The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1881-08-20
Ascend Literary ReyelasIon.

ard books in every departments Of lit
eratnre at from one-third to one
tenth of their former cost.
The second literary revolution con-
sists in still further very great re-
duction (conditional) even from the
revolution prices, while, at the same
time, the average quality Of the books
will continue to be materially i'm
proved. . - s
HOW CAN THESE THINGS BE?
To attempt an impossibility could
of course result only in failure, and
it would be useless, in our own inter
est, or in that of the many thousand
customers who have shown such
earnest favor, and have given us such
great patronage,to announce or prom
Use what could not be performed. We
have dealt frankly with our custom
ers in giving facts concerning lbsts
and profits in the past, and we No it
now,by giving facts and figures illus
trating how we can afford to still fur
thur reduce prices.
FACTS AND FIGURES.
Please note, at the start, our apol-
ogy for not having done heretofore
what we. now propose to do, and con-
slider
1st-We published our first book on
ly so long agoas January, 1879. Pre-
yious to that time we were entirely
without experience in book publish
ing. What knowledge we had of the
business was gan.cd in newspaper
publishing, and in book selling.
2d--We were also at that time al
most entirely without capital, and un-
til so late as February, 1881, we la
bored under the difficulty of being
without capital even approximately
adequate for the magnitude of the
enterprise we were undertaking.
3d-Our entire scheme was in op-
position to all previous methods Of
publishing and book-selling. And
from the beginning to the present,we
have had the combined bitter oppo-
sition Of almost the entire book pub
fishing and book selling classes of
the united StabcS.
4th-Starting thus, with mini
mum of knowledge, anil less capital,
and with such immense opposition,
we thought it best. in the interest of
10th the reading public and ourselves
that we undertake too little, rather
than too much; partial success would
he better than total failure.
5th--In spite of our want of re-
sources and of experience, and in
spite of opposition, and with the me-
cessity of organizing and training
our ne'c forces, and necessarily try
ing many experiments, all of which
no one could expect would be uni
formly successful. we have from Jan
nary |, 1880, to June 30, 1881, man
ufactured and sold nearly 100000
volumes Of, standard books, for which
we have received the considerable
sum of sos, 521.32.
6th-In circular issued in Janu-
airy of the present year, we made the
following statement: '1he public
have so long been taught to believe
books expensive Injuries, and low
prices impossible, that incredibly
has from the first been the greatest
obstacle tolthe progress of the Liuers
airy Revolution. It was easier to
make good books cheap than it was
to make people believe it could be
done. We could readily have made
prices even lower than they have
been, but for the terrible tax we have
been compelled to paygto this inere-
dulity." ~ 81 &x
We have during this period, from
January I, 1880. to June 80. 1881,
paid for advertising the large sum of
$l40,87S93. This immense item
necessarily has to conc out refs the
profits zoe make ON the sole Of our
books. a
7th-Althougll our scheme origin
ally embodied the principle ofselling
directly to the consumer, and doing
away with the exhorbitant cost Of
middlemen, we have not undertaken
to put aside the book seller and book
agent altogether, because ,large. por-
ton of the book buyers of the coun-
try have got into the habit Of looking
to them for supplies, and il we were
to supply the wants of sttch custom-
ers at all, we were compelled to do it
through these@ ordinary channels.
Bnt we have endeavored to iHduce or
compel these middlemenA to Work, as
we have been doing, on "a more reas-