Joseph Dorfman in Volume 3 (1865-1918) of his The Economic Mind in American Civilization (New York: 1949, p. 81) cites the results of a Publishers’ Weekly survey from 1876 that was used to determine a “top ten list” of books on political economy in the U.S. from the perspective of book sellers.
People in the book trade were asked to send in their ordered lists of ten titles. The entry judged closest to “the popular vote” would be awarded a cash prize.
The mechanics of the vote tallying are not very clear. I certainly would have employed a Borda voting procedure but this does not appear to be what was done. My guess is that a two-stage process was used. Every book was given one vote each time it appeared on somebody’s list of ten. In the case of ties, e.g. Mill and Smith were on all thirty top-ten lists entered, the prize judge counted the number of times Mill was ranked above Smith to break the tie. Thus the maximum number of points awarded to an entry was 194, meaning of the 300 (thirty times ten) entries 194 were for the books elected to the popular vote top-ten list and 106 entries were for books that did not make the cut. Next each list submitted would be awarded the stage-one vote count for those books included in their list that were on the popular-vote top-ten. Best you could do, as the winner in this case did, was to name all top-ten books correctly.
I’ve tried to find links (which this blog highlights in red) to the economics books mentioned and I was indeed able to get many links to the editions actually referred to in the lists below. However, I have made substitutions, even taking later editions, when a cursory search of archive.org and hathitrust.org did not find the particular editions of the books referred to in the Publishers’ Weekly Quiz lists.
One title, Butt’s Protection and Free Trade, I have been unable to find at all to find.
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PRIZE QUESTIONS.
Which are our standard books; or, what works and editions should form the nucleus of a well-stocked bookstore to-day? This question, of the most vital importance to every one engaged in the production and sale of books, it is proposed to put before the trade in a new department of the Publishers’ Weekly, for which the co-operation of all our subscribers is cordially invited. The material is so extensive that, should our plan meet with the favor of our subscribers, this department may become a permanent and not the least useful feature of the Weekly. The plan for the present is to elicit answers from practical and experienced members of the trade, to a series of test questions as to which are the most standard and salable books in each branch of literature. A prize of $5 will be awarded for that answer which includes the greatest number of works on which competitors generally agree, or which, in the judgment of the editor, may otherwise be most fairly representative. This list will be published in the Weekly, possibly with the number of concurring competitors prefixed to each book, showing thereby the comparative estimation in which each book is held. Thus, in an entertaining and interesting manner, booksellers as well as book-buyers may profit from a general exchange of opinions and comparing of notes, a method which later may be applied to other questions of interest to the book trade and associated branches. Succeeding numbers of the Weekly will contain new questions, and the answers to each will be published four weeks from publication of the question.
Source: The Publishers’ Weekly. Vol. IX, No. 209, January 15, 1876, p. 57.
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PRIZE QUESTION No. 3.
Which are the most salable works on political economy?
Give ten titles in the following shape:
Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations [specify edition, size, price, publisher, as usual].
RULES FOR COMPETITORS.
- The object of the questions is to elicit answers as to which books and editions have, independent of local or ephemeral interest, become standard or popular works in the American market, hence safe stock for investment.
- A prize of $5 will be awarded for that answer which includes the greatest number of works on which competitors generally agree, or which, in the judgment of the editor, may otherwise be most fairly representative.
- Every subscriber and every employee of a subscriber individually are entitled to compete.
- The answers shall consist of a list of works on a given topic. The short title is sufficient, but number of volumes, size, price, and name of publisher must be invariably given.
- The titles should be arranged according to the popularity each work holds in the opinion of the competitor.
- The titles must be written legibly with ink, on one side of the paper only, foolscap preferred, each title in separate paragraph, with space between titles for cutting through with scissors.
- The list must not contain a greater number of titles than is demanded in the question.
- Each list must be headed by the number of the Prize Question, and signed with full address of competitor.
- If several competitors should present lists of equal claim to the prize, it shall be awarded by lot.
- The name of the successful competitor shall be published with his list, and the amount of the prize remitted immediately after publication.
- The result of the answers will be published four weeks from publication of the question.
- All communications should be addressed. Editor Publishers’ Weekly, P. O. Box, 4295, New-York.
These rules are subject to amendment whenever the Editor finds it expedient.
Source: The Publishers’ Weekly. Vol. IX, No. 214, February 19, 1876, p. 229.
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THE PRIZE QUESTION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.
The Prize Question (No. 3) in Political Economy has called forth more lists than any previous question. This is partly to be explained, we have no doubt, by the fresh interest awakened in the subject by the present political situation and the fact that the Presidential election [Rutherford B. Hayes (R, Ohio) vs. Samuel J. Tilden (D, New York)] , occurring this year, promises to turn on the questions associated with this class of subject. In accordance with this interest, we have gotten up the order-list on finance and political economy given in our advertising pages last week, and which is to be repeated fortnightly in alternation with the Centennial page. We trust booksellers will not fail to make use of this. There are other indications of the general interest, and we have just at hand a neat catalogue of works on these subjects, from Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati.
In political economy 30 lists have been submitted. It is an extraordinary coincidence that the list of the successful competitor, who is an old friend of our readers—Mr. H. W. Hagemann, with D. Appleton & Co.—gets the highest possible number, 194, since it is identical in its titles, though not in their arrangement, with the list by popular vote. We therefore award him a double prize, of $10. The following is the list:
PRIZE LIST (No. 3) IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Also, LIST BY POPULAR VOTE.
|
1. |
Mill, John Stuart | Principles of Political Economy[Vol I; Vol. II] | 12°, 2 vols., $4, Appleton |
30 |
|
2. |
Smith, Adam | The Wealth of Nations | 12°, $2.50, Putnam |
30 |
|
3. |
Walker, Amasa | The Science of Wealth | 12°, $1.50, Lippincott |
17 |
|
4. |
Perry, Arthur Latham | Elements of Polit. –Econ. | cr. 8°, $2.50, Scribner |
23 |
|
5. |
Bowen, Francis | American Polit. Econ. | cr. 8°, $2.50, Scribner |
13 |
|
6. |
Fawcett, Henry | Manual of Polit. Econ. | cr. 8°, $3.50, Macmillan |
19 |
|
7. |
Jevons, W. Stanley | The Theory of Polit. Econ. | 8°, $3.50, Macmillan |
11 |
|
8. |
Wayland, Francis | Elements of Polit. Econ. | 12°, $1.75, Sheldon. |
17 |
|
9. |
Cairnes, J. E | Some Leading Principles of Polit. Econ. | cr. 8°, $2.50, Harper |
20 |
|
10. |
Greeley, Horace, | Essays on the Science of Polit. Econ. | 16°, $1.50, Osgood |
14 |
| 194 |
The following shows the popular vote down to three:
The following gives the lower counts:
3. Bascom’s, List’s, and Say’s Works on Political Economy
2. Bagehot’s Lombard Street; Bastiat’s Sophisms and Protection; Butts’ Protection and Free Trade; Cairnes’ Essays on Political Economy; Fawcett’s Essays and Lectures on Political and Social Subjects.
The second list is that of Mr. J. B. Fredricks, also with D. Appleton & Co., whose number is 186. His list is identical in its entries with that of Mr. Hagemann, with the exception of one book; he lost the prize by citing Carey’s Political [sic] Science, counting but 4, in place of Jevons’ Political Economy, counting 11. That both should be of the same house is a curious co- incidence, and a practical compliment to the establishment, since it is to be presumed, of course, that they worked independently of each other. The third list is that of Mr. Jas. S. Wynkoop, of R. G. Wynkoop & Co., Syracuse, counting 181. His list is also identical with Mr. Hagemann’s, except that it replaces Walker’s “Science of Wealth,” counting 17, with List’s “National System,” counting 3. The highest count after this is 179; the lowest count 102.
Several books were cited which did not properly come within the specific subject. These were, aside from single citations, Nordhoff’s Politics for Young Americans, 12; Townsend’s Civil Government, 4; Lieber’s Civil Liberty, 3; Lieber’s Political Ethics, 2—which come rather within the department of Political or Governmental Science, which, as well as Finance proper, will form the subject of a future question. These were not involved in any of the higher lists, so that the results would not have been altered; but they might have been, and we point out the facts to warn future contestants to confine themselves carefully to the specific subject in hand.
Source: The Publishers’ Weekly. Vol IX, No. 218, March 18, 1876, pp. 376-377.