The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-10

The American Association of Booksellers
meets in New York tomorrow in annual
convention. There are many matters per-
tanning to the book trade 70 which the
members will give their careful considera-
ton. One Of these is the department store
question. Since the department stores
went into the book business they have
made serious inroadS into the trade OF the
booksellers. and although many OF the
stores are coming around to an under
standing with the booksellers. there is still
much 10 be desired by the latter. They
are very anxious to reach some under
standing with the publishers whereby they
will be protected from the whitening COM
petition of the department stores.
Another thing which viii come I'D Tor
consideration viii be the booming of the
book business The magazine, bought at
the corner news stand or subscribed for
directly. is materially curtailing the book
business thousands who used TO be good
book BUYERS nov cOutentinE themselves
with literature served up IN the periodical
form How TO iufuse new life into the
book trade Will be fully discussed. and
the man who viii bring them guarsn-
teed-tO-wO -k-Or- moncv-Tefunded scheme
for doing so. win be hailed as the bene-
factor of the bookseller. a conference
was held not long ago between the pub
fishers and the booksellers with reference
to these questions. but the results have
been withheld from the public.
No one has ever Yet succeeded in esti-
mating with even approximate accuracy
the number of books made in the course
Of year. 1t is said that the worlds addi-
tons TO literature aggregate 5000 books
and pamphlets d year. Counting coo
copies Of each. it would mean co. 900
books and pamphlets, but even this may
be less than one-third of the actual out
put There is another way in which
some idea of the output Of books in the
United States may be arrived at. The
census estimates that the wholesale value
Of the books produced I'm the United
IA n he of Is
Assuming the average wholesale cost TO
be in the neighbOThCod of 30 cents, the re-
suit would be close to 100O00.0 600 books.
But since this includes pamphlets and
the cheap books, the average price is
probably far below 50 cents.
From the invention of the printing press
UP to the beginning Of the sixteenth CEN
fury not more than 5000 books were
printed. yet recently many single books
have enjoyed sales exceeding the half
million mark in one year. Up to 1904
there had appeared I'm the world Il, 800 600
separate works, this including transla-
tons and new editions. In the general
output of books Germany leads all the
rest Of the world, followed by France.
Italy, England. the United States and the
Netherlands in the order named. In crea-
tive writing England leads the world,
while Germany leads i'm books for chill
dTen and works on theology.
The ink used in book and periodical
printing costs more than S2OG0.00O a year.
Perhaps the total output of printers ink
in the United States amounts to s, 600 900
in value. 1t is said that the American
people use 1200o 900 gallons Of writing ink
every twelve months, OF more than s., 600
gallons d day.
The most remarkable thing about the
book trade of the present day is the gain
that popular science has been enjoying
as compared with fiction and other light
reading. The number of new books Of
such a ma tuTe nearly doubled in a single
year. comparing 1907 with 1908, and the
record is almost remarkable in the
comparison Of 1908 with 1909. In the IL
bTaTies of general circulation Il is the
popular science works that are being most
used. Is is said that this is largely due
to the effect Of the library on public
taste. People are coming to feel that