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    w— . . ; : : : : • n August i, 1890 The ...

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    MESSRS. LONGMANS' DINNER TO THEIR STAFF.

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    •"Tr » — \ Bookj^C Lle^ Of To-Da? .

    ticulars Emperor . and " The I Empress her supp £ 400 lie down d all the for par the - work . , This sum gave she handed over to the

    Throat Hosp aav ^^^ b ital a ^ b . We ^^^ at 0 ^^ sold Mi ^ ten thousand ^ ^» present copies at Emperor 6 s . I am written preparing by a person a life in of hi the gh

    authority * s » ww residing A , in the German X capital ^ j . Then — — - the '' Stott Library v " has been a great v- *

    success especially in America . There are eleven volumes of it out now . Another series I have started is "The Masterpieces of Foreign ±

    m- ^ _ j Authors , " of which two volumes are issued . The first of these was "The Characters of La

    Bruyere , " it was translated by a cousin of mineHelen ~— " T Stott . The series promises _ - — - well _ .. _

    and , * A * * ^» ^^ is , going — ^ — in — America , where — — g— I have — — ~ _ a con — - tract for a thousand of each volume . '

    ' What is the second volume , Mr . Stott 1 ' i ' " Dr . Antonio . " It has been out of print

    for twenty years , and it took me two years to find out whom the copyright belonged to . I

    had often been asked for it . ' 'Do you recall any interesting trade incidents ?'

    VAMV mVAV - » 'We ll , it is astonishing the kind of things a bookseller % ¦ ¦ is expected to know . A customer

    ^^ —I | - - ^ ^^ ^»^ v ¦ v - ^^ ^ " ^ " " ^^ ^^ ^^ — — — — — — — — — — — will come in and say : " Mr . Stott , there is a book v ^^ p - ^^ - ^^ p ^ h ^^ b m reviewed ^ m ^ my V m ^ ^^^» ' » ^^^ ^^^™ ^ in ^^ — — the ¦ ~~ — ~~ ^ Times ^—^^ - ~ ~~ ~~ to — — -day — — ^ — m , ~ m I don — — ~" 't

    remember its title , and I cannot exactly recall what the subject was , but 1 should like a copy ,

    will you How get do it you for find me ? the ' London book buyer as compared withsaythe buyer in Scotland ?'

    4 The idea I have , of , the Londoner is that he is not a reader , he wants frivolous things , he

    waits waits till till a a thing thin . or is is talked talked about about and ana then tnen he ne wants to read it for the sake of dinner table gossi o p . My •/ best customers are nearly vall in

    the country . It is marvellous how the country orders come in . Yes , it is the country customer who pays , the Londoner only buys

    the shilling shockers . 'I suppose you admit that your own countrymen 4 1 believe are they the rea are . 1 . readers The I proportion ' of

    booksellers' shops is far higher to the popula-1 tion in Scotland than in England , and they

    are more solid readers . I like the solid reader . ' I i You must keep a largo stock to meet

    I your Three London rooms and country full , 7 but demand I don (' ' t touch "ccoiulhand books at all

    -. ' Finally , Mr . Stott , your opiniontj upon underselling 1 '

    1 Yeswellyou see , 1 came into the trade a an underseiler , , and I have no ancient 1 . _ , '_ ... 1

    history records when full prices were made ; 11 a therefore » d the , present I am quito rate of content prices with . My my great lot

    ! ° this iiU *> 8 jeet purpose Durnoafl is to keep 1 T have have it from taken taken going a a loadini loading lower , ' and part part for 111 in

    establishing the London Booksellers' Society which is now making good progress . We have

    nearl y one hundred booksellerd in it and a few publishers have joined . We have issued a

    circular have — | an W 1 A setting AVliyiV idea forth which ff AJLAVAA the is > K * objects not » AV V & m mentioned . * m c , but m ^ rmm - *~ i— 1 ii .

    there . I think there should be an examining board for booksellers * assistants , to test "leir knowledge of books generally , and of

    prices would . enable Certificates the might man be awarded to which his capacity , and so obtain young a better salary ¦ prove than he

    does ^^^ under mm j present circumstances — ~™~ ~"" — ™~ ~*— ' ^~ r ~™~™ r — " ^ . ^ ^~ m Nowa ^ ^^^^ " ^ r ^ r ^ ^^ ^^^^ - ^^ remain days , very in the few trade young directl men of the any opportunity knowledge I

    occurs they go for librarians ; y or something of I that vAXCvXf sort Ovfl . *' 4 v

    What was the origin of the society ?' * It ix > was was owing owinjr to to the the action action or of the tne Keligious Religious

    their decline Tract -- - annual Societ to supp -- s - y unless , l who y any he decided bookseller agreed to that sell or they at agent no would lower with

    will rate — — than also be 25 per hel —— _ ^ ^ p ^^ cent ful _^ ^ ^ - in ^ , hk discount other ^ - ^^ ^ mr ^ m ^ m ^ ^^ . * ^ mr ^ ^ m Our . ^* * r My A ^ society ^^ ^ m ^^ idea W V ^^ ^ b

    is that there ~ ^ " ^ '"^ ^" should r ^» ^ ¦ ' "' — — — ^ ^^ be ^^ ^ " **~ societies ^ ^ ^ ^^ m ^ ways w V m W mW all w over mj ^ w m ^^ W ^ m the ^^^ ^^ p vVF king — - a — dom - — , but — we _ , - ^ want .. " * w ^ ^ " ^ to ^ - * m ~ mak mmm ~ mw ^ rm * mmmm e ^ - i ^ ourselves ^^ ^^ ^ 1 ^ VN ^ mm . ^ ^^ 1 ^^

    sufficiently strong in London before doing that . ' As our representative was departing

    trade Mr . Stott in French called to literature mind that , but he did was a large most

    careful about the class of stock he provided .

    W— . . ; : : : : • N August I, 1890 The ...

    w— . . ; : : : : n August i , 1890 The Publishers' Circular ' 9 I 5 ¦¦¦' ¦ "< : ¦ ———¦—¦ — ¦ ; —

    Messrs. Longmans' Dinner To Their Staff.

    MESSRS . LONGMANS' DINNER TO THEIR STAFF .

    On Saturday , July 26 , Messrs . Longmans & Co . gave a dinner to their staff at the Crystal

    Palace . Ladies were included in the invitation , and a company numbering about 150 assembled at halt-past h live at r a pleasant

    tion — — at which — ~ ^ — ^^ the — —^ ^^— — — wives ^ —»^ . ^— - ^ ^^—^^— ™ of ^^^ ^ m " ^ some ^ m ^ ^™ ^ r ^ v ^ ^^ " of ^ mr ^^^^^ ^^^ ^ the ^^^^ m * ^ v ^^ recep ^^ b mem ^^^^ ^^^ r ^^^ F ^ B ^ r - bers , of the firm were present .

    After dinner in the Grand Saloon , at which Mr 4 The . T . Queen Norton ' was Longman proposed i presided by the , the Chairman toast of

    which was followed X b y that of the firm of , Longmans & Co ., proposed by Mr . Wilson ( Messrs . Spottiswoode < feCo . ) After referring

    to a connection with past and present members of the firm extending over a period of 40 years M , Mr . Wilson congratulated I ^ J the house

    upon the recent large extension of their business by the purchase of that of Messrs . Rivingtons , andreferring to the fact of the

    firm recently setting , up their own binding establishment , trusted that the Ship would not weigh anchor and set sail in . the direction of

    New-street Square . Mr . Wilson spoke in very cordial terms of his relations with the house , and expressed the hope that the prosperity or "

    the past would be continued & in the future A . . Mr . Norton Longman replied , thanking Mr . Wilson and the company A . f for their good (_>

    wishes . In the course of a very plea-ant speech he recapitulated some of the incidents that had distinguished the career of the house

    and attributed the success which had been , achieved mainly to hard work and the strict integrity with which the lirm had always

    carried out their engagements . He warmly acknowledged the assistance that the firm had received from the whole of the staff during

    the preceding few weeks while the transference of the stock and business from Messrs . Rivingtons was in progress . He characterised

    the transaction as the largest that had ever been carried out in the publishing trade . Mr . Longman also mentioned how exceedingly

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), Aug. 1, 1890, page 915, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01081890/page/13/