Part 33 (1/2)

”Why do papers send a funny book to an old fossil of a revieith no sense of humour?” I said, testily and waited for the next post Well, it caht three adverse notices and a letter

”Dear Do_, but why, oh why, did you perpetrate such aof Bunkie_?”

Then a friend wrotefrom the effects of the war If the war has induced you to write _Bunkie_, I a to the belief that the crowd had no sense of humourthen I re-read my novel I still hold that it is funny in parts, but I see what is wrong It is a specialised type of huht appreciate In fact I was recently gratified to hear that the students of a Scots university were rhapsodising about it The real fault of the book is that it is clever, and to be clever is to be at once suspect

I naturally like to think that the circulation of a book is generally in inverse proportion to its intrinsic merit J D Beresford's novels are, to me, much better than those of the late Charles Garvice, yet I reater than Beresford's Still I cannot argue that the reverse is true--that because a book does not go into its second edition it is necessarily good I find that the problem of circulations is a difficult one I cannot, for instance, understand why _The Young Visitors_ sold in thousands; I failed to raise a sh publisher, Herbert Jenkins I didn't think _Bindle_ funny, yet it has been translated into ues Jenkins himself does not think it funny, and that, possibly, is why he issuccess to me was Ian Hay's _The First Hundred Thousand_ I read Pat MacGill's _Red Horizon_ about the saht Hay was stilted and superior with a public-school -class recruits I thought that he didn't knohat he riting about, that he had not reached the souls of the ave e of men; he wrote as one who lived with ordinary h Yet I fancy that _The Red Horizon_, popular as it was, did not have the sales of _The First Hundred Thousand_

I was lunching with Professor John Adaot on to the subject of circulations, and he said that he had just been asking the biggest bookseller in London what novel sold best

”Have a guess,” said the Professor to me

”_David Copperfield_,” I said proot the author right, but the book is _A Tale of Two Cities_”

He then askedthe troops at the front during the war

”Charles Garvice and Nat Gould,” I said, and the Professor thought ht

There is a whiskered Ford story which tells that Mr Ford took a new car from his factory and invited a visitor to have a spin They started off, and went seven miles out Then the car stopped Ford jumped out and lifted the bonnet

”Good Lord!” he cried, ”the engine hasn't been put in! The car must have run seven miles on its reputation!”

I think that books run many miles on reputation alone Like a sobll the farther a circulation rolls the athers to itself But what is it that makes a book popular? The best press notices in the world will not send the circulation of a book up to a hundred thousand level What sells a book is talk Scores of people said toVisitors_?” I hasten to add, as a Scot, that I personally did not help to increase the circulation; I borrowed the book from an enthusiast Talk sells a book, but we have to discover why people talk about _The Young Visitors_ and not about--er--_The Boo of Bunkie_ The book that is to sell well must be able to touch a chord in the crowd heart, and _The Young Visitors_ sold because it touched the infantile chord in the crowd heart; it brought back the happiest days of life, the schooldays: again, its nave Malapropish at the social and graotten about

_Bunkie_ did not reach the hundred thousand level because it was too clever; it was a purely intellectual essay in wit rather than humour

And the crowd distrusts wit, and that is why the witty plays of Oscar Wilde are seldooes on for ever

I ao on to a comparison of ith humour, but I shall only re, whereas humour is emotional Hue you could have hue there could be no wit

I have just come across a small book entitled _Hints on School Discipline_, by Ernest F Row, BSc

”Boys will only respect athis doctrine for yearsthat respect always has fear behind itand it pleases me to find that an exponent of the old an to read the book I was amazed

”Good Lord!” I cried, ”this chap should have published his book in the year 1820 He advocates a systey has shown to be fatal to the child It is army discipline applied to schools”

I found it hard to finish the book, but I read every word of it and then I said to myself: ”The majority is on the side of Row Eton, Harrow, ree with him He is evidently an honest sort of fellow, and he must be reckoned with I must try to see his point of view”