POPULAR AUTHORS
A LIBRARIAN’S OPINION.
Asked by a Times reporter who he regarded as the most popular authors, Mr W. B. McEwan (librarian of the 'Dunedin Public Library) said it the question would be difficult to answer at random. The old authors, he stated, held their own. The public taste for Dickens’ books was enormous, and was well maintained year after year. Whereas three-quarters of Scott’s and Thackeray’s books would always be on the shelves, three-quarters of Dickens’ works would be out on loan. Strangely enough, Mrs Henry Wood’s novels were always in demand, and this fact was, perhaps, even more noticeable in the case of her books than in those of Dickens. There was always a demand for both the novels and essays of Robert Louis Stevenson. The inquiry for books of poetry, plays, biography, and travel was well maintained. Plays had become exceedingly popular recently. The demand for books of the type written by Zane Grey was insatiable. Mr McEwan replied in the affirmative to a question whethere much interest was taken in the works of Shakspere. In the reference library, he said, there were about 130 volumes dealing with Shakspere, and they were widely used. He had found that when a book was to be shown on the screen there was a great demand for it, and for books by the same author.
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Bibliographic details
Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1638, 7 May 1925, Page 7
Word Count
226POPULAR AUTHORS Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1638, 7 May 1925, Page 7
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