Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-08-26
PERSONALLY.
Small Bits Of Gossip Of Our
Friends.
What Mrs. Gruhdy Says in Relation to the
Doings of People, Prominent
and Otherwise.

The day OF the dime novel is past, and
the names OF Beadle and Munroe are no
longer shrined IN the small boys worship
ping heart Ten cents is entirely too much
We alth to be invested by the lore-thirsty
youth for desperate tales OF Indian war
fare, or thrilling encounters by Dandy
Dick, the Death Dealing Desperate" The
demand of the day is for cheap literature,
whether good, bad; or Indifferent Wheth-
er a work so profound as the "Thinsness
of Is" or so light as one of the Dachess'
works is desired, the expensive cloth or
leatherbouud volume must give way to
TIE CHEAP PAPER BOOK.
TO meet this demand, no one can imagine
the vast amount of ow-priced reading
matter that is now flooding the American
market-literature of All kinds, from the
Light of Asia to the Ten Old Maids"
The time was when cheap literature meant
the dime novel or the twenty five cent
novelette,. The dime edition was purely
boyish, and was built up by the redskin
and the bold trapper. The twenty-five
cent affair dealt with love, with q black
eyed, curly haired hero, and q dropping
blonde for a heroine, both Of whom could
not nave scrhDeu up euousu moiaiS "
supply a self-respecting clothes pin. III
people didn't like these works, they could
DO without cheap literature, for there is
nothing else below the board backed novel.
The circulating libraries furnished a pol
ton Of the population with reading mat
ter. but did not to supply the
demand.
THE sEw DEAL.
1t is four years since tie Seaside Library,
the pioneer of cheap literature of to-day,
made its appearance, and took from the
start. The Franklin Square followed, and
then came an army of libraries" all OF
them with side or square" somewhere
about the title. A few of them still exist,
but the Seaside and franklin hold the
fed, the Seaside being published every
day and the Franklin every week. Al
first the ~circulstiOn was not very great.
but the books created a demand. They
were the cream of English productions OF
both nigh and low grade, with an occasional
Amerlcan wo.k upon which the copyright
had expired. The way these American
publishers operate is 10 seize upon a book
as soon as it appears abroad. II il is Eng.
lish it is ready for the printers, II French
or German, the translator speedily puts 1t
in shape. Paying nothing TO the author
and putting the books out in the cheapest
WY, a nice profit is realized. An iliustra-
ton OF how thew do ii was given when
B. aconsfeld's ~"Endymion' was produced.
1t sold in London at S. 50 and three weeks
after was pu out in New York at twenty
cents. And the Americans made money
at that price.
WHO poN'r READ THEM?
Here in Wheeling the booksellers re
p"It that everybody buys the cheap llbrir'
es You will find them in the Kitchen
al in the parlor, in the North Main street
nj nsiOn and the home of the S0nih Side
worker, and there is very little difference
in the taste displayed in the selection.
The trashier they are the better they
sell " said one dealer in books yesterday.
MARY Cecil Hay and the Duchess sell bet
ter, | think, than any OF the others, and
and their works are straight trash. The
novels sells best, for the greater
number Of our customers for these
books are ladies. They want novels
to pass the time, and they buy without
exercising much Judgment. II have noticed
ore thing, that Is, that a healthier tone Is
creeping into tins cheap literature. The
Harpers always did run occasional num-
bers devoted to science, history or biogra'
ply, and there are several new Libraries
gotten up in a different shape and With
some OF the best things in English litera.
lIlt. C u hONS' - OS
and are having a very good sale, but moth
ing like the novels. When these Libraries
W. re started, however, a scientific or histor-
i.a' work couldn't have been sold in cheap
form. That they sell to-day is an evidence
Of all advance by the people"
SOLD BY HUNDREDS.
All efforts to get a close estimate OF the
number Of cheap books sold in Wheeling
were futile. They are handled by too
many firms for any statistical work, but
the dealers agreed in saying that there are
thousands Of them handled here every
month. There is one queer thing in con
nection with these cheap Libraries. 1t
would seem on first glance that they would
| interfere with the sale Of other literary
works, but this has not proven the case.
The magazines and weekly papers are sold
in greater number than ever before, and
there is no falling off in the demand for the
expensive novel with copyright protection.
The cheap Libraries seem TO have cut out
a place for themselves, and while pushing
through the community to every point,
have the merit Of minding their " bust.