Jules Verne Forum

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Re: JV Sales Figures

From: James D. Keeline <keeline~at~adnc.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 08:57:36 -0800
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>, jbreyer~at~GAMMA.IS.TCU.EDU

For the most part it is extremely difficult to find sales figures for
books. Usually, the only people who know are the publisher and the
author to whom royalties are paid. In general, a publisher will only
announce the sales for some very large, impressive figure. An example
of this was Tom Clancy's EXECUTIVE ORDERS which had 1,000,000 copies
in the first printing. Some publishers, like L.C. Page would indicate
the cumulative sales along with the printing number on the copyright
page. A "best seller" from that time period would have considerably
smaller sales figures than one of today because of the smaller popula-
tion, the very high prices of the original editions, and the lower
amount of leisure time from people who would be interested in the topic.
Another factor which comes into play for Verne is the extremely high
numbers of unauthorized reprints (ie pirated editions).

>From the research I have conducted for other authors, most royalty
statements were accumulated twice a year. Obtaining cumulative figures
would require having all of the statements for the period of time of
interest or the period when a particular edition was in print. Some
publisher archives have been preserved and royalty statements may be
in the collection. The primary resource for finding these collections
is the SHARP (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Pub-
lishing):

        http://www.indiana.edu/~sharp/

One of the lists linked on that page is called the Abilinski list
and they indicate that a collection of materials from Scribners is
at Princeton:


 Charles Scribner's Sons Princeton University
  NY 1878-1960, 200ft, f/a [NUCMC 72-598]


Similarly, there are listings for James R. Osgood:


 Ticknor & Fields Houghton Library, Harvard
  Boston 1832-1901, 120 vol, letter books
                              1848-1900, cost books 1832-1899,
                              f/a, fMS Am 1185 [NUCMC 83-995]
                    (also James R. Osgood; Fields Osgood & Co)
 
                              (Ticknor family papers)
                              Boston Public Library
                              1859-1940, 20 items (corresp. with
                              authors) f/a, [NUCMC 73-33]
 
                              Univ of NC, Chapel Hill
                              (papers, bib, 1989, 213)

Another publisher archive list is linked on the same SHARP page
and is called the BISG list and has the following entry under
Scribners:

Charles Scribner's Sons [Macmillan Publishing Co.] See also Appleton-Century Company
    a. Archives, 1786-1971 (mostly 1880s-1950s)
    240 cu. ft. (416 boxes, 26 cartons, 187 letterbooks, 2 transfer files, 26 shelves of account
    books and miscellaneous material). Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, financial
    records, copyright records, legal papers, contracts, publishing lists, memorabilia, periodicals,
    family papers. Finding aid. Some material is restricted; readers must sign an access form
    before using the collection.
    Princeton University Library
 
    b. Scribner's Art Reference Department files, 1865-1957
    6 ft.; some on microfilm. Illustrations for Scribner's publications arranged alphabetically by
    artist; subject files. Unrestricted; microfilmed material must be used on microfilm. Use of
    microfilmed portion requires an appointment and is limited to Washington, D.C. storage
    facility. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
 
    c. Reminiscences of Charles Scribner, Jr., 1988
    Oral history; tapes, transcript. Open. Permission required to cite, quote, and reproduce. Oral
    History Project, Columbia University
 
    d. Robert Bridges collection, 1896-1939
    5.4 cu. ft. (12 boxes). Correspondence. May not contain any material related to publishing.
    Princeton University Library
 
    e. Selected papers of Alfred Dashiell, 1921-67
    1.35 cu. ft. (3 boxes). Correspondence, printed matter.
    Princeton University Library
 
    f. Edward Sandford Martin papers, 1865-1939 (mostly 1914-39)
    13 boxes. Correspondence, compositions, miscellany. Finding aid. Access may be restricted.
    Houghton Library, Harvard University
 
    g. Samuel W. Marvin papers, 1879-1917
    58 items. Correspondence. Catalogued. Unrestricted.
    Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

And the Osgood material will be included among the Ticknor & Fields materials:


Ticknor and Fields See also Houghton Mifflin Co.
    a. Records, 1861-68
    8 items. Correspondence, financial records, printing order. Catalogued. Photocopying limited;
    users must register.
    Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library
 
    b. Ticknor and Co. records, 1891-92
    7 pages. Letters. Catalogued. Photocopying limited; users must register.
    Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library
 
    c. William D. Ticknor, Publishers, 1859-1940
    20 items. Correspondence, in Ticknor family papers. Catalogued. Photocopying limited;
    users must register.
    Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library
 
    d. James Thomas Fields and Annie Fields papers, 1843-1913
    110 items. Letters, portraits. Annotated list.
    University of Virginia Library
 
    e. Benjamin Holt Ticknor papers, 1850-1920
    25 containers. Manuscripts, correspondence. Finding aid. Unrestricted.
    Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
 
    f. Thomas Bailey Aldrich papers, 1855-1925
    5,400 items. Correspondence, manuscripts, family papers, memorabilia. Finding aid.
    Restrictions may apply.
    Houghton Library, Harvard University
 
    g. Thomas Bailey Aldrich papers, 1865-1904
    1 box. Correspondence, manuscripts. Shelf list.
    Temple University Library; unverified
 
    h. James Russell Lowell papers, 1835-1919
    17 boxes. Correspondence, manuscripts, commonplace books. Finding aid. Restrictions may
    apply.
    Houghton Library, Harvard University
 
    i. Bliss Perry papers, 1892-1942
    600 items. Correspondence. Finding aid. Restrictions may apply.
    Houghton Library, Harvard University


Keep in mind that any library may have some of the papers but probably not
all of them and a certain amount of extrapolation is always necessary. The
pirated editions won't be included.

To get an idea of what is possible, see the following web page:

        http://www.keeline.com/sales.html

Good luck and let us know what you find!

James
http://www.keeline.com



> From: John Breyer [mailto:jbreyer~at~GAMMA.IS.TCU.EDU]
>
> Does anyone know where to get sales figures or printing runs for
> English, American and French editions of Journey to the Centre of the
> Earth in the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s?
>
> Thanks
> John Breyer

"KUTZERA, BRIAN" wrote:
>
> This is a great question and is important to collectors who want to rank
> books according to rarity. I once made some call to find out if Scribner's
> still had records of these thing but I got nowhere. I was also thinking of
> doing research at the Grollier (book collectors) Club in New York as I would
> guess they have some great research materials in their library. I believe
> that the numbers exist for the Hetzel editions but can't recall where I saw
> them. Other collectors have told me that Sampson Low printings would have
> been materially smaller than US printings as the UK market was smaller.
Received on Thu 23 Mar 2000 - 18:58:23 IST

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