One thing which has struck me is to find what a number of publishers during the last fifty years have either ceased to exist or have been incorporated with other firms; many of them being houses of great importance and publishers of a considerable number of popular books. The following are some of the firms which I am able to call to my memory which were then in existence: Messrs. Walton & Maberley, A.W. Bennett, J. Bennett, J. Russell Smith, H. Colburn, John Maxwell (the husband of Miss Braddon), Bradbury, Evans & Co., J.C. Nimmo (the publisher of many beautiful books), Houlston & Wright (the publishers of the Enquire Within series), Groombridge & Son, Rivington & Co. (taken over by Longmans & Co.), J. Masters, W. Hunt, W. Mackintosh, E. Moxon (the early publisher of Tennyson's and Swinburne's works), J. Camden Hotten (who published and introduced into this country Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and Artemus Ward. He died at the age of forty, and his business was taken over by Messrs. Chatto & Windus), J.C. Newby, Saunders & Ottley, Griffith & Farran (the successors to John Newbery), W. Day & Son (high-class printers and publishers), W. Tegg, Hardwick, J. & C. Mozley, A. Strahan (one of the most enthusiastic publishers of his day), Tinsley Bros. (they published for T. Hardy, George Meredith, and Miss Braddon), R. Bentley (his business was taken over by Macmillan in 1898), N. Trübner, and Charles Knight (who died in 1873, aged 81; he was the first publisher of the British Almanac and Companion and also issued the Penny Cyclopædia and the History of England, with other interesting and educational work), L. Booth, Virtue, R. & A. Suttaby, Smith Elder & Co. (now incorporated with John Murray), and many others. It is also somewhat astonishing what a change has taken place in the character of the books issued by some publishers. To instance a few, Messrs. Cassell & Co. principally issued educational and serial publications, C. Griffin were educational and religious publishers, Messrs. Nelson & Son published mainly juveniles, including a large selection of 1d., 2d., 3d., 4d., and 6d. books. Messrs. W. Collins & Son were also educational and religious publishers.
I should like to place on the other side some of the gains the publishing trade has received, and mention new firms that are among the leaders of the trade to-day. Messrs. Methuen & Co. have by a literary judgment and a judicial trend established one of the leading publishing businesses since the period before mentioned.
In 1894 Mr. W. Heinemann issued his first original popular 6s. novel; this was Sir Thomas Hall Caine's "The Manxman," which not only had a great sale but was a send off such as few publishers have experienced. This novel being first issued in the 6s. form, had a considerable influence in bringing the three-volume novel to an end in 1897. The credit, however, for the original 6s. novel must be given to Mr. Vizetelly, who commenced some ten years earlier the issue of his one-volume 6s. novel series, which contained, beside other important novels, "A Mummer's Wife," by George Moore. Mr. J.M. Dent, in founding the "Every Man Library," made for his firm a name which is known throughout the world. In this he established a library of literary classics in its broader sense, issuing them in every particular worthy of the books produced. He has thus earned the gratitude of students in every country in which the English language is spoken or read. This firm has also produced many works of great literary and epoch-making value.
Important additions to literature, including Fiction, have been made by such firms as Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton, Hutchinson & Co., T. Fisher Unwin, Constable & Co., E. Arnold, G. Harrap, Sidgwick & Jackson, Eveleigh Nash, A. Melrose, T. Werner Laurie, Duckworth, Selwyn & Blount, H. Jenkins, J. Lane, Chatto & Windus, with others, all of whom, it is hoped, have a great future before them. In 1873 the Cambridge University Press opened their business premises in Paternoster Row; previous to this, Messrs. Rivington & Co. had acted as their London agents.
In 1874 the Oxford University Press began their now very important business under the management of Mr. Frowde. It is now managed by Mr. Humphrey Milford.
I cannot, however, help thinking that there were more books of what may be termed a literary or classical character issued and sold during the early part of my career than there are to-day. It certainly looks as though the publishers of the future will have considerable opportunities of issuing the works of some of the great masters in literature. Whether or not we are to-day producing works of a character which will be sought for and collected by future generations it is difficult to say. There is one thing certain, however, and that is the spirit and desire to collect first editions of special authors was never greater than it is now. Undoubtedly, the desire to write books as well as to read them is an element to be dealt with, and if it were possible for the publisher to be so gifted that he would publish only books that were really worth publishing, much of the rubbish now being issued and which has only an ephemeral sale would never spoil paper and print. We shall, I suppose, never get perfection, but that is no reason why we should not aim at getting it.
Take poetry, for instance. In my young days, Milton, Tupper, Longfellow, Keats, Shelley, Byron, with others, were considered the leading sellers, while Tennyson, W. Morris, Swinburne, Lewis Morris, the Brownings, were fast pushing some of the older poets out of existence and gaining a deserved popularity, which will last for many generations. Tennyson's popularity was such that it was reported that when he changed his publishers from Moxon to Strahan the latter promised to give him annually the sum of £4,500 for the right to publish his books. There are few poets to-day who could command such an arrangement.
Then there is Swinburne, who in one of his volumes had expressed himself somewhat too realistically and was refused further publication by E. Moxon. Some of his later works were issued by J.C. Hotten and afterwards by Chatto & Windus. There are few, if any, publishers to-day who would take up the Moxon attitude, but times have changed for the better.
In 1890 there were 114 volumes of poetry published, in 1891, 146; and I should conclude that from that period up to the beginning of the war, the number issued fluctuated to a very small extent. In the classified analysis of books and new editions published in 1917, poetry and the drama numbered 544, while in 1918 there were 642 published, which shows that the war has had a considerable influence in providing food for the imagination, poetry being frequently a true interpretation of the feelings of the individual as well as of the nation.