The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-23
IN A LONDON BOOK STORE.
SALES THAT SNOW THE POPULAR
TASTE IN LITERATURE.


Cheap novels That Are pota NJ the hAAtS ~
a,OOO n week at One stere~-siandaTd Au
thery In Deuspa-Pront In Pusi,shinS ans
selling Low-Priced Beeks-Now Novels
FroE1 tie Academy.
Last Saturday evening the Electric avenue in
Brixton was n pleasant sight. The sunshine
poured down between tho glazed roofs which
cover the pavements; 1t Redeemed the red house
walls that lowered above the glass; and you
were conscious Of an ampler sky and a wider
| gaiety out there on the broad asphalt. The
avenue was packed with shoppers, the shops
CLEANED and beckoned, money hnd been earned
and was now being spent; IL was all very human
and happy. A bookshop was half hidden by its
own tressels and outside shelves, piled as these
were with books and periodicals. Hundreds OF
cheap cloth.bound books lay prone before
me or rose in front Of mo, gilt let
tered and decent to tho eye, all priced
5iad. I edged my way into the lingering
crowd, and took up a book hcre and there. The
gloved hands OF the daughters Of Brixton trav-
elled with mino along the shelves as I selected
volumes for a momentary inspection. People
nudged and hustled, others kept filing into the
shop, and somewhere in the heat and crush coins
were clinking almost continuously rs they fell
from tho hand. Taking up Fenimore Cooper's
pathfinder unused, Can Cooper sell r. and a
woman almost took It out of my hand and used
1t as q pointer as she ran her eyes along the
shelves. Then she passed into the shop. clutch
ing the Pathfinder" IT picked up a novel
It was Dumas's Louise do Ia valliere," and fol-
lowed her. To the youth I said:
You seem to no doing rather well with these
books; how many can you sell hero In q week r.
About four thousand, SIR"
mo. no in q week r
"Yes, sir, four thousand"
81 will see the proprietor" I said. and I did.
"Is 1t true that you are selling four thousand
Sled. novels a week in this shopf'
"That 10 about the figure. We shall sell eight
or nine hundred to-day alone"
How many different novels are you supply
ing at this pricef
About two hundred and sixty. and fresh ones
are, Of course. being added to the SERIES"
"Tell me, will you, where these novels como
from, and how is 1t possible 70 sell them in cloth
covers at 5lad.
well, they are turned out by q publisher in
the East End who has for q long time boon sup
plying drapers with cheap books to sell at 9iad.
q volume. This 5lad. line is a new thing. 1 was
only offered 1t six weeks ago. and I have already
sold, or ordered. about 1900 copies. OF course
the books are printed from stereos bought up
from publishers. As for the binding, 1t Is Ger
tainly wonderful, and would be impossible but
for a new machine which is capable OF binding
1900 volumes in an hour. I may tell you that
10000 OF these novels are turned out weekly"
But, as a bookseller and o bookman. you will
admit that the type and paper leave q great deal
to be desired"
That is SO. Still they are not so bad. and the
moral Of the thing is that people want %inexpen-
sive books and. If supplied with them, will buy
them in amazing quantities." =.
"Your customers prefer O 5l2d. cloth-bound
book printed from stereos to a 4isd. paper-cov-
cred book turned out In h~rstrate style"
Yes; you see q cloth-bound book looks better
extra penny. Understand mo: / am with you
In dePnlOTtng the , small print and Indifferent rha pa;
popular; and they 60 ike water" lucy
mean to say say that jane n Aus eepi Is popa aSi q 1 y soe
you "s hsv se ihr %s II her novels"
And Is the Book of snobs popular T.
Vel ai;i. we hn sell that because we sell rhack-
And what kind Of books arc 'Beulah.' by
Mrs. Twelis, and :Barbara's warning. By Mrs.
Houston, and The Vale OF Cedars.' by Grace
hoh. they are rather, goody,soody: but they
Along With The Heart Of Midlothian and
1HRsI = and and ''hTn Ss 1 hyaao Of e Wakefield s%sth''i ans
ba%r3Tssss and iRsr B ~ sals poems and shakespeare
Blu Shakespeare at 5lad. Is execrable."
Yes, but the Slid. edition sells better edi-
tions-Blsss new two and eightpenny edition,
.4o you sell many sis-shillins novels !"
reili; and the books Of Crockett. barrie, Ian
MaelsT grs! and Hal caine go well as presents"
Yes, they seem to be bought as presents."
And your belief is that for their own reading
would pay publishers and authors much
better. The demand for cheap novels. Of
Ginsry: ' s1d c %Gy Should erG not stsp nea b Is ss's eo%:
ms1 o1d i n Sast,y lSrKs snd pT noxc1s l. ! would SoGG .n IKE to
p ps1 1ld,aHr It 't two shiiiin nUs' to G ssi f0 Ss, H at isd.
The sales, would be, and, I believe,
most profitable to all concerned"
Il see that you do a large trade in weekly
papers and the magazines. Can you give me
any !W Hsnre %e J. sell immense quantities Of domestic
papers. For INSTANCE. we sell ESQ Copies Of HOME
Chat q week; l75 copies Of Our Home 125
s saa he sf Ro% %a ahs IL aspp and H 81 ws AS%f G dssss::
often set 500 Of these on, Saturday night"
fifty dezcn Of each number. and twenty dozen Of
And the noyelettes T.
The Family Herald Supplement is by far
the n9st .5 pS9p s u a;t We take two hundred copies
And the people who bpy these papers arc tho
people who buy these booksf
Now, what about serious, improving litera.
turef"
I'VE don't keep 1t. The Free Library supplies
that People come in hero with solid literature
from the Library under their arms and buy the
Sketch and = The Three Musketeers.' The Ii
brary. By the way. does, not cut into us. Icon
lite for reading"
And what Is the secret of your own success :"
x,Sd know know VIII, what my customers want and pro-
Emerging from the avenue I stood watching
that wonderful crowd. Buses and trans passed
continually up and Down the road, bicycle bells
tinkled. color and gilt lettering flashed in the
sun. and the crowds of shoppers massed diHer-
entity every moment To tho left, Brixton hill
began to climb through its own greenery to
Streatham. could fancy myself in a pleasant
seaside town. and thought that Acre lane would
DO the way to the pier. Here and there 4 spire
caught the golden light, and / knew that the
cAretakers were at work preparing for big CON
ban life revealed itself; and in the ride back
to Inner London / felt I knew more about life
and less about literature than / had supposed.
Benedict Araeidhs Horned Merss-
FroA the Hartford TIMES.
A good story comes from Ridgefold. that fno
old town down In Fairfield county which has