Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1878-10-14
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
Special Correspondence.
New YORK, Oct. z. 1878

Special Correspondence.
New York, Oct. z, 1878.
The semi-annual trade book sale here
is always an interesting occasion and
is one which grows in Importance year
by year. Its idea, when first instituted
was to enable publishers and dealers to
clear of by auction each spring and fall
| the surplus or unstable stock which
they might find on hand at the time of
its occurrence. By degrees, however,
this use of the trade sale became secon-
Diary to another, namely, the ascertain
ing of the real market value of different
works by putting up small lots of each
and noting the prices obtained. Doing
this year by year and comparing the
figures brought by any given book at
different times furnishes the publisher
the most reliable indications of the
growth or decline of its popularity.
Nearly all the great publishing houses
now avail themselves of this method
which has in cnnsannanca nainaa nrnat
Importance. The fall sale for 1878,
just closed, lasted eight days and dis
posed of large quantity, of books.
It was a noticeable fact that the
heavier classes of reading found the
greatest favor. Scientific and religious
works brought relatively larger figures
than either new or standard fiction,
Buckle and John Stuart Mill leading
Dickens and Thackeray, and Webster's
Dictionary being held at sitter prices
than anything else in the catalogue.
More than 1000 of the various editions
were sold and had the publishers been
willing to drop fifty cents from thell
usual rates, 1000 copies Of the Una.
bridged could have been easily disposed
of.
. Seeing these facts in the report of the
trade sale reminds me of a flying visit
that made to the Office of the Merriams
when in Springfield few months ago.
This firm, owning and publishing the
remarkable unabridged" was started
under the style of G.. & G. Merriam Al
| far back as 1881 and for full genera
ton its founders were its only members
Of late years third brother has beer
7 admitted, but no change was made il
the name which will soon have complet
! ed half century of existence TIL,
/; concern published at first only law books
but coming at length into relation witt
e Noah Webster. their attention was turn
s ed to educational publishing, and the,
e issued the famous "Webster's Speller,
: of which they still own the copyrigh
t and of which | suppose some forty Q
q fifty millions of copies must have beel
( printed. Their great work, however
y has been the publication of the diction
0 airy, and this firmly believe has bee
J. and still is to them as much labor Q
o love as of profit. The shrewdness, lib
i erality and vigor with which they hav
y handled it from the start are the ADM
), ration of the whole book trade. and ca
e hardly fail to have been remarked b
d the most casual observer. Having bee
Il impressed by these qualities one is hard
IS ly prepared for the quiet and the ratf
( er quaint, old-fashioned air of the vel
l. cradle Office, itself located on sid
Il street of provincial city, where {
'e much important wosk is planned. an
D. whose infuense is co-extensive wit
Is the language.
e, During my brief call here | sa
a more of interest than | have space
,e describe. | was shown among othe
IT things. a copy Of the first ..Revise
n Edition of the Dictionary published
s. lS47: and by comparing this with IL
re latest copy could obtain good idea
4 to the change and growth of our etym
logy during these thirty years. II
l. way in which Webster's has been mat
l. to keep pace with this constant progre
le and even to aid and shape the latt
s. would make most interesting letter
of itself. The mascot manuscript viii,
a. l saw just as it came from the most Ell
is inent specialists Of Europe and Americ