Censorship Debate

N November 8th there will be held in

ON NoveHall, New York, a debate on

the question of book censorship, the subject as stated will be, "Resolved: That limitations upon the contents of books and magazines as defined in proposed legislation would be detrimental to the advancement of American literature."

The negative will be supported by John S. Sumner, the affirmative by Ernest Boyd. Dr. Clifford Smythe, editor of the International Book Review, will preside. This discussion will be held under the auspices of the League for Public Discussion at 500 Fifth Avenue, of which the director is Symon Gould, organizer of the Library Book Service, publishers of Coué. The seats are to be sold at prices varying from $1.10 to $3.30.

HEN Clive Arden's new book, "Enticement" was announced, somebody with a bent for that kind of thing discovered that both the title and the author's name consisted of ten letters. So the suggestion was advanced to confine the pub

"For the Wise," was unanimously declared winner, and received the first prize of $25.

The second prize of $15 was awarded Miss M. E. Ways of the Medical Standard Book Concern, Baltimore, for the phrase, "Most Ardent," which offers a clever play on words. Mrs. Anna V. Curd of the Norton Book and Stationery Company, El Paso, Texas, received third prize, $10, with her suggestion "The Spell Of," to be followed by the title, "Enticement."

As an advertising promotion scheme the contest was unusually successful. Hundreds of booksellers, buyers, department managers and executives sent in lists containing dozens of slogans. Even London, England, sent over several. The spirit in which the contest was launched was caught by the trade, and it was turned, as scenes in many bookstores attested, into a jolly game. Cross-word puzzle fans were in prime condition for it, and the popularity of Clive Arden's first novel, "Sinners In Heaven," augmented the interest.

A Bookseller's Catechism

"A Reader's Guide Book," By May Lamberton Becker. Henry Holt & Company. Reviewed by Bessie Graham

letter adjectives or phrases. Immediatelv business was suspended in the Bobbs-Merrill offices while all members of the organization devoted their talents to concocting or locating suitable decimos. Some of the contributions were excellent. Others, like "Applesauce" were terrible. But, unfortunately everybody insisted that his or her effort really was the ne plus ultra. In order to keep peace in the family, The BobbsMerrill Company determined to take the matter out of the hands of its staff and let the book-trade suggest ten-letter combinations. To add spice, cash prizes were offered for the most acceptable contributions.

The contest closed on September 18th and prizes were awarded on September 30th, the publication date of "Enticement." 763 words or phrases were submitted, of which 38 won prizes. While nearly twice as many men as women contested, twenty-one of the thirty-eight winners were women.

Edwin C. Walker of New York suggested the greatest number of possibilities, thirtyeight. There were answers from thirty-one states, New York leading with twenty-eight

contestants.

Kenneth Brightbill. of Brentano's New York store. with his advertising slogan.

something that few people give acceptably. Mrs. Becker's advice is not only good but pleasing. What you ought to read turns out to be what you want to read when Mrs. Becker advises you. As "The Reader's Guide" for years in the New York Evening Post and now in the new Saturday Review, she has answered almost every question that can be asked about books on any given subject. This collection of questions and answers about books ought to be the Bookseller's Catechism. It covers every familiar query and many unfamiliar ones in the field of books.

The wide range of topics covered in Mrs. Becker's book is evidenced by some of the questions which are answered in her pages: What is the best Life of Christ? What current French books are suitable for little children? What books explain the Einstein theory? What has been written for travelers in the United States? What books should be in a newspaper office library? What are the Pulitzer prize winners? What dramas now on the stage are in book form? What historical novels based on Byron's life have we? What books should be in a hospital library?

A book list is sometimes only a dull piece of tabulation but Mrs. Becker's book lists

W

The Engineers' Bookshop

ITH the opening of the Engineers' Bookshop in New York on October 1st, a new and much-to-be-desired institution will be established. Bookshops specializing in technical publications are not unique, but a bookshop that is primarily established as a research center for engineers, manufacturers, students, etc., will undoubtedly be an innovation greatly appreciated by this group.

The definite name of the shop will also be a help to retail booksellers thruout the city in directing technically inclined individuals to a center of specialized information.

The proprietor, with a realization of the needs of technical men, brings certain unusual features into the, conducting of the business that are broad and exemplary. To illustrate a man setting out on a construction job will need in addition to works on bridge building, etc., literature on living conditions, maps, information on the language, manners, customs, geography, labor conditions of the country.

This service will require getting in touch with specialists in the different branches of engineering, who will give such information as a help to the proprietor. Translations will be available as well as photostat reproductions of articles no longer in print. Expensive technical books will be procured in second-hand editions for students whenever possible. The shop purposes to supply everything that an engineer might require from ancient reports and out-of-print pamphlets, to the latest editions and rare books.

It will remain open in the evening and make use of direct mail advertising. With these precepts and aims and with the apparent need for a shop of this kind, an engineer, without a decided literary penchant like William McFee, should find it necessary to his profession.

Australian Representative

SAMUE

AMUEL JABOOR of Melbourne, who visited the United States three years ago, has started in business for himself as Australian and New Zealand representative of English and American publishers. Mr. Jaboor has been for fourteen years connected with Thomas C. Lothian, Ltd., for the last seven years being their chief representative, covering Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Jaboor has sailed for London. where he arrives about October 10th, and may plan to come back thru America. His new address is 73 Queen Victoria Street, London, E. C.. care of Alfred Royle & Willan. and, in Melbourne, Middleboro Road, Box Hill.

Increase in Study of Classics

THE American Classical League has made

public some of the results of its three year investigation of the classics in America. The figures would perhaps startle the industrialist and advocate of purely vocational and business training, as they show an overwhelming number of students studying Latin and to some extent Greek. The survey must be accepted as being to some extent authoritative as the inquiry financed by John D. Rockefeller for $125,000 was carefully conducted. According to the report there are 940,000 students studying Latin in the secondary schools, and 11,000 studying Greek, which is approximately 25.5 per cent of the total enrolment in all secondary schools.

About 83 per cent of the 20,500 secondary schools in the country offer instruction in one or more foreign languages. Of this number 94 per cent offer Latin, a slightly larger percentage than in the case of all other foreign languages combined. The report furthermore says that "The number offering four years of Latin is more than double the number offering three years of French, four years being the ordinary maximum time given to Latin and three years the ordinary maximum time given to French."

"The Latin enrolment in the colleges of the country in 1923-1924 was approximately 40,000, and the Greek enrolment 16,000." In addition to these conditions, the survey found that of 609 colleges in the United States, 234 offer courses in beginning Latin, 470. in beginning Greek while 214 require two to four years of Latin for admission to the A.B. course. Thirty-nine of the fortyeight state superintendents of public instruction state that their attitude toward Latin is sympathetic, seven are neutral and two are unsympathetic. The question of Greek finds eight sympathetic, twenty-four neutral and sixteen unsympathetic.

Dean West at the meeting of the American Classical League in June contended that thru this survey it was shown that Latin and Greek students make the best pupils.

Correction

IN the issue of September 20th, we printed

as a picture of A. C. Walker, well-known member of the firm of Scrantom, Wetmore, a photograph that should have been connected with the article about the Aries Bookshop in Buffalo, as it was a photograph of Spencer Kellogg, Jr., the founder and proprietor of that shop. The Publishers' Weekly regrets this doubly unfortunate

error.

He had been spending the summer at Southampton with his family and was taken ill early in August. Mr. Johnson was a son of Solomon Whittlesey Johnson, one of the founders of the American News Company. After graduating from Yale in 1876, he entered the New York Blank Book Company, a subsidiary of the American News Company. In 1884. he started with the Central News Company as cashier and sixteen years later he became manager. His whole life was devoted to its interests. He is survived by his widow, a son, Edward Earle Johnson, cashier of the Central News Company, Philadelphia, and a daughter, Mrs. Stanley B. Gensler of New York.

PROFESSOR ALLAN MARQUAND

PROFESSOR ALLAN MARQUAND for fortyeight years a member of the faculty of Princeton University, died September 24th, aged seventy-one. He was the son of Henry G. Marquand, one of Princeton's greatest benefactors. Professor Marquand, like his father, gave many gifts to the university, and largely as a result of these gifts Princeton was able to erect McCormick Hall to house the department of art and archeology of which he was dean. He was the author of "Greek Architecture," 1909; "Della Robbias in America," 1912; "Luca Della Robbia," 1914; "Robbia Heraldry," 1919; "Giovanni Della Robbia," 1920; "Benedetto and Santi Buglioni," 1921; "Andrea Della Robbia (2 vols.), 1922.

RAYMOND MACDONALD ALDEN

DR. RAYMOND MACDONALD ALDEN, professor of English in Columbia University, died September 28th at Philadelphia. He was the son of Isabella Macdonald Alden, herself the author of many religious books. Professor Alden was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and occupied several positions in the English department of that institution. He later held professorships at Stanford and the University of Illinois until his recent appointment to Columbia. He was an editor of many textbooks, the author of several short stories and included among his published works the following: "Rise of Formal Satire In England," 1899; "The Art of Debate," 1900; "Knights of the Silver Shield," 1906; "Why the Chimes Rang," 1909; "TennysonHow to Know Him," 1917; "Shakespeare," 1921; "The Boy Who Found the King,"

1922.

Business Notes

AUBURN, N. Y.-R. W. Chamberlain is about to open "The Moby Dick Book Shop" in this town. It is to be furnished as a study with old-fashioned furniture.

NEW YORK CITY. At the Lenox Hill Bookshop, now opened at 1088 Madison Avenue by Jean Grey Long, there will be a general stock of books in a very attractive and well-located store in one of the important and rapidly developing sections of upper New York. Irene Jonas, who has

been in the book business with Brentano's and the Neighborhood Bookshop, is to be associated with Miss Long in the new enterprise which includes a Circulating library.