Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-06-02
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THE NEW TESTAMENT.
ENORMOUS SALES IN NEW WYORK-THE STYLES
IN WHICH 1T IS GOTTEN UP.

NEW
ENORMOUS SALES IN NEW yoRK-THE STYLE
IN WHICH 1T IS GOTTEN UP.
The hands of St. Pauls Church clock in
dicated precisely A. M. yesterday as tn
cashier Of l. K. Funk & Co., Nos. 10 and l:
Dey street, deposited in his drawer the pric
of the first single copy of the revised New
Testament, Oxford edition. Its purchase
had been waiting patiently since daybreak
and went away happy in the possession of hi
prize. Other persons had also been besieg
ing the doors of the publishing house with th'
; object of becoming the owners of the first sin
gle copies to be sold, eagerly bought up vol
umes. Similar incidents occurred in the
early morning in the store of Thomas Nelson
O. Sons, in Bleecker street, who, however, were
obliged to Immediately discontinue retail
sales in consequence of the multiplicity OF
orders from the trade. Business with the
latter was opened at A. NJ, from which
hour until nightfall sixteen clerks and sales:
men worked like Trojans, taking orders and
putting up packages! *aThe largest sale OF
any house in the city was made to the Ameri.
can News Company, who in turn supplied an
army of news agents and small book sellers
An incessant clatter was kept up in Bleecker
street by the arriving and departing express
wagons, many of which transported immense
packages and cases Of the cheaper editions to
cities, towns and villages in this vicinity.
Dealers in this city, it was said, took 75, 900
copies, one house alone taking $4,000.
The orders from New England we're also
very large 10000 volumes were shipped to
San Francisco, and double that number to
booksellers in Chicago. The entire number
of copies of all kinds disposed of by Nelson
4 Sons up to P. M. was 250,000. Of these
the largest number were 20 cent books. The
only edition exhausted was that known as
the Long Primer, the retail prices of which
ranged from 81 to $780, Funk & Co., dis
patched $4,000 copies by express and freight
to many points in the United States, and a
great mum ber of single books were sent by
mail to those who had submitted their or.
ders in advance The local demand inclu.
ded large number of orders for finely bound
volumes, printed in large, handsome type.
At 2 P NJ only few copies Of the $4,000
20.cent Testaments remained to be disposed
Of The sales of the 15.cent edition, which
is bound in tinted paper, aggregated 10000
copies, and the profit to the firm per copy
was cents, while that of the 20-cent book
was cents. A larger margin of profit is al
lowed in the sale of the companion book,
which explains the changes made in the text
of the New Testament as we'll as the reasons
for making Them This book is furnished in
two difent styles of binding and letter press
at The rates of 25 cents and Is cents. Funk
& Co.'S. first edition of the companion, con-
sisting of 10000 copies, was nearly exhausted
yesterday. Letters have been received by
both houses from clergymen throughout the
country informing them that it is their inten-
ton to read the revised edition of the New
Testment from their pulpits on Sunday. Or
ders for supplies are also being sent in by
various Sunday schools in this city, Brook.
lyn and elsewhere.
Before noon yesterday the cheaper editions
were displayed on the counters of every book
store, wholesale, retail and second hand. Ev.
cry news stand had stock of them, and they
were hawked about the streets in hand carts
by men, who succeeded in selling large mum.
bers of the neatly printed twenty-cent books
for twenty-five cents. In fact no work ever
introduced here was bought up with such a
degree of avidity and it is not likely that a
larger number of copies Of any other book
were sold in q single day. At the bookstore
of Arson D. F. Randolph & Co., Broadway
and Twentieth street, the demand began at
$50 o'clock in the morning, the earliest pur-
chasers being clergymen and theological stu
dents. The dollar edition was disposed of
very rapidly, and there were also many re-.
quests for the fifty cent ones. Leggat's new
store, in Chambers street, was also besieged
by purchasers all day, while the other houses
in the trade were kept equally busy supply
ing customers with copies of the revised Tes-
lament. York 1Tmes May 81.
u 1t would be almost impossible to describe
in detail all the forms that the book assumes
in coming before the public eye. Firstly,
there are the two sets of publications bearing
respectively the imprints of the Oxford and
Cambridge presses. These are in the main
similar, price for price. But few copies Of
the former have as yet got into circulation
here, the Philadelphia agents being the repre-.
sentatives of the Cambridge press. The
prices are graded, at small intervals, from 6f.
| teen;cents to s1050 but the differences arise
mainly from variations in the binding and
finish. As far as the letter press is concerned,
they may be divided into four groups. First
comes the cheapest, measuring about 81 by Al
inches, printed in nonpareil type in double
columns, with the disputed reading in a mar.
row central space. There are 332 pages, not
including Is which contain the preface. 1t
has the readings approved by the American
Committee at the end, and is in all respects
complete. 1t is neat, readable, handy little
book, and is bound in half dozen different
styles, from plain paper to flexible Morocco.
The second style is also in double columns
and small pages. This ranges in price from
so cents up, according to finish. The first
edition printed across the page is an octave at
81, up to about IS, according to binding,
which varies from stiff muslin covered boards
to elegantly worked Morocco and Russia
leather. In this copy, as also in the finest,
the notes, references. and different readings
are in the margin.
The largest and best form is a crown-octa-
vo on heavy paper. 1t is set in very bold type
and is in every respect typographical mas
terpiece. The bindings vary much in cost
illness, but not in appearance, and one Of the
Lippincotts' experiences yesterday was rather
amusing. 1t was only with the greatest diff:
Guilty the two most expensive makes could be
distinguished. They sell at 5000 and $3.50
respectively. The letter press is precisely
similar in both, and the difference in the
binding is only that between different grades
of material. 1t simply de6es detection by
any but an expert eye, and it was only after
careful examination by the foreman of their
bindery that the firm ventured to determine
the prices of the two sets of comics. Curious.