THE ENGLISH COPYRIGHT COMMISSION. 441 



edition. But it is not so with others of my works — with the work on 

 " Education," now in its fourth thousand ; with " First Principles," 

 now in its fourth thousand; and especially with the just-issued first vol- 

 ume of the " Principles of Sociology." These are now sufficiently in 

 demand, and, especially the last, sufficiently popular in manner and 

 matter, to make rival editions quite probable. 



Q. Now, with respect to the stereotype plates, would they not 

 enable you to exclude the rival editions of which you speak ? 



A. I think not. In the first place, the assumption that other pub- 

 lishers would be deterred from issuing rival editions by my stereotype 

 plates, implies that other publishers would know I had them. I do not 

 see how other publishers are to know it, until after I had myself printed 

 new editions — even English publishers — and it is out of the question 

 that colonial publishers should know it. Hence, therefore, the fact of 

 my having stereotype plates would not prevent such rival editions. 

 Consequently these rival editions, making their appearance unawares, 

 would compete with my existing stock, printed in a comparatively ex- 

 pensive style, and would oblige me either to sacrifice that stock or to 

 lower the price to one far less remunerative. Then, subsequently, there 

 would not be the supposed ability to compete so advantageously with 

 editions published by others. An edition to be sold at a cheap rate 

 must not be in large type, well spaced, and with ample margins, but 

 must be in small type, and much matter put into the page. Hence the 

 existing stereotype plates, adapted for printing only books in a supe- 

 rior st^le, could not be used to print cheap books : the quantity of 

 paper and the cost of printing w'ould be much larger items than to one 

 who arranged the matter fitly for a cheap edition. 



Q. Then we are to gather that you do not think that from any such 

 cheap edition you would derive a profit from the royalty compensating 

 you for your loss ? 



A. Nothing like compensating. Although the sales of these more 

 readable books I have instanced might be considerably increased, the 

 increase could not be anything like as great as would be required to 

 produce the return I now have. Even supposing the price of the rival 

 edition were the same, which of course it would not be, the ten per 

 cent, royalty would bring in the same amount, only supposing four 

 times the number were sold that I sell now ; and as, by the hypothesis, 

 the price of the volume, to get any such larger sale, must be much 

 lower, the royalty would bring in so much the less. If, say, " First 

 Principles " were issued at half the present price, eight thousand would 

 have to be sold instead of one thousand, to bring in by royalty the 

 present returns. Such an increase of the sale would be out of the 

 question ; even one half of it would be improbable ; so that certainly 

 one half of my returns would be lost. 



Q. Have you any other personal experience that you wish to bring 

 before the commission to show that such a modification of the copy- 

 voL. XIV. — 29 



