The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-18
THE LITERARY OUTLOOK.
ENDURING PROSPERITY OF THE
SECONDHAND BOOK TRADE.

/
A Young japanese Authoress Who
Is Trying Her Fortune in America
| An AII-ROund Literary Man Who Is
the Mainstay of the Authors Club.
| The Author of "PrisOners OF
HOpe"-VariOus Items.
New York, Dec. III was talking the
! other day with man who is pretty IA
miliar with all the mysteries of the sec
ond-hand book trade, and he told me what
was news to me- and what, fancy, will be
! news to the public at large-that the trade
in secondhand books is generally profita-
| bic, and often profitable by a large per
cent 1t had rather seemed to me that
in the course of years the second hand
book shop had taken on a sadder and more
! struggling aspect, and as several we'll
known and almost historic establishments
| of the kind here in New York had, .itnin
the last two or three years, changed hands
and undergone a sort of absorption, I was
about concluding that here was another
once important industry passing out of
existence under the pressure of new COM
mercial conditions. But my authority as
sures me that this IS not at all the case.
| The best part of the business is not, how
ever, in the selling of ordinary cloth
bound books. In that one department,
| infer il may have lost ground a little, for
ordinary books are now TO be had of any
dealer at prices so much below what was
formerly asked in the frst-hand shops
that the inducement to resort to the sec
| ond-haud dealer is much less. Rare books
such as books out Of print and early edi-
/ tions-and books of fine bindings are the
| secondhand dealers best commodities. In
| these the margin of profit is always good,
/ and often it is large. The rare books, of
| course, he can secure only now and then;
| but the frequent sales of private libraries
-"gentlemen's libraries enable him to
| maintain a fairly constant stock of books
| in fine bindings. In no business does pros
perity depend more on skill and shrewdness
in buying. And, indeed, you don't need to
| 20 often into a second hand book shop to
| discover that the men in the business
| themselves understand this very well. One
who has seemed almost listless and indif
| ferent in the work of selling may become,
| if you propose to him to buy, most alert
| and Interested
| While rare books and books IN fine bind
| ings are of best promise in the general
! wav. the secondhand dealer has a few
chances in the ordinary books that he
! prizes above anything else in his trade. The
! best of these is a connection with some
! periodical that maintains a widely recog-
! nized review department When the deal
| er can secure TO himself from such a Fe-
| riodical most of the books sent in for re-
| view. he considers himself almost a made
man: and, I may add, that periodicals now
quite often have an agreed-upon relallon
| with the secondhand man and send their
review copies" off to the secondhand
! shop. at a contracted percentage off The
! list price, the moment they are finished
with them Thus, the tender young poet
whose own relation to these things is 50
beautifully remote from anything CONNER
cial. may, If ne will take to his soul the
added agony that the reviewer who GUS
him up so ruthlessly has the hardhood,
after pronouncing his book of no account,
to carry it out and sell 1t.
we are apt 10 think of English authors
/ as great men to run about, and American
! authors as great men to stay at home.
| But. after all, this is one of the many re-
| Elections that the facts when we come to
examine them, hardly justify. l had this
| brought home to me few days ago IN
| looking over Mr.. Hezekiah Butterworth's
new book on South America. We don't
| especially think of Mr.. ButterwOrth as a
| great American traveller. When his name
| IS mentioned we first think of him as the
author of New England stories
stories that he had not to
| 90 from home to get his
| material for; and next we think of him as
the man who for p years or more had an
| editorial connection with the Youths Com
! panion that must have been more or less
combining But, after all, he has been a
diHgent and far traveller, and his jour
neys have supplied the matter of many
| of his books Pretty nearly all parts of
the Western Hemisphere, except the tips,
and no small section of the Eastern, have
at one time and another come under his
eye But, in spite of it all, Mr.. Butter
worth is pretty exclusively a man of New
| England He was born in Rhode Island
in 1899; he removed rather early in life to
| Boston. and there he has had his home
| ever since. Even the graVitation of the
! literary center from Boston to New York
| Of il has gravitated-I have no desire to
be dogmatic on that poinD, added to his
| fOndness Tor travel. has not persuaded him
| 20 a change of residence.
A much advertised title just now is that
/ of THE Prisoners of Hope" Ii is borne
! by novel recently published in England
a novel of contemporary life; and il is
| borne by a novel published in this country
a novel of Virginia colonial life; and be-
tween the two, if you follow reviews and
! publishers announcements with any close
! ness you become pretty familiar with it in
! time. For myself, l never see ii without
! thinking of Anthony Hope and the "Pris-
| oner of Zenda' and 1 have wondered wne-
| Their in the minds of the two ladies who
| have chosen It for their respective craa-
| tons this previous association Of the words
Hope" and Prisoner had not had an
| influence
| The American prisoners Of Hope" is
| proving a distinct success. Everybody
| agrees that in it, Miss Mary johnson. the
| author. makes her first appearance be
| fore the public with unquestionable dis
| tinction. She writes, If not of her own