THE ARITHMETIC OF POPULARITY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1277, 4 November 1911, Page 9

THE ARITHMETIC OF POPULARITY.

Tho famous author v.-lio writes tinder Hie name of "Jacob Tnnson" in "The New Age" (says an English writerl has'encountered "a really interesting document," which, in a way, puts famous authors in their places. It is a printed list of standing orders issued by a bookselling firm in a distant colony, and, as wu understand, always in tho possession of the leading publishers in Great Britain, who may act upon it ns occasion nris.es. Tho iirm cannot delay its ardors till reviews of new novels nro out and gossip has played about them, so it has concocted a list which directs the pub-

lishcrs to send certain numbers of ilio novels, according to lha reputations of the partiular authors, as soon as they are re:>dy. Thus the number scored against. Uio name oi Miss Corolli. is 210. Mr. Hal! Cnmo can only command 60. Mr. Jvipling is -10, Mr. \V. ,1. Locke ™, Mr. .Joseph J lucking 3(1, Mrs. Humphrey Ward 20, anil «> on; and thorp is a lady whoso namo is unfamiliar to Jacob Tonson and to lUrselvos who is marked 10. ionson writes without bitterness, bat ho is down for only nino copies and—"whether this is a source of comfort or of discomfort to mc [ leave, the reader to guess"—.Mr. Conrad for eight. Perhaps the particular authors, as soon as they sontativo of (ho colour, nor the colonr a perfect microcosm of Empire, but the'deVails that we have quoted give a pretty good notion of the trend of'things. Tho striking consideration about the standing order scheme is tlva implied confidence, that each author will turn out tho right stuff or at least tho accustomed stuff; tho thought that the Empire has ordered freely on a reasonable expectation of continuity might exercise a sobering influence on novelists. It would be extremely awkward if Mr. Hocking were to write a book in the manner of Mr. Conrad, though less' so if Jacob Tor.son were to emulate Miss Corelli, because in this case there would" be no residuum of stock in the colonial bookseller's hand*. But against tho familiar reproach that Britons arc astray in matters of art let us put the recent pronouncement of an American professor, who said that tho box-office receipts were as good a way of estimating tho literary value of a" play as any other.