his books.” 76 The more cynical aspects of the situation are bluntly putby another reviewer who writes, “ The business office exerts not a direct but a moral influence , so to put it, upon the literary department. Business tact mustbe recognized. A hostile review already in type and in the plan of the next issue may be
‘killed ' when a large 'ad' announcing books brought out by the publisher of this one so treated, comes in for the next paper ; and then search is made for a book from the samepublisher which
may be favorably reviewed . Or a hostile review may be held
over until a timemore politic for its release, say following several enthusiastic reviews. And there is no sense in noticing in one issue a disproportionate number of books published by one
house ." 77 A more hopeful view is presented by Bliss Perry who believes that " misleading advertising of books must be left to defeat itself, as it ultimately will. But in the meantime it pro
duces wide-spread demoralization of the critical sense, and creates an atmosphere highly unfavorable to accuracy of judg ment and honesty of record.” 78
But many probably will believe that “ the Silent Bargain has been decorously struck [between the publisher of books and the publisher of reviews];" publishers demand reviews that puff when they should demand reviews that interest , and the critic 76 “ The American Reviewer ,” Yale Review , October, 1914, 4 : 3 – 24. An anonymous writer says that Volume 114 of the North American
Review in the Widener Library has the word “ suppressed ” at the top of one page, — the proof sheet of a review of Bayard Taylor 's translation of Faust.
At the end of the review the writer found the note: “ This notice, written originally by a strong admirer of Mr. Taylor, but much changed by me in tone, led to a protest from the author, and a request from Mr. Osgood that
the notice be suppressed . Which was done. HENRY ADAMS.” Mr. Adams was at that time the editor of the North American Review , then published by Mr. Osgood who also published Bayard Taylor's translation of Faust.
“ Harvard Calm
and Henry Adams," in Contributors ' Club , Atlantic
Monthly , January , 1921, 127 : 140 .
77 R . C . Holliday, “ The Hack Reviewer,” The Unpopular Review , April, 1916 , 5 : 379–391; republished under the title “ That Reviewer 'Cuss'," in Walking Stick Papers, pp . 87 - 107.
This statement can not pass unchallenged . The Nation , for example, has always had an unusual proportion of publishers' advertisements, but its
reviews are noted for their fairness and there is no apparent influence on its
advertisements unless it be to induce publishers to advertise in it even though The Nation may review its books unfavorably .
78 Literary Criticism in American Periodicals,” Yale Review , July , 1914, 3 :635 -655.
