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Charles Chaplin has brought suit for $500,000 against the Pictorial Review Company, alleging that a series of articles about him, written for the Pictorial Review by Jim Tully, are untrue and unauthorized.

The Goncourt prize for the year's best novel has been awarded by the French Academy to Henri Deberly for his volume, "Le Supplice de Phèdre."

Harper's Magazine, for the first time in its seventyseven years of existence, is listing the names of its editors. They are: Thomas B. Wells, editor; Lee F. Hartman, associate editor; F. L. Allen, assistant editor. Since the magazine was established in 1850 there have been only four editors in chief, Henry J. Raymond, who later founded the New York Times, Alfred H. Guernsey, Henry Mills Alden, and Mr. Wells."

The North American Review is one hundred and eleven years old and the list of its editors from 1815 to 1889 include William Tudor, Jr., Willard Phillips, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, Alexander Hill Everett, John Gorham Palfrey, Andrew Preston Peabody, Charles Eliot Norton, James Russell Lowell, Henry Adams, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Allen Thorndike Rice. All twelve were natives of New England; all were natives of Massachusetts except Dr. Sparks, who was born in Connecticut; all were graduates of Harvard save Mr. Rice, who was educated at Oxford; and two were presidents and five others professors or lecturers at Harvard.

The Brewster Publications have been sold to a new corporation, with George K. Shuler as president, treasurer, and publisher, and Duncan A. Dobie as vice president and general manager. The chief magazines involved are the Motion Picture Magazine and Motion Picture Classic. The new company also buys copyrighted publishing titles to Shadowland Magazine, Movie Monthly and Beauty Magazine, and its officers intimated that these magazines might be revived. Adele Whitley Fletcher and Laurence Reid will continue as editors, and Colin Cruikshank as art director.

The Dial's award of $2,000 for distinguished service to American Letters during 1926 has been given to Dr. William Carlos Williams. The previous recipients have been Sherwood Anderson, T. S. Eliot, Van Wyck Brooks, Marianne Moore, and E. E. Cummings.

The Musical Courier has removed to 109 West Fifty-seventh street, New York.

Mrs. Joseph Pennell will be glad to receive any letters written by the late Joseph Pennell, to be used in connection with writing the life and letters of Mr. Pennell, and will, of course, return all such letters after she has examined them. Letters may be sent to her in care of Little, Brown, & Co., 34 Beacon street, Boston.

Israel Zangwill left an estate of only about $15,000, and his bequests exceeded his estate.

Literary Articles in Periodicals

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG WRITERS. Jim Tully. College Humor for February.

POE'S PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION. James S. Wilson. North American Review for January.

THE NEWSPAPER'S DILEMMA, Earnest Elmo Calkins. Atlantic Monthly for January.

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HERMAN MELVILLE. Fred Lewis Pattee. American Mercury for January.

W. E. WOODWARD. Claude de Crespigny. American Speech for January.

SPORT AND LITERATURE. Forum for January. COURTSHIP SLANG. F. Walter Pollock. American Speech for January.

THE MOVIES · NOT THEATRE, NOT LITERATURE, NOT PAINTING. Ralph Block. Dial for January.

GREEK LITERATURE AND THE MODERN WORLD. C. F. Castle. Open Court for December.

HERMAN MELVILLE, "ISHMAEL" OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. J. V. Nash. Open Court for December. NEWS AND THE PRESS AGENT. Oscar Lewis. Independent for January 8.

FRENCH CATHOLIC LITERATURE. Bernard Fay. Commonweal for January 12.

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THE COPELAND READER. By Charles Townsend Copeland. 1700 pages. Cloth. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

With anthologies filling everyman's book shelf, and with new ones making their appearance almost daily, it is indeed a distinction to produce one which is different. The selections in most anthologies are based on what some one man thinks is worthwhile or interesting in all or a specific part of standing literature. The Copeland Reader is something more than that. It is an anthology of the good literature of the past and present which has been tested out and proved interesting to the modern public. Any writer who is conscientiously striving to build up a theory of modern reader-interest will prick up his ears at that.

York. This group contains many of the best known young writers and editors of the day.

"Copey," as his students have always called him, is more than a man, and more than a teacher. He is an institution, but an institution without walls-he is one of the easiest men to find and one of the ones most worth finding. His Reader will undoubtedly become, in fact has already become, an institution.

From the Bible to Ring Lardner he has selected his material and it is almost impossible to open a page anywhere in this great seventeen hundred-page book without finding something that grips the interest and stimulates the imagination. A busy writer has too little time to read. He often neglects the good things of the past in the breathless attempt to keep up with what is popular today. Hardly a one can fail to profit from reading this book through from cover to cover if only to set his bearings right, and, if he does, he will find himself turning to it again and again for a moment's relaxation and enjoyment. It is a book most decidedly worth having at your elbow.

Professor Copeland is the most famous reader-aloud of good literature in America. The selections in this book are those best received by his listeners from a great number that he has tried. He discovered a decade ago that nothing was quite so helpful in stimulating the creative talent of his students in Harvard as the reading aloud of short selections from various periods of literary history. His fame spread from his classes to the outside world; his services have been in constant demand by clubs and literary societies in other colleges throughout the East. A society has been formed in his honor by his former students who hold an annual banquet in New we are forced more and more to recognize

THE COMMERCIAL SIDE OF LITERATURE. HOW to Sell the Things You Write. By Michael Joseph. In collaboration with Grant Overton. 274 pages. $2.50. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1926.

As time goes forward in this material age,

that there exists a commercial side to everything- even literature. It is a sad commentary perhaps upon the world we live in that every man with the ability to write should not be able to sit at his desk, quill pen in hand, pouring out whatever is in his soul, and when it is finished, descend upon the town to find eager publishers with contracts. But the fact is, of course, that he can't-not, that is, unless the outpourings of his soul happen to coincide with the popular demand, or, better still, what some publisher thinks might become the popular demand. So, as in every other line of endeavor, there is a commercial side of literature and, as this is an age of handbooks to everything, there is a Michael Joseph to expound it.

It is in his chapter on the use of literary agents that he is at his best. The literary agent, he believes, is a great boon to both author and publisher. But "does every author need an agent? This is a difficult question to answer, since every author is a law unto himself. Generally speaking, the agent is most useful to the established author, since there is more scope for bargaining than in the case of the new writer, and more international rights to be disposed of. As a rule the beginner would do better, I think, to approach at any rate editors direct... In fact, the agent can rarely be of service in dealing with articles and stories by new writers." With the established author, even with the writer who is just beginning to sell, the agent can be of the greatest service, since his business makes him intimate with all the various "rights" which may be disposed of.

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Grant Overton, in his chapter on the American market, is more direct and more informative than Mr. Joseph. In the brief space allotted him, he tells a great many facts about novels, stories, and serials and the prices paid for them, gives a word about contracting for entire output to a single magazine, and gives sage advice upon safeguarding the author's income. Stewart Beach.

IMAGINATION. Mind's Dominant Power. By Benjamin Christopher Leeming. 288 pages. Cloth. New York: M. H. Schroeder Company.

Mr. Leeming believes that Imagination is the dominant force in the universe. He has assembled an abundance of facts and illustrations and the result is a complete and logical presentation of his ideas. Highly scientific, this book is so simply written that the veriest dabbler in philosophy will find it stimulating as well as informing. Mr. Leeming comes to some amazing conclusions and while one may not always agree with them, he will find the book in general a common sense study of the principles of behavior, expressed with originality and enthusiasm.

New Books in Brief

"The House of Stokes: 1881-1926" is a record of the work of the Frederick A. Stokes Company, with letters from authors on the forty-fifth anniversary of the firm's establishment

"John Galsworthy as a Dramatic Artist," by R. H. Coats, is published by Charles Scribner's Sons.

"Emile Verhaeren," by P. Mansel Jones (Oxford University Press), is a biography and critical study of the Belgian poet.

"Great Names," edited by Walter J. Turner (Lincoln MacVeagh, the Dial Press), is an anthology of English and American literature from Chaucer to Francis Thompson.

"The Book of Play Production," by Milton M. Smith, instructor in English at the Teachers College of Columbia University (D. Appleton & Co.), is devoted to the theory and practice of theatrical production, and is of use to the playwright as well as to the producer.

The Macmillan Company has published a new edition of "The Young Man and Journalism," by Chester S. Lord, who was for forty-one years a member of the staff of the New York Sun, and for thirty-three years the Sun's managing editor.

"Crowell's Handbook for Readers and Writers," edited by Henrietta Gerwig (Thomas Y. Crowell Company), contains, among other things, a listing of famous characters and plots "in legend, fiction, drama, opera, and poetry," and also lists of literary and journalistic terms, and hundreds of familiar allusions, all indexed and cross-indexed.

Valuable Books for Story Writers

and Dramatists

The latest issues of the standard annual anthologies,
presenting the best short stories and plays that have
appeared in America, Great Britain, and France.

THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1926

And the Yearbook of the American Short Story.
Edited by EDWARD J. O'BRIEN.

By general consent, Mr. O'Brien's annual volume has achieved the distinction of a landmark in the literary year. Each collection is thoroughly enjoyable and interesting as well as informative. In addition to the collection of stories chosen as best from the various American magazines and publications, this year book contains bibliographies, biographical material and important indices on various phases of short story growth and development.

THE BEST FRENCH SHORT STORIES OF 1925-26
And the Yearbook of the French Short Story.
Edited by RICHARD EATON.

$2.50

The Best French Short Stories is a compilation of the most interesting, intriguing and well-written short stories published in France during the year covered by the collection. This collection, translated by the editor, who lives in Paris, is the only available English translation of these stories.

This volume, as the previous issues, contains a Yearbook of the Short Story in France, embracing much important reference material which is not found elsewhere.

THE BEST BRITISH SHORT STORIES OF 1926

And the Yearbook of the British and Irish Short Story.
Edited by EDWARD J. O'BRIEN.

$2.50

This is the fifth annual issue of the book which covers the British field of the short story. Many of the famous authors of the present day have appeared in its pages and the book affords an especially interesting basis of comparison between the short story in America and in the British Isles. The valuable information appearing in addition to the stories makes the volume indispensable for reference work. $2.50

THE BEST PLAYS OF 1925-26

And the Yearbook of the Drama in America.

Edited by BURNS MANTLE.

This is the seventh annual issue of The Best Plays. It includes mention of the outstanding features of the theatrical season in New York, Chicago and California; the casts and synopsis of plays produced in New York, Season 1925-1926, with a statistical summary; a discussion of the Little Theatre Tournament; and biographical data of prominent players.

Among the plays of which generous excerpts, the plot and critical estimates are included are: Craig's Wife, The Great God Brown, The Green Hat, The Dybbuk, The Enemy, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, Bride of the Lamb, Young Woodley, The Butter and Egg Man, and The Wisdom Tooth. $3.00

DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, Publishers, 449 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK

These books may be obtained through THE WRITER'S BOOK SHELF

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Need this Book If you write Greeting Card Verses

IN his New Book "The Romance of Greeting Cards" Ernest Dudley Chase has 340 pages crammed full of just what will make you a better verse writer.

Do you know how many verses to send in at a time?

Do you know what size paper to put them on?

Do you know why certain verses appeal and others do not?

Do you know the publisher's viewpoint? These and a hundred other things are answered in the only book on greeting cards ever written.

Special Price for limited time $3.00 net,
Autographed and sent postage paid
(Mention this paper)

ERNEST DUDLEY CHASE

WINCHESTER

Truth About PUBLISHING Stanley Unwin

The first complete text book of
publishing practice. Arnold
Bennett "learnt about 500
things from it." Lewis Melville
is "sure every author ought to
be compelled to read it." No
other book is so indispensable
to WRITER subscribers.

Ready February 11-$1.75

Houghton-Mifflin Co.

2 Park Street

MASS.

Boston, Mass.

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MANUSCRIPTS neatly and accurately typed by an experienced Authors' typist, 50c per 1000 words with carbon copy. HELEN E. STREET 123 North 10th Street

Olean, N. Y. COMPETENT EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE

in the preparation of manuscripts for publication. Criticism, revision, editing, typing. Special attention to book manuscripts. Also, complete list of text-books for writers. Correspondence invited and catalogue sent on request. 25 years as writer, editor, publisher. JAMES KNAPP REEVE, (Founder and former editor of "The Editor"), Box 496, FRANKLIN, OHIO.

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