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Southland Times, Issue 23182, 24 April 1937, Page 13

B. Ifor Evans doubts whether Poe is much read today. He asked the librarian of London’s most representative library, who told him that the poems were never asked for, and the stories very seldom. In the opinion of Stephen Gwynn, the true distinction of John Masefield is that he is the one man in our day who has really succeeded with narrative verse. Eric Linklater remarks that a book whose author has taken .pride in cutting a slice of life is likely to go stale almost as quickly as a slice of bread. The only preservative is art. Whitaker’s Almanack for 1937 notes that one of the questions much discussed in the book trade during 1936 was whether “rental libraries” should contribute to authors’ royalties or pay more for their books. It is interesting to recall that, early in the year, The Economist seriously proposed some such royalty contribution, and based its argument on an estimate that 99 per cent, of professional authors are unable to support themselves by their creative work, but are compelled to resort either to compilation or to potboiling. It attributed th’is largely to the fact that one book, circulated through a library, serves 50 readers, who collectively subscribe less than ninepence to the author’s royalty on a novel. And, of course, sales in the second-hand market bring him nothing at all. The Economist suggested that powers should be obtained to authorize two issues of royalty stamps—say, a half-penny and sixpence. A halfpenny stamp should be affixed to a book at every issue from a lending library, and a sixpenny stamp on each occasion of second-hand sale.