ly essential. For it is to the bookseller's interest at least to
examine the samples of every publisher's representative. It is not a
question of laying in the winter's supply of coal, or of being content
with one good old standby line of kitchen ranges. It is books that he
is dealing in; an article that knows no competition and that has a
brief career. Should my lady ask for Mark Twain's last book, it would
be a poor bookseller who answered, "We don't sell it, but we have a
large pile of Marie Corelli's latest." Or should the customer desire a
copy of Henry James's recent volume, what would it profit the
bookseller to inform her that he did not have it in stock, but he had
something just as good?

It is because of the immense numbers of titles the bookseller must
carry that the salesman always finds him a willing listener. And in
the end, even though he does not buy heavily, he must order at least a
few each of the salable books. Such complacency on the part of the
bookseller might argue for direct dealing on the part of the publisher
by means of circulars and letters, thus saving the expense of a
traveller. But firms that have tried this have had a change of heart
and have quickly availed themselves of the traveller's services.

He is useful in ways other than selling. If he is keen to advance his
firm's interests,--and most of the book travellers are,--he will
interest the bookseller's clerks in the principal books of his line.
He will send them a copy of an important book, knowing that the clerk,
should he become interested in the book, will personally sell many
copies.

In the matter of credits, the travelling man is of considerable
service to his house. He is on the spot, can size up the bookseller's
trade, note if he is overstocked, particularly with unsalable books,
or "plugs," as they are called, obtain the gossip of the town, and in
many ways can form an estimate of the bookseller's financial condition
that is more trustworthy than any the credit man in the home office
can get. There were a dozen publishers' representatives who once sat
in solemn conclave discussing the financial responsibility of an
important customer. He was suspected of being beyond his depth, and
some of the travellers had been warned not to sell him. Several
personally inspected his business, obtained a report from him and his
bank, and threshed out the matter as solemnly and seriously as if they
were the interested publishers whom the