Arizona republican., 1922-03-12

ceive the official taboo OF the Soci-
ETY. for the Suppression of Vice are
also given a cordial welcome by many
of the dealers, who find 1t easy to
sell them at fat price. 1t is report
ed that one downtown dealer made
enough profit on the sale of James
Branch CabeFs "Jurgen" alone to
open another book shop uptown.
1t is not surprising, therefore, to
find most of the secondhand book
sellers strongly in favor of a rigid
censorship of our literature. In fact,
their only criticism of the Anti-Vice
Society is that 1t is too lenient. One
such adniring dealer on the West
Side even has a photograph OF the
late Anthony Comstock conspicuous
ly in evidence on the wall above his
desk.
"The world is getting worse and
worse" lamented this gentleman re-
Gently. echoing the views OF New
Yorks much discussed preacher, DR.
taste for books. The movies have
ruined It, You can't sell the good
sweet love stories our mothers used
to read any more. The new girls
want something snappy. Today, a
young girl not any older than my
daughter came into the store, drew
me over in the corner there where
none OF the other customers could
hear her, and asked me If l had in
stock copy of Ulysses the
book the Society suppressed in this
country last year. All. you know it?
Hmm here he paused and gazed at
the customer a trifle suspiciously,
but at last seemed to be reassured by
what he saw 'have you seen the
latest Lawrence novel? / happen to
have one there on the back shelf. And
here is another that is likely to be
brand-new copy OF a book and added
irrelevantly. II am getting in a large
stock OF this book tomorrow, al
though. Of course. it is a little late
for the society to act now after near
" everybody has read the work"
Sources of Book Supply
The great majority of the books
sold in the secondhand shops are
obtained by the dealers at auction
sales of large estates and from other
sales of private libraries, but a good
many are also bought up at a low
price from European dealers and
shipped to this country. To one who
is a close observer it is also apparent
that at least a few of the dealers Cor
perhaps the people from whom they
have purchased) rely upon the public
libraries for a certain percentage or
their stock. Indeed, in the past the
libraries have suffered so many loss
es to the second hand book trade that
they recently secured an amendment
to the penal code Of the state of New
York. protecting them from such
depredations.
AT one time" declares a library
official, "it was possible to go out
and find whole pushcarts. full OF
library books. bearing library names
and marks. Some years ago l found
whole circulating subscription
library full of them. They were all
library books, which had been re-
bound to make Identification less
easy, the 50-cent bindings removed
and replaced by 1S-cent bindings.
This was a subscription library where
people paid so much a week to take
out a book. We don't have many
cases of this kind now, though"
If the dealers are occasionally
guilty Of selling a library book which
somehow wanders into their possess
sion, however, they themselves are
the victims of much bold thievery.
They are constantly losing valuable
first editions in this way. Only the
other day, a bookseller on the East
Side lost two volumes worth at least
5000 to a clever and distinguished
looking old bibliophile, who moves IN
the best society, and is said to earn
a handsome income by supplying
coveted first editions TO millionaire
collectors.