Admit, however, that he does print it, does the treaty require that the market shall always be supplied?  Perhaps it does, but most probably it does not.  If it does, does it also provide for the appointment of commissioners to see that the provision is always complied with?  If it does not, nothing would seem to be easier than to send out the plates of a large book, print off a small edition, and by thus complying with the letter of the law, establishing the copyright for the long term of forty-two years, the moment after which the plates could be returned to the place whence they came, and from that place the consumers could be supplied on condition of paying largely to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the “Times,” to the profits of Mr. Dickens’ advertising sheet, to the author, to the London bookseller, to his agent in America, and the retail dealer here.  In cases like this, and they would be numerous, the “few cents” would probably rise to be many dollars; and no way can, I think, be devised to prevent their occurrence, except to take one more step forward in centralization by the appointment of commissioners in various parts of the Union, to see that the market is properly supplied, and that the books offered for sale have been actually printed on this side of the Atlantic.

If the treaty does provide for publication here, it probably allows some time therefor, say one, two, or three months.  It is, however, well-known that of very many books the first few weeks’ sales constitute so important a part of the whole that were the publisher here deprived of them, the book would never be republished.  No one could venture to print until the time had elapsed, and by that time the English publisher would so well have occupied the ground with the foreign edition that publication here would be effectually stopped.  Even under the present ad valorem system of duties this is being done to a great extent.  One, two, or three hundred copies of large works are cheaply furnished, and the market is thus just so far occupied as to forbid the printing of an edition of one or more thousands—­to the material injury of paper-makers, printers, and book-binders, and without any corresponding benefit to the foreign author.  Under the proposed system this would be done to a great extent.

Admit, however, that the spirit of the law be fully complied with, and let us see its effects.  Mr. Dickens sells his book in England for 21_s_. ($5.00); and he will, of course, desire to have for it here as large a price as it will bear.  Looking at our prices for those books which are copyright and of which the sale is large, he finds that “Bleak House” contains four times as much as the “Reveries of a Bachelor,” which sells for $1.25, and he will be most naturally led to suppose that $3 is a reasonable price.  The number of copies of his book that has been supplied to American readers, through newspapers and magazines, is certainly not less than 250,000, and the average cost has not been’ more than fifty cents, giving for the whole the sum of