READING AND THE WEATHER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1180, 15 July 1911, Page 9

READING AND THE WEATHER.

A London publisher has been giving his experience with reference to summer reading. Much depends, ho finds, upon the character of tho summer. Unsettled weather means tho taking up of more serious books than continued sunshine tempts to, aiid in an exceptionally hno summer there is a notable falling away of reading of whatever kind. 'One thing holds lor all weathers: a successful nuvel of the summer season must bo u love story with a liappy ending, or,, it' not with a happy ehuing, with sufficient interest to compensate for the lack of one. Hut the detective story, "because it intrigues the uiind in so persistent a way," and oven light biographies and still lighter autobiographies, are welcomed by the Dook-stall-tretjuentiug Britisher during the season of relaxation. The successful publisher of books lor summer reading in England must bo 0110 who combines an intimato knowledge of tho records of the Weather Bureau with a study of its daily bulletin and a first-hand and unremitting observation of thermometer, barometer, anemonioter, the shapes of clouds, and the colour of tho sky. Without a moment's warning tho treacherous wcathervanc may compel him to stop the presses that aro pouring out "Lady Geraldirie's Lovers" or •'Patsy s Husbands." and start "Wet Davs at Wedgewood," or "Soul-Fog," or "Mi'st and Mysticism."

Tho relation between literaturo and meteorology has not been sufficiently considered by writers. Shakespeare, with characteristic shrewdness, made capital for threo of his plays by naming them "Twelfth Night," "The Winter's Tale," and "A Midsummer'Night's.Dream," although readers do not commonly limit themselves to these seasons in their pernsal of them.' But even tho great dramatist, in tho bulk of his work, gave no sign of consciousness of that sweet seaionablcness which is now coming to be recogniscd as the most important factor in the saleability of a book. Like Sir Philip Sidney, ho seems to have looked into his heart instead of his almanac, nnd (0 have written according to his-mvn honour and dignity rather than according to tho probable precipitation. We live in a more scientific, and therefore a happier, day, when the rentier's tastes are analysed nnd charted for the guidance of th??e who would win fame and fortune by pleading him. In older days any one could force his wares upon the public merely by finding a patron. The transition from patron to publisher did not at first appear to be the revolution it' was, for many publishers continued tho practice of some of the patrons, of printing what people ought to want to read rather than what tlie.v were known tc like or could be presumably be made to buy whether they liked it or not. But the progress of enlightenment has in our own ago put the literary craftsman where lie belongs, in the position of catering to the lordly reader.

It is only* the summer, howevor. that may be said to have l(?en specifically set apart for certain kinds of books. In winter, spring, and autumn the writer need not limit himself to one or two

types of the novel' and to light biography. Within'the limitations which his public has placed upon him, lie may give himse]f up to tho theme ami the treatment of it which most enlist his interest, regardlcr-a of whether the indications are for rain or snow or fair weather. That this is in all eases an advantage is not to be assumed lightly. Indeed, it is not impossible that (ho approach of summer, with Us rcady-m,ule schedule, always excepting the variations made nccessary by unsettled weather, is regarded with relief by both author and publisher. Here, one can imagine them saying, with a sigh of relief, is something absolutely definite. Alleging thirty days of unsettled weather, for which we must provide a few things of tho more serious sort, such as "Love Stories of Famous Authors" and "Red Rose Against White Rose, or Tho Romance of History," there will remain eighty or ninety days of sunshine, with their demand for tho amatory novel with a happy ending or with sufficient interest to compensate for the lack of such an outcome. As the second of these alternatives is much more difficult than tho first, it will not bo expected to characterise moro tlinn 10 per cent of the whole number of novels. A small amount of light, biography can be turned off in the intervals of more important work, but the autobiographies are not so easy. Still, a fair supply of them can be produced at second hand. This is a simple and definite programme, in which nothing remains but tho determination of the numbers of each class to bo printed.

The logical consequence of these conditions is their extension to tho other seasons. What kinds of books ore suited to the half balmy, half blustery, days of May? What sort of reading does one naturally relish when the leaves begin' to turn? "Sunimer reading" is one of the most familiar phrases in tho announcements of the bookseller. Why not spring reading and fall reading and winter reading as well? Is it not likely that a little enterprise would discover a Dickeus variety of weather, and a Marcuij' Aurolium climate? What is tho exact percentage of humidity requisite for a proper appreciation of "East Lynne" or "Barriers Burued Away"? We are accustomed to March White Sales and August Furniture Sales, but; to our shame be it said, the most brilliant summa cum laude Phi Beta Kappa orator of our oldest or largest, or richest university would be dumb before the simple question of what books ought to bo read in a January of a given mean temperaturo and moisture. Surely the department stores can help us 'here. And, unless- they do help us, it is to bo feared that what was once, known as belles lettres will shortly claim the attention of few besides tho literary historian or antiquary. If, however, even a single month should haply bo found adapted to classical or "standard" volumes and to no others, the investigation would be worth all it might cost.— Now York "Nation."