A BOOKSELLER UPSETS THE SYSTEM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 2, 25 September 1937, Page 15

A BOOKSELLER UPSETS THE SYSTEM

Becks Given Away

■yyHEN I DECIDED two years ago to give away the books that I had not been able to sell there was an outcry among the poets, writes . Pierre Bearn in La Nouvelle Eevue Franeaise. I had commenced with them and thSy were indignant. "What right have you?" To hear them one would have thought that to give their books to anybody was to depreciate them. Th passrsby theinselves could not understand. "How much are you selling your free books for?" they asked. Or else: "What must one do to get them?" Others, before choosing, wanted to know the reason why I was giving them away. Oniy the street urchins asked no questions. From the first day they helped -themselves, sometimes even from my paying boxes. i'rom seven to eight hundred books dis* appeared in this way. The f ollowing year I did the same thing again. This time the passefisby did not wait until the third day before they understood. The poets again manifested chagrin. Some of the papers had the imprudence to mention names among the victims Of this distribution of manna. Meanwhile the flood of books continued to mount. After the poems, the novels began to push me out of my shops. I filled up passages) utilised the smallest recesses. It was of no use. It would have been necessary to push back the walls. Two xemedies offered themselves: to rent a place to put my surplua books in or to destroy them. Unfortunately it must be confessed that two books out of three iemain unsold. In the face of this dilemma: to etow away the unsol.d or to destroy them, wa? it not permissible to adopt a kinder solution, that of giving them away? I' am aware that this is coatrary to economic principles — at least to the economic principles now in vogue. It seema more reasonable to our presentday rulers to offer a prize to whoever consents to destroy his surplus wheat, or to pull up his- vines. They throw into engine furnaces tonB of coffee lathcr than risk a lowering of the price. They return to the sea the results of miracuous catches Tather than teell them

cheap to fch6 poor. That is ecouomy, so-calledl But, I, a little bookseller, choose to manage my affairs in a different fash» ion. Above all I think that a book is vvritten to be read. In consequence I refuse to feed the locomotivee. Instead of the policy of scarcity which they want to impose on us I would like people to adopt the open-handed policy. Do not misunderstand! It is not a question of robbing oneteelf. In three days last month I gave away 3000 books I Novels, pqetry, scientilio books and books of travel. I emptied entire shelves. Am I impoverished?. I do not think eo. The rent of a place for storing the books would have cosf me more. Have I injured the authorst Certainly not. Let it suffice to quote Fernand Divoire: "It seems to me that if I were proud of a book that I had written, my greatest defsire would be to maka a" present of it to all young people who would consent to read it. The gratitud® would be on my side." Have I wronged the publishers? Thie question seems to me foolish. These books had fallen into the selling-off class. Eemain the libraries. They blamed me and their Teasoning was very slmple. "It doefs not do to let people get for nothing what they have been in the habit of paying for." But the real lovers of books were not among the crowd that pressed around my boxes. I do not recall having seen any of those who carried away my books with undissimulated joy ever buying a single one before. The> housewife who stopped on her way to mars ket, the. workman in the fitreet? quite young school-boys — such were the recipients of my bounty. „ Those did not hesitate to take advantage of the occasion. I am not going to say that all of them will become readers of books but may one not hope that some of them will? To revive a love of books in those who have f orsaken them or to ' gaia other faithful book-lovers, any effort, it seems to me, is worth while. Thus I shall not hesitate nest yea? again to distribute several thousands. of books rather than to 'destroy them.