The Osceola times., 1883-08-11
A BOOK TRADE SECRET.
The Uses Made of Literature Hy Persons
who do not Pretend to Read.

The Uses Made of Literature by Persons
who do not Pretend to Read.
What becomes of all the BOOKS? is a
question almost as hard to answer as
what becomes of all the pins The junk
men, being the coroners of books, both
good and bad, could tell the tale better
than anybody else. But there is much
wor der to know what becomes of many
volumes before they find their way to
destruction-to know why they are ever
bought or sold at ALL There is no need
to explain the very few books which are
written and bought to read and first
editions and rare volumes have a ficti-
tious value which is well understood, for
bibliomaniacs generally outbid the junk
men and postpone the inevitable day of
"old paper period few years longer.
But while books are still new what be-
comes of them Hundreds of copies
are published in this country every year.
OF course, only small proportion of
this number are read or are meant to be
read. If authorship and publishing de-
pended entirely upon the patronage of
readers the number of writers and pub
fishers would 5e very small.
"Of course said the smiling manager
of one of the large uptown retail book
stores. "of course, there is a notion that
books are made to be read but that is
reall, notion that ought to be out of
date.
"What are they used for? Well largely
as presents. OF course the Christmas
books are nearly all of this class. but
they are by no means all that are con
sumed as presents. Nobody ever reads
n book that has been given TO him. You
see that table. count on selling every
book on it for presentation within ten
davs. You see birthdays of wives and
daughters and swccthoarts and preachers
come all the year round"
This article" said worldy-minded
salesman in religious bookstore. sis
gotten up especially for the country
preachers and Sunday-school men. L
don't know whether they read them or
not, but this style suits the trade; and
we know that precisely as dealers in
calico know the tastes of women in
Texas,
ave make n specially of country BIZ
bes This make of Holy Scri, ture is
sure 90 at country weddings. No rural
couple ever gets married but somebody
presents such a family Bible to them:
This design is a trifle more costly,
more snowy, too. II is made purposeiy
for the southern and western pulpits.
| Now pulpit bibles are capital article.
They are almost always presented to
the church by somebody. and the more
it costs the doner the more blessed he
feels il is to give. And when man has
set his heart on making present to the
church, he don't stand on the price.
Sometimes this article is made TO order.
I'm give you an example. A Hebrew
clothing house which does considerable
trade with Methodist elder in North
Carolina, got solid with his customer and
with the whole church by presenting a
big bible. We got the order, and hope
the people will get as much profit from
that bible as we got"
"What becomes of the books that are
nut on the market? Well,n said a book.
Iobber, "you know there is Sunday
|. school trade. put my worst books of
on them very often mean my wors,
selling books. They are all good yol
know, too good for the public. and tho
public don't buy 'en. Whether any