been the
centre of this industry, may be seen the collectors from the shops of
the retail booksellers, busily engaged in obtaining the books ordered
by the book-buying public. It is also through these agencies that the
country bookseller obtains his miscellaneous supplies. At the leading
house in this department of bookselling almost any book can be found,
or information obtained concerning it. At one of these establishments
over 1,000,000 books are constantly kept in stock. It is here that the
publisher calls first on showing or "subscribing" a new book, a
critical process, for by the number thus subscribed the fate of a book
is sometimes determined.

What may be termed the third partner in publishing and its
ramification is the _retail bookseller_; and to protect his interests
there was established in 1890 a London booksellers' society, which had
for its object the restriction of discounts to 25%, and also to
arrange prices generally and control all details connected with the
trade. The society a few years afterwards widened its field of
operations so as to include the whole of the United Kingdom, and its
designation then became "The Associated Booksellers of Great Britain
and Ireland."

The trade in old or (as they are sometimes called) second-hand books
is in a sense, no doubt, a higher class of business, requiring a
knowledge of bibliography, while the transactions are with individual
books rather than with numbers of copies. Occasionally dealers in this
class of books replenish their stocks by purchasing remainders of
books, which, having ceased from one cause or another to sell with the
publisher, they offer to the public as bargains. The periodical trade
grew up during the 19th century, and was in its infancy when the
_Penny Magazine_, _Chambers's Journal_, and similar publications first
appeared. The growth of this important part of the business was
greatly promoted by the abolition of the newspaper stamp and of the
duty upon paper, the introduction of attractive illustrations, and the
facilities offered for purchasing books by instalments.

The history of bookselling in America has a special interest. The
Spanish settlements drew away from the old country much of its
enterprise and best talent, and the presses of Mexico and other cities
teemed with publications mostly of a religious character, but many
others, especially linguistic and historic