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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 3
[miscellaneous paragraphs]
Some of Typo's suggestions have been adopted in a way we did not look for. In criticizing the « Ragged-edge » border when it first appeared, we mentioned ink-blots as one of its features. Closer examination led ut to conclude that the « blots » were intended to represent ragged holes in the paper, through which the black background appeared; but our article had not long been published before a veritable « ink-blot » combination was produced! Noting this novelty, we said we would not now be surprised to see « P.D. Fingermarks. » This was, we need scarcely say, a « goak » —but it has been a fruitful one. Among the new « art-fakes » (or « slobs » —which?) of Foster, Roe, & Crone, this black and beautiful—and rather too familiar—design is to be found! It is numbered 186, and costs 35 cents—rather a high figure for an imitation, when we consider how easily an original can be produced.—What next?
The « Keeley motor, » it is now stated, is something in the nature of Bulwer Lytton's vril—an occult force long known to the wise men among certain Asiatic nations; but kept carefully secret on account of its terrific power for mischief in the hands of the ignorant and unscrupulous! It is, in fact, the mystic power which, three hundred years ago, enabled old ladies to appear in the form of black cats, to perform aerostatic feats on broomsticks, and nautical manoeuvres in sieves. The world has long suspected Mr Keeley to be one of its leading humbugs. The suspicion is ripening into certainty.
The Bruce Herald is disgusted at the suggestion by certain Church of England dignitaries that banns of marriage should be advertised in the press. It says it would reduce the daily papers to the level of « society » sheets. Why so? In Germany betrothals are regularly advertised, and the custom is no more objectionable than the practice of publicly announcing marriages and births. « Society » papers, with their budget of idle, prurient, and often false and slanderous gossip, have little in common with the respectable newspapers. It would be no more objectionable to publish banns in the public press, than to « throw them over the pulpit. » There is much to be said in favor of the suggestion, and, if it were adopted, lady readers in particular would welcome a new and interesting department in daily journalism.
The London High Court of Justice has laid down the law regarding to copyright in photograph portraits, and it is said that this is the first time a definite decision has been given on the subject. Mrs Pollard applied before Mr Justice North, to restrain the London Photographic Company from publishing copies of her portrait as a Christmas card. The defendants' solicitor contended that the negative was their sole property, and that they had a right to print copies of it for sale. The Judge decided that a photographer had no such right as claimed by defendants, unless given expressly or by clear implication by the sitter. He further held that the bargain between photographer and customer includes by implication an agreement that the prints taken from the negative are to be appropriated to the use of the customer only; and that a photographer using such a negative to produce copies for his own use is abusing the power confidentially placed in his hands. The injunction was granted. The decision accords with the practice of all honorable photographers.
Among the blackest sheep of literature are the compilers of showy, bulky, costly, and often useless books of so-called « reference » and « information. » There are reputable houses who publish really valuable works on the subscription system; but the vast majority of the works pushed by the persistent canvasser are not worth the paper on which they are printed. Nor are we aware of any line into which so much rascality and deception enters. To get rid of the importunity of the agent, a worried man or distracted housewife will pay the twelve shillings or guinea asked for, only to find a few weeks later, that the useless volume is the first of a series of perhaps sixteen or eighteen, for which a signed order in due form has been given. Yankee humorists have hurled their sarcasms at the « book-fiend, » but a tragedy in real life in Victoria surpasses the wildest of their imaginings. We give the story as it stands in the telegraphic summary of news. It needs no comment:—Angus M'Innis, a wood and coal dealer, has committed suicide in Melbourne under extraordinary circumstances. Several months ago two canvassers for a book entitled Victoria and its Metropolis, Past and Present, called on M'Innis, and obtained from him some particulars of his life. Three weeks ago the same agents brought him two handsome volumes of the work, and demanded six guineas in payment. He refused to give it, stating that he never authorized them to send the books. They then told him that his biography was written in the second volume of the work, page 729, and read as follows:—
M'innis, Angus, Abbotsford, is a native of Inverness-shire, Scotland, who was at school until the age of fourteen, and came out to Australia in 1864 by the ship Sultana. He went on to a station in Queensland for three years, after which he came to Victoria and followed farming in the Goulbourn Valley for fifteen years with fairly good results. Eventually he came to Melbourne, and bought a piece of land at the corner of Vere- and St. Philip-streets, Abbotsford, and erected premises, and commenced what is now a flourishing business in the coal and wood trade.
—After reading the paragraph the canvassers told him that its insertion was sufficient to obtain a verdict in any court of law, and that he would be mulcted in costs. M'Innis, however, refused to pay, and worried a good deal over the affair. He even went so far as to take to drink, and remarked that he did not like « to be had » in that way. The climax was reached on Saturday morning, when he received a lawyer's letter, demanding payment and threatening legal proceedings failing a satisfaction of the claim. He re-sealed the letter, and writ-ing the words « Opened by mistake » on the envelope, dropped it into a pillar box. During the afternoon of Saturday he indulged freely in drink, and poisoned himself by taking a dose of strychnine.