3. As to first steps, I approve of the joint commission of authors, publishers and publicists, suggested by Harper & Brothers. Or, if speed is desirable, why not at once put the Appleton act into Congress, or into the State Department? I do not believe that the English government will refuse any honest offer of international copyright. It must be remembered that our government has never yet made one of any sort. 4. I can give no information as to my sales and losses abroad, except the fact that an English periodical is now running one of my novels as a serial, without agreement with me or pay. ment made. The great loss of American authors is here, owing to the flooding of our market with cheap reprints of foreign works, thus depreciating to some extent the price of the native book, and very largely ruining its chance of sale. What other production could go on at all, with a difference of ten, or twenty, or fifty per cent against it? 5. The domestic copyright ought to be for fifty years, a term which would cover a man's natural working life. So few books sell long that the community would not suffer by conceding this point of theoretical and practical justice. Of course forty-two years would answer practically about as well. 1. Yes. M. D. CONWAY, LONDON.. 2. To protect the author's right in his production, and the right therein of those to whom he shall bequeath it, so that, without his or their consent, it shall not be republished. I believe this right should last as long as that to any other property. It should be secured by conditions which would make it practical-e.g, that neglect to fulfil certain conditions, as registration, prompt response to a publisher's letters, etc., shall be considered an abandonment of copyright. 3. An appointment of a small commission of English and American authors and publishers to prepare a plan. All other countries would conform to any plan thus agreed upon. 4. Messrs. Harper's plan of a commission appears to me highly important, and some eminent authors in England have expressed to me their approval of it. As to their suggestion of the importance of assuring the publication of books in each country by their respective citizens, I believe a commission would be able to reach a satisfactory agreement on that point. It is, indeed, to settle that question that a commission is needed, and I have little hope that it will ever be settled otherwise. PARIS LETTER. PARIS, Dec. 26, 1879. DESPITE One of the most violent snow-storms and bitter north winds which have ever combined to make the life of Parisians unendurable, the Booksellers', Printers', and Paper Makers' Club, the "Cercle de la Librairie," was inaugurated this month with a musical and dramatic entertainment followed by a ball. The evening was opened by a prologue in verse recited by Mademoiselle Berthe Fayolle of the Theatre Français, composed by Charles Garnier, the architect of the new building. Messieurs Maurice Valet and M. Gailhard sang the airs of Joseph of Mehal, the Géant des Gaules, and a duet from La Muette. Mademoiselle Tanvier sang the Romance of Paul and Virginia, and Mademoiselle Fayolle recited the Revenant of Victor Hugo. The musical and dramatic part of the entertainment was closed by M. Coquelin Cadet with the Capitaliste and the Hanneton, which caused much merriment. Then followed an immense amount of dancing, which lasted until five o'clock in the morning, to the exquisite music of one of Erard's grand pianos. Hachette, Calmann Levy, Plon, Dentu, and the other principal publishing houses in Paris, were represented at the fête, which was well attended, considering the inclemency of the evening. The portion of Charles Garnier's prologue which appeared to meet with the most approval was the passage in which he declared that "the booksellers held the oars of the raft which carried humanty, having Presidents, Emperors, Kings, and Monarchs as first class passengers. "The terminating lines of the prologue, in which Castor and Pollux rhymed with the club's motto, ex utroque lux," were likewise enthusiastically received. The architecture of Charles Garnier, however, is decidedly better than his poetry. * In a previous letter mention was made of the memoirs of Prince Metternich, a work which without doubt will command an immense sale on both sides of the Atlantic, embracing as it does one of the most important periods of this eventful century. In order to give an idea of the work in question, we give an extract from some of the chapters of these memoirs, recently published in the Revue des Deux Mondes. Metternich himself evidently desires to convey the impression, that to his astute diplomacy, more than to the military abilities of the allied generals, Europe was indebted for the overthrow of the autocracy of Napoleon the First. The period selected for our extract was one of great European depression. Napoleon had won two great victories, the allied powers were disheartened, but the great Corsican was hesitating and desponding. The interview between Napoleon and Metternich thus commences : 5. Owing to the fact of my being an American citizen and residing in England, I have not personally suffered by the absence of an inter-Napoleon was waiting for me erect in the national copyright; but I have known many cases where wrong has been done (formerly, I am glad to say, more than now) to authors and publishers by the uncivilized condition of our international book trade. 6. The English bill (proposed) appears to me a remarkably good one, as a whole, but I can. not see the justice of limiting a man's right to his property to thirty years. The proposal to enable a lecturer to protect his discourse from being printed seems to me one much needed. middle of his cabinet, his sword by his side and his hat under his arm. He advanced toward me with an affected calmness, and asked after the health of the Emperor. Soon his features grew dark, and placing himself before me he spoke in these terms. 'So you wish war! *We give in this number an illustration of the façade of the new building, from the architect's drawing. We hope to give more full details as to the edifice and its proposed uses in a succeeding issue. Well, you shall have it. I have crushed the Prussian army at Lutzen, I have beaten the Russians at Bautzen; you will have your turn. I give you a rendezvous at Vienna. Men are incorrigible, the lessons of experience are lost upon them. Three times I have placed the Emperor Francis on his throne. I have prom ised to remain at peace with him as long as I lived. I have married his daughter. I said to myself at the time, you are committing an act of madness. But it is done. To-day I regret it.'' Metternich then explained to Napoleon that the world required peace, and that he must retire within those limits of territory compatible with the repose of Europe. Napoleon then burst forth: What do you want of me? That I should dishonor myself? Never! I know how to die, but I will never yield an inch of territory. You sovereigns, born upon the throne, can allow yourselves to be beaten twenty times, and can always return to your capitals. I cannot, because I am a parvenu soldier. My domination will not survive the day on which I cease to be strong, and consequently to be feared. I have committed a great fault, in not taking into account the cost of the finest army the world has ever seen. I can fight against man, but not against the elements. It is the cold which has vanquished and ruined me." 46 alogues of the principal European libraries of fered for sale. 44 The principal artistic books published by Plon for New Year's gifts are "Sahara and Sahel," by E. Fromentin; "David d'Angers," by H. Jouin; "Thorwaldsen," by E. Plon; Goya,' by C. Yriarte; The Faïence of Delft," by H. Havard, and "The Amateurs d'Autrefois," by Comte Clemend de Ris. A work published by the Messrs. Plon, called "Niger and Béncié," by Adolphe Bardo, is attracting attention, because the writer, who is an African explorer by predilection and a Belgian by birth, claims to have discovered the existence of a great Mahometan nation in the valley of the Niger. Messieurs Plon likewise publish "Japon Pittoresque," by M. Dubard; Histoire de France," by M. C. Dareste; "Amsterdam and Venice," by H. Havard; “South America,' and “Equatorial Africa," by the Marquis of Compiegne. All the abovementioned works are elaborately gotten up, and no expense has been spared in printing, decoration, and illustration. They are intended to lay on the drawing-room tables of the wealthy, amidst costlyafurniture and works of art, and they certainly fulfil their mission. This Hachette & Co. have published the third volume of a new edition of V. During's "Histoire Romaine," embracing the period from the battle of Zama to the first Triumvirate. new edition is illustrated by 2000 engravings, showing the battle-fields of ancient Rome, the principal public buildings and other objects of interest to the classical student. An Illustrated Switzerland," elaborately got up by Jules Gourdault, being a narrative of a journey through the twenty-two Cantons. This work is filled with sketches of every kind, engravings, photographs, etc., of the most interesting scenes in Luzerne, Ticino, the Grisons, the Bernese,'Oberland, etc. "L'histoire de Tobie," illustrated by Bida, is a beautiful in-folio, a perfect model of the printer's art. The interest in this work is of course centred in the designs of Bida and his assistants, Hedoin, Courtrey, Lévat, Henri Lefort, etc. Until after the turn of the year it is unlikely that any literary novelties will be produced, the attention of publishers on this side being wholly absorbed in the compilation of works gorgeous in binding, with elaborate pictorial illustrations, suitable for New Year's gifts, or "Etiennes," as we call them here. M. Quantin, who succeeded M. Clay three years ago, has published several works illustrated in the most expensive and elaborate manner, suitable for the period of the year. Among them may be mentioned "Les petits Conteurs Français," Les Poètes de 18ème Siècle," "La Bibliothéque des Arts," which reckons among its contributors the principal writers of the day on the subject of art; a new impression of the "Renaissance of France," "Researches in Spain after Spanish goldsmiths' work," by Baron Davillier, who, it may be mentioned, had a fine collection of Spanish goldsmiths' work in the galleries of retrospective art at the French International Exhibition. The three special works published by M. Quantin for New Year's gifts are, "François Boucher," by Paul Muntz; Goethe's "Faust," translated by Blaze de Bury, and a re-impression of two volumes published last year by the Gazette des Beaux-Arts entitled "Modern and Ancient Art at the French International Exhibition." "François Boucher" is the second volume of a series of artistic works commenced last year. The volume published last year was on Hans Holbein," the present one is "François Bou-erlands, England, and France," by Georges cher," the favorite artist of Madame de Pompadour, and the third volume will be on Vandyck." The object which Messrs. Quantin have in view, independently of supplying the New Year's demand for costly books, is to afford artists a library of reference. The catalogue of Hetzel & Co. for the new year contains a long list of educational works. One of the most attractive of the series is "L'histoire d'un Dessinateur," by M. Viollet le Duc. The work is of a similar character to those already published by the same author, viz.:" Les Histoires d'une Maison,"" De l'Habitation Humaine," "D'une Forteresse," " D'un Hotel de Ville," and " D'une Cathedrale." The object of "L'histoire d'un Dessinateur "is to teach young people to be their own drawingmasters, and to sketch with the pencil the various architectural specimens which they have been taught to admire. The "History of Engraving in Italy, Spain, Germany, the Neth Duplessis, is a work of a more advanced character than the preceding. It contains seventythree reproductions of ancient engravings. The author thinks that the first attempts in the art were made in 1452 at Florence. From this period M. Duplessis traces its history to the end of the Seventeenth Century. He gives the palm of merit to the artists of Holland and the Netherlands, and considers that England occupied only a secondary place as regards origi In January Messrs. Quantin will publish a new review, called rather pompously Le Livre. It will contain essays on rare and curious books ancient and modern, lists of the latest published works throughout Europe, and descriptive cat-nality and beauty of design. C. L. BOSTON LETTER. BOSTON, January 27, 1880. Daudet's Kings in Exile" comes very soon. Later, but before long, will come "Hal," the new story by Wm. M. F. Round, author of "Achsah;" "Marco Polo," in Mr. Towle's excellent Heroes of History Series, and "The Young Folks' Book of Poetry for Home and School," in three parts, by Loomis J. Campbell. Houghton, Osgood & Co. will publish early in February Henry James' new story, "Confidence," which has been running in Scribner's Monthly, and Joseph Cook's lectures on Labor." The season will bring "Rocky Mountain Health Resorts," by Dr. Charles Denison; Mr. Cook's lectures of last winter on Socialism;" the "History of Marblehead," by Samuel Roads, Jr.; "Every Day English," by Richard Grant White; and, of course, Mr. Howells' new story, "The Undiscovered Country,” now interesting hosts of Atlantic readers. THE Outlook in the book world is quite encouraging. There is no special "rush" in any department, but a healthy promise in all departments This is rendered more reliable by the good degree of prosperity which the fall and holiday seasons brought. Something of the old buoyancy was manifest, which ten or twelve years ago made the publishing of books so safe and jocund a business. It will probably be a good many years before we shall see such halcyon days as those; but the degree of activity and hope witnessed last autumn and continuing still is altogether cheering. The good habit of buying books seemed in danger of extinction; the circulating library and the sporadic book club took a few volumes and made them do the work of many. People were practising an economy in books which D. Lothrop & Co. have in preparation a threatened ruin to publishers and booksellers. small regiment of volumes. Of these will But resumption of bookbuying has come with come quite soon "Cheerful Words," selected resumption of specie payment; and good cur- from the writings of George Macdonald, with rency and good literature can pretty safely now an introduction by Mr. James T. Fields; a new be counted as sure in the future. revised edition of "Gutenberg and the Art of Printing," by Mrs. Emily Pearson; "Our Street," a story by Mrs. S. R. Graham Clarke, author of Yensie Walton ;" and "How to Conduct a Prayer-Meeting," by Lewis 0. Thompson, with an introduction by Rev. J. H. Vincent. Houghton, Osgood & Co. devoted their energies last season rather to the publication of standard works in new and popular forms than to bringing out new books. And the experiment was wholly successful. The resources of the gigantic Riverside Press were taxed to supply the demand for the Globe editions of Cooper, Dickens, and the Waverley novels. They have gone off by the cord. The Fireside editions of Emerson and Hawthorne were so tasteful and attractive in style that they proved equally popular with lovers of the best literature and fanciers of handsome books. The one-volume edition of Bayard Taylor's Faust" has sold steadily; indeed, the sale of Bryant's Homer and Taylor's "Faust" is so regular, and on the whole so large. as to prove a rather unexpectedly general appreciation of these superb translations. The completion of the Riverside edition of the British Poets," by the issue of Mr. Gilman's "Chaucer," puts in excellent library form almost the entire body of British poetry from Chaucer to Tennyson; and the reduction of the price of complete sets of sixty-eight volumes from $119 to $100 is a concession which bookbuyers cannot fail to appreciate and avail themselves of. Though the present feeling is hopeful, I do not learn of any great enterprises in contemplation by our publishers. Little, Brown & Co. hold out promises of a new book on "Montcalm," by Mr. Parkman; and in the domain of law they have a long list of books coming which must be very appetizing to lawyers. Estes & Lauriat find their new Art Review an important undertaking, and are greatly encouraged by the degree of favor it has so speedily won. They have several works in hand: the condensation or abridgment of Guizot's "Popular History of France" into a single volume, by Gustave Masson; Mr. Koehler's translation of Lallanne's unequalled work on "Etching;" Samuel Warren's Experiences of a Barrister and Confessions of an Attorney;" Gail Hamilton's pungent book on "Our Common School System," and others. Lee & Shepard have quite a number of books in press, but not many yet ready to be announced. More, by all these publishers, can be announced by and by. FRITZ. ST. LOUIS LETTER. ST. LOUIS, January 19, 1880. THINKING a few lines from the central metropolis would be welcome, and having some words to say to the publishers, I hurriedly write. The book business is beginning to pick up very much since the holidays, good solid standards being greatly in demand, and two or three of the hits of the Christmas season still selling well, as Froude's "Cæsar" and Arnold's "Light of Asia;" while in novels, Miss Sprague's" An Earnest Trifler," Marlitt's "In the Schillingscourt," and Muloch's "Young Mrs. Jardine," hold their own. In juveniles, "Under the Window," "Zigzags," and " 'Chatterbox" are still clamored for loudly. This has never been a great reading city, but now that good times are again with us a bright prospect is in store. All the retail trade requires here is a little nursing, and with the help of the publishers we propose to make this a book market At present there seems to be a rage to bind all the new and popular books in light cloth, such as lavender, old gold, gray, white, and a tint which we have dubbed gosli g green." It is a great mistake to bind books in light cloth for such cities as St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburg. What with coal-dust, dirt etc., such books require to be carefully covered and watched, and for this reason cannot be prominently displayed, thus losing many sales. Among a few of the popular series which are bound in this way may be mentioned Appletons' Classical Writers and Primers, HandyVolumes, Collection of Foreign Authors, Putnam's Knickerbocker Novels, and a very valuable new book of the Scribners, and Works of Gilbert Stuart,' the sales of which have been killed here, 'as the people of Life this city will not buy. If we could obtain them in dark bindings we should be pleased to carry them in stock, and they to buy. As it is, neither the bookseller nor reader here can be induced to touch them. "Light of Asia," "Afternoons with the Poets," and many other standards, have some copies bound in light covers. The Leisure Hour series would regain some of its old popularity if the publishers would put them all in dark bindings and sell them for one dollar; as it is, they are slow here. Black .covered books like the first No Name Series also soil easy. Messrs. Roberts Bros. soon found this out, and wisely changed to green cloth. If the Eastern buyers prefer the new light shades, gratify their tastes, but at the same time bind the copies for the cities I have named in dark colors. Then Mr. White worked off the Appleton compound inflection in the inquiry: "Oh, we weren't nosing round the capital at odd hours at all, nor nothin' of that kind, of course. Ha, ha!" "Hound and helion!" roared Mr. Bancroft, bearing on his aspirates according to the rules laid down in the Fourth Pacific Coast Readers, and with the falling inflection the educational Bancroft fist was planted on the acute accent mark which serves Mr. White for a nose. The representative of Appleton & Co. paused long enough to spit out a large O with a diaresis roosting on it, and sat down with the proper emphasis on the asphalt. Before friends interfered Mr. Bancroft had caused Mr. White's head to look like a phrenological block that had been used for a football in a slaughter-house. As for the publishers giving us perfect catalogues, I suppose we ask too much. As a class the publishers are blinder to their own interests than merchants of any other line of business. I Up to date Mr White remains in bed, and am at work now compiling a medical catalogue, not able to use from his large stock of educaand patience is a virtue, I assure you. For in- tional fixings anything but the subsidiary acstance. take Messrs. Lindsay & Blakiston's, cents. The door is kept locked for fear that Henry C. Lea's and Wm. Wood & Co's cata- Mr. Bancroft may suddenly appear and force logues-why can they not arrange them alpha-him to write a testimonial indorsing the Pacific betically according to authors and vowels? Coast Readers as the only text-books suitable One can appreciate the many years of labor and for the schools of Nevada. love Mr. Leypoldt has devoted to publishers', interests.. Mr. Robert Clarke, in an interview with a correspondent of the American Stationer of January 8th. says: "The trouble is that publishers competed too much with retail dealers, and the result was disastrous to retailers." A truer thing was never said; some of them seem to take extra pains to sell to the large dry goods bazaars, dollar stores, etc., who slaughter prices. Some good books in print promise large sales this way, the most important announcement being that of the Metternich Memoirs by the Scribners, which will undoubtedly be the book of the season. Trusting the publishers will ponder over my few words written in their interest, I am A TERRIFIC TEXT-BOOKER. UNDER this title the Virginia, Nev., Chronicle gives the following characteristic account of an "educational" scrimmage-possibly, just possibly, slightly exaggerated: Charles Bancroft has for many months been engaged in endeavoring to make the Nevada State Board of Education see the superiority of the Bancroft series of Pacific Coast Readers over all others. Mr. White has been engaged in the same laudable task on behalf of the Appleton series. Both gentlemen, up to within a few days, passed and repassed each other on the streets of Carson with curved backs and eyebrows like insulting interrogation points. They met in San Francisco on Saturday. Mr. White, using the grave accent, which is one of the points of pride with the Appleton series, inquired of Mr. Bancroft whether that gentleman had not brought circumflex means to bear in making himself solid with the board. Sir," responded Mr. Bancroft, bringing into play the chief and slighter stresses of emphasis THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING ESTAB LISHMENT. ONE of the chief losses by the Boston fire was that of the entire plant of the Heliotype Printing Co., which has for seven years been bringing together from all parts of the world the processes and machinery and negatives which formed its being. Twenty-five thousand negatives, some forty to fifty specially designed hand and power presses, twenty or thirty lenses and cameras of all the best known makers, carefully devised appliances of all sorts, original engravings, works of art, designs, drawings, in fact every implement that went to make up its working whole, says the Boston Journal, was destroyed. Five dollars would more than cover the value of what has been recovered from the ruins. It is the best proof of the success of this company that those interested, among whom Mr. Jas. R. Osgood is foremost, have determined to replace the plant as fast as can be done, and have already put a new establishment in working order. This is at 124 and 126 Pearl Street, Boston, and the company is already filling some orders. It is curious enough that the first pictures offered for sale from this company's presses were views and a map of the Burnt District caused by the fire of 1872. The first pictures now produced by the company in its new printing-office are views of its own Burnt District. The heliotype process was introduced into this country by Mr. Osgood in 1872, when he secured both the patents for America and the services of Mr. Ernest Edwards, the inventor, as superintendent. The company has been very successful in the character of its work, and has had much to do with promoting the present art interest in the department of engraving. The reproduction of some 200 or 300 of the leading subjects of the "Gray Collection of Engravings" was its tour de force in this direction. The bound volumes of heliotype reproductions from the great masters and from modern artists |