Page:Library Administration, 1898.djvu/64

 Britain and on the Continent, have achieved like results.

The existence of new publications being ascertained in these various ways, such selection of them as the needs and budget of the library require must be ordered of the dealers. The price to be paid will of course depend on the difficulty of collection and the varying rates of discount allowed to the trade in various countries. In this country the immense majority of books are subject to a discount of twenty-five per cent, for ready money, even to the purchase of a single book, and any library purchasing on a large scale may reasonably expect rather more than this, and may claim a small discount even when, as in the case of most of Messrs. Macmillan's books, no discount is allowed to the ordinary purchaser. Special arrangements will have to be made for procuring any provincial or other books not procurable at a London agency. The discounts on books in the chief foreign countries are small and the expense of collecting provincial publications considerable, so that the dealers will naturally drive a harder bargain in these cases.

If a general arrangement be made for a fixed ratio between the price charged and the published prices, to apply to all foreign books whether provincial or not, the dealers should be relieved by careful watching from a temptation which does most easily beset them, to spend as little trouble as