United States or Barbados ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Fendant and Cavalier were in great need of a success. A single good book might float their sunken bales, they thought; and there was the alluring prospect besides of articles in the newspapers, the great way of promoting sales in those days. A book is very seldom bought and sold for its just value, and purchases are determined by considerations quite other than the merits of the work.
This was the individual whom Etienne and Lucien discovered in his filthy counting-house, busily affixing tickets to the backs of a parcel of books from a recent sale. In a glance, the friends exchanged the innumerable questions raised by the existence of such a creature; then they presented Gabusson's introduction and Fendant and Cavalier's bills.
Fendant and Cavalier were in great need of a success. A single good book might float their sunken bales, they thought; and there was the alluring prospect besides of articles in the newspapers, the great way of promoting sales in those days. A book is very seldom bought and sold for its just value, and purchases are determined by considerations quite other than the merits of the work.
"Catherine de' Medici, or France under Charles IX., would sound more like one of Scott's novels," added Cavalier. "We will settle it when the work is printed," said Fendant. "Do as you please, so long as I approve your title," said Lucien. The agreement was read over, signed in duplicate, and each of the contracting parties took their copy.
Here was a little scrub of a bookseller putting the essence of the art and mystery of bill-discounting in these few words. "That will do, Barbet," said Lousteau. "Can you tell us of a bill-broker that will look at us?" "There is Daddy Chaboisseau, on the Quai Saint-Michel, you know. He tided Fendant over his last monthly settlement.
So Fendant and Cavalier thought of Lucien as a journalist, and of his book as a salable article, which would help them to tide over their monthly settlement. The partners occupied the ground floor of one of the great old-fashioned houses in the Rue Serpente; their private office had been contrived at the further end of a suite of large drawing-rooms, now converted into warehouses for books.
After a short scrutiny, he returned them to Lucien with a serious countenance. "MM Fendant and Cavalier are delightful young fellows; they have plenty of intelligence; but, I have no money," he said blandly. "My friend here would be willing to meet you in the matter of discount " Etienne began. "I would not take the bills on any consideration," returned the little broker.
Cavalier, true to his name, traveled about, Fendant looked after business in Paris. A partnership between two publishers is always more or less of a duel, and so it was with Fendant and Cavalier.
"There is no need to discuss this affair," said Fendant, addressing Lucien and Lousteau. "I have read the work, it is very literary, and so exactly the kind of thing we want, that I have sent it off as it is to the printer. The agreement is drawn on the lines laid down, and besides, we always make the same stipulations in all cases.
Lucien knew nothing of all this, but Berenice and Coralie could not refuse to allow Hector Merlin to see his dying comrade, and Hector Merlin made him drink, drop by drop, the whole of the bitter draught brewed by the failure of Fendant and Cavalier, made bankrupts by his first ill-fated book.
Word Of The Day