SOURCE: Barnes, James J. “The Depression of 1837-43 and Its Implications for the American Book Trade.” In Authors, Publishers, and Politicians: The Quest for an Anglo-American Copyright Agreement, 1815-1854, pp. 1-29. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1974.

In the following excerpt, Barnes traces the devastating effects on American publishing of the 1837-43 depression, which brought about a long-lasting emphasis on producing literature as cheaply as possible.

Perhaps nothing in the nineteenth century so influenced the American book trade as the depression of 1837-43. Established firms faltered but somehow carried on. New publishers sprang up only to disappear a few years later amidst the ranks of debtors and insolvents. Editors moved from one journal to another, seeking to stave off the inevitable. Prices for books and periodicals fell lower and lower, till proprietors began to wonder if it would not be cheaper to suspend business altogether. A mania for cheapness...