The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-12-16
MAGAZINE BREAKS
ALL THE RECORDS
Hampton'S to Pay Commander
Peary $4,000 for North
Pole Story.
MAY DELIVER LECTURES
LITERARY WORLD NO LONGER
Clasps AT HIGH PRICES.

- nlgher price Tor MS literary product
than Commander Robert r. Peary re-
ceives from Hamptons Magazine for
his own story of the discovery OF The
North pole.
This feature cost Hampton's a clean,
cool $4,000 No rate per word is speci-
fled in the contract, but il is generally
estimated that Commander Peary is re-
ceiving $l.I8 cash for each word that he
writes for Hampton's Magazine. Ben
Jamin B. Hampton, editor of the maya
zine, makes this statement:
If you have a desire to estimate the
rate per word that viii be earned by
Peary with his North pole story, you
would be safer i'm placing il at SOU
per word than $120. We have bought
only American and Canadian magazine
rights. and Stokes book rights cover &,
only these countries. That leaves all
tine foreign rights TO sell. When they
are figured up the totals should
amount TO 500. 900 or even $l50,OUO.
"Peary is not a good business man.
As a matter of fact, he is a poor man.
Mrs. Peary has been the business head
of the family, and the commander
never loses an opportunity to praise
her for the manner in which she has
labored and borne the brunt of his
quarter of n century of work in the
Arctic. Peary and Mrs PeaTy have
this Arctic ideal. Every dollar they
could spare from actual living ex-
penses has ben used to equip eXpedi- /
tions, so that when Peary returned |
few months ago, there was mighty lit /
tie money in the Peary bank account.
Record Breaking Lecture Offers
The revenue from his books and /
magazine work could be greatly in /
creased by leCtUring, if Peary's friends /
can persuade him to go on the plat /
form. He has had offers that would I
net him 100000 for the first years 1
work, or more, if he would be Wiling /
70 stick to it for several consecutive /
months He has received offers from 4
many of the leading cities of the cOun- /
try, guaranteeing him as high as 5000 /
for a single lecture,
There can be no reason cat least, ]
so his friends ASSERT why he could not /
take advantage of the lecture OppOrtu- (
mites and meet the people, and let them |
hear his story from his own lips.
up to the present time he has not /
completed any lecture arrangements, /
but it is believed that he may be per-
suaded TO do so within a few weeks.
The chief difficulty seems TO be that I
this man, who has been living in the
frozen north eighteen out of the last
twenty-three years, has a, genuine Diff
fidence about exhibiting himself to the
public Peary is a scientist first last
and all the time. He values his scien-
tific achievements as of more impOr-
tanCe than the opportunity to make
money. He will do nothing that does
not coincide with his rigid ideals Of a
scientists dignity. For example, he
has declined offers from moving pic
ture men. who want 10 show his polar
photographs. and offers from talking
concerns that want a few reels Of talk
TO retail throughout the country, offers
which amount To a tidy fortune"
Rates Paid other Authors.
Just why Commander Peary received /
such an exceptional rate for his story is
explained by the eager competition for
II on part of nearly all the important
publishing houses in the world. Re
aHzing the supreme Importance of this,
the most wonderful and last of the {
earth's hero-stories, they engaged in a F.,
bidding which made figures rise meT-
curially. They knew, Of course, that I ;
this story had nOt-like most of the {
world romances-been told before. 1t
was the most extraordinary and inter .
esting story of fact to be told for the
first, and last time
It is interesting TO compare the price | y
paid Commander Peary with the rates ]
enjoyed by the tOpnOtcE writer's of the I
world. t
EX-PTesident Roosevelt received. for I
his African hunting stories d dollar a {
word. Rudyard Kipling is supposed to I
receive the highest prices paid any au- C
thor of fiction. For the English and s
American serial rights of Kim" he {
received So, 900. Sir Arthur Conan S
Doyle hit one of the highest marks
when he received 90 cents a word for
the American serial rights Of his later
Sherlock Holmes" stories. This COM
pares amusingly with the rate of 81
per thousand wOTds-oT one-fifth of a
cent a word-received for his first and
considered best stories. f
High prices for literary work began ];
practically with the great success of s
Sir Walter Scott. The compensation +
'or his Life of Bonaparte" averaged
1865 for each day of work spent upon
Thackeray was offered 81 900 for Y
Henry Esmond" and he jumped at the v
Both Dickens. and Hugo d
made good money. but when Eugene y
sue drew $4,000 for his Wandering p
Tew'-a novel Of probably upward of
100. 1000 Words-the literary world gasped
Prices have risen steadily, with the in
.reasing success of publishers and the II
.rOWth Of magazines No author, how u
YER IN all the history or literature has -
Yer made so much money for each "
ctual word in a literary product as
viii Commando Peary.
paradise Lost" Brought S25.
The eagerness of publishers for Com fl
nander Peary's forthcoming story, and ID
ne exceptional price paid, mark one ..
hing signally. This is a fun apprecia- "a,
ion of this mans work in his own axe. ti
me cannot help comparing the great M
rice paid for this story with the small fr
Ums for which many of the worlds
Masterpieces were sold.
DR.. Johnson. it will be remembered.
-rOte his immortal "Rasselas" 10 pay ~
ne funeral expenses OF his grandmoth- -
r. Milton sold his Paradise lost 70 81
bookseller for SIS. POe's Raven" n
rOught him the grateful sum of SIS. y
these books were written today -
Ould they bring as high a price as tsLii
Pearys story? Although ~
icy would unquestionabIy net their ~
IthOrs more than they did during their 10
letime, they would hardly bring this 20
cord price. For they were works OF %
laginatiOn. The work of Commander Oii
cary, pure literature as it will be. is He
lie rarest and most exceptional of ~