LITERARY NOTES.
Walt Whitman writes to the Pall Mall Gazette that the income from his books (royalties, &c), does not reach £20 a year. Thomas Hughes, author of " Tom Brown," is writing a memoir of Dr Livingstone for a new series of biographies of " Men of Action."
The Chinese are entering the English book market as purchasers of their own literature ; and it is said that Chinese works are conBtantly sent back to China, the sale being sufficient to encourage this. A book which promises to be interesting is coming from the press in London. It is the work of Mr Hannan, a Scotchman, who has studied the Chinese in their own country, and who will describe under the garb of fiction phases of life in China. It is said that the " American Cyclopedia " cost £100,000 before a cent was made out of it. Its maps and engravings alone cost £23,000. Contributions are paid at an average of £2 a thousand words, but special articles command special prices, some as high as £100. An autograph letter of Balzac has just been made public which tells that he once dreamed of great treasure being buried in Corsica, and he set out alone to seek it. Want of funds, however, hampered him, and before he reached Ajaccio he lost faith in his enterprise and decided to return to Paris. But from tins incident Dumas derived the inspiration of " Monte Christo." Just as music is said to arouse, in people susceptible of its influence, emotion (distinct from all definite thoughts) which cannot be precisely described; so, to those fitted by nature and habit to receive it, the mere fall and flow of words, the rhythm and cadence of sentences, are capable of yielding a rare and exquisite delight, indefinable indeed and inexplicable, but not easily to be surpassed. —St. James' Gazette.
Exhausted and drowsy feelings Indicate an impure aud sluggish condition of the blood, which may be remedied by the use of Ayer's Sarsaparllla. It is the most powerful and economical bjood - purifier known,
LITERARY NOTES.
Otago Witness, Issue 1880, 2 December 1887, Page 33
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in