AN INTERESTING INVASION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1002, 17 December 1910, Page 9

AN INTERESTING INVASION.

, The experiment of the Messrs.' Nelson .in putting upon tho French market cheap reprints ol : French works printed and published in this country has not lasted long enough •to render possible, any prediction, as to its lasting success. The spsech'of M. Sarolea, however, at Edinburgh tho other day, on "A Scottish Invasion of France," is interesting (says-an English paper), not only because it reports progress so far, but bccauso it also gives .a glimpse ab intra of tho views of tho publishers as to. tile prospects of "Collection Nelson." ■: So far tlio experiment has been, a. success. It has been, apparently even a brilliant', success. During the three, months since it was Initiated the scheme has been accepted with "startling suddenness" in France. The public have been pleased to find that they might purcbaso for. lfr. 2oc. in tho form of a volume daintily bound a work ivhicli 1 in ' the ordinary conditions', they would have had to pay 3fr. 50c. for in paper covers. The authors also .' have been pleased. The royalties and profits made possible by a. large circulation" and-, by the cheapness of book production in Edinburgh havo..appealed to them. It is the publishers •who aro 1 not cordial. They feel, themselves in danger of being, undersold, and- there is already talk of calling 'for-' .some measure to protect their interests ! analogous::to that by which in America copyright is refused to books that wero not set. up in American printing-houses.-JL Saroleay however, is convinced that tho publishers themselves will in tho' long run benefit from . tho stimulus given, to interest, in .French, literature by the. dissemination''throughout the .world'.of the best'writings of'tho day, bccauso—aiid it _is ono oL tho points .upoii' which lie insists—it is not upon the riiarket alone, that they arc being ■ placed. They ,'are, widely popular in England, while' upon ,:tho Continent,; even in .countries'not French, French is the language "of culture. Thus in Holland' aiid. in. Germany,' in Italy and in Russia, next to the native literature :it is . French literature that counts, .while.-there . is' also the American market. In short, M. Sarolea is confident that in the long run a Scottish publisher will bo found to have done more for'the language of Montaigne and. Victor, Hugo than all the French publishers put together.