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    — — -V-w AN AUTHOR ON PUBLISHERS. Mr. An...

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  • 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.

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    'Lobd Beaconsfield:* Much Was Expected O...

    Book has more than the interest of any work of mere imagination .

    1 In his progress from obscurity to the pinnacle of fame V Disraeli wasof ¦ ' course —¦— the object of

    many ^ pr VBV *»^»^™^»«^ attacks ^^ p , ^ m ^^ p ^^ p ~ ^^ ^ ^ " " . ^ p ~^ p ¦ » " ^ p" ' ™ For - " - ~ - w ' ™~ , ^ one m thing — — — , j his opponents £ ¦ did not scruple to aver that he renounced

    Radicalism because he thought there wa 3 a better chance ^^ ¦» ^ ^ 1 ' ^ - ¦ p » ^ p # ^^ of *^ fc speed p ^ B ^ ^ p ^ ^^ ^ p *^ y W preferment »* - ^ ^ fc ^ p ^ ^^ ^ p- « p » - »—^ - ^ v pw ^ v with - » — - — the — — Con — - — -

    servatives . Such is not Mr . Froude ' s opinion , U and flAVi his Jlia X reasons VUiOVllO A for V- ^ X not IIVV entertaining VllW - vlWA ^ AAib it a % / are w . * ^ - ^ con vv **

    -vincing . * Disraeli changed sides from principle and convictionand ¦ not from »^™ - motives of

    Vp ^ IF ^ pV ^ pV ^ p ^ V ^^ p ^^ ^ B w V ^ fc ^ p ^ ^ p" ^ " * ^ " ^ ^*™^^ , ^ i ^^ r ^ ^^ ^^ p" ^™^ p * ^ ' ^ ^ p ^ - ^" — — — — — personal interest . While Mr . Froude ' s account Of Disraeli the politician and statesman is of

    surpassing interest , his criticism of Disraeli as a -w- ^ ^ novelist _ ^_ - ^ p- T ^^ r ^^ ¦ ¦ ^ - ^ is ^» - ~ , « as —— — mi p ght ft ^ jB ^^—^ — be — expected — I — — — — , masterly UM .

    He attempts , and we think attempts successfullyby reading between the lines in the novels

    ¦^ , Ph _ ate pMpMp ^ . A A A A d flpft 4 , peculiar to throw h character li ^ h ght on . h Disraeli Like ¦ ' B s yron original Disraeli and very was

    fond ^ v ^ r- - ^^ ¦ ^^^ - ^* - ^ r of ^^^ *» - ^ drawing - ^^ ^^^ ^^ - ^^ - ™* ^ - ^ ™ - »— - ^^ - upon — — — his - — - ^— — own — ^ experiences , » when he wished to provide j . the world with what

    passed as fiction . He was often his own hero , so that many portions 1 . of his books have a

    direct autobiographic value . Such portions are skilfully used by Mr . Froude to give unity and

    clearness to his subject . And from a literary point of view the dissection of the novels is

    worth the careful attention of all students of contemporary literature . Mr . Froude's book is

    not large , and many of the incidents in Disraeli ' s long - * O and busy V life are touched lig htly v . Yet the

    character as a whole comes out with marvellous distinctness . So far it is the best biography

    of the late Conservative leader that exists . We observe with pleasure that Mr . Froude's

    loyal ^_ ty to Carl ^ « pm yle pm continues a unshaken ^ m pn . He php ^ p ^ ^ p ^ pb tells us that in offering honours to Carlyle

    , ' Disraeli saved his country from the reproach of , _ coming _ — centuries' when Carlyle will stand

    among his ^ contemporaries , ^ . as Socra ^ tes stands among the Atheniansthe one pre-eminently

    wise man ^ y to whom all the , rest are as nothing .

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    1416 * The Publishers' Circular Nov . 1 , 18 90

    — — -V-W An Author On Publishers. Mr. An...

    — — -V-w AN AUTHOR ON PUBLISHERS . Mr . Andrew Lang has been writing in the

    Bt . James ' s Gazette on ' Literature as a Trade , ' as affected by the relations between authors

    and publishers . He does not quite take Archdeacon Farrar ' s view of the latter , as i will

    be one seen / 7 he from says •/ , the can following 1 never forget extracts t— ' that . I pub A for

    iishers , as the man said about fathers , " are after ; all our fellow creatures . "

    They very naturally want to make the beat bargain they can ; for they are

    concerned mainly with what Aristotle calls the chrematistiicethe money-getting side of the

    business . Here , , of course «/ CJ , they % J have a distinct advantage over the author—an

    advantage not enjoyed by employers of manual labour . Nobody , one presumes , takes a

    disinterested delight in carrying heavy weights , nor , perhap X , A s , insetting . ¦ tJ up type •/ > . , nor in digg C 7 C ? ing O

    coal . In theefe vocations no fame ia to be wonbq vanity ia to be gratified ; they are not

    , , xieJightful in themselves—far from it . Now , the VAM . XS ( author |(« VMVf does ^^\^«^ I 0 VJdIVJ enjoy the VUV satisfactions UlUVlMlUUVtUKU of VA ' A . h k ^ ' ik dh ^' iMBiAB

    vanity ; he way win fame ; and his business is so far an art that , if he does not take >> ' ' ' " ' f —¦'¦ -- i-. - irf ¦¦ » i .. ^ , mim . 7 , ' , , , ' , ,

    pleasure in it , one may be certain that he will never succeed in it . A book or an article

    that bores a man in the writing will bore the pu public Diic in in the me reacting reading . . Thus ± nus tne the author author

    deriving much pleasure in addition to lucre from _— his toilis —„_ readenough to accept a

    — — ___ _ — — , — _ — y ^^ r ^ ^^ **• ^»^^^^ iy ^ fi . jpublisher ' s offer which may not be the best possioi possible e bargain oargam . . A . again gain , , one one knows Knows not not how how

    he has a certain sportsmanlike feeling about , his production . I think he will not offer it to

    thre e or four publishers at — once _ - — , -v ^ v and «^ - ^ b ^ v ^^ accept ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ the highest tender . Publishers do not approve

    of this practice , which seems to be legitimate in other — commerce -- — ; and it — — is — not ^ - ^ . __ , often _ that

    an author approves ________ of it . This __ __ . _ tends ^ - ^^ _ to ^ _^ ^^^ make _^ j ^^^^^^ ^» dealing easier to publishers .

    ' Once more , authors and publishers are much accustomed to deal as gentlemen with

    gentlemen . They belong to the same social class ; they dine together , and , extraordinary

    as it may seem , there are even instances of ¦ friendship between — ~ — authors ¦ and — - ¦ - - — publishers H d ^^^ —^^ ^^ ^* T *^ ^^^ K ^^^ ^^ «^^ ^ .

    This has great advantages ; but it does , or may ^ - , g lead to a ____ certain __ laxity . __ ^^ of — business ___ . - _ - _ --, ___ , ^ ^^^ - ^ *^ v ^^ , h ^ and ^ w 4 » ^ ^ p ^

    that , again , may produce misunderstandings . The author is often a " gatless " creatureas

    they i « _ say in Suffolk y ¦ -SJ r _>^ 1 « ; he ^ is casual about _ busi , - ness , » which — does -- not at ___ all _ . — — — prevent ___ _ . _ ___ - _ ^^^ _ _ ^^ ^ him ^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^^

    from grumbling at the bargain he has accepted . It is more important that he is often in a

    hurry for ready money , and will sell for ar trifle a copyright which may prove to be very

    valuable . Here the publisher has the usual advantage of capital ; and as authors do not

    strike and make themselves obnoxious with ¦ violence t ¦ , we may ^ m presume ¦ he — will - — ' —— ^ retain ^ ^^ ^^ —^^—¦—b . ^ it . i ^ ^ p .

    To see publishers making large yearly incomes out of books which the creator of them sold

    for a song is certainly sad ; the only remedy is to retain a share in copyrightsat some cost

    of ready money . But with the , author it is lig htly come—he has enjoyed v % / — writing ^^ jhis

    novel , perhaps he has no great belief in it , and what lightly comes lig fj htly goes j . I confess -.

    -- j ^ j —^_ - — — — — to having signed' * agreements " without reading them , and to have been a good deal surprised

    when I did read them and saw what I had signed . But as the publisher by no means

    made t ^ j his own fortune X . out of this 4 / 44 gatless transaction , no sense of injury » f _/ rankles in —the

    mind . It would have been different if my " Inquiry _ «/ into the Orig _ > in of Tattooing o" had

    been a successful romance . The author runs very »/ little risk—in fact , / N his labour is — his

    pleasure . The publisher , I think , in spite of Mr . Besant H does incur a good B deal of I ¦ 1 risk P I I V H —

    — — — , - — — — £ — - ~—~ ~— — ° — " ^ w- — not perhaps on one book , or two , but on the general result of his business . If he

    undertook many works like "The Origin of Tattooing "he might soon have to withdraw from

    trade . We are speaking of honourable men ; not of the small houses whichto Ire plain

    exist on the vanity of hopelessl , y bad writers , , ajid make the writers pay pretty dearlyand

    often <• unfairl . . y , for their A •/ enjoyment .. •* . , This kind of commerce will last while the

    incompetent insist on appearing in print . For the rest , an author must conquer his casual

    discopyri position ght . of One a book has known which £ ultimatel 50 offered y gave for the its

    author a small income or £ liw a year . Any-

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), Nov. 1, 1890, page 1416, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01111890/page/16/