actual every-day life, at the moment when they were most interested in him, the eminent living author, artist, statesman, scientist, business man, or inventor. We expect to publish in an early number, probably the November number, with numerous illustrations, a real conversation between
MARK TWAIN AND ROBERT BARR.
As we write this paragraph Mr. Barr is just returning to England from Lucerne, in Switzerland, where he has been visiting Mark Twain. His conversations with Mr. Clemens will form the basis of an article about the great humorist. Our readers, who are so well acquainted with Mr. Barr's work, with his humorous stories and his delightful articles, will realize that in this article they are sure to have a fresh, unconventional, and vivid presentation of Mark Twain.
THE BEST FICTION.
McClure's Magazine has been notable for its fiction. It has been the editor's purpose and his good fortune to get from the great writers of fiction of our day the best expression of their genius. It is our pride that in these few years we have published so much of the finest work of Stevenson, Kipling, Anthony Hope, and other masters of fiction. There will appear in the Christmas number
A TALE OF A CLOUDED TIGER BY RUDYARD KIPLING,
entitled, "The Tomb of his Ancestors." It is another powerful and absorbing tale of India. The extraordinary plot is as convincing and realistic as anything Kipling has ever written; and the young officer who is the hero of the tale is a character that one will be glad to know and remember. We have sought, by the collaboration of two artists of the first order, one with a strong grasp of the character of the human figure, the other with the imaginative instinct for dramatic composition and setting, to secure illustrations worthy of the tale, entirely novel, and certainly most interesting as an artistic experiment.
ANTHONY HOPE.
An event of much interest to the many readers of "The Prisoner of Zenda "is the coming of the author of that entrancing tale to the United States this month, to give public readings from his works. There is certainly no living writer of pure romance to be named with Anthony Hope. At a time when it seemed that no one could follow in the footsteps of Scott, Dumas, and Stevenson; that all that human invention could do in devising interesting complexities and situations had long since been done; Anthony Hope came quietly forward, and with only the men and conditions of our own day in mind, constructed stories that in novelty of incident, picturesqueness of character, and delightful, unexpected complications, compare with the great romances of the past. He proved that there was still no lack of good stories with a good story-teller at hand; and he found, in return, that the good story-teller has not to wait long for an audience.
THE SEQUEL TO "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA"
will begin publication in McClure's Magazine for December. It is entitled "Prince Rupert of Hentzau," and it takes the characters of "The Prisoner of Zenda," surely one of the most attractive groups of people created by a story writer, and carries them through a series of adventures even more dramatic and absorbing than those they underwent in the earlier book. The story is complete in itself; the first paragraphs put the reader in possession of all the knowledge of persons and events necessary to a full understanding of the tale.
It has been magnificently illustrated, in absolute sympathy with the text, by C. D. Gibson, with a series of page pictures, where our great American illustrator reveals a new and most important side of his talent. These pages, full of beauty and romantic spirit, are the most striking productions of Mr. Gibson's genius, and in themselves, while belonging intimately to the text, are artistic masterpieces.
GOOD STORIES BY NEW WRITERS.
We, who have had the distinction of publishing the first productions of Kipling and Hope in America, have always eagerly looked for and warmly welcomed spirited, stirring tales by writers still unknown to the public or to the older and more conservative publications. Only last February we published the first story that has appeared in a magazine of the young Western writer, W. A. White of the "Emporia Gazette," from whom we shall have
MORE BOYVILLE STORIES.
Mr. White is doing in prose what James Whitcomb Riley has done in verse—he is giving us true, hearty pictures of American boy life. These new stories will carry on the series begun with "The King of Boyville "(February, 1897) and "The Martyrdom of Mealy Jones "(September, 1897). The boys of these stories are just the same real characters as Tom Sawyer and Huckelberry Finn; and the artist who has drawn them, himself grew up in that West which Mr. White describes, so that his pictures have the same sort of unmistakable individuality and truth to nature as the author's delineations.
MARK TWAIN'S DIARY
OF HIS VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SOUTH AFRICA.
Two years ago Mr. Clemens started on a trip around the world. The diary he kept on this trip forms the basis of a new book of travel. We have arranged for the first and exclusive publication in a magazine of portions of this work—the chapters describing Mark Twain's voyage from India to South Africa, which are pervaded by a large humanity and abound in droll anecdotes, striking descriptions, and such observations as no one but Mark Twain could make. These chapters will be illustrated by A. B. Frost and Peter Newell, who are themselves master humorists of the rarest talent, and singularly sympathetic and original in their own field.
A NEW DEVELOPMENT.
It has long been our purpose to enter the general field of book publishing when the proper time should arrive; and we have now begun the actual work of carrying out this plan. The publishing business has been formed, for convenience, into a separate department, under the title of The Doubleday & McClure Co. We shall build up, as quickly as may be, a worthy collection of books, and in choosing them we shall follow the same line of editorial policy that is exemplified in McClure's Magazine; we shall publish wholesome, stimulating literature, and sound, interesting knowledge. Not only will our books be good, helpful reading, but they will be well made and sold at reasonable prices.
