The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-10-21
The Books of the Year.

The book publishing trade, which, like
other branches Of business, has In general
been depressed during the last four years,
Is now experiencing more prosperous times
The publishers annual trade sale, which
took place here few weeks ago. drew to-
gether large number Of bidders from all
parts OF the country, and the prices OBJ
tained were satisfactory. while the quantity
OF books disposed Of was great.
The prospect Of a lively demand for good
and popular works Is now encouraging,
while the success which, during the year,
has attended the great publishing enter
Urises of houses like the APPLEIoNs and
the HARPERs has been remarkable. II has
proved that works oil permanent value and
practical use, though they may be expen-
sive, amply repay the large investment their
publication involves, aud form some of the
safest, As well as most profitable, ventures
such houses Gun undertake. They, how
ever. require the possession OF an amount
Of capital by the publisher which prevents
any except the richest firms in the business
undertaking them. The outlay on cyclic.
Tsedia, Dictionary. n gazetteer. or series
Of school books, must be enormous before
The extent OF the publishing business In
this country Is indicated by q bulky octave
volume called The Publishers Trade List
Annual" for 1871. and compiled oy Mr.. LEY
PoLDT. very competent man for the work
IN It are bound together the lists Of the pub
locations Of nearly one hundred aud seventy
houses and societies. In them are contained
the titles Of many thousands VI volumes, VI
which somewhere about three thousand
were published during the year ending last
July Among the works iSs ued In that year
are many Of exceeding value, aud the cost
Of whose publication was heavy. Yet they
seem all to have succeeded as business ven
lures. ia spite Of the hard times, ana 50
have Afforded proof Of the large demand
ior reading Of the best class The year,
however, was not one Of great productivity
among our native authors, so far us the pub
Icatiun Of books indicates that But In
England the new contributions to literature
reprinted here were very many IN all de-
partnlents. No American fiction OF any
extraordinary Importance was issued-the
best being Mr. JAMEs's american" Mr.
HAwTHOKNE's Garth. and Mrs BuRNErr's
Lass o LOwrir's though. following Mr..
HABBEKToN's "liclcn's Babies" there has
come n Hood Of generally trashy novels
builded after the same plan. These sensa-
tional stories will have n short life aud for
tunately, Tor they belong to pretty low
order Of mind.
In the other departments Of literature,
looking through the long list we fail to find
the titles Of American works which are likely
In bnl itrh nd
the war there has been with us u period of
intellectual as well us moral depression, and
the bad times which We have experienced for
the last -four years have also tended to dis
courage authorship. We have, however.
made some exceedingly important additions
10 standard works Of reference and the
activity displayed in the production Of school
books has been something almost marvellous
Mr. LEYPOLDrs catalogue Of these latter
publications shows how numerous are the
writers vino devote themselves to the prepa-
ration of text books Of all kinds He gives
the titles of Six or eight thousand OF these
works published in the country.
The manufacture Of school books is one OF
the most profitable departments OF the pub.
fishing trade, aud the competition between
the principal houses which engage in it Is OF
the sharpest kind, while the amount OF cap.
ital employed in the business reaches mil
lions. The introduction Of new text book
IL matter of great difficulty, but once II
has been introduced into the public schools
Of several States its success is assured. and
TIL" profits to the publisher and the author
are very large. There is no class OF book
writers who get so well paid for their work
as those who produce popular educational
works. II is unfortunate, however, in the
Interests II the instruction Of the young,
That through tho cagerncss ~ publishers to
sell new works, and the fertility of authors
In producing them, boys and girls are ~
fequentiN obliged 10 change their text
DOCKS. There Is also the temptation to cor
ruption on the part OF school boards. to which
as those know who understand the means
by which the books are sometimes intro.
dueed. the guardians od public education Dc