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Untitled Article
should be proportionately profitable to its author , we need not insist ; and though in the earlier days of authorship this was scarcely ever the case , it is satisfactory to know , that he whose writings are a source of profit to the publisher , can now be tolerably secure of his proper share . Hence the complaints etill rented against publishers seldom have the foundation they formerly had , and render authors one of the most unreasonable classes that exist . When a valuable work produces no profit , a publisher very often and very naturally refuses to undertake another of the same character . In either of these cases , it is not the fault of the publisher , but of the ' enlightened public / In nine cases , at least , out of ten , the publisher
who declines a work really acts for the best in so doing . But granting that it was not for the best , -either as regards the raerit of the book , or its money-value , he surely has the very same right of rejection that every other merchant possesses in similar circumstances . The real mischief lies in the fact
that in proportion to the originality or the profundity of a work , the chances of its rejection are multiplied , chiefly because the publisher ' s literary employe does not understand the subject , or its method of treatment ; though sometimes because it seems evident to a competent judge that a sufficient number of the public will not take an interest in it . It would be
presumptuous to assume , —notwithstanding the positive assertion of the Metropolitan Magazine , concerning the beneficial effect a work , published a few years since , would have upon the booksellers and others , —that we had been instrumental in assisting to clear the way for the more ready introduction of works of original merit ; out it is very certain that a considerable change
for the better has taken place since its publication , as the appearance of certain works of sterling- genius from quarters whence * their kindred ' were never seen to issue before , help to attest . Let us rejoice , however , —no matter how , by whom , or by what progress of circumstances and opinions effected—that this is the case , for it seems pretty clear , in spite of all the vices ,
misdemeanours , and peccadilloes of which * the trade ' may be accused , in common with all other trades , professions , and occupations , that Dr . Johnson uttered a truth which has reached the present times , when he asserted that the booksellers were the only patrons of literature . Slow 01 appreciation , in all intellectual novelties , is the public mind in every country ; but where there is great merit its gradual
appreciation , in almost all instances , is certain . That we are much indebted to Eftingham Wilson for the strong impulse be
has given to German literature in this country , must be apparent fro jn the number of valuable works he has introduced ; yet we think it very probable that , with two or three exceptions , the profit derived from them cannot hitherto have been
Untitled Article
£ 74 Spirit of Modern Publisher * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 274, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/10/
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