The San Francisco call., 1908-10-11

IN Ine edrller eOlJlO0 mas Deen OlplO-
matically polished for the present vol
ume.
Gossip Of Books and People Who Make Thea
Emery Pott1e. author of "Handf-
capped and much magazine fiction. is
reported to be about to change his
profeSsiOn-Or at least to try another
profession. Booth Harrington and
Harry Leon Wilson. VINO have been
collaborating upon play with the
title Foreign Exchange" have select
ed Mr.. Pottle to play the part of the
hero when the piece is produced in
America in the winter. The hero is an
American artist who Is the rival of a
foreigner for the hand of an American
girl abroad
Justus Miles Forman is an author
who does not go from place to place
for the purpose of gathering material
for his novels. preferring the other
method of finding 1T wherever he goes.
He rests during the summer and his
vacation trips across the water are
purely for pleasure. Mr.. Forman is a
famous walker. especially at home in
the mountainous country. and has
climbed most of the accessible peaks
in Europe. He is at present travelling
on the continent and has some idea OF
climbing Ararat.
The authorship of The Four Pools
Mystery" which has occasioned so
much speculation, is at last revealed
1t was written by Miss Jean Webster.
whose first book, When Patty Went
to College" set thousands to laughing.
Two books more unlike can scarcely
be imagined, and one no longer won
1ers that the detective story was as
cribed to almost every one but the real
author.
There will be special interest in Helen
r. Martins new novel, The Revolt
of Anne Roy1e." as it is announced that
this delineator of Pennsylvania Dutch
life and character has departed en-
tireIy from the field of her earlier sue
cesses. The characters are OF the col
lege and church circles of a small Penn
sylvania town, and the narrative is
first, last and all the time a love story.
There will appear in Germany this
month an unpublished book from the
pen of Nietzsche. 1t is entitled "Ecce
Homo: Vie Man Wird. Man Ist." 1t
has been edited and prepared for pub
iication by Prof. r. Richter. No ar
rangements we are told. have yet been
made for an English translation
A new Primer" by Amelia Hyde,
of a few of the best known rhymes,
each of which is followed by series
of interesting and varied lessons. FUR
nishing drill in frequent repetition OF
words and phrases. The vocabulary IS
small and is developed slowly and the
stories give training in oral express
sion. (Amerioan Book company, New
York; % cents.)
delightful book written for a
small and special audience is Inter
Ocean Hunting Tales" by Edgar F.
Randolph. 1t is collection of ten
incidents in the form OF stories which
have appeared in recent years in For
est and Stream. The tales are all
interesting, especially to hunters, and
the illustrations add to the pleasure Qf
the text. The style lacks literary finish,
but the author says they are camp
stories OF camp life and polish would
be as out of place in them as patent
leather boots among the scenes he
describes. (Forest and Stream Pub
fishing company. New York Price SD
Palmer COx's Brownie books keep on
selling and selling and selling. and
now there is to be new one-the first
Brownie book to be printed in colors-
Brownie Clown of BrOwnietown." 96
pages of funny pictures and funny
verse. Palmer Cox's home is at Brownie
castle, CRANKY. Canada. near where he
was born. In winter he lives and works
at East QuOgue. L. l., where he finds
the winter sea Inspiring and delightful
The twelfth volume of the ever pop
ular and useful speaker SERIES edited
by Paul NJ. Pearson. is published this
week (PearsOn brothers philadelphia;
so cents.l This is a special centennial
number. for during the year 1909 will be
celebrated the one hundredth anniver-
sary of the birth OF Edgar Allan Poe,
Alfred Tennyson. Oliver Wendell
Holmes. Abraham Lincoln. Charles Dar-
win and William Ewart Gladstone.
The selections were chosen especially
to provide material for these events.
According to the present copyright
law it is impossible to protect the title
of book The contents are protected,
but the name is not. A particularly
nagrant and familiar case is The
Man of the Hour" This admirable title
had been given commercial value by
the success of Octave Thanets popular
novel 1t was calmly appropriated and
tackled on to a political comedy that
was in no sense dramatization of the
book. Now comes the announcement
that play entitled The Best Man is
being produced in Boston. Mr.. Harold
MacGrath might feel. with some justi-
fication that his we'll known story had
secured to him a proprietary interest
in that title. but the courts would NOT
recognize ie.
Choosing titles for their books is
hardly a pastime for authors: IL is a
task and a difficult and disappointing
one, although it does sometimes afford
amusement in passing. When Miss
Alice MacGOwan chose a name for her
new novel she found it was one that
Miss Florence Wilkinson had already
used, The Strength of the Hills
Therefore Miss MacCowan rechristened
her story, called it Judith of the Cum
berlands' and felt safely original again.
Evidently she forgot Judith of the
Plains novel which Miss Marie Man
ming brought out year or two ago.
Attached to a name so uncommon as
Judith, this difference Of only one word
might well be expected TO pull con-
fusion down upon the heads of book
men.
Eugene W. Presbrey, the well known
playwright. is at work on dramatiza-