for a long time their custom, when contemplating the publication
of a book, and especially in the case of a reprint, to send to the
leading booksellers in the large cities of the Union, and ascertain how
many copies each one would take. Thus they pushed their way forward,
seizing upon every favorable opportunity for the publication of original
and foreign works. They rarely made an unsuccessful venture, and as each
worked hard, and had constantly in view, above all other subjects, the
success of the house, they gradually extended their business until they
secured the foremost place among the publishers of the United States.

Beginning with works of a dry, philosophic nature, the Harpers have
extended their operations into every department of literature. Their
catalogue of publications, issued in 1869, lies on the writer's table.
It is a duodecimo volume of two hundred and ninety-six closely-printed
pages, and embraces a list of several thousand volumes. In this list are
histories, biographies, travels, adventures, novels, poems, educational
works, works on science, art, philosophy, metaphysics--in short, books
on every topic familiar to man. In the department of fiction, the
success of this house has been remarkable. They have published between
four and five hundred novels, in cloth and paper bindings, and the
demand for their early publications of this kind is still sufficiently
active to compel them to keep a stock always on hand. When they began to
issue their Library of Select Novels, they did so with a distinct
purpose in view. Novel-reading has always been a passion with Americans,
but at the period referred to the best novels were published at such
high prices that but few could afford to buy them. The masses were
compelled to put up with the cheap, flashy stories which were so well
known some years ago as "yellow covers." This style of fiction, now
confined to the lowest class of readers, at that time found its way into
almost every house, and the popular taste was at a very low ebb. The
Harpers felt sure that by issuing the best, and only the best, English
novels at a low price, they would not only meet a real want on the part
of the public, but in great measure supersede the "yellow covers," with
all their pernicious influences. The sequel proved the correctness of
these views, and resulted in large profits to them.

Soon after commencing business, James and John Harper received their
younger brothers, Joseph