"When you sell a man a book you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life." -From "Parnassus on Wheels" by Christopher Morley. "To write a book is a task needing only pen, ink and paper; to print a book is rather more difficult, because genius often expresses itself illegibly; to read a book is more difficult still, for one has to struggle with sleep; but to sell a book is the most difficult task of all." FELIX DAHN-From "The Romance of Bookselling" by Frank A. Mumby. 13702 3add Cup PREFACE The basis of this book was a course of lessons on book salesmanship, given at the William Penn Evening High School, Philadelphia. So many applications for the material were received from persons living too far away to attend the school that the lessons were published serially in The Publishers' Weekly. "The Home School for Booksellers," as the printed lessons were called, was intended as a sort of correspondence school without any correspondence. Those who believe there are no good letterwriters today should start a non-correspondence school. The abundant and helpful letters addressed to the Home School showed that letter-writing is far from being a lost art, and served as corrective schooling for the Home School teacher. Of the many things which must go into the training of a bookseller, this volume ventures to touch but one field, the books themselves and their editions. Those who handle books must have business training and selling experience; must learn something of advertising and store display; have a knowledge of paper, printing and book-making; and must have an abiding interest in people and in the community to be served. But to a greater extent than is the case in most retailing, there is necessary a close and intimate knowledge of the character of the merchandise. The first requisite of a bookseller is to know books; the next, to know where to obtain them. This volume, then, is an introduction to book knowledge with some discussion of editions and their makers. As no single course could cover all the fields of literature, this one will show many omissions of material which would have extended the book to many volumes. The contents is somewhat arbitrary in its scope, including, for the most part, those classifications on which a student bookseller is first likely to need special knowledge: reference books, poetry, fiction, etc. Children's books would need a book by themselves, but have been frequently written on in a practical way. Science, economics, sociology, agriculture, business, technology, etc., having less historical development as a literature than the others, would need a slightly different approach to meet the bookseller's needs. Law, medicine and education, are also omitted. A bookseller's approach to literature is of necessity different from that of the general student. He wants to visualize the writings he hears about as books to be bought from the right publisher and fitted to the right reader. To him all literatures are of one body, the importance of which may be somewhat judged by the present buying interest of the public. He thinks of books in general classifications as they would naturally be handled in a bookstore, not as a chronological sequence, bringing poet and historian side by side. He needs to know the landmarks along the great highways of literature, and his increasing experience and handy reference books will easily guide him into the byways. Bookselling is an ancient calling and an interesting business for which increased training is needed if our present day is to be served adequately in its rapidly growing need of books. In the field of bookselling education this volume is offered as a modest experiment. The second edition has been entirely revised and reset. Eight chapters are entirely new and many others enlarged. The lists of editions have been carefully reëdited and the dates of publication of all books mentioned have been given when known. BESSIE GRAHAM. |