Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-02-16
purchase Of books, high school and prl


needed to make up Its 100000 worth.
Contrary to this false assumption. IN
evidence in our possession shows that IN
entire sum annually expended for schoo
| books IN Virginia cannot he more Una
100000 At any rate, IL In abso'uteTy
| fact. as we are prepared to prove by on
| account books. that In the year 1888 10
| entire amount OF the American 300
| Companys sales Of school-books III w
sinia. including all supplies TOT pI,,".
as we'll as public schools. amonn, 20 ~,
| Only 5000: and In 1924. 10 ON! s" .v
| Even at the fair estimate OF sW'Vo as
| total OF school books sold In virgin
| ANNUALLY. firms outside OF the Americas
| Rock COMPANY must sell yearly iro'
| sl0 on to YOOp And yet we are cha'ke
| with monopolizing all the trade snu
torting hundreds OF thousands Oh oo''"'
| from the people.
WAS THE ADOPTION IN NiKGiNi|
| FREE AND FAIR ONE!
Tho published statements OF the Gov
crnor and Attorney General answer 'n'
| oucstion with such full detail ana GU
Constance as to leave do doubt Una,
was completely free and faiT ihe 81
! tine Of all previous adoptions wd' 'o'
lowed. ,,.,,uation,
of .sbribery and corrupted ,'"u
AGAINST ourselves, we do most eihpna'
callv and unequivocally deny tha' .ne,
Is any ground for this Outrageous go, .'.,'
upon our business integrity. ne Wv" 49,
of Justice must determine whe.n'' ~,
~ oha,ac,er and reputation of public ON
Gals and OF business-houses i'e ~ "
mercy of rivals in business. puo,
nm those bad allegations OF the iho'
ore Of n niece with what they say Sunuay,
January % 1885, that our circular, Ne"
from oregon. stating that our DOORS h"u
iust been adopted for That state was
false We repeat here. and dety any uc-
NAL that the slip. News from O'.soh'
was every line word. and puhc'ua.'on-
r,ar,, true. and that which is quoted from
tho Oreronian was the first sentence Oh
one of its editorials when the auoP'io''
was announced
ARE THE BOOKS Pl BlhshnD -,
THE AMERICAN BOOK COMPAN
INFERIOR IN MERIT TO THOSE OF
OTHER PUBLISHERS?
The Norfolk Pilot. referring 10 our
book. says they are:
obsolete in methods and matter
Biographies are obsolete.
"Histories that falsify.
scientific books not up TO date. ETC..
etc.
As the largest publishers OF schooi
hooks in the United States. with our pun
LEGATIONS most widely in use. this charge
is only another way or saying tnat we
and the users of our books are all fools;
that none of us know good books from
moor ones. When II is considered that our
company is made up OF men skilled and
experienced in publishing school books.
and with sufficient means to procure the
hest authorship and the best books. ana
that our books are used with approval
throughout thousands Of the most en-
Iightened communicated they can be
moor books is improbable 10 the point OF
absurdity.
When the Pilot attacks the merits OF
the list OF books adopted for Virginia, IL
assais Virginia authors. than whom none
stand higher in the whole country. we
have the privilege Of publishing the Read-
ers Of DR.. McGuny," who was so long
and honorably identified with the Uni
yersity OF Virginia-the most popular and
widely-used of any school-readers III TINS
country to-day. We have also offered Tor
the use of schools in Virginia books bear
ing the honorable names OF Appleton,
Harvey. White. and Webster. Other books
issued by another publisher on the Viz
ginia list. which list is also general OBJ
iect of attack. are by the honored VIZ
ginians Maury geographical Hoimes
history. Venable ,arithmeticsl, ana c'il-
dersleeve Qatim. But what are names
and what are merits of books. 10 gy-
rating reformer who has gone into the
school-book business on his own account
with a silent partner?
As TO whether our books are tho-
roughly supervised. kept revised. ana up
%
not the best authors are enlisted by US
and their works produced and published
we have no objection TO taking the pubic
into our confidence.
We nav in cash. as copyrights. TO our
large body of authors, $4,000 yearly. 10
YOU think we would pay this Tor poor
books? We maintain an editorial depart
rnent of the most competent talent that
the whole country affords. consisting OF
three chiefs. three first-class assistants
and eight minor assistants, at an expense
OF $4,000 a year, whose entire occupation
and business il is to keep all books on
our list thoroughly revised ana up 10
date. and 10 seek out and procure COM
netent authors for the preparation of new
books. and to supervise the publication
OF such new books.
We have IN this department a complete
working library of many Thousand
volumes, including one Of the largest ana
best collections of American ana foreign
reference books and school textbooks IN
this country, to which additions are being
made.
Does an equipment like this. which Is
not even approached by any competitor
look as though 1t were possible for us
to be vending old, obsolete, not up-to-date
and worthless publications?
NEW BOOKS VERSUS OLD BOOKS
AND OLD VERSUS NEW.
Other publishers are striving to create
the impression that we are publishing anu
selling old books, which are poor because
they are old. while our competitors nave
new books which are better on account
of their newness But newness is always
and experiment nineteen
times out of twenty is failure-nowhere
more so than in publishing school-books.
We beg it TO be remembered that the
great and standard books of the world
are not new ones, but those That nave
stood the test OF time and use. This Is
no less true of the standard school-books.
They are the result of growth, ana can
not be created in day.
We have on our list many such IA
vorite books, the survival OF the httest'
that cannot be equaled In merit ana
suitability for schools. The essential facts
of knowledge remain the same, with the
very little which each year adds. The
literature to be read and studied, the
structure of the language, the facts OF
history and geography, the principles OF
and the sciences, do not
change and are not new. The develop
ment OF the physical sciences has been
the most rapid growth, and this, with
some changes in methods of teaching.
constitute the chief progress which the
wise have recognized. and this IL fully
embodied in all our books. All other new
ness ~ fashion. within, and crankiness-
the passing wonder of an hour or n day
There is true course between the old
and new in school-books; ii Is to hold on
to the standards which time and use have
approved. and TO carefully
reach out for the new in such subjects
and in the direction of such methods as
progress demands: and such
"A course the American Book Company is
pursuing.
IN CONCLUSION.
We submit, in view of the foregoing,
that We are reputable men, doing re-
putable business. furnishing the people
books at fair prices. And we
submit, further that the vilihcations Of
the Norfolk Pilot, copied or quoted on ac-
count OF their sensational charges by
an unsuspecting press throughout the
country. is public outrage. and we ask
the people of Virginia. whose sense or
honor IL famed. TO resent with US. and for
Us. all these infamous imputations upon
BUR character and honor as businessmen.
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY.
NEW YORK February 3, 1895,