Chicago: National Library Association 1891. Good. 4to. 182 2 pp. With woodcut-engraved illustrations throughout. Original gray printed wrappers chipped more prominent at the foot of spine; stains on front cover and first 18 pages - SEE IMAGES. A sound copy suitable for exhibition and study. NOW VERY LITTLE KNOWN THIS SCARCE AND GIGANTIC AMERICAN BOOK CATALOGUE WAS ONE OF THE VEHICLES FOR A NOTORIOUS AND LITIGIOUS PYRAMID SCHEME WHICH HAS SOME SEMBLANCE TO TODAY'S SUBSCRIPTION BOOK CLUBS. <br /> <br /> The perpetrator was a shadowy figure name George W. Borland 1851 or 1852-1931 of Chicago; according to legal records he was frequently sued and lost; after filing for bankruptcy he simply reformed his companies under different names. <br /> <br /> Borland claimed that his subscription services eliminated the middlemen and as the present amazing "stock catalogue" shows his firm offered to members desirable books published by Harper Brothers Appleton Scribner's Houghton Mifflin Lippincott and many others at slashed prices. In order to achieve such savings his National Library Association continually recruited new members who had to pay the so-called "subscription fee" and were enticed with discounts and prizes to recruit friends families schools libraries church congregations etc. <br /> <br /> Apparently Borland and his cohorts were complete scam artists; in the year 1884 alone Borland et al. were the subjects of major lawsuits the judgments of which resulted in massive losses approximately $100000 = $3.5 million today. Consequently these crooks simply reformed under another name and relaunched their enterprise. Contemporary newspaper and legal records show that Borland continued to lose cases from creditors such as Bradner Smith & Co. in 1891 -- the year in which the present catalogue was issued -- the judgment was $1491. In 1896 after the name was changed to National Merchants' Supply Co. he was forced into bankruptcy following by a lawsuit from Felix Marston & Co. <br /> <br /> Sidney Huttner in his innovative "Lucile Project" describes some of the consequences of Borland's dubious activities including his involvement with the National Library Association. In its hall-of-shame "Trade Embarrassements" column in Bradstreet's Weekly: A Business Digest vol. 10 July 5 1884 p. 13 Borland's name appears not once but three times: <br /> 1. G.W. Borland & Co. book publishers assigned to W. N. Lee having previously confessed five judgments for $40439.<br /> 2. Chicago Installment Book Co. and George W. Borland & Co. the proprietors of it closed by sheriff on confessed judgments for $40690 and both assigned to W. N. Lee.<br /> 3. Fairbanks Palmer & Co. publishers closed by sheriff. It is said they held papers of G. W. Borland for $40200.<br /> <br /> The catalogue also provides an excellent well-illustrated guide to the myriad of works available for the literate public during the 1890s including -- but certainly not limited to -- Atlases and Maps Historical Works Art and Art History Juvenile Works Architectural Books Law Books Agriculture and Floriculture Medical Books Photograph Albums Mechanical Books Biography Music and Music Books Books On The Civil War Bibles Building Industrial Arts Poetry Political Economy Government Book Binding Prayer Books and Hymnals "Cheap Books" Religious and Theological Books Cookbooks Housekeeping Shakespeare Fiction Self-Improvement Dictionaries Sports Games and Amusements Essays and General Literature Science and Philosophy Textbooks Testimonials Foreign Books and Periodicals Travel Discovery and Adventure Temperance Books Works of Reference Gift Books Wit And Humor Writing Paper Tablets etc. <br /> <br /> We have been unable to locate any useful information about Mr. Borland; even a cursory bio-bibliographical exposé of his antics is merited.<br /> <br /> Our copy like all others has the date altered in type: 1891 with the latter two digits printed in a slightly different font. Of this 1891 edition Worldcat locates 3 copies Grolier AAS UVA; there is also a copy in the Chicago Public Library's Trade Catalog Collection. A considerably smaller edition of the Catalogue of the National Library Association was issued in 1890 copy at Univ. Tulsa; NB: the type in our edition was completely reset. National Library Association unknown
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