2011-11-13

中国人说，种瓜得瓜种豆得豆，好人好报，美国人说，good reputation carries。语言不一样，但意思都差不多。

信则斯言。

看美国早期（1860-1938）100家图书出版商的历史，比较Grosset & Dunlap和Hurst & Company这两家出版商的发展历史，一个重视质量，用最好的纸张印刷，和个性化的封面设计，公司至今仍在。另外一家公司偷工取巧，用最便宜的纸张印刷，作虚假广告，到1919年的时候，公司就已经灰飞烟灭，无影无踪了。

1- Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1898- Alexander Grosset met George T. Dunlap when both worked for American Publishers Corporation. When that firm went bankrupt in 1898, they formed a partnership, took over stock and set up at 11 East Sixteenth. Grosset managed business, Dunlap was traveling salesman (working briefly for Rand, McNally). Made business from putting paperback copies in hardcovers for sale at $.50.

Among "The Good Value Books": A series of 12mos of distinctive character and appearance, comprising seventy-two judiciously selected titles, endorsed by the foremost critics and approved by generations of readers. / These standard works of sterling value and abiding interest are printed on fine book paper, from new large type, and handsomely bound in cloth with strikingly artistic individual cover designs. They are confessedly superior to any series issued at a similar price, and should not be confounded with the host of ordinary "popular price" lines. / These beautifully produced books possess all the features of "leaders," and are unmatched for excellence, variety and selling quality; and equal in appearance and make-up to books at double their price.

2- Thomas D. Hurst, an electrotyper, began this firm in 1871 by reprinting books in his shop on Nassau Street, in New York. Like Worthington, his specialty was clothbound standards in twelvemo, and he was among the first to make this kind of low-priced popular book. From his Argyle Press, which turned out books bearing his imprint, came a flood of volumes and the famous pirated edition of Britannica which Henry Allen and his associates published in 1886. Another of Hurst's popular successes was his "Cameo Edition," containing, as he said, "all the Best Works of the Great Poets." Prospective purchasers were told in advertisements that they were getting books "tastefully printed and bound in the best English cloth," but in fact they got badly printed, indifferently bound books printed on the cheapest paper. Even among the reprinters, Hurst did not stand out as a bookmaker. Hurst was another Lovell acquisition in 1890. He leased his plates to the United States Book Co. on a royalty basis, and when it failed, they reverted to him, and he resumed publishing on his own.

Lucile's 100 American Publishers, 1860-1938，事情虽小，却是一个造福人类的壮举。网址：http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/lucile/PUBLISHR.HTM