WCP5153

[1]¹

7^th Dec[ember]. [190]3

D[octo]^r. Alfred Russel Wallace.

Dear Sir,

The enclosed letter from one traveller in Australasia has reached us today. You will see that Mr. E. W. Cole,² one of the principal booksellers in Melbourne, is inquiring for a Colonial Edition of the Wonderful Century,³ & offers to take 500 copies at the nett price of 1s. 9d. [1 shilling & 9 pence] per copy. So far we have sold of the new ed[ition]n only about 144 copies to Colonial booksellers⁴ — at the regular trade-price — which is a very small number. You are no doubt aware that "Colonial Editions", pub[lishe]d simultaneously with the home editions, [2]⁵ are becoming very common. It is quite customary to issue together the English ed[itio]ⁿ. of a book at say 10/6 [10 shillings & 6 pence] to 21/- [21 shillings] & a "Colonial Edition" (for use only in the Colonies) at 1s. 6d [1 shilling & 6 pence] in paper covers & 2/- [2 shillings] if in cloth ^{(back prices),} which are Messrs. Macmillan & Co[mpany]’s prices for their "Colonial Library",⁶ probably the largest & most important in the market, containing one or two of your books, if we remember rightly.

We are of [the] opinion that, if we were to issue a "Colonial Ed[itio]ⁿ" in cloth, to sell at 3^s/6^d [3 shillings & 6 pence], with a nett back-price of 1^s/9^d, [1 shilling & 9 pence] we should be likely to sell several thousand copies. At present your royalty, which is fixed at a minimum of 6d., [6 pence] stands in the way. The bare cost of paper, machining, & binding — sinking[?] the costs of composition, illustrations, moulding[?] &c. — is 1s. 2¼^d [1 shilling & twopence farthing] per copy, & we think an amount of 10% should be added to this for our expense of Colonial travelling, which is about what it costs us. Would you be prepared to reduce your royalty on a Colonial Edition, if you approve of its issue, to 2½^d [twopence halfpenny] per copy? We think it would lead[?] to considerably increase [3]⁷ both your and our revenues from the book.

Yours very truly⁸