Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-09-06
LIGHT LITERATURE.
EFFECTS OF THE CONTINUED CON-
SUMPTION OF TRASHY STORIES.
A Washington Reporter Prizes Into the
the Secrets of the Cheap Book Trade.
Tho Novel Reading Eabit and Its Re.
sults-Cheap Libraries.

the SecTetS OF tne Cneap BOOK Trade
Tho Novel Reading Habit and Its Re
sults-Cheap Libraries.
Persons very fond Of reading, but with
little spare time to indulge their taste, who
visit narrow shop near one of the de-
partments, are apt to come away with a
severe attack of the blues The shelves,
counters, and even the floor of the shor
are chock full of pretty nearly all the wis.
dom of the ancients and wit of the mod
erns, done up in elegant but handily
pocketable paper bound packages, which
sell at from ten to twenty cents each. The
shop, in fact, is a sort of headquarters for
the cheap libraries now SO numerous, and
which are said to be doing great damage
to the more pretentious branches of the
book trade
Here, for So, careful person can pur-
chase q library more extensive and better
than was ever owned by many man
whom the world calls great and wise
History, biography, poetry, philosophy,
science, literature and romance are min
gled in bewildering confusion and pro-
fusion. A glance at the titles of the
famous works piled on shelf and counter
fills one with despair of ever being able to
read them all, so numerous are they; and
yet they are so cheap that person with
the reading habit feels ashamed not to
buy an armful and rush off to his den to
devour them at once.
eve have several customers who read
two and three books q day" the proprie-
tor said to an inquisitive reporter. lone
man in particular used to come in regu-
larly every other or third day and carry
off each time from six to eight volumes
He didn't appear particular about what
he read but took them Just as they came
He kept it up week after week, too He
had a place in the interior department,
but was discharged not long ago."
The proprietor didn't intimate that there
was any connection between the mans
reading habits and the loss of his position,
but it struck The reporter that there
might be.
A BOOK A DAY.
"There are plenty of people who aver
age book a day, month in and month
out" the proprietor continued. These
people are mostly novel eeaders, of course
1t gets to be passion with them, like
anything else, and they give all their
spare time to it. If they can't get hold
of new story as soon as they have fin
ished the old one they don't know what
to do with themselves and are miserable
like tippler whose rations have been
cut off or morphine eater who can't get
the drug"
'Do you notice much difference in the
class of stories preferred by men and wo-
menT the reporter asked.
''No, | can't say that | do The women
don't seem to be especially fond of love
stories. In fact, some women who come
here won't read love stories or novels
written by women. They prefer the de-
tective stories and mysteries of Du Bois-
gobey and Garboriau and Zola's highly
favored stuff. G. w. M. Reynolds SEN
romances used to have big sale,
but they aren't in as much demand as
they We're"
Haven't the cheap libraries hurt the
story papers great deal?'' the
reporter inquired
"Well, not as much as thought they
were going to at first" the gentleman
said. Il expected the story papers would
be entirely driven out of the field by the
cheap libraries. but I hardly think their
sales have fallen as much as % per cent.
The papers have to keep booming them
selves all the time, though, or they lose
ground badly. They aren't the bonanzas
they used to be. The newsdealers wouldn't
be very sorry if the story papers were
driven out of the field altogether The
margin Of profit on them is very small,
and the worst Of it is the people who buy
them are of the charge-it and I'll pay
you next time class. Now, if they fail
20 pay once it knocks the profit off good
many papers"
''The people who read the story papers,
hen, are of different class from those
who buy the cheap library novelist"
FALSE AND FOOLISH IDEAS.
eyes, as a rule, they are. The people |
who read these novels and serial stories |
ret false and foolish ideas of life. This |
s especially true of the confirmed story |
,aper readers. They are the worst of all. |
can tell one of them almost as quickly |
s set eyes on her-for the story paper |
eaders are generally women. They have |
would be grand and romantic air about |
hem, use big words and theatrical ex-
'ressions, and try to initiate generally in |
heir manner the highly wrought charac-
ers they read about in the serials Girls
rought up from the time they are fifteen
r sixteen on this sort of reading aren't
atistied with q man unless he is like the
eroes of their stories, and they are apt
0 wait good while before they find one
7ho seems to promise to come to what
hey call their ideal And then, if they
o get married, in ninety nine cases out
hundred, they soon discover that the
romises were all false; that they haven't
larrled their hero at ALL but only an
rdinary, common place man, with not
nough of the story paper ideal to him
D supply paragraph in one of the sloppy
erials.
"These people with the story paper
abit," the speaker continued, s'seem
ardly able to control their impatience
'om week to week for the succeeding in
ailments of the romances. Many of
lem make practice of coming here about
le time they know the papers arrive and
aiting until they can get them; and if
ley should happen to be late, and all the
apers are sold out when they get here,
len there is row."
Glow many of the cheap libraries are
lere now in eXistence?' the reporter
,ked.
"Oh, probably fifty all told" the dealer
lswered, ''and new ones are starting up
7ery week. The trade has got to be
immense. Many of the libra
es are published irregularly, sending out
volume once or twice month. There
e about a dozen which come out regu-
rly from one to three times week. A
uple of the leading ones for a while
lblished a number every day, but they
emed to have exhausted the supply of
copyrighted and foreign novels and
her available books, and now send out
rec numbers q week.