LITERARY GOSSIP.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13739, 21 May 1910, Page 7

LITERARY GOSSIP.

In what part of England is there ihe greatest demand for books? The question is an interesting one, and .some li'-iht is thrown on the subject in the "Book Monthly" by -Mr H. F. Lo Bus. the managing partner of the- Caxton Publishing Company, "an organisation which sells tons of books, on the subscription and instalment system, in the course oi the year." According to Mr 1.0 Bas, Scotland conies easily first. After Scotland is Lancashire, "a notably good bookland, the centre of which is Mr.iichestoiv' Yorkshire comes third. "In fine," says Mr l.c Bus,, "in the vigorous North, where education, climate, competition, and ambition make men keener, the demand for books quite outdistances the demand in the South.'"

"The public t.i.sto in regard to reading,'' Mr John -Murray, the publisher, coiisidc-rs, "has greatly changed in recent years. People are now so accustomed to reading newspapers and periodicals dished up for their amusement that many of them have not tho inclination to sit down and study a book which requires thought and careful reading. Sido by side with these careless readers, of wlioni there is an enormous number, there is a constantly growing class of really serious students, who endeavour to master at least one subject to the best of their ability."

As a new Academy of Literature is proposed, Mr Clement Shorter, in the "Sphere," suggests this list of forty worthy of immortality:—Mr Thomas Hardy, Mr Edmund Gosso, Mr Robert Bridges, Froftvisor Bury, Lord Morley, Mr Frederic Harrison, Mr J. M. Barrio, Mr William Archer, Mr Augustine Birrell, Mr James Bryce, Mr Sidney Col v in, Mr Austin Dobson, Professor Dowdon, Mr Anthony Hope, Sir AY. fl. Nicoll, Mr Edward" Ckidd, Mr J. G. Frazer, Mr Rmdyard Kipling, Mr Bernard Shaw, Mr Stepford Brooke, Mr Andrew Lang, Mr Joseph Conrad, .Mr W. L. Courtney, Dr. Gasquet, Dr. Douglas Hyde, Mr C. H. Firth, Mr Sidney Lee, Mr H. W. Massingham, Mr A. T. Quiller-Couch, Mr George Saintsbury, Sir George Trevelyon, .Mr A. W. Warjl, Mr W. B. Yeats, Mi* Owen Seaman, Mr E. V. Lucas, Mr Henry Jamet., Mr Herbert A. L. Fisher, Mr T. Sturgc-Moorc, Mr Walter Raleigh, and Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton.

"There is now a spreading 'cult' of Ke.its in Italy," says an Italian correspondent of the "Scotsman," "whose name, far from being 'writ in water,' as ho himself prescribed to be engraved on his tombstone, is diffused in printer's ink throughout Italy, inspiring sympathetic criticism, and oven translation. Italians of the non-chastened school in literature are especially warm in their appreciation of him. . The 'cult' of the British poet is encourage.-, as a wholesome countervail to that of D'Annunzio ond his following, in which pomp of language does duty for vigour of thought, and an unhealthy 'animalism' runs riot out of sheer poverty of imagination."

There' are some interesting stories of famous literary men in Mr Oscar Browning's reminiscci_c.sof sixty years. Walking one day on the sacred'lawn of King's Calverley met the Provost, who rebuked him severclv. Calverley took it very' coolly, upon "which the Provost exclaimed, "Do you know who 1 am?" "No," said Calverley. "Look a<_.ain, sir," isaid tho Provost, "and tell mc what you see before you." Calverley quietly remarked, "T see an elderly gentleman, apparently very, irascible," nnd tbe conversation ended by the intervention of the college- • porter. Robert Browning stayed with his namesake at Cambridge, and would sometimes complain to him of the onrlv neglect of his poetry. John Stuart Mill wanted to reviow "Paulino" in the "London Re.pOs-itory," .but was told that it had been noticed in a previous Lumber. It had. with the two words: 'Pauline —balderdash." Browning declared that by this accident his public recognition had been delayed for twenty years.

The woman'novelist continues to hold her own against men. Mr Andrew Melrose's two hundred and fifty guineas prize for the best novel submitted in his competition has been awarded to "A Marriage Under thc Terror," byPatricia Wentworth, on the unanimous decision oi tiie adjudicators, Mrs Flora Annie Steel, Miss Alary Cholmondoley and Mrs Henry do la Pasture. The adjudicators independently and without consultation with each other, fixed upon this novel as the. winner, and were ignorant of the sex of the author. One. hundred and sixty MSS. were submitted in the competition.

Tho war of thc library consorehip is f,till being waged at Home. Mr John Lane sends out the following notice with tlio review copies of a novel that bo has just published "—— has been censored by tho libraries without .1 r< ason being assigned. The publisher, on re-reading the book, can see no justification for •nich action, and Iwth ho and the author will await with interest thc .judgment of the critics."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who i.s said to have the largest public of any versewriter of to-do.y. wa.s in England recently, and was naturally interviewed. She expres-sod her surprise and pleasure to find that fchr came, not as a stranger, but as a friend whoso life-work was familiar to many English people. "Tliis popularity.'' .--aid Mr* Wilcox, "is pleasing to my feminine vanity! Lot 1110 put it like that. In America tho critic*, aro severe with mo and condemn nu heeauso £ am popular. In one way they are right. The gro.it jxpot.s were .seldom acknowlodgeel until after doatii. I know, therefore, that 1 am not great because 1. enjoy a living reputation. "iet I would rather it wore 50. I like to know now that my poetry .tppoals to many simple hearts, and " ]i 3 . s mado m*.ny friend., for mo. :It is good to bo loved while ono lives, and fame which come- ...v-ind ?i.o grave comes too Into to 'k < n.oyed."