THE BOOKSELLER.
1. The book-trade has arisen from small beginnings to its present magnitude and importance. Before the invention of typography, it was carried on by the aid of transcribers; and the booksellers of Greece, Rome, and Alexandria, during the flourishing state of their literature, kept a large number of manuscript copyists in constant employ. Among the Romans, the transcribers or copyists were chiefly slaves, who were very valuable to their owners, on account of their capacity for this employment.
2. In the middle ages, when learning was chiefly confined to the precincts of monastic institutions, the monks employed much of their time in copying the ancient classics and other works; and this labor was often imposed upon them as a penance for the commission of sin. From this cause, and from an ignorance of the true meaning of the author, much of their copying was inaccurately performed, so that great pains have been since required in the correction of the manuscripts of those times.
3. This mode of multiplying copies of books was exceedingly slow, and, withal, so very expensive, that learning was confined almost exclusively to people of rank, and the lower orders were only rescued from total ignorance by the reflected light of their superiors. For a long time, during the reign of comparative barbarism in Europe, books were so scarce, that a present of a single copy to a religious house was thought to be so valuable a gift, that it entitled the donor to the prayers of the community, which were considered efficacious in procuring for him eternal salvation.
4. After the establishment of the universities of Paris and Bologna, there were dealers in books, called stationarii, who loaned single manuscripts at high prices; and, in the former place, no person, after the year 1432, could deal in books in any way, without permission from the university, by which officers were appointed to examine the manuscripts, and fix the price for which they might be sold or hired out.
5. For a long time after the invention of printing, the printers sold their own publications; and, in doing this, especially at some distance from their establishments, they were aided by those who had formerly been employed as copyists. Some of these travelling agents, at length, became stationary, and procured the publication of works on their own account.
6. The first bookseller who purchased manuscripts from the authors, and caused them to be printed without owning a press himself, was John Otto, of Nuremburg. He commenced this mode of doing business, in 1516. In 1545, there were, for the first time, two such booksellers in Leipsic. The great mart for the sale of their books was Frankfort on the Maine, where were held three extensive fairs every year. Leipsic, however, soon became, and still continues, the centre of the German book-trade.
7. The first Leipsic catalogue of books appeared as early as the year 1600; but the fairs at that place did not become important, as regards the book-trade, until 1667, when it was attended by nineteen foreign booksellers. The booksellers of Germany, as well as some from distant countries, meet at the semi-annual fairs held in that city, to dispose of books, and to settle their accounts with each other. Every German publisher has also an agent there, who receives his publications, and sends them, according as they are ordered, to any part of Germany.
8. In no other part of the world, has such a connexion of booksellers been formed, although almost every kingdom of Europe has some city or cities in which this branch of trade is chiefly concentrated; as London, in England; Edinburgh, in Scotland; and Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leyden, and Haerlem, in the Netherlands. In Spain and Portugal, the price of every book is regulated by the government.
9. A very convenient method of effecting the sale and exchange of books among booksellers, has been adopted in the United States; and this is by auction. A sale of this kind is held in Boston once, and in New-York and Philadelphia twice, every year; and none are invited to attend it but the trade; hence such sales are denominated trade-sales.
10. The sale is usually conducted by an auctioneer who has been selected by a committee of the trade in the city in which it is to be held. In order to obtain a sufficient amount of stock for the purpose, the agent issues proposals, in which he informs publishers and others concerned in this branch of business, of his intention, and solicits invoices of books, to be sold at the time specified. A catalogue of all the books thus sent for sale, is distributed among the booksellers.
11. The booksellers having assembled, the books which may have been accumulated from different parts of the Union, are offered in convenient lots, and struck off to the highest bidder. Each purchaser holds in his hand the printed catalogue, on the broad margin of which he marks, if he sees fit, the prices at which the books have been sold; and the record thus kept affords a tolerable means of determining their value, for a considerable time afterwards.
12. A sale of this kind occupies from four to six days; and, at the close of it, a settlement takes place, in which the parties are governed by the terms previously published. The payments are made in cash, or by notes at four or six months, according to the amount which the purchaser may have bought out of one invoice. The conductors of the sale are allowed about five per cent. commission for their services.
13. A vast number of books is also sold, every year, at auction, to miscellaneous collections of people, not only in the cities and considerable towns, but likewise in the villages throughout the country. By many booksellers, this method of sale is thought to be injurious to the trade, since it has reduced the prices of books, and interfered with the regular method of doing business. These disadvantages, however, have been far overbalanced by the increased number of readers which has been thus created.
14. The circulation of books is likewise promoted by means of travelling agents, who either sell them at once, or obtain subscriptions for them with the view to their future delivery. These methods have been employed more or less from the very commencement of the printing business; and they have probably contributed more to the general extension of knowledge than the sale of books by stationary booksellers. In fact, they are among the most prominent causes of the vast trade in books, which is now carried on, especially in the United States.
15. Nevertheless, publishers, who do not employ agents to vend their books, generally consider them interlopers upon their business; and the people themselves, who owe a great share of their intellectual cultivation to this useful class of men, are generally averse to afford them the necessary patronage, because they require a small advance on the city prices to pay travelling expenses.
16. A considerable amount of books is also sold by merchants who reside at some distance from the cities and large towns. They, however, seldom venture to purchase those which have not been well known and approved in their neighborhood; and, in a majority of cases, regard them as mere subjects of merchandise, without taking into consideration the effects most likely to be produced by these silent, but powerful agents, when circulated among their customers.
17. Some booksellers in Europe confine their trade chiefly to particular departments; such as law, theology, and medicine. Others deal in toy-books, and books of education, or in rare and scarce books. This is the case, to a limited extent, in the United States, although our booksellers commonly keep an assortment of miscellaneous publications, as well as various articles in the stationary line; such as paper, quills, inkstands, and blank work.
