranglers' who take all
the honors at the university, and never be-
fore in the history of that great institu-