 | OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE,
AND THE FINE ARTS. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF THE STREET BOOKSELLERS.
The course of my inquiry now leads me to
consider one of the oldest, and certainly not
least important of the street traffics — that of
the book-stalls. Of these there are now about
twenty in the London streets, but in this
number I include only those which are properly
street-stalls. Many book-stalls, as in such a
locality as the London-road, are appendages to
shops, being merely a display of wares outside
the bookseller's premises; and with these I do
not now intend to deal.
The men in this trade I found generally to be
intelligent. They have been, for the most part,
engaged in some minor department of the book-
selling or newspaper trade, in the regular way,
and are unconnected with the street-sellers in
other lines, of whose pursuits, habits, and
characters, they seem to know nothing.
The street book-stalls are most frequent in
the thoroughfares which are well-frequented,
but which, as one man in the trade expressed
himself, are not so "shoppy" as others — such
as the City-road, the New-road, and the Old
Kent-road. "If there's what you might call
a recess," observed another street book-stall-
keeper, "that's the place for us; and you'll
often see us along with flower-stands and
pinners-up." The stalls themselves do not
present any very smart appearance; they are
usually of plain deal. If the stock of books
be sufficiently ample, they are disposed on the
surface of the stall, "fronts up," as I heard it
described, with the titles, when lettered on the
back, like as they are presented in a library. If
the "front" be unlettered, as is often the case
with the older books, a piece of paper is
attached, and on it is inscribed the title and
the price. Sometimes the description is ex-
ceeding curt, as, "Poetry," "French," "Re-
ligious," "Latin" (I saw an odd volume, in
Spanish, of Don Quixote, marked "Latin," but
it was at a shop-seller's stall,) "Pamphlets,"
and such like; or where it seems to have been
thought necessary to give a somewhat fuller
appellation, such titles are written out as
"Locke's Understanding," "Watts's Mind," or
"Pope's Rape." If the stock be rather scant,
the side of the book is then shown, and is either
covered with white paper, on which the title
and price are written, or "brushed," or else a
piece of paper is attached, with the necessary
announcement.
Sometimes these announcements are striking
enough, as where a number of works of the
same size have been bound together (which
used to be the case, I am told, more frequently
than it is now); or where there has been a series
of stories in one volume. One such announce-
ment was, "Smollett's Peregrine Pickle Captain
Kyd Pirate Prairie Rob of the Bowl Bamfyeld
Moore Carew 2s." Alongside this miscella-
neous volume was, "Wilberforce's Practical
View of Christianity, 1s.;" "Fenelon's Aven-
tures de Télémaque, plates, 9d.;" "Arres, de
Predestinatione, 1s." (the last-mentioned work,
which, at the first glance, seems as if it were
an odd mixture of French and Latin, was a
Latin quarto); "Coronis ad Collationem Ha-
giensem, &c. &c., Gulielmo Amesio." Another
work, on another stall, had the following de-
scription: "Lord Mount Edgecumbe's Opera
What is Currency Watts's Scripture History
Thoughts on Taxation only 1s. 3d." Another
was, "Knickerbocker Bacon 1s." As a rule,
however, the correctness with which the work
is described is rather remarkable.
At some few of the street-stalls, and at many
of the shop-stalls, are boxes, containing works
marked, "All 1d.," or 2d., 3d., or 4d. Among
these are old Court-Guides, Parliamentary Com-
panions, Railway Plans, and a variety of ser-
mons, and theological, as well as educational
and political pamphlets. To show the charac-
ter of the publications thus offered — not, per-
haps, as a rule, but generally enough, for sale —
I copied down the titles of some at 1d. and 2d.
"All these at 1d. — `Letters to the Right
Honourable Lord John Russell, on State Edu-
cation, by Edward Baines, jun.;' `A Pastoral
Letter to the Clergy and Members of the Pro-
testant Episcopal Church in the United States
of America;' `A Letter to the Protestant Dis-
senters of England and Wales, by the Rev.
Robert Ainslie;' `Friendly Advice to Con-
servatives;' `Elementary Thoughts on the
Principles of Currency and Wealth, and on
the Means of Diminishing the Burthens of
the People, by J. D. Basset, Esq., price 2s. 6d.' "
The others were each published at 1s.
"All these at 2d. — `Poems, by Eleanor Tat-
lock, 1811, 2 vols., 9s.;' `Two Sermons, on the
Fall and Final Restoration of the Jews, by the
Rev. John Stuart;' `Thoughts and Feelings,
by Arthur Brooke, 1820;' `The Amours of
Philander and Sylvia, being the third and last
part of Love-letters between a Nobleman and
his Sister. Volume the Second. The Seventh
Edition. London.' "
From a cursory examination of the last-men-
tioned twopenny volume, I could see nothing of
the nobleman or his sister. It is one of an inane
class of books, originated, I believe, in the latter
part of the reign of Charles II. Such publica-
tions professed to be (and some few were) records
of the court and city scandal of the day, but in
general they were works founded on the reputa-
tion of the current scandal. In short, to adopt
the language of patterers, they were "cocks"
issued by the publishers of that period; and
[Description: 915EAF. Page 293.]
of the eighteenth century, or a little later. I
notice this description of literature the more,
particularly as it is still frequently to be met
with in street-sale. "There's oft enough," one
street-bookseller said to me, "works of that sort
making up a `lot' at a sale, and in very respect-
able rooms. As if they were make-weights, or
to make up a sufficient number of books, and so
they keep their hold in the streets."
As many of my readers may have little, if
any, knowledge of this class of street-sold works,
I cite a portion of the "epistle dedicatory,"
and a specimen of the style, of "Philander and
Sylvia," to show the change in street, as well
as in general literature, as no such works are
now published:
"To the Lord Spencer, My Lord, when a new book
comes into the world, the first thing we consider is
the dedication; and according to the quality and
humour of the patron, we are apt to make a judg-
ment of the following subject. If to a statesman we
believe it grave and politic; if to a gownman, law or
divinity; if to the young and gay, love and gallantry.
By this rule, I believe the gentle reader, who finds
your lordship's name prefixed before this, will make
as many various opinions of it, as they do characters
of your lordship, whose youthful sallies have been the
business of so much discourse; and which, according
to the relator's sense or good nature, is either aggra-
vated or excused; though the woman's quarrel to
your lordship has some more reasonable foundation,
than that of your own sex; for your lordship being
formed with all the beauties and graces of mankind,
all the charms of wit, youth, and sweetness of dispo-
sition (derived to you from an illustrious race of
heroes) adapting you to the noblest love and softness,
they cannot but complain on that mistaken conduct
of yours, that so lavishly deals out those agreeable
attractions, squandering away that youth and time
on many, which might be more advantageously dedi-
cated to some one of the fair; and by a liberty (which
they call not being discreet enough) rob them of all
the hopes of conquest over that heart which they
believe can fix no where; they cannot caress you into
tameness; or if you sometimes appear so, they are
still upon their guard with you; for like a young lion
you are ever apt to leap into your natural wildness;
the greatness of your soul disdaining to be confined
to lazy repose; though the delicacy of your person
and constitution so absolutely require it; your lord-
ship not being made for diversions so rough and
fatiguing, as those your active mind would impose
upon it."
The last sentence is very long, so that a
shorter extract may serve as a specimen of the
staple of this book-making:
"To Philander, — False and perjured as you are, I
languish for a sight of you, and conjure you to give it
me as soon as this comes to your hands. Imagine
not that I have prepared those instruments of
revenge that are so justly due to your perfidy; but
rather, that I have yet too tender sentiments for you,
in spite of the outrage you have done my heart; and
that for all the ruin you have made, I still adore you:
and though I know you are now another's slave, yet I
beg you would vouchsafe to behold the spoils you
have made, and allow me this recompense for all,
to say — Here was the beauty I once esteemed, though
now she is no more Philander's Sylvia."
Having thus described what may be consi-
dered the divisional parts of this stall trade, I
proceed to the more general character of the
class of books sold.
| OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE,
AND THE FINE ARTS. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |