POPULAE DISCUSSIONS. 



NO. VIL— THE BOOKSELLERS AND 

 THE READING- PUBLIC. 



This is true liberty,— when free-Lorn men, 

 Having to advise the public, may speak out ; 

 Who can and will do this, deserves high praise. 



Euripides. 



Now that the claims of the Crystal 

 Palace have been fully satisfied, and the in- 

 terest excited thereby amongst "all Nations" 

 has entirely subsided, another great ques- 

 tion forces itself upon the British Public, — 

 we mean the " Booksellers' question. 1 ' 



This question is of the last importance to 

 all persons interested in it ; for it involves 

 some very serious considerations that cannot 

 be lightly set aside ; and as we conceive the 

 matter to come peculiarly within our pro- 

 vince for discussion, we will try and sift the 

 " why and because" as well as the tendency of 

 the tl movement." The principal facts have 

 already been brought in detail before the 

 public ; but as there has been much foreign 

 matter mixed up with them, we will endea- 

 vor to place the whole in a clear light, so 

 that" he who runs may read"— -the great 

 object sought to be accomplished by this 

 article. 



The great publishing houses in London 

 have, in their hot-headed zeal, recently 

 deemed it advisable to interfere with the pro- 

 fits or discounts usually allowed, up to the 

 present time, to certain of the retail dealers. 

 They assign as a reason for this, that some 

 of the retail houses have been in the habit of 

 selling books to the Public at a lower rate of 

 discount than is sanctioned by " the Trade." 

 The discount sanctioned by the trade, to be 

 allowed to the public, is 10 per cent. By 

 some persons 20 per cent, has been commonly 

 allowed ! 



This arbitrary proceeding on the part of 

 the great houses, who have armed themselves 

 with a power which they do not legally pos- 

 sess, has been denounced in no measured lan- 

 guage by Lord Campbell ; and " the asso- 

 ciation" (as the illegal Synod termed them- 

 selves) has been dissolved. They admit now, 

 one and all, that they have, by their own in- 

 sane folly, " put their foot in it." However, 

 the matter will not rest here — a crisis is at 

 hand, and the sooner it takes place the better. 

 We give below some remarks by our contem- 

 porary, the Critic, on this subject, which 

 will be read with interest. We shall to-day 

 confine ourselves to the question of " Authors 

 and the Retail Booksellers ;" and show how 

 the former have ever been deeply indebted 

 to the latter. In making this inquiry, we 

 give no opinion about the desolation that 

 appears to hang in terrorem over the large 

 number of retail dealers in town and country. 

 We imagine that they must, sooner or later, 



do as did the Innkeepers on our high roads, 

 resign in favor of the public voice. The 

 public demanded railways, and would have 

 what they wanted ; the public also want books 

 at cost price, and vow they will have them. 

 The weakest here must go to the wall. 



But let us now show how very greatly 

 authors have been indebted to the retail 

 dealers- Supposing Messrs. Longman & Co. 

 have issued a new work, by an author of 

 unknown merit, and on a subject perhaps 

 not particularly popular. Well, this book, 

 in the regular way of trade, has been taken 

 round and shown to all the retail dealers pre- 

 viously to publication. This has been a cus- 

 tomary thing, and it is technically called 

 " Subscribing a Book." 



The retail bookseller's judgment not 

 having time to exercise itself to decide ,in 

 two or three hasty moments on the merits 

 of the book submitted to him, he looks to the 

 " terms" on which the books are " offered " 

 to him for purchase. He finds that instead 

 of an allowance of 25 per cent., there is on 

 this occasion (only) a temptation put in his 

 way of a still further discount of 5 per cent. ; 

 and that any number of books he may 

 choose to order, not fewer than four, will 

 be put down to a six months' account ; 

 whereas, if he decided against speculation, 

 and did not order the four copies, he would 

 have to pay cash for a single copy (if ordered 

 of him by a customer), and at a rate of 

 profit not exceeding 25 per cent. Under the 

 tempting considerations we have alluded to, 

 very many extra copies of a book would be, 

 and have been, disposed of, and spread over 

 the metropolis — this, to the great advan- 

 tage of an author. 



Let us analyse this principle closer. If 

 an obstinate author, — most authors are so ! 

 were by his whims and caprices to refuse the 

 houses in Paternoster Row the usual trade 

 allowance, — of course his book would be 

 altogether banished from this grand empo- 

 rium of literature. All the retail book- 

 sellers, who flock down here as to the 

 fountain head, not finding the book they 

 wanted to be readily obtained at their usual 

 market, would make no further inquiry 

 for it ; and it would die " still born." The 

 author might " advertise " it, as many authors 

 do, to be had at his own private residence ; 

 but the sale would be ridiculously small. 

 In fact, the book would, to all intents and 

 purposes, be " burked." The greater there- 

 fore the facility given to the circulation of a 

 book, the greater the sale. Few people 

 will trouble themselves to walk about, from 

 shop to shop, without finding the book for 

 which they are in search. If nobody keeps 

 it, they argue it can be good for nothing. 



Have we not ourselves suffered im- 

 mensely from this very Journal not having 



