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MUDIE'S LIBRARY FROM AN AMERICAN POINT O...
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Bookjstallh on Quays.—An interesting dis...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Bohn's Catalogues. To The Editor Of The ...
Quaritch compiled the only printed volume of Bonn ' s 1847 ( Classified ) Catalogue . On
referring to my copy I find that a second volume was published X . comprising x . O pages I O 469 to 1164 , in
four parts : Part I . in 1850 ; Part II . no date ; Part III . in 1866 ; » Part IV . in 1867- . Mr . Bohn — ,
in his address in Part IV . says that' He has with no inconsiderable labour and application contrived to accomp j . lish this task , and here - -
with ( on the eve of his retirement from business ) presents the result . ' In 1868 the first portion of Mr . Bohn ' s
stock was sold by Messrs . Sotheby , occupying 24 days 4 / ; the second portion JL in 1870 w , occu— pI y -
ing 21 days ; the third and concluding portion in 1872 , occupying 6 days .
Yours truly , W . E . Goulben . The * Athenaeum' Library
, Canterbury ,
April 16 , 1890 . IO »
Ar01603
5 The Publishers' Circular May 1 , 18 90
Mudie's Library From An American Point O...
MUDIE'S LIBRARY FROM AN AMERICAN POINT OF VIEW .
Every one knows something of the great circulating-library system of England . The
magnitude of the Mudie library is of itself proof of the existence there of a very large
X alert , and eager book-reading community tf O , . We have many libraries in this country
—public libraries , circulating libraries , free libraries—but their aggregate consumption of books is much below that of Mudie ' s . In
truth , it is not uncommon for Mudie to take on the day m / of publication X more cop X ies of a
book at a high price than could be sold throughout the United States at a lower price . When
for instance , Anthony Trollope ' s autobiography , was publishedMudie subscribed for 1500
copies , the retail , price being five dollars . , I think any •/ publisher x . here will * bear me out —in
saying that it is doubtful if so many copies could be sold in this country •/ even at half the
price . The book was published here in cheap format about twenty-five centsand hadno
doubt , , a very good sale . Had , it been pub , - lished in England at that priceI am justified . —
in saying that ^ j the sale would ^ , , -j have ^ reached _ — some immense figure . When Froude ' s *
History of England" was first published , Mudie subscribed for a thousand cop X ies ; yet * J no pub MT — -
lisher here thought it prudent to make an edition for this market , although a thousand
would copies , hav at the e insu usual red price the publisher of works against of the kind loss . ,
These instances indicate the volume of Mudie ' s business . The ordinary edition of a
threegreater volume Eng number lish novel of which is five are hundred taken b cop y Mudie ies , the .
could Published not here exceed at a dollar two thousan and a half d , the ies edition or if cop
in paper covers at fifty cents , five thousand , might be reached . The English edition must
be estimated to have for each copy from ten tc twenty mf readerscounting each family as one
reader . Mudie , 's central C > establishment *** in London and his branches in all the towns are
that bo large they , bo render vital a the fact in issue English of many publishing books ,
possible that could not otherwise be printed .
This system , moreover , greatly increases the rewards of authorship . The prices of books
for a circulating a w A libraries Mam * are very hi m * g h , and with every notably successful book the profits are
greatly beyond anything that we experience in America — — . But — while . - - --- the - prices j ^ - by ^ j the - — library _ uv _
system are high , English readers obtain books for perusal at a very small cost . For five
dollars a year a subscriber has the command of all the literature of the day ; for twenty-five
dollars a year he receives his fortnightly parcel of various books , which he may taste , read , or
reject at his pleasure . Here with us every individual bookso far as it looks for individual !
buyers , has to overcome , the reluctance , if not the hostility , of the public ; for no man will I
deliberately purchase a book unless he has assurance that it is what he wants . Under the
English library system the reader is brought in contact with every bookno given book
involving a special outlay ; and , hence every new production X enjoys 1 / •/ an opportunity X J . \> that is
denied most of the new books under our methods . I believe that the English library system , with
its large body of alert and accessible readers , has been the means of building up an expansive
and catholic literature . It may be asked how it is that the innumerable public libraries with us do not produce similar results . There are
several thousands of them , and yet , while they obtain books at much less cost than the English libraries dothey seem to exert a very
small CJ effect upon numbers , printed On the contrary , editions have become smaller as these
institutions have multiplied , so that the suspicion arises whether they are not detrimental to literary interests . How there should be
this difference j in results between circulating libraries supported — by subscription and
libraries free to all comers •/ , I am not X prepared to say . As for subscription circulating libraries
in this country , they are wholly insignificant . Their total purchases of books make a paltry
showing by the side of Mudie ' s splendid orders . —Mr . Oliver B . Bunoe in the North American
Review . —* o«—
Bookjstallh On Quays.—An Interesting Dis...
Bookjstallh on Quays . —An interesting discussion on the subject of ' Bookstalls at
Quays , ' took place recen u tly at the Belfast Harbour Board . A motion was brought for-°
ward to the effect that permission should be granted to Mr . Olley to place two bookstalls
on Donegall Quay . The motion was warmly supportedand it was intimated that Mr . Olley
would be , prepared to pay a fair rent for the ground occupied . In the discussion that
followed Board pointed , some out of that the Commissioners it would be unwise of the to f \
let pieces of ground to any particular applicant | for the purpose of a bookstall . There would i
be no reason why the same concession should not be granted to applicants for fruit or cigar
stalls . It was urged on the other hand that the establishment of such a stall was greatly
desired by passengers embarking or landing at wv ^ Donegall vmm ^ ^ v ^^ ^» jr h ^ ^^ mm + * m , Bay ^^^ v ^ m . v mm After *****^ w * ^** # ¦*¦ « further * ^ h ^^^ BB ^ rmmmm ^ a ^*>* conversation ^ v ^^ mm ^ w ^ v . h rw ^ v ^ - —
the Board chairman might grant expressed the concession the view , that upon the the
clear understanding that if it should prove any
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Citation
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Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), May 1, 1890, page 500, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01051890/page/16/
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