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.
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