Who Gets the Royalties?
Samuel Johnson, my vote for smartest man who ever lived, is well known for his literary criticism. Among his best efforts in this vein is the Lives of the Poets, which reviews the work of 52 authors, including Dryden, Pope and Milton. A complete edition runs to over 2,200 pages. How much would you expect to pay for such a thing? If you consider that my Penguin edition of Clarissa, at 1,500 pages, was $16, you might assume that the Johnson set would cost about $30, or maybe a little more if it’s hardcover. Nope. It’s $550.
Filed under: Literature and Books on December 20th, 2008 | No Comments »