OLD BOOK PRICES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 758, 5 March 1910, Page 9

OLD BOOK PRICES.

There are some record-breaking sales of books in these days, but fifty, years ago there were some big sales also. The New York "Publishers' Weekly" supplies some facts on the subject, culled from a volume published in 1553. In that volume it is stated that "of the Svo edition of tho Modern British Es<ayisl:, there have been sold m five; years no less than SO,OOO volumes. Of Macaulay's 'Miscellanies,' 3 vols., 12mo, (lie sale has amounted to GO,OCO-volumes. Of Miss Aguilar's writings, • the sale, in two years, has been 100,000 volumes. • Of Murray's .'Encyclopaedia of Geography' more than 50,000 volumes have been sold, and of Jl'Cullock's 'Commercial Dictionary' 10,000 volumes. Of Alexander Smith's 'Poems' the . sale, in a few months, has reached 10,000 copies. The sale of Mr. Thackeray's works has been, quadruple that, of England. .(about 6000 volumes of each "of.his books), and that of the works of Mr. Dickens counts almost by millions of volumes."

Some of the prices paid to American authors hall' a century - ago are interesting. One publisher stated that to Messrs. Willis, Longfellow, Bryant, and Alston his price was uniformly 50 dols. for a poetical article, long or short—and they were generally very short; in one case, only fourteen lines. To numerous others it was from 25d015. to 40dols. In one case he paid 2odols. per page for pro. c e. To Feniinore Cooper ho paid ISOOdols. for a novel, and lOOOdols. for a,series of naval biographies, the author retaining the copyright for ' separate publication. To Mr. James he paid 1200dols. for a novel, leaving him also the copyright. For a single number of his journal ho paid to authors 1500dols. The . total amount paid for the original matter by two magazines—the selling price of which is 3d')ls. per annum—in ten years exceeded 130,000d015., giving an average of 13,000d015. per annum. The Messrs. Harper- fifty years ago stated that the expenditure for theirmagazine was 2000dols. per mouth, or 21,000d015. a' year.