For twenty-five years the children of Chicago have been giving their pennies for a memorial to Eugene Field, and now that the trustees of the Benjamin F. Ferguson fund have added more than $15,000 to the children's $9,920, work on a statue, to stand in Lincoln Park, will be begun. The Nobel prize for literature for 1919, which was withheld during the war, has been awarded to Carl Spitteler, the Swiss poet. Doubleday, Page, & Co. have become partners in the firm of William Heinemann & Co., of London. Stewart Stoll, formerly with McLoughlin Bros., Inc., and William M. Edwards, for many years connected with Cupples & Leon Co., have formed a new publishing firm, to be known as Stoll & Edwards Co., Inc., with offices at 23-25 East Twenty-sixth street, New York. The Bookseller, Newsdealer, and Stationer will change its name to the Bookseller and Stationer, beginning with the January number. "The Origins of French Romanticism," by M. B. Finch and E. Allison Peers, is published by E. P. Dutton & Co. "Our Short Story Writers," by Blanche Colton Williams, Ph.D. (Moffat, Yard, & Co.), discusses the work of Alice Brown, James Branch Cabell, Dorothy Canfield, Robert W. Chambers, Irvin Cobb, J. B. Connolly, Richard Harding Davis, Margaret Deland, Edna Ferber, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Hamlin Garland, O. Henry, Joseph Hergesheimer, Fannie Hurst, Jack London, Brander Matthews, Melville Davisson Post, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Booth Tarkington, and Edith Wharton. John Murray will soon publish "The Diary of a Journalist," by Sir Henry Lucy. "Essays on Modern Dramatists," including Barrie, Galsworthy, and Rostand, by Professor William Lyon Phelps, will be published in January by the Macmillan Com pany. A volume of essays on poetry, entitled "The Sacred Wood," by T. S. Eliot, is announced by Methuen & Co. (London). Professor Ralph Barton Perry, of HarAnnotated vard University, has prepared an Bibliography of the Writings of William James," which will be published by Longmans, Green, & Co. "Personal Aspects of Jane Austen," by Mary Augusta Austen-Leigh, is published by E. P. Dutton & Co. Doubleday, Page, & Co. will publish "The Uncollected Prose and Poetry of Walt Whitman," the material for which has been collected and edited by Professor Emery Holloway, who has had access to the manuscript and other material of Whitman's executors, Bucke, Traubel, and Harned, which is now in the Library of Congress. "The Business Man's English," by Wallace Edgar Bartholomew and Floyd Hurlburt, is published by the Macmillan Company. "A History of English-Canadian Literature to the Confederation," and its relation to the literature of Great Britain and the United States, by Ray Palmer Baker, is published in this country by the Harvard University Press. "The Skyline in English Literature," by Lewis Worthington Smith and Esse V. Hathaway (D. Appleton & Co.), is a brief history of English literature from the earliest times to the present day. The Oxford University Press is about to publish "The Sounds of Standard English," by T. Nicklin, Warden of Hulme Hall, Manchester, England. The book has been written with the object of helping toward the propagation of "standard English dialect in all counties and in all classes of England. Llewellyn Jones, literary editor of the Chicago Evening Post, has prepared a booklet about Joseph Hergesheimer, which will be distributed by Alfred Knopf. Wolf von Schierbrand died in New York December 1, aged sixty-eight. Annie H. Ryder died in Medford, Mass., December 4, aged sixty-eight. Mrs. S. C. Cronwright (Olive Schreiner) died in London December 12, aged fifty-eight. Chauncey C. Hotchkiss died in Brooklyn December 16, aged sixty-eight. A DIRECTORY OF PERIODICALS, SHOWING THE MANUSCRIPT MARKET. "DETECTING A WRITER" "COMMON WEAKNESSES IN MANUSCRIPTS" Fritzi Remont A Publisher's Reader "Impracticability of Giving Lists of Markets Without a Critical Reading of the Manuscripts in Question," "What Is Dialogue," "Unprofitable Publication," "Plagiarism," "An Editor's Tips to Poets," "An Editor's Rules for Contributors," "Literary Articles in Periodicals," "News and Notes." All Newsdealers Supplied Through the American News Co. and Its Branches The Writer's Directory of Periodicals. The information for this Directory, showing the manuscript market and the manuscript requirements of many publications, has been gathered directly from the editors of the periodicals, and is strictly up to date. The second printing of the Directory, which is constantly being revised and enlarged, began in THE WRITER for February, 1916, and a five-years' subseription beginning with October, 1916, will give the Directory complete, together with much other valuable matter. The third printing is now in progress. Before submitting manuscripts to any publication, ith advisable to secure a sample copy. (Continued from January WRITER.) Primary Education (M-10 nos.) 50 Bromfield st., Boston. $2.00; 25c. Mrs. Margaret A. Whiting, editor. A publication for primary school teachers. Printers' Ink (W), 185 Madison ave., New York. $3.00; 10c. John Irving Romer, editor. Uses articles on advertising and selling, usually written from actual experiences. Sets length limit at 2,500 words. Pays on publication. Printers Ink Monthly (M), 185 Madison ave., New York. Single copies, 25c. John Irving Romer, editor; F. C. Kendall, managing editor. Specializes certain phases of advertising which may be broadly classed under the "technique of advertising," such as Typography, Lithography, Paper, Illustration, Engraving, Direct-by-mail Advertising, Posters, Painted Bulletins, Streetcar Cards, Calendars, and those aspects of advertising which seem to require large space to reproduce their original effectiveness adequately. The editors are glad to receive outside contributions that are specifically suited to the monthly's needs, and pay upon publication, but the needs are naturally very much specialized, and the editors say that experience has shown that the average free-lance writer is rarely in possession of facts enabling him to prepare the kind of material required. Sets length limit at 3,000 words. Buys photographs of a very special kind, usually filling need from news service. Pays usually on publication. Printing Art (M)' University Press, Cambridge, gen A trade paper published monthly in the interests of printers, publishers, désigners, engravers, advertising men, and others. Articles are erally supplied by those who are actively engaged in advertising, printing, or some other of the graphic arts, or else are written on editorial suggestions. Producer and Consumer (M), Des Moines, Iowa. 50c.; 5c. William Wilkinson, editor. Not in the market now. Progressive Farmer (W), Raleigh, N. C. $1.00; 5c. A trade journal, using short practical articles, A magazine of authority on merchant tailoring. Prints only special articles, assigned to special writers by the editor. Progressive Teacher (M-10 nos.), Knoxville, Tenn. $2.00; 25c. Sam Y. Adcock, editor. An up-to-date educational journal, read mainly by teachers, school officials, and parents. The several departments are conducted by capable educators, who are paid twice a year June and December. To the occasional contributors remittances are sent soon after articles have been published. The magazine is on the lookout for practical articles which will be helpful to its readers, preferring to have them brief. Seldom buys photographs, and uses few poems. Public (W), 537 South Dearborn st., Chicago. $1.00; 5c. Stoughton Cooley and Samuel Danzige, editors. Publication suspended. Public School Magazine (M ney st., Donald A. Fraser. 10 nos.), 625 CourtC., Canada. $1.00: IOC. Does not pay for contributions. Puck (W), International Magazine Co., 119 West Publication suspended, September, 1918. More manuscripts on hand than can be used. No possibility of a market for new writers. Quarterly Notebook (Q), 17 Board of Trade_Building, Kansas City, Mo. $1.00; 25c. Alfred Fowler, editor. Publication discontinued. A Sunday-school paper for girls of the junior Queen's Work (M), St. Louis, Mo. $1.00; 10C. Uses special articles on Roman Catholic activities; accounts of the work of sodalities; and stories with a Catholic tone. Articles should run from 2,500 to 3,000 words, although stories may be longer. Buys photographs, and prefers presentday stories with Catholic color, especially those with some relation to social work. and Michigan verse. De A magazine for home students of higher business training courses. Uses good fact stories articles, interviews, etc., along success lines, general articles, and jokes of a business type, but no poetry or humorous partment matter prepared by staff. Buys photographs, wants no fiction, and pays on acceptance at the rate of one cent a word. Talking Machine Journal (M), 2720 Grand Central Terminal, New York. $3.00; 35c. Glad. Henderson, editor. Uses articles that would be of help to talking machine dealers, paying about one-half cent word. a Youth's Comrade (W), Editorial Department, sas editor. Uses interesting, uplifting stories and serials with a moral for young people up to twenty-five years old. Also descriptive articles along the line of manufactures, nature, and different lands, and some poetry. Sets length limit at 3,000 words; does not buy photographs; and pays on publication. The third printing of this Directory-enlarged and revised-was begun in THE WRITER for March, 1917. Back numbers can be supplied. A five-years' subscription beginning with October, 1916 (price $7.50), will give the Directory complete, with additions and A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS. VOL. XXXIII. BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1921. [The editor of THE WRITER prints this article by a Californian graphologist without endorsement of the ideas expressed, as a matter of psychological interest.] Some months ago the editor of a magazine which has accepted various articles from me sent a letter of inquiry from a young woman interested in graphological readings which had been published in his columns. She said in her letter that she wrote short stories but could not dispose of them; that she knew she had talent for writing and wished to publish her output like Mr. Blank, naming a well-known writer. A careful analysis of her handwriting disclosed the fact that the young lady had not the first requisite for a literary career. Aside from the carelessly written page, with its blots and crumpled appearance, which might No. 2. have been credited to the eccentricities of a budding genius, the graphologist at once adduced the absence of traits necessary to a successful marketing of manuscripts. The graphological reading was mailed to this inquirer, and some weeks later I received a note from the editor, in which he said, among other things of more vital interest to me: "I am enclosing another note addressed to us, for which perhaps you may render first aid to the injured and salve the lady's vanity." Now, what are the signs of literary promise? Not the rainbow of vanity which blinds one to realities, its bright futurist coloring glowing in a heaven of hope. Not the desire to write which travels like a comet across the mental horizon of so many impulsive souls! No, the signs are as fixed in graphology as are the simplest rules in mathematics. The world is so full of misfits, vocationally considered, that it is high time one should · study his handwriting scientifically and fit himself for a lucrative career. Doubtless it is patriotic to deluge the mails with return postage, but Hooverizing on literary output will improve the temper of sorely tried editors and perhaps make a clever mechanic of an unsuccessful would-be writer. There are pen-movements so unmistakable that there is no excuse for ignorance of one's traits. One of the simplest signs of literary promise is found in the small d. When the upper stroke of d forms a small loop or a graceful tendril toward the right, without returning to the baseline as the Spencerian system teaches, talent for writing is easily discernible. However, many successful writers fail to write this stroke. and there are far more important characteristics to be considered. One may look for talkativeness, suggested by a small initial hook on word-beginnings. Flow |