Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-02-10
eLUIIEp WITH CHEAP BOOKS.
The Reproduetion Of Foreign Wsrks
Said - Have Been Greatly over.

Inc kepf00 uctton Of R0RetGA W0Rkn
Said - Have Been Greatly over.
done.
.. Nev York San.
VI am one Of the much-abused pirates
who have been cribbing English itera-
ture and publishing it in books sold for |
. few cents EACH" said q New York
publisher yesterday, "but I am ready to
vote for an international copyright law
to-day"
This remark and the conversation
that followed arose from the announce
ment that q famous cheap publisher had
failed. There proved to have been no
solid foundation for the rumor, but the
publisher who uttered the rather start |
ling statement quoted above said he !
would not be surprised If the other pub |
Usher had failed, because he published
ten-cent novels in pocket form.'
"As long as an Am arican publisher |
could get a famous English DO 4 Tor |
nothing and reproduce 1t in q broad,
thin pamphlet for ten cents, or a thick |
pamphlet tor twenty cents, there was |
generous margin for profit, though |
even those publications are now turned
OIL 10y so many houses that where the
profit originally went to one house 1t Is
now divided among half dozen. There
was nothing to pay to the author, and
the composition and paper were simply
ordinary in quality, while sales were
large il common business judgment
was exercised in the selection of the
works to be republished. it was i'll an
evil hour for cheap literature that one
publishing house began To reproduce
foreign works III cheap books To III the
pocket. These were much more expen-
sive. There were nearly three times rs
much electrotype plates to the volume,
and the binding and covers cost money.
figured il out that this publisher and
those that followed him did not aver.
age more than half q cent profit IN
eytfy five cents OF the selling price.
Olh.r publishers went into II because
The new style of books was very attract
i've. One man in particular who was
respipg great fortune from weekly
paper PUT graf deal OF his super
abundant money into thee pocket form
books and then AL the rest went into
it.
"They killed the goose that laid thpm
golden rgg-,n the publisher continued
n he other day Tie san contained al
account Of all interview with Third
avenue stailODeT, who announced That
ne wanted 10 get rid Of tbs stock OF
cheap pamphlet reprint novels Al aNout
what he paid .Or them. We, III the
publish.ug business, ali knew what
that mt ant. That man complained OF
the smHunt of capital he was obliged TO
lnVr~t in lhese pamphlets, and he may
have AUn sincere, but he would never
nave cos planned if II had not been for
these pocket volumes. He thinks It
wiser To stick to the new form exclu-
sively. A great many hundreds OF
other Ii, wsdealers and stationers have
come To the same conclusion. The
yOcket volumes took the town by storm.
People no longer had TO spread out
thing as big a. a newspaper, but could
obtain novel that they could carry in
their pockets and could afterward put
on their library shelves. They would
not even look at the whole unhandy
pamphlets which continued TO he tuned
out at the rate OF one new novel day,
and renamed dead on the shelves OF the
dealers while tire reading public either
went without them, or waited until
some house got out the same work in
handy size. The consequence was that
a trade journal published in our inter
est announced the other day that one
publisher was to he congratulated upon
having had an immense stock of these
pamphlets destroyed by fire, while an
other was to be cOmmiserated because
ne has about 400, 900 such volumes lying
dead in his basement. The publisher
last referred to has, by the way, hit upon
device for cleaning out his cellar. by
means OF slight alteration, and small
expense, he puts several of these novels
together, and issues then IN thick
book with u colored cover, salable at n
gOUG figure in the railroad cars. iou
,anlfind no trace Of the former library
in the new books, the tlJie pages having
been newly printed, with the old head
ings left OIL and new oGes substituted"
"Are the pocket voiu hes u he with
drawn?n
"They will have to b.. There is no
money in them. Hundreds OF thOuS
ands of dollars lie buried in the plates
snd printed pamphlets tina! came out
tefore them. This capital will be lost
unless the more attractive volumes are
kept out of the public view. That is
why was willing 10 believe that one
firm had already succumbed. Ii had
heen known TO the trade month ago
that the printing Of handy volumes was
a mistake, and leading houses were dis
cussiDg the advisabilty OF disseminating
them. Unless am misinformed, some
firms had already discontinued them"
But why would you vote for an in
teruatloDal copyright law"
"Oh, ] believe nearly all the publish.
ers would DO 30 The p o Its in The pres
ent style Of doing business are both
slender and uncertain. With our capt.
tai and the enterprise We have shown
the field OF legitimate competition for
the right to produce q good book here
under All international copyright law
would lie much more lucrative. Take
any example of how the things works
Look al that Sarah Barnum' book, foi
instance. A Beekman street printer,
Ivy the exercise Of really wonderful
-nrcwdness and hard and quick work,
gets out fifty-ceDt translation Of the
bC ok. In less than three days the st:ee
are flooded with the same thing at ten
cents and twel re cents, and deep hole
IS cut through the profits thai ne B"ck-
man street Ian really deserved 10 nave
all 10 himself"
"But the Beekman street house cOyp-
ri3htCd its translation"
"Ob, that made no difference. Such
L thing as slightly altering the phrase
olosy of a copyrighted translation IL
not unheard OF in the cheap book trade,
You eau lake book and by altering
conspicuous words here aud there can
| defy the world to prove thar II IL not
| new TRANSLATION. don't say that any
body did this with sarah E!rnum,' be-
| cause don't know anything ab'ut it,
but they get gu. the cheap ek'tions very
| quickly, and such tricks are not IN.
| known to the trade. That ia why an
International Copy right law now seems
| to me desirable thing. get out q
| taking EDgiisa book, bind IL nicely, and
in another twenty.four hours you can
| get it anywhere for 10 cents. 1t would
| be just tie same il you paid an English
author handsomely for advance sheets.