books are dearer than the corresponding books of the great reading nations of Europe. Such is the need. We answer it with The Unit Books, the cheapest series of books ever published in America and made on a system fair to bookproducer and to book-buyer. Our books are sold at prices based on the length of the book and therefore on the actual cost of production. However long the original text, we publish it in its entirety on a uniform quality of paper and in the same size of type. The length and binding of the book determine its price. We begin with our unit of 25 pages. The price of each set of 25 pages is one cent. The price of 100 pages is 4 cents, and each additional 25 pages adds one cent to the price. Thus, 250 pages cost 10 cents and 400 pages cost 16 cents. We bind our books in three bindings (1) Stiff paper of a durable sort. (2) Cloth with gold title. (3) Full leather lettered in gold. A paper wrapper is given with the printed pages. The full leather binding costs 50 cents additional. The price of the single volume is regulated by the number of units it contains and by the binding you choose. Postage is charged extra at the rate of eight cents per volume. Orders must be accompanied by the proper remittance, as we cannot afford to open small accounts. It is this principle of proportionate prices which the general title of the series is intended to emphasize. The price of the book is printed on the paper wrapper, and is inserted in the cloth and leather bindings in such a way as to permit its removal without damaging the book. This new system of publishing is more logical than the system of fixed prices for reprints. Other things being equal, it costs less to produce a short book than a long one, Hitherto the selling price of the short book has been as high as that of the long. And even the longest book has not been sold to you at a loss. We give you the benefit of the saving on the shorter book. Our prices are regulated by the cost of the actual materials and workmanship which go toward the making of the book. WITH WHAT BOOKS DOES THE UNIT SERIES BEGIN? In compiling this list of the first 100 books the publisher attempted to produce a catholic collection of books, in which every person, however unusual his literary tastes, may find at least one book to satisfy and profit him. This list will be amended and added to from time to time. The texts will appear on the first day of each month and the year's issue of 12 unabridged volumes may be subscribed for in advance as though it were a monthly magazine. We are at present unable to quote the proposed yearly subscription price. This information will be given in a later bulletin. As the lengths and prices of The Unit Books are determined, announcements will be made in these bulletins. The Unit Books may be had separately. The list is tentative. We invite suggestions from every lover of good books. If you would like to see a reprint of any book write us about it. 1 The Marble Faun Hawthorne 21 units (524 pages) 1 Sept. 1903 1 July 1904 10 Age of Fable 11 Knickerbocker's History of New York 12 Democracy in America (2 vols) De Parables from Nature Margaret Gatty Vanity Fair 1 Aug. 1904 Holmes Thackeray Charles Brockden Brown A Sentimental Journey Sterne On the Origin of Species Darwin Goethe's Faust (Anster's translation) The Buccaneers of America Lieut. Burney Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan Pickwick Papers Tales Gaboriau Two Years Before the Mast A Tale of Two Cities Dickens A Pronouncing Dictionary Thackeray Henry Esmond Dana The Odes of Horace in Latin and English (Francis) Noctes Ambrosianae John Wilson Some Fruits of Solitude William Penn Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanac jamin Franklin The Microscope P. H. Gosse Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Last of the Mohicans Cooper The Comedies of Sheridan Ben Familiar Colloquies of Erasmus Typee Herman Melville Motley Darwin Familiar Letters of James Howell Natural History of Selborne Gilbert White The Three Musketeers Dumas Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green Cuthbert Bede Lieut. Maury Sir Joshua Reynolds A Dictionary of Classical Quotations A Handbook of Proverbs Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry Hugh Miller The Bible in Spain George Borrow Legends of the Madonna Mrs. Jameson Essays of Elia Charles Lamb The Cloister and the Hearth Charles Reade Adam Bede George Eliot Aurora Leigh Mrs. Browning |