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BEST SELLING BOOKS 369Po alar Books^ course the book must have inherentexcellence before it sells largely, but a greatname attached to itvery materially helps, e.g. ,in the abovelists, Dr. Allen, Dr. Richard, Dr. John, and S. D. Gordon,are names which pre-dispose the buyer in favour of thebooks. A book which has been very popular in the Englishlanguage, e.g., Bound s On Prayer will certainly sell well inChinese. Some good sellers enjoy special opportunities ofadvertising, e.g., in the columns of a weekly paper. Otherbooks, such as those by the Young Men s Christian Association, have a natural and growing constituency built up forthem by the whole organization. Other books sell wellbecause they meet a need hitherto unsupplied, e.g., MissWhite s books, and lady missionaries when they know ofthese books are enthusiastic buyers. Other books continueto sell because they are alone in the special field, or meet aperennial demand, e.g., Du Bose s Street Chapel Pulpit.Books of a destructive character such as one by PastorKranz, and another of a similar character by Mr. Bailer,are more sought after than works of a constructive character,however much wre may regret the fact.*In the above reports nothing has been saidCOth1r Soc?etiesandof literature issued by the Bible societiesSchool Union. Theseby the China Sundayagencies easily lead the way in circulation, the former bycolporteurs and agents, the latter through Sunday schoolworkers. Whatever be the fate of other literature, it is safeto prophecy that there is a bright future ahead of theseorganizations.It is impossible to say from our presentand Forei n knowledge whether books by Chinese or11byAuthorship foreigners are more popular. In the listsabove, a few of the smaller books are entirelyby Chinese. But in producing the works, which appearunder foreign names, the Chinese have had a very large ifnot preponderant share. The most popular book is likely* Editions of Dr. Martin s Evidences are HO many, that it muststill be a good seller though not reported as such. Dr. Fabors andP. Kran/ s books are also omitted by an oversight.A 4(1