Page:Library Administration, 1898.djvu/80

 disposed of for a consideration by the person for whom it is printed, the Copyright Act at once becomes applicable.

Many books, again, escape the "ever-extended dead-hand" of the library through their own obscurity. The provincial books that are not thought worth selling through a London agent as well as in the place of their origin, do not figure in the monthly publishers' lists of new books, and are in many cases missed. Of course the conscience of the publisher, or the ambition of the author, results in large numbers being sent "as the Act provides," and others are obtained by the libraries at the request of readers. The books which most easily escape the operation of the Act are those published in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Welsh books, in fact, are hardly touched by the Act at all, except those issued by a few well-known firms. The Welsh author is often his own publisher and salesman, and his works, usually of a religious nature, are sold at the doors of chapels and meeting-houses, and are little advertised.

In spite of these defects in working, the Act supplies probably ninety-five per cent, of all the books that fall under its provisions, and these include a vast quantity of printed matter which otherwise would be entirely destroyed. Thus a yearly consignment of valentines and Christmas cards, street ballads, and children's toy-books, are being collected for the delight of future generations. A century hence it may well be prophesied, all the other toy-books will have succumbed to the ravages of