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Bok, Edward William, 1863-1930

"A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After"

He concluded to see whether
he could not induce the newspapers to give larger and more prominent
space to the news of the book world.
Owing to his constant contact with authors, he was in a peculiarly
fortunate position to know their plans in advance of execution, and he
was beginning to learn the ins and outs of the book-publishing world.
He canvassed the newspapers subscribing to his syndicate features, but
found a disinclination to give space to literary news. To the average
editor, purely literary features held less of an appeal than did the
features for women. Fewer persons were interested in books, they
declared; besides, the publishing houses were not so liberal
advertisers as the department stores. The whole question rested on a
commercial basis.
Edward believed he could convince editors of the public interest in a
newsy, readable New York literary letter, and he prevailed upon the
editor of the _New York Star_ to allow him to supplement the book
reviews of George Parsons Lathrop in that paper by a column of literary
chat called "Literary Leaves.


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