The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-10
THE ENGLISH BOOKSELLER
His Business Suffering From the En-
feet 90 the Free Library


LONDON. July 2s.-Next to the British
farmer the greatest grumhier in Britain
just now is the British bookseller. II gu
go into a shop and look him but orcs in ths
eye. he will unfold to you a tale OF a de-
efdedly narrowing kind. The trade is not
what 1t was once. you know, sir. aRd what
with the war and six-penny reprin. S. some
o. us are pretty well at the end OF cur
tetner. And he will proceed to show you
sneif after shelf Of war books which are rot
seiiing. and shelf after shelf OF spring fs-
ton which ne hoped to get rid of. but
which is now so much old stock. He viii
tell you further that the ''only hope, far
the trade is a general recognition OF the
system of sale or return acd to this sys-
TEN need scarcely say the publishers have
the very strongest objection. Practically.
however, and putting on one side the sc-
cident OF the war, the great grievance
which is agitating the breast of the book
seller Just now Is the effect upon his re-
ceipts of the circulation of literature Ly
the free ! l.>s==sz=.- n BOOKSELLER of Leeds-
one OF the largest of our northern EasHsh
cities-voices the trouble in the curr- Mt
number of the Publishers Circular thus:
Fifty years ago the population of this city
was less than one-third of what IL Is today,
and yet there were more booksellers in the
city than now, and several OF them with
larger stocks than any now held in the
city.
Il could mention fifty people. whose in
Genes vary from ESQ to $4,000 a year,
who scarcely ever spend a shilling on a
book, and who seem to be well up in cur
rent literature. When asked about Il, they
say: We get all our books from the free
library For years past booksellers have
had to depend on the sale of novels, but
new that is stopped. The sixpenny novel
aas effeetually supplanted the six-shiiiing
as the six-shiliing did the three volumes,
and now, forsooth, booksellers have 10
lend their new novels out at threepence
apiece. Soon they will be two for l I'D"
or course the mischief is confined neither
to Leeds nor to any other city. 1t is well
known that the lending departments OF
many OF the free libraries in London are
continually used by people Who would be
very much offended II one mentioned them
in the same breath as the working
classes" There is a free library in a
popular residence district The persons
who use it are almost without ex-
ception Of the middle and wcaithier
classes. and quite frequently one finds
line of carriages waiting outside the dor
while the oTEers thereof make their seiec-
ton of light literature inside. Now, pretty
well all these persons could, presumably.
afford to buy the books they need But
the free libraries come cheaper. Besides
which the borrowers are ratepayers. and
II .rou pay a library rate, why should you
ne use the library, no matter how wealthy
you may BE-? So that the bookseller goes
to the wall.
Serious as is the position for him, how
ever, it is 10 less serious for that uncon-
sidered individual. the average author; for
il the sale Of a book is to be practically
limited to the libraries. the only person
who can possibly make a living profit on
it is the publisher. Naturally the ques-
ton arises: What is to be done? The
answer is a very simple one. Probably two
thirds of the books which now see thu
light in this country from season to season
are wholly ephemeral in character that
is to say. when you have read them cnce
you have done with them. That you
should be asked to pay dollar and half
for the single reading OF the three hun
bred pages of more or less undistinguish-
ed prose which comes into the average
English six-shilling novel is, when you
come TO think of it. not quite the thing
in a thrifty age. Therefore, let authors
who wish TO live endeavor to write books
which one win want TO keep, as well as
to read. Among the fictionists especially
there has OF late years been far too much
writing for the market. The popular"
novelist OF today enters into contracts for
the delivery of 10000 or se.000 word
story six months from date as lightly
as be would promise to attend a wedding
or a garden party. He takes such sum
of money as he can get on account of roy
alties and goes eheerfully of to complete
contracts outstanding. Perhaps a couple
Of months before the new masterpiece Is
due, he sits down seriously to evolve 1t
with what results every reader Of modern
fiction knows. II the free libraries. by
reducing the sale of merely seasonable
works to a non-paying limit. altogether
cut OF the supply OF such work. they VIII
have rendered another distinct service to
the body polite at large.