Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-12-16
CHEAP Literal ures

II the art of printing deserves ell the
euIogy bestowed upon It ss the very lever
and mso.sprng Of progress-the most 20
tent agency tending to our social aoVancs-
ment and intellectual improvemeot-it ID al,
az directly responsible Tor much OF the evil
that !. in tne world. While it il true that
coed books are scattered broadcast over the
land. and that their influence TOR good 10 TO-
calculs bic, 1t must not be forgotten thst the
same cheapoess which Is so great desidera-
tun in their case, applies With fatal apthess
IN all the miserable trash with which the
earth is deuged. There are two princ'pal
classes of bad publications which are WITH.
in the reach OF everybody in consequence OF
their low price, that is, to say. low, IN com
harrison with the mere quantity OF printed
matter they contain. -,
The youngest inhsbitanp who is old
enoupb to read and discriminate, can almost
remember the advent Of the cheap novel
Two or three volumes, compressed into one,
with paper covers, in bsd type on poor paper
but still readable--and for sale at twenty
Eve cents! At frs, these were confined to
reorints Of standard works OF 6ction-books
which may be found in binding more worthy
of their value, and 10 most libraries-Sut
the devil soon seized upon this new appliance,
BY which evil might be wrought, aud oil
the steamboats,, railway stations and news
depots were speedily thronged by bis emissa
ries in the form of what was called yellow
covered literature" Of these vile books We
scarcely know bow to speak in measured
terms. Without being positively obscene IN
the fullest sense of the term, they we're sut-
6ciently immodest and disgusting to EXCITE
a storm of Reproduction aud rebuke which
soon caused them to disappear, or at least
caused then to be less openly offered in all
the highways and thorougbfares. The most
curious feature 10 their history, was the
unparalleled etfrontery with which they
were thrust into the face of the community.
They are still secretly offered for sale and
have rather increased in vividness and filth,
many of tbem being illustrated With picto.
rial embellishments q little more disgusting,
ii possible than the text they illustrate.
A step higher in the scale. but still sufi-
GENTLY low. we ind the cheap paper-bound
novels, with wonderfully taking titles. For
instance. The Pale Lily, or the Young
Brides Fearful Honeymoon !" Let not our
readers suppose for moment that acc ever
read sentence in book with such title
These productions are guilty of the most hor-
rible stupidity. The most apparent evil e.
feet they produce on their readers is the
stultifca of their intellectual powers
The first mentioned transformed their readers
into brotes, these last transform them into
oysters, and their craniums is the last place
one would look for brains.
The second class Of cheap publications
which is Just now growing in popularity is
the low-priced newspaper, devoted to serial
tales. Even the first class productions OF
Thackeray, Buiwer and Dickens are otjsc-
tionabln when thew appear in parts, sepsra-
ted by intervals Of week or month, mas
much as the interest 10 the story wsDes 1t II
ia not kept on the stretch all the time,
Ard it it lie, the story itself is not worth
the continued attention of reader for a
year or eighteen months. But the serl-
lis in the weekly newspapers, with aston
sbug titles, ore torlornly weak and in
sipid. No one is compelled to think while
be reads them; indeed the power of thought
hss little to do with either their production
or perusal They are never natural in their
main Incidents and characters, and the de.
movement is always unreasonable, weak or
commonplace. Instead of the higher ro-
nance, which elevates and enobles, they in
duce in their readers the mesnest aspirations
and the silliest faucies. We are in favor of
welI.told tales, iuculcstiug sound morals.
and atfording instruction in the guise OF
amusement, but his "hapdoddIe" (which,
according to Sir Terrence O'Brien, means
"the stuff fools are fed on il as iutdlerable
as il is ommon.-BdH american.