Why We Don't Have Discount Sales on Books

There are two reasons that we have no discount sales on books.

The first is that they are cheap enough as is. Fifty cents for some good reading. A bargain for sure.

The second reason comes from Samuel Johnson, who was frequently called Dr Johnson. He was an Englishman who lived from 1709 to 1785. He spent nine years writing A Dictionary of the English Language.  It was 150 years before it had an equal in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1905. Frequently there are copies of that one at Meals on Wheels.

Ready for the second reason? Dr Johnson once said "People seldom read a book which is given to them. The way to spread a work is to sell it at a low price."

You will have to agree that fifty cents is a low price. Any lower would be tantamount to giving them away.

Dr Johnson lived at 17 Gough Square in the City of London diagonally across a small park from Wine Office Court and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub. This pub is referred to as the new one. The old one burned in 1667 and was then rebuilt. So the new one is only 345 years old. Many well known writers including Charles Dickens, G. K. Chesterton, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Alfred Tennyson frequented this pub. I have been there several times and have also visited Samuel Johnson's home. Now as I sort books at Meals on Wheels I have Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese as something in common with the authors.

David Sneed