Wells, T. G. (123), Memorial of the Life, etc,, of John Werner, E. (120), Good Luck, $1.25; pap. 75 c.... Osgood Wondrous Strange. See Newby, C. J. Nelson & P Wright, J. (123), Attic Primer, $1.50........ Macmillan. RECENT FOREIGN PUBLICATIONS. ENGLAND. Noel, G. H. U. The Gun, Ram, and Torpedo Manoeuvres and Tactics of a Naval Battle in the present Day. Post 8°. J. Griffin..... .........8s. 6d. Rau, H. An Unsectarian Catechism of Christian and Social Instruction. From the German. 12. F. Norgate.....25. Rohlfs, G. Adventures in Morocco and Journeys through the Oases of Draa and Tafilet. 8°. Low.............125. Spons' Dictionary of Engineering, Civil, Mechanical, Military, and Naval. With technical Terms in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. 3 vols. roy. 8°. Spons.......£5. 5s. Stephen, L. Hours in a Library. Post 8. Smith & E. 9s. Wilberforce, Bishop. Essays contributed to the Quarterly Review. 2 vols. 8°. Murray... FRANCE. Present rate of Importation, 33 c.. gold, per Franc. Feuillet, O. Le Sphinx, drame en quatre actes. In-8°. .....4 fr. Laurich. Ribot, P. Du suffrage universel et de la souveraineté du peuple. In-8°. Lévy...... .......6 fr. Gaume. Mgr. Le Cimetière au XIXe siècle, ou le Dernier mot des solidaires. In-18, 354 p. Gaume et Cie. Michaud, l'abbé E. Le Mouvement contemporain des églises, études religieuses et politiques. In-18 jés. Sandoz et Fischbacher. GERMANY. Present rate of Importation, $1.10 gold, per Thaler a 30 gr. Schultze, F. Geschichte der Philosophie der Renaissance. 1. Bd. gr 8. Jena, Mauke..... ........2 Th. Mittheilungen, neue, aus Goethe's handschriftl. Nachlasse. 1. u. 2. Thl. (1812-1832.) Leipzig, Brockhaus. .8 Th. 1. Bd. gr. 8. ......2 Th. 20 gr. 5 Th. geb. 6 Th. as to details of the platform of the Cincinnati Mr. Aston will have already introduced him-Convention, which is the basis of the Union; self to New York publishers by the time this number comes to hand, but we cannot miss the opportunity of bespeaking for him the most hearty welcome. He comes in the interest of the Eastern publishers no less than of Vestern booksellers. He simply offers to y which they may free themselves ch they know are making the ess which pays no propore money and brains that are ual publishers may disagree probably very few will agree as to the clause respecting "books by mail"-but we believe that this platform represents substantially the best sentiment of the trade on these questions. No plan could satisfy every one in each individual detail, and we trust, in view of this fact, that the disposition will be to accept it, rather than to attempt to pick flaws. That some general agreement toward reform is vitally needed, we believe everybody agrees. We seriously believe that the acceptance of this platform by the signatures of our leading publishers will do more than can be done in any other way for the salvation of the trade. Mr. Aston represents, as its President, the American Book Trade Union, which now includes 400 houses, all over the country. But this is not his main claim to attention. We believe that he truly represents nine-tenths of the entire trade. We believe that the principles he advocates are important to each member of the trade in direct proportion to the amount he has at stake in it. | The largest houses must ultimately suffer most by the destruction of the retail trade, and the retail trade is being destroyed by the present system. We believe that no one in the trade can afford to let the present opportunity for reform go by; so that we hope and trust that when Mr. Aston makes his report to the meeting at Put-in Bay in July, he may be able to report a unanimity of East and West, of publishers and booksellers, in the endeavor to save the book trade before it is too late. Mr. Steiger's "Attempt." SINCE the issue of the last number of the PUB Lishers' Weekly, giving under the heading of "American Bibliography," a detailed account of Mr. Steiger's "Attempt at a Catalogue," we have received a separate pamphlet copy of the same 16 specimen pages, with an additional "Notice," further explanatory of Mr. Steiger's bibliographical aims and intents, hopes and disappointments, expressed as follows: The list of publishers represented in the present little Catalogue is small: from less than 50 houses did I obtain the desired particulars. While this fact, and the similar discouraging listlessness by which Mr. Leypoldt, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Truebner, and others, have been confronted and checked in their bibliographical labors, show that the day has not yet arrived for a proper appreciation, by American publishers, of Catalogues compiled in their interest, it is to be hoped that this indifference will shortly change; that the many valuable original American publications whose existence has hitherto remained unknown, except through the columns of newspapers, will hereafter be enumerated in General and Special Catalogues, and that increased demand at home, together with sales abroad, will thus be produced. The book-trade of England, France, and other European countries, but notably that of Germany, has a great advantage over the book-trade of the United States, through the systems prevailing there, of promptly cataloguing all publications as soon as they appear. Publishers in these countries are saved the enormous sums which American publishers are, for the most part uselessly, spending (or wasting rather) on advertisements in political newspapers; while, on the other hand, publishers abroad are taking good care to have their publications promptly recorded in the established Book-Trade Journals, the weekly Bibliographical Lists, the various Systematic and General Catalogues, etc. This record causes little or no expense at all, to themselves, and yet insures the most effectual and permanent publicity-saving much time alike to booksellers and book-buyers, and enabling the former to maintain their claims as the ready dispensers of the brain-work of others. The indefatigable and unterrified worker in the barren field of American bibliography sends us at the same time proof-sheets of his "Descriptive Catalogue of Scientific, Theological, and other special Periodicals of the United States, with index of subject-matters in English, German and French," compiled from his larger work, for the purpose of circulation in Europe. He also sends us some specimen pages of one of the most interesting of his numerous special catalogues, the "Bibliotheca Glottica," in which we notice a very full representation of the Anglo-Saxon department. We hope Mr. Steiger will keep on sending. The Jules Verne Controversy. WE are requested to publish the following letter, originally addressed to the New York Tribune, as of interest to the trade: To the Editor of the Tribune. SIR: We are so unwilling to rest for a single day under the imputation of having treated any fellow-publisher with unfairness or discourtesy that we must beg the favor of an immediate correction of the following paragraph which we find in the Tribune of this morning: "There seems to be a war between New York and Philadelphia houses over Victor Hugo's Ninety-Three,' the result of which is the reduction of the price of a dollar book to 25 cents. On the heels of this comes the prospect of a little contest between the new house of Henry L. Shepard & Co., of Boston, and the Scribners. Shepard & Co. complain that they were the first to announce Jules Verne's new book, and that the Scribners violated the courtesies of the trade by announcing it after them, and have refused to take any notice of their letter of remonstrance." The book in question, "Meridiana; or, the Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa," we announced as in press through the regular and authorized channels, at intervals from October, 1872, to January, 1873. We followed up our announcement first by purchasing and placing in this market a quantity of the English edition, and then by buying the plates of the entire work, letterpress and illustrations. These have now been in our possession four or five months. Our edition, which the unwarrantable action of Messrs. Shepard & Co. has compelled us to place on the market sooner than we had in tended, is issued under a direct arrangement with the French and English publishers of Jules Verne's works. In bringing out the book, therefore, we have adhered most strictly, and in every particu lar, to the usages of the trade, for the work was ours by priority of announcement and by right of purchase. The charge of breach of courtesy does not hold against us, as these facts show, in the least particular. A brief statement of the connection of Messrs. Shepard & Co. with the book will make it clear to the public that a much more serious charge might be preferred against them. In the first place, they gave the book an entirely new title, and one which did not identify it either with the French original or the English translation. No announcement, wherever made, under this deceptive title would have given them any right to the work as against our regular announcement. The fact is, however, that they did not once announce the book while it was in prepara. tion, even under the title they took the liberty of giving it, through any of the channels recognized by the trade; nor did they announce it at all until a few days prior to its publication. Further still, we beg you to note these facts: Of Messrs. Shepard & Co.'s edition 57 pages is a translation made by them, under the protection of which they have copyrighted the book and its title. The remaining 133 pages are taken bodily from our edition. The 20 illustrations they give were transferred and engraved in this country, while the 48 illustrations in our edition are printed from electrotypes taken from the wood blocks engraved in Paris. We do not state these facts to demonstrate the superiority of our edition, but simply to place the part the Messrs. Shepard & Co. have taken in this transaction in its true light before the public. WE are requested by Messrs. Henry L. Shepard & Co. to reprint the following letter addressed by them to the editor of the Boston Globe: SIR: We have read with surprise a letter in your issue of to-day from Messrs. Scribner, Armstrong & Co., publishers, of New Nork, in which they state that we committed the breach of courtesy which we had laid at their door! When our first letter to the New York house was made public they had not replied to it, although time had been allowed them to do so, and we did not then know that they even claimed ever to have announced "The Adventures of Three Russians and Three Englishmen." When this letter came to hand, we examined the records, and found that they had never announced it. On the 17th of January, 1873, indeed, appeared this word in Messrs. Scribner's announcement, viz.: "Meridiana," "only this and nothing more." Now, we aver that no translator could, by any possible stretch of the idiom, make "Meridiana" out of "Aventures de Trois Russes et de Trois Anglais dans L'Afrique Australe," which is the full French title of the contested book. Had we seen the announcement (and we had not), we ask any fair-minded critic how could we have known that “Aventures de Trois Russes," etc., translated, meant "Meridiana?” As Messrs. Scribner themselves say in their letter, "No announcement under this deceptive title would have given them any right to the work." Then again, it is a well-established dictum with publishers that the announcement of a book does not hold forever, and that a book, the publication of which has been delayed, should be reannounced once in six months. This has been the usage. Messrs. Scribner had not announced "Meridiana" at the time of its publication for seventeen months! Must publishers be compelled to search ancient archives to fortify their already unsettled position? The allegation that we paid no attention to their remonstrance against the issue of our edition we meet by this statement. Our suspicions that their We did think when we first saw Messrs. S., A. book might be an interference with "Meridiana" & Co.'s announcement of a cheaper edition of our were first excited by a paragraph in a Boston let- "Adventures in the Land of the Behemoth," under ter published in the Tribune of last Saturday, May the title of "Meridiana," that they were treating us 23. Immediately upon reading that paragraph we discourteously, but upon looking into the matter we telegraphed Messrs. Shepard & Co., inquiring have become convinced that they have only been whether this book was based upon "Meridiana in text or illustration, and asking an answer. slip-shod in one business transaction and hasty in another. Had they properly and continuously anMessrs. Shepard & Co. preferred to send their renounced the book, no misunderstanding could have ply by mail, acknowledging that the "last pages of their book were taken "from an English edi- print the affair might have been settled. As it is arisen; had they written us before attacking us in tion." Meanwhile we had procured a copy of the now, believing ourselves right, we shall punish any book in time to permit us to announce our edi-invasion of our rights, and were we to congratulate tion in the Boston papers of Monday, the 25th. Messrs. Shepard & Co.'s letter remonstrating against this announcement was received on Tuesday, the 26th; our reply was mailed on the 27th, (Wednesday), and was unquestionably in their hands on Thursday. Although they publish their letter to us (with the omission of an important paragraph) in the Boston papers of Thursday, they have not yet retracted the charge reproduced in the Tribune of this date, that we had paid no attention to their "remonstrance." These facts speak for themselves. We are quite content to let the public pass upon the conduct of Messrs. Shepard & Co. We have effectually protected our rights in the premises, as we shall always be prepared to do under similar circumstances; and we have the satisfaction of knowing that the trade, who thoroughly understand the merits of the controversy, unanimously endorse our We are respectfully your obedient serSCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & Co. New York, Saturday, May 30. 1874. course. vants, ourselves in closing our letter as Messrs. S., A. & Co. have done, we should end by denying their for those of the trade who have heard both sides are statement that their course is endorsed by the trade, unanimously of the opinion of one who is perhaps country, who has said distinctly to us, "You are in the best known and most eminent publisher of the the right." For the rest, does not the title page of the running edition of "Adventures in the Land of the Behemoth" bear the inscription "Tenth Thousand?” Yours, respectfully, HENRY L. SHEPARD & Co., To the Editor of the Publishers' Weekly. We find in the Tribune of this morning a letter from Messrs. Henry L. Shepard & Co. The points there raised are so fully covered by a letter which we addressed them under date of June 1, that we take the liberty of asking you to insert it in your columns. We take this course believing that the controversy has reached a point where the public cares little about it, while the trade may have some interest in the matter. NEW YORK, Monday, June 1, 1874. Messrs. H. L. SHEPARD & Co.: OBITUARY. tains, in a postscript, the following sad announceThe June number of the Banker's Magazine conment: "In New York, on Saturday, May 23d, aged sixty-six years, Isaac Smith Homans, founder, Magazine. This number completes the twentyand editor for twenty-eight years, of the Banker's eighth volume of the Banker's Magazine, and ends GENTLEMEN: We have yours of Saturday, and the editorial labors of its founder, I. Smith Homans, can only say in reply, that we give you too much who died at his residence, in New York city, Satcredit for intelligence to believe that you do not know urday night, May 23d. A severe nervous prostraperfectly well that Meridiana was the proper title|tion had for several weeks compelled Mr. Homans by which to announce the book in controversy. to desist from active editorial work, but the acute That was the name by which it was known in the illness which has thus resulted was of only a week's English and American markets, and that was the duration. A fuller notice of Mr. Homans' life will name by which you knew it before you had com- appear in our July number." pleted your edition. If there were any doubt on this point the ground was entirely covered by the fact, that in previous announcements we had given the full title of the work,* as you can see by looking at your files of the Commercial. In time and form, both, our announcement was acknowledged as sufficient a short time ago by Messrs. who wished to publish the book, and what would hold the book against them we should judge was good enough to hold it against you. Besides, if our title was "manufactured" (which it was not, since it was the title given the book by the English publishers), what can you say for yours, which was not connected either with the French or English edition, and which was never announced while the book was in preparation, in any of the authorized channels? The point which you try to make against us knocks the ground entirely from under your own feet, and is a full concession of all that we have claimed against you. However, before carrying this discussion further, we beg leave to ask whether it is a fact that you have in preparation an edition of our Journey to the Centre of the Earth. We do not ask for information, we can get that elsewhere. We simply ask because we wish to know the fact from you, and to satisfy ourselves whether it is worth while to attempt to arrive at any understanding regarding Meridiana. We shall expect a reply to this inquiry by return mail. We enclose a communication to the Tribune this morning, to which we beg your attention. Yours respectfully, SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & Co. Our suggestion looking toward an arrangement of the controversy was met by the statement from Messrs. Shepard & Co., that they had in press our Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This action on their part, of course, relieves us from any further discussion of the matter. We learn that Mr. Homans only a few weeks since celebrated the anniversary of his golden wedding. Mr. Homans was well known in the trade and highly esteemed by those who came in contact with him during his active business career. The PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY is under special obligations to him for his frequently-exhibited interest in its welfare. BUSINESS CHANGES. ERIE, PA.-Sell & Backus, booksellers and stationers, have been succeeded by Wm. J. Sell, Mr. Backus retiring. INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.-J. H. V. Smith, former proprietor of the City Book Store, has been succeeded by Yohn & Porter. Mr. Yohn has been with Mr. Smith for the past five years, and Mr. Porter has spent the same time in the business with Bowen, Stewart & Co. Publishers and stationers are retquested to address to the new firm three copies of their catalogues or book-lists. NEW YORK CITY.-Mason, Baker & Pratt have been succeeded by Baker, Pratt & Co., who will continue the wholesale book and stationery business, at Nos. 142 and 144 Grand street, where the Mason having purchased the stereotype plates of business of the late firm will be settled. Mr. Albert the late firm of Mason, Baker & Pratt, will continue the publishing business at No. 129 Grand street. NEW YORK CITY.-Carl Heuser, publisher and importer of music, has removed to 861 Broadway. Petersburg, Va.-John M. West, stationer and printseller, has been succeeded by Nash & Rogers. RUTLAND, VT.-H. C. & E. C. Tuttle, of the firm of Tuttle & Co., Rutland, Vt., have purchased a two-thirds interest in Mr. H. O. Brown's patents for making slate pencils, and have commenced manufacturing in that city under the title of The Vermont Slate Pencil Company. These pencils are named the "Patent Compressed Soapstone Pencil," Yours respectfully, and are made by reducing the stone to powder, and SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & Co. compressing it. They are said to be much superior to the common pencil. New York. June 4. *We find that an announcement of the full title of the book as in press was made under the name of Scribner, Welford & Armstrong. We state the fact for the sake of accuracy, and to give Messrs. Shepard & Co. the advantage of every technical point. S. A. & Co. BOOK AUCTIONS. COLLECTION of miscellaneous books, June 8th, 9th and 10th, at 4 o'clock;-same, June 11th, at 4 o'clock.-BANGS, MERWIN & Co., New York. BOOKS RECEIVED. THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION, by Alexander Winchell. (Harper & Brothers.) A dispassionate review of the various theories which may be adduced in favor of or against the doctrine of evo!ution. The essay was originally given in the form of two lectures before the Drew Theological Seminary, and embraces the data, principles, speculations and theistic bearings of the doctrine of evolution. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. LADY ANNA, by Anthony Trollope. (Harper & Brothers.) Trollope introduces us to an entirely new set of characters in this novel. One might think it the first work from his pen, it is so fresh and vigorous, and carries the interest so steadily to the end. 8vo, paper, 50 cents. VALENTINE, THE COUNTESS; OR, BETWEEN FATHER AND SON, translation from the German of Carl Detlef, by M.S. (Porter & Coates.) A novel, displaying considerable talent. A somewhat sad story of self-sacrifice, but one well told, and abounding in beautiful passages. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. THE OFFICE AND DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR, by Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D. (Harper & Bros.) A number of lectures on the duties of a Christian pastor, delivered before the School of Theology in Boston, and published by special request, for the study and edification of theological students. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. WHAT IS DARWINISM? by Charles Hodge. (Scribner, Armstrong & Co.) Dr. Hodge's_answer to this very pertinent question is, that Darwinism is Atheism-qualifying his answer, however, by the remark that all who adopt the views of Darwin are not necessarily Atheists, but that the theory is atheistic, and will eventually crowd out the belief in a personal God from every thinking mind. The essay is scholarly and full of information. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. HINTS TO MOTHERS, by Dr. Thomas Bull, (John Wiley & Son), is a popular treatise on the trifling and important fancies and ailments peculiar to maternity. The author has been very minute in most of his explanations. The subject is of interest to all married women, and many long sicknesses and heavy doctors' bills might be avoided by some sensible attention to the Doctor's statements. The present is a revised edition of the English work with additions for the American market. A very useful appendix to the book is the "Ladies' Perpetual Calendar." The hints on the first management of children are sensible and exhaustive. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. THE LIVES OF THE CHIEF JUSTICES OF ENGLAND, by Lord Campbell, vol. 3. (Estes & Lauriat.) This volume opens with the life of Lord Chief Justice Holt in the reign of William and Mary, and concludes with that of Lord Mansfield in George the Third's time. The edition is a most elegant one-everything having been done for it by the publishers. This volume like the previous ones contains four illustrations. 8vo, cloth, $3.50. HISTORY OF FRENCH LITERATURE, by Christiana Bridge. (J. B. Lippincott & Co.) This is adapted from the popular work of M. Demogeot, and embraces a history of the literature of France during the Middle Ages, the period known as the Renaissance, and the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It belongs to the "Historical Hand-books" edited by Oscar Browning. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. HYMNS AND SONGS OF PRAISE, edited by Roswell D. Hitchcock, Zachary Eddy, Philip Schaff. A. D. F. Randolph & Co.) Of the fourteen hundred hymns contained in this collection, the majority are old friends-still a number of fine new ones will be found, written expressly for the work. Every care has been taken to make the book a truly catholic one-the hymns of all ages, nations and creeds being represented. Quarto, red-edged, $2.50.. LITERARY AND TRADE NEWS. WE are desired to state that the firm of Henry L. Hinton & Co. have severed all connection with their agent, Henry M. Wynkoop. THE PETERSONS are shortly to issue, in cloth, 12mo, the Autobiography of Edward Wortley Montagu, son of the celebrated Lady Wortley Montagu, with a preface by Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie. STILL another popular history of America is promised. This time it is to be by Mrs. Abby Sage Richardson, and Messrs. Hurd & Houghton are to be the publishers. Babes in the Wood," is commenced in the Fireside THE new story by Prof. Jas. De Mille, "The Companion for June 1, which now adds his name Wilkie Collins, "Oliver Optic," and other noted to its list of popular authors, previously including names. ANOTHER Curious mistake of authorship has just come to light, in the case of a continental litterateur of considerable fame. Carl Detlef, a name that has gained an enviable reputation in literary circles, through the medium of several excellent works of fiction, generally supposed to be the production of a masculine mind, is now known to be the nom de plume of a very talented young lady of Prussian descentMiss Clara Baur. Miss Baur is the daughter of a gentleman occupying a high position in the civil government of her country, and moves in that high and fashionable society of which she has written so many pleasant sketches. the Countess," her latest production, has just been issued by Porter & Coates. In Germany, its publication created a marked sensation. "Valentine, MR. R. H. STODDARD is re-editing and bringing up to date Griswold's "English Poets of the Nineteenth Century," a work of no less general interest now than when it was first compiled. A STORY from Bret Harte will appear in the July St. Nicholas. It is about "Baby Sylvester," but the baby is only a baby bear. The story is said to be very charming, and it is to be illustrated by Sheppard and Jas. C. Beard. THERE is a class of superfine people, says the Boston Transcript, who cannot believe that an American-made book can by any possibility be equal to an English one. There is a style, they say, about the latter which, somehow, American printers fail to catch. We commend to such, a consideration of the fact that no less a person than Dr. James Martineau, of London, proposing to bring out his "Hymn of Praise and Prayer," first sent over to a friend in America to see if it could not be manufactured at the Riverside Press, so much pleased was he with a similar book, "The Sacrifice of Praise," there printed and bound. in the same hands, if it were possible without "I was ambitious," he says, "of placing my book considerable addition to the outlay.... I am obliged to relinquish the hope I had entertained, and to be content with doing the best I can at home." THE sale of the little Sunday-school music books is something enormous. It is stated that "Pure Gold," which is only four years old, has reached a sale of a million copies; the "Golden Chain," "Golden Shower," "Golden Censer," aggregate upwards of three millions; "Fresh Laurels," published seven years ago, has had a circulation of eleven hundred thousand; and the "Royal Diadem," scarcely a year old, has already reached a quarter of a million. |