The Vitality Of Books

In the.Julv number of the Amtrtcan I'ublishers' Circular is the following interesting article : " If the life of men aud wornen vero as brief as the life of most books, tho young people would have cverything their own way. Theie would be do grandfathcrs or graudtnothers, aud only here or there a father or mother, au uncle or aunt. Few books, comparativo ly, live to be five or even tb ree years old. ïhose that litiger beyond thut ago usually owe the disticetioD to ome adventitious circumstance, and often to the freak of some bibliomaniao. Whon once fairly laid on the shelf the places that once knew them know thera no more - except iu catalogues. " It must not be a little mortifving to the pride of au author to find how short lived his ehoicest productiocs are ; and were it not for the extra s'ore of nourishmont which his vanity lays up duriug tho brief sstiiy of his book in public sunshino, it would be very hard to bear. And yet it is not rtruch of a gauntlet that our Amorioan books have to run iu order to como into notioe. Indeed, so indulgeut ai e most of our amiable fricuds of the presa, that autbors are allowed to accompany the giftcopiea ol thcír works with such a notice as a natural love for their ofFspring may suggeat Uuder tbis lioenso a tuoasure of corameuriatiim may bo at ouoe bestowed, which othenvise it inight take years ol effort to obtain, or which, more probably, would not be attaiuable at all. " Those who have not been at some pains to nvestigate the subject would bt) surprised to find how rarely the public oye giyes more than a mere glauoe at what is called the 'current literature' of the day. We go iuto a book shop aud tind tho booka that have been brought out withiu a few weeks or montbs occupying a prominent place on tho couuter. As soon as the titles have bocome familiar to those who are wont to look at books and tulk aböut thom, even if they do libt read thein, they are siltintly wilhdrnwn a few paces from observation, (as second childhood retires too private apartmuuí), giving room to the new candidates for favor at thts hands of a 'discriminatiag' public. In a very litlle time another change 3 notioed, and uow, if we want one of the books that were so conspieuous a few months ago, wetiuiidly inquire if a copy is on haud, whereupon the stepladder is forthcoming, aud a seareh for the book that is described as 'away back there,' or 'nuder the upper ehelf y onder, where the dust brush is,' may bring the skulker I to light. 'i'hus it is - who can teil why 'Í - that this notable array of choice new books, whieh seized the eyes so lately, has vanished like a doír-day mist, and, with rare cxceptions, might as well be half a contury a3 halt a twelveoiouth old. " Thure comes a time, however, in the exporienee of some books, whcu thüy may ba said (astiiey eay of people soinetiuies) to 'retiew their youth.' The author may have aequired a stook of fame by new productions of hi.s pen, suffioient to endow his earlier eff jrts, and so there may coDieouta'unifortnedition' of all his works, and thus a sort of spasmodic life will bo imparted to thoso that were uil but dcad. Or, it may happen that somo artist finds or fancies subjects for original designs and when the actual nierit of the book will not suffioe to galvanize it, the pencil and graver aro tried, and the result s''a new uud beautiful illnstrated edition " the adornments serving the same purposo in giving it life as the plumes upon the hoarse do in giviug lifo to tha seuscless form over which they so gracefully nod. " Or, again '(and what is perhaps more common), some aapirer for literary titles and renown calis one of these dcparted book spirits from the 'vaety dep,' aud by a sort of hocuspocus device callcd 'annotations, or notes critioal and explanatory,' clothes the uuthor with a brief siipplernentary life ; but it is a cruel pi-ocess if the spirits have the the least sensibility - Judge Edmonds say8 they have. " It is curious to run one'a eye over the index of reviews in some magazine not more than twunty or thirty years oíd, and note how few ot the titles are now to be found on any bookseller's catalogue. Some of thoin, we can remember, wero much moro widely known in thoir time than most of the books pubhshed in the last five years. The ' Velvet Cushion,' by Cunninghatn, and 'Ccelobs,' by II. Moore, may be oited a average specimens of the claea of books to which we refer. " It is not easy to teil what becomes of the larger part of pubhshers' books. We may supposo that of au edition of four thousíind copies of the life of a Chrittiau missionary of considerable reputo publishud to-day, not more than ibur-ñfthrt (probably not throe-fourths) would go iuto the hands of private purcluisers ; and of these we should find tlie larger part, that would survive threo years of wear and waste, would be stowod away in bookeases or cloets, and rarely opened exoept from curiosity. We have been obliged, occasionally, to look up some author of quite moderu date, aud to obtain a singlo copy we must nliéd go back to the original pub lieherj if to be found ; and thence follow bis stock through whatever hands tho bulk of it may have pased, and not unfrequently we havo lound it diiBcult to persuade pubüshers that such a book was ever io the rnarket I " One of the'inarvellëus things about the life of here and there u book is that a single representa'.ive ' remains of the tliousands of its brothers and sisters, who have fallen a prey to worms or paper milis. We have before ns nn editiou of 'Buuyan's Holy War,' published at Glasgow, 1751, adorned uith the most grotosque cuta. It waa originally bound u canvaas cloth ns coarse as tho cotton bagging of tho prcseut day ; and '.vo should bo quite surpriaed if annther copy of ttuit edition can befound within three thousand miles. ïhe marvel is how tbis individual has so far outlived a I largo family. (; Does the reader seo any end to such inquirios as these few paragraphs open ?"