Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 12th June 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 17, The Bookselling Question still remains t...

Page 17
Page 17
17 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • ; WmtiMxi
  • Text (7)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Jwtl 12/1352.] Fillilader. ' ¦ ' . • ¦' ...

      jwtl 12 / 1352 . ] fillilADER . ' ¦ ' . ¦' . S 6 $

      ; Wmtimxi

      ; WmtiMxi

      Critics Are Not The Legislators, /But Th...

      Critics are not the legislators , / but the judges and police of literature Thev do not iaake ; iaW 3-. tEeylnterpfet and fry fo enforc ^ them , ~ SKf jz ^ S

      The Bookselling Question Still Remains T...

      The Bookselling Question still remains the . great topic of our world of fetters . The Association is dissolved : Free-trade is inaugurated , and Bpon what system the publishing shall be carried on now conies into debate / The old system was so imperfect that it needed only a dear statement of the case , and the energetic expression of a few publishers and authors td decide its fall . In the remarks we have made on this p birit , we have unwittingly passed over the very energetic and decisive services rendered by Mr . Bent ley , who was the first to join Mr . Chapman his demand for unrestricted trade , and whose name and influence were of too much weight in the cause for us to have been insensible to

      the importance of his accession ; but it is never too late to be just , and our contemporaries who have shared our forgetfulness with regard to Mr . Bentley may still pay a graceful compliment of acknowledgment to one of the most indefatigable movers of the reform . That done , we may turn to a consideration of the future . What discount shall be allowed to retail booksellers ? Ten or fifteen per cent , is thought ample allowance for mere porterage , and when to porterage be added enterprise in speculalation > of course equivalent advantages will be offered . In the case of

      periodicals , especially scientific periodicals , the mere reduction of the discount will make all the difference between loss and profit , if the price to the public remain as at present ; and as the publisher is always at liberty to fix his own price , there can be no objection to the old price being retained . In the case of new works , the reduction will also frequently make all the difference between profit and loss , so many copies now remaining unsold on account of the high price . And this will be more frequently the case with works bf unknown authors , or with works of a serious scientific character , than with the works of those celebrated writers

      who command a sale irrespective almost of price . There has been an amount of fiction circulated with respect to the f * speculation * ' of booksellers ia unknown works , which to all behind the scenes has not been without amusement j but in the Morning Herald of June 2 nd there was a statement of this kind , worthy of preservation as a specimen of unintentional irony . The writer , after saying how the unknown author , unable / to print his work " with assurance of its sale , " comes to the publisher for advice and assistance , adds with a calmness of assured conviction delightful to contemplate : —

      "Now the sort of assistance which the publisher was always giving to cases of this kind , was of this eort . If he thought well of the general character of the work , and believed ; it to possess merit , he devoted some attention to , the getting-up of the book , announced it extensively in his lists , and at last brought it forth and offered it to the trade . To induce booksellers generally to assist its sale , he gave a liberal allowance ; and in this way a respectable publisher would dispose of 500 or 600 copies of a book on the day of publication , before the , public knew anyifting about fa or had ' ordered a singlecopy . "It was the possibility of doing this which encouraged publishers to undertake works of young or unknown authors . They could thus distribute the risk among the trade ?

      It is impossible to convey to those unacquainted with the book-trade the ludicrous effect of this passage ; but the " facts" of Protectionist arguments are mostly of that kind . Desirable as it is to facilitate the distribution of books , and to encourage speculation among retailers is one mode , the great objects to be kept in view are—1 st , cheapness to the public , that the largest public may be secured ; 2 ud , limitation of intermediate channels , that no waste of money may go towards the support of unnecessary middlemen .

      The Countess D'Orsay, Emboldened By The ...

      The Countess D'Orsay , emboldened by the success—succte de salon- ~ of her novel , L'Orhbre du Bonheur , has just given the world three volumes more , La Fontaine des F & s , which we announce , reserving till some future time , any opinion of its merit , should wo be induced to road it . Lc Marquis de Foudrab , who created a scandal by his Caprice de Grande Dame , has endeavoured to revive that fugitive popularity by a continuation of it , under the suggestive title Une Madeleine Repentante . Of very different quality , and addressed to very different audiences , is Maguin ' s new work , Histoire des Marionnettes en Europe depuis I'AntiqniU jusqu'h nos jours , a reprint of some elaborate articles in the Revue des Deux Mondes , wherein a vast and piquant erudition , aided by a clear and livel y Btyle , gives philosophic dignity and interest to a subject which might « eem frivolous .

      When A Man, Deeply Moved By His Convicti...

      When a man , deeply moved by his convictions , devotes himself to their propagation , and wanders from city to city , calling unto men to listen to Win , we call him a Missionary , and aid him with our money and respect ; b « t if his convictions arc antagonistic to our own , we call him a Demagogue , or an Anarchist , and use out utmost to discredit his character nnd his aims . Wo forget that man is accountable for the uprightness , not for the Ti ghtness of his creed—to uao the noble words of Channing ; wo forget «» at the sincerity and devotion to truth remains the same under all varieties ? f opinion ; we fonret that the man who comes amongst us eager to destroy < w * ftitfa by preaching his faith , i » doing precisely what in the Missionary Wo Ap ptoud At heroismi Th « « li « ath « n" whom wt wiih to convert , ha « ho

      not" the reli gion of his fathers , " to-console and tq guide him ? Bufc the religion is false , you say ! Granted . The Missionary desires to open the heathen mind to the light of truth . Granted also . But apply the same rule to George Jacob Holyoakb , a wandering missionary , of the sinceresfc kind , who , for years , has been preaching what he believes to be the truths anil who has suffered for it in imprisonment , in contempt , in personal danger of various kinds , but who has persisted with mild manful courage , till , from a name of terror , his has become a name of wide-spread respect , even among adversaries . It may be startling to call him a missionary , but he is one , and all minds large enough , and generous enough , to admit the sincerity of adversaries , and to appreciate the man , while disowning the

      man s opinions , will recognise him as such . His position is peculiar . He believes in Ms opinions , and considers the expression of them a duty . On the one hand , he is opposed by the orthodox , who are horrified at his opinions ; on the other , he is unsupported by the lukewarm . heterodox , who , in these days of compromise and want of faith , discourage discussion on religion , and think it better "to leave religion to die out by itself . " He has clearly and forcibly stated his case in the new volume of The Cabinet of Reason , which he edits . It is entitled , Why do the Clergy avoid discussion , and the philosophers discountenance it ? No man *? sixpence should be grudged for this little volume , so calm , so temperate , so sincere . The closing passage has a swelling eloquence , which forces us to quote it : —

      " False is the tongue which tells us that we implore debate in vanity . Let our lives bear witness whether we have idly entreated the privilege of controversy . We sought it for light , we coveted it for direction , and we maintain it for self-defence . We have won the privilege dearly , and shall not resign it . We appealed to the clergy , and they would not heed us . Standing on the dim and shadowy verge of the future , where every man must tread for himself and alone the vestibule of the eternal labyrinth , we appealed to our brdfcher traveller for light and help . We trusted to his Christian profession of love and truth , of service and gentle speech , and he turned from us in contempt , bestowed no word upon us , but went and denounced us to those who bad influence—and abandoned us to the fury of the bigot and the vulgarity of the rabble ,- and we were driven away like a plague ship to carry pur agony into the loneliness of the sea . But we did not perish— we conquered truths which are light and safety to us , and which Christianit y will never more conceal , and which we shall not cease to proclaim . "

      Theology In Nature. The Natural History ...

      THEOLOGY IN NATURE . The Natural History of Animals : being the" Substance of Lectures delivered before the Royal Institution . By T , Rymer Jones , E . R . S . 2 vols . Van Voorst These two volumes of an elaborate history of animals , exceeds in interest and excellence of popular treatment every work of the kind we are acquainted with . ; and we preface our remarks by this emphatic commendation , that we may nave more freedom in tho objections which certain passages force from us . In a subsequent article we shall take a general survey of the contents ; our present purpose is with tho theological and declamatory passages so frequently and so improperly dragged in . Mr . Jlymer Jones may plead very high authority for his errors in this ¦ ' I 1 i _ J 1 . _ T * jitk . ' _ _ _ _ J _ T _ . - I ? LJ — rm A— . Vm-MW j-l ^ rt-4-1 * - ¦ / i 4- !»*¦ " » < - * " - » «~ l " \ W » V * O » but the of distinctlcondemns

      „ * * respect ; higner authority Eeason very y the search after " final causes" as beyond our ken , and very plainly declares it to be dangerous , when not absurd . To ascortam functions is tho office of the physiologist , not to ascertain final causes ; and it is owing to the confusion of these two , that final causes are for a moment tolerated . To our minds , the whole language of Natural Theology is repulsive when demanding our admiration for the " admirable contrivances , " and the " skill" with which God has overcome the difficulties of liis task . Human intellect " contrives , " and human intellect admires tho contrivance ; aud Natural Theology , descanting on the marvels of life , is in a perpetual state of anthropomorphism , and seems to say , " What a great Being is this , who can so astonish . Man , and so greatly surpass tho ingenuity o < Man ! " How else are we to read these exclamations r : {

      " The ingenuity of Man has enabled him to discover one means of combining thoso two apparently incompatible qualities , in tho construction of pipes which ho employs for certain mechanical purposes . Into a leathern , or other flexiblo tube , he introduces a spiral coil of wiro , the stiffness of which is sufficient to provont tho walla of tho tubo from collapsing , without interfering much with the flexibility of tho pipo . Little , perhaps , did tho inventor of this ingenious schomo imagine hoto long the contrivance had been anticipated , and how infinitely the execution of it tua ' s surpassed h / the Designer of an Insect ' s trachece . Take any fragment of onoof these air-earrying canals from trunk to branch—from the main stem to the most microscopic ramification—and you will soon percoive , by the aid of a mioroseopo , that a moat dolicato elastic filament , a wiro of almost invisible dimensions , coiled in close spiral turns , extends from ond to end of it » whole length , giving sufficient firmness to keep the bore permanently patulous , and at tho name timo allowing « U freedom of motion in every possible diroction . "

      And elsewhoro Mr . Bymor Jones says- — " Man with his paddle-wheels must havo his furnaces , his boilers , [ nnd his clumsy enginery j Bufc Nature ' s paddles arc themselves alive , can inovo or stop at will , act singly or cooporato with all tho rost , and thus impol tho bark and atcor Indeed his book ia one incessant laudation of God ' s superior ingenuity . To us that tono is not roverent , but irreverent .

      Tho danger to which we alluded is this : —If tho oolebratod argument of design , is to hold good as evidenoo in favour , it ; must hold equally good as evidonoo against tho wisdom and bonoficonoo of the Creator . A startling proposition , and ono , wq believe , never mado boforo ; but ono from which Logic has no escape . If from a watch , I infor a watchmaker , and if from tho ingenuity of that dosign , I infor tho , ' skill' of tho dosignor , must I not also noouao tho watchmq , kor of imperfect skill , if tho watch , goes wrong H In other words , when you point to the perfection of organ * lzations , as ovidenco of wisdom , and to their manifold onjoymonta as ovi «« donee of goodness * you force tho reflective xniud to think of tko imporfec tt 9 ha and the misery $ o Abundantly displayed j—when you toko your . * W ««

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1852, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12061852/page/17/