New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-19
LITERARY NEWS
II mo j
d. CRITICISM 20


agreed last year TO print my poeIiiS cert
his own risk and give me ten per per- Gov
ON the profit" Not that ! ever asked Iol
such a thing! They were the he
offered. And l always cons a,1.H yu I'm
percentage" as quite visionar y-pu lr, a.
for the sake of effect. to make tle "7 soc,
ment look better. But Nov,
ones poetry has real comm f o,Tav
value" If you do but take II &C. &GI,-one "
enough from the civilization or EUROPE
How remote and strange does an
episode of this sort now seem. a 'o'
of water has gone under the Drlus.
since 1S45, and il is only far 'iia'
the author Of to-day, English OF Aiii'''
can. should give Mr.. Putnam SONIC
credit for having accelerated us How
He was q busy man, buying manu-
scrints or printed sheets, making coi,
tracts. selling books. but ne enJoy 80
himself as he went along anu No
,,ioororbar illustrates the point IN more
tbar one massage. There are not many
a.oodotes in the book, but among thoSe
-, +bara are some that are anus
inc In London once the puO''Si'el
went 10 a public dinner and' coi''"9
o,r,,s IN company with Washington
-, van across Tom Moore. 1t was
roi,v night. none of the three had
an umbrella and cabs were scai -
suddenly a man ran up ana sa'O,
"sbau get YOU a cab. Misther Moore
eb,,re amt I the man that pauohizeS
,.,,,r r,a,odies?o The vehicle was FOUND
o,a &c the diners got into 1t their
shabby benefactor said to MS luo''
Now. mind, whenever you want
c.b NIisther Moore, Just call for Inn
FIahertv. and I'm your man. IHeIo
&c droII story Of Margaret Fuller
whom Putnam and his wife met OIL "
Mediterranean steamer. There was "
collision. and for a moment the SIT
nation seemed dangerous. Miss Ful'er
ad,ured Mrs. Putnam to jump over
hoard at once, without waiting 10 dFeSS'
tboughtfully adding: 'Il throw you
your things" . u.;.,,
Arropos Of the firms relations Win
Washington Irving we are told what
he said when Mr.. Putnam first oil'reu
him a remunerative contract. Inc
s,r,ous author had been rather DIS
couraped by a temporary declension OF
his nopularity and had taken a desk IN
the law office Of his brother. on the
dav that he received the decisive lel-
fer from Mr.. Putnam he kicked over
tho dos, in front Of him and said:
There is no necessity, John, for my
bothering further with the law. Here
is a fool Of a publisher going to give
me a thousand dollars year for doing
nothing" There are other souvenirs
of Irving in the biography, all of them
recalling his lovable charm. Ot POE
also we have a characteristic gllmpSe'
coming into the Office with the dec
Iaration that he had solved the secret
of the universe" and sitting down to
write his Eureka" His manuscript
was accepted-and, by the way, the IN
cident throws a somewhat grewsome
light on the rewards of authorship in
New York sixty-odd years ago, if we
may Judge from the following docu-
ment:
Received Of George =. Putnam -Four,
teen Dollars money loaned, 70 be repala
out of the proceeds OF the COpyIisnI VI
nv work entitled. Eureka, a Prose
Poem; and 1 hereby engage, IN cas- I,.e
penges according 10 the account rem
6ered by said Putnam In January, ls1s,
10 repay the said amount OF fouItecI
Dollars. and / also engage not 10 aah os
90
from said Putnam in any way, ana u
wait until January, 1919, for the stat
.nent of account as above, before mahlHs
any oe''i'i'O ""'''' EDGAR A. POE.
Books and the writer's and printers
thereof are generally in the foreground
of this narrative, but Mr.. Putnam had
political affiliations; as a locker on
he touched the fringe Of the battle
Of Bull Run, and in divers ways ne
exercised the functions OF a VIDE
awake and helpful citizen. OF the re-
gard in which he was held by his con-
temporaries, there is evidence IN
story Of the time Of his death. The
end came, very suddenly, in the month
NJ December. Just when his business
required an attention which his sons
could hardly give It. Whereupon Ger
tain of the old publishers friends, pup
fishers themselves, Henry Holt, Charles
Scribner, Andrew c. Armstrong, and
Charles Collins, for week carried on
the firms affairs, and on the day after
Christmas turned in a good account.
It is a good illustration ofthe tradition
which built up the business life Of New