BOOK-CLUB-BOOK-KEEPING. was Charles Lewis, a London binder (1786-1836), whose talent, according to Dr Dibdin, 'consists in uniting the taste of Roger Payne with a freedom of forwarding and squareness of finishing peculiarly his own. His books appear to move on silken hinges; his joints are beautifully squared, and wrought upon with studded gold; and in his inside decorations he stands without a compeer.' At present, there are several eminent binders in London, whose forwarding and finishing, as well as artistic decoration, have given them a deservedly high reputation. W. C. BOO'K-CLUB, or BOOK-SOCIETY, an association of individuals for purchasing and reading new books as they issue from the press, which, after being circulated among the members, are sold for the benefit of the concern. In some cases, the used books are disposed of by auction among the members. Book-clubs exist in many of the large towns and rural districts of Great Britain. Although new in name, and mostly composed of persons in the higher ranks of life, they are established on plans similar to the more humble class of reading societies which were common in different parts of the country in the latter part of the 18th century. In some places, the more fashionable book-clubs have been superseded by the late re-invigoration of the system of circulating libraries (q. v.). W. C. BOO'K-KEEPING is the method of recording business transactions in a set of blank-paper books kept for the purpose, by all classes of traders, as well as in various kinds of establishments. Viewed as an art, B. was first brought to comparative perfection by the merchants of Genoa and other cities in the north of Italy; and followed up by the merchants of the Netherlands, it has been brought to England, in which country, as also in the British colonial possessions and the United States, it is now carried on in the best manner by professional accountants and skilled clerks in counting-houses. The books employed are usually of a folio size, strongly bound. For security against loss, it is customary to remove them every night from the desk and ordinary shelves in the counting-house to a fire-proof safe. Although_reduced to an accurate system, the details of B. necessarily differ according to the extent and the nature of the transactions to be recorded. In all kinds of B., however, there are or ought to be certain pervading principles, to which we shall in a brief way refer. The object is to keep an account of the goods a trader buys and sells, and the money he receives and pays away; also to shew, at short and periodic intervals, the exact state of his affairs-what are his assets (property and sums of money owing to him), and what are his liabilities (debts owing by him, and other pecuniary obligations). On the proper accomplishment of this object may be said to depend the stability and the reputation of the trader. Such is obviously the case, for, unless a person keep an accurate set of books to enable him to ascertain how his affairs stand, he must in a great measure be proceeding upon vague, and possibly erroneous conclusions; the result of which may be insolvency or bankruptcy, and loss of good name. In many instances, bankruptcy is traced to no other cause than the keeping of an insufficient set of books, and even keeping these badly. Viewed as credentials, a merchant's books are invested with a certain sacredness of character. Such a set of them is to be kept as will at all times admit of making up statements of affairs satisfactory not only to the trader himself, but to his creditors. On this account, they require to be kept with great neatness, accuracy, and perspicuity. As a rule, there must be no blotting, no scraping out of words or figures, and no tearing out of leaves-the records are to be beyond suspicion of falsification. SINGLE ENTRY.-The simpler kind of accounting is called B. by Single Entry; the principal books used being the Day-book, Invoice-book, Cash-book, and Bill-book, which are employed for recording the transactions as they occur, and a Ledger, to which the entries are afterwards transferred, under the names of the parties concerned. The method is called Single Entry, for the reason that each item is entered only once in the accounts in the ledger. Day-book.-The purpose of this book is to keep a daily account of all goods sold on credit-that is, goods not paid for at the time of being bought. The book is ruled with a date-line on the left-hand side of the page, and with double money-lines at the right-hand side. The entry of a transaction comprehends the name of the purchaser, and beneath it a note of the articles sold, with the prices extended to the first money-column. The gross amount added up is extended to the second money-column; so that the amount of all sales may easily be summed up. After the name of the purchaser, it is usual to put Dr, and to articles in the entry is prefixed Tothe meaning of these insertions being that the party named is debtor to the concern for the articles mentioned. Invoice-book. This book, which is similarly ruled, is sometimes called the Credit Day-book. It is used for keeping an account of all goods bought on credit. When the goods are received, an invoice, or account of them, accompanies the package, or precedes it by post, and on being checked off, the items are copied into the book. After the name of the seller of the goods is inscribed the contraction Cr, and to the items entered is prefixed the word By-the meaning of which is, that the party named is creditor by having sold the articles named. For the sake of brevity, some dealers merely enter the name of the creditor, the date, and the amount; and preserve the invoices, by docketing and tying them up in parcels, or by fastening them loosely into a coarse paper-book prepared for the purpose. In any form, the invoices should always be preserved. Cash-book. In this is kept an account of all cash received and paid, and of discount received and allowed. It is ruled for date and double moneycolumns on each page. Two pages, one opposite the other, are required for the entries; that on the left hand for entering cash received, and the discount allowed by the trader; that on the right hand for the cash he pays, and the discount allowed to him. The first money-column on each page is for the discount, and the second for the cash. For example, if a person settles his account, amounting to £5, less a discount of 58., the sum of 5s. is entered in the first column, and £4, 15s. in the second; by which means a record is kept of accounts settled and the A similar explanation money actually received. At the close of applies to the cash paid' side. business for the day, the amounts on both sides are summed up and balanced. Bill-book. This contains an account of all 'Bills Receivable'-that is, bills of which the trader is to receive payment; and 'Bills Payable'—that is, bills which he has to pay. Sometimes, however, in the case of large concerns, these two classes of bills have each a distinct book. The books are ruled in a particular manner, to admit of an explicit statement of dates, amounts, length of term, and other particulars. Ledger. This is the great book of the concern. It comprehends an abstract of the entries in the day-book, invoice-book, cash-book, and bill-book, the whole collected in a methodic form under the names of the various persons, whether standing in the relation of debtors or creditors to the trader; 227 BOOK-STALLS-BOOK-TRADE. and not only so, but an account of the trader's own private debit and credit. Two sets of columns are assigned to every person's account, one for Dr, and the other for Cr. The copying of items from the day-book, &c., into these ledger accounts, is termed posting. According to the ordinary practice, books are posted after short and regular intervals-not longer than a month. Having books at all times well posted up is an acknowledged mark of a good man of business. By means of a well-posted ledger, and an inventory of stock and other assets, drawn up with a prudent regard to realisable value, the trader is able at the end of a year to make a Balance Sheet, or condensed statement of his affairs. A proper balance-sheet ought to shew the amount of capital invested in the form of money, stock, debts, &c.; also the amount of liabilities, the expenses at which the business has been conducted, the money drawn on private account, and the profit that is over, after all deductions have been made. Some other books of a subsidiary kind are kept by large trading houses-as an Order-book, in which copies of all orders are entered; a Waste-book, for memorandums; an Account of Sales-book, from which particulars are obtained for making out accounts of the sales of goods which may have been sent for disposal on commission; a Stock-book, in which an inventory is kept of the stock on hand; a Bank Pass-book, into which sums sent to and drawn from the bank are entered; and a Letter-book, into which all letters sent out by the firm are copied. With such a set of books, and a few additional memoranda, a trader could doubtless strike a balance at the end of the year. He could see how much was owing to him, how much he was owing to others, how much he had spent, and how much would remain over, or how much would be deficient, after all accounts pro and con were settled. But by this elementary routine he could establish no satisfactory check on different departments of his business; and for large and complicated concerns, the system, if not absolutely valueless, would prove exceedingly imperfect. What the wholesale-trader wants is a process of checks-one book checking another-the whole thing reduced to such a rigorously methodised system of entries that every fraction is thoroughly accounted for. No doubt, to effect this elaborate and minute system of B., a considerable expense is incurred for clerks; but in large establishments this is of small account in comparison with the advantages that are secured. property has been disposed of, without analysing general accounts. quently used. The entries in the day-book, &c., are In double entry, a book called a Journal is freabstracted into the journal, and thence posted in a brief form into the ledger; the use of the journal, therefore, is only to save the ledger from being burdened with details. ship, B. by double entry, or by the Italian method, Acknowledged to be the triumph of accountantas it is sometimes called, is not an entire safeguard against frauds and fallacies in the conducting of commercial operations, which, independently of every technical aid, require to be sustained by constant integrity, vigilance, and discretion. Among the fallacies in the method of keeping books which are observed to sap the stability of the most gigantic concerns, are two so conspicuous as to demand our notice. The first consists in including bad or nearly The second is that of not estimating stock at its worthless debts in the periodical lists of assets. realisable value only. This last may be said to be a common error among traders, many of whom, without any evil intention, and simply from want of prudent consideration in making due allowance for depreciation of property, delusively and gradually slip into a condition of hopeless insolvency. connection with penmanship and arithmetic. To B. forms a department of school education in assist scholars, there are various useful treatises on the subject, with proper forms for day-book, ledger, comprehensive of this class of works are, A Complete and other books. System of Book-keeping, by Benjamin Booth (Lond. Two of the larger and more 4to), and Jones's Science of Book-keeping Exemplified (Lond. 4to). Among the lesser and more accessible treatises we may specify Book-keeping by Single and Double Entry, by W. Inglis (Edin. 1858). It is proper, however, to add, that no method of school instruction can supersede the practical knowledge which is to be procured only in a busy and wellconducted counting-house. BOO'K-STALLS. See BOOK-TRADE. W. C. in which are comprehended two classes of personsBOO'K-TRADE, the business of dealing in books, Publishers, who prepare and dispose of books wholesale; and Booksellers, to whom the retailing of books more properly belongs. Although ordinarily distinct, the two professions may conveniently be treated together. While publishing, properly speakDOUBLE ENTRY.-The method of B. which has as the origin of literature. Copies of the works of ing, is of modern date, the selling of books is as old been so called is only an extension of that already authors in manuscript were sold in the cities of noticed. The distinct peculiarity in double entry ancient Greece and Rome. Horace celebrates 'the chiefly concerns the ledger. Its object is a system brothers Sosii' as eminent booksellers (bibliopola). of checks, to be effected by entering transactions in With the foundation of several universities in the the ledger twice-first to the debtor of one set of 12th c., the preparation and sale of books increased; accounts, and then to the creditor of another set. but the trade of bookselling cannot be said to have In making the two entries, one is a real account attained to importance till after the invention of under the name of the debtor or creditor, and the printing. The first printers acted also as booksellers, other is a nominal or imaginary account, under the and being for the most part a learned class of men, head of the goods that have been bought or sold. they in some instances were the authors of the works Take, for instance, the article sugar. Say, the trader which they produced. See PRINTING. purchases a hogshead of the article from A. B. & Co. Schoeffer, the partners of Guttenberg (q. v.), carried He first enters it in the regular way to the Cr of the productions of the Mainz press to the fair Fust and A. B. & Co., and then turning to the folio headed of Frankfort-on-the-Main and to Paris. 'Sugar,' he enters it on the Dr side of the account stances of division of the two branches, printing and as bought from A. B. & Co. In the same way, bookselling, occurred in the 15th c. John Rynmann Some inwhen the hogshead is sold to E. F. & Co., it is of Augsburg (1497-1522) styled himself, at the entered first to the Dr of these parties, and then conclusion of his publications, Archibibliopola of under the Cr side of sugar as sold to E. F. & Co. Germany. In consequence of the Reformation, the By this system of double entries, one the counter-seats of learning were gradually removed from the part of the other, the nominal constantly check the southern to the northern states of Germany, and, of real or personal accounts; and a trader can at course, the booksellers followed their customers. all times tell how, when, and at what prices his 228 Migrating from place to place, and also resorting BOOK-TRADE. 12 law booksellers-total 812. Among the booksellers are included commission-houses; and among the publishing establishments are several branches from Edinburgh and other places. The London book-trade is partly carried on in distinct departments; miscellaneous literature, law books, medical books, educational treatises, periodicals, &c., respectively engage the attention of publishers; and as regards religious books, each sect may be said to have publishers and booksellers of its own. The greater number of the publishing and commission houses are situated in Paternoster Row and the courts adjoining; so that this part of the city has become the great and acknowledged market for literature. In whatever part of the metropolis books are primarily issued, they may be found in one of the establishments in or about the Row,' by which means the collecting of books to meet country or foreign orders is effected at once on the spot. Every commission-house has one or more collectors,' who, with bags, are seen hurrying about, picking up the works which are entered in their collecting-book. When not so found, books are said to be out of print.' to the great continental fairs for customers, the property may be inscribed, is situated in London. early booksellers became known as stationarii, or Through its channels of literary intelligence and stationers, from the practice of stationing themselves criticism, it possesses the most ample means of at stalls or booths in the streets, as is still customary making new works known. Through favour of with dealers in old books. The term stationer these circumstances, the metropolis becomes the was long held to be synonymous with bookseller, centre of the British book-trade; almost every but in modern times it is more commonly applied new work floats towards it, either for publication to dealers in paper and other writing materials. or to be issued wholesale on commission. In 1860, Whether settled or migratory, the early publishers there were connected with the book-trade, within and sellers of books were subject to a number of the bounds of the metropolitan post-office district, restrictions, as is still the case in various continental 211 booksellers who were also publishers, 566 bookcountries. In England, the book-trade was tram-sellers alone, besides 23 foreign booksellers, and melled by royal patents and proclamations, decrees and ordinances of the Star Chamber, licences of universities, and charters granting monopolies in the sale of particular classes of works. In 1556, in the reign of Mary, the Stationers' Company of London was constituted by royal charter, the professed aim being the 'removal of great and detestable heresies.' The members of the Company were made Literary constables to search for books, &c., and it was ordered ⚫ that no man should exercise the mystery of printing, unless he was of the Stationers' Company, or had a licence.' The charter, which was confirmed by Elizabeth in 1558, in effect empowered the company to make ordinances as to the printing and sale of books, and to exercise an arbitrary censorship of the press. The Crown, by an act 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 23, commonly called the Licensing Act,' assumed this species of control over the issue of books. The Licensing Act, and its renewals, ultimately expired in 1694. By the first Copyright Act, 8 Anne, c. 19, the legislature interposed to protect the rights of authors, and to relieve them, as well as publishers, from the thraldom of the Stationers' Company. But by the same act, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, and certain judges in England, and the judges of the Court of Session in Scotland, were empowered, on the complaint of any person, to regulate the prices of books, and to fine those who sought higher prices than they enjoined. This provision was in force till 1738, when it was abolished by the act 12 Geo. II. c. 36. From this time the book-trade was free. How it spread and flourished may be best learned from the history of the literature with which it is identified. Subsequent to the reigns of Anne and George I., there was a succession of men of literary repute connected with the metropolitan book-trade; among whom may be mentioned Cave, the conductor and publisher of the Gentleman's Magazine, and early patron of Samuel Johnson; and Dodsley, a poet and dramatist, who reached the head of the bookselling profession. We might also almost include Richardson the novelist, for, though a printer, he in 1754 became master of the Stationers' Company. The names of Baldwin, Rivington, Longman, Tonson, Millar, Cadell, Dilly, and Lackington, besides many others, will also be as familiar as are the Knights, Bohns, and Murrays of later times. Now, as formerly, the book-trade is centered in London, though carried on to a considerable extent in Edinburgh, and in a less degree in Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Glasgow, and a few other places. There are various reasons for London being the metropolis of English literature. As a centre of wealth, taste, and intellect, authors flock towards it as an agreeable and permanent home, and find in the Library of the British Museum the most ample materials for reference and study. By means of its system of railways, and its port, assorted parcels of books can be conveniently despatched to all parts of the United Kingdom, and of the world. It has numerous wholesale stationers, and abounds in printers, bookbinders, artists, and wood-engravers. Stationers' Hall, in which the rights to literary In Scotland, after struggling through an age of similar restrictions, the book-trade was developed about the middle of the 18th c. In Edinburgh, it was followed by Allan Ramsay, who published and sold his own songs, and his still more charming pastoral. Among his successors were Donaldson, Bell, Elliot, and Creech, each eminent in his way; more lately, the trade was ably sustained by Archibald Constable, the first publisher of the Edinburgh Review and Waverley Novels; and by William Blackwood, the originator of Blackwood's Magazine; still more recently the reputation of the Edinburgh book-trade has been maintained by Adam Black, publisher of the Encyclopædia Britannica, and who, besides rising to the highest civic honours, became member of parliament for his native city, on the retirement of Mr (afterwards Lord) Macaulay (1855). Its Considering the many advantages possessed by London, it may appear surprising that the business of publishing should be attempted to any extent in Edinburgh-the only place out of the metropolis to which we need specially refer. Yet, the Scottish capital is not devoid of recommendations. general society is of a character to invite the residence of men of literary acquirements, and it is fortunate in possessing an extensive collection of books for reference in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates. Edinburgh publishers are able to conduct their enterprises with a degree of calmness and deliberation which can scarcely be realised in London; while, at the same time, they enjoy a certain advantage in comparatively cheap labour. Paper also may be obtained at a somewhat lower price from Scotch makers than from the wholesale stationers of London-this last circumstance being of first importance in producing large impressions of cheap books and periodicals. As Edinburgh books are mostly sent to London, the expense of carriage and loss by commission form a drawback on profits. Notwithstanding this and other disadvantages, the BOOK-TRADE. the sale having gone far beyond expectations, they afterwards, of their own accord, presented the author with an additional sum of £400. Facts like this, while reflecting honour on the book-trade, shew the baselessness of the imputations so inconsiderately cast on publishers as a body. book-trade of Edinburgh continues in a thriving condition. In 1860, it comprehended upwards of thirty firms carrying on the united business of publishers and booksellers, and ninety as booksellers alone. In this list are eight or nine leading publishing houses, all of which, with one exception, print the works which they issue--an economical and convenient In publishing new books, the following are the union of professions which forms a peculiar feature items of outlay which need to be taken into account: of the Edinburgh book-trade. In the establishment Paper, composition per sheet, author's corrections, whence the present work is issued, every depart-press-work or printing per sheet, embellishments, ment connected with the preparation and dispersion of books is included. The publishers and booksellers of the United Kingdom possess no corporate privileges, nor do they associate for any professional object. No premiums are offered to stimulate improvements in typography, binding, or anything else the trade being entirely free, and all being left to rise through individual exertion. All members of the profession, however, constitute what is, par excellence, the trade,' through which there is a pervading and strong feeling of fellowship. In the infancy of the trade, authors frequently resorted to the plan of getting friends and patrons to subscribe for copies of their forthcoming works; the publisher in such cases acting only as commission-agent. Literature has risen above this degrading system. Now, the author (1) sells his work in manuscript to the publisher for a specified sum, giving him an assignment to the copyright, and leaving him to bring out the work according to his own fancy; or (2) the author retains the copyright, pays all expenses, undertakes all risks, and gets a publisher to bring out his work; or (3) the author, retaining the copyright, incurs no risk, and only allows the publisher to print and issue an edition of a certain number of copies for a sum agreed on; or (4) the author and publisher issue the work at their joint risk, and on such other terms as are mutually agreeable. In some instances, the publisher will not undertake to issue a work, unless the author gets it printed, and delivers copies ready for sale; in others, he will relieve the author of this trouble, and risking outlay, keep an account of charges and sales. Any plan by which an author retains a risk, is seldom satisfactory. Publishing is an exceed ingly hazardous profession. Works of which the highest expectations are formed may not pay expenses; and books of a very frivolous and seemingly worthless kind may prove exceedingly remunerative. From a general misapprehension on this point, publishers have frequently been maligned as unjustly living on the brains of authors, who are ever represented as an unfortunate and ill-used race. A knowledge of the hazardous nature of publishing, and of the heavy expenditure ordinarily incurred for making new books known, not to speak of the unreasonable expectations which are sometimes formed by literary men, would do much to dispel the common notions on the subject. For one book that is highly successful, there are numbers that become a dead stock in the warehouse, and barely pay expenses, of which melancholy fact too many authors who undertake the expenses and the risks of publication must be well aware. We feel safe in averring, that with writers of really popular works, English publishers usually deal in a most liberal spirit; instances, indeed, could be cited in which they have voluntarily and largely added to the remuneration stipulated to be given for copyright. The latest case of this kind coming within our knowledge, is that of the celebrated sermon, Religion in Common Life, preached before the Queen, by the Rev. John Caird (1855), for which, though only a shilling pamphlet, the publishers, Messrs Blackwood of Edinburgh, gave £100; but binding, advertising, 20 or more presentation copies to editors for review, 5 copies given to public institutions in terms of Copyright Act, and commission on sales. We have also known charges made for fire-insurance and warehouse-room for stock, also interest on outlay. An account is rendered annually, or in some cases every half-year. Supposing there is an overplus in favour of the author, the amount is usually payable by bill, or a deduction equal to the discount of the bill is made from the amount. It is proper, however, to say that only certain publishers make these extra claims on authors. The usual commission is 10 per cent. To understand on what sum this falls, it is necessary to know the extent of trade allowances. For every book, there is assigned a distinct selling price to the public, and it is very commonly stamped or printed on the cover or written within the boards. From this price the publisher makes an allowance of 25 per cent. (3d. per 18.), the book being placed to a running account of six months, which is rendered to the bookseller at the end of June and December. If the account be settled in cash within one month thereafter, a discount of 24 per cent. is made from the gross amount. If settled by bill at three months, no discount is given. Were publishers in all cases to deal directly with the retail bookseller, we should have in the above the whole amount of deductions. But in much the larger proportion of cases, there is interposed the commission-agent. Several London publishers have commission-agents in the principal towns, to whom they consign quantities of each work for sale to the retail dealers; and in the same way, provincial publishers having agents in London, it happens that the book-trade is largely and necessarily carried on through middlemen. These individuals, of course, receive a commission adequate to remunerate them, after giving the ordinary publisher's allowance to the retailer. It is usual, on issuing new books, for publishers or their agents to send out the work to be 'subscribed' among the trade. A copy of the new work is shewn by way of sample, and the subscription paper bears the selling price, and the price at which copies are offered. Besides making the trade acquainted with the day, and even hour of publication of works which have been some time expected, this practice offers an opportunity for speculating. As an encouragement to do so, the work is offered at a somewhat lower rate than is afterwards allowed; and, as a still further inducement to subscribe, it is by no means uncommon to offer 13 copies as 12, or 25 as 24. By subscribing for books in this manner, and also by means of 'trade sales,' commission-houses in the Row ordinarily put themselves in possession of the works issued by publishers in other parts of London. Trade sales, which are now less common than formerly, are conducted in the following manner. A publisher, wishing to get quit of a large part of his stock, issues a catalogue to the trade, stating the reduced price of each book, as well as the length of credit offered; and that the sale is to take place in a tavern specified, on a certain day, for which an invitation is given. At the BOOK-TRADE. appointed time and place, a handsome dinner is on the table, and perhaps from a hundred to two hundred guests are assembled. Nothing is said about business during dinner, but with the wine and glasses afterwards, and amidst no little goodhumour, the sale begins. Each book being called over, every person has an opportunity of saying how many copies he will take. Occasionally, a toast is proposed, in order to maintain the hilarity of the meeting. At these sales, it is not unusual to dispose of remainders of books,' that is, fag-ends of editions which are not moving off with sufficient alacrity in the ordinary course of trade. Remainders are either offered in small quantities at a very reduced price, or they are sold in the lump by auction. Purchased cheaply, these remainders are henceforth known as books with broken prices.' Many of the new-looking books ticketed on stalls are portions of these remainders. In some instances, they are sent to the colonies, in the hope of finding a market. At these trade sales, it is common to do business to the extent of from £5000 to £10,000; in the case of one publishing house, the amount is usually, at a half-yearly sale, from £12,000 to £15,000; and in another, being an annual sale, it is seldom less than £26,000. To avoid the seemingly useless outlay on a dinner, some publishers rely on the circulation of 'sale catalogues,' comprising offers at tempting prices, provided that orders are given within a certain day. Vast quantities of school-books of good reputation, and other works permanently in demand, are bought by London commission-houses in this manner, annually, about the month of November. else to do than to hand across the counter the book for which a demand has been stimulated by the costly efforts of the publisher. The grand difficulty with the publisher is to excite general attention to his wares. Hence, the stupendous advertising system in newspapers and other channels of intelligence. Some publishers, we believe, spend as much as £5000 per annum on advertisements, and an expenditure of from £1000 to £2000 is quite common. The monthly and quarterly periodicals being now important advertising channels, it is of consequence for publishers to possess one of these, both for the sake of the revenue it may produce, and for keeping their own books before the public. A wellcirculated periodical, therefore, is to be viewed as almost a necessity in the business of the publisher-the thing which gives spring and vitality to what might be otherwise an inert and difficult concern. So grave a matter is advertising to the publisher, that, even with a periodical, it is very generally the practice to employ one or more clerks to write, arrange, and distribute advertisements, and to conduct the multifarious correspondence connected with them. In consequence of these burdensome outlays, and other causes, including the liberal distribution of copies of books for review, the prices affixed to original works are necessarily higher than the actual amount of paper and print would seem to warrant. The price at which new books are commonly issued, is 78. 6d. or 10s. 6d. for a volume 12mo, 128. or 15s. for an 8vo, and 21s. for a 4to; a book in 3 vols. 12mo is 318. 6d. At these and other prices, books, as has been said, are subscribed for among the bookThroughout the more respectable part of the sellers of the principal cities; but booksellers in trade, there is a constant effort to maintain the country towns either send for supplies by unbroken prices; for when a book can be obtained letter, or give their orders to travellers employed by booksellers below trade-price, it is essentially by the chief houses. Between the country bookruined for all regular business. On the other sellers and the leading publishers in London, hand, there has sprung up a practice amongst some Edinburgh, or Dublin, there is kept up a conretail booksellers of selling new books to the public tinual correspondence. For convenience, orders at prices little above cost. This system of under- are usually sent monthly; and the collecting for selling has caused much disquietude in the trade. monthly parcels forms one of the remarkable phenoFor a long time, resolute attempts were made by mena of the Row. The day of making up, called the heads of the profession to refuse to deal with magazine day,' is the last, or last but one, of undersellers; but these, appealing to the public, the month, when periodicals for the succeeding ultimately conquered; and now books of all kinds month are collected and despatched. In receivare disposed of at such prices as the bookseller ing and forwarding of enclosures by these monthly pleases. In one sense, this underselling is unjust parcels, there prevails a spirit of mutual accommoto the publisher, who has his wares sold cheap, dation, which is exceedingly commendable, and without the eclat and solid benefit which he might without which, indeed, a large portion of the bookderive from fixing on them such low prices as would trade would be at a stand. By means of encloinduce a large sale. Whether publishers will insures, booksellers in the most distant parts of the time fall on the expedient of lowering nominal country are able to procure small supplies from selling-prices, at the same time lessening allowances, different publishers at a trifling charge for carriage or whether they will altogether drop the marking-with what result of convenience to the public of prices, are questions on which we need not enter. Enough has been said to shew that, after making all ordinary deductions, to which losses, &c., may be added, publishers can reckon on receiving little more than half the price at which their books are nominally issued. To limit impressions as nearly as possible to the demand, is always a matter of serious consideration to the publisher; for, unlike most other kinds of goods left on hand, the overplus stocks of books are often nearly valueless. On this account, books are seldom sent out on sale or return except to commission-agents. In one important respect the English publisher differs from the producer of almost every other class of goods. He has not only to manufacture the article, but to make it known to the public. While the retail draper takes upon himself the trouble and cost of advertising his novelties in order to attract customers, the retail bookseller is relieved from any such obligation, and has little need not be dwelt upon. The execution of foreign On |