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    ADAM BLACK. Alexander In the ' Mem Nicol...

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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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    Trade Sales Of The Last Century.—

    sion , the Rev . Dr . Jessop said that we ought to be grateful for the stimulus given to healthy

    sentiment by the highest fiction . The Dean of York , the chairman , in

    closing the discussion , said he would not discuss the desirability of having a special Church paper , but he could not help regretting that

    Church work had been hindered by the bitter partisanship of Church papers . Mr . F . Harrison and Messrs . Appleton

    & Co . —The following letter has been sent to Messrs . Appleton ' s agent in reply to a communication inclosing- a cheque on account of

    the sales of the volume of essays , which lately was the cause of a heated controversy : — * 38 Westbourne TerraceW .

    , * Dear Sir , —I do full justice to the honourable motives of Messrs . Appleton , who now , through you , offer me a cheque for my share in the volume of

    joint essays which they published for Mr . Herbert Spencer ; but I cannot accept any payment whatever .

    * The principle for which I contended in my published letter to him was not one of pecuniary injury to mebut the right of an author to have a

    voice in the , issue of his own writings . That has been satisfactorily settled ; and I have no wish to go into any question of profits—all the more that ,

    in accepting them from Messrs . Appleton , I should be trenching on the legal rights of Mr . Knowles and the _Nineteenth Century . Had I been asked , I should

    willingly have _agreed ( on any terms proposed to me ) to the republication of my essays , along with , or apart fromMr . Spencer ' s ; and personally I

    re-, gret that he thought fit to suppress the edition . The question of profit is not one which concerns me ; my only care has been the moral claim of a

    living author to be consulted on any reissue of his works . This is _perfectly distinct from any question of pecuniary copyrightnational or international .

    With regard to this volume , of essays , I knew nothing , except from the newspapers , about their publication , sale , or suppression ; and I must ,

    therefore , decline to accept any payment in a transaction in which I am entirely passive . ' With a full sense of the courtesy shown me by

    Messrs . Appleton in volunteering to account to me for the sales , I must respectfully beg you to return to them the inclosed Yours cheque & . f

    c . i 1 Frederick Harrison . ' _a _^ _va

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    io 7 o The Publishers' Circular Oct . _\^ _iggfl

    Adam Black. Alexander In The ' Mem Nicol...

    ADAM BLACK . Alexander In the ' Mem Nicol oirs son LL Adam . D . Black ( Edinburg , ' edit ed by .

    & C . Black ) , we have , a deeply interes , ting volume . Sheriff Nicolson has performed his taskas editorwith a masterlhand for in

    his grap , hic pages , we not only see y conspi cuously the subject of the memoirsbut we also obtain

    pleasant glimpses of the great , men with whom Mr . Black was associated , and the scenes amid

    which he moved , during his long , active , and useful career . Bibliopoles and politicians will find the volume especially attractive .

    Regarding the political details we have little to say beyond remarking that they

    opportuneldescribe the great crises through which y the country passed half a century ago , when

    I sweeping vied into effect measures as they were are not in these so peaceabl days . y carflfe _. r " ' •¦ ¦ _¦ r " _. ¦ ¦¦ ' ' . ' _- ¦ v . _. ' =====

    Adam Black. Alexander In The ' Mem Nicol...

    Adam Black was born in Edinburgh in the ear 1784 . He received a sound education at

    the y High School of that city , and afterwards attended Professor Dalziel _' s Greek class at the

    University . In 1799 he entered upon his apprenticeship as a bookseller , but the hardness of his master made the five years a miserable

    memory even in his old age . Two lines of some g verses ive the which pith he of hi wrote s estimate respecting of the his man emp : loyer

    He once in his life dropped a tear , but . it froze , Before it had trickled half down his red nose . Some interesting reminiscences of the book

    trade iii Edinburgh during the period of his apprenticeship are given , and it is noteworthy

    that the firm of Messrs . Bell & Bradfute is j the only name which has survived since the close of the last century .

    When what he called his ' dreary disgusting f servitude ortune in ' w London as over , sailing Black res for olved the great to try city his j

    in the smack Swift , , in August 1804 . Although he had numerous

    recommendations , he found some difficulty in getting a situation . Ten pounds which his father had

    given him were gradually diminishing , without any prospect of remunerative employment being found . But he kept up his

    determination , At and last , ac he cording heard of Sheriff a man ca Nicolson lled She : rat — on , publishing a book called the "Cabinetmaker ' s

    I Encyclopaedia , " who might give him something ; to do . lie called on him , and found the worthy

    I encyclopaedist and his surroundings to be pain-I fully humble ; but as he wanted an assistant

    ! A . B . agreed to help him in whatever way he ' could , either in writing articles or in a less > intellectual capacity . Here is his description

    ! of the man and his place : — _| ' " He lived in an obscure street , his house

    half' shop worn , -out half Methodist dwelling-house minister , and with looked threadbare himself like black a coat . I took tea with them , one afternoon . Thero

    ' his were wife a cup , and and a saucer little porringer for the host for , and their another daughter for . The wife ' s and saucer were iven to meand she

    had to put cup up with another little g porringer , . My host been seemed a cabinetmaker a good man was , wi now th author some talent and . publisher He bad ,

    , I teacher was with of drawi him ng for , and about , I believe a week , occasional , engaged preacher in most . i wretched workwriting few articlesand trying to

    , a , ! I for put which his shop I in was order remunerated , _* working among with half dirt and a guinea bugs to . ,

    I j take Miserable it from as the the poor pay old was man , I . " was half ashamed Adam his diary

    I ' J cogitating upon him in _l addressed , to his parentssays- of him further : * " He is a man of talentsand , I believeof genuine

    , , , presen believe piety . t was is He , a bred preacher understands to it ; ; he he is the has a been scholar cabinet , and , writes business perhap well — s at I ;

    draws seller , stationer in my opinion and , teacher masterl . y We ; is an author be ready , book to - ask how , comes , it to pass that a may man with bel such i

    abilities and resources is in such a state ? I eve respect his abilities for b and attempting resources to a do *© everything his rum , he in does this

    , y nothing The "' works of Sheratonit is needless to

    say , have now a unique fame , . : ' , ¦ . ¦ v . ; ; , ¦ ¦ ' . ,, _iS _' v _. v ' f ' _¦' " _¦ ' ' , ' _, ' . iv _, _n '' ¦¦ _< _^

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), Oct. 15, 1885, page 1070, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15101885/page/10/