BOOK AGENTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1746, 5 June 1888, Page 2

BOOK AGENTS.

TO THE EDITOR. •Sir,— Some months ago you will % perhaps remember a controversy (which ~ appeared through Hie columns of your paper) between the Rev. J, Dickson I and myself re book agents, and as I then took the liberty of sending the T’ papers that contained Mr Dickson’s articles, also my own, to the Publishing Company which J represent in New York, they have sent me the following reply, which I hope you will find space for.—- 1 am, etc., W«. MlLfclß, Orari, May 31st, 1888£’ u ‘ > r Naw; York, April 3,1888. MrWm.Mill**, v ,.. “ 1 Orhri, Canterbury, New Zeslaid. Dear Sir,—We have jmt now taken pains to look over the remarks of the Rev. J. Dickson. I think that tha paper in which his remarks were printed showed its good judgment when it ; printed over the he4ding of his article'“ We don’t hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.” It items that there are people in New Zealand who rush into the newspaper icolumus whenever an opportunity offered without any other busineis perhaps than fer the aaka of seeing their name in print—because no man of ordinary sense would rush into print and express such ideas as the Rev. Mr Dickson has, should he -for a moment stopto.think of the number, I may ssy thousands, of influential books that art sold by , canvassers. Thensande, and hundreds of thousands, pf books—good books—are sold to. people annually by the j canvasser; who, but for, him; would never buy,a book,, It is really a public eervjgk that our subscription book publishers are rendering when they print unimpeachable books, bind them handsomely, and then disseminate tbdir army of iedefatigable agents throughout the country and make people buy them. The buyers of theae are, for the moat part, persons who but for the pertinacity of agents would nevat buy a book. A great deal of reading is dona throughout the country that without the activity of the,.brak agent would never be done at aIK After the Beige of Toulon, Bonaparte, then a young lieutenant employed at. the capital, but too honorable to duplicate hia pay account, had an agency for ithe “Hietory of the Revolution.” Bismarck, Canning, Lord Denham, and Coleridge, the poet, were all at some period of their liras book agents. So also were Madame De Stael and Mrs Jamieson. Colnnabus was a can* vasser for a work,on .marine exploration, and 1 could give* the names of other* of J our own country. We find' that George Washington -’was a- book /agent— and a good one. Prior to the fateful Breddook expedition he sold; over 2000 copies of the “American Savage'’ in a thinly-settled country of Virginia. Jay Gould, Ralph W. Emerson; and Mark Twain were all, early la their life, bookf agents. So wae also- LoDgfe]low, aud .hiN ; auccesa wae remarkable; .".Tfieba hr now in the possession of the Messachußsetts Historical Society a prospectus that., the poet used, and on one of the -blank-pages are the , skeleton 1 ’lines 1 i¥. Excelsior.' 1 DaujH Websterpaid bis second term of Initio? at Dartmouth College by selling books. General Grant Was at ~on|lllma an agent for Irving's “ ColumpasN Ex-President ; Hayes footed'it all'through Southern Ohio selling ; H Baxter’s Livesuof the Saints. 1 ’ James Q, Bain began his" business career as a canvasser in Washington, County Pa., where he sold' the > “.Life of Henry Clay.” Many others; whose name* emblazon the pages of history attribute their success in life to tbe experience obtained while engaged in.' the! laudable and honorable calling of’ a b’ookv agent, It is aafe to predict; that the; name of the Rev. Mr Dickson Will never beknown to history outside of the amall Vcopfines of the Ternuka town belt;’ A man who would write such, an,,,article’, as he did certainly could, hot " comprehend that the chief promoter of the’ rapid growth and success of New Zealand and Australia ia more. than', anything else due to the hundreds and thousands ,of books that have beensoMy.'iHera jr agents. —We .remain, eU^'*,;';’ u V-’.l' , , l , t ’ : r k ' 1 ‘ F.. 15.