between 1833
and 1843, while a large amount of American literary material had been
"adapted," or issued under new titles as if they had been original
British works. Among these last he quotes Judge Story's "Law of
Bailments," Everett's "Greek Grammar," Bancroft's Translation of
Heeren's Histories, Dr. Harris' "Natural History," etc., etc.

Secondly, the want of an international copyright has placed American
authors at a disadvantage because it has checked the sales of their
wares at home. Other things being equal, the publisher will, like any
other trader, manufacture such goods as will give him the largest
profit, and as he can sell the most readily.

If he has before him an American novel on which, if he prints it, he
must pay the author a royalty, and an English novel of apparently
equal merit, on which he is not called upon by law to pay anything,
the commercial inducement is on the side of the latter. If, on the
score of patriotism or for some other reason, he may decide in favor
of the former, his neighbor or rival will take the English work, and
will have advantages for underselling him. As a matter of fact, as I
shall specify further on, it is the custom of the leading publishing
houses to make some payment for the English material that they
reprint, but as they secure no legal title to such material, they
cannot, as a rule, pay as much for it as they would for similar
American work. There is also the advantage connected with English
works that they usually come to the American publisher in type, in
convenient form for a rapid examination, and that he can often obtain
some English opinions about them which help him to make up his own
publishing judgment, and are of very material assistance in securing
for the books the favorable attention of the American public. It has
therefore been the case that an American work of fiction has had to be
a good deal better than a similar English work, and more marked in its
attractiveness in order to have anything like the same chance of
success. And what is the case with fiction, is true, though to a less
degree, with books for young folks and works in other departments of
literature. It is to be said, however, that this difference in favor
of English productions has been very much greater in past years than
at present, and is, I think, steadily decreasing.

American writers have, against all disadvantages, forced their books
to the favorable attention, not only of the Ame