a book,
the great recommendation hereafter may be 'Euston Square,' 'Paddington,'
'The Nine Elms,' or even 'Shoreditch.' Whatever may be the effect to the
present race of booksellers of this change in their business--it is
probable that this new mart for books will raise the profits of authors.
How many hours are wasted at railway stations by people well to do in the
world, with a taste for books but no time to read advertisements or to
drop in at a bookseller's to see what is new. Already it is found that
the sale at these places is not confined to cheap or even ephemeral
publications;--that it is not the novel or light work alone that is asked
for and bought.

"The prophecy of progress contained in the above paragraph has been
fulfilled so far as the North-Western and Mr. Smith are concerned. His
example, however, was not infectious for other lines; and till within the
last three months, when the Great Northern copied the good precedent, and
entered into a contract with Mr. Smith and his son, the greenest
literature in dress and in digestion was all that was offered to the
wants of travellers by the directors of the South-Western, the Great
Western, and other trunk and branch lines with which England is
intersected. A traveller in the eastern, western, and southern counties
who does not bring his book with him can satisfy his love of reading only
by the commonest and cheapest trash--for the pretences to the appearance
of a bookseller's shop made at Waterloo, at Shoreditch, at Paddington,
and at London Bridge, are something ridiculous. This should not be. It
shows little for the public spirit of the directors of our railways that
such a system should remain. Mr. Smith has, we believe, as many as
thirty-five shops at railway stations, extending from London to
Liverpool, Chester and Edinburgh. His great stations are at Euston
Square, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. He has a
rolling stock of books valued at 10,000 pounds. We call his stock
rolling, because he moves his wares with the inclinations of his readers.
If he finds a religious feeling on the rise at Bangor, he withdraws
Dickens and sends down Henry of Exeter or Mr. Bennett; if a love for
lighter reading is on the increase at Rugby, he withdraws Hallam and
sends down Thackeray and Jerrold. He never undersells and he gives no
credit. His business is a ready-money one, and he finds it his interest
to maintain the dignity of literature by