80 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1914 



'"To business that we love we rise betime 

 And go to 't with delight." — Antony and Cleopatra. 



THE COUNTRY LIFE EXHIBIT 



AT THE Grand Central Station in New 

 York there is what is called the 

 Country Life Permanent Exposition, 

 and it concerns itself with all that affects coun- 

 try living, magazines, books, building plans, 

 and land. You will, if you are interested, 

 find our magazines, Country Life in America 

 and The Garden Magazine represented in the 

 front row, and a young man representing us 

 to make you welcome. 



A NEWLY DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPT 

 BY FRANK NORRIS 



We have special interest and affection for 

 a new book by Frank Norris, the author of 

 "The Pit," "The Octopus," and many other 

 good books which created a great impression 

 when they were published. 



Mr. Norris became one of our staff upon 

 his arrival in New York, where he had come 

 from San Francisco to make his way as a 

 literary man. For several years we had the 

 pleasure and great help of his services in our 

 literary department, and he was closely associ- 



ated with all our plans until his death in 1902. 

 In a vague way he had told us of a full 

 fledged novel he had written and laid away, 

 but no trace of it was discovered when he 

 died, and we had supposed it lost in the San 

 Francisco fire. 



It now appears that this manuscript, com- 

 plete in all details and entitled "Vandover and 

 the Brute," was stored away in a San Fran- 

 cisco warehouse. At the time of the fire the 

 warehouse owners backed their drays up to 

 the doors and carted several hundred cases, 

 some of them marked and some of them not, 

 out to the Presidio, where they were left in 

 the open. Among the cases not marked was 

 the one containing this manuscript, and only 

 a few months ago was this packing case 

 opened, and the value and importance of the 

 package recognized. It was sent to Mr. 

 Norris, his brother, and so made its way to 

 us. 



The book is as vigorous and effective as any 

 work ever done by Mr. Norris. It represents 

 the gradual development of character as only 

 Frank Norris could do it. The book will be 

 published on April 9th unless something un- 

 expected happens. 



laddie 302,000 



The seventh edition of "Laddie," by Mrs. 

 Gene Stratton-Porter, 25,000 copies, has just 

 come off the press, making a total of 302,000 

 since August 17, 19 13. 



Here is the record: — 



1st edition 150,000 



2nd " 27,500 



3rd " 25,000 



4th " 29,000 



5th " 21,000 



6th " 23,500 



7th " 26,500 



302,500 



There must be something notable to make a 

 book sell like this. It is a true picture of 

 country living — a story of the people who built 

 up this country, the decent, reliable, and 

 trustworthy people of the U. S. A. — the most 

 popular of all subjects. 



More than 2,000,000 of "Freckles," "A Girl 

 of the Limberlost," "The Harvester," "Lad- 

 die," "Moths of the Limberlost," and "At the 

 Foot of the Rainbow " have now been sold. 



parcel post and books 



March 16th is to be an important day for us. 

 Beginning that day the Government permits 

 books to be put in the parcel post mail on the 

 same basis as other merchandise. 



We want to do all we can to inculcate the 

 habit of seeing new books in the hands of 

 new readers. Some statistics which came to us 

 recently through the efforts of the Publishers' 

 Cooperative Bureau indicate that 60 per cent, 

 of the readers who take popular magazines do 

 not have a bookstore in their towns and have 

 difficulty in getting new books, or old ones 

 either for that matter. The new express and 

 mail rates should help to overcome this. For 

 many years Doubleday, Page & Co. have 

 willingly and gladly sent their books on ap- 

 proval, to be paid for after examination. This 

 privilege has not been abused. 



We call the special attention of our readers 

 to a list of good books advertised on another 

 page of this magazine. We hope you will 

 accept the invitation there put forth. 





