The age-herald., 1901-12-29

oboAas as IoIHaeFlys
 T read great many advertisements in magazines have friendly booksellers; have friends who keep fairly well posted" was the reply of managing director of four mills company of Minneapolis.
 Book reviews prove 8 great help to me in my choice of reading matter" said wholesale grocer of the same city. | A Minp eapolis contractor said that he was too busy to do great deal or read ing, and contented himself with hap hazard book buying, the outgrowth chiefly of comments of friends ana ac- quaintances.
 A Bishop of the Methodist church, writing from St. Paul. said: T am largely guided in making my selection Of books by the reviews which appear In various newspapers and periodicals, and also by the recommendation of friends in whom have confidence
 Among replies from Mexico was one from a man who wrote: My occasional l purchases of books are guided mostly by the literary reviews and criticisms which l read in the best magazines published in your country and in Europe" merchant of Aguas Calientes. Mex l leo, wrote: Sometimes my attention has been attracted to reading matter by dis play advertisements, sometimes by the advertising pages in periodicals, books, etc., but probably most often through the recommendations of friends" Canadian replies were many. One resident of Pe- trolia wrote: T generally find the crit lcisms of Laurence Hutton sufficient to decide the purchase of books"
 Another correspondent said tersely; "Re-selection of books; daily New York papers; reviews-yes, frequently; local 1 booksellers nothing to do with the ques- | tion." q read a number of daily and weekly newspapers" was the reply Of another resident of the same place; and the principal of the Petrolia High School | wrote:
 My reading for the most part has been chosen from standard authors. In making selections for our students, re- 1y mainly on publication of catalogues for supplementary reading"
 Very often see review in the daily papers which interests me-" another Pe- trolian wrote; sometimes I glance through a number of book shelves and pick out few books"
 A Queens College man of Kingston, Ont, wrote ttat he was influenced to a great extent by the reviews in magazines and the Saturday editions of newspapers, and added: Like doctors who sedul- ously avoid taking their own medicine. our booksellers never read. If they did
 
 critical to be worth much
 A lawyer of Smiths Falls Ont, said that his selection of books was largely a matter of development as I presume it is with most men who do much reading" And he said of advertisements: T have simply used them to find out where could purchase books of which I had | heard"
 The advertising pages of periodicals | I a hut dn not often purchase on the strength of these alone" wrote Smiths Falls min ister.
 q am influenced by reviews in solid standard papers," said a resident of Perth, Ont, and especially by such as give extracts from books reviewed"
 The proprietor of a Perth newspaper wrote that his main guides were the re- views and notices in the leading dalies and magazines.
 A citizen of Savannah, Ga, wrote that he received lists from all the publishing houses of note, mentioning a number of them, and added: "The publisher has also guided me in selecting. as certain pub fishing houses are renowned for publish Ing good books, while others for light If not trashy, reading"
 A newspaper man who did little in vestigating in Philadelphia wrote that among his friends the leading maga- zines seemed to eb the chief medium through which they made book pur- chases, but qualified the statement by the remark that 1t applied most largely to fiction. He said that he knew one man who made up a list of books each month from sources accessible to all, and sent his list to the general officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad. From that list, he said, they made constant addi- tions to their libraries.
 There Is a certain amount of vanity in human nature" said a Buffalo mer- chant who buys many books for his H. brary, and people are gratified at re- ceiving book notices direct from pub fishers. If a publisher should send cur rently to the Blue Book people of each city advance notices of publications, show ing the date the publication would be out, IL seems to me a certain per cent CT such circulars would induce conver- sation with reference to new books and conversation induces sales. It seems to me book notices prior to the publication Of a book instead of after, it would in- spire more interest. If people can be induced to talk about a book which is coming out, you have in addition to the interest in the subject curiosity about it. D . The letter of a resident of Beatrice Neo.' d'scloses among that Western country of hustlers a devotee of the Gladstonian conservatism, who would read an old book upon the announcement of new. one. Says he:
 My usual plan is to wait and see if a book has the vitality to survive a year or so; then l think there may be some thing to it, and by that time I usually know by observation whether it is worth reading or not. I follow my own incli- nations in the line of reading. my tastes being sufficiently settled and decided to know instinctively what I want" The president of an Omaha hank had no fixed method for seeking his books. but continued year after year to purchase periodicals which satisfied him, while his family utilized the bookshops for their selections of light reading A lawyer of Omaha got much of his book informa tion from periodical of England.