Northwestern Library Association. A Stock Company Organized and Incorporated Under the Illinois State Laws. ...COMPRISING... Specially Prepared Lists of Books for Village, School, and Sunday-School Libraries, Many ...TOGETHER WITH... Full and Complete Classified and Graded Lists of Standard and Miscellaneous Books in Holders, Book Cases, Desks, Etc., Etc., all of which are supplied at Wholesale Prices to the Members of the Association. CAPITAL STOCK, $65,000.00. OFFICERS. President. JAS. N. LITSEY, Secretary. L. T. LITSEY, Treasur? GENERAL OFFICES: 5 & 6 WASHINGTON STREET, (Fronting Chicago Public Library and Opposite Chicago Post Office.) CHICAGO, ILL. Special Notice. The matter of this Catalogue is fully protected by copyright and must not be copied or reproduced without written permission. Library Association. (Incorporated.) Nearly 300,000 Book-buyers United for Buying Books -01-1 History. The Library Association movement, which began in this country in 1884, grew out of a need for better facilities for procuring books, and out of a need for a more direct connec tion between the Publisher who produces the book, and the Reader or Consumer. The movement met with instant success, and soon numbered as members, many thousands of the best and most intelligent citizens of the country, including Governors, Legislators, Judges, College Professors, Teachers, Professional and Literary Persons, Private Individuals, Parents interested in their own intellectual culture or in the education and culture of their children, etc., in all parts of the country. At present, mary hundreds of thousands of persons are registered as members and patrons of the Library Associations, and millions of volumes are distributed by them every year, and they have become one of the greatest book distributing agencies of the country; there is scarcely a post office or express office in the country to which their packages do not come. To persons living outside the large cities, Necessity and Convenience. the facilities for procuring desirable books are small. In but few cities of less than 20,000 is there an effort to maintain a Book Store, that shall endeavor to carry in stock and be prepared to supply any considerable portion of the Standard, Copyright, and other desirable books on the market. In the smaller places, the facilities for procuring books are almost entirely lacking, and usually limited to the small supply of paper covered literature and cheaper 12mo novels found on the shelves of the druggist. There are, it is estimated, twenty-five millions of people in the United States to whom book stores are practically inaccessible, and fifteen millions more who depend on an occasional "trip to the city" for getting most of the books they require, and it is the experience of almost all that many of the books they are specially interested in, are obtained, if at all, only after much delay, expense, and annoyance, owing to the fact that the publisher importer, or dealer, whose specialty they are, is unknown to the purchaser. The Association abolishes these inconveniences and drawbacks for its members, and through its thorough and extensive connection with pub-. lishers, and thorough knowledge of the book trade, the Association is prepared to supply to members at a moment's notice, almost any Book, Periodical, etc., in print, and to bring to the door, and place at the disposal of every member, even in the remotest country district, the resources of the entire book trade of the United States and of the world. Saving to Members. To publish most books costs less than to sell them. The expense of selling includes so many different items: First, Expense of advertising and bringing the book to the notice of the public and the trade: second, the expense and profits of the wholesale dealer in the city, by whom the book is supplied to the retail dealer; third, the expense and profits of the retail dealer by whom the book is supplied to the consumer; making three profits, besides that of the manufacturer, which the consumer has at last to pay. It is no wonder the cost of distribution so frequently exceeds the cost of publication! The Association saves its members these various expenses and profits. The members of the Association, aggre gating many thousands of individual book buyers, send all their orders to the Association to be filled. The resulting large volume of business exceeds that of most wholesale houses, and gives the Association a purchasing power that enables it to secure the best jobbers' discounts, quantity discounts, etc., in the purchase of the publications of the various publishers, and to supply books direct from publisher to consumer at Wholesale Prices and at a less price than most dealers themselves can purchase them for, and at 30 per cent to 70 per cent less than regular book store prices. The methods of the Association, by which a large number of persons combine to place their orders through one channel, and each secure the benefit of the resulting quantity reduc tion in price and low cost of handling, are at once so simple and so effective in the large savings made, that they commend themselves to intelligent persons everywhere, and no business enterprise before the people has been so popular with the public for a number of years past, as the Library Association plan; hundreds of orders are received daily on which thousands of dollars are saved members every week, and the secretary is daily in receipt of letters from members from every section, speaking in unstinted praise of the value and advantages of membership. Plan in Brief. Any citizen in good standing may become a member of the Association and participate in its benefits, upon payment of the Membership Fee to the Association's authorized Agent, who will issue a Gertificate of Life Membership and present the member with a copy of the Association's latest Gomplete Glassified and Graded Book Catalogue of nearly 1,000 pages, free of charge. The stub of each certificate is sent to the office of the Association, and recorded and acknowledged. The term of membership is for life; there are no further dues, assessments or liabilities of any kind against members after the Membership Fee has been paid. The benefits of membership extend to all members of the holder's immediate family as well as to the holder individually. Membership Fee is $5 00 ($2.50 in Glubs) for Life Membership; this pays the cost of procuring members, issuing Catalogues, issuing and recording Certificates, Correspondence, etc. The running expenses of the Association do not depend upon the Membership Fee, but are defrayed by cash and jobbing discounts secured by the Association on quantity purchases, discounting time purchases, etc. amounting to 5 per cent. and upwards, and by which the Association is enabled to supply books to its members in small quantities at wholesale prices and still conduct its business on a sound financial basi |