NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 259, 25 July 1908, Page 12

NOTES.

" ' In.-the ."Fortnightly Review," Mr. Eve'leigh' Nash discusses""Tho-Coining.Crisis in "the Publishing' Trade 1 .-" Tho'"Nation" comments thus-upon Mr;--Nash's discussion of the evil caused by "the present glut of pedestrian work""Whetjier it be duo to the aotivity : of agents, or to the rivalry of publishers there 'is scarcely 'a doubt-that the present over--production of-inferior work is the main causo of th'o depression in tho book trade. Thoro never, was a .time, when more worthless books were placed upon'tlic market or whon works •'of-'rcal- valuo raii a greater risk'of being swamped by tho,deluge of rubbish that pours from , the...Press. ;. No book, whatever its merits, can bo a 'commercial success unless it is brought prominently; into public notice. Savo in the- caso 'of writers of established ..reputation this is-difficult under the present system. Publishers, by competing with each 'other to issue the .greatest possible number 'of new books; place it out oi their power to do- justioe to the majority of themjn thoir advertising lists....The work of real valuo appears for. a.y/eek, or. two in these lists sido by side' with a crowd of ephemeral companions, it -then passes . out of notice, and is often never- heard of again. It'may bo replied that it is the business of the critic to detect what is of value and, bring it, into public notico. This "is "true, but 'critics, like everyone else concerned,':aro'linable to deal with tho present amazing .output. . "William Allingham relates in-his .Diary, that Leigh Hunt onco spoko''of''Moxon"as 'not a. publisher but a secreter of book's':'' This phrase might bo applied to some publishers of to-day. We havo good-reason for our .belief that, tho litorary firms that have done best during the' pre-

sent _ season havo achieved success through limiting their output to words of • somo real value, and lotting tho public know what they wero doing." Now Zealanders will be interested in tho part which New Zoaland plays in Mrs. St. Loo Strachcy's "Masque of Erapiro," recently performed at Home. When Now Zealand's turn comes, slio enters dressed inbluo or pink, like a shepherdess. She a, crook in her hand and is wreathed with wild; roses, Sho advances to tho throne and is kissed by Britannia, after which she speaks her linos: Prom my throe sister Islands, Set in tho Southern Sea, Pull quickly at thy bidding, Mother, I come to thee. And with a special kinship I fain would speak to you, Por, in the far Pacific, My lands are sea-girt, too. Now, when my earliest sottlors Did first from Britain roam, My happy, smiling valleys All spoke to them of home— Spoko when .tho shepherd folded His sheep upon my hills, Spoko in my island weather. Spoko in my sparkling rills. But yet a sterner beauty Than over England knew Lies in my snow-capped mountains And in my glaciers bine; While in my northern island Beats still a heart of flame— Volcanoes, boiling fountains, Fierco forces none may tame. Down my doep-wrinkled coast-line Lie fiords and harbours wide, Where the great ships from England Ploat in upon the tide. Hail to my happy country! Hail to my islands three! Hail to the new Dominion, My Kingdom of tho Sea! Mr. J. Perry Worden, tho United States Consul at Bristol, reporting to tho Washington Bureau of Manufactures, says:— " American books are seldom seen amid tho flood of publications in tho English book world, and somo works well known in tho United States, particularly onoyolopaedias and certain books of reforonco, aro practically .unknown bore. Tho cause for this failuro of Americans to bo properly represented in a market which, considering the common English languago, should always bo accessible to thom, is duo, in part,'to certain English conventionalities and traditions, but quito as much, or moro, it is to bo feared, to want of American effort in this direction. . An obstacle of long standing to tho introduction of Amorican books in England is tho objection of many English peoplo to American spelling, seen in much simpler forms as ."color" for "colour." "program" for "programme," "check for " choquo," etc., and it must ho admitted that with of readers this objootion has not been eradicated, , although it has heon partially overcome by natural causes, such as travol and porsonal contact with Americans, Somo Amorican publishers, notably ono having a prosperous branch house in London, go after English trado by printing their books according to tho orthography demanded in England, knowing that .the averago loss suscoptiblo American will not care which of the two spellings is used. It is encouraging to note that there is far loss prejudice than formorly against American books and thoir contents, as the great popularity in England of somo Amorican authors, who havo caught tho publie fancy, substantiates."