THE £90,000 BOOK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 16 October 1922, Page 8

THE £90,000 BOOK.

PROFITS OF MODERN REMINISCENCES.

In receiving the great sum of £90,000 for his reminiscences, or "nearly a pound a word," as I have seen it more crudely expressed (writes a correspondent in the Westminster Gazette), Mr. Lloyd George easily creates a record. A "good second" is likely to be Mr. Winston Churchill, who is said to be going to' receive nearly £50,000 for "all rights" in his memoirs. Mr. Churchill's will be by far the better literary performance. He has an accomplished and vivid pen. This is particularly true of his Soudan book, "The River War, and, in a lesser degree', of the biography of his father. If Mr. Asqnitli indulges in a volume of reminiscences, it will be more reliable and more polished than either. Ex-Kaiser Wilhelm is understood to have "been paTS the very useful sum of £40,000 for his autobiography, but Hindenburg's and Ludendorff' s war volumes did not bring them onore than about £10,000 or £12,000 each. It is understood that Mrs. Asquith will have received in all about £20,000 for her famous diary. Another book for which a handsome sum is being disbursed for "all rights" is Mrs. Patrick Campbell's forthcoming autobiography -—and rightly so; since it is not merely the very human _ story of a great acress and artist, but also embodies very delightful reminiscences of celebrities the world over. When the then Mr. Longman made to Macaulay the welcome announcement that his publishing house was about to pay over £20,000 on account of the "History of England," the historian was naturally very much gratified, although he sadly reflected that it was the fruit of seven years' hard labour: "It is necessary to reprint. This is wonderful —26,500 copies in ten weeks." I believe Lord Morley disposed of his "Life of Gladstone" for £10,000, and that the late Lord Roberts received a similar amount, or thereabouts, for "Forty-one Years in India." In the world of sport, Prince Banjitsinhji was paid by Messrs Blackwood some £4000 for "The Jubilee Book of Cricket." "Trilby" brought George dv Manrier at least £20,000. Mr. A. S. M. Hutchinson has already received £70,000 for his "If Winter Comes, 1' and there will be certain handsome sums to come from the dramatic and film rights! The total earnings of Mark Twain are estimated at more than a. quarter of a million sterling. Another American, General Lew "Wallace, undoubtedly received as much as £80,000 for his "Ben Hur" (including royalties on the theatrical rights), which created a veritable furore. In France Victor Hugo was paid £16,000 |pr <rLes Miserables," while Daudet got £40,000 for one of his romances. Disraeli received £10,000 for Endymion (which was not a selling success"), George Eliot £7000 for and Wilkie Collins upwards of £5000 for "Armadale." For years Scott was able to earn £15.000 a year, while his ''Life af Napoleon'—the hard labour of which an questionably hastened his end— brouaht him £20,000. Had he lived Dickens would have been paid £9000 For "Edwin Drood "