Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/194

 sixpenny reviews. Some of the names that have been mentioned will suggest that Sir Wemyss Reid was quick to encourage fresh talent, and many authors still look back gratefully to the hospitality which the Speaker gave to their fledgeling efforts.

The story of the newspaper activities of the House would not be complete without reference to the department known as Cassell's General Press. More than half a century ago—to be precise, in 1861—Cassell's Country Newspaper Department introduced the idea of partly printed papers for localizing purposes, and many journals which started in this way are now most successful country newspapers. In addition to these news-sheets, Cassell's General Press makes available a great variety of special articles on all kinds of subjects, sending them out in proof or stereo for the use of the enterprising provincial editor. The most popular novelists of the day have contributed to the General Press service of serial and short stories, which has enabled newspaper readers throughout the world to enjoy fiction of the highest class. In the course of sixty years the Country Newspaper Department of the House of Cassell has developed to such an extent that "the World's Newspaper Agency" is not a misnomer for it but an expression of fact. Cassell's General Press owes much of its success to the editorial nous and business ability of Mr. B. Whitworth Hird, who has directed it for many years. Extensions of the department determined the firm in January, 1921, to transfer it to a special building in Fleet Lane and amalgamate it with the Riverside Printing Works.