The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-06 00:00:00

THE BOOKSE"..LING TRADE.
On Tuesday evening, at•thii rooms of Mr. John Chap-
man, 142, Strand, a number of-gentletnen, authors, pub-
lishers, and booksellers, mot, convened by circular, " to
agree upon such an expression of opinion" on the ques-
tion of the dispute in the boOkselling business " as may
hasten the removal of the present rade restrictions on
the commerce of literature," The cfrenlar further in-
timated that the expediency or-the 'advocates of a free
trade in books-seeking an interview with Lord CamPbell,
Mr. Grote,l'and Dr,-Miloian, "The arbitrato7s" selected
by the opposing parties,, would be submitted to con-
sideration.

Mr. Cuana'as; Drumm: (who- was. called upon to act
as chairman, and who was very warmly received), said-
that on being requested to take-the chair, ho had in the
first instance, declined, on the•grourdthat they had 'met
to di.,cuss what was a bookseller's question, and not an
author's gee tam). ' But' consideratien suegested that he
might on that, very account be hetter'qualified. to act as
chairman, es being riecest.etrily impartial in a contention
hetes( ea different dailies of bbAsellers and publishers..
Fie wss, on principle, moat Strongly opposed
.to any sys-
tem, in: any: ctitiainercial . direction, . of, exclusion or
restriction. He held ehat-overy-man, whataver.his call-
ing, must be left to the fair and-free exercisebf his own
.h.oneate.thrift :and en terpriede Abiding; tliesteepinioir, 41e.
was there to-nigh/'to make a protest.against-a, parti-
cular system of restrietiene ; • amtlats frulted that' a. eatis•
factory result would be tibtained:—(Cheers.) •.'
Letters were read ekeusiog the absence of-the writers,
and expressing approval iri the purposes of the meeting,
froin Mr. Cobden, Mr. rilosoCetelyie, Mr. john. Stuart
Mill, Prof user De • Mergan, Mr—Henry. Cole, Mr.. japes
Girds* -Mr. IV. -J. Fox, Mr. George Combo, Mr. J.
M'Culloch (of the Stationery-office),..Mr. W. E. Glad-
stone, Mr. Robert Chambers,..Mr. Leigh Hunt,. Mr. Wm.
Weir, Mr. Wm. Hortitt, Mr. Robert Hunt, •Mr. A. B.
Reach, and other gentlemen. The letter from Mr. Car-
lyle, as highly characteristic, we append:—
" Cheises, May 3, 1852—Sir,----Unlueleily. I shall not
be able to attend your meeting-tin Tuesday evening, but
I can have no hesitation in testifying my concurrence
with the object of it, which_.l understand, in brief,
to be free trade- in books, or the first step in a course
leading straight towards that. Free trade in re-
spect of books,lced,. indeed,- of most other ob-
jects, is by no means the ultimatum one aspires to, or
the perfect condition that will --satisfy the world's want
in the matter; my far from that in many cases; and in the
case of literature, farther than in any other whatsoever.
But surely in all cases, and in that of literature too, free
trade is better than trade unjustly crippled by monopolies
which are merely blind and greedy; in present circum-
stances, free trade were aelear improvement; and more-
over, in the critical disposition of the world, it is a first
stage through which all faulty things must pass, and only
beyond and after trial of which can any progress that"will
prove true and lasting be looked for. For the rest, near
t here are few branehesof human industry, and most clearly
literature is not brie of them—in which the shopkeeper
peincdteerdes a interest:
generous in reg armder to
ohvearay,
an
spirit (so we may call it for the sake of definition) will
suffice to regulate production add distribution according
tato they there world's
Ss perpetually d'sreai wanttaal and rly no
spirit (which it may be feared free=trade anti
active competition will net much tend to develop.among
us)—and in regard to ;souse, there is.. needed a
spirit higher than any kind- of _Merchandise, and
not looking to profit and - loss for advice at
all. Now certainly, beyond - all other objects, li-
terature in its higher forms. belenge to the latter claSs ;
to these two latter elasses ir'ttelongs in all forms of
it that have any value to Mankind e 'for the mere
shopkeeper spirit, looking only to the visible vicinity,
and sharpened into ever greater eagerness for imam-
diate returns, is smitten with eternal incoMpetence in
even the finance of literature, and can do no good what-
ever there that would noaotherwise
.be done,. and does
immensities ?of :mischief :there- which perhaps might
otherwise remain undone. . . •
All this is true even of the finance of literature:—
and, alas! Werature has many elements. besides the finan-
cial, and far more important to it than the financial; in
regard to all of which- it would so gladly cease to be
anarchic, and become well ordered, and well governed,
if it only could. Truly, to.consider how society at pre-
sent stands related to literature may well fill the think-
ing man with astouishment, with anxiety, almost with
terror. The duties of society towards literature in those
new conditions of the world are b.sconsing great; vital,
inexpressibly intricate, little -Capable of being done or
understood at present, but all-important to be un-
derstood and done, if Society will continue to
exist with it, and it along with society. From
the highest business
of spiritual culture and the
most sacred interests of men, down to the lowest
economic and ephemeral concerns where ""free press"
reign
ruca
tsitiepsraenmd cp,asrolicaiemtyen:tusa: dependieg on the thing it calls
y see-
its lf, with all its sove-
•
literature, and bound, under incalculable penalties, to very
many duties in regard to that!-L-uf -which duties, I per-
ceive, finance alone, end free trade alone, will by no
and must not be
means be found to be the same. But" such considerations
"" What alone Concerns us here is to remark that the
presentrthbaeoyaoltliaddoeudrtohere. : basine7,
mlieorfae
present systemlof :book publishing discharges none of
these duties, less and less makes even the appearance
of discharging them; and indeed_ as I Wiese) is, by the
nature of the case, incapable of ever in any perceptible
degree discharging any of -them in the times that
now are. A century
any' ago • there was in the hook
yelling guild—if how
could
solid merchanthood, which had its value in regard to the
such
for it6hYearietY? ofy ',4 spirit,
spirit of
prosaic facts of literature, land. is ever to be thankfully
remembered there. OF this, solid merchant spirit, if aye
take the victualling and furnishing of such an enterprise
as Samuel Johnson's English. Dictionary for its English
feat (es perhaps we justly .mey),.and many a " Me-
moires " " Enc)clopecha Britanraca," &c., in this
coun-
try and' in others for its-. lower,-we must gratefully
admit the real usefulness, -respectability, and merit to
the world. But in later titneS; owing to many causea
which have been active, nht on the book guild alone,
such spirit has long been diminishing, and has now
as good as diseppeered,.. without hope of re-
suscitation in that clearter.e The_ spirit of the book
trade, it is mournfully *evident, is that of modern
trade generally, no better and no worse a hand-
to-mouth spirie incapable of ever again paying for even
a Johnson's Dititinnery ; not what I can will a merchant
spirit, but (on the great or -on -the -small scale) a shop-
keeper one. Such is the neele.nclioly fact, sa far
as my experience and obscriation have taught me
to form an opinion. If nial vote is inquired of in
the matter, I grieve to _ eay, and am not con-
scious of either anger or—of...favour in saying, it is
authentically this which leads me—and, indeed, has long
since led me—to infer that the publishing guild, taping
large wages for doing indispensable work, and quite
omitting to do It,'is in no sate-or lasting position before
the public, and will prove incapable-of standing, unless it
can escape being acquired into. lf the public' itself (as
I by no means believe,'Or ever believed) is adequate, by
free trade or Otherwiae, to' remunerate literature, the
public ought to have at least.a chance" of trying to do
it. The present system, by,. which above -One-half of
the selling price of; a book. ('.from 55 to 65-per cent.,
including advertiseinents')., is_ paid
.over to a teen
or set of men, not who write it or print it, or bind
it, or make paper for it, but who show it across
the counter and draw in the money, remained, to all who
look at it in this point of 'view, one of the most astonish•
itig ever seen in human commerce, and seems to me, in
these days, destined to speedy abrogation when once the
public has got eye on it.
" My own-interest in the business, I confess, is not of
a lively nature;" nor are my hopes for the world, from
such a revolution, what they once might have been;
but such is, and has long been, my view of the case
now come: in hand. No' duty being done to litera-
ture bui, a ehoPkeePing one; let us have at 'lost the
eligiblehind of -shopkeepinga—your 55 per cent. reduced
gradually (as we find it in America just now) to 15 or
to 10, with bboks shunt. half the price they now bear,
and with 20 times, or 40 times,-Ms many readers to them
as now—after that we shall see.
""In haste, free:min, sir,, yours very truly,
(Signed) "T. CARLYLE.
" John Chapman,,Esq., Publisher, 142, Strand."
Mr. JOHN CHAPI4N then rose to make a statement
explanatory of the circumstances which had led to the
Meeting, and descriptive of ,the position of the contro-
versy. He, in the first plade, entered into. the reasons
nd his a
coadjutors
Which had inducedhim to. decline an informal in-
vitetion to be present at the deputation of the Book-
sellers' Association to. Lord Camphell. Since then he had
read a lettera front, Low,
ifibxeedsecaredtaar:
forof athe-
Booksellers' Aessociation, informing him that Lord
Campbell
had d
other conference,askingif he could attend. This
h
was the question which
called to decid t e..present meeting had been
e. he following was the correspondence
which had taken place betxeen himself (Mr. Chapman)
and Lord Campbell :

, Strand, April
" To the Bight Ile
intenziable Lord
tip, hold a meeting at my
promotion of free
tiLmroiontred:thEerpressed willing-
" Ily Lord,—lt iA "n 1042
8 wh-icthhe Dean of St.
24, 1852.
house abr ut ten days hence
and those
Campbell.
deputationpobahle
trade in books. BftrintlF,,,i.
aynbieppterrevpieerwedevtiothoyffioetulrir'sinordd"shitihp
nets of your Lordabimpa,ta
Paul',, to,listen to any explanation
tvw''hhielolunciolodntecerdoBrtl7lmidtiithnuginstetho any ulterior coursee.,
that at the meetingabout to take place,
will
be a.poointed to wait on your Lordatip, for the purpose
of stating the views y-,re enrtain, and to furnith such
ari4umenta,as we believe will prove their correctness, in
order that ypur Lartiship ae,d the gentlemen associated
'i, with you unY 1)4 iiitcaeciou c,.f ell the attar ueceosary