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[8]

In consequence we feel it incumbent upon us to offer the public something of more value than promises, which are the poorest possible collateral.

The following guarantee will, we trust, convince subscribers of our sincerity, and we feel confident that the plans we shall adopt will enable us to enforce it.

Guarantee to subscribers.

Butler's Book is published as a subscription book and to be sold by us only as such through our agents, and at prices appearing in our prospectus or on our circulars.

Should we at any time offer or advertise this work for sale in book-stores, dry-goods stores, etc., at reduced price, or sell it to be sold, or given away as premiums for magazines, newspapers, etc., we agree to refund to each subscriber the difference between the regular retail price and such reduced price.

(Signed,) A. M. Thayer and Co. Boston, Mass., Feb. 1, 1892.

This guarantee, which appears in every copy, is, we believe, the first guarantee of a tangible, monetary value ever given to subscribers of subscription books, that the promises made by publishers or their agents are to be carried out.

To protect our subscribers and agents, we consulted the most eminent legal talent, and in answer received the following letter from General Butler, which will doubtless be received with more than ordinary interest, containing as it does the opinion of a lawyer second to none in the world:--

Boston, Oct. 5, 1891. A. M. Thayer & Co., 6 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Mass.
Gentlemen:--I have taken note of the performances now going on by publishers of important books, who, after they have made solemn engagements that their books shall be sold only by subscription, and put enormous prices on them upon that pledge, by which assurance the reading public have made purchases to the amount of some millions of dollars, have turned around, and, advertising that the exact copyright work will be given to anybody who will subscribe for a magazine or newspaper, as a chromo as it might be termed, has heretofore been used. Now, I don't want my book used as a chromo, and I know you would not do it, and you have sent a guaranty to me that it shall not be done, and that, as far as I am concerned, is quite sufficient. I think you may well do so, because it is my belief as a lawyer that these publishers are liable to their subscribers for the difference between the chromo price and the subscription price of these works, and if I had not gone out of the law business, I should like to undertake the present job of collecting it in behalf of these subscribers to these several works.


A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.

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