Natural history -- Outdoor books; Nature; Nature study; Paris (France) -- Description and travel
The post is a far more powerful disseminator in the country than in
town. A townsman picks up twenty letters, snatches the envelopes open,
and casts them aside. The letters delivered in the country have
marvellously multiplied, but still country people do not treat letters
offhand. The arrival of a letter or two is still an event; it is read
twice or three times, put in the pocket, and looked at again. Suburban
residents receive circulars by every other post of every kind and
description, and cast them contemptuously aside. In the country the
delivery of a circular is not so treated. It is certain to be read.
Nothing may come of it, but it is certain to be looked over, and more
than once. It will be left on the table, or be folded up and put on the
mantelpiece: it will not be destroyed. Country people have not yet got
into the habit which may be called slur-reading. They really read. The
circulars at present delivered in the country are counted by ones and
twos where suburban residents get scores and fifties. Almost the only
firms who have found out the value of circulars in the country are the
great drapery establishments, and their enterprise is richly rewarded.
The volume of business thus transacted and brought to the London house
by the circular is enormous. There are very few farmhouses in the
country which do not contribute orders once or twice a year. Very many
families get all their materials in this way, far cheaper, better, and
more novel than those on sale in the country towns. Here, then, is a
powerful lever ready to the hand of the publisher. Every circular sent
to a country house will be read--not slurred--and will ultimately yield
a return. Cottagers never receive a circular at all. If a circular came
to a cottage by post it would be read and re-read, folded up neatly,
and preserved. After a time--for an advertisement is exactly like seed
sown in the ground--something would be done. Some incident would
happen, and it would be remembered that there was something about it in
the circular--some book that dealt with the subject. There is business
directly. The same post that brought the original circular,
distributing knowledge of books, can bring the book itself. Those who
understand the importance attached by country people, and especially by
cottagers, to anything that comes by post, will see the use of the
circular, which must be regarded as the most effective means of
reaching the rural population.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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