The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-13
PROFITS IN PAPER COVERED
NOVELS.
How Dealer Makes Both Ends of the
Business Paw a Profit.


From the New York Tribune.
There are good profits to be made by
dealing in secondhand books in city
like cIew York, and one dealer has found
out how to "eat his cake and have it too, I"
which careful mothers tell their children
cannot be done. This dealer, with an
eye to the pennies, will take paper-coy-
cred novel, published at 30 cents, but
which he has bought for 30, and sell it for
IS cents, with the understanding that the
buyer is to return it when read. When
the book comes back he pays 20 cents for
it, and puts it up for sale again at 80
cents. The second buyer returns the
book and receives 10 cents, and for third
time the book is on the shelves, this time
marked 20 cents. Again it comes back,
the reader takes 10 cents, and the book,
if by careful patching it can be kept in
decent condition, will change owners
half dozen times leaving to the dealer
profit of nickel every time it comes to
the store. Books have often, through
careful handling, paid cooper cent. on the
original investment, and at the end found
their way back to the shelves of the
dealer, who has the profits and the book.
Another system then comes into play.
Books will be sold on the "two-for-one''
plan. In this scheme a buyer will take
two books at, say 20 cents each, paying 40
cents in cash; when these have been read
they are returnable. and the dealer will
give any 20-cent book in the place for the
two brought back. When this 20-ceut
book is returned 10-cent volume may be
taken in exchange, and when the last
comes back nickel and the hook will
bring out another 10-cent book This
process may be kept up as long as the
buyer sees fit. The thrifty dealer is
ALWAYS ready for a trade
OF course, it sometimes happens that q
buyer in the first instance will keep the
book, but as the store caters to a class of
customers who can hardly be termed col
lectors, but who like highly seasoned
literature, the chance of a diminution of
profits in this way is exceedingly slight.
In this particular branch of the second
hand book business the demand for love
stories and Observation-Disclosures" litera-
ture is large and steady Huxley, Tyn-
dali, Emerson or Swinburne find little
favor among the readers and scant cere-
mony on the shelves, but "Old Cap. Col
lier'' is a stanch favorite, while Gaboriau,
Fergus Hume, Conan Doyle, lola, A. c.
Gunter and Sylvanus Cobb always COM
mand a respectful hearing from the men
and boys. The girls, and there are lots
of them who are steady customers, favor
"The Duchess" Ouida. Mrs. SourhWOrth
and Laura Jean Libbey.
Once in a while some of the yellow
covered "Beadle's Dime Novels" of thirty
years ago stray into the place, but they
stay there only short time, as "Snaky
Snodgrass, the Sorrowful Scout" and
painted Pete, the Pottawattomie Pris-
oner," are quickly dragged away to
tighten the gloom ola winters night and
to form the basis of many a castle in Spain
inhabited by maidens in distress sur
rounded by a hideous crew of yelling
'varmints" or redskins" Common
everyday Indians were never good enough
for the yellow-novel heroes to kill
An idea of the magnitude OF this out-of-
the-way branch of trade may be gathered
from the fact that on the shelves of one
of the two stores run by this enterpris-
ing tradesman are no less than 5000 pa
per-covered novels, and in addition to
this they are piled away in corners,
stacked against the walls, and one room
in the rear of the place is practically
given over to them FOR a repair shop.