COVER CRIME If you read a lot and find it all too easy to buy books of various shapes, sizes - fiction, science-fiction, even romance - there is a good chance that you have committed a crime in recent years without realizing you had done so.
I, personally, went afoul of the law many years ago when I found myself on a trip with nothing to read. I fell for a "charity" appeal. In the foyer of a restaurant near my hotel. The small rack held a display of double rows of paper-back books - varied subjects. A rather tacky looking hand-lettered cardboard signs was stapled to the top of the stand urging me to "Give generously to - a local cause." I could do so by purchasing any of the paperback books on the display for the bargain price of just twenty-five cents or five for one dollar - proceeds of course, going to said charity
It was a Honor system set-up, too. No one to make change pr wrap purchases or wrap purchases - just drop your quarters and dollar bills into the slot in the box affixed just under the sign. I bought five books and dropped my dollar in the charity slot.
That's when noticed that none of the books had covers -those bright, overly colorful attention naggers - a bit sexy for romances - all were missing. News stand persons, you realized, don't always sell every copy of the latest edition. They tear the cover from the dated magazine and return to the publisher for compensation . They destroy the out-of-date magazine or paper.
Not so with book sellers. The Charity oriented display stand from which I had bought my books was owed and operated entirely by one man. He alone got his books anywhere he could find them, removed their bright covers which he destroyed and refilled his racks at regular intervals to keep the world of literature thriving.
This may sound like what has been called "petty thievery" but it is important to publishers and the writers of paperback books. I just picked up a copy of a western romance novel from our shelves here at home titled: "High Country Cowboy" well written by Sandra Moore (her "first" I see in the blurbs). It has its original cover, by the way, and on page three there is a boxed notice in which the publisher - Silhouette Books, New York states the case:
"If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publishers, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book".
Good, plain English. It sounds "jaily" to me.
A.L.M. September 11, 2005 [c468wds]
