Sect. III.] United States of America. 257 



prise, and to an extent which would not disgrace 

 some of the most cultivated parts of the European 

 world. 



Before the revolutionary war the booksellers m 

 the American colonies were few, and carried on 

 their business on a contracted plan. Since that 

 time their number has increased more i\viii\ffty 

 fold; and the extent of their annual sales, per- 

 haps, in a still greater proportion*. Thirty years 

 ago, he who undertook to dispose of a moderately 

 large edition, even of a spelling-book, considered 

 himself as engaged in a hazardous enterprise. 

 Bat in 1790 a single bookseller thought himself 

 warranted in attempting an American edition of 

 the Kncyclopcedia Britannic a, in eighte-en quarto 

 volumes, and completely succeeded in making it 

 a profitable undertaking f . And since the last- 

 mentioned year, a number of works extending to 

 many volumes have been carried through Ame- 

 rican presses, with great ease and readiness. 



The first edition of the Bible ever printed in 

 America was that by the rev. John Eliot, the ce- 



* In 1 802 the German plan of disposing of books by means 

 «f literary fairs was adopted in the United States. The first 

 book-fair was held in New York; and it is proposed, in future, 

 to hold them statedly in that city. It is believed that Mr. 

 Mathew Carey, a well informed and enterprising bookseller of 

 Philadelphia, was one of the first who suggested the propriety 

 and utility of the undertaking, which has so far happily suc- 

 ceeded, and bids fair to be highly useful, both to the book trade 

 and to the cause of literature. 



f The person here alluded to is Mr. Thomas Dobson of Phi- 

 ladelphia, an intelligent and respectable bookseller, who has 

 probably contributed as much as any individual in his profes- 

 sion to the promotion of American literatur«j. 



Vol. III. S 



