Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/245

 Haldane Macfall's "Germany at Bay," besides several volumes from the pen of Princess Radziwill. "Mr. Punch's History of the Great War" stands by itself as an exposition of the humour and heroism of the trenches and of the home front, which richly deserves its enormous vogue.

The outstanding feature of the year 1909 was the formation of the Waverley Book Company for the development of the sale of editions deluxe of standard works, and of medical, technical, educational, and specialist "big books."

The Waverley Book Company is the natural out-growth of the old subscription book trade, when Messrs. Cassell's travelling "colporteurs" carried the firm's publications in monthly parts to places far afield, collecting the money on delivery and afterwards "lifting" the parts for binding in simple or elaborate volume form, according to the taste and means of the book-buyers. "Cassell's Family Bible," the "Illustrated History of England," the famous "Popular Educator," the "Life and Times of Queen Victoria," and many old favourites were sold extensively by these methods.

With the appointment of Mr. A. Bain Irvine as Manager in 1909, the former antiquated Subscription Department was speedily transformed into a great sales organization, efficiently staffed, dealing directly with the book-buying public and run entirely in accordance with modern business conditions.

In the autumn of that year, after the registration of the Company, offices were taken at Vulcan House, Ludgate Hill, and in a very short time thereafter—Mr. Irvine having already fully demonstrated the possibilities of his system and the certain success of his methods—the Waverley Book Company removed to larger premises in the Old Bailey, where it remained until the end of the war.

A striking feature of the Waverley's big advertising campaigns is the Free Examination Offer, whereby