The shadow passed from Andy Hayes' face as he turned to his own great joy.
THE END.
Notes on Nelson's New Novels.
No work of unwholesome character or
of second-rate quality will be
included in this Series.
The novel is to-day the popular form of literary art. This is proved by the number of novels published, and by the enormous sales of fiction at popular prices.
While Reprints of fiction may be purchased for a few pence, New Fiction is still a luxury.
The author of a New Novel loses his larger audience, the public are denied the privilege of enjoying his latest work, because of the prohibitive price of 4s. 6d. demanded for the ordinary "six shilling" novel.
In another way both author and public are badly served under the present publishing system. At certain seasons a flood of new novels pours from the press. Selection becomes almost impossible. The good novels are lost among the indifferent and the bad. Good service can be done to literature not only by reducing the price of fiction, but by sifting its quality.
The number of publishers issuing new fiction is so great, that the entrance of another firm into the field demands almost an apology—at least, a word of explanation.