THE LIFE OF SIR GEORGE NEWNES, BART.
The Life of Sir George Neumes, Bart. By Hulda Friedmichs. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.)—We seem to have lost by Sir George Newnes's premature death what would have been a highly interest.. ing autobiography. It was actually begun, but failing health forbade any further progress. Still we have a good picture of a very typical figure ; one that represents very poignantly the ways and methods of present-day periodical literature. Ho did not begin with this line of occupation. His father apprenticed him for five years to a fancy goods firm ; he was to give his services for board and lodging. The young man developed a great mastery of figures, and the principal proposed to put him in a place of responsibility but without salary. Ile very properly stood firm, and the salary was given. Then he became traveller for another firm. This lasted for some ten years. Meanwhile an idea, which was ultimately to develop into Tit-Bits, came into his mind. Pre- parations were made ; all, in fact, was ready except the money. This was not easy to find. Two applications, in quarters which seemed not unlikely, failed. Then a plan occurred to him. He used to frequent a vegetarian restaurant, and saw that there was room for another. This he sot up—we learn from an amusing story that he was not himself of the vegetarian faith—and in a few weeks' time he made it into a business so flourishing that he sold it for the sum that he required. Tit-Bits —the name was not altogether a success—soon gained a great circulation. Six weeks after its first appearance a firm which had refused to give trust for the .4600 required to start it offered to buy it for £16,000, and at the end of six months a London firm of publishers offered 430,000. The reader may loam how this result was brought about. George Newnes was, in a way, occupying now ground, the rivals which compete with the paper arc of later origin.
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