New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-04
nr,IAVD FOR CHEAP BOOKS.
opuors SALE OF LOW-PRICED Ed
T1oNS OF STANDARD NOVELS
,ou. r,pEnKIN PREDICTS THE EXTINCTION
~, THE DIME NovEL-wANE IN TIE
POPULARITY or WRITER'S


The article in a recent number OF The tribune
~ tho subject Of cheap books attracted much
attention and many people who reao II oe'icNeu
,hat hv placing wholesome literature on the
market AT reasonable prices the unclean DOCKS
., this country would be driven out OF the mar
tet and would follow the penny drcadfdls'
Of England
Jobn Elderkin said that he agreed with Sir
Walter Besant and saw only good in cheap
books of a superior kind He said;
"It S now over twenty five years since Don
nelly. Lloyd & Co. Of Chicago, began the re-
printing of standard novels in cheap paper
ouartos under the name Of The Lakeside Ii
brarv in order TO fill in the time in dull sea-
sols. when their presses were unoccupied by
commercial printing, which was the business
carried on by the firm. 1t was fully year be-
fore this enterprise attracted any attention.
sltho lgh the circulation Of novels in this cheap
form was constantly increasing and the New
York people were growing FESTIVE at the prob
able results. l remember riding uptown in the
streetcar with j. w. Harper. jr.. noble man.
who was at that time the head Of the firm Of
Harper & Bros and urging him TO protect
his library Of select novels by beginning their
reissue at once In similar form. Mr.. Harper
did moi realize fully at that time the gravity OF
the situation. and II was not until after the
Seaside Library had achieved great success
that the Harpers entered the field with their
Franklin Square Library
THE magnitude OF the issue in cheap form Of
the standard novels is not realized by the pub
fishers Of books in good bindings, or by the pub
lie generally. In the Seaside Library alone
h.re were half a million copies sold Of every
one OF Dickens's books during the first five
years OF their publication in that form. The
novels of Sir Walter Scott Amelia b. Edwards,
Mrs Henry Wood. "Ouida" William NJ. Thack-
cray FenmOre Cooper. w Clark Russell and
al the popular nOyelists who have come on the
stage since have enjoyed an enormous popu-
larity through the facility and cheapness OF
manufacture and the low rate Of postage, not TO
speak of the competition among publishers,
which have combined to send their works over
the country In almost Incredible quantities.
bringing them within the reach Of rich and poor
Later have come the 10-cent magazines. which
have had such great success and which are a
direct ofshOot Of the cheap library serials
EVERYBODY READS BOOKS
81 belle that the habit of reading and the
number Of readers Of books In this country have
been increased many fold by this good literature
issued in cheap form. Now every body reads
books, and not even the daily newspapers with
their war extras and all the stimulating attrac-
tons Of pictures and colored inks and blanket
sheets, are able TO counteract the strong desire
On the part Of the public for good fiction. which
continues to sell in rather better form Of paper
and binding In enormous quantities. l think
ro hou ha v,t,hli 10 narira
which has ever existed in the history OF the
world and that the taste Of this public Is i'm
proving and demands a higher quality Of lit
erary work and illustration. In the old library
serials it was the really good novels that had
the largest sale.
THAT the better class OF books mas decreased
the demand for all the class Of literature which
was formerly published in the dime novel series
and in the weekly story papers is well known to
dl publishers Of such matter. The dime novel
business has absolutely passed out Of existence.
All the cheap weekly papers that have not ma
terially changed their form and improved their
literary contents and their illustrations have
lost greatly in circulation. ! could name q
dozen authors who supplied the weekly press
With the popular serials whose names were
Known from one end Of the country TO the other
VINO are now almost forgotten and who have
'eft no successors. Some Of these writer's had
nco mes of $4,000 a year. / once offered the
l'e Mrs. May Agnes Fleming $4,000 for ten
stories, which offer was declined. There is no
.ucn demand for stories by writer's OF Mrs
rNmngs quality as would justify any pub
.sner OF cheap weekly paper in paying more
uah SooO for serial by one Of them. The
"uicauons OF the Improvement in the taste OF
ne public In reading matter crop out on every
0de and prices being equal the majority OF
'eaoers VIII take the better book. My expert