University of Virginia Library

Bravo to Mr. Pape's article on
the Corner Bookstore Racket! I
definitely agree that the bookstore
situation at U.Va. is pitiful and
would support any action taken to
reduce the corner's monopoly in
textbooks. By way of support to
Mr. Pape's article, I wish to take
issue with his statement that "publishers...set
their prices, making it
difficult if not impossible....to sell
cut rate books. Consider the following
points:

1) There are several mail order
houses (see The New York Times
Sunday book section for their ads),
not connected with the publishers,
who consistently sell textbooks at
a 10% discount.

2) At the Princeton University
Bookstore, books were sold at a
significant discount from the publisher's
price. In addition, since the
store was a co-op, the purchaser
received an additional rebate at the
end of the year.

3) At the City College of New
York bookstore, significant discounts
were available even though
the store was not a co-op.

4) Even on the Corner, a 10%
discount is available to all faculty
members.

It would be hard to believe that
in all these cases, the seller is losing
money on the sale of textbooks. I
suggest therefore, that there is an
alternative not only to the Corner's
handling of profits, but also to their
prices. In any case, I agree that
something should be done.