24 JULY 1941, Page 4

A predatory authoress is at large in London. This deplorable

fact is vouched for by the Bookseller in its current issue, where it is mentioned that a sub-committee of London booksellers has been set up to deal specifically with the problem of pilferers. The odd thing is that the alleged pilferer-in-chief, "a fairly well-known authoress" (to my great relief this lets out Miss Sayers and Miss Macaulay and others to whom the too judicial " fairly " could in no way apply) is a perso whose identity appears to be no secret to her victims. If is so my sympathy for them wanes. A male purloiner literature was sent to prison this week. Such institutions provided, in suitable cases, for both sexes. V.