Quill and Olive Branch

Walter Besant Corresponds with
Brander Matthews

ROBERT A. COLBY

From December 1894 through December 1895 there
appeared in the Author, organ of the British Society of
Authors, edited by Walter Besant who had founded the
Society in 18 8 3, a column entitled "New York Letter.'' These con¬
tributions at first were signed Hallett Robinson, shortened subse¬
quently to H. R., a pseudonym adopted by Brander Matthews (by
then a professor of literature at Columbia), as revealed in letters
from Besant to Matthews in the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library.

These twenty-nine letters, spread out in time from 1884, the year
of the incorporation of the Society of Authors, to 1900, the year
before Besant's death, reflect a remarkable confluence of interests
between the two men. Both were versatile writers, as well as actively
engaged in the promotion of international copyright. A conviction
they shared that American writers were inadequately appreciated
by English readers prompted Besant to commission Matthews's
pieces for the Author.

Matthews was a transatlantic figure, visiting London frequently
in connection with his books, in the course of which he met Besant
among other British literary figures. The first letter in the Library's
collection, dated January 24, 1884, bears the seal of the Savile
Club, one of the associations to which the two belonged. This letter
is accompanied by a Prospectus of the Society of Authors, which
had been brought into being just the previous September. Besant
solicited Matthews's opinion, along with a plea: "Perhaps you can
see your way to helping on the cause. Could you for instance estab¬
lish a 'Company of Writers' in New York? The members of your
Company could be honorary members of ours and vice versa."

The Company of Writers was the name under which the Society
of Authors was first organized. Unknown to Besant, an Authors'
 

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