Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/21

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The author of the Reply, although he has not actually stated that these 1977 copies were "subscribed," has yet left the public to make that inference, and has actually suggested it by stating that this number of copies was "purchased on speculation," a statement which would have been perfectly true if the whole number had been purchased in the first instance, and at once. On reading the paper, therefore, I wrote to my publisher to obtain a copy of the "subscription" list, from which the column annexed to the above extract has been taken.

After the day of publication, the demand for the "Economy of Manufactures" was rapid and regular, until the whole edition was exhausted. There can, therefore, be no pretence for asserting that any copies, taken afterwards, were purchased