Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-04-25
NOTES

In answer to cable demand from
the London house of Harper & Broth
ers. The Barrier by Rex Beach, goes
into new printing exactly two weeks
IRON date of publication.
Messrs, Harper & Brothers announc-
ed for publication on April the fol-
lowing list of books: king Spruce u
novel of the Maine woods by Holman
Day; Santa Lucia" novel of the
newer California, by Mary Austin;
THE Duke TO CANDIDA" the new poetic
tragedy of Algernon Charles Swim
burne; "Motley's Dutch Nation" edi-
ted by william Elliot Grifhs. LID.
condensed and brought to date with
special reference to the reign of Will
helmina; John and Sebastian Cabot"
in Heroes of American History" Sc
Ties.
THE six best selling books" is n
phrase flashed at us at very book
store, commenced upon in many review
columns, and mentioned so frequently
in conversation that il has become a
household expression. Yet familiar as
the term is. very few know how mem
bership in this proud seXtette is deter
mined, or just what constitutes a
best seller" Most people seem to re-
gard the expression as a loose phras
advertising. AS a matter of fact the
term is precise and exact, inasmuch as
the statistics of sale are collected with
the create accuracy and fairness, and
the announcement that a book is among
the six best sellers" indicates def
nitely that 1t has won a wide measure
of popularity.
The method of determining "the big
six" was devised by THE Bookman,"
nj tu to 1ar V,.sI
supervision of Mr.. Arthur Bartlett
Maurice. the editor of the magazine.
Toward the end of each month, the
leading bookdealer in each of the larg-
or cities of the country mails to Mr..
Maurice a ballot showing the six books
which by actual count have sold best
at his store during the month. Mr.
Maurice tabulates the count to deter
mine the six best selling books for the
country at large, and the result of the
vote is printed in the next issue of The
Bookman.' which thus serves as an
approximately scientific barometer of
the reading public's taste.
Take, for example, the April Book
man." just published. Fortytwo
separate lists are given in that issue,
furnished by as many dealers, repre-
senting S5 cities. from Birmingham,
Alabama, to Portland. oregon. and
from Portland, Maine, to Los Angeles,
California, Forty eight books are vot-
ed for, the publications of rs different
American houses, and the total number
of votes cast is 1850 First on the com
osite list, pre-eminently the best best
selling book in the whole country, is
The Black Bag" by Louis Joseph
Vance, which secured n total of 2i2
votes, or 10 per cent of the entire
number of votes cast.
After Mr. Vance's romance comes
The Ancient Law" by Ellen Glasgow,
with 1893 votes. Third is THE smut
tie" Mrs. Francis Hodgson Burnetts
story Of International marriage. with
lis, Sir Gilbert Parkers' "WeaVers,"
comes fourth. with total of 1856. THE
Lady of the Decoration" for many
months familiar title in THE Book
mans list, is fifth in April, with ITO.
"SOmehaw Good" the latest De Nor
gan story, Secures 105 votes and sixth
place.
Looking at this vote with reference
to the 20 publishers represented, we
find that the largest number of books
bearing the imprint Of one house are
the publications of The Bobbs Merrill
company. Besides "The Black Bag"
are mentioned in one list or another
"Rosalind at Red Gate" Satan
Sanderson." THE Best Man" and THE
Brass Bowl" These FIVE title aggre-
gate 3G1 votes, or over one-hfth or
the total vote of the AS titles.
Mrs Humphrey Wards tells Of "Ro-
bert Elsmere." the novel which rooted
her reputation I'm English literature,
that soon after its appearance II was
translated into German. Danish, and
Swedish. but that not until 10 years
later did a Latin or Catholic country
make any attempt at Its translation.
Then II was translated at the same
time into Italian and French. NJ. Fred
crick Rrunetiere reprinted the major
part In lie Revue des DeuX Mondes"