THE BOOK TRADE.
WE find that in much of what we stated last week in regard to the Book Trade question, we were misinformed—misled by the documents in the Morning Herald, whence we copied our information. We all state the facts as we have since ascertained them.
There is no controversy between the publishers and the retail book- sellers as a body. It was at the suggestion of the latter, and for their protection, that the recent regulations were adopted. For some time past, it had been the practice of a few retailers (we have their names) to sell new books at trade prices, with a view to the collateral advantage of bringing customers to their shops. It was to protect those whose business had been fairly established, from those who were unfairly seeking to establish a business, that the subscription (which now comprehends some of the most notorious of the latter class !) was pro- posed and acceded to.
We stated last week, although not perhaps with sufficient promi- nence, that the rules were to apply only to new books which were copy- rkht, and to such of these only ES are in bona fide effective demand. It is not meant nor intended to interfere in any way with the right of the retailer, or publisher, to sell books not protected by copyright, or books which, though so protected, have fallen in the market, at what reductions they may see fit. The trade allowance is 25 per cent. only (not 33 per cent.) for books of ordinary repute : on books of very extraordinary expectation,—such as Moo's Life ,of BYRON, for instance, where an immense sum is paid to the author for copyright,—the regular allowance is only 20 yer cent. In short, we learn that the account of profits and of the distribution of them which we quoted from Dr: JOHNSON, is not be beau ideal, but the beau real of the trade at the present moment,— with this correctioa, that the "Mr. CADELL" does run a risk, and a tray considerable, one—he gives credit, and has to calculate on bad debts in consequence. Our remarks on the prices of books last week, were meant to apply not to books of real value, the authors of which had been munificently 'remunerated, but to that endless stream of bad novels and other flimsy ware that is ever pouring forth from the press. The copyright price of these is seldom more than three or four pounds a sheet, and affords no excuse for the prices at which they are sold. Stock books, which may be published by any one, have seldom been cheaper than at pre- sent. Our observations on the want of taste and judgment in the se- lection of MSS. for publication, and on the puffing system by which it is attempted to make that sell which ought never to have been printed, we (Imre our readers to consider as repeated without qualification. We have only to add, that the account of the meeting has been stated to us to be as incorrect as the speculations to which it gave rise. The" publisher" mentioned by the Herald, and on its authority by ourselves, who expressed his determination to allow a discount of 121 Per cent. was not a publisher, but a bookseller ; and he did not men- tal a practice, but merely put a case.
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