Show THE PRICE OF BOOKS Discussing the question of theeffect of the war upon various businesses a writer inthe New York Herald says I If however there be a falling off in the sale of books new or secondhand American or imported why should not publisher di bookseller meet the pub I I lie half way The sale of books is af3 fectcd by their dearness Cheapen I them and see whether the sale does I not increase I mentioned the other I day the new edition of Byron published in London by Mr Murray and in New I York by Messrs Scribner The price In I London Is 6 shlllin a volume or 150 The price here is 2 a volume The American buyer is expected to pay one third more than the English buyer If i the American publisher were to put his American customer on a level with the I English customer the increased sale might very well reimburse him for the diminished price And if It did not I why should the American always have ito i-to pay more than the Englishman for I the same book I In determining the price of imported j books the rule seems to be to charge I I the English retall price plus 25 percent per-cent And then the sellers blandly tell I a customer that the price is only the I English price plus the tariff This is I I the minimum price for imported books There is no reason why the New York j or Boston importer should not sell the English book at the English retail I price for the custom in England Is I to give 25 per cent off while no such i custom prevails in this country save with the very large department stores in New York and Philadelphia The Herald writer asks why Americans j should always have to pay more than the Englishman for the same book j There is no good reason save that the I American is supposed to be easier to I bleed and the supposition is usually correct There Is another matter that affects the price of foreign books considerably and that Is the valuation put upon them at the custom house To the man who occasionally sends abroad for a book not published in this country it looks as though there were no system whatever in valuing books at the custom cus-tom house Very frequently they are valued higher than their retail price abroad rarely below it and there are oases where volumes in the same series I all costing alike are valued differently As a rule the price of books is too I high particularly is this so of library I editions The price of almost everything every-thing has come down more than that of books |