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Show NOT READJN FRANCE. Present Day English Xovellats Almost Unknown Among the French In France, where literary fame la held in high esteem, maiiy of the most successful of the present day English novelties are almost entirely unknown. Flammarion, the Parisian publisher and bpokseller, says that Marie Cor-elli. Cor-elli. Hall Caine and S. R.' Crockett are are hardly even names to him. The French writers with the greatest vogue just now, such as Pierre Louys, the author of "Les Aventures du Rol Pausole," now in its sixteenth thousand; thou-sand; Jean Lombard, the author of "Byzance," and Michael Corday, whose novel "Venus ou les dieux Risques" has been one of the most discussed books of the year, are unknown outside out-side of France. Alexandre Dumas' pere still holds the suffrages of the French, and thousands of his books sell every year. It would be diificult to arrive at any exact information, but It would seem likely that, reckoning the immense sale of Dumas In England, En-gland, America and the Continent outside out-side France, he must be read more than any author who ever wrote. English novels are mostly known to the French public in cheap editions. Dickens and Sco'.t iifc tli3 two wtwt popular writers, and various "booksellers "book-sellers differ as to which is most popular. popu-lar. Dickens, of course, suffers most in translation, and his humor and his characters are so absolutely "Cockney" "Cock-ney" that it is difficult to understand' how French readers comprehend him at all. The French novelist usually receives satisfactory financial results for his work. Nearly every French newspaper publishes a serial story, and almost every story good, bad or indifferent in-different first sees the light in this way. The prices vary, but as the feuilleton is by far the most important part of the average newspaper, papers of the stamp of Le Figaro pay at a considerably higher rate than is common com-mon in England. The story is then published in the usual paper covers at 3 francs 50 centimes, the author receiving re-ceiving a royalty varying from E0 centimes to 80 centimes, the price paid , to Paul Bourget on each volume. If a story is a popular success after It has passed through several editions, it is issued in penny numbers, and It will also probably appear in feuilleton form in half a dozen of the less Important metropolitan ' and provincial papers. The author has, therefore, four separate sepa-rate ways of deriving income from his work New York Press. |