Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-29

Booklovers everywhere should take to
heart the words of Joseph w. Lppin-
colt of Philadelphia, who retired last
week as president of the National AsSo-
citation of Book Publishers.
Addressing the association at a meet
Ing In New York, Mr.. Lppincott spoke
as follows concerning the danger of the
new book" hue and cry of the present
era of book publishing, selling and buy
ing:
intellectual progress is speeding up
it is on the trot. We are getting some
where with literary endeavor. The
phrase, Here Is something new is ap-
parently the open sesame to sales,
however, and there is danger that this
may be carried too far.
We know that the fine things in lit
erature OF yesterday may never be sur
passed. The best deserves to be pre-
served. The crude and ephemeral win
always fall by the wayside.
i am not sure that this cry for
something new is beneficial, for uues-
ton whether, under such circumstances,
the worthy will get their rightful
share
This is an interesting statement, COM
ing as it does from the head of one of
Americas Oldest publishing houses.
There is nothing in it, of course,
which has not been known to one class
OF booklovers for several years, Just
how many it would be difficult to say,
for the thing has been growing insid-
iouSly.
The so-called book clubs brought the
matter to q head. The two leaders. first,
in the field, specialized in supplying
readers everywhere with the new books.
the very newest books, hot of the
griddle.
The third club Eve believe it was the
th1rd) evidently saw what Mr.. Lippin-
colt saw, because it offered both old and
new books, almost making it a condi-
ton that the subscriber should purchase
some standard work" for every new
book he bought.
Newness has its appeal. One has but
10 think OF babies, puppy dogs and kit
tens. The trouble, In the book field.
lies In the solemn fact that the old is
so often better than the new,
A book, unlike baby, is no growing
affair What it is when it comes from
the press Is what it will always remain.
book is mans best bid for i'm
mortality, according to some. Surely he
who writes something beloved of his
own and later generations has made for
himself a monument which will long
OuGIAFC Tie pyTdH1lQS.
The huge stones of those tombs will
be crumbled into sand before the world
OF reading men will forget Shakespeare,
Bunyan, Dante and the others whose
written word no man of sense is willing
to let die.
The appeal of the new book is in
sidious. Who is there who has not felt
1t? The difficulty seems to lie in the
fact that some of us feel 1t so much
more than others.
There are two classes Of booklovers,
whom we risk naming, as follows:
/. The wise.
2. The foolish.
Surely he is a fool who, knowing how
to read. confines his attentions strictly
to the very latest things" to the utter
confusion of great and worthy books
published SO, 100, $50, ZOO, 500 years
ago., thousand years ago, two thou
sand years ago.
The very fact that Time, the final
judge of merit, has passed favorably
upon so many and such accomplished
writings ought to, and does, add q flavor
to the best works Of past years
Stephen Cranes Red Badge of Courage"
Is not exactly new" but it is mighty
good. Olive Schreiner's %AGsory of an
African Farm" was first published about
1881, as We recall, but it is far, far bet