*****
After five years of absence Busoni has returned to England, and his recital at the Wigmore Hall on October 15th showed that his playing has lost none of its former strength and vitality, whilst it has undoubtedly gained in dignity and serenity. His audience consisted mainly of musicians, and his programme was evidently intended for serious and cultivated listeners. He began with the first prelude and fugue from Bach'sForty-Eight, producing a wonderful effect at the end of the fugue by a continuous haze of pedal, through which the counterpoint yet stood out with perfect clearness. His reading of theGoldberg Variationswas startling, both in its quality of tone and in its departures from the text. But it was clear that there was a considered reason for everything that was done, and as a commentary on Bach the performance was of singular interest. Busoni was at his best in Beethoven'sHammerklavievsonata. It is probably the most difficult work in all the literature of the pianoforte. When Busoni plays one does not take technical difficulties into account; but this sonata is both supremely difficult to understand and supremely difficult to interpret to an audience. To grasp its vastness of conception and to present it without the least appearance of struggle in perfect balance of poetry and philosophy is a task which Busoni alone of living pianists can accomplish. It was evident from the behaviour of the audience after the end of the sonata that they all realised how in comparison with Busoni most other pianists, despite their admirable qualities, are very small fry.
EDWARD J. DENT.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF MODERNAUTHORS44In this section we propose to give monthly skeleton lists of the works of modern authors: where feasible of contributors to the issue current.THOMAS HARDY[Poetical works only. Full information as to all his writings may be obtained from the bibliographies by A. P. Webb and H. Danielson.]COLLECTED POEMS. Macmillan. 1919.[This volume and that containingThe Dynasts, mentioned below, give a full collection of Mr. Hardy's work in verse. The Wessex and Mellstock editions of his complete works include his poems in several volumes.]SELECTED POEMS. Macmillan. 1916.[In the Golden Treasury Series.]WESSEX POEMS. Macmillan. 1898.[This volume contains illustrations in pen and ink by the author.]POEMS OF PAST AND PRESENT. Macmillan. 1901.THE DYNASTS. Macmillan. Part I., 1903. Part II., 1906. Part III., 1908.[Now published in one volume.]TIME'S LAUGHING STOCKS. Macmillan. 1909.SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE, with miscellaneous pieces. Macmillan. 1914.MOMENTS OF VISION. Macmillan. 1917.[Certain poems and small collections have been published in very small editions, mainly byClement K. Shorter. These includeSong of the Soldiers(1914),When I Weakly Knew(1916),In Time of the Breaking of Nations(1916),The Fiddler's Story(1917),Call to National Service(1917), andDomicilium(1918).]WALTER DE LA MAREVerseSONGS OF CHILDHOOD. Longmans. 1902.[Reissued in Longmans' Pocket Library.]POEMS. Murray. 1906.A CHILD'S DAY. Verses to pictures. Constable. 1911.THE LISTENERS AND OTHER POEMS. Constable. 1912.PEACOCK PIE. Constable. 1913.[Reissued with pictures byHeath Robinson.]THE SUNKEN GARDEN. Beaumont. 1918.[A limited edition de luxe.]MOTLEY AND OTHER POEMS. Constable. 1918.[Embodies the whole of the material in the last-named.]ProseHENRY BROCKEN. Murray. 1904.THE THREE MULLA MULGARS. Duckworth. 1910.THE RETURN. Arnold. 1910.W. H. DAVIESVerseCOLLECTED POEMS. With a portrait byW. Rothenstein. Fifield. 1916.[This volume contains a selection of what the author considered the best of his poems up to that date.]THE SOUL'S DESTROYER. Alston Rivers. 1907.[This book was published in the Contemporary Poets' Series, after a privately published issue by the author from the Marshalsea. It has since been reissued by Mr. Fifield.]NEW POEMS. Elkin Mathews. 1907.NATURE POEMS AND OTHERS. Fifield. 1908.FAREWELL TO POESY. Fifield. 1910.SONGS OF JOY. Fifield. 1911.FOLIAGE. Elkin Mathews. 1913.THE BIRD OF PARADISE. Methuen. 1914.CHILD LOVERS. Fifield. 1916.RAPTURES. Beaumont. 1918.[A limited edition de luxe.]FORTY NEW POEMS. Fifield. 1918.[Contains the poems in the last entry and ten additional pieces.]ProseTHE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SUPER-TRAMP. Fifield. 1908.[With an introduction by Bernard Shaw.]BEGGARS. Fifield. 1909.A WEAK WOMAN. Fifield. 1911.[A novel.]THE TRUE TRAVELLER. Fifield. 1912.NATURE. Batsford. 1913.[An essay in the Fellowship Books.]A POET'S PILGRIMAGE. Melrose. 1918.RUPERT BROOKEVerseTHE COLLECTED POEMS OF RUPERT BROOKE. With a memoir byEdward Marsh.Sidgwick & Jackson. 1918.[The memoir was separately printed by the same publishers in the same year.]SELECTED POEMS. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1917.*****POEMS. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1911.[This, Brooke's first book, has gone into an enormous number of editions, and the first is so scarce as to cost £4 or more in the second-hand market.]1914 AND OTHER POEMS. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1915.[This appeared with a portrait shortly after Brooke's death.]THE OLD VICARAGE, GRANTCHESTER. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1916.[A poem from the last volume, separately published.]ProseLETTERS FROM AMERICA. With a preface byHenry James. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1916.[James's preface was the last of his published writings. The letters originally appeared in theWestminster Gazette; one or two stray papers are added.]JOHN WEBSTER AND THE ELIZABETHAN DRAMA. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1916.[Brooke's fellowship thesis at King's. There exists in the British Museum in typescript an essay that Brooke wrote in 1910 for the Harness Prize. The subject isPuritanism as represented or referred to in the Early English Drama up to 1642.]
4In this section we propose to give monthly skeleton lists of the works of modern authors: where feasible of contributors to the issue current.
4In this section we propose to give monthly skeleton lists of the works of modern authors: where feasible of contributors to the issue current.
[Poetical works only. Full information as to all his writings may be obtained from the bibliographies by A. P. Webb and H. Danielson.]
COLLECTED POEMS. Macmillan. 1919.
[This volume and that containingThe Dynasts, mentioned below, give a full collection of Mr. Hardy's work in verse. The Wessex and Mellstock editions of his complete works include his poems in several volumes.]
SELECTED POEMS. Macmillan. 1916.
[In the Golden Treasury Series.]
WESSEX POEMS. Macmillan. 1898.
[This volume contains illustrations in pen and ink by the author.]
POEMS OF PAST AND PRESENT. Macmillan. 1901.
THE DYNASTS. Macmillan. Part I., 1903. Part II., 1906. Part III., 1908.
[Now published in one volume.]
TIME'S LAUGHING STOCKS. Macmillan. 1909.
SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE, with miscellaneous pieces. Macmillan. 1914.
MOMENTS OF VISION. Macmillan. 1917.
[Certain poems and small collections have been published in very small editions, mainly byClement K. Shorter. These includeSong of the Soldiers(1914),When I Weakly Knew(1916),In Time of the Breaking of Nations(1916),The Fiddler's Story(1917),Call to National Service(1917), andDomicilium(1918).]
SONGS OF CHILDHOOD. Longmans. 1902.
[Reissued in Longmans' Pocket Library.]
POEMS. Murray. 1906.
A CHILD'S DAY. Verses to pictures. Constable. 1911.
THE LISTENERS AND OTHER POEMS. Constable. 1912.
PEACOCK PIE. Constable. 1913.
[Reissued with pictures byHeath Robinson.]
THE SUNKEN GARDEN. Beaumont. 1918.
[A limited edition de luxe.]
MOTLEY AND OTHER POEMS. Constable. 1918.
[Embodies the whole of the material in the last-named.]
HENRY BROCKEN. Murray. 1904.
THE THREE MULLA MULGARS. Duckworth. 1910.
THE RETURN. Arnold. 1910.
COLLECTED POEMS. With a portrait byW. Rothenstein. Fifield. 1916.
[This volume contains a selection of what the author considered the best of his poems up to that date.]
THE SOUL'S DESTROYER. Alston Rivers. 1907.
[This book was published in the Contemporary Poets' Series, after a privately published issue by the author from the Marshalsea. It has since been reissued by Mr. Fifield.]
NEW POEMS. Elkin Mathews. 1907.
NATURE POEMS AND OTHERS. Fifield. 1908.
FAREWELL TO POESY. Fifield. 1910.
SONGS OF JOY. Fifield. 1911.
FOLIAGE. Elkin Mathews. 1913.
THE BIRD OF PARADISE. Methuen. 1914.
CHILD LOVERS. Fifield. 1916.
RAPTURES. Beaumont. 1918.
[A limited edition de luxe.]
FORTY NEW POEMS. Fifield. 1918.
[Contains the poems in the last entry and ten additional pieces.]
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SUPER-TRAMP. Fifield. 1908.
[With an introduction by Bernard Shaw.]
BEGGARS. Fifield. 1909.
A WEAK WOMAN. Fifield. 1911.
[A novel.]
THE TRUE TRAVELLER. Fifield. 1912.
NATURE. Batsford. 1913.
[An essay in the Fellowship Books.]
A POET'S PILGRIMAGE. Melrose. 1918.
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF RUPERT BROOKE. With a memoir byEdward Marsh.
Sidgwick & Jackson. 1918.
[The memoir was separately printed by the same publishers in the same year.]
SELECTED POEMS. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1917.
*****
POEMS. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1911.
[This, Brooke's first book, has gone into an enormous number of editions, and the first is so scarce as to cost £4 or more in the second-hand market.]
1914 AND OTHER POEMS. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1915.
[This appeared with a portrait shortly after Brooke's death.]
THE OLD VICARAGE, GRANTCHESTER. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1916.
[A poem from the last volume, separately published.]
LETTERS FROM AMERICA. With a preface byHenry James. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1916.
[James's preface was the last of his published writings. The letters originally appeared in theWestminster Gazette; one or two stray papers are added.]
JOHN WEBSTER AND THE ELIZABETHAN DRAMA. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1916.
[Brooke's fellowship thesis at King's. There exists in the British Museum in typescript an essay that Brooke wrote in 1910 for the Harness Prize. The subject isPuritanism as represented or referred to in the Early English Drama up to 1642.]
SELECT LIST OF PUBLICATIONSANTHROPOLOGYTHE CENTRAL ARAWAKS. ByWilliam Curtis Farabee. Plates and a map of Southern British Guiana and Northern Brazil. Philadelphia. Published by the University Museum.ARTRUSSIAN BALLET. ByDavid Bomberg. Hendersons. 2s.6d.THE ENGLISH ROCK GARDEN. Two vols. ByReginald Farrar. T. C. and E. C. Jack. £3 3s.THE "COUNTRY LIFE" BOOK OF COTTAGES. ByLaurence Weaver. Second edition. Revised and enlarged. "Country Life." 9s.6d.net.THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. Report on the treatment of old cottages. ByA. H. Powell, F. W. Troup, C. C. Winmill, and theSecretary. 20 Buckingham Street, 2s.BELLES-LETTRESCONTEMPORARIES OF SHAKESPEARE. ByAlgernon Charles Swinburne. Heinemann. 6s.net.PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY. For the British Academy. Milford 40s.net.MORE LITERARY RECREATIONS. BySir Edward Cook. Macmillan. 7s.6d.net.DUBLIN ESSAYS. ByArthur Clery. Maunsel. 4s.6d.net.ECHOES OLD AND NEW. ByRalph Nevill. Chatto & Windus. 12s.6d.net.THE PROBLEM OF HAMLET. By the Right Hon.J. M. Robertson. Allen & Unwin. 5s.net.SOME DIVERSIONS OF A MAN OF LETTERS. ByEdmund Gosse. Heinemann. 7s.6d.net.A CRITIC IN PALL MALL. ByOscar Wilde. Methuen. 6s.6d.net.TRAHERNE (an Essay). ByGladys E. Willett. Heffer. 2s.6d.net.SOME WINCHESTER LETTERS OF LIONEL JOHNSON. Allen & Unwin. 7s.6d.net.THE MEASURES OF THE POETS. A new system of English Prosody. ByM. A. Bayfield. Cambridge University Press. 5s.net.BY THE WATERS OF FIUME. A Story of Love and Patriotism. ByLorna De Lucchi. Longmans. 3s.6d.THE INNER COURT. ByH. C. Mason. Heath Cranton. 5s.net.GULLIBLE'S TRAVELS IN LITTLE BRIT. ByW. Hodson Burnet. Illustrated byThomas Henry. Westall. 2s.6d.THE ANONYMOUS POET OF POLAND, ZYGMUNT KRASINSKI. ByMonica M. Gardner. Cambridge University Press. 12s.6d.net.THE MYSTICAL POETS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. ByPercy H. Osmond. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 12s.6d.net.NORSE MYTH IN ENGLISH POETRY. ByC. H. 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THE CENTRAL ARAWAKS. ByWilliam Curtis Farabee. Plates and a map of Southern British Guiana and Northern Brazil. Philadelphia. Published by the University Museum.
RUSSIAN BALLET. ByDavid Bomberg. Hendersons. 2s.6d.
THE ENGLISH ROCK GARDEN. Two vols. ByReginald Farrar. T. C. and E. C. Jack. £3 3s.
THE "COUNTRY LIFE" BOOK OF COTTAGES. ByLaurence Weaver. Second edition. Revised and enlarged. "Country Life." 9s.6d.net.
THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. Report on the treatment of old cottages. ByA. H. Powell, F. W. Troup, C. C. Winmill, and theSecretary. 20 Buckingham Street, 2s.
CONTEMPORARIES OF SHAKESPEARE. ByAlgernon Charles Swinburne. Heinemann. 6s.net.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY. For the British Academy. Milford 40s.net.
MORE LITERARY RECREATIONS. BySir Edward Cook. Macmillan. 7s.6d.net.
DUBLIN ESSAYS. ByArthur Clery. Maunsel. 4s.6d.net.
ECHOES OLD AND NEW. ByRalph Nevill. Chatto & Windus. 12s.6d.net.
THE PROBLEM OF HAMLET. By the Right Hon.J. M. Robertson. Allen & Unwin. 5s.net.
SOME DIVERSIONS OF A MAN OF LETTERS. ByEdmund Gosse. Heinemann. 7s.6d.net.
A CRITIC IN PALL MALL. ByOscar Wilde. Methuen. 6s.6d.net.
TRAHERNE (an Essay). ByGladys E. Willett. Heffer. 2s.6d.net.
SOME WINCHESTER LETTERS OF LIONEL JOHNSON. Allen & Unwin. 7s.6d.net.
THE MEASURES OF THE POETS. A new system of English Prosody. ByM. A. Bayfield. Cambridge University Press. 5s.net.
BY THE WATERS OF FIUME. A Story of Love and Patriotism. ByLorna De Lucchi. Longmans. 3s.6d.
THE INNER COURT. ByH. C. Mason. Heath Cranton. 5s.net.
GULLIBLE'S TRAVELS IN LITTLE BRIT. ByW. Hodson Burnet. Illustrated byThomas Henry. Westall. 2s.6d.
THE ANONYMOUS POET OF POLAND, ZYGMUNT KRASINSKI. ByMonica M. Gardner. Cambridge University Press. 12s.6d.net.
THE MYSTICAL POETS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. ByPercy H. Osmond. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 12s.6d.net.
NORSE MYTH IN ENGLISH POETRY. ByC. H. Hereford, M.A., Litt. D Longmans, 1s.net.
APPRECIATIONS OF LITERATURE. ByLafcadio Hearn. Heinemann. 15s.net.
GEOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MILTON. ByAllan G. Gilbert. Yale University Press. Milford. 15s.net.
MEMORIES. ByLord Fisher. Hodder & Stoughton. 21s.net.
SAMUEL BUTLER, author of Erewhon (1835–1902). Memoir byHenry Festing Jones. Two vols. Macmillan. 42s.net.
MEMOIRS OF EDWARD EARL OF SANDWICH, 1839–1916. Edited byMrs. Steuart Erskine. Murray. 16s.net.
INGRAM BYWATER. ByW. W. Jackson. Oxford University Press.
FROM MUD TO MUFTI. ByBruce Bairnsfather. Grant Richards. 6s.net.
ALEXANDER HENDERSON, Churchman and Statesman. BySheriff Robert Low Orr, R.C.Hodder & Stoughton. 15s.net.
THE END OF A CHAPTER. ByShane-Leslie. Constable. New edition. 2s.net.
WILLIAM BLAKE THE MAN. ByChas. Gardner.Dent. 2s.6d.net.
THE LIFE OF LIZA LEHMANN. ByHerself. Fisher Unwin. 10s.6d.net.
THE MAN CALLED PEARSE. ByDesmond Ryan. Maunsel. 4s.6d.net.
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LADY DOROTHY NEVILL. Methuen. 18s.net.
LUCRETIUS ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. Translated into English verse bySir Robert Allison. Humphreys. 7s.6d.net.
THE GREEK ORATORS. ByJ. F. Dobson, M.A. Methuen. 7s.6d.net.
SPEECHES FROM THUCYDIDES. Oxford University Press. 1s.net.
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Editor—J. C. SQUIREAssistant-Editor—EDWARD SHANKS
Vol. I No. 2December 1919
OURlast notes in this place were written "in the dark." We sketched, in a general way, our attitude, our intentions, and our hopes whilst we were still without more evidence than our private enquiries could produce as to the degree of confidence that our proposals would inspire and the amount of support that we should receive. We are now more fully informed; and we may honestly say that, although our expectations were not, perhaps, coloured by an excessive diffidence, they have been more than realised.
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The extraordinarily cordial reception given us, both by critics in the Press and by our readers, has proved that there is a demand for a paper on the lines which we have laid down, and that our first number was regarded as a satisfactory beginning. We must express our profound gratitude to those—there are hundreds—who have written to us in terms of unqualified appreciation and benevolence, and to the reviewers, whose kindness is more encouraging than they probably know. It now remains for us to attempt to live up to the promises we have made.
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One more thing we must add before we turn to detail. Editors do not normally discuss the economics of their enterprises in public, and nobody wishes that they should. But before theLondon Mercuryappeared, we made a special effort to start it on a firm basis by securing a large number of Original Subscribers. That effort was remarkably successful; thousands of persons subscribed for a year before they had seen a copy of the paper. These proved by their willingness to buy a pig in a poke thatthey were thoroughly interested in our scheme; and we are entitled to assume that they will be interested to hear that our initial success has been so great that our immediate future is securely guaranteed. In other words (though much ground remains to be won), we have been spared the wearing and worrying struggle to obtain a position and a "hearing" which so often embarrasses literary and artistic periodicals. A direct result of this is that we shall be under no necessity to experiment hastily, but shall be able to give due consideration to every possible development that occurs to us. A direct implication of it is that should we, in the long run, fail to satisfy the public, we should have nothing and nobody but ourselves to blame. Either our conception would have been proved unpopular or our execution would have been deemed inadequate. It is the most comfortable of situations. That is all we need say on the subject. We have spoken frankly about it (rather than affect an impassive indifference) simply because we think our readers would like us to do so.
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We have as yet received no great number of detailed criticisms or suggestions for improvement. But there have been some, both in the Press and in the letters from our correspondents. Some of the suggestions that have been made we shall adopt; some we shall not; one or two of the most interesting are based on a misunderstanding. The most noticeable of these derive from the notion that theLondon Mercurywas intended to be an exact analogue of theMercure de France, and borrowed its title from that excellent paper. We may as well explain, once and for all, that the similitude with theMercure de France, happy though it may be, was reached by accident; our own title was derived directly from the Mercuries which were the earliest products of the English periodical Press; and for our scheme we are indebted to no paper, British or foreign. A Scottish critic observes that "Belgian literature owed its notable capture of Europe largely to its [theMercure's] whole-hearted welcome, and the new movement in Germany associated with the names of Rilke and Zweig found its first foreign recognition in its pages. Moreover, it surveyed the whole field of human intellectual achievement—philosophy, science, religion—in its articles.... The name of M. Davray at the foot of aMercurearticle has made more than one British writer's reputation in Paris, and Europe would have been entirely ignorant that there was a new and rich literature in Spanish-America had not theMercurediscovered it and blazoned forth its merits." We might, if we would, make some remark on the detail of this. Rilke is not a major poet; Zweig is an unimportant, over-exuberant critic who tried, in vain, to persuade the late Emile Verhaeren that he was a German; the fame of Spanish-American literature, trumpeted though it may have been by theMercure, has not yet reached London. But we prefer to concentrate on the more important point, and that is that our functions, as we conceive them, are not those of theMercure de France.We have already published letters from French and American correspondents; we shall shortly publish letters from Italian, Russian, and German correspondents; we shall from time to time publish fuller articles about recent developments in foreign countries. But therearecertain limits to our space, and thereisa centre in our plans. It is an admirable thing to disseminate the works of good Belgian and Spanish-American authors, and we hope that we shall not overlook anything really important that comes from any quarter of the globe. But our principal object is to assist people to read the good English authors of the past, and to stimulate the popularity of good English authors of the present. There are those to whom any foreigner, writing in some mysteriously wonderful language, like French or Polish or Spanish-American, is a portent; but we are not amongst them. We desire to keep the British public in touch with all foreign developments that may be considered likely to be of special interest to the British public; but we certainly do not intend to devote to the study of foreign authors space that might more profitably be given to the examination of a dead or living man who has written in our own tongue. TheMercurebestows a great deal of attention on foreign authors; it publishes political articles; it concerns itself largely with problems of philosophy and religion. Some of these questions will be ignored by theLondon Mercury. Some it will discuss; regarding some its functions will be purely that of a recorder. But it does not propose to deflect from its original purpose, which was to publish the best contemporary "creative work" that it could obtain, to criticise new books and old, and to minister to the other needs of the British reader and the British book-collector. It is just as well that this should be clear.
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In the present number one or two slight changes are to be observed. There is a minor, but not insignificant, typographical change, and two new, and we hope welcome, "features" have been added. These had already been premeditated, but we made them with all the more satisfaction in that several correspondents had recommended—we had almost said demanded—them. We hope, in an early issue, to add to these a section on Architecture, similar to the sections on Art, Music, and the Theatre.
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Several correspondents have written to ask us whether we propose to devote any attention to the economics of authorship, and two of them (persons whom we conceive to have a direct and immediate interest in the subject) make special reference to the question of American copyright. To all of them we can reply that, although economics in general, like politics in general, come within the sphere of our self-abnegation, we shall throw what light we can on the economics of authorship, just as we shall holdourselves free to trespass on politics when politics touch art. American copyright, as a fact, we had already marked out as one of the matters to which we intend to return again and again until America puts her laws straight. The British copyright laws are now, so far as they affect the author, on a very satisfactory footing. The principal countries of the world have signed the Berne Convention, and even Russia, had there been no Revolution, would by this time have agreed that the works of British authors should be automatically copyrighted in Russia. The more widely the civilised custom spreads the more glaring becomes what, without offence, we may call the offence of America. There only—and it is the largest English-speaking and English-reading community in the world—is the British author defenceless, there only may he be robbed with impunity of the fruits of his labour.
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Let us recapitulate the elements of the American copyright law as they at present stand. Copyright in America is defined by a law of 1909. That Act lays down that a book, to secure legal protection, must be manufactured in the United States of America; the stipulation was carried on from an earlier statute. A book published in the English language may obtain interim protection for one month from the date of publication if a copy is forwarded to an office in Washington; but at the end of the month protection lapses. Copyright is lost unless a book (or a newspaper contribution) has been "set up" in the States and issued there within a month of its publication in Great Britain.
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Now we have no hesitation in describing the present copyright arrangements as between England and America as immoral and unjust. They do not greatly handicap authors of international reputation, so far as their new books are concerned. If—he will forgive us for using his name as an illustration—Mr. Rudyard Kipling has written a new book, he will have no difficulty whatever in getting an American publisher to put it into type in America and issue it at a date approximate to that of the English publication. But even the eminent and the "arrived" are put to some trouble and expense by the necessity of "securing copyright," and on those who are not so eminent the law presses very hardly indeed. There are famous English authors whose early books are not copyright in America; there are young English authors who have to go through the anguish of seeing American copyright expire whilst some American publisher is debating whether or not he shall take "sheets" of a book from England; and "first books" of any character published in England can virtually never be copyrighted in America. It may, and should, be granted that as a body American publishers are more just and generous than their laws. We know of many cases in which the English authors of non-copyright books have obtainedfrom American publishers precisely the same royalties as they have obtained from their English publishers. We know also of cases—relatively few, we gladly admit—in which the works of English authors have been pirated by American editors and publishers without sanction, thanks, or payment. But the mere fact that in most instances American publishers are ashamed to take advantage of the law, and that in other instances they do the handsome thing in order to secure "favours to come," is no palliation of the law. It is a harsh and a selfish law; a law unworthy of a great nation, a nation which is second to none in its professions and in its intentions with regard to the welfare of humanity at large.
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The state of the law is commonly ascribed to the typographical unions. "Protection for Printers": books should have no rights in America unless American typographers have been employed upon them. Beneath this argument lies the naked, brutal fact that at present, America having not yet produced the great universal literature that she is destined to produce, America imports much more from us than we do from her. If "sheets" were copyright, whenever sent, we should get the better of the exchange; we produce ten Masefields for one O. Henry, and England would print far more for America than America would for England. This may determine the printers' attitude; though even the printers might realise that a time might come when the boot would be on the other leg, and British publishers will be in a position to squeeze American authors to any extent, and British printers will insist on printing books which might more conveniently and economically be printed in America. But surely, in a matter like this, the law ought not to be dictated by the selfish and shortsighted conceptions of a trade. We have never met an English author who has had, or who has contemplated, relations with America who has not been bitterly contemptuous of the American attitude towards the copyright law. We have never spoken to an American author or publisher who has not admitted that it was a disgrace to America. Authors may be a small body, but they are as entitled to their rights as anybody else; these, also, are God's creatures. President Wilson himself, for all we know, may under the present regime have lost English copyright in his early works; and the irony of the law is that it presses most hardly on those who have still their fortunes to make, for the celebrated, or their agents, can successfully cope with it.
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These lines will, as we are happy to know, meet the eyes of many Americans who write and many who do not. We appeal to them to agitate for a change in their law. That the American copyright law should be placed on precisely the same basis as the English copyright law we do not ask, andhave no right to ask. But that English authors should automatically enjoy in the United States the same privileges as are enjoyed by native authors is a reasonable proposition. Cannot somebody move the Legislature?
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We shall return to this subject at greater length. Meanwhile, if we may hark back for a moment to the point from which our digression started, may we say that we shall welcome any suggestions our readers may make as to the development of the paper within the limits we have defined? Particularly we desire to hear—though we should not be human if we pretended to enjoy—objections, provided they are conceived in a friendly spirit, to anything in our present arrangements which may strike readers as unsatisfactory. It was another god who sprang, perfect and in full panoply, from the head of Jove.
THEdeath of Mr. Bruce Cummings on October 22nd, at the age of thirty, brought to an end a literary career which was singular alike in its character and in its brevity. He did not expect to live to see the publication of his book,The Journal of a Disappointed Man, and himself inserted the last and the only falsity in it, except the name he gave himself: "Barbellion died on December 31st." But he did actually witness its remarkable success on its appearance in the early part of this year; and it is impossible not to feel that this must, to some extent, have alleviated his disappointment. He was remarkable, not only in his personality and his gifts, but also in the fact that he was fully and frankly conscious, at all events for some years before his death, that his journal would be published and would be examined as a literary composition. He compared it with the journals which were already famous, he speculated on the reception it would have, he experienced a thrill in discovering a sister-soul in Marie Bashkirtseff. And it is hardly doubtful that his expectations will be realised. His career was one of struggle under almost overwhelming difficulties. His earliest ambition was to be a naturalist; and without training or assistance of any kind he had almost achieved it, when the breakdown of his father compelled him to earn a more substantial, though still meagre, living as a reporter on the staff of a provincial newspaper. He struggled out of this pit, and eventually succeeded in obtaining a position at South Kensington, which, in view of the obstacles in his way, was an extraordinary performance. Through all this battle against odds he was handicapped by an ill-health which seems to have affected almost every organ in his body—a weak heart, susceptible, if not actually tubercular, lungs, dyspepsia, and disordered nerves; and these ailments were accompanied and intensified by a perpetual brooding over his health which, had it had no basis, might have been called acute hypochondria. But it was only after his marriage that he discovered, by a dramatic and extraordinary accident, that he was already condemned to death by a more terrible malady than any of these. Under the rapidly-approaching shadow of this end, he continued his work and his journal as long as his strength permitted, and survived, though but for a little and in a state of complete collapse, the success which had been so persistently denied him before. His journal tells an extraordinary story and reveals an extraordinary person. Its confessions are frank, quiet, and obviously truthful; and neither his introspective habit of mind nor his belief that his journal would be published seems ever to have vitiated his powers of observation and notation. But he was something more than a remarkable personality and a veracious reporter of himself. He was also a writer and a critic of great ability. His notes on literature and music, here and there through the diary, show considerable penetration and judgment; and his descriptions of persons and places are vivid, fascinating, and often humorous. A volume of his remains has just been issued under the title,Enjoying Life, and Other Essays; and this includes the paper on the great journal-writers to which he alludes more than once in his diary.
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As a token of their admiration for a master in their craft, a number of poets recently united to make a presentation to Mr. Thomas Hardy, O.M., on the occasion of his entering his eightieth year. Their tribute took the form of a manuscript volume in which each of the poets wrote one of his own pieces and which was prefaced by an address written, it is understood, by the Poet Laureate, with whom are joined in thevolume the Hon. Maurice Baring, Mr. Hilaire Belloc, Mr. Laurence Binyon, Mr. G. K. Chesterton, Mr. W. H. Davies, Mr. Walter de la Mare, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Edmund Gosse, Mr. Maurice Hewlett, Mr. Ralph Hodgson, Mr. A. E. Housman, Mr. Rudyard Kipling, Mr. John Masefield, Mrs. Alice Meynell, Mr. Sturge Moore, Professor Gilbert Murray, Sir Henry Newbolt, Mr. Alfred Noyes, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Mr. G. W. Russell ("A. E."), Mr. Arthur Symons, Mr. Herbert Trench, Sir William Watson, Mr. W. B. Yeats, and many of their younger fellows. A sentence from the address, "We would thank you for the pleasure and increasing delight that your art has given us," explains the purpose of the gift and supplies a text on which a discourse might be pronounced. For if it is a delight for an established master to receive the homage of his juniors, it should be, and is, an especial delight for them to be able to offer it. We think it probable that some of the younger contributors to this volume will live to remember with wonder and gratitude the fact that they were able, while he still lived, to express their gratitude to one of the greatest of modern English poets.
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Mr. Edmund Gosse, the doyen of English critics, celebrated his seventieth birthday in September, and, through Lord Crewe, a presentation was made to him accompanied by a memorial of almost unexampled length and distinction. Each of the signatories has since received a beautifully printed "memento." Those who saw Mr. Gosse's paper on George Eliot will not need to be told that his powers seem, if anything, to increase with age. Great and diverse as have been his services to literature since his first book was (when he was in his early twenties) published, his finest work, both "original" and critical, has appeared in recent years; and it is easily conceivable that the decade between his seventieth and his eightieth birthdays will be his most productive. A man of letters can be paid no higher compliment: Mr. Gosse has retained, and will retain to the end, the energy and the freshness of youth, whilst his knowledge and experience, in the natural course of things, broaden and deepen.
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The death of Leonid Andreef removes the most savage pessimist of all the pessimists who have come out of modern Russia. But the author ofThe Life of Man,The Seven that Were Hanged, andThe Red Laughwas not a pessimist for pessimism's sake: he suffered and he expressed his suffering sincerely. One of his short stories—that which tells of a student and his girl who were overtaken by a band of ruffians in a wood—is perhaps the most ghastly story that has ever been written; yet the most revolted reader could not suppose that the author had been less revolted than himself. Andreef had refused enormous offers to work for the Bolsheviks, and died, in great poverty, from shock induced by a rain of Bolshevik bombs near his house.