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f« ~ — ¦-¦ -f 370 The Publishers' Circul...
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CONTENTS
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LITERARY INTELLIGENCE 370 BOOKS AND RUMO...
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St. Dunstan's House, E.C., April 1, 1890.
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llf R. ANDREW LANG recently took an -"-*...
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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
F« ~ — ¦-¦ -F 370 The Publishers' Circul...
f « ~ — ¦ - ¦ -f 370 The Publishers' Circular AprCt j . ^ ^_^_ z—~ u ^^\ - ^ . . ^ ,., . . T . .. _ . ^ - . . , . , ^^ — ^ _ __ ^ ^ rg ,
Contents
CONTENTS
Literary Intelligence 370 Books And Rumo...
LITERARY INTELLIGENCE 370 BOOKS AND RUMOURS OP BOOKS 371 NOTES AND NEWS 375
AMERICAN NOTES AND NEWS ...... 377 BOOKSELLERS OP TO-DAY . — I . —MR . HENRY SOTHERAN 377
THE DISCOUNT SYSTEM IN THE BOOK TRADE .. 379 THE RETAIL BOOK TRADE 380 THE COLUMBUS LETTER 380
IMPORTANT SALE OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS .,.. 380 TRADE CHANGES ..,,... 381 IN MEMORIAM .. ; ................ 381
REVIEWS , < fec , 382
INDEX TO BOOKS PUBLISHED IN GKBAT BRITAIN BETWEEN MARCH 17 < fc 31 m
BOOKS PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN PBOM MARCH 17 TO 31 387 RECENT FOREIGN WORKS .., 39
NEW BOOKS AND BOOKS LATELY PUB- [ LISHED 303 j MISCELLANEOUS 410 1 I
BUSINESS CARDS 426 , 427 i | ASSISTANTS WANTED ., 425 > ! SITUATIONS WANTED 42 !> '
BOOKS FOR SALE . 430 BOOKS WANTED TO PURCHASE 430-I I
St. Dunstan's House, E.C., April 1, 1890.
St . Dunstan ' s House , E . C ., April 1 , 1890 .
Llf R. Andrew Lang Recently Took An -"-*...
llf R . ANDREW LANG recently took an - " - *¦ audience assembled at the South Kensington Museum into his confidence , and in a
gay humour condescended to explain to them the most approved methods involved in the
solution of the problem , * How to Fail in Literature . ' His remarks on that occasion ,
revised , corrected , and considerably augmented , have just been printed * , and some rich
patron of letters ought to instruct Messrs . Field & Tuer to send a copy of the dainty
booklet to amateur authors who regard Mr . Walter Bezant as the doughty champion of
oppressed merit and unrecognised genius . Nobody can accuse Mr . Lang of speaking on such
a subject out of the fulness of actual experience . We are all aware that he is both versatile
and vivacious , but , strange to relate , there are still a few topm . ics which he is scarcely qualified
to discuss from the standpoint of personal knowledge , and this is one of them .
Nevertheless , Mr . Lang ' s counsels are worth more attention than they are likely to receive from
those who most need to consider them . Young aspi / ants in literature betray as a rule an
abnormal love of approbation , but for advice , gratis or otherwise , they generally manifest
complacent disdain . Indeed , Dr . Johnson ' s well-earned reputation for shrewd common
sense is not . imperilled by the assertion that advice is seldom welcome , whilst those who
need it most like it least . The young beginner ought not to allow
himself to be too easily disheartened , for it is not half such a difficult thing to fail in
literature as perhaps he is inclined at first sight to suppose . Mr . Lang speaks quite cheerfully
about the matter , and even if he cannot plume himself on having personally won that
dis-; tinction h , behind he has the , at scenes all events to know , been how quit such e long a I enoug auout wini wie udiiiob
An 1 . result ¦—— may ue Drougnu — — — *
- — __ ^ promptitude and certainty . We wish that we '
could persuade all whom it may concern to read , mark , learn , and inwardly digest the
I advice on this subject which Mr . Lang has so 1 ! generously placed at their disposal . Thatr
j however , seems a hopeless task , and therefore I we must content ourselves by borrowing a few 1 1 li
sentiments from the book which ought to con- if vince the most despondent literary fledgling that failure is
not beyond the reach of his I diligen — t endeavours . Here , thenin a
nuti I shell ^ T 1 are some of Mr ¦ mm . Lan -w g ' s hin * a , ts . for _ those _ - I j who court failure in literature . They must [
i carefully abstain from the observation of life and character ; they must perfect themselves
1 in the art of illegible caligraphy ; they can hardly be too indifferent to grammarand
rage tage must to 10 never cultivate cultivate think ' of Wardour waraour st yle . Stree stree It is t t of En I £ ngJi ad erli , van » ah h - ' I
and mixed metaphors are also helpful , though , , [ to some people , who are adepts in the usu
of both , failure . has somehow been denied . 1 Nevertheless , speaking generally , it is
impossible to be too obscure , unnatural r involved , vulgar — , slipshod — , and metapJL horical .
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery , and I therefore one author ought never to grudge
paying another such a compliment . »_ * ^ j On this subject Mr . Lang says that nobody !
but a reader of manuscripts knows what * myriads of fiction' are written on strangely !
familiar ~ lines . * The most out-worn ideas O J sudden loss of fortune ; struggles ;
faithlessness of first lover ; noble conduct of second i lover ; frivolity of younger sister ; excellence
of mother ; naughtiness of one son , virtue of another , these are habitually served up again
and again . ' A man who means to fail in literature oug— ht , according to Mr . Lang 7 to
read very little , and to take ' care that , all that he masters is bad ; after that little more
is required at his hands , except to produce something not quite equal to the ' last domestic
drivel which came out in three volumes , or the
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Citation
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Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), April 1, 1890, page 370, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01041890/page/4/
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