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    *— ' Sf April 15,1890 The PublishersCirc...

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    CAN THE BOOKSELLERS POSITION BE IMPROVED...

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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.

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    Book^Elle^ Of To-Day .

    friend in the trade expressed the hope that it would " crack me up . " Since the sketch was

    purchases published I containing have added the to record the list of . my At the big

    at Sunderland the Hamilton sale I sal boug e my ht up total to £ 33 outlay , 000 , and was

    h near as l been y £ 40 to , 000 go . to The ever feature y little sal of e my , and career then

    to attend matter how to the small wants or various of my . customers Skin , no ** pea A gCJ

    broadly , money-making has never entered my head , my object being to get the best

    books at whatever cost . I may even have to sell at cost price—in fact , there is no man who has lost more from unfortunate purchases than

    I have . ' ' Have you found any great variations in

    the tastes of book-buyers % ' ' Yes . When I was a young man at Bonn's I things were very different . Greek and Latin

    classics were in demand , and large folios sold readily . But now such books are almost down to waste-paper pricein factbulky

    books have gone -A down J . X . more , than any , thing ; else . Works containing early woodcuts of the old Italian masters always were in demand

    and are now . The books on America which , fifty years ago sold for a few shillings now fetch their weight in gold . There has been a

    marvellous demand for records of early voyages to America . The development of bookishness in that country has been extraordinary . When

    I look back at what America was forty or fifty the years influence ago the of ch the ange American is truly wonderful market is , while dail y

    asserting itself more strongly . ' 7-.- ) „ ^ 'Has not modern education affected the market V

    * No , not the old book market . It has gone in for the new cheap literature . Forty years ago Chambers and Charles Knight had

    jus time t s it tar was ted the thei fashion r cheap p in eriodica all good ls , but houses at that to buy tsold books . Now there is so much

    anxious periodical to literature sell their that old peop books le seem instead to be of buying them . Many books that formerly had

    . / o j j a commercial 4 Do you adop value t any have hard littl and e now fast . ' line

    coneeming 4 Well the , I class go in of for your the purchases early printed 1 ' books and early manuscriptsalso for anything that is

    first class , almost down , to the present day , but of Orui nineteen kshank , th Rowlandson -century poets , and the I leave first editions alone .

    This particular lino is becoming a very considerable 4 How industry is the colonial , but I and am not forei in it t . ' ?' gn

    books * A on taate earl is y spring voyages ing to that in Aus country tralia , the for same as has existed in America for some time .

    wit My h most American remarkable books transaction occurred the in other connection day . f bought the genuine first letter of Columbus ,

    America m in Snaniflli Spanish to , King announc nr » r »/' ninr Ferdinand » ir ing » nr the t . Vin and discovery rliPtf * rkV his *> w wife of nf Isabella i printed h in 1403 t at Barcelona . It

    consiats of - - » ^» ^~ w two , * ^ 4 ^ j ^ leaves ^ ^^ ^^ ^^ mt JK 4 * , and » * J ^ ^ ' ^^ I " *^ F ^* want ***" »*^ r ^* ^^ ^ £ 1 ^^ , 600 ~ ^ ^ - *^ for m * ^^ - ^^ it ^* . I gave a very long price myself . Hitherto there

    lations nave been of the in the Columbus market letter only the and Latin these trans used

    to about be worth £ 400 . £ The 100 translations apiece , but were are not now printed worth

    in other Spain old , but and in extraordinary * Italy and elsewhere books , I . have As in to

    Indian ray time Bible had and about Testament ten cop , firs ies t and of Elliot second ' s

    editions . Of European books a remarkable Mazarine circumstance Bible is I 2 have vols had . folio five ¦ cop inted ies of the by

    Gutenberg - - — -- - in 1455 , -w . The — r cheapest — - ** r ^^ -w ^ , H pr m I boug ^ ^^ v ^ ^^ ^^ ht at ^ £ 59 and the dearest £ 3 , 900 .

    bought Wh ? ' t was the dearest book you ever * I bougt _ j ht the " Psalter , " printed X by Fust

    and I have Schoutfe it still r . ' in 1459 , and gave for it £ 4 , 950 , ' There is a good lock on your front doorI

    , supp ose Oh , that Mr . Quaritch never disturb \' s me . The Mazarine and , Indian Bibles I have in the shop

    still . What the public knows nothing of is my industry v as a dealer in periodicals x — . I don't

    mean the Family Herald and that sort of and thing scientific , but the periodical M . transactions 3 . This of learned branch societies requires A ,

    few an amount booksel of lers industry ^ can ive and . attention It is battendin that very to the minutise that 1 g have been _ —_ enabled _ — y _ ____ to go j ^ g

    grea in worth for t p the mentioning urc great hases " . guns If / l I ' althoug t h k , mone upon anyth these bac ing k

    in such 1 You cases are it credi is all ted I with expect ge hav . ' indone y — h g

    to create the value of rare and uncommon book The s V value of the books is made bcomy

    petition , very few books , however old and rare , have a settled recognised commercial value . It is instinct that has guided me

    throughout my career . 1 have been a bookfancier the public myself at larg . I cater and I for look myself up m and my not stock for

    as my own library . , ' ' But you touch upon other branches of the business i 1 '

    I am a little bit of a new bookseller and a little bit of a publisher , and I consider those who put over their doors " 3 d . in the Is . " are

    ac becau ting se . ver they y wrong cannot ly g . It it is all a round dishonest , but onl act y , on certain books . '

    Thanking Mr . Quaritch for his valuable ex found pressions his way of op into inion the , our shop represen feeling tative his

    respect intensified V for the remarkable X . , collec W - tion of literature there shelved .

    » O «

    *— ' Sf April 15,1890 The Publisherscirc...

    *— ' Sf April 15 , 1890 The PublishersCircular 44

    Can The Booksellers Position Be Improved...

    CAN THE BOOKSELLERS POSITION BE IMPROVED ?

    To the Editor of the Publishers' Circular . Sir , —In connection with this question ,

    which I wish has to bring lately to received the notice so much your attention readers a , scheme founded on the International News

    Company of America ( an association of the principal newsagents for trading purposes ) which has been most successful .

    As it seems to be generally admitted that a return to the old custom of charging the m

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), April 15, 1890, page 445, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15041890/page/13/