AFTER DEATH

Hokitika Guardian, 30 March 1935, Page 8

AFTER DEATH

POPULARITY OF AUTHORS : LONDON, March 27.' D. H. Laurence’s books are now earning big money. His publishers put those earnings at £1.0,009 a year. While he was alive Lawrence never

made more than £IOOO a year. Leading people in the book trade sav this is no isolated instance. Many great authors of the past died in poverty, yet to-day their books -arc making fortunes. In most cases it is not the author’s family who gain. After 50 years the copyright expires and the profits go entirely to the publishers and booksellers. Dickens is’, to-day, the best seller among past authors. When he died he left £BO,OOO. His recently published “Life- of our Lord” may be worth almost as much as he left. If Dickens had received the royalties that his books have earned he would have re-y-eived £70,000 during the hint 18 mouths. In his lifetime Shakespeare never made more than £2OO a year. If he could be paid all the royalties his works have earned he would he the richest man in the world. The largest fortune left by a British author was the £200,000 of Hall Caine. When Edgar Wallace died ho left debts amounting to over £IOO,OOO. His royalties have paid off his debt in two years, and still leave the heirs a comfortable income. Of living authors, the man who makes most is Bernard Shaw. The largest for ante ever left was £300,000 by Victor- Hugo, yet Shaw is probably better off than Hugo ever was. Probably there is not a single author in the world who is making £25,000 a year Noel Cow a rd, Priestley, A. A. Milne and Ludyard Kipling are among those who run Shaw dose.