WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC READ?

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 7, 9 January 1912, Page 3

WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC READ?

THE POSITION IN AUCEXAND. [by teleqeaph— special to the post.) AUCKLAND, This Day. What does tho public read? The position so far as Auckland is concerned, as typified by the 1409 subscribers to the library, is very clearly' indicated in the books issued during the past twelve months. The catalogue of the institution contains something like 14,000 volumes, without reckoning duplicates, and, while a wide selection of literature is provided, about 9000 of the total number of books are placed in the class for fiction. During the year just passed the books issued totalled 41,275, and an - approximate estimate shows that the demand for fiction is 87 per cent. Other classes of literature are, in comparison, seriously neglected. Next to fiction come geography and travel and biography and history. A feature of the library during the past year is that several American writers nave, in the matter of popularity, gained an ascendency over many of the old favourites. The librarian told a Star representative that thore had lately crept m a big demand for books by Maud Diver and Gertrude Page, on w.'iich there has been a bigger run than any j other contemporary novelist. Rex Beach has secured a large circle of admirers, and in point of demand has run very close to the two lady writers mentioned. .In the reference department, the patronage more or less depends upon incidents of the day. For instance, during the past week or so, while the Japanese training ships were in port, all volumes bearing on the East and the Japanese nation have been freely in request, while during the elections works touching on Socialism, political economy, and other abstruse questions, were largely used. The H. B. Irving season has, too, aroused interest in Shakespeare's works, and the demand has been heavy for copies of that playwriter's compositions. Enquiry amongst booksellers elicited the information that, while there has been a rush on American novels; the demand has eased off somewhat lately, and readers have swung back to English authors. It has been a noticeable feature, also, that magazine reading is steadily dropping off, and that in its' place has sprung up an urgent demand for the sixpenny novel. One manager stated that there was plenty of enquiry for what ie regarded as objectionable I literature, and women are the principal buyers. The cheapening of prices of | most of the classical works, formerly obtainable only at a high figure, and prohibitive to the reader of limited resources, has resulted in an eager deI mand.