PUBLISHERS AND NOVELS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 9

PUBLISHERS AND NOVELS.

, Mr. Joseph Shaylor .discusses in. an Interesting manner in the "Publishers' Circular" the novel from the publisher's point of view. As'. 011 c of' the.: managing directors of Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Mr. Shaylor, of course, knows the subject thoroughly. He recalls that during the first half of the nineteenth century the two or three-volume form becamo the general medium by. which fiction was issued, 1 and most of tile novels by Ainsworth, Lever, Lytton,. and Scott were published in this .way. The three-volume ~n • novel held its position till some ten years ago, when. it ceased to exist, otfing to the action of the libraries, who complained of the cost of providing "sets" to meet the demands of • their readers. ' 1n.1897- only four novels in three-volume form -.were published, and since then the 6s. , hovel has been general. A record, prepared by Mr. Shaylor, shows the issue of-three-volume novels for fourteen years prior to their ex- , tinetion—that' is, from 18S4 to 1597. i v The number, at first slowly, and then . - - very rapidly, sank from 193 to 4. . Many attempts- have since been made to revive tho issue of novels in some !. ■ form pother than the oho.volume. Tho most recent is the experiment with Mr. De Morgan's "It Never Can Happen Again," and although this can scarcely be considered a failure, says Mr. Shaylor, yet it certainly was not a great success, as the circulating libraries are nndoubtedlv against any attempt to revive the old system. "Has" the Gs. novel come to stay?" Mr. Shaylor asks, and hisreply is .' - i that for the author, publisher, wholesale distributor, and the'bookseller at ; ' .a'less price than Gs., and iyithout a ycry large sale, there is no- adequate remuneration : for the labour, 'expended in- production and distribution. Whether or not the. various cheap issues will eventually displace the 6s. novel remains at present an unsolved problem; but Mr. Shaylor thinks that these issues are more suited as a medium for the publication of books which have appeared in a more expensive form." " Mr. Shaylor is evidently not without hope that in the future attention will be given aga.in to the production of novels in a form which would be a credit to all concerned in their making. ~ .'Why, he asks, should we not have fiction written from a still higher liter- . -ary standpoint, as well as written-.to amuse? The former might bo proJ,Buced wth good illustrations in one, v ' "-three, or ten-volume forms, while' the ■-flatter could remain -in its present ephemeral condition...-'. There is, .he • ' . holds,, much of to-day's fiction which

should be issued in a more expensive form, and for which, the author should receive larger royalties, the publisher and distributor much, larger profits; and which deserves production in a more permanent fornv than the ordinary oiic-volum'o novel.