Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-01-25
TRIALS OF A BOOKSELLER.
The Frequent Mistakes Made In Giving
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the Title Of a Cook.
ITO DO II successful bookseller, " said a
dealer in books, lone must almost be a
mind reader. People come in and ask for
the most generally known novels by the
most distorted names you can imagine. In
fact, it is only a novel or a book which
has had u great run that stands in fear of
having it's title mutilatcd. When u book
becomes popular, some one hears another
person talking about it and perhaps only
gets a vague idea of the import of the title
without remembering the exact words.
Then they come with no sign that they
are in the least doubtful and ask the book
dealer for it, who is supposed to know by
intuition what is wanted. Ono of the
most mutilated titles is that of THE
Heavenly Twins You can expect to have
this book called for under almost any
name. If you are in doubt as to what a
person means, The Heavenly Twins usu-
ally fills the bill. For instance, it is COM
mon to lave it called THE Twin Angels
Then another popular style of the title is
The Heavenly Prodigals,' or, again, The
Blue Angels or 'The Heavenly Angels
The other day n man came in and asked
for The Travelling Hebrew When I told
him I thought he meant The Wandering
jew he began to laugh and said, Well,
I was sure he was III the go anyway
"Not long ago a lady came in and quiet
II asked if wo had Two Boats Which
Went By In the Dark She was not the
least abashed when I handed her Ships
That Pass In tho Night nor did she refer
to her mistake. One of the most common
bulls in a book store is that which people
make when they ask for vest pocket edi-
ton of Webster's Unabridg ed, or the Bi-
bio with both the Old and Now Testaments
in it,
Il had to retire to tho office to have a
good laugh the other day when a young
lady came tripping in and carelessly asked
me as she handled some books, Have you
tile Mil on the Slush?'' She explained
that sho had made a slip of the tongue
when l gave her tho Mill on the Floss
1t is most NM for people to ask for
Lew Wallace, by Ben Hur.' Not long
ago a young man camo in and asked for
that horse book We named over a lot
Of treatises III horses, but he said, 1t
wasn't Them We were then compelled to
confess our Ignorance, when he explained,
We'll, my boss didn't exactly tell mo it
was a horse book, but he said to ask for
1.-The Horse With Seven Stables."' We
told him that we thought his boss meant
The House of the Seven Gables and gave
him the book with the privilege Of return
ing it If it was not the right one. The
book never came back. A gentleman who
wanted Il set of thew works of Shakespeare
was very particular to get AN authorized
edition. He said to us, Now, I want you
to give mo a copy revised by tho author
himself But suppose we have no moro
trials than merchants in other lines have,
and we should be thankful that we have
the way, you may not know that the book
trade this season is larger than it has ever
been before in the history of the business.
Prnp!c arc becoming more literary in
%clinch, so books, especially good ones, are
in demand. '-PittsDure Dispatch.