New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-09-20

can publishers that we are led to add few sug-
gestions to those which We presented the other
day for the benefit of our friends at the Trade
Sale Rooms. The Reriew says:
AT the present moment several agents from tho
large booksellers Of the cities Just mentioned Boston
New. York and Philadelphia here. purchasing
stock and making arrangements or several Enghsn
books, hear Of many as one two aud even three
1 beng
an illustrated or expensive character are mostly Sought
after"
Some portion Of the American demand for
English books is natural and will probably al
ways continue; but the fact that orr booksellers
find it profitable to import new books by the
thousand copies is very pregnant one. IL Is
an evidence at once that the taste OF numerous
American buyers has been we'll cultivated, ana
that the means of gratifying it do not exist on
this side the Atlantic. If the ten or fifteen
thousand copies of new books that are to be i'm
ported this Fall could DO manufactured here,
they would be. The fact that we send abroad
for them is a confession of the inferority oil our
domestic productions; and it is fact OF which
our publishers and printers are bound to take
notice. The taste for EngliSh-printed books
does exist, and will increase; and can only be
made profitable to American printers when the
latter approach the standard of their rivals across
the water Nor can any question of cost OF pro-
duction stop our improvement.
Reckoning exchange, duty, and at least two
intermediate profits, the imported English book
stands its purchaser in round sum which would
much more than pay the cost of manufacture
here, provided it could be manufactured here
At one time, when gold was at $50 the English
shilling was computed in importing as equal to
the American dollar; and, if the rate has since
been somewhat reduced, it is still very far from
being what it was before the war--about So
cents. There is, therefore, and will continue TO
be, q large margin for increasing the prices OF
American books if that were what Is necessary
to bring them up to the London mark.
But we spprehend something else is wanting
The want Of skill, the want OF taste, and TO
some extent the want Of the best material, we
commented on the other day. What is not less
necessary to success than either OF these Is
conscientiousness The statement may be ques-
Toned but il is true. Our printers do not do the
very beat they know how to do-whether De-
cause they are not paid for being CONSCIENTIOUS,
and cannot afford to be, or for whatever reason;
but the fact that they do not, they will proba'
bly admit, and In many cases even Will
assert throwing the responsibility for II
upon the publishers who decline TO pay Tor flrst-
class work. Yet the book-buyiDg public will
not refuse to pay for first-class work, as Is
ebundanty proved by their paying immense
prices for English books; and immense prices,
we may add for large paper copies Of American
books that aspire to rival the English.
We need cite but single example of the de-
structive haste with which books are poured ont
from American presses, viz; the great number
of sheets sent to lhe binder before they are dry.
and which appear in the market in book form
hopelessly disfgured by " off-setting that IL,
by tho damp impression on one page printing oil
on another. Many and MARI copy of we'll
known books have we turned over in the stores
to find one free from this blemish aud often In
win. The register of the book is so imperfect
that thd Ge;.ect Of of-setting becomes the more
conspicuous--in the headlines of the page
especially. Indeed, this particular fault is so
common in books otherwise well-printed that
purchasers should make a point of examining
every copy to detect it. And we know Of no
better way to put an end to such sloyenly work
than for buyers to reject rgdly every volume that
is thus injured stating why they reject it, and
letting the retailer return it to the publisher as
defective and unstable That will speedily
discourage practice which grows out Of the
haste with which il is deemed necessary to get
books upon the market. The publishers are
primarily responsible; but any printer who val
ues his reputation should peremptorly refuse to
let fresh sheets leave his office till the ink is
thoroughly afy and ready for the binder.
There is another sort of distigured book We
would have every buyer reject-thoSe, viz.
which attack him with an advertisement oppo.
site the title. 1t has grown to be common, of
late for publishers to advertise. on the reverse of
the fy.title, facing the title-page proper, SO
that purchaser or reader cannot possibly turn to
the title of the book he buys or consults. with
out being aflrontcd by this thrusting Of other
wares upon his notice. Worse even than this
are some books which bear an advertisement
upon the back of the title.pagc itself, so that it
is impossible to tear out the advertisement ex-
cept by tearing out the title. This latter abom.
nation is not yet, we are happy to say, very
commons but it may grow to any extent unless