Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/185

CONSTABLE, CADELL, AND BLACK. $i reprints ; but the Messrs. Black were equal to the occasion. They issued a trade reminder to the public that the edition of 1829 was thoroughly revised by the author, was altered in almost every page and largely augmented by notes, and that it still was copyright, and as a death-blow to the reprints by rival houses they brought out the " sixpenny edition " in monthly volumes, each volume containing a com- plete tale with all the matter that had appeared in the more expensive editions. Thanks to former stereotypes they were thus enabled to present a series of the cheapest and most valuable books that any house in the country has yet been able to produce, The publication lasted from November, 1866, to November, 1868, and the complete issue consisted of twenty-five volumes, and thus the public were able to purchase for twelve shillings and sixpence what had originally cost upwards of forty pounds. Con- stable himself in his wildest dreams of cheap publishing never imagined such a marvellous feature as this. As a proof of their popularity we quote from a contemporary writer in the Illustrated Times, 25th of September, 1867. The writer was travelling down to Wales, and, at the London station, he said, " ' Boy, where are the Scott novels ?' ' Don't keep them,' he replied. ' Don't keep them ! Why not ?' ' Because, if we did, we should not sell anything else.' Here then, to begin with, is a small fact worth reflection. Some of the novels were first published fifty years ago. Can you point out any other series of books, or even any single book, a sixpenny edition of which Mr. Smith would be afraid to lay upon his book- stalls for fear the public might refuse to buy anything