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The Great Metropolis, by the Author of 'random Recollections of the Lords and Commons'.
The Great Metropolis by the Author of 'random Recollections of the Lords and Commons' Author:James Grant General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1837 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: 121 CHAPTER III. LITERATURE. London the emporium of literature -- Works of fiction -- Poetry -- History -- Statistics -- Philosophy -- Works on the subject of health -- Biography and Autobiography -- Voyages and Travels -- Public taste for light reading -- Divinity -- Extent to which books sell -- Cheap republications of standard works -- Embellished works -- Supposed number and circumstances of persons who live by their literary labours -- The success of works not always dependent on their merits -- The precariousness of the literary profession -- Privations of Authors -- The expedients resorted to by Authors to attract attention. London, as every one is aware, is the great emporium of trade, commerce, wealth, and fashion; it is still more so of literature. Thither authors flock from all parts of the country, even from its remotest points, to publish their works. Not only is it thought there is a want of respect- Vol. i. G ability in books which issue from the provincial press, but it is taken for granted -- and in most cases justly -- that they have not the same chances of success as if emanating from the metropolis. London has, undoubtedly, many advantages in this respect peculiar to itself. It is, for example, the only place which has a regular communication with all other parts of the country. It has, too, as the metropolis, a name which no other town can by possibility ever acquire. It not only now is, but ever must continue, the great depot of literary works; the place whence, where- ever they may be written, they must emanate. In speaking, therefore, of the literature of the metropolis, I ...« less