Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-05-08
Book Corner About Writer'S and New Volumes
BOOK ENDS

A QUESTIONABLE circulated among
the members of the senior class of
Yale university yielded the infor-
nation that Dickens is the prose
author ranking first in favor with
"a Tale of Two Cities" the favor
lite novel. The second choice is If
Winter Comes" by A. S. M. Hutch-
inson. Crossing the Bar" is the
favorite poem, with Kipling's IF
not far behind.
The Century company. publishers
of "Birthright.' a novel dealing
with the race problem, have had
q good deal of amusement out OF
various letters received charging
that the author, Il. s. Stribling, is
q negro. The publishers assure all
corners that Mr.. Stribling is not
only white but of the Scandinavian
blonde type besides. He was born
and raised in the south.
"The Sheik," by e. M. Hull, has
been printed at least seventy times,
and Charles G. Norris Brass"
forty-four times. while IF Winter
Comes" has had tilirty-one print
ings since its publication in Au-
gust. This leads one to the thought,
just what size is each printing of a
popular novel? A good many peo-
pie seem to think it is always the
same number of copies, say 5000.
Not so. A printing may be 500 or
1000 copies, or even 10000. or TO-
600 or $4,000. 1t is rarely larger
than that. A. S. M. Hutchinson's
novel IF Winter Comes" which
had headed the best seller" lists in
America since last November, has
been sent to press only thirty-one
times, yet it is safe to say that 1t
has outsold Brass" THE Sheik"
or any other novel published in
1921 by a good many thousand
copies.
Maude McFie Bloom of Santa
Fe has won recognition on the Pa
cific coast as a dramatist for her
play, Los Comanches." which re-
ceived honorable mention in a con-
test conducted by the Pasadena
Community theater. A request to
keep the manuscript for future pro-
duction by the community players
OF that city accompanied the hon
orable mention. But one prize is
awarded each year in the national
contest. "Ios Comanches" is a
tragedy OF Tome, time 1740, and is
historically accurate in its details
The story is approached from the
Comanche viewpoint and deals
with a political exile rom Santa Fe
who is the william of the piece.
John Farrar in the May Book
man writes:
"Witter Bynner. the poet, GER
tainly stirred the quiet waters OF
Santa Fe on his recent lecture trip
A kind lady of that town sends us
local clippings of the advent Of the
president of the Poetry Society {.
America. The leading editorial In
local paper is headed Back to
Fundamentals" The closing par
agraphs speak volumes. so to say;
Honesty. simplicity. tolerance
courtesy, reverence. practice of the
NIOlut1 INults anu happiness ''ie'
comes from the inside--these, says
Bynner, are China's lessons to
jazzy, selfish, self conferred. self
satisfied, thoughtless and hurried
Americans.
"Witter Bynner is doing a monu'
mental service, we say. to his fell
low Anglo Saxons in revealing tt
them the heart of China, with 1t.
poetry of youth and flowers ant
running streams, Of clouds ant
winds and birds and gentle humor
One cannot conceive Of the effec
upon world brotherhood were
America to truly understand China
Bynner is showing how easy it IL
to do so il we but break down thu
barriers our own complacence ano
national astigmatism have reared