The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-10-12
SECONDHAND SCHOOL BOOKS.
Dealers VIII" Sell 10 New Generations the
Books That Others Have Used.

"The trade In second hand school books
though recent industry" said dealer TO
a New York Sam reporter, "has grown into
considerable proportions, and to-day there
Is not All important city or village In the
country which has not its dealer in second
hand school books. Here is my last cata'
logue and price lists, which will give you
some idea Of the magnitude OF The bust
ness"
The catalogue contained list Of more
than 3, 900 text books, mostly standard works,
ali listed at about half the publishers
prices.
"Where do you get your books >" the re-
porter asked.
There are many sources. Publishers
frequently introduce their books into schools
by taking the text books already IN use and
allowing something for them. We could
formerly get these books for little advance
on paper dealers prices, but manypublishers
now guard against this by having chopping
blocks aud cleavers in their establishments
and chopping each book In two crosswse.
There Is no way in which such book can
be made saable. The old plan of tearing
of the covers was no safeguard, since we can
recover school books of medium size for IL
cents per hundred. We get great many
books, most Of which are unused, from
teachers IN district schools, TO whom they
sre mailed by the publishers. But Of course
a majority of them come from the pupils
themselves, who are glad /" pant with them,
All old school book having no value To most
Of them. Then We get al Immense number
from the smaller dealers in other parts OF
the county. Our larger New York houses
have men constantly out for that purpose.
u may be that 4 secondhand dealer In
Omaha will be the man TO supply me with
the particular text books ] need TO complete
my stock. Publishers try TO meet our COM
petition by constantly changing their edi-
lions, bat these changes react again, both
teachers and pupils in many schools being
opposed TO the changes and adhering to the
old editions. The only text book which Is
not much changed with each new edition is
'Websters Spelling Book of which a mil
lion copies a year are published, and which
has been changed in no important respect
since 1t was first published in 1900. You can
buy one of the latest edition for five cents,
but one of the first would be worth more
than s.. Five years is the average life OF q
.chnnl hook Aftar that time the editions
have so much changed that the book IS val
ueless."
"Where do you find your purchasers ?"
"They are scattered all over the country
As the Board of Education furnishes the
text books used in the public schools of this
city, our trade is entirely from the select
and private schools. Even then 1t is very
large. Here Is my mail for to-day. You
see am sending books TO nearly every State
in the Union. This year have sent book;
TO Iceland, Russia, China, Turkey and lCaly
The most desirable thing we handle is the
classics, since they are less liable TO change
and one text book Is often as good for the
student as another. The publisher who told
me the other day that New York publisher
proposed TO change their editions offer
enough TO make ii impossible for second
hand dealers TO handle their goods, couldn't
accomplish much with the classics. The
school book trade Of the principal dealer II
second hand books in this city exceeded
100000 last year"