Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/457

417 S1MPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. 417 clerical costume, with white neckties which betray their avocation as lying in " the religious publication line of business ;" while its silence is broken by some venturous barrel-organ player, or by an old blind fiddler, whose music is appreciated and encouraged by the young shop-boys, lurking behind each alley corner to enjoy the furtive pipe. But on " Magazine day" all this is changed, the street is now a struggling scene of bustle and confusion ; now every house is in a thrill of agitation from the garret to the cellar, and now every business nerve is strained. Owing to the in- convenient innovation of magazine proprietors, in pub- lishing their periodicals on different days, " Magazine day" has lost much of its pristine glory, but even now the work commences on the eve of the chief day of pub- lication, which is known consequently as "late night," for the assistants are generally kept busily engaged till twelve or one o'clock. By the morning's post of this preceding day the country orders arrive, and the invoices have to be made out from the lists received. Every regular customer has his allotted pigeon-hole, into which the invoices are put as soon as copied, together with such of the books he has ordered as are on the premises ; for the majority of the smaller country booksellers take advantage of their monthly parcels, and to save expense of frequent railway carriage, include also in their orders such recent books as they may require. Early in the morning, or sometimes on the night before, the magazines arrive, and it is on this morning that the real work begins, for though as large a stock of current literature is kept in each warehouse as is possible, there are still many publishers to be sent to. While the assistants are busily engaged sorting out the books, and supply-