A PLEA FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE Charles B. Curtis in the N. Y. Tribune, May 27. IN a letter published in The Tribune of March 12 I drew attention to our illiberal and harmful tax on knowledge. I showed that this is the only country in the world that imposes a protective duty on books. What I wish to speak of more particularly at this time is books by mail. In other countries these pass free under the International Postal treaties, and they did so here until the United States Customs officials found an excuse for taxing them, when, at our instigation, new treaties had to be negotiated especially to fit our case. with every post-office in the United States to which packages are addressed; collections are made, examined, and credited; stationery, printed forms, account-books, rent, fuel, lights, and other expenses are paid, and all this to enable the Government to collect $23,294.29 in sums of 18 cents each from 127,030 individuals. The statement seems incredible, but it is true. That the business is done at a loss cannot be questioned. I have been informed by a person formerly ranking among the highest of the officials in charge of the work that the cost of this bureau, all expenses included, is not less than $60,000; that is to say, it cost 46 cents to collect the 18 cents due on each package. This estimate may appear extravagant, but is given on the best of authority, and when it is considered that the work requires the services of nineteen well-paid men, it is evident that the figures are not overstated. Certainly no commercial house would undertake to collect $23,000 in sums of 18 cents each from 170,000 persons at remote post offices in every State in the Union for thrice the amount received. The most remarkable thing about our system of collecting duties on books by mail is that the work was begun not to obtain money for the government, but in order to give employment to some persons for whom at the time no other occupation could be found. I happen to be in possession of a bit of secret history which ought to be made public, not for the credit of the government or of the actors concerned, but because It is doubtless true that if this duty were abolit is a spot on which the sunlight should be turned ished it would still be necessary to guard against for sanitary reasons. The statement is so extra-smuggling, but this work could be easily perordinary that I would not dare to repeat it if I did not have it direct from the person most conversant with the facts. A few years ago a certain person in New York made a discovery that under the law and practice then in force all books not exceeding $1 in value were imported by mail without payment of duty. Being out of employment at the time, but willing to make himself useful to his country, this person sought an interview with the Collector of this port and proposed that a bureau should be established by means of which tribute might be exacted on every book imported by mail, no matter how small the value. The Collector promptly rejected the suggestion, on the ground that it would be discreditable for the government to engage in so paltry a business, and also for the reason that the receipts would not pay the cost of collection. But the inventor of the scheme was persistent, and he submitted his plan to the Secretary of the Treasury, offering to take charge of the business himself at his own risk, and to receive the duties collected for his sole compensation. The offer was at last accepted and the enterprising promoter was placed at the head of the Bureau, when, as had been anticipated, he found himself out of pocket, but he finally secured a change in the system and the loss now falls on the government. This was the origin of the bureau for the collection of duties on books by mail. In the year 1889 there was received by foreign mails at the New York Post-Office 127,030 packages, containing 222,120 books. The duties collected amounted to exactly $23,294.29, being 18 cents per package or a trifle over 10 cents for each book. To collect this sum required a force of nineteen men, some of them receiving salaries as high as $2000. Since the average duty was only 10 cents on each book, it is safe to say that on 150,000 of them the duties were less than 8 cents each. The labor expended in this work is enormous. Each package is opened, examined, appraised, and closed again; two entries at least, and often more, are made; a quarter of a million letters are written and sent, on which the postage alone would be more than $5000; accounts are kept formed by one or two inspectors at moderate pay, and all the expensive machinery of this system could be dispensed with. Following the example of the most enlightened nations, we should make all books free, but if this is asking too much we may at least add to the free list "books, maps, and engravings especially imported, not more than one copy for the use of any individual and not for sale; and books more than one year old and not republished in the United States." I can see no possible objection to so reasonable a proposition. I should not omit to say that the McKinley bill places on the free list "books in any other language than English." This adds another argument for the adoption of the clause above proposed. It will almost annihilate the work of the Post-Office Bureau, since books in German, French, Italian, Spanish, and other foreign languages comprise probably more than two-thirds of the books arriving by mail. The remaining duties will perhaps not exceed $5000, to $8000, but the expense of the establishment will not be materially diminished. Why not abolish the bureau altogether? THE SALE OF HERBERT SPENCER'S MR. LEWIS G. JANES, of Brooklyn, writes to the New York Times, in reply to a letter from Prof. H. F. Osborn, of Princeton, that the sale of Herbert Spencer's works both here and in England has been much larger than Prof. Osborn supposes : "At the request of Messrs. Williams & Norgate, Mr. Spencer's English publishers, and from a detailed statement furnished by them, I am able to state that the total sales of Mr. Spen. cer's works in Great Britain up to the 18th of April, 1890, have amounted to 104,000 copies, exclusive of the Descriptive Sociology.' This number includes 33,750 copies of the various volumes of The Synthetic Philosophy,' 39,500 copies of Education,' and 20,000 copies of 'Man versus the State,' all of which are certainly comprised among Mr. Spencer's 'best-known works.' "Eight ་ thousand copies of his First Principles' have been sold by Messrs. Williams & Norgate, instead of 6000 as stated by Prof. Osborn. From Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. I also learn that the total sales of the authorized American editions of Mr. Spencer' works to date have amounted to 164,ooo copies. If we include the cheap pirated reprints of certain of these works that have had a considerable sale in this country, the difference would be somewhat greater, but not so great as Prof. Osborn's statement would lead your readers to infer, while the aggregate circulation of Mr. Spencer's best-known works' in both countries much exceeds the figures given in Prof. Osborn's letter." MOUNTING OF DRAWINGS. FOR the proper mounting and straining of drawings, maps, engravings, etc., two things are absolutely essential-(1) good paste, and (2) cleanliness in handling. It is also advisable, says Work, to practise your hand upon some small unimportant work before attacking anything large and serious. A plain wooden frame for straining is now necessary, or, if the drawing is to be framed afterwards, a permanent wooden strainer; in either case the wood should be about 2 inches wide. Obtain some plain, unbleached calico, about 4 inches longer and wider than your strainer, damp the calico with a sponge, then paste I inch all round, and, after laying the strainer, or frame, face down on calico, turn the pasted edges over the frame; let this dry. Afterwards moisten with sponge and clean water the paper you intend to mount, sponging evenly all over, so that it is quite damp but not soaking wet; then paste about 34-inch all round the border, take your frame with strained calico upon it, and lay it face downward on the paper to be mounted, which it will take up; then with your hands or a clean linen cloth, carefully press the pasted border all round, and leave to dry slowly; then you will find it strained as tight as a drumhead, and you can either frame it in the ornamental frame you intend for it, or, after making a drawing on the strained paper, with a penknife cut it all round and release it from the strainer. he had a quarrel with the President of the corporation and was dissatisfied with the Executive Committee because they would not oust the President, but all the other stockholders supported the Executive Committee. The article further states: The majority elect themselves officers at high and fancy salaries, the payment of which has used up all the profits." This is a deliberate misstatement. During the first year after its organization and while reprinting books that were destroyed in the Bancroft fire no dividend was paid, but the dividends paid since that time would be satisfactory to the stockholders of any corporation in the United States. The salaries paid are neither "high" nor "fancy." There could be no better evidence that the salaries are earned than the fact that those of whom he complains are not paid and under the by-laws of the company cannot be paid until after the payment of dividends to stockholders (Mr. H. H. Bancroft included) netting more than three times the market rates of interest on the money invested by them. Nor has any injunction been put upon The Bancroft Company to restrain it from publishing law-books generally, nor has the Bancroft-Whitney Company sought to obtain any such injuncsuit, asking the Court to restrain The Bancroft tion, but the latter Company has commenced a Company from interfering with the good-will and property sold by the Bancrofts to the Bancroft-Whitney Company. Yours truly, BANCROFT-WHITNEY COMPANY. OLD BOOK CHAT. A rara avis in the shape of a large-paper copy of the first edition of Sterne's Sentimental eron Journey" is to be sold by auction shortly by Putticks & Simpson, of London. It should bring a good price. By the way, Dibdin in his " DecamJourney," illustrated with pencil drawings by the speaks of a copy of the "Sentimental author. They are, Dibdin says, "revolting to common decency." Now, I wonder, is that copy in existence, and if so, where is it? By the way, it is becoming quite too common to sneer at Dibden and his books, the chief cry being that he is inaccurate. That may be so, but yet it is hard to find pleasanter reading than his "Tours," or more, charming chapters about old books than are to be found in the Decameron." By all means let the worthy doctor flourish. THE sale, at the rooms of Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, of a portion of the library of Mr. Thomas Gaisford, affords us a passing in England. The splendid collection of Blake's glimpse of the state of the second-hand market publications (of which there were 10) realized the following prices: "Poetical Sketches," £48; 41: Songs of Innocence and Experience.", £87: 'Book of Thel," £29; "Songs of Innocence,' "Visions of the Daughters of Albion," £26 IO S.; America," £61;"Europe," £59; "Uri zen, £66; Illustrations of Young's "Night Thoughts," £50 10 s., and of the "Book of Job," £19, 10 s.; a fine copy of "Arias Montanus." formerly belonging to Diana of Poitiers, brought (for its binding alone) £94 10 s.; the Giunta edition Boccaccio, 1527, £64. THE sale of the original manuscripts of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, with some autograph programmes of private theatricals in which both took part, which begins in London in July, promises to be an interesting one. The entire original MSS. of "No Name," The Moonstone," and NOTES ON CATALOGUES. zig, will publish shortly in book-form (in Ger- "The Woman in White" of Collins and the man- similes. I HAVE a book by Bishop Wordsworth (Master of Trinity) entitled "Who Wrote Eikon Basilike?" Some wit has pencilled on the fly-leaf: "Who wrote Eikon Basilike? The Master of Trinity, With all his divinity, He wrote, Who Wrote Eikon Basilike?'" IN a sale by Evans, on November 16, 1836, a copy of the first edition of Walton's " Angler" described as fine and large brought £8. Mr. J. Bohn was the buyer. Quite recently copies have been sold for £180 and 185 respectively. What seems stranger, however, is the fact that there are many people here ready to pay even more than the above for a fine copy. I was fortunate in buying a copy at Sotheby's once for £23, but alas, it wanted a leaf! IN Dibdin's "Library Companion" there is an index of 'Books, Persons, and Things." The worthy doctor evidently thought that a book was not by any means a thing" and indeed that it took precedence of a "person" "Gents," please take notice. 66 "AN interesting discovery has been made in Manchester," says the London Athenæum. "Mr. J. E. Cornish, the well-known bookseller, possesses an extensive stock of old books and MSS., including a collection from which there came, some years ago, the original score of Handel's 'Messiah,' now one of the treasures of Buckingham Palace. Mr. Cornish's hope of finding other Handel autographs has not yet been realized; but Dr. Henry Watson, in examining the musical MSS.. has come across several in the handwriting of Mozart. There are two of the concertos written in his childhood, and several numbers of Mithridate,' the opera which came into being when the musician was at Milan in 1770. These Mozart autographs, like the Handel MSS., already mentioned, form part of the collection formerly owned by Mr. Thomas Kerslake, of Bristol." MR. TINKER's books are to be sold by auction at Bangs' during this month. The sale will occupy three days at least, and comprises many choice and rare items including first editions of Dickens in fine state, also books by Thackeray in similar condition, Napoliana, very interesting autographs, etc. The late Mr. Tinker was one of the best known and best liked of the New York collectors, and his loss will be felt by many dealers as that of a personal friend. He was a generous buyer when satisfied that a book was 'right," and his excellent taste in selection will no doubt be amply proved when the books come to the hammer. His death came as a rude and unwelcome sur ་་ prise, for apparently Mr. Tinker enjoyed good health and looked like a man with many years before him. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Tinker several times, and can well understand the deep affection with which he was regarded by those on a footing of greater intimacy. BIBLIOPHILUS. HEREAFTER the Bulletin of the Boston Public Library will appear quarterly, beginning with April, 1890. In order to comply with the regulations of the United States Post-Office Department governing publications of this character, the sum of one dollar ($1.00) has been fixed upon as the price of an annual subscription. Subscriptions may be sent to Mr. Louis F. Gray, office Secretary Boston Public Library. EDWARD HERON-ALLEN, author of "ViolinMaking, as it was and is," "The Ancestry of the Violin," etc., has prepared a work entitled "De Fidiculis Bibliographia," being the basis of a bibliography of the violin and all other instruments played on with a bow in ancient and modern times, catalogue raisonné of all books, pamphlets, magazine and newspaper articles, book and dictionary extracts, dramas, romances, poems, methods, instruction books and theoretical and scientific works relating to instruments of the violin family, hitherto found in private or public libraries, or referred to in existing works on the subject." The work will be published by Messrs. Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, and is being issued by subscription. There will be two editions -a large-paper one and the ordinary one. Catalogues of New and Second-hand Books.Luzac & Co., London, Monthly list of Oriental books. (No. 3, 16 p. 16°.)—Alfred H. Maurais, London, Miscellaneous. (No. 9, 439 titles.)— Henry Sotheran & Co., London, Sotheran's Price Current. (No. 494, 80 p. 12°; contains a copy of the first folio edition of Shakespeare's works, 125g x 8 in., for £285.)—Catalogue of the library of the late J. W. Winans to be sold at private sale at 926 Clay St., San Francisco, Cal. BUSINESS NOTES. (W. H. Halliday, Manager), 52 Boylston Street, BOSTON, MASS.-The Mudie Library Company has become insolvent. It is said to owe $3559.59, of which $458.50 is preferred claims and $350 is secured on the library, which consists of about 4000 volumes. BOULDER, COLO.-G. B. Blake, bookseller, has been succeeded by the Whitney-Blake Book and Drug Co. CHICAGO, ILL.-Lyster & Coryell have dissolved partnership and sold their interest in the wood-pulp Webster's Dictionary to Jewell & Co. Mr. M. V. Coryell will continue to act as publisher's agent at 114 LaSalle St. NEW YORK CITY.--Miss Sarah H. Leggett, formerly of 253 Fifth Avenue, has retired from business and sold to E. P. Dutton & Co. her entire stationery and engraving business, and has also trasferred to them the card plates and dies left in her care. NEW YORK CITY.--The executors of the estate of Robert Carter will put up at public auction (unless previously sold at private sale), in the auction-rooms of Bangs & Co., 739 and 741 Broadway, N. Y., on Tuesday, September 16, 1890, at 10 A. M., the stereotype plates-and in many cases the copyrights-books, bound and in sheets, comprising the entire stock of the firm of Robert Carter & Brothers. The printed catalogues will be ready on or about August 20, and may be had on application to the auctioneers. The business will be continued as heretofore till August I, when the store will be closed. GEORGE F. KELLY & Co., New York, announce the immediate appearance of the first number (for June) of a new art periodical, The American Etcher, a monthly, at 75 cents per copy or $6 a year. The announcement says: "The magazine will make a specialty of high-class American etchings, printed in edition-de-luxe style on soft Japanese paper, mounted at the four corners and enclosed in a mat, ready for framing. The size of the magazine, twelve by sixteen inches, allows a generous size of plate and margin. Besides the monthly plate, each number will have some letterpress of critical and practical value topics connected with etchings and etchers. No. I will have an article by Fred'k Kepple, noting in detail What Etchings Are,' and he will be heard later again in an article on How to Frame an Etching.' The printing of the plates has been entrusted to Mr. G. W. H. Ritchie, of New York, himself an etcher of repute and therefore specially qualified for the task." on F. J. SCHULTE & Co., Chicago, announce a second edition of "Cæsar's Column," which will be issued in cloth and in paper covers, as the first of the series to be entitled Ariel Library. The first edition of two thousand copies was sold in five weeks. THE Seventeenth bound volume of the new series of The Century is now ready. The great "History of Abraham Lincoln," by John G. Nicolay and John Hay, comes to a conclusion in this volume, and "The Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson" is one of its leading features. Description and travel are represented by two papers by George Kennan on "Siberia and the Exile System," and three timely papers on the Congo by W. P. Tisdel and E. J. Glave; there are many contributions on art, three timely papers on the problems of modern society, excellent short and serial stories, many poems, and much instructive reading in the department of "Open Letters." The illustrations are innumerable and of the high standard of artistic merit in design and execution that distinguishes this magazine. The department of "Bric-à-Brac" is especially full of good jokes and well-selected poems. THE J. B. LIPPINCOTT Co. will shortly publish "Travels in Africa." by Dr. William Juncker, translated from the German by Prof. Keane, with Summers in Greenland: an artist's adventures a large number of illustrations and maps; "Two among ice and islands in fjords and mountains," by A. Riis Carstensen, with illustrations by the author; an elementary text-book on the principles and practice of " Decorative Design," fully illustrated, by Frank G. Jackson, Master of Birmingham Municipal School of Art; "H. M. Stanleyhis life, works, and explorations," by the Rev. H. W. Little; Locke" in the Philosophical Classics series; and two new novels-" A Modern ZoroThe Jewel in astrian," by Samuel Laing, and the Lotos," by Mary Agnes Tincker. The Lippincotts have just published the fifth volume of the new edition of Chambers' Encyclopædia. This contains articles by R. D. Blackmore on Gardening, William Morris on Glass Staining, C. I. Elton, M.P., on Government, Alfred Nutt on the Holy Grail, Dr. Buchan on the climate of Great Britain and Prof. Geikie on its geology, Dr. Peile on Grammar, Groome on Gypsies, Dr. Collingwood Bruce on Hadrian's Wall, Prof. P. G. Tait on Heat, Mr. Budge on Hieroglyphics, Mr. Gladstone on Homer, M. Pasteur on Hydrophobia, the Rev. J. Julian on Hymns, and Prof. Huxley on himself. The memoirs of Orlando Gibbons and Handel are contributed by Sir George Grove, those of Goldsmith and Gay by Austin Dobson, of the four Georges by Fraser Rae, those of Greene and Heywood by A. H. Bullen, that of Hafiz by Mr. Clouston, of Hood by Canon Ainger, and of Victor Hugo by W. E. Henley. M. Gennadius furnishes the article on the Greek Church, and Sir Spenser St. John that on Hayti; while the Duke of Argyll writes on the Highlands, and Austin Dobson on Hogarth. PERSONAL NOTES. THE Brentanos have engaged Mr. Frank Allen, lately a member of the firms of White, Stokes & Allen and White & Allen, to take charge of their publishing department, to the development of which they will give special attention in the future. Mr. Allen possesses a large acquaintance both here and abroad, not only with the trade, but among authors and artists as well, and it is to be expected that with his assistance many valuable and attractive additions will be made to the already growing list of the Brentanos. Mr. Allen sails June 7 on the Umbria to look after the foreign interests of the department. MR. WILLIAM BEV. HARRISON, who was connected for eleven years with the old Anderson School-Book Co. and the New York School-Book Clearing-House, of the latter of which he was the Secretary since its organization, has resigned his position to become purchasing agent on his own account. He is probably the best-posted schoolbook man in the country, being acquainted with it in every detail, which fact, coupled with his energy and enterprise, and his many good personal qualities, will, no doubt, enable him to carry out fully the plans which he is maturing. His address for the present will be at his old headquarters, No. 65 Duane Street, New York. TERMS OF ADVERTISING. Under the heading "Books Wanted," subscribers only are entitled to a free insertion of five lines for books out of print, exclusive of address (in any issue except special numbers), to an extent not exceeding 100 lines a year. If more than five lines are sent, the excess is at 10 cents per line, and amount should be enclosed. Bids for current books and such as may be easily had from the publishers, and repeated matter, as well as all advertisements from non-subscribers, must be paid for at the rate of 10 cents per line. Under the heading “Books for Sale," the charge to subscribers and non-subscribers is 10 cents per line for each insertion. No deduction for repeated matter. Under the heading “Situations Wanted," subscribers are entitled to one free insertion of five lines. For repeated matter and advertisements of non-subscribers the charge is 10 cents per line. All other small advertisements will be charged at the uniform rate of 10 cents per line. Eight words may be reckoned to the line. Parties with whom we have no accounts must pay in advance, otherwise no notice will be taken of their communications. Parties desiring to receive answers to their advertisements through this office must either call for them or enclose postage stamps with their orders for the insertion of such advertisements. In all cases we must have the full address of advertisers as a guarantee of good faith. CATHCART, CLELAND & Co., INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. Gibney, Disease of the Hip. CHANDLER, FINDLEY & CO., AKRON, O. ROBERT CLARKE & Co., CINCINNATI, O. C. P. Cox, 654 3D AVE., N. Y. Les Misérables, 5 v. Routledge. R. A. CUNNINGHAM, 33 E. 5TH ST., DAYTON, O. Walker's American Law, good second-hand condition. Cassell's Family Magazine, Nov., 1885; Dec., 1886. DAMRELL & UPHAM, BOSTON, MASS. A Life Drama, etc., by Alex. Smith.; E. DARROW & Co., ROCHESTER, N. Y. Methodist History, with steel portrait of Dr. Samuel Luckey. DE WOLFE, FISKE & Co., BOSTON, MASS. Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders, by Wm. A. Alcott, M.D. THOMAS W. DURSTON, SYRACUSE, N. Y. E. P. DUTTON & Co., 31 W. 23D ST., N. Y. ESTES & LAURIAT, BOSTON, MASS., Our Young Folks. v. 8. Gerhardt's 6 v. ed. Leibnitz' Philosophical Works. Essays in Philosophical Criticism, ed. by A: Seth. London, 1883. Kegan Paul. F. H. Bradley's Principles of Logic, etc. Wilhelm Meister, v. 2 or 2 v., brown cl. Ticknor & F. FLEXNER & STAADEKER, LOUISVILLE, KY. Liberal A. E. FOOTE, 1223 BELMONT AVE., PHILA., PA. Van Bruyssel, Population of an Apple Tree. Gesner, Coal-Oil and Other Distilled Oils. Keys, Ancient Beekeeper's Farewell. D. G. FRANCIS, 12 E. 15TH ST., N. Y. Irving's Life of Washington v. 1, crayon ed. Cooper's Two Admirals and Cooper's Heidenmauer, with Darley's plates, Townsend's ed. Moreland's Genealogy of the English Race-Horse. F. P. HARPER, 17 E. 16TH ST., N. Y. V. 2 Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. HARVARD Cooperative SoCIETY, CAMBRIDGE. MASS. Old English Prose Writers, 9 v.. ed. by Rev. Alex. Young, pub. by Hilliard & Browne, 1831. HOME FRIEND PUB'S, ST. Louis, Mo. Cassell's Life of Christ, il., an English printed ed, only. CHAS. E. HOUGHTON, 64 NEW PARK ST., LYNN, MASS. Harper's Magazine, July, Aug., Oct., Nov., 1850; April, May, July, Dec., '51; March, July, '52; June, '53; Dec., '61. Scribner, May, June, Sept., Dec., 1871; Jan., Feb., July, Sept., '72: March, April, July, '73; v. 2, 3, 4. Cosmopolitan, March, 1889, duplicates wanted. HUNT & EATON, 189 WOODWARD AVE., DETROIT, MICH. Le Normant's History of the East, v. 1. JOHN IRELAND, 1197 B'WAY, N. Y. Selections from the Scriptures, Old and New Testament, by Rev. David Green Haskins. E. H. Butler & Co., 1864. U. P. JAMES, 131 W. 7TH ST., CINCINNATI, O. Writings of Mrs. Shelley, viz.: Lodore, Perkin Warbeck; The Last Man; Falkner. English ed. preferred. |