ti ••ntiaentaX things but we had already eontracted 

 for it and the lady paid for it and sold it too# 

 So you'd be stirpriaed at the kind of books that 

 can be sold* 



011b} Tou didn't try to sell much fiction, I take it* 



Coggins: Ho, we weren't equipped for it. Fiction was too 

 amch of a gamble. > 



AC V Tou know, Kate Douglas Wiggins' The Birds' 

 Christmas Carol was published here and never got 

 anywhere* Mr. Boxey published it^ It wasn't until 

 Houghtcm -Mifflin finally took it that It paid* 

 One trip aroimd the country and they've gc* their 

 money back. 



Vilbt In other words, even If a book had merit » if it 

 weren't published by someone who knew how to 

 sell it... ^ 



Coggins t No, the physical obstructions would stop yotir 



success. The shipping back there, the traveling, 

 what it would cost a man to travel with just one or 

 two books of fiction* He couldn't even ptkf t&t 

 his meals on the train. 



Ollbt You mentioned somebody having paid for a book* 

 Was that a common practice? 



