_Harper's_ and
_The Century_ in particular shared with Mark Twain and the sewing
machine the honor of making America familiarly known abroad.
I do not wish to overburden this essay with history, but one of
the reasons for the appearance of such a dominating medium in a
comparatively unliterary country is relevant to the discussion to
follow. The magazine of those days was vigorous. It was vigorous
because, unlike other American publications, it was not oppressed
by competition. Until the laws of international copyright were
completed, the latest novels of the Victorians, then at their
prime, could be rushed from a steamer, and distributed in editions
which were cheap because no royalties had to be paid. Thackeray
and Dickens could be sold at a discount, where American authors of
less reputation had to meet full charges. And the like was true of
poetry. But the magazine, like the newspaper, was not
international; it was national at least in its entirety, and for
it British periodicals could not be substituted. Furthermore, it
could, and did, especially in its earlier years, steal
unmercifully from England, so that a subscriber got both homebrew
and imported for a single payment.
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