RUSSIA AND JAPAN WAR FAR EAST by Frederick William Unger 1904/5

Description: “Russia and Japan and the War in the Far East,” by Frederick William Unger and Charles Morris, W.E. Scull, publisher, Philadelphia, stated date of 1904, is a fascinating example of how U.S. publishers and authors created books to be sold by prior or subscription sales when faced with far distant, fast acting events spread over two years. American notice of events in East Asia had skyrocketed with the acquisition of the Philippines in 1898 and the subsequent fighting which cost the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. servicemen. The stage was set, therefore, for great American public interest, when in January 1904, Japanese war ships opened fire on the Russian fortress at Port Arthur in Manchuria. Newspaper reporters from around the world rushed to the scene of the conflict which involved land battles (Mukden) between enormous numbers of men on each side (in excess of 200,000) and the spectacle of a Russian fleet leaving St. Petersburg and sailing half way around the world only to be nearly totally destroyed outside Port Arthur. Finally, the conflict was ended in August 1905 by Treaty in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, mediated by President Teddy Roosevelt. Publishers rushed to get this story into print for an eager audience, including those publishers who sold not primarily to bookstores but rather through traveling “agents” who went door to door (or farm to farm) taking subscriptions. In 1904, Bibles were still the major product for these agents, and so most subscription publishers had religious books as their base. Although this copy of “Russia and Japan” lists its publisher as W.E. Scull of Philadelphia, a book with the identical authors and text (but with a slightly different cover image and title) was also published by “World Bible House,”Philadelphia, (in 1896 this publisher issued a 36 page catalogue of its books in print) which appears to have been the primary publisher of this work. The “primary” publishers might then have subsidiary arrangements with other subscription publishers throughout the country who would be authorized to put their names on the books and use their network of agents to sell it. It was no easy task to prepare a book for subscription sale based on a specific, fast moving event since the traveling agents had to be given a “sample” of the product to show customers before the book had actually been written. The “sample” was called a “prospectus” and would usually include a representation of the cover, (materials and draft design), the title page, illustrations and a table of contents listing potential chapters with a page or two of draft text per chapter. The prospectus might describe the type of paper to be used, the approximate page count, the approximate number and type of the illustrations proposed, the size and finally the price. World Bible House began and ended another similar prospectus, also authored by Frederick William Unger, in this way: “To the Public and the Agent: The few sample pages and illustrations shown here have been selected to give an intelligent idea of the features in the complete book. … We guarantee this book to be just as represented by this prospectus.” The two names shown as authors of this book demonstrate how the process might work best. Charles Morris appears to have been employed by the primary publisher as a staff writer for books on historical topics, and he might have been asked to start writing as soon as the project was begun. He would have organized the table of contents and written the sample pages. Regardless of the book’s title, or the current event that was being featured, Morris would start churning out background chapters of history and biography since that could be written at once using existing secondary sources. In fact, he started with Russia “at the time of Henry III in England” (reigned 1216-1272), and 200 pages later had arrived at the War Between Japan and China in 1894. By page 300, Morris pens Chapter 24, entitled, “The United States and the Conflict,” but then diverts for a further 50 pages describing the military forces of both Russia and Japan. Although seemingly quiet to this point, the second author, the somewhat mysterious “foreign correspondent,” the dapper Frederick William Unger, (see photo) may have had time to cross the Pacific and do some actual on-the-ground reporting. He (?) Is first heard from on page 401 writing, “When the author arrived at Nagasaki on the U.S. transport “Sherman,” overloaded with soldiers and their families returning to America from the Philippines [Troopship Passenger Capacity100 officers, 1,200 enlisted], the interest of all was naturally keyed to a high point on this approach to the Japanese port nearest to the zone of actual hostilities.” Curious that Unger would be coming to Japan from the Philippines, rather than from the U.S.! He writes about “some time later, while in Korea, I was passing through a city occupied by Japanese troops.” While there is a detailed description of the fighting on land and sea, it is all written in the third person except when unidentified “eye witnesses” (not the authors) are quoted. The actual extent of the contributions by Mr. Unger, Foreign Corespondent, are thus heard to determine. Finally, although the book states that it was copyrighted in 1904, it clearly was not printed until at least late in 1905 since it records the details of the Treaty that ended the War. What the book certainly achieves is capturing the spirit of the time, and the surprise which greeted the overwhelming Japanese victory.

Price: 38 USD

Location: Weston, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-12-21T16:38:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.38 USD