2 as some of the orders have required a great amount of storage space. With the plant laid out for quantity work, a sales department was equally necessary, and simultaneously there was set up in New York a selling office incorporated as J. H. Sears & Co. the officers, of which company are Joseph H. Sears, President, James A. Blair, Jr., and P. A. Murkland, Vice-Presidents. Mr. Murkland established a reputation for a knowledge of book distribution when in charge of the book department at Sears, Roebuck & Company. For the selling department, also, a strong staff of experienced travelers was gathered. The first enterprise conceived by J. H. Sears & Company was the Reader's Library, sold thru the F. W. Woolworth Company and the Sears, Roebuck Company, a collection of classics cloth-bound and capable of being marketed by the hundred thousand at ten cents a copy. These books, which appeared in the market two years ago, created a sensation, as it had not been deemed possible to produce a clothbound book at ten cents. The sales of the series thru the two outlets have run over ten million copies of 40 titles in the two years. In judging as to the titles to be put in such an edition, the publishers had the advantage of Mr. Murkland's experience which indicated the sales possibilities of such titles as "Treasure Island," "Jane Eyre," "Uncle Tom's Cabin, "Black Beauty," the novels of Mary Jane Holmes, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth and Augusta J. Evans. Sold from the counter to passersby without sales argument, it is interesting to see how the public picks its diversional reading and to see Southworth and Holmes rival Stevenson and Hawthorne. Some interesting discoveries have been made. For instance, we had an idea that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" might not sell very extensively in the South. As a matter of fact, it has done quite as well in the South in proportion to the size of the towns as anywhere else in the United States. At the moment, there appears to be no explanation for this at all, except that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a good story in itself and that perhaps its political significance has more or less been forgotten. So far as we can learn, "Treasure Island" has sold low as twenty-five cents a volume. This year they have launched the American Home Classics Series consisting of seventyfive volumes and soon to be increased to a hundred. This series of books is of 12mo size, with admirably designed lining paper, title-page and excellent binding cloth. Supplementing this, they produced a line of books in flexible textile leather binding called the Royal Blue Library, at as low a price as seventy-five cents a volume, including many of the best titles in the other series. For these, special lining paper was produced, and a neat heraldic binding design. While the cross word puzzle craze was at its height, plates for two newly edited dictionaries were developed, and these ran thru the presses by the tens of thousands during the winter months. A new series of Standard Juvenile Classics has just been announced at fifty cents. Interesting evidence of how the press's facilities could be turned to special contracts is shown in the subscription enterprise of J. R. Richards, Inc., who has published a set of twenty volumes called the Outline of Knowledge Series, a composite work of general literature and science, which was to sell for $9.98 a set in 12mo size. The first order of the "Outline of Knowledge" was 100,000 sets of twenty volumes each, or two million books. The press has had in its warehouses as many as six million books at a time and the reason for this is that with the large daily production it is always necessary to have on hand a stock of books since the manufacture of eighty to a hundred thousand books a day means that a correspondingly large supply is always on hand, even tho they are ordered out by the customer with prompt ness. Evolution Discussion Reaches Climax 222 ORANG CHIMPANZEE AFRICAN AUSTRALIAN CHART SHOWING MAN'S GENEALOGICAL TREE WHICH ILLUSTRATES supported schools. Tennessee has been one After the bill went thru, a chance conversation of four young men in the Dayton village drug store resulted in the staging of the test case. John Thomas Scopes, a young professor, said that it would be very difficult to teach biology without teaching By J. Arthur evolution. He said that he taught from a book in the Dayton High School called "Civic Biology," written by George W. Hunter, that the book had been adopted by the Tennessee Textbook Commission. So the four young men devised the test case, and Scopes was indicted. George W. Rappleyea swore out the warrant for Scopes' arrest, tho he undertook to help the defense. The case at first attracted little attention, but gradually it won the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, which volunteered to support Scopes morally and financially. The case has gradually attracted a great deal of attention. The counsel for the defense includes such distinguished men as Clarence Darrow, Bainbridge Colby and John R. Neal. The most conspicuous figure on the side of the prosecution is W. J. Bryan. Book Market Tips BOOKSELLERS are following the spirit of the times by keeping displayed books dealing with evolution. The popular priced editions of both Wells' "Outline of History" and Hendrick Van Loon's "Story of Mankind" should make good display material. SIR BERTRAM HAYES, late commander of the Majestic and Commodore of the White Star Line, has written in his "Hull Down" subtitled "Reminiscences of Wind Jammers, Troops and Travelers" a book which should be relished by any transAtlantic traveler. An Uncorrected Galley THE LINDSAY-HUNTER Prologue-One of Vachel Lindsay's poems is called "The Soul of the City." VACHEL LINDSAY DAVENPORT HOTEL MAY WE HAVE YOUR PERMISSION TO ALLEN A HUNTER THE ANNUAL VOLUME of Georgian Stories (Putnam) of which 1925 is the third has been attracting an ever growing group of discriminating readers. Among the authors who have stories in the present volume are Michael Arlen, Aldous Huxley, E. M. Forster, Stacy Aumonier, C. E. Montague, Osbert Sitwell, F. Tennyson TICAL STOP APPLETONS OUGHT TO BE Jesse and J. C. Squire. LINCOLN MACVEAGH'S Rogues' Library has now been enriched by the addition of Don C. Seitz's "Under The Black Flag." It is astonishing how Mr. Seitz manages to run the New York Evening World, write biographies and still have time to write a volume that covers the whole history of Piracy. In format The Rogues' Library conforms to the Dial Press standard and will make a handsome addition to the library of the gentleman who is an inveterate reader of adventure tales of the Sabatini type. MANY BOOKSELLERS have had great success with the disposal of Cushing's "Sir William Osler." One bookseller in northern New York State said it was perhaps his most successful venture in circularization. In many cases the doctors had been too absorbed in their own endeavors to have had time to hear about the book. They were very glad to have the volume brought to their attention and were happy to visit the shop. This circularization can be used successfully with any important book that had a specialized interest. IF I WROTE THE SOUL OF A NIGHTIE IT WAS ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES STOP CERTAINLY VACHEL LINDSAY SO IT GOES "He was a great writer. I hope he left posthumous works." "Dad, what are posthumous works?" "Er-what we wouldn't buy when he was alive."-Louisville Courier-Journal. A TENDENCY IN MODERN Of what fastidious folks may care Writing biographies, we dare -STODDARD KING in the Spokane, |