THE CIRCULATION OF MODERN LITERATURE.
ACCORDING to the Bookseller, the leading organ of the publish- ing trade of Great Britain, the press of this country brought forth during the last twelve months, from the commencement of Decem- ber, 1861, to the end of November, 1862, no less than 4,828 new books, including reprints and new editions. Of this number— to follow the classification adopted by the Bookseller-912 were religious works ; 337 represented biography and history ; 673 belonged to poetry and general literature ; 925 were works of fiction ; 216 annuals and serials, in book form ; 61 were illus- trative of art and architecture ; 60 commercial ; 278 pertaining to geography and travel ; 283 law and parliamentary publications; 129 medical and surgical works ; 243 oriental, classical, and philological books ; 191 works on grammar and education ; 81 naval, military, and engineering publications ; 157 books on politics and questions of the day ; 104 works on agri- culture, horticulture, and field sports ; and 148 books devoted to science and natural history. Consequently, religion stands at the head of English literature, and next to religion fiction ; while commerce is placed at the very bottom. The conclusion lies near, that either the great Napoleon has said something extremely stupid in calling us a nation of shopkeepers, or that we have very much alt.( red since the days of the great Napoleon. It is not every nation in the world that publishes between two and three religious works and as many romances per day ; not to speak of poetry at the rate of thirteen new volumes per week, with an extra quantity hidden in annuals and serials, in crimson cloth and gilt edges.
The flow of this vast stream of literature is very unequal ; some- times rapid like a mountain torrent, and at other periods slow as a caravan creeping through the desert. There is, however, a constant rise and fall of the tide, returning with annual regu- larity. It is high water at Christmas, and neap tide during the greater part of the summer and autumn ; but the ordinary flood sets in about the beginning of September, and lasts far into the new year. During the last twelve months, there were published in the month of January 354 new works; in February, 387; in March, 375; in April, 426; in May, 389; in June, 413; in July, 337; in August, 264 ; in September, 169; in October, 423; in November, 432; and in December, 848. The greatest variation is caused by novels and religious works, which fluctuate more than any other description of literature. Whereas 169 religious publications were issued in December, the number fell to 41 in the month of August, and to 33 in September ; and in works of fiction, including juvenile stories, the variation was still greater, sinking from 233 new books in December to 46 volumes in August, and 41 in September. So that when the snow lies on the ground—or, within the shade of St. Paul's and Paternoster row, the fog and mud—the great workshop of literature produces seven new books of fiction per diem ; after which supreme effort the labour of the machine begins to flag, and sinking lower and lower every month, at last gets reduced to the bringing forth of a single book in the twenty-four hours. Unlike fiction and religion, the current of science, law, and commerce continues its course in perennial order- Science flows at the rate of twelve publications a month ; law and blue-boos run at the speed of twenty-three volumes in four weeks ; and commerce creeps along in the most regular fashion with five monthly works. In the latter respect, the fitful vitality of the " Row" is evidently overcome by the tideless force of Cornhill and the Stock Exchange.
There seems a certain connection, not applicable, however, in all points, between the number of books, reprints, and new editions published annually, and the absolute sale and circulation of the various classes of literature. Religion and fiction again stand high in the latter list ; but history and biography follow closely, and works of geography and travel in general hold a far larger share of importance than is shown by the annual numbers of this class of books. Mr. Murray sold 30,000 copies of Dr. Livingstone's Travels, at a guinea a piece, and ten thousand more at six shillings; while of Captain McClintock's work 12,000 copies were taken by the public ; of Du Chaillu's "Adventures in Equatorial Africa," 10,000; and of Ellis's "Madagascar," 4,000. Messrs. Longman and Co. sold 4,000 copies of Sir J. Emerson 'Penitent's "Ceylon;" 3,300 of the Alpine Club's "Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers ;" 1,000 of C. P. Collins's " Chase of the Wild Red Deer ;" and 1,500 copies of Captain Burton's " Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah." Of Dr. Krapf's "Travels in Eastern Africa," 1,40P copies were disposed of by Messrs. Triibner and Co. ; of E. Seyd's " California," 500, of Ravenstein's "Russians on the Amoor," 800, and of' the world-famous imagi. nary "Travels of Baron Munchausen," illustrated by "Crow- quill," 3,000 copies. Considering that all these are high-priced works, it must be confessed that the public taste is very pro- nounced as regards works of travel. It is certain that there is not a country in the world besides England where 30,000 people would lay down a guinea each to get a copy of a work on African exploration ; or where 4,000 purchasers could be found of a pub- lication like Sir J. Emerson Tennent's "Ceylon," sold at two pounds and a half.
However, great as is the sale and implied circulation of this class of books, it is but small as compared to that of religions works. Messrs. Macmillan and Co. sold 7,000 cop:es of Archer Butler's "Sermons ;" 3,000 copies of Mr. Maurice's
Theological Essays ;" 5,000 copies of Procter's "History of the Book of Common Prayer;' the same number of Roundell Palmer's "Book of Praise," published little more than a month ago; and 1,000 copies of "O'Brien on Jus- tification." The increasing demand for theological works is singularly illustrated in the last-named book, a second edition of which was reprinted after being nearly a quarter of a c3utury "out of print,' and 1,000 copies sold within nine months. Messrs. Longman and Co. disposed of 12,000 copies of the various editions of Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul ;" of 20,000 copies 'of the famous "Essays and Reviews ;" of several thousands of the "Chorale Book for England ;" and of 27,000 copies of the two series of "Lyra Germanica," or "Hymn-book for the Sundays and chief festivals of the Christian year." Mr. Murray sold 7,000 copies of the "Aids to Faith," edited by Dr. Thomson, the present Archbishop of York ; 6,500 copies of Dr. William Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible ;" 2,000 copies of Dr. Hessey's "Sunday, its Origin and History ;" 3,000 copies of Dr. Stanley's " Lectures on the Eastern Church," and the same number of the same author's "Lectures on the Jewish Church." A new kind of religious literature, highly popular among certain classes of the community, has of late been introduced by Messrs. Strahan and Co., and has in a very short time risen to considerable importance. The works in question are nearly all handsomely bound and illustrated, yet sold at a comparatively low price, and evidently addressed to new portions of the population, whom the spread of education has driven upwards into the great market of literature. Many of these small volumes, neatly bound in cloth, and selling at from Is. 6d. to 2s. Gd. per volume, are sold in immense quantities. A little work called " Life Thoughts "has been sold in 40,000 copies; "Speaking to the Heart," in 20,000; "Thoughts of a Country Parson," in 16,000; "The New Life," in 15,000; " The Still Hour," in 20,000 ; " The Higher Christian Life," in 25,000 ; "The Power of Prayer," in 67,000; and other of Messrs. Strahan's publica- tions in a still larger number of copies. The demand for books like these seems a rather notable feature in the modern history of literature.
Next to religious books, novels and other works of fiction have the widest sale; and the latter even stand first in extent of cir- culation as regards the productions of certain favourite authors. Messrs. Chapman and Hall sold more than 100,000 copies of Charles Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby," and the enormous number of 140,000 of his "Pickwick ;" while works such as Mr. Trollope's "Orley Farm" have exceeded a demand of 7,000 copies. More popular still than the last-named author's novels, and closely approaching in circulation to Charles Dickens's works -considering the period past since the first issue-are the productions of the pen of Mr. Thomas Hughes, otherwise "Tom Brown." Messrs. Macmillan and Co. have sold of "Tom Brown's School Days" no less than 28,000 copies, and of the "Scouring of the White Horse" 7,000. Of Kingsley's "West- ward Hol'' the same publishers sold 9,000, and of Kingsley's "Two Year's Ago" 7;000 copies. Messrs Triibner and Co. dis- posed of 3,800 copies of Charles Reade's " Cloister and Hearth," of 3,000 of the old " Tyll Owlglass," modernized by " Crowquill," of 2,500 of" Reynard the Fox," with illustrations by Kaulbach ; and of 3,000 copies of the English edition of Lowell's" Biglow Papers." Mr. Bentley sold 11,000 of Mrs. Wood's" East Lynne ;" 52,000 of the "Ingoldsby Legends ;" and 65,000 copies of Charles Reade's "Never too Late to Mend," while Miss Braddon's "Lady Audley's Secret" was dis osed of at the rate of 4,000 copies by Messrs. Tinsley Brothers. The effect of price upon the extent of circulation of works of this class is strikingly shown in the sale of Messrs Longmans recent cheap edition, at 2s. 6d., of Mrs. Sewers "Tales and Stories," already issued in 68,000 *volumes, and that of Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome," published at 4s. 6d., of which 46,000 copies have been sold. The very large demand for standard works in history and biography is one of the healthiest signs of modern literature. Of Mr. Stniles's "Lives of the Engineers" Mr. Murray sold 6,000 copies of each of the first two volumes, and 4,000 copies of the third, which was published only about a month ago. Of the same author's " Life of George Stephenson" 5,000 copies were sold, and of the cheaper and abridged edition, called " The Story of the Life of George Stephenson," no less than 20,500 copies weie required by the public. A still more extraordinary demand has been for Mr. Smiles's series of biographical sketches called " Self Help," which were sold to the extent of more than 55,000 copies in this country alone, exclusive of a still larger American edition. Mr. Murray also sold 4,000 copies of Motley's 'History of the United Netherlands ;" 4,500 of the Rev. Mr. Bate- man's "Life of Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta ;" 2,000 of Mr. John Forster's " Arrest of the Five Members," and " Grand Remonstrance ;" 3,000 of Earl Stanhope's "Life of William Pitt r and 2,000 copies of Rawlinson's "History of Herodotus." Ol Mr. Dicey's "Life of Cavour" Messrs. Macmillan and Co. sold 1,300 copies; and Herzen's " Memoires de l'Imperatrice Catherine" were disposed of by Messrs. Triibner and Co. to the extent of 4,500 copies. The list reaches its zenith in the sale of the works of the greatest of English historians. Of Macaulay's "History" Messrs. Longman and Co. sold the astounding number of 207,000 volumes. Here the proportionate sale of history is striking-, though the volumes of Macaulay are reckoned separately.
School books and other educational works, as may be ex- pected, are taken by the present generation in very large quail- tides. Messrs. Macmillan and Co. sold 30,000 copies of Smith's "School Arithmetic ;" 8,000 of the same author's "Arithmetic and Algebra ;" 13,000 of Palgrave's "Golden Treasury ;" and 8,000 of Todhunter's "Algebra." Messrs. Chambers's educa- tional works are in very great 'demand, the sale of these cheap and useful books rising to quite extraordinary figures. Of. " Chambers's Information for the People" more than 140,000. copies have been sold in this country ; and of the educational " Tracts " the gigantic number of 240,000. Previous to the Ame- rican war, immense quantities of these " Tracts" were also despatched to our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic ; ots one occasion no less than sixty thousand volumes having been sent to New York, to fulfil a single order. Not unfrequently, Messrs. Chambers sent as many as a hundred thousand volumes at a time to a certain American correspondent. The sale of Messrs. Long- man's educational works is likewise very large. Messrs. Longman and Co. disposed of 6,000 copies of Contanseau's " French Diction- ary," 5,500 of Brande's "Dictionary of Science ;" 3,000 of Miiller's- " Lectures on Language ;" 11,000 of Roget's "Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases ;" 30,000 of Sir J. Herschel's " Out- lines of Astronomy ;" and 74,000 copies of Maunder's "Treasury of Knowledge.'' The fact that the same publishers sold no less than 63,000 copies of Eliza Acton's" Modern Cookery for Private- Families," is an event which must stand quite by itself; as a set- off against the often-beard slander that English housewives do, not understand cooking.
The sale of a work, as is well known, does not always repre- sent its circulation, and it may be interesting, therefore, to add to the above figures a few facts drawn from Mr. Mudie's great book-store, representing the largest circulating library in the- world. Mr. Mudie is, at the present moment, the happy possessor of very nearly a million of books-a collection before which that of the famous Bodleian sinks into the shade, and that of the Vatican becomes dwarfish, as far as quantity is concerned. The relative importance of the various classes of English literature shapes itself somewhat differently, as before given, from the point of view of the supporters of this great lending library. During the ten years ending December, 1862, Mr. Mudie added close upom 960,000 volumes to his library, nearly one-half of which were works of fiction. To this immense collection, history and bio- graphy contributed 215,743 volumes; travel and adven- ture, 125,381; fiction, 416,706; and miscellaneous books, including religious, scientific, political, and other works, 202,15'' volumes. Of many popular works, in great demand at a particu• tar time, from one to three thousand copies were taken by Mr. Mudie, the highest number being reached in Dr. Livingstone's
Travels, of which 3,250 copies were added to the library. In the opinion of Mr. bindle, every book finds, on an average, thirty readers-considerably more, in the majority of instances, as re garde novels, and considreably less in the case of scientific an philosophical works. The most popular novels, according to th.
experience thus gathered, have been "Tom Brown's Schoo. Days," and "Uncle Tom's Cabin ; " and next to them, "John Halifax," "Vanity Fair," "Adam Bede," "Two Years Ago,',' "The Woman in White," "The Caxtons," and "East Lynne "- in a descending scale, according to the order here given. Con- sidering the large basis on which these statistics are founded, they are not without importance for measuring the circulation of modern English literature, and the literary taste of the age.
Modern French literature is infinitely behind that of England, in quality as well as quantity, though on the first look the latter appears not to be the case. While the Bookseller brings its monthly list of four hundred, the Bibliographic de la France announces, during the same time, its nine hundred or even thousand new works, all fresh from the press. During the period from January 1 to De- .cember 20, 1862, the number of books published in France, ac- -cording to the Bibliographie, amounted to 11,484, which gives exactly 957 new works per mouth. This seems a most for- midable quantity of fresh literature, but it dwindles down im- mensely on closer examination. The French law compels every author or publisher to register whatever appears in print, and hence the merest trifles, fragments of a pamphlet, and parts of a flying sheet, are entered in the official list, and come to swell the contents of the French Bthliographie, far beyond the limits of the more modest as well as honest English Bookseller. In reality the France of our days produces not a third of the number of bond fide books in England ; and the superiority of quality as well as -quantity need not be insisted on in view of the well-known rela- tion of imperialism to literature. The following facts, however- -collected from the very best sources, and guaranteed as such — may give an idea of the circulation of modern French literature.
The "Memoires" of Guizot have reached a sale of 9,000 copies ; the works of Ernest Renan of 3,000, and the novel, a type of its class, called " Madame Bovary," a sale of 22,000 copies. The -celebrated " Roman d'un Jeuue Homme Pauvre" has been sold in 35,000; "Le Gas de M. Guerin," and "Le Nez d'un Notaire," by Ed. About, in 12,000; and the notorious "Fanny," by Ernest Feydeau, in 33,000 copies. The other novels of the last-named author have as yet not reached a sale higher than from -5,000 to 6,000; but the disreputable works of Paul de Kock have now an annual demand of from 2,500 to 3,000 copies. The " Histoire de Sybille," an ultramontane romance, by Octave Feuillet, reproduced from the Revue des Deux Mondes, has gone, since October last, through three editions of 2,000 each ; and other works by the same author have had still greater success. The last novels of George Sand have had only a sale of from five to six thousand, showing a considerable falling-off in popularity. 4‘ It is a notable feature of the literature of the day," writes our informant from Paris, 'that really good novels, of the Hugo and Sand character, brought out by Levy, Hetzel, and -other first-rate publisher , have a comparatively limited sale. Even books are not liked the engravings of which are too fine and on too white, satin-like paper." The " Memoires de Rigolboche," not sinning in this respect, have had a sale of above 50,000, though the price was high.
The French edition of Victor Hugo's " Miserables " consisted of 16,000 copies; while 40,000 were printed at Brussels,3,000 copies of which went to Italy; 2,200 to Russia ; 1,700 to England, the same number to Germany ; 800 to Spain ; 700 to Holland, and 400 to North America. Of Thiers's " Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire " 50,000 copies were published; of Baron Bazancourt's -official history of the Crimean campaign, 23,000, and of his history of the Italian campaign, 17,000 copies. The works of Alexander Dumas and Co. sell at the rate of about 6,000 per annum, besides the reproduction in a number of halfpenny papers ; and the romances of Eugene Sue, including the "Jug Errant" and the " Mysteres de Paris," continue to have a like annual demand. French school books, on the other hand, have a small sale compared with our own educa- tional works. Of the celebrated " Dictionnaire de l'Acadensie " no more than from 500 to GOO copies are disposed of annually; and from 700 to 800 of Becherelle's " Dictionnaire National Francais." As a set-off against this, the pamphlet trade is very important, quantitatively speaking, single sheets often rising to a sale of sixty or seventy thousand copies. Of the noto- rious print, "Napoleon III. at IAngleterre," 72,000 copies were sold in a few weeks.
There being no real political life in France, the periodical press of the country to a great extent has got into the novelistic and family-magazine condition, and leaders and reviews are swamped in the all important feuilkton. Consequently, the cir- culation of the chief newspapers—of" leading" newspapers it is impossible to speak—belongs in many respects to the French book-world, and may serve to indicate the public taste at the present time. At this moment, the Slick, representative of the dpicier element, stands at the head of the daily press, with a cir- culation of 50,000; followed, at a good interval, by La Patrie, with 28,000; L'Opinion Nationale, with 21,000; La Presse, with 19,000; Le Constitutionnel, with 18,000; the Journal des Debats, with 12,000; La France, with 11,000; Le Temps, the incompar- ably best French newspaper of the day, with 7,000; and Le Pays, with 6,000 subscribers. The bi-weekly Figar.) sells 5,000; the weekly Illustration, 27,000; the Monde Illustri, 22,000 ; and the penny illustrated paper, Journal pour Tons, 70,000 copies. The bi-monthly well-known Revue des Deer Monde: has an edition of 13,000; but the Journal du Dimanclie, with Alexander Dumas and Co., end plenty of "Rigolboche," an edition of 100,000 copies. The provincial journals of France have all a very small circulation ; the largest two being the Journal de Chartres, with 7,800 subscribers ; and the Gironde of Bordeaux, with 5,000. Centralization is evidently the order of the day in France, even in journalism—centralization crowned by Alexander Dumas the Great and " Rigolboche."
To say a few words about the circulation of modern German literature might not be uninteresting, did not the limits of the Spectator; even with the largest of supplements, put in a decisive veto, in proof of this it will only be necessary to state that there were published within the last twelve months in Germany the overwhelming number of fourteen thousand new books.
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