Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-12-14
LITERARY FRAUDS.
aon Readers OF Trash Are Cheated--wnAt
Ais the Book Trade.

aoW Readers OF Trash Are Cheated--wnat
Ais the Book Trade.
AYES, ! have noticed paragraphs in the
newspapers occasionally asserting that
literary men are in the habit Of selling their
names for consideration to sdorn the
title-psges Of works interior to anything they
themselves ever inflicted upon suffering
public" said a prominent bookseller. Il
have never seen any proof however. that
these charges are true. Yet believe that
the converse OF this proposition is true.
Literary men-if the qualifying adjective is
sufficiently elastic to cover all who write
have been known TO sell their productions
to men who, having acquired prominence
and fame through fortuitous or adventurous
circumstances, can use them to their own
pecunisry advantage. The nodus operandi
is about Ike this: A man has become fam
ons as song and dance artist, an Irish or
German comedian, has psrslyZed somebody
in twenty four-foot ring, or has been the
bright particular star in 3 sensational trial;
acquiring noloriety under any Of these CIR
cumstances his fame has pervaded thep
GeUs where fash literature is consumed,
aud he is worshipped as hero. The pub
fishers OF sensational stories, ever on the
alert to find something to invigorste the APP
petite, and perpetuate the passions OF their
patrons for debasing stories Of questionable
morally, find q profitable 6eld for their
enterprise in hiring hack writers, at starvs-
ton wages, TO string together a mess Of
notLings interspersed with gore, blood and
destruction, and then for small sum hire
the name Of the sensational hereof the hour
20 saorn the ;itle-psge. This practice has
been in vogue for dozen years or more.
But liz hteraiure-I am now speaking of
quality of writing where the line of dsmarca-
tion is drawn between what is really good
and What is positively bad know OF no
such practice, and believe that none
exists.
What 3 the condition of the book
trader
Dead"
What the tr oubleH'
81 neglected to make thorough diagnosis
OF the ca before dea;h. neither have held
q post norton examination since the spirit
departed, and consequently cannot state ae'
curately the contributing causes that pro-
duced the dissolution, but think can give
you in q general way some reflections which
are not very wide OF the mark. To be ser
ious. there are book stores in this city that
are doing, perhaps, as good business as
they ever did, but they are only those OF es-
tablished regulations The practice OF our
large dry goods houses in selling books has
worked irreparable injury to the legitimate
trade. In these great emponums books are
not sold to make money, but simply for ad-
vertising purposes. A store sdvertises to
sell books at figure below what the regu-
lar dealers can handle them for, and people
attracted by the advertisement 90 10 the
store to buy book, and before leaving
make other purchases from which the pro-
pri,tor makes substantial profit In this
way books may be sold at figure which
w,uli be disastrous to the regular dealer.
The employment ofconyassers to sell the
best published works is another cause which
Las ed to the deterioration OF the trade.
By the time the canvaSsers get through with
q book there is very little wealth left in 1t for
The stor's.
Are there many cheats in the trade,
particularly as regards the mechanical work
Of boOks?'
Well. man has to exercise his common
sense in buying book, the same as any
thing else. For a good article you have to
pay q good price. If purchaser gets
stuck the cause is no. attributable to the ma
terial OF which the book is composed, but
simply to desire, inherent in human ma
ture, to get costly article at ridicu!ousiy
low figure