My own love of books was the cause of my entering to a small extent into authorship. Besides occasionally contributing to our trade journals, I also wrote articles in the "Encyclopædia Britannica" on publishing, etc., and also in "The Nineteenth Century," "The Fortnightly Review," and other journals. Some of these I afterwards collected in a volume which I published in 1912 under the title of "The Fascination of Books." I have also issued volumes entitled "The Pleasure of Literature and the Solace of Books," "Saunterings in Bookland," and others. I have also published yearly since 1903, a little "Friend to Friend Kalendar," to which each year I have contributed a poem on Friendship. This has not only had a large circulation, but has brought me many letters of appreciation and added to my many friendships. The trade of the bookseller, as we now know him, has gradually developed from the early part of the last century. Until then the bookseller either largely printed, or in association with other publisher-booksellers joined in producing, many of the books they sold, the various bookselling partners whose names were on the title page sometimes numbering over twenty different firms. The making and selling of books has now developed into many different channels. There is the Author, the Author's Agent, the Publisher, the wholesale Distributor, and lastly, but not the least important, is the Bookseller. These various mediums through which most books must pass, have to be considered, particularly as regards terms, and although a book may cost little in its production, there are many expenses to be considered before its selling price can be fixed. This has led to much dissatisfaction during the past fifty years, and although arrangements entirely satisfactory to the trade generally have not yet been made, it is now in a more flourishing condition than it has ever been. What I think is now required is the formation of a Booksellers' Central Committee, of which Authors, Publishers, and Booksellers should become members. This would exclude the Author's Agent and every one not directly connected with the trade of bookselling, as printers, binders and others have their own organizations. Committees of each branch of the trade should be formed to deal with all trade technicalities, but discussions by the members in Council would be allowed upon any departmental difficulty, and the decision of the whole body accepted as final.