this is written to dissuade all rich men from queering the pitch of us poor litteratoors, who have to write or starve. it is about a mr. foley: a mr. charles foley, a banker and the son of a banker, who in middle life, that is at forty, saw no more use in coming to his office every day, but began to lead the life of a man of leisure. next, being exceedingly rich he was prompted, of course, to write a book. the thing that prompted him to write a book was a thought, an idea. it took him suddenly as ideas will, one saturday evening as he was walking home from his club. it was a fine night and the idea seemed to come upon him out of the sky. this was the idea: that men produce such and such art in architecture and society and so forth, on account of the kind of climate they live in. such a thought had never come[pg 90] to him before and very probably to no other man. it was simple like a seed—and yet, as he turned it over, what enormous possibilities.
he lay awake half the night examining it. it spread out like a great tree and explained every human thing on earth; at least if to climate one added one or two other things, such as height above the sea and consequent rarity of the air and so forth—but perhaps all these could be included in climate.
hitherto every one had imagined that nations and civilisations had each their temperament and tendency or genius, but those words were only ways of saying that one did not know what it was. he knew: charles foley did. he had caught the inspiration suddenly as it passed. he slept the few last hours of the night in a profound repose, and next day he was at it. he was writing that book.
he was a business-man—luckily for him. he did not speak of the great task until it was done. he was in no need of money—luckily for him. he could afford to wait until the[pg 91] last pages had satisfied him. life had taught him that one could do nothing in business unless one had something in one's hands. he would come to the publisher with something in his hands, to wit, with this mss. he had no doubt about the title. he would call it "man and nature." the title had come to him in a sort of flash after the idea. anyhow, that was the title, and he felt it to be a very part of his being.
he had fixed upon his publisher. he rang him up to make an appointment. the publisher received him with charming courtesy. it was the publisher himself who received him; not the manager, not the secretary, nor any one like that, but the real person, the one who had the overdraft at the bank.
he treated mr. charles foley so well that mr. foley tasted a new joy which was the joy of sincere praise received. he was in the liberal arts now. he had come into a second world. his mere wealth had never given him this. when the publisher had heard what mr. charles foley[pg 92] had to say, he scratched the tip of his nose with his forefinger, and suggested that mr. foley should pay for the printing and the binding of the book, and that then the publisher should advertise it and sell it, and give mr. foley so much.
but mr. foley would have none of this. he was a business man and he could see through a brick wall as well as any one. so the publisher made this suggestion and that suggestion and talked all round about it. he was evidently keen to have the book. mr. foley could see that. at last the publisher made what mr. foley thought for the first time a sound business proposition, which was that he should publish the book in the ordinary way and then that he and mr. foley should share and share alike. if there was a loss they would divide it, but if there was a profit they would divide that. mr. foley was glad that he came to a sensible business decision at last, and closed with him. the date of publication also was agreed upon: it was to be the 15th of april. "in order," said[pg 93] the publisher, "that we may catch the london season." mr. charles foley suggested august, but the publisher assured him that august was a rotten time for books.
only the very next day mr. foley entered upon the responsibilities which are inseparable from the joys of an author. he received a letter from the publisher, saying that it seemed that another book had been written under the title "man and nature," that he dared not publish under that title lest the publishers of the other volume should apply for an injunction.
mr. foley suffered acutely. he left his breakfast half finished; ran into town in his motor, as agonized in every block of the traffic as though he had to catch a train; was kept waiting half an hour in the publisher's office because the principal had not yet arrived, and, when he did arrive, was persuaded that there was nothing to be done. the courts wouldn't allow "man and nature," the publisher was sure of that. he kept on shaking his great big silly[pg 94] head until it got on mr. foley's nerves. but there was no way out of it, so mr. foley changed the title to "art and environment"—it was the publisher's secretary who suggested this new title.
he got home to luncheon, to which he now remembered he had asked a friend—a man who played golf. mr. foley did not want to make a fool of himself, so he led up very cautiously at luncheon to his great question, which was this: "how does the title 'art and environment' sound?" he had a friend, he said, who wanted to know. on hearing this mr. foley's golfing friend gave a loud guffaw, and said it sounded all right; so did the origin of species. it would come out about the same time, and then he spent three or four minutes trying to remember who the old johnny was who wrote it, but mr. foley was already at the telephone in the hall. he was not happy; he had rung up the publisher. the publisher was at luncheon. mr. foley damned the publisher. could he speak to the manager? to the [pg 95]secretary? to one of the clerks? to the little dog? in his anger he was pleased to be facetious. he heard the manager's voice:
"yes, is that mr. foley?"
"yes, about that title."
"oh, yes, i thought you'ld ring up. it's impossible, you know, it's been used before; and there's no doubt at all that the university printers would apply for an injunction."
"well, i can't wait," shouted mr. foley into the receiver.
"you can't what?" said the manager. "i can't hear you, you are talking too loud."
"i can't wait," said mr. foley in a lower tone and strenuously. "suggest something quick."
the manager could be heard thinking at the end of the live wire. at last he said, "oh, anything." mr. foley used a horrible word and put back the receiver.
he went back to his golfing friend who was drinking some port steadily with cheese, and said: "look here, that friend of mine i have[pg 96] just been telephoning to says he wants another title."
"what for?" said the golfing friend, his mouth full of cheese.
"oh, for his book of course," said mr. foley sharply.
"sorry, i thought it was politics," answered his friend, his mouth rather less full. then a bright thought struck him.
"what's the book about?"
"well, it's about art and ... climate, you know."
"why, then," said the friend stolidly, "why not call it 'art and climate'?"
"that's a good idea," said mr. foley, stroking his chin.
he hurried indecently, turned the poor golfing friend out, hurried up to town in his motor in order to make them call the book "art and climate." when he got there he found the real publisher, who hummed and hawed and said: "all this changing of titles will be very expensive, you know." mr. foley could not[pg 97] help that, it had to be done, so the book was called "art and climate," and then it was printed, and seventy copies were sent out to the press and it was reviewed by three papers.
one of the papers said:
"mr. charles foley has written an interesting essay upon the effect of climate upon art, upon such conditions as will affect it whether adversely or the contrary. the point of view is an original one and gives food for thought."
mr. foley thought this notice quite too short and imperfect.
the second paper had a column about it, nearly all of which was made out of bits cut right out of the book, but without acknowledgment or in inverted commas. in between the bits cut out there were phrases like, "are we however to believe that ..." and "some in this connection would decide that...." but all the rest were bits cut out of his book.
[pg 98]
the third review was in the times, and in very small type between brackets. all it did was to give a list of the chapters and a sentence out of the preface.
mr. foley sold thirty copies of his book, gave away seventy-four and lent two. the publisher assured him that books like that did not have a large immediate sale as a novel did; they had a slow, steady sale.
it was about the middle of may that the publisher assured him of this. in june the solicitors of a professor at yale acting for the learned man in this country, threatened an action concerning a passage in the book which was based entirely upon the professor's copyright work. mr. foley admitted his high indebtedness to the professor, and wore a troubled look for days. he had always thought it quite legitimate in the world of art to use another person's work if one acknowledged it. at last the thing was settled out of court for quite a small sum, £150 or £200, or something like that.
[pg 99]
then everything was quiet and the sales went very slowly. he only sold a half-dozen all the rest of the summer.
in the autumn the publisher wrote him a note asking whether he might act upon clause 15 of the contract. mr. foley was a business man. he looked up the contract and there he saw these words:
"if after due time has elapsed in the opinion of the publisher, a book shall not be warrantable at its existing price, change of price shall be made in it at the discretion of the publisher or of the author, or both, or each, subject to the conditions of clause 9."
turning to clause 9, mr. foley discovered the words:
"all questions of price, advertisements, binding, paper, printing, etc., shall be vested in messrs. towkem bingo and platt, hereinafter called the publishers."
[pg 100]
he puzzled a great deal about these two clauses, and at last he thought, "oh, well, they know more than i do about it," so he just telegraphed back, "yes."
on the first of the new year mr. foley got a most astonishing document. it was a printed sheet with a lot of lines written in red ink and an account. on the one side there was "by sales £18," then there was a long red line drawn down like a z, and at the bottom, "£241 17s. 4½d.," and in front of this the word "balance," then the two were added together and made £259 17s. 4½d. under this sum there were two lines drawn.
on the other side of the document there was a whole regiment of items, one treading upon another's heels. there was paper, and printing, and corrections, binding, warehousing, storage, cataloguing, advertising, travelling, circularizing, packing, and what i may call with due respect to the reader, "the devil and all." the whole of which added up to no less than the monstrous sum of £519 14s. 9d. under this[pg 101] was written in small letters in red ink, "less 50% as per agreement," and then at the bottom that nasty figure, "£259 17s. 4½d.," and there was a little request in a round hand that the balance of £241 17s. 4½d. should be paid at mr. foley's convenience.
mr. foley, white with rage, acted as a business man always should. he wrote a short note refusing to pay a penny, and demanding the rest of the unsold copies. he got a lengthier and stronger note from messrs. towkem and thingummebob, referring to his letter, to clause 9 and to clause 15, informing him that the remainder of the stock had been sold at a penny each to a firm of papermakers in the north of england, and respectfully pressing for immediate payment.
mr. foley put the matter in the hands of his solicitors and they ran him up a bill for £37 odd, but it was well worth it because they persuaded him not to go into court, so in the long run he had to pay no more than £278 17s. 4½d., unless you count the postage and the travelling.
[pg 102]
now you know what happened to mr. foley and his book, and what will happen to you if you are a rich man and poach on my preserves.
