Item 13 - Note from R. W. Chapman to R. B. McKerrow

1 single sheet

Clarendon Press, Oxford.—Comments on a passage about the prices of books.

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The Clarendon Press, Oxford
29 December, 1926.

Slip 37. Prices.

What about the relation of a novel of 1820 at 18/- or 20/- for 3 little volumes, or a novel of 1880 at 31/6, with a novel of 1910 at 6/-?

My general impression is that books became pretty dear at the end of the 18C and beginning of the 19C—probably dearer than they had been in 1650 or 1750, and certainly much dearer than cheap (and untaxed) paper made them in 1910.

RWC

R. B. McKerrow, Esq.,
c/o Sidgwick & Jackson,
44 Museum Street,
London, W.C.1.

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Typed, except Chapman’s initials. At the head is the reference ‘Pkt. 428/R.F.’ A pencil line has been drawn through the text.