New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-06

,,FnoRIEs or A PUBLISHER lso2- itl',, py
George "a Lave neg, Y Vols with portrait,
syo' %. (. i9g O. p. Putnam'' Sons
This Mr.. Putnam's twelfth book. IS
. CONTINUATION and completion Of his
"Nfemoirs Of Ny Youth" and also OF
tho memoir Of his father in so far as II
carries on the history OF the puolitS,hl-
inc house founded by the elder MT
Putnam. But, while much IS sald IN
those pages Of publishers and authors
and their concerns here and IN Eng
land. and while the author gives IN
condensed form a history Of inter
rational copyright, to secure which,
foilowing in his fathers footsteps, ne
worked so hard and to such good
purpose. there is much else here OF
much wider interest-about the pup
lie life and public affairs Of this
country during the last nifty years
and Mr.. Putnam's connection with
them. Tariff reform, civil service re-
form, the cleansing of our clty..s gov
eminent after the Lexow investigation
are the most prominent OF these. MI
Putnam's memories of prominent men
range here from Arthur and Cleveland
Carl Schurz and George William Cur
it's TO the Democratic leaders OF the
election of 1912. And in supplement-
he reprints his many letters TO the
press on the subject OF the present
war. .t.
OF the rapid changes that took
place in the daily life Of New YORK
after the Civil War our author speaks
but briefly. lie makes, however, some
interesting observations, rendered
timely by present conditions and pros
meets, on the effects of that war on
the American book trade. The book
buying of the South, he says, had come
to an end practically with the oegln-
ming of hostilities, and did not revive
for many years after their close.
considerable portion of the people IN
the North who had been buyers OF
books before 1860 were no longer abe
10 indulge in such luXuries in the
years succeeding 1866. These were the
people with fixed incomes payable IN
legal tender, whose purchasing power
was vastly diminished by the appre-
citation of gold The nouveaux riches
could not easily be reached by the
publishers of standard literature, so
the sales Of books in higher class lit
erature continued to be disappointing
for many years.
From our vantage point, with prom
Use of rising prosperity before US at
the return Of peace, IL may be worth
while TO watch the after effects OF the
war upon the European book markets:
That impoverishment, a reduction OF
income, will fall heavily upon the very
classes over there which after 1860
ceased to purchase books here is GER
tain; but. on the other hand, 1t was
their very impoverishment after 1870
which drove the French 10 books as
the least costly and the most satisfy
ing form of amusement. IL IS, indeed,
from the Terrible Year that dates the
rise of the French publishing business
TO the heights at which it maintained it.
self almost uniformly until the sum-
mer of last year. II may well be, there
fore, that with the coming OF peace
and the retrenchments which will be
necessary, all Europe will turn TO
books as substitutes for the luXuries
no longer within its means.
There are some entertaining anec-
dotes in this volume. II was in 1884
that Mr. Roosevelt became a limited
partner OF the firm of G.. Z. Putnam's
Sons. "He promptly developed a full
measure of original theories for the
running OF a publishing business, the
cries which were always interesting,
but which in most cases did not appear
to be practicable or promising Of good
results under the existing conditions.
However emphatic Theodore might be
in presenting a plan or piece OF coun-
sci, he always accepted good-naturedly
enough an adverse judgment. and a day
or two later would have in readiness a
Nj
tions. became very fond of the man,
although there were times when the
prolific suggestions, the exuberance OF
utterance and the coekiness Of opinion
came to be fatiguing."
In his chapter of English experiences
Mr.. Putnam drily observes that he was
treated with greatly increased respect
in London after the American Ambassa-
dor tMr. Choate) had shaken hands
with him in public and called him
Putnam"
He was foreman of the grand jury
when Olga Nethersole produced
"Sapho" and "The New York World
called upon the District Attorney 20
put a stop to further performances of
the play on the ground that 1t was
contra bOnOs mOres. The case was
brought 10 the attention OF the grand
jury, and Miss Nethersole asked to be
heard in her own defence. She came
she almost conquered, but Mr.. Putnam
told her that an Indictment would al
most certainly be brought IN against
he:; whereupon she wept on his shout
de-. II will be remembered that the case
was tried in the Court OF General Ses-
sions, but one incident of the trial may
have been forgotten. Miss Nethersole's
lawyer was clever:
recall a remark made BY her
counsel which bore rather hardly
upon the foreman:
This lady is charged, your honor