Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-17


III F street bookseller yesterday, ais
supplied from an astonishing variety
- of sources Some Of the volumes
that ii all that array Of loaded shelves come
TO us from the wedding out OF libraries by peo-
pie who wish to make room for fresh books by
disposing of others which they have no use
for. Not few are brought in by newspaper
reviewers, who are glad to dispose Of the pub
locations sent them for notice. There are very
many persons, too. who do most Of their read
ing in a very curious way, as it would probably
appear to YOU. They buy book here. peruse
it at their leisure and then sell il back 20 us
again. But instead OF taking money they re-
ceive the value due them in the shape OF an
other book. This one they also read and bring
back. going through the same process in
definitely. Each time, of course. they lose
something, and 1t goes without saying
that single book would not
carry them very far. But they keep il up
with number of volumes at once. supplying
the loss by purchasing fresh books now and
then. so that they have a sort of Kaleidoscope
library always on hand. the makeup OF which
Is continually changing. Some dealers encour-
age tins same sort OF business with paper
novels on what might be called a two-for-one
basis. In other words the customer buys two,
reads them, brings them back and is given one
new one in exchange for them. This la profit
able TO the seller and the reader gets his or her
literature at half rates"
SECRETS OF THE TRADE.
$50 your secondhand book business is mostly
on an exchange basis?"
almost wholly so so far as the books we ac-
quire locally are concerned. Obviously it is
more profitable to give value for volumes
bought in the shape of stock than 10 nav il in
money. We appraise the books brought us at
so much, and allow corresponding amount on
what il purchased. To tell at a glance pre-
clsely how much any given secondhand book
is worth requires the training of a faculty
which only long years of experience can prop
erly develop.
''As for the prices that second-han books
bring il may be said that volume in really good
condition we can sell for from 30 to 60 per cent
OF Its original cost price. Goods in an inferior
condition of preservation are worth proper
tIonately less. save in the unusual case of some
thing that Is a rarity. Ii Is unnecessary TO re-
mark that VIC do not pay any such prices for the
books In buying them. We could not afford to
do SO, indeed. For you must remember that We
have to carry all the time great stock of sec
ond-hand volumes, ever so many Of which will
remain on the shelves for years before finding
purchaser. This means a large expense. and
l might put the idea by SAYING that those sold
must bear the cost of those not sold. In other
words our profit on each book disposed of must
be agood one, else we should lose money on
the whole. We will always give more for a
one We are doubtful about.
THAT Is ONE POINT
necessary to consider in appraising a work.
You see. with new books there Is no difficulty
They are quoted at SO much from month TO
month in the publishers catalogues and we
have only to add our profit. But the value of
secondhand books is simply question of sup
ply and demand. One thing essential is that
we should keep ourselves always acquainted
with such quotations as there are in the great
secondhand book markets of the world"
"And where are those markets.
''In the large cities of Europe. London is a
vast market for second-h hand books. Literally
thousands of shops for their sale are to be
found IN the British capital. Ny partner goes
abroad each summer and spends weeks in
going through them. searching for anything
that may be desirable and purchaseable at a
price allowing good margin for profit. Gu
riosity Of London town is the famous Book
lane, where thirty or forty musty old book
shops are crowded together. Such shops
gather their stock from all sorts or queer
sources, but largely from the sale of Libraries.
In all the small towns of England are second
hand book shops which are III communication
with those of the metropolis. 1t is from Lon
don and the
OTHER GREAT FOREIGN BOOK MARTs
that we get large part of our own supplies.
The most interesting of them all is that of
Paris, where you find nearly two miles of con-
tinuous secondhand book stalls in a line. the
proprietors of them exhibiting their wares in
boxes placed along a wall 1t is wonderful
what queer publications drift into those boxes.
But you must be careful when you buy second
hand books in Paris. The Frenchmen have
no fixed prices for their volumes. as they do
in London, and they will put the price
sky-high if they imagine you want a
thing. So in going through the old book-shops
of Paris you must dissemble and play the hypo-
critic. Shopping around the secondhand book
shops abroad one sometimes comes across sur
prising bargains. On one occasion at Paris
stall found sixty copies of book that had ac-
quired great value through the fact of its having
gone out of print. A gentleman once bought
a very precious book of me, paying quite a big
price for 1t. 1t would have been worth even
more had it not been that half the title page
had been torn off and was missing. Years after
it happened that this customer was ex-
ploring little book shop on an out-of-the-way
street in London, when, between the leaves of
a drty-looking volume he had taken down to
look at. he found the missing half of the title
page. He showed it to me afterTard and
saw that it fitted the other half perfectly"
Maine Girls Chat With Bismarck
Lewiston Journal. Berlin Letter.
A few weeks ago a company OF young ladies
from Mama rnade vow that they would mot