Author of the " Life of Christ.

Manawatu Herald, 1 February 1896, Page 2

Author of the " Life of Christ.

One has read the simple fact of Oasaell and Company changing their terms with Dean farrar and voluntarily giting him a royalty on the sale of his popular " Life of Ohrist," aays Joseph Hatton in The Ptoph\ but th« rletails related to me this week by a shareholder in the company are new. It; 13 only a few years ago that Mr Petter, of the original firm, thought the timu had arrived f>r a n^w orthodox -and eloquent Life of Our Saviour. Foe some thuo he ca-sfc about for the right pen without success. One day a friend eaid to him, v There ia a clergyman at Brixton " (I forget whether it wan Brixton or Borne other suburb of London, bat it was

f . — not by any means a fashionable district), " and I think he's the man yon want for the new work ; go and hear him preach." Mr Pettnr wen:., and came to the conclusion tbat his friend was right. He liked the preacher's method, though his style eloquent, direct and literary. An appointment to meet Mr Farrar followed, the scheme was described to him, and ho liked the idea. Thereupon Mr Petter, for Cassell and Company, offered the clergyman £50d for the book. To a minister of Mr Farrar's position at that time the sum wa3 handsome, as indeed it was for the first work of any unknown writer. Author and pub liahera both were satisfied. The money was paid, the volume appeared, and was almost immediately a great success, accepted by the critics, and purchased by the public. Soon afterwards Mr Farrar became Canon Farrar, and his " Life of Christ " you may be sure did not suffer through his elevation any more than it has now that it is the work of l)ean Farrar. When the volume had begun to make ll big money " for Oassell's they revised their agreement with the author and placed him on their books for a royalty, npon which re arrangement they have already paid Dean Farrar in addition to his £500 the sum of £10,000, which is by no means the end of the story ; it will be "continued in our next."