The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-23
Thinks That the Old Days Are
Returning.
LOOK BEFORE BUYING.
Less Disposition to Take Vol
umes i'm Original Packages.
Day of the Deluge in Book Sell
ing Is Gone.


of New York indicates definitive re-
turn to the conditions that prevailed
before the boom of three or four
years ago, but on a larger scale, says
| writer in the New York Mail. The
| impression made on the outside pub
lie. that the volume of business has
grown smaller since the day of edi-
lions of 100000 copies and more of
books that had no enduring literary
value, is an erroneous one; the sales
are merely divided among a greater
| number. of books. and, on the whole,
far better books. 1.-THE reader of
trash of some years ago." said a mem
Der of the staff of one of the large
book stores in this city, has in many
instances learned to appreciate good
work, and buys it,
| Is it harder to sell books now than
| it was then 2" said the head of an
other well known firm of booksellers
| in answer to that question. ''Well, it
| is, and it isn't. 1t certainly has grown
interesting again. Three years ago
we could have wrapped I'D a certain
number of copies of certain books,
before the days business began, and
sold them as boxes of candy are sold,
all ready for delivery. Then people
| came in and asked for a certain work;
! that was what they wanted, and moth
| ing else and nothing more. They
manifested no interest whatever in
| other books. or in American literature
| in general. The bookseller had moth
knowledge of books. his experience,
| his knack of selling were not called
into play at all. In the old days We
got into conversation with our cuStO-
mers, compared notes, endeavored to
| discover what direction their tastes
and interests took, and were thus able
to draw their attention to other works,
the result being generally, not only
good immediate sale, but the gaining
of a permanent customer. Those days
have returned. Bookselling has again
become a profession that repays the
time and trouble it takes to make
good salesman.
"Of course" continued this gentle
man, who carries in his head the
titles. names of authors. publishers,
and the price of practically all the
books now ''in print in this country,
and of a good many published in Eng
land beSides-that is what it means to
certain classes of customers stayed
with US all through the 'deluge, as
Mr.. Halsey has called 1.-THE buyers
of works in certain departments of
knowledge and inquiry, readers of his
tory, or biography, or works on psy-
chology, ETC.; but formerly, and again
now, novel readers, too, were open to
suggestion. We can discover again
what they desire, and offer 1t to them
They no longer merely ask for the
latest best seller
For instance, when customer asks
for copy of the Test know that he,
He That Eateth Bread with Me- while |
that in turn, will suggest -Four Roads
to Paradise Just as likely as not, the
answer will be, Yes, have heard OF
these books; 1 believe that 1 will take
them
Now I know my customer, and the
trend of her interest. When she comes
in again, I am ready for her with later
novels of this claSs-'The Woman En-
rant and the Mother of Pauline, for
instance. 1t is likely that bare men |
ton of Mrs. Wharton's Descent of Man |
will suffice in ner case. The writer's of
therefore the next tentative step is to |
suggest Elizabeth Robins Magnetic |
North as a remarkable performance |
for a woman. If any customer approves
of it, a new avenue is opened; if she /
praises it but family, / must try again. I
Mrs. Ward, James Lane Allen, and Mr..
Howells, Miss Wilkins. Alice Brown
these suggest Themselves the chances
are that my patron will ask for their /
latest works the moment they appear.
The bookseller must have the out
put of two or three seasons classified I
in mis- mind'' continued the BOOKSELLER,
Booker T. Washington's new volume,
Working with the Hands,; must sug-
gest not only up from Slavery but
Folk and Behind the Veil for in
stance, and suggest them instantly. To
remember them after the customer has
left will do no good. Books like John
of course; the art is to sell
the Beaconsfield book as well. and the
recent volumes of "reminiscences of the
Victorian era. The real bookseller, who
starts early in life and sticks to the
profession, learns to be the friend, phil
osopher and guide of the book buyer.
mo. I do not consider the recent
deluge' unprecedented in the history of
Would Don Quixote' have
been written if there had not been an
amazing boom of romances of chiv-
airy in Spain? Eugene Sues Wander
ing Jew is one of the notable in ]
history of the trade, not only in France,
but in all Europe. We have had a
Kreutzer Sonata craze, and 'Rubai- l
vat boom that have been strangely
yorgotten: both books were sold from
oeddlers' puShcarts in this city.
That's the peculiar thing about it: {
people remember the latest deluge, they
forget the earlier ones. Ben Hur. the {
fiction flood, -Trilby,' the ]
Kailyard season-there is nothing so
lead as that school, yet Barrie. ven $
-ure to say. was more popular in those
laws than even Du Maurier was in his s
,ne SEASONAL these preceded the rural l
character and historical romance high '
-ide of few years ago. Two attempt
ID booms have failed. by the way. The
rust magnate and the political boss '
nave not banned out at all as the {
heroes of popular fiction.
ssWhat distinguished the latest boom t
n BOOKS from It's predecessors was the
fact that it struck country of $4,000. f
100 at the food tide of prosperity. With S
larger public than ever before, there t
vas ample room for several booms at I
once or at least in such close success
sion as to be almost simultaneous. Then s
he dramatizer lifted his head, and
helped things along. Taking into con- r
,iderat ton this larger public, its pros s
1erity the improved mechanism Of the /
rade, the enormously increased and de- T
yeIoped methods of publicity, I doubt if t