The Penn's Grove record., 1886-05-22
81 aAaD,aha

,bOOk-pedler happened 10 pun
your bell, or 60 without the
Personal Memoirs of y. S.
Grant.
We hold it hostile to every
sort Of interest public and pri-
vatc that this c%onstraint should
be put on the sale of a book of
such a character. That's why
we put it in our bookstore-to
give it a market without re
proach.
Nobody wants the bookped-
Ter. With bookstores in all
the cities and a-ccnt-for-two-
ounces postage on books all
over the country, what good
can he possibly do?
We know whathc does. He
bores good-natured people till
they buy to get rid of him But
the bulk of his work is among
non-reading people. If he got
them into the way of reading,
that itselfwould be useful. He
doesn't. The books he sells
are not made to be read. They
are not made to sell to people
who have learned to read and
very little beyond that. Big,
thick books big letters far
apart; thick paper; pictures
plenty of gilt on the cover the
subject-nomatter the author
no matter made to show ;
something big and bright to
take in yourhand. Such books
are a hindrance. The book
pedlcr's Hetakes
the poor mans money and
gives him what makes him
ashamed when the schoolmaster
comes or the minister calls, or
his boyor girl away at school
comes home over night.
An American newsstand is
a shocking sight to one accus-
toned to English news-stands.
Ours are spreadwith barbarous
pictures and sensational head
lines. Theirs are spread with
orderly publications fit for a
civilized people. A library of
bookpedlers'b books would COM
pare with one of bookstore
books in about the same way.
In the main it would be a libra
ny ofignorance vulgarlybound.
The book-pedler's methods
are not acceptable when they
are understood. Theyanswer
his purpose only when not UNI
derstood. His whole efficien-
cy lies in being shrewd, in pas
sing his stuff off for literature,
in Aattery, making.people be
lieve there's nothing between
them and wisdom but books,
and that his is one of the
books.
Thebook pedler's publishers
method are not acceptable,
He creates the pedler as well
as his books he sets him up
in business becomes RESPONSE
bic for him. When he strikes
a good book, which happens
now and then, up goes the
price to double or thereabout;
and the pcdler's methods are
none the less offensive when
he has an indispensable book
that civilized people have got
to buy of him because the pub
Usher keeps tout of the book
stores.
Almost the whole subscrip-
ton BUSINESSES based on books
that serve no useful purpose in
the world at prices too high for
good ones. 1t seems almost as
great a public misfortune to
have important books kept out
of their rightful scope by the
double constraint of high price
and offensive handling as to
have the non-reading class mis-
led in its first experience of
book-buying.
There is legitimate use for a
subscription method in publ il
ing. Great undertaking, in
volving cost too great and pro
fit too little for individual pull
fishers, must be helped along
bythosewho want them accom-
| plished. There is a cyclope-
dia in preparation in Germany
on which four-hundred eminent
scholars have been writing for
many years already with many
more years before them. TIL
Encyclopedia Britannica is be
ing rewritten at the rate of two
volumes a year; a work OF
twelve or fifteen years. The
Psychological Dictionary of the
English Language of twentyto
thirty volumes likewise. Such