Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/350

316 will advertise lists of those sold by himself; and thus, by combining many in one advertisement, diminish the expense to each of his principals. He pays the author only for the books actually sold; consequently, he makes no outlay of capital, except that which he pays for advertisements: but he is answerable for any bad debts he may contract in disposing of them. His charge is usually ten per cent. on the returns.

No. II. is the Bookseller who retails the work to the public. On the publication of a new book, the Publisher sends round to the trade, to receive "subscriptions" from them for any number of copies not less than two. These copies are usually charged to the "subscribers," on an average, at about four or five per cent. less than the wholesale price of the book: in the present case the subscription price is 4s. 2d. for each copy. After the day of publication, the price charged by the publisher to the booksellers is 4s. 6d. With some works it is the custom to deliver twenty-five copies to those who order twenty-four, thus allowing a reduction of about four per cent. Such was the case with the present volume. Different publishers offer different terms to the subscribers; and it is usual, after intervals of about six months, for the publisher again to open a subscription list, so that if the work be one for which there is a steady sale, the trade avail themselves of these opportunities of purchasing, at the reduced rate, enough to supply their probable demand.

(381.) The volume thus purchased of the pub-